A five-minute summary of AAI, regulation, and industry activities for members of the largest state agribusiness association in the nation. | |
OSHA Is Now Accepting Injury, Illness Reports
Article Courtesy of: AFIA
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As a reminder for animal food and equipment manufacturers with 20 or more employees, you must submit your Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) form 300A electronically by March 2. Additionally, manufacturers with 100 or more employees must electronically submit their 300 and 301 forms, per a new workplace rule finalized last summer.
OSHA Reporting Rule
OSHA uses this data to track how well certain high-risk industries are doing at preventing workplace hazards in an effort to improve worker safety. OSHA began accepting last calendar year’s data through the Injury Tracking Application (ITA) portal via forms 300A, 300 and 301 (or equivalent) earlier this week and will continue to do so until March 2. Employers should visit the ITA Coverage Application to determine their eligibility.
Determine Eligibility
Last June, using 2022 data submitted to OSHA, the American Feed Industry Association’s Gary Huddleston shared his analysis of how well the animal food industry stacks up to other industries and opportunities for improving industry safety programs. AFIA members can view the report below:
View Huddleston analysis
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Crop Insurance Discount Program Sign Up Open Through January 26 | |
The sign-up period for the Crop Insurance Discount Program opened December 1 and will close on Friday, January 26, 2024.
To sign-up to participate, visit Apply.CleanWaterIowa.org.
Offered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the program provides farmers and landowners who plant fall cover crops the opportunity to apply for a $5 per acre discount on their spring crop insurance premiums.
“Cover crop utilization in Iowa continues to rise because of innovative incentives like the Crop Insurance Discount Program. Iowa is a leader in conservation innovation and this successful program, which was first developed and launched in Iowa, has become a model in other states and at the national level,” said Secretary Naig. “This incentive can help defray some of the cover crop seeding costs on more acres, so we invite farmers and landowners to get their eligible acres signed up before January 26. As cover crops offer water quality and soil health improvements, valuable forage for livestock and many more agronomic benefits, we want to significantly increase the number of Iowa cover crop acres in the years ahead.”
Now in its seventh year, the Crop Insurance Discount Program has enrolled nearly 2,000 farmers who have seeded more than 1 million acres of cover crops to date. To qualify for the program, the cover crop acres cannot be enrolled in other state or United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) cost share programs.
The Crop Insurance Discount Program is jointly administered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA). Iowa’s program has served as a model and has been replicated by the USDA as well as Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. To qualify for the Crop Insurance Discount Program, the cover crop acres cannot be enrolled in other state or federal cost share programs. Farmers should visit their local USDA Service Center to learn about other cost share funding available to support the implementation of conservation practices. Some insurance policies, such as Whole-Farm Revenue Protection or those covered through written agreements, may be excluded. Participants must follow all existing farming practices required by their respective policy and work with their insurance agencies to maintain eligibility.
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A NEW VENUE FOR A NEW YEAR
It's Time For A Different Kind Of Showcase
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If you're wondering what makes the 2024 Agribusiness Showcase & Conference a must attend event, take a look at some of the changes:
New Venue With Hotel On Site
Scheduled Trade Show Times
Evening Hospitality Receptions
Two Days Of Speakers For Ag Pros & Execs
Iowa CCA 30th Anniversary Celebration
Plus, we've taken what's great and made it first rate. You already know the Showcase is Where Agribusiness Meets, and the 2024 show still includes high quality networking with hundreds of Iowa's top ag professionals, the best agribusiness trade show in the Midwest, a great line up of industry speakers, and access to elected and regulatory officials.
Need More Incentive? Hotel rooms are going fast and registration ends February 8.
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Sponsorship Opportunities
Opportunities for sponsorship have been expanded for the Career Day. Your company can be a Premier Sponsor, a Primary Sponsor, or a Career Fair Participating Sponsor.
Premier (Event) Sponsors - $6000
Opportunity to address the students directly, provides a scholarship for a participant, and receives a Career Fair table.
Primary (Scholarship) Sponsors - $1500
Introduced by company, provides a scholarship for a participant, and receives a Career Fair table.
Career Fair Companies - $100
Acknowledged and will receive a Career Fair table.
All sponsors are encouraged to join the students for lunch and interact throughout the event.
Click Here to download the Career Day Sponsorship flyer
If your company would like to be seen and prominently recognized by more than 350 potential future employees, contact Sally Thompson for details - sally@agribiz.org or 515.868.0323.
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Thank You For Your Membership! | |
As a member of AAI, you are the driving force of the organization Where Agribusiness Matters. Thank you for your membership and your commitment to the success of agribusiness in Iowa.
The following companies have recently renewed their membership for the 2024 Membership Year.
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- Farmers Shipping Association
- Heartland Cooperative
- National Grain & Feed Association
- Roquette America, Inc.
- Foundation Analytical Laboratory, Inc.
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- Timpte, Inc.
- Key Cooperative
- Koch Fertilizer, LLC
- Rohrer Bros, Inc.
- UPL
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Not currently a member? Click Here to send us an email so we can follow up with your company and help you get connected to AAI. | |
Partner With Iowa State University For Variable Rate Nitrogen Trials | |
Iowa State University is looking for 500 fields for the 2024 crop season to test nitrogen rates. The trial is built into a variable rate prescription that works with the existing nitrogen program.
Five rates will be tested five times each in a small area (7-10 ac.) of the field. ISU is sent the as-applied file from the applicator and the yield file after harvest. Farmers and agronomists receive information on the optimum nitrogen rate for their fields. If a zero-applied nitrogen rate is included in the trial, growers receive a soil fertility test, soil nitrate testing throughout the growing season, and $600 to offset yield loss on the zero nitrogen plots (~1.5 acres total).
Variable rate application equipment is required to conduct the trials. If you apply variable rate nitrogen to your customers’ fields, please consider participating.
For more information, reach out to Melissa Miller, Iowa Nitrogen Initiative Project Director, at 515-567-0607 or millerms@iastate.edu.
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After five days of pressure from numerous trade groups, stakeholders, and lawmakers, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Friday that it had resumed operations at international railway crossing bridges in Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas. However, the agency said it will continue to prioritize its border security mission “as necessary” in response to the evolving situation.
“We continue to assess security situations, adjust our operational plans, and deploy resources to maximize enforcement efforts against those noncitizens who do not use lawful pathways or processes such as CBP One and those without a legal basis to remain in the United States,” the agency said.
Several agriculture groups immediately released statements applauding the agency’s decision.
“The NGFA and NAEGA are pleased to see the reopening of the Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas railroad crossings to allow for the immediate passage of trains between the United States and Mexico. The North American agricultural supply chain is deeply integrated. Any closure of crossings into Mexico is unacceptable and significantly impacts the flow of grain and oilseeds for both human and livestock feed to one of the United States’ most important export markets and trading partners,” the groups stated.
Related:Stakeholders, lawmakers call for reopening of Texas border railway crossings
Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and CEO Ian Jefferies responded to the news, saying the Biden Administration “made the right decision to protect our supply chain and keep goods moving between the U.S. and Mexico.”
Jefferies acknowledged that CBP has been working under “exceptionally difficult circumstances” in an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” but added, “these ill-advised closures were a blunt force tool that did nothing to bolster law enforcement capacity.”
[...] Read Full Story
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It may have felt something like a “Hard Candy Christmas,” as Dolly Parton might sing, for U.S. farmers this year, especially as they await more information about commodity prices and input costs for 2024. Meanwhile, the word has been out for quite a while that market prices for major crops like corn and soybeans are expected to fall this year from historic highs. Even so, many input costs are on the rise, and interest rates remain high, particularly for new equipment.
Earlier in November, President Joe Biden signed a funding extension of the 2018 Farm Bill for yet another year, with lawmakers looking to craft new and updated legislation that reflects present numbers. With the existing legislation based on pre-COVID pricing and inputs, farmers across the country have entered 2024 with a lot of questions.
Shane Litz, vice-president and commercial loan officer at Terre Haute Savings Bank, which serves the greater Wabash Valley in west-central Indiana, said the present reminds him of the past.
“We saw this back in 2008, as well as back in 2012 after the drought,” the ag lender of 20-plus years said. “I think it’s pretty cyclical.”
With market disruptions as seismic as COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and relatively stark changes in the prime interest rate at play, it’s no wonder that what goes up must come down.
Late this past year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the U.S.-focused portion of its Agricultural Projections to 2033 report, with a complete report due out in February. Some of the numbers projected are reminiscent of a hayride through a bumpy field.
[...] Read Full Story
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Source: USDA Economic Research Service
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U.S. agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of U.S. domestic workers can fill seasonal farm jobs with temporary foreign workers through the H-2A visa program. The Department of Labor certified around 317,000 temporary jobs in fiscal year (FY) 2021 under the H-2A visa program, more than six times the number certified in 2005. Only about 80 percent of the certified jobs in 2021 resulted in the issuance of a visa.
The program has grown partly in response to current U.S. domestic workers finding jobs outside of U.S. agriculture and a drop in newly arrived immigrants who seek U.S. farm jobs. The H-2A program continued to expand in FY 2020 despite the jump in U.S. unemployment caused by lockdowns associated with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Six States accounted for about half of the H-2A jobs filled in 2021 certified: Florida, Georgia, Washington, California, North Carolina, and Louisiana. Nationally, the average H-2A contract in FY 2020 offered 24 weeks of employment and 39.3 hours per week at an average hourly wage of $13. This chart updates information in the ERS bulletin The H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program in 2020, published in August 2022.
[...] Read Full Story
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Source: Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Iowa’s community colleges are seeing returns on recruiting efforts and partnerships with schools and businesses in the form of rising enrollment in 2023.
Enrollment in community colleges grew by 3.8% from last year, according to the Iowa Department of Education 2023 Fall Enrollment Report, with a total of 85,362 students spread across the state. Part-time student numbers reached an all-time high, making up two-thirds of total enrollment.
While enrollment isn’t back to where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic began, with more than 88,000 students attending community colleges in 2019, the report stated this is the second year of increased enrollment in the state.
“I think that despite challenges facing higher (education) nationally, we’re faring well,” Community Colleges for Iowa Executive Director Emily Shields said.
Out of the state’s 15 community colleges, nine saw increased enrollment. Des Moines Area Community College saw the highest number of enrolled students at 24,418 and the largest over-year increase of almost 13%. Indian Hills Community College saw the largest decrease in enrollment, dropping by 3.7% to 3,236 students.
Iowa falls behind the national average with its enrollment trends, according to the report. National enrollment in two-year institutions increased by 4.4%, helped by a 9% increase in part-time students. In Iowa, part-time student enrollment increased by 0.8%.
[...] Read Full Story
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