East Lansing—Michigan agriculture is poised to start the harvest of fall crops, and while earlier excitement has been tempered with dry weather for the past couple months, new technology and robust new investments will push continued growth for the state’s No. 2 industry, the Michigan Agri-Business Association said Sept. 3.
“Michigan agriculture is a great industry to be involved with, especially today, and while production for 2010 got off to a great start, yields will not reach their full potential because we missed some rain in July and August,” MABA President Jim Byrum said today.
“With technological advances, greater market
Monday, a team of Japanese opinion leaders, sponsored by the U.S. Grains Council and the Missouri Corn Growers Association, toured two family farms in St. Charles, Mo., to receive a firsthand look at U.S. corn production and learn more about how biotechnology is helping corn farmers meet the growing demand for feed, food, fuel and exports.
Visiting the farms of Missouri Corn Growers Association (MCGA) members Wayne Boschert and John Boerding were media representatives from Japan’s food and livestock industry as well as university professors and a consumer group leader.
The team was also accompanied by representatives from the U.S.
U.S. Grains Council director in Latin America Kurt Shultz traveled to Colombia last week to find the lack of progress on the U.S.-Colombia Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) is continuing to have a devastating impact on U.S. corn, soybean and wheat producers.
Colombia is a traditional market for U.S. corn producers, importing approximately 3 million metric tons (118 million bushels) of yellow corn annually.
However, since 2009, Colombia has been gradually switching its corn imports to South American origins at the expense of U.S. producers.
This switch is due to an agreement with Mercosur countries (primarily Argentina and Brazil) which will gradually
Greenpeace welcomes Burger King’s cancellation of its palm oil contracts with one of the worst rainforest destroyers on the planet, Sinar Mas, becoming the first company to do so since the producer’s audit was made public last month.
Sinar Mas’ own audit shows that is has been operating in breach of Indonesian law by clearing peatlands and forests without the required permits.
Responding to the news, Greenpeace South East Asia Forest Campaigner Bustar Maitar said: “Greenpeace welcomes this news from Burger King, which clearly shows that Sinar Mas’ attempts to spin and greenwash the conclusions of its own audit have not
U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) has promoted Shannon Schlecht to Director of Policy.
He will direct the organization’s trade policy development aimed at increasing overseas market access for U.S. wheat producers.
Critical issues include working toward ratification of free trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea and Panama, easing trade restrictions with Cuba, and representing wheat producer interests in multilateral trade negotiations.
“Trade barriers and unfair competition have always been damaging to U.S. wheat producers, but over the past few years have become increasing troublesome,” said USW President Alan Tracy.
“Shannon knows our company and our industry well and has worked in our
Minneapolis, MN—One student at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is closer to winning Project UDesign, the first competition in the furniture industry to crowdsource the next generation eco-friendly wing chair consumers can buy.
The competition is sponsored by Cargill's BiOH® polyols business--makers of the soy-based ingredient which replaces a percentage of petroleum in foam used for upholstered furniture cushioning.
Based on evaluations of a panel of industry experts, six semifinalist designs were selected following the students' completion of SCAD's soft furnishings design course this summer.
The six designs and related video footage are now displayed on Cargill's Experience BiOH® blog,
New York and St. Louis—Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) and
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) are each investing $1.5 million in a new
partnership to commercialize agricultural and energy innovations, Nidus
Investment Partners LP announced Sept. 3.
Nidus Investment Partners LP was created to expedite commercialization of
agricultural and energy discoveries through the collaboration of multiple companies
and entrepreneurs, working together to select and advance the most promising
technologies and take them along the path to product launch.
Nidus provides seed
funding, entrepreneurial experience and market knowledge to identify and manage the
key risks in advancing early technology toward commercialization.
Bunge and Monsanto are providing funding and expertise to the partnership.
As
Bloomington, IL—Thirty-nine college students from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin will be able to continue their education with help from the regional agricultural supply cooperative, GROWMARK.
They are recipients of GROWMARK-sponsored scholarships aimed at promoting higher education in agriculture and business.
“GROWMARK invests more than $41,000 annually on scholarships. We’re investing today for a return tomorrow,” says Steve German, GROWMARK university relations and member employment manager.
“There’s a need for agriculture businesses to support formal education to strengthen agriculture.”
GROWMARK has been supporting college students with scholarships since the early 1960s.
Today, they are awarded to students majoring in agriculture
Winnipegand#151;Research into segregation of genetically modified and traditional grains is one of four projects supported by western Canadian farmers through the 2010 CWB postgraduate awards program.
The research could help identify different ways to prevent contamination and reduce the risk that genetically modified grain will contaminate traditional grain shipments.
The University of Saskatchewan research project could help answer some of the questions around how genetically modified crops can co-exist with traditional grains, and ultimately, how to avoid trade bans from markets that have not approved genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Another project to receive funding, at the University of Manitoba, will study fusarium
Washingtonand#151;The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration published in the Aug. 31 Federal Register interim final rules that will help protect workers who voice safety, health, and security concerns.
The regulations, which establish procedures for handling worker retaliation complaints, allow filing by phone as well as in writing and filing in languages other than English.
"When workers believe their employers are violating certain laws or government regulations, they have the right to file a complaint and should not fear retaliation.
"Silenced workers are not safe workers," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA David Michaels.
"Changes in the
