BECK’S PFR INSIGHT MEETINGS
2020 STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS December 13, 2019
Meat export growth
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International consumers drive industry’s future By Martha Blum
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
CHICAGO — Exporting meat is a significant driver for the U.S. livestock industry. “The ability to supply customers around the world at competitive prices and the ability to access those markets has become very important,” said James Mintert, director of the Center for Commercial Agriculture and professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. “The future for the industry is probably coming from international markets rather thMintert an U.S. consumers,” he said during the Improving Midwest Agriculture and the Environment meeting. U.S. animal agriculture is a big industry, and it’s getting bigger in a fairly rapid way, Mintert said during the Annual Agriculture Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. “Meat production in the U.S. is up about 70% since 1990,” he said. In 1990, U.S. beef, pork and poultry production totaled about 60 billion pounds. “In a span of three decades there has been a dramatic change and the most recent data says it’s up to over 100 billion pounds of meat production,” Mintert said. However, meat consumption in the United States has not changed as much. “In 1990, the estimate of meat U.S. consumers ate was less than 200 pounds per capita,” Mintert said. “It’s now over 220 pounds, which is only about 12% more meat consumed by consumers.” Therefore, the data shows the growth in the industry is a result of strong meat exports.
AGRINEWS PHOTO/ERICA QUINLAN
Brooke Appleton (from left), Dennis Maple, Christy Seyfert and Kendell Culp talk about ways for farmers to impact federal policy at the 2019 Ag Policy Forum.
LET THEM HEAR IT
Lawmakers want input on issues farmers care about By Erica Quinlan
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — A panel of commodity organization leaders and farmers talked about trade and policy making at this year’s Ag Policy Forum. It’s crucial for farmers to build relationships with lawmakers, said Brooke Appleton, vice president of public policy at National Corn Growers Association. “It’s not just going to Washington and meeting with them in their office,” Appleton said. “It’s seeing them at the coffee shop or popping in on meetings to have conversations with them one on one. It’s that constant reminder of the
of delegates that come together at the corn congress to bring resolutions forward that they want to vote on. It’s truly a grassroots organization.”
“It’s always important to be involved and have a relationship with legislators, whether it’s local, state or federal. It’s one thing for them to have your number. But when you have their number, you know that’s a positive relationship that goes both ways. “They really want to know how issues impact you and your family. When you share that with them,
that’s very impactful.”
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Vol. 42 No. 11
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NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — Kevin Ross, president of National Corn Growers Association, said that 2019 has been a roller-coaster year for the ag industry. “Over the last few months at NCGA, it’s been about tariffs, waivers and weather,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of flooding issues this year. It is amazing though, with our crops and technologies, the speed at which we can get things done when we have the opportunity to do that. The resiliency of the American farmer was again displayed this year with these issues.” Looking to 2020, Ross said farmers should “demand more.”
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PEORIA, Ill. — A new, twostage automated closing system with integrated sensing for planters was on display at the Greater Peoria Farm Show. Precision Planting’s FurrowForce had a limited launch this year. Its first stage features notched wheels that work to close the furrow from the bottom up, eliminating air pockets. The second stage stitch wheels carry weight on them to firm the soil over the seed to retain moisture. A load cell measures weight on the stitch wheels. “So, as you think about closing, you really want to do two things. One is get soil on top of the seed and the second is firm that soil, so it retains moisture. And a lot of closing systems do one of those two things well. With FurrowForce, it’s really designed with two stages,” said Bryce Baker, Precision Planting integrated marketing manager. See PRODUCTS, Page A4
Christy Seyfert, executive director of government affairs AMERICAN SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION
Dennis Maple, indiana farmer and board member NATIONAL CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION
Kendell Culp, Indiana farmer and board member
AGRINEWS PHOTO/TOM C. DORAN
Bryce Baker points out the features of Precision Planting’s new FurrowForce during the Greater Peoria Farm Show in Peoria, Illinois.
‘Buzz’ about 360 Bandit By Tom C. Doran
AMERICAN SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
Erica Quinlan can be reached at 800-426-9438, ext. 193, or equinlan@agrinews-pubs.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Quinlan.
PEORIA, Ill. — A nitrogen application practice that’s said to be two times more efficient than broadcast-applied was featured at the Greater Peoria Farm Show. “360 Bandit is the new and exciting product that we have that most of the buzz has been around the last year or so,” said Lucas Helton, 360 Yield Center regional manager for central and southHelton ern Illinois, southern Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri. 360 Bandit mounts to the planter row units in front of the closing wheel and puts liquid nitrogen in the sweet spot for early root interception and uptake. With a spring-loaded coulter and shallow placement, 360 Bandit doesn’t rob downforce from the row unit. There also is no impact on closing the trench over the seed.
Corn Growers president outlines goals By Erica Quinlan
By Tom C. Doran
NATIONAL CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION
“It’s great to represent Indiana on the National Corn Growers Association board. It’s interesting when we come together as a board at the national level. Not every state has representation on the board, but they do have representation in the policy-making process. “Every state has a certain amount
Indiana Soybean Alliance sets goals A3
New automated closing system
Brooke Appleton, vice president of public policy
“We certainly want to see this done sooner rather than later. We’re cautiously optimistic.”
INSIDE
AgriTrucker B6
corn. Canada is our No. 2 market for ethanol. These are important trade partners. We need to get it off the books so we can move on, so we can show other countries that we can make a deal.”
“We’ve had growers stop harvest so they could come to D.C. and talk about the urgency of passing the USMCA and showing U.S. reliability to trading partners. I don’t really think this is doomed, but I think the legislative days are running out very quickly.
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Beck Ag Center hosts Top Farmer Conference B11
issues.” Christy Seyfert, executive director of government affairs at American Soybean Association, agreed that lawmakers need to hear from growers. “There are so many issues right now: USMCA, China, biofuels — you name it,” she said. “There are a lot of issues on the front burner right now that I think policy makers like to hear directly from you about. “You have that personal story. They want to hear what folks back home really care about. There’s also power in social media and sharing your story. It’s another tool.” Here are a few top takeaways from the discussion:
“I think what complicates things is, as we move into 2020, it’s a presidential election year. … The shift, the focus, will really turn. Unfortunately, the focus isn’t on USMCA. I think it’s so important for folks to continue to apply pressure to your members of Congress and let them know how important it is. “Mexico is our No. 1 market for
See MEAT, Page A4
Association to hold area beef meetings A6
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“We need to demand more to get better results,” Ross said. “We need to demand more for ourselves. It’s a reRoss sponsibility that we all have. It’s about making our voices heard and getting things done.” The top goals for NCGA are: 1. Pass USMCA. 2. Reallocate the waived gallons of ethanol. 3. Finalize a good deal with China. 4. Introduce legislation reestablishing a high-octane, low-carbon standard.
The USMCA has been sitting far too long, Ross said. Trade disputes with China are also affecting farms, but he’s not optimistic about seeing change in the near future. “I can tell you that finalizing a good deal with China will be a difficult task,” he said. “I’m a very skeptical person when it comes to this issue right now. I think we’re further away than you might see in the media. But it’s an important deal, there’s no question about that.” Ross also said that it’s crucial for the United States to focus on improving infrastructure. “It’s going to be unreal, the amount of grain we’re swimming in in this country,” he said. “We’ve got to improve infrastructure. We’ve got to get these internal markets built. That’s what we’re here to do.”
See BANDIT, Page A4