In other agribusiness news…

Payton Terry has been named regional sales manager of the southwest for Diamond V of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Terry will call on dairy and beef producers, nutritionists, veterinarians and feed manufacturers in Texas and New Mexico. Diamond V is a global nutrition and health company.

Ellen Cushing has been named Midwest regional sales and marketing manager for ImmuCell, Portland, Maine, and will serve dairy and beef producers in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. In her role, she will build relationships with animal health distributors, veterinarians, calf raisers, dairy farmers and cow-calf operators.

Delanie Crist has joined the staff of the National Sorghum Producers, Lubbock, Texas, as communication coordinator. She will provide public relations and marketing communications support to the organization and serve as associate editor for Sorghum Grower magazine.

Shahira Stafford has been hired as vice president of government affairs of the Topeka-based Kansas Grain and Feed Association. Stafford previously served as KGFA’s vice president of communications before transitioning into a legislative profession.

Kent Nutrition Group, Muscatine, Iowa, has opened a new barn for swine nutrition research. The new swine unit has a state-of-the-art feeding system, treatment-specific drinking water plumbing assembly, along with zone-targeted environmental controls, waste management containment and animal-friendly loadout capabilities. All of these combined set the stage for the next generation of swine nutrition research for KNG. Bruce Read, vice president of nutrition and product development, began planning the facility a few years ago and was driven to find the latest technology to help his team bring new products to the nation’s pork producers.

DigiFarm VBN LLC, an agricultural technology company, Monticello, Iowa, has signed a supplier agreement with AGCO Corporation, Duluth, Georgia, a manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment solutions. The supplier agreement will offer DigiFarm Virtual Base Network cellular hardware and GNSS corrections for all models of agriculture GNSS receivers through Challenger, Fendt and Massey Ferguson dealers in North America. This will enable growers to maximize field efficiency using high-precision GNSS technology to avoid equipment overlap, reducing fuel consumption as well as seed, chemical and fertilizer costs. 

The National Junior Hereford Association’s Faces of Leadership Conference, sponsored by the Hereford Youth Foundation of America, drew 89 NJHA members from multiple states to Kansas City, Missouri, for a week of leadership and educational activities. The three-day event focused on leadership development and included tours of Kansas State University and the K-State Purebred Unit, Manhattan, Kansas, BioZyme Inc., St. Joseph, Missouri, and Jensen Bros., Courtland, Kansas. Conference participants heard inspiring messages from guest speakers Amberley Snyder, Elk Ridge, Utah, and Heather Schultz, Atlanta, Georgia.

Farmer’s Business Network, Inc., San Carlos, California, provides new technologies and resources for farmers across America, and K Coe Isom, Wichita, Kansas, an ag consulting and CPA firm, have announced a marketing agreement benefiting both FBN members and customers of K Coe Isom. Through the agreement, Farmer’s Business Network, Inc. has appointed K Coe Isom as its exclusive accounting and financial consulting resource in their elite partner and adviser network.

Goering Farms, McPherson, Kansas, has recently completed the training needed to become a BioZyme master dealer. As a master dealer, Goering Farms, had at least one or more of its employees complete multiple online training modules to further their education about the brands and product lines St. Joseph, Missouri-based BioZyme offers. Master dealers will be able to share their expanded knowledge of the BioZyme products with potential customers.

Eagle Pass Ranch, an industry-leading beef genetics company based out of Highmore, South Dakota, is now a member of the US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. This membership was approved at the recent USRSB general assembly meeting in Denver, Colorado. Eagle Pass Ranch is the first member from the Northern Plains region. The USRSB includes McDonalds, Wendy’s, Arby’s, WalMart and CostCo, plus the four largest beef processors, Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National. Allied Industry members and Civil Society members complete the Roundtable.

DuPont Industrial Biosciences, Wilmington, Delaware, and Archer Daniels Midland were announced as joint winners of the 2017 Innovation in Bioplastics Award. The Bioplastics Council—a division of the Plastics Industry Association—honored the companies with the second annual award for their groundbreaking process to produce furan dicarboxylic methyl ester, a bio-based monomer, from fructose.