In other agribusiness news
Matt Rice has joined the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association, St. Louis, Missouri, as membership director. Rice, of Godfrey, Illinois, previously was director of projects and grants for Congressman John Shimkus. The Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association, which is headquartered in St. Louis, represents about 700 companies from throughout North America that manufacture shortline equipment.
Chevy Davidson has been named as North America sales representative for livestock equipment for Osborne Industries, Osborne, Kansas. Davidson also will assist in the distribution of Osborne’s pig management equipment in the Midwest. Before joining Osborne, Davidson worked in sales at Ag Property Solutions of Emmetsburg, Iowa.
Stan Wise has been hired as communications coordinator for the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition, Pierre, South Dakota. His duties will include coordinating overall communications on behalf of coalition directors and staff and membership. Wise will work directly with Cindy Zenk, SDSH coordinator, on projects including print, audio, video releases, and social media campaigns at the upcoming Soil Health Conference in Pierre.
AgriThority, Kansas City, Missouri, and knoell, Mannheim, Germany, have joined forces to provide the development services of AgriThority with the global registration and regulatory capabilities of knoell to provide a full-service approach for companies with products, technologies or innovations entering new markets around the world. “This joint effort with knoell allows AgriThority to provide an even higher level of regulatory and compliance services to new and established clients around the world,” says Jerry Duff, AgriThority president and founder. “We’re excited to work with our colleagues at knoell to develop and prepare cutting-edge technologies for market introductions.” Felix Knoell, CEO of knoell says, “The alliance of AgriThority with knoell allows us now to offer the full range of regulatory, strategic, scientific and product development services to technology companies from start-up alliances to multinational basic manufacturers. I am sure the clients will appreciate that.”
Farmers National Company, Omaha, Nebraska, a farm and ranch management company, has hired Jason Langston of Parsons, Kansas, as a professional farm manager and licensed real estate salesperson. Langston works with non-resident landowners to increase their income and enhance their ownership enjoyment, while providing a greater peace of mind on their farm ownership.
Michael Wisner has been hired as vice president of grain at the Garden City Co-op, Inc., Garden City, Kansas. Wisner will be responsible for implementing the cooperative’s strategic challenge and strengthening the grain business in the future, according to General Manager Jeff Boyd. Wisner has a background of buying, selling and hedging a variety of raw materials, including grains and energies. Wisner was most recently director of purchasing for Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy, Phillipsburg, Kansas.
Earl Lewis has joined the Kansas Department of Agriculture as chief engineer for the agency’s Division of Water Resources. Lewis will manage the personnel and programs of KDA–DWR and administer laws related to conservation, management, use and control of water and water structures in Kansas. Lewis has more than 20 years with the Kansas Water Office where he has been serving as the director since December 2018. He began his career with KDA–DWR in 1992, and has been a licensed professional engineer since 1998.
Molly K. McAdams, Ph.D., has joined the Texas Beef Council as its new executive vice president. McAdams replaces Richard Wortham, who will retire from the position in December after 30 years of leadership with TBC. McAdams will be responsible for providing vision and strategic planning, ensuring TBC’s fiscal health, optimizing staff recruitment and development, overseeing programs, serving as a staff liaison to several committees and numerous other duties. Before accepting her new position with the TBC, McAdams was the president and co-founder of Om3, where she used her in-depth knowledge of food and animal science, marketing and manufacturing to help small to mid-sized meat producers grow their businesses.
The Kansas Department of Agriculture and the State Conservation Commission have hired Andrew Lyon to serve as the executive director for the agency’s Division of Conservation. The KDA–DOC works to protect and enhance Kansas’ natural resources through the management and implementation of programs to support water conservation, water quality, land reclamation and watershed management. Lyon brings nearly 15 years of experience in public service in environmental science and conservation, focused on watershed protection, hydrologic modeling and soil health.
BASF, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and AGCO, Duluth, Georgia, have joined forces for BASF’s Operation Weed Eradication initiative. The collaboration will provide farmers with agronomic expertise to help promote best practices for on-farm eradication of pigweed. Beyond chemistry, implementing sound cultural and mechanical practices is the key to help eliminate seed production of pigweed.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers presented the third annual Davidson Prize to the top three innovative products selected from AEM honorees. Winning entries included John Deere’s Quik-Knecht system, Smart Guided Systems’ intelligent spray control system and Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation’s tractor implement management.
SureFire Ag Systems, Atwood, Kansas, and Kinze Manufacturing, Williamsburg, Iowa, have reached an agreement that will allow SureFire to install its liquid fertilizer planter solutions on Kinze planters before they leave the factory beginning in 2021. SureFire will work with Kinze dealers and professionally install systems in space within Kinze’s manufacturing facility. The systems include multiple product applications, high-speed planting, row monitoring and application rates from 1 GPA to over 50 GPA. Kinze will contine to offer its own factory installed systems, too.
