The first Earth day was celebrated 40 years ago, and since that date, a tremendous shift in favor of preserving our environment has taken place. Since much of the credit goes to our nation’s farmers, the National Corn Growers Association wrote in a recent article, we should acknowledge their contributions and increase grower awareness of the sustainability of their own operations.

“It only makes sense that growers would work to preserve land, water and air,” said NCGA President Darrin Ihnen, a family farmer in Hurley, S.D. “We need to conserve these resources for the survival of our farmers, which most of us have passed from generation to generation.”

According to USDA, today’s farmers produce 70 percent more corn per pound of nutrients than they did in the 1970s. Farmers are able to use less fertilizer because new high-tech equipment puts fertilizer directly over the plants’ roots instead of spreading it on the whole field, and in-seed technologies are constantly improving corn’s fertilizer-use efficiency.

Production agriculture has become increasing more efficient and environmentally friendly.  A study released last year from Field to Market shows that producing a bushel of corn has seen a 69 percent decrease in soil loss, 37 percent decrease in land and energy use, 30 percent decrease in greenhouse-gas emissions and 27 percent decrease in water application from 1987 to 2007. And each year, reduced tillage methods save 3.5 gallons of fuel per acre of cropland.

This Earth Day, April 22, farmers have a good tool to help them discover even more environmental efficiencies. Developed by Field to Market, the Fieldprint Calculator helps farmers assess the efficiency of their operations and improve their management of natural resources. You can check that out here.

Source: NCGA

Iowa Farmer Today recently posted the article “Loss or reduction of Bt could harm farmers,” written by Roger Elmore, with the Iowa State University Department of Agronomy, and Aaron Gassman and Erin Hodson, Department of Entomology. Below is an excerpt from the article.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) recently released a report, stating a trend of decreasing compliance with corn refuge across the United States. In total, the report found that 13.2 million acres — an area equal to the size of Iowa’s corn crop — are not in compliance.

Why does refuge compliance matter?

Many scientists agree at refuges delay or prevent pests from developing Bt resistance because susceptible pests emerging from the refuge mate with resistant pests from the Bt field.  This dilutes the resistance genes and maintains susceptibility of pest populations to Bt corn. If refuges are too small or too far from Bt fields, a shortage of refuge insects to mate with insects from Bt fields will occur.

What’s at stake?

At least three issues come to mind:

1. If compliance rates do not quickly improve, expect more demands for compliance, insistence to change the regulatory process, and/or steep penalties for noncompliance.
2. Refuge requirements from an integral part of insect resistance management programs. If some producers continue to ignore these requirements, insects may develop resistance to Bt corn sooner.
3. Third, every business enterprise — including corn production — bears a social role and responsibility.

Thanks to the 3 of every 4 corn growers who follow the refuge requirements.  For more information on refuge compliance, click here to read the full Iowa Farmer Today article, or click here to read our recent post, “Remember to Plant the Refuge.”

As you head into your fields this spring, be mindful of refuge requirements for all corn hybrids with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) technology.

Refuge is calculated based upon your state and county, as well as the trait(s) you are planting. Click here to download an easy-to-use IRM corn calculator. This calculator will help you determine the number of refuge acres required and planting configurations.

To help simplify the list of requirements for hybrids with Agrisure, YieldGard, Herculex and Genuity^TM SmartStax^TM – all of which appear in our current lineup of Latham® Hi‑Tech Hybrids – the University of Nebraska Extension recently published, “Bt Corn, Refuges and Insect Resistance Management for 2010.” NOTE: new Genuity SmartStax hybrids have been approved for reduced refuge in the Corn Belt of 5% for both above-and below-ground pests.

Refuges are required to help preserve Bt corn as an effective pest management tool well into the future. For more information about Insect Resistance Management, click here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandates that a refuge be planted for every B.t. corn field. Respect the Refuge and Corn Design® is a registered trademark of National Corn Growers Association.

Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds was a proud sponsor of the recent Iowa Corn Leadership Enhancement and Development Program’s (I-LEAD) international mission study to Korea and Vietnam. The delegation arrived March 12 in Seoul,

South Korea, and left Vietnam on March 21.

The purpose of this mission was to help develop export markets for four of Iowa’s agricultural products:  corn, soybeans, pork, and beef.

Members of I-LEAD blogged about their experiences through each leg of the journey.  Here are just a few of the many experiences they shared with blog readers:   

* Our first stop: the Agricultural Exhibition Hall. This impressive museum tells the story through the eyes of Korea’s Rural Development Agency. The Hall covered everything from high-density fruit culture to natural antibiotics for livestock and from bee venom to chemical fertilizer reduction technology.

* On Monday we met with officials from the Ag Trade Office of Korea to get a general overview of Korea’s agricultural markets. Then we headed off to meet with the Korean Feed Association and Nonghyup Feed Inc. (NOFI). These grain buyers and grain industry leaders had a lively dialogue with us about the quality of the 2009 corn crop, and we tried to learn more about their grain needs.

*Saturday was spent on the countryside visiting with Vietnamese corn and hog farmers.  The Class enjoyed being able to take time to meet with them and see production practices. An average corn farmer owns about 1-2 acres of land and all the fieldwork is still done by hand. The Class was also able to view a 200-sow, farrow-to-finish hog operation and talk with the farmer. On Saturday, the class was also able to visit a local wet market. 

Congratulations to the members on a trip full of great experiences! Thank you so much for sharing your stories with us. Click here to read the I-LEAD blog.

Saturday was National Ag Day, and we want to celebrate the holiday by thanking all of America’s farmers for helping feed and fuel our world.  

The National Ag Day program was established with the belief every American should:

1. Understand how food, fiber and renewable resource products are produced.
2. Value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy.
3. Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.
4. Acknowledge and consider career opportunities in the agriculture, food, fiber and renewable resource industries.

Below is a video that shares information about Ag Day and why farming is so important to our global community. Thank again for all you do.

National Ag Day Video

What story about your farm do you share with consumers to help educate them about agriculture?

Iowa 4-H hosted the “Keeping it Green” gala Feb. 20 at the Science Center in Des Moines. The gala brought in more than $20,000 for the Iowa State University Extension 4-H Youth Development program.

Latham was a proud sponsor of the gala, and John and I were incredibly impressed with the event. The Science Center was the perfect venue to highlight 4-H’s emphasis on science, engineering and technology. They also had interactive activities throughout the night, from rounds of silent auction items to live bidding for things like week-long stays in Florida or Colorado, to P. Buckley Moss prints.

I was thrilled to partake in the night’s activities with two of my best friends (pictured here). We met as roommates in the dorms our freshman year, served on the state 4-H council together, and have been best friends ever since. We pooled our money to purchase one of the auction items ? a weekend campout at the Iowa 4-H Camping Center ? and are looking forward to experiencing the outing with our husbands and kids.

The event was a win-win, raising money for a great cause and providing a great night of fun for all who attended. We really enjoyed seeing our 4-H friends and meeting new acquaintances. Congratulations to 4-H on a successful event!

About the Iowa 4-H Foundation

The Iowa 4-H Foundation provides the financial resources to develop and deliver quality 4-H youth programs throughout the state of Iowa. The opportunities provided by the Foundation help young people enhance their ability to use critical thinking, leadership, communication and social skills ? tools that will give them a competitive edge in their future endeavors. The Iowa 4-H Foundation is a charitable 501 (c) 3 organization with a governing board of 35 trustees.

Last Friday I attended a public workshop in Ankeny hosted by the Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Several panelists throughout the day addressed various competition issues in agriculture, including the livestock and seed industries.

A group of professors with expertise in antitrust, Intellectual property, public policy, and economics have been following the issue of “seed industry concentration” and blogged live from Friday’s DOJ/USDA workshop. I invite you to visit www.truthonthemarket.com and read their post, “On Seed industry concentration and its claimed effects.”

There are two lines in the aforementioned blog post that really sum up the overriding issue: “… turns out the traits farmers like best were created by one firm. As it happens, the only constraint that I know of on innovation is the willingness and ability to incur the risk and bear the cost of R&D.”

The cost of Research and Development (R&D) is a large one to bare. In fact, Monsanto invested more than $980 million last fiscal year. The company spends nearly $3 million a day on R&D related to new biotech traits, elite germplasm, breeding, new variety and hybrid development, and genomics research. Other R&D projects support Monsanto’s current products, including improved formulations of Roundup herbicide. (http://www.monsanto.com/investors/corporate_profile.asp)

But Monsanto is not the only company investing heavily to create new products that will help provide food and fuel for the world’s growing population. Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont also spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually to continually strengthen their own product pipelines. 

Fortunately, Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds has the privilege of working with the industry’s leading technology providers. Through our unique alliances and strategic partnerships, we’re able to offer products with a variety of trait and genetic packages. Our unique position as an independent, family-owned seed company allows us to provide farmers with the choices for products and traits that will best fit their unique farming operations including:

• Corn hybrids with Genuity^TM SmartStax^TM
• Corn hybrids with Genuity^TM VT Triple^TM Pro
• Corn hybrids with YieldGard® VT Triple with Roundup Ready 2 Technology^TM
• Corn hybrids with Herculex® XTRA
• Corn hybrids with Agrisure® 3000GT
• Corn hybrids with LibertyLink^TM
• Soybean brands with Genuity^TM Roundup Ready 2 Yield^TM
• Soybean brands with Roundup® Ready
• Soybean brands with LibertyLink^TM

Today I’m attending the first in a series of workshops hosted by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to discuss competition and regulatory issues affecting the agriculture industry. Converging for this hallmark event in Ankeny are sure to be a host of lawyers, PR professionals, members of the media, politicians, seed company representatives, as well as crop farmers and livestock producers.

It could very well be a three-ring circus. One blogger even called today’s public hearing on the seed industry a “Big Ticket, Vegas-style showdown” with a couple of heavyweights (i.e. DuPont and Monsanto) throwing punches and advancing the antitrust issue.

At the end of the day, I’m not hoping for any knockouts or drag downs. The entire agriculture industry will be better served when more “heavyweights” enter the arena.

More technology providers means increased competition, and increased competition means more choices for everyone from seed suppliers to crop producers.

_________________

The American Society of Agronomy on March 9 presented its 2010 Champion of Agronomy Award to Congressman Tom Latham (R-IA-4^th).

Agriculture has always been a very important part of Congressman Latham’s life.  He grew up near the small farming community of Alexander, Iowa, and later served as co-owner of Latham Seed Co.

“It is a great honor to present the American Society of Agronomy’s 2010 Champion of Agriculture Award to Representative Tom Latham,” said ASA Board of Directors Representative Dr. Kathleen Delate of Iowa State University. “As a farmer, Congressman Latham knows the importance of conservation to ensure the long-term productivity of our agricultural lands.”

This is the first year of the Champion of Agronomy Award and Congressman Latham is the inaugural recipient.

“The American Society of Agronomy provides an important forum for the exchange of knowledge and ideas among scientists studying agriculture worldwide,” said Congressman Latham upon receiving the award. “We must continue to make advances in agricultural science and conservation so America’s farmers and ranchers will continue to be able to provide the food, feed, fiber, and fuel crops that we depend on. We’ve taken great strides in this arena in the last several decades, and I know that the coming years will bring even more progress. This is critical work, and I look forward to our continued partnership. I am honored to accept this award.”

We are so proud of Tom and his continued support of the agriculture industry. Congratulations on your honor!

Click here to read the full article.