Good morning.
They say some streets are paved in gold. But for a greener world, some streets may just be paved in... pig biowaste?
University of Illinois researchers are looking to turn pig manure into a new binder for pavement (and transportation fuel).
We won't boar you with the details. But in essence, the team plans on using high temperatures and high pressure to transform swine biowaste into biocrude oil—a process that mimics petroleum formation.
Final results of the research are still somewhere down the road.
Stories:
- Golden State’s State of Emergency
- Moline Gives the Green Light on Right to Repair
- AgTech Startup Mineral is Official
|
Golden State’s State of Emergency |
The bear donning California’s flag? A drizzly bear. (Great dad jokes, we got ‘em.)
Surfing the streets: It’s been a bit rainy lately on the west coast—so much so that they’re calling it a "bomb cyclone," which comes with high winds, heavy rains and snow, and power outages.
The extreme weather event in California has caused flooded streets, toppled trees, and at least 18 deaths. President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency.
Put it in rainference: According to the National Weather Service, Dec. 26-Jan. 4 has been the wettest 10-day period in downtown San Francisco since 1871. Earlier this week, 90% of the California population was under a flood watch.
Snow’s here too. Across California, the snowpack was 191% of normal to date and 76% of the April 1 average (that’s usually the peak). Building an ark sounds prudent right about now.
Out to sea: Oh, well, at least this will help with the drought in Cali, right? Wrong. Sorry.
Dr. Thomas Borch with Colorado State University points out consistency is key for rain ending drought—and it needs to be that way throughout the year. He says the fast and heavy storms the state has seen recently won’t help since stormwater runs into rivers, lakes, and oceans.
California dairyin’: A dairy farmer near Sacramento, Hank Van Exel, says he expects 75% of the extra precipitation to go to the ocean. His area has seen the impact of the bomb cyclone, with winds up to 60 mph that have taken hay barns and his neighbor’s freestall dairy barn.
Soundbite: "They are saying that area might have to evacuate," Van Exel said. "By far this is the worst we have ever experienced. The problem is that this storm is relentless. We get a six-hour break and then you lose everything you gain the next night."
The only gouda news is that Van Excel hasn’t had to dump any milk so far.
Make it rain (no, please don’t): The next system in California is set to arrive today and last into the weekend. By late next week, there should be some sweet, dry relief.
|
→ Breaking fresh ground. There will soon be a new leader of the Senate Ag Committee, after Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow—the first female Senator from the state—announced she won’t run for reelection in 2024.
→ Need a rescue from the fescue. Experts are telling beef producers to be on the lookout for warning signs of fescue foot in their cattle, after several reports of the disease in Missouri.
→ What’s ahead. The USDA announced several program improvements, including focuses on fertilizer production expansion, risk protection for underserved producers, investment into meat and poultry processing, and more.
→ Going against the grain. Two companies have been hit with conspiracy, smuggling, and wire fraud charges after a scheme to bring non-organic grain into the U.S. and sell it as organic.
→ Soybean slowdown. Although China accounts for 60% of worldwide soybean imports, that demand is expected to decrease through 2030.
→ Too egg-spensive. Shoppers looking for eggs in California are in for a rude awakening, with bare shelves in many grocery stores—and $7/dozen prices in the stores that do have supply.
|
Moline Gives the Green Light on Right to Repair |
"Attention farmers. Attention farmers. You may now open your tool chests."
Why? Because the Big Buck in Moline said so.
JD, AFBF, and the MOU: As we hinted at in our Tuesday edition, Deere & Co. and the American Farm Bureau Federation signed a memorandum of understanding last Sunday that ensures farmers can repair their own John Deere equipment (cue the applause).
Refresher: "Right to repair" has been an issue between equipment manufacturers and farmers for quite some time. As equipment technology advances, companies like Deere have denied repair access to farmers and independent mechanics—requiring that repairs be made by dealers and authorized repair shops.
The manufacturers cite concerns about proprietary knowledge, cybersecurity, and safety.
But in the middle of a busy planting or harvesting season, waiting on a dealer repair or paying a big repair fee for a quick in-field software upgrade understandably rubs farmers the wrong way.
Farmers unite: The announcement took place in Puerto Rico at AFBF’s Annual Convention. And with millions of farmer-members, you better believe the Farm Bureau crowd went wild:
"This will enable you and your independent mechanics to identify and fix problems. And you'll get it at a fair and reasonable price." — AFBF President Zippy Duvall
Deere on board: As pressure mounts in states across the country to pass "right to repair" laws, Deere & Co. (the nation’s largest farm equipment manufacturer by a looong shot) noted excitement about this private sector agreement as well:
"We look forward to working alongside the American Farm Bureau and our customers… to ensure farmers continue to have the tools and resources they need to diagnose, maintain and repair their equipment." — Deere SVP David Gilmore
|
Innovation has always been at the heart of farming.
Dreaming, inventing, and experimenting with new tools, equipment, and products is what allows farmers to continue improving their operations.
And if there’s any company at the forefront of helping farmers for the future, it’s Beck’s.
That’s exactly why the largest family-owned retail seed company in the United States launched its Practical Farm Research (PFR)® program.
With 400 studies across 700+ acres, PFR evaluates hundreds of new management practices and inputs, delivering unbiased agronomic data to help farmers make better decisions and increase profitability.
So, do you want in on all the intel, the know-how, the knowledge…?
Reserve your spot for an upcoming PFR Insight Meeting today.
|
A vaccine for…honeybees? Yes, you read that right.
Dalan Animal Health, Inc., was just granted a conditional license from the USDA to vaccinate honeybees against American Foulbrood disease, which is caused by Paenibacillus larvae.
Up until this moment, there wasn’t a disease prevention option. So this is great news for honeybees, beekeepers, and mankind.
How much of the global food supply relies on pollination from honeybees?
Answer at the bottom of the email.
|
AgTech Startup Mineral is Official |
The i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed for newly minted Alphabet company Mineral, a platform to help scale sustainable agriculture. Formerly known as the "Computational Agriculture Project," it has gathered data from 10% of the world’s farmland. That’s 450M acres.
Spell it out: As Google’s parent company, Alphabet is no stranger to data—and data is the ABCs for Mineral. A solar-powered rover with cameras captures large datasets of crop and weed imagery and combines with ag data from other sources like satellite, farm equipment, and public databases.
This data from 17 different crops in every growth stage and many different environments comes together, and machine learning identifies patterns and insights about plant health and growth.
Mineral has been collaborating with established ag partners, including more than a dozen currently. Syngenta and Driscoll’s are among those collaborators.
Companies can benefit from the software tools that help understand and predict plant response to different factors. But in the future, growers can also benefit from Mineral’s AI and machine learning to improve precision ag and predict yield estimates.
Soundbite: "Five years from now, I would hope the tools we imagine, a machine learning enabled co-pilot for example, is no more remarkable than using Google Maps for navigation." — Elliott Grant, Mineral CEO
|
Have friends or coworkers who'd love our newsletter too? Give them your unique referral link (below) and get Magnetic gear when you hit certain referral counts.
Your link:
*Curious where you stand? You can always check your referral hub and see rewards here.
|
One-third. You can learn more about this interesting vaccine for honeybees here.
|
|
|
Written & Edited by Sheridan Wimmer, Kevin Cross, Rachel Robinson, Amelia VanLandegen, and Ashley Scoby
Were you forwarded this email? Sign up here.
Best jobs in agriculture → Magnetic Ag Job Board
|
ADVERTISE
Not feeling Magnetic anymore?
Break our hearts and unsubscribe here.
Magnetic Ag
11500 N Ambassador Drive, Suite 306
Kansas City, MO 64153
United States
|
|
|
|
