Good morning.
A group of farmers in the UK are baling on the record-high heat in a pretty unique way...
A swimming pool made entirely out of hay bales.
What started as, admittedly, a "hangover cure" turned into a 4-day, 13-person project. (The idea originally came to Jack Smith and his friends while they were at the pub, amidst record-high temperatures in Britain.)
When the weather is this hot... hay, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Stories:
- The EPA, Ethanol, and Endangered Species Saga
- Let It Rain: WaterTech Startup Lands Funding
- A Ukraine-Russia Refresh
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The Center for Biological Diversity to the EPA: |
The EPA just got served.
Objection, Your Honor: Last Wednesday, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) sued the EPA, challenging its E15 emergency biofuels blending waiver.
The CBD claims the EPA didn’t "fully assess" the damage the rule would have on endangered species, specifically due to land conversion and increased fertilizer/pesticide use.
Refresher: Hoping to bring down gas prices, the EPA issued the waiver in May—the first time that E15 has ever been allowed for summertime use.
Sustained: The environmental group says higher ethanol blends result in more corn being grown, and therefore, more fertilizer and pesticides running off into streams.
Oh… and there’s also that UN report pointing at agricultural land use change as a primary driver of global biodiversity loss.
Overruled: In its updated 2022 rules, the EPA noted that "increasing the domestic production and use of renewable fuels will… support rural economies, American agriculture… and reduce the impacts of climate change."
Sidebar soundbites:
"The renewable fuel program is a colossal boondoggle that gobbles up millions of acres of land. It’s a false solution to the climate crisis." —Brett Hartl, CBD
"It is not surprising that an organization with a long history of disdain for beneficial, ag-based biofuels, would base their attack on the RFS citing research that has been substantially discredited…" —Troy Bredenkamp, Renewable Fuel Association
Where this goes: The jury’s still out on this one, but when environmentalism, agriculture, and bureaucracy clash, you can bet it’s gonna get interesting.
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→ Soiltech collects check. A $2.5M funding round is headed to Soiltech Wireless, a remote crop monitoring and traceability company that offers a pre-configured, pre-charged sensor for farmers to monitor soil conditions and crop quality.
→ Mooore cows needed. The mid-year cowherd inventory report released last week by the USDA was 2M down from last year, the fourth straight year of contracting cowherd numbers, and the smallest mid-year inventory since 2015.
→ Fraudulent grains. A Minnesota farmer has been indicted on three counts of wire fraud after he allegedly purchased non-GMO corn and soybeans and resold them as organic from 2014 to 2020—for a total of $46M.
→ Quarantine restrictions taking flight. A commercial turkey farm in Iowa has been released from its highly pathogenic avian influenza quarantine restrictions—the last of the state’s farms to exit protocol.
→ Digital feature shift. The Granular Agronomy subscription service, including its Nitrogen Monitoring feature, will be discontinued as of Aug. 31, according to a statement from parent company Corteva Agriscience.
→ Food crisis solutions? The U.S., India, Israel, and the UAE announced a collaboration to establish integrated agricultural parks across India to combat waste and maximize banana, onion, potato, rice, and spice yields in one of the world’s top food exporters.
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Making it Rain: WaterTech Startup Lands Funding |
Where’s the water?
Irrigation accounts for 70% of total global freshwater use. The UN is forecasting a 40% shortfall in freshwater resources by 2030. That presents a real problem.
Irrigation innovation: Enter Lumo. Lumo is a smart-irrigation startup looking to address water use efficiency through technology. Their solution: smart valves and software.
How it works
- Individual smart valves with built-in flow meters connect to a cloud-based network
- The Lumo system can fully automate irrigation timing and regulate precisely how much water goes to each individual row
- Health check – the system can automatically detect and report any leaks or blocks in the lines
Winning with water: Lumo announced that it has raised $2.1M in pre-seed funding led by Fall Line Capital to help scale and commercialize its smart-irrigation systems.
Soundbite: "Water is one of our most critical resources in agriculture. Yet, very few companies are tackling the problem in a practical and scalable way. The Lumo team’s unique blend of hardware and software expertise will enable them to engineer irrigation controls that optimize for reliability and deployment." Baptiste Tellier, Fall Line Capital director
Where this goes: In the future, Lumo has the potential to be a leading organization in developing a digital water record that could be used to unlock enhanced water reporting and trading on a global scale.
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Magnetic's Must-See Stuff |
Fun fact: The Magnetic Ag Job Board helped place a job seeker last week! Get your jobs posted in front of some of the most ambitious agriculture professionals in the industry.
Social media management can be a slog… especially if it’s part of a marketer’s looong list of responsibilities. So get the easy, affordable, results-oriented help that you need and chat with the Imagine Content team today.
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We were a little surprised to come across one certain headline this weekend…
So we figured we’d see if you could fill in the headline blank:
How Dairy-Based ______ Is Finally Gaining a U.S. Hoof-Hold
Was it:
Answer at the bottom of the email.
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The Russia-Ukraine Refresh |
A new shipping agreement was a ray of hope on Russia and Ukraine’s troubled waters. But it was quickly dimmed by a port city provocation.
A-boat time: Turkish and UN mediation over two months of talks led to agreement for safe passage in and out of Ukrainian ports. The ports have been blocked since the war began on February 24th, which has stagnated grain exports.
The dollars: Ukraine says they have $10B in grain for sail. And 60M tonnes of grain are expected to be exported in the next 8-9 months. Pre-war levels were 5M tonnes a month.
The war-related blockage and sanctions have driven 47M people into acute hunger. Russia denies responsibility and points the finger at Western sanctions and Ukrainian port approach mines.
The damage: Less than 24 hours after reaching the safe passage agreement, Russian missiles struck the port city of Odessa, drawing condemnation from global leaders and leaving questions about Russia’s commitment to the deal. The missiles didn’t hit the port’s grain storage area.
Where this goes: In the aftermath, many questions remain—including how grain movement will be facilitated by insurers and executed by carriers.
Insurance underwriters are on uncertain seas awaiting additional details of how the brokered deal will work. The Lloyd’s Market Association has marked Ukrainian waters as a high-risk zone, requiring approval from underwriters.
Soundbite: "The will is there for this humanitarian initiative, but underwriters cannot give any idea of the sort of cover or prices until they know more," said one insurance source.
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Written & Edited by Kevin Cross, Aaron Dunajeski, Kelsey Faivre, Ashley Scoby, and Travis Martin
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