Ag Innovation Forum: “Tech Not For Tech’s Sake”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (February 14, 2022) – One of the speakers at the Council’s 2022 Ag Innovation Forum asserted that developing technology for its own sake was not the best way to connect digital engineering and advance science to the farm. Matt Olson, manager of John Deere’s Precision Ag Go-To-Market group, said “Technology was moving as fast as it ever has, and will never be slower.” But he noted that advancing tech needed to blend with “farmer intuition and institutional knowledge.” 

That notion of connectivity was a strong underlying theme of the day-long forum at Union Station that featured 17 experts in ag innovation, participating in three panel discussions. Chelsea Good, vice president of government and industry affairs, Livestock Marketing Association, served as event emcee. 

In his keynote address, Ben Johnson, vice president of programs, BioSTL, said growers are overwhelmed with innovation from various pathways – from input companies; coops and retailers; equipment suppliers; processors, USDA/Land Grant Universities; startups.  “As distractions, they can all add up to reduced grower production.” 

Dr. Parag Chitnis, associate director for programs, NIFA, talked about data science application initiatives that would lead to a national community learning network to promote economic mobility. He described an agriculture of the future that would produce food that is sufficient, sustainable, safe, affordable, nutritious and culturally compatible.

Keynoter Dr. Elena Rice, chief science officer, Genus PLC, made the point that healthier animals create a more sustainable food system. She described her company’s research in gene-editing as an ethical commitment to advance new breeding science to earn consumer trust. 

Dr. Michael Helmstetter, co-founder and CEO, TechAccel, wrapped up the Forum with a challenge to attendees – and a broader audience of Midwest tech innovators – to make Kansas City America’s most entrepreneurial city. “We owe it to ourselves,” he said.

This year’s Innovation Forum featured three panels: Geospatial Engineering, Automation & Digital Technology; Sustainable Agriculture; Focus on Entrepreneurship.

• Geospatial Engineering, Automation & Digital Technology:  Moderator Brad Fabbri, chief science officer, TechAccel, observed that the climate for ag tech investment was good. Panelist Matt Olson observed that digital ecosystem apps for farmers had to be designed to fit their needs – “not just tech for tech’s sake.” As for autonomous vehicle operation, he said it is not coming; “It’s already here.” Dr. Raj Khosla, agronomy department head, Kansas State University, stressed that monies earned from technology systems must not be made from the sensors and equipment per se but from the data it gathers. Dallas Ford, director global business development, Sentera, claimed that improved digital technology was improving engagement between growers and field consultants. Dr. Tom Eickhoff, chief science officer, The Climate Corporation/Digital Farming, predicted agriculture’s future would be influenced by Major League Baseball’s MoneyBall model. Baseball changed when it became data driven. “Agriculture will follow.”

• Sustainable Agriculture: Moderator Amy Skoczlas Cole, executive vice president, Farm Journal, led a group environmental and forestry expects in a discussion which concluded that any system changes in sustainable agriculture will likely start with producers. And 70% of them are not using sensor data apps. Michael Doane, a farmer and a director with The Nature Conservancy, said agriculture offers the best changes to mitigate land degradation. “This issue gets less attention than climate change,” he said, adding the solutions are hopeful and exciting:  “So why are we not doing it?” Dr. Sarah Lovell, director, Center for Agroforestry, University of Missouri, added a new dimension to the common perception of agriculture. She asked why not look at agroforestry as equal to crop growing and livestock production. Forests are part of the ag landscape, she said, as windbreaks and habitats for various wildlife species. Trees also sequester carbon. Dr. Sara Place, chief sustainability officer, Elanco Animal health, pointed out the short comings of ESG (environmental impact, social impact and governance) scores as they relate to livestock production. Groups have tried to assign limits for food animal carbon emissions. But they’re difficult to administer. If regulators severely limited carbon emissions from food animals, the negative ramifications would include a cutback in overall protein production. “We’d be eating a diet of sugar,” she scoffed.

• Focus on Entrepreneurship: Moderator J.J. Jones, co-founder, Roots & Legacies, guided a panel of energetic entrepreneurs through a discussion of ups and downs and reasons for starting tech businesses in agriculture. The consensus was that tech’s mission was to make producers’ lives easier. Tech startups can help farmers and ranchers comply with environmental rules or be part of the solutions to lower emissions and mitigate soil degradation. Entrepreneurs, the group agreed, are disrupters and can have meaningful, lasting impact on growers and food animal producers.

The panel included Kevin Johansen, founder and CEO of Ag Butler; Shekar Gupta, founder and CEO of MyAniML; Ryan Raguse, co-founder and president, Bushel; Rob Forsythe, co-founder and CEO, Milk Moovement; and Martha Schlicher, entrepreneur-in-resident, BioGenerator. Some of the advice they offered: 

• Be clear about your direction and be ready to adjust course; 

• Know when to pivot; 

• Be a listener; 

• Be patient; 

• Cultivate a network of savvy advisors (not agents); 

• Be careful when “taking early money; keep financial options open.  

All of them concurred that passion drives successful entrepreneurs. And they suggested not focusing on successes alone. Learn from the disappointments. 

Dr. Schlicher with BioSTL’s BioGenerator, described the current investment climate between Coastal and Midwest/Heartland. There is not a lot of companies in the Midwest to lure Coastal money, she said. Coastal investors have high costs and lately are having a difficult time keeping employees. “But they’re thinking are about the opportunities emerging in the Heartland.”

Ag Innovation Is Focus for Feb. 10 Forum in Kansas City

Virtual Participation Available

January 31, 2022, KANSAS CITY, MO:  Cutting-edge developments in ag innovation will be the focus for a February 10 forum in Kanas City at Union Station.   “The goals for the forum are to celebrate and showcase new technology emerging in agriculture,” says Bob Petersen, executive director of the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City, which is hosting the event.

The event will feature keynote presentations from several nationally prominent experts:

• Ben Johnson, Vice President of Programs, BioSTL, “Agtech Innovation – Bridging Urban and Rural Economic Vitality.”

• Dr. Parag Chitnis, Associate Director for Programs, National Institute for Food and Agriculture, “Agriculture of the Future: People, Places, and Products.”

• Dr. Elena Rice, Chief Scientific Officer, Genus PLC, “Healthier Animals, A More Sustainable Food System: The promise of gene editing.”

Three panel discussions will delve into more specific topics:

• Geospatial engineering, automation & digital technology in agriculture. Leading equipment providers and technology experts will highlight their efforts. Moderated by: Dr. Brad Fabbri, Chief Science Officer, TechAccel.

  • Matt Olson, Product Marketing Manager – Precision Ag, John Deere.

  • Dr. Raj Khosla, Agronomy Department Head, Kansas State University. 

  • Dallas Ford, Director Global Business Development, Sentera. 

  • Dr. Tom Eickhoff, Chief Science Officer, The Climate Corporation and Digital Farming.

• Successful new-to-market concepts from entrepreneurs that encompass plant and animal agricultural and feature new platforms to enhance productivity. Moderated by: J.J. Jones, Co-Founder, Roots & Legacies.

  • Kevin Johansen, Founder & CEO, Ag Butler.

  • Shekhar Gupta, Founder & CEO, MyAnIML. 

  • Ryan Raguse, Co-Founder & President, Bushel. 

  • Dr. Martha Schlicher, Entrepreneur-in-Resident, BioGenerator. 

  • Robert Forsythe, Co-Founder & CEO, Milk Moovement. 

• Efforts to build more sustainable systems featuring local to global perspectives across a broad range of the food and agricultural spectrum. Moderated by: Amy Skoczlas Cole, Executive Vice President, Farm Journal.

  • Michael Doane, Global Managing Director, Food & Freshwater Systems, The Nature Conservancy.

  • Dr. Sarah Lovell, Director, Center for Agroforestry, University of Missouri.

  • Dr. Sara Place, Chief Sustainability Officer, Elanco Animal Health.

The emcee for the forum will be Chelsea Good, Vice President Government & Industry Affairs, Livestock Marketing Association

Registration details and further information are available at:  www.agbizkc.com.

Digging Deeper...

The National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) released a report in December 2020 – “Employment Opportunities for College Graduates in Food, Agriculture, Renewable Natural Resources and the Environment, United States, 2020-2025” – showing that as the nation places greater emphasis on agricultural sciences and business to meet the challenges of developing complex global food systems for a growing population, a growing bounty of employment opportunities is presenting itself for U.S. college graduates. The NIFA report estimates nearly 59,400 jobs annually between 2020 and 2025 will be available in the agriculture sector of the economy. The question is, how are they going to be filled? Kansas City-based DeBruce Foundation has answers and strategies.  By Dennis McLaughlin, McLaughlin Writers LLC. Source: Kristie Larson, Strategic Relationship Manager, The DeBruce Foundation; Chanelle Zak, Community and Multi-Media Coordinator, The DeBruce Foundation; Jennifer Ryder Fox, Ph.D., dean of the College of Agriculture at California State University, Chico.

DeBruce Foundation Takes An Agile Approach To Workforce Development

Ten years ago Yahoo News ran a story entitled “College Majors That Are Useless.” The article ranked degrees in agriculture, animal science and horticulture among the top five diplomas to avoid “if you are going to school in hopes of graduating to more job opportunities.” Theater and fashion design were the other two (since you asked). The piece was written by an award-winning, Hawaii-based freelance writer, actor and filmmaker who says when he is not banging out copy and screenplays, he surfs and spear fishes for dinner. So, questioning his bone fides for researching such an assignment on academia and agriculture was justified. 

Blowback on the article was swift and biting. Jennifer Ryder Fox, Ph.D., dean of the College of Agriculture at California State University, published a rebuttal the next day in the online media outlet Growing Home, a nonprofit food pantry organization in the Denver area. “One might be led to believe that the author has something against eating, wearing clothes, enjoying a natural landscape, or smelling a bouquet of roses,” she wrote. “What other reason could he have for singling out agriculture, animal science, and horticulture as three of the five most useless degrees? His rationale and indeed the original rankings mentioned in his article are certainly not based on fact.”

In her piece Dr. Fox cited a recent (at the time) study conducted by Purdue University and funded by USDA that projected an estimated 54,400 annual openings for college graduates in food, renewable energy, and the environment between 2010 and 2015. Or 272,000 jobs total over the five years. The study also found that only 53,500 students with ag/food sector majors would graduate each year over that five year period, amounting to a shortfall of 25,000 positions unfilled over the period. 

Commenting on the situation in California back then, Dr. Fox said the California Community College Centers for Excellence had completed an environmental scan of the agriculture value chain in California and found that there [were] 2.5 million individuals employed in more than 800 job titles within the agriculture value chain in the state. The average annual salary for agricultural value chain workers [was] $50,000. “While the number of production jobs is expected to decrease in the next five years,” she explained, “ a net increase of 181,000 jobs [was] expected throughout the entire agricultural value chain, which includes support, research, technology, production, processing/packaging, marketing, and sales and distribution.” 

The challenge for the overall  U.S. economy going forward is to attract, train, inspire and place qualified people into new jobs and career tracks that are emerging as advancing technology creates new capacities to create, design, produce, transport, market and track. Just a few, among others. 

Over the last ten years there has been a growing need for educated agriculturalists, and projections estimate particularly strong double-digit growth in agricultural careers such as agricultural inspectors, animal scientists, food scientists and technologists, natural sciences managers, pest control workers, soil and plant scientists, and veterinarians. Not to mention how adaptation of advanced technology into the entire agriculture sector of the economy – sensors, drones, mapping and data collection systems, GPS, robotics, artificial intelligence et al – is calling for a new generation of ag engineers and technology specialists. 

One more wrinkle. The Purdue study found that ag industry employers, prefer to hire graduates with agriculture and life science majors because most of them have been brought up on farms and in rural areas and have a natural affinity for ag job descriptions and requirements. But those numbers are dwindling as fourth and fifth generation sons and daughters opt for careers in the big city.  As mentioned above, even if the ag industry is posting some 54,500 job openings each year, there is still a shortage of 1,000 candidates annually to fill them.  

Enter The DeBruce Foundation

So is anyone addressing the situation? Yes. The DeBruce Foundation. Founded in 1988 The DeBruce Foundation is a national organization with an all-encompassing goal to expand pathways to overall economic growth and opportunity for individuals and communities.  A noble goal. But the Foundation has been working with a different blueprint. It set out to accomplish its mission by expanding the traditional model of simply allocating funds to humanitarian, civic and philanthropic groups. Paul DeBruce, the founder of The DeBruce Foundation and former chairman and CEO of DeBruce Grain, Inc., assembled a team of experts from various professions and sectors of the economy to identify “transformative opportunities to make an even greater public impact for decades to come.”

Mr. DeBruce had the ‘right stuff’ for the mission (to borrow the term from author Thomas Wolfe’s book and movie entitled the same). He grew DeBruce Grain into an agricultural industry giant which comprised grain facilities, grain trading, grain and oilseed processing and operated, as well, fertilizer terminals and trading and feed handling operations and ingredient trading in 75 locations throughout the United States and Mexico. Mr. DeBruce has also chaired the Kansas City Federal Reserve Board of Directors and presided over the Terminal Grain Elevator Merchants Association (TEGMA). He has served on the boards of the National Grain and Feed Association, Kansas City Board of Trade, Civic Council of Kansas City, American Royal and Customer Advisory Board to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. “His leadership as a trustee of The Nelson-Atkins museum of Art and other Kansas City non-profit organizations has resulted in lasting impact for the Kansas City community,” notes the Foundation’s leadership.

Despite Mr. DeBruce’s ties to agriculture and the Foundation’s location in Kansas City, a national agricultural hub, The DeBruce Foundation is not necessarily ag-centric. “As our workforce experiences vast changes,” the Foundation notes, “our responsibility grows to empower and equip [all] young people to navigate the [broader] world of work.” Last September The DeBruce Foundation commissioned a study conducted by GQR, a Washington D.C.- based opinion research firm that found that 80% percent of youth ages 16-24 lack a clear idea of how to prepare for a career.

A somewhat startling finding also emerged from the research: 67% of youth reported considering only one or two career paths. “The research presents a stunning opportunity to help youth identify their next steps by building career literacy,” says the Foundation team, “Exposing them to a wide array of career options in which their skills and interests can shine throughout their journey can instill in them a resilience and confidence for the future.” And for some, those next steps might include a serious look into how agriculture offers an exciting, lucrative, important and satisfying career.

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A Transformative Model

The DeBruce Foundation, whose overall mission is to expand pathways to economic growth and opportunity, has placed intense focus on creating strategies and tools for workforce development. Its aim is to help individuals widen their vision in identifying new occupational paths and unlock their potential to succeed in careers they might never have considered. Agilities.org is the key to the Foundation’s efforts to raise an individual’s awareness of the skills and interests he or she has. Business leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, and researchers have been recruited by The DeBruce Foundation to provide innovative approaches to change how people pursue careers.  

“The DeBruce Foundation creates solutions, develops curricula, and supports initiatives to help individuals along their career journey – from preparing for a career to retirement,” says Dr. Leigh Anne Taylor Knight, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer at the DeBruce Foundation.  “We aim to equip individuals to be agile in the face of an ever-changing world of work – meaning they are prepared to overcome challenges and navigate the upcoming changes in workplace technologies, job restructuring, and the shifting of traditional employment sectors.”

Using research and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, The DeBruce Foundation team has identified groups of work skills used in every single job in the U.S. economy, Taylor Knight notes. “These work skills, coined as Agilities,are key to building an agile career and a resilient workforce.” 

• Developing Others 

• Innovating

• Inspecting 

• Judging and Estimating 

• Managing 

• Operating Objects

• Organizing 

• Selling and Communicating 

• Serving and Caring

• Working with Information 

“No matter what you do for a living,” says the DeBruce team, “you’re using each of these Agilities in different degrees, as every job uses all the Agilities in varying amounts. For example, a physical therapist uses Serving and Caring, Innovating, and Judging and Estimating Agilities most frequently, while a carpenter uses Operating Objects, Inspecting, and Judging and Estimating Agilities most frequently.”

For a student looking ahead to a career, knowing their Agilities can help them understand the multitude of workforce opportunities that align with their strengths and interests,” explains Taylor Knight. “Or, if their dream job uses an Agility they aren’t as skilled in,” she adds, “they know how they need to develop it in order to pursue that career.” 

 For someone re-entering the workforce or looking for a career in a different sector of the economy, knowing their Agilities can help them successfully assess where their current skills can bring value in that workspace.

 How It Works

When individuals gain a better understanding of themselves, they take the first step toward gaining career literacy.  When they build a professional network, they become better equipped for a successful career and more resilient and adaptable when changes occur in the industry overall or in a particular workplace. The Foundation partners with K-12 schools, universities, workforce development organizations, libraries, and other groups to increase access to career literacy resources and create shared, innovative programming to expand career pathways.  “In a rapidly changing economy, it’s imperative that people develop career literacy to make informed decisions about their career paths,” says Taylor Knight. 

Instead of matching someone to one job they could do, the Foundation wants to expand the number of careers individuals can recognize as options for their future. A fundamental component of the Foundation’s suite of career literacy tools is the Agile Work Profiler, an online assessment that can be completed in 10 minutes and identifies one’s Agilities. By discovering the intersection of one’s skills and interests, one can navigate the workforce in a more informed and empowered way.

The Agile Work Profiler works under the premise that as an individual’s interests and skills develop and change throughout a career, so does his or her Agilities. For this reason, the Agile Work Profiler can be taken multiple times throughout one’s lifetime and provide key information to the individual taking that next step in their career. “After they know their Agilities,” DeBruce Foundation staffers note, “career seekers can use The Foundation’s Career Explorer Tools, a suite of interactive, online tools that provide  information about the income, preparation, work activities, and demand for each career.”

According to Dr. Leigh Anne Taylor Knight, as one explores ways to use their Agilities, they will find many agricultural jobs described on Agilities.org. For example: 

• Agricultural Equipment Mechanics (using the Operating Objects agility).

• Buyers and Purchasing Agents of Farm Products (using the Selling and Communicating agility).

• Environmental Engineering (using the  Judging and Estimating agility).

• Biochemists and Biophysicists (using Innovative agility).

• Veterinarians (using the  Serving and Caring agility).

The DeBruce Foundation’s tools help people explore opportunities in the workforce that they might have not been exposed to or have seriously considered. 

The Science Behind The Agile Work Profiler

By The DeBruce Foundation Team
(with editing for length)

The Agile Work Profiler (AWP) was inspired by The DeBruce Foundation’s objective to broaden career opportunities for individuals. The notion of agility has two critical implications in the evolving economy. 

First, individuals often have strengths that are assets in a variety of career domains, even when such domains are seemingly dissimilar and are thus unlikely to be considered meaningful options. When making employment decisions, people customarily consider a limited set of homogenous work options, typically within a single career domain. The notion of agility implies that the person may succeed in a diverse set of options both within a given career domain and across several different domains. 

Second, the notion of agility implies that the individual can build new strengths based on interests in different opportunities in the world of work. Such an approach to work is becoming increasingly consequential in an economy where people change jobs and make different career moves more frequently than before.

Thus, an Agility is a capability that can be improved over time, depending on the individual’s scope of career interests. The wider the scope of interests, the broader the opportunities for the person to consider determining which of their capabilities, if any, should be improved (and to what degree) in order to pursue their interests. 

The profession of labor force development, career counseling and human resource management offer a rich array of tools that help individuals explore their skills, abilities, and interests in making work-related decisions. Employers, educational institutions, and social service agencies also use such tools for recruitment and guidance. However, these instruments and the related practices often assume that optimal results arise from narrowing individual choices—that is, from matching the individual to a limited, homogenous set of options. This practice is traditionally seen as an effective means to greater value creation for the individual and the economy. Existing instruments and practices also tend to view the individual’s skills and abilities as comprising a static set of capabilities. Therefore, they overlook the possibility that a broader scope of individual interests can act as a guidepost to help build new strengths that facilitate the pursuit of new opportunities.

A third aspect of conventional approaches is that existing tools are typically unable to directly relate an individual’s capabilities to all occupational choices that exist in the economy. This oversight is a critical weakness when the objective is to expand career choices and opportunities. The AWP was conceived to address these three characteristics. It is designed to:

1. Expand and diversify one’s career opportunities,

2. Guide individual efforts to build new strengths in light of a wide range of occupational interests, and

3. Enable the person to make career choices and assess whether they need to build new strengths in light of how their existing capabilities and interests relate to all occupational options in the economy.

The AWP draws on dynamic data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS periodically surveys members of each occupation in the U.S. on the role of various skills, abilities, and work activities (i.e., specific tasks) in their occupation. It formally classifies about 970 occupations for data collection. Each occupation includes, on average, 60 jobs (sub-occupational titles), thus altogether covering nearly 60,000 jobs in the U.S. economy. The development of the AWP was based primarily on work activity data (as opposed to data on skills and abilities) for two reasons. First, work activities (e.g., analyzing information, operating mechanized vehicles, coaching others, organizing daily tasks, caring for others, selling products) are behavioral properties of work and more open to being acquired or learned by the individual, compared to deeper skills and abilities, which tend to be more attitudinal and may therefore require greater effort in potential processes of individual change. In some cases, skills and abilities are construed in close proximity to personality traits (e.g., ‘originality,’ ‘social sensitivity’) which are notoriously difficult to change. The behavioral activity data, on the other hand, specifies which particular work tasks—instead of personal traits—are important in a given occupation. The second reason for preferring the work activity data was its quality over the data for skills and abilities. BLS surveys about 30 individuals from each occupation for work activities, resulting in a total sample size of nearly 30,000 responses across the 970 occupations. In contrast, only about seven individuals from each occupation are surveyed for skills and abilities, limiting the reliability and predictive quality of the collected data.

The analysis supporting the current version of the AWP uses BLS work activity data from 2017. This dataset involves survey responses on 42 different work activities from about 30 individuals within each of the 966 occupations specified by BLS’ 2015 occupational dictionary. Each of the 42 work activities falls into one of four general types of work behaviors:

1. Information input (five activities)—where and how are the information and data gained that are needed to perform this job?

2. Interacting with others (17 activities)—what interactions with other persons or supervisory activities occur while performing this job?

3. Mental processes (10 activities)—what processing, planning, problem-solving, decision-making, and innovating activities are performed with job-relevant information?

4. Work output (nine activities)—what physical activities are performed, what equipment and vehicles are operated/controlled, and what complex/technical activities are accomplished as job outputs? 

The DeBruce Foundation continuously procures other information about occupations—such as actual employment prospects, income trends, and educational requirements—which, combined with AWP results, provides a robust means to foster more effective and diverse career choices for individuals. The Foundation’s efforts are driven by its core mission to expand pathways to economic growth and opportunity.  One way to achieve the mission is to use the AWP to broaden opportunities for all individuals in our evolving economy.

Latest News & Updates in KC Agriculture - January 2022

Developments

Overland Park-based TechAccel sold its majority stake in Covenant Animal Health Partners, an animal health-focused company it co-founded in 2018 with Reliance Animal Health Partners. North Carolina-based NovaQuest Capital Management acquired a 70% stake in Covenant and will retain its four principals. Financial details were not disclosed. “This acquisition gives Covenant access to NovaQuest’s capital, infrastructure, and expertise, while giving NovaQuest another engine for animal health innovation and product development,” said Michael Helmstetter, Ph.D., president and CEO of TechAccel. 

In a statement released January 21, Kansas Livestock Association signaled its support for WOTUS recommendations from the EPA Advisory Committee. The EPA’s Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Advisory Committee (FRRCC) recently issued a report outlining its recommendations regarding WOTUS rulemaking. Representing a diverse group of stakeholders including academia, farmers and ranchers, industry organizations and state and local governments, FRRCC is a federal advisory committee that provides policy advice and recommendations to the EPA administrator on environmental issues impacting agriculture and rural communities. It consists of 32 members from across the U.S. The FRRCC’s recommendations include ensuring EPA compliance with the Clean Water Act and Supreme Court precedent limiting federal jurisdiction over bodies of water; developing a clear definition of WOTUS that is easily interpreted by farmers and ranchers; protecting WOTUS exemptions for common agricultural features, including farm ditches, stock ponds, prairie potholes, prior converted cropland and other small, isolated water features; and reconsidering the EPA roundtable process to ensure all stakeholders have an opportunity to voice concerns on WOTUS rulemaking. 

Farm Journal announced last week, the formation of The Carbon Council, comprised of eight farmers and ranchers who actively participate in and advocate for carbon-related programs. Recognizing the need for thought leadership in the carbon market, Farm Journal stepped up to help the industry navigate the carbon space by assembling this group of diverse leaders in agriculture. These charter members bring a range of expertise and the drive to share the financial and ecological benefits of carbon programs. Members of The Carbon Council include: Rick Clark, Williamsport, IN; Meredith Ellis, Roston, TX; Lukas Fricke, Ulysses, NE; P.J. Haynie, Reedville, VA; Trey Hill, Rock Hall, MD; Mitchell Hora, Washington, IA; Kyle Mehmen, Plainfield, IA; Ben Riensche, Jessup, IA.

The American Farm Bureau Federation has announced its support of the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2021, with the exception of the bill’s establishment of mandatory minimums for negotiated purchases. AFBF delegates at its annual meeting earlier this month voted to revise 2022 Farm Bureau policy. AFBF delegates voted to oppose government mandates that force livestock processing facilities to purchase a set percentage of their live animal supply via cash bids. “We are committed to working with the sponsors of the bill to make revisions to ensure it aligns with the priorities outlined by our membership,” said AFBF in a statement.

During a recent education forum put on by the American Hereford Association in Kansas City, Kevin Good, vice president of industry relations for CattleFax, said domestic beef demand is the strongest it has been in three decades. Beef gained about 8% market share over the last two decades, and U.S. beef exports through November 2021 were on a record pace in terms of volume and value. He attributed the growth “grade” and “consistency.” Citing figures from USDA’s Estimated National Grading Summary, Good noted 72.7% of all beef cattle was graded Choice in 2020 and 10.2% graded Prime. Ten years earlier, 60.1% was Choice and 3.4% was Prime. Good expects the quality grade trend to continue. “There will be a time when we produce 20-30% prime in the national herd, and it’s not that far away.”

Pork producers won’t hear before February 18 if the U.S. Supreme Court will allow a challenge to California’s Proposition 12 requirements for sow housing. SCOTUS had been expected to announce this month whether it would hear oral arguments in a case brought by the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation. 

USDA says it’s making “enormous strides” in filling positions at the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture in Kansas City. As of January 1, ERS had 266 permanent employees and NIFA had 296. Those numbers are higher than the latest online data but still short of the approximately 700 that the agencies had in total before they were moved to Kansas City. The agencies “have been laser-focused on filling vacancies and building a talented and diverse workforce for the future that will help meet USDA’s mission,” the department said in a statement responding to a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists that said the agencies’ move had a devastating impact on the diversity of the workforce.

USDA has announced a $9 million investment in new Cooperative Extensions and USDA Climate Hubs  partnerships to bolster climate research and connect and share climate-smart solutions directly with the agricultural community. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “This partnership will strengthen climate research efforts and accelerate the development, adoption and application of science-based, climate-smart practices that benefit everyone.” The investment is part of NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, which will provide effective, translatable and scalable approaches to address climate change through regional partnerships, including the USDA Climate Hubs.

A judicial ruling has determined that “gruyere” is a generic style of cheese that can come from anywhere. The decision reaffirms that all cheesemakers, not just those in France or Switzerland, can continue to create and market cheese under this common name. Federal Judge T.S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia upheld an August decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board that Gruyere is a generic name that can be used by U.S. cheese makers. “The record evidence of common usage and industry practice points clearly to the conclusion that while some individuals understand gruyere to have an association with Switzerland (and, to a lesser degree, France), the term gruyere has come to have a well-accepted generic meaning through the process of genericide and is no longer universally understood to indicate cheese produced in the Gruyère region,” the judge wrote. The Swiss Interprofession du Gruyère and the French Syndicat Interprofessional du Gruyère first applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for exclusive rights to use the name gruyere for their cheeses in the U.S. in 2015.

California’s Port of Oakland will open a new container yard for agricultural exporters struggling with capacity shortages and high freight costs. The 25-acre off-terminal yard at Oakland, the preferred export gateway for California’s agricultural exporters and for refrigerated proteins, “will provide access to equipment and provide faster truck turns without having to wait for in-terminal space,” the port said.  The delays at southern California’s ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have resulted in cargo ships bypassing Oakland and heading directly back to Asia to make up for lost time. That’s left agricultural exports on the docks and made them collateral damage in the supply-chain upheaval, said Roger Isom, CEO of the Western Agricultural Processors Association.  California grows more than one-third of the U.S.’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts, according to the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture. It exported $21.7 billion of agricultural goods in 2019, including almonds, pistachios, dairy and dairy products, wine and walnuts.

American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall commented on the U.S. Supreme Court decision last week to hear Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, which challenges EPA’s overreach of its Clean Water Act jurisdiction. “AFBF is pleased that the Supreme Court has agreed to take up the important issue of what constitutes ‘Waters of the U.S.’ under the Clean Water Act. Farmers and ranchers share the goal of protecting the resources they’re entrusted with, but they shouldn’t need a team of lawyers to farm their land.” Duvall also called for  EPA to halt further rule-drafting until there is more guidance on which waters fall under federal jurisdiction.

Tractor sales were up only slightly in December from a year ago, but sales for the year increased 10.3% over 2020, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Sales of self-propelled combines rose about 25% for the month, about the same as the increase for all of 2021. Sales of two-wheel-drive tractors were up 24.1% last year, while sales of 4WD tractors rose 18.3%. Overall a total of 317,897 tractors and 6,272 combine harvesters were purchased in the U.S. in 2021. “Seeing gains in the double digits across North America year-over-year for both tractors and combines is great for equipment manufacturers,” said Curt Blades, senior vice president, industry sectors and product leadership at AEM. 

More good news: After years of sharp declines, the western monarch butterfly population is seeing a surprising and welcomed rebound in the western United States. In 2020, fewer than 2,000 butterflies were counted, but the latest survey from the Xerces Society counted 247,237 butterflies across 283 sites in the 25th Annual Western Monarch Tahnksgiving Count. “Last year, we experienced the near-extinction of the western migratory monarch. This year, it’s thrilling to see an increase in the California coast overwintering monarch numbers” said Dr. Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón, chief monarch recovery strategist for the National Wildlife Federation. “While we are eager to celebrate these numbers, this is no time to let up on conservation efforts.” Emma Pelton, the western monarch lead with the Xerces Society, said “We’re ecstatic with the results and hope this trend continues.” Source: Agri-Pulse Communicaions.

Events

Lenexa, Kansas-based Farm Journal is holding its 25th Annual Top Producer Summit – agriculture’s premier educational and networking event – at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville, February 14-16. The 2022 Top Producer Summit will feature industry-leading speakers on finance, innovative management practices, human resources, technology and succession planning. To learn more or register for Top Producer Summit, go to www.tpsummit.com.  

The World Ag Expo®, February 8-10, 2022 in Tulare, California is back live after its virtual event in 2021. An estimated annual average of 102,000 individuals from 65 countries attend World Ag Expo® each year. The largest annual agricultural show of its kind, World Ag Expo® hosts more than 1,200 exhibitors displaying cutting-edge agricultural technology and equipment on 2.6 million square feet of show space. Learn more at  www.worldagexpo.com. 

Some of the nation’s leading agriculture experts and well-known personalities will be featured on the Main Stage during the 2022 Commodity Classic held March 10-12 in New Orleans. The Main Stage is presented by Successful Farming® and Commodity Classic. Registration and housing for the 2022 Commodity Classic are available at www.CommodityClassic.com. Established in 1996, Commodity Classic is America’s largest farmer-led, farmer-focused agricultural and educational experience. It is presented annually by the American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Sorghum Producers, and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

Landowners and renters can learn more about farm leases from University of Missouri Extension specialists 6-9:30 p.m. Thursday, February 10. Participants can attend via Zoom or in person at one of six locations across the state, says Joe Koenen, MU Extension agriculture business specialist and longtime presenter on farm leases. For details and registration, go to www.extension.missouri.edu and search for “Missouri Farm Leases.”

The latest information on beef cattle production, marketing, economics, nutrition and forage utilization will be presented at a joint conference of several states, entitled the KOMA Beef Cattle Conference (Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas). This year’s Missouri portion of the conference will be held on February 24, 2022, beginning at 4:00 p.m. at the MU Southwest Research Extension and Education Center in Mount Vernon, Missouri. Register online https://extension.missouri.edu/events2022-koma-beef-cattle-conference.   

People

Katie Culleton has joined the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association as the legislative affairs director. Culleton previously worked for Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., as his senior policy adviser.

TechAccel promoted Tina Youngblood, Ph.D,  to Chief Enterprise Officer, a new role focusing on capital strategy for accelerated growth. Kansas City-based TechAccel is a technology venture firm investing in scientific breakthroughs to produce healthier plants, animals and foods. Dr. Youngblood joined TechAccel in January 2021 as Chief Financial and Administrative Officer. 

Missouri Farm Bureau has hired Dan Engemann to serve as its new director of regulatory affairs. Engemann has worked the last five years in the Missouri Senate, most recently as chief of staff to State Sen. Karla Eslinger and District Director for Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz. Engemann currently serves as an agriculture representative on the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee, a 70-member federal panel advising the Army Corps of Engineers and the Fish and Wildlife Service on the operation of the Missouri River Recovery Program. Engemann succeeds Leslie Holloway, who retired Dec. 31 after 26 years of service to Missouri Farm Bureau.

Sarah Tyree passed away December 30 after a long battle with brain cancer. She was 54. Most recently, Tyree served as vice president for policy and public affairs at CoBank, where she worked for 15 years. She focused on local food, urban agriculture, telehealth, water systems and rural broadband. Earlier in her career Tyree had a leadership role in the Missouri Department of Agriculture.

Cobb-Vantress, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tyson Foods, has appointed Joyce J. Lee its new president. Lee joins Cobb after serving as executive vice president and president of the $1.5 billion U.S. Pet Health and Commercial Operations portfolio for Elanco. Lee was named one of the 250 most influential people in Kansas City by Ingram’s Magazine in both 2018 and 2019. Lee joined Elanco through its acquisition of Bayer Animal Health in 2020. 

Groundswell Strategy, a food and ag consulting firm launched by former administrator of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service Carmen Rottenberg, has brought on Anna Osterlind Jones as the senior director of government affairs. Most recently, Osterlind Jones was head of government affairs for Zymergen. She also spent time at USDA, where she served as chief of staff both for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs and for the Agricultural Marketing Service and worked on Capitol Hill for Senator Roy Blunt from her home state of Missouri.

At its annual meeting the Missouri Soybean Association elected Matt Wright to serve as the president for 2022. Wright, a soybean grower from Emden, has been a board member for more than 10 years, serving in various other leadership roles including vice-president. This is his first term serving as the Association’s president. Renee Fordyce, a farmer and rural health professional from Bethany, was elected as the Association’s vice-president. 

Cyber Security Top Of Mind At Annual Legal Update

Law firm Lathrop GPM hosted the Agricultural Business Council’s Annual Legal Update which addressed workplace cyber security and tax implications related to Build Back Better legislation. A special spotlight was shown on farm labor issues as immigration policy remains a difficult issue.

Tedrick Housh, partner at Lathrop GPM, and Steve Cosentino, partner at Stinson LLP, described a new-normal for cybercriminals who now run sophisticated operations complete even with customer service bureaus. Both Housh and Cosentino noted that companies and organizations need to establish rigorous “best practices” procedures to react to ransomware events. The playbook, said Cosentino, includes building a solid relationship with insurance companies, establishing internal policies to deal with hacks and keeping vendors and customers apprised of the situation. Housh stressed the importance of data management and simply “knowing where the data is.”  Megan Belcher, chief legal and external affairs officer for The Scoular Company, advised ransomware victims to get in front of the hacking situation: notify boards of directors, commission forensic activity, be prepared – don’t initiate policies afterwards.  

The three panelists pointed to company culture as a potential invitation for hackers to attack an organization. They were adamant in their warnings that employee carelessness in handling company data and mixing personal information and activity more often than not leads to hacks. Belcher said employee-disregard for security measures warranted immediate reprisal, otherwise “company culture would eat best practices for lunch.” Key resources for building a formidable defense against  ransomware or malware attack, they said, include use of forensic firms, ransomware negotiators, law firms, and insurance firms. 

Max Irsik, partner K-Coe Isom, presented a review of the White House’s Build Back Better legislation in terms of its affect on farm income taxes. He said his company anticipates a 60% chance that BBB will be passed. Isrik explained that if/when proposed taxes are passed, there will be opportunities to file extensions. He strongly recommended filing extensions rather than completing a tax return and later filing amendments.

Immigration specialist Gizie Hirsh, partner Lathrop GPM, said the U.S. has long relied on immigrants to fill agricultural jobs and specialty ag positions. But she noted how the lack of clear immigration policy has complicated matters. Jackie Klippenstein, senior vice president Government, Industry & Community Relations, Dairy Farmers of America, suggested lawmakers need to reconcile their political differences on national border security and humanitarian concerns before effective immigration policy can be implemented.

Latest News & Updates in KC Agriculture - December 2021

Developments

Tyson Foods, Springdale, Arkansas, announced it will be distributing $50 million in year-end bonuses to frontline and hourly workers. Each of the company's U.S. team members would receive one-time bonuses ranging from $300 to $700 based on tenure.  According to the release, distribution of the bonuses started this month. The company also said that it is offering more flexible work schedules at some facilities and will be offering paid sick leave as of January 1, 2022 as a way to "better support its frontline workforce." The company also invested $500 million in wage increases and ‘thank you bonuses’ over the past year.

Kansas City Southern has announced that the 21st anniversary KCS Holiday Express program in partnership with The Salvation Army has raised over $280,000 to benefit The Salvation Army in 21 communities on its U.S. rail network. Those communities include Kansas City and Slater, Missouri; East St. Louis, Illinois; Pittsburg, Kansas; Ashdown and Mena, Arkansas; Poteau and Stilwell, Oklahoma; Houston, Laredo, Port Arthur, Victoria and Wylie, Texas; Baton Rouge, DeQuincy, Gonzalez and Shreveport, Louisiana; and Corinth, Jackson, Meridian and Vicksburg, Mississippi. Over 21 years, the charitable component of the KCS Holiday Express project has raised well over $2.6 million, which was donated to The Salvation Army at each scheduled train stop to help provide warm clothing and other necessities for children in need in the local community.

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is establishing a new “Center of Excellence” in an effort to reduce the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer by 12%, the equivalent of removing 10 million cars from the road. Employing cross-disciplinary teams of scientists, the center “aims to improve the sustainability of agriculture by developing technologies to track the flow of nitrogen and carbon across plant roots, discovering novel beneficial microbes, and understanding the genetic mechanisms that influence these interactions.” 

The Kansas Corn Growers Association responded to EPA’s announced ethanol volumes. After months of delays, EPA released the proposed biofuel blending volumes for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in its Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) proposal. The statutory level for conventional ethanol is 15 billion gallons per year. Today’s proposal was a mixed bag in which EPA set the 2022 volume level at 15 billion gallons for 2022 but set the 2021 RVO at 13.32 billion gallons. Then, in an unprecedented move, EPA revised the finalized 2020 RVO level of 15 billion gallons, reducing it to 12.5 billion gallons. The RVO sets the yearly level for renewable fuels required by the RFS, the mechanism that provides market access to renewable fuels. Over the three years, EPA reduced demand for over 4 billion gallons of ethanol. “Cuts in the ethanol RVO mean cuts in corn demand. EPA’s volume levels for conventional ethanol over those three years destroy demand for over 1.5 billion bushels of corn,” KCGA CEO Greg Krissek said. “We do appreciate EPA meeting the statutory level for ethanol in 2022. But we see a cut in 2021 volumes, and we are alarmed that they would reopen the 2020 RVO, a rule that was already finalized.”

Zoetis has been named to Newsweek Magazine's America’s Most Responsible Companies 2022 list, which recognizes top-performing companies that are making a difference through their environmental, social and corporate governance actions. The company debuted at No.71 (out of 500 companies) in its first year on the Newsweek list.Zoetis is the only standalone animal health company and ranked in the top 14% of all companies listed and the top 25% among Health Care & Life Sciences companies on the list. In partnership with Statista Inc., Newsweek identified the top 500 most responsible companies from a pool of over 2,000 organizations across 14 industries, based on publicly available information as well as an independent study of 11,000 U.S. residents.

Farm Journal Media has acquired Precision Reach, the leading programmatic digital services company serving the agricultural market. Precision Reach (formerly known as Big Reach Network) is a data-driven programmatic advertising network that reaches farmers, ranchers and a suite of proprietary niche influencer audiences on digital devices across thousands of websites, mobile apps and streaming devices. The acquisition combines Farm Journal’s unmatched audience intelligence with Precision Reach’s industry-leading expertise and long-time trusted reputation to offer clients the best programmatic services available in agriculture. “Precision Reach is the pre-eminent player in the ag programmatic space and provides Farm Journal with another best-in-class tool in our growing Enterprise Solutions toolkit,” said Andy Weber, CEO of Farm Journal.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran announced a $1,594,970 USDA investment in eight Kansas small and midsized meatpackers through the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant (MPIRG) program. The MPIRG program was created by Sen. Moran’s legislation: Requiring Assistance to Meat Processors for Upgrading Plants (Ramp-Up).The MPIRG’s Planning for a Federal Grant of Inspection project supports small and midsized meat processing facilities working to meet the standards of the Federal Meat Inspection Act or Poultry Products Inspection Act and the MPIRG’s Cooperative Interstate Shipment Compliance project is assisting facilities working to meet the standards to operate under a state’s Cooperative Interstate Shipment program.

The Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer fell in November, as producers expressed concerns about growing production costs and fluctuating commodity prices. The barometer, a monthly survey that tracks producer sentiment, decreased 5 points in November to a reading of 116. According to the release, rising costs for fertilizer, farm machinery, seed and fuel are increasingly a concern for farmers.  James Mintert, the barometer's principal investigator and director of Purdue University's Center for Commercial Agriculture, said November was the "lowest reading of 2021 for all three measures of producer sentiment." 

Landowners who purchased Missouri property in 2021 paid more for land than buyers who purchased land in 2020, according to the latest Missouri Farmland Values Opinion Survey report from University of Missouri Extension. Agricultural economist Ray Massey, who led the survey, projects the upswing in land values will continue. He says higher land values will result in higher cash rental rates. Higher land values may also lead to an increase in the tax base, allowing communities to collect more revenue. Conducted in September 2021, the land values survey collected responses from 88 Missouri lenders, farmers, rural appraisers and others familiar with Missouri land values. Values for cropland, pasture, timberland and hunting/recreational land all increased from 2020 to 2021. More information available at www.muext.us/LandValues. 

U.S. agriculture could be headed into a severe land crunch and a new food vs. fuel battle because of the growing demand for soybean-based biofuels. That's the assessment of economist Dan Basse, president of Chicago-based Ag Resource Co. In a presentation to the American Seed Trade Association's annual meeting, Basse said that soybean oil production would have to double by 2024 to meet the demand from the renewable diesel production capacity that's planned or coming online. That in turn would require farmers to increase soybean acreage by an astounding 40 million acres, a number that would be impossible to meet. Farmers harvested an estimated 86 million acres this year. "If I need 40 million acres, I need to displace lots of other crops," Basse said in an interview with Agri-Pulse. At most, 2 to 3 million acres could feasibly come from corn given the market's need for 15 billion bushels of that crop each year, he added.  Source: Agri Pulse, December 8, 2021.

The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB) joins the Trust In Beef program as a founding partner and technical advisor. Trust In Beef is a new effort to empower beef producers to accelerate the adoption of sustainability initiatives and provide consumers with real-life proof of the continuously improving environmental performance of American beef. The program is led by Farm Journal‘s social purpose division.

This past Fall 100 Lathrop GPM attorneys were named to The Best Lawyers in America© list, seven of whom were selected “Lawyer of the Year” in their practice area. Additionally 13 attorneys in the firm were chosen for the inaugural “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch” in 2002.  Among the Lathrop attorneys being so honored was AgBizKC Council member Bill Ford, who was recognized for his work in environmental law.  Past chairman of the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City Robert Thomson, a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner was also named to the list.

In July of 2021, African swine fever was detected in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, marking the first time in nearly 40 years it had made an appearance in the Western Hemisphere.  This was an indication to researchers like Megan Niederwerder, assistant professor at Kansas State University, that it was time to increase the sense of urgency for discovering methods of outbreak prevention before the virus has a chance to reach North America. “While our primary goal is to prevent African swine fever introduction into the U.S., we have to be prepared for a swift and effective response should the virus ever enter our country,” Niederwerder says. She recently received a grant from the National Pork Board to lead a $513,000 research project focusing on African swine fever survival once the virus has arrived on a farm. Her research focuses on common contamination points, such as pen contamination, manure secretions, and ways the virus can be eliminated from those contamination points. Source: Successful Farming, December 3, 2021.

People

Kansas City-based AgriThority, an agricultural product development company specializing in accelerating new technologies to commercialization around the world, has  expanded its Europe, Middle East and Africa team with the addition of Franz Brandl, Ph.D., as Senior Research & Development Manager. Based in Germany, Dr. Brandl brings decades of experience from the intersection of crop protection and breeding genetics for innovative seed care technologies and their application. Most recently, he served as the global product manager for Syngenta Seedcare Fungicides in Switzerland.  

Todd Hays, Monroe City, was re-elected to a two-year term as vice president of the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation (MOFB) during the organization’s 107th Annual Meeting on December 7 at the Lake of the Ozarks. Hays was first elected vice president in 2010. Prior to that he served on the organization’s board of directors in the 2nd district seat, representing northeast Missouri. Before his election to the board, Hays was appointed MOFB Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) chairman in 2003, serving in an advisory capacity on the board for one year.

National Pork Producers Council named Bryan Humphreys the organization's new CEO, effective Dec. 21. Humphreys currently serves as the senior vice president of the National Pork Board and was also a former employee of the National Pork Producers Council.

Kansas Livestock Association’s KLA Cattle Feeders Council elected individuals to serve on the group’s executive committee during the KLA Convention in Wichita. Jason Timmerman with NA Timmerman of Colby was elected chairman, while Keith Bryant with Cobalt Cattle of Garden City was selected to serve as vice chairman.  Additional members elected to the CFC Executive Committee were Brandon Depenbusch, Innovative Livestock Services, Great Bend; Shane Tiffany, Tiffany Cattle Company, Herington; Daniel Berg, Gray County Feed Yard, Cimarron; and Tod Kalous, Pratt Feeders. Jeff George with Finney County Feedyard in Garden City also is serving on the seven-member committee as past chairman. The KLA Cattle Feeders Council Executive Committee is the volunteer leadership group representing the business interests of cattle feeders belonging to the association.

Jacob Hall, Marshall, and Jessica Janorschke, St. Joseph, were selected 2022 Missouri Farm Bureau (MOFB) Ambassadors during the organization’s 107th annual meeting December 5 at the Lake of the Ozarks. The MOFB Ambassador Program selects a male and female student 17-to-22 years of age to represent agriculture and Missouri Farm Bureau for one year. Each Ambassador receives a $2,500 educational scholarship. Throughout 2022, the Ambassadors will make select appearances representing Farm Bureau during a legislative trip to Washington, D.C., in March, the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, and other events promoting agriculture.

Events

The Western Farm Show returns to the American Royal in Kansas City, Missouri, as a live event for 2022. Scheduled Friday through Sunday, Feb. 25-27, the event will feature the latest agricultural equipment and many other attractions for farmers, ranchers and family members. Produced by the Western Equipment Dealers Association, the Western Farm Show is the Midwest’s top indoor farm show with hundreds of exhibits, acres of things to see and do, the latest in farm and ranch technology, and more. More information is available at www.westernfarmshow.com.

University of Missouri Extension will hold a feedlot school January 13-14, 2022, at North Central Missouri College in Trenton. MU Extension beef nutritionist Eric Bailey says MU Extension specialists will tell the “ins and outs of feeding cattle in Missouri.” There is renewed interest in feedlots due to new packing plants being built in and around Missouri, he says. Although Missouri ranks third nationally in beef inventory, it has not supported feedlots in the past, Bailey says. This means revenue generated by Missouri’s large cattle industry goes out of state. Missouri cattlemen raise 1.7 million calves annually but feed out only 187,500 of them. “We want to keep a greater portion of these cattle at home and feed them on the farm instead of shipping them out,” Bailey says. “This will add revenue to farms and economic impact for Missouri.”  For more information, contact Shawn Deering, deerings@missouri.edu or 660-726-5610; Jim Humphrey, humphreyjr@missouri.edu or 816-324-3146; or Eric Bailey, baileyeric@missouri.edu or 573-884-7873.

Digging Deeper...

Since Impossible Foods CEO Patrick Brown told Forbes Magazine in November that his company is getting ready to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) sometime next year, it might be a good time for this column to take a deeper dive into faux meat. You can also obtain more information and additional insight about alternative meat products from Beef Checkoff. Kansas Beef Checkoff also has produced several videos on the topic, including “One Simple Ingredient,” which can be found at on YouTube.

Dennis McLaughlin, McLaughlin Writers LLC – Sources: The Counter, September 2021; Wired Magazine, September 2017, December 2021; Forbes Magazine, November 2021; Slate.Com, 2017; International Food Information Council, Food Insights, 2021; Mike Pomeranz, Food and Wine Magazine

Engineering The Impossible Burger

 A couple of years ago, Wired Magazine characterized the Impossible Burger as “not quite impossible, but definitely unlikely.” But Impossible Foods is upbeat, and hopes to seize the moment with an IPO or SPAC (Special Acquisition Company) listing that could value the startup at $10 billion. It already has a public valuation of around $4 billion; and since its founding in 2011 it has raised $1.5 billion in real money from the venture funds of billionaires like Bill Gates and Hong Kong magnate Li Ka-Shing of Horizon Ventures. It’s alternative meat products, which use commodity soy as the main ingredient, are currently sold in more than 20,000 stores worldwide.

Additionally the faux meat industry as a whole is stashing away a “currency” potentially more valuable than cash: Activism. Over the past several years consumer research has explored peoples’ perceptions of environmentally sustainable and healthy diets. Food Insight reports there has been “an uptick in interest in alternative eating patterns including a plant-based food diet.” These and other alternative eating patterns, says Food Insights, an information hub created by nutrition and food safety experts at the International Food Information Council (IFIC),  has led to an increased interest in consuming alternative meat products made from plants and cell cultures. A big motivator for many folks is the idea they can enjoy meat-like products, protect the environment, and advocate for animal welfare. All in one bite.

In the next ten years, these alternative meat products have been forecast to reach a global worth of $140 billion. About a decade ago, what appeared to be a mad scientist’s endeavor, that Slate Magazine called “gruesome” in a 2017 article (because some startups were using fetal cow blood serum in their process to create real-meat-tastes), is being picked up by larger companies. Cargill introduced a plant-based hamburger patty last year firing a competitive shot across the bows of Beyond Meat and Impossible Food. Other meat companies like Tyson Foods and Smithfield Foods have also entered the plant-based meat market. 

 While alternatives to conventional meat products are getting some shelf space in grocery stores and supermarkets, the traditional beef, poultry and pork industry isn’t going away. It’s true that plant-based and cell-based counterfeit meat cuts are increasingly available and advocates argue that plant and cell-based meat options herald a movement that will change human eating habits.  

But real meat producers and processors have plenty of muscle mass (so to speak) to meet the challenge of faux meat. It will remain dominant in the protein market. Based on their acquisitions and investment in plant and cell-based meat production, any developments and advances in “fake meat” science and technology, commercialization, marketing, and consumption will probably have the tried-and true expertise, savvy, and experience of the old guard meat industry.

Where’s The Beef?

Plant-based substitutes for meat protein have been around for a long time. Tofu, anyone? “Companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are leveraging new research to make their products more like real meat than ever before,” says Mike Pomranz, who covers the food and wine business for several leading magazines and other media outlets. Much of Beyond Meat’s innovation is built on work conducted on pea proteins at the University of Missouri, “along with a bit of beet juice to create a bleeding effect,” Pomeranz wrote recently in Food and Wine magazine. 

Various consumer research has shown that a lot of vegetarians and people who adhere to limited-meat diets still crave the flavor that real meat offers. Biologist Patrick Brown, founder of Impossible Foods,  

has been trying to replicate the taste of meat by, well, creating real meat. Which brings us to the  question: Where’s the beef in plant-based and cell-cultured/lab-produced meat? Or at least the taste and texture.

It comes from animal blood, specifically from a compound called heme.  Brown believes heme gives ground beef its color and metallic taste from the iron in the heme molecule. Pomeranz adds, “Heme is a component of animal blood that supposedly lends Impossible Burgers their meat-like characteristics.”

“Engineering a beef burger from scratch requires more than just heme, which Impossible Foods bills as its essential ingredient,” Wired Magazine first reported in 2017. “Ground beef features a galaxy of different compounds that interact with each other, transforming as the meat cooks. To piece together a plant-based burger that’s indistinguishable from the real thing, you need to identify and recreate as many of those flavors as possible.” 

That’s accomplished with gas chromatography mass spectrometry technology. The process heats a sample of beef, releasing aromas that bind to a piece of fiber. The machine then isolates and identifies the individual compounds responsible for those aromas. “So then we have kind of a fingerprint of every single aroma that is in beef,” says Celeste Holz-Schietinger, Ph.D., vice president Product Innovation at Impossible Foods. From that fingerprint, she explains, the company can figure out how to make each of those particular flavor compounds. According to Staci Simonich, Ph.D., associate dean of Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, this sort of deconstruction is common in food science, a way to understand exactly how different compounds produce different flavors and aromas. “In theory, if you knew everything that was there in the right proportions, you could recreate from the chemicals themselves for a specific flavor or fragrance,” she says.

Dealing with texture is another biotech challenge. Impossible Foods isolates individual proteins in the meat. “Then as we identify what those particular protein properties are, we look at plants for plant proteins that have those same properties,” says Dr. Holz-Schietinger. Plant proteins tend to taste more bitter, so Impossible Foods has to develop proteins with a cleaner taste. That research has produced a mix of ingredients: wheat protein to give the burger firmness and chew; potato protein which allows the burger to hold water and transition from a softer state to a more solid state during cooking. For fat, Impossible Foods uses coconut with the flavor sucked out. And then of course you need the heme, which drives home the flavor of “meat.”

Faux Future?

Making something that accurately mimics the taste, look, feel, and smell of meat is actually not all that complex. So say the Impossible Meat scientists. Making the early burgers were much more complex, Dr. Holz-Schietinger says, because her team didn’t fully understand it all.  Experiments with cucumber and malodorous durian fruit didn't pan out, she notes, nor did trying to replicate the different connective tissues of a cow. “Now we understand which each component drives each sensory experience.”

But there are other complexities attached to taking faux meat mainstream, especially cell-cultured meat. Food safety groups have not been happy. Among other things, they are upset that GRAS (“generally recognized as safe”) Notices filed with the FDA are voluntary, not mandatory. 

Another problem is cost. Pioneers of lab-grown meat (not to be confused with plant-based meat alternatives) claim that costs for cell-cultured are poised to plummet drastically. They point to two new studies (Fall 2021) from CE Delft, a Dutch consulting firm, concluding that cell-cultured meat could be cost competitive within a decade. A recent BBC story reported the cost of production had dropped from $325,000 a pound to just $11.36, and cell-cultured meat could be on peoples’ plates in five years. Peter Verstrate, head of Netherlands-based Mosa Meat told the BBC, “I am confident that when it is offered as an alternative to meat people will find it hard not to buy our product for ethical reasons.”

Not So Fast

A study released this past September by The Counter, an independent, nonprofit news service investigating the forces shaping how and what Americans eat, more or less said that such optimism and  enthusiasm is nonsense. Entitled “Lab-Grown Meat Is Supposed To Be Inevitable; Science Tells A Different Story,” the lengthy report observes that “splashy headlines have long overshadowed inconvenient truths about biology and economics. Now, extensive new research suggests the industry may be on a billion dollar crash course with reality.” 

The paper is available at https://thecounter.org, and Digging Deeper will review it in depth in an upcoming Council newsletter.

KC Mayor Quinton Lucas Addresses Ag Business Council

For the second time since he was elected mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, in 2019, Quinton Lucas addressed the Agricultural Business Council during its December Luncheon and Annual Meeting. Reflecting on his first visit with the Council shortly after the mayoral election, Mayor Lucas said he had the best job in the world in the best city in the world – the economy was buzzing, USDA was relocating two important agency groups to Kansas City, the NFL Chiefs were on their way to the NFL Playoffs and an eventual Super Bowl Championship. “What could go wrong in 2020?” he quipped.  

Despite the pandemic, the Mayor said Kansas City, with its roots in agriculture, meat protein production and distribution, is a source of optimism for a beleaguered nation.  That relationship with agriculture – and food – is what allowed the city to develop and grow during tough times, he explained. Kansas City doesn’t have to depend on tourism, technology or big manufacturing to remain vibrant. Food is something no one can do without, he added. 

Mayor Lucas was both energetic and excited in citing that agribusiness is the “key to the nation’s well-being,” and was the leader in dealing with supply chain issues across the board during COVID-19.  “There’s just something great about agriculture,” he observed affirmatively.

The mayor said the city wants to be more involved in advancing agriculture as an industry, a culture and an opportunity, especially for students. Mayor Lucas also wants to expand the scope of STEM programs.  “STEM should not just be about engineering,” he said – it has got to be about food, too. Kansas City and the region “can find all the talent it needs in the nearby land grant colleges.” And the Mayor intends to find ways to provide more support to these institutions.

Ag Business Group Elects Johansen, Seeber as 2022 Leaders

(L to R) Dustin Johansen, Ron Seeber

December 9, 2020, KANSAS CITY, MO:   Dustin Johansen, Director, Business Development Enterprise Solutions, Farm Journal, was elected chairman of the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City at the group’s annual meeting held December 7.   Ron Seeber, who serves as CEO Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association, Kansas Grain and Feed Association, and Renew Kansas Biofuels Association was elected vice chairman. 

Johansen leads business development initiatives for Enterprise Solutions division of Farm Journal, driving revenue growth for data services, market research and custom projects for livestock and row crop industries. Previously, Johansen managed the Kansas City office of Osborn Barr Paramore and led the animal agriculture and equipment practices. He also spent nearly 20 years at Caterpillar, Inc. in equipment sales and dealer sales and marketing operations. Johansen was raised on a purebred Charolais operation in Tipton, Missouri and is a graduate of the University of Missouri – Columbia, where he currently serves as President of the CAFNR Alumni Association for the college.

Ron Seeber assumed his current position with the three associations in 2017 after working for the groups since July 2008. An expert in state and federal legislative affairs, Seeber also worked for Senator Bob Dole in policy and political capacities.  He has spent his entire career in the regulatory arena.

The Council’s Board of Directors is composed of 20 persons who serve staggered two-year terms. Those elected to the Board for a two-year term commencing January 1, 2022 were: 

• Julie Abrahamzon, Cargill Animal Nutrition

• Tom Brand, National Association of Farm Broadcasting

• Chris Daubert, University of Missouri

• Kelly Farrell, Farrell Growth Group

• Nikki Hall, Corteva

• Terry Holdren, Kansas Farm Bureau

• Chris Klenklen, Missouri Department of Agriculture

• Kristie Larson, American Royal

• Paul Schadegg, Farmers National Company

• Matt Teagarden, Kansas Livestock Association

Johansen extended his thanks to outgoing Chair Greg Krissek who is CEO of Kansas Corn.  Krissek served two, one-year terms as Council Chair.  Johansen commented that, “it is always easy to say the new person has big shoes to fill, but that is certainly the case here.  Greg Krissek demonstrates what association leadership looks like at it best – supportive, gracious, encouraging, and forward looking.”  “He is a class act and we greatly appreciate his service,” Johansen said.

Bob Petersen and Erica Venancio continue to serve as staff members for the Council, Petersen as the executive director and Venancio as director of member services.

Everybody Is Tied To Agriculture

That was one of the points Teddy Bekele made clear in his presentation to Council members at the November breakfast meeting, held concurrently with AFA’s annual Leaders Conference at the Sheraton Crown Center. Bekele is the Chief Technology Officer at Land O’Lakes, heading up the company’s ag tech and IT operations. As such, he is responsible for developing and implementing technology solutions for retail and farmer customers to help them produce more sustainable harvests and protein products.  Commenting on the legacy of the iconic 100-year-old coop, Bekele added, “We’re not just a butter company.” 

Many challenges in farming are not new, Bekele said. “However, what is different now is that farmers are making decisions based on data versus intuition.” More farmers are relying on technology to help them make decisions that allow them to produce more food with fewer resources and less environmental impact. But he pointed out data alone won’t necessarily “tell you anything.” 

Elaborating on that thought, Bekele noted the key to making data practical is to turn it into information and churn that into knowledge. But he does not discount farmer intuition. “Intuition is the secret sauce – people, not technology, are the most important piece in the digital transformation puzzle.” Connectivity or lack of it is an impediment, however, to putting some of that digital puzzle together. Over half of farmers want to incorporate more data in their operations, but 60% do not have rural broadband connectivity.

Cybersecurity

Part of Teddy Bekele’s responsibilities at Land O’Lakes is creating and overseeing security measures to prevent ransomware attacks. He said a common attitude of some companies is that they think they’re too small, and assume cyber crooks wouldn’t waste their time on them.  In 2020, Bekele said small organizations accounted for less than half the number of breaches that occurred at large organizations. This year the gap shrank. At large organizations, 307 attacks took place; small operations encountered 263. 

Bekele recommended these top actions to prevent ransomware attacks:

• Install Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) systems – Users must present their User ID, password and be using a known device or supply “text” for access.

• End Point Protection (EPP) – Helps identify and prevent ransomware attacks; use a partner/service to deploy and manage EPP.

• Protect Your Backups – They are “your only way back – short of paying the ransom.”