Agri-Pulse Open Mic Interview

This week’s Open Mic guest is John Bode, president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association. The nation’s corn milling industry is seeing tremendous demand for its products, but like others in the ag industry faces serious supply chain issues. Bode says some mills have been forced to temporarily shut down due to transportation issues. Corn refiners have a huge stake in global trade and as well the...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Andy LaVigne, President and CEO of the American Seed Trade Association.  For almost a century and a half members of ASTA have worked to improve seed genetics for farmers around the world. LaVigne says opportunities to advance seed genetics are improving with the advent of genetic modification and gene editing. The limitation includes that of consumer acceptance and go...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn. The House Agriculture Committee Democrat played an integral role in seeing the Lower Food and Fuel Cost Act across the finish line, which she says would help address supply chain risks, lower the cost of food and gas prices, strengthen the food supply chain and ensure robust competition in the meat and poultry sector. In this interview, Craig...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Constance Cullman, president and CEO of the American Feed Industry Association. Aside from concern over available bulk commodity supplies for the season ahead, Cullman says the nation’s feed manufacturers share concerns about maintaining and growing global market access as well as trade agreements that provide needed mineral inputs for their customers. Cullman quips t...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Heather Hampton Knodle, President of the American Agri-Women.  Hampton is an Illinois farm girl who married a farmer and continues a lifestyle of stewardship in the soil.  The AAW were in Washington last week to meet with government agencies and leaders on Capitol Hill. Hampton Knodle says AAW wants freedom to pursue stewardship practices to provide food, fuel and fib...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Jim Sutter, CEO of the U.S. Soybean Export Council. Sutter sees an end to the current short supply of soybean oil and other vegetable crops. He expects global soybean farmers to respond to higher prices with increased plantings to meet growing demand. Sutter expects soybean oil demand to increase and suggests USSEC is working to grow market opportunities for soybean m...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. As the nation celebrates June Dairy Month, there is no rest for the dairy industry facing ongoing recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic, trade challenges and supply chain issues. NMPF is calling on the Biden FDA to crack down on plant-based dairy substitute products and keep pressure on th...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Glen Smith, chairman and CEO of the Farm Credit Administration. While the farm economy balance sheet is in no way as challenged as in the early 1980s, Chairman Smith suggests there are developing similarities. Smith says there are active farmers today who survived the farm crisis four decades ago and yet others who’ve not experienced the financial pressure that comes...

This week’s Open Mic Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member John Boozman. The Arkansas Republican says the Russian-Ukraine conflict is disrupting a major food production region and exacerbating global hunger. Boozman says it is time for Washington to act, not only addressing the immediate needs of starving people but enhancing opportunities to encourage American farmers and ranchers to step up product...

This week’s Open Mic guest is U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Despite the many challenges facing the nation and the global economy, McConnell remains optimistic. With the mid-term elections looming this fall, McConnell holds little faith for significant legislative action this year. He is critical of the Biden administration’s trade agenda and believes the U.S. could step up to fill E...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association. Washington has directed a large sum of funds to close the digital divide between urban and rural residents and adequate broadband coverage, but there’s no single agency working to coordinate efforts across the government. Bloomfield reports progress in many areas, but a process of red tape that sometimes...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Jim Sumner, president and CEO of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council. After record losses to U.S. poultry in 2015 from highly pathogenic avian influenza, the disease is wreaking havoc again around the globe. Sumner says the biggest losses have come in laying hens. Some 150 detections have been reported in commercial flocks in 29 states, but wild bird detections hav...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Betsy Ward, president and CEO of the USA Rice Federation. All of the U.S. ag industry is faced with inflationary pressure and supply chain issues this year, but Ward says the nation’s rice growers aren’t seeing higher prices for rice largely due to a lack of global market access including unfair trade practices from India. She says growers would like better direction...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Bryan Humphreys, CEO of the National Pork Producers Council. After a two-year delay thanks to the COVID pandemic, hog farmers from across the nation were back in Washington last week on Capitol Hill, meeting with lawmakers on issues facing the pork industry. Humphreys says producers targeted priority issues including herd health and safety, labor woes and a desperate...

This week’s Open Mic guest is U.S. Representative David Valadao. As a life-long resident of California’s 21st District, Valadao understands the importance of agriculture to his state and the nation. He shares concern over the mounting challenges drought is posing to farmers and consumers alike. He says state water regulations are a burden for farmers and wants to see D.C. do more to help his state...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Chuck Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. Conner suggests some input challenges may be easing prior to the bulk of the 2022 planting season. He thinks partisan politics on Capitol Hill have Congress stalled legislative action on key ag issues but still believes legislators will come through with a new farm bill next year. Conner s...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa. The two-term representative is a 5th generation Iowan with an affinity for agriculture and rural subjects. Axne says supply chain issues are an issue for farmers approaching planting season with some crop decisions based more on supply availability than market fundamentals. She’s calling on the Biden administration to take steps to reduce tari...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Alisha Schwertner, Chairwoman of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee. The next generation of producers faces the growing pains of assuming or building an operation on thin margins while navigating many other challenges. Schwertner is a wife and mother of three, works in the ag industry and is an integral part of her family farmin...

This week’s Open Mic guest is USDA Undersecretary Robert Bonnie. As the agriculture department lead for farm production and conservation, Bonnie will play a significant role in administering any new climate or conservation programs offered by U.S. legislators. Proposed pieces of legislation would offer new funds and opportunities for farmers and ranchers nationwide, but have yet to be approved. Bo...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Tim Lust, CEO of the National Sorghum Producers. The race for acres is on in the U.S., and sorghum has a number of positives for growers to consider. Lust says export demand is promising while food and fuel uses for the crop continue to expand. Lust sees a role for the USDA in carbon markets and says his commodity group has a very strong climate story to bring to the...

This week’s Open Mic guest is U.S. Senator Jon Tester.  Tester, the farmer and legislator, is concerned about price discovery in the cattle market.  Despite concern raised by two major ag groups, Tester believes any final legislative solution will have to have some mandatory level of animals sold at auction.  The Montana ag leader is concerned about geopolitical events including Russia and China a...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy. Following a successful Executive Leadership Conference last week, Skor says some regulatory and judicial decisions have worked against the renewable fuels industry, but she’s encouraged with the role ethanol and all renewable fuels can play in addressing climate change and providing relief from high gasoline prices. State goals for ca...

This week’s Open Mic guest is P.J. Haynie III, chairman of the National Black Growers Council. In this interview, Haynie reflects on the mission and beginnings of a coalition of Black row crop farmers with the intent of sharing information and growth opportunities for Black farmers across America. Haynie, a fifth-generation farmer and descendent of a former slave, defines the decline in black farm...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Gary Adams, president and CEO of the National Cotton Council. Like other crop farmers, Adams says cotton farmers are burdened with uncertain input supplies and prices for the new crop year. Adams says infrastructure bottlenecks are also proving a challenge of satisfying market shipments to customers in the U.S. and around the globe. He says growers need predictability...

This week’s Open Mic guest is Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the price discovery issue and the disparity between what producers are receiving for their animals and what consumers are paying for beef from the meat case. Consolidation in the meatpacking industry has drawn the most criticism, but analysis by academia and eco...