Golden Harvest Agronomy in Action

On Tuesday I was invited to the Golden Harvest Agronomy in Action Mini Farm Show at the Syngenta Research Station in Stanton. There were grower information and educational sessions on Soil Health, Cover Crop Systems and Management, the Minnesota Clean Water Act, a Minnesota Soybean Pest Update, specifically Pyrethroid Resistant Soybean Aphid Management and Variable Rate Nitrogen Management. These were very timely topics that farmers were interested in along with certified crop advisors.

There was also a lunch with your lobbyist with updates from Amanda Bilek Minnesota Corn Growers Association Public Policy Director, Perry Aasness Agri-Growth Executive Director, Tom Slunecka CEO of Minnesota Soybean and Warren Formo Executive Director of the Minnesota Agriculture Water Resource Center. There was of course discussion on soybean tariffs imposed by China and the new Farm Bill.

Just before lunch time Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Puredu announced some type of aid program to assist farmers that were caught in the middle of the trade war with China. Apparently there will be some type of direct payments, trade promotion and food purchases but we know very few details at this point. The proposed aid package is already authorized under the Commodity Credit Corporation act so it would not need Congressional Approval.