Wednesday May 22 Ag News

Sustainable Use of Crop Residues on Cow/Calf and Yearling Operations June 10

A University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension conference/webinar on sustainable use of crop residues for cow/calf and yearling operations will be June 10 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (CDT).

There are three ways to participate:
            – The conference will be at both the Ag Research and Development Center near Mead and at the West Central Research and Extension Center at North Platte.
            – The conference also will be broadcast live via the internet. The webinar may be viewed at https://connect.unl.edu/crop/ and viewers may make comments and ask questions via chat box. Some presenters will be speaking from the ARDC and others from WCREC but both locations will be linked via the internet so audiences at both locations and online can interact with all speakers.

The target audience includes forage-based beef producers, affiliated industries, government agencies and crop producers.  Topics include:
            – Residue use and subsequent crop production
            – Grazing cornstalks: performance, stocking rate, and supplementation
            – Increasing quality and palatability of residue with by-products
            – Storing by-products mixed with residues
            – Ammoniating cornstalks and wheat straw
            – Alkaline treatment of cornstalks and wheat straw
            – Confinement and limit feeding cows and pairs
            – Annual forages, cover crops/double crop options
            – Market outlook, feed costs, break evens and drought
            – Producer panel

Newly developed apps and electronic decision support tools will be demonstrated.  A highlight of the conference will be the producer panel. There will be separate panels at both locations focusing on regionally specific issues.  Web participants may view either producer panel. There also will be pre-recorded demonstrations of ammoniation and alkaline treatment of crop residues for viewing.

If attending in person there is a $10 registration fee to cover lunch.  Please RSVP by June 6 to Lindsay Chichester at 402-624-8007, lindsay.chichester@unl.edu if attending in Mead or Aaron Stalker at 308-696-6707, aaron.stalker@unl.edu if attending in North Platte.



UNL Animal Science Department Appoints two New Student Ambassadors

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln animal science department appointed two new student ambassadors for the 2013-2014 academic year.  After in-depth interviews with department faculty and senior ambassadors, two students were selected out of a pool of six applicants:
– Maci Lienemann of Princeton, a sophomore animal science major
– Levi McPhillips of Columbus, a junior animal science major

The two new ambassadors will serve alongside current second-year ambassadors:
– Ryan Grafel of Hastings, a senior animal science major
– Dustin Renken of Bertrand, a senior animal science major

The ambassadors will interact with prospective animal science students by visiting high schools and attending various UNL admissions events. In addition to attending and supporting university events, each ambassador will also take on the responsibility of planning one recruitment activity per year. One example is the animal science experience.

The animal science experience is an event where high school and transfer students visit UNL's East Campus for a day and see it through the eyes of a current college student. These students get an overview of the animal science department, participate in an actual animal science class, eat lunch at the Nebraska East Union dining hall and participate in fun activities such as a tour of Memorial Stadium.

"It's a good opportunity for them to get to East Campus and actually see what life is like here in the department and as a college student," said Alli Raymond, animal science admissions coordinator. "Through planning and participating in these activities, the student ambassadors benefit not only the university, but themselves as well."

The Animal Science Student Ambassador program, started in 1999, selects two animal science majors as ambassadors to promote the animal science program each year. Students receive a $2,000 scholarship ($500 each semester) and serve for two years supporting the animal science department's recruitment efforts.

For more information on the Animal Science Student Ambassador program, visit http://animalscience.unl.edu/anscambassadors. You also can friend them on Facebook (UNL Ani Sci Ambassadors) or follow them on Twitter (@UNL_AniSci) to stay up to date on upcoming events and deadlines.


 
CommonGround Women Bring Story of Ag to East Coast Food Elite

Last week, CommonGround took conversations about food and farming to New England, hosting a dinner for influential members of Boston's media and food communities. CommonGround volunteer Joan Ruskamp from Dodge, Nebraska, Christine Lindner from Wisconsin and Rachel Heimerl from Ohio shared dinner with chefs and mama bloggers at Anthem Kitchen + Bar in Boston's Faneuil Hall Marketplace. During the event, the farm women provided unique insight about what happens on farms across America's Heartland for the East Coast food elites.

"I found that, more than anything, people who do not see farming around them have questions about how the food on their plates was grown or raised," said Ruskamp. "This curiosity is completely understandable. We all just want to feel good about how we care for ourselves and our families. By sharing our experiences as farmers, I feel like we helped alleviate some of their food fears and opened an ongoing dialogue that will spread the word that America's family farmers want to share real, open conversations about food with consumers."

The dinner in Boston, which was the first of its kind in that area, was organized to build upon the success that many state CommonGround programs have had with similar activities in their areas. From Sioux Falls, S.D. to Louisville, Ky. and Denver, Colo. to Columbus, Ohio, CommonGround volunteers have opened a dialogue that helps share their stories, the real story behind America's food, while learning more about consumer concerns.

CommonGround is a grass-roots movement to foster conversation among women - on farms and in cities - about where our food comes from. The National Corn Growers Association, the United Soybean Board and their state affiliates developed CommonGround to give farm women the opportunity to engage with consumers through the use of a wide range of activities.



Johanns Cosponsors Effort to Reform Regulatory Process

U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) today joined a bipartisan group of colleagues in renewing a push to significantly reform the federal regulatory process and reduce unnecessary burdens on job creators.  Johanns is an original cosponsor of the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2013, which reforms the current rulemaking process to lower the costs and improve the quality of new regulations.

“Our nation’s job creators—the folks who are going to help our economy get back on its feet—are constantly becoming ensnared in a growing tangle of red tape coming out of Washington,” Johanns said. “While some guidance is important to ensure a fair market and safe workplace, many regulations are being issued with little input from those affected and result in unnecessary burdens and high compliance costs for businesses, reducing their efficiency and growth potential.

“This legislation offers a more straightforward and transparent approach to the regulatory process, sifting out unnecessary and excessively burdensome regulations, and allowing only those based in strong scientific information and proven cost-effective results.”

The United States government issues over 3,000 new rules and regulations every year.

The Regulatory Accountability Act seeks to modernize federal regulatory practices by strengthening cost-benefit analysis across all agencies, improving transparency in the rulemaking process, and providing a more rigorous examination of facts underlying the most expensive rules.

First, the bill would codify the duty to analyze the costs and benefits of new regulations. To hold agencies accountable, the bill would permit a judicial check on an agency’s cost-benefits analysis of major rules — the 40 to 80 costliest regulations out of the over 3,000 issued annually.  This review would be deferential, but the courts would ensure that agencies do not rely on irrational assumptions or treat cost-benefit analysis as a mere afterthought — as too often occurs today.

Second, the bill opens the regulatory process to greater transparency.  It invites early public participation on major rules and requires agencies to disclose the data they rely upon.  It also would ensure that agencies use sound scientific and technical data to justify new rules, in keeping with the president’s directive that agencies should use the “best available science” to craft regulations.

Third, the bill would require agencies to follow a more evidence-based approach in crafting rules that will cost more than $1 billion annually.  These high-impact rules are relatively rare — the White House identified seven in development last year — but the cost of getting them wrong is steep.  That’s why this legislation would give stakeholders access to an agency hearing to test the key disputed facts underlying these mega-rules. It will take some additional work on the front end, but the result will be lower cost and more stable regulatory outcomes.

The legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Joe Manchin (D- W.Va.), and Angus King (I-Maine). A companion bill in the House of Representatives is cosponsored by U.S. Congressmen Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Collin Peterson (D-Minn.).



Olsen Ag Policy Internship Award Announced

Audrey Smith of Walla Walla, Wash., was selected as the second recipient of the Keith R. Olsen Agricultural Policy Internship Award at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Audrey Smith is a senior at UNL studying agriculture economics with public policy focus. The Olsen Internship Award will enable her to intern in a public policy position in Washington, D.C., this summer. The monetary award will support living and housing expenses for the recipient.

While at UNL, Audrey Smith served as the co-captain of the University of Nebraska Rodeo team and secretary for the Collegiate Farm Bureau. She also is the secretary of the Sigma Alpha sorority.

 “I am honored to be selected as the internship award recipient among several qualified candidates,” said Audrey Smith. “It has been an exciting process to finalize the details of my internship.”

Smith has secured an internship in the office of Congressman Adrian Smith, who serves the third Congressional district of Nebraska, one of the nation’s largest agricultural districts.

“I’m very eager for the opportunity to be directly involved in the policy making process and to experience Washington, D.C., for the summer,” said Audrey Smith who begins her internship May 20.

The Keith R. Olsen Agricultural Policy Internship Award was established in 2011 by Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation to honor Olsen, who served as Farm Bureau president from 2002 to 2011 and on the board of directors for nearly 20 years. Olsen had emphasized creating opportunities in agriculture for young people during his years with the organization.

The award provides up to $3,000 to a UNL College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources junior or senior to work as an intern in a Nebraska Congressional office, a Congressional Committee or approved agricultural organization.



NCGA Opposes Amendments to Senate Farm Bill

As the U.S. Senate resumes debate on the 2013 farm bill approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee last week, the National Corn Growers Association joined a broad coalition of commodity organizations and conservation and environmental groups in announcing its opposition to a variety of proposed amendments that would have an adverse impact on the federal crop insurance program. The amendments include provisions that would introduce means testing, subsidy caps and public disclosure of information on crop insurance participants into the program.

NCGA, along with the other coalition partners, cited particular amendments as harmful to the federal crop insurance program including the Begich-Flake Amendment, the Durbin-Coburn Amendment, two Flake Amendments, Gillibrand Amendments #931 and #944, and the Shaheen-Toomey Amendment.

The Begich-Flake Amendment would require the disclosure of information on crop insurance program participants who receive benefits including their name, address and the amount of the subsidy.

The Durbin-Coburn Amendment would reduce premium support for crop insurance participants with an Adjusted Gross Income of more than $750,000 by 15 percent for all policies beyond catastrophic coverage.

The first Flake Amendment would prohibit premium subsidies on crop insurance policies with a Harvest Price Option. An HPO allows for the revenue guarantee to be recalculated if the harvest price of that commodity is higher than the expected crop price at the time of insurance enrollment.

The second Flake Amendment would strike section 11011, a provision which prohibits taxpayers from realizing budget savings upon renegotiation of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement.

Gillibrand Amendment #931 would fail to allow crop insurance providers to adjust to the cumulative effects of RMA-mandated rating methodology changes, record crop insurance claims in 2011 and 2012, and the more than $12 billion in administrative and legislative changes to crop insurance since 2008.

Gillibrand Amendment #944 would establish a loss threshold for automatic claims reviews. This threshold would be significantly lower than the threshold currently used by the RMA. In establishing the lower threshold, this amendment would slow the delivery of indemnities to farmers.

The Shaheen-Toomey would place a $50,000 cap on the amount of crop insurance premium subsidies a crop insurance program participant can receive.

These provisions, if adopted in part or in total, would negatively impact crop insurance programs and damage the farm safety net that supports our nation's family farmers when facing adversity. NCGA continues to hold the importance of maintaining a strong crop insurance program as its foremost priority in the authorization of a new farm bill.



USDA Cold Storage Highlights

Total red meat supplies in freezers were up 5 percent from the previous month and up 3 percent from last year. Total pounds of beef in freezers were down slightly from the previous month and down 2 percent from last year. Frozen pork supplies were up 8 percent from the previous month and up 6 percent from last year. Stocks of pork bellies were up 10 percent from last month but down 25 percent from last year.

Total frozen poultry supplies on April 30, 2013 were up 11 percent from the previous month and up 8 percent from a year ago. Total stocks of chicken were up 8 percent from the previous month and up 11 percent from last year. Total pounds of turkey in freezers were up 14 percent from last month and up 5 percent from April 30, 2012.

Total natural cheese stocks in refrigerated warehouses on April 30, 2013 were up 1 percent from the previous month and up 4 percent from April 30, 2012.  Butter stocks were up 22 percent from last month and up 22 percent from a year ago.  Total frozen fruit stocks were up 5 percent from last month and up 20 percent from a year ago.  Total frozen vegetable stocks were down 7 percent from last month but up 6 percent from a year ago.



Weekly Ethanol Production for 5/17/2013

According to EIA data, ethanol production averaged 875,000 barrels per day (b/d) — or 36.75 million gallons daily. That is up 18,000 b/d from the week before, the highest weekly average since the week ended 6/22/2012. The four-week average for ethanol production stood at 858,000 b/d for an annualized rate of 13.15 billion gallons.

Stocks of ethanol stood at 16.2 million barrels. That is a 1.5% decrease from last week.

Imports of ethanol showed zero b/d for the sixth time in the last seven weeks.

Gasoline demand for the week averaged 369.2 million gallons daily, the highest of the year.

Expressed as a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production was 9.95%.

On the co-products side, ethanol producers were using 13.267 million bushels of corn to produce ethanol and 97,653 metric tons of livestock feed, 87,058 metric tons of which were distillers grains. The rest is comprised of corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal. Additionally, ethanol producers were providing 4.56 million pounds of corn oil daily.



E15 Now Available in Six States

As public awareness of the many economic and energy security benefits ethanol offers continues to grow, demand for higher blends of ethanol is also on the rise. This month, Wisconsin became the sixth state to offer E15 as a fuel option for consumers. With E15 already available in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, American drivers now have more choices at the fuel pump across a greater portion of the country.

"Decisions by the EPA opened the door for broader E15 availability, and fuel station operators in many areas see how much sense E15 makes for both many drivers and our country as a whole," said National Corn Growers Assoc. Ethanol Committee Chairman Chad Willis, a farmer from Minnesota. "E15 has undergone some of the most extensive testing ever performed and proven that it offers a reliable, green option. Whether on the track at NASCAR races or on the road in America's cars, E15 helps reduce pollution and our dependence of foreign fuels."

E15, which is a fuel blend of 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline, is a new, higher octane fuel. E15 was approved for use in model year 2001 and newer cars, light-duty trucks, medium-duty passenger vehicles and all flex-fuel vehicles by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through a second partial waiver in January 2011.

More than 62 percent of the cars, trucks and SUVs on the road today are approved to use E15 and that number continues to grow every day. Already, these vehicles consume more than 80 percent of all unleaded fuel sold in the United States. Thus, there is an incredible opportunity to grow the use of this more sustainable, domestically produced biofuel and thus reap a more substantial benefit to our economy and environment.



USDA to Interview Farmers and Ranchers for Crop and Livestock Reports

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is gearing up to contact farmers and ranchers across the country to gather information about this season’s crop production, supplies of grain in storage, and livestock inventory. During the first two weeks of June, NASS will gather information about U.S. crops and livestock through several surveys focusing on agricultural acreage, crops produced and stored, and hog inventory.

“Cool and wet soil conditions continue to impede planting progress and delay spring field work in some parts of the country while others are still dealing with the impact from last year’s drought,” said Bob Bass, Director of NASS’s National Operations Center. “As we move into the crop production season there is still a sense of uncertainty about how it is shaping up across the country. Responses to the June surveys will help ensure that decisions affecting producers and their operations are based on the facts, straight from the source.”

Depending on the survey, producers will receive a survey form to complete or be personally interviewed by a trained enumerator. Those who receive a survey can fill it out using NASS’s easy and secure online system or mail it back. NASS representatives will contact farmers and ranchers who do not respond to the survey to help them provide responses over the telephone.

“The information from these surveys contributes to a stable economic climate, helps producers make marketing decisions, and reduces risk. It is critical for market information to be distributed widely in all levels of farming to ensure all participants are equally informed,” added Bass. “This assures a competitive market structure far superior to one where no one or only a few are informed.”

As with all NASS surveys, the information collected in the June surveys is kept strictly confidential, as required by federal law. NASS will not publish any individual’s information.  NASS is committed to preserving a relationship of mutual respect and trust with those who supply and use the information collected and provided. For more information about these surveys, visit www.nass.usda.gov/Surveys.



Undocumented Ag Workers Will Face A Hard-Earned Path To Citizenship with S. 744: The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act
From The Senate Judiciary Committee Majority Staff (Sen. Patrick Leahy's website)

An estimated 11 million undocumented individuals are living and working in America. Both Republicans and Democrats agree that deporting millions of undocumented workers is unachievable.  The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act outlines a hard-earned path to citizenship for undocumented individuals.

The comprehensive immigration reform bill requires a long, hard-earned path to citizenship.

The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act does not provide amnesty for an estimated 11 million undocumented workers.  Rather, it provides a long, difficult, and earned path to legalization that imposes penalties, requires payment of back-taxes, and sends undocumented immigrants to the back of the line.

Under the provisions of S.744, applicants for citizenship face a long and difficult road to citizenship.  Applicants must:
-    Pass criminal background checks;
-    Satisfy a work requirement;
-    Pay fines and back-taxes, under a requirement that is tougher than the 2006/2007 bipartisan immigration proposal, which only required workers to pay back taxes when obtaining a green card;
-    Learn civics and English;
-    Move to the back of the line, waiting for triggers amounting to at least 10 years, to allow for those who have initiated the citizenship process and are still waiting for approval to move forward first.

During Tuesday’s markup, an amendment (Cruz3) offered would eliminate any path to citizenship for any individual who has ever been willfully present in the United States while not in lawful status, with the exception of asylum seekers.

-    The nation’s food and agricultural systems depend on immigrant workers to harvest fields, tend ranches, and work farms.  There are roughly 4.5 million farmworkers and family members in the United States.  An estimated 50 percent to 75 percent of these farmworkers are undocumented. [Farmworker Justice, 2/1/13]

-    The cost of attempting to identify, detain, and deport every unauthorized immigrant in the country could reach over $230 billion. The $41 billion per year it would cost is more than the annual discretionary budget for the entire department of Homeland Security. [CAP, 7/26/05; CRS, 10/1/12].

-    The Internal Revenue Service estimates that undocumented immigrants paid almost $50 billion in federal taxes between 1996 and 2003. However, about 40% of undocumented immigrants currently work off the books and consequently pay lower taxes. Getting these undocumented workers on the books will increase both the taxes paid by these workers and the taxes paid by their employers. [White House, 5/11]



Statement from AFBF Regarding Senate Judiciary Passage of Immigration Reform Bill
Bob Stallman, President, American Farm Bureau Federation

“The time is long overdue for our nation to have a comprehensive agricultural labor plan that works for all sectors of agriculture and across all regions of our nation. The Senate Judiciary Committee today passed a balanced immigration reform bill today that included a fair and workable farm labor provision that sets the stage for Senate action beginning next month.

“The success of American agriculture depends on the workers who show up every day and work in partnership with our nation’s farm and ranch families to tend our crops and livestock.  Agricultural labor reform is not about whether foreign workers will grow and harvest our food. That is a matter of fact. It is about whether those foreign workers will tend crops here in the United States, or in their home countries. We believe American food grown on American soil is the best option.

“We believe this bill will help ensure an adequate supply of farm labor but also will provide an increased level of surveillance of high-risk areas along our borders. We know that one of the best ways to improve border security is to create a legal, workable way for farm workers to enter our country. If we do not have to waste resources locking up lettuce harvesters, we can focus on keeping those with criminal intentions out of our country.

“This is shaping up to potentially be a banner year for public policy advances related to agriculture, and we are pleased to be a part of that process. Efforts to win farm labor reform, make progress on the farm bill and upgrade our nation’s waterway shipping system are setting the table for what could be a great year for agricultural policy.”



New DNA Cattle Test Beefs Up Dairy and Meat Quality
A genomics technique developed at Cornell to improve corn can now be used to improve the quality of milk and meat, according to research published online in the journal PLOS ONE.

A team led by Ikhide Imumorin, Cornell assistant professor of animal science, is the first to apply a new, inexpensive yet powerful genomics technique to cattle called genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). The protocol contains only four basic steps from DNA to data, and Imumorin's work demonstrated it generates enough markers to put cattle genomics on the fast track.

"Breeders are interested in cattle with traits such as high meat or milk quality, disease resistance and heat tolerance, but identifying the best animals means sorting through thousands of unique gene variants in the genome," said Imumorin. "Until recently, the cost of genomics techniques has set too high a bar for breeders, and many cattle species, particularly those outside the United States and Europe found in Africa and Asia, were excluded from the genomics revolution."

Using samples from 47 cattle from six breeds from the United States and Nigeria, Imumorin's team used GBS to identify more than 50,000 genetic markers for genetic profiling. GBS was developed by Rob Elshire, researcher in the lab of Ed Buckler, a research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service and adjunct professor of plant breeding and genetics at Cornell.

The team's analysis showed the markers were preferentially located in or near the gene-rich regions in the arms of the chromosome, making them well sited for tagging genes in genetic studies. The researchers also demonstrated that the markers accurately detect the relationships among the breeds.

"GBS democratizes genetic profiling, and our work shows its usefulness in livestock," said Imumorin. "While a genetic profile could run $70 to $150 per individual using commercially available methods, GBS brings the cost down to around $40 a sample or less. It's a very exciting time."

Imumorin predicts that GBS will be deployed by breeders and geneticists scanning herds for superior breeding stock. He cited the example of how selection of bulls for use in breeding programs will be streamlined through GBS-driven genome analysis around the world without the steep cost of commercial SNP chips, the standard tool based on gene variants discovered in European cattle breeds and made into off-the-shelf genotyping chips.

"For example, a bull can have genes for superior milk production, but the only way to test that is to evaluate milk production in his daughters," said Imumorin. "A bull will be at least five years old before two generations of his offspring can be evaluated, and that's a long time for breeders to take care of a bull that may not make the final cut. These techniques hasten the day when a bull's value can be assessed using genetics on its day of birth more cheaply than we can do now."

The study was funded by Pfizer Animal Health (now Zoetis Inc.), the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and USDA Federal Formula Hatch Funds appropriated to the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station.



Ag Canada Ups Grain, Oilseed Estimates

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada raised its projections for production of the major grain and oilseed crops in Canada during the upcoming 2013/14 (August/July) crop year from estimates made in April.

Ag Canada in its update released late Tuesday, estimated total grain and oilseed output in Canada during the 2013/14 season at 74.465 million tonnes, up from the 73.710 million tonnes forecast in April and compared with 2012/13 production of 70.198 million.

Exports of the major grains and oilseeds in Canada during 2013/14 were projected at 34.465 million tonnes, which was down from the April estimate of 39.490 million. In 2012/13, Canada's grain and oilseed exports were pegged at 35.189 million tonnes.

Total domestic usage of the various grains and oilseeds for the 2013/14 crop year was estimated at 38.248 million tonnes, which was up slightly from the April projection of 38.103 million. In 2012/13 total domestic usage in Canada was estimated by Agriculture Canada at 37.875 million tonnes.

Ending stocks of the eight major grains and oilseeds in 2013/14 were pegged by the government agency at 11.085 million tonnes, which surpasses the April forecast of 10.401 million.

For the current crop year, ending stocks were pegged at 8.455 million tonnes.

The eight major grains and oilseeds include: canola, flaxseed, soybeans, wheat, oats, barley, corn and rye.



NCGA Offers Members New Succession Planning Tool

For American farmers succession planning is top-of-mind. The USDA reminds us that, "70 percent of farmland will change hands in the next 20 years. If a farm family has not adequately planned for succession, the farm is likely to go out of business, be absorbed by a large farming neighbor, or be converted to non-farm use." This crisis-in-the-making comes at a time when land prices are out-stripping our ability grow the operation and fewer members of the family are involved in day-to-day farming.

The National Corn Growers Association is dedicated to strengthening member farmers, maintaining a healthy organization and continuing prosperity for the industry. To serve that purpose, NCGA is proud to announce that members now are entitled to a discount when using eLegacyConnect. eLegacyConnect is a dynamic online succession planning community.

"NCGA always strives to provide a rich portfolio of membership benefits that help farmers maximize their opportunities and build a better future for their families," said NCGA Grower Services Action Team Chair Brandon Hunnicutt, a farmer from Giltner, Nebraska. "Through the new eLegacyConnect benefit, we hope to offer a valuable discount on a service that will help farmers develop a concrete plan for the future of their operations that will help their families long after they are able to themselves."

eLegacyConnect provides educational resources, action plans, community forums and a number of meaningful experiences to help farm families achieve their succession planning dreams. It has a growing roster of qualified advisors to answer questions and interact with engaged family members in real-time. As the site unfolds, there will be a slate of weekly webinars and regular podcasts to inform the community. eLegacyConnect's FarmPartner resource is a first-of-its-kind matchmaker to help aspiring farmers connect with transitioning farmers for career opportunities, mentor/protégé relationships and ownership transitions.