Tuesday October 23 Ag News

Hasenkamp and Glaubius Attend National 4-H Club Congress

Kaleb Hasenkamp and Audrey Glaubius are among more than 1,300 4-H youth who will attend the National 4-H Club Congress in Atlanta, Georgia November 23-27. The youth that attend this event have demonstrated leadership potential and a desire to improve their community and world. Participants are selected based on their record books in a specific project area.

Kaleb Hasenkamp is the son of Herb & Karina Hasenkamp of Beemer. He is currently a sophomore at West-Point Beemer High School and has been in 4-H for eight years. He was selected for his accomplishments in the Science & Technology area. 

Some of Kaleb’s highlights of his 4-H career include his welding and woodworking projects, showing cattle at the Nebraska State Fair and AKSARBEN.

Kaleb’s future plans include pursuing a degree in agriculture. Kaleb says that “4-H has lead me to have a lot of interest in different areas of agriculture. I was thinking about a career in Mechanical Engineering but through my livestock projects, I am also looking into a career in Range and Livestock Management”.

“4-H has taught my about being responsible when caring for my animals and making sure they are healthy. It has also taught me about hard work and dedication to completing projects and seeing success”.

Audrey Glaubius is the daughter of Michael and Nancy Glaubius of Wisner. She is currently a sophomore at Wisner-Pilger High School. Audrey has been a 4-H member for eight years. She was selected for her accomplishments in the Consumer and Family Science area.

Some of Audrey’s highlights of her 4-H career include participating in Omaha Fashion Week, winning Reserve Champion at the 2018 Cuming County Fashion Review, being a camp counselor at Adventure Day, winning Overall Presentations with her 4-H Sewing Box and mastering her great-grandmother’s Chiffon cake recipe.

Audrey’s future plans are to attend a four-year college. Her career plans are undecided but 4-H has helped give her the tools she needs to make and achieve goals. It has also exposed her to public speaking which will be very helpful in whatever profession she decides.

“4-H is a great way to learn not only specific skills in each project area like sewing or public speaking, but also encourages you to learn creative problem solving, goal setting, and time management skills”.



Pork Month is Every Month
Al Juhnke, Executive Director, Nebraska Pork Producers Association

As October ends, pork producers around the country are winding down their Pork Month activities. Here in Nebraska we are not just watching the end of the month in the rear-view mirror, but rather we are looking ahead down the road with great anticipation. For our Nebraska pig farmers, Pork Month is every month.

Ever since 1961 when the Nebraska Pork Producers Association (NPPA) officially organized, we have been working to produce a safe, affordable, and sustainable product on our farms. The result of this hard work is we not only help feed our nation, we also help to feed the world.

Pork is the worlds’ most widely eaten meat, ahead of chicken and beef. Local farmers have been busy raising pigs for this world market, sending 27 percent of our production last year to other countries. We understand that people in these countries count on us to produce a safe product which they can feed to their families. We are responsible people and take this role very seriously.

In Nebraska we have more pigs than in the past 20 years. This growth means we are positively affecting our local economies. Nebraska now boasts over 14,000 jobs in pork production which generates $772 million of personal income. We are proud to add $1.14 billion of value to our gross state product. With 1-in-4 jobs coming from agriculture, we know that we play a valuable role in this area.

We also know there is more to our lives than just raising pigs. Our farmers, their workers, and families are members of our communities. They shop in our towns, are involved in community activities, volunteer in local schools and churches, and are our friends and neighbors. We know the importance of a strong rural Nebraska and continue to work hard every day to preserve this way of life.

So yes, October is Pork Month and it is a time when we celebrate our family farmers and their communities. But the next time you order bacon for breakfast at the local cafe, put that Easter ham on the table, or throw a rack of ribs on the grill, remember all the hard-working farm families that are there every day of the year so we can all enjoy a safe, sustainable, affordable, and yes, a ‘tasty’ food we call pork!



HAGEL, KERREY HOPEFUL FOR THE RETURN OF BIPARTISAN POLITICS

Chuck Hagel and Bob Kerrey openly admit that they didn’t always agree while serving as U.S. senators for Nebraska. Yet the two were able to set their differences aside to serve the interests of the people.

That kind of compromise is lacking in Washington today, they told an overflow crowd during the first Heuermann Lecture of the season Oct. 22 at Nebraska Innovation Campus. The free lecture was sponsored by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“Bob is a Democrat. I’m a Republican. But we didn’t lose sight of why we were there,” Hagel said of their time in the Senate.

He said compromise for the greater good was common while the World War II generation was serving on Capitol Hill, but that bipartisan mentality doesn’t exist today.

"We are not seeing the leadership required in our country," said Hagel, who added that he doesn’t care whether someone is Republican or Democrat, and instead looks for leaders with character, courage and good judgment. He’s hitting the campaign trail in North Dakota this week in support of Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.

The former senators said the issues go much deeper than whether someone supports the president. It’s also about what people are doing to improve their homes and communities.

“If you see something that is substandard and don’t do anything about it, that’s the new standard,” Kerrey said.

Despite the challenges facing the country, Hagel and Kerrey said they remain hopeful for the future. They long for a return of civil leadership and are confident American politics will find its new center of gravity.

“It’s a whole lot easier to get up in the morning if you’re hopeful,” Hagel said.

The two said educational institutions will play a critical role in helping the country unify again. Such institutions are key in helping young people to think for themselves and learn to listen to others with different viewpoints. According to Kerrey, leadership starts with the ability to truly listen to others.

Kerrey praised the basic research occurring within IANR, which he said is just one example of the immense influence the University of Nebraska has on society.

“Every single program at the university contributes either to the economy or to a better understanding of who we are,” he said.

Hagel was the 24th secretary of defense, serving from February 2013 to February 2015. He is the only Vietnam veteran and the first enlisted combat veteran to be secretary of defense. He also served two terms in the U.S. Senate from 1997-2009. He was a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; and Intelligence committees. Prior to being elected senator, Hagel was president of McCarthy and Company, an investment banking firm based in Omaha, and chairman of the board of American Information Systems.

Kerrey is managing director at investment banking firm Allen and Company, based in New York. He is also the executive chairman of the Minerva Institute. Kerrey served two terms in the U.S. Senate from 1989-2001. He was on the Senate's Agriculture and Forestry Committee and was a leader in drafting farm legislation, soil and water conservation statutes, and regulations to promote equity in rural health, communication and transportation. Prior to serving in the Senate, Kerrey was Nebraska's governor for four years. He also served three years in the U.S. Navy in the Vietnam War and received a Congressional Medal of Honor for his service as a Navy SEAL.

Heuermann Lectures are funded by a gift from B. Keith and Norma Heuermann of Phillips, Nebraska. The Heuermanns are longtime university supporters with a strong commitment to Nebraska's production agriculture, natural resources, rural areas and people.

Lectures are streamed live at http://heuermannlectures.unl.edu and air live on campus channel 4. They are archived after the event and later air on NET2 World.



New Studies to Improve Success Strategies for Cover Crops Are Funded

Improving the odds of a successful cash crop after cover crops is the aim of several new projects funded by the Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University.

“Based on strong farmer interest and input from our center advisory committee, almost a third of this year’s $1.7 million in project funding will support research to understand how to best integrate cover crops into Iowa crop and livestock systems,” said Matt Helmers, director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center and professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State. “Since the center was established in 2013, we’ve funded about a dozen research projects linked to cover crops.”

Planting cover crops is a conservation practice that is a linchpin of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, adopted in 2013. One way to achieve the strategy’s goals is to expand the use of cover crops to approximately 12 million acres, so they can soak up excess nutrients, keeping them out of streams and drainage tiles and ultimately reducing nutrient levels flowing to the Gulf of Mexico.

In addition to improving water quality, cover crops can build soil health, provide livestock feed and reduce weed pressure in fields. However, because they can be hard to manage, expensive and pose risks to the following crop, there is still a lot of research needed to address the challenges.

“If farmers have a good year growing cover crops, they can get really excited and plant more acres. But if they have a bad year, they might never use cover crops again,” said Alison Robertson, professor of plant pathology and microbiology and a lead investigator of cover crop projects funded by the Iowa Nutrient Research Center.

“These research projects will help build our understanding of how cover crops relate to factors like disease, insects, nutrient cycling and crop response,” Robertson said. “It’s all about finding the right strategies, so that cover crop users can succeed most of the time.”

One new project led by Robertson will investigate the impact of spatial planting arrangements of winter cereal rye to reduce “yield drag” when corn — which is basically, a robust, well-bred species of grass — follows another grass species used as a cover crop. Cereal rye harbors insect and disease problems that may spill over into the next corn crop. Cereal rye has become a popular cover crop in the Midwest because of its winter hardiness and its ability to become established when planted in late fall after the previous crop is harvested.

Preliminary research in the greenhouse by Robertson and others found that, when planted closer to terminated rye crowns, corn seedlings were shorter and more susceptible to plant disease. The scientists concluded that “proximity matters.” As a follow-up, Robertson’s team is looking more carefully at the influence of physical distance and planting methods.

One way to manage proximity in fields would be to plant corn into a “cover crop-free zone.” That is the focus of another newly funded Iowa Nutrient Research Center project led by Mark Licht, assistant professor of agronomy. Licht and colleagues will look at possible advantages of leaving narrow bands of space between rye and corn seedlings using strip tillage. They also will monitor the potential disadvantages of a cover crop-free zone. For example, leaving more bare soil in the row could be an open invitation for weeds to grow, negating the weed suppression benefits cover crops can provide.

Licht’s study will also will look at whether using a starter fertilizer can boost corn seedling vigor enough to ward off potential yield decreases related to the rye.

A third, multidisciplinary project led by Robertson and Licht will research cover crops from many angles, based on data collected from the same field experiments. The team includes agronomists, a plant pathologist, a weed scientist, a sociologist, an entomologist, an economist and an engineer, who will quantify the effect of cover crop seeding rates and planting methods on corn growth, weed, insect and disease issues, soil health, water quality, economic returns and farmer attitudes.

“Taking a systems approach to investigate various interactions is more likely to reflect farmers’ real-world benefits and barriers,” says Robertson. “So much work on cover crops has been done inside each of our own academic areas, it will be exciting to see what we may be able to learn by working together from multiple perspectives.”

Another cover-crop project funded this year, led by Dan Loy and colleagues at the Iowa Beef Center at Iowa State, will evaluate the forage value of an oat-rye cover crop mix. They will use their data to refine a decision tool to help farmers more accurately predict the costs and benefits of grazing cover crops. 

The Iowa Nutrient Research Center, established in 2013 with support from the Iowa Legislature, pursues science-based approaches to evaluating the performance of current and emerging nutrient management practices, providing recommendations on implementing the practices and developing new practices. The center has supported 76 research projects, led by scientists at Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa, often in collaboration with other agencies, organizations, cities, farmers and landowners.



NCBA to Reiterate Unwavering Support for USDA Oversight of Lab-Grown Fake Meat

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) will highlight the food safety and product labeling expertise of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) during a two-day public meeting on lab-grown fake meat. The public meeting, hosted jointly by USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), takes place October 23-24. The meeting agenda lists a wide range of topics for consideration, including potential production hazards, food labeling, and marketing claims.   

NCBA President Kevin Kester and President-Elect Jennifer Houston are scheduled to deliver remarks during the open comment periods of the session. Houston will explain why USDA is well-positioned to apply current food safety processes to lab-grown fake meat products. Two-thirds of the facilities already overseen by USDA are “processing-only” facilities where harvesting of animals does not take place.  

“Ensuring lab-grown fake meat products are subject to strong, daily inspection by USDA’s trained professionals is essential,” she said. “The health of consumers is on the line, and USDA is far better suited to ensure the safety of lab-grown products.”

Kester will focus his comments on how USDA oversight provides protects consumers against false and misleading marketing claims.

“USDA can be trusted to enforce truthful, transparent labeling of the products under its jurisdiction,” he said. “Beef producers welcome competition, but product labels and marketing must be based on sound science, not the misleading claims of anti-animal agriculture activists.”



Cargill develops industry-first robotic cattle driver 

Cargill has developed an industry-first robotic cattle driver aimed at improving animal welfare and employee safety. The robots are designed to move cattle from pens to the harvest area, reducing stress to the animals by minimizing their proximity to human activity. Employees operate the robots from a catwalk located above the pens, reducing safety risks by keeping those who work in the cattle yard portion of processing plants at a greater distance from the 1300-pound animals.

“The robotic cattle driver developed by Cargill is a major innovation in the handling and welfare of farm animals,” said Temple Grandin, professor of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University. “This device will lead to huge strides in employee safety while moving large animals and reduce the stress on cattle across the country.”

Cargill Protein spent two years developing the prototype, with significant input from animal welfare experts including Grandin, beef plant employees and engineers from equipment supplier Flock Free. Using waving automated arms, blowers and audio recordings to move cattle in a desired direction, the robots can operate in rain, snow or mud, with no delay in daily operations. Testing was conducted at Cargill’s Wyalusing, Penn., and Schuyler, Neb., beef processing facilities to determine a design and operational attributes of the robot that would effectively improve animal welfare and employee safety before being implemented at the company’s U.S. and Canadian beef plants.

“The average bovine weighs almost three quarters of a ton, and our plant processes several thousand head of cattle daily,” said Sammy Renteria, general manager of the Cargill beef plant in Schuyler, Neb. “This innovation provides a much safer workplace for our employees and allows them to develop new technology expertise as they manage and operate the robot.”

The robotic cattle drivers are currently being implemented at Cargill Protein beef plants in the U.S. and Canada. They are manufactured by the New Jersey-based company Flock Free. Cargill believes the robotic cattle driver has multiple applications for improving animal handling and worker safety across livestock and poultry supply chains and is working toward making them available for use throughout the industry.



Export Exchange 2018 Speakers Share Outlook for U.S. Grains, Highlight DDGS

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. grains experts were laser focused on the outlook for U.S. corn and its co-products – highlighting the importance of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) – at Export Exchange 2018 in Minneapolis today.

Export Exchange is a biennial educational and trade forum for U.S. feed grains that will host attendees from both the U.S. and various countries organized into 21 U.S. Grains Council (USGC) trade teams. Both teams will meet with U.S. suppliers and get a chance to learn about current supply and demand for U.S. feed products.

Co-sponsored by the USGC, Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), Export Exchange 2018 offers attendees an unparalleled opportunity to meet and build relationships with domestic suppliers of corn, distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS), sorghum, barley and other commodities.

“The U.S. DDGS market is once again on the rise in various parts of the world,” said Tom Sleight, USGC president and chief executive officer. “Not only are we seeing increases of DDGS purchases in the Western Hemisphere - in Mexico and Canada - but we’re also seeing increases in countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and India. Highlighting the importance and versatility of U.S. DDGS at Export Exchange only makes sense.”

After welcome remarks by USGC Chairman Jim Stitzlein and the USDA’s Associate Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service Daniel Whitley, attendees heard from Export Exchange keynote speaker Roger Watchorn, group leader at Cargill Agriculture Supply Chain North America.

"North America continues to be a leader in production technologies and a major player in global trade," said Watchorn. "One in seven people worldwide depend on global trade for their basic food needs. We connect farmers with those who need our products around the world. North America is unrivaled in optionality and supply chain efficiencies and we are ready to meet those needs."

To round out the morning, the USDA’s Chief Economist Dr. Robert Johansson shared with attendees the USDA’s 10-year outlook on feed grains’ production, supply and distribution.

The afternoon was devoted to one feed grain co-product in particular – DDGS – with speakers including Tyson Foods Poultry Nutritionist Philip Smith, ProExporter Senior Analyst Bill Holbrook, Renewable Fuels Association Regulatory Affairs Vice President Kelly Davis and Distillers Grains Technology Council’s Executive Director Kurt Rosentrater covering poultry nutrition, export challenges and opportunities, food safety regulations and new products including pelleting, high protein versions and advancing technologies.

“DDGS and other ethanol co-products provide a value-added market for the U.S. ethanol industry,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “DDGS exports last year were shipped to 50 countries on five continents, and with upwards of 21 countries represented here at Export Exchange, this is an ideal platform to connect buyers and sellers to meet.”

Throughout the meeting, international attendees – composed of grain buyers from more than 35 countries - are encouraged to meet with U.S. sellers via an exhibit hall experience called Export Exchange Expo open throughout the conference. It is here that trades between end-users and U.S. sellers occur.

The conference runs through Wednesday at the Minneapolis Hilton. More information is available at www.exportexchange.org or on social media at #ExEx18.



E15 Demand Growth Seen Limited

ESAI Energy forecasts a marginal increase in E15 gasoline supply to 2020, despite the Trump administration's announcement to lift a federal ban on summer sales of E-15.

ESAI Energy estimates that E15 demand is likely to grow by less than 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2020. With it likely replacing E10 volumes, only 5% of that small volume will replace motor gasoline blending components with ethanol, limiting its near-term impact on both petroleum-based gasoline and ethanol.

Under current regulation, retailers in much of the country cannot offer E15 from June 1 to Sept. 15. That has led to limited investments in storage, pumps and misfueling mitigation. The ability to sell E15 product year-round will make investments in necessary infrastructure and labeling more feasible, but it will take time. The rule intends to allow E15 sales by the summer.

With only about 1,400 of the more than 106,000 stations nationwide currently selling E15 the demand is expected to remain limited in the short to medium term.



NOAA Forecasts Mild Winter for Much of the U.S.

Winter is coming, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released its predictions about what weather the season will likely bring.

But it may not help to break out the snow shovels and heavy winter coats just yet. NOAA's latest seasonal outlook, which covers December 2018 through February 2019, expects mostly warmer-than-normal weather this winter for the western two-thirds of the country, with no areas of the U.S. expected to see prevalent cooler-than-normal conditions.

As for precipitation, much of the lower Southwest, Mid-South, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions have the greatest chance to see wetter-than-normal conditions this winter. Parts of the Great Lakes Region and portions of Montana and the western Dakotas are more likely to see drier-than-normal conditions prevail. Much of the rest of the country has equal chances to see wetter or drier weather this winter, NOAA predicts.

The agency's precipitation map, in particular, looks a lot like how a signature El Niño winter typically plays out in the U.S. That's no accident - with NOAA currently pegging the chance of those conditions developing this winter between 70% and 75%.

"We expect El Niño to be in place in late fall to early winter," says Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. "Although a weak El Nino is expected, it may still influence the winter season by bringing wetter conditions across the southern United States, and warmer, drier conditions to parts of the North."

Other climate patterns that are harder to predict can still affect wintertime weather in the U.S., Halpert adds. For example, the Arctic Oscillation influences how many times arctic air masses can move further south, which affects the East Coast in particular. And the Madden-Julian Oscillation can create heavy rain and snowfall across the West Coast when El Niño is weak - which forecasters currently expect.



Australia Faces Smallest Winter Crop in 10 Years

Australia may be tracking toward its smallest winter crop in a decade as extreme dry weather and damaging frost take their toll. Rabobank estimates a national harvest of just 29.3 million metric tons for the 2018-9 winter. That would be 23% below last season's total and come amid what is expected to be one of the worst-ever winters for eastern Australia. Were it not for better harvest prospects in Western Australia, the only state forecasted to see increased output, the country could be facing its lowest winter crop in 20 years, the bank notes. It adds this coming season is slated to be the first time in two decades that Western Australia would contribute more than half (52%) of the national winter crop. Rabobank expects to see record Australian grain prices hold well into 2019.



Judge Upholds Monsanto Verdict, Cuts Award to $78 Million

(AP) -- A Northern California judge on Monday upheld a jury's verdict that found Monsanto's weed killer caused a groundskeeper's cancer, but she slashed the amount of money to be paid from $289 million to $78 million.

In denying Monsanto's request for a new trial, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Suzanne Bolanos cut the jury's punitive damage award from $250 million to $39 million. The judge had earlier said she had strong doubts about the jury's entire punitive damage award.

Bolanos gave DeWayne Johnson until Dec. 7 to accept the reduced amount or demand a new trial.

Johnson's spokeswoman Diana McKinley said he and his lawyers are reviewing the decision and haven't decided the next step. "Although we believe a reduction in punitive damages was unwarranted and we are weighing the options, we are pleased the court did not disturb the verdict," she said.

Monsanto spokesman Daniel Childs said that the company was pleased with the reduced reward but still planned to appeal the verdict. Childs said there's no scientific proof linking Roundup to cancer.

The jury awarded punitive damages after it found that the St. Louis-based agribusiness had purposely ignored warnings and evidence that its popular Roundup product causes cancer, including Johnson's lymphoma.

Punitive damages are designed to punish companies that juries determine have purposely misbehaved and to deter others from operating similarly.

In a tentative ruling on Oct. 11, Bolanos said it appeared the jurors overreached with their punitive damages award. She said then that she was considering wiping out the $250 million judgment after finding no compelling evidence presented at trial that Monsanto employees ignored evidence that the weed killer caused cancer.

The judge reversed course Monday and said she was compelled to honor the jurors' conclusions after they listened to expert witnesses for both sides debate the merits of Johnson's claim.

The judge said jurors are entitled to accept the conclusion of Johnson's expert witness who said Roundup caused his cancer and reject the conclusions of Monsanto's expert witnesses, who concluded there's no proof the weed killer causes cancer.

"Thus, the jury could conclude that Monsanto acted with malice by consciously disregarding a probable safety risk," Bolanos wrote in her ruling.

Some jurors were so upset by the prospect of having their verdict thrown out that they wrote to Bolanos, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

"I urge you to respect and honor our verdict and the six weeks of our lives that we dedicated to this trial," juror Gary Kitahata wrote. Juror Robert Howard said the jury paid "studious attention" to the evidence and any decision to overturn its verdict would shake his confidence in the judicial system.

The judge did slash the $250 million punitive damage to $39 million, the same amount the jury awarded Johnson for other damages.

Johnson's lawsuit is among hundreds alleging Roundup caused cancer, but it was the first one to go to trial.

Johnson sprayed Roundup and a similar product, Ranger Pro, at his job as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district, according to his attorneys. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014 at age 42.

Many government regulators have rejected a link between the weed killer's active chemical -- glyphosate -- and cancer. Monsanto has vehemently denied such a connection, saying hundreds of studies have established that glyphosate is safe.



The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) Launched 2018 Sustainability Report at 2018 Global Conference on Sustainable Beef

The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) released the 2018 Sustainability Report at the Global Conference on Sustainable Beef, which took place October 9-12, 2018 at the Lyrath Estate in Kilkenny, Ireland. The conference, co-hosted by the newly-formed European Roundtable for Beef Sustainability (ERBS) and Bord Bia, was attended by 234+ registered delegates from more than 25 countries.

The 2018 Sustainability Report, released during the conference, highlights results from sustainability efforts of national roundtables and other regionally focused sustainability initiatives, including those in North America, South America, Southern Africa, Australasia, and Europe.

“GRSB is pleased to present the 2018 Sustainability Report to provide detail about the work being done around the world to drive continuous improvement in the sustainability of beef production. We relied on the collaboration of all of our national and regional roundtable members to create the most comprehensive report possible,” states Nicole Johnson-Hoffman, President of GRSB.

To view the complete 2018 Sustainability report, which includes a full list of GRSB members, GRSB strategic goals, and a complete report of regional impact being made on the ground to improve beef sustainability, click here.

The launch of the European Roundtable for Sustainable Beef was also celebrated at the Global Conference. SAI Platform’s Beef Working Group Lead, Patricia García-Díaz says “The ERBS will be a catalyst for change across the European Beef sector. It will represent the European beef value chain at the Global stage and welcomes stakeholders from across the chain that support the ERBS mission to improve beef sustainability.”

In addition to spotlighting sustainability-focused impact around the world, the Global Conference also provided a pathway to explore the role of technology and innovation in modern beef production. During a special sunrise session, Deloitte introduced a white paper discussing the use of Blockchain technology to increase value and demonstrate sustainability. Beefing Up Blockchain: How Blockchain can Transform the Beef Supply focuses on Ireland’s beef industry as the world’s fifth largest net exporter, with 90% of production exported. To read more visit: https://www2.deloitte.com/ie/en/pages/technology/articles/beefing-up-blockchain.html

In addition to Blockchain, attendees learned about a program in Canada that tracks beef through a certified sustainable supply chain all the way to consumers, as well as other innovations being used in the field to improve efficiency like mobile Apps being used by farmers in Southern Africa, and procedures that are driving water savings in some of the biggest beef processing facilities in the world.

The 2018 Global Conference on Sustainable Beef aimed to inform stakeholders about the latest practices on sustainable farming and manufacturing from subject matter experts from across the globe, while providing a platform to share their own experiences and expertise.

Conference proceedings including videos, audios and slide decks will be available online soon.