Latest News & Updates in KC Agriculture - December 2020

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Developments

Major League Baseball announced that it was “correcting a longtime oversight in the game’s history” by elevating the Negro Leagues from 1920 through 1948 to major-league status, a move that recognizes the sport’s long-excluded Black pioneers and immediately rewrites baseball’s record books. Roughly 3,400 Black and Latino players from seven distinct leagues, who were barred from joining the segregated National and American Leagues, will now be classified as “major-leaguers,” alongside white stars of the era, the Wall Street Journal reported. All statistics and records for those players will become part of MLB’s official history. Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, called the move “historical validation for those who had been shunned from the major leagues and had the foresight and courage to create their own league that helped change the game and our country, too.” Source: Wall Street Journal, December 17, 2020.

After 40 years of public service, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts delivered his final speech on the Senate floor, December 10. His office highlighted comments from his address below. (The full transcript is available here.)

  • “I have had the honor and privilege of representing Kansans for 16 years in the House and 24 in the Senate.

  • “I have held six gavels in the House and Senate, and that, in and of itself, might be a record. But, it’s what happened during my tenures as chairman that I believe have had the most lasting impacts. It’s not just having the gavel – it’s what you do with it.

  • “To be a member of this United States Senate is a true privilege. A working family, it is the greatest deliberative body in the world. But, today, as compared to when I first came to the Senate, it’s the deliberative part that gives me great concern. I lament the loss of comity, the ability to work together, or just to get along. Sadly, gridlock appears to be the new normal. However, it does not have to be.

  • “I am very proud that I have had the privilege of being chairman of a committee that does get along, and we do get things done – the Senate Agriculture Committee. And, it really is not that hard.

  • “Here, in the Senate, only we can decide what our new normal is, and we ought to get to know one another. We don’t have to let the apparent gravitational pull of more and more politics in pursuit of power to change what our founders gave us – the creation of a nation of liberty and freedom, the envy of the world – and to literally move the United States Senate from the moorings of its historic and great past to simply be a rubber stamp for radical change.

  • “Let us once again become a body of respect, humility, cooperation, achievement and friendship. That can and should be our new normal.

  • “The entire country could use a little bit of what we say in Kansas, ‘Ad astra per aspera’ – to the stars through difficulties.”

The Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (WRDA) (S. 1811) was approved by the House of Representatives. S.1811 represents an agreement between House and Senate committees on final WRDA language, based in part on H.R. 7575, which passed the House by voice vote in July 2020 and was introduced by House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Ranking Member, U.S. Rep. Sam Graves and his colleagues on the Committee. The bill is critical for flood control, navigation, ports, locks, dams, and other water resources infrastructure: 

  • “North Missouri’s inland waterways are dependent on the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). Ensuring that timely flood control and navigation improvements continue to occur is a centerpiece of this bill,” said Ranking Member Graves.  “Lives and livelihoods depend on the important reforms in WRDA and I am proud to cosponsor this bipartisan bill so we can help reduce the disastrous flooding we’ve seen over the years and improve the navigability of our rivers. This bill is the product of a bipartisan effort and it’s the perfect example of the way things should work around here.”

  • The final bill contains many important provisions to North Missouri including expanding work on a Lower Missouri River Basin Flood Risk and Resiliency Plan, expedited completion of maintenance and repair activities for Federally operated and maintained levee systems in the Lower Missouri River Basin, changes to the PL 84-99 non-federal levee program to enhance flood protection, further prohibition of Interception-Rearing Complex’s (IRC’s), changes to the Inland Waterways Trust Fund cost-share which would help make repairs and upgrades to locks and dams on the Mississippi River, and continuation of work on the Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive Plan, along with several other provisions critical to flood control and navigation. 

Boehringer Ingelheim will contribute $800,000 over the next five years to the Kansas State University Foundation to support interaction and collaboration between the company and veterinary students. The university said the collaboration will create opportunities for the company’s employees to train and present to students and allow for additional professional development and learning initiatives between Boehringer Ingelheim and the university. “The Kansas City Animal Health Corridor and BI share a history dating back more than 100 years,” said Randolph Legg, BI’s head of the U.S. commercial business. 

Kansas City-based American Hereford Association reports that producers, brand partners and customers celebrated 25 years of the Certified Hereford Beef® (CHB) brand in 2020. Among the world’s great beef brands, Certified Hereford Beef is found in the nation’s best restaurants and retail outlets. “The Certified Hereford Beef team is proud to celebrate a brand that continues to evolve and accommodate the demands of consumers worldwide,” says CHB President and CEO Amari Seiferman. With 7 million head harvested and a total of 900 million pounds sold, the brand continues to provide a growing opportunity for rural America and a safe and wholesome product for families everywhere.

Costco announced it will ban the use of cages for chickens in its global egg supply, saying it’s the first U.S. retailer to issue a global policy on the confinement of animals in its supply chain. “We are in the process of making that transition to cage-free eggs,” said Josh Dahmen, financial planning and investor relations director for Costco. 

U.S. farm profit this year will rise to a seven-year high after government aid payments doubled during the pandemic and trade disputes, according to USDA. Net farm income this year will jump 43% to $119.6 billion, the highest inflation-adjusted level since 2013, USDA said. The latest data show the increasing dependence of growers on government assistance after three years of trade and COVID-19 aid on top of traditional subsidies. Farmers face a less certain outlook next year if the Biden administration adjusts payments. Direct government aid, accounting for 39% of net farm income, rose to a record $36.5 billion from $22.4 billion last year. The forecast by USDA’s Economic Research Service marked a $16.9 billion rise in net income from a September projection. 

Comments from speakers at the conclusion of the Agricultural Retailers Association’s 2020 Conference and Expo, December 2, included these prognostications: 

  • Scott Rawlins, of Kansas City, Kansas-based ag product distributor Wilber-Ellis Company, said “Waters of the U.S. returns in some fashion; we can expect TPP to come back; [we] should get used to hearing the term environmental justice; [we should] watch for nutrition programs and green payments; and [we] expect a more active regulatory [environment].”

  • Growmark’s Chuck Spencer encourages ag retailers to see the opportunities in working with politicians and political appointees who may be considered to have a more urban rather than rural background. 

Kansas City-Kansas-based Wilbur-Ellis Company LLC has acquired the assets of Probe Schedule LLC, Aurora, Colorado, to provide its customers with a technologically innovative irrigation water management system. Probe Schedule is a leading irrigation management company backed by 24 years of continual research and development efforts. Its irrigation water management (IWM) software receives and collects data from in-field hardware devices and weather stations to calculate accurate crop water usage and soil moisture, providing growers with specialized irrigation schedules. 

Events

The Missouri Department of Agriculture is offering 30 high school students representing 4-H clubs and FFA chapters, as well as farm families, throughout Missouri the opportunity to explore careers in agriculture through the 2021 Missouri Agribusiness Academy. It is a competitive program for sophomores interested in pursuing agriculture-related degrees and careers. The students selected will have a yearlong opportunity to learn about the unique opportunities for careers in the Kansas City area, volunteer at the Missouri State Fair and learn more about the agriculture industry in Jefferson City. Since 1988, MAbA has graduated 990 students through a competitive application and interview process. The first leg of the 2021 MAbA will be held June 7-11, and marks the program’s 34th year. Students interested in participating must submit an application by Feb. 1, 2021. More information available here.

People

U.S. Rep David Scott (D-Georgia) will become the first Georgian and the first African American to lead the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. The House Democratic Caucus ratified the choice of Scott to lead the panel. He represents a suburban district south and west of Atlanta. The committee oversees the USDA as well as food stamps, school meals and soil and water conservation. Rep. Scott says he wants to focus on climate change’s threat to the nation’s food supply and other issues. He replaces Rep. Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat who lost his bid for reelection. 

The Missouri Farm Bureau selected Garrett Hawkins, 40, as its 15th president Sunday, making him one of the youngest Farm Bureau presidents in the nation and the youngest president ever to lead Missouri's largest farm organization. He will start serving his two-year term immediately. 

Seth Meyer will be returning to USDA to assume the position of chief economist. Meyer takes the place of Rob Johansson, who has held the position since 2015 and plans to depart USDA at the end of January and accept a position as the associate director of economics and policy analysis at the American Sugar Alliance. Meyer comes from the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, where he served as an associate director and research professor. 

Congressman-elect for Kansas’ 1st Congressional District Tracey Mann has announced his senior staff, starting in their official capacity on Jan. 3. His chief of staff will be Brandon Harder. He most recently served as the director of government relations and communications at the Farmers' Rice Cooperative. He also served as Sen. Jerry Moran’s agriculture and trade adviser. Reid Petty will serve as Mann’s district director. Petty most recently worked as Moran's Southwest Kansas District Director. Source: Agri-Pulse Communications.

Governor Laura Kelly announced her intention to appoint David Toland, Secretary for the Kansas Department of Commerce, to become her Lieutenant Governor when current Lieutenant Governor Lynn Rogers vacates the position in January. “Replacing Lynn Rogers is no small task, but of all the candidates I considered, David is ready to hit the ground running in his new role,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “I have been impressed throughout his tenure as Commerce Secretary by his enthusiasm, energy, and commitment to economic development and business recruitment. I look forward to our continued partnership as he takes on his new responsibilities in the Lieutenant Governor’s office.”

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association recognized U.S. Senator and Chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) with the Capitol Hill Top Hand Award in honor of his long career fighting for cattle producers and rural communities in our nation’s capital. NCBA President Marty Smith said, “It is my honor to give Chairman Roberts the first Top Hand award and I personally thank him for all that he has done for every U.S. cattle producer.” The Capitol Hill Top Hand Award, in its inaugural year, is given to one elected official annually, who goes above and beyond the call of duty to represent cattle producers nationwide.