" I heard it through the AgLine"

February 17, 2010

 

 

·        Miami to host global high-tech ag event

·        Deal creates largest mineral fertilizer firm

·        New web site offers irrigation training info  

·        Wyoming debates excise tax on wind energy

·        Some vineyard workers ‘sip’ sustainability

 

 

Miami to host global high-tech ag event

 

(AgPR) – Miami, Fla. Anticipation is building throughout the international agriculture community as delegates and exhibitors prepare for the IFA-New Ag International conference on Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers (EEF) and the 8^th New Ag International Conference and Exhibition set for March 23-26 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Miami.

 

This is the first time in its eight-year history the conferences and exhibition will be held in the United States. Previous host countries include Spain, Italy, Turkey, Mexico, Hungary and India.

 

More than 400 delegates and nearly 200 companies representing 40 different countries have already registered for the events.

 

“The New Ag International conferences and exhibition is neither a show like those common in North America, nor is it a simple conference,” explains Jean Pierre Leymonie, director of New Ag International. “It is a unique international event for top executives representing key industries serving high-tech agriculture.”

 

“For many of the companies, this will be the first time they have ever exhibited in the United States,” Leymonie added.

 

A primary goal of the event is to allow top executives involved with high-tech agriculture from around the world to gather in one location and discuss strategic alliances and partnerships in a professional, but relaxed atmosphere. The event is also a unique venue for networking, facilitated by the fact that participants will receive a full list and contact information of all attendees BEFORE the event begins.

 

Key manufacturers, suppliers and distributors from North and South America, Europe, Oceania, South Africa, Asia and China have already registered and more are being added to the list every day.

 

Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizer conference

 

The EEF portion of the conference will run all day March 23 and the morning of March 24. A total of 23 papers will be delivered by speakers from nine countries representing academic, industry and consulting perspectives. Here are just three examples of the topics to be discussed.

 

·        Agronomic effectiveness of enhanced-efficiency fertilizers by Mike Steward, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), USA

 

·        The world market for enhanced-efficiency fertilizers by Sarah Landels, Agindustries Research & Consulting, Inc., USA

 

·        Neem-oil coating technology on urea to reduce ammonia volatilization, by Kartik Laijawala, Nico Orgo Manures, India

 

The EEF conference is sponsored by world leaders in this field including Agrium Advanced Technologies, Agrotain, Haifa Chemicals, Scotts Professional and SFP. The entire program is available for downloading in .pdf format at: http://www.newaginternational.com/ifa/ifa.html

 

 

New Ag International Conference and Exhibition

 

This conference and exhibition builds on the success of seven previous conferences and is packed with the latest information on high-tech agriculture. Offering a truly global perspective, the conference will include 27 papers delivered by speakers from 12 countries.

 

Additionally, companies from all sectors of the industry – including plant nutrition, biocontrol and irrigation – representing 16 countries have already booked exhibit space. The countries include: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.

 

To offer a wide variety of global information, the talks will be delivered by experts from universities, industry and consulting practices. Here’s a brief sampling of the talks to be delivered.

 

·        World Trends in Specialty Plant Nutrition by Giuseppe Natale, CEO, Valagro Spa, Italy.

 

·        Optimizing the Micro-Irrigation Investment with Fertigation, by Eduardo Mendias, Product Manager, Toro Micro-irrigation, USA.

 

·        The Challenge of introducing alternative products in the US agriculture markets: The Florida example, by Tammy M. Kovar, president, Think Global LLC and Dr. George Soares, Agrogenesis, USA.

 

·        The potential for management of plant parasitic nematodes with bio-fumigants and biostimulants by Sue J. Turner, applied Plant Science &Biometrics Division, Agri-Food & Bioscience Institute & The Queen University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.

 

·        Characterization of biostimulating properties in fertilizers, using bioessays. by Dr Anna Benedetti, Director at the Institute for Plant Nutrition of the Italian Agriculture and Forest Ministry (Italy)

 

The event is sponsored by Brandt (USA), Haifa Chemicals (Israel), Valagro (Italy) and supported by the North American Horticulture Supply Association. Download a complete copy of the conference program at: http://www.newaginternational.com/miami/miami.html.

 

As an extra bonus for those attending the conferences, New Ag International has announced it will publish a special issue of its quarterly English language magazine with unique coverage of EEF’s, Biostimulants, waste water re-use in irrigation systems and a special report of the irrigation market in the United States and a statistical overview of agriculture in Central America.

 

For more information, contact New Ag International at conference@newaginternational.com or by phone at +44 (0) 208 892 4821

 

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Deal creates largest mineral fertilizer firm

 

(AP via Yahoo! News) OSLO – Norwegian fertilizer company Yara International ASA said this week it has agreed to acquire U.S. competitor Terra Industries Inc. for $4.1 billion.

 

Yara said it would pay $41.10 per share of Terra stock, a 23.6 percent premium on Friday's closing share price.

 

The Norwegian company said in a statement that the boards of directors of both Yara and Terra approved the acquisition unanimously.

 

Yara plans to fund the deal in part by raising $2 billion-$2.5 billion in a rights issue.

 

The deal is expected to close in June 2010 on the conditions of the rights issue, Terra shareholder approval and the approval of regulatory authorities, Yara said.

 

The company said the cash call has the support of its largest shareholder, the Norwegian government, which holds over one-third of Yara shares. The rights issue will also be underwritten by Citi, Deutsche Bank, Nordea and Norway's National Insurance Fund.

Yara shares fell 6 percent, to 228.10 kroner ($38.47), in morning trading in Oslo.

 

"Yara is committed to the U.S. market, and this transaction presents an attractive opportunity for both companies to strengthen their positions in the U.S.," said Yara CEO Joergen Ole Haslestad, calling the two fertilizer companies "a perfect fit."

 

The two companies are already part of a joint operation in the U.K.

 

U.S. chemical manufacturer CF Industries Holdings Inc. withdrew a hostile takeover of Terra in January, saying the company had become too expensive after Terra share price skyrocketed nearly 96 percent in 2009.

 

Based in Sioux City, Iowa, Terra has about 940 employees in the U.S. and Canada. Yara employs 8,000 people worldwide and provides fertilizer to 120 countries.

 

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New web site offers irrigation training info 

 

(Texas A&M) – COLLEGE STATION – Producers tapping into water supplies for irrigation needs can now get training online at a new Texas Water Resources Institute Web site.

 

The Texas Water Development Board, through a three-year Agricultural Water Conservation Grant, provided funds to the Texas Water Resources Institute to develop a statewide Irrigation Training Program to help farmers and others learn about efficient tools and techniques of irrigation management, said Dr. B.L. Harris, acting director of the institute.

 

The Texas Water Resources Institute is part of Texas AgriLife Research, Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.

 

Texas Water Resources Institute, AgriLife Extension, the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and its network of local soil and water conservation districts, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, collaborated to develop and implement a comprehensive program during 2008 and 2009, Harris said.

 

The Texas Water Resources Institute submitted a final report to the Texas Water Development Board this month to document all activities and results from the Irrigation Training Program project.

 

Six training programs were held throughout the state in Lubbock, Chillicothe, Mercedes, Sinton, Hondo and Amarillo during 2008 and 2009. Agendas and presentations from these trainings are available on the new Web site located at http://irrigationtraining.tamu.edu/ .

 

The six trainings reached 296 agricultural producers who manage approximately 700,000 acres. Harris said the program saved an estimated 93,848 acre-feet of water during the project when participants implemented the recommended practices.

 

The site also provides access to two electronic editions (North Texas and South Texas) of an inclusive 500-plus page manual, which addresses both fundamental information and region-specific needs regarding irrigation in Texas, said Dr. Dana Porter, AgriLife Extension agricultural engineer in Lubbock and lead editor for the manual.

 

Free CDs of the manuals can be ordered by contacting the Texas Water Resources Institute at twri@tamu.edu. A limited number of hard copies are also available, Harris said.

 

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Wyoming debates excise tax on wind energy

 

(AP) – CHEYENNE, Wyo. A proposal in Wyoming to impose the nation's first state excise tax on wind energy production is generating debate over how the state should handle the arrival of massive wind farms to its wind-swept plains and plateaus.

 

Gov. Dave Freudenthal made the wind energy tax a centerpiece of his legislative agenda, drawing surprise and alarm from some in the state's fledgling wind industry. The proposal cleared its first hurdle Thursday when the state House voted to introduce the bill.

 

Freudenthal said wind can be a beneficial industry for Wyoming, but doesn't deserve special treatment.

 

"It can help keep people in agriculture. It can help people have jobs, and hopefully it can lead to some manufacturing facilities in the state," he said. "Having said all that, they are not entitled to a free ride. This is the first opportunity that this state has had in my lifetime to actually diversify its tax base."

 

The Wyoming tax proposal contradicts what most states are doing to compete for renewable energy industries. They are offering tax breaks or incentives, according to national wind and solar energy associations.

 

"It is very disturbing to hear that one of the great states for resources wants to tax the industry and discourage the development of jobs in their state," said Denise Bode, head of the American Wind Energy Association.

 

Supporters of the tax proposal say the wind industry is already subsidized by the federal government. Serious developers won't be discouraged by the tax, supporters argue, and the state and counties need revenue to handle industrial scale wind development.

 

"I appreciate the fact that people can say it has great environmental benefits, but that's people who don't live next to them, or who's wildlife habitat isn't being disrupted, or the bird population isn't being effected, or who's view isn't being altered," Freudenthal said.

 

The proposal would impose a $3 per megawatt hour excise tax on commercial wind energy generation, which works out to a roughly 5 percent tax. Revenues would be split 60-40 between the state and counties where turbines are located.

 

The governor's office estimated the tax would raise about $11.5 million annually at existing production rates.

 

As a coal, natural gas and uranium state, Wyoming is accustomed to dealing with energy industries but is figuring out how to govern the influx of developers hoping to harness its wind to export green energy to populous markets in the west and southwest.

 

Wyoming's wind energy generation capacity nearly quadrupled in 2008 and 2009, pushing the state to about 1,100 megawatts, the American Wind Energy Association says. The state ranks 12th in the nation for its existing wind capacity and seventh in potentialcapacity, according to the association.

 

Legislators have introduced a handful of proposals to strengthen state and county oversight of the wind industry, but the tax bill is the most politically contentious.

 

Ed Werner, chairman of the county commission in Converse County, the state's leading wind energy producer, said he supports a wind tax but worries the governor's proposal could be too much for wind developers in the early stages of a project. He prefers phasing in a production tax once a farm is operating.

 

"Even though it definitely comes back to benefit us in our hometowns and counties, if you run them all off, there's nothing to share," he said.

 

With the sunset of a sales tax exemption at the end of this year, Wyoming will have no tax incentives for wind development. The industry will be subject to a 6 percent sales tax and 11.5 percent property tax. Wyoming has no income tax.

 

The Wyoming Power Producers Coalition, a group of 14 independent wind developers, argues that Wyoming is already at a competitive disadvantage because of its tax burden and vast distance from markets. The excise tax would only make the state more inhospitable, the group says.

 

Most surrounding states offer wind developers some sort of incentive, such as sales tax exemptions for turbines in Colorado and Utah.

 

"We have some majorly grave concerns about the enormity of the (excise) tax," said Cheryl Riley, the group's executive director. "We think that the potential for wind to bring substantial wealth to the state is great, and we think that this sends a really negative message to developers."

 

All sides in the debate agree that it's hard to compare wind with mineral resources.

 

As a renewable resource, wind isn't subject to severance tax and wind farms don't have ongoing fuel costs. Wind farms have large capital costs - an estimated $2- to $4 million per turbine - and take a heavy hit upfront on sales taxes.

 

Rob Hurless, an energy adviser in the governor's office, said Wyoming's resource industries are too different to try to apply numerical tax comparisons. The excise tax proposal is an attempt to set a reasonable rate for the wind industry's participation in the state economy, he said.

 

"In a way we are breaking ground and we understand that, but we also want to say, 'OK how do you do this in a way that people participate in a fair way relative to other economic activities in the state,'" he said.

 

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Some Calif. vineyard workers ‘sip’ sustainability

 

(Santa Maria Sun) – Taking a brief rest from harvesting the last of his grapes alongside a crew of vineyard workers, Work added, “The soil, the plants, the weather, as well as the people, are very important—the people working in the vineyard, and the people who are neighbors.”

 

It’s noon on the final day of wine-grape harvest, and Berta Gonzalez and Maria Cerna eat their homemade tacos, sharing stories and laughing together as they sit in the shade of an unusual trailer parked at the edge of a local vineyard. It beats crouching in the dirt in the hot sun at lunchtime, Mendoza agrees.

 

The curving canopy of the specially made rolling lunchroom isn’t the only way these farmworkers are covered. Under a new (California) Central Coast certification program for sustainability, the hardworking vineyard crews are covered for medical insurance and earn much more than minimum wage. Some farmworkers are learning how to manage their 401K retirement accounts, matched dollar for dollar by their employers.

 

“Sustainability in Practice”—or SIP—certification recently developed by the Central Coast Vineyard Team includes a point system for the “three E’s” of sustainability, often referred to as three legs of a stool: ecology, economics, and equity. The SIP-certified seal, a voluntary program that was years in the making, now appears on 50,000 cases of Central Coast wines from more than 30 wineries, produced from 11,000 acres of local vineyards.

 

Savvy wine consumers are starting to notice as local tasting rooms begin to promote the distinctive SIP seal of approval, with the marketing slogan, “SIP the good life” and a website, sipthegoodlife.org.

 

“The sustainable certification is about looking at farming operations from a holistic perspective,” said Peter Work, owner and winemaker of one of the first vineyards to achieve the sustainability seal of approval, ampelos cellars and vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills near Lompoc.

 

Taking a brief rest from harvesting the last of his grapes alongside a crew of vineyard workers, Work added, “The soil, the plants, the weather, as well as the people, are very important—the people working in the vineyard, and the people who are neighbors.”

 

He’s part of the Central Coast Vineyard Team, a national award-winning local network of farmers dedicated to sustainable agriculture research and education. The team’s director, Kris O’Connor, explained the philosophy behind the new SIP certification: “A lot of times people think sustainability is environmental. But sustainability also has a human resources component. Anybody in agriculture considers people their most valuable resource, and the SIP standards reward that—and require that.

 

“I know lots of consumers care about the social responsibility side,” she added. “They care about decent lifestyles, access to education, access to advancement.”

 

And wine drinkers can be sure the certification isn’t just window-dressing: It’s been approved by experts from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, University of California, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and all documentation supplied by growers is independently verified.

 

Industry insiders agree that social equity in agriculture is a hot-button issue today, with opinions polarized over immigration.

 

 The wine industry, one of Santa Barbara County’s biggest agricultural moneymakers, is built upon Hispanic labor. Under the shiny purple skins of the recently harvested clusters of grapes are the toil and sweat of brown-skinned workers, most of whom are Central Coast residents rather than migrants, according to their employers.

 

“We’re lucky to have an unbelievable workforce from Mexico. They work hard. We have to take as good care of them as we can. I don’t know what we’d do without them,” Work said.

 

 Fair employment practices that eliminate discrimination are at the heart of the social equity section of the sustainable certification, along with a safe and fair work environment. Achieving the SIP standards requires agricultural businesses to be “progressive in their thought process,” according to the introduction to the lengthy document.

 

Dana Merrill, president of Mesa Vineyard Management, Inc., said treating vineyard workers well is good for business and good for people.

 

“Oppressed people just don’t do very good work,” Merrill explained.

 

His labor-contracting company employs 100 full-time and around 200 part-time people—60 percent of them women—who take care of thousands of acres of vineyards from Los Alamos to San Ardo. Half of the foremen are women, and many of the seasonal workers return to the company year after year. During nearly 30 years in business, he said, it’s been “rare” for any Anglo to apply for a job in the vineyards.

 

His brother, Kevin Merrill, president of Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau, runs the company’s Los Alamos office, which employs about 100 farmworkers from the Santa Maria area. The brothers have deep roots in the local area, as seventh generation farmers descended from some of the earliest families to settle the land: de la Cuesta, Tefft, and Dana.

 

 We’ve come from the bottom. We know how hard the work is,” Kevin said. “We started driving tractors when we were 7 or 8 years old. We’ve picked walnuts. We realize if you treat people well, they’ll do a good job for you.”

 

The company’s vineyard manager, Gregg Hibbits, is a fourth-generation local farmer whose family has owned land in the Lompoc Valley for more than a hundred years. He says his father, Art Hibbits, has always treated his farm employees well.

 

“People who are happy with their job make much better workers,” he said. “If you feel well cared for, and well paid for your work, you don’t have that to worry about.”

 

Dana Merrill and Hibbits helped write the social equity portion of SIP certification, which goes well beyond state and federal labor requirements. It was peer-reviewed by 60 people, Hibbits noted. Everyone worked together to include provisions not always associated with farmworkers: employee performance evaluations, a grievance and complaint process, and a disciplinary program with stepped procedures and opportunities for employee input.

 

“It’s a heartfelt, experiential system, based on what we think is important, not concocted by a bunch of liability attorneys,” Dana said. “It was a genuine effort by growers to put a meaningful protocol together.”

 

 The company pays 100 percent of health insurance costs for all its employees, including fieldworkers, during the vineyard season, plus vacation and holiday pay and extra incentives to reward a safe work record. Education and training are emphasized, and wages they pay are higher than the state minimum.

 

“We offer a 401K to everybody,” Dana said. “We pay dollar for dollar on the first 5 percent. The seasonal people have really caught on. They’re putting money in it.”

 

“The women are especially interested,” said Esther Kosty, Mesa’s bilingual human resources manager, “so we’re educating them on setting themselves up for the long term. We let them know they can borrow from it to send a kid to college or buy a house.”

 

 Dana just returned from a daylong training session in Guadalupe, required for his labor-contractor’s license. Around the conference table in Mesa’s Templeton office, he discussed the “Top 10” concerns of fieldworkers.

 

Fringe benefits, a good rate of pay, safety regulations, opportunities for advancement, a team approach to management, a grievance process, and tasks for older workers are on the list, Dana told Hibbits and Kosty. The No. 1 concern: respectful and fair treatment.

 

Kosty, a Hispanic herself, said respect is especially important in the culture.

 

“Social equity certification is pushing you toward these Top 10,” Dana said. “The whole idea of the social equity side of sustainability, it does add to your cost, but I think people work harder, they’re healthier, they’re happier.

 

“We do basically have a good story to tell,” he continued. “They make more in an hour than they’d make in a day in Mexico, and they’re doing jobs nobody wants to do.”

 

His brother Kevin noted, “It’s important that consumers know that with all the work that goes into that bottle of wine, the people are treated well. Wine drinkers can feel comfortable enjoying the fruits of hard work without feeling guilty.”

 

Both Mesa Vineyard Management and another large Central Coast farm-labor contractor, Pacific Vineyard Company, treat their workers to twice-yearly appreciation barbecues in recognition of a job well done, with prizes for vineyard crews with an accident-free season.

 

At Pacific Vineyard Company’s harvest barbecue—in the shade of the sycamore trees at Biddle Park in rural Arroyo Grande on the day after picking finished—farmworkers Mendoza and Cerna were hard to spot without the head-to-toe clothing covering their skin in the company’s shade trailer a day earlier. Like their workmates—many of whom live in Santa Maria—they attended the barbecue with their families, and everyone was dressed for a fiesta.

 

People who’ve worked with Pacific Vineyard Company for five years, or multiples of five, were due to receive a free jacket this year. Everyone got a knitted cap to help keep warm during vineyard pruning this coming winter. Smiling children lined up for a toy, then excitedly ran to their parents to show off what they received. A picnic table was loaded with dozens of raffle prizes, useful items like a Leatherman tool, an electric shiatsu pillow massager, an ice chest, a coffeemaker, flashlights. Grand prizes were a karaoke machine and a flat-screen TV—just what Mendoza and Cerna joked is missing from the shade trailer.

 

The foremen and supervisors were barbecuing the carne asada, and soon everyone’s plate was loaded up with hefty piles of meat, spicy rice, plump white beans, fresh green and red salsa, grilled jalapeno peppers, and a stack of corn tortillas freshly made in Santa Maria.

 

“They’re hard, hard workers. They take a lot of pride in what they do,” said George Donati, general manager of Pacific Vineyard, while handing out plates at the front of the food line.

 

“Social equity is something we believe in,” explained office manager Mary Cooper. “We cover our employees for health insurance, and pay them more than the minimum wage. Sometimes the public is misinformed; they don’t realize how much vineyards do take care of people.”

 

Smiling at the crewmembers, she said, “They’re the unsung heroes. Without them, no one would be enjoying any wine.”

 

 Winemaker Christian Rogeunant of Baileyana-tangent poured a taste of his latest vintage into a plastic picnic cup for Jean-Pierre Wolff, owner and winemaker of Wolff Vineyards, as the barbecue smoke wafted through shafts of autumn sunlight under the trees. Their vines are cared for by Pacific Vineyard workers, and the wines they make carry the SIP seal.

 

For Wolff, one of the first viticulturists to earn the sustainability certification, another part of the social equity section is also significant: neighbor relations. That’s especially important as more people move from urban areas to new housing developments in agricultural areas.

 

“An honest interchange of information is essential to lessen potential conflicts,” the introduction to the social equity section states. “When growers provide a progressive response to complaints, they encourage mutual respect and understanding where confusion and distrust have existed in the past.”

 

Donati said he’s set up a system for his neighbors to call him if they have a problem with lights shining into their homes or noise from bird-scaring devices, so he can take care of their complaints.

 

The weekly English classes offered by the company are on hold now, with many of the vineyard workers already laid off until pruning time in January. After the barbecue, some will switch to working in Santa Maria’s vegetable or strawberry fields, while others will be heading out of town for family gatherings over the holidays.

 

English lessons provided by ampelos vineyard owner Work have helped his workers advance. Six years ago, he said, he couldn’t communicate at all with his Hispanic employees. Now, they converse fluently, and one employee has become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Another built up enough skills to get a better position at a bigger winery.

 

Work also provides a plot of land next to the vineyard where his employees can grow their own peppers, tomatoes, corn, and beans. Paid vacation and holidays, paid cell phones, and free cases of wine are also part of the package, with profit sharing a goal for the future.

 

“Once we see a profit, when we get to the point where we’re in the black, we won’t just stick it in our pockets,” he said. “We’ll share it.”

 

With the local wine industry so dependent on a Hispanic workforce, farm-labor contractors and viticulturists are calling for immigration reform.

 

“Say what you want about immigration problems—the reality is we need people to do the work. People here don’t want to do it,” said Kevin Merrill. “We really need a comprehensive program to get people here on a legal basis, like the Bracero Program but better. They’re not, they’re just not, taking jobs away from people here. They really add to the community. They pay Social Security. They’re hard workers, not troublemakers.”

 

Michael Blank, directing attorney of the San Luis Obispo office of California Rural Legal Assistance, said he’s “delighted” that employers are taking care of workers in the vineyards. Sustainability, Blank said, makes sense since we have to live in harmony with people and the planet.

 

“Really well-cared-for workers are productive workers,” he said. “This emphasis on social equity is a great start, and it would be wonderful if it spread to the entire wine industry, with guilt-free, socially just wine.

 

“Farmworkers are part of our community,” he continued. “They live with us. You judge the quality of a society by how it treats its least-powerful members.”

 

Blank pointed out that the local wine industry has come a long way since he filed a complaint against a large Paso Robles winery in 1990, after worker complaints of substandard living and working conditions.

 

“I’m very happy to see progress in some vineyards since the bad days of the ‘bitter harvest,’” Blank said.

 

“I’d encourage wine connoisseurs to drink wine created with social equity so everyone can share in the richness of the harvest,” he summed up.

 

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