ASABE adopts four standards that address the safety and testing of rotary disk, drum and flail mowers.

Three of the documents are international standards, adoption of which “further harmonizes national and international standardization”.

Production numbers for corn, soybeans, cotton, and winter wheat all point upward, according to news last week from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

About three out of four of all U.S. deaths caused by prescription drugs in 2014 were from opioid painkillers. Rural counties saw an average increase in prescription drug deaths of about 9 percent a year from 1999 to 201

Average cropland value in the U.S. dropped 1 percent in 2016, the first drop since 2009, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Average cropland value per acre stood at a high of $4,130 in 2015 and dipped to $4,090 this year.

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The Annual Business Meeting of the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association is 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, November 1, 2016. The brief meeting is held as part of the Marketing & Distribution Convention at Sheraton Hotel & Marina in San Diego.

Details continue to take shape for the 2016 Marketing & Distribution Convention. We’re thrilled to say a bit more about what you’ll hear in San Diego and from whom you will hear it.

Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, desperate to open new feed supplies for the livestock industry, is asking the country’s biotech regulatory agency to temporarily lift restrictions on corn imports from the U.S., according to USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service.

While many steelmakers surprised analysts with better profits, and the stocks enjoyed the best rally in years, the industry’s biggest problem hasn’t been solved. China still exports at a record rate, and there are hundreds of millions of tons of surplus capacity around the world still undercutting prices.

Worksaver, Inc. recently completed the installation of a solar panel system to help provide a renewable energy source for its manufacturing facility.

Fewer injured workers are using opioids, according to Conventry Workers’ Comp Services. In their place, physicians are prescribing nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and anticonvulsants.

DexKo Global, the parent company formed after combining member company Dexter with AL-KO Vehicle Technology, will acquire Winterhoff Group.

Member company Tarter Farm & Ranch Equipment has agreed to buy the livestock business from Applegate Livestock Equipment. Applegate is a subsidiary of Ag Growth International.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has completed a revision to its standard for testing the capacity and performance of combines, and the revision has been proposed as the basis for an international standard.

Eleven member companies are celebrating milestone anniversaries. See who’s hit the 45-year mark.

Retired Bush Hog President Russell Buster Jr. died July 26. He was 93. Buster joined Bush Hog in the 1950s. He became president in the 1980s and retired in 1993.

The Western Equipment Dealers Association has hired a new director of government affairs. The Association of Equipment Manufacturers also has announced a plan to expand its state-level advocacy work.

Orthman Manufacturing Inc. hosted an open house in July to showcase its new 115,000-square-foot manufacturing facility near Lexington, Neb. CEO John McCoy said the ingenuity of delivering new products and solving problems for producers was what led to the founding of the company and remains integral to its operation today.

Jim Tibbles has been named president of Osmundson Mfg. Co. He succeeds owner Doug Bruce, who will serve as chairman of the board.

“He’s touched every facet of this business,” Joe Sampson, vice president of sales, said of Tibbles. “He has the knowledge, the relationships, and the leadership to keep everything moving forward.”

As interest builds in the Marketing & Distribution Convention in San Diego this fall, so do opportunities for you to meet the professionals who can help you strengthen your bottom line.

In this issue of Shortliner, you’ll meet the speaker who will kick off the convention and update you on the disaster preparedness session.

With both presidential candidates opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, passage seems unlikely. Nonetheless, the Obama administration remains committed.

Net sales in CNH Industrial’s agriculture division decreased 7.5 percent for the second quarter of 2016 compared to the same quarter last year.

The Association is pleased to introduce Shane Beversdorf as the new FEMA program manager at Sentry Insurance. Beversdorf brings more than 20 years of experience in claims, underwriting and agency insurance.

Farm Futures took a look at social media behaviors among U.S. farmers and found that Facebook is their first choice. Farmers also spend time on Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr and Periscope, in that order.

President Obama has signed a law that calls on the U.S. secretary of agriculture to establish a national mandatory bio-engineered food disclosure standard. The USDA has two years to draft the standard.

China, the world’s second-biggest corn consumer, will reduce planted acreage for the grain by 3.3 million hectares, or 9 percent, by 2020, said an agriculture official. It seems unlikely that the cut will significantly dent the country’s huge oversupply.

The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index for July fell from June’s weak reading, according to the monthly survey. The farm equipment sales index dropped to 10.7.

According to a recent study by Fiserv, 80 percent of U.S. households now bank online.

In this issue, we’ll share tips from malwarebytes.com about protections your bank can offer. In the next Shortliner, we’ll focus on the steps you can take.

Member company PEER Chain Company has named a creative and loyalty analyst.

The 2016 Marketing & Distribution Convention is approaching. We’re counting down by weeks now rather than months. Soon it will be days.

If you haven’t yet registered, here are five reasons you should.

Ag Growth International Inc. has announced the acquisition of Mitchell Mill Systems Canada Ltd. and its U.S. affiliate —Mitchell Mill Systems USA.

Elections tend to be decided on economic issues, and the Wall Street Journal recently ran an analysis of the presidential candidates’ positions on several key economic issues.

The Shortliner will share pieces of the analysis with you in coming weeks. We begin with taxes.

Beck’s recently announced a new agreement with member company Herschel. Herschel will take over sales, service and distribution of Flo-Rite seed firmers. Herschel is owned by Alamo Group, Inc.

Lloyd Koehnen, a long-time friend of the Association, died in June. He was 78.

The summer issue of Ag Innovator will begin arriving in members’ offices next week.

These companies are marking milestone anniversaries in the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association. Their membership — every membership — matters, so we recognize these July anniversaries as a way to say thanks.

For many years, the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association has helped members address both of the above hurdles to obtaining legal advice on distribution and human resource issues. Today we are doubling that service as we continue to look for ways to add value to your membership.

Wayne Mead, long-time territory sales manager for the Alliance Tire Group (ATG), has retired.

Calling the Department of Labor’s new interpretation of its Persuader Rule “defective to its core,” the District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction in late June against the final rule. The ruling came just days before July 1, the date on which the new rule’s most problematic reporting requirements would have become fully effective.

The District Court determined the rule:

* Exceeds DOL’s authority under the LMRDA
* Is “arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion
* Unreasonably conflicts with state rules governing the practice of law
* Violates the attorney-client privilege.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has adopted an ISO standard, ANSI/ASABE AD5675:2008, Agricultural tractors and machinery–General purpose quick-action hydraulic couplers.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill last week that directs USDA to create a national GMO label standard within two years. Food product producers would be able to use text, symbols or QR codes for consumers to scan labels. The Senate bill also would prevent states from issuing their own mandatory GMO labeling laws.

GT Mfg., Inc. has been named the recipient of the 2016 Kansas Governor’s Exporter of the Year award.

A look at other non-stocking retailers – Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon said at the company’s annual meeting. “The weight of inventory has been relieved to an extent. And I think that bodes well for the future.”

Executives at the Marketing & Distribution Convention in San Diego will hear from Paul Mullet, CEO of Excel Industries in Hesston, Kan., who led his company through the aftermath of a plant shooting in February that killed three and wounded a dozen more.

A new rule from OSHA requires certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness data that they already record on their onsite OSHA injury and illness forms. OSHA will analyze the data and use it to more efficiently manage resources for enforcement and compliance assistance

AgJunction Inc. and TeeJet Technologies have entered into a global strategic partnership. AgJunction will become the preferred steering supplier for TeeJet’s range of precision farming solutions.

A Chinese ship carrying more than 9,000 containers passed through the newly expanded Panama Canal in late June, officially launching what NBC News describes as a multibillion-dollar bet on a bright future for international shipping.

While the pages of this Shortliner newsletter and our Ag Innovator magazine have begun promotion of our Marketing & Distribution Convention in San Diego, the leadership of our Supplier Section is hard at work planning our annual spring meeting, where the focus is on the supply chain, including our own Supplier Product Showcase.

Do you work too many hours a week? You could be harming your physical and emotional health.

Organizations and independent researchers have looked at the effects of working beyond the standard 40 hours a week. Their findings include:

Analysts for agriculture and international trade were among experts scrambling post-Brexit vote to make sense of what it might mean for Britain to no longer be part of the European Union. Much like the legion of economists, politicians and historians who sought to put the vote in context, experts in the farm equipment industry could offer only speculation.