Precision Ag Bytes 4/17

Carrie Muehling

  • An agricultural industry collaboration led by Growing Matters, a coalition committed to neonicotinoid product stewardship, launched “BeSure!” – a stewardship-awareness campaign to promote best-management practices to farmers and applicators who use neonic products. Powered by Growing Matters along with the American Seed Trade Association and the National Pesticide Safety Education Center, BeSure! is designed to strengthen awareness of stewardship practices to protect bees and other wildlife during the handling, planting and disposal of treated seeds, and from other neonic applications used throughout the growing season.
  • Since 1956, when U.S. Olympic track and field star Bob Richards first graced its cover, Wheaties cereal boxes have featured athletic champions who have overcome challenges in pursuit of their personal best. General Mills, the makers of Wheaties, recently featured soil health champion Gabe Brown on a specially prepared box cover. While the company has no current plans to put the mock-up into mass production or distribution, the cover is a special tribute to Brown’s work as a regenerative agricultural advocate and educator. It is also emblematic of the food giant’s renewed commitment to expand the use of soil health-improving practices among General Mills’ cereal grain growers.
  • Miravis® Ace fungicide for improved control of Fusarium head blight (head scab) in wheat is now available from Syngenta for the 2019 season. The convenient premix of propiconazole and Adepidyn® fungicide, a new mode of action for head scab, will help wheat growers unlock a completely new way to manage head scab and get ahead of diseases such as Septoria that could be more prevalent if current weather patterns continue.
  • TerrAvion, the leading aerial imagery provider for the agricultural industry is excited to partner with Skymatics, to be their aerial imagery provider for agriculture.
  • Registration is now open for AgGateway‘s Mid-Year Meeting, June 10-13 at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, just outside of Des Moines. Registration is just $250 for both members and non-members. The special hotel rate at Prairie Meadows available until May 22 is $122/night.
  • Inari continues to expand its capabilities with exclusive patent licenses to technologies developed at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The technology, Promoter Fine Tuning, helps Inari researchers influence plant architecture and other agricultural traits by managing the extent to which specific existing genes are expressed. This approach — already proven in the field — will initially be used to increase yields and reduce the amount of land required to grow more food.
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