FMC Agricultural Solutions has added three team members to its marketing and communications team in Philadelphia. These new team members will support the FMC agricultural crop protection portfolio in the U.S. and Canada. Christina Coen, a veteran agricultural marketer, has been named marketing director for the United States and Canada. Coen will have responsibility for the marketing of the FMC …
Trump Trade Team to Include New USDA Post
President Trump now has a complete cabinet with Senate approval of Ambassador Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative, and USDA will soon have an undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs to help with the administration’s international trade goals. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a reorganization of USDA yesterday that includes the creation of the new undersecretary, which was approved …
Taking DC Bureaucrats to the Farm
The National Corn Growers Association recently joined with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the American Seed Trade Association to host officials from EPA and USDA for demonstrations on planting practices, seed treatments, and equipment innovations in an effort to help them understand modern farming. The event took place on the working farm of NCGA Chairman Chip Bowling in …
Bayer Agrees to Give Up Liberty for Monsanto Deal
Bayer announced this week that the company received conditional approval of its proposed acquisition of Monsanto in South Africa, conditions that include the “divestiture of Bayer’s global Liberty Link trait technology and the associated Liberty branded agro-chemicals business.” Bayer has agreed to these conditions and is evaluating how best to execute the imposed divestiture. As previously communicated, Bayer has been …
SMART Farmer John Deere
We are already up to episode number seven in our SMART Farmer podcast series and this week our subject is John Deere, the company. John Deere was not a farmer, but he was a real person who started innovating for farmers back in 1837 when he designed a newfangled kind of plow that helped pioneers break through rich Midwest soil. …
A Secretary Sonny Day in Iowa
It was a sunny day in Iowa Friday for the visit of new Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue at Couser Cattle Company. The Secretary was welcomed by Bill, Nancy and Tim Couser, as well as Iowa Senators Joni Erst and Chuck Grassley, and Rep. Steve King. Looking comfortable in worn jeans, the new secretary bragged about the value of American …
Set Sail on a Voyage of Better Seed
With the theme “Voyage of Better Seed,” the 2017 American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Annual Convention June 21-24 in Minneapolis will focus on science and policy issues related to the development and free movement of quality seed worldwide. ASTA president and CEO Andy LaVigne says a number of special sessions and tours are planned for the week, including an Opening …
Iowa is Next Stop for New Ag Secretary
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will travel to Nevada, Iowa tomorrow to tour Couser Cattle Company, give his first major farm policy speech, and host a farmer’s town hall meeting. Couser Cattle Co. is a diversified operation that annually feeds and finishes over 5,000 head of cattle and farms 5,000 acres, producing both corn seed and soybean seed. Bill …
Celebrating 60 years of NAMA
The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) is celebrating 60 years as the nation’s largest professional association for professionals in marketing and agribusiness so we decided to check in with a couple of the more “seasoned” professionals at the annual conference last week on how the organization has grown over the years. The first person we talked to was Gary Vorpahl with …
Bayer Supports Youth Ag-Summit in Brussels
The Crop Science division of Bayer is proud to support the third Youth Ag-Summit and the five young people from the United States who have been chosen to participate in the Brussels, Belgium event taking place October 9-13 this year. The young leaders are part of a delegation of 100 people from 49 countries selected to participate in a week-long …