Last week Pfizer made two announcements involving their SelectVAC preconditioning program. Although he wasn’t at the media event I attended, Cindy got to interview Pierre Bertrand, Pfizer, Senior Marketing Manager for Bios and SelectVAC by phone. He talks about the fact that Superior Livestock Auction has chosen SelectVAC as the preferred health program for calves sold through their auction and …
New Soybean Varieties
We talked a lot about corn at the Syngenta Learning Center program in Iowa but soybeans were also a major topic of discussion. One of the presenters was Gene Kassmeyer, Head of Soybeans, Syngenta Seeds. Gene says that soybeans are a crop that’s changing rapidly. For one thing he says there are a number of new pest problems to deal …
Growing Fuel For Indy Cars
Growers attending the Syngenta Learning Center in Milford, IA might have wished they could drive this car but they were content to grow the fuel that’s powering it around the track this season. The #17 Rahal Letterman show car was accompanied by Al Jentz, Amaizing Energy. Al is also on the board of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council which …
Corn After Corn Ideas From Dr. Fred Below
One of the more entertaining presenters at today’s Syngenta Learning Center in Milford, IA was Dr. Fred Below. He’s a professor of crop physiology at the University of Illinois. The main focus of his comments was mitigating the effect of yield loss when planting corn after corn. His research offers a number of suggestions for growers and you can hear …
Learning On Bruce Johnson’s Farm
The Syngenta Learning Center in Milford, IA was located on a farm just south of town. The owner of that farm is Bruce Johnson. Right after lunch today I got to talk with Bruce about his farm and why he decided to work with Syngenta to hold this major event on his property. He says that about 59 acres is …
Syngenta’s Science of Corn
One of the presenters at the Syngenta Learning Centers media briefing is Bruce Battles, Agronomy Marketing Manager, Syngenta Seeds. He talked about the science of corn from the standpoint of what Syngenta is working on with new varieties. He says that there are a lot of options and challenges for growers. For example he says they’re working on solutions to …
Welcome to Syngenta Learning Centers
The Syngenta Learning Centers got off to a great start today as everyone was divided up into groups and then rotated between different program stations. Right after having some donuts and coffee we got an overview of the property and what we’d see. You can hear what that sounds like in the following audio file. Welcome to the Syngenta Learning …
Pfizer VMRD Leader
The head of Pfizer Animal Health’s Veterinary Medicine Research and Development facility (called the Farm) is Dr. Cathy Knupp. She was on our program at their media event titled “Delivering Solutions Through Research and Innovation.” I’m really learning a lot attending these type of R&D programs! Dr. Knupp supervises global research and development activities for the company. Sounds like a …
Soybean Management Strategies
Eric Tedford is Technical Brand Manager, Fungicides for Syngenta. He was on our program here at the Syngenta Learning Centers media briefing to talk about soybean management strategies. He gave us some specifics about some of their products and also talked about some that will be coming out in the next season. In particular he points to their herbicide options. …
Improving Ethanol Production Process
One of our presenters here at the Syngenta Learning Centers media briefing is Brad Wiersum, Head, Renewable Fuels Strategy, Syngenta Seeds. His topic was their biofuels strategy. As you’ll hear in my interview with him they’re really looking forward to the introduction of some new corn varieties with high levels of corn amylase. By using high amylase corn, they estimate …