The man who is guiding the marketing efforts for Fluidigm is Howard High. He is the man who found AgWired and contacted us about helping introduce the company to the agribusiness community. That’s because he recognizes the community that we’ve developed. He says they want to communicate with people in agribusiness “where they are.” That is what the whole new media strategy is all about.
During a day in Fluidigm headquarters in South San Francisco I spoke with Howard about why he contacted us and what the company hopes to accomplish with our project. He says that agribusiness is a critical business for them. They’ve been working more with pure research companies up to this point but he says agricultural research comprises high volumes of samples and testing and that’s where they believe they offer the industry some significant advantages.
When it comes to selecting AgWired he says they are looking at our company as “their tour guides” since the industry has its own language, customs and culture. I like that idea of being a “trusted guide.” So it puts the burden on us to show them how to be effective and translate what they do to what the industry needs. He believes that as we do that we will accelerate the timetable for what they want to achieve. Our mechanisms also provide ways for reverse communication from the audience (so I hope you’ll provide some feedback to Fluidigm).
You can learn a lot more about the technology offered by Fluidigm by visiting their website where you’ll also find several opportunities to communicate with them. Here’s where you can find an overview of their technology.
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Let me introduce you to 
I’ll take the opportunity to post a photo of my main man, Pope Benedict XVI anytime. Thanks to Terry Wanzek who grows corn, soybeans, and wheat on his family farm in North Dakota and serves as a North Dakota Senator and board member of 
You can find out what biotech is doing to help the Earth today by texting biotech to 77513. It’s an Earth Day think being produced by the Biotechnology Industry Organization. You can find out a lot more on their website.
I spoke with Paul Willems, BP Energy Biosciences Institute, one of our speakers at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. I had met him previously at an earlier conference in the series.
For Norman Borlaug’s 95th birthday today, Monsanto has created a $10 million grant to establish the Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program, which will “help identify and support young scientists interested in improving research and production in rice and wheat, two of the world’s most important staple crops, through plant breeding techniques.”
For the third year, the 
Another farmer who took part in the global roundtable was Oliver Ransmann of Germany, who was able to attend at the last minute because he happened to be visiting 
Among the presenters was Brazil’s former minister of agriculture Roberto Rodrigues, co-chair of the 
Another speaker on the same panel was Pioneer Hi-Bred International president Paul Schickler who talked about all the improvements in seed technology and how it has increased production. He took the first question to the panel, which was “How optimistic are you that the world can reduce hunger by half by 2015?”
Even though the word “crisis” is being used liberally here at the 
Conway stressed the need to address why we want to produce biofuels and the urgency to move quickly into second and even third generation biofuels – such as cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass and biodiesel from algae. “Maybe we should have a new World Food Prize on this,” Conway said. “In which we transform the world from one dependent on fossil fuels for energy and production of chemicals, into one that depends on plants as a basic source of our economy.”
The potential for increasing yields exists everywhere if you ask Michael Doane. Michael is the Sustainability Team Lead for 
Thirty-three percent of the land’s surface is used for food production. That’s the figure that John Hoffman, Iowa farmer and President of the 
According to the President and CEO of 
The Monsanto World Headquarters is now 40,000 square feet bigger. The global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products has completed construction of a 
Merging the latest in seed technology with resistance management is the key Syngenta wants to give to farmers so they can fully maximize their productivity. I grabbed Craig Abell with Syngenta Crop Protection and Syngenta Brands NK Seeds Steve Pig to talk about how the two sects work together to give farmers the most out each bushel and acre. 
Farmers wanting to payback all those pesky little pests that challenge them in the field can at the Monsanto display. Well, sort of. Blue flashing lights and ringing buzzer sounded after each whacking spree. The game lured the largest line in the exhibit when I stopped in to check it out. Visitors could also check out a mountain display of seeds, play a Price-Is-Right style plinko game and see live benefits of RoundUp Ready.
“See the next decade of biotechnology products.” That’s what Monsanto says its Technology Showcase Tour: The Road Map to Success will demonstrate to farmers in Progress City, IL. The gene optimization, desired trait characteristics and advanced product development that Monsanto promotes with its products is all on display in a live side-by-side comparison of crops with Monsanto products and crops without. The Tour demonstrates how Monsanto works with gene traits to not only protect crops from bugs and weeds, but to “propel yields into the next decade.” Monsanto says its products help match demand with innovative technology, making it possible to meet global feed markets, global food markets and global biofuel markets.
The Tour spelled out how the hybrid system works using female and male parents, which are crossed to produce seed with hybird characteristics. Monsanto displayed these new elite commercial hybrids that it says look bigger and have more yield potential. Researchers are mining corn hybrids not just from the U.S., but from Argentina and Brazil. Representatives say that enables researchers to bring new combinations of genes that benefit growers. They offer new breeding tools that lets scientists pick the valuable gene out of a Brazilian corn line that might be super heat tolerant or a gene from an Argentinian corn line that might have great disease resistance and bring those genes together in a special combination that helps farmers. Monsanto says their tool for breeding is fundamentally changing the yield production for corn production.
The pipeline also demonstrates work transforming soybean crops capable of producing oil that is Monsanto claims is virtually identical to olive oil. Oil that is lower in saturated fat and free of harmful trans fats. Monsanto has a million and a half acres dedicated to this demonstration of the first large-scale, identity-preserved value-added gene traits in soybeans. 
Dow AgroSciences says it’s planning for the future of biotechnology. But, the company is quick to point out a host of innovative technologies available now for improving crop yields. Dow AgroSciences says its Herculex family of traits offers the broadest protection when comes to safeguarding crops against most insects, both above ground and below ground, in corn. Representatives add that its 2,4-D trait offers a robust performance and excellent tolerance. Traits & Germplasm Licensing Leader Ben Kaehler says the plan is to bring out what the company feels will provide the best insect protection, 
by having Herculex Extra, with the best opportunity to control weeds with a herbicide tolerant trait to give growers the best opportunity to have maximum yields, clean fields and make a lot of money using Dow AgroSciences products and traits.
Technology for Traits is built upon a system meant to maintain glycocen as a management tool for a long time because farmers value it for its simplicity, economic costs and effectiveness. Dow AgroSciences says it wants to help farmers maximize their yield.