An “almost anything goes” video contest for a seed corn company sounds very cutting edge doesn’t it? That’s what iCORN.com is doing.
iCORN.com has launched a new $30,000 video contest as a way to help students pay for college and to show appreciation to its customers. The new video contest gives students an opportunity to win a share of $30,000 by posting videos online for public voting. The videos receiving the most votes win.
Three main steps comprise the contest:
1. A new, current or former iCORN.com customer nominates a student.
2. The nominated student makes an original video (up to 90 seconds) and submits it to the contest website, www.iCORN.com/Contest.
3. Online public voting determines which 3 students win a share of $30,000 ($20,000 for first, $7,500 for second and $2,500 for third). (more…)
This seems like common sense on the surface but University research backs it up. To get more corn yield per acre, plant more plants per acre.
That’s what Dan Johnson, Kruger Seeds, says. He’s in charge of their corn lineup and technical training. At the Monsanto Technology Showcase Tour stop in Elkhart, IA he had a field station devoted to plant populations.
Dan says they talked about Monsanto’s goal of doubling corn yields in the Unites States by 2030. To do that he thinks there are three components to keep in mind. One is to improve the germ plasm to increase yield potential. The second is to develop trait technology that protects that potential and finally, to try some different things agronomically.
One of the things Dan is challenging growers to do is look at their plant populations. “There’s two ways you can improve your corn yield. One is making bigger ears. The easier way to do it is having more ears per acre.” Dan says the technology is allowing heavier plant populations. In fact, he says that University research shows that growers can plant about 10 percent more per acre. He recommends that growers test this on their farm.
You can listen to my interview with Dan here:
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Monsanto Technology Showcase Photo Album
Dow AgroSciences announced today it is acquiring Dairyland Seed Company and affiliate Bio-Plant Research.
According to a company release, the addition of Dairyland Seed will build upon Dow AgroSciences’ current seeds business and will expand its broad range of product offerings.
The agreement includes all crop genetics, brands, plant breeding programs in hybrid corn, soybeans and alfalfa as well as Dairyland’s research, processing and production locations. Dow AgroSciences will continue to independently market Dairyland Seeds under the Dairyland brand. Dairyland Seed will continue to be headquartered in West Bend, Wis.
I’ve always loved the name, Burpee. It’s just a cool name for any company. I’ve seen their seeds around for as long as I can remember.
W. Atlee Burpee & Co., the nation’s largest and best-known purveyor of seeds, plants and home gardening supplies, announced today that Burpee’s Chief Operating Officer, Chris Romas, has been promoted to the position of President.
George Ball, who has run Burpee since 1991, announced the promotion today in an employee-wide meeting, saying that much of the success Burpee has enjoyed in recent years can be attributed to Romas’ “dynamic leadership.” Ball calls Romas’ leadership of the Retail Division team “outstanding,” adding that he is confident Romas will serve as a capable leader, taking the company to new heights.
In his new position Romas will be responsible for all aspects of managing the Pennsylvania-based company and all managers will report to him.
Ball was clear in his announcement that he is not retiring, and that he will remain as Burpee’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. In stepping back from day to day operations, Ball will focus on acquisitions, planning and new product development.
In another co-development kind of deal, both Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences just announced that they’ve submitted their SmartStax for regulatory review. Thanks to Dow for the picture of Mark Rooney (foreground), Mycogen Seeds field biologist, and Matthew Moeller, Mycogen Seeds research technician, supervise planting of SmartStax™ test plots at the Mycogen research station near Huxley, IA. In anticipation of SmartStax being approved and commercially available in 2010, the company is conducting testing of Mycogen brand corn hybrids containing the new stacked trait combination.
From Dow:
Dow AgroSciences LLC announced today it has submitted SmartStax™, a new insect-protection and weed control stacked trait combination in corn, to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for regulatory review.
SmartStax is the industry’s first-ever eight gene stack combination in corn that will feature multiple modes of action to control both above and below ground insects as well as herbicide tolerance. The combination of these traits is designed to improve insect protection, expand herbicide application options and minimize the potential for insect resistance.
From Monsanto:
Monsanto Company today announced that the company has submitted documents and extensive research data for SmartStax™, a new insect-protection and weed control platform in corn, to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval.
With the submission, SmartStax becomes the first-ever stacked product with multiple effective genes against both lepidopteran and corn rootworm pests to reach this important regulatory milestone. The product remains on track for commercial launch in 2010 pending appropriate regulatory approvals. SmartStax features multiple traits designed to control corn insect pests both above and below ground while offering farmers two choices of herbicide tolerance in one seed.
Monsanto continues to grow its seed business. This time with De Ruiter Seeds.
Monsanto Company announced today that it has completed its proposed acquisition of De Ruiter Seeds Group B.V., a Dutch-holding company that owns and operates De Ruiter Seeds, for EUR546 million in cash, or approximately $850 million at current exchange rates, less net debt.
Monsanto will start to transition the De Ruiter Seeds business into its vegetable seeds division alongside its other business units, Seminis and the International Seed Group, Inc. (ISG). Monsanto’s vegetable seed business will serve its customers through three dedicated platforms: protected-culture, open field and regional vegetable seed businesses. The De Ruiter Seeds business will serve the protected-culture vegetable seed market, Seminis will serve the open-field vegetable seed market, and ISG will serve customers of regional seed businesses. Until the transition is complete, business units will continue to conduct business as usual.
As technology unleashes more and more energy possibilities from more and more crops, it can get a little confusing as to which plants can do what. Ceres, Inc. plans to clarify bio-friendly seeds with its new bioenergy seed brand.
Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. plans to market its agricultural seeds and traits under the trade name Blade Energy Crops in the United States. Company president and CEO Richard Hamilton unveiled the new brand at the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology in Chicago earlier today.
“Blade will be the first multi-crop seed brand supplying the new market for non-food, low-carbon biofuel feedstocks,” Hamilton said. These biomass-dense crops will be grown as raw materials for next-generation biofuels and biopower. One of the great appeals of energy crops is that they can thrive on agricultural lands that are ill-suited to food production.
“Supported by the latest technology in genomics-based breeding, trait development and compositional analysis, we are positioning Blade as a premium seed brand for biofuel and biopower feedstocks. For growers, that means high yields and greater yield stability. Downstream, it means easier processing, and ultimately, more energy per ton of biomass,” said Hamilton. “From both an economic and environmental perspective, if we are going to turn plant matter into fuel, we should use feedstocks that give us the maximum fuel yield per acre.”
The company says the Blade name was inspired by its first crops, switchgrass, sorghum and canes, which are from a category of closely related grass species, known as C4 grasses. C4 grasses are the natural world’s most efficient engines of photosynthesis, the process by which plants store solar energy in the form of carbohydrates. New technologies have made it possible to convert the most abundant form of these energy-rich molecules, called cellulose, into renewable fuels.
This is a concept I like. Have a contest to reward someone who’s out there being your company evangelist. What do you think? Should we run something like this for AgWired? What would be a good prize?
Weigh wagons brimmed with harvested seed as Jerry Smith told fellow growers at the local elevator how Kruger Seeds consistently ranks at the top in unbiased state university trials. This dedication in telling others about Kruger prompted Smith to enter the Kruger Seeds Booster Club Sweepstakes. His entry was randomly selected as the grand-prize winner of $12,000 worth of Kruger seed. Smith, a 600-acre corn and soybean producer in George, Iowa, is part of the 90 percent of Kruger customers that recommend Kruger seed to fellow growers.
“We held this sweepstakes as a way to recognize and thank those customers who, by word of mouth, promote Kruger,” says Tom Lizer, general sales manager of Kruger Seeds, Inc. “Their continued support has helped Kruger grow into a leading seed company that continually provides top-notch genetics and high-yielding products to its customers.”
Boosters, or current Kruger customers, were encouraged to recruit new customers with the help of their dealers. Jerry’s newly recruited customer and his dealer were winners, too. Mark Smith, who farms 600 acres of corn and soybeans in George, Iowa, won $1,000 worth of seed for becoming a new customer.
Continuing the theme of their customers being “more than a number” Wyffels Hybrids was on display at Commodity Classic. With the help of Stewart Doan we got an interview with Kim Jones.
Kim says that the company is unique and independent offering a full range of traits in their hybrids, proprietary genetics packages and personal service. She says that because they service a smaller territory than some of the really big companies they can provide a level of personal service that just plain makes their customers “more than a number” to them.
She says that the company has had its own in-house genetics program for 35 years allowing them to produce unique hybrids that aren’t available anywhere else. She says they also have an agronomist staff to conduct a testing program for all their product lines.
You can listen to Stewart’s interview with Kim here:
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A sample from Kip Cullers’ world record soybean yield was on display in a trophy case at Pioneer’s Commodity Classic trade show booth and it certainly received a lot of well-deserved attention. Kip’s record in 2007, you may recall, was an astonishing 154 bushels per acre.
Pioneer and BASF are two of the companies Kip credits with helping him break his own world record last year. Another is EMD Crop BioScience.
I talked with Matt Hays of EMD at the trade show and he told me how their product Optimize helps Kip and other growers optimize their yields.
“It’s a seed treatment that is LCO promoter technology that just turns on the vital growth processes in the plant,” Hays says. “Basically, it enhances your emergence, improves your plant health and handles environmental stresses better.”
Listen to my interview with Matt here:
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Besides hearing from a researcher and a farmer we also heard from Commodity Classic Learning Center sponsor Bruce Battles, Agronomy Marketing Manager, Syngenta Seeds. The subject was Maximizing Yield in Continuous Corn.
Bruce says the company is investing a lot of time and money in testing their hybrid specific recommendations to increase the percentage of success their customers have. When it comes to corn on corn he says the biggest controllable difference a grower can make is hybrid selection. He suggests growers get as much yield information as possible to find the best one that will work on their fields.
Listen to my interview with Bruce here:
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2008 Commodity Classic Photo Album
I think growers appreciate hearing from other growers, even if they also sell Garst Seed. At the Commodity Classic Learning Center session on Maximizing Yield in Continuous Corn, north central Iowa grower Mike Missman talked about his experience with corn on corn.
When I spoke with him prior to his presentation he said that the first consideration would be Garst Agrisure traited corn. Of course he would say so. But he also suggests that managing residue is very important, especially wet fields that are easily compacted.
Listen to my interview with Mike here:
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Craig Lindholm is marketing manager for seed treatments with the US Crop Protection division at BASF. He has some 28 years of experience in the seed treatment business and his enthusiasm for the technology was evident during his presentation to the media at the BASF Science Behind Seed Treatments symposium at the 2008 Commodity Classic in Nashville.
Craig did a little show and tell as he talked about field trials on two upcoming fungicide seed treatment products - including the recently registered Stamina fungicide seed treatment for corn, as well as a treatment for soybeans. The trials were done in the research greenhouses at the BASF site in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
“What we’re seeing in research trials with new Stamina® fungicide seed treatment and another pipeline seed treatment for soybeans in development are the benefits of controlling key seedling diseases for healthy plants right out of the ground,” Craig said. “This is critical to protecting and maximizing yield by giving seedlings a stronger, faster start, improved plant vigor and increased stands in those critical early days when soils are generally cold and wet.”
After his presentation, Craig did a number of media interviews, including this gang of two - current NAFB president Randy Koenen with Red River Farm Network in North Dakota and Gary Truitt of Hoosier Ag Today.
Thought you might enjoy listening to their “two-on-one” interview with Craig here:
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Gary Munkvold is associate professor and Seed Science Endowed chair in the Iowa State University Department of Plant Pathology. His message at the BASF seed treatment symposium was that there is a seed treatment revolution taking place today.
“Take a look at some of the things that have happened just in the last few years that have dramatically changed in the use of seed treatments,” Gary told the media. “Insecticide seed treatments are standard on corn and that’s happened in a very short period of time. Now we’re up to about four active ingredients being standard and we’re not very far away from six active ingredients being standard.”
Listen to Gary’s presentation here:
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Gary says this is a very exciting time for seed treatments with lots more products coming on line. “Seed treatments are a great solution for growers. They’re convenient for them to use, they’re more and more effective, they have low environmental impact - the tools are just getting better and better for growers.” And as far as the future is concerned, Gary says the sky is the limit. “If we can show that there is some value to any characteristic that you can deliver in or on the seed, the farmers will pay for that.”
Listen to an interview with Gary here:
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Dr. Dirk Voeste from BASF Crop Protection Headquarters in Germany enlightened the media at Commodity Classic on the process of getting science on the seed at BASF.
According to Dirk, BASF seed treatment means protection plus vitality. He discussed the BASF concept of the German word “Verbund.”
“Verbund is not translated,” he explained. “It means really the linkage of expertises of various areas out of BASF. Polymer research, pigment research, agrichemicals, plant health, biotechnologies - which we will bring together for seed treatment to leverage it for American growers.”
“It’s like a recipe when cooking, you have to bring individual pieces together to get to a fine result at the end and BASF has all these recipes in house,” he added.
Dirk says BASF is planning to launch nine new products in the next two years to help improve the bottom line for US growers of various commodities.
Listen to my interview with Dirk here:
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Seed treatment was the topic for BASF’s media symposium at Commodity Classic and a little show and tell with seedlings showed what their new Stamina fungicide seed treatment can mean for growers.
Cristina Pagani is the researcher who conducted the experiments for BASF and she explained a little bit about the results here. The active ingredient in Stamina is the same used in Headline fungicide and trials show it improves seedling emergence under conditions of high disease pressure, cold, wet soils and where corn follows corn.
Stamina fungicide seed treatment was just registered for corn this month and another new BASF fungicide seed treatment registration is expected this fall.
Listen to my interview with Christina here:
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Andy Lee is the director of business operations for US Crop Protection at BASF. In this position, he oversees all sales and marketing functions for BASF inthe US crop protection market.
In his presentation at BASF’s “Science Behind Seed Treatments” media symposium at the 2008 Commodity Classic in Nashville, Andy told the ag journalists that they are the answer to helping growers accelerate their yields to get closer to the record breaking corn and soybean yields that have been achieved in recent years. “It’s the information that you can get out to growers and retailers to show them how they can, if not achieve 154, maybe they can get 56 or 65, rather than the average yield,” he said.
Andy talked about the amazing success story of Headline fungicide, which was 70 percent of the market share for fungicides last year. “The Headlline that was used in corn and soybeans in 2007 gave growers over $450 million more income,” he said. “Three million acres of soybeans treated with Headline gave us 13.5 million bushels of extra beans. Seven million acres of corn treated with Headline gave us 112 million bushels (more). Basically, what that is is about 105,000 semis loaded with grain of new crop, new soybeans, new corn that previously the US market did not produce before.” And, more importantly, this was without any new acreage.
Listen to Andy’s short and informative presentation here:
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The BASF Flicker Photo Album has been updated with all the images from yesterday’s symposium and the riverboat fun afterward.
BASF 2008 Commodity Classic Symposium Photo Album
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Ray Gilmer is the group communications manager for US Crop Protection at BASF and he is shown here moderating the BASF media event at Commodity Classic. Chuck and I knew him in a former life as communications director for the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, so it was a pleasure to see him again after many years.
I talked with him about the BASF Seed Treatment symposium for the media here at Commodity Classic, why they are doing it, what their goals are and why reaching out to educate the media like this helps to educate the producer.
Listen to my interview with Ray here:
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BASF 2008 Commodity Classic Symposium Photo Album
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I am going to have lots of audio coming from the BASF Seed Treatment Symposium and already have a bunch of photos which I loaded into a separate Flicker Photo Album for your viewing pleasure.
BASF 2008 Commodity Classic Symposium Photo Album
The room is literally packed here with media with two more on the phone. The presenters are giving their presentations and then it will be time for one-on-one interviews.
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Thanks to the folks at BASF you can hear Craig Lindholm talk about the new registration of their Stamina fungicide seed treatment.
Listen to Craig here:
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The recent registration by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of a new BASF seed treatment, to be marketed for corn seed under the name Stamina® fungicide, gives growers their best chance yet to get plants off to the right start.
“Stamina fungicide seed treatment helps control key seed and seedling diseases and improve stress tolerance,” said Craig Lindholm, marketing manager, seed treatments at BASF U.S. Crop Protection Products. “This delivers healthy plants right out of the ground as corn seedlings have a stronger start, resulting in increased yield potential.”
Field trials conducted throughout the U.S. during the 2006 and 2007 seasons confirm stand and yield improvements with Stamina. Seed and seedlings are better protected by Stamina from key diseases, such as Rhizoctonia. This is particularly important as earlier planting and increased use of no-till production systems may lead to slower emergence of seedlings due to cool, wet soils.
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I learned all about IRON Solutions and IRON Search at the Farm Progress Show.
