- SelectVAC®, one of the industrys top branded preconditioning programs, recently enrolled its 3 millionth calf. A calf from John Putnams southwest South Dakota ranch received the unprecedented distinction. Putnam, a fourth generation cow/calf producer who works with his father, Lloyd, was eligible to win a years supply of SelectVAC products from Pfizer Animal Health.
- DuPont announced it has purchased an equity stake in Farms Technology as part of its strategy to create additional value for its customers and grain buyers. DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred recently began partnering with Farms Technology to develop MarketPoint resource, a new online market service that allows growers to post their high-quality grain for sale to local buyers who make competitive bids based upon quality and quantity information posted to the site.
- Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said that USDA donations will exceed $100 million in a swap of government surplus raw commodity stocks for domestic and international food through USDA’s “Stocks-for-Food” initiative. Internationally, the barter initiative will benefit more than 700,000 children through the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. To date, USDA has bartered 1 million bushels of corn, 1 million bushels of soybeans, 7.3 million bushels of wheat, 456 tons of peanuts, 1,987 hundredweight of rice, and 79,329 bales of cotton.
