Coatings and inoculants are where it’s at in the seed industry these days and BASF Ag Products is in the forefront of this important technology for agriculture. “When we speak of inoculants, we’re talking about rhizobia-based products,” said BASF US Crop Seed Enhancement manager Steve Bergschneider during an interview at the ASTA CSS 2014 and Seed Expo in Chicago. “We …
EPA Approves Bayer CropScience’s ILeVO® for SDS
Bayer CropScience announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved its application for the registration of ILeVO®, the only seed treatment that protects the root system against infections caused by the Sudden Death Syndrome fungus and has activity against dangerous nematodes in the seed zone. Business to business strategy manager of seed growth, John Carlson says, “This is …
Media Training for ASTA Members
American Farm Bureau Federation director of media and advocacy training Johnna Miller conducted a workshop for members of the American Seed Trade Association during CSS 2014 on how to effectively communicate with the media. Johnna says farmers and ranchers have a great story to tell, but it’s not always easy for them to do. She hopes attendees walk away from …
ASTA Chairs Pleased with CSS 2014
The chairman and first vice chair of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) are pleased with this year’s turnout at CSS 2014 and Seed Expo and with the direction of the organization. ASTA chair John Schoenecker with HM. Clause of California says the program is exceptionally good this year. “Everything from bee health to cover crops, the international treaty for …
Wrapping up Ag Retailers Association Convention
Daren Coppock, President/CEO, Agricultural Retailers Association, gave us a preview of last week’s convention and now you can hear his review. I told him I look at these interviews as the bookends for my coverage! Although I might still have a couple more stories to share. Daren says, “We’re really pleased and the basis for that opinion is the feedback …
USDA Chief Economist to Retire
The chief economist with USDA is retiring at the end of the year after 30 years of federal service. “No one has a higher level of credibility on issues impacting the agricultural economy than Dr. Glauber,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement. “Farm country and, truly, the country as a whole have been extraordinarily well served by Joe …
Iteris Announces ClearAg Prime
Intelligence. It’s vitally important to national security and your crop’s security. Iteris has just released ClearAg Prime, which they call “Next Level of Intelligent Agriculture Decision Support.” To learn more about it I visited by phone with Tom Blair, Senior Vice President, Iteris. He says that ClearAg Prime is the latest in a series of API’s that customers can readily …
Closing the PRRS Knowledge Gap
The amount of research being done with PRRS is great, however the knowledge gap is large. Dr. Andres Perez, professor at the University of Minnesota, talked about PRRS research with goals to close some of our knowledge gaps and summarized results of and future plans for research on PRRS incidence, molecular epidemiology and modeling. All this took place during Boehringer …
AAW Elects National Officers
American Agri-Women (AAW) kicked off its year-long celebration of its 40th anniversary at its annual convention held recently in College Corner, Ohio. The organization also elected its national officers and recognized outstanding advocates for agriculture. AAW is the nation’s largest coalition of farm, ranch and agribusiness women representing more than 50 state, commodity and agribusiness affiliates. The 39th annual convention’s …
Alliance to Feed the Future’s Communicator of the Year
The Alliance to Feed the Future has announced that Diana Prichard is the second recipient of its Communicator of the Year Award. The award, given in collaboration this year with the American Meat Institute, recognizes effective and innovative new voices that are enhancing the public dialogue about modern food production through multi-channel communications, including social media. Prichard, a farmer and …