Welcome Mike Harper in his new role with FMC Agricultural Solutions as Industry Relations Manager. He will lead the company’s industry association relationships, facilitate industry stewardship and advance FMC industry goals. Harper joins the marketing team from the company’s Agricultural Solutions sales team where he served as a retail market manager in Missouri for 37 years, selling and servicing retail …
Bayer Agrees to Give Up Liberty for Monsanto Deal
Bayer announced this week that the company received conditional approval of its proposed acquisition of Monsanto in South Africa, conditions that include the “divestiture of Bayer’s global Liberty Link trait technology and the associated Liberty branded agro-chemicals business.” Bayer has agreed to these conditions and is evaluating how best to execute the imposed divestiture. As previously communicated, Bayer has been …
SMART Farmer John Deere
We are already up to episode number seven in our SMART Farmer podcast series and this week our subject is John Deere, the company. John Deere was not a farmer, but he was a real person who started innovating for farmers back in 1837 when he designed a newfangled kind of plow that helped pioneers break through rich Midwest soil. …
AEM’s John Rozum Elected to NAMA Leadership
The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) has elected John Rozum, director of ag events for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), to the NAMA Executive Committee. Rozum was elected a vice president of the executive committee and is president of the NAMA Badger chapter who received the Outstanding Professional Chapter Award from the Student NAMA organization during the 2017 Agri-Marketing Conference. …
A Secretary Sonny Day in Iowa
It was a sunny day in Iowa Friday for the visit of new Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue at Couser Cattle Company. The Secretary was welcomed by Bill, Nancy and Tim Couser, as well as Iowa Senators Joni Erst and Chuck Grassley, and Rep. Steve King. Looking comfortable in worn jeans, the new secretary bragged about the value of American …
Syngenta Shareholders Accept ChemChina Offer
China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) announced the provisional interim results for ChemChina’s offer to acquire Syngenta. At the end of the Main Offer Period on May 4, based on preliminary numbers, around 80.7% of shares have been tendered. Subject to confirmation in the definitive notice of interim results scheduled for May 10, the Minimum Acceptance Rate condition of 67 percent …
Set Sail on a Voyage of Better Seed
With the theme “Voyage of Better Seed,” the 2017 American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Annual Convention June 21-24 in Minneapolis will focus on science and policy issues related to the development and free movement of quality seed worldwide. ASTA president and CEO Andy LaVigne says a number of special sessions and tours are planned for the week, including an Opening …
Iowa is Next Stop for New Ag Secretary
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will travel to Nevada, Iowa tomorrow to tour Couser Cattle Company, give his first major farm policy speech, and host a farmer’s town hall meeting. Couser Cattle Co. is a diversified operation that annually feeds and finishes over 5,000 head of cattle and farms 5,000 acres, producing both corn seed and soybean seed. Bill …
Celebrating 60 years of NAMA
The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) is celebrating 60 years as the nation’s largest professional association for professionals in marketing and agribusiness so we decided to check in with a couple of the more “seasoned” professionals at the annual conference last week on how the organization has grown over the years. The first person we talked to was Gary Vorpahl with …
Bayer Supports Youth Ag-Summit in Brussels
The Crop Science division of Bayer is proud to support the third Youth Ag-Summit and the five young people from the United States who have been chosen to participate in the Brussels, Belgium event taking place October 9-13 this year. The young leaders are part of a delegation of 100 people from 49 countries selected to participate in a week-long …