Before those treated seeds can be planted in a farmer’s field, BASF has to make sure they will germinate and grow successfully, and that is the job of Dr. Michael Merk – just call him “the Germinator.” “We test all different seeds in terms of germination,” he says. “The germination is very important to see if there is any damage …
BASF Seed Treatment
Our final stop at the BASF research facility last week was the seed treatment center where we heard from Dr. Andreas Landes who is in charge of the center. “Our goals here are the development of products which are easy to use,” said Dr. Landes. “Seed treatment is one of the most target oriented crop protection measures you can imagine.” …
BASF Ecotoxicology
Okay, so if Dr. Speakman was excited about fungi, Dr. Christoph Kunast is simply buggy about insects. Kunast’s job with BASF is ecotoxoxicology, which he explains “is the science of side effects of chemicals against living organisms.” “What we must ensure for registration purposes is that these side effects are acceptable,” said Kunast. What that means is politically driven to …
BASF Fungi Guy
This is a guy who really loves fungi. Mycologist Dr. John-Bryan Speakman is a research scientist with BASF Fungicide Research and you wouldn’t believe how excited he can get talking about fungi. But some of them are really very pretty. I never knew there were so many different types of fungi with so many colors and shapes and sizes. We …
Prescreening Process for BASF
Making new compounds for crop protection is no overnight process and we got to learn a little bit about how it is done during our visit to the BASF research facility in Limburgerhof, Germany last week. Our first stop at the research facility was prescreening, where Dr. Franz Rohl explained some of the steps they take in looking at the …
Future is in the Genes
According to the President and CEO of BASF Plant Science Dr. Hans Kast, the future is in the genes for agriculture. Kast gave ag journalists an overview of that future in Germany last week. “Plant biotechnology will play a crucial role in ensuring that the rapidly growing population continues to have a sufficient supply of high quality food,” said Kast. …
Last BASF Execs Interview
Finally we have “escaped” from our non-stop tour activities here in Japan so maybe I can clear out all my interviews from Germany and Brussels, which seems like it was a month ago. The last of our interviews with BASF executives was Markus Heldt, who is group vice president for BASF North American Ag Chem. In this photo, he is …
Marketing Headline
BASF Headline fungicide has become a major crop protection product for corn in just the past two years, not as a fungicide but as an overall plant health product. In fact, it has become a real success story in agricultural marketing and the ability to take advantage of favorable market factors. BASF Vice President for strategic marketing of ag products …
BASF R&D
I am in Japan now with Chuck and will be spending much of this week posting interviews and pictures from last week’s BASF trip while Chuck is covering the IFAJ events. So, I am starting at the beginning of the trip and posting the interviews with BASF executives done after the global press conference September 12. Research and development of …
Visit to the European Parliament
Our BASF Agricultural Products sponsored trip to Brussels included informative visits to all segments of the European Union political system. That includes the European Commission, where we met with ag commissioner spokesman Michael Mann, the EU Council, and the European Parliament, which was not in session as it was Friday and they have a four day work week. It was …