We are covering World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin this week, along with over 175 other media representatives from all over the world. Many of them are farm broadcasters – and here is our obligatory Agri Talk picture, kind of a tradition for us to post a photo of them from every event we both attend. Some other farm broadcasters …
First Press Conference with Acting Ag Secretary
It didn’t go off quite as planned, but Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner held his first telephone press conference with the media on Monday afternoon. After a brief opening statement, it was opened to questions, but there weren’t any! Even though there were nearly 100 reporters on the line. That was because they apparently had some technical difficulties and an …
IFAJ Arts and Crafts
Here is our group from the United States at the IFAJ Congress in the lobby of the Sendai Excel Hotel doing some arts and crafts. We were preparing our bottle opener presents to be given out to the group in preparation for our hosting of the 2009 Congress in Fort Worth, Texas. They are very nice boot-shaped openers with tags …
auf Wiedersehen!
Here on a rooftop overlooking the research facility is where we said auf Wiedersehen to BASF at Limburgerhof before we headed off to Brussels, so this is where my coverage of that event comes to a close. However, I will be posting some more from that trip on Domestic Fuel, since biofuels were a major topic there and in Brussels, …
BASF Germination Lab
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. …