More than a big milestone. That’s what BeckAgConnects has reached. The online community for those working in the ag industry now has more than 10,000 members. The community has grown steadily since it launched in 2011 while remaining a valuable resource for ag professionals looking for new ways to positively impact their business results and exchange ideas with their peers. …
New Monsanto – Dupont Pioneer Licensing Agreement
Monsanto and Dupont Pioneer announced today “a series of technology licensing agreements.” These agreements will expand the range of seed products they can offer farmers. The agreements include a multi-year, royalty-bearing license for Monsanto’s next-generation soybean technologies in the United States and Canada. I spoke with Lisa Safarian, Monsanto, US Row Crops lead, to get some details. Some of the …
Smart Machine Technology Growing Bigger Farms
Dr. Terry Kastens is an Emeritus Professor from Kansas State University. He’s back to farming now and spoke during a Learning Center Session at Commodity Classic sponsored by John Deere. The session topic was “Better Data, Better Decisions: the ROI of Smart Machine Technology. One of the first points Dr. Karstens makes is that every new technology requires an investment. …
Students Create Products From Corn and Soybeans
Teams of Purdue University students who created fiber insulation from soybeans and a fireworks casing from corn won the top prizes in the annual Student Soybean and Corn Innovation Contests. The awards were announced at a reception March 20th, 2013 in Indianapolis. The competitions, sponsored by the Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana Corn Marketing Council, teach students how to be …
Celebrating National Ag Day 2013 in Nebraska
Besides the activities Chuck is covering in Washington, DC, this week there are localized events throughout the country. This morning, Nebraska kicked off Ag Day in Tecumseh, Omaha and Wayne. The crowds got to listen to some key Nebraska agriculture influencers and supporters such as Nebraska Farm Bureau President Steve Nelson, State Department of Agriculture Director Greg Ibach, Agriculture Committee …
Colorful Way Shows How BASF Herbicide Works
During the recent “Science Behind BASF” event, Senior Biologist Dr. Chad Brommer gave an infrared imaging demonstration to assess Engenia™ herbicide, a technologically advanced dicamba formulation developed by BASF. Chad explains that they wanted a quantitative way to measure the safety and effectiveness of Engenia. “What we see with the camera is often things we can’t see with the human …
Harvesting The High Plains Documentary
Last year’s Midwest drought evoked images of the dust bowl of the “dirty 30’s”. But how many of you really know much about it or what it took to survive those trying times? Here’s one way you can get a glimpse into those times. It’s a film documentary called, “Harvesting The High Plains.” An advance copy is now available for …
Bringing Sexy Back to Agriculture
The take home theme of the Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum this year came to be “bringing sexy back to agriculture.” Which begs the question – when was agriculture sexy before? If sexy means sustainable, here are a couple of pretty sexy farmers. On the left is the Bayer CropScience 2013 Young Farmer Sustainability Award winner Jeremy Jack of Mississippi …
Dupont Pioneer Press Conference
Dupont Pioneer held a news conference at the recent Commodity Classic to introduce a new set of services. The focus of the press conference was the new Pioneer Field360 services. These new services are meant to help farmers increase productivity and profitability by providing more control of field-by-field data without having to become a technical expert. The Pioneer Field360 Services …
Pharming for a Better Life
Treatment for cystic fibrosis from corn? Potatoes that produce an antibacterial protein for use in cosmetics? Welcome to what could be the future of pharming. One of the growers at the Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum was Bill Horan, COO of Horan BioProduction in Rockwell City, Iowa. Bill, who is also chairman of Truth About Trade and Technology, talked about …