John Deere was a sponsor of this week’s AgNite event in Minneapolis and there was green equipment on display. It’s a busy week for the company. Not only were they involved in a big event that was held in conjunction with the RNC but today they announced plans to build a new marketing and sales center in Olathe, KS. We …
iCORN.com Video Contest
An “almost anything goes” video contest for a seed corn company sounds very cutting edge doesn’t it? That’s what iCORN.com is doing. iCORN.com has launched a new $30,000 video contest as a way to help students pay for college and to show appreciation to its customers. The new video contest gives students an opportunity to win a share of $30,000 …
Hormel Provides Protein Punch for Hunger Relief
Joe Swedberg is Vice President of Legislative Affairs of Hormel Foods Corporation and currently chairman of the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council, the coordinators of the gala AgNite event held in the Twin Cities on the second night of the Republican National Convention. Joe was also on hand earlier Tuesday during a potato-packing event held at Second Harvest Heartland to highlight the …
Agribusinesses Proud to Sponsor AgNite
CHS is a Minnesota-based, farmer-owned, diversified agribusiness that was a proud sponsor of the AgNite event held on the second night of the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities. CHS Governmental Affairs Director Jim Bareksten is a board member of the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council, which coordinated the gala event celebrating food, agriculture and bioenergy – all of which are …
More Monsanto Sustainability
The potential for increasing yields exists everywhere if you ask Michael Doane. Michael is the Sustainability Team Lead for Monsanto. He spoke at the Monsanto discussion on sustainability on the 2008 Farm Progress Show last week. After his speech, I caught up with him and we spoke more about how he thinks the world will answer the global food demands …
Biotechnology Feeds Sustainability, Feeds the World
Thirty-three percent of the land’s surface is used for food production. That’s the figure that John Hoffman, Iowa farmer and President of the American Soybean Association puts out there. He says that 33 percent makes up 55 percent of the land that’s arable. So, we’re already using more than half the arable land out there to feed the world. Much …
Searching for an IRON Solution
At the Farm Progress Show I got to meet the Canadian farm boy who is now the President and CEO of IRON Solutions. He’s Darwin Melnyk and he comes from western Canada. IRON Solutions had some major activity this summer when they were acquired by StarVest Partners, a New York venture capital firm. Darwin says the firm has given them …
Manage the Markets with DTN
There were a LOT of reasons about 1,000 Farm Progress Show visitors visited the DTN exhibit in Boone, Iowa this week. But, the biggest reason was probably the chance to win $25,000. Aside from scoring the dough, though, visitors also had the chance to score some valuable marketing and weather tips from DTN experts. DTN representative Teri Thiele says visitors …
The Art and Science of Soil Conservation
The air we breath is often taken for granted. And, Peggy James, Natural Resources Conservation Service liaison to The Nature Conservancy says, so too are non-profits. “Non-profits are like air,” Peggy said. “They’re all around us but we hardly notice it. They are an integral part of a healthy, artistic, viably economic, productive society working towards sustainability.” Sustainability, Peggy says, …
Electric Shock “Therapy” for Soil
All it takes to find out what kind of soils and elements are found in a plot of land is just a bit of electric charge. Veris Technologies has developed a method for determining soil ratios using electricity: “What we’re looking at here is using AC voltage or very low voltage injecting it into the soil with two electrodes,” Paul …