Dr. Stephen Smith was honored last week at the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) annual conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dr. Smith was made a Lifetime Honorary Member during the Gala Banquet in recognition of his leadership, vision, and service to the seed industry. “Dr. Smith has been an ardent supporter of ASTA’s activities on the domestic and international levels for …
Seeds in Space Benefit Ag on Earth
There’s a good bet that the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) annual meeting of 30 years ago looked remarkably different than the event that took place last week in Minneapolis, MN. And it’s a good bet that the science and technology making an impact on the industry in another 30 years may not have even been thought of yet, but …
ASTA Elects New Leadership
The American Seed Trade Association has been a continuously growing family for the past 134 years, and the family of new chairman Tracy Tally has been a constant at the ASTA annual meeting for many of those years. Tally is president of Justin Seed Company in Justin, Texas, a company founded by his father in 1956. Besides running Justin Seed …
Learning Innovation from the Seed at #ASTAannual
Stan Abramson of Arent Fox LLP, Law Firm spoke with members of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) about promoting agriculture innovations in Washington D.C. We can learn a lot about innovation from the seeds themselves. “Plants and seeds are natural innovators. They constantly reinvent themselves,” he told the audience. “A lot of innovation is just figuring out how nature …
Clariant Ups R&D Support for Agriculture
Clariant is excited to announce their new greenhouse at Clariant Innovation Center (CIC) opened earlier this week. The state-of-the-art greenhouse will offer R&D for crop protection and managment, along with yield-enhancement solutions. The 400sqm greenhouse offers smart simulation of environmental conditions such as humidity, light, rainfall and temperature, creating a proper climate for testing to supplement Clariant’s existing laboratory testing …
Enogen Presents American Ethanol Race in Iowa
Coming up tomorrow at the Iowa Speedway, Enogen presents the NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 for the fifth year. Ron Wulfkuhle is excited to be attending the race for the first time as head of Enogen at Syngenta. “We’ll have about 1200 corn farmers attending as our guests and also we’ll be working with the FFA,” said Wulfuhle. …
Precision Ag Bytes 6/22
A report from the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) has been released. “Land Use, Land Cover, and Pollinator Health: A Review and Trend Analysis” offers insights into honeybee and pollinator health in the U.S. Abbey Nickel, an award-winning journalist, has been named communications and outreach manager for the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC). Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary for the …
Herrmann Concludes Year as ASTA Chair
The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) annual meeting marks the end of Mark Herrmann’s service as Chair of the organization. For the past year he has lead the group in some major changes and successes, including the passing of a federal GMO bill. “The GMO transparency bill being a federal bill, as opposed to the patchwork that was being done …
Panel Offers Food Company Perspectives
The Opening Session of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) annual meeting featured three speakers offering “Perspectives from Today’s Major Food Companies.” John Wiebold from General Mills, Jenny Verner from Cargill, Inc., and Autumn Price representing Land O’Lakes each addressed the audience before participating in a panel discussion and taking questions from the audience. Each spoke of the challenges of …
The GROWMARK Endure Initiative Grows
The GROWMARK Endure sustainability initiative is enduring. For the second year GROWMARK has announced winners of the Endure 4R Advocate award. They are: Adam Dexter – West Central FS – Williamsfield, Illinois Don Jones – GROWMARK FS – New York/Pennsylvania Jay Matthews – AgVantage FS – Charles City, Iowa John Musser – Stephenson Service Company – Stockton, Illinois Nicole Weber …