The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) presented this year’s Ag Retailer of the Year Award during the the ARA Conference & Expo to Gar Tootelian, of central California. The award, sponsored by Monsanto, ARA, and AgProfessional magazine, is highly esteemed by the industry and honors the very best among ag retailers. Gar Tootelian was represented at the ceremony by president Greg …
FMC & ARA Hosting Safety Planning Workshop
FMC Corporation has shown tremendous continued support for the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) through the company’s sponsorship of the ARA Conference & Expo. In the new year, FMC will also sponsor a workshop with ARA that will focus on preparing, responding, and sustaining a crisis plan. This new workshop stems from a crisis communications workshop that FMC has held for …
Review of #ASTACSS from President LaVigne
President and CEO of ASTA, Andy LaVigne, breathed a big sigh of relief at the success of this year’s conference. After planning and scheduling the largest seed conference of it’s kind in the world, all you can do is hope people show up– and show up they did. “We had to bring in tables and chairs,” LaVigne told Cindy Zimmerman. …
BASF’s Future #Seed Giant at #ASTACSS
Justin Clark is a Technical Marketing Manager for BASF Ag Products who was named Future Giant of the Seed Industry by Seed World this year. At the ASTA CSS and Seed Expo, we talked with Clark about BASF’s recent agreement with FMC for in-furrow seed protection. “We think it’s a unique technology that addresses a grower need,” said Clark. “As …
Chromatin Talks #Sorghum at #ASTACSS
One of the S’s in ASTA CSS stands for sorghum and one of the sponsors for the American Seed Trade Association 71st Corn & Sorghum Seed Research Conference 46th Soybean Seed Research Conference and Seed Expo is a company that’s all about sorghum. “Chromatin is a sorghum-focused company – we only work in sorghum,” said Charles Miller, Chromatin vice president …
AgCompass Helps You Navigate Your Software
The technology has been around for years now but there is still some confusion when it comes to cloud computing or hosted software solutions and who can benefit from it most. Ken Wedig, who was retired from John Deere after 30 years, partnered with Everett Chambers in 2003 to create AgCompass, one of the pioneers in the technology which supports …
The Shark Farmer Podcasts From #AgChat
Shark farming in Illinois. I didn’t find much about that on Google. Google knows everything of course. But I did meet the Shark Farmer, Rob Sharkey, this week at the 2016 Cultivate & Connect Conference in KC, MO. Rob actually produces a regular podcast on Tuesday’s called Sharkfarmer Podcast. It’s not only a play on his name but he started …
ASTA Chair Optimistic for 2017 at #ASTACSS
AgReliant Genetics president and CEO Mark Herrmann took over as chairman of the American Seed Trade Association this past summer at the annual meeting and we had the chance to sit down and talk about priorities for the organization in 2017 during the ASTA CSS & Seed Expo this week. “Unnecessary regulation in the seed business can either completely stall …
Beck’s & Benson Hill Partner for Corn Genetics
Beck’s Hybrids is one of the largest retail seed companies in North America, and now thanks to a partnership with agriculture technology company Benson Hill Biosystems, they’ll be able to accelerate their corn breeding program in the future. Using Benson Hill’s CropOS cognitive platform, Beck’s will gain yet another tool to enhance the ability to offer farmers improved traits. The …
BASF Proud to Support FFA at #ASTACSS
BASF Ag Products has been a proud sponsor of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) for many years now, particularly the annual CSS and Seed Expo. This year at BASF used its presence at the event to raise money for the FFA, a cause which corn and bean communications specialist Colby Mower is very passionate about. “We’re committed to the …