John Schoenecker of HM Clause moves into the chairmanship of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) after elections were held at the annual meeting in Indianapolis Thursday. “As I become chair, one of my focuses will be advocacy,” Shoenecker said in an interview. “That’s part of our strategic plan, something we need to do to get the word out on …
CUTC Student Poster Competition Winners
During the 2014 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference the winners of the Gary Lamie Graduate Student Poster Competition were announced. The program is sponsored by the Indiana Corn Marketing Council. Pictured are National Corn Growers Association President Martin Barbre (left) and NCGA Research and Development Action Team Chair Tom Mueller (right) with the top three poster winners. I visited with …
Seed Industry Revved Up at ASTA Meeting
American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) outgoing chairman Craig Newman of AgReliant Genetics is pleased with the turnout and the mood of at the 131st ASTA annual convention this week in his home town of Indianapolis. “First time it’s ever been in Indianapolis and this is kind of the crossroads of America, plus it’s the crossroads of American Seed Trade Association …
BASF Ag Moving into Next Century
BASF itself will be 150 years old next year, but the ag products sector of the company is just a century old this year. “So we are the younger part of BASF but it’s obviously two important milestones for BASF,” said Markus Heldt, president of the global crop protection division, who adds that the future is very bright as BASF …
How ARC Programs Control Swine Disease
Dr. Erin Johnson, DVM, technical manager, PRRS Solutions Team explained that the goal of the ARC program, is to voluntarily get a group of producers in an area to work together to better understand and control the spread of disease in their neighborhoods, townships and counties. To make the ARC effective, continued Johnson, the producers must develop processes to provide …
NCGA CEO Addresses Fuel Ethanol Workshop
National Corn Growers Association CEO, Rick Tolman took the podium on his farewell tour to address the general session at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Indianapolis this week. It’s the 30th year for the workshop and during his remarks he commented on how things have changed in the last 30 years from the acres of corn planted and bushels harvested …
Farmers Dialoguing About Food
Two farmers got to discuss food on the panel for the USFRA Food Dialogues in Chicago this week. I visited with them and am sharing my conversations in this week’s ZimmCast. First up is Chuck Wirtz, a pork producer from Iowa. With the topic being “Integrity in Food Marketing” I wondered what that meant to the panelists so I asked …
BASF Ag Solutions Through Innovation
BASF – The Chemical Company – will be celebrating a pretty significant milestone next year. The company was established in 1865, which means it will be 150 years old in 2015. Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the board and Research Executive Director for BASF, says innovation is the reason they have survived so long. “Innovation is our life blood,” he said …
BASF Highlights North American Investment
At the BASF Ag Media Summit today, BASF North America Crop Protection Senior VP Nevin McDougall outlined the continued R&D investment his company is making to bring new agricultural products to market. “Our global investment is upwards of $2 million a day in agricultural research,” said McDougall. “Many of those research projects have direct application to North America.” That translates …
PEDV 101 From ISU’s Dr. Phillip Gauger
The talk of the 2014 World Pork Expo town: PEDV and the emergence that took the U.S. by storm. According to Dr Phillip Gauger, with Iowa State University, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, between April 28 – May 4, 2013 they had four separate ISU-VDL submissions – one from Indiana and three from Iowa – from farms with no relationship. He and …