The team at Monsanto is excited to start talking about their new line of products called Roundup Ready Xtend Crop System. Their goal is to help maximize yield potential and weed control through effective and economical weed management. During the recent Commodity Classic, Chuck talked with Michelle Vigna, a Monsanto representative, about the product’s features and when growers can take …
Leaked USDA Email Makes News
*UPDATED WITH USDA STATEMENT* A leaked email from a USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service field office is in the news today as evidence that the Obama administration wants to make the sequester cuts “as painful as possible.” According to the email, the USDA budget office directed the APHIS field office regarding flexibility of spending cuts for aquaculture, “However …
Precise Disk Drills from New Holland
Just how important is it to plant seeds precisely as you’d like to? Very important. That’s why New Holland has come out with a new series of disk drills. Whether seeding into summerfallow or stubble, New Holland’s new P2000 Series disk drills slice through crop residue to ensure precise, uniform seed placement with very low soil disturbance. Both the new …
ASTA Seed Treatment Guide
A guide to seed treatment stewardship is a new project by the American Seed Trade Association along with a collaboration of seed companies, researchers and organizations like CropLife America, National Corn Growers Association and Farm Bureau. Growers will soon find “The Guide to Seed Treatment Stewardship” online. I spoke with Andy Lavigne, ASTA President/CEO, during Commodity Classic about this project …
PRRS Like Waterfalls, Waldo & National Debt
Analogies are a great way to illustrate your point, and Dr. Dale Polson, technical resources specialist with Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI), really used them in talking about vertical transmission of PRRS at the BIVI Swine Health Seminar for swine vets in San Diego. Polson compared PRRS waterfalls, Where’s Waldo and even the national debt, among others, to talk about how transmission …
BIVI: Control More than Vaccination or Medication
Controlling disease in swine herds is more than vaccinating or medicating your livestock … that’s the message attendees of the annual Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar in San Diego received before the American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting. During a session titled “Infection Chain – A New Perspective on Disease Management,” Dr. Edgar Diaz, associate director of swine …
Soybean Farmers Set Policy Course
Voting delegates of the American Soybean Association (ASA) set policy regarding a comprehensive long-term farm bill, as well as additional critical soybean industry priorities, such as exports and trade, transportation and biotechnology, during its annual meeting at the 2013 Commodity Classic last week. “The resolutions process is a great reminder that ASA’s policies come directly from the ground up,” said …
Farm Bill Top Priority for Corn Growers
As it was last year at this time, getting a new farm bill was the top priority for delegates to the National Corn Growers Association Corn Congress policy meeting last week during the 2013 Commodity Classic. NCGA President Pam Johnson says NCGA supports fundamental changes to farm programs that include effective and affordable federal crop insurance to provide assistance only …
Beck’s Hybrids Shares Positive Outlook for 2013
If you you missed the Beck’s Hybrids booth during last week’s Commodity Classic, then you weren’t looking hard enough. They were the ones raffling off the beautiful 2012 Limited Edition Camero Panther for the charity We Care for Orphans. And when I spoke with Ashly Fischer, Marketing Associate & Show Coordinator for Beck’s Hybrids, they had almost met their goal …
Happy 150th Birthday Bayer!
Bayer is celebrating 150 years of “Science for a Better Life.” “Not too many companies really have that heritage and we’re really proud of that because that really describes our long term commitment,” said David Hollinrake, VP of Agricultural Commercial Operations Marketing for Bayer CropScience. While agriculture is just one segment of Bayer, it is a significant one. “Agriculture is …