Syngenta Seeds calls them “broad leps” – farmers call them expensive – most people would just call them icky. They are a bunch of nasty wormy creatures – technically lepidopteran corn pests – that make up what Syngenta calls the “multi-pest complex” which costs growers over $1 billion each year in lost yield and grain quality. They include corn earworm, …
Sustainability and Modern Farming
The new president of the National Corn Growers Association, Darrin Ihnen of Hurley, S.D., is the star of a new video on the subject of increasing sustainability in agriculture that debuted Oct. 3 on the television program This Week in Agribusiness. The short video features Darrin and other family farmers telling the story of how better management and modern technology …
Grains Council China Corn Tour
The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) is blogging and Flickring through this year’s China Corn Tour, taking place right now. These great photos and many more have been posted on the USGC Flickr account by Erick Erickson, special assistant to the president, who has also been blogging about the trip on The Grain Board. In one post Erick wrote about the …
Syngenta Seed Breeders in Paradise
Why is this man smiling? Probably because he spends about half the year in Hawaii working on new corn seed hybrids for growers to plant back here on the mainland. Ben Hable (pronounced Hobbly) is
Atrazine Turns 50
As many of you may know, Atrazine is celebrating its 50th birthday. To learn more about it and what it means I spoke to Chuck Foresman, Syngenta Manager, Weed Resistance Strategies and Sherry Duvall Ford, Syngenta, Head, External Communications. We were at the Farm Progress Show in the media tent. Chuck says that the product helped farmers back in the …
Crops Keep Growing
Edging closer to the number one record crop, USDA boosted the corn production forecast by two percent in the report out this morning – to an even 13 billion bushels. Still expected to be just the second largest on record, it is a mere 100 million bushels short of the 2007 record crop. USDA is now saying yields are expected …
BASF Hosts Farm Futures Talk at Farm Progress
AgWired coverage of the 2009 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by: and BASF at Farm Progress Show Photo Album New dynamics are shaping the future for agriculture and farmers need to be watching the markets more closely than ever before to keep ahead of the game, according to market analyst Arlen Suderman with Farm Futures. “There’s a lot of money …
Corn Growers Giving Away a Wii
Corn growers nationwide are represented here at the Farm Progress Show by the Illinois Corn Growers Association. New ICGA representative Tricia Braid-Terry, former farm broadcaster, spoke with me today during our AgChat tweetup about all the things they’re doing in their tent. To start with you can participate in a contest to Win a Wii. Lean more about that on …
Carbon and Land Use Models Being Discussed
Do you understand things like indirect land use when it comes to regulations via departments like the EPA due to the RFS? Me either. And I’ve sat in on conferences and discussions and interviews on the subject for a while now. That’s because an issue like indirect land use involves predicting the future based on certain assumptions that may or …
NCGA Talking Land Use
The NCGA Land Use and Carbon Impacts of Corn-Based Ethanol Conference is underway here at the Renaissance hotel by the St. Louis airport. This is our first panel discussion on “Emission Factors and Land Use Change Modeling” which is being moderated by Geoff Cooper, Renewable Fuels Association. We’re talking some very involved talks on things like Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Analysis, …