It’s certainly no surprise that crops are cultivated in Germany, but some of the country’s farms, equipment and practices held a few surprises. Both the German Agricultural Society and John Deere hosted a visit to the BASF Gutsbetrieb Rehhütte, or the BASF Deer’s Den Farm, in Limburgerhof, Germany left a couple reporters from our group incredulous at how clean a …
Ceres, Texas A&M Partnering in High-Biomass Sorghum Production
Biofuel development and marketing is getting a boost. Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station of The Texas A&M University System are collaborating in high biomass sorghum production for biofuels, through an exclusive, multi-year joint research and commercialization agreement. These plants are not designed to produce grain, but rather vast amounts of biomass — the raw …
K-State Research Developing Biosecurity Tracking Software for Cattle Producers
Software enabling cattle producers to safeguard the health of their herds will soon be online. Researchers at Kansas State University are developing software that will help producers maintain secure feedlots and give them an informational database for understanding the impact of specific diseases. The feed yard security project is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Kansas …
ABM Agri-Council Starts Agri-Intelligence Report
The American Business Media Agri-Council is starting a quarterly report for those of us in the ag media called, “Agri-Intelligence Report.” It’s an e-newsletter filled with information from research they’ve conducted among other things. For example the first issue includes this summary statement from the 2005 Harris Interactive, Agricultural Media Study. . . . which concluded that farmers and ranchers …
Lower Insurance Premiums for Farmers Using Monsanto Hybrid
Monsanto says its latest agreement with the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation means farmers can opt to have their insurance premiums slashed by up to 24 percent in four states. Monsanto is launching an innovative crop insurance pilot program with its hybrid corn seeds. A new pilot program recently approved by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) will provide farmers an …
CropLife America Elects Board Members
Leaders from top crop science companies monitor pesticide management regulation as newly elected and re-elected board members of CropLife America. CropLife has elected its new Board of Directors. Eric Wintemute, president and chief executive officer of American Vanguard Corporation, was elected chairman of the Board of Directors of CropLife America, the nation’s largest trade association for pesticide manufacturers, formulators, developers …
CropLife Rewards Pesticide Excellence
The nation’s largest trade organization for agriculture pest management, CropLife, has named the recipients of its annual awards for excellence in pesticide development. The CropLife awards are meant to recognize responsible and effective use of pesticides to provide a safe, affordable and abundant food supply. Fourteen recipients of 2007 CropLife America industry awards were honored in six categories for excellence …
DuPont Funds Biofuel Projects
A million dollar pledge from DuPont means Iowa State University can begin development of its “New Century Farm.” The farm will be the center for biofuel and biomaterial farm production research on the Iowa State campus. DuPont has announced a pledge of $1 million to the Iowa State University (ISU) New Century Farm, the first research effort in the United …
BASF Fungi Guy
This is a guy who really loves fungi. Mycologist Dr. John-Bryan Speakman is a research scientist with BASF Fungicide Research and you wouldn’t believe how excited he can get talking about fungi. But some of them are really very pretty. I never knew there were so many different types of fungi with so many colors and shapes and sizes. We …
Prescreening Process for BASF
Making new compounds for crop protection is no overnight process and we got to learn a little bit about how it is done during our visit to the BASF research facility in Limburgerhof, Germany last week. Our first stop at the research facility was prescreening, where Dr. Franz Rohl explained some of the steps they take in looking at the …