American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) chairman Wayne Gale, Stokes Seeds, spent a lot of time answering questions about hemp seed at the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk. Gale says ASTA’s role is to provide information for the growing hemp industry to help the seed industry identify sources of quality seed “to ensure that the growers that the …
Bayer Seed Treatments Protect on Multiple Fronts
With one of the broadest and most diverse portfolios of seed treatment in the industry, Bayer is helping farmers to protect their crops against more than just insect and disease pressure. “Being covered on multiple fronts, whether that’s against diseases, pests, nematodes, maybe it’s drought or nutrient deficiency, having a different breadth of seed treatment can really help protect against …
Companies Partner to Expand Corn Hybrid Choices
Benson Hill Biosystems has entered into a partnership with Brownseed Genetics, a Wisconsin-based seed breeder of new corn hybrids that are higher in both oil content and essential amino acids. The new Brownseed hybrids, developed through conventional breeding methods, yield about 9 percent corn oil – nearly triple the normal production – and are rich in the amino acids lysine …
New ASTA Officers
The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) announced its newly-elected officer team this week during the organization’s Policy & Leadership Development Conference (PLDC) in Denver, CO. Members of the FY2019-20 ASTA officer team—officially taking office on July 1 are: Chair: Wayne Gale, Stokes Seed First Vice Chair: John Latham, Latham Hi-Tech Seeds Second Vice Chair: Brad May, BASF A third generation …
Two Receive ASTA Honorary Lifetime Member Award
The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Honorary Lifetime Member Award was presented to two seed-industry professionals at the organization’s Policy & Leadership Development Conference this week in Denver. Blake Curtis, Senior Vice President of Management and Sales for the family seed company Curtis & Curtis, has held a number of volunteer leadership positions over the years. From 1986 to 1995, …
Legendary Seedsman Don Funk Relaunches NC+
Legendary seedsman Don Funk, founder of Channel Bio Corp, is leading a team to relaunch the NC+ brand to serve western corn, soybean and sorghum growers. NC+ was started in 1958 as a production and marketing organization for farmers to work together as a group rather than individuals to merchandise and grow seed. The original 56 growers merchandised their seed …
Panel Explores Future at Agri-Pulse Summit
“Shaping Farm and Food Policy Strategies for 2040” was the theme for the Agri-Pulse 2019 Ag and Food Policy Summit this week in Washington D.C. and the first panel of the day considered what the future might hold for farm land ownership, management, and crop production. Farm broadcaster Jeff Nalley moderated the panel which included Syngenta Seeds president David Hollinrake; …
BASF Breeding Goals and Trial Varieties for 2019
BASF Global Cotton Breeding Manager Dr. Margaret Shields took the opportunity to thank producers attending the inaugural BASF APT (Agronomic Performance Trials) Summit for their work and how important it is to ongoing research. Shields shared the company’s mission of being the leading, innovated and trusted seeds and traits organization providing superior, differentiated solutions to customers. With regard to cotton, …
Inari Introduces the World’s First Seed Foundry
Inari, a Flagship Pioneering company, recently announced the world’s first Seed Foundry as part of the company’s mission to reintroduce genetic diversity and challenge the seed industry with a shorter, lower-cost and more precise product development cycle Inari aims to revolutionize plant breeding by merging the latest technologies with leading-edge data analysis tools to bring top-performing plants to market faster …
BASF Seed Solutions Focused on Seed Treatments
The recent ASTA 2018 CSS and Seed Expo was a great venue for BASF to showcase its Seed Solutions business, including the launch of Vault® IP Plus seed treatment and Obvius® Plus fungicide seed treatment. “We decided we were going to create a whole new business unit in North America … a seed solutions business really focused on seed treatments,” …