American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Chairman Blake Curtis calls the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the US and China seed organizations Monday “monumental.” “Everything has to start somewhere and this is a great start,” said Blake, with Curtis and Curtis Seed Company of New Mexico. “China is a very aggressive force in our world today and we’re …
US and China Seed Groups Sign MOU
Leaders from the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) and the China National Seed Association (CNSA) signed an historic Memo of Understanding today to promote cooperation relating to innovation in the seed industry, said ASTA president Andrew W. LaVigne. “This agreement achieves two extremely important goals,” said LaVigne. “First, it is an important first step in providing new business opportunities for …
Syngenta Shares New Product Lines at NAFB
It was obvious Syngenta was excited to talk about all the new and innovative things they have going on in the soybean and corn labs at the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s annual Trade Talk. I spoke with Scott Erickson, Soybean Genetics Portfolio Manager for Syngenta. He shared how they are tackling all the things that can rob yields …
Seed Shindig in Chicago
It’s all about the seed next week in Chicago at the CSS 2012 & Seed Expo. That’s short for the 67th annual Corn & Sorghum Conference, 42nd annual Soybean Seed Research Conference and 36th Seed Expo which will be held December 4-7 at the Hyatt Regency. American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Chairman Blake Curtis of New Mexico says this is …
BASF Closes Deal for Becker Underwood
BASF has completed its acquisition of seed treatment company Becker Underwood. BASF purchased Becker Underwood from Norwest Equity Partners for $1.02 billion (€785 million). With the acquisition, BASF is now a leading global provider of technologies for biological seed treatment as well as seed treatment colorants and polymers. BASF has also expanded its product portfolio in the areas of biological …
BASF Survey Reveals Sustainability Attitudes
BASF Crop Protection had great news to talk about with farm broadcasters at the NAFB meeting in Kansas City this week. According to a new BASF survey, a majority of consumers and growers agree that modern agriculture can achieve two critical goals simultaneously: Feed the world’s growing population while demonstrating responsible stewardship. More than 80 percent of the growers and …
Sightings Contest Launches FS InVISION Seed Corn
Shawn Kinkade of Piper City, Ill., was selected as the winner of a social media contest in which people reported sightings of the new FS InVISION™ logo. Kinkade’s photograph showed the logo prominently displayed on a fertilizer storage tank at the Heritage FS facility near Herscher, Ill. The contest was launched to raise awareness of the newly re-branded FS seed …
New Products from Monsanto
During the recent Farm Progress Show Monsanto’s Crop Protection Marketing Lead, Steve Knodle (left), sat down with me to talk about what is new with Monsanto. Steve says there are a number of new announcements from Monsanto this fall. One of them is Warrant Herbicide for pre-emerge use in soybeans and cotton for residual weed control. He says that it …
AgVantage FS Puts InVISION and HiSoy in Focus
The 2012 Farm Progress Show was a chance for AgVantage FS to put the spotlight on a fresh new look for FS Seed products HiSOY and InVISION corn. FS seed marketing and development specialist Amanda Weigel told us during FPS that AgVantage FS just expanded into the Boone county area this year. “So I’m doing some marketing to get our …
Key Tips for 2013 Growing Season
There was a lot of talk during the Farm Progress Show this year about the epic drought and how it was impacting growers across the country. Brent Wilson, DuPont Pioneer technical services manager, was out interacting with growers and when talking with them heard quite often that they just want to put the epic drought of 2012 behind them. That …