The World Food Prize Foundation on Friday accepted a $5 million contribution from Monsanto Company to ensure the continuation of the annual World Food Prize International Symposium – now known as the “Borlaug Dialogue.” The funds support a renewed fundraising campaign to transform the historic Des Moines Public Library building into a public museum to honor Dr. Norman Borlaug and …

Entries are open for the 2008 Environmental Respect Awards. Farm retail suppliers across the United States are invited to enter online. Deadline for entry is April 30. The awards are sponsored by DuPont Crop Protection, CropLife magazine, and Farm Chemicals International. Visit the Web site for more information. DuPont announced a $1 million contingent donation to fund the establishment of …

Merial announces the addition of four new IGENITY® Sales Representatives: Gary Felger, Zac Hall, Courtney Kealey and Sam Lewis. These sales representatives will work with beef producers in their respective territories to put the power of DNA to work with the comprehensive IGENITY profile. Visit the Web site for more information on the comprehensive IGENITY profile. General Mills and DuPont …

DuPont and Precision BioSciences, Inc., announced a technology collaboration to bring higher-yielding agricultural products to the market faster. The agreement provides DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred rights to Precision’s Directed Nuclease Editor™ (DNE) technology to introduce and stack multiple genes that accelerate product development in corn, soybeans and other important agricultural crops. The technology aids in the discovery of new traits …

Dr. Gregory S. Hammer, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, testified before the House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry that the delay in implementing the National Veterinary Medical Service Act (NVMSA) puts U.S. economic and food safety at risk. Recent studies indicate that the supply of veterinarians working in food safety will fall short by 4 to 5 …

American Farmland Trust (AFT) President Ralph Grossi announced that he would be retiring later this year, when a successor is on board. A national search is underway to recruit the next President of AFT. Grossi has served as president for 23 years; he and his wife, Judy, will be returning to their California ranch. Wheat grower Don Schieber of Ponca …

The Iowa Corn Growers Association and Iowa Corn Promotion Board rolled out an information campaign aimed at providing “Kernels of Truth” about the role of corn ingredients in the nation’s food supply. The ICGA and ICPB rolled out their campaign at a press luncheon featuring hamburgers, potato salad, brownies and cookies. Growers at the event made the point that corn …

The Fresno Center for International Trade Development’s 2008 World Ag Expo symposium “Doing Business in Global Markets” focuses on five of the hottest topics in agriculture today: The World of Biofuels; U.S. Free Trade Agreements; China’s Food Quality; Global Competition to U.S. Growers; and The California-Brazil Connection: Ethanol, Biodiesel, Electricity and Beyond. Each topic will feature opinions, panel discussions or …

FCS Financial’s Board of Directors announced that they will return $3.7 million to their member-owners in cash patronage for the 2007 calendar year. Patronage payments will be based on a member’s loan business activity with the association. All eligible members will receive a minimum of $20. Each eligible member’s patronage check will be available at his or her local FCS …

PureSense, recently named a Top 10 New Product by World Ag Expo, has unveiled an upgrade to its Irrigation Manager software. The upgraded Irrigation Manager software takes a cost-saving and money-making product one step further by making the system even easier to use with more powerful analysis in the background. Improvements include access to information simply by dragging the pointer …