Precision Laboratories Celebrates 50 Years

Chuck Zimmerman

It’s golden anniversary time for Precision Laboratories this month.

In 1962, Chicago entrepreneur Jim Wohlner left his sales position with a national chemical distributor and founded Precision Laboratories. The new company specialized in private-label maintenance chemicals for industrial applications. Jim would often spend four days on the road selling, and then return on Fridays to fulfill the orders. As the company grew, Jim hired warehouse personnel and sales representatives to meet growing needs.

In 1976, Precision Laboratories purchased AmChem, an industrial and agricultural chemical distributor. Jim fell in love with the agricultural industry, and it became his passion.

In 1986, Jim Wohlner’s son, Rick, began working for the company. Rick began selling to and establishing relationships with distributors in the professional turf industry. The company positioned spray pattern indicators, adjuvants and surfactants to golf course superintendents through distributors across the country.

In 1995, with a strong vision for the future, Rick Wohlner purchased Precision Laboratories from his father, and narrowed the focus to meeting the needs of the ag and turf markets. Read More

Agribusiness

BASF Innovating for Sustainability

Cindy Zimmerman

“Innovation as the Path to Sustainability” was the theme of the 2012 BASF Agricultural Solutions Summit last week in Chicago where the company’s top executives presented the latest crop protection and plant biotechnology strategies aimed toward sustainable food production for a growing population.

Markus Heldt, President of BASF’s Crop Protection division, released initial results of the new AgBalance study launched in 2011 as a method for measuring sustainability in agriculture. “We performed a case study on corn production in Iowa comparing 2000 and 2010,” said Heldt. “We’ve seen an improved sustainability index of 42%.”

Listen to my interview with Markus here: BASF Crop Protection President Markus Heldt interview Listen to Markus’ presentation here: BASF Crop Protection President Markus Heldt presentation

In the area of plant biotechnology, Dr. Peter Eckes, President of BASF Plant Science, discussed the company’s gene discovery platform and joining forces with companies like Monsanto to bring new traits like drought tolerance to market. Eckes is especially excited about new traits to make food healthier, such as increasing the content of EPA-DHA Omega 3 in crops. “These are the fatty acid that have the health benefits,” he said. “This is really giving consumers a direct benefit.”

Listen to my interview with Peter here: BASF Plant Science President Peter Eckes interview Eckes also talked about moving the BASF Plant Science global headquarters to North Carolina during his presentation: BASF Plant Science President Peter Eckes presentation

While the agricultural segment is a significant part of BASF, “The Chemical Company” is so much more as Dr. Harald Lauke, President of BASF’s Biological and Effect Systems Research division, showed us with a concept car they have developed with Diemler. “We wanted to showcase what BASF as a chemical company can contribute to a whole car,” said Lauke. “People may underestimate what a company like BASF can do…that we make complete products, together with customers.”

Listen to my interview with Harald here: BASF's Harald Lauke interview Listen to Markus’ presentation here: BASF's Harald Lauke presentation

This is all great stuff – and much more to come from the BASF Media Summit. Please feel free to use any or all of the audio or photos from the event!

BASF Ag Media Summit Photos

Audio, BASF

POTNAFB Interviews POTUS

Cindy Zimmerman

The president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting had the opportunity to interview the President of the United States today about a new report on the rural economy and farm policy.

NAFB President Tom Steever of Brownfield Ag News not only asked President Obama about the Council of Economic Advisers report – Strengthening Rural Communities: Lessons From a Growing Farm Economy – but they also chatted about the 2012 Farm Bill.

Tom did his usual sterling job – congrats to him, Brownfield and NAFB for getting this opportunity.

Listen to the POTNAFB/POTUS interview here: NAFB President Interviews President Obama

Audio, Farm Bill, NAFB

“Decade of the Bean” Focuses on Higher Yields

Melissa Sandfort

Building on the successful launch of Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield trait technology, Monsanto Company is poised to deliver a dozen new soybean traits in the next decade, helping farmers boost yield to meet the growing global demands for soybeans.

The 2010s have been coined the “Decade of the Bean” because Monsanto has a mix of 12 biotech and breeding traits in its soybean research and development pipeline that are targeted to give farmers the tools they need to help maximize their yield opportunity. Global demand for soybeans is driving the need for farmers to increase yields, and Monsanto has made significant investments in soybean breeding and biotechnology and in improving agronomic practices.

Advances resulting from the company’s new product soybean pipeline support Monsanto’s goal of helping farmers double crop yields by 2030 to meet this growing world demand. These innovations will be available only in varieties containing the company’s second-generation soybean trait technology – Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield.

Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield trait technology and advanced breeding techniques deliver the offensive punch while traits like aphid-tolerance and Phytophthora root rot resistance discovered via breeding efforts provide the defensive characteristics that protect yield. With tools like marker-assisted breeding and soybean chipping technology, Monsanto’s R&D organization is bringing products that are expected to deliver high-yield potential every year.

Agribusiness, Biotech, Soybean

Wrapping Up Conservation in Action Tour

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 353It’s time to wrap up my coverage of the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour. To do so I’m sharing a couple of interviews I did at the end of the tour.

To start with you’ll hear Danny Murphy, Mississippi soybean grower and First Vice President of the American Soybean Association talk about what he saw and learned during this year’s tour. Then you’ll hear Pauley Bradley, John Deere, who is also on the board of the Conservation Technology Information Center, talk about why this year’s tour was “the best tour ever.”

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Conservation in Action Tour Wrap-up

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, Roundup Ready Plus, for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.

2012 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by AGROTAIN
Ag Groups, ASA, Audio, Conservation, CTIC, John Deere, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

    Future Pork at the Expo

    Cindy Zimmerman

    From the whole hog on down to the pork bellies, there’s tons of pork served each year at World Pork Expo, but there’s also plenty of future pork on the hoof around as well.

    The annual WPX Junior National show features young people, who might possibly one day be pork producers, and young hogs, who very likely will one day be pork. And it’s a beautiful thing! You can see some photos of the champions and a list of all the winners in each category on the National Swine Registry website and on the NSR blog.

    The gestation stall issue was a shadow hanging over the expo this year, just the latest in attacks against the pork industry totally led by HSUS, which even tweeted under the #NPPCWPX hash tag this week – “It’s time the pork industry make plans for getting rid of gestation crates. Pigs & farmers both deserve better.”

    If it were up to HSUS, there would probably be no Junior National, or any Pork Expo, for that matter. Reporter Sandhya Dirks of Iowa Public Radio did a story today titled “Is the Agriculture Industry Being Bullied?” about an aspiring young livestock producer who feels he may not have a future in the industry because of HSUS. In an interview with the reporter, HSUS president Wayne Pacelle denies that he wants to eliminate animal agriculture, but then goes on to compare livestock farming to slavery.

    “Who’s really the bully when people are taking advantage of animals?” Pacelle says, adding that he doesn’t think the differences between animal rights activists and animal agriculture one of those things where “the truth is in the middle.” “I don’t think the truth was in the middle when our nation fought about child labor or slavery,” he said.

    Pacelle also accuses the aspiring producer of adopting “the party line” and predicting that the young man’s attitudes will be totally different in five years, “because there’s no future in holding the line on confinement crates.” Sounds like a threat to me.

    The young people who raise livestock for shows pamper those animals and often become very attached to them, but they know very well that they will someday be food on someone’s table. I’m reminded of a line from a very funny video from a British TV program that shows vegetarianism from the other point of view – “Pigs are expensive, pink and annoying – they’re also delicious.”

    2012 World Pork Expo Photo Album

    Pork, Swine, World Pork Expo

    2012 “Olym-Pigs” at World Pork Expo

    Cindy Zimmerman

    In honor of the big summer games coming up in just a few weeks, Automated Production Systems (APS) made the 2012 “Olym-Pigs Feastival” the theme for their annual World Pork Expo show pig this year.

    As always, the folks at APS went all out for the roll out of the roast hog on Thursday afternoon of the expo, with a torch procession and events such as “shuttle pig” and the balance Jim Beam. APS always has a great time with this, after spending all day cooking not only their hog, but also a couple of others for exhibitors.

    Watch the 2012 Olym-Pigs procession here:


    2012 World Pork Expo Photo Album

    Pork, Swine, Video, World Pork Expo

    Finding Balance Between Business and Environment

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Trudy FisherAt the closing dinner for the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour, Trudy Fisher, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality spoke to our group. Trudy told us that she’s a farmer’s daughter and has farming experience herself. For that reason, the things we were seeing and hearing about on the tour are near and dear to her heart.

    Trudy told the group that they don’t have to sacrifice aggressive farming practices and tremendous business opportunities to protect the environment and that “we can do it right and we are doing it right.” It’s all about finding the right balance between what’s good for business and what’s good for the environment. She says that “if we continue to do this right future generations of farmers will be able to carry on the long tradition of feeding the world from the heart of America.”

    Listen to Trudy’s remarks here: Trudy Fisher Remarks

    2012 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by AGROTAIN
    Ag Groups, Audio, Conservation, CTIC, Environment