Monsanto Completes Acquisition of De Ruiter Seeds

Chuck Zimmerman

De Ruiter SeedsMonsanto continues to grow its seed business. This time with De Ruiter Seeds.

Monsanto Company announced today that it has completed its proposed acquisition of De Ruiter Seeds Group B.V., a Dutch-holding company that owns and operates De Ruiter Seeds, for EUR546 million in cash, or approximately $850 million at current exchange rates, less net debt.

Monsanto will start to transition the De Ruiter Seeds business into its vegetable seeds division alongside its other business units, Seminis and the International Seed Group, Inc. (ISG). Monsanto’s vegetable seed business will serve its customers through three dedicated platforms: protected-culture, open field and regional vegetable seed businesses. The De Ruiter Seeds business will serve the protected-culture vegetable seed market, Seminis will serve the open-field vegetable seed market, and ISG will serve customers of regional seed businesses. Until the transition is complete, business units will continue to conduct business as usual.

Agribusiness, Seed

Turkey Talk on Facebook

Laura McNamara

The National Turkey Federation is becoming more savvy in online social networking. June is ‘Turkey Lovers’ Month’ and to celebrate, the federation is debuting its new identity on Facebook.com

The federation chose to focus the concept on Facebook, to reach a younger audience that is talking with their peers through this social networking community. Campaign participants will add a “turkey voki” — a small, talking cartoon turkey — to their profile areas and share it with their friends across Facebook.

The talking turkey voki has the right elements to spread the National Turkey Federation’s message virally. The talking turkey delivers a humorous, customizable message and it wears a t-shirt that says “Shake Your Tail Feather”. The voki also says, “Do I make you hungry? Happy Turkey Month!” Users can customize the talking turkey’s clothes and choose to load up their own voice to the turkey voki with their phone or computer. The voki platform allows users to send the talking turkey to friends, or post it on a social network profile area or blog.

The tested message, “Shake Your Tail Feather,” was an almost-unanimous choice among the younger audience. Participants said they chose the phrase because it made them want to get up and dance.

Facebook users can find the talking turkey in the Voki Voice Avatars application.

Ag Groups, Food, Poultry

Farm Foundation Elects New Chair

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm FoundationRichard Hahn succeeds Sara Wyant as chair of the Board of Trustees of Farm Foundation.

Barry Flinchbaugh of Kansas State University was named Vice Chair. The election took place at the Board’s annual meeting June 7, 2008, in Canandaigua, NY.

Established in 1933, Farm Foundation is directed by a Board of Trustees comprised of leaders in agriculture and the food system. Farm Foundation works as a catalyst for sound public policy by providing objective information to foster a deeper understanding of issues shaping the future of agriculture, food systems and rural regions. Farm Foundation does not lobby or advocate. Its primary product is comprehensive, objective information on economic and public policy issues.

Ag Groups

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Deere & Company has completed the acquisition of Plastro Irrigation Systems, Ltd., headquartered in Israel, to add significant momentum to the growth of John Deere Water Technologies.
  • The Poultry Science Education Fund of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Harold E. Ford Foundation supports student recruitment at colleges and universities with poultry science courses that do not have a full department with a poultry science degree. Applications for funding requests (recruitment grant of up to $7,000) are now available here.
  • The Wisconsin Guernsey Breeders Association will be hosting the National Guernsey Convention from June 26 through June 30th in Middleton, Wis. A complete schedule of events is available here.
  • Geile/Leon Marketing Communications is pleased to be recognized in The St. Louis Business Journal ‘s annual list of fastest growing private companies. Geile/Leon ranked ninth out of 50 in the St. Louis Community.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Twittering and Tweeting on AgWired

    Chuck Zimmerman

    TwitterFor those of you who have wondered about the little blue birdy thing at the top of AgWired, that’s the latest post in my Twitter feed. A growing number of you are following me directly on Twitter and I thank you. As you’ll find out if you do, I post quite frequently on Twitter, especially when I’m traveling. It’s very easy to to.

    We decided to pull the latest Tweet (Twitter post) onto the top of AgWired as a way to update you even when I don’t have my computer out. I’m also posting pictures to the feed from my Blackberry Curve. So, that’s what it’s all about. Keep an eye on it since it sometimes gets updated even more than my AgWired posts.

    Want to know more about Twitter? I’m a small, inexpensive consulting fee away.

    Uncategorized

    CUTC Media Mania

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Andy Vance and Christina KoboldtWhile I was attending the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference recently, I turned the tables on one of the media representatives covering the conference. Pictured on the left is Andy Vance, Buckeye Ag Radio Network along with NCGA’s Christina Koboldt. Christina was a big help by the way, helping those of us who haven’t attended a CUTC in a while.

    I asked Andy why he attended. He says that what’s happening with corn is extremely important right now to his audience and that he couldn’t imagine not being there. Since the CUTC focuses a lot on new uses for corn he wondered if some of the new uses would generate as much public reaction as using corn for ethanol has.

    Andy says that there were several Ohio growers present and even leading some of the sessions. He thinks that growers should participate since these new technological uses of corn are very important to their future.

    You can listen to my interview with Andy here: cutc-08-andy-vance.mp3


    CUTC Photo Album

    Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, Media

    The Tomato Industry Attack

    Chuck Zimmerman

    TomatoesCindy pointed me to a story on the Financial Post Blog about the big tomato scare. It’s too good not to bring to your attention. Here’s how Financial Post editor, Terence Corcoran, describes how the whole mess got started.

    It begins with a food poisoning, gets picked up by brain-dead media, story flies out of control for 48 hours, regulators swing into extreme self-preservation mode, risk-ignorant consumers 2,000 kilometres away get confused and panicky, and the food in question — a billion dollar industry — gets blown away.

    Exactly. Our main, traditional media outlets of today are so out of control it’s no wonder people are looking elsewhere for information. Here’s an interesting point made in the post on the FP:

    Enhancing the media-led distortion is the fact that the original story is wrong: The man allegedly killed by tomato salmonella after eating at a Houston, Texas, restaurant — 67-year-old Raul Rivera — actually did not die from the tomato he ate. Kathy Barton, a Houston health official, said Mr. Rivera’s official cause of death is cancer. The Texas health department reports it has no deaths from salmonella poisoning.

    I wonder if that story got corrected. We certainly live in a society where people and especially many in the media are looking for a scapegoat for every little thing that happens. No one wants to claim their own responsibility and as the FP says, consumers of today have, “almost willfull ignorance of risk.” This is why it’s more important than ever for anyone involved in agribusiness to be looking at new ways to communicate and dare I say that we can all do it ourselves now? I looked for some tomato grower organizations with blogs and couldn’t find any. Seems like it would be a good place to be writing about the truth on this story!

    Food

    Big and Juicy Franks

    Laura McNamara

    Oscar Mayer says hot dog enthusiasts have more reason to love the summer grilling season. That’s because Broadway Actor Mario Lopez is introducing the new Oscar Mayer Premium Beef Franks. Lopez will be firing up the grill on June 10 in Times Square to give New Yorkers a sample of the new beefier, juicier hot dogs. Both the WIENERMOBILE and the New mini WIENERMOBILE will be around for the fun.

    The new Oscar Mayer Premium Beef Franks are made with high quality cuts of beef and a flavorful blend of unique spices for a taste the whole family will love. They also have no artificial flavors, colors, fillers or by-products and are packaged in the same easy-to-use re-sealable package to lock-in freshness.

    In honor of the brand’s 125th anniversary year, Oscar Mayer is beefing up the New York barbecue by spreading the love of lunch to America’s Second Harvest — The Nation’s Food Bank Network with a $100,000 donation. But the philanthropy does not stop when the New York lunch crowd slows down. The Oscar Mayer WIENERMOBILE vehicle is hitting the road this summer with opportunities to sample the new franks and collect even more donations to benefit local America’s Second Harvest members in the communities it visits coast-to-coast.

    Food, Pork

    Citrus Robots from Energid

    Laura McNamara

    Citrus growers will soon have a new employment option: robots. Energid Technologies is developing a robotic citrus harvester for bulk fruit removal.

    Energid Technologies Corporation has been funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Small Business Innovation Research Program to develop a new robotic citrus harvesting system. This system will combine the intelligence of robotics with the efficiency of bulk fruit removal to reduce harvesting costs to the citrus grower.

    Most citrus today is harvested by hand, throughout the U.S. and the world. The resulting high costs, especially high in the U.S., are a significant part of the total cost of producing an orange or grapefruit for consumption. The new system being developed will reduce the cost of citrus products to the consumer while maintaining grower profitability.

    Most past attempts at automated harvesting have focused either on conventional robotics, multi-link arms, or on bulk removal, such as trunk and canopy shakers. Energid is developing a unique system that combines the best of both approaches.Read More

    Agribusiness, Farming, Food, Technology

    Organic’s Got Nutrients

    Laura McNamara

    Organic milk from pasture-fed cows is believed to be full of nutrients. A study recently published from Newcastle University in the UK suggest that cows that graz on fresh pasture produce milk with higher levels of antioxidants and beneficial fatty acids, such as omega-3’s.

    “Grazing dairy cows on grass or grass and clover swards produces milk with a healthier fatty acid profile and higher levels of fat soluble vitamins and antioxidants,” notes Gillian Butler, livestock project manager for the Nafferton Ecological Farming Group at Newcastle University, who led the study.

    This study points to the diet of organic cows — fresh grass and clover — as the major reason for these nutritional benefits.

    “This study joins a growing body of science indicating strong links between what we feed our farm animals and the nutritional quality of what they feed us. Not only are you what you eat, but you are what what you eat eats too,” says Michael Pollan, author of the best sellers The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food.

    The Cornucopia Institute released this study. The farm and food policy research group based in Cornucopia, Wisconsin, says consumers can be confident that “the vast majority of brand name organic milk comes from cows that were given the opportunity to graze on fresh pasture whenever possible.”

    Ag Groups, Dairy, Food