BASF R&D

Cindy Zimmerman

I am in Japan now with Chuck and will be spending much of this week posting interviews and pictures from last week’s BASF trip while Chuck is covering the IFAJ events. So, I am starting at the beginning of the trip and posting the interviews with BASF executives done after the global press conference September 12.

BASF EckesResearch and development of agricultural products was one of the topics during our visit to BASF in Germany last week.

Peter Eckes is Senior Vice President for Crop Protection R&D and he talked with journalists on the trip about the newest BASF product in the pipeline which is currently going under the name of BAS 800H. “BAS 800 H is a herbicide which will be beneficial for US farmers in the area of soybeans and corn,” Eckes said. “It can be used as a pre-plant burn down and also in post emergence applications.”

Eckes says the compound will also prove beneficial for other crops as well. “It’s BASF’s philosophy that we focus on active ingredients that can be globally developed,” he said. “Down the road we see many applications and that’s the reason we believe it will be a blockbuster.”

Eckes also talks about how they make decisions about research and development areas.

Listen my interview with Peter Eckes here:
basf-eckes.mp3

View the Flickr Photo Album from BASF in Germany and Brussels

Audio, BASF, Corn, Farming, Research, Soybean

IFAJ Congress Ready To Start

Chuck Zimmerman

Tokyo Narita AirportIt takes a while to get to Japan from the United States. Cindy and I have made it and it’s almost time for the IFAJ Congress to officially begin with a welcome reception in our hotel.

I’m really glad that our flights were on time since it was a long flight anyway. It then took 3 1/2 hours to get to the hotel by the time we got our bags and bus.

Tokyo Narita AirportThis almost looks like a welcoming committee when you get in to the airport.

Going through customs was a breeze and everyone we’ve met so far has been very friendly and helpful. I’m going to have plenty of interviews and pictures over the coming days. Tomorrow we’re going on a vegetable market tour so hopefully there will be some posting time in the schedule later in the day.

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by: Pioneer-HiBred

IFAJ, Pioneer

Johnny Appleseed Festival

Laura McNamara

Johnny Appleseed FestivalMapleside Farms is commemorating agriculturalist Johnny Appleseed in it’s annual Johnny Appleseed Festival. The Ohio Farm began celebrating the Johnny Appleseed Festival in 1974 on what would have been Appleseed’s 200th birthday. Mapleside Farms uses a branch from an original Johnny Appleseed tree to graft onto a rootstock, which still produces fruit.

The 34th annual Johnny Appleseed Festival at Mapleside Farms in Brunswick will be held Saturday & Sunday, September 15 & 16. The event commemorates the birthday of Johnny Appleseed and is the official kick-off to the fall apple harvest season. The festival will take place on top of the hill overlooking 4,000 apple trees in the valley.

This year, festival presenting sponsor, the Kia Summer of Surprises Tour/Drivin’ Movie, brings $20 gas cards to those taking a brief test drive, a chance to win a new Kia Optima, and at dusk on Saturday, a free family showing of 2006’s Charlotte’s Web on the Midwest’s LARGEST outdoor movie screen.

More for the kids includes taking on the high seas adventures at the Pirates of the Apple Orchard Corn Maze where they follow the twists and turns of the paths in the corn stalks to search for hidden treasures. There are also horse drawn wagon rides through the apple orchards, pony rides, kid’s crafts, face painting and fun in the Harvest Hideout Playland.

Eighty crafters will be exhibiting their hand-made crafts in a variety of mediums. Entertainment will include country music from “Little Rock” and Kenny Clark and the Birmingham Band, and Conestoga, along with the fifties sound of Rock-N-Remember. There will also be local dance troupes, performing as well as country dancers and cloggers.

Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for children ages 7 thru 12 and free for children 6 years old and younger. Some activities require an additional charge. Parking is free.

Farming, Food

Chipotle Beef in Butternut Recipe Wins Beef Cook-Off

Laura McNamara

National Beef Cook-OffA variety of Latin spices flavored this year’s winning recipe for the National Beef Cook-Off. The grand prize of $50,000 went to Christine Riccitelli of Nevada.

With her recipe for Nuevo Chipotle Beef in Butternut Squash Boats amateur home cook Christine Riccitelli of Incline Village, NV won the 27th National Beef Cook-Off and the $50,000 “Best of Beef” grand prize. Riccitelli’s dish topped recipes from 25 other finalists (including six children) from across the country. The contestants were competing for $110,000 in prize money.

Nuevo Chipotle Beef in Butternut Squash Boats features a delicious blend of Latino flavor influences, including chipotle chile pepper, ripe avocado and butternut squash. In addition, the dish is an excellent source of essential nutrients like fiber, protein, niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, iron, selenium and zinc.

This year, the Cook-Off focused on a “Seize Life” theme that reinforced the role that beef plays in an active lifestyle. From January through March 2007, home cooks were invited to submit their original beef recipes for the opportunity to travel to Chicago and prepare their dish for a panel of esteemed judges. The Cook-Off continues to be a premiere opportunity for home cooks to create enjoyable beef recipes that provide fuel for their families.

Funded by The Beef Checkoff, the Cook-Off continues to showcase Americans’ love of beef. The influence the Checkoff has had on how consumers buy and perceive beef has been significant. In fact, consumer demand for beef is up 15 percent since 1998.

In addition to the “Best of Beef” Grand Prize, eight cash prizes totaling $60,000 were awarded in four categories that exemplify innovation and the “Seize Life” spirit of beef: “New Dynamic Beef” to fuel the body, “Nuevo Latino Beef” for active lifestyles, “Kids in the Kitchen” featuring fun recipes with nutritional balance, and “Small Plates, Big Taste” with grilled beef as appetizers or entertainment portions.

The next National Beef Cook-Off is slated for 2009. To view this year’s winning recipes log on to http://www.beefcookoff.org/.

Ag Groups, Beef, Food

Whole Grains Share September Promotion with Rice

Laura McNamara

Whole Grains CouncilSeptember is the month for celebrating rice, and now, it’s also the month for celebrating whole grains. The Whole Grains Council held a special competition to kick off its inaugural year for recognition in September.


In addition to being National Rice Month, September has, for the first time, been declared “Whole Grains Month.” To celebrate, the Whole Grains Council (WGC) announced the winners of its “Whole Grains Challenge” to food service operators. Restaurants, schools, hotels and hospitals nationwide entered whole grain dishes they serve on a regular basis. In the casual/family restaurant category, PF Chang’s China Bistro and Pei Wei Asian Diner, which each serve a choice of enriched white or whole grain brown rice, won for serving 10 million pounds of brown rice last year. When offered a choice, about 45 percent of their diners chose brown rice.

As the whole grains trend continues, whole grains and whole grain brown rice is expected to be featured on more restaurant menus.

USA Rice is a founding member of the Whole Grains Council and leverages WGC activities to promote brown rice.
For more information and to see winners of the Whole Grains Challenge, visit the WGC Web site.

Ag Groups, Farming, Food

Osborn & Barr Boosts Man-Power in Kansas City

Laura McNamara

Osborn & BarrOsborn & Barr Communications is strengthening its man-power in Kansas City. The office has introduced new personnel to both its account service and financial teams.

The Kansas City office of Osborn & Barr Communications (O&B) has significantly augmented its creative, account service and financial teams with the addition of Jason Silvers, Debbie Davids and Kelly Midkiff.

“The addition of Jason, Debbie and Kelly has really expanded the skill base and operational turnaround capabilities of Osborn & Barr,” says Boo Larsen, managing director of the Kansas City office. “The breadth of their experience in multiple markets and industries will be a tremendous asset to our clients, and their addition to the office provides us even more immediate response capabilities that are so important in today’s fast-moving business marketplace.”

Jason Silvers was promoted to senior art director less than six months after joining O&B as an art director. At O&B, he designs collateral and brand identity pieces for such clients as John Deere C&CE, Intervet Inc. and Belton, Mo.-based Specialty Fertilizer Products.

Debbie Davids also joined O&B after working for Bernstein-Rein. As an account executive, Davids specializes in serving as the liaison between clients and the agency to ensure all creative operations run smoothly.

After a five-year absence, Kelly Midkiff returned to O&B as office services manager and financial assistant. Midkiff was office services manager for the agency from 2001 to 2002.

Advertising, Public Relations

Visit to the European Parliament

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF BrusselsOur BASF Agricultural Products sponsored trip to Brussels included informative visits to all segments of the European Union political system. That includes the European Commission, where we met with ag commissioner spokesman Michael Mann, the EU Council, and the European Parliament, which was not in session as it was Friday and they have a four day work week. It was very interesting to see it all. We were not allowed to take photos in the Parliament building and security included a photo id badge which were not allowed to keep, but we did take some photos outside with our guide – the young man in front, Daniel Dalton who is assistant to the ag committee chairman for the parliament.

Be sure to check out all the photos in bigger format to see more.

View the Flickr Photo Album from BASF in Germany and Brussels

BASF, International

Reporting from Brussels

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF BrusselsBASF Agricultural Products set up a nice visit for ag journalists here in Brussels at a great time to get some real news for the farmers back home.

It was announced just yesterday that the European Commission was proposing to eliminate the mandatory ten percent set aside to help increase production for the coming crop year, and possibly permanently. We had the great fortune to be able to spend about an hour with Michael Mann, who is the spokesperson for Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. I filed audio and reports back to farm broadcasters in the states with his comments.

Listen to my report with Michael Mann here:
eu-mann.mp3

View the Flickr Photo Album from BASF in Germany and Brussels

Audio, BASF, Farm Policy, International

Competing Crop Solution Companies Monsanto and Dow Launch Joint SmartStax Innovation

Laura McNamara

Dow AgroSciencesThe competition in crop protection is getting rather friendly. Two of the largest suppliers of technology-based agricultural solutions in the U.S., Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences, are teaming up in the unprecedented release of an eight-gene stacked corn combination. See the Zimfo Bites Melissa posted for media event information.

Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences LLC, a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, have reached a cross-licensing agreement aimed at launching SmartStax™, the industry’s first-ever eight-gene stacked combination in corn. The agreement is expected to create a new competitive standard for stacked-trait offerings and present an expanded growth opportunity for both companies’ seed brands and traits businesses by the end of the decade.

Monsanto“By bringing together the two companies that have developed and commercialized the trait technologies widely used in agriculture today, we can provide farmers an ‘all-in-one’ answer to demands for comprehensive yield protection from weed and insect threats,” said Carl Casale, executive vice president of strategy and operations for Monsanto. “Farmers will have more product choices to optimize performance and protection, and that translates into a higher-yielding opportunity and a new growth proposition for their businesses and ours.”

“The combination of these trait technologies signals the start of the next generation of products with improved plant protection and yield increases for the farmer,” said Jerome Peribere, president and CEO of Dow AgroSciences. “These combinations provide tremendous value to the grower while better protecting the technology-bearing crops from insect and weed resistance.”

Multi-Gene Product Set to Expand Business Opportunities for Both Companies

Under the agreement, the companies will create a novel seed offering that combines eight different herbicide tolerance and insect-protection genes into top-performing hybrids for the most complete control ever available. The product will include the companies’ respective above- and below-ground insect protection systems, including Dow AgroSciences’ Herculex® I and Herculex RW technologies; Monsanto’s YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2™ and YieldGard VT PRO™ technologies; and the two established weed control systems, Roundup Ready® and Liberty Link®.
Read More

Agribusiness, Corn, Farming, Research, Technology

Zimfo Bites

Melissa Sandfort

  • Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences LLC, a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, have reached a cross-licensing agreement aimed at launching SmartStax™, the industry’s first-ever eight-gene stacked combination in corn. The agreement is expected to create a new competitive standard for stacked-trait offerings and present an expanded growth opportunity for both companies’ seed brands and traits businesses by the end of the decade.

    Under the agreement, the companies will create a novel seed offering that combines eight different herbicide tolerance and insect-protection genes into top-performing hybrids for the most complete control ever available. The product will include the companies’ respective above- and below-ground insect protection systems, including Dow AgroSciences’ Herculex® I and Herculex RW technologies; Monsanto’s YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2™ and YieldGard VT PRO™ technologies; and the two established weed control systems, Roundup Ready® and Liberty Link®.

    The companies will hold an exclusive joint news conference via teleconference for ag media on Monday, Sept. 17 at Noon Eastern; 11 a.m. Central.

    An overview of the agreement will be provided, followed by comments from Ernesto Fajardo, U.S. Crop Production Leader for Monsanto, and Jerome Peribere, President and CEO for Dow AgroSciences. Their comments will be followed by a Question & Answer session for the media.

    The press conference dial-in number is 888-530-8128. If you plan to participate in the teleconference on Monday, please email Darrell Bruggink at dbruggink@bader-rutter.com.

Zimfo Bytes