Farm Industry News editor Karen McMahon was one of the media representatives attending the Syngenta Learning Center in Milford, IA. Here she’s taking notes during our media briefing. (Me, I take pictures)
Today when we were out in the field I interviewed her about what we’ve seen and what she thinks about attending a very personal, just for the media, opportunity to listen to and interview company representatives and then get to go out in the field and see what they’re talking about “live.”
One of the more entertaining presenters at today’s Syngenta Learning Center in Milford, IA was Dr. Fred Below. He’s a professor of crop physiology at the University of Illinois.
The main focus of his comments was mitigating the effect of yield loss when planting corn after corn. His research offers a number of suggestions for growers and you can hear them in my interview with him. You can also get a taste of his presentation in the following video.
You can listen to my interview with Dr. Below here: learning-centers-below.mp3
Or you can download the interview using this link: 
Dr. Fred Below Interview (3 min MP3)
There was a nice breeze out on the Johnson farm where the Syngenta Learning Center was held today in Milford, IA. You’ll hear it at the beginning of this overview video from the site.
The Syngenta Learning Center in Milford, IA was located on a farm just south of town. The owner of that farm is Bruce Johnson.
Right after lunch today I got to talk with Bruce about his farm and why he decided to work with Syngenta to hold this major event on his property. He says that about 59 acres is involved with the project and one of the things he’s looking forward to is getting the information first hand about the products and practices the Syngenta is working on.
You can listen to my interview with Bruce here: learning-centers-johnson.mp3
Or you can download the interview using this link: Bruce Johnson Interview (3 min MP3)
One of the presenters at the Syngenta Learning Centers media briefing is Bruce Battles, Agronomy Marketing Manager, Syngenta Seeds. He talked about the science of corn from the standpoint of what Syngenta is working on with new varieties. He says that there are a lot of options and challenges for growers. For example he says they’re working on solutions to the challenges of planting corn after corn.
You can listen to my interview with Bruce here: learning-centers-battles.mp3
Or you can download the interview using this link: Bruce Battles Interview (4 min MP3)
The Syngenta Learning Centers got off to a great start today as everyone was divided up into groups and then rotated between different program stations.
Right after having some donuts and coffee we got an overview of the property and what we’d see. You can hear what that sounds like in the following audio file.
Welcome to the Syngenta Learning Centers: learning-centers-welcome.mp3
The Syngenta Learning Centers program in Milford, IA is underway on a nice and cool day. The area had a little bit of rain overnight but we got lucky and haven’t had any this morning.
There are hundreds of farmers out here. Enough to be divided into 8 groups. Each group is attending a session on a particular topic. When the horn sounds it’s time to rotate to the next session. We’ll do 4 before lunch and 4 after lunch.
I’ve got lots of pictures and interviews but I’m going to wait until I get to my stopping point tonight in Omaha to work them up for you.
I already clued you in to what Tad Whitten is doing right now at the Missouri and Iowa State Fairs. Now, I’ve got the scoop on what Tad will be doing for this year’s Farm Progress Show coming up at the end of August. Tad says he will be debuting a new filling station replica:
The head of Pfizer Animal Health’s Veterinary Medicine Research and Development facility (called the Farm) is Dr. Cathy Knupp. She was on our program at their media event titled “Delivering Solutions Through Research and Innovation.” I’m really learning a lot attending these type of R&D programs!
Dr. Knupp supervises global research and development activities for the company. Sounds like a big job to me. She welcomed us to their facilities and I interviewed her to learn more about the Farm. She says that it can take a decade for the whole discovery and development process to work to bring a new product to market.
The research headquarters in Kalamazoo is 2,100 acres and they’ve got 170 different programs in research right now.
You can listen to my interview with Dr. Knupp here: pfizer-vmrd-07-knupp.mp3
Or if you’d like you can download it here: Dr. Cathy Knupp Interview
