One of the big announcements here at the show on opening day was from Bunge and Dupont who have a biotech alliance. Basically they’ve created a new brand, “Treus.” This is being done to “reflect their expansion of the companies’ soy collaboration beyond food and nutrition products to include industrial applications, biofuels and other opportunities.”
Low linolenic soybean oil produced from Pioneer® brand soybean varieties, and previously marketed as NUTRIUM Low Linolenic Soybean Oil, will now be marketed as TREUS™ Low Linolenic Soybean Oil.
I interviewed Troy Hobbs, Business Manager, Bunge/Dupont Biotech Alliance. He describes the changes in more detail and what this means for producers. Troy is pictured on the left of the Treus sign. On the right is Jason Klootwyk, Bunge, Asst. Commercial Manager, Grain Division.
You can listen to my interview with Troy here: 
Troy Hobbs Interview (3 min MP3) Note: I wasn’t using my regular recorder but the audio is acceptable.
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto: 
So, I just wanted to take a second and write about my whole experience so far. So I arrived at the Farm Progress Show yesterday at 2:00. I have never had the chance to come to the Farm Progress Show so this is all new to me. I was thinking… there’s going to be some really big tents and then just some vendors… but no… This place is way bigger!! As I came closer, you can see all the tents from the road and it was like a maze trying to get into the grounds. As for me, I had no clue where I was going so maybe it was a little bit harder, plus the rain didn’t help anything because I couldn’t go everywhere or otherwise I would have been stuck. 
You’ll find the sky over the show filled with advertising at times.
In addition to balloons we’ve got little lightweight sail planes (?) too. I couldn’t quite make out who this is for. If you know, post a comment.
Most of the time, when you think of Lumberjacks, you think of men… or at least I did! Until today, I was just observing the crowds and noticed lots of chainsaws out and women standing around them. It drew my attention so I went over to take a look.
I was walking through all the mud and people, and then I stopped when I saw this man burning something in barrel. Come to find out, this man was burning metal. I walked up during the middle of the demonstration but I found it very interesting! The man’s name is David Williamson, from Ogden, IA and he calls himself a collaborating artist. Mr. Williamson is apart of the program Project Aware.
Here’s the current street scene here at Farm Progress. 
The golf carts are in high demand here this morning. I wonder how much they’re getting for them today.
while it was raining this morning the media was nicely cooped up in the media tent. I’m sure this didn’t disappoint Monsanto since they had the first press conference. One of the their representatives I met was Steve Peterson, Monsanto business manager for their Processor Preferred program. Steve’s pictured here (right) during an interview with WITY. In my interview with Steve he describes how this program has developed about 90 varieties of corn that are yielding up to 2 to 4 percent more ethanol per bushel than conventional hybrids. He says this helps corn growers get a premium for their crops.
The incoming 1st Vice President of the
Speakers Glenn Stith, Vice President of Monsanto U.S. Branded Business, Clint Pilcher, Corn Technology Development Manager, and Wayne Natress, Executive Director were present to speak about the Sticky Trap Program! The Sticky Trap Program was an experiment to determine the amount of rootworm variance across the cornbelt. In order for Monsanto to enroll the program, they asked local FFA Chapters across the cornbelt to help them out. The following states were involved in the experiment: Illinios, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. In the state of Iowa, all 99 counties participated in the event and for their contributions, Monsanto has donated $50 for every Sticky Trap the Chapter recorded information on.