AgWired

The first stop on our tour was the area where plant analysis is being done. We couldn’t take pictures at this point so I’m using some from the ones provided to us. We actually received some pens in our media kits that contain a built-in memory stick. Pretty cool.

The plant analysis group has 24 members who are analyzing for things like dna and protein. It’s a high throughput facility. They literally deal with hundreds of thousands of plants at a time.

In order to get this done they’ve developed some robotic sample handlers that help get this job done. Our presenter in this area was Mary Fielder.

When it was time for us to conduct our tour here at Syngenta I was in group two. Our leader was Mike Willits who seemed to have a comprehensive knowledge of everything we would see.

We had two tours going on at the same time and timed out together perfectly without crossing paths. That’s some precise planning.

Our tour is now finished and we’re listening to Mary-Dell Chilton talk about the work she did prior to what we know as biotechnology today.

Mary is whom the building is named after. I look forward to talking with her.

I’ll be conducting interviews during and after lunch so look for a lot more to come.

Our second speaker this morning is Roger Kemble, who welcomed us earlier. Roger just finished up and now we’re in a Q&A session with him and Bruce Howison.

Roger focused on Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc. and global research. He says that in 2005 Syngenta invested $822 million in R&D and that they have 5,000 people on staff conducting this work. He says the 2 main tools they use for R&D are Biotechnology and Precision Breeding.

I don’t know if I’ll get their Powerpoint presentations but I’ll ask. There’s just too much to try to cover quickly.

One of the new products they’ve developed is the PureHeart watermelon. He called it a “personal” watermelon and it is tiny. I’ve purchased these before and think they’re great. You can find out about them from Dulcinea which is marketing them.

Displays aren’t just for trade shows.

An educational display like this one really helps when you’ve got people into your office for the first time. This display and the posters on easels around the room provide a good overview by themselves of the types of business Syngenta is involved in.

Our first speaker this morning was Bruce Howison, Head of Marketing.

Bruce gave us an overview of the Syngenta Seeds business. I was very interested to hear about work they’re doing on corn amylase for ethanol production. They’re expecting to launch this product in 2008. I’m going to learn more and conduct interviews on some of these subjects later, so we’ll get more information.

Once we got checked in this morning and settled down we were greeted by Roger Kemble, Head, Crop Genetics Research.

Roger set the stage for our day and reviewed the agenda which includes morning presentations on Syngenta’s business.

Afterward we’ll break up into groups for a facility tour. Then after lunch we’ll learn about Genomics and Drought Tolerance. Finally we’ll have time for one-on-one interviews.

In order to get in the door of any research facility you have to sign your life away and get your name badge.

Here’s our group getting that done this morning before being escorted to our morning meeting room.

We have close to 20 media representatives here today. I’m just guessing that there’s only one blogger in the group.

Upon arriving here at Syngenta we entered the Mary-Dell Chilton Center. The center is dedicated to Mary-Dell Chilton, Phd, who was the founding executive director in 1983.

We’re going to hear from her at lunch today so I’m looking forward to recording her remarks or conducting an interview for you.