AgWired

Are you in need of ideas for how to run your organization or business. Then maybe you need to put it in context, Context Network that is.

Four new partners have been named at The Context Network as part of an overall business expansion effort to enhance and deepen the firm’s ability to deliver strategic management solutions and business management consulting services to leading agricultural and biotechnology companies.

“The addition of four new partners and their combined 95 years of experience greatly enhance The Context Network’s ability to offer deeper industry and business expertise,” said founding partner Tray Thomas. “It also allows us to work more closely with our clients to improve their performance.” Named as new partners are Steve M. Hawkins, Blake Sieker, Mike J. Borel and Alex Fink.

I subscribe to news releases from a variety of places using agriculture as a key word so I’m sure this thing has an agricultural application. This is one of those things you’re never going to hear a radio ad for. Just look at the words in this selection of the release from Analytical Spectral Devices:

Analytical Spectral Devices, Inc. (ASD), the world leader in field portable spectroradiometers announces the release of the new RTS-3ZC Integrating Sphere accessory —a specially designed integrating sphere for use with the ASD FieldSpec® spectroradiometers for accurate reflectance or transmittance measurement of diffuse or scattering materials such as those found in many optical remote sensing, oceanography, forestry and plant physiology applications.

So if you need any “cost-effective, precision, transportable and field-portable, laboratory-quality Vis/NIR spectrometers, spectroradiometers, spectrophotometers and corresponding software and accessories” you know where to get them.

With National Ag Week coming up D&PL decided to create a grassroots initiative to show off the valuable contribution agriculture makes to our society. This is an idea that I’d like to see more of. I hope we get a follow-up report on the project. The company’s employees are creating word of mouth advertising in support of a good cause. Who would be better evangelists than the people who work for a company that make their living from the success of our farmers?

“With our leadership role in Southern agriculture, we wanted to also take a leadership role in bringing attention to National Agriculture Week,” said Randy Dismuke, D&PL senior vice president for the US business. “We started with a simple idea to get a few facts in the hands of the general public. Our employees volunteered to hand out small cards while they go about their daily lives. The cards provide a few facts about the cotton industry in particular. Once we started contacting our business partners and vendors, we found that there are numerous organizations and businesses in the Cotton Belt who want to help sing the praises of the farmers in their communities. We even have a bank willing to distribute at all of its branches.”

The cards were drafted with the assistance of the National Cotton Council. The message “Great Fashion and So Much More” highlights some of the contributions the industry makes and invites people to thank a farmer.

Although the financial details are a secret it’s still a big deal. Micro Flo will be part of Arysta LifeScience now.

Arysta LifeScience North America Corporation and BASF Corporation today announced that they have reached final agreement on the acquisition of major assets of Micro Flo Company LLC, Memphis, Tenn., a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF Corporation, Florham Park, NJ. The acquisition will significantly broaden the scope of Arysta LifeScience’s North American sales operations and create a strategic position in the U.S. crop protection segment. Closing of the transaction is expected by the end of the first quarter 2006 pending customary regulatory approvals. Both companies agreed not to disclose financial details of the transaction.

Under the agreement, Arysta LifeScience North America Corporation will acquire the commercial business of Micro Flo, including a portfolio of active ingredients and registrations, the Micro Flo trademark, patents and the development laboratory located in Sparks. BASF will continue to own and operate the formulation production facility in Sparks. Arysta LifeScience will be an important customer for BASF, and long-term agreements will ensure continuity for the supply of the Micro Flo products sourced from BASF. With the exception of the employees at the Sparks manufacturing site who will remain with BASF, all Micro Flo personnel will be offered equivalent positions with Arysta LifeScience, including the development laboratory staff at the Sparks facility.