Bayer Pleased with EU Approval of Balance™ GT Soybeans

Cindy Zimmerman July 26, 2016

One of the three soybean traits just approved by the European Union is Balance™ GT (Event FG72), developed by Bayer and MS Technologies.

According to Frank Terhorst, head of the Seeds business unit of Bayer’s Crop Science division, the Balance™ GT trait confers tolerance to both isoxaflutole (an HPPD inhibitor) and glyphosate herbicides. “The new Balance™ GT Soybean Performance System is intended to address the weed management challenges faced by soybean farmers,” said Terhorst. “We are pleased with the progress we are making on the regulatory front for Balance™ GT.”

The dual herbicide tolerance trait Balance™ GT (Event FG72) received a positive scientific opinion from EU Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which was subsequently accepted by the European Commission for the importation of Balance™ GT soybeans for food and feed uses. This follows approvals received already from the U.S, Canada, and Brazil for cultivation, and is near completion of receiving all key required import approvals globally. The first launch is planned for the US in 2017, pending final key import approvals.

Balance™ GT is owned by MS Technologies and is being co-developed through a joint development agreement with Bayer. “Resistance to herbicides is a global challenge demanding new solutions. The dual modes of action in Balance™ GT soybeans are intended to help soybean growers by providing flexibility in weed management,” said Joseph Merschman, president of MS Technologies.

Bayer and MS Technologies have been collaborating since 2007 with new herbicide tolerance technologies for soybeans.

Agribusiness, Bayer, Soybean, weed management

UF Offers Discounted Tickets to Ag Industry

Kelly Marshall July 25, 2016

University of Florida fans have another reason to be excited about Homecoming this year. On October 15th UF Athletics and UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences will be offering discounted tickets to anyone connected to agriculture in the state of Florida, including their family and friends.

“Florida’s agricultural, natural resources and related food industries add $140 billion to our economy and employ nearly 300,000 people,” said Jack Payne, UF senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources. “The industry is second only to tourism in Florida, and this is a great way to honor and recognize those who work so hard to put food on our tables and plants and flowers in our yards.”

The Gators will battle the University of Missouri Tigers, tickets are on a first-come, first-served biases. Seating is available in the upper south end zone for $35 and upper north end zone for $20. Ticket are available on July 27. To take advantage of the offer go to Ag Day Tickets and type AgDay2016 in the promo code box. There is also an exclusive discount for premium seating in the Evans Champions Club. Please contact premium@gators.ufl.edu about ordering Champions Club game tickets or special business group sponsorship opportunities.

“Act now to secure your place in The Swamp before this game sells out,” said Matt Sanchez, general manager for ticket sales. “Fans who buy early will be able to get the best seat locations in the Ag & Gardening sections of the stadium.”

UF/IFAS will also be hosting various family actives on campus before kickoff.

University

.@USSEC Announces EU Approval of Three Soy Traits

Kelly Marshall July 25, 2016

The U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) has just announced the approval of three biotech soybean traits by the European Union. Now ready for import and processing are:

Monsanto’s Xtend (dicamba x glyphosate MON87708 x MON89788)
Monsanto’s Vistive Gold (high oleic x glyphosate MON87705 x MON89788)
Bayer CropScience’s Balance GT (glyphosate x HPPD inhibitor FG72)

“The EU’s approval of these events is welcome news for U.S. soybean farmers,” said USSEC chairman Laura Foell, a soybean grower from Schaller, Iowa. “We’re happy that we can supply our European customers with a reliable supply of safe food.”

Europe is one of the largest customers of U.S. soybean farmers with over 165 million bushels of soybeans in exports already this year.

Agribusiness, Exports, Soybean

#IFAJ2016 Tour – Bayer Forward Farming – Part 2

Chuck Zimmerman July 25, 2016

The next stop on my Bayer CropScience headquarters tour during the 2016 IFAJ Congress was the enormous “store” or research compounds overseen by Dr. Mark Drewes, head of Research Compound Logistics at the facility in Monheim am Rhein, Germany. With more compounds being added all the time, the 2.5 million chemical structures stored in this automated warehouse offer researchers a fountain of information.

“We call ourselves the treasure of research,” Dr. Drewes tells Chuck Zimmermann. “I think for a scientist it is an ideal sort of world, to try out new ideas and maybe make a new discovery.”

The facility processes in the neighborhood of 2,000 requests a day; and the collection at Bayer Crop Science isn’t even as large as the storage for the company’s health care division. With both sides collaborating together to get the most out of their research, automation is a key to success. With millions of compounds being moved and used, the advanced system is the only way to avoid making numerous mistakes, Drewes notes. And his staff of 13-16 would swell to at least 100.

And new compounds are added to this amazing collection of data regularly. One third of them are created internally by scientists wondering ‘what can I do?’ and making it happen. Another third come from Bayer’s health care division, and the final third are produced by companies in China that do legwork for Bayer’s researchers.

Considering that these chemical structures are made just for Bayer and are unique tools for research, safety and security are high on the priority list. Besides careful attention to IT, they also have an extremely advanced fire security system. They also keep some samples in Frankfort, to ensure a major disaster can’t shut down research entirely.

Automation and security might be of greatest interest for Dr. Drewes at the moment, but ask him in another year and he might have a different answer. “One of the things we have now built up, which is due to go online in the next two to three months– we’ve built up a totally new evaporation system to get rid of solvent.” Drewes shares. “This is unique, it is the first time in industry that something like this has been built, together with my engineers and other people.” The technique will cut evaporation time from two days to two hours, and is a gentler process as well. If all goes well, this technique may be shaping the face of research for the next decade.

To learn more about Bayer’s research compound, listen to my full interview here: Dr. Mark Drewes, Bayer CropScience

2016 IFAJ Congress Photo Album

Coverage of the IFAJ Congress is sponsored by

Agribusiness, Audio, Bayer, IFAJ

House Ag Chairman Addresses #2016SPGC

Cindy Zimmerman July 25, 2016

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) told farmers at the 2016 Southern Peanut Growers Conference this past weekend in Miramar Beach, Florida that preparations will start next year for the 2018 Farm Bill.

“My goal is, as is the goal of every ag chairman, is to get it done before the current one expires, not have to have short term extensions and all the drama that goes along with that,” said Conaway. “But every chairman ever has said that exact same thing so we’ll see how that works out.”

Addressing the issue of splitting the nutrition and farm titles of the Farm Bill, which was proposed as a party platform at the Republican convention last week, Conaway said that decision has to be made as part of the process. “If you remember back in ’14 we split the farm bill, we split the farm bill from the nutrition program in the House and the Senate put it back together and we ultimately got it passed together,” he said. “To make a hard and fast decision today that you want to do that is wrong headed.”

Listen to Rep. Conaway’s remarks and press conference below and watch his remarks in the video. Rep. Mike Conaway addresses SPGC Rep. Conaway press conference

2016 Southern Peanut Growers Conference Photo Album

Audio, Farm Bill, Peanuts

Visiting with ACT at #AgMedia

Chuck Zimmerman July 24, 2016

The current President of the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow is Taylor Kennedy, grad student at Oklahoma State. Taylor says the group will get to tour Osborn & Barr and elect a new slate of officers. She also wants to make contacts that will be beneficial after she graduates and needs to get a job!

You can listen to my interview with Taylor here: Taylor Kennedy, ACT President

2016 AMS Photo Album

Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by

ACN, Ag Media Summit, Audio, LPC

2016 #AgMedia Summit Starting

Chuck Zimmerman July 24, 2016

The 2016 Ag Media Summit is underway in St. Louis, MO. I’ll be working with ZimmComm General Manager, Clint Underwood, and Editor Jamie Johanson. We’ll be doing, guess what? Taking photos, doing interviews, getting posts up on our websites and more.

I want to start out thanking our sponsors this year which include New Holland and FMC. I’ll be visiting them in the InfoExpo trade show which starts tomorrow evening.

Photos area already being uploaded and you can find them here: 2016 AMS Photo Album

Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by

ACN, Ag Media Summit, LPC

Biodegradable & Renewable Lubricants by BioBlend

Joanna Schroeder July 22, 2016

One of the great aspects of the United Soybean Board’s Biobased Stakeholders Dialogue that took place at USDA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. is showcasing the up-and-coming biobased technologies. One of the exhibitors at the event was BioBlend and to learn more about their products, Cindy Zimmerman spoke with Bill Smith. The company makes biodegradable and renewable lubricants.

The company, founded in 2001, began by producing industrial lubricants and has evolved into producing an engine oil for passenger cars that’s currently being trialed by the U.S. Department of Defense.

When asked about his thoughts on the event, Smith answered, “These types of events are raising awareness for biobased products. The USDA has been a great proponent of biobased products through their Biopreferred program to raise awareness both within the federal government and the general population at large. So it’s been a great opportunity to meet with various stakeholders that participate in the industry.”

Learn more about BioBlend by listening to Cindy’s interview with Bill Smith here: Interview with Bill Smith, BioBlend

USB Biobased Stakeholders’ Dialogue photo album

Audio, Soybean, USB, USDA

I AM @USFRA – @FarmBureau VP Scott VanderWal

Cindy Zimmerman July 22, 2016

South Dakota crop and livestock farmer Scott VanderWal was elected Vice President of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) earlier this year and in that role now serves on the board of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA).

VanderWal is pleased with how USFRA has brought so many agricultural organizations together under one big tent to address consumer concerns about food production. “We start out with the idea that we all have one thing in common and that’s an interest in food security and making sure we retain the ability to feed ourselves in this country,” he said. “As consumers get farther away from agriculture, they don’t realize why we do the things we do.”

USFRA has developed a number of programs to help communicate with consumers and VanderWal says the nearly 100 organizations who are part of the alliance benefit from that on the state and local level. “We have about 2800 county Farm Bureaus, so we have a vast network and we can take the materials the USFRA puts together and multiply it many times through various channels,” said VanderWal.

Learn more in my interview with Scott here: Interview with AFBF VP Scott VanderWal, South Dakota

AFBF, Audio, USFRA

Corn Congress Elects Five Growers to Corn Board

Kelly Marshall July 22, 2016

The National Corn Growers Association‘s Corn Congress elected five new farmers to serve on the Corn Board this week. The new board members will begin their terms on October 1; the start of the NCGA’s fiscal year. New members are: Chris Edgington of Iowa, Don Glenn of Alabama, Tom Haag of Minnesota and John Linder of Ohio. A current board member, Kevin Ross of Iowa, was re-elected.

“Again this year, we had an impressive slate of candidates for the Corn Board, growers who already have an extensive history of service to American agriculture,” NCGA Chairman Martin Barbre, who chairs the nominating committee, said. “It inspires me to see such an interest on the part of these growers, particularly at this time when our industry faces so many challenges. I am certain they will be a valuable addition to the board and look forward to see what they do for corn farmers I the years to come.”

Chris Edgington has been serving on NCGA’s Trade Policy and Biotechnology Action, as well as acting as chair for the Iowa Corn Promotion Board.

Don Glenn has previously chaired NCGA’s Production and Stewardship Action Team and Mycotoxin Task Force, and has also served on the Ethanol Committee. He has also been a president of the Alabama Soybean and Corn Association.

Tom Haag is a graduate of the Advanced Leadership Program and a member of the NCGA Research and Business Development Action Team. Previously Haag has chaired the Grower Services Action Team and been a past president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association.

John Linder has worked as chair of the Ohio Corn Marketing Program and been a member of the Ag Credit Co-op Board of Directors. He now serves as chair of the NCGA Trade Policy and Biotechnology Action Team.

Current Corn Board member, Kevin Ross, is the board liaison to the Trade Policy and Biotechnology Action Team and the 2017 Commodity Classic Joint Venture Committee co-chair. He has previously chaired the Finance Committee and is a past president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

The NCGA Corn Board is responsible for directing policy and day-to-day operations. They supervise NCGA activities and affairs and implement NCGA policy. Members also act as spokespeople for the organization.

Ag Groups, NCGA

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