African Seed Trade Learns from ASTA

Cindy Zimmerman December 16, 2014

It was AFSTA meets ASTA last week at the CSS 2014 and Seed Expo in Chicago.

Denias Zaranyika is the Vice President of the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) and he attended last week’s event to see what he could bring home to his colleagues in the countries of Africa. “We want to exchange information and learn from Americans,” he said. “I’ve had meetings with our counterparts, the global players…and the meetings and presentations here are very informative.”

Zaranyika works for the African seed company Seed Co, based in Zimbabwe. “At the moment we are in 15 African countries,” he said. “Our mandate is to make sure that we produce seed that will feed Africa and beyond in the future.”

New hybrids are important to African farmers, he said, “most international seed companies are looking to Africa for food security in the future.” Zaranyika says Africa is still considering the use of biotech traits. “At the moment, people don’t know whether it’s right or wrong,” he said, adding that African farmers are working more right now on improving agronomic practices to increase yields.

I enjoyed my conversation with Denias, who extends an invitation for everyone in the American seed industry to attend the AFSTA annual meeting in Victoria Falls, March 2-5, 2015. Interview with Denias Zaranyika, AFSTA

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Future Seed Executives at CSS & Seed Expo

Leah Guffey December 16, 2014

ASTA FuSE members with Bill Whitacre, president and CEO of Simplot

Future Seed Executives (FuSE) had a week full of activities last week at the ASTA CSS & Seed Expo, including some quality time with Bill Whitacre president and CEO of Simplot.

FuSE Iniative is an official subcommittee of the American Seed Trade Association’s (ASTA) Management Skills Committee. Since its formal inception in 2004, FuSE has focused on educating and supporting seed industry professionals with fewer than seven years of seed industry experience. Programs are designed as regional opportunities to expand learning, cultivate management skills, promote networking and improve general understanding of the seed industry.

“FuSE has been important to me,” FuSE chairman Ryan Betka of Syngenta told me. “It’s something that my boss and I discuss every year as we set performance objectives throughout the year is how am I going to develop professionally. FuSE is always number one on that objective for me.”

Listen to my interview with Ryan here Ryan Betka, ASTA FuSE Chairman

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Swine BioPortal Provides Flexibility to Data Evaluation

Jamie Johansen December 16, 2014

The collection of data is important when it comes to monitoring the PRRS virus. But what do you do with all those numbers once you have them? Dr. Enrique Mondaca, Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI), hit on that during BIVI’s session at the North American PRRS Symposium last week in Chicago.

The Swine BioPortal is an answer to how veterinarians and producers can better evaluate all the sequences of data. “Managing these huge amounts of data is difficult when you try to generate sub-sets of information. A lot of times you are not interested in looking at all those hundreds of thousands of sequences.” In a matter of seconds, the portal allows you to only select sequences you are interested in at any given time. This data can also be compared to others in a specific geographical area.

In my interview with Dr. Mondaca, he goes on to share more about the different types of sub-sets the Swine BioPortal has to make the evaluation of data much easier for the end user. Interview with Dr. Enrique Mondaca, Boehringer Ingelheim

Find all the photos from the event here: 2014 BIVI PRRS Seminar Photo Album 2014 BIVI PRRS Seminar Photo Album

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Students Present Posters at ASTA CSS

Cindy Zimmerman December 16, 2014

Three students were awarded prizes sponsored by Dow AgroSciences for their winning poster presentations at the ASTA CSS 2014 and Seed Expo last week in Chicago.

First place was awarded to Adam Gaspar from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is pictured here explaining his presentation to one of the judges.

Second place went to Lillian Brzostowski, a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for her presentation on Stacking Resistance Alleles from Three Sources to Increase Resistance to Soybean Cyst Nematode.

Adriano Terras Mastrodomenico, also with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, received third place for Characterization of Commercial Corn Hybrids in Response to Different Nitrogen Fertilizer Rates and Plant Populations.

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Fermentation Education from BASF at CSS

Cindy Zimmerman December 15, 2014

Fermentation education was going on at the BASF booth during the ASTA CSS 2014 and Seed Expo last week in Chicago.

The fermentation educator was BASF Biological Operations Manager Chris Feiden who explained and demonstrated for us the fermentation and filling process that takes place at BASF research facility in St. Joseph, Missouri and their quality assurance process. “We walk through multiple steps as part of the process of fermentation,” said Feiden. “The product has already gone through over 25 quality assurance steps before we reach our internal quality assurance department.”

The bacteria produced and manufactured into a rhizobium inoculant benefit crops by providing a nitrogen rich enhancement to the soil, explains Feiden, which ultimately increases yield for growers. “You’re looking at a three-to-one return on investment,” he said. “That’s a pretty good investment in my opinion.”

Here’s my interview with Chris, and below you can watch the demonstration of the fermentation process on display at the CSS 2014. Interview with Chris Fieden, BASF

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Economic Outlook at ASTA

Cindy Zimmerman December 15, 2014

Back again by popular demand this year at the ASTA CSS 2014 and Seed Expo was AgResource Company president Dan Basse giving his economic outlook for the year ahead.

Basse says the protein side of the plate is doing very well right now, dairy and beef in particular, “so we call it the Year of the Cow” and while grain farmers will likely struggle for the next few years, “they’ve had a very good 5-7 years behind them.”

Basse notes that this crop year is historic in that it’s the first time we’ve seen record world production for corn, wheat and soybeans. “So something agronomically is afoot here,” he said. “World producers are starting to pick up on some of the traits that American farmers are using – whether more seeds per acre, better seeds, better fertilizer…we’re not sure what it is but we’re impressed what the world is producing for grain.”

At this point, Basse thinks “we’re farming more and more for the government” and he stressed the importance of farmers looking carefully at their choices of farm bill programs for the coming year. “If you like the PLC decision, you would have a more bearish outlook on grains for the next five years,” he said. “ARC may give you some extra income for the nearby years.”

Lots more in this interview with Basse here – a condensed version of his one hour breakfast presentation at CSS. Interview with Dan Basse, Ag Resources

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Gathering Data & Using It

Jamie Johansen December 15, 2014

There are different tools producers and technicians can take advantage of when coordinating disease control. Dr. Erin Johnson, Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI), talked about a couple of these during the North American PRRS Symposium at BIVI’s breakout session.

“One of our big data gap problems is we have a lot of data on the farm, but we don’t translate it very well into usable information. We evaluated four different apps that are readily available to anybody and we selected iFormBuilder. It’s simply an app that you can put in any survey and gather that information easily on a phone, upload it and use the information quickly and easily.”

Dr. Johnson says they hope to gather information as simple as medications given and farm mortality rates. This could expand to farms involved in vaccine trials or other projects.

“We are just showing people that there are tools out there that they can use. We can help them use them and evaluate which is best. The challenge is when they (producers) are worried about confidentiality. Who has access to that information, who can download it and see it. Again, they have to be able to use the information. If you are not going to use it. There is no point in collecting it.”

Learn more about the iFormBuilder app and how it can be utilized on the farm in my complete interview with Erin here: Interview with Dr. Erin Johnson, Boehringer Ingelheim

Find all the photos from the event here: 2014 BIVI PRRS Seminar Photo Album

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Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes December 15, 2014

Five Sorghum Checkoff board directors were sworn in during the Dec. 10, 2014, board meeting in Lubbock, Texas.
As a follow-up to its Stacked Income Protection Plan/Farm Bill workshops, the National Cotton Council is hosting four regional information webinars.
The Board of Directors of the American Soybean Association has confirmed Wade Cowan from Brownfield, Texas, as its newest President and moved outgoing President Ray Gaesser from Corning, Iowa, to the position of Chairman.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has published its final Environmental Impact Statement, concluding that Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans and Bollgard II XtendFlex cotton should be fully deregulated.

Zimfo Bytes

Research Looks at Value of Neonicotinoids

Cindy Zimmerman December 15, 2014

The agriculture industry is working to show the benefits of neonicotinoids in the face of an EPA report released in October concluding that the seed treatments “provide little or no overall benefits to soybean production in most situations.”

During the ASTA CSS and Seed Expo last week, Dr. Pete Nowak with AgInfomatics discussed some of his findings on the value of neonics in North American agriculture to respond to the EPA findings. “A good $4 billion plus, direct costs to our economy if we lose neonicotinoids,” says Dr. Nowak summarizing the cost to all agricultural and green industry crops. “A very significant impact, not only on the producer, but also on the consumer in terms of food costs, as much of the four billion dollars would be passed on to the consumer.”

Several reports focused on different industries – such as soybeans, citrus and ornamentals – have already been released and a few more are expected by the end of the year. Since the EPA report focused specifically on soybeans, Nowak says they spent a lot of time listening to those growers. “I traveled around to all the major ag production areas in North America and spent a lot of time listening to growers and local agri-professionals,” he said. “These farmers were very frustrated by what they see as emotion driving much of the discussion and they felt that science really has to play a much more important role in establishing policy relative to neonicotinoids.”

Listen to Dr. Nowak talk about the research here: Dr. Pete Nowak, AgInfomatics

The research has been commissioned by Growing Matters, which is a group formed by a collaboration between Bayer CropScience, Syngenta, Valent and Mitsui, to help let the industry know what is happening on the federal level. The public comment period on the EPA analysis is open until December 22 and information on how to comment can be found by going to Growing Matters or AgVoice4Choice.com.

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CRomnibus Passes Congress

Cindy Zimmerman December 15, 2014

After passing a short term extension early in the day on Saturday to give them more time to consider longer term spending legislation, the Senate decided by evening to put a bow on the so-called “CRomnibus” and wrap it up.

The $1.1 trillion measure to keep the government funded through September 2015 passed the Senate by a vote of 56 to 40 and includes several provisions important to agriculture that were included in the House. “This legislation contains important policy provisions that prevent the government from reaching into the lives of ordinary American citizens,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK). “Provisions like those that prevent the Army Corps of Engineers from regulating farm ponds and irrigation ditches.”

House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee chairman Mike Simpson (R-ID) says the legislation prohibits funds for the Corps to act on the proposed Waters of the U.S. interpretive rule outlining agricultural exemptions under the Clean Water Act. “This is a major victory for our country’s farmers and ranchers who … are concerned about the potential of the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers overreach into their operations,” said Simpson. The bill cuts funding for the EPA by $60 million.

House Appropriations Committee chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) says another provision prevents the listing of the sage grouse on the endangered species list, “a premature action that would have severe economic consequences on Western states especially.” Other provisions prevent USDA from implementing a second beef checkoff and require the agency to make recommendations for changing the country-of-origin labeling law (COOL) to bring it into compliance with the World Trade Organization.

There were some downsides for agriculture. American Soybean Association president Wade Cowan of Texas calls the bill a “mixed bag,” noting further cuts to conservation programs on working lands like the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP). Cowan noted that the association is pleased with the increase in funding that the bill provides for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, which was given a three percent boost in funding.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill this week.

ASA

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