One of agriculture’s biggest frustrations is sustainability; not because we aren’t doing it, but because others are defining it for us, says Katie Heger, a farmer serving on American Farm Bureau Federation‘s Dirt on Sustainability panel. “We have a market that is trying to define what [sustainability] means to us and how we’re supposed to respond to that. Sustainability, really, … Read More
Monsanto Announces Digital and BioAg Product Pipelines
Monsanto is still on track to become part of Bayer AG by the end of the year, but in the meantime it is business as usual and that business continues to expand to offer more solutions for farmers. The company made a number of major announcements as part of its Annual Research & Development Showcase on Thursday. Monsanto subsidiary The … Read More
Monsanto Announces New Gene Editing License
Monsanto Company has announced another step forward for the future of gene editing. A global licensing agreement between themselves, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard will allow the company nonexclusive use of CRISPR-Cpf1 technology – a simpler, more precise tool for improving a cell’s DNA. Not only does the new system offer greater flexibility in editing, it’s smaller in size also … Read More
GROWMARK Cultivating a Positive Workplace
GROWMARK is finding that promoting an inclusive workplace culture can have lots of positive benefits. “When work teams feel that their opinions are valued and that they can have a voice in the decision making process, they’re more engaged in their work and they’re more productive,” says Heather Thompson, GROWMARK Manager of Young Producer Programs. “They’re more committed and they … Read More
Moving Forward with #ASTACSS Panel
In this week’s mini series we’re bringing you the “Glancing Back and Moving Forward in a Rapidly Changing Industry” session from ASTA CSS, featuring Sonny Beck, founder of Beck’s Hybrids, Paul Schickler of DuPont Pioneer, and Jon Leafstedt from Kincannon and Reed. Today’s segment features the Q&A from the event, covering tough topics like talent strategy, keeping a vision for … Read More
Talent in the Workplace from #ASTACSS
Kincannon & Reed is an executive search firm specializing in finding employees for the food and agriculture industry, making Managing Partner Jon Leafstedt a great choice for the ASTA CSS “Glancing Back and Moving Forward in a Rapidly Changing Industry” panel. If you missed the first two posts in this mini series, make sure and listen to Sonny Beck, Beck’s … Read More
Ninety Years of DuPont Pioneer at #ASTACSS
Part two of the “Glancing Back and Moving Forward in a Rapidly Changing Industry” session from ASTA CSS brings us to Paul Schickler, President of DuPont Pioneer, but if you missed yesterday’s post with Sonny Beck, make sure and check that out too! DuPont Pioneer has a strong 90 year history, says Schickler, and that’s due in large part to … Read More
Sonny Beck: Glancing Back at #ASTACSS
If you’re looking to learn from the best, it won’t get much better than this. In this week’s mini series we’re bringing you the “Glancing Back and Moving Forward in a Rapidly Changing Industry” session from ASTA CSS, featuring Sonny Beck, founder of Beck’s Hybrids, Paul Schickler of DuPont Pioneer, and Jon Leafstedt with Kincannon and Reed. To begin the … Read More
#Farmers Find #GMOs Sustainable
A new survey finds that the main reason farmers have increased their use of genetically modified (GM) crops is sustainability. The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) surveyed farmers on their attitudes towards GM technology and found that farmers believe biotechnology helps raise crops more efficiently, and that the environment and sustainability practices … Read More
Chromatin is Focused on #Sorghum
One of the S’s in ASTA CSS stands for sorghum and one of the sponsors for this year’s American Seed Trade Association 71st Corn & Sorghum Seed Research Conference 46th Soybean Seed Research Conference and Seed Expo is a company that’s all about sorghum. “Chromatin is a sorghum-focused company – we only work in sorghum,” said Charles Miller, Chromatin vice … Read More