Recent Iowa State University PhD graduate Kevin Falk was honored as the grand prize winner of the Better Seed, Better Life Student Video Contest for the second year in row during the Opening General Session of ASTA’s CSS & Seed Expo 2019 in Chicago. Falk’s PhD work focuses around harnessing technology to develop high throughput phenotyping platforms and machine learning … Read More
Bayer Seed Treatments Protect on Multiple Fronts
With one of the broadest and most diverse portfolios of seed treatment in the industry, Bayer is helping farmers to protect their crops against more than just insect and disease pressure. “Being covered on multiple fronts, whether that’s against diseases, pests, nematodes, maybe it’s drought or nutrient deficiency, having a different breadth of seed treatment can really help protect against … Read More
Companies Partner to Expand Corn Hybrid Choices
Benson Hill Biosystems has entered into a partnership with Brownseed Genetics, a Wisconsin-based seed breeder of new corn hybrids that are higher in both oil content and essential amino acids. The new Brownseed hybrids, developed through conventional breeding methods, yield about 9 percent corn oil – nearly triple the normal production – and are rich in the amino acids lysine … Read More
Two Receive ASTA Honorary Lifetime Member Award
The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Honorary Lifetime Member Award was presented to two seed-industry professionals at the organization’s Policy & Leadership Development Conference this week in Denver. Blake Curtis, Senior Vice President of Management and Sales for the family seed company Curtis & Curtis, has held a number of volunteer leadership positions over the years. From 1986 to 1995, … Read More
Legendary Seedsman Don Funk Relaunches NC+
Legendary seedsman Don Funk, founder of Channel Bio Corp, is leading a team to relaunch the NC+ brand to serve western corn, soybean and sorghum growers. NC+ was started in 1958 as a production and marketing organization for farmers to work together as a group rather than individuals to merchandise and grow seed. The original 56 growers merchandised their seed … Read More
Inari Introduces the World’s First Seed Foundry
Inari, a Flagship Pioneering company, recently announced the world’s first Seed Foundry as part of the company’s mission to reintroduce genetic diversity and challenge the seed industry with a shorter, lower-cost and more precise product development cycle Inari aims to revolutionize plant breeding by merging the latest technologies with leading-edge data analysis tools to bring top-performing plants to market faster … Read More
BASF Seed Solutions Focused on Seed Treatments
The recent ASTA 2018 CSS and Seed Expo was a great venue for BASF to showcase its Seed Solutions business, including the launch of Vault® IP Plus seed treatment and Obvius® Plus fungicide seed treatment. “We decided we were going to create a whole new business unit in North America … a seed solutions business really focused on seed treatments,” … Read More
Clariant and Eastman Announce Agrochemical Collaboration
Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, and Eastman Chemical Company, a global advanced materials and specialty additives company, have announced an agreement for the distribution of a new solvent for the agriculture industry. TamiSolve NxG was developed for the global plant protection sector, for use in plant growth regulators, biological control agents, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. Under this exclusive … Read More
ASTA CSS and Seed Expo Success
Last week was the 73rd year for American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) CSS 2018 & Seed Expo and like this year it was full of changes for the industry. Besides having several new company names, ASTA changed the layout of the trade show so that all the booths were located on the same expo floor. “We’re always trying to improve … Read More
#ASTACSS Student Video Award Winner
Kevin Faulk (left) receives award from Kerry Grossweiler, BASF Iowa State University PhD candidate Kevin Falk received the grand prize this year in the American Seed Trade Association’s (ASTA) second annual “Better Seed, Better Life” student video contest during the CSS 2018 & Seed Expo in Chicago this week. The award was presented to him by Kerry Grossweiler of BASF, … Read More