BASF Issues Monarch Challenge

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, BASF, pollinators

BASF is partnering with farmers to help save the monarch butterfly. The company has issued the Living Acres Monarch Challenge, offering the first 500 farmers to join the Monarch Challenge the materials needed to plant vital milkweed plant.

Since milkweeds are difficult to grow from seedlings, BASF will send participants 18 butterfly milkweed seedlings, a hose, gloves and a guide book to help them plant a butterfly habitat. The plant is critical for monarchs, explains Laura Vance, Biology Project Leader for BASF. “The leaves are the only food source for monarch caterpillars,” Vance says. “It is where the adults lay their eggs and the blossoms provide food for migrating adults.”

Challenge participants are asked to share their projects on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter using the hashtag #MonarchChallange.

Bayer Insecticide Provides Application Flexibility

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, Bayer CropScience, Insecticide

Altus insecticide will be available for purchase beginning May 1 from Environmental Science, a business unit of the Crop Science division of Bayer. The product offers insect management solutions for greenhouse growers that is flexible, with applications before, during, and after bloom. It is compatible with honey bees, bumble bees and other beneficial arthropods and is classified as a Reduced Risk by the EPA.

“Bayer is a life science company focused on cultivating science for a better life, so we understand how important it is to develop solutions that not only control pests, but also offer strong flexibility to growers as well as application before, during and after bloom,” said Aaron Palmateer, Ph.D., technical specialist on the Bayer Green Solutions Team.

Flupyradifurone, a new active ingredient in the butenolide class of chemistry, is a systemic and translaminar insecticide for controlling major sucking pests, such as aphids, whiteflies, psyllids and other key insect pests. It was inspired by a molecule derived from nature – the plant Stemona japonica. Altus is classified as a reduced risk product by the EPA, offering flexible application before, during and after bloom and is compatible with honey bees, bumble bees and many beneficial arthropods.

Learn more from Bayer.

California Approves FMC’s Rhyme for Chemigation

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, FMC, Fungicides

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation as granted approval for growers of strawberries, tomatoes, cucurbits, and other fruiting vegetables to use FMC’s Rhyme fungicide through a chemigation application. Rhyme is registered for a variety of specialty crops across the U.S. for use against diseases like charcoal rot. Its active ingredient, flutriafol, moves quickly through the plant to provide protection against fungal pathogens, making it ideal for use in a drip application.

FMC is pleased that Rhyme fungicide can now be applied via efficient drip irrigation systems that help growers achieve the right rate at the right time in the right place with minimal environmental exposure to crop protection products,” says Henry Buckwalter, state regulatory and government affairs manager for FMC.

ASTA Weighs in on New Phytosanitary Measures

Kelly MarshallAg Group, ASTA, Audio, Regulation, seed, trade

Last week the seed industry announced good news in the form of the International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM), a world wide attempt to put seed regulations on the same page. Ric Dunkle, Senior Director of Seed Health and Trade for the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) was at the International Plant Protection Convention in Korea when the standards were adopted.

We’re trading seed on an international level at an unprecedented rate, Dunkle explains. “As you increase the volumes and amounts, numbers, different kinds of seed moving around the world, you increase the potential for seeds moving around unwanted pests and disease.”

The snag is that currently countries make their own phytosanitary measures as they see the need, creating different regulations and measures for the same seed across the globe. An international company marketing to 50 or 60 nations faces a huge challenge, but the new standard will change that.

“What this standard does is attempts to provide sort of uniform guidance to countries in how to regulate seed movement so these phytosanitary measures can become more harmonized and more predictable,” says Dunkle.

Dunkle expects the process to take a year to 18 months for countries to amend legislation or regulations. Regional organizations will work to provide training and workshops and ASTA will be among those helping to provide guidance on what the new standards will mean, but one thing Dunkle does foresee is improvement in international trade.

“If we can get those [regulations] harmonized from one country to another around the world, then the trade environment becomes much more predictable and certain to our seed industry.”

Hear more about what the new standards will mean here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/asta-dunkle.mp3″ text=”Interview with Ric Dunkle, ASTA”]

Swift Navigation, Carnegie Robotics Form Partnership

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, GPS, Robot, RTK

Swift Navigation is a San Francisco-based startup building centimeter-accurate GPS technology for autonomous vehicles. Their RTK technology offers 100 times more accuracy than traditional GPS solutions and at a more affordable price point. Carnegie Robotics supplies rugged, reliable robotics systems, transitioning the latest innovations to real-world working situations for agriculture and other industries such as the military.

Recently the two companies announced a partnership to provide navigation products for agriculture, as well as transportation/logistics, autonomous vehicles, outdoor robotics and machine control. The partnership expects their first product to be announced next month.

Non-GMO High Oleic Soybeans Expand to Missouri

Kelly MarshallAg Group, Soybeans, Traits

The Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council has signed an agreement to bring non-GMO high oleic soybean technology to growers in the state. Schillinger Genetics, Inc. (SGI) is now licensed to commercialize high oleic soybean traits and to breed soybean varieties that combine high oleic with low linolenic beans. The partnership is the first of its kind.

“We believe strongly in the potential of high oleic soybean oil,” said John Schillinger, president and founder of SGI. “SGI is investing in development of high oleic soybean varieties for US soybean producers, and our pipeline includes highly promising varieties of maturity groups 0 to V, and this partnership stands to expand that work.”

“Bringing new soybean varieties and trait technologies to growers is at the heart of our research program,” said John Kelley, chairman of the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council. “Partnerships are key to bringing growers the best return on their investments in the soy checkoff, and we’re proud to be taking this step forward in helping farmers improve their bottom line by adding value to commodity soybeans.”

Test plots throughout the Midwest are planned for 2017. The first seed will be available in 2018, marked with patent numbers 9,035,129 or 9,198,365, and the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council’s logo.

Expanding Ag Technology in Africa

Kelly MarshallAudio, Food, International, Security, technology, water

The “Upscaling Solutions: Expanding access to irrigation for smallholders in sub­-Saharan Africa” session at the 2017 Water for Food Global Conference explored how public and private sector investors can support smallholder-irrigated agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.

The presentation included a whitepaper synthesis of case studies relevant to this topic. One case study was from International Development Enterprise (iDE), a global effort that spans offices in 14 countries, encompassing 4 social enterprises, employing nearly 1,000 people directly, and indirectly enabling many more through our market-based approaches in agriculture, water, sanitation and hygiene, and finance.

“We did this study, in part, because of on what I read in a pre-study about six years ago, that said, for a farmer to buy irrigation equipment, the most expensive part is research and learning about the product because it takes so much time for the farmer to get out there and learn about it because it’s not in their backyard, because in many cases they don’t have multiple examples of irrigation available to them.”

Listen to Prewitt’s case study presentation here:
[wpaudio url=” http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/water4food-17-prewitt.mp3″ text=”Tim Prewitt Case Study”]

In an interview following his presentation, Prewitt reinforced the mission behind iDE and how he believes the company has the ability to directly drive global solutions for producers all over the world.

“The planet today is faced with tremendous growth and tremendous stress on its food resource, and we’re only able to feed this people in America right now because technology has allowed yields to increase every year in this country,” he said. “There are huge areas of the globe where farmers are only getting a quarter of the yields we are, and it’s all a matter of getting modern technology to them.”

Listen to Jamie’s full interview with Tim here:
[wpaudio url=” http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/water4food-17-prewitt-interview.mp3″ text=”Interview with Tim Prewitt, iDE”]

2017 Water for Food Global Conference Photos

Planet, FarmShots Offer Free Trial to Deere Center Users

Kelly MarshallAerial Imagery, Agribusiness, Data, John Deere

Planet and FarmShots are working together with John Deere to provide their products to users of the Operations Center.  Planet offers global imaging with the largest constellation of Earth-imaging satellites.  FarmShots analyzes drone and satellite date for growers, reducing field scouting by up to 90 percent.

Now anyone with a free MyJohnDeere account can use the FarmShot’s software to access Planet’s high resolution imagery, import field boundaries, export plant health data to Field Analyzer, create prescription maps for GreenStar 2630, and compare to previous years’ maps. You can try this for free with an unlimited access trial until June 15th, 2017.

Bertram Presents On Global Food Security

Kelly MarshallAg Group, Audio, Food, Security, water

One of the plenary speakers at the 2017 Water for Food Conference was Robert Bertram, Chief Scientist, Bureau for Food Security, U.S. Agency for International Development. Bertram has served as a key adviser on a range of technical and programmatic issues to advance global food security and nutrition. He leads U.S. Agency for International Development’s evidence-based efforts to advance research, technology and implementation in support of the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future.

His presentation, “Role of Water in Food Security Investment Strategies Under the Global Food Security Act,” began with an overview of the ongoing global efforts to increase food security, followed by a discussion of the challenges facing food security and the ways ways that water is impacting those challenges.

“Agricultural growth is about twice as effective at reducing extreme poverty than other kinds of growth, because agricultural productivity gains drive the demand for locally produced goods and services that the poor are often able to provide,” he said in the presentation. “They also make food more affordable and available, and the poorer you are the more money you spend on food, so agricultural growth also reduces hunger.”

Listen to his entire presentation here:
[wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/water4food-17-bertram.mp3″ text=”Presentation, Role of Water in Food Security Investment Strategies”]

View and download photos from the event here: 2017 Water for Food Conference Photo Album

New Fluency Agent Advanced from Bayer

Kelly MarshallAudio, Bayer CropScience, Bees, Planting, pollinators

The Bayer CARE initiative has been encouraging growers to be good stewards of the land, but now Bayer is making that goal more attainable with Fluency Agent Advanced.

The CARE acronym stands for:

  • Communicate planting activities to neighboring beekeepers
  • Be Aware of wind speed and direction during your planting
  • Reduce the amount of dust potentially released during planting
  • Ensure seed is planted correctly

Fluency Agent Advanced is the newly reformulated seed lubrication for corn and soybeans that can be used at the time of planting, like other lubricants, but goes a step further with “Reducing” dust.  “Fluency Agent Advanced really does more than other seed lubricants, says Bayer Seed Growth product manager, Melissa Chu.  “To start off from a stewardship aspect, Fluency Agent Advanced further reduces the amount of dust and active ingredients potentially released during planting, thereby reducing the potential exposure to pollinators. So it really is an excellent tool from a stewardship aspect.”

The new product also offers improved seed flow, good singulation, and easier clean-up.  It also has less residue built up and can be used in all planters that use seed lubricant- and at a lower use rate.  So far growers using it in trials have been very happy with the performance, Chu says.  They’re getting a better overall experience from a planting standpoint, plus the added benefits of good stewardship.

What kind of stewardship benefits are growers really looking at?  The lubricant can reduce dust by 88 percent, says Ron Reichert, application technology manager for Bayer Seed Growth.  If you look at the insecticide portion, that can be reduced by 69 percent. “With the Fluency Agent Advanced we’re just driving that lower level even lower,” Reichert explains.

Listen to Cindy’s interview about the CARE program and Fluency Agent Advance here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/bayer-fluency.mp3″ text=”Interview with Melissa Chu and Ron Reichert, Bayer”]