Archive for October, 2009

Global food security, which is increasingly being recognized as a key to national security, will only be fully achieved through well-designed and executed public and private partnerships, William S. Niebur, vice-president – DuPont Crop Genetics Research and Development, told attendees at the Crawford Fund Annual Development Conference held in Canberra, Australia.

“Global food security challenges are becoming more complex and interconnected,” said Niebur. “The need to increase agricultural productivity amid the uncertainties of global climate change, political instabilities, shrinking availability of arable land and increasing world populations present challenges no single company, government or research institution can solve alone.”

Niebur challenged conference participants — both in public and private sectors — to find more effective ways to solve the most pressing food security issues.

“Strong partnerships between public institutions and private companies will be the preferred mechanism to effectively address the increasingly complex challenges we’ll face in the coming more

Syngenta Ventures has announced that it has made an equity investment in Metabolon, a privately-held U.S. biotechnology company focused on the use of metabolomics in research and diagnostics. This is the first direct investment by Syngenta Ventures, Syngenta’s newly-established corporate venture capital subsidiary.

“The creation of Syngenta Ventures will complement our in-house R&D work and enables us to be even more involved in promising technologies and innovative products with external partners,” said Robert Berendes, Head of Business Development at Syngenta. “We need access to the best available new technologies in order to achieve the increase in agricultural output which will be vital over the coming years.”

Sandro Aruffo, Head of Research and Development at Syngenta, added: “This investment follows a research collaboration with Metabolon which has existed for some years. We believe Metabolon’s unique metabolomics platform will be an increasingly important technology for the development of innovative new products in more

In keeping with a commitment to deliver innovations for agriculture, food companies and consumers, Monsanto Company and Solae, LLC have announced the companies have reached an important regulatory milestone that advances the development of foods containing the world’s first stearidonic acid (SDA) omega-3 soybean oil product.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notice confirming that the SDA omega-3 soybean oil could be used under the intended conditions of use.

The confirmation of GRAS status enables food companies to develop and test foods containing the new omega-3 oil, which are important steps towards consumers being able to benefit from this omega-3 product in a variety of food products with an acceptable taste experience.

Consumer demand for omega-3 fatty acids is growing as research continues to demonstrate that diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids help play an important role in maintaining more

DuPont and Makhteshim Agan of North America, Inc. have announced they have entered into a royalty-bearing license agreement for DuPont Crop Protection patents related to a novel homogeneous blend technology that enables the efficient combination of different pesticides.

This agreement confirms the validity of certain DuPont patents granted in the United States and Canada and settles the litigation claims between MANA and DuPont regarding the U.S. patent. Additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.

CrustBuster/Speed King, Inc., Dodge City, Kan., Manufacturers of the first folding grain drill and tubular belt-conveyor, now offers Multi-Use Steel Bins for storage and handling of grain, feed, seed or dry fertilizer.

The versatility extends to pellets and any other free flowing dry granular commodity.

The bins feature:

• Welded steel construction.

• No bolts to come loose or shear off.

• Smooth interior bin walls.

• Open and close top port from ground.

• Four site windows easy to view from ground level.

• Side & top access steel ladder.

• Easy access bin hopper man hatch.

Optional features include:

Sample tube opening, bean ladder, 304 stainless steel gate, epoxy painted interiors, electric or pneumatic gate opener, ladder cage.

Call 620-227-7106 for more information.

See additional new products at http://www.crustbuster.com.

A new Pfizer Animal Health has been unveiled as Pfizer’s acquisition of Wyeth, including its subsidiary Fort Dodge Animal Health, was completed.

Pfizer Animal Health is now the world’s leader in the discovery, development, manufacture and sales of veterinary vaccines and medicines for livestock and companion animals.

The acquisition of many of Fort Dodge’s U.S. products allows Pfizer Animal Health to greatly diversify its U.S. portfolio, as well as broaden its offering in all animal health segments. Pfizer Animal Health now offers an enhanced portfolio in beef, dairy, and companion animals, as well as a redefined product line for swine, equine and poultry.

“We’re extremely proud to offer our customers even more best-in-class and innovative products,” said Clint Lewis, president of U.S Operations for Pfizer Animal Health. “The products, services and expertise we are gaining strengthen what is already a robust U.S. portfolio and will enhance our more

Syngenta Seed Care has announced that Cruiser seed treatment insecticide has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use on rice.

Syngenta Seed Care will package Cruiser with three seed-delivered fungicides and sell as CruiserMaxx Rice insecticide and fungicide combination. CruiserMaxx Rice will offer rice growers protection against major early-season insects and diseases.

CruiserMaxx Rice will provide powerful protection against grape colaspis, rice water weevil, thrips, chinch bugs and secondary insects, as well as diseases such as Pythium, Rhizoctonia, Phytophthora and seed-borne Pyricularia grisea.

“Arkansas growers saw great results using Cruiser on rice during the Section 18 registration in March 2009,” said Chad Stone, Syngenta Seed Care marketing manager. “We are excited rice growers across the Mid-South will now be able to witness the incomparable protection of Cruiser in time for the 2010 planting season. In addition, when packaged with the market-leading fungicides — more

AGCO Corporation, a leading manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment, is applying its experience and innovation in harvesting and haying equipment to the development of efficient and affordable means for harvesting and transporting crop residue for cellulosic feedstock.

After several years of research and development, AGCO’s first prototype biomass harvesting system will be demonstrated Nov. 3 at the POET Project LIBERTY Field Day near Emmetsburg, Iowa. Project LIBERTY will produce 25 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year from corn cobs. POET is currently working with 14 farmers in the Emmetsburg area on a pre-commercial harvest, and biomass is a major area of interest.

“Across the country the cellulosic biofuels industry is providing our customers with a new revenue opportunity. But, as this market develops, equipment solutions are needed to help growers efficiently harvest and transport high-tonnage biomass feedstock to cellulosic bio-fuel processors,” says Dean Morrell, product marketing more

Reinke Manufacturing, Inc., a leading manufacturer of mechanized irrigation systems, is excited to announce the release of its new Flexible Three-Wheel Tower. The tower, particularly designed to provide improved flotation and traction in difficult soils, operates using all standard drive train components and is available now at Reinke dealers nationwide.

“Reinke is excited to introduce the Flexible Three-Wheel Tower to the market,” said Tim Goldhammer, vice-president of marketing, Reinke Manufacturing. “Improving the outcome of the growing season for our customers is our No. 1 priority at Reinke. The tower’s patent pending design is the first of its kind and is intended to improve overall irrigation effectiveness.”

Unlike other 3-wheeled towers on the market today, the flexible tower design keeps all three tires on the ground at all times. This places a more consistent load on the drive train even while it provides power to all three wheels. Keeping all three more

New Holland Agriculture has reaffirmed its leadership in hay and forage technology with the launch of CropID, an individual bale identification system for large square balers.

Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, the CropID system gathers detailed information about each separate bale and stores it in a microchip that attaches to the twine.

This innovation enables commercial growers to uniquely tag and sort bales based on a wide range of criteria, so that shipments or storage can be arranged according to the hay types that best meet the clients’ needs. Identifying quality, moisture content, or other characteristics of specific bales is now a simple process, allowing growers to easily decide which bales are the best match for specific customers, or need to be set aside for further curing.

“The wealth of data provided by the CropID system offers a vast array of benefits that have a great value more