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 April 2006 Rob Robinson is named operating head of Golden Harvest Seeds, Inc., Waterloo, NE, a Syngenta-affiliated company. Robinson served as joint operating head for the past year with Jim Sommer, until Sommer's retirement earlier this month. Prior to his leadership role at Golden Harvest, Robinson was executive vice president of JC Robinson Seeds, Inc., and secretary of the board of directors for the family-owned company. Valent U.S.A Corp., Walnut Creek, CA, announces that Danny Rogers has been promoted to Director of National Crop Sales. Rogers, who rejoined Valent in October 2005 as strategic accounts manager, was formerly director of sales and marketing for the leading basic supplier of planting cotton seed. He worked for Valent early in the company's history in a variety of roles, including district sales manager in the Midwest. Monsanto subidiary American Seeds, Inc. (ASI) announces it acquired Gold Country Seed, Inc., Hutchinson, MN, and Heritage Seeds, Rensselaer, IN. Dennis Plummer, ASI president says, "These companies have a strong track record of serving their farmer customers and delivering high-quality products. We look forward to working with these companies and supporting their commitment to deliver the newest technology in the best germplasm." Monsanto acquired both companies in cash transactions totaling $8.7 million. Collectively, these two companies represent approximately 0.4 percent of total U.S. corn and soybean seed sales. At Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, IN, Doug Vail is named corporate strategy leader. Vail, who served as the U.S. marketing director since 2002, is responsible for leading the development and deployment of the company's strategy with the Strategy Steering Team. Monty Bayer replaces Vail as U.S. marketing director and manages the marketing specialists for the U.S. Crops, Specialty and Turf & Ornamental businesses. A 16-year veteran of the company, Bayer had served as regional commercial unit leader for Japan and Korea. Phil Feil, who served as sales leader for the Northern Crops business since 2002, replaces Bayer as the RCU leader for Japan and Korea. Kim Bohlander replaces Feil as sales leader for the Northern Crops business after spending the past eight years working in the Pacific region, most recently as the RCU leader for southeast Asia. Pam Henderson of Farm Journal magazine has been awarded the Grand Neil Award for her work as Crops and Issues editor at Farm Journal. As the first agricultural journalist to be honored with a Grand Neal Award, Henderson was recognized for her "Asian Soybean Rust Takes Root in the U.S." article series published between January and May 2005. The Neal awards are presented annually by the American Business Media to recognize excellence in journalism and are considered the "Pulitzer Prize" of the business. Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., (BIVI), St. Joseph, MO, an-nounces it has sold its animal insecticide product lines and related manufacturing facility in Elwood, KS, to KMG Chemicals, Inc. of Houston, TX. Included in the divestment are numerous cattle ear tags, insecticide sprays and other insecticide products for use on or around livestock. "We have enjoyed developing a substantial business with live-stock insecticide products over the years," said BIVI Pres/COO George Heidgerken. "However, they are no longer part of our long-term product emphasis as we are setting the strategic course towards the vaccine business and specialty pharmaceutical areas." Syngenta and DuPont announce an agreement that will broaden each company's crop protection product offer. Syngenta acquires an exclusive worldwide license to develop DuPont's new insecticide Rynaxypyr in mixtures with its own leading insect control products. DuPont will continue its commercialization plan for straight Rynaxypyr. DuPont acquires worldwide rights to Syngenta's strobilurin fungicide picoxystrobin, sold as Acanto, including access to companion products used in mixtures. Acanto is currently marketed in Europe on cereals and will be expanded for use on soybeans in Latin America. The transactions are subject to national regulatory approvals. AgWeb announces the launch of AgWeb Search, the first and only vertical search engine exclusively for agriculture and agri-business. Jeff Pence, AgWeb's president says, "Farmers told us that it's frustrating trying to find ag information on the Internet, and that became the springboard for the development of AgWeb Search." "We have built a comprehensive database by carefully indexing several thousand Web sites plus all their pages of content. Everything is fully relevant to agriculture," says AgWeb's Site Manager Derek Benthem. As with other major search engines, advertisers will be able to use AgWeb Search as part of their SEM (Search Engine Marketing) strategy through key-word relevant text or banner ads. Marshall Kostiuk is named corn marketing manager for NK Brand. He is responsible for directing marketing strategy for corn hybrids. Kostiuk oversees an extensive NK Brand portfolio, including hybrids with Agrisure traits, as well as Ration Fit and Extra Edge hybrids characterized for special end-use markets. Kostiuk, a 17-year veteran of Syngenta and legacy companies, has sales and marketing experience with Syngenta Crop Protection, Corn Traits Development and, most recently, the Agrisure traits business. DuPont announces that its new line of traits will be branded Optimum. Its first product will be the proprietary glyphosate, ALS-tolerant trait from its subsidiary, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., branded as Optimum GAT. DuPont expects the Optimum GAT trait to receive full U.S. registration for use in soybeans and corn as early as 2009. Mike Borel, formerly with Borel Consulting LLC, Walnut Creek, CA, joins The Context Network as a partner. Context's services include strategic planning, competitive intelligence, market research, opportunity analysis, alliances & acquisitions, and multiclient reports Prior to forming his own consulting firm, Borel had been Pres/COO of Valent USA. He began his career with DuPont Crop Protection. AM Tweet |
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