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 September 2006 Monsanto and Delta & Pine Land Co. (D&PL) announce they have signed a definitive agreement whereby Monsanto will acquire D&PL for $1.5 billion. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is subject to Delta and Pine Land shareowner approval, antitrust clearance, and customary closing conditions. "D&PL represents an excellent fit for our company as we look to bring value-added traits and high-quality seed to cotton growers around the world," said Hugh Grant, Chairman, Pres/CEO of Monsanto. "D&PL has strong cotton genetics, and we believe Monsanto's leadership in providing the best cotton traits can improve on this already strong base." Upon completion of the acquisition, management of both companies believe the proposed combination creates the opportunity to strengthen both the domestic and international cotton seed business by enhancing penetration of second-generation biotech trait offerings and continuing to invest in breeding to give cotton farmers who plant D&PL cotton seed varieties more choices. Note: For more information about the agreement, go to www.AgriMarketing. com and insert "Monsanto" in the search box. DuPont announces an agreement with Delta and Pine Land Co (D&PL) in which D&PL will market DuPont's Optimum GAT technology. Pioneer President Dean Oestrich says, "This sets the stage for D&PL to become a significant customer for GreenLeaf Genetics LLC, a joint venture between us and Syngenta. Through GreenLeaf Genetics, D&PL will license soybean lines and Optimum GAT for soybeans. GreenLeaf Genetics will continue to work with other key independent seed companies in the near future to align strategies for both corn and soybean germplasm and traits and offer commercial terms on Optimum GAT. Terry Myers is named President of ADM Alliance Nutrition, Inc. Myers joined the company in 2001 during the Consolidated Nutrition acquisition. He most recently served as VP/GM of ADM Alliance Nutrition, and previously served as VP of Sls and Mktg for ADM Alliance Nutrition. Also at ADM, Matthew Jansen has been named Pres of the Grain Group. In this role, he will have management responsibilities for the company's Grain Group, which includes the company's domestic and export grain facilities, grain merchandising operations, destination marketing businesses and ocean freight operations. Dow AgroSciences announces Doug Vail has been named Sls and Mktg Leader of its Mycogen Seeds unit. In this position, Vail will work with the company's marketing specialists to direct Mycogen's national sales and marketing strategies. In addition, he'll be charged with overseeing the company's strategy to align with the ag chem business. Prior to this new role, Vail was the U.S. Mktg Leader for Dow AgroSciences and, throughout his career, has held several prominent sales, finance and management roles within Dow AgroSciences. Hubner Seed, West Lebanon, IN, a corn, soybean, wheat and alfalfa seed producer serving farmers across the midwestern and eastern regions of the U.S., has promoted Doug Hubner to Rgl Sls Mgr. Formerly a District Sls Mgr, overseeing the east-central Illinois area, Hubner will now be responsible for all Hubner Seed sales activities west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania line. He'll direct the recruiting, training and development of all District Sls Mgrs and their subsequent Hubner seed dealer representatives throughout the Midwest. Syngenta is taking action to create a universal standard for global communication of its Cruiser seed treatment portfolio. Beginning with the 2007 planting season, most insecticide/fungicide combinations will carry the CruiserMaxx brand name followed by an appropriate crop descriptor for added brand clarity and simplicity. Under the new brand architecture, CruiserMaxx Pak for soybeans will become CruiserMaxx Beans, and Cruiser DM Pak for sunflowers will become CruiserMaxx Sunflower. As new seed treatment insecticide/ fungicide combinations are introduced, they will follow a similar naming structure. For example, in late 2006 a premix combination of Cruiser and Maxim 4FS will debut for potatoes as CruiserMaxx Potato. The one exception is Cruiser Extreme in corn which will continue to use that brand name. Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. is offering a free yield-mapping service designed to help growers get more value from their investments in precision farming technology. The Pioneer Field Information Technology (FIT) mapping system is now available to growers throughout North America for the 2006 growing season. The field maps are free of charge and available to Pioneer customers through local sls reps. This field information technology system allows Pioneer sls reps to copy a grower's yield data card onto their laptops in the field or even in the combine cab. When harvest is complete, that information is backed up on an archive CD and a copy is submitted to the Pioneer mapping center for analysis. Syngenta announces it has entered into an agreement to acquire Conrad Fafard, Inc. (Fafard), a leading North American producer of packaged growing media to professional ornamental growers and the consumer retail market. Fafard is a privately held company with sales of $76 million for the year ended May 31, 2006. The agreed purchase price is $133.5 million. The company, headquartered in Agawam, MA, has 240 employees with production sites in the eastern U.S. and Canada. This acquisition in a market currently estimated at $1.5 billion and growing at around 6% annually will reinforce Syngenta's leading position in plant protection and flower seeds. A new regional seed company, AgVenture of Eastern Kansas, Iola, KS, announces its launch and the signing of an exclusive territory agreement with AgVenture, Inc. of Kentland, IN. AgVenture of Eastern Kansas will market AgVenture brand corn and soybeans to customers across 40 eastern Kansas counties. Its GM Sls/Mktg, Tom Woodworth brings twenty plus years of seed business expertise to the helm of this new operation. Also at AgVenture, McKillip Seeds, Inc. Wabash, IN, has signed an exclusive territory agreement with AgVenture. McKillip Seeds, a fourth generation, independently owned and operated Indiana seed company will align with AgVenture to market AgVenture brand corn and soybeans to its customers. Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI), announces the addition of Marty Frankhouser to the company's swine division as product manager for oral vaccine products. Frankhouser has more than 20 years of animal health product marketing, sales, training and communications experience, most recently as Sls Training Mgr with Schering-Plough Animal Health. With BIVI, he will provide strategic sales and marketing direction for the company's oral vaccines. Chr. Hansen Animal Health and Nutrition, Milwaukee, WI, an-nounces the appointment of Les Berghorn as Key Acct Mgr for its Northeast territory covering NY, PA, as well as the New England and the Mid Atlantic regions. He was most recently the New York Dairy Div Mgr of Blue Seal Feeds. Art's-Way announces the appointment of Michael B. Hilderbrand as its new Pres/CEO. He succeeds John C. Breitung in this position, who retired at the end of May. Hilderbrand was most recently with Case New Holland (CNH) where he was Sr. Dir of Marketing, Intelligence and Analytics. Also at Art's-Way, the company announces its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Techspace, Inc. of Monona, IA. Techspace designs, manufactures, and installs custom modular research and diagnostic buildings for laboratory research, biocontainment for Homeland Security, public health, and general laboratory requirements. Dan Palmer, formerly the Pres of Techspace, Inc., will be the GM and will report to Art's-Way Pres Hilderbrand. Virtually all former Techspace, Inc. employees have been retained. Techspace, Inc. historically had annual sales at approximately $5,000,000. AgSource Seeds, Inc., Nevada, Ia and NuTech Seed, LC, Leland, IA, will merge their operations effective September 1, 2006, to complement each organization's ability to provide the best seed possible for corn and soybean producers. The new company will market AgSource and NuTech brand seed for the 2007 growing season, with NuTech becoming the primary brand in 2008 and beyond. Ken Rose, AgSource co-founder, will serve as GM for the new organization. CHS, a leading supplier of energy products under the Cenex brand, has begun offering its popular Cenex Superlube TMS lubricants at Tractor Supply Company stores in IL, MN, MT, ND, SD and WI. Partnering with new retail channels such as Tractor Supply enables CHS to take advantage of the trend among "rural lifestylers" and hobby farmers to seek out the same powerhouse brands that full-time agricultural producers have relied on for generations. Partnering with Tractor Supply introduces new customers to the proven value of Cenex products, while current customers gain the convenience of being able to buy packaged Cenex lubricants at the same store where they shop for everything from animal care products and hardware to lawn and garden supplies. Monsanto's subsidiary American Seeds Inc. (ASI) is adding five acquired companies to its family of regional brands. In separate transactions, ASI acquired the seed marketing and sales businesses of Diener Seeds, Reynolds, IN, and Sieben Hybrids, Geneseo, IL. ASI also entered into definitive agreements to acquire Kruger Seed Company, based in Dike, IA, Trisler Seed Farms, Fairmount, IL, and the seed marketing and sales business of Campbell Seed, Tipton, IN. Garst Seed Company announces the promotion of Mark Lawson to Regl Sls Mgr for the company's east region. Lawson will supervise Garst's business development in the east region. He'll work closely with Garst district sls mgrs and sls reps in KY, OH and central and southern IN. Lawson has nearly 40 years of experience in agriculture, including as a farmer, crop consultant, agronomist and district sls mgr for Garst. During the course of his career, he was part of the product development team that served as area agronomists for AgriPro's east central region, which Garst purchased. Wilbur-Ellis Company has completed its purchase of RNA's agricultural products formulation business located in San Joaquin, CA. The operations in San Joaquin will continue at the present location and the existing employees will remain with the company. Operations will report to Gary Saxton, Dir of Mfg, with the marketing effort reporting to Ed Koldenhoven, Dir of Branded Products. The combined effort is led by Agribusiness Division Sr VP, Operations, Jim Loar. The Agribusiness Division is led by Dan Vradenburg, Exec VP of Wilbur-Ellis Company, and is headquartered in Walnut Creek, CA. BASF Plant Science and Renk Seed, Sun Prairie, WI, announce they have signed a license agreement allowing Renk Seed Company to market corn hybrids with NutriDense. NutriDense is a nutritionally enhanced set of traits designed to enhance animal feed performance. AM Tweet |
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