Dow AgroSciences Acquires MTI, Corn Breeding Program

 Indianapolis, Ind. – Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, announced it has acquired assets of the Austrian affiliate of Maize Technologies International (MTI), an Austrian-based corn seed company, including its breeding programs, germplasm and related technology, as well as ownership of MTI’s French affiliate and other related assets. Financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

“MTI is a good fit for Dow AgroSciences as we work to bring innovative solutions to corn farmers around the world,” said Jerome Peribere, Dow AgroSciences president and CEO. “Dow AgroSciences gains valuable sources of new genetics to increase the depth and diversity of the company’s portfolio as we expand our corn business platform in western, central and eastern Europe and North America.

“Additionally, the genetics bring exciting potential for higher levels of stress tolerance – cold, moisture, frost – in early maturity zones.”

MTI has affiliates in Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Moldavia and the United States. MTI develops corn hybrid products for the temperate corn seed regions and works in close partnership with local breeding programs in central and eastern Europe. Further information is available at www.maizetec.com


Local producers purchase 100,000th bag of corn

FRANKFORT, Ohio – Seed Consultants, Inc. (SCI) sold their 100,000th bag of seed corn earlier in the 2007 season. Joe and Norman Carter, brothers farming 800 acres in Ross County, Ohio, booked the milestone for SCI.

“It’s a good company to deal with. The product speaks for itself,” Norman said. “Last year, we had a perfect stand with clean fields.”
Older brother Joe, who has farmed for more than 50 years, added,
“They do a lot of research and the price is competitive.” The brothers are planting 340 acres of SCI’s No. 1 hybrid, SC 1082.

Seed Consultants is the second-largest independent seed company east of the Mississippi. “Our customers believe in what we’re doing and want us to succeed,” says President Chris Jeffries. “We have been able to surround ourselves with really good customers. We value our customers, and our customers value us every bit as much.”

The 100,000th bag marks an important milestone for the regional seed company. “Dan Fox and I started with a pallet of corn,” Jeffries said. “We went from zero bags in 1990 to more than 100,000 a year, today.”


Beck’s Hybrids expands R&D and production facilities

 ATLANTA, Ind. – Beck’s Superior Hybrids has begun construction on expansion of facilities at its Atlanta headquarters. The expansion plans include tripling the current 9,000 square feet of greenhouse space to a total of 27,000, and more than doubling their current 40,000 square-foot corn drying center.

The greenhouse expansions will be dedicated to plant breeding and trait introgression, providing Beck’s with year-round research enabling turnaround time to be reduced on new hybrids introduced into the market. Two greenhouses will be completed by October 2007 and the final two will be completed by March 2008.

The drying center expansion will allow for efficient and timely harvest of Beck’s expanded seed corn production. The new expansion, expected to be completed by Fall 2008, will include an additional Husk and Sort building, which uses machines and laborers to remove husks from harvested seed corn ears and sort out unwanted ears not meeting Beck’s quality standards. This expansion will increase Beck’s current husking and sorting capacity threefold.

The additional 40,000 square feet of drying buildings will have over 40 percent increased drying fan capacity. Additionally, last year Beck’s expanded its warehouse storage capacity space by 60,000 square feet, or the equivalent to 1.25 high school football fields.

Beck’s is a family-owned and operated seed corn, soybean, wheat and forage company that serves farmers throughout Indiana and selected counties in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky.

This farm news was published in the May 16, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.