Energy company plans 25,000-acre central Illinois wind farm

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — One of the nation’s largest energy companies announced plans last week to build a wind farm with between 150-200 turbines in central Illinois.

Construction of the Prairie Fork Wind Farm on 25,000 acres in Christian and Montgomery counties would likely begin in 2010. Commercial operation of the 300-megawatt plant could follow a year later.

Officials with the Virginia-based Dominion Generation said they chose the spot about 30 miles southeast of Springfield because initial studies suggest the area has excellent wind resources. More studies will continue over the next several months.

Dominion Development Manager Diane Simon said the project will create 300 jobs during construction and 15-20 full-time jobs once the turbines are operational. She said tax revenue for the project will be about $1 million per year. Mayor Frank D. Mathon of nearby Taylorville believes many of the employees hired to build and maintain the site will be local residents.

“I think it’s an extremely positive economic development in this area,” Mathon said. “They say that dollars turn over seven times before they leave the community. It’s just a win-win situation.”

The wind farm would bring the company’s generation capacity in the Midwest to more than 3,200 megawatts, enough to power more than 800,000 homes. Scot C. Hathaway, a Dominion’s vice president for business development, said in a statement that the project will provide “many additional benefits to the community without disrupting the current agricultural uses of the land.”

Bayer CropScience, Monsanto partnering on corn seed

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (AP) — Monsanto Co. said April 8 it has entered an exclusive partnership with rival Bayer CropScience to develop a new treatment for corn seeds.

The deal is part of St. Louis-based Monsanto’s broader effort to capture more of the global corn seed market. The firms did not release financial terms of their deal.

Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, is a big player in U.S. commodity crops like soybeans and cotton, and Chief Executive Hugh Grant told investors last week that increasing corn seed sales is a key part of Monsanto’s plan to double its annual operating profit by 2012.

“Corn looms large in our growth plans,” Grant said.
The treated seeds would be resistant to a fungus and other diseases, using Bayer’s patented technology. Bayer CropScience is a division of the Germany-based chemical giant Bayer AG.

While Monsanto has traditionally competed with Bayer in the market for genetically engineered seeds, the companies formed a research partnership last summer to develop new strains of biotech crops.

The partnership is part of Monsanto’s plan to offer strains of corn that have multiple engineered genes to make the crops resistant to pests and herbicides. Monsanto said some of those seeds will also be sold with the fungicide treatment the company is developing with Bayer.

The fungicide-treated seeds will be available for sale by the year 2010, according to the companies. The new seed treatment will use an existing Bayer CropScience fungicide called Vortex.

New incentive encourages farmers to complete survey
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — With the survey deadline rapidly approaching, Hoosier farmers are urged to participate in the Indiana Best Management Practices (BMP) Survey online at the Conservation Technology Information Center’s (CTIC) website www.conservationinformation.org

To encourage a final surge of respondents, an incentive to complete the survey has been added. Farmers who complete it and provide an e-mail address will be entered into a drawing for one of four $25 gift cards to popular restaurants. Surveys must be completed by April 30 (extended deadline).

The Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) and CTIC in West Lafayette, Ind., and The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) in Washington, D.C., are partnering on the survey with the goal of collecting information indicating the barriers to adoption of conservation practices and nutrient management plans.

For more information about the national survey and to view the results, visit www.conservationinformation.org and click on “BMP Survey Results” on the home page.

Truffle Media adds marketing talk to lineup of shows

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Ag Media Conversations, the first self-documenting podcast about ag podcasting, was launched on March 25. The show is the latest in the offerings of Truffle Media and will focus on utilizing current technologies in the advertising and public relations field.

Co-hosted by Aaron Gilbertie and Raylee St. Onge, Ag Media Conversations is a weekly podcast with interviews from marketing communications professionals on advancements in promoting products and services. It is available to listen to or download at www.TruffleMedia.com

“The purpose of this podcast is to cover real world uses for new social media in the ag industry,” said Gilbertie. “Ag Media Conversations will create a dialog among peers about how podcasting and other multimedia forms can be used – it’s a way to share and learn from others and utilizes the very technologies we will be discussing.”

Shows will feature interviews such as Jeff Walter of Rhea & Kaiser, a full-service marketing communications agency, discussing how his firm has used podcasting to introduce a new product for client Bayer CropScience.

Ag Media Conversations joins five other Truffle Media agricultural podcasts, including specialty shows on beef, dairy, poultry, swine and crops. For more information about Ag Media Conversations or to recommend topics or offer comments, e-mail feedback@TruffleMedia.com

Iowa town may get new Monsanto corn plant

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Monsanto Co. may have found a location for its new seed corn production plant. The St. Louis-based company has announced that it’s looking at a site near Independence for the $90 million project, which requires about 150 acres. The company had been considering Black Hawk County, but decided to go elsewhere after county zoning officials rejected a request to rezone the land.

The plant, expected to employ about 40, is part of a $610 million expansion company-wide.