Beck’s and Brown Seed form alliance
ATLANTA, Ind. — Beck’s Hybrids and Brown Seed Enterprises have entered into an alliance that combines the strengths of both companies to enhance the products and services offered to farmers in central and southern Illinois.

Brown is known for extensive research and testing in southern Illinois to identify the top performing products in that geography. Beck’s, located in central Indiana, is the largest family-owned retail seed company in the United States and brings additional sources of products to the research that Brown Seed is conducting.

Brown’s facilities will also be exclusively used by Beck’s for conditioning, packaging, warehousing and shipping of Beck’s seed to customers in central and southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana and Kentucky.

Beck’s serves farmers in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. Brown is a family-owned and operated seed company that Dennis Brown started in 1983, with a focus on the unique soils and needs of the southern Illinois farmer.

Dow field station expanding, relocating

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Dow AgroSciences LLC and Mycogen Seeds have expanded and moved their current corn breeding field research station to a new location in Mt. Vernon, Ind. Dow purchased three acres of land located just west of the intersection of Lamont and Lower Mt. Vernon roads and has completed construction of the new site.

The new site has expanded working and storage space to allow for continued growth. The new facilities include an office and seed lab building as well as an equipment storage building.

The Mt. Vernon Field Station has three basic breeding programs: conventional grain corn breeding, silage corn breeding and germplasm enhancement breeding. The breeding programs are effectively coupled with a hybrid testing program comprised of 65,000 yield trial plots in 2009 with plans for continued growth.
During an open house at the new field research station, $1,000 donations were presented to both the Mt. Vernon High School FFA Chapter and the North Posey High School FFA Chapter.

Swedish co. will take over Bush Hog plant

TELFORD, Tenn. (AP) — Agricultural equipment maker Bush Hog has agreed to a deal which will keep a northeastern Tennessee plant open.

The Selma, Ala.-based company announced last month it would close its plant in Telford unless it could find a buyer. The Johnson City Press quoted a statement by Bush Hog last week which said Alo AB of Sweden will supply Bush Hog with front-end loaders and related attachments for farm tractors.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Alo was buying the plant or leasing it. Washington County Mayor George Jaynes said the agreement could save more than 100 jobs.

Bush Hog recently notified the state it would lay off 141 workers from the plant at the end of this month. Home improvement hardware supplier Orgill, which is based in Memphis, also told the state it will lay off 176 people at its distribution center in the city by the end of August.

Free Webinar to offer ACRE answers

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — Does it make sense to enroll your farm in the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program for 2009? If you have more questions than answers, mark your calendar for a free “Ask the Experts” Webinar session, 8-9 a.m. CDT July 1.

The session is open to the public and is especially recommended for farmers, landlords and Farm Service Agency (FSA) personnel looking to get added insight into the new farm safety net program. The DTN Webinar, cosponsored by the National Corn Growers Assoc., will feature Dr. Carl Zulauf, Ohio State University ag economist and one of the architects of ACRE.

Titled “How to Make Your ACRE Decision,” the webinar will be held well before the Aug. 14 Farm Service Agency deadline, giving producers plenty of time to finalize their assessment of the merits of the risk management program. After the initial webinar, it will be rebroadcast through August.

Also appearing on behalf of the FSA will be Brad Karmen, assistant to the deputy administrator for farm programs, and Brent Orr, DCP-ACRE specialist, who can answer technical questions. Attendees should enroll early to receive background material on ACRE’s mechanics.

Visit http://about.dtnpf.com/ag/news_events/events/webinars/index.cfm
to register. DTN will send confirmation e-mails to all who register in advance, giving them the link to “homework” on Zulauf’s website.
DTN is also soliciting ACRE questions. Answers will be posted after the webinar on DTN’s “Minding Ag’s Business” blog at www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com

Applications out for Indiana Ag Leadership

DANVILLE, Ind. — Indiana’s premier agricultural leadership development program is now accepting applications for Class 14. The Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program (ALP) is the cornerstone program of AgrIInstitute, a leadership development and people-capacity building organization.

Individuals interested in enhancing their understanding of public affairs and developing the expertise to play a leading role in guiding the matters affecting Indiana agriculture and rural communities should apply. The program is open to any individual engaged in serving rural communities, production agriculture, all related agricultural industry and business, extension services and education. Class size is limited to 30 individuals.

Featuring 12 seminars, participants are challenged to analyze public issues and industry matters from social, economic, cultural and political perspectives. The program features 10 in-state seminars, a week of study in Washington D.C. and two weeks of international study.

Applicants selected to participate in the program pay a tuition of $3,500, which covers program materials, lodging, food and airfare. In addition, the financial contributors to AgrIInstitute shoulder an additional $11,000 per participant to cover the cost of the program.
Anyone interested in applying for participation in the ALP should contact the AgrIInstitute, Inc. office by telephone at 317-745-0947 or by e-mail to beth@agrIInstitute.org

Information can also be obtained on the website, www.agrIInstitute.org

Dow, W3 agree to collaborate on wheat
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Co., and World Wide Wheat (W3) LLC of Phoenix, Ariz., announced a collaboration agreement for the development and commercialization of advanced germplasm and traits in wheat.

The concept of the collaboration is to couple Dow AgroSciences’ expertise in seeds and traits with W3’s proprietary wheat germplasm and robust breeding capabilities. Dow AgroSciences’ experience in seed and trait commercialization will be leveraged to bring the next generation of wheat to market.

W3 brings more than 40 years of plant breeding to the collaboration and will be able to leverage Dow AgroSciences’ reach in key global markets such as North America, Latin America, Europe and Australia.