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Business Briefs - June 25, 2008

Bunge to buy Corn Products

WESTCHESTER, Ill. (AP) — Westchester-based Corn Products International is being bought by Bunge in a stock deal worth about $4.4 billion.

Two of the nation’s oldest agricultural businesses would become one in the deal announced Monday, in which Bunge would also assume $414 million of Corn Products’ debt.

Dow donates $25K to flood relief

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — In response to the flooding disasters taking place across Indiana, Dow AgroSciences, through The Dow Chemical Co. Foundation, is donating $25,000 to flood relief efforts.

The money will be given to the American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis to help victims from flooding that has caused 26 Indiana counties to be declared federal disaster areas.

“The flooding of communities in our home state is tragic on many levels, as citizens have lost homes, businesses, their assets, and farmers, their crops. We are proud to call Indiana home, and want to help in times of need such as this,” said Jerome Peribere, president and CEO of Dow AgroSciences.

“Partnering with our communities is a tradition at Dow AgroSciences, and our thoughts are with those impacted by the flooding.”

New Young Leader deadlines

FRANKENMUTH, Mich. — The American Soybean Assoc. (ASA), Michigan Soybean Assoc. (MSA) and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. are seeking applicants for the 2009 Young Leader Program. The program is recognized throughout agriculture for its longstanding tradition of identifying and cultivating the future producer leaders who are shaping the U.S. soybean industry.

This year the Young Leader Program is going to be on a different timeline than in the past. Instead of the first program beginning at Commodity Classic and the final program occurring several months later in December, this year the first training will be held Dec. 1-4 in Des Moines, Iowa, and end at the Commodity Classic Feb. 24-28, 2009, in Grapevine, Texas.

This new schedule has put the nominating process significantly earlier.

A group of MSA directors and past Young Leaders will select the 2009 Young Leader from Michigan when all applications have been received. The finalists will receive a trip for two to Pioneer’s headquarters in Des Moines and to the Commodity Classic.

Application forms are being mailed to all ASA/MSA members. Forms are also available by calling the MSA office at 989-652-3294 or e-mailing a request for a form to soyinfo@michigansoy bean.org
Soybean producers are encouraged to apply or to encourage another producer who would be an excellent candidate for the program. Completed applications must be returned to ASA by Sept. 1. One Young Leader couple will be selected from each of ASA’s state affiliates.

HAT partners with Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AgPR) — Hoosier Ag Today (HAT) has partnered with Purdue Cooperative Extension Service to produce a special series of advisories to assist Indiana growers.

The Field Crop Advisories are produced each week featuring a different extension specialist.

Topics include field crop management, marketing, precision technology, insect and weed control, business management and more. The advisories are designed to be timely and practical, focusing on the issues growers are facing at the time of release.
Using broadcast and Internet technology, these advisories are delivered to growers in a quick and convenient manner. The advisories are broadcast each Friday within regular HAT programs. In addition, an in-depth interview with a Purdue specialist is available on a special page on the HAT website, www.hoosieragtoday.com

Farmers can listen online or download the audio to their own computer or mobile storage device. A link to the advisories is also included in the HAT daily e-mail newsletter. An e-news sign-up link is also available at www.hoosieragtoday.com

Purdue specialists who will participate in the program represent some of the top experts in their fields and some of the most popular resources for Indiana growers.

They include: Robert Nielsen, Chris Hurt, Mike Boehlje, Ellsworth Christmas, Alan Miller, Greg Shaner and many others.

The advisories began in early June and will continue to be issued until the end of harvest. They are scheduled for release each Friday, but special bulletins will be issued if emergency conditions warrant.

Monsanto to acquire seed co.
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (AP) — Monsanto Co. plans to acquire Marmot S.A., which operates Central America’s largest corn seed company, Semillas Cristiani Burkard.

Terms were not disclosed, and it wasn’t immediately clear when the deal would be finalized.

Monsanto says the acquisition solidifies the St. Louis-based company’s position as the leading corn seed provider in the Latin American and Central American regions, and will enable Monsanto to provide new higher-yielding corn seed offerings to farmers.
SCB is based in Guatemala City and focuses on hybrid corn seed production, particularly corn, sorghum, forage sorghum, soybeans, and pastures or grass-type seeds.

SCB is also a distributor of Seminis vegetable seeds, a product of Monsanto’s vegetable seed division.

Cargill rolls out online signature
ALBION, Neb. — A Nebraska corn producer became the first in the nation to electronically sign a grain contract using the website www.CargillAg.com

Rick Funk of Clearwater, Neb., used a new online account technology offered by Cargill AgHorizons to sell a portion of his 2008 corn harvest to Cargill’s Albion elevator.

The transaction marks the first producer grain contract electronically signed in the United States using an electronic system recognized for usage for all types of grain contracting, including producer credit-sale contracts.

An electronic signature capability augments the site’s secure, online account look-up feature and represents a new level of speed and efficiency for producers trying to market their grain.
Cargill AgHorizons has commenced a series of e-signature pilots in Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois in cooperation with state and federal industry regulators.

Upon successful completion of these pilots, the company will implement the program nationally, making Cargill AgHorizons the first in its industry to make e-signatures available for all types of grain contracting customers.

CargillAg.com online accounts are available now and can be accessed by registering with a local Cargill AgHorizons office. For more information, visit www.cargillag.com

6/25/2008