USSF welcomes officers, Neb.

MANKATO, Minn. — During a recent U.S. Soybean Federation (USSF) board of directors meeting, the board elected new officers and approved a new state affiliate.

Warren Stemme, a soybean farmer from Chesterfield, Mo., was elected USSF president. Jerry Slocum from Coldwater, Miss., is vice president and Bill Zurn from Callaway, Minn., is secretary/treasurer.
Also during the USSF board meeting, directors approved a new state affiliate, the Nebraska Soybean Federation. According to Stemme, next steps for the organization include approving additional state affiliates and developing a full policy agenda, as well as support of the current soybean checkoff program.

Dow, Syngenta OK trait share
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Co., and Syngenta announced an agreement to cross license their respective corn traits for commercialization within their branded seed businesses. The agreement will allow both companies to maximize the value of their technologies and to bring greater choice and flexibility to growers.

Under the terms of the agreement, Syngenta will receive global nonexclusive licenses, with stacking rights, to Dow AgroSciences’ HERCULEX I Insect Protection for broad lepidopteran control, HERCULEX RW Rootworm Protection for corn rootworm control and to HERCULEX XTRA, which is a combination of HERCULEX I and HERCULEX RW.

Additionally, Dow AgroSciences will receive global nonexclusive licenses with stacking rights to Syngenta’s Agrisure GT trait for glyphosate tolerance, and to its insect control traits Agrisure CB/LL for corn borer and Agrisure RW for corn rootworm. The licenses also include access to Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera trait for broad lepidoptera and to a second-generation trait for corn rootworm control.

Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

New anhydrous safety video

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Because of the potentially hazardous nature of anhydrous ammonia, the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Assoc. (IFCA) and the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) have produced a 12-minute video outlining the proper safety procedures that farmers should take each and every time they handle the product.

The video highlights the most common safety errors that can lead to an anhydrous ammonia accident or release and is intended to supplement the training that the IFCA provides each year to more than 1,000 commercial ag retail employees who handle ammonia at retail facilities.

The Fertilizer Research & Education Council (FREC) paid for the video with proceeds from a 12.5-cent fee on each ton of agricultural fertilizer sold in Illinois. FREC’s purpose is to fund projects that improve fertilizer efficiency as well as promote proper use of fertilizers.

The high-resolution video can be accessed at the IFCA website at www.ifca.com or at the IDOA website at www.agr.state.il.us
It also is available free of charge if other organizations would like to embed it on their websites. For more information, contact the IFCA at 309-827-2774.