Taking a look into the future with Monsanto and Syngenta

Date:06-19-2013

Author： Al Macius

Recently, I had the privilege to discuss agriculture and our business with executives from two of our business partners – Monsanto and Syngenta.  I was also given an inside look at the newest innovations from both companies.  We discussed their views of the current marketplace and the future issues we should be thinking about.

 I must admit the conversations make me optimistic, excited and very concerned all at the same time.  The ability of these companies to forecast agriculture’s needs and use science to find solutions amazes me.  In addition to the impressive research going on, the facilities are state of the art.  Syngenta’s new bio-tech facility can simulate the weather anywhere on earth.  There are chambers simulating southern Minnesota, Nebraska, jungles and the desert – all at the same time.  Monsanto has a facility taking continuous measurements of plant gene activity 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.  The plants travel on a conveyor belt non-stop while this is happening.

 Major topics of discussion over the past two weeks have included:  Weed Resistance, Rootworm traits and CRW Resistance management, Water Optimization and Drought Tolerance, the development of South America,  Regulation costs and approval delays, RNA technology and “Bio Direct”,  Fungicide technologies, Seed traits like Duracade, Artesian,  Traits and technology for the Ethanol industry, Precision Ag and IFS (Integrated Farm Solutions) and herbicide resistant trait technology for soybeans like Dicamba, HPPD, 2,4-D and others.

 As you can see our key business partners are working hard and investing large amounts of money to develop solutions to problems that we are facing today and tomorrow.  As these technologies become available for our use, we must utilize them in a sustainable way.  It’s hard to imagine that we haven’t learned any lessons in regard to resistance and Mother Nature.  When given another chance we must deal with resistance in a more comprehensive way.

Everyday our partners are investing, creating and thinking of ways to help you solve problems, make decisions, increase yield and make more money and Central Valley Cooperative is doing everything we can to put our growers and cooperative at the front of the line by working and sharing ideas with our partners we will gain quicker and preferred access to these technologies.