Seed E-News

July 16, 2004

GM Crop Acreage in the U.S. to Increase in 2004
The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects that the acreage planted to genetically modified (GM) crops in the US will increase in 2004. Herbicide resistant soybean is expected to increase to 85 % in 2004. The total percentage of GM cotton is also predicted to rise to 76%. GM corn will also rise further to 45%. On the other hand, wheat acreage is expected to drop by 3 percent from its 2003 figure. Corn planted area for all purposes is estimated at 81 million acres, and growers are expected to harvest 73.4 million acres for grain. The 2004 soybean planted area is estimated at 74.8 million acres, up by 2 percent from its 2003 figure, and is foreseen to be the largest planted area on record if this materializes. The NASS report is available here in PDF or here in HTML.

Long-term Corn, Soybean Yield Trends
An article in Ag Answers, An Ohio State and Extension and Purdue Extension Partnership, examines why, although the United Statesā two leading field crops have increased yield over the last 75 years, corn has increased sevenfold while soybean yields have barely tripled. To read the article, follow this link Yields.

USDA Announces Results of Soybean Request for Referendum
On July 13, 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the results of a soybean request for referendum. The results show too few soybean producers want a continuance referendum on the Soybean Promotion and Research Order.The request for referendum was held from May 1 through May 28, 2004, at USDA's Farm Service Agency county offices. The Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act requires that the Agriculture Secretary provide soybean producers an opportunity to request a referendum on the order every five years. If the results of the request for referendum showed sufficient interest among soybean producers to vote on continuing the order, a referendum would have been held within a year.If at least 10 percent (not in excess of one-fifth of which can be producers in any one state) of the 663,880 soybean producers nationwide participated in the request for referendum, a referendum would have been held. Only 3,206 valid requests for a referendum were cast; far short of the 66,388 required to trigger a referendum. To see the State by State results, follow this link Soybean Referendum.

USDA to Raise Soybean Rust Awareness in 7-City Tour
On July 16, 2004, U.S. the Department of Agriculture announced that officials will help inform soybean producers about early soybean rust detection and treatment during an education series. The USDA panel of experts will visit seven cities later this month in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. The first information session will focus on "Soybean Rust; What is it, Why Should I Care and What are Government and Industry Representatives Doing to Address It?" "Combating Rust," "Application Facts" and government safeguards also will be covered. To help soybean growers identify and eventually manage the soybean rust disease, a panel of experts will start the education series in Raleigh, NC, July 21. USDA specialists will make presentations in the following cities:

Plain City, OH – July 22
Memphis, TN – July 23
Indianapolis, IN – July 27
Fremont, NE – July 28
Moline, IL – July 29
Mankato, MN – July 30

For details of where the meetings will be held, follow this link Soybean Panels to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection (APHIS) web site.

Soybean rust, a fungus that infects the leaves of soybean plants and has caused significant yield losses in other parts of the world, has not been detected in the continental United States. However, USDA officials and experts in the field say early detection and treatment could minimize the impact of the eventual introduction the disease in this country. According to scientific data, the disease is spread primarily by wind-borne spores and could arrive in the United States through wind currents.

Weather-Based Assessment of Soybean Rust Threat to North America
As the above article demonstrates, USDA APHIS is preparing for the arrival of Soybean Rust in the Continental USA. Recognizing that aerial transportation is the probable pathway for initial entry and dispersal, APHIS commissioned a study. The report, which is 21 pages long, can be accessed by following this link Soybean Study.

BASF to Move GM Research to US?
Impatient with Europe's resistance to new technologies, BASF, the world's largest chemical company, may move its GM crop research to the US. Jürgen Hambrecht, Chief Executive, told the Financial Times (reported by Checkbiotech.org) that the German chemicals giant could not afford to keep investing in research if there was no market for its products. "If you can no longer push innovation through to the market, the next step will be that R&D will go. You will transfer R&D to a place where you can really push innovation into reality, because we need to earn money, we cannot only spend money," he told the Financial Times. GM crop research accounts for only a small fraction of BASF's activities but Herr Hambrecht's warning about the danger of economic stagnation posed by Europe's "zero risk" attitude comes only days after Syngenta decided to end large-scale commercial research into genetically-modified crops in the UK. For the full story from Checkbiotech.org, follow this link BASF.

A related story from the Financial Times, also carried by Checkbiotech.org, addresses the issue of a European brain drain as companies look for markets that welcome innovation. In June 2004, notwithstanding the European Union's approval of its Bt11 maize, Syngenta joined Monsanto, DuPont and Bayer CropScience in relocating its GM crop research operations from Europe to the US. For the full story, follow this link Brain Drain.

Anti-GM Efforts Grow in California
After their success in March 2004, in banning the production of GM crops in Mendocino County, anti-GM activists are hoping to extend the ban to other California counties. Four November 2004 ballot initiatives will attempt to repeat the landmark Measure H in Mendocino County in Butte, San Luis Obispo, Marin and Humboldt counties. At least eight other counties are targeted for similar ballot measures. For the full story, follow this link Sacramento Bee.

UK Announces Consultation Plans on the Co-existence of GM and Non-GM Crops
On July 16, 2004, the United Kingdom's Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced that it had written to interested stakeholders setting out the consultation process it will follow to inform its decisions on the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops. Defra will consult interested parties in GM crops this summer and early autumn on a range of issues surrounding co-existence and liability, including:

• a proposal that farmers growing GM crops should comply with a code of practice on co-existence which has statutory backing, with the aim of ensuring that unwanted GM presence in non-GM crops is within the 0.9% labeling threshold adopted by the EU
• whether a threshold below 0.9% should apply in relation to organic production
• options for providing compensation to non-GM farmers who suffer financially because a GM presence exceeds the statutory threshold
• the provision of guidance to farmers interested in establishing voluntary GM-free zones.

Co-existence is a devolved matter and the authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are therefore responsible for developing their own policies to apply in their areas. However, they are working closely with Defra on this issue and will contribute to the discussion workshops that Defra is organizing. Like Defra, it is envisaged that they will publish their own co-existence consultation papers later this year. Environment Minister Elliot Morley said he was aiming at having clear coexistence measures in place for England next year. For background, please follow this link Defra.

APHIS Workshop on "Confinement of Genetically Engineered Crops During Field Testing"
USDA-APHIS BRS is planning a workshop, to be held September 13-15, 2004 at their Riverdale, MD Headquarters, to focus on confinement issues relative to PMP and PMIPs in corn, barley, rice, safflower, tobacco, as well as cotton. Mark Condon of the ASTA staff has agreed to serve on the workshop Steering Committee which will provide opinions on the organization of the Workshop as well as potential speakers, questions for discussion and references for a bibliography etc. The five main topics to be covered by the workshop are:

• Introduction to confinement and the principle of redundancy presented by APHIS
• Setting of isolation standards by AOSCA, scale and quality control measures (monitoring)
• Confinement analysis critical control points (CACCP) and quality control/monitoring
• Modeling tools
• Monitoring and sampling strategies to verify confinement (e.g., volunteers and geneflow)

To ensure that the seed industry has optimal participation in the workshop, ASTA members are encouraged to provide as soon as possible to Mark Condon at mcondon@amseed.org any recommendations for speakers, references, moderators, note takers, etc.More detailed information on this workshop will be provided to the ASTA membership in the coming months.

Indiana Seed Trade Association 2004 Corn Belt Seed Conference
Indiana Seed Trade Association will be holding its 2004 Corn Belt Seed Conference on November 11-12, 2004 at the Marriott East. Indianapolis. For more information, check out the ISTA web site at www.indianaseed.com.

Industry and People

On July 16, 2004, ASTA member GROWMARK, Inc. announced that, effective September 1, 2004, Steve Buckalew will lead its operations serving farmers in the Northeast U.S. with seed and crop production inputs and services through subsidiaries GROWMARK FS, Inc. and Seedway, Inc. He will assume the responsibilities of the position of GROWMARK Vice President of Eastern Retail Operations effective Sept. 1, 2004. He currently serves as senior vice president of United Producers, Inc., a regional livestock marketing and financial services cooperative based in Columbus, Ohio. Steve has a bachelorās degree in Business Administration from the University of Cincinnati and a master's degree in Agricultural Economics from The Ohio State University. Steve replaces Ed Rodenburg who managed the GROWMARK subsidiary operations in the Northeast from December 2002 to July 2004 and recently accepted the position of CEO for Lilydale Co-operative in Alberta, Canada.

ASTA member AgVenture, Inc. has expanded into Northwest Mississippi with an exclusive Territory Agreement with Dulaney Seed of Clarksdale, MS who will market AgVenture's brand of corn and soybean in the region. Terry and Edwin Dulaney, co-owners of Dulaney Seed, are graduates of Mississippi State University and are partners in Dulaney Brothers Farms; started by their grandfather in 1913. They have operated the farming operation since 1974 and have been in the seed business since 1991.

Following the transfer of Mark Butler to its North American business, Roger Vickers has been appointed UK Sales Manager for ASTA member Germain's Technology Group. He comes to Germain's following a career with Advanta Seeds (formerly Sharpes International) and latterly, with the packaging company Linpac in Lincoln, UK. Germain's Technology Group, a member of Associated British Foods plc, provides seed enhancement and coating services and technology products from nine world locations.

If you have any personnel changes, or other developments in your company, that you would like included in E-News, please send details to ppatterson@amseed.org.

Upcoming Events

November 7-8, 2004
ASTA 50th Farm & Lawn Seed Conference
Westin Crown Center
Kansas City, MO

December 8-10, 2004
ASTA 34th Soybean & 59th Corn & Sorghum Conferences and Seed Expo 2004
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL
Tel: 1-888.890.7333

January 22-25, 2005
ASTA 44th Vegetable & Flower Conference
Grand Hyatt San Francisco
San Francisco, CA.

June 19-22, 2005
122nd ASTA Annual Convention
Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Tower
Seattle, WA

July 7-14, 2006
Joint ASTA-CSTA Annual Convention
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL