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Green Fields: DuPont Pioneer Partners with University, USDA

February 21, 2014
Source
Des Moines Register

DuPont Pioneer announced last week that it entered a partnership to help farmers grow more sustainable crops.

The Johnston-based seed and genetics company said it would collaborate with the University of Missouri and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service to pool soil mapping resources, predictive technologies and expertise to help growers more sustainably improve crop yields through better nitrogen application management and other field input planning.

“DuPont Pioneer has long been dedicated to providing our customers with products and services that bring the greatest value to each acre through sustainable field management,” said Paul Schickler, president of DuPont Pioneer. “This public-private collaboration ... takes that effort to a higher level, helping growers increase yields while being better stewards of the environment.”

The three-year agreement will bring together each organization’s work on precision agricultural sensors and soil mapping, such as characterization of soil types, topography and watersheds.

By more accurately mapping soil, farmers will be better able to assess crop placement and the use of inputs such as nitrogen fertilizer.

For example, with high-resolution elevation data and watershed information, farmers can know more about how the effectiveness of their nitrogen application will be affected by the soil type, weather and other conditions.

Wall Street is targeting farmland, group warns

Wall Street investors could purchase millions of acres of farmland that will be for sale during the next 20 years, according to a think-tank report that said the increased investment could hurt U.S. agriculture.

The Oakland Institute said last week that investors could have the opportunity to purchase up to 400 million acres, nearly half of all U.S. farmland, that will be available in the coming years. The California-based organization said about $1.8 trillion in land could beused for industrial farming and fossil-fuel production.

The purchases would drive up land prices, hurt the farm and rural economy, and jeopardize the future health of the land, the organization said.

“Institutional investors — including hedge funds, private equity, pension funds and university endowments — have trained their sights on America’s agricultural infrastructure,” said Lukas Ross, an Oakland Institute Fellow and author of the report. “If they succeed in consolidating control over our land and infrastructure, this new class of land barons could imperil our nation’s food supply.”

The Oakland Institute says its goal is to “increase public participation and promote fair debate on critical social, economic and environmental issues in both national and international forums.”

Tulane to award $1M for best 'dead zone' plan

Tulane University is offering a $1 million prize to inventors, entrepreneurs and researchers who come up with the best ideas for battling “dead zones” in the world’s lakes and oceans.

The Tulane prize is funded by Phyllis Taylor, president of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation. Tulane Prize partners include Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Mike Strain. Iowa is among 12 states that have come together to try to reduce the size of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.

“I am excited to see the investment that is being made in the development of innovative technologies that could possibly address nutrient challenges in the basin,” Strain said. “We are in the ‘golden age of agriculture’ and we must have our best and brightest minds at the table to move us into the future.”

The Tulane challenge seeks innovative solutions to combat hypoxia, or oxygen-depleted water caused mostly by excessive river-borne fertilizers and other nutrients emptying into lakes and oceans.

The prize is a response to President Barack Obama’s call for organizations, philanthropists and universities to identify and pursue today’s most pressing issues.

The grand prize will be awarded for a testable, scaled and marketable operating model that significantly, efficiently and cost-effectively reduces hypoxia.