Dow AgroSciences – WHO?? – Oh – Mycogen Seeds
Posted by Robert T. Chambes
on Apr 14, 2015
The Mycogen sign on Highway 75 at the By-Pass will be changing, eventually, to Dow AgroSciences as the latter now owns the plant and the Mycogen name will persist only as a Dow AgroSciences brand name. The question is what happens within that building. On Tuesday April 14th the Wahpeton Rotary members convened their regular noon hour meeting at Dow AgroSciences rather than Prante’s. There Operations Leader Paul Quick and Station Leader Dean Nordick hosted the members along with Confection (Sunflower) Breeder Steve Erickson and Corn Breeder Collin Lamkey. The titles are a clue!
Dean Nordick Collin Lamkey Paul Quick Steve Erickson
On sixty-five acres the plant was built originally in 1982-83 for Sigco seed. It later became Mycogen Seed and in 2002 Dow AgroSciences became the majority shareholder. Currently 5 full time equivalent employees work on Sunflower seed research and 6 on corn research with 1 full time equivalent employee responsible for product development described as a link between the breeders and the sales force. Dow AgroSciences is the number three nationally for corn seed.
The breeders are trying to achieve what the growers want: high yield, rapid dry down, good test weight (average is 56 pounds per bushel); a plant that stands well in the field, is disease resistant and has good insect tolerance. Much of the research occurs in the field (offsite there are 25,000 test plots); some in the labs and a lot in the nurseries in Fergus Falls (25,000 nursery test rows). Some are “regulated sites” where the crop is isolated and tested to United States government Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. Typically with the plots the grower rents to land to Dow AgroSciences and preps the site after which the Dow AgroScience people seed, manage the crop and harvest it.
The breeders are trying to achieve what the growers want: high yield, rapid dry down, good test weight (average is 56 pounds per bushel); a plant that stands well in the field, is disease resistant and has good insect tolerance. Much of the research occurs in the field (offsite there are 25,000 test plots); some in the labs and a lot in the nurseries in Fergus Falls (25,000 nursery test rows). Some are “regulated sites” where the crop is isolated and tested to United States government Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. Typically with the plots the grower rents to land to Dow AgroSciences and preps the site after which the Dow AgroScience people seed, manage the crop and harvest it.
The Dow AgroScience people answered many questions revealing how complex the global agriculture market is and how complex the work is to optimize crop production. Members also toured part of the facility including the greenhouses that folks driving on Highway 75 see lit up around the clock all winter.