By Larry G. Heatherly
On Feb. 6, 2025, the Univ. of Kentucky is hosting the Kentucky Crop Health Conference [KCHC] at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. Registration details can be accessed here, and a brochure that lists speakers and topics can be accessed here. Kentucky and Tennessee applicator credits will be available. Space is limited, so early registration is encouraged.
In an earlier article, Arkansas’ law restricting foreign parties from purchasing and owning agricultural land was highlighted. Now a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order that blocks the enforcement of this legislation. Click here for this decision as reported in the Arkansas Advocate.
In seed industry news, the following two events will be of interest to midsouthern U.S. soybean farmers. 1) Beck’s Seed Co., based in Atlanta, Indiana, is building a new seed processing facility in the Missouri Bootheel. This new facility in New Madrid will have a processing capacity of 3 million units per year, and is expected to be fully operational by fall 2026. The construction of this facility signals the company’s intention to deliver soybean seed to farmers in the Midsouth region of the U.S. 2) Channel Seed [Bayer] announces the availability of Channel Edge seed treatment products in 2025. The suite of seed treatments that comprise Channel Edge is designed to manage commonly-occurring fungal and insect soybean seed pests. Channel Edge is a custom blend of individually registered fungicide and insecticide soybean seed treatment products.
An Aug. 2024 study conducted by Dr. Harry Kaiser of Cornell Univ. confirmed that the United Soybean Board’s [USB] investments yield a positive return of at least 4.5-to-1 [benefit cost ratio (BCR)] across the categories of export market development [14.26 to 1], domestic demand-enhancing [42.88 to 1] and on-farm production [5.78 to 1] research, and soybean promotion [4.5 to 1].
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