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Presented in partnership with Syngenta
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In North Carolina, it takes a team
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Jim Cappy, Ph.D., demonstrates a tool for evaluating the influence of shade on plant health and turf quality at the Bayer Environmental Science research and training center. A nearby computer displays precisely how the grass directly below the transparent tool reacts to the light from the lamp. Photo by Bunny Smith |
Mark 2007 as the year Bayer Environmental Science pulled back the curtain to reveal a new laboratory at its 281-acre research facility in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and a collaboration with North Carolina State University’s Center for Turfgrass Environmental Research & Education. The Plant Health Initiative, as Bayer calls it, involves developing new methods of measuring plant health and stress, conducting practical demonstrations and developing new generations of products containing “plant health promoters.”
As far back as 1995, when Bayer introduced Chipco Signature fungicide containing StressGard, the company was investigating with researchers at Rutgers, Purdue and Clemson how its products could increase the vigor of turf under heat and water stress as opposed to simply eliminating pests or disease. Bringing the team of turf scientists at NC State into the equation in 2005 was “the most important piece,” according to Nick Hamon, Ph.D., director of development and technical services for Bayer.
Now, Hamon says, Bayer is ready to talk about the research it’s been doing “behind the scenes.”
“There’s plenty of scientific evidence that products such as Signature and Tartan, both containing StressGard technology, are having a major impact on how plants survive stressful conditions,” he adds. “It surprised us, to be honest.”
Hamon defines plant health as the impact of biotic stress (disease, insects and weeds) and abiotic stress (heat, drought, nutrition) on growth and development. Superintendents are accustomed to gauging the health of their turf by eyeballing it and rating it on a numerical scale, but these scientists are using new and emerging technologies to get the precise data they need. In NC State’s Phytotron, for example, researchers can conduct tests in a specialized hydroponic/growth chamber capable of taking turf to extremes of temperature and other stresses. At the Bayer Development and Training Center, reflectance imagery and measurements of photosynthetic efficiency using digital imaging are taking over for the human eye to more accurately measure and evaluate the effects of heat and drought stress.
Does the Plant Health Initiative bring Bayer’s $700 million/year research and development of agrochemicals to a grinding halt? Absolutely not, says Hamon.
“This is how Bayer innovates — continuous improvement of existing products as well as bringing new chemistry to the market,” he explains, adding, “(Superintendents) are very well educated. We have to provide quality. This is one of the few businesses left where our customers appreciate and understand creativity and
innovation.”
Arysta LifeScience Corp. has been acquired by international investment company Industrial Equity Investments Ltd., an Irish company. The acquisition was made possible from funds advised by Olympus Capital Holdings Asia and its co-investors, according to a release from the company. Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory review and approvals and is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2008. Chris Richards, chief executive officer of Arysta LifeScience, said Industrial Equity shares its vision and ambition to further accelerate its growth plans in the future. Arysta LifeScience, a global agrochemical company, markets more than 150 products in more than 125 countries with about 2,500 employees. It was founded in 2001. Within the same month, Arysta LifeScience announced that financial growth is prompting an increase in its sales, marketing and communications staff of its turf and ornamental unit in order to better serve expanding market opportunities and customer needs. |
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