Friday

Shane posts on Aug 31:

Well, folks, that's a wrap -- until next year. Right now we're so busy with take down, I don't have a lot of time to say much, but I heard that over 8,000 farmers from the U.S. and other 20 countries visited our technology showcase tour. That's just amazing. Here are a few shots that capture some of the activity:

This says it all.


Cotton in Illinois


Farmers on the tour


Robb Fraley leads the media tour


DEKALB WingWear fashion show


Flex fuels truck


Asgrow booth


Inside the tent


Roundup RReady2Yield booth


Vistive booth

Thursday

Pre-tour Aug 22

Shane posts on Aug. 22

Today some dealers were taken on a pre-tour of the Technology Showcase plot. Now it's looking pretty much like we want it to look for the show next week.




Inside the air-conditioned tent, visitors will get to see some of the technology we use at our labs, such as the soy chipper and soy seed sorter. Monsanto uses these machines to sort and analyze millions of seeds per year, looking for key traits.

Prepping for the Show

Shane posts Aug 17:

These pictures are showing the removal of all fill rows. These fill rows were left in the field until today to allow for proper development of the highlighted technology plots. We shredded and buried the plant material from fill rows. Since this is all regulated material it must be destroyed and buried within the plot area.





The Big Tent

Shane posts on Aug. 16:

Larry took these pictures of the big tent being constructed.



Wednesday

Bird's Eye View

Shane posts on Aug. 15:

These pictures were taken from the media platform located in the SW corner of the plot area. We are currently working on the installation of the white exterior fence. This Friday we will remove the remaining fill rows from all corn and soybean plots and make final insecticide/herbicide applications.



Tuesday

Susceptible Soy Plants Final Days

Larry observes on Aug. 13:
Crispy critters.

Monday

Dicamba Tolerant Soy Doing Well

Shane posts on Aug. 10:

Here you can see that the tolerant soybeans continue to grow and stay green. This photo was taken today, Aug. 10.

Thursday

High-pressure Insect Tent

Shane posts on Aug. 8:

The crew in front of the high-pressure insect tent is from the Monmouth Agronomy Center. After the tent was erected we infested all treatments with: western corn rootworm, european corn borer, western bean cutworm, fall armyworm, and corn earworm.

Corn Insect Infestation

Larry posts on Aug. 8:

Here are a couple images of Aaron infesting corn with fall armyworms. This corn was later placed under the insect stress screen.


Wednesday

Cotton in Illinios

Shane posts on Aug. 7:

Cotton growing in Illinios is not something you see everyday. Here you see Bollgard II Roundup Ready Flex Cotton in the forefront with the high-pressure insect tent and drought tent in the background.

Dicamba Die Down Continues

Shane posts on Aug. 6:

Here are a couple of nice pictures of the dicamba tolerant soybeans and susceptible soybeans which were sprayed with 3 pints per acre of Dicamba. This is 3 times the recommended rate (for corn -- there is no recommended rate yet for soybeans), but we do it this way at the plot so that the tolerance shows up a little quicker and more dramatically.

Whereas a couple days ago the susceptible beans had started to wilt, by now they are turning yellow and looking pretty bad compared to the tolerant beans.

Monday

Pre-show Tour Run Thru

Shane posts on Aug. 3:

Earlier in the week we got a chance to bring over 100 local farmers through the plot, as it is officialy called, the "Road to Success" Technology Showcase. It was a big deal to see all the work come together and generate some excitment among the growers here in Illinois. Not to mention the excitement among those of us who've put in so much work over the last few months. The run-thru is also a good chance for us to hear what growers thought of the way we presented our new technologies so we can make the tour as interesting and worthwhile as we can for all the people coming from all over the world.


These small groups got a very personalized tour. The real thing will bring through about 60 people at a time.


After the event, everyone gathered to compare notes about what went well and where we still have work to do.

Dicamba After One Day

Shane posts on Aug. 2:

Only one day after treatment and you can already begin to see quite easily which plants have the resistant trait.

Dicamba Spray

Shane posts August 1:
Here is Dan spraying the dicamba-tolerant soybeans with dicamba herbicide. He had to work carefully to ensure that the spray didn't drift to other rows in this tightly planted test plot. Shortly, we should see that the plants with the dicamba-tolerant trait continue to thrive while those without it die off rather dramatically.

Thursday

SHOWCASE REVIEW

Tyne (Monsanto summer intern) posts on July 30:

Here is a wrap-up of some of the activities that have taken place out at the Technology Showcase plot from early summer until now.


* * * * * * * *

The Monsanto plot is located along Second Progress St. Each street is named on the Farm Progress ground to help give directions to attendees in August.


An outside view of the 2007 “Road to Success” technology showcase.


One of the security officers opens the gates to the plot. The plot is surrounded by security fences to ensure the safety of the crops and plot. Monsanto security officers are on duty at all times on the Farm Progress grounds.


Soybeans, as well as different varieties of corn and cotton, begin to top the ground’s surface at the 2001 Monsanto technology showcase in Illinois.


Larry is one of the agronomists working for Monsanto in monitoring the Farm Progress plot. Weller is a retired agronomist and travels to the site daily to check the crops.


Cotton is one of three crops that will be showcased at this year’s “Road to Success” Technology Showcase. A lot of farmers from the Midwest express surprise to see cotton plants growing here.


Chris Peterson, Monsanto Corn Traits Lead, participates in a pre-show interview with Dave Brown of WAND-TV Decatur. Peterson revealed some highlights of this year’s show in an effort to generate excitement among Illinois residents living around the Decatur area.


This tent is located on the south end of the plot and will be used to create drought-like conditions for the corn crop that has drought-resistant traits.


The stress mitigation tent is located on the north side of the plot and covers several rows of corn showing how Monsanto technology can withstand tough weather conditions.

The Rains Finally Come

Shane posts on July 21:

Well, we finally got the rain we had been waiting for. Unfortunately the rains were followed by some pretty heavy winds. There was some damage to a few of the corn stalks, but we managed to get them propped up right away and they are all going to be fine. Larry took some beautiful photos just before the storm.





It almost looks like a funnel cloud is trying to form here. Thank goodness it didn't.