News

BASF acquires Becker Underwood

BASF plans to acquire Becker Underwood for a price of $1.02 billion, a move that strengthens the German chemical company’s position in biological seed treatments. The purchase is expected to close by the end of 2012.

Becker Underwood will be integrated into a new functional crop care unit that will operate within BASF’s crop protection division, developing new plant health, nutrient management and water management products.

Lawn & Landscape editor and associate publisher Chuck Bowen spoke with Nevin McDougall, senior vice president of BASF’s Crop Protection Group in North America to learn more about what this acquisition means for the company and the green industry.

Q: What motivated this purchase?
I think the top line of the story here is addressing the changing needs of our customers and broadening our portfolio to have broader range of solutions to address the changing needs of the marketplace. Whether that’s the row crop market, the turf industry, landscaping, ornamentals – clearly our customers, our end users have a lot of changing needs. Not only traditional pest control management, but nitrogen management and water management, and we felt the acquisition of Becker Underwood made a very nice complement for our existing activities.

Q: Can you tell me why you’re moving away from a focus on plant nutrition to a focus on plant health?
From past years of experience we’ve had in plant health, we see a growing opportunity to provide additional productivity or efficiency for our customers through products that provide more than traditional disease or insect control. The acquisition of Becker Underwood allows us to tap into other technologies such as biologicals that may have other plant health effects that we can then commercialize and bring to a global market. We see plant health as a fundamental growth driver in the future. We’ve been fortunate to have invested in that area, and this acquisition further strengthens that growth opportunity.

For more: www.basf.com

Want to know more? Read the full interview online at http://bit.ly/NM-BASF

News Notes

USDA continues battling ALB
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced an expansion of the Asian longhorn beetle (ALB) regulated area in Clermont County, Ohio. The regulated area has increased from 56.2 to 61 square miles.

To bolster the eradication effort, the USDA will provide $15 million to Ohio to fight the pest. This is on top of the $2 million the Ohio General Assembly agreed to provide in support of the program, earlier this year. Unlike programs in New Jersey and New York, where ALB was found in more urban areas and eradication appears to be moving ahead successfully, Ohio has the additional challenge of dealing with this invasive and destructive pest in its forests.

For more: www.beetlebusters.info

Steam used to fight P. ramorum
Researchers at Dominican University in San Rafael have been using steam to combat Phytophthora ramorum, a pathogen that causes sudden oak death.

For years, steam has been used to sterilize soil in greenhouses, but this is the first time it has been deployed on open fields of infected nursery plants. The technique involves piping steam through a hose underneath a tarp covering the infected plot. The researchers found that subjecting high-clay-content soil to at least 50° Celsius (122° Fahrenheit) for 30 minutes eradicated the deadly microbe.

The only other effective treatment for the disease that scientists know of is an expensive phosphite compound designed mainly for treating infected trees in people’s yards. The steam treatment could potentially be used to sterilize entire nurseries, pinching off the virulent killer at one of its sources, researchers said.

Bailey Nurseries partners with PII
Bailey Nurseries is partnering with Plant Introductions Inc. (PII) to bring new plants into the national marketplace. The partnership will bring all PII varieties into Bailey’s First Editions brand.

Nearly a dozen new PII varieties will join the First Editions brand in 2013.

For more: www.FirstEditionsPlants.com; www.plantintroductions.com

Syngenta to acquire DuPont’s insecticide busines
Syngenta has announced that it will acquire the DuPont Professional Products insecticide business. As part of the $125 million deal, Syngenta will obtain the pest control brands Advion and Acelepryn and other intellectual property. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The acquisition comes a year after DuPont’s Imprelis herbicide was linked to widespread damage to non-target plants.

EAB found in Kansas
The USDA has confirmed that emerald ash borer is now in Kansas.

The presence was confirmed in Wyandotte County on August 29. Kansas implemented an emergency intrastate quarantine for Wyandotte County to prevent further spread of the pest.

For more on the quarantine: www.ksda.gov/plant_protection/content/379

For more on EAB: www.emeraldashborer.info