The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) launched the Fertilizer Education Foundation at its World Fertilizer Conference in San Francisco this past September. The Education Foundation will disseminate positive information about fertilizers and modern agriculture to the general public and policy makers.

Charter supporting members of the Foundation are Agrium, CF Industries, Cargill, PotashCorp, Royster-Clark, Simplot and Terra.

Also announced at the conference was the donation of Fertile Minds, PotashCorp's industry-acclaimed public education program, to the new foundation. Fertile Minds materials are currently used throughout the world to educate the public about the valuable role of fertilizers.

The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA), St. Louis, MO, held its annual business meeting in Chicago, IL, and elected officers for 2004-2005. The group also filled four board of director vacancies.

New officers are President Duane Mol, Crop Production Services (CPS); Vice President Craig Petermeier, Jacobson Warehouse; Secretary Jim Jenkins, Syngenta; and Treasurer Doug Goff, Helena Chemical Company. John Raines, Monsanto, will serve as past president.

Elected to three-year board of director terms are Don Bradley, Murray Equipment; Jim Nelson, Agri Business Group; Al Strohmaier, Meister Media Worldwide; and Danny Vest, Growmark. Elected to a one-year term is Jim Lehman, BASF.

Bayer CropScience, Research Triangle Park, NC, is establishing a Seed Treatment Business Unit within its U.S. business operations. With its recent purchase of Crompton Corporation's 50% share of Gustafson, based in Plano, TX, Bayer CropScience gained full ownership of Gustafson. Bayer CropScience already held 50% of the joint venture.

The new business unit will be responsible for business strategy, portfolio management and seed company sales. Rick Turner, currently president of Gustafson, will head the new unit. It will be located at the Bayer CropScience Region Americas headquarters in Research Triangle Park. Gustafson's business functions and research and development functions, which are located in Plano and McKinney, TX, respectively, will relocate to North Carolina.

Bayer CropScience has appointed William Buckner to head its U.S. business operations. Buckner succeeds Bernd Naaf, who will become head of the Asia-Pacific Region for Bayer CropScience. In his new position, Buckner will be located at the company's Region Americas business headquarters.

Farms.com, Ames, IA, an information and marketing company for the agriculture and food industries, has acquired the business of AgFreight.com, Clinton, NC, an online freight-matching service for bulk agriculture commodities.

The AgFreight.com Web site has been in operation since 1999 and helps ag truckers find loads to run their operations more efficiently. Shippers of ag commodities, such as grain, feed and fertilizer, can post their loads on the Web site for free, and truckers contact them to arrange for more efficient transportation of their products.

Currently, the AgFreight.com Web site has a large searchable database of load listings. Commodity prices, highway conditions and fuel prices also are listed.

Farms.com says AgFreight.com is a good fit for its business because transportation and logistics are very important in agriculture and the Internet is an excellent way to host and disseminate this information. The company also says it can offer AgFreight.com clients the additional technology and marketing resources required to take the business to the next level.

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