Driving the Seed Industry to New Heights

We celebrated our second annual Latham Freedom of Independence Ride on August 30, where farmers rode to test plots throughout central Iowa and learned about seed technologies that are helping drive our industry to new heights of crop protection and yield.

Click any of the products or seed technologies below for a brief recap of the field presentations on August 30.

Genuity® SmartStax™ corn hybrids – Genuity SmartStax offer the broadest spectrum of above- and below-ground protection insect protection, combining multiple modes of action for effective control of pests like corn earworm, western bean cutworm and more.

Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® Soybeans – Farmers can enjoy the same flexibility, dependability and crop safety that they have enjoyed for decades with the Roundup Ready soybeans system, but this next generation of Roundup Ready provides more bushels per acre.

LibertyLink® Corn and Soybeans – LibertyLink combines crop safety with built-in tolerance to fast-acting Ignite herbicide, which controls more than 120 broadleaf weeds and grasses including ALS- and glyphosate-resistant weeds.

Agrisure® 3111 GT – The Agrisure Viptera 3111 trait stack offers the broadest available spectrum of above- and below-ground insect control, protecting against quality-robbing insects including corn borer and corn rootworm.

Below is a video of the second annual Freedom of Independence Ride. Can you tell why we’re already looking forward to next year’s ride?

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A Salute to National Mushroom Month

September is National Mushroom Month, a month-long celebration surrounding America’s favorite edible fungus. So what better way to celebrate then to try out a new mushroom recipe? I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen and it looked like the perfect weekend dinner. Pork chops, mushrooms, red wine and butter… need I say more? I haven’t had the chance to try it yet, but I’m looking forward to taste-testing this Sunday.

What’s your favorite mushroom recipe?

Pork Chops and Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy

  • 6 whole Thin Cut, Boneless Pork Chops
  • 1 can (10 3/4 Ounces) Campbell’s Condensed Cream Of Mushroom Soup
  • ½ cups Beef Broth
  • ¼ cups Red Wine
  • 1 teaspoon Sage
  • 8 whole Mushrooms; White Or Baby Portabella
  • 1 teaspoon Minced Garlic
  • 6 whole Red New Potatoes
  • Salt And Pepper, to taste
  • 1 cup Flour
  • 2 Tablespoons Butter, Divided
  • 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Pre-heat oven to 375.

In a small pot, combine Cream of Mushroom soup, beef broth, wine, and sage. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. (At this step you can add 1/2 a teaspoon of red pepper flakes to really amp up the heat). Heat on medium-low, stirring occasionally.

In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of butter on medium-high heat. Slice mushrooms. Once butter is melted, add mushrooms and garlic to the skillet. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned, remove mushrooms from skillet and set aside.

Return skillet to heat. Add second tablespoon of butter and olive oil. While that heats, rinse and dry pork chops. Coat with flour. Liberally pepper. Add to skillet. Cook pork chops approximately 30 seconds to one minute on each side, until lightly browned. Remove pork chops from skillet and place into a 9×13 baking dish.

Clean potatoes and cut into bite size pieces. Cut into quarters, and then slice the quarters into four pieces. Add potatoes to the 9×13 pan (*Special note: to cut cook time, you can microwave the potatoes for 1 minute before cutting them. Make sure to poke holes with a fork in each potato in order to avoid explosion).

Add mushrooms on top of the potatoes and then cover everything with the soup-mixture.

Bake in the oven until potatoes are cooked through–approximately 30-40 minutes.

Mushroom Fun Facts

  • According to consumer studies, mushrooms are among the three most popular vegetables in the United States along with tomatoes and broccoli.
  • There are nine varieties of mushrooms- the white button, crimini, portabella, maitake, shiitake, enoki, oyster, beech, and wild. The white button is the most popular and widely grown here in the United States.
  • What has more potassium than a banana? A Portabella mushroom.
  • Mushrooms are low in calories, fat-free, cholesterol-free and very low in sodium, yet they provide several nutrients, including selenium, potassium, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin D and more.
  • Ancient Egyptians believed mushrooms were the plant of immortality, according to the hieroglyphics of 4,600 years ago.

http://mushroominfo.com/

Have a Safe and Prosperous Harvest – National Farm Safety Week

This week marks National Farm Safety week, and with harvest well underway, we wanted to remind everyone to stay safe this fall. Farming ranks behind mining as the second-highest industry incurring disabling and fatal accidents annually, and no one knows better than a farmer just how dangerous the job can be. The National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) provides educational brochures offering safety tips for everything from how to keep a child safe on the farm, to safe use of harvesting equipment. Click the link below for their full list of safety brochures. http://www.necasag.org/safety_brochures.php

In addition to reminding farmers to stay safe, we encourage those driving to allow extra space and time for slow moving farm equipment on the roadways. We’d also like to remind motorists to be extra careful when passing farm equipment on roadways and bridges.

Thank you, farmers, for all that you do every day! Today’s American farmer feeds 155 people worldwide, and Latham Hi-Tech Seeds is proud to help American farmers feed and fuel the world. We wish everyone a safe and plentiful harvest!