Lebanon County dairy farmer Daniel Brandt had a shock June 13 when the milk inspector stopped by with some news. According to Brandt, the inspector told him that beginning Oct. 1, Swiss Premium Dairy (formerly Wengert’s) will be requiring all its producers to supply 100 percent of its milk without using rbST. Brandt, of Annville, had already heard that Rutter’s Dairy in York had notified its farmers of similar news. But Brandt said the announcement from Swiss Premium came ”out of the blue.” At a meeting last December, he said, the Dean Foods-owned company told farmers it wouldn’t require them to give up the production-boosting hormone.

Agro-firms Monsanto and Bayer CropSciences have entered into a series of new agreements, which could result in crops that contain two of the leading herbicide technologies - Roundup Ready and LibertyLink. The long-term business and licensing agreements relate specifically to corn and soybean crops, the two largest field crops in terms of acreage in the United States. Bayer CropScience will grant Monsanto a royalty bearing, non-exclusive license for its LibertyLink herbicide tolerance technology for use in these crops, allowing Monsanto to market corn and soybean seeds which contain both its own Roundup Ready and Bayer’s LibertyLink.

Monsanto Co. said Tuesday that it completed its divestitures of the Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Co. and NexGen businesses, which now allows Monsanto to combine the Delta and Pine Land business with its existing operations and policies. Monsanto completed its $1.5 billion acquisition of Delta and Pine Land earlier this month. The deal received conditional approval in May from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which called for Monsanto to divest certain assets, including its Memphis-based Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Co. and its NexGen cotton seed brand.

Congress is now considering a bill that would eliminate bans on genetically modified crops. Four California counties have such bans in place. It used to be organic farmers only worried about pesticides and chemicals. But now they argue that genetically engineered crops threaten the purity of fruits and vegetables and the products they make. It takes organic farmers, like Petaluma-based Spring Hill Jersey Cheese, three years to get approval to call themselves organic.

This is a ”proof of concept” that tree height can be readily controlled by genetic engineering techniques. It opens the door to a wide variety of new products for the ornamental and nursery industries, experts say, if regulatory hurdles can be overcome – a big ”if.” [...] The advances for cereals have been part of the ”Green Revolution,” in which plants such as rice or wheat were created that directed less energy to height growth and more to development of stout stems and plentiful seed. In orchards, semi-dwarf fruit trees produce more fruit that is easier to harvest. The improvements in cereal yields have been credited with preventing the starvation of millions.

”We’re having extraordinary performance in an extraordinary year for agriculture,” said Hugh Grant, Monsanto chairman, president and chief executive officer. ”The performance of our business has set us up for strong growth this year and continues to create momentum for future growth.” ”Our leadership has come from our ability to deliver on our growth projections while maintaining our operational and financial discipline,” said Grant.

A leading U.S. scientist has applied to patent the world’s first man-made life form. Hailed as the biggest, most controversial genetics breakthrough since the cloning of Dolly the sheep, Dr. Craig Venter -- the scientist who led the private-sector race to map the human genome -- says his research team has figured out which genes provide the bare essentials for life. Now he wants the commercial rights to their use. Venter plans to cobble together synthetic versions of these genes to create the world’s first artificial living being.

Scientists have discovered a way to make ordinary cells from mature mice mimic embryopnic stem cells. If the process can be applied to human cells, it would remove ethical objections to stem cell reserach.

The STOP GE Trees Campaign is demanding the USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reject a request by ArborGen to allow a field trial of genetically engineered eucalyptus to flower and produce seeds. The Campaign wants to ensure APHIS destroys the Baldwin County, Alabama field trial before it produces seeds to prevent escape of the GE eucalyptus.

The next big breakthrough in cancer treatment may come a little quicker through a biotech company about to expand into Wilkes County, state and local officials announced Friday. ”AviGenics, an Athens-based biotech company, has gotten a $773,300 OneGeorgia loan to help pay for an egg production facility to be built here in Wilkes County,” said Wilkes County Commission Chairman Sam Moore. ”The process they’ll develop here, if it all works as planned, could help speed up the development of the next treatment for cancer and liver disease.”