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12 POTATO GROWER | MAY 2019 Around the Vine News From the Industry Valmont Industries and Prospera Technologies have announced a new global partnership to provide growers with autonomous crop management solutions. This exclusive global partnership integrates artificial intelligence technologies with center pivot irrigation. Valley Irrigation leads the industry with more than 60,000 connected devices globally and carries distribution strength through the industry's largest network of more than 500 dealers worldwide. The intelligence shared between these connected devices and the pivot, along with the integration of data science, machine-learning and AI, enables the two companies to develop real-time crop diagnoses and irrigation recommendations, resulting in greater returns for the grower. Autonomous crop management will result in a self-learning machine, using inputs from the field and the grower to deliver proper water, fertigation and chemigation. Launching in the spring of 2019, Anomaly Detection is a fundamental building block for growers entering into AI functionality. It will be available from Valley for all brands of pivots. Valmont, Prospera Partner to Create Autonomous Solution Wilbur-Ellis Acquires Wiles Brothers Fertilizer Wilbur-Ellis Company LLC, a recognized leader in precision agriculture technology and the distribution and marketing of plant protection, seed and nutritional products, has acquired the assets of Wiles Brothers Fertilizer, Inc., a top independent agriculture retailer in Nebraska. Family-owned and -operated since 1976, Wiles Brothers Fertilizer has been a successful, independent ag retailer, providing its customers with fertilizer, crop protection, seed products and application services. This purchase expands the Wilbur-Ellis footprint into the highly productive crop areas of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. The Wiles Brothers business and location will serve as a major platform from which Wilbur-Ellis can test and launch a collection of agronomic advisory services and cutting-edge technologies. As of Feb. 13, Wiles Brothers Fertilizer employees and assets became part of Wilbur-Ellis Company. Nick Waters has assumed responsibilities as branch manager and can be reached at (402) 298-8550 or at NWaters@wilburellis.com. to immediate availability of NPK plus micronutrients for your potato pop-up or starter applications of TILL-IT ® GREEN-ZONE ® . TILL-IT GREEN-ZONE for a quick, healthy start where it is needed most. GREEN-ZONE ® GET IN THE ZONE Bayer Continues Bee Health Research Bayer and Project Apis m. announce additional funding for Healthy Hives 2020, an initiative dedicated to improving honey bee health, raising Bayer's total investment in the program to $1.3 million. Additionally, the two organizations have released an educational booklet, Research for Tangible Bee-Health Solutions, to coincide with the three-year anniversary of the program's first request for proposals. The digital booklet features profiles of all current Healthy Hives 2020 research projects. All grants are reviewed by a steering committee comprised of representatives from across the academic, regulatory and commercial sectors of the bee industry. Healthy Hives 2020 is one of several Project Apis m. initiatives. For more information on these programs, please visit www.projectapism.org. Healthy Hives 2020 is an initiative sponsored by Bayer's Bee Care Program, continuing its nearly 30 years of supporting bee health. For more information on Bayer's bee health initiatives, visit www.beehealth.bayer.us. Corteva, ZeaKal Announce R&D Collaboration Corteva Agriscience, the agriculture division of DowDuPont, and ZeaKal, a plant science innovator focused on improving agricultural productivity, have entered into a strategic research and development collaboration. Together, they will advance ZeaKal's innovative technology to help improve seed quality and increase crop yield by enhancing the photosynthetic capacity and efficiency of plants. ZeaKal and Corteva will work together to develop and test ZeaKal's proprietary PhotoSeed technology, which uses a novel mechanism for increasing a plant's intrinsic photosynthetic capacity. PhotoSeed plants can harvest more sunlight and fix more carbon dioxide, which allows for significant improvement in seed and grain yield. PhotoSeed also improves seed composition quality by increasing both oil and protein content. As part of the alliance, Corteva Agriscience will take a minority equity stake in ZeaKal.