Bayer CropScience Donates to ASGA Internship, Scholarships

5/3/2010

For the seventh consecutive year, Bayer CropScience has donated $2,000 to industry internships and scholarship programs in the names of six sugar beet growers. The growers were selected from a drawing sponsored by Bayer CropScience during the American Sugarbeet Growers Association (ASGA) annual meeting in Charleston, S.C., in early February. The winning growers had the opportunity to choose which industry organization they would like to show their support to through the donations made by Bayer CropScience. Each winner also received a Garmin Nuvi® 205 GPS unit, courtesy of Poncho® Beta seed treatment.

     The winning sugarbeet growers were Doug Etten, Dalton, Minn.; Marilyn Horsch, Aberdeen, Idaho; Jayson Keller, Mitchell, Neb.; Perry Meuleman, Rupert, Idaho; Cleo Miller, Nampa, Idaho, and Shawn Strecker, Bighorn, Mont.
     Etten, Horsch and Meuleman requested that $1,000 go to the ASGA Bill Cleavinger Internship Program. This program is named in honor of the late Texas grower who served the industry for more than 30 years on various sugarbeet grower boards and as a president of ASGA.
     Bayer CropScience donated the following amounts to the listed cooperative or association’s scholarship fund: $500 on behalf of Jayson Keller to Western Sugar Cooperative; $250 on behalf of Cleo Miller to the Nyssa-Nampa Beet Growers Association; and $250 on behalf of Shawn Strecker to the Mountain States Beet Growers Association.
     “Honoring U.S. sugarbeet producers at the ASGA annual meeting is a privilege every year,” stated Kerry Grossweiler, Bayer CropScience product manager for seed treatments. “This
     Bayer CropScience donation serves to assist the next generation of leaders in the sugarbeet industry.”
Bayer CropScience also is committed, Grossweiler added, to bringing next-generation technology to beet growers, as the company continues to dedicate resources in research and development to significant innovations in the pipeline for the sugarbeet industry. The most recent product introduction specific to sugarbeets from Bayer CropScience was Poncho Beta seedapplied insecticide in 2009.
     “We are proud to maintain our longterm partnership with sugarbeet growers,” Grossweiler said, “through a portfolio of crop protection offerings, as well as through our involvement with and support of ASGA.”

Left: Three of the ASGA drawing winners are shown here with Bill Striegel (at right), Poncho Beta product development manager with Bayer CropScience. They are, left to right: Jayson Keller of Mitchell, Neb.; Cleo Miller, Nampa, Idaho; and Shawn Strecker, Bighorn, Mont.