82 / SEEDWORLD.COM JUNE 2019 of their honey bee colonies each winter, Grozinger added, and several wild bee species — including the bumble bee Bombus pensylvanicus — are threatened or endangered. These trends are occurring across the United States and around the world. BUSINESS NEWS With a set objective to best serve the needs of Western Canadian farmers and dealers, Maizex Seeds Inc. and Brett-Young Seeds Limited have announced their distribution partnership agreement. Under the agreement, BrettYoung will become the exclusive distributor for the Elite Soybean Brand in Western Canada starting in the 2020 production year. As part of the agreement, all Maizex and Elite soybean varieties will be consolidated and marketed under the Elite brand. BASF is partnering with the Iowa Soybean Research Center at Iowa State University to develop new technology and innovations that will help soybean growers produce high yielding, high quality soybeans. Incotec, a market leader in seed enhancement technology, is proud to announce the official opening of a state-of- the-art Innovation Center, dedicated to providing market focused agriculture products and solutions.. The Innovation Center in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale houses both R&D and Commercial functions. SGS BioVision is pleased to announce that it has successfully met the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) lab accreditation requirements to deliver sampling and testing for a large variety of commercially relevant seeds and coated seeds. ISTA’s vision is to provide uniformity in seed quality evaluation globally. Through this accreditation, SGS BioVision’s lab in Sherwood Park, Alberta will be capable of issuing Canadian seed organizations with ISTA Orange International Certificates or Blue International Certificates based on the requirements of the importing country. Corteva Agriscience signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), outlining principles for collaboration in areas including partnership in technology development, advancing best applications in the field, elevating agronomy skills and building a model for sustainable development in rural areas. Benson Hill Biosystems announced at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit that it has acquired the assets of Schillinger Genetics, also known as eMerge Genetics. The combined entities will employ Benson Hill’s CropOS predictive breeding and gene editing capabilities to accelerate development of an expanded portfolio of more nutritious and sustainable varieties for the growing human food and animal feed markets. Evogene Ltd. announced it has established a new subsidiary – Canonic Ltd – to develop next generation medical cannabis products. Evogene has been evaluating the medical cannabis field for more than a year, including market evaluation, obtaining governmental approvals for its research program and the establishment of a research facility, technology assessment and initial product line planning. California Gold Mining Inc. is pleased to announce that it has entered into a term sheet with Toronto- based alternative credit firm Romspen Investment Corporation, outlining the terms of a secured credit facility to finance the development and operation of the Company’s recently announced high-CBD industrial hemp seed propagation project on its 100%- owned, 3,351-acre, privately-held Fremont property in Mariposa County, California. Cibus announced it has been granted a patent further protecting its proprietary, precision gene-editing technologies when a CRISPR nuclease is used in combination with its Gene Repair Oligonucleotide (GRON) to enable the editing of DNA. PEOPLE NEWS DLF Seeds has closed the transaction to acquire PGG Wrightson’s seeds business and two new executive board members has been appointed. A new organisational setup has been set up to leverage on DLFs global footprint, and the therefore the DLF Management has decided to further strengthen the Executive Management Board by appointing John McKenzie, PGG Wrightson Seeds, New Zealand and Robert Clarck, DLF Pickseed, Canada. S&W Seed Company has announced a key new executive appointment expected to expand global business opportunities for European farmers. Ernst Topitschnig, a senior agribusiness executive with more than 25 years of international experience, has joined the company in the newly created role of Vice President Sales – Europe. Syngenta announced that Louise O. Fresco will join the Board of Directors as an independent non- executive director, effective April 12. Fresco is currently president of Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. Mark Johnson has joined Precision Laboratories as the business manager, Seed Applied Technologies.