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responsible for pricing, sales strategy, production and 
logistics. The move is part of Bayer Crop Science’s 
five-year plan to improve growth, resilience and profit­
ability. Alfonso Alba Ordóñez was appointed CEO, 
while Steve Knodle became executive vice-president 
and head of commercial business.
A University of Illinois study found critically low 
genetic variation for yield in intermediate-maturity 
stiff-stalk corn lines widely used in the U.S. Corn Belt. 
Decades of selecting top-performing parents have 
narrowed diversity, potentially limiting breeders’ ability 
to develop high-yielding hybrids resilient to climate 
change and disease. Researchers say new genetic 
material should be introduced into elite breeding 
pools.
The EPA has granted unconditional registration to a 
new citrus greening treatment developed through 
15 years of research involving Texas A&M AgriLife, 
the University of Florida and industry partners. The 
therapy uses a benign citrus tristeza virus to deliver 
spinach-derived antimicrobial peptides that help trees 
fight the disease without altering their genomes. Silvec 
Biologics expects to make the treatment available to 
Florida citrus growers in late 2026.
The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center received a 
$599,517 NSF grant to create a shared ecosystem for 
plant science image data. The three-year FAIR-FAIR 
project will connect PlantCV, the COPO metadata 
platform and the BioImage Archive, allowing research­
ers to analyze, describe and publicly deposit datasets 
through one workflow. The initiative aims to make 
plant images easier to find and reuse while supporting 
reproducible research and AI development.
An international research team has produced a more 
complete and accurate reference genome for rye, 
resolving errors, repetitive regions and centromeres that 
previous sequences could not fully map. The resource 
will strengthen rye breeding and help researchers 
explore valuable genetic diversity, including chromo­
some segments transferred into wheat to improve 
disease resistance, stress tolerance and yield. It will also 
support development of a rye pan-genome. SW
TSI 2027 Test Locations
TSI 2027 Test Locations

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