MARKETING NEWS.

Wilbur-Ellis Co. has completed the purchase of the Knox McDaniel Co.'s vitamin and premix products business located in Ogden, Utah. Knox McDaniel will continue to be managed by Jeff McDaniel. The Ogden location will be a business unit of the Northwest Feed Division. Wilbur-Ellis specializes in the marketing, distribution and formulation of crop protection products, fertilizers and animal feedstuffs.

CNH Global, Racine, Wis., has reached an agreement in principle with Vansco Electronics Ltd., Winnipeg, Manitoba, to sell its Valley City, N.D., plant. The facility will continue to provide quality electronic components for Case IH equipment and other products within the CNH family of brands.

A federal judge in St. Louis has ruled that a license held by DuPont to sell seeds containing Monsanto's Roundup herbicide-tolerant technology was terminated by the 1999 merger between DuPont and Pioneer Hi-Bred International. The ruling holds that all sales of Roundup Ready soybean and Roundup Ready canola seed by Pioneer since the merger were unauthorized, thereby exposing DuPont to a significant claim by Monsanto for patent infringement or misappropriation of trade secrets. Pioneer plans to appeal the decision.

Iowa Agricultural Finance Corp., Des Moines, Iowa, announces the investment of $3 million by the tecTerra Food Capital Fund in StaufferSeeds, Inc., and its ValuePlus line of identity-preserved seed corn to produce recombinant proteins. Cash from StaufferSeeds' operations and other private capital will be pooled and invested in Prodigene, Inc., a Texas-based plant transformation company. Prodigene is the only company to have commercialized proteins from transgenic plants for biopharmaceutical and industrial markets.

The IAFC is a farmer-owned investor in Iowa-based value-added agriculture businesses. It created the tecTerra Food Capital Fund to invest in value-added processing and biotechnology businesses.

Lindsay Manufacturing Co., Omaha, Neb., has acquired Perrot SA, la Chapelle d'Aligne, France. Perrot SA is a leading manufacturer of mechanized irrigation systems, specializing in hard hose traveler, center pivot and lateral move systems. "Lindsay Manufacturing is a global company, and the addition of Perrot SA gives us a manufacturing presence in Europe that allows us to expand our agricultural and commercial product line in both the international and U.S. irrigation markets," says Lindsay president and CEO Rick Parod. Perrot SA will operate as a subsidiary of Lindsay Manufacturing.

Land O'Lakes, Arden Hills, Minn., has completed the purchase of the Kraft Foods, Inc., cheese plant in Melrose, Minn. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The plant will be owned and operated by Melrose Dairy Proteins LLC, a joint venture of Land O'Lakes and Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. The two cooperatives will each hold 50 percent ownership in Melrose Dairy Proteins LLC, while current plant operations, staffing and service to existing customers and producers will continue. Plans are to further upgrade plant technology and tailor ongoing production to market needs. Land O'Lakes has been a long-term supplier of raw milk to the Melrose facility. DFA has significant milk supply in the region.

To assist in the growing global efforts in fighting the spread of foot and mouth disease, Antec International and DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise have announced that additional supplies of the disinfectant Virkon S are now in use in more than 100 nations -- including supporting preventive measures by the United States Department of Agriculture. United Kingdom-based Antec manufactures Virkon S, the premier disinfectant approved by the UK's Ministry of Agriculture and a number of regulatory agencies in helping to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease. Virkon S is the only product registered in the United States that can be used to control foot and mouth disease. DuPont supplies Antec with Oxone monopersulfate compound, a key ingredient in Virkon S.

DuPont and Antec have previously joined efforts in fighting outbreaks of foot and mouth disease internationally, including last year's outbreaks in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and South Africa and the 1997 outbreak in Taiwan.