Nitragin, Inc. has bolstered its already strong peanut industry expertise with the appointment of Dr. Ron Henning as the company's Peanut Product Specialist. With more than 40 years of distinguished service in public, private and commercial research and development, Dr. Henning is a well-known and respected leader in the United States peanut industry. He will be Nitragin's primary liaison with growers, academia and associations on existing and new products, working from an office in Reydon, Okla.

"Nitragin is focused on helping peanut growers get a better return on their investment, so we couldn't be happier to have Dr. Henning on our team" says Allan Basnight, National Sales Manager. "We are very pleased that an individual of Dr. Henning's stature, with such a strong commitment to the industry, will be helping our customers and business partners meet their objectives."

Dr. Henning began his service to the peanut industry in 1961 as a County Extension Agent and completed his Ph.D. at the University of Georgia, where he served as State Peanut Agronomist from 1978 to 1985. He then began a new career in commercial research and development, including a position as Vice President, Science and Technology, with the National Peanut Council. Most recently, he was a private consultant to peanut producer and commercial clients. Dr. Henning led a 1995 task force writing "Industry Good Management Practices" for the American Peanut Council and served as co-task force leader when the resource was revised in 2002.

Dr. Henning has received numerous awards and recognitions, including a Distinguished Service Award from the Georgia Peanut Commission, the T. Hayden Rogers Distinguished Service Award from the University of Georgia, Golden Peanut and Fellows Awards from the American Peanut Education and Research Society, and Man of the Year in Service to Georgia Agriculture from Progressive Farmer magazine.

A significant portion of Dr. Henning's work with Nitragin will focus on the launch of new Optimize^® LIFT^® LCO Promoter Technology^®.  This innovative product is more than an inoculant. It's a natural biological compound that works directly with growing peanut plants to improve early season vigor. The LCO Promoter Technology enables the productive rhizobia population in the LIFT inoculant carrier to begin nodulation almost immediately, even when conditions are wet, dry, hot or cold.

As a private consultant, Dr. Henning conducted a number of field trials with Optimize LIFT. His work showed that in addition to other benefits, peanuts treated with the new product matured earlier than untreated plants. The result is peanuts can be dug earlier to reduce the chance of temperature related damage. Earlier maturity is also an effective way to help manage harvest, especially when multiple crops with the same harvest window are grown.

About Nitragin
Nitragin, Inc. is an affiliate of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany. Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company with sales of €7.3 billion in 2003. The company employs more than 28,000 employees in 56 countries.

For more information, contact:
Dave Fox
Nitragin, Inc.
(262) 957-2005