Mark Herrmann with Monsanto’s vegetable seed division is the new second vice chair of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) after elections held during the annual meeting last week in Indianapolis. “The seed industry has been an exciting place to be for the last 30 years,” said Herrmann, who has been involved with ASTA for about 20 of those 30 …
Dairy in the Food Dialogue
The CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association, Connie Tipton (pictured on right), took part in the USFRA Food Dialogues in Chicago. The topic was Integrity in Food Marketing and as with other panelists I asked her what this means to her personally. Connie says, “You know every company has to figure out how to position their product but to …
Soy Biobased About Customer Focus
The United Soybean Board is focused on the customers who use soy products – whether feed or food, fuel or new products – and that is what the USB Biobased Products Stakeholders’ Dialogue in Washington DC this week is all about. “Everything’s about the customer,” said USB director John Motter of Ohio, who is chairman of the checkoff group’s Customer …
Past and Present USDA Deputies at USB Event
The current and former Deputy Secretaries of Agriculture were together on Tuesday in Washington DC at the United Soybean Board Biobased Products Stakeholders Dialogue. It is being held at George Washington University where Kathleen Merrigan now serves as Director of Sustainability and she was pleased to host her successor Krysta Harden as keynote speaker at the event. Both Harden and …
High Standards Required for Food Marketing
Recent Food Dialogues panelist Clarke Caywood (left), Professor, Integrated Marketing Communications Dept., Northwestern University, has some interesting perspectives when it comes to the topic of “Integrity in Food Marketing. I visited with Clarke prior to the start of last week’s program and asked him what that subject means to him. He says it has a lot of legal as well …
Secretary Vilsack Talks T-TIP in Europe
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is in Brussels today starting a week-long trip to Europe to meet with European agricultural and trade officials and other industry stakeholders. In addition to Brussels, Vilsack will visit with officials in Luxembourg, Paris, and Dublin. While overseas, Vilsack will discuss the expansion of agricultural trade, the importance of agriculture’s role in the U.S.-European Union (EU) …
BASF Panel on Future of Food and Agriculture
The Future of Food and Agriculture was the focus of a panel at the BASF Ag Media Summit last week in North Carolina, moderated by one and only Max Armstrong. Members of the panel included (left to right): Brazilian farmer Aurelio Pavinato, celebrity chef Cat Cora, North Carolina producer Bo Stone, Futurist.com founder Dr. Glen Heimstra, and University of California …
FuSE Celebrates 10 Years of Training Young Seed Execs
During the 131st American Seed Trade Association’s Annual Convention in Indianapolis, IN. the Future Seed Executives (FuSE) held a joint FuSE/Management Skills committee meeting focused on the Power of Inclusive Leadership. I spoke with FuSE founder and Vice President, Business Development for Gro Alliance, Jim Schweigert, and he shared what lead him to start this group for young professionals in …
ASTA First Vice Chair from Oregon
We’ve talked with American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) first vice chair Risa DeMasi a couple of times before – a year ago when she was elected as the first woman officer of ASTA and again in December at the Seed Expo when we learned more about her company Grassland Oregon, which is very involved in the development of new cover …
BASF and Functional Crop Care
Functional Crop Care is the newest division of the BASF agricultural business, broadening what it means for the company to protect crops and help farmers get the most out of every acre. BASF Functional Crop Care Senior VP Dr. Jürgen Huff says the division addresses additional needs beyond conventional crop protection. “Functional Crop Care consists of three segments: soil management, …