International Seed Federation President on Issues

Cindy Zimmerman

Tim Johnson of Illinois Foundation Seeds is currently serving aS president of the International Seed Federation (ISF).

“The International Seed Federation has 80 countries that are involved,” Tim said. “What we do is promote movement of seed, protection of intellectual property (IP) rights, and support of companies moving seed globally.”

IP was a big focus during a Chinese-American seed symposium that took place prior to the start of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) CSS 2012 and Seed Expo in Chicago this week, and Tim says it’s an important global issue when it comes to seed trade. “It’s really important that there’s good intellectual property right laws in countries so that companies will not only invest in those countries but move their technologies, products, germplasm, into (them),” he said. “So we want to promote that in China and help them understand.”

Tim also talked about the signing of the MOU with China and The Accord in this interview: Interview with Tim Johnson


ASTA-CSS Photo Album

ASTA, Audio, International, Seed

MOU Importance for China and US Seed Companies

Cindy Zimmerman

American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Chairman Blake Curtis calls the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the US and China seed organizations Monday “monumental.”

“Everything has to start somewhere and this is a great start,” said Blake, with Curtis and Curtis Seed Company of New Mexico. “China is a very aggressive force in our world today and we’re excited about the things they’ll be able to develop using the ideas we bring to the table.”

Listen to interview with Blake here: ASTA Chairman Blake Curtis

Zhang Shihuang with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences says the MOU means new opportunities for his country. “Most of the seed companies in China are very young compared with American seed industry,” he said. “Next year we want to send groups of young scientists to visit American seed companies and we can also send young managers of companies to be trained in America.”

Zhang also notes that seed companies in China are very small so they are very excited about working with the smaller U.S. seed companies, in addition to the powerhouses like Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer. “We want to invite American seed companies to go to China and invest in joint ventures,” he said.

Listen to interview with Zhang here: Zhang Shihuang of China


ASTA-CSS Photo Album

ASTA, Audio, Corn, International, Seed

President of the NAAA Optimistic for Future

Chuck Zimmerman

The 2012 President of the National Agricultural Aviation Association is Mark Hartz. Mark is a 30 year ag pilot from Arkansas. He has a two plane operation with a partner.

Mark is very happy with the convention, attendance and the city of Savannah for being great hosts for the NAAA. When it comes to industry challenges Mark says they are always there but right now they have a major one hanging over their heads in the NPDES permits. In my interview with Mark you’ll hear him express his optimism for the future of ag aviation and offer some encouraging words to future ag aviators.

You can listen to my interview with Mark here: Interview with Mark Hartz

2012 NAAA Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, NAAA

Ag Aviators Dealing with Duplicate Regulations

Chuck Zimmerman

Dealing with EPA’s NPDES and state pesticide general permits. Sounds daunting doesn’t it? Well it is for agricultural aviators. It is government regulation that duplicates already existing regulation and is something that the NAAA has been working on in Washington, DC all year and it looks like will have to continue to do so.

To provide NAAA members with an overview and update, Dr. John Thorne, Bergeson & Campbell, PC, spoke on the subject this morning at the NAAA convention. His job was to explain the regulations and help attendees protect themselves to the fullest extent possible. He offered guidance on what ag aviators need to do to stay in compliance and avoid subjecting themselves to enforcement actions. If you’d like to know more about this issue then give his remarks a listen.

You can listen to John’s remarks here: Remarks by Dr. John Thorne

2012 NAAA Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Crop Protection, NAAA

The Women of the NAAA

Chuck Zimmerman

The current President of the Women of the National Agricultural Aviation Association is Katy Diehl. We visited here in Savannah at the NAAA convention. Kathy is from Garden City, KS and is married to an agricultural aviator and is personally a banker.

The Women of the National Agricultural Aviation Association (WNAAA) is a companion organization to the NAAA. Members are women involved in aerial application — spouses, partners and allied industry members. The main objective of the WNAAA is to promote the positive image of the aerial application industry.

Kathy says the WNAAA is mostly involved with education. That includes the general public and attending conventions like the FFA and Commodity Classic to encourage young people to consider a career in ag aviation.

You can listen to my interview with Kathy here: Interview with Kathy Diehl

2012 NAAA Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, NAAA

NAAA Annual Membership Meeting

Chuck Zimmerman

The annual membership meeting was the start of today’s National Agricultural Aviation Association convention. The meeting started out with a comprehensive report from Andrew Moore, Executive Director. You can listen to some of the points he brought up here from the interview we did yesterday.

One of the things in his report that caught my ear was a member request from last year to engage the media more. You could tell that this is a very sensitive subject. I understand why NAAA would be hesitant to reach out to the media when you consider the antagonistic treatment the industry has received by the media in general. However, thinking you can just shut the door and hope nothing bad happens never works. I encourage NAAA to become active with social media. Encouraging your members to do this is fine but you need to set the example! How about joining in with efforts like USFRA or others in which you can contribute and extend the use of your funds?

I have really enjoyed my interaction with the staff of the NAAA. With this quality of professionals I think the organization is in good hands to trust them to invite more ag media to attend the convention and to reach out to non-farm media to help educate them and open the door to transparency. What do you think?

2012 NAAA Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, NAAA

US and China Seed Groups Sign MOU

Cindy Zimmerman

Leaders from the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) and the China National Seed Association (CNSA) signed an historic Memo of Understanding today to promote cooperation relating to innovation in the seed industry, said ASTA president Andrew W. LaVigne.

“This agreement achieves two extremely important goals,” said LaVigne. “First, it is an important first step in providing new business opportunities for the world’s two largest seed industries; and second, it will ultimately work toward increased farmer productivity.”

The MOU reflects both parties’ desire to promote mutual interests through cooperation, information exchange and training in the areas of intellectual property rights, quality seed, science-based phytosanitary measures, seed movement and innovation in the seed industry on the basis of equality and mutual benefits.

Listen to remarks from ASTA Chairman Blake Curtis and several members at MOU signing: ASTA-China MOU Signing

Listen to Brownfield’s Meghan Grebner interview with Andy LaVigne on MOU:
Andy LaVigne Interview


ASTA-CSS Photo Album


ASTA, Audio, Corn, International, Seed, sorghum, Soybean, Trade, Video

NAAA Convention Overview

Chuck Zimmerman

Here’s Andrew Moore (left), Executive Director, National Agricultural Aviation Association and the opening breakfast keynote speaker Story Musgrave. Story’s story was filled with great anecdotes from his career as an astronaut with agricultural roots. He also had a slide show filled with unbelievable photos from space and different periods of his career.

I spoke with Andrew after watching today’s Fire Boss Water Drop demonstration to get an overview of the convention. Andrew says that the NAAA and the convention grow bigger each year. Attendance is up and so is membership. This year’s program features lots of educational opportunities as well as a big trade show which kicks off tomorrow. But it’s not all work. There continues to be plenty of time to network with others in the industry and just plain relax.

You can listen to my interview with Andrew here: Interview with Andrew Moore

You can find photos from the 2012 NAAA Convention here: 2012 NAAA Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, NAAA

BASF/NAAA Scholarship Winner Kippy Foltyn

Chuck Zimmerman

One of the two 2012 BASF/NAAA Scholarships was awarded to Kippy Foltyn of Lansford, ND. Foltyn attended Ag Flight Pilot Training LLC in Bainbridge, Georgia, and plans to continue his education later this year with plans to become an aerial applicator.

While visiting with him after this morning’s presentation Kippy says he’s been involved with the ag industry for about four years. He wanted to get into agricultural aviation while watching planes as a kid. He says BASF is doing a great job of helping advance the industry.

2012 NAAA Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, Education, NAAA, Video

BASF/NAAA Scholarship Winner Justin Mook

Chuck Zimmerman

This morning BASF and the National Agricultural Aviation Association announced their 2012 scholarship awards. One of those receiving an award is Justin Mook of Wiggins, CO. Mook is currently enrolled in Enrich’s Helicopters Flight School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he is pursuing his commercial pilot’s license. He already has his private license and hopes to begin his agricultural pilot training after completing his current program this winter.

I visited with Justin right after this morning’s breakfast session. He’s been in production agriculture for all of his career so far. He says he’s had a passion for agricultural aviation since he was a kid. The scholarship was a long shot he thought but as he says, “You never know.” Well now we know!

2012 NAAA Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, BASF, Education, NAAA, Video