At the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA)’s Annual Vegetable and Flower Seed Conference in Orlando, Florida, Steve Wiley, general manager and COO of American Takii, and Mike Huggett, national sales manager of flowers of American Takii, sit down with Julie Deering. They talk about major issues they face, including transportation and trade with Mexico, and how to increase their R&D focus. American Takii wants to stay relevant to compete with the bigger companies, so they’re beginning to get more relationships with universities and developing marker assistant breeding. As for sustainability, they’re breeding varieties that are more heat-tolerant, drought-tolerant and disease-tolerant.
