Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 Page 131 Page 132 Page 133 Page 134 Page 135 Page 136 Page 137 Page 138 Page 139 Page 140 Page 141 Page 142 Page 143 Page 144 Page 145 Page 146 Page 147 Page 148Finding Common Ground Seed World: What are you reading? Manjit Misra: “Crucial Conversations” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler. Conversations are instrumental in building relationships because that is when we tell others who we are and find out who they are. SW: Languages you speak? MM: English, Hindi, Oriya, Sanskrit SW: What concerns you most about the seed industry? MM: Acceptance of and access to technology. The nature of the human mind is such that it likes to put societal needs into opposing camps. We have the biotech-versus- organic, food-versus-fuel, local- versus-global, public-versus-private ... I believe that there is a third option. It begins by finding the common ground where each system can gain by the gain of the other. For this to happen, each system must be based on sound science, not emotion or politics. SW: What are you working on? MM: We are working on building capacity in many parts of the world. It is people that count. We have conducted programs in 80 countries on seed sci- ence, technology, systems, policies and seed industry development. The Seed Science Center has been instrumental in helping to build a seed center in Africa at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. We conducted projects on regional seed policy harmonization in many parts of the world. Recently, we have developed an online Seed Technology and Business Management degree program, the only such program in the world combining science and business acumen to generate the future seed industry leaders. SW: What is your No. 1 hobby? MM: Gardening is my top hobby. I love to grow flowers and my wife grows vegeta- bles and herbs. We often work side-by- side. SW: What research happening right now excites you the most? MM: New technology such as gene edit- ing. Genetic improvements will capitalize on this most advanced identification and editing technologies to alter and aug- ment traits in plants and animals without the addition of foreign genes. SW: Why did you choose seed as your specialty? MM: Seeds are so beautiful. They come in all sizes, shapes, texture luster and color. They are such miracle of nature and carry inside the splendor and cycle of life. They are also the product of science and the beginning of agriculture. So, if we want to feed and fuel the world, we must begin with the seed. This is why the Seed Science Center adopted the motto: “To feed the future, we must first seed the future.” Manjit Misra, director of Iowa State University’s Seed Science Center, talks to us about his love for the industry he works in and having important conversations. 110 / SEEDWORLD.COM DECEMBER 2016