b'In 1980 Coles joined the family company, working in seed production, processing, marketing and sales. While there, he completed a masters in business administration where he stud-ied how the industry can use intellectual property to support investment decisions. After getting his MBA, he founded a new wheat breeding company. He was part of the first seed company in Australia to bring in breeding materials from Europe and U.S. The endeavor attracted numerous partners and led to a large and productive new breeding program. Eventually, Coles also took over his fathers position as man-aging director of the family business. My father had a keen ambition to do something innovative in the seed sector, and I learned from him that long-term com-mitments in this sector are essentialand also to be bold and not to be afraid to innovate, Coles says.The Evolution of the Seed IndustryInnovation isnt unique to just Coles and his family, however. The seed industry has evolved and changed, almost daily, since he decided to get involved.There are so many different areas that demand your attention and therefore it is the perfect industry for a young person who wishes to test their ability to learn across all these disparate activities, he says. It also enables a person to move from one disci-pline to another as they progress in their career. For all these reasons, it drew me in and continues to fascinate me, even after more than 50 years.Throughout his career, he watched the seed sector move from a largely commod-ity business where publicly-funded plant breeding played a central role, to a private investment model where royalties enable equitable remuneration. In addition, expanded breeding techniques and tech-nology has enabled significant consumer and environmental benefits in plants. Coles was encouraged to serve on the boards of various Australian seed associa-tions, starting as treasurer and secretary of the Seed Merchants Association in 1985 and finishing as president of the Australian Seed Federation in 2018. Today he serves as International Seed Federation (ISF)president and he is in his second term. 14/ SEEDWORLD.COMINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2021'