b'TOP 10 NEXT GEN LEADERSLUKE KNIGHTGrowing up with a family actively involved in the medical community in rural Alabama, Luke Knight, crop protection territory manager at Corteva Agriscience, says agriculture wasnt on his radar at all. It wasnt until high school, when he became involved in FFA and exposed to the various careers in ag that he changed his path and became 100% focused on getting into agriculture. Before becoming an Alabama FFA state office, I only thought you could be a farmer or an agriculture teacher, Knight says. It was in college at Auburn that Knight first realized what made the seed industry compelling. While working for an entomologist within the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, he realized how much he enjoyed communicating and supporting the work he did with farmers throughout the state. I wanted to continue to provide solutions and service to growers, Knight says. NICOLE HOSTERT And in particular, he loves the variability each year provides when Growing up in Salinas, Cali., Nicole Hostert,working in the seed industry. field staff at the California Crop ImprovementEvery year is different, he says. Every year has brought challenges Association, didnt picture ending up in the seedand successes. When youre working with plants and the environment, industry. Actually, Hostert says she originallyyou never know what to expect a given year will bring. New diseases, wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up.herbicide resistance and policy changes allow for innovation to be To pursue that, she went to the University ofconstant.California-Davis to study animal science. It wasntOne thing you might not realize about Knight? He loves to cook.until her junior year of college while job searchingI like to try new recipes and use locally grown and produced food, that she fell into the seed industry, by taking a jobhe says. I love every aspect of the ag industry from the production and with Pioneer Hi-Bred for corn drought research.growing of the seed to manufacturing of food to cooking.The seed industry is so dynamic, HostertKnight even loves trying as many new bourbons as he can from the says. There is truly something fror everyone. Fromgrowers that provide grain to distilleries in Kentucky. research to greenhouse production, farming, seedIts enjoyable to see how hard growers work to push a seed to its coating, pest control advisors, sales you name it,fullest potential, Knight says. When you see growers achieving record and we have it.yields on their operations, it gives me encouragement to know that we After that, she says the rest was historyshehave yet to discover and reach the true potential of the seed.switched her major to crop science and has been actively involved in the industry since. Shes been honing in her leadership skills recently as president of the California Seed Association (CSA). And even though COVID-19 proved to make an interesting experience for her as president, she has been amazed by the ingenu-ity that has come from working in the pandemic. One thing shed tell aspiring leaders? Be open to your future.Never in a million years did I think that I would be where I am today, working in the seed industry and president of the CSA, she says. In the future, Hostert would like to see a solution to the labor shortage issue facing the seed industry. It will be interesting to see how the industry grows and adjusts to the labor shortages in the future, she says. This is a huge concern for agricul-ture in general, and Im interested to see the technol-ogy that is being created to combat the issue.48/ SEEDWORLD.COMJUNE 2021'