b'Capitalizing on the Lower YieldingFor Jim Schweigert, president of Gro Alliance, finding opportunity is a specialtyespecially when that opportunity seems to come from lower yielding acreage.Seed World (SW): Whats your No. 1 hobby?Jim Schweigert (JS): Definitely running. I travel a lot and running is a great way to stay healthy and explore new places. I also really enjoy the quiet, alone time it provides. I get a lot of ideas while out for a run. Plus, my wife is an elite runner and a member of the amateur Team USA for triathlon, so I have to at least stay in decent shape!SW: Best way to spend a Friday night?JS: A little more than a year ago, my wife and I started Champagne Fridays. We had a few weeks with great news to celebrate and thought it would be fun tradition to continue. It can be easy to dwell on challenges or missed opportunities, so a glass of champagne on Friday night has become our way to reflect back on the positives from the past week and celebrate all the small victories.SW: What drew you to start doing custom breeding services in Chile?JS: Our U.S. nursery business was really growing, and we noticed that our clients were contracting with multiple nursery providers in Chile for counter-season work. Most of those clients werent 100% satisfied with the service and communication and every provider there had different requirements and protocols. We saw this as an opportunity to partner with a quality serviceacres by using older hybrids from carryover. We thought: What provider in Chile, CIS Semillas, and streamline the entireif we could access, test and make strong agronomic hybrids process for breeders by giving them one relationship for bothavailable to seed companies at a lower cost? hemispheres. The result was our joint venture, CIS Alliance. TheThis led to the Lower 50% concept for Breeder Direct. For the response has been phenomenal. Our nursery has filled up eachacres that generate top yield and top income, the elite hybrids year with projects involving 15 crop species from companiesat higher prices make sense. For the acres that dont have that North and South America, Europe and Asia. potential, a solid agronomic hybrid at a lower price point creates more margin opportunities for seed companies and farmers.SW: Howd you come up with the concept of the Lower 50% acres for Breeder Direct? SW: Whats something youre looking forward to in JS: The Lower 50% concept emerged from several2021? brainstorming sessions in which we discussed the profitabilityJS: The return of in person conferences! I stayed active with of acres that dont have the potential to generate top yield.domestic travel in 2020 by following safety protocols, but there Those acres arent able to capitalize on the genetic potential ofis nothing like bringing the industry together to discuss policy the most elite corn hybrids. Companies try to get seed on theseand build relationships face-to-face.SW54/ SEEDWORLD.COMJUNE 2021'