b"INDEPENDENTS REAL CROSSROADS at aCatching up with Colin Steen as his IPSA board presidency enters the last quarter.Aimee Nielson, Seed World U.S. EditorI RECENTLY CAUGHTup with Colin Steen, current presi- sellers of seed, are we not reaching out to today that could ben-dent of the board for the Independent Professional Seedefit from being part of an organization like IPSA? And secondly, Association (IPSA) and CEO of Legacy Agripartners. Its been aI really want to focus on helping our members understand that busy year, but the work is far from over as he heads into the finalbefore long, we will have more choice and more opportuni-quarter of 2024. ties for broadening our suppliers of traits and genetics than we have had in the past. And with this increased choice comes the SW:Reflecting on your time as president so far, whatimportance of having a plan and understanding what choices have been the has been on your mind the most? work best for your business. Steen: Independents are at a real crossroads with regards toThe challenges for independents are largely unchanged from the choices we must make for our businesses in the future. Thewhen I started on the IPSA board. While we have the advan-ag economy is very difficult, and we must find a way to differ- tage of being local, it certainly is a challenge to compete with entiate our businesses from the majority of the market movingthe major seed companies when we are licensing our traits and forward. Whether that is with the products/varieties/hybrids wegenetics from them. This is far and away our largest challenge, sell, or the suppliers we choose to work more closely with, we allbut other challenges like increasing COGs due to inflation and have to evaluate what we will focus on in the years ahead.retaining our best people are additional areas that concern of our membership. SW:What are your key priorities for the remainder of your term? What challenges do you see forSW: What emerging issues or trends do you believe independents? will have the greatest impact on independent seed Steen: My key priorities for the remainder of the year are reallycompanies in the next five years, and how should they two things. One is helping IPSA grow its membership in waysprepare for these changes?that we have not considered in the past. What other companies,Steen: We are on the verge of seeing a lot more providers of genetics coming into the market than we have seen in the past. It will be important for each of us to understand the impacts that these new choices can have on our businesses, as well as on our current providers. It will not be the status-quo moving forward, and we will need to test products and understand how we can grow our business and improve our margins with either our current suppliers of traits and genetics or future suppliers. SW: With the growing concerns around sustainability and innovation in the seed industry, what role do you see independent companies playing in this space?Steen: Independent seed companies are a natural fit to be on the cutting edge of adopting new innovations in the seed indus-try. While we may not always have the capital that is required to develop new innovation from the beginning, we can test quickly and implement on a local basis much more quickly than the larger players in the seed space. We don't suffer from a 'not invented here' mindset, and as a result, we can take a much more unbiased approach to imple-menting new technologies. Look at the company InnerPlant for example; Peterson Farm Seeds has been testing this approach for some time, and has been a strong advocate for their team for 26/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2024"