Today was Day Three of the American Seed Trade Association’s Field Crop Seed Convention in Orlando, Florida. Here are highlights of the day and a sneak peek at what’s ahead tomorrow.
Highlights of the Day
Seed World Innovate Panels: Click on the links to read recaps of today’s Changing the Game with Capital ‘I’ Innovation and Advocate for Action panels.
Seed Expo: The Seed Expo’s second day of operation featured a steady stream of FCSC attendees strolling the tradeshow floor, learning about innovative technologies, building new relationships… and trying out high tech shoulder massage technology for those convention-weary muscles. This year’s FCSC features the largest seed industry tradeshow floor in North America: 114 booths featuring vendors, associations and academia, including 12 new to the FCSC.
Large Equipment Area: Who loves giant machines? Everyone! Today was the second day to tour the large equipment displays, brought to ASTA by Big John Manufacturing, Bayer, Hagie Manufacturing, Haldrup and ZURN. If you missed the displays today, doors will be open again between 8:00 and noon tomorrow as well.
Climate Smart Ag Partnerships: Governments and corporations are increasingly leading with climate-smart and sustainability initiatives. Successful companies will not only effectively react to this direction but seize its opportunities. Today’s General Session brought together Daniel Foor (SVP, distribution with DLF USA), Bruce Knight (principal and founder of Strategic Conservation Solutions, LLC), Ben West (executive director of Farmers for Soil Health) and Jared Knock (director of business development for Millborn Seeds, Inc.) to discuss the many and varied opportunities in climate smart agriculture.
Geopolitical Impacts on U.S. Growers Session: Many, many external factors, from geopolitical upheaval to market turbulence to corporate shifts to the prioritization of climate and sustainability, are impacting seed companies today. One of the most widely anticipated sessions of the convention, this panel dug into how seed companies can navigate the ongoing and constantly changing challenges. The discussion featured Kansas Wheat’s CEO, Justin Gilpin; Corteva Agriscience’s senior director of biofuels, Kendall Palmer; Andrew Brandt, the U.S. Grains Council’s director of trade policy and, notably, Paul Harrison, director of the Office of Agriculture Policy at the U.S. Department of State.
What to Look Forward to Tomorrow
New this year, Seed World U.S. is hosting the Seed World Innovate Series: three panel discussions featuring senior thought leaders from around the industry. The discussions take place on the stage at the Seed Expo Theatre. The third and final panel in the series – Next Generation Insights on Recruiting, Retaining and Building the Best – runs tomorrow from 10:00 – 10:45 am.
The FCSC’s final General Session — Future Trends Impacting Crop Management: The Seed Customer of the Future — runs 8:30-10:00 tomorrow am. Panelists Dan Leibfried from John Deere, Matt Erickson from Farm Credit Services of America, Alencar Xavier from Corteva Agriscience, Jeff Chalabi from Central Bag Company and Marcos Spitzner from Packem SA will chat about how seed industry customers will change by 2030.
Have we connected yet? There are only a few hours left of the 2023 American Seed Trade Association’s Field Crop Seed Convention. We’d love if you’d share some of your last minutes of the convention with us! Stop by the Seed World Media Center, powered by Corteva Agriscience, tomorrow morning. Seed World Group President Shawn Brook, Seed World Group Director of Content Madeleine Baerg, and our new Seed World U.S. Editor, Aimee Nielson, will be hosting at the Seed World Media Centre and would love to hear your perspective and priorities in the seed industry.
