Alexandria, Virginia, USA
January 27, 2012

Chair of the American Seed Trade Association, Mike Gumina reported to the association’s Board of Directors this week a number of successes from membership to meetings and reflected on the industry’s mission.

“We just wrapped up our 51st Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference here (Tampa, Fla.) and we had record attendance reaching nearly 720 participants,” Gumina said. “The session topics were timely, the trading room floor was sold out and sponsorship has increased.

“The general session and division meeting provided valuable presentations that focused on customer needs and how to tailor our breeding, production and marketing to better target market demands.”

Gumina highlighted that conference participants had the opportunity to learn more about regulatory and environmental concerns in Florida agriculture from Shannon Shepp, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services deputy director. Participants also heard about key market opportunities in Mexico from Dan Berman, U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service minister-counselor to Mexico, and Roberto Fraile who serves as regional vice president to ASTA’s Board of Directors representing Mexico and the Mexican Seed Association (AMSAC).

“In June, I set forth aggressive membership and revenue goals for the year and I’m pleased that the association is on target and achieving those goals,” said the Chairman. “This is a good reflection of the value the association provides the industry.”

Before turning the meeting over to committee and division chairs, Gumina took a few moments to reflect on the industry’s mission.

“Since 1960 the number of people on Earth has more than doubled and we just surpassed the 7 billion mark,” Gumina said. “As an agricultural industry, we have accommodated that population growth by increasing production on many of the major crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat by as much as 300 percent and doubling rice production during the same period.

“Certainly, the seed industry played a major role in that productivity increase and we should be proud of that contribution. Despite the production increases and the overall growth in world income during the last decade, nearly 1 billion people go to bed malnourished every day.”

As a seed industry, Gumina said, we need to continue to drive productivity for our farmer customers and all of agriculture.

“Through breeding, production and distribution efforts, we can provide more and better feed stocks, improved abundance and nutritional value of our food crops and better capability to meet the demands for fibers, fuels and agricultural materials in a sustainable way,” he said. “If we do this well, we will be better able to provide for our populations today and in a good position to increase agriculture by 70 percent by 2050 to provide for the 9 billion people projected.

“It’s really important to know our mission, because it truly is first-the seed.”
 

Website: http://www.betterseed.org/

Published: January 27, 2012