SUMMER 2021
NEWS BULLETIN
ISA News & Updates
Inside This Issue: 
  • Iowa Seed Golf & Education
  • Home Office Remodel Update
  • Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Update
  • ASTA Announces New Leadership Team
  • SeedFieldCheck Expands to New States
Iowa Seed Golf & Education
Join us on August 3 in Ames!

Veenker Memorial Golf Course

10:00 AM - Seed Science Update

11:00 AM - Lunch & Golfer Check-In

12:00 PM - Golf Shotgun Start

Golf Event - $90 per person
Golfer Registration Includes - morning learning session, individual luncheon, individual green fees for 18 holes, shared golf cart with teammate & drink tickets.

Education Event - Free

Lunch Without Golf - $15

Registration Deadline - July 27, 2021
Cancellation Policy: All registrations must be confirmed and paid one week prior to the event. No cancellations will be accepted & no refunds will be given after that date.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Snack Cart Sponsor
Home Office Remodel Update
The Agribusiness Iowa Home Office remodeling project is now providing more substantive visual clues about how the building will look when it is finished. The building is also the Home Office for Iowa Seed Association.
 
Things are beginning to take shape with the addition of new windows as well as drywall and some exterior siding. The remodeling project is one facet of the, Grow Iowa's Future investment campaign. A number of strategic objectives remain as the campaign continues, and the building project is one more step toward meeting the objectives that will keep the association strong now and in the future.
Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Update
The Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Initiative has been in operation for over 5 years now. Project coordinator Shannon Moeller has been with this project since its launch in 2016 and has gotten to know a lot of seed corn growers in that time, as well as earning a reputation for putting together events that are worth attending. 2021 is starting to turn into a more “normal year,” with Shannon filling her calendar with events she will be attending, as well as starting the planning for Iowa Seed Association-hosted events later this year.

We did not have any in-person summer events in 2020, and Shannon was not able to interact with growers as much as in previous years of this project. Despite this potential hurdle, more cover crop acres were seeded on seed corn acres than ever before, and it is estimated that over 1/3 of Iowa’s seed corn acres now have cover crops every fall. Many thanks to the participating seed corn companies for distributing information about this initiative to their growers in a timely manner last year!

In early 2020, the Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Initiative was recognized as an outstanding project and project coordinator Shannon Moeller received an Impact award from the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance (IAWA). The Iowa Watershed Awards program is quite an honor for watershed project coordinators across Iowa, and Shannon is proud to work with outstanding seed corn growers, seed companies, and other organizations who make this project a success. Here is a link to the news story published last spring.

Also in 2020, several seed corn growers from around Iowa were nominated for the Iowa Farm Environmental Leadership Award (IFELA). This award is a way to recognize farmers who have implemented many conservation practices on their farms, as well as having a big impact in their local communities. As Shannon was talking with these growers about their farms, many of them took a minute to recognize the things their neighbors do on their farms, too.

The IFELA ceremony is held at the Iowa State Fair, and in 2021, the ceremony will recognize all 2020 and 2021 recipients of this award. In 2020, the Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Initiative nominated Scott Neff & his family from Marshall County, Jim Kadner & family from Grundy County, and Eric Andersen & family from northern Grundy County.

In the spring of 2021, Shannon got to visit growers on their farms when she was gathering farm information to nominate them for the IFELA. This year’s award recipients nominated by the Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Initiative are Tim & Darla Recker from Fayette County; Tim Burrack from Fayette County; Colin, Shannon, & Morgan Hermiston from Cedar County; Tim Couser from Story County; and the Winkelpleck Family from Tama County – Larry K. his sons Larry & Jon, and Jon’s son Zach Winkelpleck. Shannon wants to recognize all of these growers for the outstanding job of conservation on their farms and for their support of the Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Initiative.

The Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Initiative provides cost-share for cover crop on seed corn production acres only, and we still have funding left for 2021. Cover crop cost-share applications are rolling in daily now – thank you to our partner seed companies for promoting this effort with their growers! For more information, reach out to Shannon Moeller at covercrops@agribiz.org, 641-861-2280, or visit the project’s website www.sustainableseedcorn.org. Follow this project on Twitter @IowaSeedWQI, @IowaSeed, and the Iowa Seed Association Facebook page as well.

The Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Initiative is funded by a grant from the Iowa Department of Agriculture under their Clean Water Initiative program. Partner seed corn companies include AgReliant Genetics, Bayer, Beck’s Hybrids, Cornelius Seed, Corteva, Gro Alliance, Remington Seeds, and Syngenta. Thank you to other partners for making this project successful as well – Iowa Seed Association, Agribusiness Association of Iowa, Iowa Corn, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, and many more!
ASTA Announces New Leadership Team,
National Award Recipients
The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) announced its newly-elected officer team and honored industry award winners during its 2021 Policy & Leadership Development Conference, June 21-23 in Washington, D.C.

Members of the FY2021-22 ASTA officer team—officially taking office on
July 1—are:

  • Chair: Brad May, BASF
  • First Vice Chair: Jim Schweigert, GroAlliance, LLC
  • Second Vice Chair: David Armstrong, Sakata Seed America

“It’s an honor to serve on behalf of this great industry, which has proven time and time again—especially this past year– just how resilient, and essential, we truly are. As we head into this new year, it’s my goal to ensure we’re prepared as an industry, and as an association, to continue leading and moving forward, to address whatever future challenges lie ahead,” said May. “From innovations in conservation, cover crop, vegetable and row crop seed, to innovations in seed treatment technology and plant breeding – our diverse industry is helping to drive the solutions for a more sustainable future for farmers, food and the environment. We all play a role, we all have a story to tell, and we are all more impactful when we come together and speak with a strong, unified voice.”

In addition to the new officer team, ASTA announced the recipients of its prestigious annual awards: the Distinguished Service and Lifetime Honorary Member.

Distinguished Service Award: ASTA’s Distinguished Service Award recognizes an individual—who may or may not be an ASTA member–who has made outstanding contributions to the seed industry throughout the year. This year’s award was presented to two deserving individuals:

  • Chet Boruff, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Official Seed Certifying Analysts (AOSCA) – Chet, who is retiring this year, has been an active liaison and tireless advocate for the seed industry, and has been instrumental in providing critical services to increase efficiencies for the seed and agriculture industries.
  • Dr. Barb Glenn, Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA)— Under Barb’s visionary leadership, NASDA has been a strong partner with ASTA in helping to advance policies to benefit American agriculture communities and businesses across the states.

Lifetime Honorary Member Award: ASTA’s Lifetime Honorary Member Award recognizes individuals who exemplify leadership, vision and service. This year’s award was bestowed upon two esteemed industry representatives:

  • Tim Johnson, Illinois Foundation Seeds, Inc. — Tim’s impactful career includes a long history of service and leadership within ASTA as well as the International Seed Federation, where he served as President 2016-17. His leadership was instrumental in furthering ASTA Intellectual Property Rights policy and creating new opportunities for the U.S. seed industry in China.
  • John Schoenecker, H.M.CLAUSE — Retiring in 2019, after a long and distinguished career in the seed industry, John served in a variety of ASTA leadership positions since 2006, including his year as Chair in 2014-15. He went above and beyond in his efforts to promote and advocate for the seed industry, both domestically and internationally, including his work on the AgAccord and leadership on ASTA trade delegations.
SeedFieldCheck Expands to New States
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (April 26, 2021) – FieldWatch, Inc., a non-profit company that promotes improved communication and stewardship among crop producers, beekeepers and pesticide applicators, announces the expansion of its SeedFieldCheck™ registry into new states for the 2021 growing season.

This year, FieldWatch’s SeedFieldCheck registry will be expanding to four new states: Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. SeedFieldCheck integrates into the existing FieldWatch crop and apiary registry and enables seed companies to more effectively communicate the location and presence of seed field workers to pesticide applicators. In 2020, FieldWatch launched the SeedFieldCheck pilot program in Iowa, in partnership with the Iowa Seed Association and Iowa Agricultural Aviation Association.

SeedFieldCheck enables seed companies to register the locations of their field crews daily. Users mark registered fields as “planned” or “occupied” to alert pesticide applicators when there may be crews in the area. The information will be available in near real-time, allowing seed companies the ability to make edits and update plans quickly, replacing the endless circulation of emails and paper or electronic maps to targeted applicators.

“FieldWatch is proud to be a trusted partner in facilitating communication across agriculture,” said Bob Walters, CEO, FieldWatch. “Following SeedFieldCheck’s successful pilot launch in Iowa, we’re excited for even more member states to benefit from our innovative mapping tools.”

Over the past 12 years, the national FieldWatch registry has helped foster stewardship and communication, becoming the single source of trusted data across the ag value chain. The FieldWatch registries include DriftWatch® Specialty Crop Site Registry, BeeCheck® Apiary Registry, CropCheck® Row Crop Registry, and FieldCheck®.

These free mapping tools can be easily integrated into many technology platforms used in agriculture and enable crop producers, beekeepers and pesticide applicators to work together to protect field workers, specialty crops and apiaries. Learn more about SeedFieldCheck at https://fieldwatch.com/seedfieldcheckinfo/
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