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FuSE Year in Review

2013-14 FuSE Initiative At-A-Glance

The FuSE Organizing Committee conducted its 2nd Fly-In strategy session in March 2014. This “meeting of the minds” has proven well worth the effort to regroup and re-fresh ideas with a 2014-15 focus on membership development and education.

You can view the structure of each committee here: https://www.betterseed.org/education/fuse/

Campus Connections

FuSE provided grants to five students from a broad range of studies and backgrounds to attend the 131st ASTA Annual Convention in Indianapolis, Ind. These future sales reps, plant breeders, business managers and agronomists were paired with a mentor and networked with seed industry leaders. One student said of his experience, “I have been blown away with the whole conference in general. The scope of how far the seed industry goes and the depth of what ASTA does have been eye-opening.”

You can read more about Campus Connections here: https://www.betterseed.org/education/fuse/campus-connections/

Education

2013-2014 was a great year for educational events! Highlights included:

  • August 2013 – Social media webinar led by Laura Cunningham of Latham Hi-Tech Seeds. The event concluded a three-part series on social media held in conjunction with the Independent Professional Seed Association.
  • October 2013 – Educational Unit hosted by Cotton Incorporated and Syngenta in Raleigh, N.C. The event focused on the cotton value chain, southern crops, and Syngenta’s crop research.
  • December 2013 – Meeting and reception at ASTA’s CSS & Seed Expo in Chicago, Ill.. The meeting featured a panel discussion on ‘Navigating the Road to Seed Industry Success’ and included ASTA’s 2013-2014 Chairman & AgReliant Genetics CEO Craig Newman.
  • January 2014 – Meeting and reception at ASTA’s Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference in Monterey, Calif.. John Schoenecker, HM. CLAUSE Director of Intellectual Property and James Weatherly of Cochran Freund and Young LLC discussed ‘Current IP Topics in the Vegetable & Flower Industry.’
  • January 2014 – Held a break-out session focused on ‘Reaching Tech-Savvy Growers’ at the Independent Professional Seed Association’s annual conference in St. Louis, Mo.
  • June 2014 – FuSE hosted an educational session and 10th birthday celebration at the NCAA Hall of Champions during ASTA’s 131st Annual Convention in Indianapolis, Ind.. The event featured Doug Austrom of Turning Point Associates on ‘The Power of Inclusive Leadership.’ At the celebration, FuSE presented Founders Awards to its 4 founders: Jim Schweigert, TJ Lawhon, David Nothmann, and Alexis Ellicott. Also, Seed World announced Chris Boomsma of Dow AgroSciences as the 2014 Future Giants of the Seed Industry Award winner and Leah Ruff, Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Nebraska, was the ASRF the Roger Krueger Memorial Scholarship recipient.

You can view upcoming events and one of the webinars here: https://www.betterseed.org/education/fuse/upcoming-events/

A Big Thank You!

To our 2013-14 sponsors, we thank you so much for the generous donations and support you provided. Your giving allowed for continued educational opportunities for our newest seed industry professionals and college students.

Learn how you can help support FuSE for 2014-15: https://www.betterseed.org/education/fuse/support/