CSS 2008 & Seed Expo

  ASTA's 125th Annual
  Convention

  48th Vegetable & Flower
  Seed Conference

  First-the Seed Foundation

  Future Seed Executives
  (FuSE)

  National Council of
  Commercial Plant
  Breeders

  Member Classifieds

  Featured Books

  Variety Referencing
  System

Opening General Session
Sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.
Monday, June 23, 2008
8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Bjorn Lomborg
Director, Copenhagen Consensus Center

Noted author and environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg will provide the Keynote Address at the Opening General Session on Monday, June 23, offering a look ahead at the environment of our future and the seed industry’s role in it. A world renowned environmental economist, Lomborg provides a comprehensive perspective on the issues of global warming and the environment in relation to its current state and what steps may be taken in order to prepare for the changes to come.

As the seed industry prepares for future business challenges, Lomborg will focus on what he views as a balanced and realistic approach to understanding what is really needed to support and sustain the world’s fragile environment.

Bjorn Lomborg is an adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School and director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, which analyzes the world’s greatest challenges and identifies cost efficient solutions to meeting them. The Center works with multilateral organizations, governments and other entities concerned with mitigating the consequences of those challenges.

In 2004, he was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people, and in 2007, he presented his views on global warming before the United States Congress in the joint hearing “Perspective on Climate Change” of the House Committees on Energy and Commerce and on Science and Technology.

Lomborg has authored several books on the topic, most recently, “Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming.” Copies of the book will be made available at the Annual Convention, as well as a book signing opportunity with Lomborg.

“The State of Agribusiness” Panel Discussion
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

This second General Session offers ASTA members a chance to hear and visit with five industry leaders, all impacting our industry in a variety of important ways. The panel discussion will feature the following key players:

Greg Duerksen – Moderator
Kincannon & Reed

Greg Duerksen is president of Kincannon & Reed, the world’s leading executive search firm focused on the interrelated realms of food, agribusiness and life sciences. The firm counts among its clients many of the world’s most important seed companies and has placed senior executives in various functions in all corners of the globe. Kincannon & Reed’s motto is, “We recruit leaders for organizations that feed the world and keep it healthy.”

Before joining Kincannon & Reed in 2001, Duerksen was a senior international executive. As CEO, he led the successful turnarounds of a Pepsi-Cola® bottling company in Mexico and of Latin America’s largest fertilizer producer and exporter. Prior to these posts, he was vice president, marketing & development of Terra Industries. In this role, he had broad strategic planning and acquisition responsibilities and directed several of the organization’s key product lines, including the seed business, as well as product development and technical support for the 2500- employee company. As chairman of the Food Safety Committee of the Chemical Producers & Distributors Association, he twice testified in Congress on food safety issues. In his early career, he was a consultant for McKinsey & Company and as an associates fellow wrote case studies for Harvard Business School’s acclaimed Agribusiness program. He received a B.A. from Augustana College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He is a native of South Dakota, where he grew up on a mixed grain and livestock farm.

Davis Anderson - Speaker
Vice President of Grain, GROWMARK, Inc. (Grain)

Davis Anderson is vice president, grain, for GROWMARK, Inc., a regional supply and grain cooperative based in Bloomington, Illinois. Davis is responsible for the GROW-MARK grain origination alliances. He directs specialty grain and producer marketing programs offered through GROWMARK members. He is also responsible for price risk management services offered by GROWMARK.

Anderson is president of MID-CO COMMODITIES, Inc., an F.C.M. offering futures and options trading. He serves on the board of directors of Great Lakes Grain, a regional grain marketing company in Ontario, Canada. He is also a past chairman of the U.S. Grains Council, a private non-profi t organization based in Washington, DC, dedicated to building export markets for U.S. barley, corn and sorghum. The Grains Council has offices in ten foreign countries and has programs for market development in more than 80 nations. Davis holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Platteville.

Don Orr - Speaker
President, JBS United, Inc. (Feed)

Don Orr is President of JBS United, Inc., based in Sheridan, Indiana. JBS United is a nutrition technology-based company involved in premix/base mix feed production and marketing, enzyme and probiotic marketing, swine production and grain storage and marketing. Founded in 1956, JBS United (formerly United Feeds) operates six premix/base mix feed plants in the U.S, along with a joint venture premix operation at Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. Orr has served as corporate president since 1997 and led its Nutrition Division from 1997 to 2007. From 1984 to 2002, Don headed the company’s Research & Development program. Since 1993, he has led JBS United in marketing of JBS United’s products in Asia.

Orr received his B.S. in Animal Science from Purdue University, an M.S. in Animal Industry from Penn State University and PhD in Animal Husbandry (swine nutrition) and the Institute of Nutrition from Michigan State University. He received a National Institute of Health Traineeship while at Michigan State University. In 1974, he joined the Central Soya Company as swine nutritionist. Orr then joined the faculty of the Department of Animal Science at Texas Tech University in 1975 and served as assistant professor, associate professor and director of its Swine Research Center. In 1984, Orr joined JBS United, Inc. as vice president of nutrition and development and member of its Board of Directors.

Andrew Carlton- Speaker
Vice President and General Manager of Makhteshim Agan of North America’s (MANA) specialty Turf and Ornamental Business, Quali-Pro

Andrew Carlton is Vice President and General Manager of Makhteshim Agan of North America’s (MANA) specialty Turf and Ornamental Business, Quali-Pro.  Quali-Pro provides post patent products to distributors of the golf, lawn care, sod and ornamental segments.  MANA’s parent company, Makhteshim Agan Industries, is the world’s  largest provider of post patent agricultural products, with over $2 billion in sales.

Prior to his current position, Carlton was employed in agricultural distribution serving the agricultural, seed, seed treatment and specialty business.  Previously, Carlton served as Vice President of Sales of Gustafson LLC, a seed treatment company, which served the seed industry, and was a member of the ASTA.  During his service to Gustafson, Carlton served on the Board of Directors of the Southern Seed Association.

Carlton has over 33 years of service in the seed and plant protection industry.  His experience ranges from sales, marketing, planning, sales management and general management.  He  has lived in most areas of the United States and has worked in crop protection, seed and seed treatment segments of the agricultural industry.  Carlton currently resides with Luan, his wife of 34 years, in Clayton, NC.

Stuart Woolf - Speaker
President & CEO, Woolf Enterprises, (California Agribusiness)

Stuart Patrick Woolf is President and CEO of Woolf Enterprises. Woolf Enterprises is a family owned operation whose primary business is the production and processing of agricultural commodities. The company was named the 2004 Agribusiness of the Year in Fresno County and the Family Business of the Year (2004) by the Family Business Institute at Fresno State University. He also serves as the managing partner for two related entities: Harris Woolf California Almonds and Los Gatos Tomato Products. Harris Woolf is a processor and handler of raw almonds. Los Gatos manufactures bulk tomato paste for industrial users.

Woolf Enterprises is also the principal shareholder of Patterson Vegetable Company, a food service and private label packer of frozen vegetables and blends. Woolf received a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.B.A. at Boston College. Woolf has served as chairman of the California League of Food Processors and the Almond Board of California. Woolf is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization’s Golden Gate Chapter, the Boards of Ruiz Food Products and Westlands Water District. He also serves as the current chairman of the President’s Commission of Agriculture and Natural Resources for the University of California.