Seed E-News

January 9, 2004

Farewell to Wayne Skidmore
It is with the deepest regret that the American Seed Trade Association must announce the loss of one of its past presidents. Wayne Skidmore passed away on Sunday, December 28, 2003. Wayne was born June 13, 1910 in Lucas, Iowa and spent most of his life in the Des Moines area graduating from North High School, then Drake University in 1933. He graduated from the Harvard University Advanced Management Program in 1955. In 1934 he began his career at Pioneer Hi-Bred Corn Company where he held numerous positions over the years advancing in 1970 to President and Chairman of the Board.

Aside from being a past president of the American Seed Trade Association, he was also a past chairman of the Associationās International Committee, and received a service award for his three years as a member of the ASTA/USDA European Team. His other activities included the Optimist Club of Des Moines, Board of Trustees for Drake University, member and elder at Central Presbyterian Church and many more.

Wayne was married to Maxine Davis on August 15, 1936, who preceded him in death in 1998 as well as their son, Richard in 1994. He is survived by two daughters, eight grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Our condolences go out to them all.

Sorghum Could Be Key to Food Security in Africa
For many subsistence farmers in the semi-arid regions of southern Africa, dependence on drought relief is tantamount to serving a death sentence. About half of all farming seasons in the affected areas, which support about 30 million households, see rains end early. Many farmers have been encouraged to expand their production of maize, which is the dominant cereal crop in the 14-member Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and, although a popular crop, has the problem that it requires regular rainfall over a 90-day period. When the rains end, dusty, dry furrows and failed crops mean that the farmers lack grain for their own domestic needs, let alone setting aside for the next season. Many SADC governments implemented technologies to expand yields but these were designed for higher rainfall areas and were not appropriate for semi-arid regions. Some scientists say that improved varieties of millet and sorghum could hold the key to regional food security, despite the smaller grains' reputation as "poor man's" crops. Geoffrey Heinrich, regional representative of the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), says the institute helped develop early-maturing varieties of sorghum and millet which, in effect, cheat drought. For more on this story, please follow this link Food Security. For more on ICRISAT, check out their web site at www.icrisat.org.

UK Government Advisors Back GM Rice Imports
An attempt by Bayer to import GM rice into the UK has received the backing of UK Government safety advisors, who say the variety poses no risk to humans or the environment, officials said on Wednesday. Britain's agriculture ministry said the application to buy in GM rice for use in animal feed was given the all-clear by its Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), but added that full European Union (EU) approval would still required before any such imports were allowed. The imported rice would be used in animal feed and industrial processing. Cultivation would not be permitted in the EU nor, without a separate approval, could it be used in human food. Under EU regulations, all import or cultivation applications are first assessed by the national government and it is then up to all EU member states to make a collective decision.

The UK Government is expected to make a decision soon, possibly as early as next month, on whether to allow GM crops to be grown commercially in Britain.

ASTA 43rd Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference
Rick Mitchell, Chairman of the Vegetable and Flower Seed Division, invites you to register for the 43rd ASTA Vegetable & Flower Conference which will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Savannah, GA, January 24-27, 2004. In addition to the Trading Room, the conference will feature dynamic sessions where members will be updated on intellectual property rights, organic, biotechnology and international events. The Conference will also feature meetings of the International, Intellectual Property Rights and Legislative and Legal Concerns Committees. Monday morningās general session will feature motivational speaker and humorist, Michael Broome. One of America's most popular and inspiring keynote speakers, he has addressed over 3,000 audiences from the ranks of Fortune 500 corporations and professional associations throughout North America. Tuesday's Division meeting will provide members an opportunity to hear more about program implementation and enforcement of the National Organic Program, new amendments to RUSSL (Recommended Uniform State Seed Law), and an update on plant variety protection.

Click here to register today. For more information, please contact Jennifer Lord at jlord@amseed.org or Annie Stull at astull@amseed.org or call (703) 837-8140.

World Seed Congress Berlin 2004
The website for the Congress is now open and can be visited at www.worldseed2004.com.

Industry and People
If you have any personnel changes, or other developments in your company, that you would like included in E-News, please send details to ppatterson@amseed.org.

On-Line Membership Directory
ASTA has launched its new online membership directory to which only members will have access. Members should have received letters with their individual User ID and password. Members will have access to three directories ö member companies, individuals and ASTA committees. Members will be able to search and sort within each directory in several ways, by member type, region, division, product and seed type. Members will also have the ability to e-mail an individual or group from the search results. We are confident that members will find this a valuable benefit of ASTA membership. The on-line directory replaces the hardcopy directory. issued in the past.

ASTA Membership Database
The on-line directory draws on the information held in the ASTA membership database. It is essential, therefore, that this information is accurate and up to date. Please take a moment to check the directory to see if any of your information has changed since you joined. Please let us know of any changes to your company name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail addresses, company ASTA representatives, etc. Details of changes can be mailed to the ASTA offices at 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 650, Alexandria, VA 22314-2875, faxed to 703-837-9365, or e-mailed to Peter Patterson, Director, Membership Services, at ppatterson@amseed.org. Changes to the database will be made as they are received and it is intended to run the program to update the directory on Friday each week. However, if there is a significant number of changes, the program will be run more often.

Upcoming Events

January 24-27, 2004
43rd Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference
Savannah, GA
Tel: 1-888.890.7333
To register, please follow this link: Savannah.

May 24-26, 2004
International Seed Federation Congress
Berlin, Germany
www.worldseed2004.com

June 27-30, 2004
121st ASTA Annual Convention
Wyndham Franklin Plaza
Philadelphia, PA
Tel: 1-888.890.7333
Annual Convention

November 7-8, 2004
ASTA 50th Farm & Lawn Seed Conference
Westin Crown Center
Kansas City, MO

December 8-10, 2004
ASTA 34th Soybean & 59th Corn & Sorghum Seed Conferences and Seed Expo 2004
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL
Tel: 1-888.890.7333

June 19-22, 2005
122nd ASTA Annual Convention
Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Tower
Seattle, WA

July 7-14, 2006
Joint ASTA-CSTA Annual Convention
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL