b'GIANT VIEWSWERE IN THE PEOPLE BUSINESSOVER THE PAST 20-plus years, as editor of another seedthe controversy surrounding those journal, I visited more than 250 seed companies and inter- new GMO traits when the trait viewed countless seed producers across the United States,providers forgot that they were still in several Canadian provinces and in 10 or 11 nations.in the people business and applied Without exception, I came away from these visits withstrong-arm tactics to overpower legiti-nothing but pleasant memories and great respect for themate concerns. Wounds from that men and women I met. The seed industry is first and fore- miscalculation may never fully heal.most in the people business. It just happens to sell seed. IAn important lesson from those believe the industry is universally focused on seed quality.turbulent years is to always keep Companies whose managers lost pride in their productsyour eye on the people you serve. Joe Funk and let seed quality be anything less than their highestAs editor, I envisioned I was serving Since 2017, Joe haspriority are out of business.two customer groups: seed producers been a contributingHaving pride in your product may be most importantand their product/service providers. writer for Seedwhen it is least expected. One of my earliest internationalMy goal was to be the village square, World Group, and atrips was to the seed industry in Hungary. The director ofprovide a forum where everyone dear friend to all ourthe Hungarian seed industry association was a young mancould congregate, share ideas and editorial staff. In Mayeducated in the United States. He spoke perfect Englishdiscuss common concerns. My focus 2021, Joe decidedand was instrumental in arranging my facility visits.was to bring those groups together. If to retire so he couldOne of the seed companies we visited operated fromthey would provide news and infor-enjoy the companyan old, windowless Communist-era warehouse constructedmation, I would deliver an audience of his lovely wife,with thick, gray, concrete walls. The company had oneto them. We each had what the other Donna, and travelbright red batch seed treater, a few antiquated seed clean- wanted without ever mentioning it. around the globe.ing machines and minimal seed handling equipment. ItsWhatever success I had as an manager spoke no English, and I knew no Hungarian.editor came from staying focused on Nonetheless, she enthusiastically led us through themy mission. The ideal outcome was a facility with its labour-intense methods. When we camewin-win solution for all of us. My co-to a heavy metal tote with bright, treated turnip seed, sheconspirator in this arrangement was held out a handful for our inspection and beamed with athe magazines sales team. I never smile that reached from ear to ear.directly sold anything, but everything No one has shown more pride in their seed than II did was, in a sense, always selling. felt from her as we gathered in that gloomy, HungarianMy focus was always on the inter-warehouse. Given their resources, that company producedests of my audiences and how we all fantastically high-quality seed. related to each other. I was frequently During the last 25 years, the seed industry has ledreminded that if I could provide good production agriculture in the United States through thecontent, sales will follow. True to seismic introduction of transgenic, genetically engineeredform, they did.seed. As news of herbicide tolerance began to circulateThen as today, we are all in the in the mid-1990s, few recognized the shockwaves thatpeople business. As I am about to were about to redefine the seed business.retire and sail into the sunset, I am The independence of family-owned seed companiesgrateful for my successes, but my best was challenged when these smaller companies foundmemories are of the times I spent themselves competing in the marketplace with the samewith the seed industrys men and company that supplied the new biotech traits. The situ- women. It has been my privilege to ation became so untenable that numerous companiesparticipate in an economy where so exited marketing and chose to concentrate on seed pro- many of its participants still have their duction. At the same time, consumers were drawn intofeet firmly planted on the earth. 56GERMINATION.CAJULY 2021'