b'Sometimes youd feel like youre on an island by your-self, he says, but adds he had the benefit of working in a hybrid model. Sometimes Id work at home, sometimes Id go into a shared office workspace. Now, we need to be able to define the way to move everyone forward in the world of work.By comparison, Spike Craven, president of Iowas Integrity Communications, says the transition to remote work has been difficult. All of the work that my organization did with our cli-ents was in person, Craven says. When all of a sudden you cant be meeting in person, that can pose a grave danger to ones business and livelihood.Initially, Craven says he resisted working from home.I thought it would pass and that we didnt need to pivot the way we did business, Craven says. We eventu-ally understood, as many did, that this was not the case. We made a significant investment in really adding to our business model so we could work with our clients in a more digital way.Ultimately, Craven says remote work has offered the chance to work with clients that he might not have been able to work with before. Our virtual offering has allowed us to invest in the chance to work with India, Japan, Singapore, Brazil and more clients in those spaces, he says. Its been a chal-lenge, yet it has provided opportunity at the same time. Challenge comes with opportunity, and thats what weveCanadian Seed Growers Association Executive Director Doug Miller.had to look at this year. Is Remote Work an Option for Seed Companies?For a lot of seed companies, though, staying at home is not an option, Craven says. Those companies need to be present in front of that grower because theyre going to put something in the ground, he says. On the other hand, you have folks in research, and thats been a struggle because not everyone is back in the lab unless its something mission critical.In addition, Craven says theres a lot of people in research that dont work in the lab, and instead work in cubicles. Theres been an unfortunate disconnect because you dont have those water cooler discussions, and you dont see people in the hallways, Craven says. Over the past 16 months, theres been a lot of adaptation to that, but its still not the same.Miller agrees. Depending on the size and scope, CSGA members have a lot of different activities ranging from growing, conditioning, processing to selling, he says. Last time I checked, you cant grow seed remotely, so theres a lot of challenges here for our members on how theyre able to go about their day-to-day.Luckily, the work CSGA does was considered to be an essential service, so CSGA was able to maintain its sched-ule, but had to adapt and change, Miller says. We had to put new digital processes in place, like digital crop certificates and COVID related business pro- Spike Craven is president of the Iowa-based Integrity Communications.cesses, to ensure business continuity.42GERMINATION.CASEPTEMBER 2021'