b'Peter Pauls helped create theIstvan Rajcan says itsTom Smith believes that for growers to move away from a tried-Dynasty dark red kindey beanimportant for a breeder toand-true variety, you need to have the advantage to draw them with partner Tom Smith.know his customer. away.kilograms that we might have in our breeding program, into the tons of seed that are required in order to seed farmers fields.JUMP INTO THE WORLD OF MYTHBUSTING That commercialization step is done by companies and the com- IN SEASON SIXpanies license the right to increase the seed and then sell it to the farming community.One of the most important aspects? First is the relationshipshas been tackling quite the hefty subject: fake Since Oct. 12, Seed Speaks between the breeding program and the seed companywhichnews! Though fake news isnt a new concept, with news at our fingertips can create the logistics behind deciding when to make an invest- daily, its important to know how to decipher fact from fiction. According to ment on a product and how large to make that investment. Pew Research Center, about 64% of U.S. adults say fabricated news stories The other portion? Knowing who your customer is, sayscause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues and Istvan Rajcan, soybean breeder at the University of Guelph.eventsand only 39% of Americans confidentially believe they can separate After receiving advice from Croatian plant breeder Vladimir Puskaric, who said that a breeder should know who his or hertrue news from fake news.customer isthe advice stuck with Rajcan, who has devel- Season six of Seed Speaks is called Mythbusting the Seed Industry, and oped 69 soybean varieties including OAC Kent, which wonexperts are helping us decipher fact from fiction and learn how to dispel Germinations Seed of the Year Award in 2008. common myths about agriculture, seed and food. The applied research aspect of a breeders job means that we are developing cultivars that we hope will be grown by theMake sure to tune in every Wednesday at 12:00 CDT. This season will last until farmers. If theyre not grown my farmers, its a wasted effort in aJan. 2023. sense. So, we need to constantly communicate with our custom-ers to find out what their needs are, he says.In the end, no matter what aspect of business youre working ON THE WEBinR&D, customer service, sales or marketingfeedback isWHERE important to keep top-of-mind.Theyre good at telling us what traits are important or theyDo you want to watch all of these conversations from Seed Speaks?think they will be important several years down the road, andMake sure to visit seedworld.com/seed-speaks-videos to catch up on the episodes youthen we adjust our goals and selection procedures to achievemight have missed. those goals, Rajcan says.SW110/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2022'