The American Seed Trade Association has had a Biotechnology Committee for two decades, but as it is now the Innovations and Policy Committee. Pictured here from the ASTA annual meeting are immediate past committee chair Keith Newhouse with Winfield Solutions and current chair Mark Krieger of Dow AgroSciences who presided at the first meeting of the committee under the new name.
Newhouse says they feel that innovations is a better word for the committee than biotechnology. “It’s more representative of the range of new technologies that are being used to develop new and better plants for agriculture and the food industry,” he said. [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/asta/asta-14-innovation-newhouse.mp3″ text=”Interview with Keith Newhouse, Winfield Solutions”]
Krieger says the direction of the committee is to broaden the conversation on innovation in the seed industry. “To make sure that we’re looking at biotechnology as just one slice of innovation in plant breeding .. so we’re advocating for policy solutions that impact all of the tools, techniques and sectors of the industry,” he said, adding that the opportunities right now are huge. [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/asta/asta-14-innovation-krieger.mp3″ text=”Interview with Mark Krieger, Dow AgroSciences”]