The first vice chair of American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) was in Kansas City last week for a meeting of the Western Seed Association immediately before the National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention.

“It’s the only organization that’s been meeting here longer than NAFB,” said Risa DeMasi with Grassland Oregon, who stuck around for another day to do some interviews with farm broadcasters. “It’s not a trading meeting, necessarily, but just getting together and letting people know what the new innovations and new products that are coming.”

DeMasi is very excited about what’s new in the cover crops business, with the pollinator “buzz” that’s going around. “Our company Grassland Oregon just introduced a winter hardy legume that is fantastic for fixing nitrogen, combating compacted soils, weed suppression,” she said. “Next year we’ll be introducing a Berseem clover called ‘Frosty’ that I think is really going to transform the alfalfa market.”

Coming up next month is ASTA’s annual Seed Expo in Chicago and while this has been largely a corn, soybean, and sorghum event, DeMasi says it has become much more. “With some of the changes coming to agriculture and the government programs and directives coming at us, we’ve got to start talking to each other, and it’s all interrelated,” she said.

Listen to my interview with Risa here: [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/nafb/nafb14-asta-risa.MP3″ text=”Interview with Risa DeMasi, ASTA officer”]
2014 NAFB Convention Photos

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