Register online: http://sbc.ucdavis.edu

Sally Mohr UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center

+1 (530) 752-5775 sjmohr@ucdavis.edu

Seed Business 101SM

Maurice Smith – with more than 34 years in the vegetable seeds, has held key positions at Harris Moran, USA and with other companies in the UK, France, Netherlands and the USA. His knowledge of sales, marketing and corporate management provides participants with extensive “real world” expertise. Attracting, training and retention of talented employees

are critical challenges for the seed industry.

Seed Business 101 was created with input from industry executives to accelerate the careers of promising employees. By selecting and sponsoring employees to attend this course, companies acknowledge past performance and the potential of growth of individuals within the company.

The course also offers invaluable insights and perspective to seed dealers and companies who offer products and services to the seed industry. Companies with a focus on seed treatments, crop protection, seed enhancement and technology, machinery and equipment will benefit from Seed Business 101 .

InstructorsDistinguished instructors bring their extensive seed industry management experience to the creation and teaching of Seed Business 101. As widely respected industry executives, they provide in-depth expertise in all five functional areas covered in the course. Other industry experts will also participate as guest speakers.

Pieter Vandenberg – began his 42 year career in the seed industry in genetic research and plant breeding and concluded as the Vice President of Technical Resources/Worldwide Product Complaints for Seminis. His expertise includes plant breeding and research, company administration, quality assurance and product complaint resolution.

Tuition includes all course materials, lunches and breaks, the Monday social and dinner and the Thursday dinner. The program is limited to 30 participants per course.

For more information contact:

Rale Gjuric – has nearly 30 years of experience and currently is the director of education at the Seed Biotechnology Center. He is the president of Haplotech Inc., a company specialized in consulting and technical services for the plant breeding industry. In addition, he is an accomplished businessman and plant breeder.

June 2013

Tom Francis – has more than 30 years of experience in the seed business. He served in leadership roles in Syngenta, and other companies, for many years. Dr. Francis’ has important experience in running research programs, product assessment and evaluation, as well as sales and marketing.

Dave Westphal – brings more than 41 years of diverse management experience in worldwide agribusiness. Currently he is consulting with foundations and alliances in Africa as well as start-up seed businesses. He is recognized for building successful companies, P&L management, product management, problem solving, and many other skills.

Horticulture Instructors

Field Crop Instructors

Gary Whiteaker – has 41 years of experience in the vegetable and flower seed industries. Before joining Verdant Partners, he worked for Sakata Seed America, Inc. as one of their directors. His professional expertise includes plant breeding, quality assurance, intellectual property rights, production and operations.

Shorten the learning curve for employees new to the

seed business

“This course exceeded my expectations and will provide a return to myself and my company starting tomorrow. For someone get-ting more involved in the business side of the seed industry this is a great first step. The instructors were exceptional and their vault of personal experience helps to drive the theory home.”Ken Piecharka, Production Lead, HyTech Production Ltd.

“Seed Business 101 is a course that would benefit anyone in the seed industry. It lets you explore each department and ties them together to show you how important each employee is to the company. This course not only teaches you about the seed industry, it also inspires you to be a better employee.” Julie McElhaney, Customer Service Manager, US Agriseeds

“I feel privileged to have been able to participate in this course and learn from the masters. I have learned the skills necessary to be able to successfully run a seed business, and would highly recommend this to any and all in the seed industry.” Laurence Dawson, Stock Seed Manager and Production Assistant, Tozer Seeds

“I just started my role in the seed industry a month ago. But after attending this class I felt like learned a vast amount of knowledge and information which I think it would probably take another 5-10 years to know in and out of the seed business without the course. The instructors did an excellent job.” Khin Kyaw, Process Improvement Manager, Monsanto

“SB101 was an excellent experience for anyone new to the industry! The case studies with colleagues helped me to learn how to problem solve through real life situations, while creat-ing long lasting relationships in the industry.” Cristen Bonz, Documentation and Inventory Control Coordinator, Sakata Seed America, Inc.

The purpose of Seed Business 101 is to shorten the learning curve for employees new to the seed business by teaching them what every employee must know about the workings of the main functional areas of a seed company.

This knowledge will assist them to quickly perform optimally in a team and avoid making mistakes. This course gives new recruits and younger managers a broad understanding of the major aspects of a seed company’s operations and cross-departmental knowledge of best practices for profitability.

Course Overview Main Functional Areas Core Curriculum

What people say about SB101:

“We look forward to including the Seed Business 101 course into our orientation and development of young managers and new hires. This program will accelerate the development process of our young recruits and be valuable in helping more experienced people learn the nuances of our industry and make a rapid contribution to our business.” Matthew Johnston, President & COO, HM.Clause

“Recruitment and retention of new employees is critical to the long-term success of Cal/West Seeds. We are pleased to have this new resource available and support its objectives.”Paul Frey, President & CEO, Cal/West Seeds

Plant Breeding Research ProductionOperations

Sales, Product Development & Marketing

Administration

Four case studies - Gearing up to Enter a New Market; Inventory Management; Product Liability, Prevention & Handling of Claims; New Product Introduction - have been custom designed to immerse each participant in decision making situations in all five functional areas of a fictitious seed company. These are supported by full sets of both market and financial data. The course is designed to maximize interactive participation and team building with a different composition of work groups for each case study. Invited industry experts support case study briefings.

Perspectives

Session options include a field seed focused program and a horticultural seed focused program.