America’s seed industry has changed a lot over the decades, and since 1989, Roger Wippler has had a front-row seat to those developments as manager of the Foundation Seed Program of the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association.
Wippler retired in November, but he was recently awarded the Achievement in Crop Improvement Award during the MCIA annual meeting. The award is sponsored by The Farmer magazine.
“The advent of biotechnology certainly had a big impact on who we served,” Wippler told those at the meeting. “When Roundup Ready soybeans came to the marketplace, they were not available to the public universities for distribution through traditional certification, so MCIA members who wanted to utilize that genetic technology had to go to the private companies and get that material, produce it and distribute it under license agreements.”
The genetically modified crop movement saw the use of public soybean varieties decline, but Wippler said that opened opportunities in the Minnesota soybean breeding program, “putting a greater emphasis on specialty food-type soybeans. So, we started working with companies that grew food-grade soybeans. They were looking for non-GMO varieties because their customers required it. This has been an important part of the program.”
The number of seed species that Wippler worked with over the years is vast, though that has changed as Minnesota agriculture has evolved. During the recent MCIA annual meeting, Wippler presented his perspective on the past, present and future of the organization.