Dec 20, 2021

Purdue to host ASTA Management Academy for seed professionals

Purdue University’s Center for Food and Agricultural Business will partner again with the American Seed Trade Association to offer the ASTA Management Academy. The program will be Feb. 15-17 on the university’s campus.

Academy participants will take an in-depth look at current issues facing the seed industry and ways they can use business management concepts to tackle challenges and capitalize on opportunities. They will also discover fundamental marketing strategies that best fit the current market, use case studies and group activities to better identify and apply management tools to examine long-term profitability, and much more.

“We are really looking forward to the 2022 ASTA Management Academy,”  Scott Downey, center director and professor of agricultural economics, said in a news release. “The program’s unique delivery approach includes both online and in-person aspects that will provide a great opportunity for seed industry leaders to sharpen their management toolkit, address challenges and take a hard look at their strategy for future success.”

The program will offer opportunities to discuss and evaluate strategies for creating and leveraging competitive advantage. Attendees will acquire skills to create and communicate points of difference for market orientation, learn to evaluate and manage performance, and study strategic positioning.

In addition to Downey, other faculty presenters will be Brady Brewer, assistant professor of agricultural economics; Allan Gray, center executive director, executive director of the Digital Innovation in Agri-food Systems Laboratory and professor of agricultural economics; Pete Hammett, visiting professor; and Bobby Martens, associate professor and Iowa Institute for Cooperatives endowed professor of economics at Iowa State University.

The ASTA Management Academy is valuable for both experienced decision-makers and those new to the industry. The program rate for ASTA members is $2,595. The nonmember rate is $3,695. Learn more about the academy and register at https://agribusiness.purdue.edu/asta.

– Torrie Sheridan, Purdue University