“A very contemporary program which is absolutely relevant for development to the third world countries”, said Mr. Pregalathan Pillay Deputy Director, Dept. of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries at the recently concluded seed industry executive development program organized by the Center for Executive Education, Sathguru Management Consultants and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. The four day executive education program was held from 17 to 20 January, 2011 at the Taj Deccan in Hyderabad, India.

The program’s central objective is to develop the participants’ ability to ideate unique strategies for business development that are both sustainable and revolutionary in the seed industry. The exposure and brain storming sessions conducted during the program stimulated them to develop new perspectives towards handling market needs, as well as gain knowledge on the current technological advancement in the seed sector.

The program witnessed multi dimensional contexts towards the industry, as participants brought with them experience and exposure from significantly diverse backgrounds that compounded the quality of the information sharing sessions resulting in a thoroughly different learning environment. 31 participants from the areas of agriculture, crop management, seed research, forestry and the seed business attended the seed industry program.

Productive interaction after each of the presentations resulted in lively sessions, wherein several concepts not included in the program agenda were also discussed upon demand from the participants which was a clear display of the flexibility of the program structure and focus on participant needs.

There was heightened enthusiasm and information exchange among participants when several of the course elements like plant breeding, licensing principles and the seed sector’s trends and challenges were discussed. “It is a very good learning experience for corporate business executives to update themselves in terms of technology and business information”, said Mr. Seraj Ahmad, Crop Manager, Rice & Sunflower Advanta India Limited.

The trends in adoption, product development pathways and focus crops of biotechnology; the private sector approach of gaining strategic leadership in technology; and IT solutions for enhancing seed sector productivity strongly drew positive feedback from the participants.

All participants gave impressive presentations on their case study topic –‘commercializing of seedless mango’, calling it an excellent opportunity to learn about the developments in the seed industry at the global level.

Participants were remarkably involved in all the sessions, as they took advantage of the opportunity to seek insight from the world renowned faculty of Cornell University and industry experts like Ronnie Coffman, Richard Cahoon, K V Raman, Gordan Cisar, Vijayaraghavan and Ragunathan.