VoloAgri
Group, Inc. is a global vegetable seed
company focusing on protected culture
and open field growing environments
using innovative seed breeding
technologies. VoloAgri is headquartered
in Woodland, California, with its
principal operational centers in
California, USA and Naaldwijk, The
Netherlands. Additional facilities and
operations are located in the United
States, Mexico, South America, Lebanon,
The Netherlands, Turkey, Italy, Spain
and China.
Overall presentation of the company,
its activities,
and its operations in Europe and
California.
Testimonials by a few employees who will speak about
their career path and current jobs.
Overview of current and future
internship and employment
opportunities.
Q&A
Moderator
Panelists
Veronica Padilla
HR Manager
Harry Beukelman
VP of Marketing and Product
Development
Stephanie Vargas
Product Development & Trial
Specialist
Lakhwinder “Dr.
Lucky” Randhawa
VP of Research & Development
Tyler Espinoza
Sales & Product Development
Coordinator
The California Seed
Association's
Online
Fall Student Tour 2020
With students from:
- UC
Davis, UC Berkeley,
UC Riverside, UC San
Diego
- Cal-Poly, Chico
State, Fresno State,
CSU-Monterey Bay
- Woodland Community
College and Hartnell College
October 19
"Last year I was you!" Online
encounters
and Q&A session
with young employees who
spoke
about navigating college and university,
the transition after graduation, and
their first job.
In 2018,
Bayer acquired Monsanto with its seed
brands, De Ruiter and Seminis, stating a
commitment to developing smarter ways to
grow more healthy crops that are more
environmentally and economically
sustainable. With a broad technology
platform and a combined team of talented
scientists, Bayer commits to delivering
more innovation and more value to
customers and partners.
A global
leader, the company researches and
develops over 20 different crops with
over 2,200 varieties of seeds. These
innovative seeds are marketed to
commercial vegetable growers, dealers,
distributors, home garden seed providers
and wholesalers in more than 150
countries and territories.
Marrone
Bio Innovations:
Pioneering Better Biopesticides for a Better
Tomorrow
The world population is soaring and
consumers are increasingly concerned about
the environment, their health, food safety,
and ongoing access to clean water. Now, more
than ever, our world needs effective,
sustainable pest management solutions that
are safe for people and protect our natural
resources. At Marrone Bio Innovations we
understand these challenges and are
dedicated to delivering high-performing,
bio-based solutions that address these
daunting global issues.
As experts at discovering, developing, and
commercializing naturally derived
technologies, we have created an
industry-leading platform of pest management
and plant health products that are used in
agricultural, turf and ornamental, and water
treatment applications. Our solutions help
customers around the globe control pests,
improve plant health, and increase crop
yields while reducing the environmental
pesticide load, decreasing chemical residues
on food, and fighting the development of
pest resistance.
Continuous innovation is at our core and has
enabled us not only to commercialize
multiple product lines, but also to generate
a deep pipeline of advanced and early-stage
products that include nematicides,
herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and
plant health candidates. In addition, we
have developed a robust patent portfolio and
have amassed a library of more than 18,000
microorganisms and hundreds of plant
extracts that have been screened for
pipeline candidates.
We are proud to be industry pioneers and are
committed to promoting a better tomorrow
with bio-based pest management and plant
health solutions that are effective,
efficient, and environmentally responsible.
Corteva Agriscience™,
Agriculture Division of DowDuPont (NYSE:
DWDP), is intended to become an independent,
publicly traded company when the previously
announced spinoff is complete by June 2019.
The division combines the strengths of
DuPont Pioneer, DuPont Crop Protection and
Dow AgroSciences. Corteva Agriscience
provides growers around the world with the
most complete portfolio in the industry —
including some of the most recognized brands
in agriculture: Pioneer®, Encirca®, the
newly launched Brevant™ seed brand, as well
as award-winning Crop Protection products —
while bringing new products to market
through our solid pipeline of active
chemistry and technologies. More information
can be found at www.corteva.com.
HM.CLAUSE
specializes in the breeding, production and
commercialization of vegetable seeds
varieties for professional growers. We are
100% dedicated to vegetable seeds, HM.CLAUSE
belongs to the top 5 vegetable seed entities
in the world. With over 2,000 varieties in
more than 20 vegetable crops, HM-CLAUSE
provides innovative solutions to growers
worldwide. HM.CLAUSE varieties are available
in more than 100 countries thanks to 14
commercial subsidiaries and local sales
networks. HM.CLAUSE is a business unit
entity, which belongs to Limagrain, an
international cooperative headquartered in
France. If you are a qualified applicant
interested in working in a fast-paced,
culturally diverse team environment, we
invite you to take a closer look at our job
opportunities.
BioConsortia is developing
highly effective microbial
consortia for increasing
agricultural yields.
We have developed a
revolutionary Advanced
Microbial Selection (AMS)
process, which uses directed
selection to discover
beneficial teams of
microbes. This novel,
patented model works by
controlling the seed
genetics and the environment
while changing the microbial
community in order to shift
trait performance in the
crop toward improved
targeted phenotypes.
Sakata is a world
leader in breeding and producing vegetable and
ornamental seed and vegetative cuttings. Sakata
breeders around the world work diligently to
develop varieties that offer superior
performance and set new standards for the
industry.
Under the Nunhems
brand, Bayer offers expert advice and
high-quality seed varieties of about 25
vegetable crops. With more than 2,000 employees,
we are present in all major vegetable production
areas around the globe. We are dedicated to
producing market-oriented varieties and seed
products, and more than just that. We are
oriented towards customers, and towards sharing
value-added genetics, services and expertise to
help them succeed.
2017
.
16
November 2017
Full Belly Farm owners:
Andrew Brait, Judith Redmond,
Paul Muller, and Dru Rivers
Full Belly Farm
Guinda, California
Full
Belly Farm is a certified organic farm
located in the beautiful Capay Valley of
northern California. We are
committed to fostering sustainability on
all levels, from fertility in our soil
and care for the environment, to stable
employment for our farm workers. We
strive to be good stewards of this farm,
so that this generation and future
generations may continue to be nourished
by the healthy and vibrant food that we
produce. Our
farm has been certified organic since
1985, and we strive to continue to
support local food systems and create a
strong local food economy.
19 October 2017
McClellan
Nuclear Research Center - McClellan,
California
The
nuclear research reactor at the
McClellan Nuclear Research Center (MNRC)
was commissioned under the United States
Air Force in 1990, making it one of the
newest research reactors in the US. It
is the highest power TRIGA™ (Training,
Research, and Isotope Production General
Atomics) reactor in the United States,
rated at 2 MW in steady state with the
capability to pulse to approximately 400
MW for 30 msec. By design and
construction TRIGA™ reactors are
'fail-safe' in the sense that the fuel
itself is designed to shut down the
nuclear reactions if the temperature
increases beyond the operation limits.
Neutron Radiography
Similar to x-ray radiography, neutron
radiography is a very efficient tool to
enhance investigations in the field of
non-destructive testing (NDT) as well as
in many fundamental research
applications. Neutron radiography is,
however, suitable for a number of tasks
impossible for conventional x-ray
radiography. The advantage of neutrons
compared to x-rays is the ability to
image light elements (i.e. with low
atomic numbers) such as hydrogen, water,
carbon etc. In addition, neutrons
penetrate heavy elements (i.e. with high
atomic numbers) such as lead, titanium
etc. allowing the study of materials in
complex sample environments, for example
water accumulation in hydrogen fuel
cells: see Fig. 1. Because neutrons
interact with the nucleus rather than
with the electron shell, they can also
distinguish between different isotopes
of the same element. This makes neutron
radiography an important tool in various
research applications and in the field
of NDT. The MNRC high neutron intensity
beams permit short exposure times, high
spatial resolution and high sample
throughput.
Plant Seed Mutagenesis
Plant seed mutagenesis is used to
investigate gene expression by altering
the seed's DNA. Fast neutron irradiation
has been proven to be the most effective
method to alter DNA irreparably. Several
seed species and varieties have been
successfully irradiated at MNRC. These
include Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana
benthamiana, soy beans, cucumber seeds
and more.
28
September 2017
VoloAgri Group -
Woodland, California
VoloAgri® is a vegetable seed technology
and breeding company dedicated to
Cultivating Global Health. We take pride
in serving every customer with
customized vegetable seed and technical
service solutions they can count on. Our
innovative seeds produce plants with
increased yields, improved disease
resistance, and post-harvest processing
advantages while still achieving
exceptional taste.
Our diverse team of industry experts are
efficiently stationed at vegetable seed
epicenters around the world. VoloAgri
Global Corporate Headquarters are in
South San Francisco, California with our
principal Operational Centers in San
Luis Obispo, California and Naaldwijk,
The Netherlands. Additional facilities
are located in Mexico, Turkey, Spain and
Lebanon; and 15 trial stations are
spread throughout California, Florida,
Idaho, Mexico, Brazil, Lebanon, Turkey,
China, Thailand, Holland, Italy and
Spain. Our prized collection of seeds
have been developed under several brands
including US Agriseeds, Axia, Greenport
Seeds, California Hybrids, Catalyst
Seeds, New World Seeds, and Zayintec.
Marrone
Bio Innovations:
Pioneering Better Biopesticides for a Better
Tomorrow
The world population is soaring and
consumers are increasingly concerned about
the environment, their health, food safety,
and ongoing access to clean water. Now, more
than ever, our world needs effective,
sustainable pest management solutions that
are safe for people and protect our natural
resources. At Marrone Bio Innovations we
understand these challenges and are
dedicated to delivering high-performing,
bio-based solutions that address these
daunting global issues.
As experts at discovering, developing, and
commercializing naturally derived
technologies, we have created an
industry-leading platform of pest management
and plant health products that are used in
agricultural, turf and ornamental, and water
treatment applications. Our solutions help
customers around the globe control pests,
improve plant health, and increase crop
yields while reducing the environmental
pesticide load, decreasing chemical residues
on food, and fighting the development of
pest resistance.
Continuous innovation is at our core and has
enabled us not only to commercialize
multiple product lines, but also to generate
a deep pipeline of advanced and early-stage
products that include nematicides,
herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and
plant health candidates. In addition, we
have developed a robust patent portfolio and
have amassed a library of more than 18,000
microorganisms and hundreds of plant
extracts that have been screened for
pipeline candidates.
We are proud to be industry pioneers and are
committed to promoting a better tomorrow
with bio-based pest management and plant
health solutions that are effective,
efficient, and environmentally responsible.
Arcadia
Biosciences develops and commercializes
agricultural traits and products
that bring value to growers, processors and
consumers while benefitting the environment
and enhancing human health. Using a variety
of advanced screening, breeding and
biotechnology techniques, Arcadia has
created a diverse portfolio of late-stage
traits across multiple crops.
The
Sacramento area site is the global
headquarters of Bayer CropScience’s
Biologics group, focused on innovative
biological pest management solutions. The
site houses Bayer CropScience’s center of
excellence for research and development in
this area, making Bayer a leading company
for research, development and production of
microbial-based crop protection products.
Products originating from the Biologics team
include Serenade Soil® fungicide, Ballad
Plus® fungicide, Sonata® fungicide and
Requiem® insecticide.
The region is also home to a team from Bayer
CropScience Vegetable Seeds. At this site,
researchers engage in integrated breeding,
the cornerstone of the company’s commitment
to solving challenges in vegetable crop
improvement. This team collaborates closely
with the scientific community at UC Davis,
one of the world’s largest research centers
in plant science. Research programs here are
closely tied with the company’s breeding
programs in other locations in California,
Oregon and around the world.
Ag-Biotech
founder and CEO, Dr. Mark Massoudi, at left
Ag-Biotech
services:
- PCR-based marker systems for molecular
breeding,
- marker-assisted selection (MAS),
- DNA marker-assisted backcrossing (MAB),
- DNA fingerprinting and intellectual
rights protection,
- custom DNA marker development (DMD),
- hybrid and trait-purity analysis,
- genetic map construction.
Our mission
is to breed, develop and produce superior
quality vegetable and flower varieties to
meet the full potential of a dynamic market.
American Takii, Inc. recognizes the
importance of customer service and
developing customer relations for a
long-term partnership. We at American Takii
Inc. are working diligently to uphold high
quality standards and use innovative
research to help you be successful.
Our host Steve Wiley, General Manager of
American Takii, at far right
We sell only to select wholesale dealers and
distributors in U.S.A., Canada, Central
America and Mexico.
American Takii’s parent company, Takii &
Company, LTD, is privately owned and has
been based in Kyoto, Japan since 1835. We
have had the same name, ownership and
commitment to seed quality and research for
over 175 years. Takii and company, LTD, is
one of the world’s largest breeder/producers
of vegetable and flower seeds and has
breeding and experimental stations in Japan
as well as international facilities located
around the world including the United
States, Holland, France, Chile, Thailand and
China.
Morning
Star is the world's leading tomato
ingredient processor, serving food
processors throughout the world. Our
operations are located at Williams and Los
Banos, in the heart of California's tomato
production areas.
The Morning
Star Company was founded in 1970 by Chris
Rufer as a one truck owner operator, hauling
tomatoes to other canneries. Today, Morning
Star accounts for over 25% of the California
processing tomato production, supplying 40%
of the U.S. ingredient tomato paste and
diced tomato markets, with industrial sales
of approximately $350 million.
In 1982, Chris founded a tomato paste
processing plant with three grower
investors, and originated and implemented
two important innovations in the tomato
industry; namely, (1) the dedicated
production and marketing of industrial
tomato paste and (2) the marketing of tomato
paste in the "300 gallon bag-in-box." As
tomato paste requirements grew The Morning
Star Packing Company-Los Banos was founded
and built in 1990. Through innovative
thinking, common sense, and experience we
improved the quality and lowered our cost of
producing tomato paste. This facility
processes approximately 530 tons of tomatoes
(180,000 pounds of tomato paste) per hour.
In 1995, The Morning Star Packing
Company-Williams was built. The Williams
facility combines state of the art
technology with economies of scale. This
facility processes approximately 630 tons of
tomatoes (200,000 pounds of tomato paste)
per hour, making it the largest tomato
processing facility in California. We also
established the California Sun Harvesting
Company (Cal-Sun) in a partnership with
prominent tomato growers primarily to reduce
the cost of tomato harvesting and create
efficiencies in the harvesting, trucking and
the processing of tomatoes.
In 2002, Morning Star founded Liberty
Packing Company, Santa Nella. The original
plant was built in 1975, but completely
revamped in 2002. Liberty Packing does all
the diced processing for Morning Star which
has been doing bulk diced products since
1993.
At all Morning Star facilities, we emphasize
innovative thought, and we strive to use
available resources and technology to their
fullest potential in order to continuously
improve quality, productivity and service
for our customer. As important as quality,
service and price are, we know there is
more. To remain competitive for the long
term, we must be innovative. That is why we
rigorously maintain our position as the
major force developing and implementing new
and improved technology in our industry.
Alforex Seeds focuses on developing and
delivering alfalfa and forage solutions that
help hay, livestock and milk producers
maximize the profitability of their
operations. Through its affiliation with Dow
AgroSciences, Alforex Seeds offers customers
access to world-class systems, technologies
and solutions.
Research
Director John Reich presents alfalfa trials
Above: In the
greenhouse
Below: Lunch with Managing Director Ron
Cornish
What some of the students reported:
I was
particularly impressed with Jon Reich and
his knowledge of alfalfa. The tour of the
greenhouse, where he described the screening
and selection methods for salt tolerance and
fusarium resistance, was excellent and very
informative. Seeing the field nursery and
the phenotypic variation between clonal
populations was also particularly
interesting and highlighted the importance
of visual selection in the breeding program.
It is interesting to note that while Alforex
is not developing transgenic forages, they
must still screen for adventitious presence
of transgenes in their seed-lots to maintain
export standards. The testing for
adventitious presence increases their cost
of goods and is now part of the cost of
doing business even though they do not
participate in the transgenic market. All in
all this was an excellent tour to a nice
facility hosted by knowledgeable and
passionate people. Thumbs up!
Eric Hoeft
Thank
you for facilitating an opportunity for me
to visit Alforex seed. I really enjoyed
speaking with the representatives and
learning about Alfalfa seed production.
Specifically I learned about the breeding
methods and population structures that
Alforex employs to achieve their breeding
goals. I am still a little hazy on the
specifics they discussed about their use of
male sterile plants, maintainer lines, and
A/B parental lines in seed production, but
will be doing research on my own to find
some answers. I did receive a card from one
of the representatives so I might email him.
Thanks again, looking forward to future seed
central events. Events like this one where
we get to talk to someone involved in the
companies breeding program is something I
really appreciate.
Muller
Ranch, a farm located in Yolo County,
California,
is a grower of processing tomatoes,
specialty peppers, corn, wheat, canola,
cucumbers, grapes, garlic, walnuts, almonds,
sunflowers and other crops. Muller Ranch
farms several thousand acres throughout Yolo
County.
Frank Muller
presents Muller Ranch to our group.
Pepper plant
machine
Garlic field
What some of the students reported:
Zach Quart
For me, the trip to the Muller Ranch was
very enlightening. I have taken tours of
vineyards and olive orchards in the past but
I have never been to an industrial farm like
Muller Ranch. I chose to go on this field
trip because of my interest in food, food
production, and growing. I am also a food
science major so I found it necessary to
understand what goes on at a farm on a daily
basis. The organizers of this trip were
successful in making sure that I learned
this. I have a new appreciation of food
production. Seeing the incredibly
specialized and refined techniques that
modern day farmer’s use was truly amazing.
The tomato-harvesting machine really sticks
out in my mind when I think about the trip
to Muller Ranch. It amazed me that the
machine could run with no people on it and
could pick, sort, and deposit thousands of
tomatoes in just minutes. Now when I go to
the super market I have a better
understanding of where the food I buy comes
from and how it is harvested. Also, I was
glad to learn about processing tomatoes from
a man who runs a very successful farm. It
was amazing to see his passion and it
inspired me to search for something that I
can be as excited about as well. Overall, I
am very happy with my experience at Muller
Ranch and am looking forward to more field
trips this quarter. I am grateful for the
work that each organizer put in to make sure
we learned the most information possible.
Going on this trip reinforced my decision in
becoming a food science major and I now feel
that I have a much clearer understanding of
farming, harvesting, and food production.
Yufei Qian
During the field trip to Muller Ranch, I
visited the pepper production area for our
school and learned more about how high
technology changes the agricultural process.
This ranch uses really good sustainable idea
to protect environment and rise up yield.
One thing I remembered is that drip
irrigation is used widely in this farm. The
system is 10 inch deep under the soil and
only provide just right amount of water to
plants. Also, the accuracy of planting
guarantees the location of each crop so they
could share water evenly. Therefore, this is
a good way to not only safe water but also
low down cost on production. I come from
China, and this is a country really lack of
water. However, agricultural water usage is
always a huge portion in China. Among many
fields, farmers still use the most
traditional ways to irrigate. This may
because of the large cost of building the
drip irrigation system. Many places have
steep attitude or on mountains. It is still
a big waste of water every year. Some crops
may get extra water they don’t need, and
others may still feel thirsty. Water flows
down the hill and wash soil surface away may
cause some other problems. Thus, drip
irrigation system is a really good solution
for large area farming.
Also, high technology trucks help farmers
harvest much faster than before. In the past
time, people had to shake the pepper plants
by hands so the production is very low. Now,
the machine on the truck can finish that
quickly and rise up the efficiency. It is
also amazing that there are high technology
can control the location of seeds in the
field accurately. High technology really
does a great job on sustainable farming.
HM.CLAUSE
specializes in the breeding, production and
commercialization of vegetable seeds
varieties for professional growers. We are
100% dedicated to vegetable seeds, HM.CLAUSE
belongs to the top 5 vegetable seed entities
in the world. With over 2,000 varieties in
more than 20 vegetable crops, HM-CLAUSE
provides innovative solutions to growers
worldwide. HM.CLAUSE varieties are available
in more than 100 countries thanks to 14
commercial subsidiaries and local sales
networks. HM.CLAUSE is a business unit
entity, which belongs to Limagrain, an
international cooperative headquartered in
France. If you are a qualified applicant
interested in working in a fast-paced,
culturally diverse team environment, we
invite you to take a closer look at our job
opportunities.
What some of the students said:
Yoomin Chae, Plant Science major
“This was
eye-opening because I didn’t
know that there were positions
in the seed industry that don’t
require a science background.
The careers are much more
diverse than just studying seeds
or doing research.”
“It was a
nice surprise to see that the
company environment is so
positive and friendly. The
positive atmosphere I
experienced today contradicted
the image in my head of a
massive building and a cold
laboratory.”
“The
discussion about interactions
with the growers, and the French
growers who are on the board,
gave me a better understanding
of the company and the research
horizon because of the way the
company is organized.”
David O’Donnell,
Genetics graduate student
“I’m trying
to get a feel for what exactly
the industry is, what is the
company, what are the facets
that we don’t really experience
in academia…it was good to see
that the company works in so
many different zones and there
is so much opportunity for
travel and to experience many
cultures. It would be useful to
know what sort of skills the
companies are looking for, what
skills we should be developing,
what laboratory or field
techniques we should be learning
in graduate school that would be
directly translatable to a work
environment.”
Kartik Singhal,
Biotechnology major
“When I saw
that HM.CLAUSE’s mission is to
develop crops with higher yield
in climates which are not very
favorable for crops, it reminded
me of my statement of purpose
which was part of my college
application. Before coming here
I had a vision in my mind of
what working for a seed company
would be like, and I didn’t
think it would allow me to
pursue those goals. That was
really nice to see.”
EARLIER FIELD TRIPS
2014
December
2014
Novozymes - Davis, CA
September 2014
Dow
AgroSciences - Woodland, CA
January
2014
Forage
Genetics - Davis, CA
2013
November 2013
Marrone
Bio Innovations - Davis, CA
September
2013
Eurofins STA
Laboratories - Gilroy, CA
Sakata Seed America
- Salinas, CA
May 2013
Nunhems
Seeds, Acampo Research Station - Acampo, CA
March 2013
California
Seed & Plant Labs - Pleasant Grove, CA
January
2013
Nunhems
USA, Davis Laboratory - Davis, CA
2012
November
2012
Syngenta Seeds
- Woodland, CA
September 2012
Enza Zaden -
San Juan Bautista
INCOTEC - Salinas, CA
Marrone
Bio Innovations: 
Hartnell
College
9:30
AM
2:00
PM 
