Industry Honors

Distinguished Service Award

The ASTA Distinguished Service award was presented to Dr. Stephanie Bloem, North American Plant Protection Organization. The award recognizes those whose efforts have made a significant contribution to the association and the U.S. seed industry.

Dr. Stephanie Bloem has served as NAPPO’s Executive Director since July 2015. Prior to that, she served as a risk analyst and training specialist for USDA APHIS focusing on conducting pest risk assessments for import/export of various agricultural commodities plus organizing/delivering domestic and international workshops on pest risk analysis processes and procedures.

During her tenure with NAPPO, Stephanie advocated for stronger industry-government (NPPO) partnerships to develop regional standards and technical documents, and jointly develop and conduct regional workshops and other projects centered on topics of mutual concern to agricultural industry groups and the three NAPPO member NPPOs. She also promoted the need to develop stronger industry/government partnerships with other key regional plant protection organizations including COSAVE and EPPO. She was instrumental in the development of a hemispheric workshop on the implementation of the international seed standard ISPM 38 throughout the western hemisphere that was held in Costa Rica in 2019, and has continued to strongly support the development and implementation of the systems approach as an alternative to the current international system of consignment-by-consignment phytosanitary certification for the international movement of seeds.

More recently she has worked with APHIS, AMSAC, and CFIA to promote the development of proposals for at least two NAPPO government/seed industry projects on the systems approach; one of which will be designed to evolve into a hemispheric project that will include a partnership with COSAVE. Stephanie’s vision and leadership skills have significantly strengthened NAPPO during her tenure to be considered one of the most effective and proactive RPPOs globally.

To see past recipients, click here.

Honorary Lifetime Member

The ASTA Honorary Lifetime Member award was presented to Jim Radtke, Cibus, Inc., and Norm Poppe, Applewood Seed Co. Honorary Members distinguish themselves through leadership, vision and service.

Jim is the Senior Vice President of Product Development at Cibus. Cibus is a leading technology company leveraging high throughput gene editing technology to develop and license traits to seed companies; targeting traits that improved yields, lower input costs, and increases the sustainability and profitability of farming. Jim has over 30 years of seed industry experience with numerous companies, including Dow AgroSciences, Mycogen, Agrigentics, and Sungene Technology. At Agrigenetics, Jim led the effort to develop the first Bt corn product commercialized in the U.S. Jim has been involved with ASTA for over 15 years, actively contributing to ASTA policy developments by lending his expertise to several ASTA committees and working groups. Jim served as ASTA’s Innovation Policy Committee Chair for several years and worked with Bernice to start the Plant Breeding Innovation subcommittee, leaning into leading the U.S. seed sector to proactively engage and advocate for rational regulation policy on genome editing both domestically in the U.S. and internationally. It would be fair to say that much of the global seed industry’s advocacy initiatives, and the positive advances in regulatory policies pertaining to genome editing can be attributed to the work done by the ASTA PBI committee under Jim and Bernice’s leadership. In addition to his considerable professional accomplishments and service to the seed industry, Jim is a kind and generous human being, always ready with kind words and encouragement. Furthermore, a lucky few of us also had the good fortune to benefit from his chocolatier skills. Jim is an accomplished chocolatier, making several varieties of gourmet chocolates each Christmas. One of this signature creations is Delta Medallion, inspired by the many Biscoff cookies he had flying Delta airlines. We thank Jim for his service to ASTA and the U.S. seed industry. We look forward to many more years of working together.

Norm Poppe is the CEO of Applewood Seed Company in Arvada, Colorado. He has held this position since September 2019. He was promoted to this role by Applewood’s founder Gene Milstein, whose leadership and dedication to quality and environmental stewardship set an exceptional standard that Norm has carried forward. Previously, he was the company’s general manager from 1988 to 2019, and the vice president of sales and marketing at Veldkamps Flowers Inc. from 1982 to 1988.

On behalf of Applewood, Norm has been an active and valuable member of ASTA, contributing on many critical seed issues over the years – from the ever-changing international landscape, where shifting policies have had significant impacts on how seed companies do business, to the integral role he has played in agricultural conservation. With Norm’s leadership, Applewood has been a leader in supplying high quality conservation, pollinator, and wildflower varieties, supporting conservation efforts across the country. Norm’s dedication to Applewood Seed Company and to its employees is evident and it sets the standard for leadership in the industry.

It’s clear from the moment you surround yourself with the Applewood team that they are more than just colleagues, they’re family, due in large part to Norm’s leadership. ASTA, and the seed industry as a whole, are better thanks to Norm’s thoughtful leadership and dedication to his work, which presents as more than work, but a passion.

To see past recipients, click here.

ASTA Lifetime Industry Achievement Award

To see past recipients, click here.