Alexandria, Virginia
July 22, 2002

Dr. John E. Baylor, executive director of the Atlantic Seedsmen’s Association, was named an Honorary Member of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) on June 24, 2002 by outgoing ASTA President Drew Kinder. Baylor received this prestigious honor for long and outstanding service to the seed industry. He is the 96th person to be named an Honorary ASTA Member since 1907. Baylor is a former extension specialist in farm crops at Rutgers University, extension agronomy specialist at Pennsylvania State University, and Director of Market Development for Beachley-Hardy Seed Company. In 1987, he took on the leadership of the Atlantic Seedsmen’s Association (ASA) on a part-time basis. He was charged with turning around the fledgling association, a task that he accomplished by expanding ASA’s focus from the turf seed sector only to the entire seed industry.

In Kinder’s view, Baylor’s greatest accomplishment in the seed industry was serving in this position.
“Many of us who were active in the ASA at the time give him credit for saving that organization from
extinction,” Kinder said. “He took control immediately, rebuilding membership, raising the Atlantic’s profile, and upgrading the quality of its business meetings.”

“I am very proud to have been part of ASA’s growth,” Baylor said. Kinder also noted that Baylor has always been a stalwart supporter of ASTA. “The ASA serves as the eyes and ears in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states,” he said.  Among many professional accomplishments, Baylor founded the Pennsylvania Forage and Grassland Council (PFGC) and a related foundation to fund scientists’ travel to international meetings. Both organizations are still in existence today. He served as executive vice president of the PFGC on a voluntary basis for 25 years. He also served on the board of the American Forage and Grassland Council (AFGC) for 20 years and is a past-president of the organization.

Moreover, Baylor is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of
America. He was named by the ASA as “Seedsman of the Year” and an honorary member and by the
AFGC as a Distinguished Grasslander. In addition to honors from the AFGC and PFGC, Baylor was
lauded during his university days by the American Society of Agronomy for his extension work.
In early 2003, Baylor will retire for the third time. He will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ASA at its annual meeting on Hilton Head Island Oct. 12-15, 2002. He will include this historic event with his writing of the fifth decade of ASA history to be published in 2003. Baylor previously published a 40-year history of the ASA.

Founded in 1883, the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), located in Alexandria, Va., is one
of the oldest trade organizations in the United States. Its membership consists of about 800
companies involved in seed production and distribution, plant breeding, and related industries in
North America. As an authority on plant germplasm, ASTA advocates science and policy issues of
industry importance. Its mission is to enhance the development and free movement of quality seed
worldwide.