Contributors

James R. Shearl

James R. Shearl was raised in two great agricultural communities, Williamsville, and Franklin, IL.

He holds a BS from Kansas State University, an MS from the University of IL in Extension Education and an Advanced certificate in Administration of Higher Education also from the University of IL.

Shearl began his career as a County Agent serving as Extension Adviser Agriculture in Madison and Ford counties. He was selected as Manager of IL Crop improvement Association in 1978 and served until 1996. From 1996-2024, he was Executive Vice President of Golden Harvest Seeds brand. He was CEO of Technology Transfer, Inc. (TTI)from 2004-2006. TTI did business development work for inventors. From 2006-2018, he served as Director of Quality Assurance for AgReliant Genetics, LLC.  In 2018, Shearl formed JR Shearl & Associates, Inc. the company writes Quality Management Systems (QMS) for the seed industry.

Accomplishments: while at IL Crop Improvement Jim was a collaborating professor in the U of I Departments of Agronomy, Ag Engineering and Plant Pathology. He served on the U of I Variety Review Board from 1979-1996. He was on the college of ACES Advisory Committee and is still a member of the U of I President’s Council. He is the author of Honoring an Era, a history of IL Crop Improvement Association from 1973-1997. He is co-author of the publication on Component Pricing in the Soybean Industry and a chapter author of the Oat Monograph, 1990, an American Society of Agronomy publication. He has also written various seed industry newsletters.

Professional Training:

ISO 9001-2008 Lead auditor Training, ETS auditor training, BQMS document and auditor Training.

Professional Organizations:

Association of Official Seed certifying Agencies (AOSCA) President 1995-1996; National Speaker’s Association 1985-1996; ASTA division chairs corn and sorghum 2004, soybeans 2014, ASTA conference speaker 1988,2010,2012. Excellence Through Stewardship (ETS) board Secretary 2016-2018.

Dennis Thompson

Dennis R. Thompson was raised near Arcola on a Douglas County, Illinois farm and actively involved in animal and crop production via 4-H and FFA. He served six years as a member of the Illinois Army National Guard.

BS and MS degrees were earned from Southern Illinois University respectively in Animal Industries (1972) and in Agricultural Education and Mechanization (1980). A Ph.D. in Vocational and Technical Education was earned from the University of Illinois (1996).

Professionally, Thompson was primarily employed by the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service from 1972-1996 holding a variety of agricultural and administrative county, area, state, bi-state and international agricultural positions. However, during a short period of that time he worked for the Land of Lincoln Soybean Association.

During his tenure as CEO of Illinois Crop Improvement Association (1996-2012) he was an active member of AOSCA, the US OECD program and of ASTA. Following establishment of the official AOSCA IP program (the organization’s first non-seed certification program) served as the inaugural chair. He also served as the first Northern Region AOSCA Internal Auditor. He chaired the US OECD Working Group for Maize (corn) during the challenging times of great concern over biotech maize pollen flow with respect to the adequacy of established certification distance isolation standards. Representing AOSCA, he worked with ASTA to bring about a US industry participatory research Meta study lead by Dr. Joe Burris, Iowa State University focused on learning more about corn pollen flow patterns and distances traveled with respect to the adequacy of distance isolation standards. Thompson also served as program chairman for the Thirty-Second Soybean Research Conference.

Upon retirement from Illinois Crop he transitioned to a professionally active retirement (2013-present day 2024) applying knowledge and expertise gained throughout his extension and seed industry career to bolster food security in developing economies. Having recently completed his 23rd in-country assignment in retirement (Liberia, Niger, Mali, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ghana, and Tanzania in Africa and Pakistan in Asia). Representative client groups include African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF); United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO); Church of the Brethren (COB); Seed Programs International (SPI); Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; International Potato Center (CIP); and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). He served as Seed World magazine’s International Development Columnist (2013-18) and established and served as Principal Investigator “Seed Systems” for US Feed the Future Innovation Laboratory for Soybean Value Chain (2014-18).

Doug Miller

Mr. Doug Miller is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Illinois Crop Improvement Association, an independent not-for-profit organization designated by law as the seed certification agency for the State of Illinois. In addition to domestic seed certification, the association offers services under the OECD Seed Schemes in cooperation with the USDA Agriculture Marketing Service. Building on its seed certification role, the association operates a full-service seed lab that tests over 800 kinds of seed, a greenhouse program, and an identity-preserved grain lab. All labs are ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited to ensure accuracy in testing. Doug has been with Illinois Crop Improvement since 1994, serving in various roles, including greenhouse, field inspection, and Puerto Rico services, before becoming CEO in 2014. Doug has an MS in Plant Pathology from Kansas State University and a BS in Botany from Eastern Illinois University. He is a past President of the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA) and represents AOSCA on the Policy and Procedures Advisory Board of the National Seed Health System (NSHS). Previous service to AOSCA includes the Certification Requirements and Standards Council, Corn and Sorghum Committee, and the now inactive AOSCA Pathology Committee. Doug is also a past president of the Society of Commercial Seed Technologists (SCST) and was the first Registered Genetic Technologist to serve as president. He has also served as the Chair of the Seed Quality and Testing group for the Seed Science Foundation and is the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Illinois Seed Trade Association. Mr. Miller is an ISO lead auditor trained NSHS Auditor and has worked with field inspection and laboratory quality management systems throughout his career. His experience in field inspection, testing, and certification makes him uniquely adapted to continue the vision and mission of the Illinois Crop Improvement Association in the constantly changing world of agriculture.