"Meet Harry Stine, Father of the Modern Soybean"

From AgWeb, July 3:

He set up each light with care, double checked the watering rates and took one last look at the soybeans. This was it — this had to work. In 1966, when every other seed company was investing in corn, Harry Stine was taking a huge risk by investing in soybean research.

As the 24-year-old ascended from the basement of his family home, he didn’t realize the domino effect his actions would have. For the first two years Stine Seed was in business, Stine performed soybean crosses and packaged products in his basement. Today the company boasts more than 600 employees with locations across the U.S. and internationally.

“I tried soybeans, honestly, because I didn’t know any better,” Stine says. “At that point in time, farmers saved seed and most varieties were produced by land-grant universities for virtually all open pollinated crops, like soybeans. I decided if we created the varieties, we could control the market.”

While his idea would eventually become a raving success, it wasn’t without challenges. In the 1960s, soybeans weren’t protected under patent law. This meant farmers could buy the varieties Stine invested in and replant the seeds in following years.

To protect his investment, Stine required farmers to sign a contract stating they wouldn’t save seed. He used this method until the 1990s, when the U.S. patent office finally recognized breeding seeds.

While patent law was challenging, Stine had been overcoming hurdles most of his life.
“I’m dyslexic and somewhat autistic. My mother wanted to hold me back in first grade,” Stine says. “Starting out I was very slow to learn, and today I'm still slow to learn things. It wasn’t until I was in third grade that I learned to reverse everything and started to ‘get it’ in school."...

....MUCH MORE