John R. Mizicko, General Manager, Seed Quality Services

John oversees and directs a committed and energetic staff that handles the entire seed quality testing program for STA Laboratories including Seed Health, Seed Analysis and Hybrid Purity testing services. He has worked to successfully propel STA Laboratories forward as the industry leader in vegetable seed quality services.

Prior to joining STA, John was Vice President of Worldwide Production at Harris Moran Seed Company. In that role, John was responsible for worldwide commercial vegetable seed production and purchasing. John has traveled extensively throughout the world evaluating production fields and field trials and has worked closely with domestic and international growers to develop high quality seed products through seed health and genetic quality testing. During John’s 16 year tenure at Harris Moran Seed Company, he also held the positions of Vice President of Production and Operations, Quality Control Manager, Offshore Production Manager, and Stock Seed and New Products Manager. These positions allowed him to oversee the company’s seed product testing labs, as well as the plant pathology programs and operations at three research facilities located in Davis, CA, San Juan Bautista, CA, and Sun City, FL.

John previously worked as a Research Plant Pathologist for SunSeeds in Hollister, CA and Niagara Seed Company in Davis, CA, developing disease resistant varieties, conducting seed health testing for stock seed and commercial lots, and testing commercial brassica and tomato lots for hybrid purity by starch gel electrophoresis. Previous to his seed industry experience, he was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN in the Plant Pathology department and Federal Extension Service. He received a Master’s degree in Plant Pathology and Bachelor’s degree in Botany from Colorado State University.

John is an active member and serves on various committees of the California Seed Association (CSA), American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) and the Asian Pacific Seed Association (APSA). He currently is serving as Secretary/Treasurer of the Associate Members Division of ASTA. He was a past Chair of the Vegetable and Flower Division Permanent Research Fund for ASTA, as well as a past member of the Board of Directors of the Pacific Seed Association.