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Company News

The Seam Expands, Appoints Director of Marketing and Public Relations

MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 21, 2020 – The Seam, a leading provider of agribusiness software and trading solutions, today announced the appointment of Beth Wilson as Director of Marketing and Public Relations. Wilson reports to Mark Pryor, Chief Executive Officer at The Seam.

“We are delighted to have Beth join our team in this strategic role, as we expand more rapidly and visibly throughout the food and agriculture space,” said Pryor. “Beth brings an advanced level of professionalism, experience and passion to our innovative culture.”

As Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Wilson is responsible for managing and enhancing The Seam brand, as the company continues to develop solutions for a wide range of agricultural and sustainability initiatives. She regularly collaborates with the projects team to deliver materials and models for new services, while also expanding the company’s efforts with industry partners.

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AgTech Company News

Local ag tech firm launches digital platform to transform U.S. cotton industry

At first glance, the goal of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol seems daunting — to reduce the environmental footprint of the industry and make cotton farming more sustainable across the nation.

But, the digital platform usage is surprisingly simple. And it’s laid out, in a way, like TurboTax.

“It’s self-guided, and guides you through, step by step, with progression,” said Mark Pryor, CEO of The Seam. “When you’re keying in your information to do your taxes … they [TurboTax] make it simple. We’re doing that for farmers.”

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AgTech Company News

The Seam delivers U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol to digitize sustainability story for cotton farmers

MEMPHIS, Tenn., March 10, 2020 – The Seam, a leading provider of commodities trading and agriculture software solutions, today announced the general release of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, an integrated technology platform that allows U.S. cotton farmers to assess and verify production practices, environmental footprint and measurement of progress toward long-term sustainability goals.

The Trust Protocol was initiated by the National Cotton Council, which represents all U.S. cotton industry segments, including producers, ginners, warehousing, merchants, cooperatives, manufacturers and cottonseed. The Seam was named technology partner of the initiative in November 2018 by the National Cotton Council and the COTTON USA Sustainability Task Force. Mark Pryor, Chief Executive Officer at The Seam, was also named to the inaugural Board of Directors of the Trust Protocol in December 2019 as an advisor.

“We are honored to play a role in the development of technology that fuels the overall mission and message of U.S. agriculture sustainability,” said Pryor. “Working with the National Cotton Council, our goal was to provide a farmer-friendly platform for the cotton industry that promotes economic and environmental stewardship through quantifiable metrics and insights. We look forward to expanding our platform to other agricultural crops, including peanuts and soybeans, in the near future.”

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AgTech Company News

The Seam Sponsors GiveCamp Memphis

GiveCamp Memphis/Design for Good is a weekend-long event where professionals from designers, developers and database administrators to marketers and web strategists donate their time to provide solutions for nonprofit organizations. Since its inception in 2007, the national GiveCamp program has provided benefits to hundreds of nonprofits, worth millions of dollars of developer and designer time in services.

“After you and The Seam hosted our first-ever community outreach event in November, this was the biggest GiveCamp Memphis we’ve ever had, by far,” said GiveCamp Memphis organizer Lance Hilliard. “We’re on track to continue our growth toward our 2021 event! Additionally, Tammy’s talent for delivering details-aware results with a reliably kind and constructive disposition is nothing short of amazing. Her round-the-clock contributions this weekend enabled countless stakeholders to perform at their absolute best.”

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AgTech Company News Cotton Sustainability

U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol Names Directors and Advisors

The inaugural Board of Directors and Advisors have been named for the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol (Trust Protocol), a new standard developed to help the U.S. cotton production sector further reduce its footprint by enabling producers to assess their performance against specific sustainability goals. Through robust data inputs, the Trust Protocol will add confidence throughout the supply chain – positioning U.S. cotton as the responsible choice for mills and retailers.

Directors representing the raw cotton industry include:

  • Producers – Matt Coley (Georgia); Ted Schneider (Louisiana); Shawn Holladay (Texas); and Aaron Barcellos (California); 
  • Ginner – David Blakemore (Missouri); 
  • Marketing Cooperative – Hank Reichle (Mississippi);
  • Merchant – Steve Dyer (Tennessee);
  • Cottonseed – Fred Serven (Tennessee);
  • Manufacturer – Jim Martin (North Carolina); 
  • Brands/Retailers are Liza Schillo, Levi Strauss & Co., and Joe Little, Tesco;
  • Suzy Friedman, Environmental Defense Fund; Melissa Ho, the World Wildlife Fund; Marty Matlock, the University of Arkansas; and Garry Bell, formerly with Gildan. 

Trust Protocol advisors include:  Jesse Daystar, Cotton Incorporated; Andy Jordan, Jordan Consulting; Marc Lewkowitz, Supima; Mark Pryor, The Seam; and Mike Quinn, Frontier Spinning Mills.

For more information, visit: http://www.cotton.org/news/releases/2019/trusbd.cfm

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Company News

Kristi Lofton: Back to her Roots

Kristi Lofton works in agricultural technologies. A graduate of Tech901’s Code 1.0 course, Kristi works as a software engineer for The Seam, a locally based software company focused on agricultural commodities trading and sustainability efforts. I’ll get back to the concept of “agricultural technologies” a little later on (it’s a big deal, I promise).

Until her current job at The Seam, Kristi’s issue wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy her job. She just felt like she could be doing more: “Everyone has to figure out their life,” she told me. “I was always interested in a lot of things- but not interested enough.”

You see, Kristi had mastered the pivot long before she made the shift from Vet Tech to IT. Kristi Lofton grew up in Hughes Arkansas, just 40 minutes outside of Memphis. She worked for her father during farming season, helping with the soy beans and wheat their family grew.  Her father and mother still own the farm to this day. 

I drove a tractor on my father’s farm growing up, and I always told myself that’s not what I want.

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Company News

Mark Pryor named to Technology Advisory Committee of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission

Mark Pryor, Chairman and CEO at The Seam, was recently appointed to the Technology Advisory Committee of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. This role positions The Seam as a peer to high-level industry leaders and furthers the company’s mission to advance global innovation across all commodities.

See coverage in the Memphis Business Journal.

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AgTech Company News Peanuts

The Seam Powers New Revolution of Peanuts Coming to the Delta

Delta Peanut selects The Seam Commodity Management Platform for U.S. operations

MEMPHIS, Tenn., July 18, 2019 – The Seam, a leading provider of trading and agribusiness software solutions, today announced that it will be working with Delta Peanut, LLC, a new peanut shelling operation based in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and the first shelling facility to open in the area in more than 50 years. The company has entered into a multi-year agreement with The Seam and its peanut commodity management platform.

The Seam’s platform is designed with foundational technology such as document digitization, real-time data for decisioning and embedded integrations with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Federal-State Inspection Service, among others.

“Launched in 2016, our cloud-based platform has been transformational for participating shelling organizations, buying point businesses, manufacturers and peanut farmers,” said Mark Pryor, Chairman and CEO at The Seam. “We are thrilled to have Delta Peanut join our expanding ecosystem. With a state-of-the-art shelling operation right in our backyard, there are immense opportunities to collaborate and innovate further.”

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Company News

The Seam Expands, Appoints New Software Engineer

MEMPHIS, Tenn., December 20, 2018 – The Seam, a leading provider of agribusiness software and trading solutions, today announced the appointment of Kristi Lofton as Software Engineer. Lofton will report to Jason Sutton, Manager of Software Engineering, and Mark Pryor, Chairman and CEO at The Seam.

Categories
Company News Sustainability

Event Recap: 2018 Sourcing USA Summit

Earlier this month, Mark Pryor, Chairman and CEO at The Seam, presented at the 2018 Sourcing USA Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona. More than 500 decision-makers within the global cotton industry gathered to hear about how blockchain technology is revolutionizing agriculture by providing transparency, security and immutability to commodity trading and management. The Summit was attended by the largest cotton customers in the world, representing 30 countries, merchants, cooperatives and agents in the industry.