The benefits of SOSP membership include opportunities for learning, for participating in networking & mentorship, and for building community. These opportunities occur both at SOSP’s annual Student Organic Seed Symposium (SOSS) and throughout the year.
Benefits of attending SOSS:
- Learning
- Participate in interesting and informative field tours, including farms, university research fields, value-added processors, and more.
- Attend talks and panels from seed industry researchers and professionals
- Networking & mentorship
- Meet and closely interact with a diverse group of seed industry leaders and early career seed industry professionals (grad students, etc.)
- Develop mentoring relationships between students, early-career, and experienced professionals in your area of practice
- Community
- Participate in informal discussions and peer support.
- Enjoy camaraderie with peers and mentor
Other SOSP benefits:
- Learning
- Stay up-to-date through SOSP newsletter, including society news, upcoming events, and articles
- Read members’ perspectives on important issues, new research, or recent events on the SOSP blog
- Access non-proprietary educational resources (behind member log-in) authored and contributed by members (coming soon)
- Networking & mentorship
- Access our online member directory (behind member log-in) including member contact information, brief biographies, areas of interest/expertise, citations for recent publications (coming soon)
- Volunteer to mentor a student or early career professional, and/or learn from experienced professionals in your area of interest (more details coming soon)
- Community
- Participate in the SOSP listserv
- Join members gatherings at conferences around the country.
Member privileges
SOSP members can influence decision-making in the organization by:
- Serving on the SOSP board or committees
- Participating in annual board elections
- Contributing to member surveys conducted by society leadership
- Voting on major changes to society bylaws