CPDA and Terry Kippley: The Music of the Spheres (of Influence)

With similar professional histories, the pairing of the Council of Producers and Distributors of Agrotechnology (CPDA) and its new president, Terry Kippley, seems preordained.

In Arlington, VA, just outside of the nation’s capital, Terry Kippley is getting ready for his new role as President of the Council of Producers and Distributors of Agrotechnology (CPDA), writes Eric Sfiligoj at CropLife. Besides some personal photographs, Kippley has several hardcover books in his office, with one, “Adjuvants for Agrichemicals,” most prominent on his desk.

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And this make perfect sense, he adds, given that CPDA has been a prominent group spearheading adjuvant certification throughout its long history. “In 1976, there were only three pesticide labels that required using an adjuvant — glyphosate, paraquat, and atrazine,” says Kippley. “Now in 2022, there are more than 500 pesticide labels that require adjuvants to be used. So, the sphere of influence of these products on the entire crop protection market has definitely expanded.”

Coincidentally, “sphere of influence” is a phrase that has driven both Kippley and CPDA on their professional paths throughout the years. For Kippley, this goes back to his early years, growing up on a dairy farm outside of Madison, WI.

“That experience gave me a great perspective on working hard,” he says. “On the dairy farm, I used to have to milk the cows seven days a week, twice each day! Compared with that, what most people call ‘work’ doesn’t seem that hard.”

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When he turned 16 years old, Kippley’s father, Lloyd, took his son to a Monsanto grower meeting where everyone was speaking German. “There was a man there, speaking to the crowd,” he remembers. “Now my dad didn’t normally listen that intently, but he was really listening to this speaker. So, seeing how this one speaker could influence a crowd like that, I asked: ‘What does that guy do for a living?’ and I wanted to do the same.”

Kippley ended up going to the University of Wisconsin, working at an internship with ICI America along the way. Upon graduating in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics and later an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago, he joined Monsanto as a telemarketer and later as a sales representative. Here, he helped to increase the crop protection producer’s sphere of influence with existing customers while recruiting new ones along the way.

In 1990, Kippley had the opportunity to join another company, Oil-Dri Corp., a manufacturer of inert granules used to deliver soil-applied corn rootworm insecticides. “I had a friend at the time that said, ‘Terry, if you take this job, you will expand your sphere of influence because you will be working with the research and development groups of many of the basic manufacturers,’” says Kippley. “Naturally, I jumped at this chance!”

Fourteen years later in 2004, Kippley joined Aceto Agricultural Chemicals, eventually becoming its President. This role gave him the chance to expand his sphere of influence outside of the U.S., working with Chinese and Indian suppliers, among others in places such as Europe, upon the world stage.

Read more at CropLife.

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