US seed tycoon feels close bond with China

For Harry Stine, a farm boy who became an inventor, businessman and the richest billionaire in Iowa by licensing his genetically engineered corn and soybean seeds to multinational companies, there are a lot of reasons he has many connections with China.

"My first main business was in soybean plant breeding, and all of our soybeans originally came from Asia, primarily China. We would not have the success we had today if we didn't have the opportunity to use Chinese soybeans to start with," said Stine, while pointing to the soybean nursery on the farm where Stine Seed sits in Adel, Iowa.

Stine Seed is the world's largest privately owned seed company. Stine was also one of the first people invited by the Chinese government to visit China in early 1976.