Seed E-News

May 27, 2005

ASTA Annual Convention 2005
Places are still available for ASTA's 122nd Annual Convention, being held June 18-22, 2005 at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers. Featuring a top-notch line up of general session speakers, a variety of special events, fun sporting events, and a host of exciting optional tours, this year's Annual Convention continues to raise the bar on the ASTA convention experience. Registration for the conference, hotel rooms, sponsorships, and exhibits, as well as an updated convention schedule and description of all special events are available. For more information contact Jennifer Lord or Jason Laney on (703) 837-8140 or you can e-mail them at jlord@amseed.org or jlaney@amseed.org. Please note that from June 7 you will only be able to register on site in Seattle.

ASTA Membership Renewals
2006 Membership renewal notices for fiscal year 2006 which commences July 1, 2005 are being mailed to ASTA Representatives. Renewal notices for Active and Associate members were mailed during week commencing May 24. Renewal notices for Canadian and Mexican Active members, Brokers-Agents, Affiliate members and Corresponding members are being mailed week commencing May 31. Any ASTA Representative who does not receive a renewal notice should contact Peter Patterson at the ASTA offices in Alexandria, VA on 1-888-890-7333 or at ppatterson@amseed.org.

ASTA Committee Assignments 2006
Committee assignments for the 2006 were due by Friday, May 13, 2005 to ensure that the committee database is up-to-date when the new fiscal year starts on July 1, 2005. ASTA Representatives should have received a company profile listing current committee assignments along with details of ASTA committees and a sign-up form. If you have not received yours, please contact Peter Patterson at ppatterson@amseed.org. The profile also lists individuals shown in the membership database as working for the company. Please take the time to review the names, addresses and contact information to ensure that the database is up-to-date and accurate.

Future Seed Executives is launching the "Round Table Discussion Group"
Future Seed Executives is launching the "Round Table Discussion Group," a series of monthly conference calls moderated by senior industry members and aimed at educating future seed executives on recent major events and happenings in the industry. Each one-hour long conference call will focus on two to three new topics each month and holding true to the roundtable format, new topics can be introduced for discussion by those on the call and interaction will be highly encouraged. At the beginning of each call, a FuSE representative will introduce the moderator, call participants will introduce themselves and the round table discussion will begin. In order to facilitate that interaction, the calls will be limited to 12 participants, so early registration is encouraged. The cost to participate on the call is $10 per person and upon registration, the call-in number and passcode will be issued. Please contact Alexis Ellicott of ASTA at aellicott@amseed.org for a registration form (or see below) or Jim Schweigert at jim.schweigert@groalliance.com with any questions. The first call will be held on June 3rd at 9 a.m. CST and will be moderated by former ASTA chairman, Don Wertman of Seedway. We are developing the topics of discussion and welcome suggestions.

USDA Establishes Supplemental Fees for Plant Variety Protection Certificates
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2005 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service announced that it is establishing supplemental fees for its Plant Variety Protection Office.

The rule allows the PVPO to charge supplemental fees for a variety of administrative services that are not currently charged by the program. These include: replenishment of seed low in germination or seed number; submission of new application data after notice of allowance, but prior to certificate issuance; recording any revision, withdrawal, or revocation of an assignment; and protest to issuance of certificate. In addition, the allowance and issuance fee is increased to recover the costs of enhancing the PVPO electronic archiving capabilities. A list of the fee schedule including the new supplemental fees may be found at http://www.ams.usda.gov/science/pvpo/pvpindex.htm.

The Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970, as amended, requires that reasonable fees be collected in order to maintain the program

The final rule was be published in the May 19 Federal Register. Read more here in HTML format or here in PDF format. The new fee schedule will be effective June 20, 2005. For further information, contact Janice M. Strachan, Senior Examiner, Plant Variety Protection Office, National Agricultural Library Building, 10301 Baltimore Blvd., Beltsville MD 20705, or via e-mail at PVPOmail@usda.gov.

U.S. General Accounting Office Report: USDA's Preparation for Asian Soybean Rust
On May 17, 2005, General Accounting Office issued a report addressing USDA's preparations for tackling Asian Soybean Rust. The full report which runs to 55 pages can be accessed Here. However, SeedQuest ¨ has prepared an abstract of the report which can be accessed Here.

'Preparing for Asian Soybean Rust' - New Publication from Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN, May 26, 2005 — Purdue University announced the release of a new soybean Asian Rust publication currently available on the web in PDF format at http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/ID/ID-324.pdf. A hard copy version of this publication will be completed in approximately three weeks. The Indiana Soybean Board is supporting the cost of printing this valuable publication. See the next article for a link to Purdue University's Soybean Rust Page.

Soybean Rust Web Sites
The following links will be maintained through October 2005. Those interested, should bookmark them. USDA's interactive soybean rust web site Soybean Rust Information Site provides timely information on the extent and severity of soybean rust outbreaks in the United States, Caribbean basin and Central America. It will give users up-to-date forecasts on where soybean rust is likely to appear in the United States, reports where the disease exists by county, refers growers to county extension agents nationwide, lists the National Plant Diagnostic Networks laboratories and links to other web sites to give producers effective disease management options. North Carolina State University's Soybean Rust Forecast Center will be updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. On April 21, ASTA member Syngenta Crop Protection launched its Syntinel(TM) RustTracker system, www.soybeanrust.com, an early-warning Web-based system that provides growers with tools to obtain information regarding outbreaks of Asian soybean rust and assess their potential for risk associated with the disease. Purdue Agriculture Soybean Rust Page.

US Grains Council Global Update
The weekly global update is provided at the request of the Corn & Sorghum Division. Follow the link for the update for week ending May 20, 2005 and May 27, 2005.

Industry and People

Bud Hughes, formerly of Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Co., Memphis, TN and former ASTA Southeastern Region Vice President has joined the team at ASTA member Verdant Partners LLC of Champaign, IL. Bud's primary role with Verdant Partners will be to provide business consulting services, as he has been doing with his own company, TFH Seed Business Consulting, while serving as the Memphis office for Verdant. In addition, he expects to become involved significantly with their mergers and acquisitions work. For more information about Verdant Partners LLC, check out their web site at www.verdantpartners.com.

ASTA member Bulk Lift International, Inc. has combined forces with members of the Bag Era organization to open a China location. Establishing a China office in Shanghai, directly where their manufacturing facilities are located, greatly enhances their delivery, reliability, quality and service to support their U.S. customers' Chinese operation. For more information about Bulk Lift International, Inc. check out their web site at http://www.bulklift.com/english/default.htm.

If your company or organization has any personnel changes or other developments that you would like to see included in the ASTA E-News, please send details to ppatterson@amseed.org.

ASTA Conferences and Activities

June 18-22, 2005
122nd ASTA Annual Convention
Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Tower
Seattle, WA
Registration

November 5-8, 2005
ASTA Farm & Lawn Seed Meeting
Westin Crown Center
Kansas City, MO
(held in conjunction with the Western Seed Association)

December 7-9, 2005
60th Corn & Sorghum and
35th Soybean Research Conferences
Seed Expo (Dec. 7-8, 2005)
Hyatt Regency
Chicago, IL

January 2006
Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference
Amelia Island Plantation
Amelia Island, FL

Other Upcoming Events

July 2005
Colorado State University Seed Analyst Workshops
Two five-day Seed Analyst Workshops will again be held at Colorado State University (CSU), in Fort Collins, Colorado, July 11-22, 2005. Each will be restricted to 10-20 students. The July 11-15 workshop, "Seed Identification and Purity Analysis," provides an extensive hands-on experience with seeds of legumes, cereals, grasses, revegetation species, vegetables and flowers. The emphasis will be on grass species identification and the use of blowing points and multiple unit factors for determining pure seed. Noxious weeds common to these groups are also emphasized. Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to collect seeds of many different grasses and legumes. The July 18-22 workshop, "Seed Viability," offers lectures and practical experience in viability testing, including germination dormancy, vigor and tetrazolium. The emphasis will be on the use of tetrazolium when testing seed viability of native species. An educational tour of regional seed labs and a visit to the Denver Botanical Gardens are included with this workshop.

The workshops are an excellent preparation for taking the qualifying exams to become a Registered Seed Technologist (RST) or a Certified Seed Analyst. The workshops provide a review of fundamentals of seed anatomy, identification, purity, physiology, and viability testing. The fee for each workshop, including materials, is $200 ($350 if both workshops are taken). Reasonable accommodations are available at nearby motels. The workshops are offered in conjunction with the Seed Analyst Training Program offered by CSU through its Division of Educational Outreach. This program introduced in early 1998, is comprised of the following courses, some of which may be prerequisites for the workshops, depending on the studentâs training and experience:

These courses may be taken throughout the year, anywhere in the world. To date, over 350 students have enrolled representing 24 states and 7 countries. The courses are recommended by AOSA/SCST for beginning and experienced seed analysts. Credits apply towards points needed to take the RST accreditation examination. To register for the courses and workshops, contact:

Colorado State University
Division of Continuing Education
1040 Campus Delivery, Spruce Hall
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1040
Phone: 1-877-491-4336 OR 1-970-491-5288
E-Mail: info@learn.colostate.edu
Website: www.learn.colostate.edu

For information or questions on the courses and workshops, contact Carissa Schow (970-491-6295) or Jim Bruce (970-495-3246).

September 2005
New England Invasive Plant Summit
The New England Invasive Plant Summit will be held September 16-17, 2005 at Sheraton Framingham Hotel, Framingham, MA. Gather with scientists, land managers, policy-makers, educators, horticulturists, industry leaders and volunteers who are seeking and sharing information about how to work together to find solutions to the invasive plant problem in the region.

The preliminary agenda and registration information are now available online. Also available are instructions for submitting an abstract for a presentation or poster. The deadline for submitting an abstract has been extended to June 8, 2005. A limited number of Student Scholarships are available. For more information, go to www.ipane.org and follow the link to "2005 Invasive Plant Summit" in red at the foot of the home page. Information is also available from:

Cynthia Boettner, Coordinator
New England Invasive Plant Group
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge
52 Avenue A
Turners Falls, MA 01376
Phone: (413) 863-0209 ext. 6
Fax: (413)-863-3070
Email: Cynthia_Boettner@fws.gov

November 2005
Soybean Rust Workshop
The American Phyto-Pathological Society has scheduled a workshop in conjunction with USDA and the American Soybean Board for November 15-16, 2005 to discuss soybean rust. The symposium will be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Nashville, TN. Check out the APS web site http://www.apsnet.org/online/sbr/ for more information about the symposium and to subscribe to the mailing list for periodic updates.