Seed E-News

October 15, 2004

Chicago Registration On-Line
You can now register on-line for ASTA’s Corn & Sorghum and Soybean Conferences in Chicago December 8-10, 2004. Simply follow this link Registration. Please note that pre-registration ends on November 15, 2004, after which date you can only register on site.

Vegetable & Flower Conference Registration
You can now register on-line for ASTA’s Vegetable & Flower Conference in San Francisco January 22-25, 2005. Simply follow this link Registration. Please note that late fees will be charged for registrations made after January 12, 2005.

USDA grants Protection to 15 New Plant Varieties
In Washington, DC on October 12, 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued certificates of protection to developers of 15 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include barley, bluegrass, bentgrass, bermudagrass, corn, fescue, muskmelon, potato and soybean. The 15 certificates are being issued under the Plant Variety Protection Act. The certificates require that the varieties be new, distinct, uniform and stable. The owners will have the exclusive right to reproduce, sell, import and export their products in the United States for the duration of protection. The 15 certificates are:

• the Radiant variety of barley, developed by Washington State University Research Foundation, Pullman, WA;
• the Valier* variety of barley, developed by Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, Bozeman, MT;
• the Mariner* variety of creeping bentgrass, developed by Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, TX;
• the Transcontinental, and Sunbird varieties of bermudagrass, developed by Pure Seed Testing Inc., Rolesville, NC;
• the Mohawk* variety of bermudagrass, developed by Seed West Inc., Roll, AR;
• the Showcase variety of Kentucky bluegrass, developed by Pure Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, OR;
• the A60059, W69079, and W23129 varieties of corn, developed by JC Robinson Seeds, Inc., Waterloo, NE;
• the 5750 variety of corn, developed by Asgrow Seed Co. LLC., St. Louis, MO;
• the Shenandoah II variety of tall fescue, developed by R.J. Peterson Enterprises Inc., Williamsburg, VA;
• the SLA-NS variety of muskmelon, developed by Abbott & Cobb Inc., Feasterville, PA;
• the Russet Norkotah 296 variety of potato, developed by Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, TX; and
• the LaMoure* variety of soybean, developed by NDSU Research Foundation, Fargo, ND.

* In the United States, seed of this variety (1) shall be sold by variety name only as a class of certified seed and (2) shall conform to the number of generations specified by the owner of the rights (84 STAT. 1542, as amended, 7 U.S.C. 2321 ET SEQ).

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service administers the Plant Variety Protection Act, which provides time- limited marketing protection to developers of new and distinct seed- reproduced and tuber-propagated plants ranging from farm crops to flowers. For additional information contact the Plant Variety Protection Office at telephone (301) 504-5518, fax (301) 504-5291 or the Internet at www.ams.usda.gov/science/PVPO/pvpindex.htm.

GM Seeds Make Their Way into 25% of Farmland
The Economic Times India reports that, for the first time, one out of every four hectares in the world growing food, feed and fiber crops is now using transgenic seeds. To put that milestone in perspective, around 750 million acres, or one-third the total land area of China, is now under GM crops. In India itself, the area under Bt cotton has doubled within a year. By next year, the world is expected to grow GM oilseeds, cotton and maize on 100 million hectares. To read the article, follow this link The Economic Times.

U.S. Grains Council Global Update
At the request of the Corn & Sorghum Division, ASTA E-News includes a link to the U.S. Grains Council’s weekly Global Updates. Click on the links to read the update for October 15, 2004.

Industry and People

Mid-West Seed Services, Inc., a seed testing laboratory based in Brookings, SD has announced that it has been granted authorization to issue ISTA International Seed Analysis Certificates by decision of the ISTA Executive Committee of October 4, 2004. Authorized laboratories can issue ISTA Orange Certificates when the sample is officially drawn from the seed lot by an authorized sampler. Laboratory tests must be carried out under the authority of an ISTA-accredited member laboratory, and the procedure followed must identify the certificate with the seed lot.

Mid-West Seed Services, Inc. will be holding announces a seed sampling workshop in Boise, ID, on November 30 and December 1, 2004 immediately preceding the IEOSA meeting to be held there. ISTA, AOSA and CFIA sampling rules will be reviewed, as will sampling methods, sealing seed lots, subdividing samples and a review of ISTA certificates. Participants completing the workshop will be taking the first step towards accreditation to sample for ISTA certificates. The session will begin at 8:00 a.m. on November 30th and conclude at noon on December 1st. The workshop will be held at the Grove Hotel in Boise, ID. Please see www.mwseed.com or contact Mid-West Seed Services, Inc at (605)-692-7611 for more details.

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

ASTA Meetings & Opportunities

November 7-8, 2004
ASTA 50th Farm & Lawn Seed Conference
Westin Crown Center
Kansas City, MO

December 8-10, 2004
ASTA 34th Soybean & 59th Corn & Sorghum Conferences and Seed Expo 2004
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL
Tel: 1-888.890.7333

January 22-25, 2005
ASTA 44th Vegetable & Flower Conference
Grand Hyatt San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

February 16-18, 2005
ASTA Advanced Management Forum
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN

February 28-March 3, 2005
18th ASTA Management Academy
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN

June 19-22, 2005
122nd ASTA Annual Convention
Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Tower
Seattle, WA

July 7-14, 2006
Joint ASTA-CSTA Annual Convention
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL

Upcoming Events

August – November 2004
Public Seed Initiative Workshops
A series of workshops aimed at small-scale growers in the northeastern United States are being run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) between August and November. The remaining workshops are:

• Oct. 22 at Peacework Organic Farm in Newark, N.Y.; and
• Nov. 8 at Gorzynski's Ornery Farm in Cochecton Center, N.Y.

The Public Seed Initiative is an on-farm breeding and seed-production project involving the ARS Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) in Geneva, N.Y.; Cornell University's departments of plant breeding and horticulture; the Cooperative Genome Project of the nonprofit organization Oregon Tilth; and the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) of New York. For more information and to register on-line, check out http://www.plbr.cornell.edu/psi/calendar.html.

November 2004
Indiana Seed Trade Association 2004 Corn Belt Seed Conference
Indiana Seed Trade Association will be holding its 2004 Corn Belt Seed Conference on November 11-12, 2004 at the Marriott East. Indianapolis. For more information, check out the Indiana Seed Trade Association web site at t www.indianaseed.com.

ISTA Workshop on Statistical Aspects of GMO Detection
The International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) is organizing a workshop with the aim of helping laboratories address the test planning, and the use of results, on GM detection in seeds. The objective of the workshop is to give and exchange information on matters that have been mentioned by laboratories which already participated to the ISTA proficiency tests, or intend to join. The workshop will run November 17-19 at Monsanto, St Louis, MO. The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 20, so register early. For more information and to register, follow this link ISTA.

January 2005
Minnesota Crop Improvement Association
The Minnesota Crop Improvement Association will be holding its annual meeting on January 20-21, 2005, in St. Cloud, MN. If you require more information, you should contact:

Alana Rogers
Project Support Specialist
Minnesota Crop Improvement Association
1900 Hendon Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108
Tel: 1-800-510-MCIA

February 2005
Indiana Crop Improvement Association Annual Conference
The Indiana Crop Improvement Association (ICIA) will be holding its 2005 Annual Conference on February 3-4, 2005 at the Sheraton North Hotel, Keystone at the Crossing, Indianapolis, IN. Prior that on February 2, ICIA is also holding the Illinois/Indiana Seed Conditioning Workshop at the same location. For more information, check out the web site at www.indianacrop.org or contact ICIA at

Larry Svajgr, Executive Director
Indiana Crop Improvement Association, Inc.
7700 Stockwell Road
Lafayette, IN 47909
Tel: 765-523-2535
Fax: 765-523-2536
Email: svajgr@indianacrop.org

March 2005
Symposium on “Plant Breeding and the Public Sector”
Michigan State University will be conducting a symposium March 9-11, 2005 to address the issue of who will train plant breeders in the U.S. and around the world. The keynote speakers will be:

• Dr. P. Stephen Baenziger (Eugene W. Price Distinguished Professor, University of Nebraska) – Plant Breeding Training in North America
• Dr. Fred Bliss (Senior Director, R & D Special Projects, Seminis Seeds and former Will W. Lester Endowed Chair at The University of California) – Plant Breeding in the Private Sector
• Gurdev Khush (Former Head of Plant Breeding at IRRI and World Food Prize 1996) – Plant Breeding Training in the International Sector

During the symposium, the participants will discuss:

• What kind of training do plant breeders need?
• What is the most effective balance between classical and molecular training?
• Should the training differ between domestic and international students?
• How will we provide improved varieties of subsistence crops?
• How can the private and public sector most effectively partner to train new generations of plant breeders

The number of participants will be limited to about 100 people to facilitate discussion. You can find more information and a registration form at http://www.hrt.msu.edu/PBSymp/.

April 2005
ISTA Ordinary Meeting 2005
At the invitation of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DOAE) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, ISTA will be holding its Ordinary Meeting 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand April 25-28, 2005. To register, follow this link ISTA Online. The meeting is aimed at discussing and deciding on proposals for changes to the ISTA International Rules for Seed Testing and business items of the Association, with the international participation of ISTA delegates and representatives from both the seed industry and governments, including experts in seed technology, scientific research and laboratory accreditation.

May 2005
ISF Congress 2005
The ISF Congress 2005 will be held in Santiago, Chile, May 30-June 1, 2005. The ISF Congress 2005 web site, which is under construction, can be found Here.