Seed E-News

December 3, 2004

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.

Soybean Rust Spreads
On November 17, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson announced that USDA’s National Plant Germplasm and Biotechnology Laboratory in Beltsville, MD had confirmed soybean rust on samples taken from an experimental test plot managed by the University of Florida/Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) in Quincy , Florida. For more, follow this link Florida. Two days later on November 19, Reuters reported USDA as reporting that the outbreak had spread to Alabama and Georgia. During the same period, a suspected soybean leaf sample screened at the University of Arkansas' plant diagnostic laboratory tested positive for soybean rust, at the Beltsville, MD laboratory. On December 1, Tennessee Department of Agriculture officials received confirmation from USDA that samples from a soybean field in Shelby County tested positive for Asian soybean rust. On the same day, Soybean Rust was confirmed in Missouri.

USDA Grants Protection to Nine New Plant Varieties
On November 17, 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued certificates of protection to developers of nine new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include clover, bentgrass, lettuce and wheat. The nine certificates were 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 nine certificates are:

• the Apache variety of arrowleaf clover, developed by Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, TX;
• the Penn A-1*, Penn G-2*, Penn A-2*, Penn G-6* and Penn G-1* varieties of creeping bentgrass, developed by Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station, University Park, PA
• the Beacon variety of lettuce, developed by Paragon Seed, Inc., Salinas, CA;
• the Crusader variety of lettuce, developed by Progeny Advanced Genetics, Inc., Salinas, CA; and
• the Tubbs variety of common wheat, developed by State of Oregon, Acting by and through the State Board of Higher Education on behalf of Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.

* 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.

Borlaug Says Biotech Proponents Must Explain Benefits
One of the world’s leading scientists says that biotechnology could be the key to feeding a rapidly growing world population but that stakeholders must do a better job of explaining the benefits of transgenic crops. Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and World Food Prize founder, was the keynote speaker at the International Biotech Conference, a gathering of 75 top policymakers from 35 nations in Des Moines, Iowa. He argued that biotechnology can contribute to the 21st century challenge of feeding a world population of 10 billion if proponents can help the rest of the world understand the need for the breakthrough technology. To read more follow this link Borlaug.

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 link to read the latest Global Update for November 19, 2004.

Industry and People

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

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 8-12, 2006
Joint ASTA-CSTA Annual Convention
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL

Upcoming Events

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.