News

 

CSTA to Co-Host FuSE Educational Unit – along with the American Seed Trade Association, CSTA will once again co-host a Future Seed Executives educational unit.   This year the Educational Unit will be held in Canada, at the facilities of the Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI) in Winnipeg, Manitoba.   The objective of this unit is to provide an overview of the regulatory and commercial aspects of the cereal, seed and grain trade between Canada and the United States and how it will change in a post Canadian Wheat Board environment.   It will be held on Thursday March 22, but will begin with a reception hosted by the CSTA at the Winnipeg Fort Gary Hotel.   You can find the program for the FuSE Ed Unit here, and register through CIGI’s website.   We hope that we will have a good turn out from both sides of the border.

CSTA Campus Ambassador Program – CSTA is expanding its Campus Ambassador program to two additional universities in 2012/13. CSTA hopes to have an ambassador at each of the following universities: McGill University; the University of Alberta; the University of Guelph; the University of Manitoba; and the University of Saskatchewan. For more information about the program, click here.

Plant Breeders Delivering Success for Canadian Farmers – CSTA continues to conduct interviews with Canadian plant breeders to tell their stories of innovation and success.  Find the stories here.

Plant Breeders Rights are Not a Regulation – Canada is one of the only developed country members of the Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV), whose legislation does not conform to the most recent international convention – UPOV 1991.   Canada signed the convention, signalling its intention to amend PBR to comply, in 1992, but despite 20 years of study, analysis and consultation, our legislation still only complies with UPOV 1978.  Now, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which is responsible for the PBR Act, has placed PBR renewal in a 3 to 5 year time line.   That is not consistent with the government’s stated objective, which is to create an environment for investment and innovation.  CSTA has made this one of its priority issues, presenting draft legislative amendments, (user name and password required) and making it known to government that PBR is not a regulation and should not be part of a regulatory renewal process.  It should proceed on its own, expedited time frame.   Find an article written for the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, and then for Germination Magazine here.

Seed Association of the Americas Approves Trade Enabling Policy on Low Level Presence – At its meeting in Santiago Chile, the Seed Association of the Americas approved a policy on risk assessment and management of the unintended low level presence of genetically modified material which has been approved in one or more countries but not in the country of import.   The policy is complementary to the policy advocated by the CSTA.  Member countries in the Seed Association of the Americas account for well over 85% of the total production of GM crops, and many of them are significant exporters.  The SAA is advocating a science and risk based policy that utilizes current seed quality standards.   The SAA policy can be found here.

CFIA Launches New Inter-Agency Blue Tag – CFIA has launched a new blue interagency certification tag. The new blue tag replaces the current white tag for imported seed.

CFIA Fact Sheet on the Use of Variety Names – the Seed Program of the CFIA has developed a document to clarify when and how variety names can be used, and on the import and sale of unregistered varieties. You can find it here.

Feeding a Hungry World: We Have a Plan - is a power point presentation that CSTA developed to outline the challenges that the world’s farmers will face over the next 40 years, and how science and innovation can help us to implement our plan. You can find the presentation here.

Imagine a Career Where You Can Make A Difference - CSTA has developed an “advertorial” for the AgCareers.com publication that is given very wide distribution to Canada’s universities.  The one page article is designed to provide a general overview of all the opportunities provided by the seed industry.  It complements the individual member company ads that are placed in the same publication, and can also be used in other publications focussed on careers. Find it here.

MP Welcome Package – Based on our “We Have a Plan” presentation, CSTA has developed a short publication designed to introduce CSTA and CSTA’s issues to re-elected and newly elected Members of Parliament. You can find it here.

ISF Video – Agriculture is Under Pressure – The International Seed Federation has produced a new video that follows the same theme as CSTA’s MP information package and powerpoint presentation. The video focusses on the role of research, plant breeding and the seed sector as a way to help relieve the pressure faced by the world’s agricutlure industry to feed and fuel a growing world. Find it on Youtube here.

2011 Codebook - Seed Trade Import & Export Codes. The 2011 Codebook is a summary of codes to be used on all seed, imports and exports and is provided for the easy reference of CSTA International Division members. Please have your internal people or Customs House use these codes. Accurate use of these codes is important.

Product Discontinuation Check-List - Part of the lifecycle of any product is its removal from the marketplace. This is especially important for products developed with modern biotechnology and developing the procedures, protocols and industry standards for biotechnology product discontinuation in the marketplace is a key end point within the plant biotechnology lifecycle. New plant biotechnology products are routinely developed and older products taken out of production by the manufacturer as a normal and predictable part of a product’s lifecycle, and their removal needs to proceed in the most effective way possible. For that reason, CSTA’s Biotechnology Committee worked with CropLife Canada to develop a product discontinuation checklist to help members of the plant biotechnology industry facilitate the removal of a product of biotechnology from the market.

CSTA Clarifies Its Democratic Process – in response to an April 21 article in the Manitoba Cooperator, CSTA’s President has written a letter to the editor of the publication to clarify the democratic structure of the CSTA. The “one member:one vote” structure of CSTA is the most important foundation of CSTA’s policy and strategy development process. Find the letter here.

Partners in Innovation - CSTA co-hosted, with the Farmers for Investment in Agriculture, a workshop on investment in innovation in agriculture in Canada. Farm organization representatives; public sector plant breeders and representatives of the private sector spent the day talking about research and plant breeding needs; how the needs can be addressed; and what will need to happen to make it so. Find the report of the workshop and, where there were slide or written presentations, they are posted here.

CSTA President’s Message on the Retirement of EVP William (Bill) Leask – On March 23, CSTA President Wayne Unger announced to CSTA’s membership that Dr. William (Bill) Leask will retire from the position of CSTA Executive Vice-President on May 31, 2011. Find the announcement here.

Consultations – a new space on the website that puts all of the on-going consultative processes in one spot. CSTA members can review all of the ongoing government consultative processes that could impact their businesses, and make input. Where CSTA has provided input, our submission will also be included on the site. Find the new Consultations Site here.

Certified Seed – You’re Planting Success – another new space on CSTA’s website dedicated to providing information on the benefits of certified seed. Find the new Certified Seed Site here.

Intellectual Property Protection – Investing in the Future – We have also created a new space on the website dedicated to providing information about Intellectual Property Protection. Find it here.

Treated Seed Check List – CSTA has joined with the Ontario Agri-Business Association and the Grain Farmers of Canada to develop a checklist for farmers to prevent co-mingling of treated seed and commercial grain. You can find it here. Please feel free to print and distribute to farmer customers.

CFIA Process to Authorize Printing of Official Seed Tags – the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has finalized a process that will allow Registered Seed Establishments to be authorized to print official tags.

  • Find a description of the process here.
  • Find a Question and Answer Document produced by the CFIA here.

What do Canada’s Youth Think About Agriculture? – The CSTA was very pleased to sponsor two senior high school students to attend and participate in the annual GrowCanada conference in Ottawa. Emily Cummings, a Grade 12 student from Winnipeg Manitoba; and Megan Reid, a Grade 11 student from Barry’s Bay, Ontario were part of the GrowCanada Future Influencers group. In addition to participating in the conference and interacting with speakers, GrowCanada partners and other delegates. our future influencers participated in a fireside chat on stage during the opening session and wrote daily in a journal to provide their views on the presentations at the conference and their impressions of the opportunities and challenges facing agriculture. CSTA’s future influencers were also asked to write short articles following the conference. You can find them here.                             Megan Reid from GrowCanada        GrowCanada-EmilyCummings   

We are very proud of these bright young students. We hope that everyone can help them to spread the word about agriculture and Canada’s place in the world.

Seed Driven Innovation – Plant Breeding: The Key to the Future – CSTA made a presentation to the International Hutterite Educational Conference. The message to audience of almost 300 educators and colony members was that investment in seed driven innovation is essential to maintaining competitiveness and addressing the challenges facing the world’s food producers. You can find the presentation here. If you wish to use the presentation yourself, just contact the office and ask for the presentation in PowerPoint .

Seed Related Education in Canada - In order to continue to compensate for attrition, be competitive and meet world demands, the seed indusry requires over 600 graduates from seed related educational programs annually. According to a study done for CSTA by Dr. Bryan Harvey, current output from both national and international sources is insufficient to meet the demand. Dr. Harvey’s study examined enrolment, graduates and the availability of programming in post secondary education, and found that there is a serious shortfal of plant breeders and of programs to train plant breeders in Canada, throughout the U.S., Australia and in Western Europe. His paper makes a number of recommendations to help rectify the situation. The recommendations are currently under consideration by CSTA’s External Relations work group. Find the paper here.

Presentations from CSTA conventions – you can find all the presentations from past meetings in one place – here.

Respect the Refuge – CSTA is proud to work with Seed Corn Companies and the Canadian Corn Pest Coalition to make farmers aware of stewardship requirements for insect protected corn. For information on Respect the Refuge campaign follow this link. If you are a seed corn company and you wish to use the image and logo. Log in to the CSTA members only website for the agreement. If you are not a CSTA member, contact the CSTA office for information.

Canada’s Seed Sector Contributes Billions to Canada’s Economy – Canada’s seed sector is a key economic driver, contributing $3.95 billion to the Canadian economy and employing over 14,000 Canadians. That is the conclusion of a study commissioned by the CSTA. The survey based study was conducted over the spring and summer of 2008 for the year 2007. You can find more information on the results of the study here.

© 2011 Canadian Seed Trade Association / L'association Canadienne du Commerce des Semences Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha