(ISTA News Bulletin) No. 136, October 2008 - International Seed ...

Association News
International Seed Federation press release:
World Seed Congress 2008
Prague, Czech Republic, 26–28 May 2008
International Seed Federation
Chemin du Reposoir 7
1260 Nyon, Switzerland
The annual ISF World Seed Congress
was held from 26–28 May 2008 in
the Czech Republic, the home country
of Gregor Mendel who is generally considered
as the founder of modern genetics.
Members of the seed industry in
59 countries, including a good number
from Central and Eastern Europe, totaling
1480 persons attended the congress.
International organizations such as FAO,
ISTA and UPOV, and the regional associations
AFSTA, APSA, ESA and SAA
were represented and participated in the
debates. Numerous presentations on interesting
topics such as drought tolerance
in maize, hybrid cereals, the International
Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and
the Clean Seed program were made.
Topics on the agenda of the various crop
sections and technical committees included
overviews from the Czech seed industry on
the different crop groups, GM vegetables,
royalty collection, adventitious presence,
essential derivation and seed health testing,
just to name a few. A proposed position
paper on Essential Derivation was
discussed at great length before deciding
that further input was required of the relevant
Working Group. The ISF Trade and
Arbitration Rules Committee (TARC)
proposed numerous amendments to the
ISF Rules and Usages for the Trade in
Seeds for Sowing Purposes as part of the
regular review process. ISF Members
approved the adoption of most of the
changes and the remaining few will be on
the TARC’s agenda in preparation for the
next congress.
The General Assembly voted in favor of
merging of the Cereal & Pulse, the Maize
and Sorghum and the Industrial Crops
Sections into a new Field Crops Section. In
the past there was a great deal of overlap
between meeting participation and agenda
topics, and this merger will streamline the
working of the Federation.
The General Assembly approved the
presidency of Mr. Orlando de Ponti, who
will take over the helm from Mr. Deon van
Rooyen. In his acceptance speech, the new
ISF President expressed his content that
agriculture and food were back at the top
of the agenda of all the major world fora.
He spoke of the role the seed industry can
and will play in alleviating the current food
crisis. He added that the seed industry was
in a position to contribute substantially to
manage the threats of this crisis and reminded
the audience of the words ‘Seed is
Life’ on the ISF logo.
In his keynote address to the congress
participants Mr. Bernard Le Buanec,
Senior Advisor to ISF spoke of the
“Evolution of the Seed Industry during the
Past 40 Years” and emphasized once again
the importance of a good national seed
association.
In conjunction with the congress, a Seed
Treatment Seminar was organized on 29
May in Prague. It drew 120 participants
and saw interesting presentations on seed
treatment processes, stewardship in seed
treatment and commercial aspects of seed
treatment.
The next annual World Seed Congress
will be held in Antalya, Turkey from 25–27
May 2009. The post congress seminar on
28 May will be on phytosanitary matters.
•
NEW…
ISTA Handbook on Flower Seed Testing
By the ISTA Flower Seed Testing Committee; editor Z. Ripka
ISBN 978-3-906549-45-3
This handbook is a new ISTA project to collate current specialized knowledge of flower seed testing.
It forms a comprehensive collection of methods for the most frequently tested species. It is intended
to assist the practising seed analyst by providing as many illustrations and descriptions as possible
to aid in everyday laboratory testing of purity, germination and viability. The handbook will also help
in training new analysts for flower seed testing in accordance with international principles.
The handbook contains an initial 24 method sheets, covering 13 families, in an A4-size ring binder
with a series of procedures and detailed descriptions, full-colour pictures, and instructions and
conditions of the most important laboratory seed tests on flower species or genera. For easy
reference the genera are arranged in alphabetical order. A glossary explains the expressions
used in seed analysis.
CHF 270.00 (approx. USD 245.00/EUR 167.00) from the ISTA Secretariat
(for contact details, see back cover)
ISTA Handbook on
Flower Seed Testing
1 st Edition
International Seed Testing Association (ISTA)
24
Seed Testing International No. 136 October 2008