Seed E-News

October 24, 2003

Remembering Bob Appleman, past ASTA President
It is with the deepest regret that the American Seed Trade Association must announce the loss of one of its past presidents. Bob Appleman passed away on Friday, October 17, 2003. Don Wertman, ASTA Chairman said:

The American Seed Trade Association has lost one of its most revered and treasured past presidents with the passing of Bob Appleman. Bob passed away on Friday, October 17, 2003.

Bob's industry leadership spanned nearly seven decades. He participated in and helped motivate the industry to move from the era of gathering and selecting land race seeds to a pedigree system with intellectual property rights attached to the germplasm. His leadership was sought in every arena of industry activity as he had amassed great political capital over the decades which he could bring to actionable focus in many situations.

Bob's business acumen is legendary. His willingness to take calculated risks, and they were always calculated, his propensity for finding, creating and consummating great business deals, his unprecedented ability to create value in business when others couldn't find any, all this and more made Bob one of the true giants of the seed industry.

Bob valued friendship above any tangibles. Bob took an interest in young seedsmen and while maintaining long standing, mature friendships, he was always willing to establish, nurture and inspire young seedsmen one or two generations his junior. Here I speak from personal experience. I am forever grateful for Bobās interest in my career and for the encouragement he offered as I tried to follow in the steps of his great example.

Words are inadequate to express the loss we suffer as he leaves us to embark on the final journey to eternal peace with the God he knew and loved so well. While we grieve his passing, we are forever grateful for his generous spirit, nurturing encouragement and abiding friendship. Rest well dear friend.

The viewing will be held on Friday, October 24 from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. with the funeral following on Saturday, October 25 at 10:00 a.m. Both services will be held at the Crown Hill Cemetery, 7777 West 29th Avenue, Denver, CO.

Farm Seed and Lawn Seed Conference Keynote Speaker
ASTA is pleased to announce that Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Conservation Mack Gray has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the upcoming Farm Seed and Lawn Seed Conference in Kansas City. Deputy Under Secretary Gray will speak on Monday, November 3 during the Farm Seed Division meeting. The meeting will begin at 8:00 a.m. and conclude by 10:00 a.m. The Under Secretary will provide an update on the Conservation Reserve Program and other Farm Bill programs. For more information about the conference, follow this link Kansas City.

Industry 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.

GMOs Divisive Issue in Vermont
In Vermont, critics of genetically modified crops are attacking efforts by the state's Agriculture Commissioner to come up with rules to protect organic farmers from contamination by genetically modified organisms, saying the goal is an unrealistic one. Commissioner Stephen Kerr said, however, that the two sides must be able to coexist in Vermont, and that efforts to forge a compromise position would continue. He told the ad hoc Coexistence Group earlier this week that. Organic farmers have expressed skepticism about whether GMOs can be grown in Vermont without threatening organic farmers because pollen from GMO's could contaminate their crops. For more on this story, please follow this link GMOs divide Vermont.

CIMMYT to check on Transgenes
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico is spearheading efforts to develop protocols that ensure that transgenes are not inadvertently introduced into its gene bank accessions or breeding materials. Suggestions on how to make this possible were given during a workshop on "Technical Issues Related to Sampling and Detection of Adventitious Transgenic DNA Sequences" at the CIMMYT headquarters. For more information, follow this link CIMMYT.

Brazil GM Crop Debate Continues
Although approved by Vice President Jose Alencar at the end of September, GM soya is running into new difficulties in Brazil, with hundreds of trucks prevented from transporting their loads to port, and farmers without authorization to use the herbicide indispensable for protecting this crop. The trucks are stuck at the borders of Paran state, in southern Brazil, where a decision was made by the state legislature on October 14 to approve a law banning the planting, marketing and industrialization of transgenic soy until 2006. The state government banned soya that does not have certification proving it is not a genetically modified (GM) variety. The measure is likely to have a sharp impact on Brazilian exports because a large portion of the soya grown in the central-western region of the country is exported via the Paran ports of Paranagu and Antonina. For more on this story, follow this link GM Ban.

USDA catching up with GM Technology
Less than a year after corn genetically engineered for a hog vaccine ended up in Nebraska soybeans meant for human consumption, government regulators have scrambled to put into place new rules and more inspectors to oversee the developing plant-grown pharmaceutics industry, reports the Associated Press. On October 17, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it was hiring more inspectors and setting up an enforcement unit to enforce regulations adopted earlier this year that strengthen permit conditions for pharmaceutical and industrial crops. Under new rules passed in March, the crops will be inspected seven times during two years to make sure there is no contamination of conventional food crops. The rules also strengthened restrictions for isolation of fields and the use of dedicated farm equipment. In August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued additional interim rules also requiring permits for industrial crops similar to those in place for pharmaceutical crops. In the meantime, the USDA is seeking public comment before setting long-term rules by the end of next year. For more information, follow this link USDA.

Official Says EU Could Soon Lift GM Ban
According to an Agence France Presse report, the European Union may soon lift a de-facto ban on bio-engineered foods after new rules on the technology go into force. The European Commission could make its proposals by the end of the year after which the member countries would be required to vote by a qualified majority on whether to agree to them. The EU agreed in July to two new directives on GM organisms, which it said would open the way to lifting the five-year-old moratorium on the import and cultivation of bio-engineered food. One directive required that foods and animal feed be labeled if they contain at least 0.9 percent of GM ingredients; the other required that GM foods' origin can be traced. Despite these indications of movement by the EU, the United States, together with Canada and Argentina, continue with a case against the 15-nation EU at the World Trade Organization.

Kansas State University's State Diagnostic Center now part of National Plant Diagnostic Network
U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary James Moseley visited Kansas State University's Throckmorton Hall on Friday, October 17) to see what homeland security funds are buying. What he saw looked like any other university laboratory, except for an array of electronics that ranges from a Web-connected digital microscope to banks of real-time monitors showing laboratories across the nation. KSU is part of a new National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN), developed by K-State Research and Extension systems engineers from their foundation work of connecting every Kansas county Extension office to the diagnostic labs on campus. Kansas Governor. Kathleen Sebelius is expected to view a demonstration later this month. Moseley said protection of the nation's food supply must always be a priority because of its long-term, as well as its immediate impacts. "With plants - while a problem may not spread rapidly - the concern is the ability to get your arms around it. Once it gets established, the long-term impact can be devastating," said Moseley, who is the No. 2 official at USDA behind Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman. In four "fire drill" tests, the network has allowed scientists to go from the staged introduction of a new pest or pathogen in a crop to its confirmed identification in Washington, D.C., in less than 48 hours. For more about this story, follow this link KSU. For more information on the National Plant Diagnostic Network, follow this link NPDN.

USDA Grants 20 PVPA Certificates
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2003 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 20 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include barley, bean, bluegrass, cotton, fescue, lettuce, onion, pea, peanut, ryegrass, tobacco and wheat. The 20 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 20 certificates are:

• the IdaGold II* variety of barley, developed by Coors Brewing Company, Golden, CO;
• the Price* variety of barley, developed by Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc., Blacksburg, VA.;
• the Thoroughbred variety of garden bean, developed by Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc., Oxnard, CA.;
• the Dragon variety of kentucky bluegrass, developed by ProSeeds Marketing, Inc., Jefferson, OR;
• the DP 5557 variety of cotton, developed by D&PL Technology Holding Corporation, Scott, MS;
• the Durango and Matador varieties of tall fescue, developed by Pure Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, OR;
• the Big Ben variety of lettuce, developed by Pybas Vegetable Seed Company Inc., Santa Maria, CA;
• the Hearts Delight variety of lettuce, developed by Enza Zaden de Enkhuizer Zaadhandel B.V., The Netherlands;
• the BEN HUR* variety of lettuce, developed by Progency Advanced Genetics, Inc., Salinas, CA;
• the NuMex Crimson* and NuMex Solano* variety of onion, developed by New Mexico State University and Agricultural Experiment Station, Las Cruces, NM;
• the Marias variety of pea, developed by Crites-Moscow Growers, Inc., Moscow, ID;
• the NemaTam* variety of peanut, developed by Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, TX;
• the Manhattan 3 variety of perennial ryegrass, developed by Pure Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, OR;
• the Vector 21-41 variety of tobacco, developed by North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC;
• the NC 71*, NC72 and NC92-2770-40 varieties of tobacco, developed by North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC; and
• the AGS 2485 variety of common wheat, developed by University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., and Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, Athens, Ga.

* 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).Ź 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 the PVPA website.

Upcoming Events

November 2-4, 2003
ASTA Farm Seed/Lawn Seed
Western Seed Association Convention
Westin Crown Plaza
Kansas City, MO.
Tel: 1-888.890.7333
To register, please follow this link: Kansas City

December 10-12, 2003
33rd Soybean Seed & 58th Corn & Sorghum Seed Conferences & Seed Expo
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL.
Tel: 1-888.890.7333
To register, please follow this link: Chicago

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that the registration brochure for the Corn & Sorghum and Soybean Seed Research Conference incorrectly lists the phone number for the Sheraton Chicago as (312) 464-8000, when it should be (312) 464-1000. The Sheraton Chicago is our only overflow hotel for the conference where group rates for ASTA attendees have been established. The headquarter hotel is the Hyatt Regency Chicago and it is already filling up fast!

January 24-27, 2004
43rd Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference
Savannah, GA.
Tel: 1-888.890.7333
To register, please follow this link: Savannah

May 24-26, 2004
International Seed Federation Congress
Berlin, Germany
www.worldseed2004.com

June 27-30, 2004
121st ASTA Annual Convention
Wyndham Franklin Plaza
Philadelphia, PA.
Tel: 1-888.890.7333
Annual Convention

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

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