Seed E-News

December 26, 2003

EU Community Plant Variety Office
From May 1, 2004, the European Union will be enlarged by the addition of ten new member states – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The enlargement will have an impact on the work of Community Plant Variety Office and an FAQ paper has been placed on its website. To access this paper, please follow this link EU Enlargement. The FAQ will be placed on the ASTA website shortly. More information on the CPVO is available on its website at www.cpvo.fr.

Iowa State University Researchers test Consumer Acceptance of GM Food
How willing are consumers to buy genetically modified (GM) foods? What effect does labeling have on food purchases? Who do consumers trust to provide objective information on genetic modification? Those are three questions Iowa State University researchers sought to answer in a project involving 300 people. The ISU Statistics Laboratory recruited randomly chosen people, telling them they would be participating in research looking at consumer decisions on food and household products. The research showed that consumers are willing to pay the most for food items that might be genetically modified if they hear only the industry perspective, and the least if they hear only the environmental group perspective. An independent, third-party perspective is a significant moderating force against the extremes of either of the other two perspectives," he said. Asked who was trusted to provide information on genetic modification, universities, scientists or other third-party entities were mentioned most often, followed by government. To read more on this story from SeedQuest, follow this link ISU Research.

Syngenta donates $100,000 for Graduate Fellowship in Seed Science
Continuing with Iowa State University, Syngenta Corporation has donated $100,000 which will help fund graduate fellowships in seed science. This is part of a $1,000,000 fundraising effort to establish endowed graduate fellowships. The project is a joint initiative between the Iowa Seed Association and Iowa State University Foundation with the goal of building an endowment that will provide eight quarter-time graduate assistantships that prepare students to manage seed research. The Seed Science Center will identify, recruit and retain the graduate scholars, whose main research focus will center on seed issues. The students may enrol in agronomy, agricultural engineering, plant pathology, horticulture, economics, entomology or other departments in the College of Agriculture

China to approve US GM Soybeans
China has told U.S. officials that it will soon grant permanent approval for the import of American genetically modified soybeans, well before the April 20 temporary permits expire. David Hegwood, USDA’s Special Trade Advisor has said that the interim certifications remain in effect until April 20 and that Chinese officials expect to have final approval for Roundup Ready soybeans completed two months before then. The assurances were given when Hegwood met with Chinese officials in Beijing December 11-12 to discuss biotech concerns. For more on this story from CropDecisions follow this link Soybean Approval.

GM Christmas Trees take shape
In China, Maine, Clark Granger stands in his snowy field, looking at thousands of budding Christmas trees. At five years old, they are bigger and thicker than a typical balsam fir, and when they hit the market at Christmas 2005, Granger doesn’t expect to see a sad-looking ‘Charlie Brown’ tree in the bunch. The firs represent the latest selective breeding efforts by Maine growers to produce a tree that grows faster and denser, drops fewer needles, resists pests and requires less trimming. To read more on this story, follow this link Christmas Trees.

Brazil's 2003-04 Soybean Harvest kicks off
Soybean planting has just completed in the south of Brazil yet the harvest has already kicked off in the center-west state of Mato Grosso. Farmers began harvesting short-cycle soybeans on December 26 in the central region of Lucas do Rio Verde. Farmers plant early in this region of Mato Grosso, where rains arrive sooner than elsewhere but even here, the rump of the harvest is not expected to start until the second week of January. Mato Grosso is Brazil's leading soybean state, set to turn out 15.6 million tons this season, according to the latest government estimate. This year the Brazilian government estimates output at 58.8 million tons.

Christmas Message
ASTA received the following message from the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture:

"The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, adopted by the FAO Conference in November 2001, which has now celebrated its second birthday, wishes to communicate to you that, up to now, it has been ratified by 33 countries and expects to enter into force, and start therefore its autonomous life in 2004. In order to ensure that the baby grows well, it would like to have strong support and a well balanced universal membership by the time of its entry into force. It would therefore like us to invite countries that have not yet done so, to ratify it as soon as possible.

On behalf of the Secretariat of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, I should like to wish you, your families, and friends, all the best for the festive Season and the New Year.

José T. Esquinas-Alcázar"

Industry and People
Effective January 1, 2004, Mike James, CPA will be appointed to the position of Controller for INCOTEC, Integrated Coating and Seed Technology, Inc., in Salinas, California. Mike is a qualified audit and consulting manager with eight years of financial audit, management and controller experience. He graduated from The University of California at Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Arts in Business/Economics, has worked in the seed industry and is very familiar with it. Mike’s family is from the Salinas area. David Pickenpaugh, President of INCOTEC in North America states, “we are very please Mike has accepted this position and we know his knowledge and experience will help us reach our goals”.

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.

On-Line Membership Directory
ASTA has launched its new online membership directory to which only members will have access. Members should have received letters with their individual User ID and password. Members will have access to three directories – member companies, individuals and ASTA committees. Members will be able to search and sort within each directory in several ways, by member type, region, division, product and seed type. Members will also have the ability to e-mail an individual or group from the search results. We are confident that members will find this a valuable benefit of ASTA membership. The on-line directory replaces the hardcopy directory. issued in the past

ASTA Membership Database
The on-line directory draws on the information held in the ASTA membership database. It is essential, therefore, that this information is accurate and up to date. Please take a moment to check the directory to see if any of your information has changed since you joined. Please let us know of any changes to your company name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail addresses, company ASTA representatives, etc. Details of changes can be mailed to the ASTA offices at 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 650, Alexandria, VA 22314-2875, faxed to 703-837-9365, or e-mailed to Peter Patterson, Director, Membership Services, at ppatterson@amseed.org. Changes to the database will be made as they are received and it is intended to run the program to update the directory on Friday each week. However, if there is a significant number of changes, the program will be run more often.

Chicago
The 33rd Soybean and 58th Corn & Sorghum Conferences and Seed Expo 2003 were held in Chicago on December 10-12. They were a great success and attracted just under 2,600 attendees. Proceedings of both conferences are being offered on a CD-ROM for $30 and include information on exhibitors. Printed versions of the proceedings will not be available. To obtain a copy of the CD-ROM, please contact Jennifer Lord at jlord@amseed.org.

Upcoming Events

January 24-27, 2004
43rd Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference
Savannah, GA
Tel: 1-888.890.7333
To register, please follow this link: Savannah. As of December 18, 220 have registered for the conference.

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

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 Seed Conferences and Seed Expo 2004
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL
Tel: 1-888.890.7333

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