Executive Director
Canadian Seed Institute
Back in July I wrote about how the Canadian Seed Institute (CSI) is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2017. Part of that celebration is a focus on the value our seed program has delivered to our Registered Seed Establishment (RSE) clients.
The very reason for CSI’s formation 20 years ago was to take over seed establishment oversight from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). As CFIA deals with so many other matters, having an organization like CSI that is dedicated to this task has allowed RSEs to ensure their needs are met and are the focus of a client-based, service-oriented organization that lives and breathes quality.
Audits are done every two years, and that frequency is reduced for high-performing RSEs. Each year about 270-300 of the 1,000 CFIA-registered RSEs are scheduled to have their on-site audit. Generally speaking, RSEs are due to have an audit every two years, but for those RSEs that perform well, they may choose to participate in a program where they only need a physical audit every four years.
For the RSEs that are eligible for the increased interval program, a pre-determined number of monitoring samples of seed graded and labelled with a Canada pedigreed grade name are submitted for testing in lieu of an on-site audit.
This sort of responsiveness in CSI’s seed program comes from the fact that CSI is in constant contact with the industry. We are regularly called by RSEs looking for answers to questions, we travel across Canada to attend industry meetings and speak to our clients, and we have the opportunity to train and interact with the next generation of seed processors. This allows us to ensure flexibility in our services and uniformity in the delivery of RSE audits — a direct result of the establishment of the RSE Technical Manuals, the CSI Seed Facility Standard, and CSI’s auditor quality system procedures (QSP) and specific work instructions (SWI).
It’s all pretty technical stuff, but it demonstrates the vision that went into the formation of our organization by our founding members, and the important role we play today in a rapidly changing seed and agricultural environment.
We also continue to deliver grader training to new graders, with plans to deliver another series of training sessions in the fall of 2017 and winter of 2018. This training is designed specifically for new grader candidates. For details visit our website at csi-ics.com.
It’s worth noting that CSI continues to collaborate closely with CFIA, and not only with the Seed Section. We meet regularly with CFIA’s Seed Science and Technology Section (SSTS), also known to the industry as the CFIA’s Saskatoon Seed Lab, to review the results of grader training and discuss opportunities for improvement or enhancement in delivery of programs to accredited seed labs.
We also collaborate with the Grains and Oilseeds Section of CFIA to deliver a quality system-based phytosanitary certification program which allows for seed export businesses to export seed to the U.S. with a minimum of oversight.
We have lots on the go, so continue to watch this space in the coming months!
