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New Opportunities for Finding Certified Seed
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IF YOU ARE looking for pedigreed seed, the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association invites you to try their new online tool. The Pedigreed Seed Locator is an online database of pedigreed seed produced and available for sale in Canada. You can search the database by province, crop kind and variety name to find exactly the type of pedigreed seed you are looking for and to put you in contact with the seed growers who produced it._x000D_
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For those in western provinces that have had printed seed guides for many years, the Seed Locator provides a centralized national list to find seed across different provinces. It also provides information that is current as the list is routinely updated._x000D_
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However, for those in British Columbia and the eastern provinces, the Seed Locator is a new tool and a welcome addition to the CSGA website since producers in these regions did not previously have provincial seed guides to help them source certified seed._x000D_
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CSGA’s goal in launching this online tool is to make it easier for companies, millers, farmers and seed growers to find certified seed. One centralized list makes it easier for everyone to find certified seed across different provinces. It also makes it easier for CSGA to promote and market certified seed nationally to end-users, food processors, millers and food companies by listing the Seed Locator as the national go-to source to find Canadian pedigreed seed._x000D_
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With all the rainfall in parts of the Prairies last summer, finding quality seed to sow your crop might be a little harder this year. Certified seed might just be the answer you are looking for._x000D_
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Remember that certified seed is known as a quality assurance package that has been third-party verified. It provides assurance of varietal identity and purity, germination, physical purity and seed-borne disease control. Certified seed in Canada must meet the strict production, segregation and sanitation standards set by the CSGA to assure varietal purity. Certified seed must also meet the germination, physical purity and disease standards prescribed by the federal Seeds Regulations and enforced by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency._x000D_
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Planting certified seed is always a valuable risk management tool to start your crop off right and perhaps is even more valuable when quality seed is hard to find. Only certified seed gives you a known pedigree, a known variety and a known germination and purity. As a buyer of certified seed, you have the right to receive a copy of the germination and purity analysis. Ask for it—and know what you are buying._x000D_
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Find the Pedigreed Seed Locator at www.seedlocator.net or visit the CSGA website, www.seedgrowers.ca, for a direct link.
