It’s September, which means school buses are rolling, playgrounds are buzzing, and class is back in session. Back to school has me thinking about back to school for the seed industry too. But, where kids around the province are mourning the end of summer freedom, I myself am totally excited about opportunities to teach our seed expertise to future seed graders… and beyond!
To become a certified seed grader, one needs to take a rigorous Canadian Food Inspection Agency exam. Future graders have a couple of options to prepare: they can take a remote or in-person version of a book-learning course, or they can dig their hands into real-life seed grading at a lab like ours.
In our two-day course, participants work right alongside our accredited analysts, gaining hands-on experience in every part of the grading process. While book-learning has its benefits, it’s entirely different to sit at a purity desk, carefully sifting through a sample, identifying weed seeds, and understanding the intricacies that affect the purity and quality of a seed lot. The tactile experience of seed grading really brings the theory to life.
At least as importantly, future seed graders who take our course get to hang out with our team. Asking real-world questions, getting a feel for the day-in and day-out of seed testing, and absorbing our team’s genuine passion for our role in the seed industry is the kind of thing you just can’t learn from a book.
One question we’ve been asked probably 100 times is: why do we offer seed grading courses? It’s not to make money: our course is inexpensive and the opposite of efficient: we run the course on an as-requested basis, which often means it’s a one-on-one student to instructor ratio. There are really three reasons we came up with this course idea and are still excited about offering it, over 20 years and over 100 students later.
- It’s the kind of course we wish we’d had access to when we joined the world of seed grading.
- We want to inspire a new generation of seed graders to join our industry. What better way than letting them have an immersive, educational sneak-peak?
- We value the relationships. Many of our students years later, are close friends. Countless others are great industry connections. By the end of the two days, the participants are so more than students – they’re part of our community.
Who typically takes our courses? Future seed graders, of course, but the list is far wider than that. We welcome people from all areas of the seed value chain, from future graders and reclamation specialists to office managers. Some come because they need the qualifications to grade seed at their establishments, others are here to deepen their knowledge of the seed world. Some are new to the field, others have years of experience, but all of them share that same spark of curiosity as they learn the ins and outs of seed grading. There’s a kind of magic in seeing them pick up a seed, examine it closely under their lens, and begin to understand what makes it pure, viable, or problematic.
So if you find yourself needing or wanting a deeper understanding of seed grading, maybe it’s time to head back to school. Our microscopes are ready, are you?
Seed Check Technologies Inc. offers customizable courses for anyone looking to learn more about seed. We run these all year around and customize them to align with clients’ needs. We just need three to four weeks notice to put together a course. If you’re interested in taking part, or even just stopping in for a coffee and a chat, send me a note at morgan@seedcheck.net.
