b'Billy Skaggs of the Georgia Crop Improvement Association receives the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA) Past-President Award from new 2026-2027 President Doug Miller in 2025. PHOTO: AOSCA LinkedInBut Logan points to a very specific example of MillersJahn describes Miller as visionary, innovative, and impactone that was not glamorous, not universallysomeone who brings ideas and those dreams to reality.welcomed, and not easy. Thats a meaningful statement in the context of SRM, The digitization of the seed certification applicationwhere progress depends on disagreement being productive process, Logan says. instead of paralyzing.And he doesnt pretend it was smooth. Jahn calls Miller a leading and driving force throughout It was met with a lot of opposition, he says. ForSRM, and says CFIA appreciates the time, the dedication people who had spent a lifetime filling out applications onto this process and to the betterment of Canadas seed paper, switching to do it online was a lot to ask. industry.Thats what real modernization looks like: its inconvenient, sometimes unpopular, and it forces people toThe Next Era: Leadership Turnover and a Sectorlet go of routines that feel like muscle memory. Under PressureBut Logan says Miller stayed with it long enough toMillers departure lands in a year of visible transition for the make the change stick, and to make it work for growers. seed sector. Seeds Canada has a new CEO. CSGA will soon Within a couple of years hed made that transition veryhave new leadership. And the broader policy environment is easy, Logan says. I think that was one of the big impactsstill shifting under everyones feet.he had on the association. Miller, for his part, sees opportunity in the turbulencefrom public plant breeding discussions to innovation CFIAs View: Visionary, Challenging, and Essential funding, to global trade pressures that ripple quickly From the regulators seat, Wendy Jahn, national managerthrough the Canadian system.for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) SeedBut hes clear that none of it can be solved in isolation. Section, offers a farewell that sounds less like a formalCollaboration across agriculture will be required to ensure compliment and more like a professional truth. Canadian farmers continue to have access to strong, locally Weve certainly had a lot of interaction with Doug overadapted genetics.the years, she says. And while were really happy for him,If Ive helped leave the organization in a better place were really going to miss having Doug to work with. than I found it, then Im proud of that, he adds. 24 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA MARCH 2026'