b'Below: Sunflowers stretch toward the Andes under Chiles blue skies, where both beauty and biotechnology thrive in counter-season production systems.We added back the in-personOther New Norms improve all these areas. They are always industry events right away in 2021,During the pandemic, because therevery helpful to the industry, and the Schweigert says. You cannot do net- were delays in logistics all over the world,pandemic made us see the importance of working virtually. It has to be face-to- ANPROS stressed that everything musthaving a good national association team. face. Some other firms have reduced theirbe done more in advance more thanReturning to the seeds in the fields, networking activities over the long term,usual. This positive change has beenSchindler notes that all the data thats but its not a strategy we wanted to try. permanent.being collected at field level since the Schindler adds that ANPROS con- Sending seed as soon as possible andpandemic (including many aspects of tinues a hybrid work environment wheregetting all the planning and paperworkcrop production from drone and satellite staff work from home about two-thirdsarranged in advance, this is the newtechnology, irrigation sensors and more) of the time. He says this provides a betternormal way of doing things, Schindleris also improving seed yield and quality. quality of life, and that happier peoplesays.Now we have all this data that we work better.Also, the speed of solving problemsare not only able to share with our global increased during the pandemic and thatpartners, but which we are using to help More Frequency, Many Benefits speed has stayed in place, he adds. Weus push boundaries of production, he The power of the internet also enableshad to work with the authorities to solvesays. Exciting times are ahead. communications to be more frequent, inmany, many things, and now its becomeSchweigert is also very positive. turn enabling counter-season productionnormal that problems are addressed inThe uncertainty in the beginning of to be more agile.one day. We have the solution or path tothe pandemic was really scary, he says. We used to do Gro Alliance boarda solution in the same day the problem isThere was so much we didnt know. But meetings once a year in person and nowreported, and that is absolutely a resultthere is so much weve learned and we we do four or five meetings per yearof the pandemic. This is very positive.now have so many new benefits. virtually, Schweigert says. We all get aThe seed production system was resil-closer view of operations, and we can alsoient before, and its now so much more bring in a technical staff person for partresilient. of the meeting to explain something. The digitalization of paperwork in the Regarding webinars, Schindler saysChilean seed sector is also permanent, these are now planned but also added asalong with its many benefits. needed.Varietal certification We used to plan about eight webi- has been greatly facilitated nars over about three months but nowby digitizing the process, we also do them on demand, when someSahli says. Also, payments important topic comes up, he explains.can now be made through the For instance, in March, I spoke to anSAGs online payment portal, where official in our Ministry of Agriculturepreviously we had to go to each office (SAG) and we will hold an upcomingto pay for SAG service provisions. webinar on what we talked about. In addition, the SAGs online Use of social media since theSIIS System allows import-pandemic is also more frequent forers to check the status of ANPROS, allowing more communica- their procedures, which has tion with members. We were doingsimplified and streamlined seed reports once a week before and now weimports. It has given companies a do these three times a week, sharingvisibility of the process that was not pre-them on LinkedIn, for example, saysviously available. I would add that as an ANPROS Head of Communicationsassociation, ANPROS has represented Mara Paz Gana. the industry well, working with SAG to NOVEMBER 2025SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA 15'