Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60Bringing an Industry Together Six seed sector organizations are collaborating on a Seed Synergy project that could see them work together like never before. ANimportant new effort is taking shape for the Canadian seed industry, and it’s one that has the potential to spark some key discus- sions and see the industry unite like never before. It’s called the Seed Synergy project, and is an effort involving all six of the industry’s organizations — the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA), Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA), Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC), Canadian Seed Institute (CSI), Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA) and CropLife Canada. First reported on by Germination in March, the ambitious plan to develop a vision for the seed sector (which 6 may include potential adjustments to the regulatory system to support that vision) has now been agreed upon by the boards of all six groups. To date, the parties have agreed on the need to be ready if and when the government decides to move forward with a review of the seed regulatory system, and by extension, changes to it. But with a half-dozen different organ- izations representing the Canadian seed industry, where do you start? “We have all these different asso- ciations, six of them, dealing with one thing, and that’s seed. So why shouldn’t we be pulling in the same direction along with the regulators?” asks Ted Menzies, president and CEO of CropLife Canada. Menzies, a longtime Alberta farmer and former Member of Parliament, says it’s an appropriate time to talk about what the Canadian seed industry looks like today and what it needs to look like and do in the future. At a time when government is putting more responsibility into the hands of the seed industry and growers — Alternative Service Delivery (ASD) being one example — Menzies says there’s definitely value in the concept of six groups speaking with one voice. “The last thing we want to do is form another association, but we know the seed industry needs a single voice, and we’re going to be looking at what the next-generation seed regulatory system in Canada could look like. Having been in government, I see great value in our legislators and regulators being able to hear one voice that represents a broad spectrum of our industry.” Seed Synergy as a concept originated among five of the current six Seed Synergy Project partners at a meeting in April 2015. CropLife Canada joined the discussion in December 2015. The discussions around the Seed Synergy project are being facilitated by Warren Wilson of Intersol Consulting. Running parallel and complementary to these discussions is CSGA’s Strategic Planning project, which is being facilitated by consultant Monty Doyle of Ontario, a former senior public servant. Neither Doyle nor Wilson are stran- gers to this work. Back in 2003, both helped conduct an industry-led, gov- ernment supported initiative, known as the Canadian Seed Sector Review. In some respects, it’s similar to the Seed Synergy project. That review looked at Canada’s seed sector and seed regulatory environ- ment from a global context. Among its more specific purposes was to “gener- ate consensus on challenges facing the sector and on options for facilitating constructive change, with a key area of focus being the regulatory frame- work and related systems.” Changing Times Like Menzies, Doyle says now is a cru- cial time to look at how the Canadian seed regulatory system functions and how the industry itself can work to better facilitate its communication with government.