PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE | PART 1 | COMMERCIAL SEED ANALYSTS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA The Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada has survived almost 75 years of change. Here’s a snapshot of its early days and challenges it faces today. LOOKING AT OLD photos from the early days of the Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC) is like getting into a time machine. They’re a grainy, black and white, and offer a look at a time when life was far different than it is today. In one photo, a man smiles from behind the wheel of a flatbed truck, sacks of seed stacked on the back, looking like oversized pillows. That’s how seed was transported in the 1940s. In another, a lone woman sits at a heavy wooden desk analyzing seed, archaic machines placed next to her, a quaint bouquet of flowers beside her. Also taken in the 1940s, the woman is Mary Lamphier, who worked for the United Co-operatives of Ontario (UCO, acquired by Growmark in the 1990s), which was based in Toronto. The room she’s in looks more like a schoolhouse, and looks nothing like a modern seed lab. The photo was taken in the office of the UCO. “It’s been quite the experience watching things change over the years. Back when I joined CSAAC, I was the youngest member, and now I guess I’m the oldest one,” says Ontario’s Gail Livingstone, 75. She’s a former president of CSAAC, which represents commercial seed analysts across the country. She’s been in the industry for a half-century. She still works as a seed analyst, and owns the Etobicoke- based Livingstone Seed Laboratory, which she runs out of her home. She remembers those days when CSAAC was formed. It was a much different time for seed analysts. “They weren’t called accredited analysts back then — you became a senior analyst. Government didn’t oversee seed analysis back then. The whole purpose of starting the association was so the analysts could keep abreast of the changes and the testing rules, and provide support to one another if they had a sample they needed help with.” CSAAC was formed in 1944 by six seed analysts working in the private sector. The goals at the time were uniformity, education, keeping up with new technologies, and cooperating with regulators, says current executive director Krista Erickson. The founding members were all women, a trend that continues today — of CSAAC’s 92 active seed CSAACFOUNDERSTRAILBLAZERS INTHEIROWNRIGHT Transporting seed in the 1940s. CSAAC co-founder Mary Lamphier at work in the 1940s. 10 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2017 Ivah Clark (middle) and Mary Lamphier (right), two CSAAC founders at an ISTA convention in the 1960s.