6 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2017 THE BEGINNING OF the 20th century was a profound time for Canadian seed. The industry was in its infancy, and waves of farmers flocking to Canada from overseas were in for a rude awakening. “That was a hard time for grow- ers. They were faced with using seed varieties they brought over from Europe, and what they got were lots of agronomic problems. These varie- ties were just not performing under Canadian growing conditions,” says Randy Preater, special adviser to the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA) and a former program man- ager for the organization. The Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA) was formed in 1904 to represent seed growers around the country. Interestingly, it was the resourcefulness of farm kids that made it all possible. In 1899, J.W. Robertson, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Dairying in the Dominion Department of Agriculture, conceived a plan - a competition - to encourage farm chil- dren to grow better crops from better seed. The competition lasted three years and developed a strong follow- ing, including the parents of the chil- dren involved. After the completion of the competition, the parents of those children expressed a desire to continue the work of selecting better seed. As a result, the CSGA was estab- lished in 1904 and those parents would eventually become the first original members of the association. “There was an understanding that we needed to carefully preserve the genetic identity of these varieties, and make sure they were adapted to perform reliably in areas around the country,” Preater says. In 1924, CSGA named its first farmer president. Up until then, a government appointee had run the organization. Notwithstanding its name, it was essentially an agency of government that was transitioned to industry leadership upon the arrival of the 1920s. Glyn Chancey, executive direc- tor of CSGA — who prior to join- ing CSGA in 2015 spent 30 years in federal public service — notes both SeCan and the Canadian Seed Institute (CSI) were initially run as adjuncts of the CSGA. SeCan became the largest Canadian supplier of certi- The Canadian Seed Growers’ Association is the oldest seed sector group in Canada, and remains the largest. PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE | PART 1 | CANADIAN SEED GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION fied seed, especially with varieties from public sector breeders, with 700 independent business members. CSI became the auditor recognized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) for all CFIA-licensed seed con- ditioners, importers and testing labs. “Since the beginning in 1904, CSGA was the vehicle that the gov- ernment of the day felt was most appropriate for moving responsibil- ity for the seed regulatory system to the industry. To this day, that’s really what CSGA is about. It’s the manifes- tation of the industry’s ever-increas- ing role in self-regulating.” One of CSGA’s numerous objec- tives remains to ensure and certify the varietal purity of seed produced WITNESSING THEBIRTHOFANINDUSTRY Glyn Chancey is executive director of the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association. Randy Preater is a special adviser to the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA) and a former program manager for the organization. PODCAST ALERT! Listen to interviews with Glyn Chancey and Randy Preater at germination.ca/witnessing-birth-industry/