AS CHILDREN, we were taught to choose our words care- fully. To think before we speak. Major figures within the Canadian and global seed industries have taken that lesson to heart. “We need to tell our story in the right way, in a con- sistent way, and ensure we all use the same words. Terminology is crucial — how we speak, and how we address the challenges in front of us,” says Michael Keller, secretary-general of the International Seed Federation (ISF). Keller, based at ISF headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, is playing a key role in the ISF Plant Breeding Innovation Working Group, which is working to facilitate policies across countries that don’t impede, but rather enable the adoption of new technologies and foster harmonized regulations across countries. According to Keller, for researchers and plant breeders to take advantage of the latest plant breeding methods, they need reassurance that consumers will accept their products and that regulations won’t interrupt international grain trade. The key to being successful in this, Keller says, is to avoid the problems that resulted when the industry failed to have a consistent, clear message regarding GM tech- nology. Industry leaders hope that by developing a set of criteria for governments around the world to adopt, international markets will align and that the future will be bright for new breeding techniques like gene editing. The Plant Breeding Innovation Working Group has developed a concept paper to foster discussion and serve as a roadmap for national seed associations and ISF members when working with governments and stakehold- ers. The paper provides a detailed background on plant breeding and the tools and technologies available today. The paper, which has been translated into Chinese, Korean, French and Spanish, with more languages to come, outlines criteria to help governments determine if products should fall within the GM regulatory framework, or out of the GM regulatory framework. Meanwhile, the communica- tions subgroup of the Plant Breeding Innovation Working Group has been developing a communication toolkit, cur- Our giants of the seed industry say change can be made by choosing our words carefully and learning to communicate better. Marc Zienkiewicz SHIFTING PARADIGMS 4 GERMINATION.CA JANUARY 2018