10 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2019 ON NOV. 13, 1944, six Toronto seed analysts formed the Ontario Seed Analysts Association. All had previously been official analysts at the Toronto Seed Testing Laboratory of the Canada Department of Agriculture. They realized that by working on their own, they were not keeping up-to-date with regulations, methods and seed identification. As stated in the minutes of the first meeting, the reasons for forming this group were to keep abreast of new methods in seed testing, and to assist the analysts in overcoming any problems that might arise in their work. Their first action was to request of the Seed Testing Branch in Ottawa “that members be kept informed of all changes in regulations and meth- ods, in order that commercial analysts analyze and grade seed properly.” In the 1960s the association became the Eastern Branch and Western and Central Branches were also formed and became the Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC). In 1992 the branches were dissolved and a national executive was formed. Seventy-five years after the initial association was formed, CSAAC is still a vibrant association of seed analysts committed to the seed industry by keeping up to and developing better ways of testing seed for the end user. On May 26-29, 2019, CSAAC met in Toronto, Ont., to celebrate 75 years of quality seed analysis and to look to the future of seed test- ing in Canada. There were 50 attendees ranging from seed analysts to government to other seed industry organizations. The itinerary included executive board meetings, the annual Open Forum, the Annual General Meeting and the Annual Workshop. At the AGM, greetings and updates were brought by seed industry and government representatives. Updates were given by CSAAC regional directors and committee chairpersons. The CSAAC post-secondary $500 grant winner, Rene Czemeres of Cupar, Sask., was announced. Rene is entering her second year of agronomy at the University of Saskatchewan in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources. LOOKINGBACK,LOOKINGFORWARD CSAAC / SEEDANALYSTS.CA / CELEBRATING 75 YEARS IN EXISTENCE Frank Lewis, Honourary Member. Left to right back row: Morgan Webb (CSAAC President), Jan Dornian (Sculptor) and Janet Stoner (Marie Greenius Award), Krista Erickson (CSAAC Executive Director), Gail Livingstone (Honourary Member). 2019 CSAAC Annual Grant winner Rene Czemeres. “AMERGERWITHCSIWOULDBENEFITCSAACINHELPINGTO KEEPTHEORGANIZATIONVIBRANTANDSUSTAINABLE.”