128 / SEEDWORLD.COM DECEMBER 2017 WHEN IT COMES to seed protection products and plant- ing equipment, farmers want it all. They want their seeds carrying insecticides, inoculants and biologicals to flow cleanly through the planter for perfect singulation with no clogging. They want their planting equipment to handle seeds of all shapes and sizes with no time needed to shift from one seed lot to the next. Finally, they expect the seed applied products to stay with the seed until it is firmly placed in the soil with no trace of fugitive dust escaping into the environment to arouse public alarm by harming pollinator insects. Farmers want it all “We think about seed applied products and planting equipment as a system where all these things need to work together,” says John Deere Manager of Product Safety Standards Chris Bursiek. “Customers want to take a system to the field and have a posi- tive experience. Everything has to work together.” The equipment industry has little control over marrying the seed to the treatment. There are many kinds, shapes and sizes of seeds, which may respond differently to seed applied products. Growers need to be able to work across the varying array of seed. Farmers do not have one planter for corn, another for soy- beans and a different one for sugar beets - they need a machine adaptable across the entire array of seeds. “The way we became involved with all the topics surrounding seed treatment is by looking at our equipment and saying there are best practices, design considerations and test methods that we could standardized to help manufacturers make informed decisions as they are designing their equipment,” says Bursiek. “That is where we as an industry came together. We work together within International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the committee for planter equipment.” In about 2011, seed planting equipment manufacturers came together to find ways to share knowledge and research. By 2012, the industry started working to formalize best practices into a formal standard. Planting equipment manufacturers and seed protection suppliers collaborate to develop best practice standards that make it possible to satisfy farmers who want it all. Joe Funk jfunk@issuesink.com EQUIPMENT STANDARDS KEEP SEED TREATMENTS PLACE IN ITS The grow lights of the rhizotron at the Syngenta Seedcare Institute cast an eerie glow on Lahcen Grass (top), Seedcare technology lead, and Asmeret Tewolde, seed biology technician, as they evaluate root health.