b'Seeking UnityAmid UncertaintyAfter seed growers vote no to the Seeds Canada proposal, our industry attempts to mend fences as it looks for a clear path forward.Marc ZienkiewiczFOR ANDREW AYRE,there isnt a worse time than righteffort to form Seeds Canada. That effort was undertaken by a now to try and find consensus in an industry reeling from thegroup known as the Seed Synergy partners, made up of the five results of the August Seeds Canada voting results. organizations.With the whole pandemic situation, people have so manyThe boards of all five Seed Synergy partners endorsed the other concerns. Theyre not getting together socially to get feed- proposed amalgamation to their members, but in the days back from each other and have good, constructive discussions. Itsleading up to the final CSGA vote on Aug. 27, dissent within the an unusual time where people are isolated from one another, andCSGA membership appeared when an email went out to CSGAs for many that made the vote kind of a non-event, says the past- mailing list encouraging members to vote against the proposal.president of the Manitoba Seed Growers Association (MSGA). CSGA national president Joe Rennick issued a statement to Renee Hoyme, president of the Alberta Seed Growers (ASG),members on Aug. 17 saying the email was from some mem-echoes similar sentiments when it comes to timing. Seed grow- bers who dont support the proposed amalgamation and, most ers are busy pretty much all the time, but harvest season makesimportantly, that this message is not endorsed by the CSGA it even more difficult to get a handle on the current moment andboard of directors.what the next steps might be after the vote, she says. Despite the fact that only 22% of eligible CSGA members cast Everyones been busy in the field. I really havent heard much ofa vote, Hoyme notes that engagement was higher than typically anything after the vote. It kind of just happened and then fell by theseen due to the fact that voting was done remotely.wayside for most people as it was time to get out into the field. Making the decision to do distance voting helped in that we Back in August, the Seed Synergy partners announced thathad bigger turnout than youd see at a regular annual general the proposal to form a national seed organization would not gomeeting, but the turnout still wasnt what you want to see for ahead as planned, after Canadian Seed Growers Associationsomething as huge as an amalgamation proposal, Hoyme says. (CSGA) members voted down the proposal to amalgamate theAccording to Eric McLean, who represents Manitoba seed industrys five dedicated seed associations into one. growers on the CSGA national board and was to sit on the The CSGA is the lone organization to have voted no to theinaugural board of Seeds Canada, virtual distance voting likely proposed amalgamation. The other four organizations involvedbolstered voting among a vocal minority of seed growers whothe Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA); Commercialopposed the merger.Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC); Canadian SeedIn my opinion, the no vote was spurred on by a small group Institute (CSI); and Canadian Seed Tradeof people who were very quiet over the last five years, says Association (CSTA)all voted yes to theMcLean, owner of J.S. Henry and Son.proposal. Normally we get about 10% engagement and we got over Fifty-five percent of the 751 CSGA20% engagement with this vote, and that extra 10% was made votes cast were against the proposedup of people largely informed by the no side. Unfortunately, a lot merger. Two-thirds of the votes castof other seed growers didnt think they needed to vote.were required to be Yes votes for theAyre believes the result may have been different had more CSGA to approve the merger. people cast a ballot.Percentage-wise, I think there it was a high turnout on the no Vocal Minority side. It tells me a lot of the seed growers who would have voted The CSGA vote results were theyes didnt turn out to vote.culmination of five years of work andaccording to sources Seeking a Path Forwardover $2 million spent on theCSTA President Ellen Sparrywho was also slated to sit on the 36/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2020'