b'ACENTU RYOF Setting the StandardA cornerstone of success for the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies during its first 100 years, relationships remain paramount to the future. Treena Heintreenahein@outlook.comIT IS 1919in Chicago .The First World War has just ended,This summer, AOSCA celebrated its 100th birthday, a mile-and the world enters an era of not only rebuilding, but alsostone that deserves reflection. of fantastic new possibilitiesand risks. In agriculture, a cropIts obvious that any organization that reaches its centenial breeding renaissance that started in the late 1800s desperatelybirthday has changed in both major and minor ways and faced needs to be properly harnessed.its share of challenges. While a strong and still-relevant man-Unless there were standards put in place to prevent out- date has been key to AOSCAs success, relationships have been crossing, all the new varieties being developed at the time wouldfundamental. lose their purity, explains long-time Association of Official SeedIn Preaters view, the shared history of CSGA and AOSCA has Certifying Agencies (AOSCA) Executive Director Chet Boruff. been a history of exchanging information, whether initially with In addition, Randy Preater of the Canadian Seed Growersregulation adoption and adaptation, or more recently, in facing Association says, Around that time, there were some reallyemerging challenges to certification and collaborating on the innovative types in the experimental stations of Canadasdevelopment of standards for new North American crops such Department of Agriculture and land-grant universities in theas industrial hemp. United States. These were people who thought outside the redBesides CSGA and 45 U.S. state agencies, AOSCA mem-tape box about how to build a system to get improved varietiesbership now includes seed certification organizations in New out to farmers. That thinking helped spur development of agZealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa.extension services to bring research results to end users. The development of seed grower networks, varietal certification In 1919, representatives from CSGA met with their U.S.programs and extension services supported by the Department of counterparts and decided to form the International CropAgriculture provided a valuable model for many research scientists Improvement Association (ICIA, which became AOSCA in 1968).and seed growers in the United States, Preater explains. 54/ SEEDWORLD.COMSEPTEMBER 2019'