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 Green line - july/aug 2008
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Invitation
The SEED News magazine received a special invitation to participate in the ISF congress in 2008, in Prague. The director of the magazine, Marilanda Becker Peske, was present at the event, being very well received by the organizers, and has also been invited to the next congress in 2009, to be held in Turkey. Her participation is important to verify in loco the extent of the event.
Genotype
An English agronomic research institute concluded, in a study performed on wheat and barley, that the triple increase in productivity in the last 40 years was due principally to the breeding of better varieties. They determined that the genotype was responsible for more than 80% of the increase in productivity. This shows the value that should be given to a superior variety. Fortunately, countries have created their own laws for variety protection.
Recognition
Syngenta possesses an internal yearly prize that recognizes teams for obtaining higher standard results. In the last year, a global team composed by representatives from Brazil and Switzerland was the "winner" of the main prize, with the work "The Effects of Vigor of Cruiser". These stories are considered examples of values for innovation, performance, and health. SEED News congratulates the team.
Seed Statistics
The Brazilian Seed Association (Abrasem) has just published and distributed statistics about seed production in their yearly publication. There are data by state and by species, with the planted area and the rate of seed usage. Soybean and corn continue to be the species with larger business. Nevertheless, rice, wheat, cotton, forage, and vegetables can also be considered important.
Corn
Finally, for the next corning campaign, Bt corn hybrids will already be available for farmers in Brazil. The companies are already promoting their material and placing themselves in relation to conventional material. Nearly all the large corn firms have GM material to launch on the market. The last one to obtain permission was Syngenta Seeds with the Bt11 event. Brazil has more than 15 million hectares cultivated with corn
Recognition
Ronald Don from Scoottland, is a Honorary Life Member of ISTA since June. He is a well known seedman that gave much of his time to ISTA and many good things could be written about him, standing out his strong support to have the private seed labs also acredited to ISTA, in order to issue the orange certificate. Congratulations to him and to those that had the idea to recognize his work.
Turkey
The next ISF congress in 2009 will be held in Turkey in the city of Antalaya. The Turkish delegation at the last congress was really proud to have this important event at their place. It is an excellent forum to promote seed business among the more than 1000 participants.
Seed Treatment
The loss of bees in Germany was reported in early May 2008, and the authorities suspended the registration for eight insecticidal seed treatment products used in canola and corn. Bayer CropScience began investigating the situation in collaboration with the responsible authority as soon as the problem became known. First results of the available studies for the company indicate that unusually high quantities of dust had been emitted into the environment during sowing, as a result of abrasion of corn seed from batches, which had not been treated correctly. The causes could have been due to the way the seeds were treated or to the lack of a polymer to protect insecticide seed treatment. It is important to act in cooperation with agrichemical companies, seed companies and equipment manufactures. Bees are very important for crop pollination.
Monsanto
Seeds and Genomics segment consists of the company's global traits business, and genetic technology platforms. Sales for Monsanto's Seeds and Genomics segment were $2 billion for the third quarter of fiscal year 2008, or 20 percent higher than sales in the same period last year. This can be explained by the comment from Monsanto Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Hugh Grant: "we're both discovering and delivering innovative tools that can help increase productivity on farm, we offer an attractive solution to the farmer and their mission of meeting our world's growing food, feed and fuel needs. Farmers do like innovation that help them in their daily work and specially when comes together with higher profits."
Evolution
The Central America family-owned seed company, Semillas Cristiani Burkard, with a high share of the corn seed in the region, decided to sign a partnership with Monsanto in order to have access to GM corn material. Nowadays those who do not have superior material that meets the farmer's expectations will be out of business. The sooner the decision is made, the better will be the results.
Training
Last may, the group of the graduate course on seeds at professional level from the Federal University of Pelotas together with Pro-Semillas from Bolivia have its second 15 days concentrated period of their program. The course is supposed to have four such a period plus a Theses on subject related to their work. This kind of course has a great demand from the private sector. As knowledge is essential for high performance, specially nowadays, this kind of training, gives excellent results.
Seed Trade
The Seed Association of the Americas together with Abrasem are promoting a workshop about the phytosanitary and regulatory aspects of seed trading next September, in Brasília. This will make it possible to detect restraints for international seed commerce. Information abrasem@abrasem.com.br or www.saaseed.org
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