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 Green line - july/aug 2005
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FELAS
The Latin American Seed Federation (FELAS) is working hard to have its organization recognized by those that are on the seed trade. Dr. Ywao Miymoto ( FELAS president) made use of his speech to each one of the countries in the region to provide an overall idea about the way the association should act as a group.
The association was founded in 1987 based on the Pan-American Seminar. Many members think that the association should base its activities more toward the trade. This requires structural changes of the association.
SEED HEALTH
Many countries are concerned about diseases that are transmitted by seeds which may be exported from one country to another. This is regarded as the most important single fact that will affect seed trade among countries. Lately the United States of America and India have ruled some strong restrictions for seed importation. This situation requires international organizations, like ISF, to help out the trade, otherwise, it gets very difficult to have seeds moving from one country to another.
SEED TREATMENT
International organization for seeds treatment, with over 100 members mainly from seeds and agro-chemical companies, in their last meeting in June, has shown several innovations, such as a partnership of product exclusivity for seeds producers, products with a higher residual strength and products that are more "friendly" to both men and the environment.
STATISTICS
Abrasem's Directory 2005, enclosing data concerning cereal, vegetable, and grass seeds production in Brazil, has just been distributed. It has 88 pages that, besides production data, shows also technical issues and information about entity's members. Information: abrasem@abrasem.com.br
COOL SEED
The commercial process of seeds cooling thus minimizing deterioration process, developed by Cool Seed, can be considered a success. Many companies in Brazil are adopting the system, in which the seed is cooled from 30C to 15C in few hours. It is such a great success that some exports have been done to Venezuela and Cuba.
SEED BUSINESS
Brazil is preparing itself to seeds export and import. During the last ISF event in Santiago, Chile, more than 10 businessmen participated in the event aiming at negotiating, as well as Abrasem's and Braspov's representatives, who were interested in promoting discussions about the normative aspects that exert some influence on the international market. In previous events the participation of businessmen has always been lower, as well as the participation of Abrasem's and Braspov's representatives has been sporadic.
FORAGE SEEDS
Representatives of Fertiprado, a mild-climate grass seed company with head office in Portugal have recently been visiting Pelotas-RS. The main goal was initiating a partnership to export seeds to Europe. In view of the contacts established, there is a great potential for that. Rio Grande do Sul is a state with a large experience in seeds production that counts on firm partnerships and who will be able to figure in seeds export.
ADVENTITIOUS SEEDS
There is a hot discussion concerning how to handle the issue of having seeds of a transgenic material among seeds of a conventional variety or hybrid. Some consider it as a simple varietal mixture that should be handled like this on the seed certification process, while others consider it as adventitious seeds that should be handled in a different way. This will be one of the main issue in the next OECD meeting, in September.
SEED CONGRESS
According to information released by the coordination of the Brazilian Seeds congress, the number of inscribed people until end June, as well as the number of abstracts submitted to the event are quite higher than the ones registered in the past years. It shows how interested the sector is as to technological and business issues, mainly at this moment when the country is starting to legally employ the first transgenic material.
ISF CONGRESSES
The dynamic world of seed business never stops, the International Seed Federation just had its 2005 congress in Chile and is already promoting its event for 2006. This time it will be in Copenhagen-Denmark through the Danish Seed Trade Association. The executive secretary of the association, Ole Bech Bondesen, proudly brought the ISF flag from Chile to Denmark.
HYBRIDS
It is common to hear that hybrids have a natural protection against illegal seed sales; however this protection is getting less and less strong, mainly due to the production of synthetic seeds where the seed multiplication is done asexually (not involving fertilization). This has been identified in the seedling business with hybrids from horticultural seeds.
CERTIFICATION
Brazil has historically shown a very low rate of certified seeds use. However, with the new seeds rule, the certification process is a requirement for making seeds available to farmers. In this way, many certification agencies are being accredited by MAPA so that they can provide such service, which encompasses the constant update of the responsible technicians in field inspections, information registration, report issue and even usage of GPS e Internet.
PONCHO
Bayer Crop Protection just put in the market its new seed treatment product called Poncho. This is an innovative approach to the seed business helping to minimize the commercialization of illegal seeds, by only selling the product to seed producers. In times where seed piracy is really a hot issue, this procedure deserves high recognition. The seed chain is beginning to be set where all the components are working together with the objective of having more and better seeds to the farmer.
INVESTIMENT
Nidera, a traditional Argentinean soybean seed producer, has just bought Bayer's corn and soy seeds division. This way Nidera expands its businesses in a market which still has much to grow, so much in soybean as in corn. On the other hand, Bayer concentrates its seeds business within Brazil in hybrid rice and cotton.
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