For more information, see the Third Quarter issue of Seed Today.

"Bad seed is a robbery of the worst kind: for your pocketbook not only suffers by it, but your preparations are lost and a season passes away unimproved.” - George Washington

By James Smith, RST

Since this is my first article as the Association of Official Seed Analysts’ (AOSA)president, I would like to take a few moments to introduce myself.

My name is James Smith. I am a Registered Seed Technologist (RST) with over 37 years experience in seed testing.

I am currently employed by the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce as the director of the seed division. In that role, I serve as the lab manager and the seed control official in my state.

When asked what I do for a living, people have a blank stare when I explain it. So, I have found the simplest way to tell people what I do is to say that I test seed to make sure the consumer doesn’t get “bad” seed.

This is usually something people can relate to. However, it is much more complex than that.

To ensure uniformity in testing both AOSA and the Society of Commercial Seed Technologists (SCST) utilize the AOSA Rules for Testing Seeds.

The Rules have evolved over time and have grown as new technologies are developed and as agriculture has grown.

I was recently given a copy of these Rules from 1928. The booklet was a total of 13 pages in length.

Today, these Rules have grown due to a tremendous amount of research by the membership of both AOSA and SCST as well as several universities across the country. The current Rules are well over 700 pages and are comprised of four volumes.

We have come a long way in 96 years.

Organization Updates

The Association of Official Seed Analysts held a joint meeting with the Society of Commercial Seed Technologists June 3-6 in Rapid City, SD.

The meeting was well attended with a large number of first-time attendees.

The proposed AOSA-SCST consolidation is still on track. We have developed a two-year timeline for the consolidation to be completed.

We have received a letter of support from ASTA for the consolidation and expect letters of support from affiliate organizations soon.

During the past year, AOSA has approved an updated Cultivar Purity Handbook which is available for purchase now.

During the June meeting, AOSA approved an updated Tetrazolium Testing Handbook which should be available soon.

These and all AOSA publications may be purchased through our website analyzeseeds.com.

AOSA and SCST continued with the seedling image database project. These images will be available later this year for a couple of families with more to be added later.

This will be available as a subscription. These images will help with uniformity in germination testing.

AOSA and SCST are currently working on a web portal to better serve our members as well as provide a more user-friendly place for the public to visit.

More updates will follow as this project gets underway.

There were 11 proposals to the AOSA Rules voted on at the June meeting. Of the 11, six passed with unanimous support from both organizations.

The other five proposals passed as well. The proposals dealt with editorial changes, clarification of terms and definitions, updates to classification of species, additional germination methods, and an addition of a new species.

If you have any questions about AOSA or the AOSA Rules, you may contact me or any board member.

Their contact information can be found at analyzeseeds.com.

James Smith, RST

President, AOSA

Jamess@mdac.ms.gov | analyzeseeds.com