AOSA-SCST members at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Rapid City, SD. (AOSA-SCST)
For more information, see the First Quarter issue of Seed Today.
By James Smith
As we start another year, we reflect on the past year and make plans for the current year.
For AOSA-SCST this means continuing our journey toward a merger of the two organizations.
So far there has been a considerable amount of time and energy devoted to this effort.
We have learned from and greatly appreciate those who undertook this task in previous attempts. Their work laid the foundation of where we are now. We learned from their efforts while looking toward the future much like one would do at the beginning of a new year.
There is still a tremendous amount of work yet to be done, but I remain confident that we will complete this task and will be stronger for it.
Importance of AOSA-SCST
One may ask why is AOSA-SCST important?
Consider that seed touches every life and the assurance that clean viable seeds are available is due to the accredited analysts that test the seed.
The road to accreditation is not easy. Some never achieve the title of RST or CSA. It takes years to become proficient at testing seed.
To complicate this, most people do not know this is even a career path. It is not something that is widely taught in college courses, although I feel it should be.
In years past, there were several universities with strong seed programs, but most of those have sadly gone away. Because of this, if we are not careful, there may be a time in the not-so-distant future when retirements outpace new people pursuing this as a career path.
To offset this, we as an industry (both public and private sector) must be creative in recruiting new analysts.
Some have asked if AI can help with seed analysis.
There are some aspects of testing that probably will be automated soon. This may help some with recruiting, but we will still need that qualified analyst.
While we may be able to automate the more mundane aspects of testing, there will still be a need for someone who can do identification or determine if a seedling is normal or abnormal.
It is important to remember we deal with a living entity and as such there is variation that will require that trained eye.
When I started in testing 38 years ago, I was told by a very wise analyst “the only absolute in seed is there are no absolutes.”
We should cautiously embrace these new technologies because who knows what the future holds. Thirty years ago, no one would have thought we would all be carrying a computer in our pocket but here we are. Time will tell.
Retaining Seed Analysts
Once we find talented people who want to take the journey to become an RST or CSA, how do we retain these folks?
I would suggest they be encouraged to become active in AOSA-SCST.
By becoming active, an analyst will develop a network of people from all over North America. These will not only be lifelong friends, but a network of people that possess a tremendous amount of knowledge.
Attendance at our annual meeting should be strongly encouraged. While we can attend some committee meetings virtually and participate in webinars online, nothing can take the place of what is learned at an in person setting.
We need to encourage support from those that make the decisions on allowing analysts to attend these meetings.
Our annual meeting will be June 8-12 in Missoula, MT. For more information go to analyzeseeds.com.
I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous year
James Smith, RST
President, AOSA
jamess@mdac.ms.gov | analyzeseeds.com