Quinn Gillespie, RST
When I attended my first AOSA-SCST meeting in 2009, I was still deciding if this was going to be a career I wanted to pursue. I had never traveled for work before and had never attended a convention like ours. Arguably, although I have been to many seed meetings since I have still never attended any quite like the AOSA-SCST Annual Meetings. As a new analyst, I was trying to decide if I was going to devote the next two years of my life to studying for an incredibly difficult exam to become a Registered Seed Technologist. A job I didn’t know existed when I graduated from college.
What I found at that first meeting was some of the most devoted people I have ever seen. Individuals with forty and fifty years of experience working in the field were still passionate and involved and opinionated. People who were two years from retirement were still working on improving the AOSA Rules by conducting research and referee studies and arguing vociferously about what to do about ryegrass. We are still arguing about ryegrass.
Over time I have seen how analysts are able to advise growers, researchers, and brokers and to contribute to discussions about what the industry needs. Each of our meetings begins with a statement that we will work to improve the seed testing industry as a whole, and I believe everyone who prepares for the exam takes that to heart. Every year hours of research, writing, and review go into preparing rule proposals for the AOSA Rules and developing improved methods, conducting counts to ensure weights are accurate. And many of these changes are driven by feedback and changes occurring in the industry outside of the lab.
A recent change to the AOSA Rules, headed by Tyann Alexander at SGS, came as a result of realizing that the varieties of Sorghum-sudangrass have changed over time to become significantly larger than when the original purity weights were established. Studies were conducted and thousands of seeds counted to propose a change to the AOSA Rules, to ensure that laboratories across the country are still meeting the regulatory requirements for purity examination and labeling as the industry norms have shifted toward larger seeded varieties over time.
Additional studies are ongoing in germination methods for treated seeds, identification of mechanical damage in onion seed, and concerns about differences in lab testing when compared to field emergence in sugar beet as the result of Alternaria sp. presences. As coated seed has become more common in the United States seed production, the Rules have adapted to ensure repeatable, reproducible results when testing. Every year analysts work within companies, with other laboratories, within committees, and with their local industry to find and address challenges that arise.
In our Northwest Region, we meet regularly to discuss upcoming changes in the industry, what is happening with the current crop year, and what challenges our local industry is facing. We discuss whether there are issues of dormancy, poor yields, issues of weather, and climate resulting in changes in seed quality. Our local industry and state department of agriculture are also invited to these meetings to ensure we hear feedback on what the industry needs from the labs and what species may need some attention from the wider seed testing world. This partnership has led to annual workshops and encouraged the Oregon Seed Association to reach out to local labs to see what they can do to help produce more RSTs. The Illinois Seed Trade Association also comes together each year to network, conduct research studies and hands-on training, and to identify additional upcoming issues facing the industry. Each year dozens of samples are tested across many different labs in the Midwest to evaluate laboratory performance and uniformity.
All this work is also in addition to regular hands-on and written proficiency testing required to maintain analyst accreditation. We are just that excited about seeds.
So much of the time the Report of Analysis represents only the tip of the iceberg of information that seed analysts from AOSA and SCST can provide. And no one is more willing to get into the nitty-gritty of what seeds are doing than lab folks. For industry, consumers, anyone interested in seeds; seed technologists are more than just lab folks, “counting” seeds. We are also watching the grass grow. Seed analysts are passionate, highly trained, and deeply invested in more than just the seed on their boards, or the seedlings during the test period. I would encourage those in the industry to communicate with labs and analysts in their area when faced with industry challenges, because few people are as flat excited about seeds as seed technologists.
In a world of TPS reports, spreadsheets and moving numbers from one column to another, it is deeply satisfying to know that the work of technologists, growers, cleaners, producers, brokers, and researchers still carries so much fundamental value that touches people in their real day to day lives. In that, I think we share a common affiliation and a desire to improve our industry and ensure the availability of high-quality seeds for whatever challenges may arise in the future.
Just ask.
Quinn Gillespie, RST is a Quality Manager at Universal Seed LLC.