Brussels, Belgium
12 January 2015
ESA’s quality assurance scheme for seed treatment and treated seed, the ‘European Seed Treatment Assurance’ (ESTA), continues expanding its position as a true EU standard with a fifth National Agent. PIN is now accredited to carry out ESTA in Poland, making it the first National Agent in Eastern Europe and strengthening the promotion of the scheme in the region.
ESTA combines a number of elements to guarantee professional, high quality seed treatment applications such as independent certification of treatment sites by accredited auditors, defined quality reference values with a uniform testing protocol, and safe use information and respective labelling for users.
Following Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain, Poland is already the fifth important European seed country establishing a specific national platform for the promotion and management of the European seed treatment quality assurance. “With P.I.N. as new national agent for our ESTA scheme, we have won a very strong partner to promote and implement the European seed treatment quality assurance scheme in Poland.” Garlich von Essen, Secretary General of ESA stated. “With its broad seed sector membership and excellent contacts to the relevant administrations, we are convinced that PIN will play an important role in the successful roll-out of ESTA certification in this important seed country.”
The continual improvement as key ESTA commitment also ensures the further proactive development and implementation of state of the art best practices throughout the industry. Every ESTA certified site helps to make sure that EU seed companies, farmers and growers alike may safeguard their long-term access to crucial seed and crop protection technologies.
“We are convinced that the Polish seed industry feels the importance of implementing ESTA in Poland. It is a great occasion to show that, as a seed supplier, we feel responsible for the environment’s safety and to assure that we are providing high quality product to be used for farmers” says Maja Karpiel, Technical Director of PIN.
A member of ESA, PIN (Polish Seed Trade Association) brings together and represents the breeding and seed companies in Poland. The goal of PIN is to create the best possible conditions for the development of the seed industry, and thus to ensure a constant supply to farmers of high quality seed, and better varieties. Any seed treatment plant in Poland that wishes to apply for the ESTA certification should contact PIN directly. (www.pin.org.pl/)
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