Alexandria, Virginia, USA
June 26, 2012

The American Seed Trade Association welcomed six Chinese delegates to Washington, D.C., June 17-19 to learn about U.S. seed policy.

Participants represented the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture’s Bureau of Seed Management, Division of General Affairs, Department of Policy and Principle’s Division of Administrative Execution Supervision, as well as the National People’s Congress Economic Law Section of Legislative Affairs Commission and the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee.

The delegation learned about the U.S. legislative and regulatory process, Federal Seed Act and seed labeling, PVP protection and new varieties, public and private research partnerships, the role the U.S. Department of Agriculture in plant breeding and the role of public breeding institutions.

Andy LaVigne, ASTA president and chief executive officer, got the program rolling by providing an overview of the U.S. seed industry and a breakdown of association membership. Participants heard from a number of speakers on a variety of topics, a few of which include:

• Licensing and contracts by Tim Johnson, IFSI and International Seed Federation vice chairman
• Regulation and commercialization of U.S. genetically engineered crops by Bernice Slutsky, ASTA vice president of science and international affairs
• Innovation in the U.S. and global seed industry by Mike Gumina, ASTA chairman and Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, vice president of production, safety, health and environment/risk management
• Grower choice: Ordinary/new varieties and crop insurance by Dale More, American Farm Bureau Federation deputy executive director of public policy
• Role of government in the marketplace by Fawad Shah, USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service director of the Seed Regulatory and Testing Division

Meetings with the U.S. government and industry in D.C. were just the beginning of the delegation’s 10-day U.S. trip. The delegation arrived in Des Moines, Iowa, for a day and met with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and toured the Iowa State Capitol. Afterwards, they drove to Iowa State University and met with Mike Stahr, Iowa State University Seed Laboratory. They also had the opportunity to meet with Pioneer representatives and tour the USDA Plant Introduction Station in Ames, Iowa. Before leaving the United States June 27, the delegation will visit Monsanto Company in St. Louis, Mo., and Chicago, Ill.

“The delegation’s visit is part of a continuous exchange between the U.S. seed industry and officials of the Chinese Administration,” said Lisa Nichols, ASTA director of international programs. “We had an excellent meeting with good questions and lots of discussion.”

As part of this continuous exchange, ASTA representatives will be in China during September and another delegation will visit the United States during CSS 2012 & Seed Expo.
 

Website: http://www.betterseed.org/

Published: June 26, 2012