Aiden Brook, business development manager at Seed World Group, sat down with Natalia Fernandez Eraso, head of regulatory sciences conosur for Bayer Crop Science, at the Seed Association of the Americas (SAA)’s 8th Seed Congress of the Americas. Eraso spoke with Brook about her role at Bayer and her extensive knowledge of seed movement in South America.
“We are working very actively to move seeds in a giant way, while taking care of the science and not spreading pests globally,” she explains.
The issue that is top-of-mind for Eraso in terms of successful seed movement are the regulations. According to Eraso, 80% of regulations in place today globally are not based on science. Despite the stricter regulations across the world, Bayer’s strong ties with South American regulators allow a more open line of communication.
“When something is happening, we have the chance to discuss it with science as a basis. We need to improve the number of regulations that are being issued without being informed in advance to have visibility on the new regulations that are in place,” says Eraso.
This line of communication and openness is essential to improve the movement of seed in the future. Creating trust between the industry and regulators provides a space where both parties can build on their common interests.
“What we are trying to do now is be more open and share with them our protocols and facilities. We invite them to see how we produce the seed. It’s something that we also as an industry need to understand, because how can they possibly create new regulations if they don’t know exactly what we do? We have them there to build communication, transparency and trust,” she adds.
To learn more, watch the full video below:
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