b'Part of bringing those voices to the table was the hiring of Barry Senft as executive director. Senft has more than 30 years experience in the private and public agri-business sectors, including the strategic development andI THINK THIS merging of three organizations as CEO at Grain FarmersEVENT SHOWS THE of Ontario.Prior to arriving at Seeds Canada, he also servedENTHUSIASM AND as executive director of the Canadian International Grains Institute, chief commissioner with the CanadianSENSE OF URGENCY Grain Commission and second vice-president of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. SEEDS CANADA HAS Having Barry on board has been a major asset forBEEN ABLE TO HELP us, Sparry adds. Hes really brought people together and helped facilitate so many conversations that might notGENERATE.have happened as well without him.For Senft, having the entire value chain and stakehold-Barry Senfters as members of Seeds Canada is key to Seeds Canada being what he calls the go-to voice of Canadas seed sector.Everyone along the value chain, whether its the ana-lysts, the auditors, seed growers, the seed developers big and small, theyre all around the table now. Thats a greatumbrella to form Seeds Canada has been a world-leading starting point to work from. We recently held our veryexample of how to restructure the seed value chain. successful Seed Summit 2022 which I think showed whatAndy LaVigne agrees. As president of the American an appetite for change there is in this country, Senft says. Seed Trade Association, he says Seeds Canada is a huge The summit brought together the seed and agriculturalboon to the North American seed sphere as it gives the communities to explore the future of the Canadian seedCanadian seed sector more of a cohesive voice. system and discuss solutions and opportunities to bestWeve got many mutual members, and theres a lot of meet the needs of producers and end users. cross-border activity. When youve got one united group Seed Summit 2022 was initiated by Seeds Canada into deal with instead of four, I think thats much more partnership with a slate of producers and industry groups. effective, LaVigne says.Its been a long time since we had a broader discus-sion of seed development by all of the industry, so I thinkStrength in Numbersthis event shows the enthusiasm and sense of urgencyAs Seeds Canada and its partners prepare to help sup-Seeds Canada has been able to help generate in regard toport the best outcomes for the modernization of Canadas regulatory reform, Senft adds. seed industry landscape, the organization is hard at work on another important but complementary initiativea The World Stage membership drive designed to help recruit more organiza-Its not just here at home where Seeds Canada is makingtions interested in being part of creating positive change an impact. for the seed industry, notes Krista Erickson, director of The idea to create a new Canadian seed associationmember strategy and solutions for Seeds Canada.was a terrific one. Seeds Canada might be a year-and-a- With the SRM process not expected to be complete half old, but it was really launched many years back, saysuntil 2025, Senft says the 18-month-old organization has Michael Keller, secretary-general of the International Seeda lot of work ahead of itbut says amalgamating four Federation (ISF), with which Sparry has been involved fororganizations into one is only beginning to pay dividends.a number of years.Breeding methods are evolving, and those new tools I remember being in Vancouver for a Canadian Seedare going to continue to be a key factor for the North Trade Association meeting; this was a number of yearsAmerican seed world, LaVigne notesand Seeds Canada back when the Seed Synergy project was going on. Thathas a crucial role to play. was really an exciting example of how forward-thinkingA lot of leadership and discovery comes out of the Canada is, Keller says. U.S. and Canada in that regard. Its important that theres Canada is a critical player within ISF, he notes. ISF hasclose collaboration between our two governments on different classes of national seed associations, and Canadadeveloping policy for things like gene editing, but also is one of the highest.phytosanitary issues, too, he says. Its been a permanent member of our board of direc- We have to move seed globally for research and tors for many years. Im extremely excited that Ellenmultiplication and provide great varieties and tools for Sparry has been on our board for several years as well.our grower customers. The partnership that we have with Bringing four different organizations together under oneCanada is absolutely vital to accomplishing that goal. 20GERMINATION.CAJULY 2022'