b'and Syngenta. To these are added, as honorary members, the National Institute for Research and Development of Agriculture GRAPH 2: DISTRIBUTION OF FARM from Fundulea and the Porumbeni Institute of Phytotechnics, SIZE IN ROMANIA from the Republic of Moldova.AISR has the character of a private, professional, independ-ent, non-governmental, non-profit, apolitical association and has legal personality, governed by civil law. Its program of activities, its priorities and its actions are decided in a General Assembly, 20% attended by a proxy of each member company. A board of direc-tors is elected to coordinate the current activity, composed 30-300 HA of a president, two vice-presidents and a treasurer, who have (1,700 FARMS) 40% two-year terms. The current board of directors is composed of LARGERCorteva, represented by Maria Crj as chairman, Bayer, and THAN 300 HA Syngenta, represented by Ana Gheorghiu and Andrei Mruescu (1,000 FARMS) respectively, vice-presidents and Mas Seeds, as treasurer, repre-40% sented by Patrick Lafon. The day-to-day activity is provided by the executive man-LESS THAN ager, employed by the Board of Directors30 HA(790,000 FARMS) IN SERVICE OF FARMERS AND SEED PRODUCERSSince its establishment, AISR set two categories of objectives. The first was to convince farmers of the benefits of certified seeds and to get them to use such seeds as widely as possible. Now, after 10 years of activity, we can proudly say that over 70 per cent of Romanian farmers and all large farmers use certi-fied seeds. To reach this point, manyconferences, symposia, demonstration fields and more have been held to showcase the benefits. In fact, at one point, it was necessary to work with the police and even private detectives to combat the trafficking of counterfeit seeds.The second category of objectives includes the creation of a framework conducive to the development of seed production in Romania. To this end, meetings were held with representatives of state institutions, especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, but also with parliamentarians. The aim Alexandru Grigoriev Maria Crj was to improve the specific legal framework or to resolve certain issues, such as obtaining emergency approvals for the temporary use of banned substances in the EU.A LONG TRADITION OF SEED PRODUCTIONObviously, no agricultural production is possible without seeds.COLLABORATION, THE KEY FOR BETTER RESULTSIn fact, seed production has taken place in Romania sinceIn its activity, AISR collaborated first with farmers and with ancient times. In 1789, the first agricultural school, organizedother representative organizations of Romanian agriculture. for the workers of an estate in Banat, is documented. As earlyAmong them are AgrobioTechRom, an organization that pro-as 1838, tillage and home economics was introduced as a man- motes biotechnologies and which is a member of CropLife datory topic in village schools, and the first agricultural higherEurope, AIPROM, an organization of producers of plant protec-education institutions were established in 1838. tion substances and the Romanian Corn Producers Association, In the 19th century, several agronomists developed newto name just a few. AISR also had a close collaboration with varieties and hybrids, or improved existing ones. This preoccu- scientific institutions, including the Academy of Agricultural and pation has become a constant of the Romanian research activity,Forestry Sciences. Thus, AISR was able to have a stronger voice.whether by the Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences,In the international arena, the association has collabo-the research institutes, or by the Universities of Agriculturalrated with similar organizations from other countries on vari-Sciences from Bucharest, Iai or Cluj. ous topics. AISRs affiliation with EuroSeeds is very important. With the integration of Romania in European Union, in 2007,Thus, Romanian seed producers can act synergistically with the activity in the field of research and production of seed mate- their European counterparts.rial became richer. Romanias position on the eastern border ofParticipating in the annual EuroSeeds Congress is an excel-the European Union, in the vicinity of large non-EU agriculturallent opportunity to have interesting contacts with colleagues producers, such as Ukraine, the Russian Federation and Belarus,from other countries, to find out what the regulations are there has attracted large investors. In Romania, they were able to ben- and how some issues are resolved.efit from the advantages of European regulations, but also were able to offer their products to these large world producers, atEditors note: Alexandru Grigoriev is Executive Manager of competitive prices. The big international players have positionedthe Alliance of the Romanian Seed Industry (AISR)themselves, through local branches, in Romania.AISR10 YEARS OF ACTIVITYUnder these conditions, in 2012, the Alliance of the Romanian Seed Industry (AISR) was established, as a professional organi-zation of a part of the companies working in the field. The asso- If you wish to find out the Romanian farmers opinion on GMOs and ciation currently has 10active members: Alta Seeds, Bayer,AISRs view of the future, please check out the full article on our Corteva, KWS, Lidea, Limagrain, Mas Seeds, RAGT, Soufflet Agrowebsite: www.european-seed.com22IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'