When it comes to the field, a lot can go wrong in a given year. On top of things like disease and pest pressure, if you aren’t starting the year with healthy, quality seed, other problems can start to stack.
That’s where one important aspect of the seed industry can help both growers and seed companies: seed testing. While it might not feel like a top priority when getting seed out to customers, ensuring your seed is in tip-top shape gets a customer’s field off to the best start and ensures agronomic success.
Join us Wednesday, September 14 at 12:00 CDT on Seed Speaks, as two guests help us understand the importance of seed testing and seed health for agronomic success.
Amanda Patin is the key account manager for seed quality testing at SGS North America, Inc. She holds a master’s degree in Agricultural Education and a thesis in Entomology from the University of Arizona (1996). In 2000, following her work in insecticide resistance and a publication in Nature, Patin began working with seed testing at SGS North America, Inc. as the Contract Laboratory Research Director. During the following 17 years, she designed and conducted research studies to evaluate seed amendments, improve current seed testing methods, develop new testing methods, evaluate mechanical damage caused during seed harvest and conditioning and assess various seed amendments for both physiological and mechanical effects to the seed and seedling. Since 2017, Patin has been the key account manager for Seed at SGS North America, Inc.
Trevor Blois is the supervisor of the Disease Department at 20/20 Seed Labs. He has been working there for over 10 years, since graduating from the University of Alberta in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. During the summer Blois works as a licensed seed crop inspector for 20/20, inspecting fields and plots of cereals, pulses, hybrid canola, and forages across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. He regularly travels around Western Canada educating others in the industry about seed-borne disease and presenting the results seen at the lab.
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Want to read more Seed Speaks? Check out:
The Difference Irrigation Can Make
Timing is Key to Manage Corn Lodging
Yield, Yield, Yield: Examining the Power of Modern Trait Development
The World is Getting Used to Abnormal Supply Chains
Better Seed Genetics Push Straight Cutting Canola Trend Forward
