Illinois Crop Improvement Association, Inc.

OECD South American Seed Multiplications for 2007-2008
Below are examples of requests that the US OECD Program Manager has received from South American OECD Designated Authorities to facilitate a smooth transition into their countries and for shipping to approved locations after the multiplication.

• Male and female to be used in hybrid multiplications, need to be indicated on Table 2 or 3.

• All multiplications need to be sent to Perry Bohn early December in order for him to send them by the Dec. 15 cut off. NOTE: Chile has moved their cut off to November 30. You may want to prioritize them in order to accomplish this.

• Be sure that all seed lots being shipped for multiplication have the proper OECD tag. They even want Pre-Basic seed to be tagged with the OECD tag. The only exemption would be very small quantities.

• The Seed Company or Seed Certifying Agency should send Perry Bohn a copy of the AOSCA official description and OECD Tag with the multiplication. Provisional descriptions are acceptable for Pre-Basic Seed if the variety is not yet approved.

• Seed returning from multiplication labeled with Gray Tag and marked “Not Finally Certified Seed, Variety Still Under Registration Testing” would need to be grown out by the Seed Certifying Agent (SCA) who receives the product and compared to the Official Variety Description.

If you have questions regarding Multiplication Agreements, contact:

Perry Bohn, USDA/AMS
US OECD Program Manager
Seed Marketing Specialist
801 Summit Crossing Place Suite C
Gastonia, NC 28054
Phone: 704-810-7262
Fax: 704-865-1973
Email: Perry.Bohn@usda.gov

Foundation Seed Organization Changes in Illinois
Effective January 1, 2007 Illinois Foundation Seeds, Inc. (IFSI) ended their long-standing relationship with the University of Illinois of being the designated organization to produce Foundation class seed from Breeder seed of public varieties. Historically IFSI has multiplied and distributed public varieties of oat, soybean and wheat released by the University of Illinois (solely or in conjunction with other institutions).

ICIA has been engaged at numerous levels within the University of Illinois over the past 6 months in an attempt to clarify how several important issues will be handled in the future with respect to the: a) maintenance of existing public varieties of oat, soybean and wheat and the collection of associated royalty fees; and b) the future release and maintenance of new public varieties of oat, soybean and wheat and the collection of associated royalty fees.

In both cases ICIA will administer the official seed certification program requirements under either the AOSCA or OECD systems for existing public varieties and public varieties that may be released in the future. We will continue to work with university representatives to sort out the issues and keep the industry informed to the best of our ability.

Update on New Corn Inbred Application
The new “Application for Corn Inbred Line Eligibility” is now being used for all new inbreds entering certification. State agencies accepting the new joint application recently met to address some of the issues surrounding its implementation.

• “Procedure for Maintenance of Stock Seed” shall be used to designate entities authorized to produce Foundation seed stocks e.g. “Maintained by Parent Seed Department of the applicant” or “Seed to be maintained for the applicant by Company A, Company B” etc.

• “The year of introduction” shall be the first year the inbred was introduced into the certification system under any AOSCA agency. Copies of the original application shall be used when introducing the inbred to additional agencies. The date of introduction shall remain unchanged and duplicate applications should be avoided.

• Lines may be qualitatively described, i.e. “high oil” does not require a quantitative statement such as “5-8%.”

• Lines described as “flint” shall be 100% flint. Dent-Flint lines may be listed as Dent or Dent-Flint.

• Description of transgenic traits shall include the individual traits as well as designations for multiple/stacked traits, i.e. triple stack, VT, quad stack, etc. must also include the individual traits designations.

• Description of male-sterile lines may include the type of sterility.
A pdf file of the complete application, instructions and characteristics form is available at www.ilcrop.com. Certification agencies in IL, IN, IA, NE, MI and WI are accepting this new application. IL companies that need assistance with the new forms should contact Hannah Hudson, Operations Manager, Illinois Crop Improvement Association.

Important Information on Introducing New Varieties
National Variety Review Board (NVRB) applications and deadlines are now posted on the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies web site, www.aosca.org. It is important that the review board process be used for all new varieties entering certification. The Illinois Crop Improvement Association’s authority to accept new varieties for certification is limited to 1) crops without a NVRB and 2) varieties that will be restricted to small areas within the state of Illinois. New varieties that have not been through the NVRB process will not be accepted for certification by ICIA in 2007.

The new ICIA Handbook of Seed Certification outlines how new varieties are introduced into certification (pages 6-8). The following links should be used to access detailed information, forms and deadlines for each crop. NVRB information is also available for alfalfa/legumes, cotton and grass on the AOSCA web site. For information on new corn inbred lines, please consult the Application for Corn Inbred Eligibility file posted on our web site at www.ilcrop.com or contact us at 217-359-4053.

Soybean – Deadline: January 3, 2008
http://www.aosca.org/VarietyReviewBoards/Soybean.html

Small Grain - Deadline: January 9, 2008
http://www.aosca.org/VarietyReviewBoards/SmallGrain.html

Sunflower – Deadline: March 26, 2008
http://www.aosca.org/VarietyReviewBoards/Sunflower.html

For more information please contact Hannah Hudson, Operations Manager Illinois Crop Improvement Association.

New Seed Regulatory and Testing Branch Website
Below is the link for the new website for SRTB with many of the links used for OECD in the past. The old site has been disabled so you will need to update your bookmarks or links. Please contact Perry Bohn, USDA/AMS, US OECD Seed Schemes Program Manager at 704-810-7262 or by email at Perry.Bohn@usda.gov if you have questions.

http://www.ams.usda.gov/Seed