May 31, 2023

Today is the Last Day for AGM Early Bird Pricing!

Have you registered yet for the 2023 CSGA AGM in St. John’s, Newfoundland, from July 8 to 10? Take advantage of our Early Bird prices until 11:59 pm tonight, May 31 and look forward to a packed agenda that you and the whole family can appreciate!

• Saturday is a fun afternoon of golf or whale watching.
• Sunday is jam-packed with the AGM, panel discussions on SRM and seed certification around the globe, and our keynote speaker Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, “The Food Professor.” Of course, the evening fun is SeCan’s “Rally in the Alley”!
• Monday, we’ll talk about seed innovation’s role in our seed system and host a panel discussion with next-generation growers. We end our 2023 event by celebrating our award recipients at the Awards Gala Luncheon.

Learn more on our AGM webpage. See you there!

Thank you to our AGM Sponsors! You are critical to the success and enjoyability of our AGM.

Call for AGM Member Proposals

Submit your member proposals (previously called member resolutions) and have your voice heard at the July AGM.

Member Proposal Review Process

The member proposal process is an essential part of the Association’s governance. It is designed to allow direct input into CSGA’s policy development in order to maintain our grassroots system, call for formal action or support on a specific issue or concern.

At the Governance Committee’s recommendation, the Board of Directors approved the change in terminology “member proposals” to better reflect the current practice of receiving submissions. 

• Member proposals must be submitted to the office in advance of the annual meeting, no later than June 19.
• All proposals will be circulated to members in advance of the meeting.
• Member proposals will be presented at the Annual Meeting, presided over by the Chair of the Governance Committee, who will read the proposal and invite the mover and seconder to speak to it.
• Only active members will be entitled to vote on the proposal.

Active members are invited to submit their proposals by Monday, June 19, 2023, at 11:59 pm ET.

Active members should complete this form (auto-download) and submit it via email to Gail Harris, who compiles submissions on behalf of the Chair of the Governance Committee. Please contact Gail if you need assistance completing or submitting your member proposal form.

Spring 2023 Letter from CSGA’s Executive Director

In the second installment of the CSGA Executive Director newsletter, Doug Miller provides updates on the CFIA’s Seed Regulatory Modernization (SRM) initiative, Circular 6 and CSGA’s upcoming Annual General Meeting.

This new communication piece is the perfect way to receive timely updates on SRM and go on deep dives into the issues that mean the most to the Canadian seed sector. We invite you to read the April ED newsletter here. To receive future editions straight to your inbox,  please email us.

CSGA on the Move!

You may be in the middle of #Plant23, but CSGA is travelling across the country to listen to what matters to you, keep a finger on the pulse of what’s next from emerging trends and best practices and advance the Canadian seed sector. 

Over the last two months, your CSGA team has:

• attended CropLife’s Spring Dialogue Day,
• met with MP Francis Drouin, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture, and
• attended the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops (CRSC) meeting in Winnipeg

But we’re not done! Over the next few weeks, we will also be attending:

• The Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA) annual meeting in Minneapolis June 3 to 7.
• The OECD Seed Schemes meeting in Antalya, Turkey, from June 18-23
• The Association of Official Seed Analysts (AOSA) meeting in Saskatoon from June 9 to 15
• Of course, our 2023 AGM in St. John’s from July 8 to 10
• The Seeds Canada AGM (after ours) from July 10 to 13 in St. John’s
• The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) Federal, Provincial, and Territorials Agriculture meetings in Fredericton on July 18 and 19

Would you like to hear CSGA at your next meeting? Want to schedule a Seed Regulatory Modernization presentation for your group? Please send us an email!

Crop Application Deadlines Are Upon Us

Don’t forget to submit your application for seed crop certification and membership to CSGA by the following deadline dates. Remember that every application deadline date has a 14-calendar day grace period to provide flexibility. 

• May 5 for winter canola/rapeseed (passed)
• May 25 for fall seeded cereals (passed)
• June 10 for fababeans, forages, flax, canola, mustard, corn and field peas
• June 20 for all other crops not listed here 
• July 10 for field beans and buckwheat 
• July 25 for soybeans 

For more information, please read the Application Support Document.

Reminders for the 2023 Crop Season

Seed Crop Certification and Membership/Renewal Applications are now live on SeedCert. Please read the Application Support Document for instructions on applying for seed crop certification and membership and important changes for the 2023 crop season. 

Tags and Parent Seed 

CSGA requests tags for all parent seed sources not produced by the grower applicant. Tags can be provided when submitting the Application for CSGA Seed Crop Certification online or uploaded in the ‘Forms’ tab in SeedCert. 

Consent for Pedigreed Seed Crop Listings 

Growers and crop certificate assignees must provide consent to allow CSGA  to release information in pedigreed seed crop listings that appear in publications, including CSGA’s national Pedigreed Seed Locator and Provincial Seed Guides. 

If you need any help with your application, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can reach us by email or at 613.236-0497 ext. 8803. 

Don’t Forget Your Maps!

Maps are an essential tool that helps the inspector and CFIA check inspector (if applicable) find your field and enables oversight.

A field map and/or GPS coordinates are required for each seed crop (field) and must be submitted to CSGA through SeedCert. Maps must contain sufficient information for the inspector to find the field. Directions and labels should be legible and provided where necessary. To simplify map submissions, you can recall previous land use, GPS coordinates, and maps from fields in production in the last years in the SeedCert application. 

Maps and/or GPS coordinates should be submitted with your CSGA Application for Seed Crop Certification. If your map is not available at the time of application, CSGA offers a grace period of 14 calendar days from the day of application to submit your map or GPS given that you are applying by the crop application deadline dates.

If you are applying after the crop application deadline dates, you must submit your map and/or GPS coordinates either within 14 calendar days or one day before the field is inspected, whichever is less. An incomplete application penalty of $50 is applied per application received without a map or GPS coordinates.

Helpful Tips from Seed Crop Inspection Services:

• Submit maps that can fit most of the application on one page that shows the closest town, highways or road names.
• Label the map to show the Field ID, Variety name, Sequence Number, and field borders.
• Identify the location of your plots in the field it is in, along with the Field ID, Variety name and Sequence number.
• If you have multiple plots of the same variety and class, please provide a Sequence number to help your inspector determine which plot is which.

Thank you!

The CFIA’s Winter 2023 Seed Regulatory Modernization (SRM) Consultation Survey closed on May 1.

Thank you to those who took the time to complete this important survey and support our mission to advance the seed sector and deliver a flexible, responsive, and cost-effective seed certification system to benefit Canadian Agriculture. Your voice matters!

Together, we can build a stronger Canadian seed sector. Please visit our SRM webpage for more information.