Canada launched new guide for seed treatments

Date:05-14-2015

The Canadian seed industry has launched a new stewardship plan for individuals and organizations that handle, store, transport and use treated seed.

The Guide to Treated Seed Stewardship was launched earlier this week by the Canadian Seed Trade Association and the Canadian Seed Growers Association.

It contains best management practices for operators who work with treated seed.

It also contains information for individuals who want to create and implement their own stewardship plans, comply with provincial and territorial regulations and maintain operationally and environmentally sound operations.

“Our organizations have always recognized the contribution that seed treatments make to agriculture, and we have a history of supporting seed treatment stewardship,” said Dale Adolphe, executive director of the CSGA.

“The release of this new guide … is another step forward in our industry’s stewardship initiatives.”

Added CSTA president Dave Baute: “The seed sector is working hard to ensure seed technologies are used in an environmentally friendly way.… We strongly advise those who handle, transport and use treated seed to implement the best management practices found in the guide.”

The document can also be used by people who work with seed-related products, including inoculants, fertilizers and functional seed coatings such as polymers.

It can be viewed online at www.seedgrowers.ca and www.cdnseed.org.

The guide was developed by a group of seed industry professionals and is intended to complement a related set of standards known as the Accredited Seed Treatment Operations Standards.

Those standards, which were developed by CropLife Canada for the Agrichemical Warehousing Standards Association, provide uniform health and safety practices for the storage and handling of seed treatment products in Canada.