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The 26th Congress of the International Seed Testing Association took place in Angers, France from 14-22 June 2001. It was held in the excellent facilities of the Angers Congress Center and attracted over 500 participants from some 83 countries. As usual, the meeting had two distinct parts, the first three days being devoted to the 'Seed Symposium' followed by the Ordinary Meeting of the Association on the last two days.
In addition, three specialist Workshops were held and the 17 technical committees met to discuss and prepare the reports of their work over the past three years since the last Congress in Pretoria, South Africa in 1998. Technical visits were arranged to several institutions in the vicinity, Angers now being a major center for plant science work in France. For the ISTA fraternity, the visit to the national seed laboratory of GEVES was a high point, this being probably one of the largest and best equipped official laboratories in the world.
The Symposium provided an opportunity to present papers on a wide range of topics in seed science and technology. These were grouped into 6 sessions covering the following subjects: (i) producing quality seed, (ii) post-harvest seed technology, (iii) assessing seed quality, (iv) seed lot hygiene, (v) seed development and germination, and (vi) mechanisms of seed damage and repair. The oral presentations were supplemented by a large poster display of 130 contributions.
The Ordinary Meeting is the main decision making body of the Association at which the important business is discussed. In recent years, this meeting has had to consider some major changes in the structure and operation of ISTA, such as the introduction of new accreditation procedures and the admission of private laboratories. This process of adjustment to the changing global environment continues and this year a discussion paper entitled 'Strategic Directions for ISTA' was presented to the Executive Committee, as a synthesis of these challenges and possible responses.
This paper sets out ISTA's vision to be 'an international seed science and technology based association, non-political and not-for-profit, legally independent from both governments and commerce, for seed technology, development and validation of seed sampling and testing methods, accreditation of laboratories and issuance of certificates'. This vision statement is followed by a list of objectives, clients and partners, and principle activities. To accelerate the implementation of change, there will be annual meetings of the association from now on, although the Congress including Seed Symposium will continue to be held every three years. Also discussion was started among the ISTA membership to review the link between ISTA and the governments.
One change agreed at this meeting was the creation of the new post of 'Secretary General' to replace the Executive Officer and we congratulate Dr Michael Muschick on his elevation to this new position. The Secretary General manages ISTA under the authority and the control of the Executive Committee. This coincides with the departure of Prof. Attilio Lovato from the position of Honorary Secretary Treasurer which he has held since 1989. The Meeting took the opportunity to honour his remarkable service to ISTA, which spans nearly 40 years, for which he received the title of Honorary President of ISTA.
Another key decision of the Ordinary Meeting concerned the accreditation of seed testing laboratories, including company laboratories and seed lot samplers. As a result of this decision including the governance of the Association, the Constitution of ISTA was revised to take account of these changes.
A definitive position paper was presented concerning the maximum size of seed lots - an item which has been the subject of discussions with the commercial seed trade for many years. A comprehensive review of the literature on the heterogeneity of seed lots has been made and ISTA concluded that it cannot actively promote a change of the ISTA Rules towards increasing the maximum size of seed lots (detailed information on 'ISTA Position Paper concerning the increase or repeal of ISTA maximum seed lot size' will be published in the next issue of Seed Info in July 2002).
Despite the rapid pace of change in the global seed industry, the ISTA Congress remains the major international event for those involved in seed research, testing and regulatory matters to meet for both formal and informal discussions. In many countries, there are now fewer staff and much less time available to devote to work for ISTA in governmental seed testing stations, which has traditionally relied heavily on those 'voluntary contributions'. On the other hand, it was reassuring to see so many countries, from the developing world, and from the transitional economies. Seed Info readers should note that the membership of countries and laboratories in ISTA is open and any interested person is most welcome to participate in the vital technical work of ISTA. This is undertaken through the medium of the various technical committees which remains the heart of the organisation, however, the voting rights are held by the governments.
Further information about ISTA, including contact persons for these committees, can be found at the website: http://www. seedtest.org. Michael Turner, Seed Unit, ICARDA, P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria; E-mail: M.Turner@cgiar.org
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