Items of Interest in Seed – Summer 2022 1 | Page

USDA Seed Regulatory and Testing Division

Summer 2022 

EDITOR’S NOTES

This summer, SRTD staff was happy to be back 

on the road and once again meeting with the seed 

industry in-person. This issue of the IOI includes

summaries of the meetings that SRTD attended. 

This season also brought some big changes to 

SRTD. Seed Marketing Specialist Supervisor 

Roger Burton retired. Roger worked with the 

Maryland Department of Agriculture for 27 years 

serving as an Agricultural Field Inspector and as a 

Supervising Inspector in charge of the Seed 

Regulatory Program. He started working with 

SRTD in March 2004 as a Seed Marketing 

Specialist, in 2016 he became the first Regulatory 

Supervisor. Roger’s knowledge and years of 

expertise was invaluable to SRTD and the seed 

industry as he has a wealth of knowledge and 

loved what he did. He will be missed! 

Roger Burton with SRTD Director Ernest Allen 

On behalf of the SRTD staff, I hope you enjoy 

these articles and continue to find them 

informative. 

Elizabeth Stewart, IOI Editor 

RECENT AND UPCOMING ACTIVITIES 

SRTD VISITS WEST VIRGINIA TO DISCUSS

COOPERATIVE SEED ACT AGREEMENTS: On 

July 21, 2022, S&T Deputy Administrator 

Dr. Ruihong Guo and SRTD Director Ernest, 

Allen met with the West Virginia Department 

of Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt,

Deputy Commissioner Joseph Hatton, and 

Director of Regulatory and Environmental 

Affairs Amie Minor, to discuss West 

Virginia’s cooperative activities with 

AMS. The meeting included discussions on 

the agricultural economy in West Virginia, 

invasive noxious-weed seeds, seed testing, 

and State and Federal seed regulatory 

processes. 

DR. YUJIA WU TO PRESENT RESEARCH 

PAPER AT ISTA SEED SYMPOSIUM: SRTD 

Plant Physiologist Yujia Wu was invited to 

present his research paper at the ISTA Seed 

Symposium in Athens, Greece, to be held 

November 2-4, 2022. Dr. Wu’s paper is 

entitled, “Polyacrylamide Isoelectric 

Focusing Electrophoresis for Differentiating 

Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue Varieties by 

Esterase Enzyme.” 

SRTD HOSTS PRESENTATION TO SEED 

INSPECTORS: On September 7, 2022, Seed 

Marketing Specialist Rodney McNeace 

presented a virtual seed inspector training to 

inspectors from 9 States. USDA Seed 

Sampler Training provides the state 

inspectors with the agency’s requirements 

and protocols when sampling seed on behalf 

of the USDA. 

 

ITEMS OF INTEREST IN SEED
Items of Interest in Seed – Summer 2022 2 | 

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33R D INTERNATIONAL SEED TESTING 

ASSOCIATION CONGRESS

SRTD Director Ernest Allen participated in the 33rd

International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) 

Congress and Ordinary General Meeting, May 8 – 

May 11, 2022, in Cairo, Egypt. 

At the ISTA Ordinary Meeting on May 11th, Ernest

served as the voting delegate on behalf of the 

Agricultural Marketing Service, which is the U.S. 

Designated Authority to ISTA.

Usually, the ISTA Congress begins with a threeday symposium covering a variety of topics 

involving recent advances in seed technology. 

However, due to pandemic concerns, the ISTA 

Executive Committee and the Secretariat decided 

to hold a shorter and smaller meeting by 

separating the Symposium from the Annual 

Meeting. The ISTA Seed Symposium will be held 

November 2-4, 2022, in Athens, Greece. 

Select discussion points and decisions of the 

Ordinary Meeting:

• ISTA members approved the beta testing 

of electronic certificates (eCertificates) in 

the third quarter of 2022. If successful, the 

official launch of ISTA new eCertificates 

will occur on January 1, 2023. ISTA’s 

eCertificates will provide access for endusers via the ISTA website. Only 

eCertificates displayed on the website will 

be valid. The certificates will be in PDF 

format on the ISTA website and may be 

printed for filing purposes. ISTA 

eCertificates issued with a provisional 

status will automatically update on the 

website as the status changes. Paper 

certificates will remain available for 

accredited laboratories and entities 

that would like to continue using them.

• ISTA annual membership fees for 2023 will 

remain unchanged. No increase was 

proposed by the Executive Committee or 

the Secretariat of the organization.

• There were 12 proposals submitted to the 

ISTA Rules Committee. One was 

withdrawn prior to final vote. 11 proposals 

were passed. Approved rule changes 

which will take effect January 1, 2023, 

include the following:

New Species and Changes to Species Names

• There were no changes to the Stabilised 

List; however, to ensure harmonization 

between the Stabilised List and Chapters 

within the rules, any species added to 

Chapter tables will be added to the 

Stabilised List concurrently. 

Rules Changes and New Methods Requiring

a Vote

 Chapter 1: ISTA Certificates 

• Addition of eCertificates to the ISTA Rules. 

ISTA eCertificates are optional. Accredited 

ISTA laboratories may continue to use ISTA 

Orange paper certificates.

• Removing the restriction to only issue dustlike species test results on a BIC - This 

proposal was withdrawn. 

 Chapter 3: The purity analysis

• Added additional guidance on reporting 

results

Chapter 5: The germination test

• Revised the germination method for Anethum 

graveolens

• Added additional guidance on conducting a 

tetrazolium test at the end of a germination 

test 

• Added information on prechilling 

temperatures

• Added a Seedling Evaluation Group onto 

Table 5A

Chapter 7: Seed health testing

• Added an optional filtration method for 

detection of Ditylenchus dipsaci in Medicago 

sativa; D. dipsaci and D. gigas in Vicia faba

seed

Chapter 8: Species and variety testing

• Added a DNA-based test for testing Pisum

varieties

• Added a DNA-based test for testing Avena

varieties
Items of Interest in Seed – Summer 2022 3 | 

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Chapter 9: Determination of moisture 

content

• Added bullets in 9.2.7 and 9.3.2.7 to improve 

clarity

Chapter 19: Testing for seeds of genetically 

modified organisms

• Made several revisions throughout the 

chapter including:

o Addition of the acronym TP for “trait 

purity”

o Addition of a new table (Table 19A)

that summarizes the types of 

analytical outputs that can be attained 

using the different approaches in 

GMO testing

o Redrew figure 19.1 

For a complete list of changes approved during 

the Ordinary meeting please visit the ISTA website 

at www.seedtest.org. 

Next year, the ISTA Annual Meeting will be held 

on May 29 - June 1, 2020, in Verona, Italy. 

For more information regarding this article, contact

SRTD Director Ernest Allen, (704) 810-8884; 

ernest.allen@ams.usda.gov. 

OECD SEED SCHEMES 2022

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and 

Development (OECD) Seed Schemes is an 

international agreement for the purpose of 

promoting high-quality seed through the 

establishment of harmonized standards for 

certified seed moving in international trade. SRTD

serves as the National Designated Authority 

(NDA), represents the U.S. Seed Schemes, and 

coordinates the OECD Seed Schemes activities 

performed by 30 State Seed Certification 

Agencies (SCA’s) under a cooperative agreement.

The Annual Meeting of the OECD Seed Schemes 

was held in Tallinn, Estonia on June 1-17, 2022. 

Pending confirmation by the Committee of 

Agriculture (CoAg) and the OECD Council, the 

following approved changes will go into effect on 

January 1, 2023:

• Changes to Common Rule 7.8, which 

pertains to blending lots of the same 

variety, were approved. The changes 

mainly affect record-keeping and clarify 

information that should be shared between 

NDAs. 

• Additional work on digitalization of the 

Seed Schemes was approved. If 

successful, NDAs will be able to share 

information more easily on OECD Certified 

Seed lots and variety descriptions. The 

Secretariat will continue to seek voluntary 

contributions to offset start-up costs and 

finalize the contract with the software 

developer.

• Requests by Tanzania to extend 

participation to the Grass & Legume 

Scheme, the Crucifer Seed and Other Oil 

or Fibre Species Scheme, and the 

Vegetable Scheme were approved. 

• Standards for certification of monoecious 

and dioecious varieties of hemp were 

approved.

• Documents related to addressing disputes 

between countries, a country selfassessment tool, and emergency 

operations of the Seed Schemes were 

approved. None of these directly affect 

certification activities but give the 

Secretariat and NDAs some guidance on 

these matters. 

• 2022 was not an election year for Bureau

members. Current Bureau members are 

Mona El-Kasier (Egypt), Chair; Wilhelmina 

“Willy” Drost (Canada), Incoming Chair;

and Kristiina Digryte (Estonia) Past-Chair. 

A new Bureau member will be elected at 

the 2023 annual meeting.

Ongoing discussions to be continued by Ad Hoc 

Working Groups (AHWGs) and the Technical 

Working Group (TWG) in 2023: 

• AHWG on Mixtures of Certified Seed will 

continue to work on the proposal to 

eliminate mixture rules from the individual 

schemes to be replaced by one set of 

common rules (new Common Rule 12 and 

associated appendices) governing the 

mixtures of certified seed. TWG reached 

compromises on protection of PVP/PBR 

rights for varieties used in mixtures, 

referred discussion of labeling 

requirements for small packages to the 

AHWG on labeling, and removed the 
Items of Interest in Seed – Summer 2022 4 | 

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proposed requirement regarding 

maximum lot sizes. It was decided to 

delay forwarding the proposal to the 

annual meeting until 2023 to allow for 

additional review at the TWG.

• AHWG on hemp will continue to work on 

proposed standards for feminized and 

hybrid seed production processes.

• Proposed requirement to list parent lines 

as varieties on the OECD international list 

was referred to the next TWG. Currently, 

the rules state that if a hybrid is listed, that 

assumes that parent lines are included. 

However, this creates a problem when 

countries ship parent line seed with OECD 

tags because it is cumbersome to verify 

that the variety is eligible for certification. 

A good proposal, but the specific language 

needs some additional work for clarity, as 

well as addressing concerns of countries 

that currently do not list parent lines 

separately.

• Additional clarifications to the Guidelines 

for Multiplication Abroad will continue. 

• Addition of Pearl Millet to the Sorghum 

Scheme, which would become the 

Sorghum and Pearl Millet Scheme, is likely 

to be approved in 2023. Additional 

information to address questions will be 

discussed at the January 2023 TWG.

The next meeting of the Technical Working Group 

is scheduled for the week of January 23-27, 2023, 

at the OECD Headquarters conference center in 

Paris. This meeting will include a review to revise 

the Strategic Plan adopted in 2017. The 2023 

annual meeting is scheduled for June 19-23, 2023, 

in Antalya, Turkey. 

U.S. Program Notes:

Assessment Fees:

The current U.S. OECD Seed Schemes Program 

assessment fees are 29 cents per hundredweight 

for corn, and 18 cents per hundredweight for all 

other species, effective July 1, 2022. Program 

revenue and expenses will be reviewed this fall 

and announced in December 2022 what the new 

fee structure will be effective July 1, 2023. 

Reminders:

OECD Variety Query is recommended for 

confirming that varieties are listed as eligible for 

certification (https://www.niab.com/oecdv2/). This 

tool is much easier to use than the PDF version 

and is updated as varieties are added throughout 

the year. 

Requests for Multiplication Abroad Agreements 

should be submitted as soon as possible, before 

or near the beginning of the production season. 

Requests should include variety or parent line 

descriptions and details needed by the producing 

country. Late season requests cause difficulties 

for the certifying agency in the other country. 

Shipments to the EU, and other countries, require 

OECD labels. Reciprocally, seed coming from 

those countries should similarly bear OECD labels 

rather than country labels. Shipments with the 

wrong labels can be resolved by working with the 

NDA of the other country, but even if a resolution 

can be worked out, the seed may still be delayed 

in getting to the international customer.

For more information regarding this article, contact 

OECD Manager Steve Malone, (704) 810-8888; 

stephen.malone@ams.usda.gov. For more 

information on the OECD Seed Schemes, go to

http://www.oecd.org. 

ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL SEED 

ANALYST/ SOCIETY OF COMMERCIAL

SEED TECHNOLOGIST 2022 ANNUAL 

MEETING 

The AOSA/SCST Annual meeting was held from 

June 4-9, 2022 in Skokie, IL. This was the first inperson meeting since the start of the Covid 

pandemic in 2019. Some committee meetings 

had a zoom link so that analysts who were not 

able to attend the meeting in person could still 

participate. Those meetings with the added virtual 

component included the germination committee 

meeting, open rules discussion, and long-range 

planning.

As Rules Committee chair, SRTD Laboratory 

Supervisor Todd Erickson led the discussion on 

the new rule proposals. Fifty-five proposals were 

submitted to the Rules Committee, but only 19 

were approved by the Committee to be voted on 

by the membership. A discussion was held during 

the Open Rules Session about why the other 

proposals were rejected and about the use of 
Items of Interest in Seed – Summer 2022 5 | 

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surveys as evidence. The guidelines for 

submitting rule proposals are being updated 

because of this discussion. Of the 19 proposals 

put forward for voting, 14 passed, 4 failed, and 1 

was withdrawn. Those proposals that did not

pass included a clarification of how to evaluate 

borderline seedlings, a new requirement to report 

the number of contaminants in a purity test, a 

requirement to report the complete germination 

method, and a requirement to report abnormal or 

dead seeds on the report of analysis. The 

proposals that did pass included 5 new species 

added to the rules, some common name additions, 

clarifications on submitted sample size, reporting 

contaminants, and seedling sketches of the 

Apiaceae family.

The committee meetings were very well attended. 

SRTD Botanist Elizabeth Stewart discussed TZ 

testing methods for Indian Ricegrass and new 

additions to the Tetrazolium Handbook. Todd 

Erickson, as the chair of the Lab Standards and 

Documentation Committee, discussed the 

committee’s goal to develop a document control 

system for the organization, and work with each 

committee to post those documents online. Seed 

Marketing Specialist Chi Trinh presented in the 

Regulatory Committee meeting. Other topics 

discussed included the need for a formal training 

program for RST/CSA candidates, recruitment 

strategies for laboratories, AOSA bylaw changes, 

and the use of new technologies in seed testing.

Next year’s meeting will be in Saskatoon, Canada.

For more information regarding this article, contact 

Laboratory Supervisor Todd Erickson, (704) 810-

8877; todd.erickson@usda.gov. 

ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN SEED 

CONTROL OFFICIALS 2022 ANNUAL 

MEETING

Deputy Administrator Dr. Ruihong Guo, Jeffery 

Haynes, Commissioner of the Plant Variety 

Protection Office, and Seed Marketing Specialist 

Lan Chi Trinh represented the AMS Science & 

Technology Program at the AASCO annual 

meeting, that was held in Geneva, New York on 

July 12-15, 2022. 

Dr. Guo presented updates on the 2020 and 2021

S&T activities. Commissioner Haynes presented 

an update on PVPO activities and answered 

questions from attendees. Lan Chi Trinh 

presented a report on Federal Seed Act (FSA) 

activities and SRTD updates. Other presentations 

included Jordan Gregory (ASTA), Johnny Zook 

(AOSA/SCST), Sarah Wilbanks (AOSCA), and 

Christina Rowan (CFIA).

During the general session, Lan Chi Trinh gave a 

presentation on the Federal Seed Act and how it 

is enforced by SRTD.

There were many interesting presentations given 

at the AASCO meetings. Topics ranged from 

seed innovation and protection, weed ecology and 

management, and seed treatments. There were 

discussions about handling noxious-weed seeds, 

allowing QR code on seed labels, biological seed 

treatments and its expiration date, coated vs. 

treated seed, and cover crops. 

There were three proposed amendments to 

RUSSL, and all passed. 

Mr. Roger Burton from SRTD was presented with 

a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition for 

his dedicated service to AASCO and the seed 

industry.

For more information about AASCO visit 

http://www.seedcontrol.org

For more information regarding this article, contact 

Seed Marketing Specialist Lan Chi Trinh, 

(704) 810-7272; Lan-ChiN.Trinh@usda.gov

SEED TRAINING WORKSHOP IN 

GASTONIA, NC

SRTD held a Seed Analysts Training Workshop in 

Gastonia, NC, on August 15-17, 2022. Sixteen

seed analysts from State and private laboratories 

attended. The workshop focused on purity and 

identification of similar crop and weed species, 

with emphasis on identification of noxious-weed 

seeds. Other topics included: seed and seedling 

structures, germination and botany terms, pure 

seed unit definitions, uniform blowing procedure, 

and various calculations. 

Following the workshops, the purity and 

germination exams were given to analysts to 

become either a Certified Seed Analyst (CSA) or 

a Registered Seed Technologist (RST). 

The workshop promotes uniformity in testing by 

fostering greater compliance with State and 

Federal seed-labeling laws. The mission of the 
Items of Interest in Seed – Summer 2022 6 | 

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Federal Seed Act is to promote uniformity in seed 

laws and fair competition within the seed industry. 

This effort is supported by State seed control 

programs through authorization provided by 

cooperative agreements between the States and 

the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). 

For more information regarding this article, or 

information on how to register for 2023 seed 

school, contact Laboratory Supervisor Todd 

Erickson (704) 810-8877; 

todd.erickson@usda.gov. 

Participants and staff of the 2022 SRTD Seed School 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 

• ISTA Seed Symposium – Athens, Greece

November 2-4, 2022

• OECD Technical Working Group MeetingParis, France 

January 23-27, 2023

• ISTA Annual Meeting – Verona, Italy 

May 29-June 3, 2023

• AOSA/SCST Annual Meeting – 

Saskatoon, Canada 

June 9-15, 2023 

• OECD Annual Meeting – Antalya Turkey 

June 19-23, 2023 

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