Opening address by Wolfgang Reimer
Check Against Delivery!
President Ertsey,
Esteemed ISTA Members and Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to be able to pass on best regards from Ms. Ilse Aigner, Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.
Due to other urgent engagements in Berlin, State Secretary Kloos is unable to be here today. He deeply regrets this and has asked me to stand in for him today.
The last time the ISTA Congress was held in Germany was in 1965. It is with great pleasure therefore that I welcome you back to our country after such a long time.
I am particularly pleased about the fact that we, as the host country, have for the first time ever during an ISTA Congress an opportunity to hold a Policy Forum.
I would like to thank you, President Ertsey and your association, most cordially for this.
We gladly took up this challenge. Today, we want to offer our guests from politics, science and industry a platform to discuss with them the importance of harmonised seed testing for international seed trade.
With international seed trade steadily increasing, standardised testing methods have become even more important and will keep us busy in the years to come.
We are also facing specific challenges such as unavoidable unwanted impurities in seeds, for instance:
- genetically modified organisms and
- seeds of invasive plant species.
It is therefore only logical that our Policy Forum today is entitled "Harmonised seed testing and global seed trade".
Challenges for the agricultural sector worldwide
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are all faced with great challenges throughout the world.
- The world population will continue to increase dramatically.
- Within a few decades around nine billion people will live on our planet.
- The provision of food, renewable energy sources and renewable resources is the key global challenge of our age.
This is compounded by the impact of climate change and increasing water shortages that will pose a great challenge for the agricultural sector especially since fertile arable land is increasingly becoming a scarce commodity.
Politics, science and industry worldwide are expected to provide solutions. And time is pressing.
Plants are the key to sustainable food security and energy supply for a growing world population.
Agriculture and the breeding and seed industries are thus the key sectors.
They all have to play their part in order to master the major challenges of the future.
The productivity in the agricultural sector must rise, and in a sustainable manner, in all regions of the world.
As a result of breeding we expect higher productivity from plants. Yield, yield security and qualities must be improved and increased in order to meet the needs of the future.
A great deal of importance is therefore attached to breeding research and breeding, not only in Germany and Europe but all around the world.
Seeds, however, are at the very beginning of the plant production chain.
The agricultural sector requires efficient, high-quality and healthy seeds throughout the world. This is crucial for the future of a global and sustainable farming sector.
Regulatory framework in Germany and Europe
Before we talk about the seed market and the importance of harmonised seed testing for global seed trade, I wish to draw your attention to the regulatory environment facing the seed industry in Germany and Europe.
The legislation on seed and on variety protection provides the main framework in this area.
Plant variety protection
Plant variety protection constitutes an intellectual property right based on the UPOV Convention; it secures plant breeders the financial returns on the investments they make over many years when breeding a new variety. It is thus a vital prerequisite for innovations in plant breeding.
We therefore support the breeding industry by having effective national and Community variety protection legislation. If a plant breeder is granted a European intellectual property right for a plant variety, this means that the variety is protected throughout the territory of the European Community.
Seed legislation
Seed legislation also helps to promote progress in breeding which is of benefit to everyone - breeders, farmers and consumers.
Seed legislation ensures that
- high-quality seed
- and efficient plant varieties
are available to farmers.
Rules governing the examination of the value for cropping and use as part of the approval of new varieties are key elements in a strategy geared towards constantly improving varieties.
Plant breeders are thus called upon to further develop their plant varieties.
It is the objectively determined productivity of varieties and not for instance the size of a breeding enterprise’s marketing budget which is the decisive criterion in market activities.
Seed legislation thus lays the groundwork for fair and performance-oriented competition.
This is particularly important for our country where the breeding industry mainly consists of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Seed certification, the second key element of seed legislation, aims to ensure that seed is of high quality and consequently that seed consumers are protected.
As you know, Germany launched a discussion at European level on the future development of the regulatory framework for seeds.
The evaluation of seed legislation has therefore been placed on the agenda of the European Commission and the EU Member States. The main concern is to simplify and further harmonise the legislation in this area.
We attach especial importance to greater and self-reliant involvement of the seed industry in seed certification procedures.
Seed market – Seed trade
Seed markets have almost doubled in volume worldwide since the 1980s.
According to the ISF (International Seed Federation), international seed trade has developed even more dynamically.
The plant species that are relevant for international seed trade are maize, sugar-beet, grasses and vegetables.
The most important factors that triggered the growth in seed trade were the progress in breeding and the development of hybrid varieties of, for instance:
- maize,
- sunflowers,
- rape and
- many vegetable species.
However
- the development in the seed trade has also been brought about by the opening up of new markets – for bioenergy production, for instance, and by
- the possibility of propagating seeds counter-seasonally in climatically favourable regions of the respective "other" hemisphere.
And, last but not least, the certification of seeds and the global harmonisation of seed trade through the so-called OECD Seed Schemes have been instrumental in this process.
According to the ISF, global seed trade accounted for less than 1 billion US Dollar in 1970. It had more than quintupled by 2006 and is now well above 5 billion US Dollar.
A glance at the export and import figures of the ISF also shows the scale of this change.
In 2008, Germany exported seeds worth 493 million US Dollars and is thus the world's fourth largest seed exporter behind the USA, the Netherlands and France.
Seed imports worth 382 million US Dollars make Germany the world's sixth largest seed importer behind the USA, France, Mexico, the Netherlands and Italy.
These figures provide striking evidence of the brisk international trade. However, they also show that the seed industry is increasingly obligated to safeguard the quality of seeds.
Plant breeding, seed production and seed trade form the basis for a successful agricultural economy in a global market.
Seed quality and seed testing
Seeds are at the very beginning of the value-added chain.
Uniform quality standards for seed itself, but also consistent quality assurance throughout the seed production chain are required in order to ensure the necessary consumer protection.
With the seed trade becoming increasingly globalised, there is also a growing need for internationally harmonised seed testing.
It is only through certification standards that are if possible universally recognized that we can make seed trade operate smoothly. The basis for this is that the stakeholders have confidence in the reliability of the seed quality.
Global seed trade is governed by transnational seed systems.
Germany and most other European countries opted for
- the "OECD Seed Schemes" on seed certification and, required as part of this system, for the
- standardised seed testing methods of the International Seed Testing Association – ISTA.
For the 57 states participating in the various OECD seed schemes at global level, the rules laid down by the OECD are authoritative for cross-border trade in seeds. These rules contribute to the global harmonisation of seed trade. Seed that has, for instance, been certified in Europe can then be marketed in Australia without the need for any additional seed testing.
Long before the age of globalisation, ISTA had set itself the goal of making smooth global trade in seed possible by means of internationally standardised seed testing.
To this end, ISTA develops methods for the sampling, testing and certification of seed and for the associated quality standards of international seed trade.
ISTA certificates are a vital precondition for being able to participate in international seed trade within the scope of the OECD Seed Schemes.
Germany is a Member of the international seed schemes, plays an active part in their further development and is keen to continue to participate in the growing seed market.
Outlook
ISTA now has 79 member countries with around 195 member laboratories that ensure standardised quality assurance of seed all over the globe.
Today, the speakers will tell you about the developments that have taken place in a number of different parts of the world - America, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.
The Federal Government supports the efforts aimed at greater international harmonisation of seed testing.
We also support the ISTA initiative to initiate a policy debate in the years to come on the importance of the harmonisation of seed testing in the 21st century in respect of global seed trade.
I believe that the exchange of views and experiences at today's conference can only be an initial step, but this step should be one that paves the way for further joint debates in the future.
On this note I would like to wish the conference every success and look forward to an interesting and lively discussion.
I thank you for your attention and cordially invite you to the reception that the Federal Ministry is hosting after the forum in the wine cellar of the Gürzenich.
Presentation
Corresponding presentation ( 87 KB) 
