ISTA Laboratory Münster
Seed testing in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
In 1871 already, Josef König established a Seed Control Department at the Agricultural Testing Agency in Münster. It can be taken from the constituent instruments that it was a prime tasks of this agency to protect farmers against cheating by monitoring the trade in agricultural commodities (fertiliser, feedstuffs, seed). In 1899, the testing agency was taken over by the Chamber of Agriculture of Westphalia. The Institute of Plant Protection and Seed Science was founded in 1937 and after the war, in 1949, an independent Office for Seed Testing was established in Münster. This was the beginning of seed marketing controls in Germany. In the first years, approximately 50 percent of all samples did not meet the requirements. For the first, and as yet last, time in Germany, action was taken – and financed with Land funds – to enable farmers to have the quality of their farm-produced seeds tested free of charge. In 1972, under the direction of Prof. Hedergott, the Phytosanitary Office, the Office for Seed Testing and the Research and Experimental Station for Apiculture merged to become the Institute for Plant Protection, Seed Testing and Apiculture (IPSAB).
In 1998, the seed testing station in Münster became part of the Agricultural Testing and Research Agency (LUFA) of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The seed laboratory has been accredited by ISTA since 1997 and issues about 2000 ISTA certificates per year. Today, the seed laboratory has nine full-time and six part-time employees, testing about 12,500 samples per year.
Grain and grass species (such as wheat, barley, ryegrass, red and sheep's fescue, and panicles) represent the main share of the samples tested. The seed testing station in Münster specialises in testing the varietal identities of panicles. Approximately 250 identity tests on 45 different varieties of panicles are carried out every year.
