10 | New digital seed certification system David Birkett, mid-Canterbury arable farmer and Federated Farmer Vice Chair (Seeds) with wife Justine. He acknowledges that there will be a learning curve for farmers using the electronic system for the first time. Richard Loader ARABLE » Birkett Farming The New Zealand seed certification scheme is undergoing its biggest upgrade in thirty years, with the introduction of a new digital database that will go live mid-July this year. Seed certification, which was started in 1929, is a system which operates to ensure that cultivars of important agricultural plant species maintain their identity through successive generations of multiplication for the ultimate benefit of end users. Over 80 percent of all seed supplied to the New Zealand pasture industry comes from New Zealand’s certified seed. The current seed certification database is a paper based system maintained and administered by AsureQuality. In the future, 95 percent of all grass, legumes, vegetable and cereal seed production will be required to be registered in a digital Seed Certification Information System database to meet international market traceability or isolation requirements. The New Zealand Seed Authority (NZSA) is developing an up-to-date, efficient, accurate and robust digital seed certification system to protect and grow New Zealand’s $400 million seed industry. The new database will be a fit-for-purpose industry-wide Seed Certification Information System that integrates with other systems and provides high quality data from varietal selection to the farmer and seed companies. The new database will enable the New Zealand seed industry to revolutionise, protect, future-proof and enable growth. David Birkett, mid-Canterbury arable farmer and Federated Farmer Vice Chair (Seeds) is a member of the NZSA committee and involved in the project in a governance capacity. He says the initiative is being driven by MPI (Ministry of Primary Industries) to comply with international requirements. David observes that one of the big benefits of the digital database will be in the event of biosecurity issues, of which there have been several incursions in recent times. “We get a lot of seed lines coming in from overseas that we multiply and that is where a lot of our risk has been. If there is contamination in the seed line we will be able to trace that back within minutes and start monitoring very quickly. Where-as, with the paper based system it could have taken days.” Now largely complete, the new system has been built by international software company Provoke Solutions. A mid-July Go-Live date is targeted so that all Spring crops can be migrated into the new digital system and be visible to registered participants including farmers, seed companies, processors, MPI and AsureQuality. “Information held in the database will include location of the farmers paddock and history about what crops, particularly certified crops, have been grown on that paddock,” explains David. “Most seed companies hold information about the farmer’s paddock histories on their own computer systems, and farmers must give permission for their information to be migrated into the digital system. “About 200 farmers have already sent back permission forms but if farmers have not done that they need to touch base with their seed companies.” David acknowledges that there will be a learning curve for farmers using the electronic system for the first time but says most seed company reps have already had training so that they can provide one-on-one coaching for the first time after the systems goes live. ”In successive years the farmer will go into the system and enter the certification information. It’s just as important for the seed companies to get the information into the system as it is for the grower.” P SRS 03 302 8115 email: nzoffice@spsnz.co.nz Proud to be working with Birkett Family Farms SOUTH PACIFIC SEEDS (NZ) LTD Specialists in Hybrid Vegetable Seed Production
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