Rice seed producers take exception to federation's testing recommendations

A group of influential parties in the rice seed industry took exception last Friday to the USA Rice Federation’s November recommendations that seedsmen test for the presence of Bayer CropScience’s LL601 and LL62 genetic material in certified seed.

The pronouncement came out of a forum held in Memphis late last week that was attended by about 60 people, including seed producers and seed processors, state seed certification agencies, rice growers and industry representatives.

A release – issued today by Horizon Ag “on behalf of the Clearfield rice seed channel” – outlined points agreed to by the group. Among them was the observation that the federation recommends testing for LL601 and LL62, even though seed containing these “events” are not regulated by USDA.

The purpose of the meeting, according to the release, was “to discuss and formulate a response from the rice seed industry to the recent recommendations proposed by the USA Rice Federation regarding the discovery of LL601 event in certain stocks of Cheniere rice seed.”

The released stated that seedsmen will work “with the industry to help get commercial seed stocks of Cheniere out of the system, and the group supports future foundation seed testing for traits that may have negative impact on the domestic rice industry.

But the group’s statement said that seedsmen “will not run any tests on commercial seed stocks to provide any documents that are not required by law. The retail invoice for certified seed shall be the only documentation delivered to purchasers at the time of sale.”

In a list of agreed points, the group said that the federation’s proposal “will require substantial additional costs to the industry for no useful purpose, creating the risk that legal seed stocks could be eliminated from the marketplace.”

The group “respectfully” requested that the federation reconsiders its “testing regime requirements of the certified rice seed channel.” The group further agreed that it would “welcome an opportunity to present the seed channel position to the Federation.”

The position statement was adopted by a role call vote of the certified seed rice producers and processors in attendance, according to the release, and was approved by a unanimous vote, with one abstention.

The meeting was chaired by Michael Hensgens of G&H Seed, who was asked by the USA Rice Federation to serve as the designated liaison to the rice seed channel, according to the release. The agenda included presentations by Hensgens; Andrew LaVigne, president and CEO of the American Seed Trade Association; Michael Thompson of BioDiagnostics, Inc.; Donna Mitten of Bayer CropScience; Chet Boruff of AOSCA; Darrell Little of the Arkansas State Plant Board; and Alan Morgan of Jimmy Sanders, Incorporated.

Hensgens noted that the federation recommendations issued on November 28 were in contrast to the federation’s earlier statement in October 2006 that the European Union was seeking to impose an overzealous and unnecessarily restrictive testing regime on rice. Presentations and discussions during the meeting focused on testing protocols, economic considerations, the recent approval by USDA of LL601, the seed stocks tested to date for the presence of LL601, and the advisability of an industry focused effort to remove Cheniere variety rice from the channel.

The presentations were followed by an open forum for discussion of the issues and a question and answer session for all attendees.