March 2018

Changes to the Board of Directors

Mary Wadsworth resigned from the board effective January 2018. Mary joined the board in 2006 as a Director-at-Large appointed by the board. Later she was elected to represent District II. We will miss Mary and her dedication to the CCIA and the cotton growers of California. We thank her for her 12 years of service. We are pleased that Glenn Powell has been appointed to serve the remaining 3 years of Mary’s term as director to District II. Glenn has served on the board in the past and will also represent cotton growers to the CCIA.

Jack De Wit has also resigned from the board. We want to thank Jack for representing District VI and the rice industry since 1988. Jack has been a valuable resource to the board. He was always willing to serve on special committees and we appreciate his insight and knowledge of the seed industry. We welcome Brice Lauppe, who has been appointed to serve the remaining years of Jack’s term.

Bill Suits, who represented District I for several years, has also resigned from the board. Scott Emanuelli will serve the remaining years of his term. Our thanks to Bill for his service.

We welcome the following new agency directors representing:

  • California Farm Bureau Federation – Rich Matteis
  • Agricultural Commissioners Association – Greg Hinton

Complete list of the Board of Directors

sunflower fieldSunflower Field History Form

CCIA field history standards require (among much else) that certified sunflower seed fields must not have grown sunflowers during the previous three (3) years or the land must have grown two (2) intervening irrigated crops.  With the rapid expansion of sunflower seed production in recent years it has become more difficult to identify fields that meet all of the CCIA’s required standards.  

As a courtesy to applicants who occasionally found themselves in a difficult situation, the CCIA made available online in 2017 a new form entitled “CCIA Additional Requirements for Fields NOT Meeting Sunflower Field History Standards.”  The form was intended to be used only as a last resort when CCIA field history standards were not met (such as when a grower has mistakenly planted a field that did not meet the standards).

Unfortunately, we are finding in 2018 that the form is being misused.  A large number of fields have been pinned on the CCIA Pinning Map that lack adequate history.  This practice is wreaking havoc with the orderly pinning process and is causing isolation problems for fields that actually do have the proper history.  As such, the form has been removed from the CCIA website.  A revised form has been created, but will require that applicants obtain approval from the CCIA to proceed with possible certification of a field lacking proper history.  Download the new form.

New Online Forms Available

For your convenience, the CCIA continues to make forms available online. The following two new online forms are available on the yellow bar at the top of the page after logging in as a member.

  1. Bulk sales certificates – this form is used in place of a certification tag when certified seed is being sold for planting in a non-packaged form. If the user sells seed to the same customers, the customer information can be entered so the form can easily populate this data on future forms.
  2. Seed Transfer certificate – this form is used to track seed as it is moved from one location to another, such as inter-State, inter-County, or intra-County. The form is submitted by the shipper in order to notify the Agricultural Commissioner, the CCIA, and the receiving agency. This form will populate most of the information about the seed lot when the Application number or Seed ID number is entered.

Links to other forms may be found on the Certification web page.

sampling seedSeed Sampler Training

The CCIA conducts a Seed Sampler Certification Program under AASCO’s (Association of American Seed Control Officials) oversight. The objective of this program is to ensure that certified seed samplers use methods and equipment that are approved by AOSA (Association of Official Seed Analysts). Seed sampler training should lead to uniformity in sampling of all certified seed that is produced and used in or derived from our state. More importantly, it should also lead to accurate seed test results and labels that better reflect the quality of seed in warehouses being offered for sale and/or shipment. Therefore, CCIA requires that all seed samples sent to the seed laboratories for certification purposes be sampled by certified samplers. 

Three Certified Seed Sampler Training workshops will be held in March 2018. Click on the links below for detailed information or to register for the course:

Davis - March 1, 2018

Fresno - March 15, 2018

Imperial Valley - March 29, 2018

Request for Proposals

The California Crop Improvement Association (CCIA) is requesting alfalfa, bean, and cereal research proposals for 2018-19. Please send your research proposals to UCD Plant Sciences Department Chair Gail Taylor, by March 31, 2014. The proposals will be reviewed and evaluated by CCIA Research Advisory Committees. The CCIA Board of Directors will award research grants at their June meeting.

If you received CCIA funding last year, you must complete the Comprehensive Annual Research Report form. Proposals for continuing grants will not be accepted by the CCIA unless a progress report is submitted along with your proposal.

Expanded Prohibited/Restricted Weed List

The CDFA list of noxious Prohibited and Restricted weeds was recently expanded. There are now 54 noxious weeds with a Prohibited rating and 122 with a Restricted rating. Many of these noxious weeds are not likely to been seen in an agricultural setting, however, the entire list is available at the CCIA web site at the Prohibited and Restricted Noxious Weed List page. Most of the additions are weeds we are unlikely to ever see in an agricultural setting, but a few could potentially have an impact on seed certification:

water primroseWater-Primrose (prohibited)
common in some rice production areas.		 swine cressSwinecress (restricted)
it has been seen in alfalfa seed production fields in the Imperial Valley.
barbed goatgrassBarbed Goatgrass (restricted)
a potential contaminant in small grains, but primarily a dryland weed.		 bull thistleBull Thistle (restricted)
a very common agricultural weed throughout much of the state, though rarely a seed contaminant in Certified seed.

Pre-Variety Germplasm Program

The Pre-Variety Germplasm Program is a Quality Assurance Program that provides a uniform and unbiased quality control system and marketing tool for crop seeds that cannot be verified and merchandised as a class of certified seed as defined by the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA). This program currently has crop standards for 8 species:

  • Blue wild rye
  • Brome
  • Meadow barley
  • Meadow foam
  • Meadow foxtail
  • Sagebrush species,
  • Seaside brome
  • Tufted hairgrass

More information is available at the Pre-Variety Germplasm Program web page.