ESA 2009 Annual Meeting

From October 11th to 14th, ESA European Seed Association will hold its 2009 Annual Meeting and the European Seed Trade Meeting in Brussels.

This event has become ‘a must’ for all who are interested in the latest developments in plant breeding, seed production and seed marketing. With more than 500 registered participants from Europe, America, Asia and Africa in 2008, we are convinced that also this year our Annual Meeting will once again provide an excellent opportunity for discussion and networking of the seed sector in Europe and worldwide.

As usual, ESA will invite representatives of the European Commission, the EU’s Community Plant Variety Office CPVO, from UPOV, FAO and OECD, from the International Seed Testing Association ISTA and other organizations to contribute to the debate in our crops sections as well as our General Assembly. And of course, ISF will surely contribute its expertise to fruitful debates, in particular on the many issues that are important not only to our seed industry in Europe but also to all our colleagues around the world.

2009 will be a year of change for Europe! And with that, a year of particular challenges for the seed industry: a new European Parliament will be elected in June - and it will have more decision making power than ever. A new European Commission will take shape by the end of the year, with new faces and new ideas for new policies. And the ongoing overall evaluation of Europe’s seed marketing legislation (so-called ‘Better Regulation’ approach) will extend to plant health and biotech.

The ESA 2009 Annual Meeting is the platform for exchange on what  all this means and how the European seed industry wants to respond.