Davis, California
February 21, 2003

On November 19th, 2002, the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center (SBC), California Crop Improvement (CCIA) and UC Davis Extension (UNEX) hosted a course on Identity Preservation in Crop
Production and Marketing in Woodland, CA. The audience was made up of 42 attendees from public and industry including participants from NC and Chicago. The course facilitated interactive discussions from a diverse group of people in the seed production, biotechnology and organic fields. The course opened with talks on the value of Identity Preservation (IP) and basics of IP followed by real life examples from integrated industry leaders producing specialty products such as pesticide free safflower oil by the Adams group Inc., specialty rice by Lundberg Family Farms and marketing of organically and sustainably produced foods by Wholefoods Markets. The afternoon session was divided up into three interactive concurrent sessions on the National Organic Act, the California Rice Certification Act and Plant-Made Pharmaceuticals. The closing sessions focused on sampling and
new tools for recording data and tracking samples.. The SBC also recently published a paper on identity preservation which can be accessed at http://sbc.ucdavis.edu.

On February 3-4, 2003, the SBC and UNEX hosted Seed Biology, Production & Quality at UC Davis, CA. Over 100 participants attended the course. Approximately a third of the group was from out-of-state and included several from Denmark. The diverse audience represented a variety of facets in industry including national repositories, seed laboratories, other universities, government, growers and companies. The course presented a scientific background for production, handling, storage and quality control procedures in the seed industry. It provided an opportunity for professionals in the seed industry, crop consultants and growers, to expand and update their knowledge about seed biology, production and quality. Topics included:

• Pollination, fertilization and embryogenesis
• Physiology of seed development
• Seed health and phytosanitation
• Management of seed crop production
• Harvesting and conditioning to maintain and enhance seed quality
• Maintenance of genetic purity and identity
• Germination and dormancy
• Seed technology and enhancement
• Future directions in seed biology and technology

For more information about courses like the above, please contact the Seed Biotechnology Center at 530-754-7333 or sbc@ucdavis.edu.