EVERYONE involved in the UK seed industry should be doing more to protect its future, Agricultural Industries Confederation seed sector chairman Chris Guest, has suggested.

Speaking at the Annual AIC Seed Trade Dinner in London, Mr Guest outlined how the past year had seen challenges, particularly the loss of seed treatments: “We must all do more to protect the industry that we form part of. We must learn to be proactive, rather than re-active in terms of promoting the good that we do, whether this is through modern plant breeding technologies and methods or through seed treatments; even right back to the basics of feeding the population.

"It takes years and huge investments from breeders and chemical companies alike to bring products to market," he said. "We must champion these products, but also champion good stewardship, rather than sitting back and assuming that things will go on as normal.”

Mr Guest stressed that ESTA – the European Seed Treatment Association’ quality assurance scheme – has an important part to play in ensuring seed treatment and treated seed meet regulatory requirements, and welcomed the growth in its membership over the past year to 16 processing businesses operating over 24 sites.

“I hope to report further growth in the year ahead. Membership demonstrates that as an industry we can demonstrate best practice without further legislation,” he added.