Look for us at these upcoming Winter Events.....

The soybean seed samples we have received from harvest are looking good. Some mechanical damage is showing up, but the germinations have been good. The lab is busy working mainly on forage and grass samples. Some seed lots are quite weedy because of the wet summer that was experienced in many parts of Western Canada and the delayed harvest.

SGS MWSS will have a booth with the complete seed testing experience for you.  We plan to have examples of testing at every step of the corn and soybean process, from bin or bulk samples to the finished seed product and the quality control at each step. 

This year weather conditions in some parts of the country delayed soybean planting and harvest.  In the upper Midwest plant stress caused by low moisture was observed during the growing season.  Harvest delayed by wet weather can lead to several diseases caused by Diaporthe and Phomopsis fungi complex. 

Join us for 30 minutes while we show you what our Seed Technologists are seeing on this years corn and soybeans coming into our laboratory.

With increasing fertilizer and fuel prices, you want to be sure you are applying the RIGHT RATE of fertilizer in the RIGHT PLACE on your field.  At SGS Brookings, we are using satellite imagery, topography, and soils data to create soil sampling management zones.

SGS Mid-West Seed Services, Inc. can help ensure the quality of your seed by verifying the proper application of a variety of seed treatments.  Testing your seed confirms that enough treatment is applied to ensure protection and is also useful in calibrating your seed treating equipment to prevent overtreatment, a situation which not only increases costs, but can potentially damage your seed.  

Strict adherence to the dosage rate on the pesticide label is a requirement of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. Calibration of a dry or dust type treater is similar to a slurry or liquid treater except that weight of powdered or dry chemical is used instead of volume of liquid or slurry.

SGS Mid-West Seed Services, Inc (SGS MWSS) offers Tetrazolium (TZ) testing, which provides a quick estimate of viability.  The seeds, after imbibing for up to 24 hours, are then cut through the embryo or tested as whole seeds, and are stained with tetrazolium solution. If the embryos are red after staining, they are considered viable.

SGS Mid-West Seed Services, Inc. (SGS MWSS) announces a seed sampling workshop to be held in Brookings, SD, on October 21-22, 2008. ISTA, AOSA and CFIA sampling rules will be reviewed, as will sampling methods, sealing seed lots, subdividing samples and a review of ISTA certificates. Participants completing the workshop will be taking the first step towards accreditation to sample for ISTA certificates.

SGS Mid-West Seed Services, Inc. (SGS MWSS) is pleased to announce the opening of its soil testing laboratory in response to the development of Precision Agriculture in North America.  Input costs and grain prices have risen to allow for a larger profit or loss if all resources are not managed to their potential. SGS MWSS understands agriculture, industry needs and works to supply its customers with the best service and analysis to make your business and ours a success.

You may have wondered, at times, what happens to your samples after testing has been completed.   Are they thrown out?  If not, how are they stored and for how long?  Do I need to send in a new sample if I want to run another test?

SGS is pleased to announce the opening of their newest laboratory in the North America Agricultural Services network. The lab is located in Winnipeg but it will service all of Canada through their many offices in Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Colombia, Ontario and Quebec. This new service offering will fill their “basket of services” to the Agriculture community.

SGS is pleased to announce the inauguration of a state of the art pesticide residue monitoring laboratory in June in its Head Office in Cairo - Egypt.

An article, “Know Your Seed Quality”, recently appeared in the Mid-February 2008 issue of Farm Journal that demonstrated the importance of knowing your seed quality.  Seed corn quality is routinely based on three laboratory tests: standard germination, cold and/or saturated cold.  The article suggests little to no information on seed quality can be obtained from standard warm germination because “all” seed corn tags list 95% germination.

The eighth annual Native Seed Quality Symposium is scheduled for June 7, 2008 in St. Paul, Minnesota at the Crown Plaza Hotel. The agenda is full for the one-day symposium with a group of speakers from Minnesota and Wisconsin discussing subjects currently of concern to seed producers (carbon credits, genetic variation, eco-regions, etc.).

SGS Mid-West Seed Services, Inc. (SGS-MWSS) has been accredited by the National Seed Health System, under the authority of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, to conduct seed sampling, visual inspections and several seed health laboratory tests that may be required in the issuance of a Federal Phytosanitary Certificate.

The Research Department at Mid-West Seed Services, Inc. has the unique ability to unite five laboratories and 48 full time staff members to bring excellent service to our clients.

GREAT NEWS!

We now offer a new service in which we snap a photograph of your seed in a high-resolution JPEG format.   We call it the “Photo Test” because it is ordered the same way you order a test.

Are you looking for an answer to a question?  The answer might be at your fingertips.  Mid-West Seed Services, Inc. website contains past news articles online.

Would you educate your kids at an unaccredited University?

How do you know your testing laboratory is doing it right?  Who checks out their system for you?  How do you monitor their quality?

Recently we surveyed our Sample Track^® users.  We discuss two of those questions and results here.

Mid-West Seed Services, Inc is working behind the scenes for the Seed Industry, here are a few areas you will find us.

When answering phones there are rules of etiquette that should be followed to be sure customers are getting their questions answered.

To help further define the relationship between laboratory test results and field emergence, MWSS is conducting a SAI laboratory & field emergence relationship study.  Note: This is not a comparison of SAI treatment brands, the identity of SAI brand will not be published.

Many ISPs and company IT departments are filtering out obvious spam and viruses of their customers' mailboxes.

Why is the quality level in our Sample Entry Department at an all time high?  Who gets the credit for this inspiring improvement?

Although common seed may be sold in Canada with a grade statement, Certified

(Pedigreed) seed requires a grade statement which is derived from the seed analysis

report data and the appropriate crop grade table.

Look for us at these upcoming 2009 Events.....

It has been a very cold stretch here in Manitoba minus 30 or colder with the wind chill. I attended the Manitoba Seed Growers meeting in Brandon on December 10-11.The meetings attendance was lower than previous years maybe because of the cold but there are some issues facing seed growers this year.

The 29^th International Seed Testing Association ISTA meeting was held in Bologna, Italy.  The following rules were presented at the meeting and voted on by 46 voting members.   These members represent 72 countries. The rules will go into the International Rules for Seed Testing and became effective January 1 2009.