First the Seed Foundation
FTSF Mission
First the Seed Foundation (FTSF) is a not-for-profit organization was established to inform today’s consumers and tomorrow’s workforce about the importance of the seed industry. Our Goals are to attract the best and brightest minds to agricultural fields of study. To teach students, communities, and consumers in the U.S. and abroad about the impact that seed-derived products have on their daily lives. To increase awareness among American consumers and students of the science that the seed industry is evolving, and that changing needs in agricultural education programs in plant breeding, genetics and seed science must be met if we are to keep pace with new global.
National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders
NCCPB Mission
NCCPB represents member companies in the business of plant improvement, to promote plant breeding and genetic research for seed and trait improvement The role of the NCCPB is increasingly im-portant as we embrace the expanding challenges of providing affordable, abundant, predictable, and nutritionally enhanced food to meet changing global population demands and live-lihoods. We must work together to better man-age valuable and finite natural resources, the impact of advancing technologies and regulatory processes, and the increasingly dynamic agricultural environment of our customers and ultimate benefactors in society (those who eat food grown from seeds).
American Seed Research Foundation
ASRF Mission
The mission of the ASRF is to encourage basic research in seed biology that has the potential for application to more than one crop species and to facilitate the transfer of resulting technology to benefit the seed industry, farmers/growers and consumers on a global basis. Basic research in seed science takes considerable investment in resources and time. Often, basic seed research cannot be justified and is therefore ignored by private seed companies. Public experiment stations do some basic research in the area of seed science, but funding and facilities are limited and often prioritized to other activities. ASRF encourages basic seed science research by directly underwriting specific projects, thereby enhancing public information on seed growth and development. ASRF-funded research has had a major impact on the public’s understanding of why plants behave as they do. It has served as a catalyst for encouraging investment in basic seed biology research for more than 50 years.
The Seed Innovation and Protection Alliance
SIPA Mission
The Seed Innovation and Protection Alliance was created to provide a unified and consistent voice for education and best practices around intellectual property protection and its value to our society. SIPA works to realize its mission by promoting and encouraging the high standard of business ethics among its members and the seed industry and is guided by a Code of Conduct. SIPA en-courages its members as well as the agriculture community to honor all obligations and contracts between seed companies, suppliers, and customers involving the use and protection of intellectu-al property. Such obligations and contracts include licensing agreements and agreements governing confidentiality and trade secrets as well as honoring all valid obligations and contracts involving the production, marketing, distribution, or sale of seed. SIPA committed to best practices related to the identification, promotion, and protec-tion of seed innovation.
Seed Association of the Americas
SAA Mission
SAA is an organization that fully represents the interests of the Seed Industry within the Americas. Members are countries from South, Central and North America, repre-sented trough their national seed associa-tions and seed companies. The main purposes of the SAA, are to edu-cate and support development, marketing and free movement of the seed within the Americas; and to advocate seed industry legislation and regulation issues as to en-sure plant property rights.
