History of ISTA

1869: Friedrich Nobbe published his "Statute concerning the testing of agricultural seeds" regarded as the starting point for seed testing. He established the first seed testing station in Tharandt, Saxony.

1871: A seed testing laboratory opened in Copenhagen, Denmark. This practice rapidly spread across Europe in the subsequent 2-3 decades.

1876: Friedrich Nobbe published his famous Handbook of Seed Science and the Motto of the ISTA meeting was “uniformity in seed testing”, later becoming the ISTA logo.

1921: European Seed Testing Association formation in Copenhagen, Denmark​. Discussions began aimed at producing uniform rules for seed testing.

1924: 26 countries participated in the meeting held in Cambridge, and the International Seed Testing Association was founded.

1931: At the request of FIS (International Seed Federation, ISF), ISTA adopted the first “International Rules of Seed Testing”, and established the ISTA Certificates Scheme.

1950: ISTA Congress was held in Washington D.C., the first one outside Europe. The outcome demonstrated that, after 13 years of interruption by World War II, ISTA was still indispensable to the seed business.

1954: Tree and shrub species first appeared in the ISTA Rules.

1959: ISTA issued the first edition of the News Bulletin.

1963: Samuel Miles published the tolerance tables that became a fundamental tool for seed testing and are still used in the 2020s. S.R. Miles: Handbook of Tolerances and Measures of Precision for Seed Testing. Samuel R. Miles published the Handbook of Tolerances and Measures of Precision for Seed Testing, which introduced the tolerance tables that became a fundamental tool for seed testing and are still used in the 2020s.

1966: Use of a seed blower for Poa pratensis purity testing added to the ISTA Rules.

1967: Seed testing workshop held in Cambridge, UK to help facilitate a uniform approach to testing.

1969: 100 years of seed testing research.

1973: ISTA Proceedings were renamed to Seed Science and Technology (SST).

1976: Pure Seed Definitions were added to the ISTA Rules.

1977: Essential parts of the flowers, spices and medicinal species were added to the ISTA Rules.

1978: ISTA Headquarters moved to Switzerland.

1983: ISTA Congress held in Ottawa, Canada.

1984: ISTA and The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) held a working meeting on analysis of seeds of tropical grass species.

1986: This photograph shows the 1986 Executive Committee at the end of the 21st Congress held in Brisbane, Australia.

1988: ISTA Interconvention Meeting held in Karlsruhe, Germany.

1989: This photograph depicts the new Executive Committee in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1989: The ISTA Accreditation protocol was first issued.

1991: ISTA Interconvention Meeting held in Bologna, Italy.

1993: The first ISTA Symposium on Seed Health.

1994: ISTA Interconvention Meeting held in Angers, France.

1995: During the ISTA Congress held in Copenhagen, ISTA Membership was opened to private laboratories and private seed companies.

1996: To ensure harmonised seed testing worldwide, ISTA initiated the Quality Assurance Programme to accredit seed testing laboratories. The first ISTA Member Laboratory was audited under the new set-up that year.

1998: The ISTA website was launched.

1999: ISTA celebrated it's 75th Anniversary at the First World Seed Conference held in Cambridge, UK.

2000: Vigour and GMO chapters were added to the ISTA Rules.

2002: First annual ISTA Meeting, held in Bolivia.

2002: Seed vigour testing chapter were added to the ISTA Rules

2004: During the ISTA Congress held in Budapest, it was agreed to consider accreditation as a purely technical task, and the responsibility to give authorisation to issue ISTA International Seed Analysis Certificates was given to the ISTA Executive Committee.

2012: Seed mixtures analysis chapter was added to the ISTA Rules.

2014: Testing for seeds of genetically modified organisms chapter was added to the ISTA Rules.

2014: Annual Meeting held in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

2015: Annual Meeting held in Montevideo, Uruguay.

2016: Annual Meeting held in Tallin, Estonia.

2017: The ISTA LinkedIn page was launched offering a platform for seed professionals to connect and engage within the community.

2017: The ISTA Secretariat received ISO 9001:2015 Quality Assurance Certification.

2017: Annual Meeting held in Denver, United States.

2018: The ISTA Twitter account was established in 2018, providing an additional avenue for communication and engagement within the seed testing community.

2018: Annual Meeting held in Sapporo, Japan.

2019: Fresh in the Field expands into Young@ISTA.

2019: Annual Meeting held in Hyderabad, India.

2021: ISTA launched its modernised website, featuring a sleek design, intuitive interface, and advanced features.

2022: Annual Meeting held in Cairo, Egypt.

2023: Annual Meeting held in Verona, Italy.

2023: Joint FAO - ISTA Handbook for laboratories.

2024: ISTA celebrated 100 Years since its foundation. 

2024: ISTA issued its first eCertificates.

1st President: Knud Dorph-Petersen (Denmark). Elected during the founding meeting and 4th Congress in Cambridge, United Kingdom. He served from 1924-1937.

2nd President: Hernfrid Witte (Sweden). He served from 1937-1945

3rd President: W.J. Franck (The Netherlands). He served from 1945-1950.

4th President: Henry Aloyisus Lafferty (Ireland). Elected during the 9th Congress in Washington D.C., United States. He served from 1950-1954.

5th President: Walter A. Davidson (United States). He served from 1954-1959. Picture not available.

6th President: P.A. Linehan (Northern Ireland). Elected during the 12th Congress in Oslo, Norway. He served from 1959-1962.

7th President: Oren L. Justice (United States). Elected during the 13th Congress in Lisbon, Portugal. He served from 1962-1965.

8th President: Harald Esbo (Sweden). Elected during the 14th Congress in Munich, Germany. He served from 1965-1968.

9th President: J.R. Thomson (United Kingdom). Elected during the 15th Congress in Palmerston North, New Zealand. He served from 1968-1971.

10th President: Akka F. Schoorel (The Netherlands). Elected during the 16th Congress in Washington D.C., United States. He served from 1971-1972.

11th President: Stanley F. Rollin (United States). Elected from 1973-1977.

12th President: Lennart Kåhre (Sweden). Elected during the 18th Congress in Madrid, Spain. He served from 1977-1980.

13th President: Arne Wold (Norway). Elected during the 19th Congress in Vienna, Austria. He served from 1980-1983

14th President: Attilio Lovato (Italy). Elected during the 20th Congress in Ottawa, Canada. He served from 1983-1986.

15th President: Alexander (Sandy) Ednie (Canada). Elected during the 21st Congress in Brisbane, Australia. He served from 1986-1989.

16th President: Erik Madsen (Denmark). Elected during the 22nd Congress in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He served from 1989-1992.

17th President: Don Scott (New Zealand). Elected during the 23rd Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He served from 1992-1995.

18th President: Simon Cooper (United Kingdom). Elected during the 24th Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. He served from 1995-1998.

19th President: Kevin Boyce (Australia). Elected during the 25th Congress in Pretoria, South Africa. He served from 1998-2000.

20th President: Norbert Leist (Germany). He served from 2000-2004.

21st President: Pieter Oosterveld (The Netherlands). Elected during the 27th Congress in Hungary, Budapest. He served from 2004-2007.

22nd President: Katalin Ertsey (Hungary). Elected during the 28th Congress in Iguazu, Brazil. She served from 2007-2010.

23rd President: John Hampton (New Zealand). Elected during the 29th Congress in Cologne, Germany. He served in 2010.

24rd President: Joël Léchappé (France). He served from 2010-2016.

25th President: Craig McGill (New Zealand). Elected during the 31st Congress in Estonia, Tallin. He served from 2016-2019.

26th President: Steve Jones (Canada). Elected during the 32nd Congress in Hyderabad, India. He served from 2019-2022.

27th President: Keshavulu Kunusoth (India). Elected during the 33rd Congress in Cairo, Egypt. Currently serving from 2022-2025.