Galicia, Spain – From September 8-11, 2026, members of ISF’s Tree & Shrub (TAS) section gathered in Galicia, Spain, for their Annual Meeting, hosted at the Parador de Santo Estevo. ISF’s Ben Rivoire, Director of Sustainable and Crop Value Chain Engagements, represented ISF at the meeting.
The TAS Group brings together ISF members involved in the production and trade of tree and shrub seed and planting material, addressing issues specific to this segment of the seed sector — from technical standards to market access and sustainability practices. The ISF TAS Group was established in 1964 and has met once a year in different countries since then, bringing together experts from the tree seed industry to discuss matters relevant to the sector.
The Galicia meeting, chaired by Remko Boeve (Netherlands) and Johanna Gårdebrink (Sweden), drew 30 delegates from 15 countries to discuss matters relevant to the tree seed industry. The focus this year was on market trends, forest fires’ impact, current phytosanitary issues (like Fusarium circinatum), the new EU legal framework for the production and marketing of forest reproductive material (FRM) to be implemented by 2030, Forestry Genetic Resources on the role of seeds in conservation of Forest biodiversity to build resilient forest systems (with presentations from NordGen and Crop Trust on the Svalbard Seed Vault), new breeding methods for ash and elm (in Sweden), and new DNA techniques for seed testing on conifers (in Canada).
The group also conducted a technical visit to the Lourizan Forest Research Center in Pontevedra, where organizers showcased EU-funded initiatives to monitor and adapt forests under climate change and transnational cooperation to foster forest conservation and resilience (CoopTree and ReInforce).
Participants also welcomed external international partners active in the forest and tree sector, such as OECD, ISTA, EUFORGEN, and CGF-Forest Positive Coalition.
The next TAS Group meeting will be held in September in Scotland, UK. Discussions on forests will also continue at the World Seed Congress 2027 in Canada (see the 2026 congress discussion here).
Annual meetings like this one are a cornerstone of ISF’s section-based structure, allowing specialized groups of members to set their own agendas while remaining connected to the Federation’s broader policy and advocacy work. The Galicia setting, at the heart of one of Spain’s important forestry regions, provided a fitting backdrop for discussions on the future of tree and shrub seed systems.#
