Ernest Allen is the Director of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Seed Regulatory and Testing Division (SRTD). He is responsible for overseeing the U.S. OECD Seed Schemes program, the Federal Seed Laboratory, the USDA Seed Regulatory program, and several other industry outreach programs. He currently serves as Vice-Chair of the International Seed Testing Association’s Nomenclature Committee, Chair of the ISTA Rules Committee, and Vice-President of the ISTA organization. He also serves as Chair of the International Seed Morphology Association’s Executive Board.
Ernest completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biological Sciences at Winthrop University in South Carolina, USA. After graduation, he served in several management roles in the service industry before being hired as a microbiologist for the USDA’s National Science Laboratory in 2003. Later, he was hired by USDA’s Seed Regulatory and Testing Division as a Botanist. Ernest is responsible for the representation of USDA at joint meetings of the Association of Official Seed Analysts and the Society of Commercial Seed Technologists, American Seed Trade Association annual meetings, and at meetings of several other USA national organizations.
Ernest’s primary mission within USDA is to promote, through regulatory action and industry outreach, a level playing field within the United States domestic seed market and to facilitate international seed trade. Ernest has served in the role of Director of the USDA Seed Regulatory and Testing Division since 2015.