BROOKS, Alta. — Alberta producers are expected to grow 45,000 acres of alfalfa seed this year.
That’s up from 17,600 acres 10 years ago and a sign of industry health, said Alfalfa Seed Commission past-president Darren Nikkel.
Jose Arias, director of seed production for Forage Genetics International, a contractor and marketer of alfalfa seed, agreed with that assessment during the commission’s March 22 annual meeting.
He said the market for conventional, dormant alfalfa seed looks stable.
About half the alfalfa seed grown in Canada is used domestically, but 90 percent of Alberta’s seed crop is exported to premium markets in the United States, said Arias.
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“You guys are the producers of dormant conventional alfalfa for premium markets,” he said.
“You guys have a huge commission here. I’m impressed at the number of people here at this meeting today. But we need to harness the energy of the commission towards research and development for better yield and better quality.”
Arias acknowledged the conflict surrounding genetically modified Roundup Ready alfalfa, noting politics “only slows down the progress.”
FGI has the rights to distribute Roundup Ready alfalfa seed in Canada, and Arias repeated his company’s stance on production.
“Seed production of biotech will remain in the U.S.A. only. We made that pledge. We will continue with that pledge until we’re ready to move on to the next level,” he said.
FGI also has the rights to distribute a new GM alfalfa variety that has the stacked traits of glyphosate tolerance and low lignin.
Arias said the variety, dubbed HarvXtra, is in a limited commercial launch in the U.S. Midwest this year.
“It will give enough growers a feel of what it’s like. It’s primarily going to dairies, so we’ll have a lot of good information at the end of the season.”
Arias said 35 percent of U.S. alfalfa seed purchases are GM, and FGI expects it to increase to 50 percent in 2018 with the introduction of HarvXtra.
FGI also anticipates that 15 to 20 percent of alfalfa acres in Argentina and Mexico will be HarvXtra by 2019.
Arias said Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Argentina are the biggest markets for alfalfa seed.
Water shortages and a 2018 re-view of alfalfa use in Saudi Arabia could affect the market for seed but could also increase the demand for hay, he said.
Mexico, as the largest per capita consumer of milk, is expected to continue buying eight to nine million pounds of seed a year.
The market future in Argentina is less stable because of political pressures that see alfalfa acres replaced with soybeans and corn.
China is an emerging market, but it is price dependent.
“The worry that we have in China is that one of these days they’ll figure out how to grow seed themselves,” said Arias.
China has more dairy cows than the U.S. and could be a 20 million lb. market for alfalfa seed.
