The last two growing seasons have been tough for many durum growers, and quality seed is now very hard to come by.
Bruce Carriere of Discovery Seed Labs said he expects durum acres to decline because of lack of seed.
“We were estimating back in January 20 to 25 percent (reduction in acres), but we think it could be even higher than that. Thirty-five percent is one number I’ve heard routinely, 40 percent I’ve heard a few times,” said Carriere.
The average durum germ of the seeds submitted to Discovery Seed Labs have been around 71 to 72 percent, while average vigour has tested at about 60 or 61 percent.
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“Disease levels are extremely high on it. There is no way that you’re going to get rid of that this year,” Carriere said.
In previous years when there has been a bad durum crop, many growers had leftover durum seed they could use.
“But they used that last year because we had such a poor crop last year, as well as the year before. So the durum seed stock has dipped down to as low as they have been in years,” Carriere said.
