Farmers who wait too long to buy certified seed this year could end up crying in their beer.
Supplies of quality seed will be extremely tight in 2010, said Discovery Seed Labs owner Bruce Carriere, who spoke to seed growers during Crop Production Week in Saskatoon.
Last year’s late-maturing seed crop came off in terrible condition, with frost damage, disease and poor overall quality, Carriere said.
Germination levels were down across the board and seed samples from almost every crop type showed unusually high disease levels, he said.
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The only possible exception was field peas, which came off in good shape.
“The 2010-11 seed germinations are about as bad as we’ve ever seen them,” Carriere said.
“They’re far below the long-term averages.… In some cases, we’re looking at 15 to 20 percent below the long-term average,” he said.
“It’s one of those years where you got slammed with low germs because of late seeding, a cool, wet summer and a wet harvest, and then you got slammed again with disease pressure because of all the moisture. It’s not good.”
Carriere said some pedigreed seed crops that were seeded early last spring came off in excellent condition but the majority of the 2010 crop came off late in terrible condition.
Fusarium was evident in samples from all crop districts and germination rates varied widely.
“(Total) fusarium across all the cereal crops was astronomical. And we are starting to find fusarium graminearum in all of the crop districts.”
Supplies of flax will be tight this year and germination levels in much of the province’s seed barley are likely to deteriorate over winter.
“We are likely going to have a flax shortage again,” Carriere said.
Lentil supplies should be adequate but quality will be variable and regional shortages are likely.
In some crop districts, samples of wheat and lentils were testing 10 percent germination or lower.
“In the 18 years that we’ve been doing this, we’ve never had zero percent germ before on red lentils,” Carriere said.
“For wheat, when you start seeing samples coming in at four percent … you know that the quality out there has suffered badly.”
Carriere said commercial grain growers should be taking care of their seed requirements as early as possible and paying close attention to germination levels.
He also warned that seeding conditions next year could put added stress on seed.
“We could be seeding into wet cold soil this spring so you’d better be thinking about a seed treatment.”
Lyndon Olson, outgoing president of the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association, said producers should be calculating their certified seed requirements because some will face regional shortages for some crop types.
In the northeast and eastern parts of the province, supplies will be tight for many varieties of spring wheat and barley, he said. Flax volumes and some varieties of oats will also be limited.
“It’s going to be a struggle and the best seed is going to go first so there will be some certified No. 2 being sold this year to make up for the shortfall, I’m sure.”
The SSGA is strongly encouraging producers to test all supplies of common seed.
In many areas, seed growers are making arrangements to bring in seed from other regions where supplies are more plentiful.
“It will be a sourcing issue and a lot of seed will be moving this winter,” Olson said.
Certified No. 1 cereals are already up a $1 per bushel in some regions while flax has already risen as much as $4.
Few seed growers are likely to offer discounts on volume this year, he said.
