What has the grass seed market been in the past year?

Appetite for reseeding was considerably better than last year, driven by a rise in milk prices and increased awareness in the value of investing in grassland. However, dry conditions in late spring did result in reduced reseeding.

How large is the agricultural grass seed market in Ireland?

It is approximately 3,500t and varies based on commodity prices, consumer confidence and weather. The desire to reseed is there and we expect to see this increase, driven by the increase in dairy.

Why are you investing in a new processing and distribution facility?

We are the only grass breeder in Ireland. We focus on bringing advances in grass genetics, varieties and service to farmers.

We have a single plant nursery with 22,000 plants, where we pick the parent for the next generation of grasses. Along with our extensive trial grounds, this investment will improve service and meet in-season demand. It is the largest investment of its type in Ireland.

What is the benefit of being an Irish-based breeder?

The best way to increase your success rate is to select for Irish conditions in Irish conditions. This investment adds value to Irish farmers.

Breeding is a numbers game and DLF have the largest breeding programme globally. This, along with our Irish-based forage grass trials, gives us a global R&D infrastructure with a local focus. Our success is in the value we can bring to farm level with new varieties. No breeder or seed house has invested as we have to achieve this.

What do you look for in a good grass variety?

It is evolving. In simple terms, yield, quality, persistency and disease resistance. More difficult to decipher from the Department recommended list and PPI is palatability and how a variety is grazed out, which is influenced by leaf shape and sheath height. We recognise this with improved varieties such as Solas and Aspect.

Are the grasses dairy-focused or for beef and sheep?

We believe we have a role to play in Irish grassland management. We sponsor the grass variety work at Moorepark. We have specialist sheep mixtures formulated on the latest trial results published by UCD. We do believe that the grass variety for a beef animal and dairy animal are different.

Cell wall digestibility and speed of degradation are elements of this question we are currently working on so watch this space.

  • DLF Ireland is a joint venture between Danish farmer owned co-op DLF and the family owned Irish company, Seedtech.
  • 3,000 grass trial plots, with 1,500 varieties being tested.
  • Employees: 15.
  • Market share: 30%.
  • Location: Belview, Kilkenny
  • DLF global revenue: €479m.
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