Voluntary initiatives help make Irish Certified Seed stand out

Seed Certification is an internationally recognised worldwide quality control system designed to provide a guarantee to the purchaser that each bag of seed is true to identity, high in purity and germination capacity and free from major pests and diseases.

It is the starting point for many crop manufacturing processes, including malting barley, milling wheat and oats, roasting barley, etc. All of these are produced and traded on the basis of a variety and its quality attributes.

The Irish seed certification system operates as one of the most robust schemes in Europe. While the seed certification system is governed by EU and national legislation, along with international protocols, Ireland is one of only a few countries that operates an official state-run independent Certified Seed Scheme, which is managed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

Ireland is also only one of four countries in the EU that adheres to a zero tolerance policy in the field to invasive/noxious weeds such as wild oats and sterile brome, thus ensuring that Irish certified seed purity standards are at the highest level in Europe.

Irish certified cereal seed assembled by seed merchants and sold on farm is generally Blue Label seed, which is also referred to as C1 (first generation) seed. This differs from other countries such as the UK or Denmark, for example, where the most common grade of commercial seed produced is Red Label seed, also known as C2 seed.

By definition and under EU rules, the standards governing C1 seed are generally higher than those applying to C2 – eg, the minimum seed purity of C1 seed is 99.9% versus 99.7% for C2 seed. Equally, sterile brome and blackgrass tolerance levels are set at zero in Ireland, while in some cases imported C2 seed has a tolerance level of 10 seeds per 1kg sample. This poses a potential contamination risk for Irish growers if they were to use imported seed, especially if it was produced to a minimum rather than a maximum standard.

Using higher voluntary standards

The EU official standards for different seed categories are complex and difficult to present. And in some instances they are somewhat irrelevant as the industry in Ireland operates high voluntary standards on a number of issues. For example, the official EU standard for C1 seed allows the certification of a sample that had one wild seed in a 500g test sample providing a second sample had no wild oat seed present. This would obviously not be pleasing to growers here.

The Irish seed industry has put in place a higher voluntary zero-tolerance standard for the presence of a number of potential threats such as wild oats. This means that if any wild oat seed is found in a sample, undressed or dressed, this whole lot (30t) will not be certified. A similar zero-tolerance standard exists for sterile brome and the Irish Seed Trade Association (ISTA) has just agreed to have an equivalent zero-tolerance standard for the presence of blackgrass.

However, it is important to remember that this is not the same thing as a guarantee of zero presence. While rejection will also take place if infestation is found in the field during official inspection in the growing season, it remains possible that seeds could be present in a seed lot that were not observed during field inspection and were not found in any of the seed samples examined. But if a plant of any of these three grasses is found in the field during a final inspection, or if seeds are found during a seed inspection, then these seed lots must be discarded.

Canary grass is another potential grass weed problem for Irish cereal growers. This is still handled under the official standards and a crop would be rejected if plants were found in a field at the final inspection. However, there are no higher voluntary standards agreed yet by ISTA, but this is being considered.

Significant sector

In Ireland (26 counties) we grew 8,100ha of cereal crops for certified seed production for the harvest of 2014. So seed production accounts for quite a considerable area of land. As well as this, we also grow a small acreage of beans and oilseed rape for seed production. We even grow a quantity of the latter for hybrid seed production, which is considerably more complex. So certified seed production is a significant sector.

The amount of seed produced annually depends on crop yield levels and rejection rates. Losses post-harvest are inevitable as small and light grains will be removed during cleaning in the preparation of the seed for dressing and planting. The total market size remains broadly similar from year to year (sales of certified cereal seed for harvest 2015 were 38,000t). However there may, at times, be surplus seed arising from overproduction or a fall in demand. There will also be seed deficits on occasions arising from rejection levels or an increased demand. Seed imports generally occur in this scenario to fill the gap.

While seed assemblers play a very important role in the multiplication of quality seed, it is essential to stress the importance of seed growers in this regard also. Producers of certified seed tend to be dedicated and professional growers, some of whom have been certified seed growers for decades.

In this regard, we are lucky to be working with a dedicated group of specialised seed growers whose rotations and husbandry practises are developed to optimise the tonnage and quality of seed they produce. We in ISTA work with specialist growers who plan their farming business to know where they will be sowing seed crops in two years’ time and who act to ensure that those fields will be fit for purpose. It is no longer a question of giving a seed contract to a grower who happens to have a suitable field.

New varieties

The high standard of variety trialling and crop evaluation that is administered by the DAFM is complementary to the Irish certification scheme. The Varieties for Cultivation and Use (VCU) programme covers a range of crop species, including cereals, grasses, maize, oilseed rape, beans and potatoes. It is a vital evaluation system for Irish farmers and all the industry stakeholders here, providing farmers with cultivars that are best adapted to our climate and growing conditions.

The VCU scheme for cereal seeds involves international plant breeders and their agents, seed assemblers, grain merchants, end users of grain (feed compounders, maltsters, millers, etc.) and, of course, Irish cereal growers.

New varieties are initially screened by breeders’ agents to identify those new lines with superior genetic potential compared to existing varieties currently being sold – commonly referred to as controls. The best lines are then entered into National List trials under the national VCU scheme.

Within these trials, each variety will be grown on different soil types, locations and rotational positions around the country so as to identify and confirm those lines with the highest level of performance and consistency.

Only a few varieties will make it through this rigorous testing process, and the ones that do are then usually selected for multiplication by breeders/seed agents, with the best varieties also gaining approval on DAFM Recommended Lists.

With most crops grown in Ireland, especially cereals, a very high proportion of the specific varieties will be on a Recommended List. This helps the grower to be sure that the variety chosen will perform well on his/her farm.

Plant breeding and the commercial introduction of a new variety fit for the Irish market is an expensive and time-hungry process. On average, it takes 10 years before a new variety is ready for the market, going from the time the initial cross is made by the plant breeder in his glasshouse in the first year, to the commercial multiplication and release of blue-label seed in year 10.

However, the cost benefit is seen by the grower as plant breeding typically contributes 1% yield improvement per annum. This process took much longer a few decades ago but it has been speeded up with the help of a number of biotechnology tools that have become available in recent decades.

“Choosing the correct variety and planting high quality seed are two of the most essential requirements for successful and profitable crop production,” according to Dr Barry O’Reilly, head of seed certification at the Department of Agriculture.

“The Department’s comprehensive variety trialling programme enables growers to choose superior varieties that have been tried and tested under Irish conditions.

“The Seed Certification Scheme has placed significant emphasis on high quality standards to ensure that growers have access to seed of the highest germination and purity standards. Improved new varieties, coupled with the economic advantages of using high quality certified seed, have played an important role in improving the competitiveness of the Irish tillage sector. And this will be an even more significant factor in the years ahead,” Barry concluded.

Rigorous inspection controls

All fields chosen to grow Certified Seed are carefully selected based on crop rotation, phytosanitary status of the field and the willingness of growers to cooperate and work to ensure any impurities that appear are rogued from the crop before harvest. All crops entered into the scheme are then rigorously inspected by DAFM officials during the growing season and prior to harvest.

Any fields containing wild oats are not permitted to be harvested, and the crop will be rejected for seed. Any fields that present with admixture from sterile brome, canary grass or blackgrass will be treated similarly.

Admixture from other cereal species (eg volunteer barley in seed wheat) is also monitored, along with any incidences of ear-borne diseases like loose smut, ergot or Fusarium. These field standards, while very strict, are necessary to ensure that only the best crops and seed quality are produced and approved for labelling as certified seed by DAFM.

At harvest, all crop varieties must be handled very carefully both on farm and in the seed plant to ensure that no cross-contamination between varieties or species occurs. After harvest, all seed lots (a 30t lot) and individual varieties are kept separate and closely monitored at the seed intake points. Each seed lot is carefully dried, stored and sampled for disease, purity and germinative capacity and only seeds that meet these strict DAFM standards are certified and approved for sale. As stated previously, the Irish certification scheme operates a zero-tolerance standard in relation to wild oats, blackgrass, sterile brome and other such weeds. Controls are implemented and imposed at a number of stages along the production process for certified seed. In the case of the grass weeds mentioned above, if any of these are evident in a field at the time of inspection, the crop can be rejected. However, the grower does have the option to rogue the field in advance of a second inspection before the crop is officially rejected.

Further inspections are carried out during the processing stage on each seed lot and there are further random checks on bagged seed. If there is any evidence of these contaminants during this stage of the certification process, the entire lot will be rejected for certification. Rejections at this late stage in the process will have a big profitability impact for all concerned.

Ireland’s seed certification system does not go without its critics as Irish growers are contracted to adhere to these very high standards of weed and disease control, which are implemented by DAFM. In other jurisdictions, self-certification is commonplace and standards are less restrictive.

However, Ireland’s strict seed certification system has thus far acted to protect and assist crop production for the benefit of Irish growers and the industry. It safeguards Ireland’s reputation for high-quality, traceable end products.

The seed grower is an integral part of the chain and has a responsibility to ensure that seed stocks are kept clean. This involves the seed grower walking crops on numerous occasions throughout the growing season to ensure they are free of problems such as wild oats, sterile brome and blackgrass.

The Irish Seed Trade Association represents multipliers, producers and distributors of certified seed in Ireland. It also promotes the use of certified seed in tillage, forage and grassland crops to ensure the best varieties of seed are made available to Irish farmers. With close collaboration between ISTA, DAFM and Teagasc, efforts are focused on promoting Irish Certified Seed suitable for Irish conditions for Irish farmers and making Irish growers aware of the benefits of using certified seed above imported substandard alternatives.