Harvest is still ongoing, but the winter cereal sowing season will is upon us, so it is time to order seed once again.

The majority of farmers will purchase seed.

The majority of this seed should be certified, but farmers should be aware that there are some people selling seed that is not certified. If a farmer purchases or sells uncertified seed, they are breaking the law.

A small percentage of farmers will keep their own grain for use as seed.

If you do, there are a number of things to consider among them the workload of drying, cleaning, storing and dressing seed, but also crop health, seed-borne diseases and paying breeders’ rights.

Earlier this year, a farmer settled out of court after failing to pay breeders’ rights, so it is essential that all rules are followed.

Certified seed

The best start you can give any crop is by planting certified blue label seed, which carries the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s logo.

This seed has been inspected throughout the growing season and before and after bagging to ensure that only the highest standard of seed goes out to farms.

It is illegal to purchase seed here which has not been certified and similar laws apply in the UK and Europe.

Sometimes red label seed will be on the market, which has been grown from blue label seed, but this is imported.

No Irish seed is certified when it is grown from blue label seed.

It should also be noted that seed which is certified as organic does not mean that the seed has been certified by the Department of Agriculture.

Organic seed also needs to carry a Department of Agriculture seed certification label.

Keep labels

You should keep seed labels for crop records, but also to have in case of any issues with seed so the lot number can be traced.

What a certified seed label states

Certified seed guarantees:

It is illegal to sell, trade or purchase uncertified seed, so make sure that the seed you purchase has a proper label and is purchased from an official seed merchant.

If you are found to sell seed illegally, then you can be fined by the Department of Agriculture for breaches of seed marketing regulations and you may be prosecuted by the Plant Variety Development Office (PVDO) for an infringement of breeders’ rights.

Certified seed is multiplied by registered seed assemblers who pay a fee to the plant breeders who produce the different varieties. These fees are known as plant variety rights.

For example, Planet, which is a common spring barley variety, is bred by a company called RAGT. Anyone who multiplies Planet seed has to ensure that RAGT are paid breeders’ rights, sometimes known as royalties. These royalties need to be paid on that variety from the first time it is planted and every year after for 25 years in the case of cereals.

These royalties are the plant breeder’s income. Developing varieties comes at a significant cost. A variety could take 15 years to get to the market and many others will be lost along the way as they do not meet certain criteria.

New varieties are constantly coming on stream which aim to increase yield, reduce the risk of diseases and pests and deliver high-quality grain.

In order for these varieties to continue to be developed it is essential that breeders are paid the seed royalties.

Farmers have what is called the ‘farmer’s privilege’ to allow them to save their own seed.

The royalties that farmers pay to farm-save or home-save seed is about 50% lower than what is paid for those producing certified seed. This is a historical right which was put in place for food security.

Farmers generally pay €35/t to €45/t in royalties for cereal crops, but for varieties with an increased level of traits like barley yellow dwarf virus tolerance the royalties are about €85/t.

Farmers can home-save their own seed and for some who are kitted out to do this, it makes financial sense. To be clear, seed has to be saved from grain from your own farm. It cannot come from another farm, merchant or co-op.

Farmers should ensure that the grain being used is good quality. Seed can be sent to the Department’s seed testing laboratory and a number of tests can be carried out.

A germination test and a test for thousand grain weight are essential.

You need to use seed with a high germination potential and you need the thousand grain weight to work out how many seeds to sow.

A hectolitre weight test will also help you to plant seed which has good healthy and dense grains.

You should use grain from a field free of problem weeds like sterile brome, blackgrass or wild oats, for example. The Department can test for purity. Plant health tests are useful to ensure you are not planting seed which is already infected by a disease.

You can pay the royalties on farm-saved seed by contacting the Plant Variety Development Office or by logging on to the PVDO website, pvdo.ie

You will require the amount of seed sown and the varieties of the seed saved to calculate the royalties which are due by the following 31 January.

In May of this year, it was reported by the PVDO that a farmer in the east of the country had agreed to a settlement for unpaid royalties due on their farm-saved seed.

The farmer had to pay all royalties on cereal seed sown for a number of previous years, along with the legal costs incurred.

The case, taken under plant variety rights legislation, was settled before it was to be heard in the circuit court.

Penalties under the plant variety rights legislation for not paying royalties include:

Seed legislation is enforceable by the PVDO and the Department of Agriculture in this country.