The challenge of getting spring crops sown in a timely fashion this spring may have knock-on consequences for next year. If the trend away from planting spring beans, wheat and oats in parts of the country is reflected in seed multiplication, there could well be a shortage of certified seed for spring 2019. Fewer acres sown for seed multiplication, coupled with the possibility of lower yields, could mean fewer tonnes of seed for next spring. While we do not yet know the acres that will be sown to spring seed crops, the expectation is that there will be a reduction.
The challenge of getting spring crops sown in a timely fashion this spring may have knock-on consequences for next year. If the trend away from planting spring beans, wheat and oats in parts of the country is reflected in seed multiplication, there could well be a shortage of certified seed for spring 2019.
Fewer acres sown for seed multiplication, coupled with the possibility of lower yields, could mean fewer tonnes of seed for next spring. While we do not yet know the acres that will be sown to spring seed crops, the expectation is that there will be a reduction.
This seems likely to apply to spring beans in particular but there may also be some reduction in spring wheat and oat plantings for seed. There may be some seed carryover from this spring, which may provide some level of buffer.
Bean seed supply may be worst affected but different multipliers are reporting different situations. There was an amount of spring wheat seed exported this spring due to difficult autumn planting conditions experienced elsewhere on the continent.
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: