Just 7.7% of seed crops grown in Ireland in 2025 were rejected under the seed certification process, according to Jonathan Flynn of the Department of Agriculture who was speaking at an Irish Seed Trade Association workshop on Tuesday..
Each year, approximately 9-10, 500ha of land enters certified seed production in Ireland. This equates to an intake of 60-70,000t of green grain and eventually 40-50,000t of seed. All of this seed has to go through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s certification process before it can be sold.
It is illegal to sell uncertified seed in Europe and Ireland has extremely high seed standards, so it is important to know that not all of this seed makes it to market.
If a field has one blackgrass plant it is automatically rejected and if wild oats and sterile brome are found and not eradicated by the following inspection then those crops are rejected.
Crops are inspected in the field three to four times – once at sowing, twice in the season when weeds will be visible and a possible fourth inspection at pre-harvest, depending on the scenario. Further checks take place at and after the weighbridge for quality.
In 2025, 903 seed crops were submitted for certification. This equated to 10,468ha and a total of 2,323 LPIS parcels. All of these parcels have to be inspected three times, which equates to about 7,000 field visits.
Rejections
In 2025, 134 seed crops were rejected at inspection. This equated to 1,320ha. Some 64 of these cases were appealed and 48% of these appeals were successful. This means the grower and assembler ensured any weed issues, which would be at low levels, were removed.
In fields where brome is found in the hedge and not in the field, headlands can be removed. This would require a harvest check, but can result in a successful appeal for the remainder of the field.
However, 7.7% – 682ha – of crops were rejected outright and did not make it to market.
There were usually a number of reasons for rejection in any given seed parcel. It is important to note that 2025 wasn’t a bad year for crops as regards management and weather so rejections were lower than usual.
In 2025, the following reasons applied (number of parcels and percentage or parcels affected):
Wild oats (82, 63%).Sterile brome (21, 16%).Canary grass (18, 13%).Other cereals (17, 13%).Lodging (14, 10%).No seed labels (5, 4%).Scutch (3, 2%).Blackgrass cases rejected:
2025 – 2.2024 – 2.2023 – 2.2022 - 8.
Just 7.7% of seed crops grown in Ireland in 2025 were rejected under the seed certification process, according to Jonathan Flynn of the Department of Agriculture who was speaking at an Irish Seed Trade Association workshop on Tuesday..
Each year, approximately 9-10, 500ha of land enters certified seed production in Ireland. This equates to an intake of 60-70,000t of green grain and eventually 40-50,000t of seed. All of this seed has to go through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s certification process before it can be sold.
It is illegal to sell uncertified seed in Europe and Ireland has extremely high seed standards, so it is important to know that not all of this seed makes it to market.
If a field has one blackgrass plant it is automatically rejected and if wild oats and sterile brome are found and not eradicated by the following inspection then those crops are rejected.
Crops are inspected in the field three to four times – once at sowing, twice in the season when weeds will be visible and a possible fourth inspection at pre-harvest, depending on the scenario. Further checks take place at and after the weighbridge for quality.
In 2025, 903 seed crops were submitted for certification. This equated to 10,468ha and a total of 2,323 LPIS parcels. All of these parcels have to be inspected three times, which equates to about 7,000 field visits.
Rejections
In 2025, 134 seed crops were rejected at inspection. This equated to 1,320ha. Some 64 of these cases were appealed and 48% of these appeals were successful. This means the grower and assembler ensured any weed issues, which would be at low levels, were removed.
In fields where brome is found in the hedge and not in the field, headlands can be removed. This would require a harvest check, but can result in a successful appeal for the remainder of the field.
However, 7.7% – 682ha – of crops were rejected outright and did not make it to market.
There were usually a number of reasons for rejection in any given seed parcel. It is important to note that 2025 wasn’t a bad year for crops as regards management and weather so rejections were lower than usual.
In 2025, the following reasons applied (number of parcels and percentage or parcels affected):
Wild oats (82, 63%).Sterile brome (21, 16%).Canary grass (18, 13%).Other cereals (17, 13%).Lodging (14, 10%).No seed labels (5, 4%).Scutch (3, 2%).Blackgrass cases rejected:
2025 – 2.2024 – 2.2023 – 2.2022 - 8. 
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