Irish fruit giant Keelings has become the latest company to respond to the news that blackgrass seeds have been discovered in wildflower seed mixes.

Keelings has recently launched its Great Rewilding initiative, which aims to encourage consumers to plant wildflowers to help reduce the decline in pollinator populations.

As part of this initiative, it is giving away wildflower seeds through an on-pack redemption system. The company is aiming to spread 1m wildflower seeds.

In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, Keelings said the seeds that they are using are 100% native Irish seeds and do not contain blackgrass.

“Our seed partner is a Department of Agriculture Food and Marine Irish certified wildflower seed house. They have been grown and harvested by Sandro Caffolla, who has been collecting wild Irish seeds throughout the island of Ireland for over 30 years,” the agribusiness said.

It continued: “Sandro’s farm in Ballon, Co Carlow, took measures three years ago to ensure that their crops were protected from external blackgrass contamination, including the destroying of all crops within 10 metres of a roadside.”

Species

Keelings explains that all of the seeds chosen for its mix have been carefully selected for their contribution to ecosystem restoration. It states that seeds supplied by Sandro for this purpose follow the WTO and WWF guidelines for the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.

While the majority of the seeds in its native seed mix are beneficial, one particular species raised concern among some tillage farmers.

Corn Marigold is a bright yellow-flowering plant and is also a problem weed for the tillage industry. The weed has known resistance to certain herbicide groups including CMPP and tillage farmers will argue that its spread is not to be encouraged.

Lack of regulation

News that some wildflower seed mixtures which was sold in Ireland contained blackgrass has highlighted serious flaws in Ireland’s seed certification standards.

The Department of Agriculture confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that there are currently no EU certification regulations on wildflowers mixes.

Therefore imported seed mixes are subject to no checks and could contain damaging, non-native plant species.

The advice is to source Irish, but pay particular attention to what species are in the mix to ensure you are not creating a bigger problem.