N.Z. SEED TRADE

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume LXIV, Issue 6582, 3 November 1939, Page 4

N.Z. SEED TRADE

SEED CERTIFICATION OFFICER URGJES EXPANSION e The Importance of Government Certification of Seeds

Banks Peninsula Cocksfoot Seed growers will- be interested- in the following artirle on N.Z. Seeds Certinlation and possibilities of the expprt trade in which the officer of seed certification gives his views on the matter. A large quantity of Banks Peninsula cocksfoot is-exported, mostly to Australia., each year and. this has an important bearing on the. seed industry here, where certification has been carried out since 1931.

"The possibility of New Zealand proaucing large quantities of highclass pasture seed for export was discussed by Mr J. H. Claridge. seed certification officer of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture, during an address to the New Zealand Grassland Conference at Canterbury Agricultural College on Tuesday. The Dominion was particularly qualified for the enterprise, he said, and the aim should be first to produce a higher proportion of seeds of better strain, and second so to increase total production that a price level might be reached which would encourage sowers here and overseas to use New Zealand seeds to the limit.

"As an industry, pasture seed production in New Zealand may be regarded almost as a by-product of the major industry involving the provision of suitable fodder for livestock." said Mr Claridge. "Nevertheless, its importance cannot be gainsaid. Its monetary value is a little more than £400,000 a year. Its real value, however, lies in the fact that New Zealand is able to produce practically all her own requirements of grass and clover seeds, and have a surplus available for export equivalent to about 3000 tons of seed. During the last decade an organisation has been built round this industry for the improvement in strain quality of all seeds of major importance in the establishment of high-grade pasture.

"Thus we see that in a time of international crisis such as exists at present, this country is well equipped to produce those materials essential to the establishment and re-establish-ment of better pastures internally, and is provided with the facilities necessary to extend that same service to those countries whose farming programme could be utilised to better advantage in other directions."

"The status of the animal breeder had long been accepted, but it was only in recent years, that his counterpart in the realm of grasses and clovers had come into prominence, said Mr Claridge. Pastare had been regarded merely as the foodstuff of the all-important animal, and accordingly the farmer and the scientist had been content to look upon the pasture en masse and not as a collection of individual plants. The relationship between plant, soil, climate, and management was so complex that this attitude led to blaming other factors than weakness in the plant itself. In recent years examinations of plants as individuals had led to the acceptance of strain as a paramount factor with plants as it was with animals Organisation Described "Mr Claridge then described the bringing into being of the seed certification organisation which provided for an individual official assurance in regard to the strain purity of pasture seeds. He emphasised that seed certification was primarily concerned with the strain of the plant which might be produced, and not with incidental though highly important aspects such as germination, colour, yield, and other factors that could be more readily determined.

'After describing the organisation for certification. Mr Claridge said that it was important to remember that there were various classes of certified seeds within a particular species, which would allow the sower to procure seed suited to the end he had in view for it. The higher classes were important to the seed producer, but the farmer who wanted pasture only could also obtain his wants in cheaper seed.

In general, New Zealand was selfsupporting for most grass and clover seed requirements, besides • having a considerable surplus for export. Australia was the main market overseas, followed by the United Kingdom and the United States. With the exception iof Chewings fescue and to a smaller extent browntop. both of which were grown primarly for export, it was stil? very true that the export of New Zealand seed to the Northern Memisphere was dependent not on the recognition of any particular merit it) New Zealand seed; but on the condition and yield of the northern harvests,, Development of Export Trade ' The amounts of both perennial and Italian ryegrass being certified were proportionately small, said Mr Claritige. He said that a larger proportion ox certification would be reflected not only in an improvement in local pastures, but would also help materially in t't-ie development of an export trade Thf introduction of type tests for white clover had resulted not so much in an increased- production of seed of a-better strain; but ir> tfe identificationof a much larger quantity; of this seed. There was a distinct possi- v bility of the development of an export trade, in rect clover seed, asr America bought large quantities, and! already |howed. preference for New Zealand over Continental. The recently introduced certification of broad red clover ' should give American buyers the.

necessary, assurance < A matter for

concern, was thai New Zealand was

oependent on overseas countries, particularly America, for its resuirements of timothy and alsike, and investiga-

tion-should be made of the possibility of producing internally all requirements of these.

"The New Zealand seed production industry is dependent upon several factors," said Mr Clarioge. "Thus while there has been developed locally a demand for good quality seeds, the supply does not meet requirements, and prices ard consequently-high; The position is not likely to be. improved: unless grass and clover seed harvesting is placed on a more systematic basis, and the suggestion is advanced that pastures should be recognised specifically for the production of seed and managed accordingly.

, "It is further suggested that wherever possible a seed crop should be taken from perennial ryegrass areas in the first harvest, though seed production may as a general rule not be intended. In certain localities, particularly in Canterbury, it may be feasible to treat perennial ryegrass as a biennial for seed production. By this method an area could be sown in the autumn and seed crops taken in the two succeeding harvests, and the area resown for a repetition of the treatment, or sown to an annual crop. "While in normal years New Zea-

land may be, producing/ample seeds for her ow.i requirements, the overseas demand has certainly not been satisfied," Mr Claridgc concluded. "The, balance between:', seed production and seed consumption is liable to be upset in the future, first "by altered demands by increased demands from overseas countries. Such possibilities are foreseen in the appeals now being made for the inclusion of more land under the plough. New Zealand can well look to the proi duction of high-class pasture seeds as j an avenue in which she is particularly qualified."