Seed certification

Press, 15 January 1982, Page 7

Seed certification

New Zealand’s isolation from the rest of the world’s agricultural countries has resulted in a thriving seed industry. Early farmers were forced to produce seed supplies for their own use, and this country is now a leading producer of herbage seed, using two-thirds of production domestically with the other third being exported.

Because of its climate and arable farming pattern, Canterbury has become the main seed producer in New Zealand. With the development of

the seed industry, quality control became important and for this reason a system of seed certification was implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. This provides the buyer with high quality seeds of known origin which have the same standards each year. The M.A.F. issues guidelines to growers describing conditions under which seed crops must be grown to qualify for certification. When a farmer enters a crop for certification, it is inspected by a M.A.F. officer

to detect contamination or disease. The presence of certain pests, such as nodding thistle, can result in a crop being rejected for certification, and any cereal crop found to contain wild oat is also rejected. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and the European Economic Community have rigid standards which must be met for international trading. Strict certification standards allow New Zealand-grown seeds access to world markets.