Drought
leads to tighter Colorado wheat seed supply
Exceptional
drought conditions and untimely freezes that have left some southeast
Colorado winter wheat fields with nothing to harvest also have
limited the certified seed supply for next season.
6
August, 2013
The
Colorado Wheat Research Foundation works with certified seed growers
of varieties developed by Colorado State University and predicts
there should be enough seed available if farmers get in touch with
dealers early.
“It’s
going to be very tight,” said Darrell Hanavan, the foundation’s
executive director.
Certified
seed is sold by growers authorized to raise new varieties that have
patent-like protections. Customers usually are allowed to save some
seed after the harvest to replant in their own fields, but it’s
illegal for them to resell the seed to others.
This
year, some farmers didn’t have enough of a harvest for grain, let
alone seeds.
Certified
seed growers in northeast Colorado, which got a little more moisture
than southeast Colorado this season, have been fielding calls from
southeast Colorado, western Kansas, and the panhandles of Nebraska,
Oklahoma and Texas to see if they have surplus certified seeds they
can sell.
Dan
Anderson, a certified grower near Haxtun, said his supply is already
about 70 percent sold.
“We’ll
still have some to sell, but most of the time, we’ve never been
this far sold out this early,” he said. “Most of it has gone to
local customers. They know the problems further south of here, so
they’re speaking for seed earlier this year.”
Kansas,
the nation’s top winter wheat producer, dealt with exceptional
drought on the state’s western side. However growers in the central
part of the state fared better and should be able to supply their
counterparts in western Kansas with seeds, said Eric Fabrizius,
associate director of the Kansas Crop Improvement Association.
About
43 percent of Colorado winter wheat is grown from certified seed,
while the rest is from seed that farmers saved from previous
harvests, Hanavan said.
There
are about 40 certified growers statewide, Hanavan said.
Burl
Scherler of Sheridan Lake is among the few in southeast Colorado.
Scherler estimates he harvested about 20 percent of his total acres
this summer, but only about half was good enough for seed he could
sell. Those acres yielded about one-third of the normal, he
estimated. “We ended up with probably less than 6 to 7 percent of
what we sold last year,” he said.
He
is working to secure seed from northern Colorado for his customers,
but it could be 20 to 30 percent more expensive than usual to cover
expenses. There won’t be nearly enough for everyone either.
“I’ve
got enough for 25 percent of what I needed,” Scherler said.
“It’s
just disappointing. It’s like working all year and not getting a
check,” said Scherler, who said crop insurance will help keep him
afloat. “You have to be tough in this country. The weather is
harsh.”
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