New Zealand farmers sowed more than 8900 tonnes of branded proprietary pasture seed last year to keep their businesses profitable and productive NZ Plant Breeding and Research Association (NZPBRA) general manager Thomas Chin said.
Latest industry sales figures covering the 2016 calendar year, were up 1.7 % up on 2015.
“That’s enough to renew about 600,000 hectares.”
Chin said the spring 2016 sales of proprietary seed showed farmers had started making up for pastures that they couldn’t afford to renew the previous season.
The trend was expected to continue this autumn as the main re-grassing period gets underway.
Proprietary seed, which comes with built-in technological advances to increase performance, is increasingly recognised as the one of the best investments farmers could make in their land, Chin said.
“This is the highest quality seed you can buy.
“As well as its advanced performance attributes, it’s certified, which means it has been grown under regulatory supervision, has passed inspection for purity and germination, and is fully traceable.”
Ryegrass was the most popular pasture in NZ comprising 85% of grass seed sales by volume.
Most of this seed was produced by specialist growers in Canterbury with more than 15,000ha grown throughout the country.
White clover made up 8% of sales by volume.
Based on 12 million ha of pastoral lands in NZ, 615,000ha of new pasture in 2016 equated to a pasture renewal rate of about 5%.
NZPBRA president Tom Bruynel said pasture seed development was underpinned by intensive breeding and agronomy research.
Over 600 ryegrass cultivars and breeding lines had been objectively evaluated under the NZPBRA administered National Forage Variety Trialling (NFVT) system since 1991.
The NFVT linked with the Dairy NZ’s Forage Value Index (FVI) software tool to allow farmers to compare cultivar types appropriate for their farm operation.
“There are many variables with seed selection and proprietary seed is always genetically superior to older varieties in the public domain.
“Seed is the basic input in which mistakes cannot afford to be made, including the purchase of cheap or low-quality products,” Bruynel said.
