Saving Wheat Seed

An age old practice that has been in place literally since the beginning of agriculture is the saving back of seed wheat from the current harvested crop. There are two important questions worth asking in today’s modern agriculture. Is this really the best option in terms of both economics and production potential? Is this practice still legal?

One of a crop producer’s goals should be to plant the best variety or hybrid for his operation. Variety selection should be based on multi-year, multi-location performance data gathered from properly conducted, unbiased testing programs-such as those conducted by OARDC. Performance trials are conducted at several locations within the state each year with results published and available at the county Extension office in each of Ohio’s 88 counties and on the Internet at: http://www.agcrops.osu.edu.

Another producer goal should be to plant high-quality seed of the best varieties and hybrids adapted to his/her farm. Selection and use of high-quality seed is the first step in establishing a good stand and in producing a profitable crop. The use of recommended cultural practices, proper fertilization, and control of plant pests is of little practical value if the seeds do not produce healthy, vigorous plants or if an un-adapted variety is selected.

From a risk management standpoint, the advantage of planting new seed from a new variety such as “Truman” wheat for example, has the added benefit of being the most Fusarium or Scab resistant variety in the soft red winter wheat seed in the market place. Scab is the most devastating disease that Ohio producers annually face with wheat production.

Seed companies employ plant breeders to develop and release improved varieties. Previously, all wheat and soybean varieties grown in Ohio had been developed and released by plant breeders employed by the USDA or at the state experiment station. Those publicly developed varieties were tested by other interested states during their development and then released to the seed companies for reproduction and sale to producers and are known as “public” varieties. The development of genetically modified (GM) varieties and the use of utility patents to protect those varieties has further complicated how harvested grain and seed may be used on the farm.

You can save seed of any of the current wheat varieties for planting on your own farm. You can not sell seed of a variety that has Plant Variety Protection. See the table below for more details.

Be aware that some of the IP programs require that you purchase new seed of the IP variety each year to be eligible for the IP program.

As for any saved wheat seed, it is recommend that all saved seed be tested for germination and be treated with a fungicide or fungicide combination to control loose smut, common smut (bunt), seed-borne Stagonospora nodorum and Fusarium (scab). Current recommendations are available in the Seed Treatment For Agronomic Crops bulletin at http://ohioline.osu.edu/b639/index.html. Additionally, the current list of wheat seed treatments and their relative effectiveness from at:

http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/ohiofieldcropdisease/corn/seedtreatmentefficacy.htm .

Home-grown grains are often low in quality and germination and are frequently contaminated with weed seed and should not be used for seed except in an emergency, and then only after it has been cleaned, tested for germination and vigor, and treated with the appropriate fungicides. If home-grown grain is to be used for seed, then the seed field should be carefully harvested with a machine adjusted to maintain the best grain quality. The grain should be harvested when the grain moisture is four to eight percentage points higher than the proper storage moisture to reduce damage to the grain and then handled gently to avoid damaging the seed coat.

The cost of professionally produced and conditioned seed is only slightly more expensive than that of saved grain that has been properly cleaned, conditioned, and treated with the appropriate fungicides and insecticides and is an excellent value. Investment in new seed each planting season encourages seed companies to develop new, better-adapted, higher-yielding varieties that generate more income than can be realized from using one’s own grain for seed.

All carryover seed and all grain saved for seed should be tested for germination and vigor before use. For grains saved on the farm, these tests should be conducted before the grain is cleaned, treated with a fungicide, and bagged. Two laboratories in Ohio specialize in testing all kinds of seed for germination, purity, vigor, and other quality traits. These laboratories are:

Central Ohio Seed Testing
P.O. Box 1580
6150 Avery Road
Dublin, OH 43017-6580
Phone: (614) 792-0334
Fax: (614) 889-8979

Seed Technology, Inc.
P.O. Box 397
1383 Columbus Avenue
Marysville, OH 43040
Phone: (513) 644-0088
Fax: (513) 644-0602

The Amended Plant Variety Protection Act became effective April 4, 1995. The following actions are prohibited without the authority of the owner of a variety:
1. Selling or offering a protected variety for sale
2. Sexually multiplying the variety as a step to marketing it for seeding purposes
3. Using seed marked or labeled “propagation prohibited” to propagate the variety
4. Dispensing the variety to another person without telling that person the variety is protected

The law specifies how a farmer whose primary occupation is growing crops for food or feed (not growing crops as a source of seed to sell) may use seed. Seed protected under this law must be sold by variety name (except for turf, forage crops, alfalfa and clover). A producer who has obtained the seed with the authority of the owner may use the seed for growing a crop and save the seed that results from that crop for his/her personal use. He/she may not sell this reproduced seed to a second producer.

Title V: This option of variety protection allows for the sale of seed by variety name only as a class of certified seed. Non-certified sales are prohibited. Seed may be called “Certified” only after meeting all the requirements and standards of an Official Seed Certifying Agency, which in Ohio is the Ohio Seed Improvement Association.

Utility Patents are a means of protection for varieties with special characteristics, especially those developed through genetic engineering or biotechnology. Examples are Roundup Ready varieties and hybrids, Liberty Link varieties and hybrids, Yield Guard Plus, Hercurlex, and Clearfield Hybrids.