New seed verity is developed in laboratory for farmers
and research centers. Plant breeders, fields and laboratories jointly develop
seed verities and sell certified seeds to local farmers
The genetically manipulated seeds are produced as
foundation seed, breeder seed, nucleus seed and certified seed. The primary
purpose is to increase crop yield, decrease growth time and plant tolerance.
A portion goes to farmers for cultivation others are
reinvested into research and develop of new verities.
Why
Certified Seed Development
Certified seeds are developed with new traits and genetic
markers. The purpose is improve farm yields, drought tolerance and growth
period.
Other factors include lodging, insect and disease
resistance. The seeds provide a platform for further research into innovative verities
for the good of mankind.
Parent
Seed Manipulation
Pilot seeds are generally produced in small quantities in
laboratories and growers are mandate to multiply the seed. Seed growers need Federal
seed grower’s association (FSGA) accreditation including registered seed plot
for breeder seed.
Your mandate is to reproduce according to rigorous production
standards. This is to ensure full compliance and production of registered and
certified seed crops. The certified seed producer is committed to produce
quality commercial grains.
Field
Selection and Registration
A certified seed Production Company needs to register
the field. The plot is subjected to strict land use provisions including
district seed certification inspection.
The said plot should be free of soil contaminants,
synthetic fertilizer or other harmful agents. Others are proper irrigation,
free from weeds, other crops, insect pests and soil borne diseases. There are
also strict space/isolation requirements from other verities, related species or
hybrid plants.
Equipment
Sanitation
Certified seed growers are mandated to always operate at highest
standards of production. They need to invest extra time cleaning and sanitizing
machinery and planting equipment.
This is important to maintain seed/crop purity and
bountiful harvest. Cleaning ensure no cross breeding or mixing of different
verities of the breeder seed. This is also done to separate invasive weeds,
insects or crops.
Isolation
and Roguing
Certified seed growers isolate the farm from other crops.
There are two types of isolation required by certified seed farmers.
You need field isolation and space isolation. Space isolation
is distance of seed plot and neighboring plot while field isolation is total separation
of seed field.
To maintain genetic purity of certified seed crop roguing
is applied. The farmer removes noxious
weeds, pollen's and other crop plants from field. Roguing is carried out
throughout the planting, growing and harvesting season.
Field
Inspection
The seed crops are regularly inspected by Field
inspectors. The federal food inspection agency is mandated to carry out regular
checks during the growing season.
They verify isolation, land use history including parent
seed stock identity. They check for other crops present on the field, varieties
and impurities of any kind.
Make sure your field meets federal seed grower’s association
land use requirements. After the inspection the field is issued compliance
assurance standardization certification.
The crop certification assures official blue certified tags for registered
seed producers.
Harvesting
You have passed the rigorous inspection and certification
not done yet. Before harvesting make sure you protect the quality of your yield.
Extra time should be spent cleaning equipment to prevent
other crop seeds, weeds and hybrid seeds. Seed plot is harvested at maturity once
granted by inspectors.
Threshing yards remove dried twigs, stones, husks, leaves
and other contaminants. The seeds go through drying, pre-cleaning, grading and
seed treatment.
Others include weighing, bagging, tagging, sealing and sales.
You need a separate storage facility and records to preserve genetic identity.
Testing
and Grading
The seeds are tested for compliance and grade
standardization. The grading takes into account physical purity, and germination.
This is to assure a higher quality seed than regular
seeds. You then receive the FSGA crop certificate of compliance to physical
purity standards and seed germination. Certified seeds are then packaged,
labeled with official blue certified seed tag.
Marketing
The seeds are sold to commercial farmers and food
processors. Large commercial farmers prefer certified seeds because of the yield,
growth time and quality.
The seeds also provide lodging resistance and improved
disease resistance. Specific quality grains are also in high demand by food processors.
Processors prefer such grains because of high quality,
source verification and consistency. Other benefits are documentation, certified
seeds and consumer preference.
1 comments:
highly informative post keep it up
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