Certified seed growers aim for the best

By Larry Dreiling

For some parts of the Central High Plains, the 2007 winter wheat harvest has been a bin-buster. For others, it's been a bust.

For those who tasted success, it was sweeter for those who planted certified seed. For those not so lucky, the purity and quality certified seed offers helped increase yields.

Andrews Brothers Seeds Co., Yuma, Colo., is one of the many certified wheat seed growers who work to fill the needs of and provide quality assurance to the seed customer.

From their operation, east of Yuma, Steve Andrews, immediate past president of the Colorado Seed Growers Association, and his brother Bill, have been meeting those needs since 1990.

Agriculture has been a part of the brothers' lives since childhood. Their grandfathers were area farmers and ranchers. Their father operated a local elevator for 40 years.

Andrews Brothers Seed functions under the Colorado Seed Growers Association's Approved Conditioner Program. According to a CSGA release, an approved conditioner is not only responsible for cleaning certified seed, but also serves as a connection between the seed producer and the seed trade.

Under the program, approved conditioners fall into three categories. There are those like the Andrews brothers who grow and condition seed, then submit samples for laboratory analysis, order tags, labels or bulk sales certificates, and merchandise the finished product.

Other approved conditioners purchase field-approved seed and move it into their plants for conditioning. Still other firms provide seed cleaning and handling services that prepare the certifiable seed to be marketed by its grower.

In all cases, certifiable hard red winter wheat must be cleaned by a CSGA-approved conditioner that has secondary equipment capable of removing jointed goatgrass.

"People still often ask why grow certified seed," Steve Andrews said. "It's for the purity and improved genetics over anything you'd grow now. Purity is most important.

"We have a lot of volunteer rye in this part of the country. You can tell the farmers who keep growing their seed back after four or five years," he said. "Now, without [certified seed], they have a big problem."

The Andrews Brothers Seed Co. planted a wide selection of wheats to choose from in 2007. They plan on distributing seven hard red winter varieties and one hard white winter variety, including Bond CL, Dumas, Hatcher, Jagalene, Jagger, Ripper, and TAM 111 hard red winter varieties. They also raise Platte hard white winter wheat.

They raise their wheat on several irrigated circles along with several sections of dryland. Some of the land is owned while some is rented.

"On our own land we rotate wheat with proso millet or sunflowers and then fallow," Bill Andrews said. "We may spray the stubble in the spring and then we like to chisel once and then go through with sweeps. We have used no-till on our lighter soils, but not much. We've even used a plow on certain places."

For the most part, the Andrews have either owned or leased the land they have grown seed on for many years, hand-roguing the fields of weeds.

"We don't use any chemicals, since we've rogued every field so many times," Bill Andrews said. "The only time we do a lot of work is when we rent a new field that hasn't been taken care of. Even then, it only takes a few bad seeds blown off the back end of a truck to create problems with seed coming into the edge of the fields. We're always getting more aware of things and hopefully we'll get better at it."

Just like wheat producers all across the High Plains, drought affected quality production for several years in a row.

"Because of the drought, we've learned that maybe some farmers ought to have some irrigated production instead of having it all on dryland. You'll wind up with better quality," Steve Andrews said.

"The first year Above came out, we thought that seed was pretty pricey. We put it in our own ground, in dryland, because we thought we could keep it pure. Then we had a dry year with poor yields. So now we make sure we have several varieties under irrigation so we'll have wheat in dry years."

After all these years in the business, the Andrews have a good idea of what makes a typical seed purchaser. For example, the average purchase is about 500 bushels each year.

"The irrigated producer plants far more certified seed. We have a lot of irrigated farmers around here and they're used to spending money on good seed. Those people are easier to sell seed to," Bill Andrews said.

"The drylander buys a little and raises a lot of their own. The dryland farmer is harder to convince, since so many new wheats have a pretty good royalty to it."

An interesting trait the brothers see is how some farmers immediately take a liking to a new variety while others will go back and forth with selections over a two to three year period to decide if they like a variety or not.

Whatever the customer's purchasing loyalties, there is one tendency the Andrews see on the rise from those customers.

"Definitely, people want to know more about the wheat they grow," Steve Andrews said. "They want to know what grows best on irrigation or no-till. There's also a lot of niche wheats rather than that one wheat that does it all."

Because of the number of varieties they grow, the Andrews brothers have added staff including warehouse personnel and a full-time secretary just to handle the numerous contracts producers of certain varieties require.

"From agreements on the Clearfield wheat we grow, to grower agreements on Platte hard white wheat, there's a lot more to these new certified seed statements than you're used to on top of the bulk seed certificates," Steve Andrews said. "Margins are already thin in this business. There's the elevator price of the wheat, plus whatever royalty fee must be paid followed by costs of operation. Then comes whatever profit."

With the different varieties they provide a choice for their customers. And sometimes the decision is difficult. The brothers differ on their favorite varieties this year.

"I like the looks of Bond CL. Jagalene's still good. Hatcher or Jagger would be a third," Bill Andrews said.

"I'd go Hatcher, then Bond or Jagalene," Steve Andrews said. "There are so many great varieties out there. Between the public varieties, then AgriPro, WestBred and all kinds of others, there's a lot to pick from.

"That leads to the toughest part of the job and that is picking varieties we want to grow, which ones we want to keep and which ones to drop. Should we think about dropping a certain wheat in a year when some wheats may shine, when in the past they haven't, is a question we run into a lot."

With the 2007 Colorado wheat crop expected to double 2006 production, there may be a tendency for some producers to save out seed from this year. The Andrews Brothers hope it will mark a return to prosperity for producers and a time when producers will consider making the investment in certified seed for the 2008 crop.

"This has been a rewarding job," Steve Andrews said. "And we work with good people. We hope it will be a good year for everyone."

Larry Dreiling can be reached by phone at 785-628-1117 or by e-mail at ldreiling@aol.com.

8/6/07

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