- Location
- Bedfordshire
He obviously got out of the bed the wrong side (as my Mum would say).
My Reply:
I wish to reply to David Buttle in last week’s edition.
As a cereal grower I home-save and also buy-in seed. Almost without exception the home saved is better quality, mainly due to fact that it has been over a gravity table so that I only sow the boldest 70% of the original sample. It is usually chemically treated which gives a vivid colour which contrasts with the purchased seed which often you have to wonder if it has been dressed at all. In certified seed I have frequently found ergot, split grains, small seeds, different species cereal, weed seeds, and even small nuts, bolts and other metal pieces.
I do not farm save seed to save money, nor to save the important royalty (which I always pay), it is about getting better quality seed from a chosen crop that I have been observing all year.
It is important to have choices. The choice to buy non chemically treated seed is usually denied by merchants. The choice to guarantee timely supply is important. The choice to save a few pennies is equally valid, and the choice to save carbon by not moving every tonne of seed twice, to and from the seed plant, is compelling.
I have in the past tried to get seemingly undressed bought in seed tested for chemical loading, without success. There appears to be massive resistance from both the chemical suppliers and seed processors for such a request. Are they trying to hide something?
David Buttle, being a retired seed manager, has obviously some axe to grind with the mobile seed plants, or has he got too much time on his hands? I do invite him onto my farm this autumn to see for himself the quality of the seed I shall be sowing.
The highest yielding crop I have ever grown was 5th generation home saved. Rather than the ‘con’ being mobile seed plants as David suggested, I suggest the ‘con’ is bought in seed, unless of course you are buying new genetics.
Kind regards