Seed Certification

Sandy Smith

Summary of New Plantings for Oregon Certification

The accompanying table summarizes the applications for new plantings in 2003 submitted to the Oregon Seed Certification Service and processed as of January 12, 2004. Submissions for the four prior years are also listed for comparison. The number of crops represented decreased from 39 in 2002 to 33 in 2003, however, the number of fields and acres planted overall increased slightly with fields up about 5% and acres up just over 7%. The acreage planted in 2003 is slightly higher than the five-year average of 68,043 acres planted.

Some of the highlights from this table include the addition of new, or resurrected, crops for seed production - Lewis flax and White mustard. Perennial ryegrass was the acreage leader again, followed by a significant rebound in tall fescue acreage from last year. The acres planted to Chewings and Red fescues also increased significantly from 2002 as well as the acres planted to Intermediate ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass.

The overall total acres for inspection in the program this crop year will depend on the number of acres replanted, and the acres retained or removed from consideration. We will publish a summary of the acres applied for crop inspection in early May to provide a broader measure of certification activity. These reports are also available in the Publications/Special Reports section of the Oregon Seed Services home page located at www.oscs.orst.edu.

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