Insuring that growers get the best seeds available

Mary Francis Arriaga must count each individual seed to ensure the batch is accurately processed for germination. -Staff photo by Taylor

November 29, 2001 -- When many of us go to purchase seeds, we have no idea what that seed has gone through in order to be placed on the shelf for sale.

The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) Seed Lab in Giddings is one of three in operation to make sure that producers, seedsmen and the plain old "flower lovers" are assured of the best seeds available.

According to TDA, the primary purpose of having seed labs is to "make it possible for farmers to buy planting seed which can be relied upon to give favorable returns on seed investment by utilizing information on the tag or label so that they may decide whether the stock is the best obtainable for the money; to increase the new income for farm families by more careful seeding and seed production methods; and to eliminate the selling of inferior seed with large weed seed content by dealer or trucker."

This sounds much simpler than the reality.

"What we are is 'truth in labeling.' When a seed is for sale, it has a tag, and what's on that tag ... we make sure that that's what it really is ... that nobody is trying to fool anybody," said Jeanette Franke, lab coordinator in the Giddings lab.

Other labs are located in Lubbock and in Stephenville. All labs operate with the same rules and regulations and do the same testing so all is uniform across the state.

As part of the regulatory branch of TDA, inspectors are responsible for making sure that not only do seeds meet the qualifications set by the Association of Official Seed Analysts (AOSA) and, internationally, the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), but several other areas.

These include regulation of nursery and floral, weights and measures, scanners (as in grocery stores), gas pumps, herbicides, pesticides and antifreeze, to mention a few.

"We, also, do a service sample. We charge a small fee to sample (seeds) for you. For instance, if you want to sell some oats and you brought them in to us, we can tell you what's in the oats and you could make a label and tag, and for a fee, you can sell your own seeds," said Franke.

"A lot of the seeds we get come from other states. All of our rye grass, or the majority, comes from Oregon, because that's where it is grown. That's where the seed is produced."

As the inspectors go out into the stores, they pull random seeds for testing and to check tags for accurate germination dates. The "germ" date is of utmost importance, because if it has expired, the seed must go back into the lab for re-testing to make sure it is still good.

"We follow the AOSA rules and that group meets every year and updates the rules. Everybody in the United States follow the same set of rules so we're all uniform," she added.

"If we wanted to send something to another country, then we would follow the rules set by ISTA."

The "germ" date is very important to producers, since the cost of production is an area which is watched very closely by successful producers/growers.

"The germ date is really important, because a lot of your farmers ... if they are going to plant the seeds ... for whatever reason, they want to know what the germ is," said Franke.

"If you're going to buy corn and it's going to have a 95 percent germ, you're going to be happy. If it's going to have a 60 percent germ, you're not going to be real happy."

Germination dates are only good for nine months, according to Franke, so the shelf life of seeds must be watched by the seller as well as the consumer. The inspectors are watching, too.

Franke said that one area which has seen a lot of growth in the past few years has been the wildflowers. According to the rules, wildflowers are a weed, so there are no regulations for them.

Inside the lab are several seed analysts who go through the samples, seed by seed, looking at each one through high-powered magnifying glasses. They handle each seed, sometimes by hand and sometimes with special tweezers in order to be assured that there are either no or as few weeds as are allowed in the sample. Bad seeds and weeds are pulled from the samples.

When samples are tested for germination, they are wrapped in a special waxed paper which has been soaked in potassium nitrate and placed in huge stainless steel "germinators" for two weeks. After that period, the specialists are able to tell which seeds are still viable.

Each year the United States Department of Agriculture reviews and updates the national seed library, and samples are sent to the lab to be placed in their herbarium at the lab.

Questions concerning the seed lab and regulations can be addressed to: Texas Department of Agriculture Seed Laboratory, P.O. Box 629, Giddings, TX., 78942 or call (979)542-3691.