Bill Young, OSU professor emeritus and extension agronomist in seed production, has recently updated Oregon’s grass and forage legume seed crop production statistics for the 2012 crop year. This report provides a wealth of useful information about quantity of seed produced, crop yields, and economic value of these seed crops in Oregon.
Here is a summary of the findings from Dr. Young:
In brief, the combined value for all grass and legume seed crops in the 2011-12 crop year ($406,251,000) increased almost 21% over the value of production in 2010-11. Oregon growers harvested 408,000 acres of grass seed crops in 2012, an increase of 34,705 acres (+9.3%) over last year. However, the estimated value of all grass seed species increased by 24.1% due to the combination of more acres and improved prices received by growers. Legume seed crop acreage declined by almost 5% (2,118 acres) from the 2010-11 crop year, and the estimated value of this year’s production dropped by 6.6% to $35,656,000 when compared to last year’s record $36,532,000 crop.
Here is a link to the report on OSU’s Seed Crops page:
2012 Grass and Legume Seed Crop Estimates
You can follow the links on the Seed Crops page to find information about this past year’s seed crops and comparisons to previous crop years. Historical reports are also archived at this page.
