Drought in Central Oregon could impact global seed supply

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Drought in Jefferson County, Ore., is putting a heavy burden on the area’s farming community, affecting everything from crop production to equipment sales. But the drought is now having wider implications, causing price hikes for some varieties of seed. And the situation could worsen next year.

Troy Kuenzie, president of Pratum Co-op, which markets Jefferson County grass seed in the U.S. and overseas markets, said the price for some grass seed grown in Jefferson County has surged more than 50% over the past year.

Jefferson County farmers specialize in vegetable and grass-seed production and are globally dominant for some varieties. But most of the county is now in exceptional or extreme drought, forcing farmers to cut back their crop production. For some farmers, the water that was planned for the autumn watering of next year’s crop has already been exhausted.

The price hikes in the grass-seed market are felt mainly by buyers who sell seed to golf courses.

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Doubling the Size of the Cover Crop “Pie”

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That’s the impetus behind GO Seed’s recent hiring of Dr. Shannon Cappellazzi: to scientifically demonstrate the value of – and increase the market for — cover crops.   By working more closely with farmers and universities to facilitate research on what’s going on beneath the ground, the company hopes to determine which varietals of cover crop, turf, and forage seeds will best help farmers reduce input costs, increase profits, and mitigate the impact of climate change.

“Leveraging Shannon’s expertise in soil and plant relationships and her wide network within the agricultural research community, we’re going to be able to understand so much more about the impact of products and current management practices on the environment,” says Jerry Hall, co-founder and head of breeding for Salem-based GO Seed. “Much of the research will be in the public domain, so this will benefit our entire industry.”

The idea of hiring a highly respected soil health scientist to help shepherd research grants came to Hall when he was asked by a land grant university to design a study on perennial cover crops. He recognized that there was a desire and need for more industry guidance and input on research and Dr. Cappellazzi, who is a member of the Soil Science Society of America and serves as a board member of the Oregon Society of Soil Scientists and the Oregon Forage and Grassland Council, was an obvious choice to help lead these efforts.

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