COLUMBIA RIVER SEED Provided by Ryan Jeffries, North American Sales Director, and Paul Hedgpeth, General Manager
DLF USA Provided by Dan Walters, Director of U.S. Grower Services
Performance Perennial Ryegrass, a 2024 introduction from Columbia River Seed, is shown here in a production field.
Crop Report: Our grass seed crops look good in mid-May in the Columbia River Basin in Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon. We are currently a few days ahead on maturity. We lost very little in production acres over the winter. We will start to receive Kentucky Bluegrass seed into our plant out of the fields in about three to four weeks (the middle of June) to start the cleaning process.
Te big news in our area is the amount of acres decreased over the 2023 crop which saw a drop in acres harvested compared to 2022. We estimate that Bluegrass acres are down about 50 percent and Perennial Ryegrass acres are down about 30 percent. A large percentage of the Kentucky Bluegrass that sod growers use comes from the Columbia River Basin due to the high mechanical quality of the seed crops we produce. Acres also are down on Tall Fescue and Fine Fescue, but we do not yet know by how much. As of mid-May, we are expecting normal yields unless something happens between now and harvest. We will plant our 2025 grass seed crops starting in August and continuing through October. We are estimating that acres will be flat to down for 2025. We will know more when July rolls around.
Market Report: Seed movement started out great at the beginning of the year but slowed when April arrived due to weather issues. Some feel that the economy might also be playing a factor in slowed demand. Distributors report ok movement depending on geographical locations, but not a record year. Export business has been steady going both to Asia and Europe. Te strong dollar does not help our export business when competing with other countries. Te retail sector is reporting flat to a slight decrease in demand this spring over the last couple of years.
TPI Turf News July/August 2024
Mt. Jefferson stands in the background of this production field of DLF USA’s Sabre 3 Poa trivialis in Central Oregon.
Te DLF North American Seed Production Report as of Spring 2024: Te fall of 2023 in the Pacific Northwest brought very good conditions for planting, for stand establishment, and for recovery of existing fields. Weather patterns since then have been mostly favorable and seed production fields look as good as they can for the middle of May.
After a brief few days of warm weather in April, rain returned, and temperatures turned unusually cool. Cool and wet are perfect conditions for flushes of Poa annua to germinate. Growers report the need for increased passes by spot-spraying and rouging crews. Still, patterns have been good for grass. So-far-so-good for crop 2024. However, as always, rainfall patterns through the remainder of May and the month of June will determine overall yields, as sufficient water during seed fill is critical.
Te acreage of most Oregon seed crops is down sharply. Te usual alternative crops are down as well, including the various vegetable crops grown in the Willamette Valley. Hazelnut prices have struggled recently, and new plantings of nut trees are down. A few growers are opting to leave some small acreage fallow. Others are planting crops like wheat or dry peas. Te Oregon State Certification Service reports that the total acres signed up for certification in 2024 are just 77 percent of the recent high in 2020. Perennial ryegrass acres are down more than 50 percent from a recent high in 2016, and tall fescue seed production acres are down 15 percent from 2020 levels. Of course, these certified acres make up only a portion of the total seed crop. Tere is no place where uncertified acres are reported. Tis makes understanding how certified acres relate to the total acres one of the trickiest jobs for Oregon seed industry personnel.
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