Seed company liability limitations

[wd9]

The other burning question, why doesn't
this happen in wheat varieties? Does
your seed guy come out and look at your
wheat field or do you complain about
performance and do you constantly
switch varieties?

I'd venture to guess not. Past 15 years
i've grown AC Barrie, then AC harvest.
Am looking at some new varieties, but
will proceed very carefully.

Shouldn't i take the same approach in
canola?

[Partners]

For some reason the New Wht. and Bly's seem to do well, unlike the New canola's..

[uneducatedbum]

wd9...you make some very good points. I
am also interested where liability ends.
I'm guessing, if the germ and vigor test
pass the standard, it will be very hard
to get any money back from a seed
company. But is that right that it ends
there? I know I don't have the money or
time to take a company to court to see
if it can go any further...

On the other hand, I want investment to
continue in new varieties and bioscience
and if it gets to a spot where the
company owns it until I take it to
yield, the either I will have to pay
more for seed or they will stop
investing.

Wheat and canola are different because I
can legally seed bin run wheat, I need
to buy more canola seed each year, and
they change varieties so much, that
buyer beware becomes challenging and I
can't get the variety I like.

Just an interesting note: I was at a
meeting this summer with bayers national
marketing manager. I asked him if they
have ever thought about keeping some of
the classics around 5020, 5030 ect...he
told me that inventory levels suggest
that farmers talk about wanting these
old varieties but don't actually buy
them when something new is available...

[wd9]

There is no standardized vigour test, Only
germ.

More and more wheat varieties have
contracts associated with them and do not
allow you to seed your own progeny, or
allow just one year.

[uneducatedbum]

Fair enough wd, in what situation would
you complain to your seed company and
expect something to happen? Or something
should happen?

[wmoebis]

Not sure if this fits in but. I was told years ago by older farmers that, at least for wheat, it takes 2 or 3 yrs off certified seed for new seed to get climatized and familiar with each growing situation, climate, soil type etc.

Thus you will see better results from over 3 yr bin run compared to certified seed. As long as bin run is handled properly.

Maybe same is true for canola.

I can't prove or disprove just something I had herd.

[rhoff]

WD9. You can't compare buying wheat seed to
canola seed. If I pay 45$ an acre for my wheat
seed then yes I would be expecting a different
level of service. I think farmers are totally justified
in being angry over the performance of L150. If
you charge that high of price for a product then
you better deliver performance and L150 hasn't.
Some guys pay more for the seed than to rent the
land their growing it on,which is fine if the seed
performs according to the price. Myself personally
if L150 was the same price as 5440 I would likely
be a little more understanding.

[wd9]

All the trials i, and many others have
done seem to show that L150 isn't crap.

My last years plot had L150, 45h29,
7345, etc and they all yielded within a
bushel or two from each other. 45 was
best at 62 bu.

So how do you know? We are gonna have to
wait for yield data from plots to see
how things shake out but i am quite sure
they will be quite close again.

This year there is 150, 130, 1990, 6060,
7444, 7345, 7265, VT500 and others in a
plot and after swathing they are all too
close to tell the winner.

It's a complex issue, guarantees and
expectations are a tough thing to
determine. No guarantee comes with seed,
and when you look at yield data from a
plot with strong protocol, the claims
are true.

Does anyone in Agriville have a company
plot harvested with the varieties
mentioned? What were the results?

[rhoff]

It isn't crap for 5.00$/lb.
But for 10.00$/lb.- its crap.

[wd9]

Then don't buy it. But it will be the
first one sold out. It makes NO sense.

[hobbyfrmr]

Partners,
Around here nobody really had much
expectations for wheat. They grew lots of wheat
as a rotational crop to get a few bucks untill they
could grow canola again. canola was/is the big
cash crop.
The best wheat money was the high yielding soft
white utility wheat for ethanol. Hard red spring
milling wheat kept a person handcuffed to the
CWB. The BTO''s need cash flow and
reasonable delivery timelines when they grow big
volumes. Canola is a very important source of
profit. Half a canola crop is unacceptable in this
area when considering investment cost of
production. Agri stability and crop insurance will
smooth over another crazy production year. If not,
some guys will have to hit the brakes!

[rhoff]

WD9 do you work for Bayer or something?They
over promised and under delivered and then took
away a good product(5440),all the while charging
us more. And you seem to take offense to
someone (customer) feeling ripped off.