Bill Young, OSU professor emeritus and extension agronomist in seed production, has recently updated Oregon’s grass and forage legume seed crop production estimates for the 2014 crop year.  This information was gathered by OSU Extension crops agents working in Oregon’s seed production regions and Nicole Anderson, an OSU Extension Field Crops Agronomist, played a key role in coordinating this effort.

This report provides a wealth of useful information about quantity of seed produced, crop yields, and economic value of seed crops in Oregon.

Here is a summary of key findings in Dr. Young’s report:

In brief, the combined value for all grass and legume seed crops in the 2013-14 crop year ($510,880,000) increased by 10.6% over the value of production in 2012-13 ($461,693,000) to mark a new record high over the $505,309,000 value set back in the 2007-08 crop year. The value of grass seed sales increased 7.5% ($31,392,000) over last year, and legume seed crops forged ahead 40.4% over last year’s record sales of $44,067,000 to a new high of $61,862,000. Acres of grass seed crops increases only 0.6% (2,634 acres) while total poundage surged by 10.8% (71,287,000 pounds). Legume seed crop acreage increased by 7.8% (3,142 acres) while total production jumped 16.4% (4,601,000 pounds).

Here is a link to the report on OSU’s Seed Crops page:

2014 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.

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