When it comes to cleaning and dressing farm-saved seed, only the best will do for Wallace Daniels Limited, a large contract-farming business based in Suffolk.
Directors John Wallace and Andrew Daniels manage 2000ha of combinable crops, maize and sugar beet from the company’s base at Hall Farm, Coney Weston.
All C2 seed for the winter wheat, winter barley, spring barley and oilseed rape is farm saved, the equivalent of 75% of the total combinable crops area.
The land is owned by 10 different landlords, so seed lots have to be kept separate. Add in the complication of several different varieties and a range of seed dressings and the scale of the seed-cleaning operation becomes evident.
“One of the main reasons we farm-save is to ensure we have adequate supplies of seed when we need them,” says John.
“Commercial seed businesses seem to be operating on increasingly tight turnarounds and they are dealing with a large number of crops, varieties and seed dressings which can lead to delays.”
Quality is also key. “We tend to put aside more potential seed than we need, so we can clean and dress it hard to maximise quality and get a good bold sample.
“At the same time, we also make significant savings over bought-in seed, particularly given the tonnages we are dealing with.”
To maximise these benefits, the company requires the utmost reliability when it comes to mobile seed cleaning.
“Agrovista has delivered an excellent service over the four years we have been using them,” says Andrew.
“Seed is the foundation of our next crop. Agrovista know exactly what we want to achieve and work with us every step of the way.
“They deliver the physical seed quality we demand and, unlike some bought-in seed I could mention, the chemical seed dressing coverage has been excellent.
“At the same time they have achieved some impressive throughputs, dressing and cleaning up to 73 tonnes in a single day.
“All told it is a very polished service – reliable, efficient and very productive, ensuring we have ample supply of the highest quality seed when we need it.”
Read more information on Seed Cleaning and Dressing Services here