The future of the grass seed industry

Germinal Technical Director, Mary McEvoy, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the future of the grass seed industry. Mary explains how the Pasture Profit Index (PPI) has changed the way farmers look at seed varieties and how the PPI, from a seed industry perspective, validated the breeding programmes that were in place. Mary then spoke about the timeframe involved in bringing a seed to market and the hurdles that have to be cleared to get to that point. She explains how breeding is looking at other species to see what they might offer in a changing climate but that it is early days for many and the most reliable mix currently is going to be perennial ryegrass (PRG) and white clover and red clover with good PRG varieties for part of the silage block. Mary says that there is no red clover recommended list in Ireland but that work has begun on it with the first of the red clover varieties being sown in 2024 for evaluation for the first time in 2025.  She also outlines the challenge the industry faces in sourcing seed given the 1200% increase in red clover seed demand in recent years!    For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/ The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com