A year ahead

The production of seed can commence when a new variety shows commercial viability. Then comes the important decision: how much seed of that variety should be produced?



How much?
Too much seed would be a waste of the investment made; not enough seed would mean disappointed customers. This decision often has to be made well over a year before the variety is introduced to the market, as producing sufficient seed usually takes one growing season. For some crops this timescale can even be as long as four years, including quality control and building up stocks!

Production location
Once the decision has been made to produce a certain amount of seed, the production location can be factored in. Seed is produced all over the world, in glasshouses, plastic tunnels and outdoors.