Session: Challenges & Solutions for Native Seed Industry
Thursday 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Ballroom 1
Andy Ernst, Moderator
10:00 a.m.
Native Seed Quality Task Force Summary
Gil Waibel
Presentation (PDF)
The Native Seed Quality Task Force met for several years investigating seed quality issues primarily seed testing issues faced by those buying and selling “native species”. Seed testing issues include viability determination (including germination, tetrazolium and dormancy), purity challenges, sampling issues, genetic variation, lab reports of analysis, and the labeling of seed lots. The talk will give an overview of the findings of this committee.
Gil Waibel is the director of the Wyoming Seed Analysis Laboratory. This seed lab primarily tests reclamation species including many native species. He is the past-president of the Society of Commercial Seed Technogists. Previously, Waibel was the manager of the Colorado Seed Growers Association and the Colorado Seed Lab. He has a B.S. in Agronomy from the University of Minnesota.
10:30 a.m.
Contract Native Seed Production:A Grower’s Perspective
Paul Herrman
Presentation (PDF)
Becoming involved in native seed production is an exciting learning experience that provides many opportunities for creativity and growth. From bidding to contract completion Paul will walk through all aspects of production and the opportunities for improvement and education for both contractors and producers.
Paul was born and raised in the Columbia Basin of Eastern Washington on the family farm his parents started in 1958. He is currently president of L&H Seeds, Inc. and CEO of Herrman Northwest, Inc. He obtained his AAS in Agriculture Technology from Columbia Basin College. He is actively involved in all phases of native seed production and marketing for over 50 different species and accessions of native and introduced plants. In addition, the companies are vertically integrated offering internal quality control of seed production, cleaning and direct marketing. Paul has been proactive in small contract production of native seed for over 18 years, producing numerous source identified, selected and tested classes of native seed increase projects for customers such as USFS, BLM, USFWS, WSCIA, as well as private land owners and managers. L&H Seeds, Inc. provides exceptional marketing opportunities for the crops produced by Herrman Northwest, Inc. to provide high quality specialized native seed.
11:00 a.m.
Seed Industry Issues and Potential Solutions
Mark Mustoe
Outline: Who is the Seed Industry; Industry’s role in restoration; Agronomic production challenges; Mathching production to needs and usage; The importance of practical, responsible and sensible thought in production, land management and restoration; Communication between end users and production is key to overall success. The better we all work together the better the end result.
Mark was raised on a dryland production farm in Southwick Idaho. Mark graduated from the University of Idaho with a Animal Science Degree with emphasis on both plant science and business. He farmed after college growing grains, pulse crops, clover seed, bluegrass and fescue seed crops. 20 years ago Mark began a sales career in the seed industry and became very involved in native seed sales and production. Five years ago Mark started Clearwater Seed in Spokane, Washington along with three other growers and ourselves along with other farmers are raising and marketing some thirty different native and introduced species, mostly in dryland production. He is currently Secretary of the Conservation Seed Committee of American Seed Trade Association. Mark enjoys the business and being involved in the production and sales of plant material that enhances our world.
11:30 a.m.
Native seed production in the Eastern United States
Andy Ernst
Presentation (PDF)
Ernst Conservation Seeds has grown over the last 40 years from a producer of a single introduced conservation species crownvetch to a native seed company that produces over 200 native plant species from the Eastern US. Many of the species have multiple ecotypes under cultivation. I will disuse the transformation of our production and challenges of working with multiple ecotypes as well as how we produce seed in the typically damp eastern climate.
Andy Ernst is Vice President of Ernst Conservation Seeds, Meadville, Pennsylvania. Ernst Conservation Seeds is a family-owned business that produces native seeds and plants in northwest Pennsylvania, and Florida as well as many eastern ecotypes of native flowers and grasses particularly adapted to wetland restoration, meadow establishment, and bioretention. Andy studied agronomy at Delaware Valley College. His responsibilities at Ernst Conservation Seeds include plant research and crop production. He is a past president of both the Pennsylvania Seedsmen Association and the Atlantic Seed Association. Currently Andy is a member of the Pennsylvania Invasive Species Council, and serves as Chairman of the Environmental & Conservation Seed Committee of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA). He is Chairman of the Union Township Planning Commission and on the Leadership Team for St John’s Community Church of God in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
