The month of November is a certain indication that winter is not far away. Spring, summer and fall have flown by.

An early spring for crop planting, a nice summer for grain growth and a long fall for harvest has allowed most of the crops to be taken off.  Fall field tillage has been happening at a rapid pace; perhaps this is an indication of a more traditional mindset toward a variety of crops being planted next spring.  Crop diversification in a rotation spreads out the workload, helps with disease issues and can benefit soil health.

The NDSU Foundation Seedstocks Program has important deadlines for purchasing Foundation seed from the Research Centers for next spring.  Total foundation seed inventory available for distribution is in excess of 50 varieties of spring wheat, winter wheat, durum wheat, barley, flax, dry bean, soybean, oat, rye, safflower, lentil, buckwheat, crambe, chickpea, and field pea.

An order from an established Certified grower, placed by February 28 of the current year (2015) for delivery of the following year (2016), accompanied by a 25% deposit, received first priority for any available seed.  That deadline has passed for the 2016 planting season.

Second priority will be orders from Certified growers placed by December 1.  Orders are typically placed via a phone call to one of these Production, Conditioning & Seed Distribution locations:

• Agronomy Seed Farm, Casselton.  701-347-4743.
• Carrington Research Extension Center.  701-652-2951.
• Langdon Research Extension Center.  701-256-2582.
• North Central Research Extension Center, Minot. 701-857-7679.
• Williston Research Extension Center.  701-774-4315.

Confirmations and invoices are sent to each producer.

Orders placed after December 1 will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Allocations will not exceed 10% of the total supply of a variety. Growers who purchase Foundation seed are encouraged to request field inspections so that seed production can be sold as Registered or Certified seed.

Dave Copenhaver
Seedstocks Research Specialist