Many Pitfalls in Buying Seeds for Spring Plowing: Five Reminders to Keep in Mind

In the busy spring plowing season, the peak time for buying seeds has arrived once again. A recent survey of the seed market found that some farmers have certain misconceptions when choosing seeds. Recently, the Agricultural Technology Promotion Center of Sheqi County, Henan Province, organized agricultural experts to hold a science and technology training session, answering questions raised by farmers and reminding everyone that when choosing seeds, they must never rely only on experience or follow the crowd and fall into misconceptions.

Misconception 1: The higher the price of the seed, the more premium the seed

The answer is no. This year, seed supplies in markets everywhere are abundant, but there is an imbalance in the structural mix of varieties. At the Nanyang City seed wholesale market, this writer saw that the brand seeds farmers like are in relatively short supply and expensive, while seeds of other brands are relatively in surplus. Liu Fanjie, head of the Sheqi County Seed Management Station and a senior agronomist, believes the main reason for the seed imbalance is that many farmers have fallen into the misconception that the higher the seed price, the more premium the product. In fact, whether seeds are high-yielding has no necessary connection to price; the possibility of merchant hype behind expensive seeds cannot be ruled out.

⟦NL> Misconception 2: I plant whatever others plant

Some farmers like to follow the crowd when buying crop seeds. They think it is safe to plant whatever others plant, but in reality it is very unsafe. Apart from factors such as their own land's soil, water and fertilizer, and management, buying the same seeds as nearby neighbors may produce very different planting results.

Misconception 3: Whatever seed produced high yields last year, buying the same seed this year is safe

In reality, this way of thinking is also a misconception. If whatever variety was high-yielding last year is the variety whose seeds are bought again this year, then the strange phenomenon of following year after year and never catching up year after year appears, and one falls into the misconception of empiricism. Weather conditions are an important factor affecting crop growth and development. If crops adapt to the weather conditions, they will grow vigorously; otherwise they will grow poorly, causing severe yield reductions or even total crop failure. Therefore, when choosing seeds, one must grasp the changes in local weather conditions. If weather conditions change greatly, the choice of seeds should change accordingly. For example, if there was severe drought in the autumn of last year, then this year one should listen more to the Central Meteorological Observatory's long-range weather forecasts. If there is a drought, could there also be a flood? Moreover, the past two years have been years with frequent El Niño events, so the northern regions should buy seeds of varieties that are tolerant of rain and flooding or strongly drought-resistant.

Misconception 4: New varieties are certainly better than old varieties

The answer is also no. Some farming households believe that as long as it is a new variety, it is certainly better than an old variety. This reflects the blindness of some farmers when choosing seeds. If one wants to carry out a small-area demonstration, then choosing a new variety is correct, but if it is to be promoted and planted over a large area, then it is not sensible. At present, research institutions have bred quite a few new crop varieties, but not many are truly used in large-scale field production. A so-called variety can only have its advantages determined after experimental demonstration and approval by the variety approval committee, and even approved varieties still have certain suitable planting regions; once blindly promoted and their planting area expanded, the risk is extremely high. In 2013, the agriculture department of a certain county in the Nanyang area promoted an approved wheat variety, but it was not planted according to the approved region, causing large-scale wheat yield reductions and leading to collective petitions by the farmer masses and the painful lesson of the responsible leaders bearing criminal and attached civil liability. In fact, although some old varieties have been planted for many years, they perform very stably in production, and it is hoped that farmer friends can consider such seeds when planting.

Misconception 5: Seeds of varieties suited to local natural conditions are certainly good seeds

In reality, this is also a misconception. Professor Zhang Shihuang of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences believes that seeds of a good brand must not only adapt to a region's natural conditions, but also suit its market situation. For example, when choosing high-oil corn hybrids or special starch varieties, one must consider whether there are large starch processing enterprises nearby that specifically purchase them, and whether policies such as paying higher prices for better quality are implemented. Another example: corn oil extraction is a by-product in the starch processing process, and using corn to extract oil must employ modern processing machinery; ordinary rural processing equipment finds it difficult to complete corn germ separation and a series of processing procedures. Therefore, planting special processing corn varieties depends entirely on leading enterprises. If farmer friends feel they cannot grasp the market, then when choosing seeds they must weigh things carefully, and the quantity of seeds purchased must also be decided according to their ability to grasp the market.

Agricultural experts remind farmer friends that choosing seeds is a key step in agricultural production. One must go to formal seed departments, repeatedly consult and compare, and ask for invoices, so as to avoid the above misconceptions.