“The domestic market will dictate the demand for seed this coming year,” says Craig Kelley with Treasure Valley Seed Company. “Right now, the pinto market is down, due to an abundant supply demand is steady, demand for pinto seed therefore is down as planting intentions for pintos may decrease. Black bean demand is strong, and demand for black bean seed continues to trend up. Cranberry seed is in good demand, as the cranberry market is strong. Kidney seed and great northern seed demand is steady. What is trending this year ­– hard to say, I believe there will be strong demand for black, navy and cranberry seed, with increased interest in yellow, small red and pink seed due to market conditions. Seed supplies are adequate, supply will be OK throughout the season. Certain varieties within market classes will sell out, but overall, the supply is good.”

Brackett kimberly w
Freelance Writer
Kimberly Williams-Brackett is a freelance writer based in Idaho.

Treasure Valley Seed Company has offices in Homedale, Twin Falls, Filer, Kimberly, Hazelton and Powell, Wyoming. The company produces a variety of dry beans.

“There was high demand for triticale,” says Bo Isham with Ag Idaho Consulting, a dealer for KWS Cereals. “[It’s] looking like cereal rye will be in demand for spring plant. Depending on water, some spring wheat may be planted. I haven’t heard of many other shortages.” KWS produces hybrid rye varieties for feed grain, food and beverage (flour and distilling), and silage or AD/ethanol feedstock.

“We raise certified barley, oats and potato seed. All of our certified seed acres are irrigated,” says Travis Gilbert with Gilbert Farms LLC, a family farm owned and operated by the Gilbert family in Grace. Crops raised include but are not limited to: certified seed potatoes (such as Russet Burbank, Yukon Gold, Shepody, Reds, etc.), wheat, certified seed barley, oats and hay.

Gilbert says, “On the barley and oats, we saw near-record yields on our farm this year. We did experience some losses from hailstorms, but fortunately the damage was isolated to a few small areas. Prices are up, which will help offset increases in fuel and fertilizer. Demand seems strong. I think the market is still recovering from shortages experienced in 2021.”

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“As for the potatoes, our crop was average and we were grateful for that,” Gilbert says. “The cold spring we had this year affected the potato crop in most growing areas in the West. Most of the crop got off to a slow start because of the cold weather. Our biggest challenge, though, was finding enough seed to plant. The drought of 2021, combined with quality and virus issues in seed-growing areas, made it hard to find good seed to plant. We scrambled hard and were still about 40 acres short of what we intended to plant. We ended up with a decent crop on the acres that we were able to plant. We were blessed with some timely rains that helped with our water situation.”

“Demand, in my opinion, seems strong across all varieties. Seed potato supplies are tight, partially because of the cold spring this year and also because of the shortages from 2021,” Gilbert says.

“In general, we hear a lot about the record-high prices in these commodities, but I'm not sure enough has been said about the record-high costs. Equipment, fertilizer, fuel, freight and … really just about everything we do costs more” he says.