- What will be the prices of grain seed for the upcoming season?
- The provisions relating to fees paid by farmers for sowing seeds for which they have already paid should be verified.
Seed prices should be lower, but this is wishful thinking
It might seem that cereal seed must be cheaper in the coming season. After all, cereals are valued even lower than last year. Meanwhile, it turns out that this may just be wishful thinking.
Some companies are already publishing their first price lists, others will present their prices only in August. However, the first estimates indicate that it will not be cheaper. Is this a surprise? Yes and no. First things first.
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"Mockery at farmers" in shopping centers during harvest? No information, closed points, queues
Cheap to buy, but expensive to buy
Barley seeds (either 2-row or 6-row) will cost at least PLN 2,200/t. However, some varieties are valued at almost PLN 3,000/t. This means that the ratio of the barley price to the seed price is, in extreme cases, even 1:6.
There are already offers for triticale. You have to pay up to PLN 2,300 – 2,500/t per ton, which is four times more than the prices in purchasing stores. Wheat seeds will cost, of course, depending on the variety and offer, from PLN 2,300 to PLN 3,000/t.
Could such prices be expected? Generally yes, although this is not a healthy market situation. We observed a similar situation last year. Basically, we observed the first increases in certified seed material, of quite significant importance, before the 2021/2022 season. However, at that time the prices were still below PLN 2,000/t. The big price jump comes in 2022, when offers for cereal seeds skyrocketed to absurd amounts. There were also varieties of wheat that cost almost PLN 4,000/t. However, a certain standard at that time was the range of PLN 3,200 – 3,500/t. We know that the 2022/2023 season was crazy. But we also remember that the increases were justified, among others, by: higher prices of agricultural produce. However, it seemed at that time that these prices actually had some justification. Purchased wheat costs PLN 1,400/t, the price of certified wheat is PLN 3,500/t, so the price ratio is 1:2.5. And it was still a very difficult proportion to swallow. The problem is that agricultural produce has since been significantly degraded in price, but the costs include, among others. the seed material decreased only symbolically. In a sense, it is true that prices, once raised to a high level, will not "come down" to a normal level so quickly.
A year ago, the prices of the certificate were lower than for the 2022/20023 season, but in relation to the grain price, the costs were horrendous. The price ratio was even 1:4. It will be similar this season, as we can already see from the first price lists.
The regulations related to the Seed Agency need to be verified
Of course, employee costs are high, as are energy and transport prices. But the cost of the raw material itself is much lower than it was two years ago. And it seems that only by the cost of raw material have prices been reduced. The de facto problem is that the farmer remains at the very bottom of this pyramid of costs. Nobody asks an agricultural producer what his costs are. The price of electricity, fuel and general living costs also increased for the farmer. So where is the biggest problem? Certainly at the terrible prices of agricultural produce. The only question is how many years can you sow a crop that is four or even five times more expensive than the price of cereals? It is not surprising that the level of seed exchange in Poland is low. Unfortunately, with such correlations, certified cereal seed is an exclusive commodity. Maybe it's a good time to finally sort out the issues related to the Seed Agency, which calls on farmers for explanations and fees for sowing their own material. Meanwhile, the certificate is disproportionately expensive compared to what is offered to farmers in the purchasing process. Many producers are basically forced for economic reasons to sow their own seeds. The regulations related to the enforcement of fees by Agencja Sieenna need to be verified once again as soon as possible, because hardly anyone seems to pay attention to the high prices of the certificate and, at the same time, the enforcement of license fees for sowing material from the farmer's own harvest, for which the farmer has already paid.
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Harvest, harvest and after harvest. The harvest is coming to an end in southwestern Poland 
