The Rural Voice, 1981-04, Page 11Just another challenge
Says Bob Forrest about the long road to becoming a select seed grower
Bob Forrest. a certified seed grower. says growing pedigreed seed offered him a little
more challenge than just growing crops. [Photo by Reynolds]
BY YVONNE REYNOLDS
"For me. life has to be a challenge" says
Bob Forrest of the philosophy that has
shaped and governed his life. And
challenge it is. At present the energetic,
ambitious young man, still in his thirties,
farms Ed-EI-Fo Farms Limited in part-
nership with his father, lectures at
Centralia College of Agricultural Techn-
ology, operates his own custom seed -
cleaning facilities, and is working on his
master's degree in genetic studies of
seedling vigour in alfalfa. Bob and his.
father Edison also run a feedlot. fattening
50 to 100 cattle with corn grown on the
400 acre farm northwest of Hensall.
In 1979 Bob was certified by the CSGA
(Canadian Seed Growers Association) as
a select seed grower, and now plants
from 250 to 300 acres of foundation,
registered and certified wheat, barley,
oats, white beans, trefoil and red clover
each year. He has a seed dealer's licence
with both the bean and wheat boards.
Since graduating from Guelph ten
years ago, where he majored in crop
sciences, Mr. Forrest had been growing
seed crops on contract for dealers, and for
a neighbour who was a select seed
grower.
"It offered a little more challenge than
just growing crops, taking them to town
and watching them disappear down a
chute", he explains, using his favourite
word again.
Mr. Forrest took the first step on the
long road to becoming a select seed
grower himself by joining CSGA in 1973.
"There are no formalities he says,
you just fill out some forms."The only
requirement is that you must already be a
seed grower."
Foundation seed purchased from a
retailer is planted, and the next generat-
ion will be registered seed. The register-
ed seed in turn produces certified seed.
The membership application auto-
matically means the crop will be
inspected by an inspector from the Plant
Products and Plant Quarantine Division
of Agriculture Canada. The first inspect-
ion takes place prior to maturity. (As Bob
began with winter wheat, his crop was
first checked in mid-July.) The inspector
sends his ieprot to CSGA. a self-regul-
ating body, which then decides if the crop
is eligible for pedigreed status.
The grower harvests, cleans, treats.
and bags the seed, and sends a sample to
THE RURAL VOICE/APRIL 1981 PG. 9