The high price of establishment

The high price of establishment failure

Seed treatment is one of many steps in the process that determines whether new crops and pasture flourish, or flounder. Use it to optimise establishment, make sure valuable feed is available when it’s needed, and cut the risk of failure. 

Introduction

Resowing a failed pasture or crop is frustrating, timeconsuming and expensive. But these examples show two-thirds of the total cost of failure is not the seed and tractor time of resowing, but the lost dry matter production, i.e. budgeted feed that now must be replaced. 

The total cost of establishment failure may be $4050/ ha or more. A well implemented sowing programme – including seed treatment – mitigates this risk. 

Example: Cost of pasture failure

Cost of Pasture Failure
*Pasture has a high feed value during the feed deficit period, DM valued typically at 40-50 c/kg DM.

Example : Cost of brassica crop failure

Cost of Brassica Failure
*Pasture has a high feed value during this feed deficit period, DM valued typically at 50 c/kg DM.
The high price of establishment
Insect damage on establishing pasture - bare seed (left) vs treated seed.