When buying seed, the first question is usually the price. Yet there is something on the bag label worth reading before the price: the certification grade. Between different grades of the same variety there is a real difference — in price and in how the crop behaves in the field.
What does the grade tell you?
The grade of a seed lot shows how many generations the lot is removed from the breeder’s original material. Variety purity drops a little with every multiplication: cross-pollination, mixing during harvest and transport, and grains of the previous crop left in the field all build up and move the lot away from the variety description.
The certification system puts this drift on record. Through field inspection, laboratory analysis and the labelling chain, the generation of the bag you buy is tied to a document.
The grades in order
Breeder and pre-basic seed
The start of the chain: material the breeder keeps in their own hands, produced in very small quantities. It is not traded and not sold to farmers; it is used only to produce the next grade.
Basic (original) seed
The first multiplication grade, produced from pre-basic seed. Variety purity is at its highest and so is the price. It is mostly bought by seed producers in order to grow the next grade. For a farmer sowing a large area it is not economical.
Certified 1 (C1)
The grade produced from basic seed. Purity is high and the price is more reasonable than basic seed. This is the grade chosen by farmers who want to produce their own seed, or who plan to keep seed from this year’s field for next year.
Certified 2 (C2)
The grade produced from Certified 1. In Türkiye it is the most widely used seed for cereal sowing. It is the last link of the certification chain: the crop grown from C2 can no longer be sold as certified seed; it goes as feed or milling grain.
C2 does not mean “low quality”. It is seed that has passed field inspection and laboratory analysis, with documented germination and purity. It simply sits at the end of the chain.
Read the label
Certified seed bags are sealed with a label whose colour depends on the grade. The label carries the variety name, the grade, the lot number, the germination rate and the purity. A bag with no label, a torn label or one stitched on afterwards is not certified seed.
Read the label before you buy the bag. The lot number lets the seed be traced back to the field it was grown in and the analysis it passed. If a problem arises, it is the only evidence you have.
Which grade should you buy?
- If you sow for a crop and will sell the harvest, Certified 2 is enough in most cases. It is the most widely used grade, with the best balance of price and performance.
- If you plan to keep your own seed for next year, start with Certified 1. Starting one generation higher protects the purity of the seed you set aside.
- If you produce seed, you need basic (original) seed; that is where you enter the certification chain.
Using your own harvest as seed
Using the harvested crop as next year’s seed is a common habit. Repeated every year, variety purity falls, weed seed builds up, germination weakens and the field gradually looks mixed. Seed-borne diseases also become established in the field.
Returning to certified seed at regular intervals resets this build-up. How often depends on the variety, the region and the state of the field.
Which variety for which field?
The grade does not change which variety the seed is; it only shows how true to that variety it has stayed. Choosing the right variety is a separate decision and depends on the field’s water, the sowing time and the harvest plan.
You can see all our seed varieties here. If you are looking for a six-row barley for autumn sowing, see RAMATA; for an early two-row option on dry land, see MANAVA.
The grade of the lot you buy is printed on the bag label and on your invoice. Tell us your sowing plan and let us decide the variety and the grade together.