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Largest UK grass seed grower

We are backing British farmers, with over 3,500 hectares of British farmland producing our grass seed. We love locally grown! 

 

Our grasses are tried, tested and proven with British farmers (including at our own Cropvale Research Site in Worcestershire). We have close and longstanding relationships and collaborations with experienced seed growing specialists and production companies in the UK. Growing locally allows us to carefully evaluate the quality standards, keeping a close eye on crops, and establishing a strong collaboration and connection with experienced and trusted growers. Grass seed grower professionalism, combined with expert advice from our team assures excellent seed quality, continuity, and a good yield.

 

Alongside supporting the UK farming industry, Barenbrug also produce all their grass seed to the Higher Voluntary Standard (HVS), which is unique to the UK, guaranteeing a higher level of purity than European Union standards.

 

  • The UK’s largest amenity seed grower
  • Over 50% of perennial ryegrasses and over 60% of red fescue harvested in the UK is grown by Barenbrug UK
  • Tried, tested, and proven in the UK

 

  We are always keen to hear from UK farmers about growing our grass seed. Click here find out more about growing our grass seed 

Meet our growers

Meet the grass seed growers across the UK producing grass seed for UK sport, amenity, landscapes, farming and livestock.

 

Meet our grass seed growers 

Seed production

Grass seed production is a challenging farm crop but an important one. Most grass seed crops are taken for two harvest years so, as well as reducing inputs, are therefore a valuable break crop especially for cereal seed producers.

 

The grass seed crop has a number of important roles to play;

  • It offers a further weapon in the battle against Blackgrass as different chemistry is used for Blackgrass control. The fact that the ground is not cultivated for two years also results in a big drop in viable Blackgrass seeds in the ground.
  • The hay that the crop produces is a valuable commodity as feed for horses and other livestock. With horse ownership on the increase this is financially lucrative as well.
  • The crop may also have big environmental and wildlife advantages. The cover, that the crop develops and provides over the 2 years, for insects, rodents and nesting is important for Skylarks, Barn Owls and other wildlife.
  • The mass of root and other plant parts contributes towards soil organic matter thereby improving fertility and structure.

 

The crop will be planted either under-sown in the Spring or in its own right in the Autumn and the first harvest is the following year. The field into which the crop is sown must not have been in grass for at least the 4 previous harvest years.


The crop is inspected during April, May or June depending on heading date. This is to check for varietal purity and to ensure that there are no crops capable of cross-pollinating within 50m.

 

The earliest crops are harvested in early July with the later ones continuing up to the middle of August. The seed is immediately dried down to 12% moisture for safe storage until cleaning. After cleaning the seed is tested for certification to ensure that it passes the relevant standards.

 

Quality Seed

Quality has everything to do with the success of your profession. Our profession is plant breeding; selecting and developing plants for various applications, and we have specialised in grass. 

 

Barenbrug spends a lot of time and effort on the quality of its product. We have introduced unique systems to ensure that our quality product is of the highest standards. All seed produced under our own supervision will be carefully tested at all the stages of the production process.

 

Barenbrug is one of the biggest grass seed producers in the UK, producing around 2,000 hectares sown with Barenbrug cultivars. This means that the seed is produced to the Higher Voluntary Standards (HVS), which is unique to the UK guaranteeing a higher level of purity and germination. Barenbrug always aims to surpass the H.V.S. standards. All cleaning procedures in our production facilities are closely monitored to prevent any contamination.

 

Our profession is plant breeding; selecting and developing quality cultivars with the essential, unique characteristics to meet the ever-increasing demands placed upon you for quality surfaces whatever the circumstances.  

 

Barenbrug has been developing cultivars at research stations in different climatic zones for more than 50 years.

 

Barenbrug now has a decentralised research operation in many different countries on five continents, guaranteeing better testing and selection, offering innovation and well-adapted cultivars and species in each climatic area.

 

It takes around 15 years to develop a new cultivar. 

 

This is why we spend a lot of time listening to our customers to make sure we will meet their future requirements. 

 

Grass seed breeders work to improve and update cultivars on an ongoing basis, providing turf professionals with characteristics like disease and drought tolerance, cool-temperature germination and rapid recovery from wear. You name a problem, you can be sure there’s a breeder out there pioneering a new cultivar to solve it!

 

That’s why we, in turn, are constantly looking at how we can better our mixtures with the latest Barenbrug-bred cultivars. It’s our job to make the most of these breeding breakthroughs and research innovation; the latest of which feature in our sport and agriculture mixtures.

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