The use of white clover as a source of nitrogen for organic grass seed crops

The demand for organically produced forage seed is increasing rapidly as organic livestock farming expands. From January 2004 EU regulation 2092/91 states seed used in organic systems must be produced to organic standards. The production of forage seed to comply with organic standards and to meet the current Seed Certification standards is a significant challenge to the seed producer. Conventional systems of grass seed production use inorganic nitrogen applied at specific stages of crop development and appropriate use of herbicides to produce high quality seed, reduce weed content and minimise seed cleaning costs. The development of organically acceptable methods of supplying nitrogen is one of the most important challenges for the organic grass seed producer. Current research on the potential of white clover as a companion crop, supplying nitrogen to the developing grass seed crop is described. Methods of knowledge transfer used to integrate these research findings into commercial farm practice are discussed.