USA: New alfalfa checkoff program hopes to improve research for alfalfa

Research and improvement for commodity crops costs money. Alfalfa is the fourth most valuable field crop, according to Beth Nelson, president of the National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance. She hopes the new alfalfa checkoff program will put more money into alfalfa research and development.

“The alfalfa industry is really the only major crop that doesn’t have a checkoff at some level to help with research and promotion,” Nelson said. “We’re seeing the public research that’s being done by USDA through Agricultural Research Service and the land grant institutions really pale in comparison to other major crops.”

Crops like wheat, corn, sorghum and soybeans have important research initiatives, which have helped the crops improve. In 2016, there was around 18 million acres of alfalfa harvested, compared to about 88 million for corn, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Alfalfa was previously the third most valuable field crop, Nelson said, but has dropped in recent years. She has her theory as to why.

“We’ve also seen in the last couple of decades a slide in the number of acres being planted to alfalfa and we attribute that to a lot just not keeping pace with the cropping choices that are out there, in a big part due to the lack of research,” she said.

Nelson wants to push the research on alfalfa.

“We decided that we needed to put a real concentrated effort on increasing the amount of research being devoted to alfalfa,” she said.

NAFA has had some success securing federal research funding for the Alfalfa and Forage Research Program and the Alfalfa Pollinator Research Initiative.

Nelson said after the research program was established, they wanted to keep going and establish the checkoff. The U.S. Alfalfa Farmer Research Initiative (Alfalfa Checkoff Program) is a farmer-funded investment in alfalfa-related research to help drive innovation and profitability in the alfalfa industry. Nelson said the alfalfa checkoff is different than others.

“It is being assessed at a $1 a bag on alfalfa seed sold,” she said. “One hundred percent of the funds will go towards public research. So no administrative costs will be taken by NAFA. Nor are we allowing administrative costs at the university level at least in the initial year.”

NAFA administers the checkoff, which started Jan. 1. The first collection of funds to be put back through the research proposal process will be in July.

“We anticipate actually doing first call for proposals late spring of this year,” Nelson said. “Hopefully by early June.”

Farmers first

The group wants the alfalfa checkoff to be as farmer driven as possible. In the months prior, growers were surveyed via a link on the NAFA website as to what the top research priorities were. The first proposals focus on yield improvement, fertility soil management, soil health and macro/micro nutrients, forage quality improvement, weed management strategies, insect management strategies and cutting management strategies, Nelson said.

She hopes during this first year the applied topics will result in things that could be employed on the farm.

NAFA and the checkoff team are in the process of identifying a team of people who will review the proposals.

“There will be farmers and industry representatives and scientists on the panel to decide what projects will be selected,” she said. “Once the projects are selected there will be some reporting requirements in those project contracts.”

Once the projects are confirmed, written reports will be archived on the NAFA website, https://alfalfa.org. Information will be given to the media and other partners.

“We will also be encouraging these scientists to give these presentations at grower meetings through out the year as well,” Nelson said.

It’s still too early to tell the success of the program, but Nelson remains optimistic.

“We just know that there’s a huge need for this, but there is not a lot of funding out there for the land grant scientists and researchers that are working in the alfalfa industry,” she said. “We expect there to be more proposals than we’ll have funding available.”

At this point, because it’s the first year Nelson is thankful for what they can get.

“We are really unsure of as what to expect with the amount of dollars available as well as the amount of proposals coming in,” she said.

According to NAFA, the checkoff will support research into the improvement of yields, water conservation, development of new storage and harvest systems, creation of new uses and other research areas holding the potential to advance the alfalfa industry.

Seed marketers committed

Seed marketers who have committed to facilitating the checkoff and helping farmers invest in the future of the alfalfa industry include: Alforex Seeds; America’s Alfalfa; Browning Seed; Channel; CROPLAN; DEKALB; Dyna-Gro; Fontanelle Hybrids; Forage First; Gold Country Seed; Hubner Seed; Jung Seed Genetics; Kruger Seeds; Latham Hi-Tech Seeds; Legacy Seeds; Lewis Hybrids; NEXGROW; Prairie Creek Seed; Rea Hybrids; S&W Seed Company; Simplot Grower Solutions; Specialty; Stewart; Stone Seed; and W-L Research.

“This is voluntary by seed brand. Once a brand says yes, they’ll be a facilitating marketer,” Nelson said.

The seed brands are essentially acting as an elevator does in other grain crops with checkoffs.

“The seed marketers have been asked to be the caretakers of this checkoff and collect that when they sell the seed,” she said. “We are still missing a couple of large ones that we’re still hoping will come into the program and help with that collection.”

Nelson said when a farmer buys a brand on the list the $1 will automatically go to support the alfalfa checkoff.

“We are encouraging our alfalfa farmers to patronize those seed brands that are supporting this so we can get more research out there for the industry,” she said.

Kylene Scott can be reached at kscott@hpj.com or 620-227-1804.