Irish Certified Seed
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have a division dedicated to the certification of seed.
We inlcude below tables of the minimum standards that must be met by seed and you can download the full document on standards here. This includes field and crop inspection requirments, post harvest inspection, labelling and further information.
The Following apply to Wheat, Barley & Oats
Understand your label
Label Identification System
IE 22-48-C-6317
Each lot number is made up of 11 digits. The first two are IE the country code for Ireland.
The second two refer to the year of harvest of the seed. For example, seed harvested in 2022 will bear the number 22.
The next two digits represent a unique identity code for a particular seed assembler.
The seventh character is a letter representing the seed category (P=Pre-Basic, B=Basic & C=C1).
The next two digits represent the sequential number assigned to each variety.
The final two digits (eight & nine) are specific lot numbers assigned by the Department of Agriculture to each lot.
C1 (Blue label) is seed of the first generation grown from Basic Seed (White Label)
C2 (Red Label) is seed of the second generation and is grown from Blue Label Seed. Certified Red Label Seed in the Republic of Ireland will have been imported. In the Republic of Ireland we only certify and sell first generation blue label seed.
