Pre-cleaning and Cleaning

During pre-cleaning, coarse impurities like straw and leaves, and over- or undersized seed are separated. A representative sample of every production lot is taken, which undergoes extensive quality controls. Not only germination capacity, germination velocity and vigour are tested; marker analyses are also carried out to check the variety’s identity and purity to ensure it offers all the varietal characters and resistances required for cultivation.

After having classified the seed according to their quality, each seed lot is specifically cleaned. At the end of the process, more than 92 % of the seed contain a viable germ and have a purity of at least 99 %. Only 60 % of the quantities harvested are then transported to Einbeck for subsequent preparation.