Grass seed is harvested in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. An Oregon farmer faces a federal wire fraud charge for allegedly paying kickbacks to a grass seed buyer.

A wetter-than-usual spring in Oregon’s Willamette Valley is proving to be a mixed bag for farmers growing the region’s signature grass seed crops.

Harvest is underway in the region dubbed the “grass seed capital of the world,” with most fields swathed and combines slowly moving from field to field.

Roger Beyer, executive director of the Oregon Seed Council, said this year’s growing season was a far cry from 2021, when extreme heat and drought took a significant toll on farms. Instead, the region was drenched by steady rain that lasted from April into early and mid-June.

“Certainly, the weather conditions were much more favorable than last year,” Beyer said. “I’m expecting closer to an average crop.”

However, that doesn’t appear to be the case everywhere and for all varieties of grass. Some farmers say they are experiencing low yields because of all that moisture.

Beyer said the issue stems from bouts of prolonged rain overlapping with the period when grasses typically pollinate, making it harder for the plants to release their pollen into the air. Lower pollination rates mean less seed come harvest.

Heavy rain can also cause lodging, when the crop falls over and disrupts pollination.

“What I’m hearing now is (the effects) are very localized,” Beyer said. “When it’s raining constantly, it’s hard for that pollen to flow.”

Oregon grows approximately 400,000 acres of grass seed, with about 85% produced in the Willamette Valley. Beyer said the state produces 60% of the world’s cool-season grass seed, which is exported to more than 60 countries and used in turf, forage and cover crops.

Grass seed was Oregon’s fifth most valuable agricultural commodity in 2020, valued at more than $458 million.

Nicole Anderson, an extension seed production specialist for Oregon State University, said last year’s grass seed crop was down 30-50% amid a region-wide drought and heat wave packing temperatures in June as high as 117 degrees.

By contrast, the weather station at OSU in Corvallis recorded one of the wettest springs in 2022 on record dating back to 1875, Anderson said.

Anderson reiterated concerns about lower pollination rates in some grass varieties, though later-maturing types such as tall fescue and perennial ryegrass may be less affected, she said.

Across the board, Anderson said the increased precipitation should be a boon to seed quality.

“Usually, having access to soil moisture when the seed is filling means you have heavier seed,” she said, adding that with so much rain, there was little to no need for irrigation. “Almost every acre was like being in an irrigated field.”

Denver Pugh, of Pugh Seed Farm in Shedd, Ore., said he is about halfway through harvesting his grass seed crops, and has observed lower yields tied to reduced pollination.

“A lot of it has come in subpar,” Pugh said. “It looked like it was going to be a good year. We had a lot of moisture, the plants looked good and healthy. … I just don’t think we had the best weather for pollination.”

In the case of tall fescue, which he grows for forage, Pugh said yields were even less than a year ago in the heat and drought. Orchardgrass was similarly impacted, and he just began combining his annual ryegrass on July 27.

Pugh said pollen is normally so thick from his grass seed fields that he can see the dust collecting on the road. He did not see that this year.

Between the last year’s drought and this year’s rain, Pugh said the two seasons could not have been more different, yet they produced the same result.

“It will pan out to be just as bad as last year, if not worse,” he said.