by Ray Hansen, content specialist, AgMRC, Iowa State University, hansenr@iastate.edu.

Updated April 2008 by Diane Huntrods, AgMRC, Iowa State University.

Overview

The emergence of the prairie grass and wildflower industry was triggered by the 1987 passage of the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act, which added a requirement that all Federally aided highway landscaping projects must contain native grasses or wildflower seeds. At least one quarter of one percent of all funds expended for a landscaping project must be used to plant native grasses or wildflowers. Many Midwestern states have also included roadside restoration programs to include secondary road landscaping.

Interest in using prairie grass as a biomass energy source gained considerable attention with the passage of the Renewable Fuels Standard in 2006, which showcased switchgrass as a potential contributor to a growing ethanol industry. Information about biomass for energy can be found at: http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/bioam95/graham3.html.

A simple prairie restoration program alone would have most likely sparked industry growth for seed producers, but the requirement of “native” or “ecotype”-specific plantings created a significant supply shortage of source-verified or region-specific seeds. To validate the origin and source of prairie grasses and wildflowers, several states established a source-verification yellow tag program. Yellow tag programs are administered through state crop improvement associations. Crop improvement seed directories indicate that a relatively small number of producers across the country have capitalized on this market opportunity. Seed producers who choose not to use the source-verification programs are typically marketing toward non-source-verified mixed seed sales, such prairie restoration projects and home landscapers. 

Production
At first glance, it would appear that raising and marketing pure seed native to a region would be a short-term opportunity that would soon be overproduced. However, because of intensive row cropping and grazing since the 1920s, many of the Midwestern states have nearly eliminated much of their native specimens. Limited native seed stock is only one of the deterrents that prevent rapid entry into the industry by producers. Other reasons include the intense management skills that it takes to maintain and segregate pure seed into ecotype-specific inventories. Harvesting, cleaning and processing are highly labor intensive, and many of the varieties can take up to seven years to increase production to a point that a producer may have commercially marketable supplies.

The types and varieties of grasses and wildflowers that are being commercially grown and sold are highly variable and depend again by the availability of native seed stock and the ability to verify origin sources of the plants. Some of the most common grasses include big bluestem, Indian grass and prairie cord grass. Some of the more popular flowers include black-eyed susans and cone flowers. Prices received for these seeds vary greatly, depending on the availability and purity of the seed. Common prairie grasses such as big bluestem and Indian grass typically sell for $10 to $20 per pound, and rarer grasses may sell for several hundred dollars per pound when sold in bulk. Common wildflowers may sell for as low as $45 per pound for varieties such as black-eyed susans and cone flowers, while rarer native ecotypes, which are normally sold by the ounce, can sell for the equivalent of nearly $2,000 dollars per pound. Most landscape and restoration projects opt to purchase mixed seed units that will sell for $50 to $200 per pound. One pound of these mixes will normally seed about 2,000 square feet.

Because of the intensive management and labor involved with ecotype seed production, the number of large commercial suppliers remains relatively small and competition is spread evenly across the Midwest. Some of the major Midwestern commercial suppliers include Allendan Seed in Iowa, Bamert Seed Company in Texas, Ion Exchange in Iowa, Native American Seed in Texas, Ohio Prairie Nursery, Prairie Moon Nursery in Minnesota, Prairie Nursery in Wisconsin and Shooting Star Native Seeds in Minnesota.

Outlook
With an under-supplied market, the future of the industry looks favorable for the short term, given the continued use of ecotype seed by federal and state road projects and the continued interest in prairie restoration by conservation groups.