Certified seeding production ?
Control and certification of garlic and shallots plants, be they conventional or organic, are a unique French standard that provides the following guarantees :
- Varietal identity and purity of plants ;
- Germination capacity of plants ;
- Healthiness of plants ;
- Traceability of plants.
The French certification SOC (Service Officiel de Contrôle) goes far beyond the provisions of the standard CE quality applied in the rest of the European Union in terms of quality:
The SOC officers control full compliance with the applicable technical provisions throughout the whole chain from production to marketing.
Controlling includes :
- Control of cultures : prior declaration of cultures, isolation of land patches, crop rotation, validation of lots after laboratory analysis ;
- Subsequent controls : to check out varietal purity and healthiness of plants ;
- Control of certificates to ascertain compliance and traceability.
Example of SOC certificate :
N° et lettre de série : serial number
N° usine : factory number
Poids du produit : product weight
Pays de conditionnement , lettre, n° d’ordre de fabrication and N° établissement produit : constitute the number of the lot.
Date d’échantillonnage : packaging date
This is without prejudice of the plant passport as applicable within the EU :
Why should you buy seeding plants each year ?
Since garlic has a vegetative propagation, consumption garlic is increasingly contaminated over the years in particular with OYDV and LYSV with the yellowing of leaves.
The use of certified plants considerably increases the final yield thanks to the variety purity (high yield varieties are typically selected), to the sprouting potential, and their perfect health conditions.
Besides, consumption plants are very often imported from countries of different latitudes (eg : China, etc) and this will have a direct impact on the germination capacity once under northern latitudes.
Last but not least, consumption plants, though edible and healthy enough for consumption purposes, are likely to carry diseases (viruses, nematodes, rots) that may contaminate your soils and affect future crops. Seeding plants are guaranteed exempt of any disease as they grow under insect-proof nets and are strictly monitored and checked all along their growth in order to prevent any risk of viral disease.