Seed Industry Experience
The Poggioli Family have had a long and successful association with the Australian Seed Industry. We are third generation seed producers with a combined experience of more than 100 years. In the 1950’s and 60’s our grandfather Ricardo began trialing varieties of pasture grasses and legumes for commercial seed production. Since then we have continued to grow pasture seeds crops in rotation with other crops such as potatoes, peanuts, corn and sugarcane.
In 2001, our commitment to the seed industry saw us expand our business operations to include a seed processing and packaging plant. This state of the art building and plant was purpose built for the commercial grading, cleaning, packaging, storage and dispatch of seeds and grain. On 20th March 2006, Cyclone Larry caused horrific damage to the building which was all but totally destroyed. Fortunately we could relocate the cleaning equipment to another building and continue our cleaning business. On 20th March 2008, two years to the day since Cyclone Larry, we resumed operations in a brand new building at the original site at 14 Yadjin Road, Tolga.
Seed Varieties
Over the decades a range of tropical grass and legume varieties have been grown on the Atherton Tableland for seed production including Guinea grass, Rhodes grass, Panic, Seteria, Brachiaria, Glycene, Desmodium, Digiteria, Stylos to name a just a few. However, over time one variety of perennial grass has proved popular both domestically and internationally – Rhodes Grass (Chloris gayana).
There are a number of Rhodes grass cultivars which include Callide, Katambora, Finecut, Gulfcut, Reclaimer, Topcut. Different cultivars are bred to encourage particular attributes and characteristics to develop, satisfying certain needs in pasture and fodder production such as salt tolerance, finer leaf, finer stem and certain growth habits.
For example, Finecut Rhodes was the first Diploid cultivar for Australian seed company Selected Seeds. Finecut was selected especially for its fine stem, leafy growth and high dry matter yields which makes it ideal for hay production. Finecut Rhodes makes a superb high quality fodder for horses, cattle and weaners. Primo Produce currently grow Finecut, Gulfcut, Reclaimer, Callide and Katambora Rhodes.
Reliable Quality and Supply
The Atherton Tableland is the largest tropical seed production area in Australia. Domestic and international seed markets favour this area due to reliable production of high quality seed. Over the decades our family has value added to this with a full compliment of services: production, harvesting, drying, grading and packaging seed to export-ready standard.
Seed Testing and Quality Assurance
PRiMO PRODUCE has been Freshcare accredited since 2002. Although Freshcare is Australia’s largest on-farm assurance program for fresh produce, we apply the same principals and management criteria to our grass seed crops.
Sandra Curcio is our in-house ISTA accredited seed sampler for Blue and Orange International certificates. A sample of each lot of seed (lots refer to individual paddocks and harvests) are drawn using international standards for official laboratory testing. Testing for purity, germination, inert matter and other seeds is completed in around 21 days from sampling.
