Home Grown: Critical months for harvesting wheat and barley seeds

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - In the next week or two, farmers will be harvesting wheat, oats and barley for seed production.

In today's Home Grown, Michael Edgar, vice president of Barkley Seed in Yuma identifies the production process that happens locally.

Yuma and Imperial County is responsible for producing seeds and getting them shipped overseas.

About 90% of the seeds are produced in June and July.

The seed company works with the grower and has a process for separating the seed from the grain.

"The big tanks are used for grain storage, the smaller tanks are used for seed storage, and so in the field, each one of these fields is identified in some way in some fashion so we know which side of the seed is being harvested for grain, and then we know which side to keep separate," Edgar explained.

Another summer project is growing cotton which is then harvested for its seed in September or October.