Historical Turf and Forage Seed Prices in Alberta

The following table and accompanying graphs provide historical price information for the most commonly grown turf, forage, and legume seed crops of Alberta. Price’s provided are yearly averages, and reflect prices paid to growers, for clean and bagged seed, ready for shipping. Prices within any given year will have reached higher or lower levels than those shown on the graph. It is wise to use the price line as a guide for each crop. Alberta’s “Agricultural Financial Services Corporation” (AFSC) has tracked prices on a monthly basis since 1999. Link here to obtain more detailed monthly price quotes.

Yearly Average Prices Paid to Producers - 1970 to 2011
	Creeping Red Fescue	Timothy	Timothy certified	Smooth Brome	Meadow Brome	Alfalfa	Red Clover	Alsike Clover	Sweet Clover
1970	0.15	0.08	-	0.11	-	0.30	0.12	0.08	0.03
1971	0.22	0.08	-	0.10	-	0.28	0.09	0.08	0.05
1972	0.27	0.17	-	0.10	-	0.38	0.12	0.10	0.05
1973	0.40	0.30	-	0.32	-	0.80	0.20	0.25	0.06
1974	0.20	0.18	-	0.25	-	0.55	0.25	0.25	0.11
1975	0.12	0.13	-	0.15	-	0.50	0.28	0.28	0.08
1976	0.20	0.20	--	0.35	-	0.50	0.40	0.40	0.10
1977	0.35	0.55	-	0.40	-	0.75	0.40	0.20	0.10
1978	0.40	0.45	-	0.45	-	1.10	0.35	0.15	0.08
1979	0.60	0.40	--	0.45	-	1.45	0.22	0.12	0.08
1980	0.65	0.55	-	0.45	-	1.40	0.15	0.10	0.13
1981	0.45	0.15	-	0.43	-	0.90	0.15	0.10	0.15
1982	0.35	0.20	-	0.40	-	0.95	0.45	0.25	0.20
1983	0.40	0.23	-	0.45	-	0.95	0.40	0.23	0.23
1984	0.25	0.15	-	0.45	-	0.95	0.35	0.18	0.14
1985	0.45	0.32	-	0.45	-	1.18	0.50	0.27	0.18
1986	0.50	0.44	-	1.25	-	1.35	0.67	0.37	0.28
1987	0.72	0.65	-	1.70	-	1.35	0.45	0.55	0.25
1988	0.50	0.41	-	0.40	-	1.05	0.28	0.23	0.08
1989	0.38	0.18	-	0.31	-	0.95	0.24	0.24	0.06
1990	0.21	0.15	-	0.25	-	1.05	0.23	0.22	0.07
1991	0.46	0.21	-	0.45	-	0.70	0.23	0.23	0.08
1992	0.70	0.27	-	0.61	-	1.20	0.38	0.29	0.12
1993	0.34	0.28	-	1.15	-	1.50	0.46	0.30	0.10
1994	0.33	0.22	-	0.71	-	1.25	0.38	0.25	0.08
1995	0.41	0.25	-	0.60	-	1.05	0.41	0.35	0.09
1996	0.45	0.22	0.45	0.57	-	1.10	0.61	0.38	0.13
1997	0.50	0.15	0.45	1.00	-	1.15	0.75	0.80	0.45
1998	0.58	0.26	0.50	1.00	-	1.17	0.61	1.11	0.52
1999	0.94	0.35	0.70	0.44	1.50	0.92	0.42	1.50	0.21
2000	0.99	0.45	0.55	0.45	1.75	0.69	0.39	1.74	0.11
2001	0.25	0.30	0.40	0.35	1.35	0.55	0.30	0.55	0.28
2002	0.35	0.45	0.55	0.75	1.20	0.80	0.40	0.40	0.40
2003	0.42	0.36	0.48	0.62	0.82	0.79	0.41	0.41	0.42
2004	0.44	0.29	0.45	0.59	0.40	0.84	0.60	0.54	0.45
2005	0.36	0.22	0.41	0.49	0.33	0.89	0.60	0.46	0.28
2006	0.39	0.23	0.39	0.69	0.72	0.96	0.61	0.35	0.24
2007	0.46	0.29	0.47	1.19	1.48	1.04	0.74	0.31	0.25
2008	0.60	0.44	0.60	0.88	1.43	1.22	0.95	0.44	0.32
2009	0.45	0.37	0.48	0.44	1.19	1.21	0.84	0.42	0.39
2010	0.35	0.34	0.46	0.40	0.76	1.27	0.62	0.51	0.47
2011	0.42	0.57	0.71	0.84	0.88	1.39	0.73	0.88	0.80
Price quotes in $/lb, CDN dollars

Historical Graphs:
Grass Seed Prices: Peace River Region, Canada 1970 - 2012
Legume Seed Prices: Peace River Region, Canada 1970 - 2012

Monthly Price Quotes by Species: 2002 to 2011:
Farm Gate Prices Paid to Growers: Creeping Red Fescue Seed
Farm Gate Prices Paid to Growers: Smooth Brome Grass Seed
Farm Gate Prices Paid to Growers: Meadow Brome Grass Seed
Farm Gate Prices Paid to Growers: Timothy Seed
Farm Gate Prices Paid to Growers: Clover Seed
Farm Gate Prices Paid to Growers: Alfalfa Seed

Last updated : June 22, 2012
David Wong (e-mail: david.k.wong@gov.ab.ca)
Calvin Yoder (e-mail: calvin.yoder@gov.ab.ca )
Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development

For more information about the content of this document, contact Neil Blue.
This document is maintained by Erminia Guercio.
This information published to the web on July 17, 2012.
Last Reviewed/Revised on July 18, 2018.