NAFA Out With 2022 Alfalfa Variety Ratings

The National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance is out with its 2022 Alfalfa Variety Ratings. NAFA President Beth Nelson said the annual publication is a useful tool to not just hay and livestock farmers, but anyone involved in the production of alfalfa. This year's edition of NAFA's Alfalfa Variety Ratings features 178 varieties from 16 marketers.

"As for the marketers that participate in that publication, some have brand new varieties while some have done a few tweaks to their existing varieties."

All varieties listed in the publication have a corresponding rating for factors like fall dormancy, winter survival, bacterial wilt, aphanomyces, leafhopper and more.

"There's 14 pest ratings," Nelson noted. "We also talk about multifoliate expression, continuous grazing, standability expression, salt tolerance if that's an issue for anybody, and then we designate the specific varieties that are either Roundup ready, HarvXtra or hybrid varieties in the publication."

Nelson adds for northwest growers dealing with drought the tool can be especially useful in the effort to find more drought-resistant varieties. The 2022 publication is also available in an on-line database, where producers can sort through 23 parameters.

Click Here to check out the latest edition of the "Alfalfa Variety Ratings - Winter Survival, Fall Dormancy & Pest Resistant Ratings for Alfalfa Varieties"

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