How much does commercial seed cost per kg?

As indicative planning bands: certified wheat and barley roughly USD 0.40–1.20/kg, rice USD 0.60–1.60/kg, open-pollinated maize USD 1–2.50/kg, hybrid maize USD 3–12/kg, soybean USD 0.70–1.80/kg and forage or alfalfa USD 3–12/kg. Hybrid vegetable seed is not traded per kg at all — tomato, pepper and cucumber F1 seed is priced per seed, roughly USD 0.05–0.60 each, and is quoted per 1,000 seeds. These are budgeting bands, not offers.

What is the seed cost per hectare?

Roughly USD 60–180/ha on wheat, USD 70–300/ha on hybrid maize, USD 300–2,500/ha on open-field vegetables, USD 2,000–12,000/ha per cycle in a polyhouse tomato or pepper crop and USD 4,000–18,000/ha per cycle in a high-tech greenhouse. The drivers are plant population, hybrid level and the disease-resistance package — not the headline seed price.

Why is hybrid vegetable seed priced per seed instead of per kg?

Because the value sits in the genetics and the resistance package, and because precision sowing counts plants, not weight. A grower buying 25,000 tomato plants per hectare needs a seed count with a guaranteed germination percentage, so quotations are issued per 1,000 seeds with germination, purity and resistance codes stated on the lot.

How do I calculate seed cost per hectare?

Work from plants, not from price. Seed rate in kg/ha = (target plants per m² × thousand-seed weight in grams × 10) ÷ (germination % × (1 − field loss %)); multiply that rate by the landed price per kg. For crops sold per seed, multiply plants per hectare by the price per seed and divide by the germination rate. The commercial seed sourcing calculator applies both formulas and carries the resulting volume into the RFQ, so suppliers quote against one stated quantity.

Why do quotations for the same variety differ so much?

Usually because they are not on the same basis. Seed class, germination and purity guarantee, treatment, pelleting, packaging, lot age, Incoterm and documentation all move the number. Normalise every offer to landed cost per hectare planted at the stated germination before comparing.

Does SeedMatchGroup sell seed or recommend a variety?

No. It does not produce, distribute or trade seed, and it does not give agronomic advice — variety choice belongs to your own agronomist and to local trial data. It structures the requirement and a sourcing specialist may run confidential outreach to relevant seed companies; supplier participation and offer counts are not guaranteed. Supply contracts are concluded directly between buyer and supplier.

Cost guide · planning bands

How much does seed cost — per kg and per hectare?

Indicative international bands for budgeting a commercial seed programme: certified cereals around USD 0.40–1.20/kg, hybrid maize USD 3–12/kg, greenhouse F1 vegetable seed USD 0.05–0.60 per seed. Per hectare, seed spend runs from about USD 60–180 on wheat to USD 4,000–18,000 per cycle in a high-tech greenhouse. Use these to size the budget, then get dated offers on one comparable basis.

Commercial crop seed varieties prepared for production planning — Seed and crop calculations should use the actual lot specification and local agronomic guidance.

Method and decision path

How to use this result in a commercial project

Use the result to test scope and compare scenarios. It is not a design, agronomic prescription, financing offer or supplier quotation.

1. Enter site evidence
Replace defaults with measured area, climate, water, energy, crop and commercial assumptions.
2. Test scenarios
Change one assumption at a time and record the effect on capacity, cost, demand or return.
3. Validate the duty
Ask the relevant agronomist, engineer or financial adviser to check the inputs and constraints.
4. Prepare a private RFQ
Carry the confirmed scope into a human-reviewed brief so written offers can be compared on the same basis.

Final specifications, performance, prices, supplier participation and timing depend on the site and written supplier responses; none is guaranteed by this calculator.

Direct answer

What does commercial seed cost?

Indicative planning bands: certified wheat and barley USD 0.40–1.20 per kg, hybrid maize USD 3–12 per kg, soybean USD 0.70–1.80 per kg, forage and alfalfa USD 3–12 per kg, and greenhouse F1 vegetable seed USD 0.05–0.60 per seed quoted per 1,000 seeds. Seed cost per hectare runs about USD 60–180 on wheat, USD 70–300 on hybrid maize, USD 300–2,500 on open-field vegetables and USD 4,000–18,000 per cycle in a high-tech greenhouse.

Bands are for budgeting — they are not offers and not market quotations
Hybrid vegetable seed is priced per seed, not per kg
Compare offers as landed cost per hectare planted at the stated germination
Freight, duty, phytosanitary documentation and treatment sit on top of the seed price

Seed price per kg by crop

Indicative commercial-volume bands, product only, before freight, duty and documentation. Vegetable hybrids are shown per seed because that is how they are traded.

Crop	Class	Planning band	What moves it
Wheat / barley	Certified open-pollinated	USD 0.40 – 1.20 /kg	Close to grain price plus certification, cleaning and treatment.
Rice	Certified inbred	USD 0.60 – 1.60 /kg	Hybrid rice sits far above this band and is priced per bag.
Maize — open-pollinated	Certified OPV	USD 1.00 – 2.50 /kg	Used where hybrid seed is not replaced annually.
Maize — hybrid	F1 single or three-way cross	USD 3 – 12 /kg	Genetics, trait package and local registration drive the spread.
Sunflower / canola hybrid	F1	USD 8 – 30 /kg	Often traded per unit of 150,000 seeds rather than per kg.
Soybean	Certified variety	USD 0.70 – 1.80 /kg	High seeding rate makes freight a large share of landed cost.
Forage grass / alfalfa	Certified	USD 3 – 12 /kg	Alfalfa and premium ryegrass mixtures sit at the top of the band.
Onion / carrot	Hybrid and OP	USD 60 – 400 /kg	Precision-graded and pelleted lots carry a further premium.
Tomato / pepper / cucumber	Greenhouse F1	USD 0.05 – 0.60 /seed	Priced per 1,000 seeds, not per kg. Rootstock and high-resistance lines are the most expensive.
Leafy greens	Pelleted F1 and OP	USD 0.004 – 0.05 /seed	Pelleting and primed grades add cost but are required for precision sowing.
Watermelon / melon	F1	USD 0.08 – 0.50 /seed	Triploid seedless lines and grafted-rootstock programmes cost most.

Seed cost per hectare by crop

Seed spend per hectare per cycle, planning bands only. Actual spend follows seeding rate or plant population, germination, hybrid level and cycles per year.

Crop	System	Seed cost / ha	Notes
Wheat / barley	Open field, 150–220 kg/ha	USD 60 – 180 /ha	Seeding rate and thousand-kernel weight matter more than seed price.
Rice	Direct seeded, 60–100 kg/ha	USD 50 – 160 /ha	Transplanted systems use far less seed but add nursery cost.
Maize — hybrid	70,000–85,000 seeds/ha	USD 70 – 300 /ha	Usually quoted per bag of 60,000–80,000 seeds.
Soybean	70–110 kg/ha	USD 60 – 200 /ha	Inoculant and seed treatment are separate lines.
Forage / alfalfa	20–30 kg/ha, multi-year stand	USD 80 – 350 /ha	Cost is spread over three to five production years.
Open-field vegetables	Direct sown or transplanted	USD 300 – 2,500 /ha	Range reflects crop, hybrid level and plants per hectare.
Onion	Precision sown, 3–4 kg/ha	USD 400 – 1,600 /ha	Pelleted precision grades sit at the top of the band.
Protected tomato / pepper	Polyhouse, 20,000–25,000 plants/ha	USD 2,000 – 12,000 /ha/cycle	Grafted plants replace raw seed cost with propagation cost.
High-tech greenhouse	Glass, hydroponic, high-resistance F1	USD 4,000 – 18,000 /ha/cycle	Resistance package and rootstock choice dominate the number.
Leafy greens	NFT / DWC, many cycles per year	USD 600 – 4,000 /ha/cycle	Annual cost tracks cycles per year, not area alone.

What sits on top of the seed price

Phytosanitary documentation

Phytosanitary certificate per lot, origin declaration and in several markets a laboratory test report for regulated pests. Missing paperwork, not price, is what usually delays a seed shipment.

Import permit and variety registration

Many countries require an import permit and, for commercial sale, variety registration or listing. Trial quantities and commercial quantities follow different routes.

Freight, cold chain and packaging

Air freight on small high-value vegetable lots, sea freight on bulk field crop seed. Humidity and temperature control protect germination in transit and storage.

Duty, VAT and inspection fees

Duty varies by HS code and seed class; some markets zero-rate certified seed. Border inspection and sampling fees apply in most.

Treatment and processing

Cleaning, grading, priming, pelleting and chemical or biological treatment — each adds cost and each must be permitted in the destination market.

Quality testing

Germination, purity, moisture and health testing on arrival. Budget for retesting if the lot has been in transit or storage for a long period.

Next step

Turn the budget into comparable offers

Nothing is sent to a supplier on submission. A sourcing specialist reviews the requirement manually, and outreach only happens after internal approval.

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Seed cost questions

Bands on this page are planning figures compiled for budgeting commercial projects. They are not price quotations, not market data and not an offer to sell. SeedMatchGroup does not produce, distribute or trade seed and gives no agronomic or variety advice.

Illustrative project summary

2 ha polytunnel expansion

An established open-field grower adds protected cropping with natural ventilation and drip irrigation.

2 ha · Single-span polytunnel · Leafy greens and herbs

Indicative full greenhouse project CAPEX

USD 575K – USD 1.3M

Illustration only, not a real project or quotation. This is the structure, equipment and site-works budget for the example greenhouse, not the price of this calculator’s individual system, seeds or inputs, and not a result calculated from your entries. Excludes land, permits, packhouse, financing costs and working capital.

Based on the published commercial greenhouse cost benchmark. Written offers require a private project review; commercial projects start from USD 250K.

Full scenario and budget scope Price benchmark