About AgriLife Foundation Seed
Texas A&M AgriLife Foundation Seed connects AgriLife Research plant breeding programs with companies seeking to license new plant varieties, producing and marketing genetically pure seed and plant materials while providing production and conditioning services for public and private breeding programs. As a self-supporting, nonprofit unit of AgriLife Research based near Vernon, Texas, Foundation Seed helps protect breeder investments and supports reliable agricultural production across the state.
Foundation Seed supports the commercialization of new plant varieties by coordinating licensing efforts between AgriLife Research breeding programs and industry partners. Working in collaboration with Texas A&M Innovation, Foundation Seed helps facilitate evaluation and commercial licenses that move improved plant materials from research into production.
Foundation Seed also supports commercialization efforts through participation in Texas A&M AgriLife internal committees, including the Small Grains Advisory Committee, and Plant Review Committee. These groups help guide variety evaluation, release decisions, and licensing strategies to ensure new plant materials move efficiently from research to market.
Foundation Seed is self-supporting through seed sales and service activities, with revenues reinvested to support ongoing crop improvement research. The program works closely with AgriLife units, private growers, and seed companies to support production, sponsored research, and public–private partnerships.
Foundation Seed manages executed license agreements, including compliance monitoring and royalty collection, to protect breeder rights and licensed technologies. The program also serves as the sales and marketing agent for USDA Plant Materials Centers in Texas, supporting the distribution of conservation and plant materials statewide.
Foundation Seed represents Texas A&M AgriLife in state, regional, and national seed and agricultural organizations that support collaboration, compliance, and industry alignment.
These include the Texas Seed Trade Association, the American Seed Trade Association, Turfgrass Producers of Texas, the Association of Official Seed Certification Agencies (AOSCA), the Seed Innovation and Protection Alliance (SIPA), and the Western Seed Trade Association. Foundation Seed also works closely with seed certification agencies in states where AgriLife licensed varieties are produced.
In addition, Foundation Seed collaborates with AgriLife programs and internal committees that support crop research, evaluation, and commercialization, including Texas A&M Innovation, the Small Grains Advisory Committee, and the Plant Review Committee.
Related Regional Research and Extension Programs
- Ag Economics on the Plains
Supports applied economic research and decision tools for producers in the Texas Rolling Plains, complementing crop research and variety deployment.
- Texas Rolling Plains Agronomy
Focuses on crop production systems, variety performance, and management practices that align with Foundation Seed’s role in advancing research-based cultivars.
Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon
AgriLife Foundation Seed is based in Vernon, Texas, alongside the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon, a hub for applied agricultural research in the Rolling Plains region. Proximity to the center helps Foundation Seed work closely with public programs that evaluate, improve, and advance regionally important crops.
Identity Preserved Peanut Shelling
Texas A&M AgriLife Foundation Seed operates a specialized peanut sheller built specifically for the seed industry. Unlike commercial food grade shellers, this system is engineered to shell peanuts without producing splits or damaged kernels. Preserving whole seed integrity is critical for planting, emergence, and stand establishment.
This capability allows small, identity preserved lots to be processed while maintaining varietal purity and germination potential and supports peanut breeding and commercialization efforts statewide.
Core Operational Capabilities
Processing
Wheat
Leaving seed crops in the field until moisture levels are acceptable can lead to yield losses, quality losses, genetic contamination and loss of germination and vigor. Foundation Seed has a multipurpose drying facility for drying down foundation seed and breeder seed increases to service the wheat program. The seed-drying facilities also help safeguard harvested seed against adverse weather conditions.
Peanuts
Foundation Seed is a buying point for foundation class peanuts grown locally under contract. Newly harvested farmer’s stock is run through a sand screen and cleaned of soil and other foreign matter. If needed, the peanuts are dried down to acceptable moisture content. After drawing samples from a farmer’s stock, the state inspector uses USDA-approved equipment to grade the seed peanuts. The resulting analysis for sound mature kernels, splits, foreign matter, percent of moisture, presence of aflatoxins and freeze damage forms the basis of reports to the USDA, payments to the National Peanut Board and payments to our contracted growers. The graded farmer’s stock is stored in separate partitions in the warehouse until it is taken by truck to a contracted sheller. Then, the seed peanuts are shelled in-house, treated and bagged for delivery to the licensed growers of those peanut varieties.
Industry Memberships and Partnerships
Foundation Seed participates in state, regional, and national seed and agricultural organizations that support certification standards, research commercialization, and industry collaboration.
