Field inspection

In most countries, when a crop is intended for certification, it must be inspected prior to harvest.

A representative of the certifying agency inspects the crop at least once during the vegetative stage and normally once at the pre-harvest stage.

The crop may be refused certification due to unsatisfactory appearance caused by:

and any other condition that prevents accurate inspection or creates doubt as to the identity of the variety

Each country has field standards for the allowable number of off-types, unacceptable weed types, and number of diseased plants. An example of field inspection standard is presented in Table 1.

Table 1. An example of field inspection standards