14 September 2020

Dear OSU Seed Lab Customers:

Our hearts go out to everyone that is affected by the wildfires that are devastating our part of the state. We realize everyone is doing the best they can under these most challenging times, and we wanted to update you concerning the activities at the OSU Seed Lab.

Our personnel have been negatively impacted from the smoke and fire. There have been several under the direction of evacuation orders and we are deeply concerned for the welfare of all those involved in seed production, sampling, and analysis.

As of 3:00 pm last Wednesday, the University and the OSU Seed Lab have been closed. This closure allowed our folks to go home and get out of the smoke that was drifting into the Seed Lab building. Only the most minimal work to preserve germination tests have been performed since that time. Sample receiving has also stopped as we have received only a handful of samples since then.

The University continues to be closed at least until Wednesday, 16 September. Depending upon wind and rain probabilities, we are optimistic about reopening Wednesday, or Thursday at the latest. In the meantime, we are attempting to bring in a few people for shorter durations to analyze and report germination data. Some analysts will be coming in on Tuesday as well.

Once we can bring more people in, we will focus much of our efforts on catching up with Purity analyses.  We will analyze the current backlog of samples in the order that they currently exist.  Additional “Rushes” and other special requests out of our routine will be suspended until we are able to work through the current backlog. 

The first responsibility I have is for the health and safety of all OSU Seed Lab employees. The second responsibility is for us to provide the best seed testing services possible to you our customers.  I am asking for your understanding. We appreciate your business and will serve you to the best of our abilities so that results are delivered to you as soon as possible.

Respectfully,

David Stimpson

Seed Lab Manager