Apply
Start a self-assessment
Certification here is voluntary and carries no legal weight yet. What it does carry is a public, dated record that your seed is traceable — and a say in what the criteria end up being.
Five steps
- 1
Create an account and claim your listing
Sign in to the hub, tell us which seed source you operate, and we link your account to that directory entry.
- 2
Publish what you actually produce
Species, seed forms, seasons, and honest lead times. This alone satisfies part of Tier 1 and makes you findable to growers.
- 3
Pick the tier you can evidence today
Not the one you aspire to. Tier 1 is a real, useful listing on its own, and each tier assumes the one beneath it.
- 4
Work through the self-assessment
Each criterion asks for a short answer and, where relevant, a document — a permit, a biosecurity plan, a broodstock record. Uploads stay private to you and the reviewers.
- 5
Submit for review
A reviewer reads the assessment and either accepts the tier, asks for specifics, or notes what is missing. Nothing is published without your submission.
What each tier will ask you to show
Tier 1
Registered Source
5 criteria. Research collections, university hatcheries, tribal programs, and new nurseries getting started.
Tier 2
Traceable Seed
6 criteria. Nurseries actively supplying commercial or restoration growers.
Tier 3
Biosecure Hatchery
6 criteria. Sources shipping across regions, or supplying multiple farms in a season.
Tier 4
Certified Seed Bank
7 criteria. Established seed banks positioned to serve the whole state, and any program a permitting agency would want to point to.
Cost, and who this must not exclude
Self-assessment at Tiers 1 and 2 is free and will stay free. Any future audit fee has to be designed so small operators, tribal programs, and university hatcheries are not priced out of the register — that constraint is part of the standard, not an afterthought.