Greg's Ramblings

The last 10 years have been an amazing time to be in the farming world. 
 
When I came back to work on the family farm in 2006 there was not much farm to come back to. Our parents had been through tough times from 2001-2012 and in the first 5 years of Sarah and I coming back there was a number of times where we were not sure if we should be looking for other jobs in the 2006-2012 time frame. Hail, cash flow and low seed sales and some mistakes were the story of those early days.
 
We refocused on the seed business and tried growing varieties and crops that were unique and became involved with industry groups and boards. We expanded rapidly from 2012 onwards through challenging cashflows, renting land and eventually buying land. In this time frame we grew our ability to service customers, provide expertise, attract staff and grow and retail more seed. I eventually moved into the seed sales role as Matthew and Nathan came back to the farm and now Blair is our main sales person.
Customers (You!) came to buy seed (and continue to do so) & attend our events, farming economics got better, and we got better at what we do.
Our seed business has changed and grown a lot in the past 15 years and I feel like agriculture’s pace of change is only increasing. It has been fun to talk to you for all these years and now including your kids, staff, and agronomists. 
 
Where to From Here?
From here farmers ability to farm will be challenged by domestic government regulations, global trade non tariff barriers, deglobalization, market volatility, increased costs & farm consolidation.
I heard Kim McConnell speak at an Alberta Pulse Growers event about The Future of Agriculture and one area stuck with me. 

Agriculture may not have the 80/20 rule, rather he talked about the 80/18/2 rule. 2% of farms will be or are massive, 18% growing and active, and 80% in a spot where Kim doesn’t know where they fit or their future. He assumes only 15,000-20,000 farms have a gross income of over 1M of the 185,000 farms in Canada, so that’s the 20% (18+2%).

What does this mean to us? It means we serve a very diverse customer, from the largest farms and retail partners to the smallest farms needing 40 ac of seed. We ship about 1500-2000 tote bags a year now, some because of changes to where and how some of our seed is sold but a good portion of that is to small farms. We also have many who take treated seed home in the winter similar to how you bring home your fertilizer. As farms grow, logistics start to play a larger part of seed, and as the seed system changes we expect seed sales growth to continue. Value added specialty or niche programs, traceability, breeding value capture systems, purity needs, & forage use all tied to certified seed.
 
We need to be able to predict, anticipate and guess what and how much to grow of each variety as well. The seed business has some predictability but also a lot of speculation which can create its own challenges as sales volumes and customer demand can fluctuate so much from the time we plan to grow a crop or variety until its actually sold to you! 
Our biggest challenge and opportunity is to make sure you are served in the best way possible with value in your seed and services purchase from us. (So make sure we do this for you!)
 
Life is changing again as my oldest daughter is now in college taking Agriculture, I hit the big 40 last May, and now finally able to catch up with Blair joining 2 years ago on seed sales.
I wish you a successful 2024 farming season, healthy and happy families, and just the right amount of rain!