Southeastern, PA. 30 miles west of Phila | For those of you who don't know I am from southeast PA.
I have a problem with all these post I am reading that make a blanket statement saying one seed company is crap I am switching to another one.
Let me explain why. First of all I am associated with a family-owned business that farms, custom sprays and sells seed (NK). I believe every seed company has at least a couple of good products. I also believe with the rarest of exceptions the grower who plants 100% of a certain brand is kicking himself in the pants!
So for those of you who are full-time farmers here is a piece of advice. Buy seed from the saleman who takes enough time to walk your fields during the growing season, check for stalk strength and all the other important things at harvest and then when it is time to order your seed is honest enough to tell you if he does not have the correct product for your farm and if what he is selling you is completely new to him and you. I tell all my growers every year they should plant 25% new stuff, 50% stuff that did well for them this past year and 25% that did well for them the past two years.
I understand that areas are different and maybe you don't have a good seed rep to buy from. Here in southeast PA we have some guys who all they do is sell seed and others who also sell other products such as fertilizer, chemicals, and custom application. Locally the guys who sell more than seed are the most honest.
Unfortunately all the local P dealers are dedicated seed salesman. And they are so desperate to sell another bag of seed they are willing to sell or even give away awful stuff. Locally P does not allow there dealers to sell competing brands. The reward for that is that the small independant seed companies, NK and Dekalb are gobbling up local market share. If this keeps up for another 5 years I doubt anyone will even plant P anymore! That would be a crying shame because P does have some good products along with all the rest. Why is this happening? Because in there desperation to regain market share they are selling junk some of the time and the rest of the time the comments they are making about there stuff is enough to turn guys off. Sorry for going off...I just hate to see companies self destruct even if they are competitors!
Hopefully ya'll understand what I am trying to say.
Keep the seed perfomance stuff coming, lets just leave the blanket statement stuff off the table.... |
Being critical of the seed industry
