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Baldwin City, KS | My brother and I sell seed, mainly to bet a little better deal on seed we plant. Selling large scale hasn't been our focus so far, but it's good when we do sell some as we go. We started farming on our own from scratch and aren't out trying to get ground for the old man so he can afford to keep his help around or something like that. Most folks around seem to be supportive of our growth and we try to do it as ethical as possible without just sitting on our a$$ and waiting for land to fall in our lap. However I'm sure we make some people nervous(including the banker) since we have gone from 80 to800+ acres in around five years and no doubt fit the competitor status, as it were.
I have wondered how this affects the potential to move very much seed as a farmer dealer. There are aggressive producers around here that I could picture as problems if they did sell seed. I'm sure they might have a similar view of us as well, even if we are friends and neighbors in the local ag community.
I have noticed similarities between the two farmer dealers around here that move alot of seed. One operation is more or less subsidized by outside sources and the operator shows no real signs or needs for competing for additional land. In my opinion and I'm sure others, there is no real need to view this guy as competition for rental land since they pretty much can own it if they want to farm it.
The other guy is likely happy with the size of his operation as well and doen't to appear to compete for land. He also places a tremendous amount of focus on his seed dealership and likely realizes the implications to be had if he is viewed as a land shark.
Alot of guys around here also purchase from the local Coop. It is my view that farmers as a whole might likely be more comfortable with someone that isn't making an obvious effort to expand operations when it comes to choosing input suppliers. Nobody's fault, just the way things work. | |
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Are you buying Seed from a competitor?
