Wet Chemistry Soybean Series - Seed World

Sorghum PartnerSSeed Testing LaboratoryNot only are we a full service sorghum seedcompany, but we also have a full service seedlab with a Registered Seed Technologist onstaff. We test many crops including sorghum,corn, soybean, cotton, wheat, peanuts, oatsand many more.Please contact Terry at 1.806.853.8103 forservices and prices.Sorghum PartnersP.0. Box 189 | 403 Monroe St. | New Deal, TX 79350Terry.Dunfield@sorghum-partners.comYour Seed is inGood HandsContact us Today!Ask for Mike at 800-992-2824KrauterSolutionsFierce CompetitionLike other seedsmen, Kyle Thompson, owner of Prairie LandManagement Inc. of Glenwood, Minn., admits the native seedindustry is not for the faint of heart. The last few years havereally tested his mettle—and he’s not talking about the volatilenature of the business, funding cuts, or even competition fromother native seed companies.He says increased competition for seed sales and plantingservices from non-profit organizations and his local Soiland Water Conservation District office has crippled his business.Thompson, previously employed by the USDA’s NaturalResources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, SWCD,and other government agencies, started PLM in 1994. By 2001,his company, which grows and sells seed, and plans, prepares,plants and maintains land for conservation and habitat development,employed 54 people, and was planting over 10,000 acresof native grass species each year.Thompson says that same year his local SWCD officeacquired native grass drills and started selling seed. “Each year,up until 2001, in our own county we were providing 1,100 to1,200 acres of native grass plantings and seed sales. In 2001, wehad 86 acres and the county had over 2,000 ... By 2004, we had12.5 acres, and the county had 1,900. It literally took 90 to 95percent of our revenue away. It crippled us.”Thompson says since then the word has spread to otherSWCD offices that selling native seed and planting nativegrasses can be a lucrative venture. “Other surrounding SWCDoffices saw the opportunity to make money, so they got drillsand started selling seed,” he says.But Thompson maintains the SWCD, a governmentagency, and non-profit organizations have an unfair advantageover privately-owned companies, and he says he wants a levelplaying field. He says landowners are solicited by the employeesof local SWCD offices and non-profit organizations for nativeseed sales and planting services when they sign up for CRPprograms, because all offices arelocated in the same center. “Peoplehave to come in and sign up for the[CRP] programs, so they get accessto every landowner. They get solicitedby these groups. We can’t evenput up a flyer ... it’s just not a fairplaying field.”For now, Thompson says thisissue mainly affects the centralUnited States. But he warns competitionwith local SWCD offices andnon-profit organizations is becomingmore widespread. “Now it’sgetting worse, and private [nativeseed] companies are saying, ‘Weneed to do something about this.’A lot of them have gone out of businessbecause they couldn’t take itany longer. They just didn’t want tofight it,” he says.Despite the increased competition,Thompson, like other seedsmen,is optimistic about the futureof his sector. “I think there’s plenty of work out there to be done,”he says. “We fluctuate like any business, with trends going upand down. We will downsize a little if we need to, and if opportunitycomes along, we will increase equipment and staff. Thereare still plenty of opportunities.” Kari Belangermichael@krauter-storage.comwww.krautersolutions.com18 Seed World