If you could sum up your seed business for your customers in a single sentence, what would you say? “Agronomists selling genetics suited to each of your fields,” says Kevin Dockter, seed team leader at Farmers Union Oil Company in Forman, ND.

In fact, hiring knowledgeable agronomic salespeople was the first investment the full-service co-op made when it began selling seed in 1996. “We watched the off-patent strategy of crop protection companies and saw that money was going into seed traits,” Dockter says, explaining that the co-op likewise began investing more in seed-related activities.

With four locations serving a two-county area in southeastern North Dakota, Farmers Union Oil invested in a few more pickup trucks and hired more people to travel and sell. As seed sales grew, the co-op invested in more equipment, including bulk bins and seed-treating and seed-inoculating equipment.

The co-op's seed sales have indeed grown. In fact, they have doubled every year for the last three years. Today, Farmers Union Oil sells about $2.1 million worth of seed compared to the $40,000 it sold the first year it began offering seed.

Dockter attributes the co-op's success in the seed business in part to its agronomists who commit the time to evaluate their customers' soil tests and fertilizer and chemical programs before recommending seed products. Armed with this data, they make informed decisions about what varieties will work best in individual fields. The primary crops grown in the area are wheat, soybeans, corn and sunflowers.

The co-op evaluates hybrid and variety performance in RATE plots located in its sales territory. It shares this and other information with growers in postharvest meetings.

Agronomists with Farmers Union Oil also are involved in ongoing training with representatives from Croplan Genetics and NK Brand Syngenta Seeds, the two companies with which it works. The seed company representatives have been very good about sharing information on how traits will perform under particular environmental conditions, Dockter says.

Being able to select from both Croplan Genetics and NK Brand seed products, Farmers Union Oil and its customers have access to different genetic sources with highly prized traits, such as the Roundup Ready trait, and Bt to combat the European corn borer. Croplan Genetics has had access to Monsanto traits for several years. “The Roundup Ready trait has been very popular in our area,” Dockter says, noting that 99% of all the soybean acres and about 75% of the corn acres in the co-op's area are planted to Roundup Ready products.

Farmers Union Oil gained another genetic source and a lot of traits when it began working with NK Brand seed. “We also were able to pick up LibertyLink corn through Syngenta,” Dockter says. Through NK Brand, the co-op has access to corn and soybean seed, as well as sunflower and alfalfa seed products.

No other retailer in the co-op's area offers this particular package of genetics and name recognition, Dockter says. This gives Farmers Union Oil a competitive advantage. Still, it faces challenges with competitors who “give seed away.” Because they often do not spend a great deal of time with farmers on properly placing seed, they can afford to offer more discounts, Dockter says.

Farmers Union Oil, however, is concentrating on long-term relationships by recommending seed as well as fertilizer and crop protection products that are suited to the individual customer's situation and goals for profitability. “If you can provide all three and do a good job, you provide a service that customers value,” Dockter says.

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