New Way To Sell Hybrid Seed Corn

New way to sell hybrid seed corn SPECIALTY/SERVICES Specialty/Services 10-1-5 "We're going to change the way seed corn is sold," says George Jacques, Ellsworth, Wis., who last fall began running ads in major farm magazines to announce his new "no frills" way to sell hybrid seed corn, and to expose what he called "the myth." "Most of the parent lines of seed corn you buy originate at one of 18 sources, making all seed corn pretty much the same no matter who you buy it from," said the initial advertisement announcing his new discount operation called George's Seed Outlets. "In plain talk, most seed companies are selling the exact same pedigrees as one another but are calling them their own. There is very little mystery in the seed corn business. This is how it works. Foundation inbreds ù available to all seed companies ù are purchased from industry suppliers out of a central common bank. They are crossed by seed companies in large production fields, then packaged, marketed and sold under many brand names. As a no frills operation, George's Seed Outlets can supply the same proven pedigreed hybrids at 20% lower cost," George promised in his advertisements. By the end of December, they had generated close to 800 responses from prospective distributors and sales supervisors. The "business plan" George sends to prospective employees notes that "1985 was a very good seed corn production year so seed corn production costs are low. I have a choice of many good hybrids, and a choice of over 300 seed companies to buy from. I have selected only the best single crosses and have specified top seed quality. Their performance will be as good as the best on the market, only lower in price," explains George. "We're using narrow margins and high volume to make it work," he told FARM SHOW. "There are no free caps, tennis shoes or trips. We offer no credit terms and no volume discounts. Legally, we're prevented from making a direct cross reference of our hybrids with similar branded hybrids. While we can't guarantee a farmer the exact same seed he's been buying under a brand label, we are able to supply seed which we feel is as good or better in performance. All seed we sell will be tested for germination and purity." For the 1986 planting season, George's Seed Outlets is marketing in 11 states ù Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. "We plan to have one outlet in every county in areas with high corn acreage. Each outlet owner has an exclusive territory. A $500 deposit, applied against the first seed invoices until used up, is required to get a distributorship. This is to prevent someone from tying up a county without working it," says George. He's offering 18 hybrids in 10 maturity groups from 75 to 120 days. It's all pure line single crosses, and modified single crosses, packaged in 80,000 and 90,000 kernel bags and available in medium flats and rounds, or small plateless kernel sizes. The earlier a customer buys, the more he saves. A bushel of medium rounds, for example, retails for $55.16 in January, $56.05 in February, $56.97 in March, $57.82 in April and $59 in May. Outlets will also sell alfalfa, sorghum and sunflower seed. George, with 37 years experience, is well known and respected in the seed industry. For 27 years he worked for and headed the family-owned Jacques Seed Co., headquartered at Prescott, Wis. The firm was purchased in 1975 by Rorer-Amchem, a chemical company which was purchased in 1977 by Union Carbide. Agrigenetics, which bought Jacques from Union Carbide in 1980, was itself purchased, along with Jacques Seed, in January, 1985 by Lubrizol Corp., of Cleveland, Ohio. George stayed on as president through all the ownership changes until last August when he left Agrigenetics, claiming at the time he'd been fired. In a lawsuit that ensued over his departure, and a prior non-compete agreement, the two parties agreed last Nov. 27 to a settlement. That settlement, according to court documents, includes the following agreements: • That George, for a perio

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