Hard Work and Forward-Thinking, a Seed Dealer’s Secret Inoculant
BY Dairyland Seed Marketing Team
Way up in Glyndon, Minnesota, about 10 miles from Fargo, North Dakota, farmers can only dream of 330-bushel corn. That doesn’t faze the guys at AB Seed LLC. They treat their customers right and their seed well. Business is good.
Trygve Skolness, his son, Parker, and his son-in-law Justin Magnuson run the farm and the seed business together. They crop 3,200 acres of corn, soybeans, and sugar beets. Trygve has been farming with “skin in the game” for 51 years. He’s been the linchpin of the operation, but lately has begun working on a transition plan. One day down the road, Parker will take the lead on the farm while Justin manages the seed business. They represent the fourth generation.
“My grandparents moved up here more than 100 years ago to get away from the Spanish flu,” says Trygve. “And as soon as they got up here, they got the flu.” They survived. Their story reminds Trygve that even best-laid plans sometimes can go awry, which is one reason he’s focused on a financially efficient transition plan.
Back in the ‘90s, Trygve decided he wanted to take on more work and began to dabble in financial planning. He didn’t love it. So when a seed company representative suggested he try selling seed instead, something much closer to his day job, Trygve gave it a try. “A hobby at first,” he says. It’s not a hobby any longer. They’ve invested in a lot of technology, pursuing their quest to be thought of as the area’s most forward-thinking seed supplier.
“One of the things we’ve gotten into big here is treating,” says Justin. “We’re adding more soybean inoculants and biologicals. We’re applying biologicals with the treater and through foliar spraying. We see promise with that. We’ll continue investing in technology and doing what it takes to deliver what customers want.”
Trygve and Justin both say success begins with the seed, and they are big on Dairyland Seed, citing their iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC)--tolerant beans as an example. “The new Dairyland genetics that are coming forward, you almost have to give them an excellent against IDC,” says Trygve. IDC is a big problem up there in the Red River Valley. And it shows up just about every season, sometimes with a vengeance, to remind farmers they should be using tolerant varieties.
Justin says the IDC rating and the scores plus yield are main things they’re looking for when doing test plots. “It’s really important to us in our test plots because it’s a vital aspect of sales. A lot of guys like to look at that IDC score first right alongside yield.” This year’s plots are the best they have ever been.
“It’s easier to be the smartest guy in the room when you’ve got great products to sell,” Trygve adds.
DSR-0920E™ has been a stable, full-season product for them. Trygve calls it a great bean with natural resistance to phytophthora and above average tolerance for IDC. Other beans popular with customers are DSR-0660E™, DSR-1121E™ and DSR-0585E™. For corn, their customers tend to choose DS-2919AM™, DS-3159AM™ and DS-3022AM™.
Trygve’s going to miss this when he steps away from the business, but that’s probably a ways off. His dad worked on the farm until he was 86 years old, so Trygve has quite a few years to go before matching his dad.
“I’ll miss the work. The variety of things you do, it’s different every month. It’s not punching a clock. Sitting at a desk or stamping out a piece of metal. It’s not the same thing every day. I would just miss that,” he says.
Justin and Parker say he needs to stick around longer. Justin especially benefits because he didn’t have much farming in his background when he joined the team 12 years ago. “I’m always learning. Especially on equipment, working on machinery, maintenance, problem-solving, genetics and seed. It can be a little intimidating. But I feel good that learning so much about seed helps me catch up with the guys who’ve been farming their whole lives,” he says.
Selling and growing seed gives the guys an advantage with customers. Presenting data on paper helps, but for farmers there’s nothing like walking a test plot in soils that are just like yours. You’re seeing what’s working at the moment. “When they know we’re viewing performance from both a farmer’s perspective and a seed dealer’s, there’s just a little bit of extra like in there for us,” says Justin.
AB Seed goes the extra mile on service, literally. Justin recalls the time they had their flatbed loaded to the gills for a 40-minute drive to a customer’s farm. The truck died. When the tow truck operator arrived, he hooked up their rig and towed Justin to the customer’s house. Picture that. “A tow truck pulling the seed truck with the load on it. We got the load off and then got the truck fixed in town. Always finding a way to get stuff done for our customers,” he says.
Good thing, because competition is everywhere, whether it’s coming from the skies, the soils or down the road. “Seems like there used to be a Lutheran church every 7 miles and now it seems like there’s a different seed dealership every 7 miles around here,” says Trygve. Even so, they see an opportunity to grow their business because, as Trygve says, “Dairyland’s soybean varieties are second to none.”
It’s the same simple way Trygve describes Randy Readel, their Dairyland Seed District Manager. “He answers the phone anytime, and his product knowledge is second to none. He was previously an agronomist. His overall knowledge is excellent. He makes things happen for us. Product availability, finance, and discounts if needed.”
When not working, Parker likes to ice fish from his 38-foot Ice Castle, “a Holiday Inn on ice,” jokes Trygve. Justin coaches his son’s football team and stays busy with sports for his kids, squeezing in some hunting when he can.
For Trygve, work is his favorite pastime. “I don’t belong to a club to lift weights or run on a track. I’d rather grab a broom, sweep the floor and work up a sweat doing that. Not to mention all the other physical work around here. To me the work is exercise. I really enjoy it.”
Hard work. That’s one way to be the best. It’s a character trait they all possess and should serve them well as they pursue their goal to be the forward-thinkers their customers can count on.