Minn-Kota Ag Products Sells Answers

Inside a modest office building near a residential neighborhood in the quiet community of Breckenridge, Minn., things can get a little crazy.

Welcome to Minn-Kota Ag Products, where the door rarely stops swinging and phones are constantly ringing. Farmers come from all around to purchase their crop protection products, chemicals, fertilizers and seed here.

Jimmy Haberman manages the seed. His job is to help farmers put the best possible varieties in their ground. It’s a hectic existence and not the future he initially envisioned for himself.

Minn-Kota Seed Sales Manager Jimmy Haberman is happy to relax a bit outside the office service desk after another busy day.

Jimmy grew up in town on his family’s farm. After high school, he attended Moorhead State University and earned a degree in business.

“I was planning to go live in the big city,” he says, “but soon came to realize I didn’t want to open my windows and see my neighbors, so I decided to go back to the family farm with my dad and uncle.”

As time went by, keeping the farm profitable wasn’t easy, especially after his dad passed away suddenly, and they didn’t have a succession plan.

To help make ends meet, Jimmy diversified – a lot. He ran five semis, hauling grain and sugar beets. He sold seed, scouted equipment for neighbors to purchase, drove a school bus, and became a speech coach, doing as much as he could squeeze into a day just trying to survive.

“I was blessed to have a bunch of quality part-time workers with me. But it got to the point where I was spread too thin trying to make it work. Too many jobs, not doing any of them well. But what can I say? I just liked to work,” he says.

Besides, he could see the writing on the wall with the farm’s cost of production. After crunching the numbers and seeing he could get out debt-free, he sold.

Seed sales – and nothing else – became his future. In August of 2008, he landed at Minn-Kota Ag Products. The business operates grain and agronomy divisions. They have a hand in everything from the seed sale to crop marketing.

There’s a constant buzz of activity here. Trucks move in and out of the yard. Phones ring all day long. The guys at the service desk take calls from their satellite offices and farmers, sourcing product, answering questions and solving problems, some days from 5 a.m. till midnight.

“Organized chaos,” Jimmy says.

Minn-Kota customers gather to view results of a large corn and soybean plot located at the new Minn-Kota elevator in morton, ND.

Right now, it’s June and it’s hot and dry, and farmers are calling for opinions. Should they replant this late? What percentage of the crop will make it? Is it okay to apply? Jimmy and his colleagues work hard to have answers that make sense for each farmer.

Fortunately, Minn-Kota is big enough to have specialists on staff. Fertilizer guys can focus on their thing. Other guys can focus on crop protection products and chemicals. Jimmy focuses on seed.

“Sometimes helping a customer with seed is like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. I have the time and experience to do it. My colleagues here don’t have to try and figure it out. And vice versa. We’re a great team here,” he says.

Back in 2012, Minn-Kota was looking for a supplier of alfalfa, silage and conventional corn to fill holes in its offering. That’s when Dairyland Seed entered the picture. Jimmy has been happy with the seed and the service ever since.

Although Minn-Kota has agronomists on staff and several of the employees are certified crop advisors, Jimmy can count on Dairyland Seed for technical support. Even better, he says, is that when he calls with a question, he gets his answer.

A Dairyland Seed alfalfa plot receives a June cutting against the backdrop of Minn-Kota’s new elevator in morton.

“There’s no waiting around for a message to snake its way through a corporate maze,” Jimmy says. “One example, I had a farmer who wanted Dairyland Seed varieties but there weren’t enough bags. I got on a call with my DSM, Chad Birchem, and Amy O’Brien at the Dairyland Seed office, and they solved the problem in 15 minutes. The corn was on the farm the next day. That wouldn’t happen at a lot of other companies.

“Dairyland Seed is the kind of company we enjoy working with. Nice people, hardworking, eager to please. We have a good working relationship. It’s a strong relationship. We get through the hiccups because of it. I know Dairyland Seed will take care of me one way or another. The people make the difference,” Jimmy says.

In turn, Jimmy’s attitude toward selling has always been to do what’s right for the grower. He never goes on a sales call with a script. The first meeting is an interview. He’s there to hear the challenges and goals, to talk about the ground, and to understand the big picture.

If he doesn’t believe Minn-Kota can help, he says so. It’s an approach to selling that didn’t go over so well at his first seed sales job. But it’s just the way he’s wired.

“That’s how this company is wired. We solve problems. We fill holes. Whatever it takes. We don’t have tunnel vision,” he says.