State of the 2014 Seed Supply
By Mark Grundmeier, Soybean Product Manager
#Harvest13 is underway across the Upper Midwest. Many farmers prepare to sell their crops – either now or sometime in the near future. But at family-owned Latham Hi-Tech Seeds, the 2013 #soybean crop becomes our 2014 seed supply.
Production growers have started bringing in more bushels than we had expected, and we’ve been pleasantly surprised with the results. The size of the soybeans is larger than we had expected as dry years often produce small seed sizes. We’re also happy with the preliminary condition of the seed beans as they’re coming into our plant.
Product Manager, Mark Grundmeier hand probes a load of freshly harvested Latham Hi-Tech Soybeans rolling into the plant.
As the seed travels from our growers’ fields through our processing plant, we aim to be as gentle as possible to preserve the quality of the soybeans and to avoid cracking the seed coats. Some of our handling equipment is the same as that used by a maker of corn flakes. You know it’s gentle if it keeps a corn flake intact!
Farmers who planted Latham® Hi-Tech Soybeans in 2012, for example, noticed a drastic difference when our soybeans had 10% higher germination than our competitors. We heard more than one customer tell us he was surprised when the actual germination was higher than the number we had placed on the tag. The reverse situation occurred on the competitor’s soybeans, and the tag on the bag actually showed the germination to be 4% better than the true germ.
From the growers who take the utmost care of our foundation seed, to the individuals who hand-test the raw product, we follow a stringent, quality-driven process. Click here for more details about our hands-on process.
