Germination presents a series of stories on the 20 most influential people in the seed sector in 2018. Want to nominate someone for 2019? Email mzienkiewicz@issuesink.com with the subject line “Top 20 nomination”!
It would be hard to single out any specific member of the Olson family as influential — the Olsons function as a cohesive unit, each playing upon their own talents to strengthen the whole.
The northeast Saskatchewan-based Lyndon Olson, wife Betty and daughter Lynnell operate Seed Source, founded in 1998 and located along Hwy. 35 just west of Archerwill. The company processes over 7,000 acres of pedigreed seed each year and facilitates, contracts and processes identity preserved crops grown in Saskatchewan, marketed through Canada and United States.
Lyndon, 58, has been farming for 40 years and has been a pedigreed seed grower since 1984. An ag alumnus from the University of Saskatchewan, he’s been involved with several community and provincial organizations including the Saskatchewan Seed Growers’ Association, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and Archerwill Co-op Association. He’s a former president of the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association and currently sits on the SeCan board of directors.
He and Betty founded Seed Source partly as a way of showing their children that they can do more than just farm.
“There’s so much to be happy and excited about each day when you work in seed. We have a nice business along the highway, so we’re not stuck in the farmhouse all year long,” Lyndon says. “My kids can go to CSGA and CSTA meetings, network with the rest of the industry and develop into talented business people.”
Lynnell, 29, has jumped head-first into the family seed business, serving as agronomist and sales manager at Seed Source providing IP market opportunity with basic agronomy services such as weed and insect scouting, target plant stands and fertility practices. This allows Seed Source customers to maximize yield potential for each variety.
Along with her siblings Alica, 26, and Bryon, 24, she operates Caliber Seed Services — a third-party seed inspection company that focuses on in-field seed inspections for conventional and organic crops and IP programs that focus of crop purity. Like her dad, Lynnell enjoys making a difference in her industry and is currently involved with the Saskatchewan Institution of Agrologists, and Canada’s Authorized Seed Crop Inspection Services Association.
To say this is one influential family would be an understatement — the Olsons have become an example of how a farming family can build on its strengths to both create a brand and become known as people who live and breathe seed and agronomy.
“We enjoy working together and although we have similar goals, we have different personalities. It’s about knowing where our strengths lie and where those strengths fit into our businesses,” Lynnell says.
“My dad taught me so much about selling seed, which I’ve been doing since I graduated. I’m more into the public relations side, whereas my sister loves doing books and analyzing the bottom line. Bryon works more on the machinery and plant operations side to analyze our efficiency in and out of the field. Knowing our strengths allows us to work well together and makes for an efficient working relationship.”
Betty is the glue that keeps the moving parts of the operation together, Lynnell adds. “She serves as our communications coordinator and market guru, which keeps everyone on task and responding to market opportunities. It’s critical in any operation that there is someone in the background ensuring things get done so there are no do-overs and incomplete projects.”
For Lyndon, the seed industry is more than a means to make a living — it’s something that’s shaped his family and opens up a wealth of possibilities for its future.
“It adds to their professionalism, the fact they can go out and create a business of their own like Caliber Seed Services doing things like crop inspection. It’s fulfilling for them to have that value-added career,” Lyndon says.
“For me, you might say the seed industry has served as a succession tool. When things never change, that is discouraging for people. At Seed Source and Caliber, we’re always changing and adapting and doing new things. We love what we do.”
