26 / SEEDWORLD.COM JUNE 2017 PURCHASING EQUIPMENT FOR your operation, regardless of type or function, is no small investment. In some cases it can tie up a large amount of capital. Couple this with the decline of on-farm income each of the past four to five years, and that directly impacts seed and equip- ment companies. There’s a whole domino effect, and we, too, have had to adjust. Customers have been asking for longer terms on their capital investments. As a family business, we care about each customer and do our best to accommo- date their needs. This includes assessing individual customer credit terms. However, we also acknowledge the financial and operating risks that come with offering extended terms, as we pay for labor and raw materials upfront in the manufacturing world. It is our responsibility as a company to recognize that we are not in the financing business; we are in the manufacturing business, and our business is making equipment to help customers with pro- cessing solutions that meet or exceed their expectations. To help address this financing chal- lenge our team at Oliver stepped outside of the norm. Oliver has since partnered with Pinnacle Capital Partners to offer customers more financing options and increased flexibility. Now, depending on customers’ needs, they can defer pay- ments up to 180 days, make monthly payments or even seasonal payments. Customers don’t have to go to their bank or tie up a line of credit to take advantage of this option. Pinnacle treats the equipment being purchased as the collateral, meaning customers don’t have Financial Environment Requires Flexbility, More Options MELANIE KNAPP OLIVER MANUFACTURING CONTROLLER Melanie.Knapp@olivermanufacturing.com • olivermanufacturing.com to provide additional collateral. We’ve tried to integrate this partnership with Pinnacle into our process and customer service model to make it as seamless as possible. This can all be done with the click of a button on our website. It’s a win-win-win scenario for all three parties involved. While a tough economic environment takes a toll on the people involved with added stress, concern and often longer hours, it forces us to evaluate our prac- tices and look outside what we would consider the norm. Often times, you can find new and better ways of doing things. During times such as this, when customers are more conservative with their dollars, what might you be able to change for the better? SEED SAFETY STUDIES play an important role in ensuring that seed treatment manufacturers are delivering a product to the end user that’s going to perform as expected over an extended period of time. It’s necessary to look at how a new active ingredient or the combination of seed treatments affects seed qual- ity, especially germination and vigor. A standard seed safety study can verify previous research and serve as a quality control checkpoint, depending on the job at hand. Seed safety studies are used to compare the impact of different treat- ment combinations or new formulations on germination and seed vigor over a specified period of time. For me, it’s important to first listen to what a customer wants to accomplish and look at their needs, and then design an experiment that will put it to the test. Depending on the intent of the experi- ment, we often select one hybrid or one variety for consistency, and we ask for seed from both high-quality and low- quality lots. Contingent on the industry practice for seed storage of the crop evaluated, we may design a shorter or longer duration of the study — 12 months versus 24 months if looking at treatment effect on stor- ability. We will plant an untreated control and conduct both warm (germination) and vigor tests prior to the treatment and after the treatment. A company may want to examine how the treated seed responds to: changes in ambient temperature, storage condi- tions and different genetics. Or does the active ingredient in any way negatively or positively impact seed quality? There are many factors to consider and an experi- ment can be designed to examine exactly Seed Treatment Safety Studies Provide a Key Performance Check DANELL JAMIESON EUROFINS BIODIAGNOSTICS MANAGER, STANDARD SEED TESTING DaNellJamieson@eurofinsUS.com • eurofinsus.com/biodiagnostics what it is you’re trying to pinpoint, or it can be a broader experiment looking at the total effect. If you want to initiate a standard seed safety study, I would allow three months lead time, as we’ll need to setup the design, get the seed in house, select the hybrid or variety, test the seed, treat it and plant it. Standard seed safety studies give companies confidence in how the seed will perform under real growing condi- tions. Why gamble on your customer’s satisfaction? Why not know how your seed treatment will perform?