Whenever someone asks me what Genesis Seed Solutions stands for, I always say the same thing: quality, quality, quality. My biggest goal each year is to produce high quality, consistent products that seed companies can rely on.
I grew up on a family farm. When my dad and my uncle first started Fegley Grain Cleaning in 1996, cross contamination between barley and wheat was an immediate concern. They put together a cleaning line to handle this type of contamination. The business continued to expand to meet additional issues in seed production.
After returning to the farm, I joined the partnership and became the sole owner in 2014. As the seed business grew, we arranged a partnership with United Agronomy, which led to the formation of Genesis Seed Solutions in 2018. From the very beginning, we made the decision that we were going to raise and sell CSO (Certified Seed Only) varieties and have stuck with that decision.
We now have two full-scale production facilities in Berthold that we manage to the highest standards and quality control protocols. Our two lines utilize the latest AI technology in our optical sorters as well as high-capacity cleaners to complement the process. This gives us the overall capacity and flexibility to find the best solution for each customer and to produce high quality seeds that maintain varietal purity.
We have a producer network of up to a hundred growers and thousands of acres of certified seed under production in West Central North Dakota and, with the help of Vision Research Park, we ensure the proper seed is grown on the right acre by a quality grower. This process cuts down on production risk.
One of the things we wanted to do when we started Genesis was raise the bar for seed production. Farmers no longer bring in bin run seed for cleaning and then plant it. We have almost eradicated bin run wheat in our area with this production process and set a new standard for what people expect from their product.
I was explaining the value of our production process to a farmer/customer. He was trying to understand the need for all the equipment we use after the screening machine. My answer to him was you have no problem with a few impurities in your bin run wheat seed. In fact, if it is too clean and uniform, you may assume I overcleaned it and you aren’t getting enough back. However, when you buy our CSO seed and there is one ergot or a few white caps, you assume there is a quality issue. All these machines after the “sieve mill” ensure you don’t call me upset with the seed you buy from us even though it is cleaner than the bin run you had been seeding. This farmer/customer is now one of our best advocates for our business. I am glad he gave me the opportunity to explain our value system.
For me, it’s simple: If the seed looks like crap, it doesn’t matter if it makes the spec It could be a 100% germ and a uniform seed count over the whole lot, but if it has some white tombstone kernels in it or ergot then nobody cares about the rest of it.
At the end of the day, it’s all about quality and consistency for us and adding value to the customer.
