Over the past few months, we’ve recognized multiple winners of the National Wheat Yield Contest. However, in the middle of a hectic harvest and big, award-winning yields, it can be easy to overlook one of the most important groups of people that make the season happen — the seed dealer. Without their hard work, wins at the National Wheat Yield Contest wouldn’t be possible.

A seed supplier isn’t necessarily just a third-party retailer of seed. Some suppliers, like Birdsall Grain and Seed in Berthold, North Dakota, are responsible for growing an entire batch of regulated and licensed seed products, which need to be conditioned and verified before they can resell it to other growers.

“Right now, we’re looking at the 2022 season,” says Blake Inman, the owner and general manager of Birdsall Grain and Seed. Inman is in business with his father-in-law, Mark Birdsall, who founded the company almost four decades ago.

“We’re primarily farmers,” Inman says. “But my father-in-law saw a different market opportunity in the mid-’80s for our region, and the seed-dealing business has grown from there.”

Inman and Birdsall divide up duties between their farm and seed dealership; Inman helms their successful dealership, while Birdsall works the farm. Birdsall Grain and Seed provided the seeds that propelled Raymond and Amanda Kopp from Des Lacs, North Dakota, to a third-place finish in the 2020 National Wheat Yield Contest in the Spring Wheat - Dryland category.

On the surface, it might seem that the job of a seed dealer is fairly similar to growing wheat for the sale of its grain. However, growing seed for resale comes with its own set of challenges. “Harvest is the most critical time for us,” Inman says. “Everyone needs to be on their toes. We need to clean down trucks, augers and bins between fields.” This process is necessary to ensure there is no cross-contamination between different types of seeds grown in different plots. This also ensures the product making its way to the bins, and ultimately to the growers, is pure.

After harvest, the seed goes through several local and state checks as well as verification from WestBred before the product is bagged and given a certificate that it is ready for sale.

On the front end of the business, running a dealership is like any other retail business. According to Inman, “You need to be good in customer service. You have to make it easy for the customers to get what they need. If you don’t take care of your customers, they won’t keep coming back.”

With nearly 40 years in business, Birdsall Grain and Seed does know how to stick around. For Inman, that longevity also allows him to look into the future and see what is coming down the pike for wheat. “It’s really nice to see money being spent in wheat breeding,” Inman says. “Corn and soy have seen those dollars over the past 20 years. Wheat has seen that attention in the past five years. I’m waiting for a year where we can average 100 bushels per acre here in North Dakota! I know that people have gotten close, but we’re still a ways from that.”

While those large yields may be in the future, Inman is all too happy to talk about the production practices that could lead the region there. “There are no secrets to production agriculture. We have a safe and secure food supply in this country, and I want more people to ask questions about what goes into producing food. We want to continue to provide the cheapest and safest food to the American people.”

If you have any thoughts on the food production process relating to wheat, we would love to hear from you! Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook, and tell us about your seed dealers.

To share your wheat story with WestBred, contact us at the.tiller@westbred.com

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