Seed Master, a Saskatchewan manufacturer of air drills, tanks, openers and metering systems, is not letting the worldwide economic recession stand in the way of progress.
Last week, the prairie-based company unveiled plans for a $3 million expansion at its production facilities in Emerald Park, Sask., just outside of Regina.
The expansion will include a 3,400 sq. foot addition to office space, a 19,000 sq. foot expansion of manufacturing space and the installation of a $1 million laser cutter expected to speed production and reduce contracted labour costs.
Seed Master, founded by farmer and agricultural engineer Norbert Beaujot, has already expanded twice since it began production in 2002.
Read Also
Ag in Motion speaker highlights need for biosecurity on cattle operations
Ag in Motion highlights need for biosecurity on cattle farms. Government of Saskatchewan provides checklist on what you can do to make your cattle operation more biosecure.
The third expansion, to be completed over the next few months, will allow the company to increase production and meet the growing demand for its air drills, which range in price from $100,000 to $200,000 per unit.
Seed Master was the first company in Canada to market an 80-foot and a 90-foot air drill. The company employs nearly 40 people and sells machines in Western Canada, the northern United States and Eastern Europe.
“We started with just a few machines in 2002, I think it was six to be exact, and we’ve expanded very vigorously since then,” said Beaujot, who still farms in the Langbank, Sask, area.
“Last year, I think we did about 150 complete drills … and that was about a 30 percent increase over the previous year.
“Considering the economic times, (2008-09) was an excellent year for us and it’s looking like it will be a similar increase for us this year.”
Seed Master’s success is founded on the company’s patented terrain following opener, which applies seed and fertilizer in separate channels and packs the ground in a single pass.
Before Beaujot patented his opener in 1992, placement of seed and fertilizer in separate bands was virtually unknown to large-scale dryland farmers.
“(It’s) now becoming more world recognized and I guess that’s part of the reason for our expansion,” said Beaujot.
“Until 1992, (separate placement of seed and fertilizer) was not done at all in a single opener and it took some years for farmers to recognize the benefits of it,” he said.
“Today, pretty well all farmers in Western Canada and all manufacturers in the Western world are recognizing the concept as the way to go in dryland farming.”
Despite the rising demand for Seed Master machines, Beaujot has limited the company’s growth to what he considers a manageable pace.
Also, the company manufactures machines only if they have been pre-ordered.
“We’ve been kind of limiting our expansion to about 30 percent a year. Any larger than that and it’s hard to maintain harmony in the whole manufacturing and distribution and servicing (areas).”
“And we’ve never exposed ourselves to any dangers as far as market fluctuations are concerned. There were companies that got caught on the wrong side of business with Russia and Kazakhstan in the last few months and we didn’t suffer at all from that.”
Seed Master is making inroads in the Eastern European market.
Last year, a French importer shipped about 10 units into Russia and Kazakhstan. This year, it hopes to sell about 20 or 25.
According to Beaujot, farmers in Eastern Europe are modernizing their operations and many are adopting no till farming techniques.
“They have very large farms and very similar weather patterns so it just seems like a natural fit for them to get into our way of farming.”
Asked if he could have predicted Seed Master’s success 20 years ago when he was designing his prototype opener, Beaujot said the company’s evolution was inconceivable.
“I remember dropping off that patent application at the post office in Langbank and thinking to myself that someday, maybe this will be worth a million dollars,” he said.
“I was way off. It’s worth much more than that.”
