Doom Seeds
Sirrina Martinez
Multimedia reporter
smartinez@pipestonestar.com
Don’t let the name Doom Seeds fool you, this company is not selling anything that will usher in the apocalypse anytime soon.
After graduating from the University of Nebraska in 2017 with a degree in agronomy, Chris Reagan, a partner in Doom Seeds, moved to the area that is home to his wife, Sara, and started helping at the company which was founded by his father-in-law, Kevin Doom, in the late 80s. Today, Reagan and his brother-in-law, Steven Doom, operate the business that is located on the family farm just South of Canby on Highway 75 in Yellow Medicine County.
The company has carried seeds from different producers over the years, Reagan said, and for a long time it was a Dekalb Asgrow dealer. Today, they sell Beck’s Hybrid seeds.
Reagan and his brother-in-law share duties, he said, ranging from salesman to logistics. The majority of their customers are in the Canby area, but they do have people they serve outside of that area.
“We do have a spread between Balaton and Clarkfield to the north and out to east to Porter but not much west of Canby,” Reagan said.
Corn and soybean sales is a big part of their services, Reagan said, and as a farm dealer rather than a bigger retailer, having a smaller operation allows them to focus heavily on customer service.
“We try to focus mostly on customer service as much as we can,” he said. “Delivering to the customer instead of making them come pick it up from us. Throughout the growing season if there are any issues we try to figure out the problems, offer agronomy advice. We try to give them everything they need.
Doom Seeds also offers seed treatment, Reagan said.
“We treat seed too if a customer has a specific seed treatment that he wants put on we can do that too,” he said. “We have a treater and a bulk system for beans.”
The industry is seeing changes in technology that make more options available to growers, Reagan said.
“There’s definitely more traits for corn,” he said. “I think the newest ones are call Bore Seed and SmartStax Pro. There is more root worm and insect protection. There are also a few more spray technologies with beans. There’s more coming in a year or two if they get approved. Seed treatments are getting a little bit better for insecticides, fungicides and biologicals. Everybody wants to plant as early as possible and sometimes the soil may not be not quite warm enough so that helps with germination and protecting the seedling before it gets out of the ground.”
Although not a major concern in this area as of now, growers should keep an eye on the rise of root worm cases, Reagan said, and tart spots which has been observed in states south of Minnesota.
“Root worm populations have been up, probably for the last two or maybe three years,” he said. “So guys have been switching more to fully traited corn instead of Double Pro’s above ground protection. We’ve seen a shift more toward SmartStax Pro’s and Bore Seeds to try to combat the root worm issues. Tar spots (Rhytisma acerinum) is something to be on guy’s minds. I don’t think it is as big of a problem in our area yet but it’s definitely coming. Iowa and Illinois, they’ve been dealing with it for a long time it is just a really nasty fungal disease that can decimate things if you’re not treating it or planting varieties of corn that are tolerant.”
As dealers, Doom Seeds has had the opportunity to develop an eye for spotting potential problems with seed, soil and established crops, which allows them to further serve their customers.
“When you’re a dealer you get to look at a lot more acres,” he said. “You know, one farmer might farm 800 acres and that’s the only acres he looks at. When you’re going out and looking at other guy’s stuff you see different things and you have to put it in your knowledge bank.”
With the potential for a dry spring, Reagan encourages producers to look at hybrid seed that is more water efficient, and to check out the Beck’s Hybrids seed brand.
“I would encourage people to check out Beck’s hybrid, they offer a lot and they are a unique company,” he said. “They are a family owned company, the biggest one in the U.S., family owned anyway. They sell genetics from the big three corn companies. There’s a lot of different options as far as trait packages and genetics and stuff like that. They have a lot of good programs that at first might seem a little too good to be true but once you become a Beck’s customer and you learn more about the company, a lot of our customers quickly realize that they can do a lot of stuff that other companies who have share holders cannot do.”
For anyone looking to get in touch with Reagan and the rest of the Doom’s Seeds crew, they can stop by the shop on Highway 75 or find their contact information on Google.
Multimedia reporter
smartinez@pipestonestar.com
Don’t let the name Doom Seeds fool you, this company is not selling anything that will usher in the apocalypse anytime soon.
After graduating from the University of Nebraska in 2017 with a degree in agronomy, Chris Reagan, a partner in Doom Seeds, moved to the area that is home to his wife, Sara, and started helping at the company which was founded by his father-in-law, Kevin Doom, in the late 80s. Today, Reagan and his brother-in-law, Steven Doom, operate the business that is located on the family farm just South of Canby on Highway 75 in Yellow Medicine County.
The company has carried seeds from different producers over the years, Reagan said, and for a long time it was a Dekalb Asgrow dealer. Today, they sell Beck’s Hybrid seeds.
Reagan and his brother-in-law share duties, he said, ranging from salesman to logistics. The majority of their customers are in the Canby area, but they do have people they serve outside of that area.
“We do have a spread between Balaton and Clarkfield to the north and out to east to Porter but not much west of Canby,” Reagan said.
Corn and soybean sales is a big part of their services, Reagan said, and as a farm dealer rather than a bigger retailer, having a smaller operation allows them to focus heavily on customer service.
“We try to focus mostly on customer service as much as we can,” he said. “Delivering to the customer instead of making them come pick it up from us. Throughout the growing season if there are any issues we try to figure out the problems, offer agronomy advice. We try to give them everything they need.
Doom Seeds also offers seed treatment, Reagan said.
“We treat seed too if a customer has a specific seed treatment that he wants put on we can do that too,” he said. “We have a treater and a bulk system for beans.”
The industry is seeing changes in technology that make more options available to growers, Reagan said.
“There’s definitely more traits for corn,” he said. “I think the newest ones are call Bore Seed and SmartStax Pro. There is more root worm and insect protection. There are also a few more spray technologies with beans. There’s more coming in a year or two if they get approved. Seed treatments are getting a little bit better for insecticides, fungicides and biologicals. Everybody wants to plant as early as possible and sometimes the soil may not be not quite warm enough so that helps with germination and protecting the seedling before it gets out of the ground.”
Although not a major concern in this area as of now, growers should keep an eye on the rise of root worm cases, Reagan said, and tart spots which has been observed in states south of Minnesota.
“Root worm populations have been up, probably for the last two or maybe three years,” he said. “So guys have been switching more to fully traited corn instead of Double Pro’s above ground protection. We’ve seen a shift more toward SmartStax Pro’s and Bore Seeds to try to combat the root worm issues. Tar spots (Rhytisma acerinum) is something to be on guy’s minds. I don’t think it is as big of a problem in our area yet but it’s definitely coming. Iowa and Illinois, they’ve been dealing with it for a long time it is just a really nasty fungal disease that can decimate things if you’re not treating it or planting varieties of corn that are tolerant.”
As dealers, Doom Seeds has had the opportunity to develop an eye for spotting potential problems with seed, soil and established crops, which allows them to further serve their customers.
“When you’re a dealer you get to look at a lot more acres,” he said. “You know, one farmer might farm 800 acres and that’s the only acres he looks at. When you’re going out and looking at other guy’s stuff you see different things and you have to put it in your knowledge bank.”
With the potential for a dry spring, Reagan encourages producers to look at hybrid seed that is more water efficient, and to check out the Beck’s Hybrids seed brand.
“I would encourage people to check out Beck’s hybrid, they offer a lot and they are a unique company,” he said. “They are a family owned company, the biggest one in the U.S., family owned anyway. They sell genetics from the big three corn companies. There’s a lot of different options as far as trait packages and genetics and stuff like that. They have a lot of good programs that at first might seem a little too good to be true but once you become a Beck’s customer and you learn more about the company, a lot of our customers quickly realize that they can do a lot of stuff that other companies who have share holders cannot do.”
For anyone looking to get in touch with Reagan and the rest of the Doom’s Seeds crew, they can stop by the shop on Highway 75 or find their contact information on Google.
