Volume18.08

August 2018

August 2018

FULL THROTTLE - Harvesting, Cleaning and Shipping

Harvest has gone very well this year. Most of the seed is out of the field and now either in a pile outside or inside a warehouse. We are very glad for the cooperative weather this past couple of months! Now its onto cleaning and shipping, and if you were a mouse in a corner in any of the seed warehouses in Oregon, you’d probably fear for your life, not from the cats or poison, but from the frenzied scurrying of all these two-legged creatures, forklifts, and trucks. Furthermore, the seed you munched on the in the morning would likely not be there in the afternoon. With near-zero carryover in multiple species, the Oregon seed community is all about getting you and your customers product right now. While we are all doing our best, the bottlenecks are growing. Seed labs are getting backed up, all transportation pieces are beyond capacity, and, yes, most all sales and office staff are growing more loopy and slap-happy by the day. And its all thanks to you! Yes. THANK YOU for being in the seed business. THANK YOU for doing business with Oregon-based companies. And, THANK YOU especially for choosing to partner with Smith Seed Services!

Harvesting grass seed
Multicolored coated seeds

New Coating Facility To Open

Due to the increasing demand for application of coating technologies, Smith Seed Services has recently secured a location in Lamar, MO for a second coating operation. Targeted to help our coating customers stay competitive, this new facility will be solely for servicing customer’s coating needs and will not be used for processing, storing or selling seed. We will continue to take care of those needs through the home office in Halsey, OR! The Smith Seed Lamar Coating Plant is expected to be up and running by the end of the year. Those interested in discussing custom coating options available through this facility should contact their Smith Seed sales representative or contact Brian Jaasko.

Seed Lost in Fire

Some of you may have heard that we lost some seed a couple of weeks ago in a fire at the Belco storage facility. While one building was completely destroyed along with the seed inside, damage was limited to that building. The rest of the facility and its operations were not affected and gratefully, no one was injured. Thanks especially to those who expressed their care and concern. Thanks also to those who were patient with us as we had to cancel or change their orders.

Fire damage at Belco storage facility.