Kentland, Indiana, USA
September 25, 2013
Wehmeyer Seed Company has just completed an intensive expansion and renovation of their Mascoutah, Illinois facilities. Nearly doubling seed plant capacity to over 1,000,000 bushels, the wheat and soybean seed handling facilities are now among the nation’s most modern and technologically advanced.
Dale Wehmeyer is Owner of the independently owned and operated regional seed company. He said the investment in the facilities makes the company best prepared to provide a growing number of customers with seed handled with meticulous care, and with precise application and distribution of seed treatment products.
Wehmeyer said, “The plant was designed to handle the seed gently from start to finish. All the seed is transferred between equipment with vibrators and horizontal cup elevators. Our focus is to keep the product in a high quality condition from start to finish. The new air screen machine, color sorters, and gravity tables do a superb job of the cleaning process, and enhance the quality of the seed coming from our facility.”
He noted, “With the seed industry’s strong focus on precise seed count, the new Opti-Count scanner will please customers. It will automatically check seed size on a continuous basis to ensure proper packaging, labeling, and seed treatment application.” He added that as the industry changes from ounces per hundredweight to milligrams per seed treatment rates, the cutting-edge Gustafson seed treater connects with the scanner for exact treatment applications for any size seed. “It assures that we are never under applying, never over applying – but providing optimal protection at exact rates for the producer who is purchasing the seed.”
“We’ve always built our business around doing an honest, professional job,” Wehmeyer said. “We put a high quality seed product in the bag, and as a result, develop a special relationship with our customers. We have continued to grow. We realized it was time to expand our capacity, and the same time, update to state-of-the art equipment. Our updates and upgrades make our plant safer for our employees, and take the quality of our seed products to a higher level. Together, this allows us to grow for our customers’ benefit well into the future.”
The renovated facilities include a new Cimbria Delta air screen machine, Satake Evolution color sorters, 2 matched Oliver Maxi-Cap gravity tables, an LMC resort gravity table, Annex easy dump grain legs, Gustafson GLCPS seed treater, Opticount scanner, programmable samplers, sensor switches, touch-screen controls, and a host of system checks, monitors and shut-offs to assure accuracy throughout the entire seed handling process.
Wehmeyer Seed Company joined AgVenture’s nationwide network of independently owned and operated Regional Seed Companies in 2007. Wehmeyer said, “Joining AgVenture has contributed to our ability to grow and advance. We are able to access seed genetics and technologies that are specifically adapted to central and southern Illinois growing environments. Our AgVenture Yield Specialists work year-round in the field, and year-to-year to provide planning and production support. Together, those factors have greatly contributed to our growth and our customers’ profitability.”
AgVenture Business Development Manager, Chuck Schneider notes, “We are very proud to recognize Wehmeyer Seed Company’s progressive commitment to the precision and accuracy that directly impact their customers’ bottom line. This state-of-the-art transformation will benefit their customers for years to come.”
AgVenture, Inc. is the nation’s largest network of independently owned regional seed companies. Based in Kentland, Indiana, AgVenture provides this growing network of independently owned and managed seed business owners with seed products meeting exacting standards for quality, together with leading-edge genetics and technology. Since 1983, this unique marketing approach has allowed each individual company to match the hybrids it sells to the specific needs of the geographical area it serves. Combined with professional seed representation at a local level, AgVenture strives to help every grower realize more profit from every field.
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