Jason Garvick grew up around the seed business his father, Dale, began over 40 years ago. Now Jason, pictured in the office at the company’s new location, has taken over the management of the business, although his father remains very active and involved with the company.

Like many young people growing up in Faribault County, Jason Garvick had plans to build a life away from his hometown area of Kiester. And, just like many of those younger people, Garvick eventually decided back home would not be such a bad place to live.

Jason Garvick is the J in D & J Seeds, which is located just north of Kiester on State Highway 22. The D stands for his father Dale who began the family seed business more than 40 years ago.

“I’ve been around the business my whole life,” the younger Garvick says. “Dad started the business in the town of Kiester.”

In fact, one of the oldest locations for the seed business was located in what is currently the Kiester Municipal Liquor Store.

“Dad eventually moved the operation out to his farm in the early 2000s,” Garvick comments. “When the decision was made to start fresh on a new property, we knew we wanted to be located on a hard-surface road.”

Garvick shares that the new site, which they moved to in January of 2024, has a 24,000-bushel bulk soybean capacity.

“Most of the soybean seed comes from the Pioneer soybean production plant in Jackson,” Garvick notes.

After graduating from high school, Garvick began his college education at Winona State University before switching schools and attending South Central Vocational School in Mankato.

“I knew I wanted to get back to being involved in agriculture,” Garvick states. “I ended up enrolling at the University of Minnesota and obtained my degree in agronomy.”

He worked in Alexandria for a year with CHS before coming back to the Kiester area in 2012.

“Dad was going to hire someone else to help him operate the business and I told him I was interested in the position,” Garvick says. “I had to go through the interview process, but I did get the job. I took over as the primary agent for the business in 2021.”

Garvick notes that his job really follows a seasonal cycle.

“Early in the year I wear the hat of a logistics inventory manager. I need to be sure we have the correct seed on hand,” Garvick states. “I will also set up research plots and trials. Some farmers come and pick up their own seed, but I also deliver seed to some farmers, sometimes right to their planter.”

After the crops have emerged Garvick will be checking fields to see how well the stands are established. He will also begin scouting for weeds.

“I put on my full-time agronomy hat during the summer months,” he remarks. “In June I will already start evaluating product for the next year and begin putting information together for my customers. When the fall season comes around I will be helping calibrate yield monitors and begin collecting data from the harvest.”

Garvick says that by October, many farmers will already start making purchasing decisions for the following year and that will continue through November and into December.

“I really enjoy the agronomy part of my job,” he comments. “I consider myself to be an agronomist who sells seed. These days, farmers have so many decisions to make they appreciate the help I can provide them.”

It (helping the farmers) begins with listening to his customers.

“It is 99 percent about understanding each farming operation and what they are trying to achieve,” Garvick says. “It is a three to four step process to help the farmer get the variety that will meet their needs for a particular field. So we start by developing a plan.”

Insect pressure, fertility, disease presence and the farmer’s preference on the maturity of the corn he wishes to use are all factors which will affect what variety of seed is chosen for a field.

“In the past, seed companies might have a variety that was around for a decade,” Garvick comments. “Now, things advance so fast that a company’s entire portfolio can turn over in three to four years.”

Another factor influencing a farmer’s decision on what variety of corn to plant is their drying capacity.

“A farmer with the drying capacity and high fertility in his fields might plant a little later maturing corn,” Garvick shares. “If a farmer has to haul his grain to town he might plant a shorter-season variety, one that will dry down faster, so that he doesn’t have to pay for someone else to dry his corn.”

Garvick offers corn varieties that have a maturity range of 94-114 days. The advantage of growing later maturing corn is, that under the right growing conditions, farmers can expect a boost in their yields with later maturing varieties. One of the risks for planting later maturing corn is an early frost.

“I would say that 80 percent of the seed corn I sell is in the 103 to108-day maturity range,” he notes. “We seem to have a little longer growing season than we did 15 years ago. Plus, farmers are more efficient and have bigger equipment and are able to get their crop in the field in a matter of days instead of the couple of weeks that it used to take.”

So far, Garvick has been very happy with the new facility D & J Seeds moved into a little over a year ago.

“It is a good location and the layout has worked out well,” he says. “We made it a drive-through facility so our customers do not have to worry about backing up to get loaded with seed. We can load everything inside of our building so we don’t have to worry about weather hampering our progress. It has really worked out well.”

The facility also includes a well-lit, spacious office area which includes a conference room which is able to host larger meetings.

The office space includes many memorabilia items; some are of the family business and some are focused on the Pioneer Seeds company.

“It’s important to me that Pioneer is a U.S.-based company that has been around 100 years,” Garvick comments. “It’s part of the fabric of American agriculture like green and red tractors and Ford and Chevrolet trucks.”

Mike, and his wife Amanda, have three children. They are Evelyn, Philip and Henry. The family lives in Kiester, about three blocks from the seed business.

“The kids are seven, five and three years-old,” Garvick comments. “They are not quite old enough to help out much yet. But, they can help sweep and clean up a little.”

Though Garvick didn’t originally plan on coming back to Kiester to live and work, he has been happy with his decision.

“It is important to me to make good, honest recommendations with the customer’s best interest in mind,” Garvick concludes. “I really like helping people achieve their goals. It is very gratifying to develop a plan and see it succeed.”