MELBOURNE, ONT.—De Dell Seeds will be celebrating a milestone on December 23, as the company enters its 21st year in business.
“It is hard to believe it has been 20 years already,” states Vince Trudell, founder of De Dell Seeds.
To Trudell, it seems like only yesterday when De Dell was operating out of his home, and he was delivering seed in his Volkswagen Jetta. From those humble beginnings, De Dell Seeds has come a long way.
Two years ago, the company built an office and moved its operations into one location near Melbourne, Ont.
One thing that hasn’t changed throughout the years is that De Dell Seeds is still a family-owned Canadian business. It specializes in non-GMO and organic corn hybrids.
De Dell began operations in 1999 with a goal of providing farmers with healthy and sustainable alternatives to the corporate influence surrounding seed and technology. As a result, it has realized steady growth in both volume and geography since inception.
“It hasn’t been easy going against the mainstream, but that is what has made this milestone even sweeter,” Trudell comments.
“As our business grows, we are continuing to improve our hybrid portfolio,” says Trudell. “Our breeding program is constantly developing hybrids with better characteristics for the farmer, and, in the last four years alone we have added 21 new high-performing hybrids to our lineup.” This brings De Dell’s total to 38 conventional corn hybrids for the 2020 season, ranging from 2000 CHU to 3400 CHU.
Of those 38 hybrids, six are dedicated silage hybrids offering fantastic feed value, and an astounding 12 hybrids are offered in an organic variant. This level of choice is unparalleled in the conventional corn seed market.
De Dell Seeds also offers farmers a choice of seed treatment. Most of De Dell’s conventional hybrids are offered with a choice of untreated seed (bare yellow), treated with a fungicide alone, or treated with a combination of fungicide and insecticide, which is effective but does not contain neonicotinoids. This eliminates the need for farmers in Ontario to fill out the paperwork surrounding use of Class 12 pesticides. Having this choice allows farmers to limit their use of pesticides to only what is necessary in the fields that need it. This is more environmentally friendly and allows farmers to be true stewards of their own land, Trudell explains.
Trudell describes De Dell Seeds as a business with a conscience, that is dedicated to providing high performing, naturally bred corn hybrids for our environment.
Check out De Dell Seeds online, in the Ontario Corn Committee results, or directly on your farm.
