Photo submitted by Seed Hawk
Seed Hawk recently released the largest seeder in the world. The seeder measures 84-feet wide and includes an 800 bushel cart.

By Lizz Bottrell, Citizen Staff

On June 3, Seed Hawk plans to hold a grand opening for its latest expansion project that was completed earlier this year. The grand opening celebration includes comments from numerous dignitaries who plan to intend, including William McPherson, Reeve, RM of Silverwood; Gary Bruce, Councilor, RM of Silverwood; Don Toth, MLA of Moosomin Constituency; Honourable Bob Bjornerud, Minister of Agriculture; and Crister Stark, part owner of Vaderstad-Verken AB, a minority partner in Seed Hawk. People attending the grand opening can also look forward to a tour of Seed Hawk’s expanded facility.

When Seed Hawk started the expansion last spring, the company employed around 35 people. “We’ve ramped up our staff over the winter to make the most of this new facility,” said Pat Beaujot, owner. “I think by January ‘08 we were up to just about 90 employees. Though we moved into the building in the middle of January, it seemed appropriate to have the grand opening after spring seeding.”

Seed Hawk started sixteen years ago after successfully seeding a crop with its first seeder. “In the spring of ‘92, we built one seeder to seed our farm with,” said Beaujot. “At that time, I was an agronomist with a fertilizer company and my brother and I farmed together. With my brother and along with Brian Dean, who is now a partner, we built and designed the first machine. From my work in agronomy, I could see the great advantage of going to zero till seeding and the deficiency of equipment. It wasn’t the right kind of equipment to seed into the cold, wet soil we have here when we zero till.”

Once Beaujot, his brother and Dean discovered the problem, they quickly set to work and designed and built a machine that could meet and exceed their needs and the needs of other farmers. “There was a real need for a machine that would seed shallow accurately and place the fertilizer below and to the side, while keeping it far enough away not to burn the seed but close enough to provide early uptake of the seed,” said Beaujot. “So we designed something that would do just that. We built one machine and seeded our crop of 1,000 acres.”

Before long, Beaujot and his starting partners realized they hit a gold mine. “With a few adjustments, we successfully seeded that spring with the machine,” said Beaujot. “So I quit my job with the fertilizer company and we started Seed Hawk. By the fall of ‘92, we build an 80 x 80 shop on our current site.”

Seed Hawk, located a few kilometers north of Langbank on Highway 9, grew substantially since its first machine in 1992. Today, with the recent expansion, the company employs around 90 people, which it plans to more than double over the next couple of years with further expansions. The company plans to go ahead with two more phases of expansion, with phase two starting as early as this fall. “Expansions will include the office and facility,” said Beaujot.

The current and future expansions can be credited in part to a Swedish agricultural company, Vaderstad, which bought a minority share in Seed Hawk back in October ‘06, bringing the company world wide. “When they bought part of our company, they brought our product to Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Australia,” said Beaujot. “We could see we needed to expand our facility to meeting demand in the new countries, so that’s what initiated the expansion plan in ‘07.”

Even though many employers seem to encounter great difficulty finding an adequate number of skilled employees these days, Beaujot says Seed Hawk manages to find high quality employees. “We’re pleasantly surprised at how many quality people we’ve got so far,” said Beaujot. “I think we offer a better long term option than the oil patch. We have a package that I think is second to none for employees. We want to retain them for a long time, so we treat them that way. We want to create a career for everyone.”

Since Seed Hawk was pioneered by farmers for farmers, the company really has a great handle on what farmers require in the ever-changing world of agriculture. “We have to be innovative, demand is changing all the time,” said Beaujot. “It’s so important to make every seed and granule count, especially with the rising price of fertilizer. So we’ll strive to always make it better.”