Peter Flavel, Naracoorte Community News
At a recent Probus meeting, the seed business story was told by Jamie Tidy who is general manager of Naracoorte Seeds Pty Ltd & South Australian Seed Marketers. Jamie handles National and International Seed Trading. The Naracoorte Seeds business was established in 1962 as an outlet for Pasture Seed & Grain and is the oldest family run seeds business in Australia.
After schooling, Jamie spent his early working career in various roles in Katherine, Alice Springs and with SANTOS. In 2004 Jamie rang home with the idea of moving home to do an apprenticeship in seeds within his dads’ business, Naracoorte Seeds. Bob himself started in the industry at an early age of 17 with seeds group Wrightson’s and within a short period became the youngest manager in the company.
Bob bought into partnership with John Clarkson at Naracoorte Seeds mid-1970’s, increasing turnover significantly in his first year. The business continued to grow with their exceptional service and 24 – 48-hour mixing turnaround times. Bob eventually took over the whole business in 1980. Jamie and his wife Peta bought shares in 2007 and when Bob retired in 2010 purchased the remaining shares of the business. As a family they were proud of the negotiation of the succession process.
Succession Planning continued with old school friend Josh Rasheed and his wife becoming involved financially in the business in a focus on driving the export arm of the business “South Australian Seed Marketers”.
Investments in more overseas travel to Seed industry events has help to forge new relationships and more seed production options for Australian farmers.
Significant investment has also been made in on buildings, plant, and machinery. One significant investment was a robotic bagging machine purchase which has enabled up to 30 – 40 tonne a day of mixing and bagging, doing in ten days what used to take a year.
Naracoorte Seeds continues today, recently celebrating its 60th year.
It continues with its large loyal client base conducting business on a handshake regularly. A lot of clients are all friends and not just seed growers. Expansion of the business facilities in Alexander Avenue has been noticeable over recent years.
This article appeared in the Naracoorte Community News.
