buying seed?

Ok, ordered about 1/2 of the seed I currently need for 2011 on Nov 30th for the early buy discounts and cash payment discounts. Its already a hefty bill. I am wondering a few things. One, what kind of prices are some of you paying. My Beans, all Genuity are running $48, corn is running $180-$232 after discounts. These are 85-96 day RR YGCB RW, all treated with poncho 250, some agri sure products. Not sure if I am ready to try the VT# or VT3pro, or the real expensive agrisure products. second, what are you guys getting for "toss in's" from the companies? All I have gotten so far is a few hats, no free bags, no coats, and I have bought all my seed from one company. Aside from the dealers having a "retail price" sheet, and the rebates, discounts, and a "discount" from the dealer(farmer ussually), do many of you request a better price, or say you will buy all or most of your seed if they drop the price to a certain point. I am thinking for as much seed as I buy I should get a little better deal for being 100% one seed company(so far have been happy the products), I have a few other brands dealers contacting me as well as feilders choice, should I be trying to see how much my current dealer values my purchases, Long and rambling but I am curious. Does it pay to haggle?

I've got my Fielders Choice statement right here. I ordered 3 different varieties of corn. It doesn't say what the maturities are,but I think they're all 92-95 day. The price before discounts on 2 of the straight RR varieties is $151.05 and $154.85. The other variety is RR VT3,that one is base priced at $179.55.
Down at the bottom of the statement says that my average price after discounts is $147.63.

For seed and fertilizer I usually take bids, and tell them I am taking bids. Ill go see the suppliers, tell them what and how much I am looking for, that I will call in a week or so to see what the verdict is. Then I go door to door and see if anyone can do any better. Then I go with the best deal. Sometimes thats not the closest deal, I'll pay a little more to go with an independent and I'll pay a little more to get something closer or some extra services. Caps, coats, and other promotions all cost money. Usually after I get the best deal overall what they throw in I count as bonus. Most places usually give me a hat and calander just for asking for quotes. Im up right now 3 hats and a calander for this year.

What I've seen on my prebuys. Corn for RR triple stack 195 net for a pallet. Wheat I got early and right for 8 a bag for 5 pallets. Alfalfa, Im starting to shop next week. The fall seed was running around 185 for a 50 pound bag. Looking for 3 pallets of grazing type with a good PRR package. Fertilizer, I usually get quoted after Dec 20. Lime is at 15.00 a ton spread, up from 14.00 with the fuel surcharge.

I would try haggling with your current dealer and maybe 2 or 3 others. While loyality to a dealer of company may be admirable,in todays economy you have to do what you have to do to rein in costs. I can almost guarantee you seed won't be any cheaper in the spring. All the companies know what the commodity prices have been this year, they know farmers made money and will do their darndest to try and seperate you from as much of your hard earned cash as they possibly can. Same would apply to chemicals,fuel and fertilizer.

I heard that the only way to get a great deal is when you move all your business to another company. I've been with Dekalb for awhile and they take your business for granted it seems. Apparently it doesn't matter if you have stayed with one company for awhile. Sooo... to keep everyone on their toes and it surprised the dekalb guy, I said i was buying half my corn from Agrigold (planted a small 30 acres this year and it did great as well as a neighbors). Then I got his attention. I did get two real nice jackets from Agrigold and hats.

I just placed my first order ever for pioneer seed and they gave me $100 off on the first 12 bags of corn. good for this year but that doesn't help next yr.

id send each company a letter requesting a bid for what you need-- tell them you are looking for the best price and service, no gimmes--- and show that you are sending it to several other suppliers-i can buy several jackets for what the discount on a large order should be.- i bet that will get their attention-- you have to follow thru with it-- its like the check companies will damn near give you the first order-- but then you have to pay "normal" price in the future-- they can either sell for a price or they cannot-- you will weed out who is serious or not pretty fast.

Bought 25 units of seed this years and got two bags free, 2hats and a 10% early buyers discount. Still cost around 5 grand. All stacked and RR.

Friend of mine is a pioneer dealer. he has been after me for a couple years to buy pioneer. He is pretty competitve on his price but only if i go 100% pioneer and Im not sure I want to change. I plant alot of LG seed. and still a few others. LGis pretty competitive on there prices and can be since they are not owned by Dupont or Monsanto or Syngenta. I Dont want to comitt 100% to any one company cause Ive found hybrids and brands i like and work well on my different soil types i have. All the Extras I dont really care about as long as I get a good price and happy with the seed and the service that comes with the seed. Not gonna turn anything extra down but I usually get a hat or two and Im happy with that.

That is intresting in that I am less than 100 mi south of you and Lime spread in the field is running $ 18.00 to 23.00 per ton and that is with 100 ton min. I can,t believe it is that much less from the source up there around you. we are trucking it on average no more that 45 mi from the quarry (Clarksville Tn.)

Check the website at sunstarhybrids.com
Here are a few prices...

RR2 beans $43.50/2600 in a lb
$45.00/2700-2900 in a lb
$50.00/2900-3300 in a lb

RR2 corn $160

(Agrisure) quad-stacks $240

Quad-stack with Viptera $250

Herculex Xtra $200

YG VT3 $240

Conventionals $130

Clearfield $130

LL Corn $160

Corn Paid by Dec 10 is $12 off
Jan 10 is $10 off
Feb 10 is $9 off
Mar 10 is $4 off

Volume discounts range from

$3 for upto 25
$4 26-50
$5 51-100
$6 101-200
$9 201-500
$10 501-750
$11 751-up

Conventional beans
$37.00-$43.00 depending on seed count

Soys discounts are
$3 off in Dec
$1.75 off in Jan
$1 off in Feb

Volume for soys
upto 50 $.25
51-100 $.50
101-250 $.75
251-500 $1
501-1000 $1.25
1001-2000 $1.50
2001-4000 $1.75
4001-up $2

Guess that was more than a few! Not sure what it costs to put Poncho on corn but wild guess from last year was $10-$15/unit. Not sure if they can or will ship to ya. Have to give them a call to find that out.
Dang it, now I have to shower as I feel like a salesman!

When I quit farming was using only Fielders Choice corn and was happy with it. Did not have beans tho and as I do not like the RR ready types I kept and cleaned my own beans for seed except for a few new varieties at times.

i wouldn't complain to much about 15.00 lime it's been around 50.00 for a couple of years here

ordered sme from Titan Pro Nov. 30 rr beans were $35, rr2's $39, rr corn $141, rr/cb/ll corn $151, Producers vt3 was $221 after discounts.I don't buy any SS corn as it isn't paying it's way around here.

I split my business between two brands. I buy 2/3 of my corn from Pioneer and 1/3 from Agri Gold. I have not had any soybeans for several years. The units of triple stacked from Pioneer was $245 after all of the discounts. That included a 15% early order and pay discount. The Agri Gold triple stacked was $228 after all the discounts.

I am going to all triple stack this year. Two years ago it out yielded the regular 12 bushels per acre, just about a break even. This last season it out yielded the regular 31 bushels per acre, that was a good bit if profit. This year being so wet we had every disease known to corn. The triple stack really stood up to it much better than the regular.

I see that some are using Fielder Choice corn. Every company has hybrids that are good on some soil type. I have yet to see this brand work on any of the soils here in North East Iowa. A close friend bought a bunch of this in the 80s as it was so cheap. He though it was great the first year. I harvested his corn and told him it was not yielding very well but he said it was close enough that the low seed cost made up for it. The next season I convinced him to plant a test field. We planted a twenty acre field with a 12 x 30 planter. Six boxes on each side with the different companies. we planted the whole field that way. We shelled the end rows off together. Then we shelled the rest separately. It was weighted on a certified scale. The Pioneer was thirty-nine bushels per acre better. The next year we did the same thing on a different field with different hybrids. That year DeKalb out yielded the Fielders Choice forty-two bushels. So he never planted any more of it.
This year a city guy bought a farm down the road. Nice fellow just green behind the ears. He went and got all of the books from the extension office on growing corn. He went right by the book on soil tests, fertilizer, etc. He even went down to Ames and talked to a few of the professors. He was convinced that he was going to show us how to do it. He went on the Internet and bought all of the cheapest seed corn he could buy. He would not use any RR as it was "modified". He planted a hundred and twenty acres. He did not fill his 7500 bushel bin. LMAO