Tatiara Seeds has been in operation since 1976. It began in Bordertown (SA) in the heart of the Tatiara, with one processing plant and a single operator, Graham Ramsdale. Now Tatiara Seeds operates at both Bordertown and Keith with a total of 10 processing plants and employing over 40 people.
A few years ago, Mr and Mrs Ramsdale offered some of their staff the option to become shareholders in the business to make sure Tatiara Seeds stays as an independent company into the future.
The business has grown to now have 450+ combined years of experience with the current staff, over 300 silos for receivals and over 13,000 square metres of clean seed storage space between both sites.
Mr Ramsdale said, “I believe customer service and processing seed to the required quality are the highest priorities,” and today still prides himself on this statement.
Tatiara Seeds currently processes, dries, packs, treats, despatches, and markets all types of seed from all over Australia to world standards for export and domestic markets for many companies and customers.
Mr Ramsdale said processing seed and grain is a very important part of making sure it is clean and ready for sowing in time to have clean crops and pastures.
There are many parts to processing seed using aspiration and width separation, length and specific gravity separation, scarifiers, velvet rollers, spiral separation, magnetic separation and a colour sorter to achieve the desired standards. This specialised field requires continuous upgrading of facilities to meet world standards.
Lucerne seed is one of the main varieties processed at both sites, however, there are many types of pasture seed and grain grown in the area that are delivered for processing that are either contracted, available for sale on the open market or for grower’s own use. Tatiara Seeds is also registered to process organic products, as well as food-grade under the HACCP scheme.
Many years ago, Mr Ramsdale saw the benefits of setting up a seed testing lab onsite, mainly to check germinations of seed prior to processing and to check for weeds to make sure they have been removed. This has been a beneficial part of the whole process for quality control.
In the early years, he started selling seed to local farmers while he was trying to process seed. As you would expect, it got busier. So, he employed a staff member to do just seed sales only. As of today, the seed sales department has grown into a busy and important division of the business.
Tatiara Seeds currently sells seed for export, wholesale, and the local retail market. The seed sales department also treats, inoculates, and makes custom mixes of seed with their high-tech machinery for any orders that come in from all markets.
The Seed Sales division of the company has been hosting an open field day of pasture species every couple of years, showcasing new varieties that are available.
This is a great opportunity for all farmers and agronomists to update their knowledge and see what options are available that might help within their own farming and business practices.
Mr Ramsdale said the open day has been very well attended which shows it’s an important part of providing information to farmers who hopefully learn something new and beneficial to them.
Export is a large and very busy division of the company by providing treating, packing, and container loading facilities. Tatiara Seeds loads approximately 450 shipping containers per year for Australian export companies.
Even though all sectors of agriculture have their challenges, whether it be due to weather conditions or world events, Mr Ramsdale said Tatiara Seeds sees a positive future and is up for any challenge, while continuing to provide a service to the seed industry and local community.
