We asked farmers accross New Zealand what they were looking for in a maize seed provider.
This is John Erskine's Story
Tell us a bit about your family history and your journey getting to where you are now.
Well, I started farming 50 years ago now on the family farm; my parents were farmers, my grandparents were farmers…
Forty-six of those years I’ve been in partnership with my wife – her parents were both farming as well, so we both come from farming backgrounds.
Tell us a bit about your operation
This total property is 47 hectares, and about 41 in maize. We do about 17 hectares for silage, and 23/24 for grain. We’re been growing maize probably for 30 years now, and on this property for 12 years.
Basically, we’ve got as much maize in it as we can – just with a few beefies to keep the odd areas tidied up – sort of a lifestyle, semi-retirement I guess you could call it. It just gives us a bit more time to do other interests we’ve got as well as farming.
How did your journey begin with Corson Maize?
We first started working with Corsons through the company that we were selling our grain to at the time. On the recommendation of the field rep of the company we were selling our grain to, we tried some of Corson’s products, and found they were working quite well for us - and it’s probably grown from there over the years.
Tell us about your relationship with your Corson’s rep
Our relationship with Corsons and their rep is based on an understanding of what our aims are, and what type hybrid and maturity works best with the soil and climate conditions on our property. We also value the honesty and integrity and knowledge of our rep Mike – over the years it’s become more of a partnership than a client/company relationship. Great benefit to have someone that understands our property; understands what we’re trying to do.
