DLF Pickseed Announces New Company Promotions

/in

Over the past couple years, DLF Pickseed has been working on succession planning and development. It is a valuable process to ensure continuity, leadership, and success. As a result of their work and conversations, the company has two exciting changes to share.

Sean Chaney was promoted to vice president of the Pro Turf Division.

Chaney is an Oregon native who has been involved in the Ag community since childhood. His first experience with seed was hands-on – working in fields and warehouses as a teenager. Beginning at age 14 and on to his graduation from the University of Oregon, Sean worked for a local seed producer and marketer. He learned about the seed production process, and was able to bring many of these skills to DLF Pickseed. Chaney was hired 6 years ago, beginning as a buyer and a sales representative. He continued in the buyer role as his sales and brand management duties expanded. As time went on, he also added international sales experience to his resume, something he has been doing for over 3 years now.

Read more

Chris McDowell: Starts seed business with her daughters

/in

Chris McDowell’s long history in the grass seed industry has taught her and her two daughters that Oregon is fertile ground for more women in agriculture.

McDowell has been a part of the mid-Willamette Valley’s grass seed production operations for nearly 40 years, she said, while daughter Marissa Donahue transitioned from production into turf grass sales in 2008.

“We’d been working together long enough and she had been in the industry for a long time and had all this knowledge and relationships, which was essential,” Donahue said. “But we work together well, which can be considered a big advantage.”

In 2014, McDowell, Donahue and her other daughter, Mandi Mack, decided to toss the dice and start their own business, which they called Vista Seed Partners.

“We saw the need in the industry of a real customer-based seed company,” McDowell said. “The timing was right in 2014, so we just said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Today, Vista markets high-performance grass seed varieties and blends for professional landscapes (Central Park in New York City is a client), sports turf, golf courses and sod applications. Turfgrass products include Bermudagrass, perennial ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass and others.

Read more