By Jill Fennema –

De Kam Seed and Fertilizer will be changing ownership at the end of 2021. Darrin De Kam has sold his business to Greg Talsma, who has worked for the company for the past 10 years. The business will now be called Edgerton Ag, LLC.

For nearly 60 years, De Kam Seed and Fertilizer has been selling fertilizer and crop protection products. This past year, dry nitrogen fertilizer production was curtailed all over the world. This was due to many factors, including sky-high natural gas prices in Europe, a hurricane in Louisiana, and energy outages in China.

Dry fertilizer is produced all over the world, typically in places where natural gas is the cheapest. The process requires a significant amount of energy that not everyone can produce or afford. With all of the transportation and shipping problems created by the pandemic, getting the fertilizer he had ordered and contracted to purchase became impossible.

In the last couple of years, De Kam’s lost all of their fertilizer suppliers. Just this year, Darrin had contracts with suppliers to purchase dry fertilizer that were not honored by the supplier because of a lack of availability. “I could not find a consistent and reliable source, especially with the short supply now,” Darrin said. He lost thousands of dollars having to purchase fertilizer at retail prices so he could fulfill his own obligations to local farmers.

Darrin is glad that all his employees were able to find employment after he was forced to make the difficult decision to discontinue the fertilizer business.

As Talsma takes the helm, there will be changes to the business, most notably that they will not be selling dry fertilizer and they will not be providing custom application work in house. However, they do plan to hire contractors for custom application work, so that option will be available for their customers.

Talsma, along with one employee, Kolin Kontz, will continue to sell Pioneer seed, cover crops, chemicals, liquid fertilizer, sprayers, sprayer parts, and Demco parts. Talsma has purchased the entire facility, with the exception of the large storage shed on the southeast corner. Kolin has been working with chemical and sprayer sales for De Kam’s for the past two years.

“People will not notice a big difference,” Greg said. “There will be some good continuity there for the customers.”

“While a few things will change, Kolin and I look forward to continuing the legacy of De Kam’s by supplying farmers in the Edgerton area with the quality crop inputs and equipment they need to be successful in the field,” he added.

De Kam’s Seed was started in the 1950’s by Darrin’s grandfather, Nelvin De Kam. It began as a feed distributer and chick hatchery. In 1960, Nelvin and his son, Wayne, added fertilizer and crop protection products to their sales. In 1975, when the hatchery burned down, the family decided to discontinue hatchery work and focus on crops.

In 1986, Darrin began working full time for De Kam’s and that is when the company got into custom application. Darrin purchased the business from Wayne in 2005. He plans to stay with the new company for about six months to help with the transition.

While the transfer of ownership is not quite complete, Greg and Kolin are operating and actively selling seed, chemical, and equipment as Edgerton Ag.