Land. They are not making any more of it. And in the verdant Fraser Valley, there is a lot of competing demand from different agricultural sectors for what farmland there is. Berries, vegetables, dairy, nursery stock, everyone wants a piece of the limited pie.

Demand drives up prices. Agricultural land in the Fraser Valley is much more expensive than in other areas in the BC Interior or Northwest Washington. For a dairy farm to be profitable, farmers must use the land as efficiently as possible when growing forage crops to feed their cows.

Gerry DeGroot wants to see local dairy farmers succeed. He has worked in the feed industry for over 35 years. The Fraser Valley has been his home his whole life, except for a stint away to attend BCIT to learn about the business and science of agriculture. His customers are his neighbors. Their fields are his laboratories.

“Land here is expensive. The farmers have to maximize outputs and optimize inputs to utilize what they have on hand,” says Gerry. “That means using manure as efficiently as possible and reducing our reliance on chemical fertilizers. The better job farmers can do with their forage crops, the better a cow on their farm will do”.

After working in the industry for a quarter century, he started DairyCrop Solutions in 2010 and now devotes his time solely to his company. DairyCrop Solutions specializes in providing the best forage seed blends for the Fraser Valley region, forage inoculants to help with fermentation, and the agronomic expertise to help farmers maximize yields and quality in forage crop production.

“I am interested in the agronomy of the forage crop plant, how it grows in our valley climate”, Gerry notes. “In the feed business, you see the results all year. You analyze the harvested crops and measure if they were too wet, too dry, or perfect. What I’m working toward with my clients is the maximum milk per acre, as opposed to milk per ton of silage. They need to use the land they have as best as they can to maximize their volume and quality”.

Gerry knows the Fraser Valley like only a local can.

“When I drive down the country roads, I feel like I know almost all of the fields. I’ve walked many of them over the years”. Gerry says. “I help farmers not just by selling them seeds, but by consulting on management. I give them advice on when to cut and chop, according to moisture and other variables”.

Being a supplier in the agricultural sector means developing relationships of trust. You want your customers to come back to you year after year, relying on your accurate and helpful expertise.

“My client base knows me. They know I won’t sell them an unproven product”. Gerry says. “My customers see the results of what I recommend. We analyze the crops together and make plans to continually improve”.

In a way Gerry serves as the “R&D” (research and development) arm of the local farmer’s operation, because sometimes what works on one farm doesn’t necessarily work on another.

“I am always consulting with other agronomists to see what’s working. I stay on top of new technology developments.”, he says. “We’re starting to do things at the bacterial level. For example, we’re now adding to help digest manure availability in soil.”

In addition to Gerry supplying farmers with his agronomic expertise and experience in the feed business, Dairy Crop also supply’s products such as forage seed, inoculants, corn seed, fertilizer, and Grober Milk Replacer. “We see ourselves also as Young Animal specialists when we are not in the field”. This maybe has to do with the more than over 25 years’ experience Gerry has which also gives him a strong connection and passion to what is happening in the barn. After all, most of his customer’s commodities leave the farm as milk.

While Gerry is the driver for the success of Dairy Crop Solutions, he is quick to point out the expertise of those working alongside him. The passionate team members bring different skills and experiences. Each person is instrumental in the continued success of his business.

Despite his decades of experience and considerable expertise, there is one question Gerry can’t usually answer for his clients.

“They always want to know if it’s going to rain.”

For more information (but not necessarily an accurate weather prediction), contact Gerry DeGroot at sales@dairycrop.ca or 604-819-4139. You can follow him on Twitter: @dairycrop.