Carroll County ag business has a need to Suc(s)eed

MILLEDGEVILLE – Mark Maidak knows what it takes to get something to grow, not just in his fields, but at his business.

Maidak is the owner of Mark Seed and Feed, where farmers will find seed, feed and plastics, along with a fellow farmer who strives to help his customers get the most out of what they buy at his business, a commitment that’s built a strong customer base for more than a decade.

Mark Seed and Feed has a seed and agriculture plastics warehouse in Mount Carroll, and feed store in Milledgeville. The business, which he runs along with being a grain and hog farmer himself, began as just a seed supplier in 2011 before adding plastics in 2014 and feed in 2021.

After spending 15 years with the University of Illinois Extension, Maidak went into business selling a single brand of seed to a couple of dozen farmers. Nearly 14 years later, he has customers who come from all over the Midwest to get the seed and feed they need.

“It was just a basic farmer-dealer seed selling business with a single brand, and from there I worked hard to get people interested, and they were wanting additional products and not just that single corn brand,” Maidak said. “By listening to customers, you end up being interested in meeting their needs, and that’s what I’ve tried to do.”

Seed offerings include alfalfa, corn, soybean, grass, oats, forage mixes, pasture mixes, sorghum, millet and seed for wildlife plots. The feed stock includes those for beef and dairy cattle, goats, rabbits, hogs, horses, lambs, sheep, poultry and pigeons. Plastics include bale film, grain bags, net wrap, silage bags, oxygen shields, bunker covers and twine.

The inventory comes in a variety of brands, allowing the business to cater to a wide range of customers.

Maidak and his staff often get customers looking for just one or two things in particular, but they enjoy sharing with them everything else the business offers. Not everyone is fully aware of what it can offer, he said. Each location has a cluster of sign boards that give customers a rundown of Mark Seed and Feed’s lineup.

“I can go to a store and get one thing, but not be real aware of all of the different things that the store may have,” Maidak said. “A lot of times, us farmers will focus on the thing we need and go get it, and it’s really up the the business that we’re working with to educate us with what they can help us with in other categories. Unless they sit down and look at the board, sometimes they can forget all of the different things we can offer them.”

Maidak doesn’t simply sell his products, he gets to know them. He has demonstration plots in Mount Carroll; one grows 27 different varieties of alfalfa, and another has 30 different varieties of grasses. He’ll take what he observes from them and enjoys sharing them with his customers.

“We’re constantly maintaining those plots and learning from each season with those products,” Maidak said. “We need to learn more about what we sell. That’s something that we need to try to do. I think people realize that when they visit with us that they can get this help in making their decisions for their operations.”

Not everything has been easy for Maidak. When he first started his business back in 2012, he was forced to take it for a dry run first. The product wasn’t the problem, nature was. He had a single seed brand that he trusted and customers were willing to give it a try too, but that summer turned out to be very dry, not the kind of growing conditions Maidak had hoped for. Despite a bumpy start, many of his customers stuck with him and tried again the following year, to much better results.

When he started out, Maidak had set his sites on getting nearly 200 farms to buy his seeds. Only a small fraction took him up on his offer, but like the seed he sold, business started to grow.

“That first year I went to 198 farms,” Maidak said. “Many were willing to visit with me, and some were very happy with what they were doing. There was a lot of good conversation. There were 28 farms that went ahead and tried some of the product that I was offering, and that first year they planted was an extreme drought year [2012]. It wasn’t a good summer to go try someone’s new product, but things worked out well enough that 26 of those farms bought again for the next year.”

Maidak is also planting seeds of his own, with a new generation. One of Maidak’s part-time employees had a sister whose college internship program fell through. When Maidak found out, he was happy to help, establishing an internship program of his own that she could be in. The program remains in place today, and interns do more than just routine tasks; they accompany Maidak to meetings and conferences, reaching out of their comfort zones to learn various parts of the ag spectrum, beyond just their specific topic of study.

“It’s been a great addition,” he said. “It’s been nice to fit them in, and even I have kind of learned from the young people. It’s a good sharing. They get to go out to a lot of different farms throughout the summer. They don’t just sweep floors or drive a forklift and cover hours, I try to get them more into the professional environment.”

Maidak also conducts educational programs throughout Carroll County, in the field during the summer and in classrooms during the winter. The program covers a variety of ag topics and features guest speakers. The most recent program in December, at the Carroll County Farm Bureau in Mount Carroll, covered growing better alfalfa with prussic acid-free sorghum, improving cover crops and pasture grazing, new information on beef herd health and nutrition, drone spraying, and best practices in bagging, baling and wrapping. Additional classes are planned for this year, Maidak said.

Mark Seed and Feed also hosts customer appreciation events throughout the year, including a Christmas party for customers last year at Manny’s Pizza in Savanna. “It’s a nice way to see customers outside of the normal routine of selling products,” Maidak said. “We had a little over 100 people come to Manny’s for our annual holiday gathering, and they could bring their families, and it’s all on us.”

Getting to know his customers and helping their farms grow is what makes Maidak enjoy coming to work each day, he said.

“It’s all of the different people that we deal with, those from straight grain farms, livestock farms, and those who have different animals,” Maidak said. “I’ve really enjoyed being able to go, when I have the time, to do some of the deliveries myself – going to all of the different farms has been really enjoyable. I’ve always enjoyed what we’ve done from the day I started to today.

“It’s not a job, it’s more of an enjoyable pursuit.”

Mark Seed and Feed is located at 715 Eighth St. in Milledgeville and 20 West Commercial St. in Mount Carroll. Both locations are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, or by appointment. Email markseedandfeed@gmail.com or call 815-718-0238 for more information.