WILDER, Idaho — The colorful sign showing drivers on Idaho Highway 19 the way to his farm reflects the brand-aware, people-centric approach that has served Doug Gross well for most of his 40-plus years in business.
But it didn’t happen overnight.
Not long after he started the Wilder-area farm, he realized it was too small to be sustainable. He expanded, only to make some early production and marketing mistakes that nearly put him out of business.
To get his farm on the right track, he looked at what he was good at—and what he wasn’t.
“Early on, I felt I had to do everything myself. I learned over time to surround myself with people who knew how to do things I wasn’t as good at, and to rely on their help,” said Gross, who now grows potatoes, wheat and corn on 1,500 acres.
Doug Gross Farms Inc. and Gross Seed Co. survive and succeed largely because he positions them as relationship-based businesses staffed by people he trusts.
“I have evolved from being a shouter and very emotional,” Gross said. “I have calmed my demeanor considerably.”
He adopted an inclusive approach that proved more effective in identifying and solving problems. He found his strength was seeing the big picture when it comes to marketing, as well as finding and developing people he thinks will serve the business and its customers well.
“I am a relationship type of person. I like to build relationships with good people,” Gross said. “Once we find people who fit our culture, they tend to stay.”
He employs eight people full-time at harvest and 15 part-time during planting season, including additional personnel at the seed business. He gives them a lot of responsibility, makes sure they’re accountable to customers and each other, lets them share in the financial success of the business and rewards them in other ways—like taking them on a float trip down the Boise River recently.
“I have a staff that is just extremely talented. We work together very well,” Gross said.
They work on branding the business, which means more than having a sign at Highway 19 and Travis Road or hosting an Idaho Potato Commission’s television ad, which they did in late July.
“Our customers have an expectation from our farm,” Gross said. He and employees want to make sure the business focuses on quality products, timely deliveries and mutually rewarding interactions with customers.
“We are the first Idaho potatoes available in the season,” he said.
The farm harvests in early August. About nine out of 10 potatoes are sold into the processed food market. In this segment, J.R. Simplot Co. is the biggest customer. The rest go to fresh-market players like foodservice companies and retailers.
The seed business, launched in 1983, supports the farm by procuring seed from various growing locations and transporting it to Wilder, where it is processed for use on the farm or sold to other potato growers in the area. “I have worked with most of these growers for many years,” Gross said.
Gross was born in August 1953 and grew up on the farm his dad, Hank, owned. He graduated from Parma High School before heading to the University of Idaho in Moscow.
“I liked ag, but I can’t say I was in love with the farm life,” Gross said. He studied agricultural engineering for two years at UI before earning a bachelor’s degree in ag systems management in 1975.
But after getting married halfway through college, he began raising potatoes on 30 acres. That helped pay the remaining education expenses but proved too small to operate in the long term. Family tradition barred children from returning to the family farm but allowed them to seek help starting their own. Gross’s father cosigned loans and helped procure equipment so his son could expand.
“I lost a lot of sleep worrying about success or failure,” Gross said. “I made some mistakes that nearly took me out of business early on.”
Once he made production mistakes that resulted in a very poor crop. Another time, he made a marketing error that left him with a bunch of potatoes he had to sell in the open market during a low-price year instead of under a known contract.
“But it made me stronger,” he said. “Any time I had some financial issues, I knew I had to go out and work harder.”
Gross farms owned and leased ground. He plans to eventually lease or sell the ground he owns, as his two children work in other professions.
“I will run it as long as it’s still fun for me,” he said of his farm. “We still have fun here.”
Source: Idaho Press-Tribune