Howlett Farms – Started with 13 Acres, Now Handling +20 Bushels of Grain Annually
Howlett Farms is a 5th generation family owned agricultural business that started in 1880 with two dairy cows and 13 acres of land.
Today the Howlett family farms over 3,700 acres and have over 50 employees. Besides farming… Howlett Farms also operates seven grain handling facilities that handle over +20 million bushels of grain annually, manage two feed manufacturing locations, run a fleet of over 25 trucks, and oversee a crop insurance business.
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Quality Ag Services – Providing Quality Ag Service in Ag Retail Since 1995
Quality Ag Service was founded in 1995 to provide the best service available for custom applied chemical and fertilizer needs of growers in South Central Iowa. The business expanded into a full service retail operation with locations opening in Albia, IA in 1999; Melrose, IA in 2000; and Agency, IA in 2014.
Quality Ag Service offers everything from crop protection products, dry & liquid fertilizer, custom seed treatment, custom application, soil testing, grid mapping, and seed from companies such as Merschman Seeds, Brevant Seeds, Champion Seed, and Middlekoop’s Seed. In addition, to retail services Quality Ag Service has multiple feed store locations, a wholesale chemical distribution division, crop insurance, and grain marketing services.
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Foote Cattle Company – 5 Industry-Leading Feedyards, 285,000+ Head of Cattle & 30,000+ Farming Acres
Foote Cattle Company started in 1985 by Bob Foote, who has owned and operated the ever-growing operation till he recently passed away in 2022. Today, Scott, Brad, and Greg Foote continue their father’s legacy of raising quality beef.
Foote Cattle Company includes multiple feedyards, farms, a bank, and a wide range of other investments. Feedyards include Hoxie Feedyard, Imperial Beef, Lane County Feeders, Decatur Family Beef, and Pioneer Feedyard, which are all located in Western Kansas and Southern Nebraska. Additionally, the farm offers ranch calves, high moisture corn, hay and different types of feedstuffs like alfalfa hay, corn stalks, forage sorghum, straw, grass hay, corn silage, and milo silage, along with manure supply and distribution.
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Merschman Seeds – Midwest Family-Owned Independent Seed Company Since 1954
Merschman Seeds was founded in 1954 by Bill and Bernice Merschman and is an independent, family-owned seed company from West Point, Iowa selling soybeans, wheat, and alfalfa, as well as distributing Stine® Corn throughout Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana, Minnesota, and Kentucky.
Generations of farmers have trusted Merschman Seeds because they put the farmer’s yield and profitability at the forefont of their minds. This style of mindset and management drives positive change within the company. They do not answer to investors on Wall Street, allowing them the opportunity to do what is best for the farmer and not worry about how that affects their stock price.
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Silent Shade Planting Company – From Canada to the Mississippi Delta 2023 Top Producer of the Year
Silent Shade Planting Company began in 1979 when Willard and Laura Lee Jack migrated from Ontario, Canada, to Silent Shade Plantation in the northeast corner of Humphreys County in Mississippi. They started farming a diversified row crop operation of approximately 1,000 acres with one additional employee just outside of Tchula, Mississippi. By 2000, the farm had grown to approximately 3,000 acres of cotton, corn, soybeans, and rice, and in 2001, Willard Jack received the award for the Lancaster/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year.
In the next ten years, two of Willard and Laura Lee’s children, Stacie and Jeremy, returned to work on the farm. Jeremy Jack began to run the day-to-day farm operations. Stacie Koger managed the farm financials. With their return, the family decided to further expand the business by increasing their farming acreage. In 2013, Jeremy and Stacie were recognized as one of Progressive Farmer’s Best Young Farmer and Ranchers, and Jeremy Jack was recognized as Bayer Crop Science’s Young Sustainable Farmer.
What began as a husband and wife operation has flourished into a family business employing five family members: Willard Jack, Laura Lee Jack, Jeremy Jack, Stacie Koger, and Elizabeth Jack. Silent Shade also employs approximately 20 local residents from the Mississippi delta. They are very proud of their history and look forward to opportunities that may come their way in the future.
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Meristem – 0 to 500 Dealers and 100+ Million in Less Than 5 Years
Meristem Crop Performance is one of the fastest-growing crop input companies in America right now. Meristem sources, formulates, licenses, and delivers high-quality crop inputs to farmers at the highest possible value offering substantial savings. Overall, Meristem can save farmers up to 30% compared to traditional market prices.
Meristem is focused on building a highly efficient channel to bring crop inputs to market so farmers and independent agribusinesses can make the most of their infrastructure and intellectual property investments and better compete in the global agricultural market. Meristem’s team of experienced ag professionals also works to create real productivity gains for farm businesses through novel biological delivery systems and accelerated access to farm-ready innovations for the benefit of the American Farmer.
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Burrus Seed – Grandfather of 100% Free Replant +85 Years Later
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Peterson Farms Seed – Largest Independent Seed Company in the Upper Midwest
Peterson Farms Seed are a premier corn and soybean seed provider for Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota farmers. They have the most knowledgeable and dedicated staff, working every day to help your operation purchase, plant, and maximize our products. The company’s extensive replicated research program allows selection of varieties and hybrids specifically for northern conditions. They have the largest testing program in their trade area with nearly 19,000 individual soybean yield plots and nearly 17,000 individual corn yield plots. They currently offer seed for corn, soybeans, IP soybeans, wheat, and yellow peas.
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McBee Farm & Cattle Co – Farming at Scale, Luxury Carwashes, and Building a Beef Jerky Brand
McBee Farm & Cattle Co is located in Gallatin, MO consisting of over 40,000 acres. They currently grow corn and soybeans on their row crop ground as well as raise many different breeds of livestock including registered charolais, commercial angus, longhorns, and bison. In addition to agriculture, Honey Creek Ranch offers whitetail and turkey hunting on 6,000 acres of their ground featuring two 5 star lodges with a pool, hot tub, indoor basketball, crossfit gym, game room, 100 yard archery range, game cleaning room, and over 60 stocked fishing ponds!
The McBee Family also owns a chain of carwashes throughout the midwest called McBee’s Coffee N Carwash. Their mission is to make EVERY customer feel valued by providing the highest quality wash experience by offering free coffee with every wash, state-of-the-art stainless steel Wash N’ Wag Dog Wash, free vacuums after every wash, and business programs for your whole fleet. At the moment, they have six carwashes up and running throughout Missouri and Arkansas with more currently under construction.
Their newest venture is currently APEX Protein Snacks, which is backcountry jerky and meat sticks. The idea for Apex Protein Snacks was conceived in the backcountry of the North Brooks Range, Alaska – 150 miles from nearest civilization. It was there while eating a normal convenience store snack stick, and diving into the nutritional aspects of it out of boredom, that the McBee’s realized the need for a minimally processed – highly nutritious meat snack product in the outdoor market place.
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Whiskey Acres – Handcrafting the Finest “On-Farm Craft Whiskey in the World”
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