By Brett Bell, President and CEO
and Mac Ehrhardt, Chairman

You don’t need us to tell you we’re facing lean times in agriculture. Commodity prices remain low, and net farm income fell by almost 20% in 2023 and 6% in 2024. Many agricultural companies (including seed companies) have been forced to make layoffs. We want you to know that at Albert Lea Seed, we continue to invest in the success of our staff, dealers, and customers.

Sure, we feel the pinch just like everyone else. Brett is infusing a budget-conscious mindset throughout our company to keep us financially sound. But with over 100 years in this business and a strong financial position, we are in the fortunate situation of being able to plan for and invest in the growth of organic and diversified agriculture. Here are some examples:

INVESTING IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

In 2024 we had our largest budget ever for corn, soybean and biological research. Our breeding program continues to run summer and winter nurseries developing proprietary corn germplasm (specifically for organic and non-GMO farmers). In 2024 we ran 151 randomized replicated product development trials in 11 states, and our corn and soybean varieties were entered in over 200 university, FIRST, and strip trials across the country. In case you didn’t notice, our products did extremely well, with over 180 top-ten finishes nationwide (just check out these results for our corn and soybeans).

In addition, the first year of our biological seed-coating identification research, “Project Trusted Insight,” combined the power of replicated research with a unique and intensive approach to rigorously identify OMRI-approved biologicals that improve emergence and speed-to-canopy. It feels like there are thousands of biological products out there, and we are committed to leveraging our relationships and research capabilities to find consistent solutions that improve your stands, canopy, weed-control, and bottom-line.

INVESTING IN PEOPLE POWER.

While many companies are cutting, we are actually adding employees to better support your needs. We have two new seed agronomists starting this May (one based in Ames, IA, and the other in Lancaster, PA), and we are currently recruiting an additional sales-agronomist for our home office. In 2024 we hired a new Accounting Leader and a Quality Assurance Manager as well as an Organic Certification Lead. We are also recruiting a Small Grain Manager and an ERP Administrator. View our careers page for more information on these roles. If you’re interested, send us a note.

We are also investing in employee training and team-building, with more staff training in 2024 than we have ever had before. Mac is also sharing lessons from his 35+ years in the seed business with a new generation of leaders across our company to keep farmers at the heart of every decision.

INVESTING IN CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.

We’re leveraging better information systems to improve our ability to manage and ship our seed to your farm, whether that is through our dealer network or directly to you. On Nov. 12, 2024 we cut over to a new cloud-based software system which supports our entire business: inventory, shipping, accounting, contracting, and customer service. This is a significant long-term investment (we spent over 10 months, and thousands of hours preparing). And our work is not done. Over the coming years we will be continuously improving our training, tools, and operations to leverage the power of this software for a simplified end-to-end experience for all of us.

INVESTING IN STRENGTHENING YOUR ROTATION.

Albert Lea Seed is proud to offer you one of the strongest and most diverse lineups of farm seed in the nation. We believe that crop rotation is not only essential for organic farmers, but an important part of a more sustainable and resilient American agriculture as well. We continue to build relationships with genetic providers of a diverse mixture of species—from corn to kernza—and we are launching several new products this year including Raven Black Oats, Wyowinter Peas, and Choices F1 Red Hybrid Corn. Browse our site for more information on any of our products.

INVESTING IN US.

In short, we’re investing in our relationship with you. Whether you’re a long-time customer or this is your first time hearing about us, we hope you’ll give us an opportunity to show you that we’re committed to your success, even in challenging times.

Let’s get to work.