OVID, Mich. — Great Lakes Hybrids has something in common with its customers - they have been farming for generations.

In 1921, a group of farmers started to produce seed corn for their neighbors who wanted better producing seed. Through the years, Great Lakes Hybrids incorporated the quality and trust of its relationships with its clients and embraced technology and innovation. The result is a farmer-owned seed company that works for farmers, with no ties to chemical or pharmaceutical companies.

In the world of mergers and chemical and biotech companies rapidly buying their way into the world seed markets, AgReliant Genetics LLC, the parent company of Great Lakes Hybrids, is the largest seed-only company in the world.

“We are a research and breeding company,” said Mike Stephenson, general manager of Great Lakes Hybrids, headquartered in Ovid, Mich.

“Our independence as a seed-only supplier gives us the flexibility to evaluate and select the best new technologies, regardless of the source,” Stephenson said. “Strong genetics, plus the freedom to choose the best partners, mean that we sacrifice nothing to deliver top performers to our customers’ fields.”

AgReliant is the U.S. joint venture of the two European super-powers in the seed industry - KWS AG of Einbeck, Germany, and Groupe Lima-Grain of Chappes, France. These two companies have been owned and operated by farmers for more than 150 years. In addition to Great Lakes Hybrids, AgReliant is the parent company to AgriGold, LG Seeds, Wensman, Producer and Pride-Canada.

While the companies share research, production, shipping and other business aspects, the marketing, product lines, sales and other activities are special to each brand. Since the merger in 2000, AgReliant has more than doubled in both units sold and market share.

With about 800 dealers and 27 sales managers in eight states, Great Lakes Hybrids continues to pride itself in cultivating personal relationships with its customers - a tradition now for 85 years - and also in being on the cutting edge of new technology with its seed corn, soybeans and alfalfa.

“Our growth is a testament to the products our research has developed,” said Marketing Communications Manager Clint Hawks.

Like most seed companies Great Lakes Hybrids offers triple-stacked corn. But its product is different.

Great Lakes proprietary G3 hybrids features the protection of YieldGard Plus (corn borer plus root worm technologies), Roundup Ready Corn 2 technology, secondary insect protection from Poncho 250 and the additional fungicide protection of Trilex FL. This technology is now available in 13 championship genetic lines.

According to the company, the G3 hybrids are working every day, all season long to protect the yield of the grower. Two of the new G3 lines contain the YieldGard VT Triple trait.

“For farmers, this will mean they get new, Generations Ahead G3 hybrids powered by YieldGard VT Triple for improved consistency, even better insect control and higher yield,” said Mitch Ray, product manager. “Because we bypass the traditional breeding process, growers can get our elite germplasm with better, higher-yielding traits six to 12 months faster. When you combine this added efficiency with our double-haploid breeding program, the speed we can get new top-performing hybrids to market is inspiring.

“Being an independent company, we can pick the best traits that fit our customers’ needs,” Ray said.

Stephenson said Great Lakes Hybrids has focused much of its efforts on its breeding and product development efforts and can create 100 percent pure hybrids in nearly half the time of conventional breeding methods.

“The speed, efficiency and enhanced processes in our breeding program allow us to bring these new G3 with YieldGard VT Triple products to market for planting this spring,” he said.

Great Lakes also has quickly adopted the Vistive low-linolenic soybeans into its product lineup. There are three Vistive lines being sold for 2006-2006, and 10 more potential releases in the pipeline for the 2007-2008 growing season.

Vistive soybeans produce a much lower concentration of saturated fats as opposed to regular soybeans. Acres are contracted with local processors, many of whom are offering grower premiums for Vistive soybeans.

With the push to develop ethanol and biodiesel, Great Lakes Hybrids is doing its part.

“Five years ago we never even thought about ethanol production,” Hawks said. “But that’s where the market is today, and especially in Michigan.”

With farmers considering corn with traits more usable for ethanol production, Hawks said Great Lakes Hybrids “is trying to do our part. We’ve already got 22 hybrids that are labeled Processor Preferred to produce higher ethanol content.”

“The size and flexibility of Great Lakes” allows for the response to changing markets, he said.

Great Lakes Hybrids products have outperformed the competition for 21 straight years.

The company has earned the highest winning percentage in the elite National Corn Growers Yield Contest for the last 21 years and has earned 74 National Corn Growers Yield Contest championships in the last three years. It also has garnered 86 F.I.R.S.T. trial wins in the past three years, including the overall No. 1 hybrid in 2003 with its 5961Bt variety.

Other honors have included superior yields. Its 2005 new releases, in 5,600 comparisons, topped competitive brands with similar traits by 8.13 bushels per acre. The 2005 G3 new releases in 151 locations topped all competitive triple-stacks by 12 bushels per acre.

With about 30 years of industry experience and 20 years with Great Lakes Hybrids, National Sales Manager Jeff Oesterreicher said, “We have demonstrated product superiority through independent tests. The results back up what our own research data tells us.”

Great Lakes Hybrids is located in Ovid, Mich. Three of the company’s 10 growing and drying facilities are also located in Michigan near Elsie, Cedar Springs and Fairgrove.

In Ovid, the company operates its seed conditioning facility, where it takes seed from its growers, processes it including treatment applications, bags it and stores it in a 2.5 acre warehouse. The building can hold nearly 1 million bags of processed seed.

This farm news was published in the November 2006 issue of Marketplace. Marketplace is a supplement to Farm World Newspaper, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.