Remington Seeds: A Farming Community

Remington Hybrid Seed Co. has been the largest third-party seed company globally for a long time, beginning in 1984, serving customers at home and abroad.

The Mt. Pleasant location has been integral in all phases of the seed production and distribution process around Mt. Pleasant since the early 2000s.

At this time, Remington currently has 17 total employees.

Steve Greiner is the plant manager. He has been with the company for 17 years. He oversees all the operations in all areas.

Stan Holtkamp is the current plant operations manager. He has been working at Remington for just over 16 years. His job entails overseeing all plant operations.

Holtkamp said that their job is crucial as they begin the process that eventually turns into products.

"I think it's an important process as we start the production process," Holtkamp said. "We're sort of like the middleman. We do the packaging, conditioning, and finish the product for the growers."

Additional employees are hired throughout the year, depending on the season.

While several Remington locations distribute soybean, hybrid sunflower, sorghum and alfalfa seed, the Henry County location focuses solely on hybrid seed corn.

Within the facility, there's not a month that goes by where they're not working on a specific phase of corn production.

These distinct seasons' start dates are almost always approximate, as the weather is always a factor.

The planting season typically begins around April and lasts until May.

Remington's field production usually revolves around 4,800 acres depending on the year.

Following the planting season is rouging and detasseling. During this period, roughly 250 additional employees are hired to assist in this process, as a lot of work has to be done to ensure the corn is prepared for harvest. This process usually lasts from June to July. This year it was pushed back due to rain.

Harvest usually begins in September and ends in October. The rain also affected the harvest season, creating a lower yield in the product. Around 40 extra people are hired during this period.

The approximate volume of bushels harvested is around 220,000.

The year wraps up with the conditioning and reconditioning processes. During this process, the produced seed is treated and prepared for bagging, and in turn, will be eventually sent to customers. Typically, the product will be shipped and returned between Dec. and July.

The typical units conditioned are 300,000 units and 150,000 reconditioned.

While a lot of the products will be shipped to the dealers, many will be transferred to other Remington distribution centers.

Approximately 130,000 units will be shipped to dealers, while 228,000 are shipped out. Usually, 84,500 units are brought in.

These seasons have a certain degree of overlap since more than one activity may occur simultaneously.

Several buildings are integral for plant production.

The first is the husk and sort building. This building maximizes seed quality by eliminating opportunities for physical and mechanical damage to the seed. The average daily intake of seed is approximately 5,500 bushels per day.

The dryer is a building that does just what it says, dries the corn. Corn is dried on the ear. The average cycle time to dry one bin of corn is 96 hours. Around 24,600 bushels of seed are dried at one time.

Bulk storage is where the corn is sent after drying. It can hold up to 204,000 bushels, but due to size variation and working capacity, it's approximately 180,000 bushels.

The final piece of equipment is the conditioning tower. Here is where the corn is eventually bagged. Around 550 bushels can be bagged per hour, depending on seed size. The average bagging output in an eight-hour is anywhere from 2,500 to 2,700 bags a day.

Seed is then taken to one of the three warehouses where it sits until it's needed by customers or re-bagged (put into a new bag). Two climate-controlled warehouses help the products maintain seed germination during the summer months.

The north-end cold warehouse can hold around 251,520 units with 30,000 square feet of space. The cold west warehouse can hold nearly 132,480 units with 11,500 square feet of space. The main warehouse holds 89,280 units at 11,000 square feet.

Remington was not the first seed company to start in Mt. Pleasant.

Cargill first owned the location in 1958. They originally built the site because it was close to the railroad.

In 1982, Mycogen bought the location from Cargill. They held the plant until 2002.

It wasn't until 2004 that Remington bought the plant. Remington's first crop was the following year in 2005.

Holtkamp said that going through the whole process is the most rewarding part of the job.

"It's the start to finish," he said. "You get to see the product at the start, and then you watch it throughout the season, and then at the end of the year, you're bagging and shipping it out."

Comments: hunter.moeller@southeastiowaunion.com