We usually don’t like to brag, but this deserves a quick pat on our backs: The Agribusiness Review has recognized Latham Seeds as one of the Top 10 seed companies in 2023 for being on the forefront of providing seed solutions and positively impacting the industry. (And now we’ll get back to work.) Check it out!
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Latham® Seeds Welcomes Brad Leckrone
As a father of seven and grandfather of four, Brad Leckrone is happily busy with family at home. While partnering with Latham Seeds for the past eight years as an outside IT account manager, Brad says he felt like he was working with family, too.
“I always found my interactions with Latham to be pleasant and professional,” Brad says. “I appreciate the way Latham Seeds conducts itself, and the Latham family has a good reputation. When the opportunity arose to join the team, I felt it would be a great move.”
Brad is now a Seed Account Manager (SAM) working from Alexander, but his IT background and knowledge of Latham’s technology needs already have been put to good use within the company. In his new role with Latham, Brad says he is most looking forward to continuing to help people — dealers, customers and colleagues alike.
“I really enjoy helping people,” he says. “I’m here to help.”
Brad and his wife, Miriam, live on a small farm in North Central Iowa, where they cash rent the tillable ground and have a few cows, horses, chickens and “the regular assortment of dogs and cats.” As a family, they enjoy target shooting, horseback riding and watching their daughter compete in horse jumping shows. They also like to fish and spend time on the boat.
With much of his extended family hailing from Indiana, the Leckrones are sharing a Hoosier favorite recipe for Sugar Cream Pie. (Brad guarantees that Wicks Sugar Cream pies are the best!)
Baking The Perfect Wick’s Sugar Cream Pie | Del Buono’s Bakery (delbuonosbakery.com)
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Latham® Corn Seed: Your Passport to Quality
By the time Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds offers a new corn hybrid, the number of places it has traveled in its developmental process is pretty “a-maize-ing.”Let’s look at the developmental timeline and how your bag of corn seed gets so many frequent flyer miles. It can take at least five years to create a new hybrid with a new seed parent. These new corn lines like to travel. As a breeder, I become the travel agent coordinating their travel plans.
What are some of the popular destinations for these lucky kernels? We use fields in Hawaii, Mexico, Chile and Argentina. By using these countries, we can plant fields year-round to accelerate our development process. In some cases, we can get three growing seasons in one year.
We use these locations to develop new parents, remake successful hybrids, create new experimental hybrids to test each year and produce hybrid for new releases. No one country can efficiently meet all our needs, so using multiple locations allows us to do different processes to deliver a new product to you.
Your family uses passports to travel and gets inspected by the TSA to get on the plane. A corn family needs similar documents for travel. The difference is that your family typically can travel and get into a country within a day. Each seed shipment we send or receive needs its own inspection and unique documentation, depending on where it’s going. Seed is further inspected upon arriving at its destination. This trip can take up to a week or more if its paperwork isn’t accepted. Delays can affect whether the seed arrives home in time.
The next time you look at a bag of Latham brand hybrid seed corn, know that it might have as many airline miles as you do. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way to collect and use those frequent flyer perks!
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Farming (and Mustangs) Fuel this Minnesota Family
Farming is at the heart of Kyle and Sally Johnson’s family — so much so that they made sure their wedding vows included the words “in sunshine and in rain” when they were married 22 years ago. Sally’s wedding ring has a head of wheat engraved on each side, a reflection of their Minnesota farm near Fargo, N.D., where they raise corn, soybeans, sugar beets and wheat.
“All four of our boys are farm boys in every way,” Sally says. “They all want to farm together too.”
Kyle and Sally met in high school at a church retreat, where Sally quickly noticed Kyle’s green Mustang and asked him for a ride.
Little did she know that Mustangs were a Johnson family “first car” tradition that began with Kyle’s dad. Both Kyle and his brother, Chad, had a Mustang growing up. Sally’s oldest sons — Ethan, Preston and Logan — have since chose a Mustang for their first cars, too. Thirteen-year-old Dawson plans to keep the tradition going.
“Even though our driveway is gravel, our boys all wanted one,” says Sally, who works as a trauma team case manager at Sanford Medical Center in Fargo. “Even I have a Mustang now.”
It’s said when you drive a Mustang, you’re living your dream. Together, Kyle and Sally are fueling similar dreams for their family on their fifth-generation North Dakota farm. A Latham® Seeds dealership helps diversify their income.
It was Sally’s cousin, Ken Highness, who first introduced her and Kyle to Latham products, which they started planting in 2015. The quality and performance of corn varieties and Ironclad™ soybeans helped Ken, a Latham regional sales manager, convince the Johnsons to take on a Latham® dealership — a decision Kyle says ended up being a perfect fit.
“It was a good opportunity, but it also made sense for us being a family-owned business,” he says. “We love that the whole Latham family, from John, Shannon and Chris are involved, because that’s what we strive for with our own family. We want to keep working together.”
When they aren’t farming, the Johnsons enjoy sports, hunting, ice fishing and annual trips to Yellowstone National Park. They also love this tried-and-true chicken enchilada recipe that feeds their hungry crew.
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Latham Seeds welcomes Steve Sick as Product Manager
When Steve Sick was 12 years old, he started working summers in the corn nursery in Freemont, Nebraska, where his dad was research director at J.C. Robinson Seed Co. He developed a love for agriculture and continued his career in R&D well after high school (24 years to be exact) before moving into Product Management.
“I learned the seed business from the inside out,” Steve says. “I didn’t grow up on a farm and I did not attend college, but I’ve been involved in agriculture my entire life.”
After working for several larger companies over the years, Steve is happy to get back to what he calls “the bare roots and basics of seed” in his new role as Latham’s product manager.
“I honestly enjoy talking to and teaching growers about new products to help them be more successful in the farming operations,” Steve says. “You’ll never leave a conversation with me and not know exactly where I stand on a topic or a product. It’s just who I am.”
Steve and his wife, Cindy, have been married for 32 years. They go to Las Vegas twice a year, with Steve betting on sports and Cindy enjoying the slots. (This June will mark their 59th trip to Vegas.) They also have taken on a growing interest in watching their granddaughter, Emily, play her favorite sport: bowling.
“She wants to be a professional bowler when she grows up,” Steve says. “Her high game is 205. Not bad for a 12-year-old!”
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
FOR THE LOVE OF HER LAND
When it comes to farming — specifically as a FarmHer — April Hemmes’ resume speaks for itself.Besides earning her Animal Science degree from Iowa State University, April has served in leadership roles for the United Soybean Board, USDA Foreign Ag Service Technical Advisory Council and the U.N. Food Security Summit . . . just to name a few. She’s been described as a trailblazer for women in ag — a reference she humbly dismisses and appreciates at the same time.
“I really don’t think you are a trailblazer if you are just doing what you love and pursuing your dream,” April says. “I hope the fact that I farm gives other young women hope that someday they may be able to go home and work on their family farm and manage it, too!”
April lives on the farm her great grandfather bought in 1901. It was always a diverse operation, so when she came home to farm, April knew she could have hogs too. They cleaned out an old building and turned it into a farrowing house with raised crates that April bought from a nearby producer who’d gone out of business. She bought 30 gilts, started a farrow-to-finish operation and farmed with her grandpa and her dad.
April with her grandfather When the market went to 9 cents a pound in the late 1990’s, April retreated from the hog business to focus more on the 60-head cow calf herd she had purchased from her dad by then.
“I really liked having hogs around,” April says. “But something had to go.”
Business decisions like that helped propel April into a lifetime of farming that has captured headlines as “Midwest Farm Mom of the Year” and on the cover of “Successful Farming” magazine. Her husband, Tom Kazmerzak, always has worked in town and not on the farm. April has been the owner and operator of her family’s century farm south of Hampton, Iowa for more than 40 years, raising corn, soybean and pasture land.
“Farming has always been what I wanted to do with my life,” April says. “I always helped on the farm and knew education and experience would be the best way to be ready for the challenge.”
One of April’s secrets to success is getting up early to answer emails so other farmers feel heard.
“The most gratifying thing I hear is when another farmer thanks me for what I am doing,” she says. “It really means a lot to me.”
The other secret to her success? Sheer stubbornness.
“I did not have a father who encouraged me to farm, but I was always expected to do everything on the farm,” April says. “I’m very proud to carry on the tradition of farming. It’s my love, my life and my legacy.”
Enjoy April’s favorite cookie recipe below.
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
“Hope through Hoops” is Name of the Game
Whether you cheer for the Black and Gold or the Cardinal and Gold, we’re all on the same team in the fight against cancer.
Jerry Broders, RSM, and the Allen Oltman Family presented a check to Coaches vs Cancer during the Iowa game on Saturday, February 4th. For the 11th consecutive season, Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds is donating funds to the American Cancer Society through Coaches vs. Cancer. Our company’s donation will total $75k by the season’s end.
Coincidentally, Latham Seeds celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2022 by launching a Seeds of Hope campaign to raise an additional $75,000 for the American Cancer Society. Latham Seeds will donate $1 to the American Cancer Society for every unit of LH 3937 VT2 PRO, LH 5245 VT2 PRO and LH 6477 VT2 PRO sold.
“We have been committed to supporting the American Cancer Society through the Charity Stripe Promotion since the 2012-2013 season because we know first-hand what a gift hope can be,” says John Latham, president, Latham Seeds. “On February 20, 2010, my father underwent a stem cell transplant to battle AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia). He and my mom moved into the Gift of Life Transplant House in Rochester after he was released from the hospital. That transplant extended Dad’s life for more than five years, and we are grateful for all the support he received during his cancer battle.”
More than 1.6 million people are diagnosed with cancer annually in the United States. Whether it’s ourselves, our parents, a neighbor or a coworker, each of us has a cancer story. No one fights alone.
Click here to join Latham Seeds in the fight against cancer: https://www.lathamseeds.com/hope/
Related Articles:
- 2013: Coaches vs. Cancer nets $15,000
- 2014: Coaches vs. Cancer nets $17,000
- 2015: Put the Full Court Press on Cancer
- 2016: Will to Win is a Common Denominator
- 2019: Latham Seeds Provides Cancer Support One Free Throw at a Time
- 2020: Providing Hope is Our “Why”
- 2021: Coming Back from Childhood Cancer
- 2021: Schminke Family Goes the Distance
- 2022: Free Throws Total $65k Donation from Latham Seeds
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Latham Seeds Welcomes Jenny Moore
Jenny celebrating at our Feliz Navidad party! Taking care of business (and people) has always been Jenny Moore’s passion. As Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds’ newest team member, she’s doing both for us!
Born and raised in Belmond, Iowa, Jenny was an all-around athlete. She played basketball, softball, volleyball and track throughout high school. She also was a clarinet-playing band kid, and says she was happy to “twirl the flag” in marching band.
“I was good at that,” Jenny says with a laugh.
She’s also good at helping people in their darkest times of need.
Before joining Latham Seeds, Jenny worked for more than 20 years at Mercy One in Mason City. As a patient care technician in the emergency room, Jenny served countless families through their worst traumas. Jenny managed paperwork, documented patient needs and, especially, held the hands of people who needed it most. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she became the primary prevention police officer in her unit. Jenny trained colleagues on a whole new hospital protocol, from how to properly wash hands to safely move in and out of patients’ rooms.
“I definitely wasn’t the most popular person at work during that time,” Jenny says. “But I knew I was doing the right work.”
One of Jenny’s cousins told her about Latham’s executive administrative assistant opening, a job she thought sounded perfect at the time. Jenny has fond memories of traveling to meet with seed dealers with her ex-husband, a former ag sales rep.
“The trust and bond we all had was very inspiring,” Jenny says. “I am extremely happy to be a part of the Latham Seeds family now.”
Jenny is most grateful for the patience and grace that her fellow Latham colleagues have shown her in the last two months since she joined the team. “Nobody makes me feel like I’m asking too many questions,” Jenny says. “Everyone is so kind to me. I’m very happy where I am.”
Jenny’s parents, Curtis and Byrul, live on a farm near Rowan, Iowa, where they raise corn and beans. Jenny is the middle child of their three daughters. Kim, the oldest, lives Texas. Jamie, the youngest, lives in Dows, Iowa. The sisters have an older brother who passed away in 1999.
In her free time, Jenny loves doing anything outdoors — especially camping at the Iowa State Fair where her family has a coveted camp site. She also travels with her dad every year as he races his fastest vintage car.
“Nothing’s better than that,” Jenny says.
One thing that might come close is this recipe from Jenny’s beloved grandmother. Take note of Grandma June’s Homemade Mac ‘n Cheese recipe below.
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Feliz Navidad!
At Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds, we have been kicking off the holidays with an all-company potluck since 2009. This year, we thought our gathering was worthy of a Christmas poem. Enjoy our little story and our pictures! Here’s to carrying on your own cherished family traditions this season.
This week at Latham Seeds, we all gave a cheer
For the food and the sweaters — yes, our potluck was here!
Crockpots and cookies all waited in line
And the tacos arrived, just precisely on time.
Who brought that cheese dip? Who made those bars?
Mexican sushi? Oh, we’re eating like stars.
“Feliz Navidad” was our theme for this year,
There were jalapeños galore, for those with no fear.
We had cheesy corn and tortillas, beans and rice
And all the Christmas staples – so much sugar, so much spice!
Our ugly sweater contest brought Quentin some fame.
But who knew Spanish Bingo is the best reindeer game?
Quentin was our big winner! 
Personalized ornaments were hung on the tree
As a thank you to Team Latham for everyone to see.
With hearts and bellies full, no one left without
Because a tradition like this is what family’s all about.
Enjoy a recipe that was brought to the potluck below!
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Latham Seeds Welcomes Kody Trampel as Regional Sales Manager
Sometimes, the best opportunities present themselves at just the right time. That was true for Kody Trampel, who joined the Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds team earlier this fall after working as an agronomist in ag retail for 12 years. Kody knew the Latham family even before he graduated from Iowa State University 10 years ago, and always kept an eye on the company’s go-to-market strategy.
“One thing Latham does really well is bringing options to customers and letting them pick the trait packages that best fit within their operation,” Kody says. “Being an independent seed company gives us the ability to do that. Most other companies can’t.”
While he didn’t grow up on a farm, Kody helped his grandpa mix feed at the Klemme (Iowa) Co-op every week. He participated in FFA and 4-H; and majored in Agricultural Studies at ISU. He met his wife, Vanessa, while working as an agronomist in one of her grandpa’s bean fields.
Kody and Vanessa Trampel with their children Pierce and Finley. Today, Kody and Vanessa raise corn, soybeans, alfalfa, cattle and hogs. They also represent District 2 for the Iowa Farm Bureau’s Young Farmer Advisory Committee. Kody is involved with the Hancock County Extension Council and Hancock County Farm Bureau, as well. Vanessa is an Iowa Central nursing graduate.
Kody says he’s most excited for the opportunity to “focus on seed only” in his RSM role at Latham Seeds — while also using his experience in ag retail to help grow his dealer network.
“Bringing real-life experiences to the farm gate is something I’m really looking forward to,” he says.
Kody knows how committed Latham Seeds is to its customer base because of a single, short statement that company President John Latham always drives home: “We are a genetics-first company and a trait company second.”
“That comment from John truly shows that no matter where the traits are sourced from, we won’t bring them to the table unless we have a need from our customers,” Kody says. “That just proves how important they are to us.”
When he isn’t working, Kody enjoys camping with family and friends, and raising and showing livestock. He and Vanessa have two children, Pierce (3) and Finley (2). They also love their four mini Aussies: Paisley, Bentley, Sage and Mila.
Here is a delicious family recipe from the Trampels!
