The next step for the leading forage companies was to hire
PhD plant breeders to develop our own proprietary varieties of alfalfa, clovers,
field grasses, etc. This was the beginning of the brain drain of plant breeders
from the USDA and land grant colleges into the private forage seed sector. That
change is pretty much evident today with very little forage seed research being
done in the public sector. Historically, a similar pattern had previously taken
place in the 30’s in the hybrid seed corn industry where the early hybrids were
developed by the plant breeding staff of the land grant colleges. Then, the
profit margin squeeze of small and large companies having access to the same
pedigrees forced the majors, DeKalb, Pioneer, etc., to establish research
departments and breed their own hybrids. In many cases they utilized inbreds
developed by the public experiment stations.
Things rocked along pretty well at the old family company.
Then, in the early sixties apparently an innocuous event took place. The
Woodruff Seed Company of Milford, Connecticut was acquired by the Upjohn
Company, Kalamazoo, Michigan, a major pharmaceutical firm. This event was as far
as I can remember the first important seed company acquisition although at the
time we didn’t have any idea of why the acquisition was made and where it might
lead. Woodruffs were vegetable seed breeders and marketers as well as turf seed
specialists. Why in the world would a multibillion-dollar drug company want to
own a piddling, little $20 or $25 million annual sales seed company? None of us
had any idea of the ultimate impact of this early transaction. But, again, this
was the changing seed industry.
