Fontanelle Hybrids announced that the company has been acquired by the CORE Group, a wholly owned company of American Seeds, Inc. (ASI), which is a holding company formed by Monsanto Company to support regional seed businesses with capital, genetics and technology investments. Fontanelle will join ASI as a distinct operating subsidiary of the CORE Group and operate independently and regionally.

 “Fontanelle joined an association of seed companies in 1996 to form the CORE Group,” Steve Pike, sales manager said. “This new CORE Group, now owned by ASI, also includes original CORE Group member companies: Stone Seed Farm Inc, Springfield, IL; Steward Seeds Inc, Greensburg, IN; and Trelay Seed Company, Livingston, WI.”

“The member companies created the CORE Group almost ten years ago to ensure continued access to new traits and top genetics,” Pike said. “We made the move then to be an owner and member of the CORE Group because we believed that we need to plan for the future. We owe that to our customers, dealers and employees. Now that the CORE Group is in ASI, we have again made the move to make sure we can be there as a seed partner for the continued success of the people who depend on us.”

“One of the foundation principles of Fontanelle is to provide seed products that will make our customers successful,” Dave Monke, production manager said. “Our customers tell us that we’ve done a good job of that over the last 70 years. Now, with the CORE Group move into ASI, we know that we will continue to be able to offer cutting edge trait products in the best genetics available as we move into the future.”

“Our customers will see that Fontanelle’s unique culture will stay as they know it,” Pike said. “They will continue to work with the same team of people and the same brand they’ve come to trust. Our customers have appreciated our culture as well as the knowledge that they can come to Fontanelle for the new products that will bring value to their farming operations. Now we’ve made sure that trust they’ve placed in us will continue on as our culture flourishes into the future.”

Fontanelle Hybrids markets corn, soybeans, grain sorghum, alfalfa and sunflowers in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri and portions of Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota and Texas as a CORE Group company under the High Cycle® Seed Systems brand of products.