The far north-central point of Minnesota has produced iconic brands like Marvin® Windows and Doors and Polaris Industries and a generation of talented hockey players. The region is also the second-largest producer of turf grass seed in the United States.
Williams, Minnesota is a small town near the United States/Canada border, located a few miles from the Lake of the Woods. From its facility in Williams, Northern Excellence Seed has served its member growers for more than two decades by providing high-quality conditioning, marketing, and packaging of turf grass seeds, non-GMO soybeans, and other grains.
Perennial ryegrass is the most commonly used turf grass seed in the United States. Northern Excellence Seed cleans the perennial ryegrass seed, packages it, and prepares it for shipment to customers around the world from an 85,000-square-foot facility. The nearby Lake of the Woods, with its wet, cooler nights and cold, snowy winters, creates ideal perennial ryegrass growing conditions.
The Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) and Northern Excellence Seed have worked together for many years to identify new uses for the agricultural byproducts produced during the cleaning and conditioning of the different grass seeds. In that time, the company has grown and diversified to meet changing market conditions.
The company originated thanks to a generous offer from the Marvin® Windows and Doors family of Warroad, Minnesota. About two decades ago, the Marvin family told a group of area seed growers they were going to close their commercial-grade elevator and seed conditioning plant. They offered the farmers the seed cleaning equipment for free if they built the plant. About a dozen farmers from nearby Northern Farmers Cooperative Exchange in Williams stepped in to help finance construction of the facility and share resources, labor, vehicles, equipment, and management. Today Northern Excellence Seed is an LLC with more than 50 member growers. In 2004, the plant cleaned about five million pounds of perennial ryegrass seed. This year, or 20 years later, it handled almost 20 million pounds.
The biggest market for perennial ryegrass seed is golf courses in the southern United States. The native Bermuda grass on the courses turns brown and goes dormant in the winter. Overseeding the rough, tee boxes, fairways, and greens with perennial ryegrass seed keeps the golf course looking green and healthy until the spring when the Bermuda grass starts to grow again. Northern Excellence Seed also sells seeds for grass at sports team stadiums and sod farms, and its grass seed mixes are available for purchase at retail centers.
The grass seed market has changed dramatically over the company’s 20-year existence. In the early 2000s, growers in the area produced mostly Kentucky Bluegrass and seed for horse hay. The economic recession of 2008 created a three-year backlog of grass seed in the market, and prices dropped significantly as a result.
Today, growers produce perennial ryegrass seed due to changing consumer preferences and the early harvest date for perennial ryegrass compared to Kentucky Bluegrass. The business also expanded and diversified its offerings. In 2016, Northern Excellence Seed added a third processing line dedicated to non-GMO food-grade soybeans and small grains. Those crops are sold to South Korea and Japan for tofu and other food products. The facility also cleans and packages timothy, reed canary grass, and cover crop seeds.
“AURI is so connected throughout the state and just agriculture in general. They can always refer you to someone,” Benike says. “I tell people all the time that ‘You don’t have to go out and reinvent the wheel. Call AURI because chances are they have already invented the wheel, or they know someone who has.’ They have been a big part of our continued success.”
“AURI is so connected throughout the state and just agriculture in general. They can always refer you to someone,” Benike says. “I tell people all the time that ‘You don’t have to go out and reinvent the wheel. Call AURI because chances are they have already invented the wheel, or they know someone who has.’ They have been a big part of our continued success.”
