Sand Seed Service, Inc.
was founded in 1932 by John Sand, beginning a three-generation
tradition.
Aggressive promotion of farm seeds led to the construction
of Sand’s first seed conditioning plant in 1947
by Sand and his sons Merle, Bob, Ray and Paul and son-in-law
Bill Horstman.
A modern concrete grain storage and
load-out elevator was built in 1972. This elevator
was expanded in 1975
and 1976. In addition, the 70’s and early 80’s
marked the growth of Sand's jumbo hopper car fleet
to a total of 38.
Throughout the years, seed has been
the backbone of the organization. Sand Seed Service
produced, packaged
and
sold certified seed oats and public soybean varieties
in the four-state area, as well as servicing the
food bean export market. The organization also produced
and conditioned seed for several other companies
on
a contract
basis.
Following a complete remodeling of the seed
plant in 1980, Sands introduced their own brand of
farm seeds,
SOI Brand Soybean seed. The new SOI brand seed is
distributed through a dealer marketing network. Two
years later,
a new state-of-the-art soybean seed conditioning
plant was built in 1984.
Growth in the late 1990's and early
2000's marked a new period of construction. Sand's
warehouse facility was
doubled and eight new seed storage bins were also
constructed to accommodate increasing demand.
Today, SOI brand encompasses
soybeans, alfalfa, small grain and grass
seeds marketed to producers in
Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska under
the leadership of President Charles Sand. |
