Harry Stine honored for Distinguished Service to Agriculture by Iowa Farm Bureau Federation

Harry Stine, founder of Stine Seed Company, Adel, was honored with a Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award at an awards ceremony during the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting held in Des Moines on Friday, December 7.

The award honors individuals for service to agriculture that has been of importance to the industry at the local, state and/or national level. This is the 30th year for the award. Both winners received plaques and will be added to a permanent display at IFBF headquarters in West Des Moines. 

Stine was nominated for the award by the Dallas County Farm Bureau Chapter.

About Harry Stine         

Harry Stine’s work ethic began on the family farm near Adel in Dallas County, where his career began with typical farm chores. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas, Stine returned home to help on the farm. In the late 1960s, Stine joined four other seedsmen in forming Improved Variety Research (IVR), one of the first private soybean research and development companies in the nation. Research was conducted at the Stine farm near Adel. IVR was later dissolved and Stine, along with head plant breeder Bill Eby, founded Midwest Oilseeds, which today is the soybean genetics licensing company of choice in the United States.

Stine began retail seed sales in 1979 under his own label, Stine Soybean Seeds.  Success would follow and in the early 1990s, his business soon became one of the top four soybean seed companies in the country. 

Today, Stine Seed is one of the country’s top soybean seed suppliers and provides genetics to approximately half of all soybean acres planted in the Midwest. More recently, Stine Seeds has developed corn hybrids, as well, with many of their varieties showing top yields.

Always striving toward innovation, Stine’s biotechnology’s group has created the Aerosol Beam Injector (ABI), its own proprietary system for genetic transformation in plants. ABI offers Stine and its strategic partners total freedom to operate to insert traits from any source into Stine’s bank of high-yielding elite germplasm. In addition, the new technology creates plant transformation opportunities not previously possible.        

Harry Stine and his wife, Molly, reside in Adel. He has four grown children.

Also honored with the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award was John Soorholtz, a long-time Marshall County pork producer and former state senator.

About Iowa Farm Bureau        

The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation is a grassroots, statewide organization dedicated to enhancing the People, Progress and Pride of Iowa. More than 153,000 families in Iowa are Farm Bureau members, working together to achieve farm and rural prosperity. For more information about Farm Bureau and agriculture, visit the online media center at www.iowafarmbureau.com.