Simpson Seeds celebrates 40 years of feeding the world
Simpson Seeds started out 40 years ago as a small family-run company doing business in mainly Saskatchewan, before eventually evolving into an organization that now conducts transactions worldwide.
“It’s a milestone. Forty years is a long time to be running a company,” said President/ CEO Greg Simpson on Aug. 13, exactly four decades to the day when Simpson Seeds became incorporated. “Certainly (we) would not have thought that we’d be where we are today when we started the company, but here we are … . We’re quite happy to celebrate 40 years.”
The company is unique since it is an international family business, where what it does is normally handled by multinational organizations, he continued. It has been successful due to its core values: family, quality, integrity and innovation. Similarly, Simpson Seeds has great brand recognition among its customers, while it also has a great team that contributes to its success. Some employees have been with the company between 25 and 35 years. One aspect to the company’s success has been its purpose: nourishing the world, Simpson said. The business brings much value to the farming community by being a conduit so producers can export their products.
Simpson Seeds has sold millions of tonnes of lentils across the world, said John Simpson, Greg’s brother and company vice-president and project manager. Numerous bowls of soup can be made from one 100-pound bag.
The demand for vegetable protein — lentils, peas and chickpeas — is growing, agreed Greg. Plant-based protein is becoming more popular, as evidenced by restaurant chains serving “beyond-meat burgers.”
Pulses, lentils and chickpeas all fit into the future due to sustainability and affordability issues, echoed Elyce Simpson- Fraser, Greg’s daughter and vice-president of sales and marketing. Many people are incorporating these into their diets since meat is becoming expensive and they want a smaller environmental footprint. Simpson Seeds exports chickpeas, yellow peas and green peas to 85 countries. It processes seeds and lentils at its Moose Jaw plant.
When the Simpson family had its main farm southeast of Moose Jaw, father Jim saw the need in the 1970s to conduct more marketing for their products, get away from the Canadian Wheat Board and diversify what they were growing. Greg had just graduated from the University of Saskatchewan and acquired a job with Agriculture Canada. He inspected seed growers in southwest Saskatchewan, where he developed the idea to grow seeds, clean seeds on their farm, and then retail them to help diversify the family farm.
Around this time, U of S professor Dr. Al Slinkard was also creating the Crop Development Centre in Saskatoon, since he pointed out Saskatchewan had the ideal growing conditions for lentils and peas. Greg began growing peas in 1975, and by 1980, the family had experience to take on lentils and become a mixed farm. On Aug. 13, 1979, Simpson Seeds was incorporated and the family built a plant on their property in the winter of 1980. Jim was president for one year, before he handed the reigns to son Greg so he could focus on public relations, meeting with growers and being an advisor. This meant it was up to Greg and John to run the company. Older brother Tom also became involved, but focused more on the farm operations side.
In 1992, the family bought property on Moose Jaw’s northwest service road — which had nothing on it then — and built a cleaning and processing plant. They also expanded the rail spur so they could have access to the railroad to ship their products.
“The rail was key for our expansion,” said John.
The company bought Kyle Seeds and its elevator in southwest Saskatchewan in 2008, along with that company’s processing plant in Swift Current. Simpson Seeds improved the plant, before making a major expansion three years ago. The company later shut down the elevator in Kyle. Simpson Seeds expanded into organic seeds last year due to major customer demand, especially from its European customers. While the Simpson family farm southeast of Moose Jaw is now certified as an organic site, the company’s main focus is still on lentils.
“We’re just starting out, so it’s slow,” Elyce said. “But … we’ll grow the program slowly as we get familiar with (this area).”
Farmers trust Simpson Seeds for two reasons: it is family and it is a community Canadian family business, said Greg. What’s also important is the company meets its obligations when serving customers, wherever and whomever they may be.
“I think the fact we’re growers ourselves too (also helps),” said Elyce. Simpson Seeds knows what it takes to grow a crop, while this knowledge ranges from the seed to the supper table. Many of their competitors can’t provide that coverage. “Gate to plate, they say,” said Greg. “Or field to fork,” laughed Elyce.
With the Earth’s population to grow to nine billion people in 2050, many people will need protein to sustain themselves, said Greg. Canada is well-positioned to feed the world; the future looks promising.
There is the potential to expand into the fibre market, added Elyce. Besides high-protein foods such as lentils and chickpeas, fibre is also known to be healthy, so the opportunity exists to grow into this market.