Our History

In 1911, the Jerome B. Rice Seed Company of Detroit, Michigan sent William A. Davis to the Gallatin Valley in Bozeman, Montana to determine whether peas, a crop blighted by disease in the East, could be grown in the area profitably. The Davis’s pea production efforts were so successful that, two years later, farmers harvested seventeen thousand acres of seed peas, spawning the Gallatin Valley Seed Company in 1913.

During the 1930’s, the pea industry was the dominant business in the Gallatin Valley. Indeed, Montanans called it the “seed pea capital of the United States.” The Gallatin Valley Seed Company carefully bred, inspected and measured its pea seed varieties to ensure purity of its lines. Customers regarded Gallatin Valley pea seed varieties, i.e. Thomas Laxton, Perfection, Rocket, W.R. Surprise, Bridger, Cascade, Climax, Pride, Ranger, Hyalite, and Alaskan as top varieties. Many farmers, as had happened in the East, grew peas season after season thus bacterial blight began to diminish yields and the seed pea industry began to decline in the 1940’s and 50’s.

During the late 1930’s farmers learned the dangers of single crop production; blight destroyed some of the once vigorous pea production. As blight inflected the Gallatin Valley, seed companies began to move production to Idaho’s Snake River Valley and Washington’s Palouse Hills. The Gallatin Valley Seed Company absorbed several competitor companies and moved its operations to the Twin Falls, Idaho area referred to as the “Magic Valley” and Colfax, Washington in the Palouse. Rogers Brothers Seed Company acquired the Gallatin Valley Seed Company in 1957 as a wholly owned subsidiary with its excellent research program and 30 years of successful operation. Gallatin Valley Seed Company left the Bozeman area in 1962 and moved its headquarters to Filer, Idaho. The president of Gallatin Valley Seed Company was H.B. Schlagenhauf and its head of breeding and research was Dr. M.C. Parker. In about 1967 Gallatin Valley Seed Company built a new pea and bean processing plant in Twin Falls and in 19 Bill Albers became the President and its research department added Dr. Calvin Lamborn and Dr. Paul Moser.

Gallatin Valley Seed Company during this period expanded its research and sales to include garden beans, peas and a new innovation from Dr. Calvin Lamborn called snap peas. President Bill Albers went on to become President of Rogers Brothers Seed Company and was replaced by Alden Hill. Dr. Lamborn breeding of snap peas and Bill Albers contributions to production, marketing and sales contributed to Gallatin Valley’s continued success and growth in production of sales. The primary pea breeder was Dr. Paul Moser and most current pea varieties owe their beginning to Dr. Moser.

Gallatin Valley Seed Company continued to grow and focused its efforts in breeding, production and sales of garden beans, peas and snap peas under the leadership of Alden Hill, John Mueller, Dr. Calvin Lamborn, Dr. Paul Moser, Jim Krier and Ms. LaJoy Nielsen until 1992 when it was consolidated into Rogers Brothers Seed Company.

Ron Johnson enters the picture in 1999 to acquire the name use rights to Gallatin Valley Seed Company to manage dry bean and pea production for Syngenta Seed (Rogers Brand) and its Twin Falls, Idaho production. Syngenta seed announced its intent to sell its dry bean and pea programs including all pea varieties and the name and trademark “Gallatin Valley Seed Company.” Ron Johnson (AgraPlus) purchased the Gallatin Valley Seed Company and the pea varieties from Syngenta Seeds, Inc. in December, 2008. Thus, Gallatin Valley Seed Company continues and, hopefully, remains a vibrant and successful part of the pea seed industry.

Gallatin Valley Seed Company entered into a processor sweetcorn sales agreement with Seneca Vegetable Research, Walt and Tim Whitwood. Seneca Vegetable Research in Hall, New York is located in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

Owner Statement

“Peas are nutritious vegetable and contribute to the World’s needs to feed its population and also contribute to farm economies as an important crop rotation.”

I purchased the pea program from Syngenta Seeds because I believe peas are important and while considered a low margin crop do contribute in many ways to the farm economies and to our need to feed people nutritious food at a reasonable price. Large seed companies continue to focus on high margin vegetable species and breeding of peas has continued to decline. The pea varieties bred by Dr. Calvin Lamborn and Dr. Paul Moser have value and should remain a part of our food industry. People like Bill Albers, Calvin Lamborn, Paul Moser, John Mueller, Jim Krier, LaJoy Nielsen, Doug McEwen, Steve Hall, Ron Carr and many others put their lives into this specie and contributed much to the financial success of its owner. Gallatin Valley Seed Company started in the Gallatin Valley area of Bozeman, Montana in 1913 and it is my intent that it will remain a strong advocate for peas in the future.

Breeding and stock seed:

Matheus Baseggio, Sweet Corn Breeder and Felix Navarro, Legume Breeder continues to advance these proven genetics. Gallatin Valley Seed has a commitment to provide quality seed and innovative genetic portfolio to our customers. Our varieties are evaluated in trials throughout North America, Europe and Australia. Our primary objective is to supply our customers with high performing quality varieties that suit their specific needs.

Production

Gallatin Valley Seed Company is working with Seneca Foods to produce and process its pea varieties. Producing quantities needed for sales takes considerabl