This article was featured in the March/April 2025 issue of Future Farmer magazine. Read the full issue here!
Brian Hefty has spent his life in agriculture — growing up on a family farm, studying agronomy, and leading Hefty Seed Company, one of the largest seed and crop protection retailers in the U.S. Alongside his brother Darren, he also co-hosts Ag PhD TV, the most-watched agronomy show in the country.
His Cultivate Talk in One Sentence: Cost-effective strategies for individualized acre management to achieve explosive yield gains.
Did You Know?
Hefty Seed Company started as a small farm supply business in 1969 and has grown into the 7th largest crop protection retailer in the U.S. and number 8 in seed. [Source: CropLife Magazine]
From Farm Roots to Ag Innovation
You’ve spent your entire life in agriculture. What’s shaped your approach the most?
I grew up on a farm in South Dakota with hogs, cattle, and crops, so I was in the fields every day and in the hog barns every morning and night.
I went to South Dakota State University to study ag business, then came back to farm and work in our ag supply business. At that time, it was right after the 1980s farm crisis, and it was all about cost-cutting just to survive. We barely made it through.
The difference today is we have better markets and better technology. GPS, biologicals, AI, precision farming—it’s incredible. Sometimes, I think about how much things have changed and feel like we’ve gone from the dark ages to The Jetsons!
Focusing on ROI, Not Just Cost-Cutting
In your work, you have conversations with farmers every day. What challenges do you see them facing?
The same ones they’ve always faced. When I first became an agronomist, farmers would walk in and say, “Brian, help me cut costs.” Thirty years later, I talk to farmers, and they say, “How can we cut costs?”
My dad farmed through the ‘80s, and before he passed away, I asked him, “How did you make it through?” He told me, “A lot of farmers went bankrupt not just because their costs were too high—but because they cut costs in the wrong places.”
That mindset is what we try to bring to every farmer we work with.
Soil: The Biggest Opportunity in Ag
What’s one challenge or opportunity in agriculture that doesn’t get talked about enough?
Soil testing. That’s number one. Very few farmers are soil testing, and almost no farmers are testing at the level they should be. A lot of guys are still pulling one sample for an entire field. And I always ask them: “Have you ever been to a small-town football game on a Friday night?”
Picture that football field. When I go to those games, I’m watching the field just as much as the game. I see spots where the grass isn’t growing right, areas that are too wet or too dry, sections that are worn down.
Now, think about this—a football field is one acre. If you can see that much variability in just one acre on a well-maintained field, imagine how much variability there is across an entire farm. That’s why fine-tuning soil management is such a huge opportunity. The more we can manage those differences, the better off we’re going to be.
What’s one simple change farmers can make to improve soil health?
Pull more samples!
I didn’t fully realize this myself until I saw my first grid sampling map. Suddenly, I could see the extreme variability in our soil—areas that needed more nutrients, areas that needed less, spots with drainage issues. It completely changed how we farmed. When we switched to grid sampling and variable-rate application, our fertilizer efficiency improved, and our yields shot up.
Experimenting: The Key to Staying Ahead
With so many new products and technologies available, what advice do you have for farmers?
Experiment. How will you ever know if you don’t test it? The best farmers I know are always trying new things.
Lessons Learned at Hefty Seed Company
Hefty Seed Company has grown significantly over the years. Looking back, what are the biggest lessons you’ve learned?
When we started expanding, we had to learn that big changes don’t happen overnight. We’re in a business where you get one cycle per year. If you change something, it might take two, three, even eight years before you see the full payoff.
Now when we pick up a new piece of ground, we don’t wait—we invest in tile, fertility, soil health, everything. But it still takes years before we go, “Oh wow, that really made a difference.” And it can be frustrating—but the reason we do this now is because we spent the last 25-30 years making mistakes.
That’s why I love sharing not just our successes, but our failures. Everyone talks about how great they are—I’d rather tell you all the things we did wrong, so others don’t have to make the same mistakes. We want to help other farmers and agribusinesses start ahead of where we began.
The Future of Agriculture and AgTech
What excites you most about the future of agriculture?
Technology, people, education, population growth—there’s so much opportunity ahead.
We farm in the greatest country in the world. Focus on the positive. Look at the opportunities in front of us. Agriculture is in an incredible place right now, and I couldn’t be more excited for the future.
Join Us at Cultivate 2025!
Be part of the conversation shaping the future of agriculture.
Cultivate brings together growers, startups, industry leaders, and innovators for a day of connection, insight, and action. Hear from experts like Brian Hefty and many more as we explore the technologies and ideas driving progress in the field.
June 12th, 2025 | 8 am – 4 pm | Fargo Civic Center
