We’re so thankful for the industry we’re in, for the community that we’re in, the employees and the customers that we’ve enjoyed over the years.”

Mark Stutsman, COO, Eldon C. Stutsman, Inc.

HILLS

August 1934. Eldon Stutsman drew the back of his hand across his forehead for about the 20th time that afternoon. His wet hair dripped sweat into his eyes and his shirt stuck flat against his damp skin as he stacked bags of feed into his truck.

The 19-year-old knew investing his paycheck in animal feed was a risk, but it seemed like every time he completed his cream-delivery route, his neighbors were asking him to pick up supplies for them. Why not just buy what they needed and stock it himself? It would save him time and allow him to provide better service.

Dang, it was hot. The temperature was over 100 degrees, again. What with the bugs and the drought, it was a miracle livestock and crops were surviving at all these days. Everywhere he went, people seemed to be hanging on by a thread.

His task completed, he squinted out into the sun and looked out over the rolling hills that were his vista. In a few days he would turn 20. Were happiness and prosperity really on the horizon?

Eldon C. Stutsman, Inc.

“I asked my grandfather, why did you name your company that? And he said, ‘When I started, the only thing I had to sell was my name,’” Mark Stutsman recalls from the spacious, modern retail center in Hills, built roughly a decade after Eldon’s passing in 2002.

Mark, COO, and brother Scott Stutsman, CEO, have spent their entire careers – nearly four decades each – working for the family-owned business, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. They make up part of that infamous third generation, often a business’s closing act. But “Stutsmans,” as locals refer to it, is exceeding the odds and moving forward with a fourth generation taking the stage. Only 3% of family businesses survive this leadership transition.

What makes Stutsmans a rare success story?

“I think agriculture lends itself well for us to [survive through generations],” Mark says. “Every acre around us is going to get farmed every year, and the livestock buildings are going to have livestock every year. Its just up to us to look over the horizon to find the next product and service that our customers will see value in.”

Just as it began, with Eldon providing the service of feed delivery, Stutsmans continues, providing a range of ag products and services to farmers: feed ingredient distribution, agronomy products and services, manure handling equipment, transportation, logistics, field application equipment and precision ag, wholesale hose and valve products, and grain handling equipment.

It’s a rare retailer that has exclusive product lines and can compete strictly on that basis. Eldon never saw product as his raison d’etre; it was his service he was willing to put his name on.

“Emphasize service and sales will come naturally,” Mark remembers his grandfather saying.

As a service business, Stutsmans is tasked with providing something more than its competitors can offer.

“We come to the market with a different viewpoint of trying to make our customers money by being cutting-edge with new technologies and new procedures, with cutting edge research,” Mark says.

Employing quality staff with a high level of product knowledge is an important part of the Stutsman strategy, as is remaining a family business. Mark and Scott’s father, Ron, is currently chairman of the board; they both have children, graduates of Iowa State University, who make up the fourth generation involved in the business.

Fortunately, one need not be related by blood to join the Stutsman family. Newer employees, like Content Specialist Creigh Todd, are eagerly welcomed – and warm feelings exist on both sides.

“I actually grew up not too far from here,” Todd says. “[Everyone in the community] had positive things to say about Stutsmans and the way that they treat their employees. When there was an opportunity in the marketing team, it was no question for me that this is where I was meant to be, and this was the place that I wanted to be.”

Part of Todd’s job is maintaining the company’s Facebook page. Here, she often includes black and white photos depicting scenes from the past, along with a bit of the company’s history, it’s “backbone,” as she describes it.

“We’ve been here for a long time. We’re proud of that,” Scott says. “Stutsmans did business with your grandparents, or a lot of people’s third generation now. To highlight that, and to talk about that, just brings it all together.”

“And gives tribute to those who worked hard to get us to where we are today,” Mark adds.

Showcasing that history will be a part of the customer appreciation event the company is planning in August to say thank you to customers for 90 years of support. Pork chops and sweet corn are on the menu, and “What’s really cool is our employees do all the work,” Mark says. “We think that’s important, that we are all on board to say thank you.”

Even as the company pauses to look back, it continues to look forward. Supporting youth in 4-H and FFA is a priority, as is employing the next generation to lead the company over the horizon to what’s next.

Todd is excited to be a part of that group.

“I think there’s such a strong legacy with Stutsmans,” she says. “Even though I’m not a family member and I’m just a young employee, it would be my hope that we’re able to collectively continue that legacy and amplify what’s already been done here, and continue to do what’s best for our customers and serve those vital people within the agriculture industry, within transportation, within all of the different industries that our different divisions touch, and serve as a resource to make their lives easier.”

It is enthusiasm like that that Scott recognizes, values and appreciates.

“To see the young people today that are passionate about agriculture and join our company, I just want to get behind them and support them,” he says. “We can’t predict what agriculture is going to do or be in the next 30 years, but to watch this next generation figure it out and navigate through is exciting.”

Surely this present moment isn’t one Eldon Stutsman imagined as he sunk his meager earnings into feed in 1934 to better serve the customers on his cream delivery route. His entrepreneurial leap created a company that would outlive him and benefit countless lives.

Now a fourth generation looks out over the rolling hills. What future might they imagine?