According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Minnesota’s farm economy generated more than $11 billion in output in 2004, out of a state gross domestic product of $224 billion—and that doesn’t include ancillary industries. But while an urbanizing Minnesota is increasingly unaware of its agricultural roots, farming still constitutes one of the state’s top industries. And that accounts for the under-the-radar Tom Rosen and his company, Rosen’s Diversified, Inc. Headquartered in the southwestern Minnesota town of Fairmont, Rosen’s specializes in beef processing, agriculture-chemical distribution, and fertilizer. In 1998, the company’s annual revenues were $550 million. In 2005, they hit $2 billion.
“In the early ’80s, there were some times that were pretty tough” in agriculture, Rosen acknowledges, recalling the farm crisis of that period. “But as a general rule, over the last 20 years, the ag economy has been rather stable and fairly successful.”
To be sure, farming has changed during those two decades. There are far fewer farmers, for instance, and those in the business have much larger operations. A key part of Rosen’s success has been an ability to convert these changes into opportunities. It’s a trait he inherited from his father and his uncle, who founded the family firm in 1946. The brothers began as livestock traders; in the late ’50s, they branched out into feed, fertilizer, and chemicals. In 1974, the Rosen brothers further expanded by purchasing a bankrupt packing facility in Long Prairie, which marked their company’s entrance into the beef-processing industry.
Tom Rosen joined the family business in November 1972, selling farm chemicals for the company after working for Kansas City pharmaceutical firm Marion Laboratories (now part of French pharma giant Sanofi-Aventis). After nine years as a salesman, he became head of the chemical division, and then was named CEO of the entire company in 1991.
Thirty years after the Rosen family entered the business, beef processing accounts for about 75 percent of company revenues. “We have five harvest plants—not slaughter plants, but harvest plants,” Rosen says wryly. “It’s the buzzword now. It just sounds better.” These plants, which handle 7,000 head a day, chiefly process older cattle, grinding hamburger for a fast-food clientele that includes McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell. (Rosen’s also provides products such as steak and corned beef for supermarkets.) In addition, the company owns three processing plants that produce snack items such as beef jerky and beef sticks. In August 2005, Rosen’s meat division increased sales $750 million when it merged with American Foods Group in Green Bay. That has added more high-end “choice cattle” to Rosen’s offerings and positioned the company to broaden its geographical market.
The other 25 percent of the business comprises wholesale distribution of agricultural chemicals and fertilizer to co-ops and retailers covering 17 states, mostly in the Great Plains and the Midwest.
“People don’t realize how much [ag] technology has changed,” Rosen says. “A lot of the ‘hard’ chemicals [such as organic phosphates] are gone.” The newer, gentler chemicals, he says, can do more with less. “The amounts that you use [today] are so small—one ounce, two ounces. We used to use pints and quarts. A lot of big makers’ products are off patent, so we can buy them all over the world.”
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