Jay Lausen has lived in his childhood home all his life. He started farming in high school, first planting Latham® soybeans in 1990, and has continued to plant them ever since. When his parents, Dennis and Pauline, built a new house shortly after he graduated, Jay stayed on the family farm just outside Estherville, Iowa, and took on the operation.
Jay also took over his uncle’s Latham Seeds dealership when he retired, and he continued to sell the Latham soybeans both he and Uncle Ralph Lausen had grown to rely on over the years. Today Jay is 100% Latham, planting and selling both soybeans and corn.
“I was so accustomed to the quality of Latham soybeans and its yield,” Jay says. “I judged how other companies performed and Latham was just very high performing.”
A large seed company wooed Jay away for a few years, but he soon tired of “the big company attitude.” Even when he was selling that competitor’s seed, Jay was still planting Latham soybeans on his own farm.
He signed back on with Latham and has never looked back.
“The big guys cared more about the shareholder than they did about the customer,” Jay says. “Family values are what I want to represent. The seed industry is very competitive. It’s hard to set yourself apart, but Latham always has.”
Jay and his wife, Kohlene, have four children: Natalie, Elizabeth, Caleb and Megan. In their free time, they enjoy hiking, riding bicycles, spending time in Okoboji, Iowa and vacationing in the Western United States.
Their family always enjoys this recipe for Cheesy Potatoes — a classic in the Lausens’ home.