Family Owned Business for the Family Owned Farm

Our story began in 1934 when Kenneth and Floyd Epley of rural Shell Rock, Iowa decided to start their own seed business. As most farms and businesses started, Kenneth and Floyd started with next to nothing in their pockets, but their work ethic was strong. Kenneth and Floyd aimed to produce quality seed corn, and that is exactly what they did. The Epley Brothers sold quality seed corn along with bulk and bagged fertilizer along with Swift’s Feeds. In 1942 Kenneth set off and served our country in the US Navy. Kenneth was on several different aircraft carrier ships where his main duty was loading ammunition onto aircrafts. During these four years, Kenneth acquired a lot of great skills, but Floyd stayed back home to run the business. After Kenneth’s return back home, the brothers’ business was slowly, but surely growing. In 1956, Epley Hybrids was selling seed corn in 6 different states. In 1960, Floyd wanted out of the hybrid business, so Kenneth bought him out to keep the business going. He kept the same original goals and work ethic to continue the business. Kenneth faced many hardships,  but always kept his head up and continued to work and improve the business any way he could. The 1980’s were a hard time for him just as it was for every farmer. By this time, Kenneth had 4 hardworking boys, James, Wayne, Paul, and Robert to help run the business. With the Epley family taking great pride in their name and their family-owned business, the four brothers and one sister Marjorie Rover (Billy’s mother) made the transition of taking ownership of Epley Brothers Hybrids in the 1990s. Kenneth passed away in 1999, but his business, his work ethic, and his drive for producing quality, reasonably priced seed corn lives on. Still today, all four brothers, James, Wayne, Paul, and Robert work hard every day to keep the business going strong. The Epley family strives to keep the business going strong for many years to come as almost the entire crew here is an Epley.

We are still producing top-yielding hybrids, mainly focusing on conventional corn and Enlist® Soybeans that are sold all over the Midwest to fit the needs of family-owned farms in today’s fast-growing world.