What Peterson Genetics does

Peterson Genetics, Inc. is a privately held, family-owned soybean germplasm licensor founded in 1976 and headquartered at 1710 Adams St., Cedar Falls, Iowa. The company describes itself as a leading provider of soybean germplasm to the North American soybean seed trade, operating a testing network of 250+ sites across the United States that evaluates 5,000 unique soybean varieties annually and captures 100,000+ individual plot notes per year. Its core product is elite soybean genetic material, sourced through strategic supply partnerships with Midwest Oilseeds Inc and MS Technologies LLC, which Peterson licenses to approximately 120 retail seed companies in the United States and Canada; seed-company customers then test, multiply, and sell licensed varieties under their own brand names, positioning Peterson Genetics as an outsourced breeding and product-development platform for seed companies that lack or choose not to maintain internal breeding programs.

The business model is B2B licensing/royalty-based revenue, with go-to-market executed through a direct, region-organized field sales force of dedicated account executives (including Mike Peterson as Owner/CEO, Ben Peterson as President, Earl Barnaal, Brad Miller, David Bigger, Lisa Steere, and Doug Goodman in emeritus/special-projects capacity), supported by an interactive customer product portal (data.petersongenetics.com) and a disease-alert / industry-update blog. Underlying technology consists of soybean germplasm selection and variety evaluation infrastructure rather than a software platform; the firm does not publish APIs, SDKs, or integrations, and there are no documented AI/ML, machine-learning, or data-science capabilities in the inputs.

Customer concentration is distributed across ~120 mid-market seed-company accounts, pricing is privately negotiated and not publicly disclosed, and there is no disclosed revenue, parent company, or external institutional investor. The company operates as an active going concern with no recorded mergers, acquisitions, regulatory actions, funding rounds, or restructuring events in the source data, and ownership commentary indicates the Peterson family maintains control.

Name

Peterson Genetics

Legal name

Peterson Genetics, Inc.

Website

https://www.petersongenetics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1976

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Peterson Genetics is a privately held, family-owned soybean germplasm licensor founded in 1976 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. It evaluates elite soybean varieties through 250+ testing sites and licenses them to approximately 120 retail seed companies across the United States and Canada.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Seed Genetics

NAICS

Soybean Farming (111110), Oilseed and Grain Farming (1111)

SIC

Agricultural Production-Crops (100), Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Seed Distribution & Wholesale (Channel Sales) (AFAGAIAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Seed Trait Licensing & IP Management (Licensing, freedom-to-operate) (AFABALAJ)

Keywords

• Soybean germplasm licensing
• Plant breeding services
• Agricultural genetics research
• Seed company licensing
• Crop variety development

Headquarters

HQ city

Cedar Falls

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Soybean Germplasm Licensing: The company licenses soybean genetic material to approximately 120 retail soybean seed companies in the United States and Canada. Seed companies test, multiply, and sell these varieties under their own brand names. This is a B2B licensing model where Peterson Genetics serves as an outsourced breeding and product development program for seed companies that lack internal breeding capabilities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Peterson Genetics develops and licenses elite soybean germplasm to approximately 120 retail soybean seed companies across the United States and Canada. The company sources new and improved soybean varieties from primary providers Midwest Oilseeds Inc and MS Technologies LLC, evaluates them across a 250+ testing-site network (5,000 unique varieties and 100,000+ plot notes per year), and licenses the best-performing genetic material to seed companies that test, multiply, and sell the varieties under their own brands. Customers access variety information through an interactive product portal at data.petersongenetics.com.

Product overview

Peterson Genetics operates as a soybean germplasm provider and product development platform for the North American soybean seed trade. The company offers two primary offerings: elite soybean genetics that are evaluated through 250+ testing sites across the U.S. (testing 5,000+ unique soybean varieties annually with 100,000+ individual plot notes per year) and distributed to approximately 120 retail seed companies via licensing agreements; and a customer-facing product portal that provides interactive access to soybean product information. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Soybean Germplasm Elite soybean genetics and breeding material licensed to retail soybean seed companies across the United States and Canada. Peterson Genetics sources varieties from primary providers Midwest Oilseeds Inc and MS Technologies LLC, evaluates thousands of unique soybean varieties annually through 250+ testing sites, and licenses the best-performing genetic material to approximately 120 retail seed companies that test, multiply, and resell the varieties under their own brand names.
• Peterson Genetics Product Portal Interactive web-based customer portal at data.petersongenetics.com providing licensed seed company customers with access to the latest Peterson Genetics soybean product information in an interactive format.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Midwest Oilseeds InccoreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary provider of new and improved soybean varieties to Peterson Genetics. Midwest Oilseeds Inc brings unparalleled levels of performance for customers, supplying the foundation of Peterson Genetics' soybean germplasm offerings.
• MS Technologies LLCcoreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary provider of new and improved soybean varieties to Peterson Genetics. MS Technologies LLC provides advanced soybean genetics that complement Peterson Genetics' testing and licensing operations.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Stine Seed Company: Large, family-owned U.S. corn and soybean seed company with its own breeding program; competes in soybean genetics licensing while also selling seed directly to farmers, partially overlapping Peterson Genetics' customer set.
• Bayer CropScience: Vertically integrated life-sciences incumbent (including legacy Monsanto/Asgrow) that owns soybean germplasm, biotech traits, and seed brands; competes with Peterson Genetics by serving many of the same seed-company customers directly.
• Corteva Agriscience (Pioneer): Major agricultural input company whose Pioneer brand is one of the largest soybean seed sellers in North America; competes by combining owned germplasm with broad retail seed distribution that overlaps Peterson Genetics' downstream customers.
• Syngenta: Global seed and crop protection company with a soybean genetics portfolio and North American seed distribution; relevant incumbent competitor for soybean germplasm licensing and retail seed channels.

Regional players

• Hornbeck Seed: Regional soybean and rice seed company in the southern U.S. that has historically sourced genetics from independent germplasm licensors; representative of the seed-company customer segment Peterson Genetics serves.
• Becks Hybrids: Independent, family-owned seed company focused on the eastern U.S. Corn Belt that licenses soybean genetics from providers like Peterson Genetics — a representative downstream customer and regional competitor in seed sales.

Direct peers

• GDM Seeds: Global soybean genetics company licensing germplasm and varieties to seed companies; competes for the same independent seed-company customers and trait pipeline access as Peterson Genetics.
• Schillinger Genetics: Independent soybean germplasm developer that licenses elite genetics to seed companies across North America — directly comparable to Peterson Genetics in crop focus, customer base, and B2B licensing model.

Others

• Midwest Oilseeds Inc: Primary upstream supplier of new soybean varieties to Peterson Genetics; operates in the same soybean genetics licensing ecosystem and shares customer overlap.
• MS Technologies LLC: Strategic supplier of elite soybean trait genetics to Peterson Genetics and a licensor of soybean varieties in its own right; closely related as an upstream provider and overlapping germplasm licensor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/peterson-genetics-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Peterson Genetics