Our Story

Calvin was working for Penn State’s College of Agriculture and Luther was a school administrator. The brothers scraped together $1,000 to purchase foundation crownvetch seed and convinced their father Ted to plant it on five acres of the family farm. The gamble, they assured him, would pay off. Recalling his mother’s reaction to the initial seed purchase, Calvin says, “She thought every seed must have been worth a penny – she even swept the stray seeds off the barn floor.” It was also in 1963 that Calvin made his most auspicious proposal – and realized his greatest personal gain – when he requested, and was granted, the hand of Marcia Atwell in marriage. The two have been life and business partners ever since, literally traveling around the globe and making an indelible mark on the seed trade industry in the ensuing 50-plus years together. Reflecting on the importance of having her by his side all these years, Calvin says, “Marcia has always supported me personally and professionally. And I could count on her, as I could my parents, to question me on why I thought something was the right idea. She would never say, ‘Don’t ever do that again,’ but, instead, would ask why things didn’t work out and how we could learn from it.” He continues, “I think more than anything, it was Marcia’s support back home and keeping the family together and strong that always made it productive for me to go out and try things, then come back and regroup now and again.”

The crownvetch crop made it possible to purchase the 180-acre property that Ernst Conservation Seeds still calls home today. It also allowed for the Company’s first personnel expansion to what was then a handful of people who helped the Ernsts grow both crownvetch seed and crowns.

Peg “Granny” Simmons was hired in 1970. She was a beloved Ernst employee for 48 years. She retired in 2019.

The couple was blessed with the birth of daughter Robin. The remainder of the 1970s saw Calvin and Marcia raising the three kids while continuing to sell crownvetch and grain crops. According to Calvin, the children all shared a love for the natural world and the ever-changing business in which their parents were engaged. “I don’t think they ever looked at our farming as drudgery,” he says. “It seems they always figured, ‘Something’s going to happen here that’s going to be more exciting than the last thing.’ And that kept them engaged. Every time we made progress, we shared it with them as well. I think that was important. And it’s something they do with their own kids today.”

The business continued to expand until the 22% interest rates of the early 1980s hit. When the value of crownvetch wasn’t worth the cost of harvesting it, the couple began growing large volumes of no-till corn planted right into the existing crownvetch fields. The practice created high corn yields due to the legume’s excellent nitrogen-fixing properties. Once again, crownvetch had saved the day, even when it was playing a supporting role as a cover crop.

The Company planted its first foundation Panicum virgatum (switchgrass) seed, ‘Shelter’ variety. Calvin was interested in switchgrass because it added wildlife value to strip mine and reclamation seed mixes. It wouldn’t take long, however, for him to find an even higher calling for this high-yielding, warm season grass that grows so well on marginal lands.

Ernst was purchasing much of its crownvetch seed from growers in southeastern Minnesota in order to mitigate the effects of low market prices. The Company built a small processing facility and erected a handful of grain bins there. Calvin recalls that these activities in Minnesota first piqued his interest and drove a shift in his business strategy toward the diversity of natives and their potential to revolutionize the seed trade. Southeast Minnesota and Iowa were home to many of the first commercial growers of native ecotypes. This fraternity of like-minded producers was very helpful, sharing their combined insights with the ever-curious and innovative entrepreneur. In short order, Calvin began shifting acreage from grain and crownvetch production to that of native forbs and grasses. In step with Ernst’s shift toward native ecotypes was a shift in the attitudes of government agencies toward the use of non-native species, such as crownvetch. Non-natives, specifically those classified as aggressive species, were beginning to be blacklisted in favor of a move toward native species. Once again, Calvin had begun innovating and adapting his product offering ahead of the curve. Calvin has always believed in the need to continually educate himself and others on best practices, to study the future of agronomy and foresee opportunities to diversify and meet future demands. His peers recognize this as well, often inviting him to speak or to participate in the greater conversation within the industry. In the summer of 1990, Calvin and Marcia traveled to eastern Europe as part of the “People to People” exchange program to study a diverse agricultural practice. In 1991, Calvin traveled with the USDA to China to promote inter-cropping perennial legumes with annual grain crops in order to reduce crop inputs and erosion. Further expansion of the farm’s operations occurred at this time with help from Ted and the hiring of additional employees. Calvin recalls fondly one of those employees in particular. “Pressley Hilliard came to me in an old wreck of a car one day and said, ‘Calvin, you need to buy my farm and grow corn.’ I said, “Pressley, I’m going to show you how to make money without growing corn or raising dairy cows.” We spent time traveling together in the Midwest buying and selling seed and he became enamored with the large production fields. You see, twenty-five years ago there was a big transition from dairy farms to crop farms. It seemed that on every farm where they had torn down the old dairy barns and went straight to crop farming, there was a Cadillac in the yard, so to speak. On one of those trips, Pressley finally looked at me and said, ‘When I get back, I’m gonna tear down those old barns.’ He was a great person and really became a member of our family. We lost Pressley in 2011, and folks are still telling stories about him today.”

Mark Fiely joined Ernst Conservation Seeds as its full-time horticulturist, helping Calvin diversify the Company’s offering of native ecotypes. To this day, Mark spends a considerable portion of his time traveling the eastern United States in search of new species and researching their viability as production crops. He also works closely with customers, from large government agencies to landscape architects and hobby gardeners, all with the goal of educating them on the use of native species and assisting in their successful establishment.

A new seed processing facility was completed, including equipment repair bays and a secure bay for the handling of field spray applications. Though the incident was tragic, it is widely seen as a unifying moment in the history of the Company, strengthening bonds between the family, its employees, and the community, while also necessitating facility expansion and improvements that would pay dividends in short order. “It was something we’d never want to repeat under the same circumstances,” Calvin reflects. “But it allowed us to rebuild and improve the facilities we had. The changes we were able to make to our capacity and processing efficiency just advanced us tremendously. The way our neighbors, business partners, and employees came together and helped out so quickly is very special. It was quite a pulling together.” In response to a challenge to develop a native seed source for the extreme southeastern U.S., Calvin initially utilized his vacuum harvesting technology to wild harvest wiregrass in central Florida. These successful wild harvests and collections of native forbs and grasses throughout Florida gave him yet another opportunity to expand.

Calvin had been considering the potential for developing grass biomass for energy production. Calvin put his plans to the test by leasing 5,000 acres of marginal farmland in Crawford County and planting switchgrass for seed and biomass production. With marginal land being what it is, Calvin learned plenty about the effects of low pH and wet soils. Research soon began on the densification of switchgrass for use in direct combustion applications. In a characteristically gutsy move, Calvin decided that his company would need to be the innovator once again – leading the charge instead of sitting on the sidelines of progress. Ernst would build its own state-of-the-art facility to process warm season grasses. Michael and a select group of dedicated employees designed and constructed a pellet plant that uses only grass.

Today, with over 10,000 acres in production, Ernst grows hundreds of diverse crops for conservation, ecological restoration, beautification, energy feedstock, and wildlife habitat. Future growth opportunities can be seen in increased public and governmental interest in sustainable landscapes, low-impact development, responsible reclamation and restoration, pollinator habitat, improved biodiversity, and evolving practices in conservation agriculture. While Calvin and Marcia show no sign of slowing down, their children all play critical roles in the future growth and diversification of Ernst Conservation Seeds and its affiliates. Andy and Michael Ernst share responsibilities for day-to-day operations at Ernst Conservation Seeds and Ernst Biomass, while Robin operates Meadville Land Service, Inc., a full-service mobile restoration company specializing in the construction, restoration, and mitigation of streams and wetlands, as well as native planting, seeding, and the installation of bioengineering material. Darrell Ernst, Calvin’s younger brother, has been with the Company as an electrical and hydraulic mechanic for over five years. The extended Ernst “family” has grown to approximately 80 full-time employees, including field production crews, sales & marketing staff, researchers, seed conditioning specialists, finance, purchasing, inventory management, and human resources professionals. After a passing glance back on the first 50-plus years of his company’s history, Calvin immediately focuses on the promise of its future. “The environmental climate and professionals in the field are recognizing how important natives are in the whole restoration of our North American ecology, and that natives are the best choice for use in just about every scenario. “Through our experience, we know how to harvest these seeds and grow them in a production environment. We know how to help our customers repeat our success in their own unique applications, and we take the time to do that with each customer. “There’s progress to be made in the efficiency of producing native seeds and in discovering or creating new markets for them. We continue to find new plants in diverse ecologies that may contain a thousand species in a square mile. “And we’re only growing a few hundred of them so far.”