Midwest Strategic Region
Dennis Crawford grew up in northeast Iowa on a small farm with a large family – 16 siblings to be exact – where he helped raise and care for dairy cows, beef cattle, swine, sheep, chickens and crops. He remembers always having bags of Kent feed around their 160-acre farm.
And, for the last 35 years, he’s been selling it throughout the Midwest.
“Whenever we talk about Kent, the word ‘quality’ always comes up,” says Crawford, who followed nine brothers to Iowa State University and majored in animal science. “For me, it goes back to when I was a kid on the family farm. Kent was a strong brand then, and that had a lot to do with the quality of the product.”
Today Crawford lives in Grinnell, Iowa and works with Midwest producers and dealers to improve efficiencies by finding the right feed programs for their specific needs. With more competition in the feed industry than ever, Crawford says he can always demonstrate Kent’s quality when it matters most.
“It’s one thing to say you have quality feed. A lot of companies make that claim,” he says. “You have to prove it. Kent’s been able to prove that over many, many decades.”
But Crawford says the trust that Kent has built with customers goes beyond its feed – it’s based on performance and bringing solutions to dealers too. Kent Nutrition Group’s proven research helps him demonstrate the science behind their products.
“We talk about quality and we deliver on quality, but that’s not the only reason people trust us,” he says. “We can support and back up our feed with research that directly applies to their bottom line. They trust us because we’re honest. What we tell them is true.”
Dennis and his wife, Renny, have five children and look forward to their large family reunion fishing trip in Canada every year. They raise sheep at their home in Grinnell, Iowa, where Dennis also enjoys woodworking and keeping up with other projects on their acreage.