Ridley keeps Canadian cows happy. And other barnyard animals as well. The company is a leading maker of animal feed, premixes, feed ingredients, animal-healthcare products, and nutritional supplements for cattle, hogs, poultry, and other animals. It also manufactures animal-care and livestock handling equipment. The company's customers include cattle ranchers and dairy and poultry farmers in Canada and the US. Its brand names include Feed-Rite and Hubbard feeds, Ridley Feed Ingredients, and Sweetlix feed supplements. The investment company, Fairfax Financial Holdings, owns approximately 70% of Ridley.

Royal Rose has found its niche growing produce normally found in the fields of Italy. The California company grows and markets such Tuscan treats as radicchio, treviso, frisee, and other specialty leafy vegetables under the Royal Rose brand. Its products are primarily used in packaged salad mixes sold in grocery stores, although it does sell some of its items pre-bagged. It also sells produce to foodservice customers. The company, which says it is the largest radicchio grower in the world, was formed in 1993 by Italian growers Lucio Gomiero and Carlo Boscolo, and California growers John Tamagni and A.W. Johnson & Son.

Let's hear a shout for Royal Schouten Group's efforts in animal nutrition and biofuel. The group operates through several companies. Schouten Ceralco supplies soy, corn, palm oil, grains, and other products to the food, feed, and bio-energy markets. Its ColzaOil unit distributes rapeseed oil and other bio fuels by ship and truck for consumers across Europe. Schouten Products develops and produces vegetable-based ingredients, including toasted soya, tapioca, and corngluten meal, that are used to produce animal feed.

S&W Seed breeds seeds of the alfalfa variety. The agricultural company contracts locally grown alfalfa seeds from farmers in California's San Joaquin Valley, processes them at its production facility, and sells them to agribusinesses and farmers around the globe for use in growing animal feed -- particularly alfalfa hay -- for dairy and beef cattle, horses, and other livestock. About 50% of its certified seeds are sold to customers in the Middle East and Latin America, since the varieties it produces are better suited for warmer climates. S&W Seed also produces wheat on occasion and is looking into producing stevia, a natural, no-calorie sweetener. The company went public in May 2010.

SIPEF (Societe Internationale de Plantations et de Finance) focuses on the tropical plantation business. Starting in business in 1919, the Belgium-based company produces and trades a variety of agricultural products, such as palm oil, rubber, tea, tropical fruits, spices and ornamental plants. The company owns some 62,000 hecatares of planted land. It has operations worldwide. SIPEF also provides insurance and management and consulting services for the agriculture industry.

Sakata Seed started out in 1913 with a few sacks of seeds; over the last 90 or so years it has sprouted an empire of growth. The company produces, distributes, and sells vegetable seeds (for both agriculture and home gardens), flower seeds, grass seeds, bulbs, vegetable seedlings, tree seedlings, garden trees, fruit tree seedlings, lilies, house plants, roses, cacti, gardening materials, agricultural chemicals, fertilizers, gardening literature, and landscaping materials such as sod. It also has a division that researches cultivation and horticultural engineering. Sakasta's products are distributed from production centers in more than 20 countries.

SAPEC began decades ago in search of fool's gold, but its work since has been anything but daft. The family-run company was founded in 1926 to exploit pyrite (fool's gold) mines in Portugal. SAPEC gradually expanded into the production and commercialization of agriculture products, and today is an investment holding company with interests in all of the above. It conducts activities mainly in Portugal, but increasingly in Spain. SAPEC operates six main sectors: agrochemical, micronutrients, chemical distribution, food processing distribution, logistics, and energy. It also has holdings in real estate and information technology.

SCRI’s research focuses on processes that regulate the growth of plants and their responses to pests, pathogens and the environment. It includes genetics to breed crops with improved quality and nutritional value. By understanding plants’ responses to pests and diseases and how they react to the soil, air and water around them, environmentally friendly and sustainable methods of protecting crops from the ravages of pests, diseases and weeds are developed.

Seaboard Foods is one big pork project, but taxpayers should take heart -- the government has nothing to do with it. A subsidiary of Seaboard Corporation, the company produces and supplies fresh and frozen pork products to food processors, foodservice operators, and distributors across the US. It raises about 4 million hogs at facilities in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas; Seaboard Foods has processing plants Montana, Oklahoma, and Utah. It sells bulk products mostly to processors to make such items as bacon, lunchmeats, and sausage; Seaboard Foods also sells processed pork under such brands as Daily's and Prairie Fresh. In addition, the company supplies private-label products for other customers.

SECO & Golden “100”, Inc. is a member owned purchasing cooperative headquartered in DeLand, Florida. The company was formed in 1945 by a group of dairy farmers who sought to improve their bargaining power by combining and leveraging their purchased requirements. Today the membership is comprised of a select group of agriculturally based cooperatives and proprietary companies that are engaged in the production of food and dairy products. The members collectively participate in purchasing programs designed to optimize opportunities within the supply chain for delivering added value. The cooperative is governed by a board of directors. Each of the member companies designates a director who sits on the board. In addition to addressing the performance of the business, the board receives and acts upon nominations and recommendations for new suppliers, new members and new programs. The directors are also actively involved in the progress and support of individual programs and serve as chairmen of the established program committees.

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