Meet the Dairyland Seed Family: Ryan Mueller

Ryan Mueller is Dairyland Seed’s Product Portfolio and Agronomy Leader. His dual role enables him to work in two unique areas of the business.

Ryan, Tammy, Evan and Dylan Mueller

His product portfolio activities deal with product life cycle management and the advancement process for all crops: determining product introductions, identifying products to drop from the lineup and estimating the lifeline of existing products in the portfolio. An added challenge includes ensuring adequate supply, allocations, and supply cuts. Following harvest, Ryan spends hours analyzing product data and, with guidance from Corteva and the agronomy team, makes decisions to determine which products are in the growth mode and which products should be phased out.

Working with huge amounts of data sounds overwhelming, but Ryan smiles and says, “I love data and the advancement process. That’s my happy place.”

Ryan leads the six members of the agronomy team which covers the Dairyland Seed geography from the Dakotas to Indiana and Michigan. The agronomy team serves as a link for product support for the sales team and the Dairyland Seed customers.

Although Ryan will be celebrating 29 years with Dairyland Seed this year, he has been with the company since he was 13. Growing up a mile from the Clinton research station, he worked every summer at the station until he graduated from college. After graduating from Carroll University with a double major in psychology and history, he continued to work at the research station and was offered a full-time alfalfa research position by Dr. Paul Sun. He quickly moved into a corn position and within six years accepted the role of Corn Research Coordinator operating the corn nurseries, yield trials, the budget and managing a team of 5 full time employees, 3 plant breeders and 25-30 seasonal part-timers.

One of Ryan’s proudest corn research achievements was the discovery of an inbred that was ultimately coded (named), licensed and sold commercially in our lineup for many years.

Development of HiDF:

The early 90’s were Ground Zero for silage specific products. Product concepts were just coming into fruition as this was new across agriculture. Ryan was chosen as the lead silage researcher and dug into the project with earnest. He became an expert in silage and dairy by taking dairy nutrition classes, meeting with nutritionists and lab specialists. Ryan established joint projects with multiple universities to study the components of the plant and questioning what made certain products better and why. After four years of research, he presented his results and knew that this development was way bigger than just a couple of hybrids – he unlocked what would eventually become the HiDF (Highly Digestible Forage) program.

Ryan says, “We understand what your cows need, and here’s our HiDF platform to serve you and your dairy.”

At their peak, the HiDF lineup was as much as 33 percent of the corn business, and Ryan is proud to be the researcher who developed the product concept that is now known as HiDF. The silage crop has come a long way since the years when people were saying “let’s chop our worst fields” to choosing specific hybrids based on nutritional data.

In 2008, Ryan moved to the commercial side of the business and took the role of Dairyland Seed’s first Corn Product Manager. He developed the current RST (Regional Sales Training) plot system and traveled extensively from Ohio to North Dakota meeting with dealers and conducting product training sessions.

Ryan was Dairyland Seed’s only agronomist until his role split with Rod Moran joining as the Soybean Agronomist. Following the Corteva merger bringing several brands together, the agronomy team was inherited from the strong Prairie Brand and Brodbeck agronomy team concept. Ryan leads the team which has grown to six agronomists with a strong agronomic presence.

Although never officially involved in sales, Ryan is aware of the challenges of running a dealership and selling seed. During his early years as a researcher, with a young family, he took on a Dairyland Seed dealership. With only a garage for seed storage, and no forklift, he laughs as he recalls unloading the semis and unpacking the pallets by hand. Ryan’s determination for success was evident when he sold enough seed to earn an invitation to the annual Dairyland Seed dealer incentive trip.

The Mueller family has strong ties to agriculture. Both of his grandparents farmed in central Illinois. One was a grain farmer, one was a dairy farmer, and his dad was a veterinarian. Growing up on a five-acre hobby farm, Ryan is the oldest of his nine siblings who were all involved in 4-H or FFA. Ryan proudly showed sheep and dairy cattle at the annual county fairs.

Passion, Creativity, and Integrity:

Ryan’s three pillars for not just work, but his life. He adds, “Can I have an impact on people? Can I have an impact on people’s lives? That’s what gets me excited.”

Ryan is an avid biker, boater and mushroom hunter and it’s a win when any of those activities can be combined. He’s completed multiple 100-mile a day bike rides. Not organized rides, just going out for a bike ride. Ryan and his wife Tammy reside in Beloit, WI, along with their two sons, Dylan, and Evan.