Johnny’s Selected Seeds Celebrates 40 Years

For 40 years Johnny’s Selected Seeds has been providing seeds, tools, information, and service to customers. Founder and Chairman, Rob Johnston Jr., states, “We will continue to work, today and into the future, as a community with you, your family, and your customers and friends. When the boundaries between all of us get blurred, that’s when it’s best.” After all this time, Johnny’s continues to be challenged and honored by the support of their customers.

Today, Johnny’s has grown from a small business in a farmhouse attic to a national and international multichannel retailer who employs more than 130 full-time and more than 50 seasonal employees. The company now regularly ships seed to commercial growers and home gardeners across the U.S. and regularly supplies seed to more than 50 countries around the world. The Albion farm remains the center for research and continues as a working farm with more than 40 acres under cultivation.  

In 2006 Johnny’s launched an employee ownership program, with Rob Johnston and his wife, Janika Eckert, selling shares to an Employee Stock Ownership Trust. Today the employees own 100% of the company stock.