What a surprising adventure Gowan has been!

I have had a forty-year love affair with specialty crop protection. Just now, as I begin to wear down, it is becoming even more alluring. A generation of leadership has just changed, consolidation is almost accomplished, electronic commerce is offering unimagined efficiencies, globalization and generic products are stripping away established market structures, regulatory management has become a critical strategic competence, and several new technologies are converging simultaneously on plant protection.

A dramatically new order is emerging and Gowan is intercepting it:

To meet our global competitors we have had to become larger, stronger and more versatile. Gowan Internacional was formed to take our products beyond our North American beginning. We have developed competence to manage synthesis and formulation with reliable partners around the world. Our supply chain efficiently services customers in 80 countries and we are learning to apply our regulatory skills everywhere. It is our tradition to add value to the product, in the market and for the customer. We have built Gowan on these value adding principles and hope they will carry our North American success across the Globe.

The commitment of the Jessen Family has been unwavering. We are a team that is fired up and focused by our dedication to specialty crops. Opportunities are everywhere. The Gowan tribe, arrayed and girded for battle, is capable as never before.

Jon Jessen

Over the last century, technology in agriculture has changed the world. Millions have moved on from working the land; industries have developed as brainpower is redirected. We're proud to play a big part in this massive contribution. A tremendous passion for agriculture, the science and business of it, courses through our company veins.

Our model is to understand local cultural practices and the needs of the ultimate market, then work with users to find our products' fits. Along the way, we've honed our field development, sales and marketing, and regulatory science competencies. Gowan's biggest assets don't show on the balance sheet, but rest in our heads and in our ability to communicate. There aren't many of us, so we have to listen carefully to partners in the trade. We welcome your ideas on opportunities. We'll put our heads to developing these and then to working with local or national partners to bring them to life.

Not all of these projects pay off, but as they do we reinvest our earnings into other projects. We've tried our hand with reviving old compounds, bringing forward new molecules, and developing biologically occurring solutions. With new technologies, regulatory and political hurdles, and consumer demands, the bar is set ever higher. The challenge is more motivating and success sweeter. We invite you to collaborate and help us find and improve niches in plant protection.

Juli Jessen