-Photo courtesy of Van Diest Supply Company
Three generations of the Van Diest family now form the leadership team at Van Diest Supply Company. From left are: Vice President John Van Diest, President Jake Van Diest; Chairman Bob Van Diest and Sales Manager Jack Van Diest.

WEBSTER CITY — It’s a milestone in the making as Van Diest Supply Company prepares to celebrate its 70th year in business in the fall of 2026. The now-sprawling agri-business just west of Webster City on old Highway 20 all started for the simplest of reasons, and one that remains highly relatable for today’s farmers.

The time period now seems long ago. Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House. Elvis Presley was soaring to the top of the charts with songs such as “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Love Me Tender.” And parents across the nation and the world were giving thanks to God and Jonas Salk for a long-awaited vaccine to protect children from the devastating disease of polio.

A lot of things have changed since 1956, but in farming, some things have not changed. Farming may be more complex, but the need that Bob Van Diest sought to fill when he opened his own small business is much the same.

“It was an easy motivation,” John Van Diest said of his father’s decision to start a small business in the fall of 1956. “He was farming. He wanted to get his own input costs lower, so he thought if he bought more fertilizer than he needed for his farm — buy in large quantities, get a better price — then he could resell it to his friends and neighbors.”

Bob Van Diest continues to serve as chairman of the business that remains family owned. John Van Diest is now vice president. Rounding out the three generations of the family heading up the business are John’s sons: Jake Van Diest, president; and Jack Van Diest, sales manager.

The family story goes that Mary Van Diest became the first employee when she and Bob married in 1959. In those early days, business was often conducted around the kitchen table. Some of those early customers are still customers today. Like her husband, Mary Van Diest remains as active as possible in the family business yet today, and both are pleased to see the next generations making their own mark.

The family story of how this company started is now well-known. It has grown from supporting Bob and Mary Van Diest and their family, to supporting hundreds more families today, and likely into a thousand or more families that have worked for Van Diest Supply Company over its 70-year history.

“It’s agriculture, and we still need it,” said Jake Van Diest. “We have to do what we can to help people who grow food.”

Maintaining an affordable food supply is really what production agriculture is all about, agreed John Van Diest.

As it has for decades, Van Diest offers its own company brand of inputs under the Cornbelt name. Working on the same scale that allowed the company to offer affordable inputs from the start, Van Diest also produces inputs such as herbicides, fungicides and insecticides for a large array of other well-known brands.

“All of our production is right here in Webster City,” said Jake Van Diest. “We just started two new production facilities this winter, so they’re in the first full year of running out there right now.”

John Van Diest devotes most of his time to the distribution network, which has grown to cover 13 states as far east as Michigan and as far west as Colorado and Wyoming.

“We’re shipping to retailers all over the Midwest,” John Van Diest said.

As demand for food grows in a hungry world, the need for cost-effective, high quality production agriculture becomes more important than ever, he agreed

“In your developing countries, as they develop and become wealthier, they back away from grains and grass, and start eating proteins.”

That spurs a bigger demand for meat, and thus a bigger demand for corn for feed. At the same time, corn is also in demand as a fuel supply. He noted a proportion of corn is now getting crushed for ethanol and diesel products.

The public may think of crop inputs when they think of Van Diest Supply, but they should really think of fields of tall corn and leafy, green soybeans, for that’s the purpose behind the products offered.

‘The Gift’

Celebrating the impact of Van Diest Supply Company on its community would be remiss without mention of “The Gift.” The late Hamilton County historian Ed Nass spoke often of what it must have been like when the will of Kendall Young was opened in 1896 to reveal the gift of a free, public library for the people of Webster City.

It had to have been an incredible day as news of Young’s gift spread through the community, Nass surmised. While Nass passed away in 2007, the widely respected historian would have almost certainly described the announcement from Bob and Mary Van Diest in 2008 of a $10 million pledge for a new county hospital in similarly grand and historic tones.

That gift would far surpass even Young’s gift. The business-wise couple put a timeline on the gift, so that pledge would not sit and linger while plans were made. The new county hospital, now doing business as (DBA) Van Diest Medical Center opened for patients just two years later in 2010.

Why? What prompted the gift?

Just as Bob Van Diest had a simple reason for starting his own business in 1956, the reason behind this history-making community gift was also pretty simple, according to family members.

“Because there was a need,” John Van Diest said of his parents’ gift of a hospital/medical center. “You couldn’t economically retrofit that existing hospital,” he said of the aging building that sat at the edge of “Hospital Hill” on Ohio Street.

He agreed that having quality medical care close to home is essential for the growth of any community, but the gift came from a simple desire to be of service.

“There was just a need, and it would be good for the community,” John Van Diest said.

There have been other community gifts as well. Gifts from the Van Diest company and family have been instrumental in such things as the conference center at Briggs Woods Park, and many other local programs and institutions.

Serving as a vital link in the food supply, helping American farmers produce more and more abundance for a hungry world, it’s not hard to see the connection to community health.

It’s what American agriculture is really all about.