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Ernst Conservation Seeds

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Standing in a meadow surrounded by a sea of Penstemon digitalis, Calvin Ernst holds a plant in his hand, much like a professor ready to teach.

“See, this is the beard and this is the tongue,” he explains, pinching the hardy, white native perennial to reveal the fuzzy hairs of the stamen. “That is why it’s known as beardtongue.”

Ernst is a scholar of seeds, so to speak, most comfortable talking about his business, Ernst Conservation Seeds, while walking among his wildflower and switchgrass fields that line the roadsides just outside Meadville, Pennsylvania.

The Crawford County native is happy to share his knowledge about his products, including his favorite, a New England aster, which, he says, is not only “beautiful in the fall” but also an excellent “pollinator for bees and butterflies.” The 73-year-old entrepreneur has weathered the ups and downs of the marketplace and Mother Nature and talks openly about planting and harvesting, and what he calls the “oddball” business of the seed industry — and how he got into it in the first place.

Read more in the August 2014 Business Magazine.