DLF Strengthens Product Knowledge and Breeding Programs
DLF’s North American business unit is excited to announce the establishment of dedicated Product Knowledge Centers in Philomath, Oregon, and Port Hope, Ontario effective July 1, 2025. These centers will enhance DLF’s product education, field trials, and technical support capabilities, ensuring stronger collaboration between product management, marketing, and sales. This allows the company to better serve its customers while maintaining a strong presence in key regions.
“There are many great activities happening in Philomath and Port Hope today, and we want those activities to continue,” said DLF NA Executive Vice President, Neil Douglas. “Our vision for these centers is to prominently feature everything the DLF portfolio has to offer, from bentgrass to alfalfa to new innovations in seed enhancement. These locations are important to demonstrate the value of our product innovation, training customers and staff, and for collaborating with key industry partners.”
The Willamette Valley, being close to many of DLF’s key U.S. grower partners, is an area the company plans to continue investing in. The Philomath and Port Hope Product Knowledge Centers will remain the host sites for DLF’s Seed Camps and ongoing customer education activities.
As part of this move, and to advance DLF’s strategic efforts to strengthen its breeding programs and ensure long-term operational excellence, it will consolidate two independent research stations in the Pacific Northwest - Philomath, Oregon, and Touchet, Washington - into a single, robust, multi-species breeding station located in Touchet. The company sees this as a vital step toward ensuring the continued success of its breeding and product management programs.
“Unifying our programs will enhance collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and trial quality across DLF’s forage and turf species,” said DLF Executive Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer, Derek Bartlem. “A single, well-staffed station will strengthen our R&D activities and ensure we continue to deliver new high-quality forage and turf products, while at the same time provide long-term career growth opportunities for our employees.”
Currently, both breeding stations operate independently, with a focus on different species and at minimum critical mass. By consolidating its Pacific Northwest breeding operations in Touchet, the company believes it can create a stronger, more resilient breeding station that better supports its research and development goals – all while keeping its full research and development staff. This unified breeding location complements DLF’s additional Midwest breeding station in West Salem, Wisconsin.