Dennis Albaugh: From Fertilizer Salesman to Billionaire

Dennis Albaugh, the richest person in Iowa with a net worth of $1.5 billion dollars, had no interest in joining his family’s farm business. Instead, he pursued agricultural business at Des Moines Area Community College, after which he spent seven years traveling the country selling fertilizer and seed.

In 1979, Albaugh decided to start his own company, Albaugh, Inc., which focused on fertilizer. He mortgaged his house to build a client base, but his inaugural year was a complete disaster and he struggled in the early ’80s, just barely breaking even.

Albaugh’s fortunes changed in the late ’80s when he began selling glyphosate, the primary ingredient in the herbicide Roundup made by Monsanto. When the patent for the chemical ended in the U.S., he bought factories in Argentina and Brazil to continue manufacturing it. Since then, his business has expanded, and he is also developing farmland in his home state.

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