James Reneau Seed Company, Inc. - Patricia Reneau Arnold
In 2014, Patricia Reneau Arnold was the last living family member of the Reneau Family that started the James Reneau Seed Company, Inc., in 1956. A decision had to be made to either liquidate or continue operating the family business. Shamrock, is a small Texas 0rural town that has lost its major employers over the last 20 years. James Reneau Seed Company was among the top three income and job producing companies remaining.
Ms. Arnold contacted the Lubbock-West Texas SBA District Office to discuss how to evaluate an ongoing business, how to generate and analyze a cash flow statement, balance sheet and tax returns.
She contacted the USDA and US Labor Department to determine if the company was operating within accept guidelines and if not what was necessary to bring the company in to compliance.
Once Ms. Arnold decided to continue operating James Reneau Seed Company, Inc., she immediate put quality controls on seed purchases, storage and cleaning & treating process. She severed relationships with growers that delivered inferior seed(seed with unacceptable moisture rate, trucks with foreign materials mixed in the grain(rocks, other seed type,& dirt) weeds and/or bug infestation. These steps improved the quality of seed sold and reduce the clean out waste, thus increased her profits.
One of the major hardships she had to overcome was dealing in the foreign markets where they see women as inferiors. To resolve this problem Ms. Arnold made her son Vice President of Foreign Markets where it was strictly understood that no sale agreement could be accepted without her approval. This arrange has worked well since her son has exporting experience and time to pursue additional foreign markets using his contacts.
The next problem she tackle was personnel. The company had people that was just on the clock and wouldn't listen to a woman boss. This resulted in a 98% turnover of company employees over the next three years. She refurbished the company's grain elevation in Dover Oklahoma and hired a quality control person to received rye during harvest.
With the information and knowledge obtained from SBA, SBDC, USDA, and Department of Labor she has continued operating James Reneau Seed Company, Inc. and the other three entities in Wheeler county. The seed company is one of few entities in Shamrock, TX that brings cash into the community from outside sources.
The company's local and foreign sales has increased from 2014 of 50 metric tons to 200 metric tons of rye this past year and 15 truck loads of sorghum sudan grass seed.