History of Heartland Ag

Heartland Ag was opened in 1981 in Ames, Iowa as a company store for Tyler Corporation of Benson, Minnesota. The major products that were sold and serviced by Heartland Ag in Iowa and Missouri were Tyler pull type fertilizer applicators, Tyler fertilizer tenders, Ag Systems anhydrous toolbar applicators and Ag system wagons and anhydrous tanks.

In 1986, Tyler Corporation sold Heartland Ag to Joe Kliegl, who had served as General Manager since Heartland had opened for business. The company, under new ownership, continued as a Distributor in Iowa and Missouri for Tyler, as well as Ag Systems products.

In 1992, Tyler Corporation purchased the flotation fertilizer application line from Mertz Co., and soon introduced a new full line of Titan flotation applicators, and new Patriot row crop sprayers. Heartland added these product lines to their customer offering. In a short time, both the Titans and Patriots became a standard in the industry, and Heartland was recognized as being a leader in sales and service of custom application equipment. Because of the increase in sales and a need to better service customers in Missouri, Heartland opened a branch operation in Marshall, Missouri in 1995 which continues to service customers in Missouri today.

Case-IH purchased the Tyler Corporation in 1998. Heartland continued as a Distributor for the Case-IH product line. This new Case-IH product line soon became a leader in the fertilizer and chemical application equipment industry.

In 1999, Craig Lenz, the President and CEO of Ag Systems in Hutchinson, MN purchased Heartland Ag. In 2005, Dwight Porter and Dave Decklever became partners with Craig in Heartland. Under Craig, Dwight and Dave’s leadership, the Distributorship has continued to grow, and today is recognized as the leader in the sales and service of application equipment in Iowa and Missouri.