Jason Lents – Senior Director of Operations

Jason Lents grew up raising cattle and showing livestock in Southwest Iowa, using Kent feed because he always appreciated the quality that came with it.  But until he went to work for the company as an engineer five years ago, he didn’t fully appreciate the level of attention and detail that went into delivering such high-quality products on a consistent basis.

“My perspective had always been on the customer side of things, on the end process of raising livestock and understanding the animal and how they eat,” says Lents. “Now I’m on the front end of testing ingredients, and scrutinizing every bit of the process to make sure it’s safe, before we even mix the feed.”

Lents oversees all 14 plant locations for Kent and Blue Seal feeds, from Nebraska to Vermont. Under his direction, products are produced to the highest standards, requirements for personnel and feed safety are met and equipment is maintained. Lents says the company’s commitment to quality is exceptional – evidenced through ongoing investments at the plants.

In the last five years, for example, mixing and batching systems have been upgraded to help with feed traceability so the plants can quickly identify the lot codes for different ingredients that go into each feed. New bag hangers, bag filling machines and robotic palletizers have also been installed at the plants.

But Lents says he’s most proud of Kent’s investment in its people. All 14 plants have a dedicated quality control (QC) team member on site – a distinction in the feed industry.

“Having one QC person at every plant really demonstrates how serious we are about quality,” Lents says.

Although the FDA has added more regulations to the Food Safety Modernization Act over the past few years, Lents says Kent was already implementing most of them all along. Preventative testing ensure the company doesn’t have a recall; even voluntary recalls are rare for Kent and Blue Seal, he says.

“We take these extra measures and we make these investments because we want to be proactive,” Lents says. “It’s the right thing to do, and I’m proud of that.”

Jason lives with his wife, Adair, on an acreage outside of Muscatine, Iowa, where he’s teaching his two young boys about farm life through their sheep flock. They enjoy going to the fair, spending time outside, gardening and traveling.