{"id":2963,"date":"2017-02-28T11:16:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T11:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ldc.com\/co\/stories-insights\/part-1-from-alsace-to-basel-and-further-afield\/"},"modified":"2025-01-14T17:57:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T16:57:32","slug":"part-1-from-alsace-to-basel-and-further-afield","status":"publish","type":"stories-insight","link":"https:\/\/www.ldc.com\/co\/en\/stories-insights\/part-1-from-alsace-to-basel-and-further-afield\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 1: Alsace to Basel and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a company with a 165-year history, the respect for our heritage still runs deep in our business. So it shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise that, to launch our new blog, Homegrown, we decided to look back to the man who started it all: L\u00e9opold Louis-Dreyfus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"blog-pg-leopold4.jpg\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After all, this is the place where we want to tell our story. And L\u00e9opold is where our story begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u00e9opold was a businessman and an entrepreneur. To this day, his legacy is alive at Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), passed down to other visionary leaders from the Louis-Dreyfus family who have been deeply involved in the operations and expansion of the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as every journey starts with a single step, LDC grew from a single sale of grain, in 1851. A 16-year-old L\u00e9opold began to purchase wheat from local farmers in Alsace and transport it to Basel, Switzerland, just 8 miles away from his hometown of Sierentz. Seven years later, with a thriving grain business under his belt at the young age of 23, he left Basel for Berne and extended the scope of his activities, buying grain products in Hungary and Romania. Benefitting immensely from the technological advances of his time, L\u00e9opold soon established a network of offices in Germany and France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time his sons, Louis and Charles, were handed the reins in 1890, the company, then headquartered in Paris, was trading futures through offices across the globe, including China, Australia and Russia, and had established the Banque Louis-Dreyfus to facilitate the company\u2019s financial operations in grain markets. Following in their father\u2019s footsteps, Louis and Charles expanded the business further, into the Americas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"blog-pg-jean.jpg\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next generation took over in 1940, with L\u00e9opold\u2019s grandsons, Jean, Fran\u00e7ois and Pierre, in control of the company\u2019s activities. From the end of World War II and throughout the second half of the 20th century, the business continued to thrive, expanding its geographic reach, incorporating new product lines and forging long-lasting partnerships \u2013 and all on a scale that L\u00e9opold himself could never have imagined.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, LDC continues to draw inspiration from our rich heritage \u2013 one that has seen us weather storms, reap the rewards of entrepreneurship, and become a leading merchant and processor of agricultural goods. From that one single sale of grain back in 1851, today we help feed and clothe up to 500 million people, originating, processing and transporting approximately 81 million tons of products annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting out on his journey 165 years ago, L\u00e9opold didn\u2019t simply give us a history to be proud of. He gave us a future to look forward to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post is the first of a 3-part series about LDC\u2019s beginnings. To discover more about our history, read\u00a0Part 2<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Part 3<\/a>, or\u00a0visit the Our Heritage section<\/a>\u00a0on our website to read our full company history. For more updates from Louis Dreyfus Company, you can also follow us on Twitter at\u00a0@WeAreLDC<\/a>, or follow our updates on our\u00a0LinkedIn Page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a company with a 165-year history, the respect for our heritage still runs deep in our business. So it shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise that, to launch our new blog, Homegrown, we decided to look back to the man who started it all: L\u00e9opold Louis-Dreyfus. After all, this is the place where we want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7706,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2963","stories-insight","type-stories-insight","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-roots"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPart 1: Alsace to Basel and Beyond || Louis Dreyfus Company<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first of a three-part series about LDC\u2019s beginnings. 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