BizVoice July/August 2014 - page 40

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BizVoice/Indiana Chamber – July/August 2014
Beck’s Hybrids
A HOMEGROWN
INNOVATOR
Address:
6767 E. 276th St., Atlanta, IN
Telephone:
(800) 937-2325
Web site:
Management:
Sonny Beck, president
Employees:
Approximately 420
Taking root:
An 80-acre farm in Hamilton County, which is today the headquarters of Beck’s Hybrids, was purchased in
1901 by Sonny Beck’s grandfather, Lawrence.
Fast forward to 1937 when Lawrence and his son Francis (Sonny’s father) each took advantage of the
opportunity given by Purdue University for three acres of a new thing called hybrid parent seed corn. They
harvested it and the first round of Beck’s Superior Hybrids was born.
That was “a game-changer” for farmers, says Sonny Beck. “They can get 50% more yield from that (hybrid
seed) than open-pollenated seed.”
Current landscape:
Beck’s Hybrids now sells seed for corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa and cover crops – what a commercial
farmer needs most in the Midwest. Corn and soybeans are their biggest producers.
Farmers can buy Beck’s in eight states: Indiana, the four surrounding states as well as Tennessee and the
eastern regions of Iowa and Missouri.
“We’re in the top three seed companies marketwise in the Midwest and among the six largest retail seed
companies in the United States – and the only one that’s family owned,” Beck notes.
“We only sell in 31% of the market, but we’re a dominant factor in the states we sell in. We like to be a
significant player in an area before we expand. We turn down business all the time. We did in Iowa for five years.”
What makes the company stand out:
Farmers often turn to Beck’s because of its customization and variety.
“If a farmer went to a national company, like Pioneer or a DeKalb, you might only have choices from their
germ plasm and their type of corn,” Beck explains.
“Whereas we have licenses or distributorships with Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow and Pioneer. We can more
tailor it. One of those may work on a farmer’s field and one may not. And so he has to switch companies if he
goes to them (the national companies), but at Beck’s he can just say, ‘I don’t like that.’ We have many other
kinds to choose from.”
By Rebecca Patrick
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Cutting-edge research that
leads to new seed corn products
is a differentiator for Beck’s.
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