Beck’s Superior
Hybrids announced today the purchase of 165 acres of
farm ground in Mclean County Illinois. The site will be
dedicated to the company’s popular Practical Farm Research
program, a program that has helped bring over 7,000 visitors
to their home facility in Central Indiana during their fall
field show. Beck’s Practical Farm Research program
provides information to assist farmers in making management
decisions on their own farm whether they purchase Beck’s
products or not.
“This
investment expands our commitment to Illinois farmers and
will give them the opportunity to visit and learn from
locally-based research,” says company Vice President, Scott
Beck. The Illinois farm is located along I-74, ten miles
southeast of Bloomington, with access from US 150 between
Downs and Leroy, Illinois. The site provides good
visibility along the interstate with excellent access for
farmers coming from any direction and was a key factor in
the company’s decision to bring their research to central
Illinois.
Beck’s
currently conducts over 50 different research studies at its
central Indiana home office and expanded those research
efforts into its southern marketing area in 2005 at a site
near Evansville, Indiana. Beck says that much of the
research conducted is farmer-driven. “Farmers submit ideas
on tests they would like to see conducted, and we implement
many of those ideas in our research program.” Beck’s
conducts research involving nitrogen forms and rates,
planting populations, seed-applied and foliar fungicides,
auto-guide technology, strip cropping systems, long-term
tillage studies, lime applications, seed trait and herbicide
system combinations, corn rootworm control methods, high
yield “300 bushel” attempts, and many other projects.
At the
new location near Bloomington, Beck’s plans to conduct many
of the same research studies, plus others that are of unique
interest to Illinois farmers. “Our plan is to hire a
manager for the site and to erect a multipurpose building
suitable for storage and for hosting farmer educational and
training events starting in 2007,” says Beck.
Beck’s
Hybrids is a family-owned and operated seed company that
serves farmers throughout Indiana and selected counties in
Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky. According to a
recent media survey, Beck’s ranks as the sixth largest seed
company in the United States and the only one in the top six
that is family-owned. In 2007, Beck’s will celebrate their
70th Anniversary in the seed business.
