Thousand Oaks, California
October 30, 2008
Ceres, Inc. announced today that Frank Hardimon will lead
seed sales for its Blade Energy Crops brand. The industry
veteran and certified crop advisor will manage both
direct-to-farm relationships as well as commercial seed
transactions with biofuel and biopower companies. Early bookings
for the first switchgrass and high-biomass sorghum seeds are
scheduled to begin next month.
Anna Rath, vice president of commercial development, said that
Hardimon brings a strong background in the seed industry to the
nascent energy crop business. “Frank knows how important
long-term relationships are to the seed business and has a
strong rapport with the farming community. His 20 years of
experience in seed sales and crop development will be a valuable
resource for producers.” She noted that Hardimon joined the
company in time to assess this year’s seed production and
commercial plots at maturity and has seen how switchgrass and
high-biomass sorghum perform across the country.
Hardimon says that his goal is to help producers quickly move up
the learning curve with these new crops. “Energy crops provide
new options for growers, especially for underperforming acres,
and there’s lots of excitement, but I’m sure that this first
year of sales will involve a lot of education,” he said.
“Our goal this year is to help jumpstart the market for biomass
by getting energy crops in the hands of the experts – the people
who will be growing and using it,” noted Hardimon. He said that
Blade’s first customers will include innovative growers
interested in getting ahead the market for biomass as well as
bioenergy companies who want to learn more about how energy
crops perform in their conversion processes and target
locations.
Prior to joining the company, Hardimon was a regional sales
manager for Great Lakes Hybrids, a brand of AgReliant Genetics,
one of the top corn seed suppliers in the United States. Earlier
in his career he held various positions in research and product
management.
Ceres, Inc. is a leading developer and marketer of
high-yielding energy crops that can be planted as raw materials
for cellulosic ethanol production and biopower. Its development
efforts cover switchgrass, sorghum, miscanthus, energycane and
short-rotation woody crops. The plant breeding and biotechnology
company markets its switchgrass seed and sorghum seed under its
Blade Energy Crops brand. Ceres holds one of the world’s largest
proprietary collections of fully sequenced plant genes. The
privately held firm also licenses its technology and traits to
other organizations. |
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