California, USA
June 17, 2016
Bayer hosted East Coast customers Generations farms and Hillside Gardens to an agriculture tour of California. The group visited key hot spot areas of the state joined by Biologic experts, Traditional and Integrated breeders and other Key Customers within the region. The objective of the tour was to provide a high level of brainware surrounding chief topics of the visiting customers.
Left to Right: Bakersfield Research Farm Manager, Logan Ulmer Agronomist Carrots Generation Farms, Hunter Smith Agronomist Onions Generation Farms, Russell Hamlin Director of Agronomy Generation Farms, Roger Freeman, Vegetable Seeds Carrot Breeder, Issac Madrigal Vegetable Seeds Screening Specialist, Paul Bender Vegetable Seeds Carrot Account Manager (California), Derek Levy Vegetable Seeds Onion and Carrot Sales Specialist (Southeast US & Texas), Mike David Bako Farm Manager, Jack Geertsema Field Operation Manager Hillside Farms.
The tour began in Bayer’s West Sacramento facility joined by Roger Muren and team. The group was taken on a tour of the Biologic and vegetable seeds integrated breeding facilities. Roger Muren and his fellow team members did an excellent job introducing the group to the intricacies of the vegetable seed integrated breeding, molecular & cell biology world. The group was amazed at all the details involved in bringing superior genetics to the market. The impressive building and great minds that work within this facility were proof that Bayer is on the continued path to bring value to customers every step of the way.
In the next stop to the Bakersfield research station, Mike Bowman, Vegetable Seed Onion Short Day Breeder and Roger Freeman, Vegetable Seed Carrot Breeder provided tours and round table discussions which were a perfect example of the companies open dialogue approach to our customers. Both Mike and Roger have a wealth of knowledge and provided in depth conversations on varieties, growing concepts and future traits that will impact agriculture business moving forward. The Research station and its team is another example of Bayer’s dedication to bringing the best genetics to its customers now and well into the future.
Left to Right: Kimberly Tracy Vegetable Seeds Sales Specialist Onion, Logan Ulmer Agronomist Carrots Generation Farms, Mike Bowman Vegetable Seeds Short Day Onion Breeder, Russell Hamlin Director of Agronomy Generation Farms, Hunter Smith Agronomist Onions Generation Farms, Jack Geertsema Field Operation Manager Hillside Farms, Mike David Bako Farm Manager, Derek Levy Vegetable Seeds Onion and Carrot Sales Specialist.
The tour moved into the Salinas Valley where the group had the opportunity to tour and visit with other Vegetable Seed Key Customers; giving the group and inside look at agriculture business in California. Scott Grabau of T&A Produce and Planttape displayed their commitment to taking care of their labor force and their state of the art harvesters and transplanting equipment.
Mann Packing’s Mike Costa and his team showcased an impressive operation focusing in their whole leaf lettuce harvester and state of the art processing plant with all the latest Food Safety protocols in place.
Logan Ulmer, Agronomist Carrots Generation Farms reviewing carrot material at Bakersfield Research Station.
Finally the Salinas portion of the tour ended with Headstart greenhouses. Headstart’s prominence to customer service and plant health was the take away from this tour. The greenhouse business is intense with deadlines and ship dates that cannot be missed. It requires a well-organized team that has the flexibility to react to those changes in weather and grower demands.
“Our emphasis and focus on improving Customer relationships are the building blocks of our success in the market. Designing tours, like we did for Generation and Hillside, is a great example of our commitment to bring not only seed, but knowledge and ideas that help keep our Key Customers on their path to higher profits in an ever-changing produce industry.” Derek Levy, Vegetable Seed Sales Specialist.
“Derek, I wanted to thank you for the awesome trip last week. It is great to meet with breeders and others who really know your products, and I came away with much good information that we can put to work on our farms.” - Russell L. Hamlin, Ph.D., CCA - Director of Agronomy.
“This was a successful trip utilizing our direct approach to create business partnerships and being an effective resource to our customer base” – Emily Watson US Country Sales Manager and Crop Sales Manager Carrot.
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