Earlier this summer Beck's Hybrids, Atlanta, Ind., announced their purchase of a large tract of land near the Farm Science Review site close to London, Ohio. Future plans there will provide distribution capabilities, plus establishment of another Practical Farm Research test farm. Officials say they hope to work with Ohio State University, which owns and operates the land for the Farm Science Review, plus the show itself.
Now Beck's is on the move again, this time purchasing 150 acres near Henderson, Ky. Henderson is in northwestern Kentucky, not far from Evansville, Ind. It's the first permanent location that the company has purchased in Kentucky.
Farmers flock to field days: Farmers love to hear about studies underway at Beck's Hybrids PFR plots. Here, Todd Ripberger of Beck's explains one of this year's studies.
The location will be perfect for a distribution center for seed for farmers in Kentucky, southern Illinois and southern Indiana, notes Ashley Woodward Fischer, marketing associate and show coordinator. The site is situated near the intersection of what will be Interstate 69 and Audubon Parkway.
Besides a distribution facility, the goal is to establish a Practical Farm Research site on the property, Woodward Fischer says. Such a site typically requires at least 80 acres. The plots consist of field-scale demonstrations and research on both hybrid and variety performance, and primarily on emerging practices and technologies that farmers in the area might want to get a look at before they adapt it for themselves. Currently, Beck's has four of these sites. The original PFR site at Atlanta is a big draw to help bring in more than 5,000 people during Becknology Days, coming up later this month at Atlanta, Ind.
One of the current sites is located near Ft. Branch, Ind., in the southwestern toe of the state on rented land. Operations related to the PFR program will be shifted to the new site at Henderson, Ky., Woodward Fischer says. Since results are still applicable for southern Indiana, shifting the location won't affect the company's ability to provide farmers in southern Indiana with meaningful information that still fits their area.
Scott Ebelhor, originally from a Kentucky farm, has operated the Ft. Branch PFR location since it began. He will move to the Henderson, Ky., site and continue his work there, Woodward Fischer says.