The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) has named Sonny Beck, president of Beck’s Hybrids, as the 2014 Agribusiness Leader of the Year. This is NAMA’s highest honor and will be presented at the opening general session of the 2014 Agri-Marketing Conference, April 10, 2014 in Jacksonville, FL. The award honors outstanding leaders in agribusiness, education, government service or other agribusiness related areas who exemplify excellence in agribusiness by their significant contributions to the industry.
Sonny Beck, president of Beck’s Hybrids, has led the company to unprecedented growth. As the largest family-owned seed company in the United States, Beck’s Hybrids is now the sixth largest seed company in the U.S. Under Sonny’s leadership, Beck’s Hybrids has experienced a 20 percent increase in sales each year for the last 20 years, doubling in size every four years.
As soon as Beck joined the family operation in 1964, after graduating from Purdue University, he never let grass grow under his feet. Always aiming at building closer, stronger relationships with customers, Beck immediately launched a couple of customer events that are now long-standing traditions. Today, Beck’s Hybrids hosts one of the largest field shows in the agriculture industry, Becknology Days™, a three-day event in late August that hosts more than 10,000 farmers from across the Midwest.
In the same year Beck joined the operation he started what is now called the Practical Farm Research (PFR)® program. Still today, the PFR program is unlike any other in the seed industry. Focused on farmer’s needs, hundreds of studies are completed at five Beck’s locations in an effort to look at how different management practices perform in different environments. The information is delivered to farmers across the Midwest in a 280-page summary book, website and field shows.
In July 2013, Indiana Governor, Mike Pence, appointed Beck as a trustee on the Purdue University Board of Trustees. In addition, Beck currently serves on the Indiana Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, is vice president of the Purdue Ag Alumni Seed Improvement Association and is a founding member of the Purdue FarmHouse Fraternity Foundation board.