Beck's debuts research farm

EL PASO – The west side of El Paso was a place for farmers to learn and explore Thursday during the Beck’s Central Illinois Field Show.

The event, formerly held at a location near Downs, included new product information, educational seminars and various field trials ranging from planting depth to fungicide. Beck’s regional business manager Clint Prange says the idea behind the show is to help farmers succeed with a better return on investment.

“We are just trying to consolidate and keep it in one area,” explained Prange. “Similar to our other locations, we’ve now got our Practical Farm Research facility here and we’ve acquired some more acres in this part of the world.”

According to Prange, Beck’s is among the fastest growing seed companies in the country so the company needed to expand from a warehouse and processing standpoint. In case you missed the recent field show, members of the public are more than welcome to stop by the facility for a guided tour.

“There is always somebody here that could take them on a private tour.”

Beck’s field agronomist Chad Kalaher was one of the presenters during Thursday’s field show, discussing how nematodes in both corn and soybeans can impact plant growth and yield.

Products have been used in the past to deal with this issue, but Beck’s has a new product for the 2019 planting season which is included with bags of corn and soybeans at no extra charge.

“It’s a biological product that goes after not only corn and soybean-cyst nematodes, it also has insect activity against things like corn rootworm larvae and seed corn maggots in addition to other pests,” Kalaher said

More information on the offerings of Beck’s Hybrids can be found online at www.beckshybrids.com.