A Company Built On Faith, Family, And Farming

How does a simple farm grow into a major force in U.S. Agriculture? Vision, guts, and a whole lot of hard work. Since 1937, Beck’s has remained a company dedicated to helping farmers succeed. Our unique culture and one-of-a-kind business model has allowed us to grow from a small 80-acre farm to the third-largest seed brand in the U.S. With a servant’s heart, we strive to deliver legendary customer service and a quality line of products. We look forward to standing beside you for seasons to come, helping your farm thrive, and supporting you as you live out the life you were meant to live.

Five Generations of Helping Farmers Succeed | The History of Beck's

Every story has to start somewhere, and ours began with Lawrence Beck. His family had come to America in 1833 as farmers and had a tradition of passing on 80 acres of land to each child when they married. In 1901, when Lawrence married Anna, there were only 40 acres of original family land left. So, they thought a little differently. Lawrence sold their 40 acres and used the proceeds to buy 80 acres in Atlanta, Indiana – the same land where Beck’s headquarters remains today. Lawrence and Anna had a daughter, Dorthia, in 1902 and a son, Francis, in 1908.

Lawrence had the 80 acres he needed to farm and sustain a family, but he had to make it crop-ready. He cleared half of the land of trees, tilled the soil, and used the timber from the trees to build the homestead that still stands at the center of our headquarters to this day.

Tensions among nations grew into the First World War, while farmers like Lawrence worked day and night to make ends meet at home. By this time, Lawrence’s son, Francis, began to show a keen interest in farming, and in 1929, he attended his first “Winter Shortcourse” in agriculture at Purdue University. Along with his studies, he raised corn, hogs, chickens, and cattle with his father. Around this time, they started producing open-pollinated seed corn for their own use but saved the best ears each season to sell to friends and neighbors to plant crops for the next.

Shortly after establishing Beck’s in 1937, Francis Beck got word of one of his earliest customers achieving unsatisfactory results. Francis went right over to the field to investigate the problem and quickly realized the issue was actually with the planter settings, not the seed itself. So, what did Francis do? He offered to replace all of the farmer’s seed corn for free. Why? Because at the end of the day, we aren’t selling you a bag of seed. We’re selling you a stand of corn. And we’ll do what it takes to get you there.

Francis married his wife Pauline in 1933, and they welcomed a daughter, Marietta, in 1935. With another mouth to feed, Francis leaped at the opportunity when the Purdue University Botany Department first offered samples of hybrid parent seed corn to Indiana farmers. Despite the many challenges farmers faced in 1937, Francis and Lawrence each planted three acres of their very first hybrid seed corn. That was the true beginning of Beck’s Hybrids – a legacy Lawrence left to Francis when he passed in 1938.

In 1940, Francis and Pauline welcomed their second child, Lawrence, into the family. Named after his grandfather according to family tradition, Lawrence eventually took on the nickname "Sonny" and it just stuck. Even with a growing family, Francis continued to shift from traditional farming to growing hybrid seed corn. One of the ways he did it? Detasseling. By removing the tassels from the tops of one of the parent rows, Francis was able to successfully crossbreed two varieties of corn to produce a higher-yielding hybrid cross. To improve the process, Francis built a detasseler by mounting a Model A Ford motor on stilts. He also experimented with adding more corn bins to his drying and processing house, so he could produce more, faster.

By this time, the ability of hybrid seed corn to deliver higher yields was undeniable. Bags of Beck's seed corn were sold throughout the counties around Beck's in Central Indiana. In addition to the Indiana-certified hybrids from the Purdue Botany Department, Francis experimented with developing Beck's own private line of hybrids, using inbreds from selected private seed stock companies. From early on, Beck's motto described the company as "Big enough to get the job done, small enough to do it right," which emphasized Francis' goal of doing the right thing and doing things right. One approach to carrying out these ideals was to offer more choices in corn hybrids and add soybeans and wheat to Beck's product lineup. 

While studying in college, Sonny dreamed about experimenting with different growing methods. As soon as he returned to the family farm, he turned his interest into action and started what is known today as Beck's Practical Farm Research program. Today, Beck's PFR provides the industry's most comprehensive, innovative, and practical agronomic research. We conduct over 100 studies each year, testing more than 250 products and practices across multiple locations and publish them in an annual PFR Book.

After earning his bachelor's degree from Purdue University in 1962, Sonny married his high school sweetheart, Glendia, and then decided to continue his education by pursuing a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics. When Sonny completed his master's degree in 1964, he and Glendia moved to the Beck family farm, Sonny's head full of vision and enthusiasm for the business. With his father's approval, he immediately launched a few events that turned out to become long-standing traditions. That February, Beck's hosted its first "Ham and Bean Supper," which are known today as our annual PFR Insight Meetings. The following fall, 50 farmers from the area attended Beck's first-ever field day to learn about Beck's seed varieties and successful farming practices.

Lee Rulon, who headed up Beck's dealer network, knew that a strong sense of teamwork among the dealers was critical. He believed taking memorable vacations together would help the dealers get to know each other better and develop lasting friendships. Each year, Beck's dealers earned their spot on the all-expense paid trip by selling qualifying amounts of seed. For many dealers and their spouses, this has become a highly anticipated week-long getaway each year.

In the 1970s, a few more impactful people joined the Beck’s family of employees. Lee Rulon, Retail Sales Manager, in 1972, and Kyle Smith, Research Director, in 1976. When Smith made the career move to Beck’s, sixty-three of his farmer-dealer friends followed, doubling Beck’s dealer network in two years. With the collective impact from both Lee and Smith, the Beck’s community grew and strengthened, providing opportunities for more innovative work and growth for the agricultural industry.

In 1972, Beck’s achieved a new record with 224.6 Bu./A. with Beck 90X. Sonny attributed the success to weather, early planting, having the right hybrid, and several other learnings from his own Practical Farm Research. The record underscored the huge change that hybrids had brought to corn growing in Indiana. Back at the farm, Sonny brought on the right people to grow Beck’s research capabilities and establish our dealer network.

By the 1980s, Beck's achieved new levels of growth and production, which led to new innovative facilities and techniques, including a state-of-the-art drying and bulk storage facility, gravity machines, a soybean cleaning and processing tower, new seed treating equipment, and a semi-automatic bagger. Along with growth came new family milestones. Sonny and Glendia's daughter Kim and sons Scott and Tony all studied at Purdue, just like their dad. In 1987, Scott officially joined the family business, with Kim and Tony following right behind him.

In 1996, Beck's offered its first Roundup Ready soybeans, and the agricultural industry hasn't been the same since. The popular herbicide, Roundup, had previously been removed from farmers' arsenals of weed control options because it killed soybeans. But with a new Roundup-tolerant variety, growing soybeans became easier and more effective than ever before. The introduction of Roundup Ready soybeans also opened up new doors for Beck's in terms of trait technology.

Along with RoundUp Ready, Beck's continued helping farmers succeed by introducing an exclusive seed coating system to the soybean market called SureGro™ in 1996. Study after study showed that seed treated with Sure Gro™ yielded more bushels of soybean per acre than untreated seed.

The Beck's experience evolved to include more than just products; it offered a mixture of responsive customer service, timely seed deliveries, and a team dedicated to providing farmers with personalized agronomic information for the conditions they faced. Beck's continued investing in germplasm testing on products sourced from companies worldwide and also started our own breeding program, leading to the development of a very successful proprietary hybrid lineup. The result? A record-shattering 308.1 Bu./A. crop in 1994, when the average corn yields in Indiana had fallen well short of 150 Bu./A.

Beyond traits, Beck's also began pursuing other kinds of enhanced innovations to help assure that farmers enjoyed the greatest possible advantages from the seed they planted. In 2001, Beck's was the first to market 100% of its seed corn with a seed-applied insect control system. From the beginning, FaSTart® came standard in every bag of seed corn. In 2004, Beck's made Sure Gro™ standard in every bag of soybeans, claiming that farmers could plant 10% less and still see better stands and yields with the use of Sure Gro™. In 2009, Beck's scored another first by putting together a unique set of yield-enhancing products called Escalate® and made the coating standard in every bag of seed corn, soybeans, wheat, and elite alfalfa.

In 2001, Beck's opened a new office space. With significantly more room for more team members, the space also included a 3,500 sq. ft. laboratory, which became our official research facility. Since then, we've continued to expand our research facilities so we can continue to dig into the traits and technologies that boost your yield and ROI.

Beck's President's Club is made up of farmers who order 100% of their seed corn from Beck's. In 2009, the company launched its Beck 300 Challenge with the President's Club. This 300 Challenge sought to spread the realistic possibility of 300 Bu./A. corn yields by partnering with growers to help them attempt to achieve that ambitious mark. While falling short of the 300 Bu./A. goal, the 2011 top five participants in the program achieved an average increase of 45.6 Bu./A. over their historical yields.

For us, being a visionary in the seed business means helping customers make the most of advanced seed science and technology. And as we continue to evolve and lead, you can rest assured we'll do the risk-taking and hard learning for you. Sonny made it clear: “We will not move into any new area until we have the infrastructure in place to give those farmers the same high level of service our current customers are used to.” These are standards we believe all customers have a right to expect.

Take A Trip Through Beck's History

Our facility has impacted our history and plays a huge part in our future, and there’s so much more of our story to tell. To visit our headquarters and get a behind-the-scenes look into our operation and how we have grown over the years, register for a facility tour.

Visit Beck’s Headquarters

We’ve seen an abundance of growth from such humble beginnings, but our work is far from over. As we push forward into the future, we continue to work, innovate, and discover how we can continue helping farmers just like us succeed.