Exploring Beck's Hybrids' Lasting Legacy and Faithful Future

we are the largest familyowned seed brand in the United States this is the most Indiana thing ever I love this food that is healthy safe and consumable the farmer cares the most about that so what are the ways that you see Beck growing through 20125 and Beyond from South bin to Evansville and everywhere in between this is get in the show focused on the hooer state and the incredible stories happening here today I'm Nate spangle founder of G Indiana and I will be your host for today's conversation basketball fans listen up March starts here in Indie we are hosting the 2025 barbasa Horizon league basketball championships mark your calendars for Monday March 10th and Tuesday the 11th when the top four teams in men's and women's basketball will square off at the corta Coliseum at the fairgrounds right now Cleveland State leads the men standings with Purdue Fort Wayne Right on their heels for the women's Purdue Fort Wayne is at the top just out in front of Green Bay and we're going to get six incredible basketball games over a 2-day span four semi-final games on Monday and both finals held on Tuesday action starts at noon both days and you can buy tickets on the horizon League website or on Ticket Master you also need to know about the allnew Horizon League individual membership fans can become Horizon League members and receive a unique Indie Centric shirt Horizon League glasswar Championship tickets and much more check out all the details at Horizon league.

org Indy remember March starts here in Indianapolis at corteva coliseum March 10th and 11th I will see yall out there today I'm joined by Bethany gemel director of culture and brand experience at beex hybrids now Bethy was born and raised on a grain and livestock Farm in Greentown Indiana that's Howard County up near cooko Eastern High School for anyone uh listening out there she was a 10-year Indiana 4 member a proud alumni of Purdue University and has spent the last 15 years with beex and is currently serving as their director of culture and brand experience she has a heart for serving her community Through leadership roles including the Indiana a leadership program and a few other local advisory boards today we're going to be talking about the incredible history of beex hybrids they're almost 95 yearold family-owned business here in Atlanta Indiana how they balance Innovation while remaining family-owned how Beck supports their farmers and how Indiana Stacks up in the a space in general Bethany welcome to get in Nate it's great to be here on behalf of the Beck crew we're honored to be a part of your podcast I am super excited when I first set out on the podcast journey and I thought about the coolest most interesting companies that I'd like to sit down with there was Sweet Water and I Angie's List is really cool but beex was near the top like I'm from a small town of 1,200 people in farm country Northern Indiana and I always knew about beex and knew about all the cool things they did we're going to get into later some stuff with some private jets and some rewards trips and cool things like that so I'm really pumped for today's conversation I just heard you say you're a farmer at heart yes exactly like I can't make anything grow or keep animals alive or anything like that but at heart I actually uh there's a fun video on my Instagram last year so my best friend Andrew he listens to a lot of the episodes Andrew owns a farm 300 acres in northern Indiana Huff Farm shout out and I got to drive the combine for the first time last year and like I did a whole video about how hard is it to drive a combine and it's actually not that hard yeah like they don't have like any of the GPS or autopilot or anything like that but like he got me over like I didn't drive it on the street or anything but once he got in the field I was like oh this isn't too bad just keep the keep the Little Forks on both sides of the Corn and you're good to go that's it that's all there is to it it it wasn't too bad uh I don't know if it's the perfect career for me but I had a good time um well obviously I mean beex is a huge market leader when it comes to uh you call it seed manufacturing not manufacturing but seed producer yeah so we uh we produce seed and uh we distribute seed um and we have a research team at beex who is uh working pretty hard to build a proprietary product that would be a beex specific seed product uh to S our customers and you are the third largest seed producer in the country while you still remain family-owned which I think that is a testament to the hooer hospitality and just the incredible I mean path over the last Almost 95 years you are correct third largest seed brand in the United States and we are the largest familyowned seed brand in the United States um you gave a lot of credit to some some important pieces and I think the one piece we have to make sure we give credit to is to the Beck family to persevere through a family-owned business it will be 90 years here in the next couple of years um but to persevere that long and to be a company that's the size that we are are blessed to be uh the family has to make a a commitment to reinvesting into this business and we have watched the Beck family do just that where uh their purpose and their actions align they're here to help farmers be successful you know in order to do that it's a pretty Capital intensive uh company to be able to grow and serve farmers and the Beck family continues to reinvest to make sure that that happens I I mean let's start at the beginning then let's take it back to where this all got started almost 90 years ago like where when was the first Beck that came to Indiana was it a farm that turned into a seed company how did this all get rolling uh early 1800s the Beck family immigrated from Germany to America and um you fast forward about a hundred years and Lawrence and Anna Beck were the first to start Beck's hybrids in 1937 that would be kind of our first generation uh Lawrence was only alive for a year and so really you know didn't see the company get too far up off the ground um it wasn't a part of of kind of what happened after that first year but was a a significant part of of the idea of hybrid Seed corn and starting Becks Superior hybrids and this is in 1937 1937 and okay so for those that may not be agriculturally inclined what is a hybrid I only know that as half gas has half electric car so the innovation of hybrid Seed corn was um the next step in in producing higher yielding corn for the farmer and and obviously that was important for farmers who are paid on yield and hybrid corn was the way to do that so the botney department at per University was offering several Farmers the opportunity to try this brand new hybrid Seed corn concept and um when you when you think about the be family and Innovation it starts back in 19 37 when Lawrence said yes I want to I want to try this and so Francis um Lawrence Lawrence's son was on the farm at that point in time also after Lawrence pass Francis and his wife Pauline continued to take over this hybrid Seed corn production and then uh distribution to local customers farmers who would be in that Hamilton County area and so uh Francis and Pauline uh were heavily involved until sunny and Glenda came back to the business and uh for those that are familiar with the Beck story you know Sunny is currently our CEO of Becks and um while he's effectively the third generation he really is the patriarch that that really kind of took Beck into a different level along with several other key leaders inside the company um I know Sunny would want to acknowledge that you know as well because it wasn't he alone he and his wife and then their children and then there's a few key uh members of the team that were help what year did sunny and Glenda is that yes what what year did they come back into the business yeah so it's really important to talk about Glenda she is Sunny's um best half maybe and um has been a backbone for sunny in the business she was heavily involved in the business early on and then stepped out and and you know raise children while still kind of having a a foot inside the business um you'll hear us probably talk about the a lot but beex is a relationship company if you do kind of a a quick like MBA 101 class there's really three ways to enter a market and um one is through a price position and uh you know are you the lowest cost provider and in a market and you know if you look in like the grocery section that may be like a Walmart or an Aldi uh that is not beex beex is not a a low price provider um the second way to enter into a market is through ation and through the constant Recreation and and Apple's a great example of that you know every year or pretty frequently there's a new release of a of a new technology that needs to be purchased by the consumer uh and while beex is very Innovative a lot of the seed that beex sells um we do Source from suppliers that isn't really the the area that we are are King of the Ring um but the Third Way is through relationships with your customer and that is where beex plays that's where we show up and we figure out ways to serve our customer uh and Glenda is really a big piece of that and always has been as she has tried to stay connected with customers um with Farmers with our dealer team with employees and uh has really kind of brought that that feel to the company and has been behind sunny as as they've I think that's a testament of all great Farmers it's like you know that there is also a rockstar wife partnering in the family there that's like really keeping uh the ship on the real my uncle Farms a ton up in Breeman as well and his wife Deb is just phenomenal and it's it's really a team effort there um even maybe she's not getting in the combine but it's like you know all farmers and Farmers wives like Farmers wives probably don't get nearly enough love and credit as they deserve amen yeah it's a team effort for sure and I think a farmer is an entrepreneur you know it's entrepreneurship is not an easy path as you probably know and uh so doing it with with someone else and doing as a team is a little bit easier it's wild when you think of the economics of farming too where it's like you get paid maybe once a year when you sell a bunch of stuff and then you have to turn around and pour that right back into next year and you know you just try to break even and keep the yields and buying more lands expensive so getting yield is super important uh and just the economics of farming is really interesting and you know bad years I can't even imagine it's one thing with like modern entrepreneurship you can just go out and sell more of your widget right you can sell more of your things we can do more podcasts right you can't just go plant more seed nine months ago to come Harvest Right like it doesn't work like that so I have the utmost respect for Farmers they truly I mean don't get enough love in my opinion uh that's not just pandering to the beex audience this is a pro farming podcast let that be known but when we go back and talk about these inflection points in the Journey of beex right so it was Lawrence andna for for one year when and then Lawrence passed away and then his son yes so Francis and Pauline uh were second generation so that would have been like 1938 until when did sunny and Glenda come in yeah so 1964 is when sunny and Glenda came back into the business and really started to to make their mark on the business and and that was like one of the big first inflection points of growing to I mean what you what you guys are today was it so a seed distribution back in 1964 selling to other local farmers yes would have still been in this Central Indiana territory and one of the trademarks of of Sunny is a true growth mindset and he was insistent that if we are going to survive as a familyowned business we must be growing and I would say that is a a Hallmark of his leadership that we still um very much Embrace today and you know quite frankly we encourage that of those that work with us whether it's an employee in their mindset and in the the areas that they're responsible for our dealer Network um and their continued growth or even the farmer you know we encourage and really Foster that mindset throughout the whole company I I love that the growth mindset and the idea of growing but also keeping your community right I know I I did in the research that we did we talked about hosting their first ham and beans supper right bringing 50 Farmers or whatever together back in 1964 65 time like that's incredible and I don't know if that was super common back then but I I don't think that there's many people now that are getting 50 or 60 leaders and kind of competitors and customers all together in the same room I think I mean the 1964 that had to be a Pioneer not Pioneer but that had to be uh one of the first uh the first to do that yeah and it speaks to what we've kind of already talked about which is our desire to connect and kind of be in relationship with our customer or or just with Farmers whether you're a Beck's customer or not and we have carried that forward you know it's very traditional in a farm family that you're eating together um around the kitchen table or you know around somewhere in the field or you're finding a way to still eat together and so uh that those ham Bean seers were a a time to connect and eat together but also educate and provide agriculture uh information agronomic information information about the business and that that ham and bean supper has continued in different ways uh to today we still have that same concept alive through our becknology days that we host in August um and through our pfr Insight meetings that we host during the winter that are are kicking off right now during this season we still Embrace that same concept um and as we were talking earlier you know I I want to make sure we mentioned this the next couple of generations with beex 2 um we've kind of stopped with sunny and Glenda in true Sunny form he would be the first to say hey and there's a there are a couple of generations that are very much involved in the business today who have been instrumental in the continued growth of Beck and will be instrumental in the future um and so Scott and Shantel Beck Scott's our president today and Chantel is is Scott's uh wife have been a part of the business and then Scott has a sister Kim and she's married to Todd marshand who are also have been very very much a big part of this business and then Tony and Tracy Beck who are based in Illinois but still again a big part of the Beck's business so that would be our fourth generation I mean the the threat of family goes I mean so deep you're talking coming up on a 100 years which is just wild for any for any business to be alive for 100 years is crazy for any family-owned business to survive through generations and they always say like doing business with family can be hard for sure right like you love them but some days you don't like them so I think that's a testament to the Beck family and everything there for you growing up in Howard County on a farm right like in the space was your dream always to go work at Becks oh not at all actually um and I I was so fortunate to be um raised by two parents who um love the Lord and have raised us in the church love Agriculture and farming and I watched my parents Forge a path uh forward and and growing their operation um and embracing us kids in that process um so kind of developed that love for entrepreneurship and for Farmers really early on pretty interesting fact so my my dad has been very loyal to Beck and all I've ever known is my dad has been a Beck customer early on I have a very Vivid memories of attending becknology days in Atlanta with my family and then my grandfather uh started a beex dealership in 1976 so there's a pretty interesting story and how he he got to beex but um so almost 50 years ago members of my family chose to be a part of this beex movement and so I grew up being very familiar with Beck um but I'm also not to date myself but I'm an early 80s baby if you're pretty intimately connected to agriculture today you know that we're entering an economic climate that is a little concerning maybe for Farmers with lower commodity prices um you know looking at the demand for corn and soybeans both domestically and then worldwide from the United States and then certainly kind of keeping an eye on weather patterns this came together in the late 70s early 80s and uh as my dad was starting his farm during that same season I grew up in a pretty difficult agriculture season I looked at at what it took to build a farm and to grow a farm and I thought I want nothing to do with this you know there has to be a different way um to make a living what what you don't realize until you're much older is that there was some really rich education and EXP experiences that we were able to be a part of on that farm and so I was kind of committed to not being an agriculture um I graduated from Purdue worked for Target Corporation for just about four years I was on the distribution side of things I cannot tell you how to run a store I don't know what that retail experience looks like but uh that was my start and I was pretty committed not to be in agriculture so what what Drew you back in it's a pretty cool story it was July of 2009 and I was living in Kansas at the time I had had moved out there about 18 months prior to that uh again with Target Corporation and um received a call on a Saturday afternoon from Sunny wait what yeah yes Saturday afternoon Saturday afternoon which which is is again kind of one of those trademark things right you know he never stopped working um and still to this day is is maybe one of the hardest workers at beex and he said hey I understand you have a work experience in Human Resources he said uh we're almost to 200 full-time employees and we don't have like an official human resources department um there were a couple of key folks in the company who were doing the human resources work but he said we don't have it kind of pulled together in one area we think we may need to start looking down that path would you be open to talking to us um I was not planning to come into agriculture or to to change companies and so I was a little shocked um but you know I had a ton of respect for sunney and for beex and so I thought let's just just talk and see where this goes and um a little over a month later I ended up back in Atlanta Indiana wow well what I I love the fact that if the CEO of anything calls you you're oh it's worth the conversation right how did how did you get on Sunny's radar goes back to to my family and that connection you know when when my family was a part of the business beex was really small and so that was uh my brother uh Doug is responsible for our dealership today so he was still heavily involved with Beck at that time um Doug also had an internship at Beck uh got a full-time offer to work on the sales in the sales team at beex when he graduated and so beex and my family had been connected you know up until that point and the rest is history in in true who's your fashion right he's like yeah wait there's that Bethany like she was around here somewhere let's get her back on here okay and that was 15 years ago yeah oh man August of 200 and you just been racking and roll so from 200 employees at the time to where you guys at now we just um passed the 1,000 full-time employee mark this last year yeah holy it's really cool and what's the majority of employee like where is the the majority of that Workforce focused on we have a a very large sales organization who has spread out over 20 different states and then you know I want to mention our dealer Network too so we've got a a group of dealers who kind of have their own Beck's business in their uh area of the Corn Belt we have just over a thousand dealers so we have a thousand dealers a thousand full-time employees and a family um that is you know large and growing uh and those three sectors kind of make up beex hybrids so but yeah we have our sales organization would be one of the larger larger teams and then we have a lot of departments in the main office that are all part of kind of creating an experience for a farmer uh whether it's our marketing team or uh you know we call our front counter team but it's a sales support team that's critical to the experience that a customer would have with Becks um our M Rewards team which is probably maybe one of the funner teams to be a part of you know they're they're dealing and wheeling and all the toys and tractors and tools that we offer Farmers uh we have a travel and events team so there's a group that left yesterday for our first customer trip this winter and that travel and events team is a a huge part of making those trips happen do the flights go out on Monday this coming Monday um to go to is this I'm pretty sure I know my buddy saved his honeymoon and they're going on Monday so Reese and Morgan Williamson enjoy I think there he actually said he couldn't hang out this weekend because he has to get ready to leave on Monday I know Rees you know Reese yes oh and Dan yes yes yeah so Dan is a very dear friend of our families oh no way oh I love it so I we were just at Reese and Morgan's wedding uh this past this is the most Indiana thing ever I love this he's going to love hearing this yeah and so he that was the family I was talking about that's like very in with beex and there yeah the williamsons I went to Triton with Reese and Wes great people wonderful people so I'm guessing Reese is headed to Grand Cayman would that be right okay yeah so we have I actually um met Dan for the first time when we were in Grand Cayman but and that would have been 16 years ago so to to make a long story short here we have a few destinations where customers travel during the winter uh right now our customer trip is headed to Jamaica and then another customer trip is this Grand Cayman trip and it's it's a really cool experience one of the really cool things people don't realize so if you I think there's some some stipulations right when you buy 100% of your corn seed through Becks you get eligible for these rewards and trips and different cool things like that as well as uh what's the what's the clarification for uh getting a a ride in the plane so this is not a very old concept um I'm going to say maybe 15ish years that we through these Grand Cayman trips we part of the experience and you know Vex works really hard to deliver something that is different that that makes a farmer feel like um you know we do have their best interest at heart and we're here to serve you and so these these trips in the winter you know how many farmers do you know that are willing to take a trip in the winter um not many but but certainly oftentimes spouses are very eager to go and so these trips are a great opportunity to get um people off of the farm and to kind of reset but but we tried to make it as easy as possible so uh originally we purchased aircraft to help take private trips down to Grand Cayman it was during the process of of that that we said you know we can maybe use these aircraft in different seasons throughout the rest of the year because we are a small family-owned seed company and in your mind if you're in Iowa or Nebraska or somewhere not Central to Indiana you don't know Becks and so we need to get you here so that you can learn and experience who we really are and so we use that aircraft in addition to Flying customers to Grand Cayman uh to bring in prospects and so today all you have to be is a prospect um someone that doesn't know Becks or doesn't do business with Becks and we want to have you uh learn about us so we'll land in all the rural parts of uh the Midwest every small Regional Airport that we can fit into pick up a load of of farmers and uh bring them back to the main office and do a tour have a conversation with family members or leadership team members or um and then fly them back in your home for dinner how many of your competitors were doing something like that you know at one time it uh that was something that did happen with some of our competitors I don't know today uh to be honest what what type of volume that looks like with our competitors we have a little bit of a saying in side backs we talk about the infinite game have you heard of the infinite game no okay so the the infinite game uh Simon it's a concept by Simon syic that he introduced there's a book it's a great read that we've kind of adopted and it's it's all about how the only person you're really competing with is yourself you know how do you continue to get better day in and day out and so while we we care what our competition is doing at the end of the day we're really focused on how can we get better as serving farmers and how do we do how do we continue to get better year after year and so I don't know what our competition is doing in some areas but what we're doing is really cool well I've never heard about the private jet showing up for any of the other guys so I've heard about the beex one several times so I think that's super cool that started just before you got there or right after you got there yes it would have been around that like I just want to be in the room on the first conversation where sunny or whoever calls up farmer Dan out in Iowa and says yeah we'll send the plane your way and he's like what are you talking about like the First Farmer to get on a you know not a commercial jet and get flown back to at Atlanta like that had to just be the craziest cool thing and it started probably at some point at a table someone's like I have a crazy idea absolutely if we sent this plane to Bourbon Indiana and picked up the williamsons let's do that absolutely that's exactly how it gets started well and that's Innovation right like I know that you talked about the three pill right you can come in as the lowest cost you can come in as the most Innovation or you can really win on customer experience that is innovation within customer experience right absolutely and when you think about these competitors or anyone you're going up against in the space they're not family-owned and so that Balancing Act of remaining family-owned it probably would have been it's actually 100% way easier you grew this thing Sunny Beck family just freaking sell it make all your money and spend a lot of time in the Grand Cayman so how do you guys think about that when you're balancing Innovation and this you know how the rest of the competitors in the market were going with whatever it's private Equity or vensor back or all these things versus remaining familyowned and continuing to grow this business and playing that infinite game one is bringing in a leadership team um that is not all family based so our leadership team today um there's five of us on that leadership team two of which are our family members and three of which are not family members that that decision was made many many years ago and uh again a decision that was made because they were looking several years into the future of how do we bring some some really sharp Minds who are committed to the same cause which is remaining family owned and serving farmers and can help us do that over the next hundred years you know the the decision to stay committed to being family-owned it's really not even an option and you know you think about like some of the greatest leaders or Sports athletes or business um entrepreneurs they commit themselves to a cause and then they don't waver from it and that is one of the cornerstones of this company we will be fam owned and and the family is committed to that and is not wavering I love and you're exactly right when you think of the greatest entrepreneurs greatest it's never about oh I want to do this thing to make a million dollars or whatever like it's the Cause right it starts with we want to support Farmers like this needs to exist because Farmers agriculture Across America and the world needs this thing and when you focus on that the problem or the the purpose versus like yeah you could make your money right like that's what really drives and that's how you I Endure I'm assuming just from from reading and talking to guests and all these things like that's how you endure a 80 plus 990 plus year old business you're exactly right and it's how you make decisions like let's have aircraft that fly in prospects that may not pencel out financially but over the long run are the best decision that you can make for the farmer and the business well when you think about you know owning a business running a family operated business and you get a call on Saturdays like our SAT Saturday is still important to to what you guys do at beex or is it now become a 9 to5 Monday to Friday culture no no we work all the time when the customer needs us so um there's a there's a lot of hardworking people at beex it's again one of the Hallmarks is is just the work ethic and so we're open on Saturdays we're also open on you know a Thursday night when a farmer needs seed uh because it's going to rain tomorrow and they're out and we're open on a Sunday afternoon if someone needs seed and and we need to make it happen on a Sunday afternoon I love it you know farming is never stops nope it's late into the especially you know during the busy seasons of you know planting in the spring and harvest in the fall it can be 6:00 a.

m. to 11:00 p. m. if you're lucky yeah man I I just love this story do you have any other cool interesting stories or inflection points throughout the years of fun sunny or just Beck stories that uh that the audience would love I kind of want to talk through the fact that we actually have our uh fifth generation in the business today and I have been a part of beex as that generation has come into the business we have four grandchildren is what is kind of what we uh reference this fifth generation they would be full-time um one of their spouses we have uh one that is part-time and then her spouse is also full-time so there's a there's a collection of this fifth generation that's coming into the business and um very passionate about about carrying on these same principles of serving farmers and being family-owned and if you go back to the original I think you made the statement from sunny in you know the 60s or 70s or if you're not growing you're dying so what are the ways that you see Becks growing through 2025 and Beyond you know we can measure our business size and market share across our our marketing territory and um that market share while we're heavily concentrated in states that are more Central to Indiana uh that market share decreases as you go further out into you know Iowa Nebraska other Kansas other states Missouri outside of of these we don't like those States no just kid we love those States their corn is important too that's right it matters even on this podcast Iowa Corn is important too that's exactly right yes quick pause in the action do you want to be able to submit questions to my future guests in advance do you want access to exclusive discounts with our who your partners do you want to make sure you're invited to all of our private in-person events across the state if you answered yes to all or any of those questions you need to head to Instagram and subscribe to our get in insiders channel for $4.

99 a month you're going to be able to ask our guest questions get great discounts and above all help us fun all this amazing Indiana content that we create head over to Instagram at Nate spangle And subscribe now let's get back to the episode and so there's just so much opportunity and we believe that if a farmer commits to us that we will serve them well and that we will help their Farm be successful and so there are so many farmers that don't have the opportunity today to to work with beex and um that's where our growth is going to come from so if you're a farmer in Kansas and you want to ride on a private jet and come hang out in in Atlanta Indiana and meet the Beck team DM them yes right that's right hey hooers let me tell you about Keller and Keller our respected Indiana based Law Firm that's here for all of us for from Evansville up to South Bend they've been serving Hoosier since 1936 and they really know what it means to fight for the community these guys have recovered over $1 billion for their clients yes that's billion with a B that's a serious track record of getting results and here's something that should really make your wallet feel good they have a zero fee guarantee that means you don't pay a dime unless they win your case talk about peace of mind when you're hiring a lawyer so if you've been injured here in the Hoosier State don't hesitate to call 18002 Keller to get the support and guidance you need they mean business now let's get back into the episode that's awesome I mean so when you think about the the scope of Becks what's the furthest distance away from Atlanta Indiana that you guys have seed planted we have here recently just kind of stepped into some of the um Eastern parts of Colorado Wyoming Oklahoma and and Texas we're pretty far south right now so I mentioned the 20 states that we sell in today a few of those states in the far donut parts are are are pretty new to us and so we don't have a significant amount of market share but we have stepped into those States and and are getting to know farmers and you know their land and and how we can serve them yeah I don't think of corn when I think out there but it's there 20 different states that's incredible you know and just to keep growing and getting people familiar with with you all I do have a couple fun as we kind of start to round out the episode here some fun questions for you just agriculture in general and and how Indiana Stacks up up throughout I mean you are 20 different states right you guys are in where is Indiana in terms of Agriculture production based nationally state of Indiana um would be in the top tier of that of those 20 we are not the largest corn and soybean Acres Illinois Iowa Nebraska uh yeah yeah but but we hold our own and um agriculture is very important to the economy here in the state of Indiana we've been blessed with with State leadership that has been very friendly to Agriculture and um friendly to supporting the the growth of Becks and that has been a pretty big part of our success as well what do you think the biggest misconception about farmers and farming is I think it's really important that if you are not directly on the farm that you understand the true love that these Farmers have for their land and so there's a lot of conversation around you know taking care of of the land introducing sustainable practices um producing food that is high quality for consumption and I can tell you that the farmer cares the most about all of those things in many cases you know land has been purchased kind of like the backstory multiple Generations before the one farming it today uh was ever here and and so being good stewards of the land and and introducing practices that take care of the land and provide food that is healthy safe and consumable the farmer cares the most about that I don't know if you've seen Yellowstone yeah but like it's it's passed down through generations and generations and not giving it up to another shopping mall like the food the whole system is super important and I don't think that farmers get enough credit for again we said this this is like the theme of the podcast is Farmers don't get enough credit right Farmers wives don't get enough credit either but like the the passion and the blood and tears that go into that if a farmer spent the same amount of time working at a manufacturing plant or running a tech company like you could make more money they wanted to be rich they could go make more money elsewhere but like having this care and this passion for the land and for you know the generational Farmers like that's nuts to me I think what's crazy is I've seen I don't know the exact numbers but how much of our nation's food is produced by how many farms and like thinking about how generational like year over-year like more the small farms are are you know facing really hard time to make the math work and are getting rolled up into bigger farms and bigger farms and you know back in I don't know 30 50 years ago everyone's Grandpa was a farmer it seemed like or at least like it had some type of stuff growing on their property and now it's just not as common yeah you should ask Andrew what the replacement cost would be for that combine that you were driving uh if you did wreck it you know if you bought brand new you know with the latest technology and every piece that you needed you know you're into a million dollar single piece if I wrecked that combine it would have ruined their Farm yes like I guess I didn't even think about how risky it was letting me have the controls but yeah no chance they're going out to get it this is like a 2003 that they bought new to them in 2022 so like that just kind of talks about that yeah one thing I did want to touch on when you talked about just the America's food system is constantly in the news for all this stuff how much of those issues start with the seed with the farmers and what are farmer like what Innovations are you seeing done on that end that's going to help better things end up on the table yep so you mentioned you had a great Point early um just a just a few minutes ago around the number of farmers that exist and um how that relates to the general population and so you know less than 1% of our general population they're farming and so it's a very Small Voice compared to you know the the rest of the the population if 1% are farming and 100% are eating like you do the math there yes so there are there are misconceptions and there's and maybe not even misconceptions as much as there is just maybe a lack of information um that is exchanged and there's an opportunity to exchange a little bit more information both through there's a lot of government regulation and a lot of interest in having more government regulation on Farmers but there's probably not a lot of awareness of what that does to that local farmer um and how how difficult that might be to implement and maybe even an understanding of what the farmer is doing today to make sure that their grain is safe and healthy and consumable and and Farmers care about that um and and and are are part of making this a sustainable food supply system and I think when a big thing around the entire country for the last 5 10 years is trans parency right and it's like every third Instagram swipe is somebody you know talking about how to build a business or how to gain followers or how to do this how to do that like Farmers just aren't that farmers just aren't on Instagram this is how you drive my like they like I get to go out and do that because that's what I do like I get to talk about how to drive a farm like or drive a combine but farmers are farming like it's a busy sun up Sundown they're not on Instagram like there's a few right the tick-tocking farmers or whatever but the majority of them are out there doing the work and I feel like if people spent more time out there doing the work they would calm down a little bit you know there has been it's been interesting to watch there there's been a a group of um social media folks who have a passion in educating on what's happening on the farm and and there's been a a following that's been pretty strong in learning and so there's a deep appreciation for the younger generation who has an interest in in Sharing what happens on the farm to help educate um you know this is what a daily life is like for a farmer yeah and if you need any info on tractors we've got Jackson up in Northern Indiana John de Little John Deere yeah he crushes it he has forgotten more about farming than I'll ever know yeah 100% it's such an example of you know these things are in your blood so that kid is someone who who loves this and and you'll never take it away from him it's he's born with it well I'm I'm going to overstep here but there might be an internship opportunity in the future bet I'm not I'm not offering it but I'm not not saying that is a right this next question is brought to you by our friends at Fellowship they are a great organization here in Indiana helping develop young Business Leaders across the state Bethany what advice would you give to your 22y old self I was 25 when uh I came to beex and quite frankly kind of regretted it in the first nine months of being at beex um I left a really large organization being Target Corporation who who was taking great care of me and I had I was very well connected with some really incredible leaders and came to a small family-owned company with 200 full-time employees uh and I was back in kind of rule America the reason I made that decision is first and foremost because I just felt like the good Lord was was guiding me there and I was just going to be dutiful and follow but the second reason is because you know deep in my heart I agriculture is a very special place but I think just following and and taking a risk when you're 22 I have three kids um with my husband and our oldest is uh 24 just turned 24 and so he just graduated with his MBA and is is navigating you know life in in his first career moves and you know we're having these exact conversations with him of take the risk whether you're the entrepreneur like you uh that's you know kind of doing doing the thing that feels scary um or you're joining a family-owned seed company that maybe doesn't make sense but you're looking at the long game so that that 22 24 26 take the risk heck yeah take the risk I love that we're getting towards the end of the show I do a fun lightning round where we curate some some fun questions today we're going to be talking about agriculture and farming what's the importance of 4 the 4 program is so foundational on a couple of things one we built some really great relationships through 4 and um both we we did livestock and in 4 and so the caring for livestock you know it helps to teach you that there's something bigger than just you in this world that you have to take care of um but then the competition of of doing your very best you know and then understanding you know just Agriculture and and the full picture of Agriculture the forage program helps with all of those things um I still have some very close friends who I met in in the 4 AG program today oh and the reward at the end when you get to go to the fair and hang out in the pig Barn for a full week and eat all the ice cream it's the best I was never a 4 AG kid unfortunately we lived we didn't have animals so I would always go for the whole week and hang out with my buddies Austin and Charlie at the pig bar at the Marshall County 4 H fair and that was where trouble happened those are the days oh incredible okay we're going to do a similar one what's the importance of FFA FFA is a similar concept to 4 where you're really there's opportunity to develop your leadership skills the programs that FFA offers you know public speaking really deepening your agronomic knowledge um and then competing which again is forcing yourself to be your best version of what you can be those things happening in middle school and high school are just invaluable to your development they think FFA and you think drive your tractor to school day like that's a piece of it I think that was cool that's fun but there's so much more like you talk about the global or or the the we host it here the conference that where naal convention in Indianapolis and you see Seas of corduroy Blue Jackets downtown and it's awesome it's super super cool yes you know you uh great point it is not just for Farm kids in fact there's it's a great leadership development program for all kids bang yep go join your local FFA all right now we have some fun ones this is going to shock the listeners okay all right how many ears of corn are are there on a normal stock on a normal stock there is just one ear yes I think that cartoons and Graphics sometimes there's two but they're like half grown this blew my mind I thought from seeing cartoons it's like there's a an ear here and an ear here and an ear no it's just one leaves yeah it's just leaves doesn't mean there's like I have blown lots of people's mind when I found this out like sometimes there's two don't say there's not but the majority One stock one ear of corn one corn just one okay John Deere or kih we have great relationships with both and spoken like a true politician and we really do we we've talked briefly about our commitment Rewards program but um both case and John Deere have been Partners in our commitment Rewards program which has been a vehicle that we have used to um reward uh loyal customers at Vex and so we have great Partnerships with both that'll work we'll take that we'll take that they're both uh I know that like right by the turn to go to Atlanta is Reynolds Farm Equipment right and they're a staple across Central Indiana as well not saying that we're on either side here we we I guess we we like both of them we'll reward Farmers with red or green we have a dear relationship with Reynolds and um quite frankly they were very instrumental in getting commitment rewards up off the ground and so it is okay to give Reynolds shout I love that uh I've just been seeing a lot of content from CES and all these Innovations what's the craziest farming Innovation Tech thing that you've seen coming out well right now we have an innovation Department uh it is just two individuals Brad and will but um they they started a couple of years ago and right now they're looking into a lot of Robotics that farmer transitioning from being in the cab operating the equipment to you know being behind the mechanical operation through remotes and other um systems that that that enable robotics the farmers Roomba just like send that out there I have one for you I've heard about this one it's an Indiana based company his name is Spencer he developed Rogue AI have you heard of this uh I don't know it's unmanned spot spray on top of fields yes he so I used to be officed out of 16 Tech downtown and I saw this guy building this massive drone like it's huge the propellers are longer than this table and he and it is can lift 500 lb or whatever and it turns out Spencer was from Plymouth which was just down the street for me I just like sat and talked with him for like an hour one day about what he was building and the idea is it drives out on a semi fills up its tank goes and spot sprays a field and kind of like innovates on crop dusting and you know different types of the chemicals and stuff that have to go down really interesting stuff yeah it's it's here it's coming and it will continue to be a future of Agriculture and um Spencer and and others who are innovating in the space um you know they're putting a lot of time and money investing in in what this future looks like but it's that is the future yeah it's it's wild I think of like vertical farming and all the we're going to be like looking up in Atlanta there's going to be a 50 story skyscraper of fields like you never know could happen maybe so um okay what's the best thing about working at beex beex has been successful because of the people that are part of this business and I mentioned the over a th dealers over a th000 employees and then the be family you look to your right and your left and you find really great people who are passionate about serving farmers and we're all doing it together so I think just being surrounded by some some really amazing people what is one of the oldest Family Farms that you know of you know one of the oldest family Farms that has been a part of Beck would be Wimer Farms out of Rockville Indiana Rock just west of India there we go so max swimmer and then he's had a a pretty key partner in crime um Doug Burgess that has been a part of his operation for quite some time too how how long have they been a partner of beex So Max just celebrated uh 50 years as a dealer with beex holy smokes 50 years so that means that they're like Distributing Farm or seed around that area as well yes all our dealers have local relationships where they serve local farmers um through selling seed but also delivery of seed or uh you know commitment reward items or you know helping customers be aware of the back know day opportunities and and other things kind of your boots on the ground in the local market that's really cool so important to be Wimer farms in Rockville so if anyone from Wimer Farms sees us keep up the good work let's see the next 50 years that's right have you heard of any interesting superstitions or Traditions before planning season it's not a Superstition but it is a it is a reality you know I I kind of talked like growing up we grew up in prayer and talking about like the weather and commodity markets like those were the three most frequent conversations because there's so little that you can do with the weather um mother nature and and quite frankly the same is true with commodity markets and so you got to pray your way through farming it's the only way to make it there you go I love that what are the biggest crops that are produced in Indiana definitely corn and soybeans we are a corn and soybeans state so those are the two uh largest volume crops produced in the state of Indiana are there any Niche products that Indiana's known for yeah so there's some sunflower beex is not heavily involved with some of the smaller Niche products but um you know there's some sunflower and oil uh Farms that are that are pretty is it uh popcorn huge as well hug go wine popcorn up in Northern Indiana yep we were popcorn yes yes so um we are not intimately involved with with either of those crops um we do sell popcorn through our country store but it is not something that we we grow it's already popped though yes it is yeah well uh it's in kernels it can be popped already grown already gr ready to be popped yes that's right well you guys have a country store tell me about that do yeah it's a retail arm you know it's through our marketing team and so there's some really cool Innovative uh products in there but everything is branded with Becks so hats kids stuff toys tractors um chairs signs blankets cups anything you know apparel anything that you can think of is through the Country Store I love it uh I have the same three questions that I ask everyone who sits in that chair yeah the first one is what is something the world needs to know about Indiana you know Indiana is a hidden gym it's a pretty special state that is quietly growing conservative in values a great place to raise a family and to work and live um it's kind of it's got everything we're not near a beach or a mountain but we have a lot of other exactly good good people though people Trump places all the time yes sir uh well you kind of teed into the next question but what is a Hidden Gem in Indiana beex hybrids truly you know it's a it is something becknology especially are open to anyone um in Atlanta It's usually the very last Thursday Friday Saturday of the month of August and it's open to to anyone and it's an opportunity to come up and just you know see see a family-owned Seed Company learn a little bit about agriculture while you're there and and experience the Indiana Hospitality I can agree more and I think non-farmers across the state we can do a better job of learning and supporting uh the farmers because they do make a huge impact in our u in our state I think Mitch Frasier and his team arovas are doing a great job of kind of blending the tech and businesses side with what's going on on the actual Farm uh so I I just think that yeah you go up to becknology dates one great name I'm a sucker for a good good play on name like that's a good one um in August that's when it is yes but do you do other ones like across the country as well we do the whole month of August we are traveling and the other becknology days are one day events in some of our other states uh Minnesota Nebraska Kansas um Illinois Iowa you do that all in a month Kentucky uh we do it is a very very busy month three days in atena hell man good for you guys final question here who is the hooer that we need to keep on our radar someone who's doing big things that Beck family is just really special Sunny Beck has given really his life to to move this company and farmers in a um in a different place than they were 60 years ago when he started Scott Beck has served very dutifully and supporting sunny in doing that while adding Scott's own um perspective and Scott is a God-fearing man that um it loves farmers and loves to to serve other people and so when we talk about our culture and this service minded culture Scott is really accredited for influencing that and Chantel and and Glenda as well as I mentioned earlier um and then we've got this next Generation that's that's really neat and to just name one of them probably wouldn't be fair um so all of them that's that's fair I love that uh how old is sunny so he will be 85 and no farming that's young I know 85 and still running a CEO that is like a True Farmer I think my grandpa who started my uncle's Farm forever ago he like was moving and grooving until like 85 87 you know well well into like 20 years past retirement that's nuts yeah like you just can't stop no it's just like it's built into your DNA it is yeah and he's not going to stop anytime soon so heck yeah let's go he's probably having his funnest days right now so right uh thank you so much for coming on and telling us a little bit about the the beex hybrids journey I mean from Family Farm to five generations now of a hooer family-owned business that's big in Indiana but big on a national scale I love seeing stories of hooers and hoer owned companies that are making global national impact like I think that's just so cool and something that sometimes we take for granted here right when we have the becks the sweetwaters the Eli lies like all of these awesome amazing National companies right in our backyard so one thank you to you all for the all all the hard work you do thank you to all the farmers that that you work with and you serve for keeping us well fed some me more than others right like holy smokes but yeah just thank you this was an awesome episode yeah it's great to be a part of it love what you're doing and wish you the very best as you continue to highlight all the great corners of the state of Indiana amazing thank you so much and we'll have to catch up at the next Technology Days we'll see you in August thank you for listening to this episode of get in if you like what you heard make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast this show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level click the link in the description to see all of my gear recommendations at sweetwater.

com if you want to behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik toac @nate spangle thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the hooer state great we'll see you next time here on get in