The Indiana Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year is described by the organization as an agriculture titan. Sonny Beck, CEO of Beck’s Hybrids in Atlanta, Indiana was honored this week during the annual awards ceremony.
There have been many honors for Sonny and Beck’s through the years. President of the company and Sonny’s son, Scott Beck, told HAT his father feels this award goes to the family, the company and the farmers they serve, just to name a few.
“It’s incredibly humbling and a very special award,” he said, “and it was good to be a part of it and understand that when he made his remarks there that he was accepting on behalf of his wife, my mother, our family, the family of employees that we have, the business associates and industry and government officials, and really people throughout the state of Indiana who have made a good working environment here within the state, and have just supported what we’ve done. Certainly the farmers we do business with are included in all that. A very neat award.”
Scott says that Sonny is very deserving of the award, and he would know, based on their nearly 3 decades of working closely together. He tried to summarize what makes the leader of the largest family owned seed company in the U.S. tick.
“He’s passionate about farming, passionate about what we do in the company in helping farmers succeed, and he’s passionate about the people who are surrounding him every day. It’s been said that if you want something done you ask someone who’s already busy and they’ll get it done. That’s kind of his nature as well, and yet at the same time there’s not a person on this earth that he would not sit down and spend time with if they asked them to.”
The hallmark of Beck’s Hybrids under Sonny Beck’s leadership has been consistent annual growth, and Scott says recent expansion efforts have been a part of Beck’s move toward gaining greater independence in germplasm to ultimately “bring new and better products to farmers.”
Scott Beck comments on what’s in the future for Beck’s:becks-hybrids-in-the-future