Sugarbeet growers from across the nation were among about 110 people in attendance for the grand reopening of Betaseed Inc.’s beet seed processing plant July 28 in Tangent, Ore.
Completion of the four-year, $40 million expansion and renovation project ensures that North American beet growers have access to the highest-quality supply of uniform seed.
“Today we’re celebrating the future of the North American sugarbeet industry,” said John Enright, Betaseed president. “From our beginning over 45 years ago, Betaseed Inc. became the first independent sugarbeet seed company. We had over time outgrown the capacity of our production facility. The primary purpose of the project was to ensure that our customers and the products that they were receiving would allow them to maximize the potential benefit of the genetics in our products.”
“Our research group has delivered tremendous genetic potential,” said Mark Schmidt, Betaseed vice president of sales and marketing, “but for us to be able to deliver that promise to the grower, we need to have consistent emergence. We also need to be able to ensure that when we take an order, we are able to deliver on that seed. The Tangent facility investment allows us to deliver on our promises.”
Betaseed, the largest sugarbeet seed producer in North America, improved its offerings by renovating and expanding all functional areas of the product process and critical seed processing operations in one efficient design.
“We’ve produced high-quality seed for more than four decades, and we are always working to perfect this process,” Schmidt said. “The redesign in Tangent showcases our commitment to the industry and sugarbeet growers. What this means for the future of sugarbeets is that we’re here to stay.”