Crystal is a seed brand with decades of history connected to the very beginnings of the sugarbeet industry in North America.
One of the reasons for Crystal’s success has been its ability to evolve with the industry, which it has done throughout history, including 15 years ago when ACH Seeds entered a partnership connecting the brand and its seed breeding to the best sugarbeet seed research and testing capabilities in each domestic market.
Thanks to a history of paying close attention to beet producers’ needs and giving the highest attention to quality, ACH Seeds and its partners have achieved superior seed breeding results and led the North American sugarbeet seed industry consistently throughout its history.
Today, through the Crystal brand, ACH Seeds continues to deliver seed varieties with the most advanced pest and disease tolerance, highest yields and best sugar-content traits that growers expect and require. The inclusion of strong background traits in Crystal’s elite germplasm allows the breeding team to focus on primary traits required in each region offering better balance and more consistent field results. In addition, thanks to strategic partnerships, Crystal brand sugarbeet seed is supplied to growers from the newest and most advanced sugarbeet seed processing and packaging facility in North America.
Partnering with growers
Beyond providing superior seed breeding and the industry’s highest seed processing quality control, Crystal also gives growers invaluable assets through partnerships with their seed sales team.
“The goal of every member of the ACH Seeds sales team is to be a valuable partner to sugarbeet growers—to be on common ground with sugarbeet farmers,” said Dave Braaten, national product manager at ACH Seeds. “The Crystal seed brand is represented in all major sugarbeet growing regions by more than 25 local independent sales agents—many of whom are also sugarbeet growers themselves—backed up by an experienced national team made up of a product manager and regional sales managers.
“Our people, like sales managers Andy Bernia, Jake Boersma and Burke Garner, have a passion for the sugarbeet industry,” Braaten said. “It comes from years of experience in the sugarbeet business, a farm background or both. Everyone who represents Crystal seed works with growers closely and often. They work with growers during planning, planting, managing and harvesting their crops. At all of these times, we listen to growers’ concerns about threats to their crop, management, trends in precision agriculture and what they need from future varieties.”
Sugar Bounty Program
One way the ACH Seeds sales team is committed to building and maintaining its working relationship with producers is through the Sugar Bounty Program. ACH Seeds sales representatives visit farms and receive yield information from sugar companies to recognize and incentify growers for producing the highest Recoverable Sugar per Acre (RSA) for their Crystal brand varieties.
“Sugar Bounty was first introduced as a modern-day incentive for growers to plant high-sugar, high-quality varieties,” Braaten said. “What it has ultimately provided is the ability for Crystal representatives to relate to the needs and challenges of sugarbeet growers. The result has created trust for all parties, the ability to share knowledge and a strong working partnership.”
According to Braaten, the Sugar Bounty Program is the key element to creating common ground between Crystal representatives and growers, which keeps the customers’ needs in the forefront of variety development and seed production.
“The focus of the breeding team is to strike a balance between the need for disease tolerance and the underlying goal of maximizing high performance,” Braaten said. “Once varieties have been developed, the next commitment is to provide a supply of seed when and where it is needed. This requires careful planning several years in advance, and once again, listening to the needs of customers becomes a core part of operational success for both the supplier and customer.”
Wide selection
For 2016, ACH Seeds’ Crystal varieties are at or near the top of the charts for revenue per acre, primarily due to higher recoverable sugar combined with high yield. A number of varieties available for the 2016 crop provide the highest level of tolerance to rhizomania, root aphid and other threats unique to each sugar producing region.
Crystal brand varieties are available through ACH Seeds in most sugar producing regions. With selections of up to eight varieties matched to the local growers’ need for choices, Crystal provides choice for the best possible combinations of tolerance, yield and sugar content.
“While peace of mind is hard to come by in farming, I can assure you that Crystal beet seed, with its industry leading plant breeding and variety testing, can reduce your worries about your sugarbeet crop,” Braaten said. “Having the Crystal seed team on common ground with you completes the picture.”
More information on ACH Crystal sugarbeet seed is available at www.AchSeeds.com.
Talk with your local sales representative about varieties available in your growing region for 2016.