March 13, 2015
Company keeps sugarbeet
farmers supplied with seed
By DENISE RUTTAN
For the Capital Press
Tucked amid the rolling
grass seed fields and fad-
ed barns of the tiny town of
Tangent, Ore., you’ll find a
state-of-the-art sugarbeet seed
processing facility with global
reach.
Since 1970, Betaseed, the
firm that processes sugarbeet
seed here, has risen to be-
come one of North America’s
leading suppliers. Adding to
Betaseed’s headquarters in
Minnesota and another loca-
tion in Idaho, the Tangent fa-
cility provides one arm of an
intricate international supply
chain. Betaseed’s operation in
Tangent processes more sugar-
beet seed than any other facili-
ty in the U.S.
“The Tangent facility is
Betaseed’s only seed produc-
tion and processing facility,
so it is extremely important in
Betaseed’s supply chain,” said
John Enright, president of Beta-
seed Inc.
This supply chain keeps
growers in business. About 1.2
Submitted photo
Betaseed’s bare seed process-
ing facility in Tangent, Ore.
million acres of sugarbeets are
currently grown for sugar pro-
duction in North America. This
key crop supplies about half the
nation’s sugar supply.
But sugarbeets are not just
a food crop. Betaseed has also
developed Energy Beet seed,
used for the production of bio-
fuels.
Nearly 70 employees keep
the Tangent facility humming,
and it will be expanding sig-
nificantly in the near future,
Enright said.
The $40 million upgrade
is targeted for completion in
2016. The project includes im-
provements to receiving, bare
seed processing, treatments and
coatings and finished goods.
On a little more than 11
acres, the facility now consists
of an office building, quality
and research-and-development
laboratories, seed processing
buildings, a maintenance shop
and warehousing and shipping
facilities. All seed harvested
for commercial use is pro-
cessed, packaged and shipped
directly by the Tangent facility
for growers throughout North
America.
Here, seeds are processed in
a high-tech computerized plant.
Quality assurance experts per-
form more than 60,000 tests
on these hybrid seeds each sea-
son. No sugarbeet varieties are
grown for a crop in the Willa-
mette Valley; only seed produc-
tion is located here.
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