Horizon Ag Adds New Director of Sales For Its Rice Technologies

Horizon Ag announces Hugh Beckham has joined the company as its director of sales and marketing. Beckham, whose career includes sales leadership and management with DuPont Pioneer, Monsanto and SF Services, brings a breadth of knowledge from his more than 25 years of experience in the Southern seed business. Beckham also is currently serving as president of the Southern Seed Association. 

"Hugh is a man of integrity with a proven track record of building and maintaining business relationships," says Tim Walker, general manager of Horizon Ag. "I look forward to him playing an important role as Horizon Ag enters into an exciting time of growth opportunities for our business, retail partners and customers." 

At Horizon Ag, Beckham will be at the forefront of developing the company's sales team and delivering programs to help its retail partners be more successful. The company recently adopted a new wholesale business model that will enable it to work more closely with the retail chain as it brings products to the U.S. rice industry that offer farmers not only an improved return on investment but also the ability to meet the quality standards end users desire today.  

"I'm excited for the opportunity to join the outstanding team at Horizon Ag," says Beckham. "The retail partners in this new model will be very important to our long-term success, and I look forward to fostering those relationships. Our portfolio of seed varieties and weed control technologies will continue to provide rice producers excellent options for improving their yields and quality."

Beckham also will play a lead role as Horizon Ag introduces the Provisia Rice System, developed by BASF. The first Provisia rice variety from Horizon Ag will be available for the 2018 season, joining Horizon Ag's industry-leading Clearfield rice varieties. 

"Provisia rice provides a new tool for postemergence control of a broad range of grass weeds, including ALS-resistant grasses, weedy rice and red rice," says Walker. "Much like when BASF and Horizon Ag worked together to launch Clearfield rice, revolutionary new technology that enabled rice growers to finally achieve control of red rice, we see Provisia rice as another important tool to help producers more effectively manage costly weed problems while planting high-yielding, superior quality Horizon Ag varieties."