Saticoy Seed Company Strengthens Corn Position

North Americans like their sweet corn. And officials at Seminis Vegetable Seeds of Saticoy have no intention of swaying them in any other direction.

The Saticoy-based seed producer, a leader in the hybrid seed industry, has purchased the Seneca brand line of fresh vegetable seeds from the Robson Corp., a New York-based producer of squash, pumpkin, cucumber and sweet corn seeds.

It is the sweet corn seeds, with their $32-million North American market, that has the folks at Seminis particularly excited about their acquisition. The company, which markets seeds to growers worldwide through six independent brands, will sell the new line under the Petoseed name.

“It opens up a new market for Petoseed, which has been a full-line vegetable seed company except, basically, for sweet corn,” said Jay Hulbert, vice president of strategic planning and North American sales for Seminis Vegetable Seeds. “Relative to the vegetable market, sweet corn is fairly substantial. It is one of the larger markets.”

Seminis Vegetable Seeds is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seminis Inc., a joint venture between Empresas la Moderna of Monterrey, Mexico, and the Illinois-based Geo. J. Ball Co.. In addition to Petoseed, the seed company markets through its Asgrow, Royal Sluis, Bruinsma, California and Genecorp brands.

Hulbert said Petoseed has a larger customer base than the Robson Corp. and the company expects to use those existing customers to expand sweet corn sales.

“Robson is basically based in the Northeast, and Petoseed is a global company,” Hulbert said. “We will be able to market Seneca hybrids not just in the United States but worldwide.”

Although sweet corn is new to Petoseed, it is not new to the Seminis Vegetable Seed family. The company’s Asgrow brand already has a place in the sweet corn market.

“This will allow us to broaden our base and offer a choice to commercial corn growers,” Hulbert said.