02/08/05 Young Farmer and Rancher, Runkle

Eric Runkle and wife Jennifer live in Melba with their two daughters. Eric is the operations research manager at Rogers Seed, a branch of Syngenta. RUNKLE "The Treasure Valley here we have probably roughly 70 percent of the world's sweet corn seed market grown in this area and a large majority of the garden bean industry is here. That is mainly because of the nice hot summer days and the cool summer evenings. We produce hundreds of thousands of different varieties of crops out there during the summer and determine which ones are worth keeping. Out of a hundred thousand varieties we may at the most save maybe a hundred varieties. What we're shooting for is market share. We have four or five different large competitors that we deal with. And to get the majority of the market share is out biggest goal." Eric Runkle of Melba, one of the Young Farmers and Ranchers and so honored by the Idaho Farm Bureau. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott