A Hamilton County seed company has plans to expand its facilities, creating as many as 72 jobs over the next five years, state economic development officials said Friday morning.

Beck's Superior Hybrids will invest more than $24.5 million to ramp up its research, production, processing and logistics operations.

The company now has more than 175 employees in Atlanta, Ind., producing and selling seed corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa and forages to farmers throughout the Midwest. Beck’s plans to hire 15-20 workers by the end of this year and will add staff as additional facilities come on line.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered the company as much as $650,000 in performance-based tax credits based on its job-creation plans. Hamilton County will provide additional property tax abatement.

"Working with the IEDC has been a very positive factor in keeping our expansion plans here in Indiana," Sonny Beck, president of Beck's Superior Hybrids, said in a prepared statement.

Founded in 1937, the company is in its fourth generation of family management. Beck's operates out of eight locations in Indiana and Illinois, including some it uses under contract with other businesses.
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Indiana is home to more than 61,000 farms on 14.8 million acres of land, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2009 Agriculture Overview.