After very ably representing Crites’s pea programme in England for 26 years, Pat Barber will retire on September 30, 2012. The Crites management and board of directors express their sincere appreciation to Pat for his long, dedicated, and highly effective service to the Company, and they wish him the very best retirement. The management and directors also wish to recognize the group of exceptional English growers who have worked with Pat and remained committed to Crites over the years.
Crites’s challenge now is to build upon the legacy of Pat Barber. The Company, therefore, is delighted to announce the formation of a partnership with Elsoms Seeds Ltd., a leading supplier of seed for vegetable and agricultural crops in the UK for over 100 years. Under this new partnership, Elsoms will distribute Crites pea varieties in the UK and produce seed for certain of those varieties in England and on the Continent. The alliance with Elsoms is especially exciting because it comes at a time when Crites’s research programme is in the late stages of developing several highly promising new-generation pea lines.