Pure Line Seeds, Inc. wins a North American award

Lodi resident Bill Pfeil holds a national award for the Seychelles pole bean, which Pure Line Seeds, Inc. distributes in North America.

Lodi resident Bill Pfeil, the owner of Pure Line Seeds, Inc. knows good beans when he sees them. And when he encountered the Seychelles bean, he knew it would be a winner.

“Several of us knew what a pole bean should look like,” he said, “And knew that this one was far superior… it’s the nicest pole bean I’ve seen.”

And that’s not a subjective option. The Seychelles pole bean exclusively distributed in North American by Pure Line Seeds, won a 2017 All-American Selections (AAS) Vegetable Award.

The Seychelles pole bean was bred by Aad Spaans of Dutch seed company Bakker Brothers. On a trip to see the company’s selections, Lodi-based Pure Line Seeds bought the rights to produce, distribute and market Seychelles in North America.

Pfeil was so certain of Seychelles’ future success, that he turned down an AAS regional award in 2016, because accepting it would have disqualified the company from the AAS national award.
“We rolled the dice and we won,” he said.

AAS, a non-profit organization, chooses winners by conducting trials at approximately 80 sites in the United States and Canada, where horticulturalists examine the finished vegetable.

“They’re judging primarily the finished product,” Pfeil said. “Primarily what it tastes like, what it looks like, how prolific is it -- they have a whole list of criteria it has to meet.”

According to Bakker Brothers website, Seychelles (named after a cluster of 115 islands off the coast of east Africa) produces six pods in a loose hanging truss, which makes the bean easy to harvest in one swipe. The 5-6 inch bean pods are stringless and uniform in size, according to AAS. The plant grows 7-9 feet tall.

Seychelles is available through local distributors including Jung Seed in Randolph, Wis.

Pfeil said Pure Line Seeds is proud of the AAS distinction.

“It’s a very prestigious award, especially for a small company,” he said.

Pure Line Seeds is a seed producer, breeder and broker. Pfeil said all seeds, including Seychelles, are not Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). The company sells to large food producers, including Lodi Canning Company, and also sells seeds to distributors that supply home gardeners. In the latter category, Pfeil said the market is blossoming.

“There’s a resurgence of interest in home gardening, there’s a resurgence of interest in CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture),” he said. “The next generations are paying a lot of attention to gardening.”

For more information about Pure Line Seeds, visit purelineseed.com