Fred Hempel’s Breeding Efforts

[PlainJane]

Saw that Karen had posted this on Facebook and wanted to share it here.

https://edibleeastbay.com/2024/08/17/a- ... l-of-fame/

[GoDawgs]

Thanks for posting that! An amazing read.

[MissS]

A fun story to read about one special tomato loving man! Ode to Fred Hempel.

[Labradors]

I miss him.

[PlainJane]

I do too @Labradors. Especially his Facebook posts and his favorite music shares. He was a big Emmy Lou Harris fan.

[Barb_FL]

Thank you for posting.

[Mark_Thompson]

https://beneseeds.com/pages/our-people

Got an ad for these guys in my gmail today (unpopular opinion but I kinda like targeted ads), seed company that lists @KarenO as an advisor and says they’re continuing Fred Hempel’s work with the blessing of his family.

[MissS]

https://beneseeds.com/pages/our-people

Got an ad for these guys in my gmail today (unpopular opinion but I kinda like targeted ads), seed company that lists @KarenO as an advisor and says they’re continuing Fred Hempel’s work with the blessing of his family.

It seems that they have brought in more advisor's to increase their offerings. Each advisor seems to like to do their own breeding. Fred Hempl's tomato seeds skyrocketed with the takeover of his company. They now offer Karen's tomatoes, which are great, but you can buy them far cheaper from other sources. You can also find the other advisor's tomatoes elsewhere far cheaper.

[habitat-gardener]

https://beneseeds.com/pages/our-people

Got an ad for these guys in my gmail today (unpopular opinion but I kinda like targeted ads), seed company that lists @KarenO as an advisor and says they’re continuing Fred Hempel’s work with the blessing of his family.

It seems that they have brought in more advisor's to increase their offerings. Each advisor seems to like to do their own breeding. Fred Hempl's tomato seeds skyrocketed with the takeover of his company. They now offer Karen's tomatoes, which are great, but you can buy them far cheaper from other sources. You can also find the other advisor's tomatoes elsewhere far cheaper.

Really? I haven’t found most of Karen’s tomatoes for sale anywhere in the U.S.! Same for most of the Peters/Rawal tomatoes. As Tormato said on another thread, people who spend years developing tomatoes deserve to be compensated, so he was not going to allow the pricey EFN tomato varieties in the mmmm for a year. Once OP tomatoes are released, it’s hard for breeders to be compensated. I’m really glad to see Bene Seeds is keeping Fred’s tomatoes going!! Benevento F1 has been popular at our master gardener seedling sales, and I hear more people each year saying they tasted it and want to grow it.

Iirc, Fred’s business partners found a corner of his field devoted to certain tomatoes and figured Fred thought they were pretty special. I assume those were the Peters/Rawal tomatoes, because I know Fred mentioned somewhere that he’d been trialing them.

I buy seeds for our seedling sales and have not found any other source, for example, for Polaris. I won’t use Bounty Hunter again because two out of three varieties I bought from them were wrong last year!! And I won’t buy from overseas both because it’s illegal (seeds may be confiscated) and because we need to receive the seeds by a firm deadline (and shipment times are not predictable). I guess I do have the option of using my saved seeds, but since I was buying F1s as well, it made sense to support Bene.

I’ve seen people complaining about the cost of Fred’s hybrids even in past years. Clearly these are people who have not shopped for other special hybrids! I’ve paid far more (per seed) for hybrids that turned out to be duds in my garden.

[MissS]

@habitat-gardener I never said where you could purchase these seeds cheaper. I only said that they could be found far cheaper elsewhere. And they can. I also have never said that people shouldn't be compensated for their work. These wonderful breeders have released their seeds to their chosen vendors. Some vendors offer them cheaper than others. I am one person that promotes purchasing at least 50% of your seeds in order to support our cherrished breeders and vendors. Without them we would be in dire trouble.

I purchased many seeds from Fred while he was alive. I wanted to support his business and his hard work. Since his passing, his seeds have skyrocketed. I personally choose not to support others making such large profits off of his work. It's just a matter of choice. I am entitled to make mine as well as you are to make yours. That's what makes the world go around.

[habitat-gardener]

@habitat-gardener I never said where you could purchase these seeds cheaper. I only said that they could be found far cheaper elsewhere. And they can. I also have never said that people shouldn't be compensated for their work. These wonderful breeders have released their seeds to their chosen vendors. Some vendors offer them cheaper than others. I am one person that promotes purchasing at least 50% of your seeds in order to support our cherrished breeders and vendors. Without them we would be in dire trouble.

I purchased many seeds from Fred while he was alive. I wanted to support his business and his hard work. Since his passing, his seeds have skyrocketed. I personally choose not to support others making such large profits off of his work. It's just a matter of choice. I am entitled to make mine as well as you are to make yours. That's what makes the world go around.

@MissS, I don't think they are making large profits. I think they are continuing what Fred was doing. He formed this parnership a year or so before he died, with the intention of focusing on selling seeds. When Fred was alive, he spent a lot of time driving around and selling specialty items such as yuzu leaves and squash blossoms, as well as his tomatoes, to restaurants. He was always posting kickstarters to support his work, because his seeds were underpriced and he gave away a lot. So I don't know if the new business continues to sell to restaurants, but they have greatly increased the variety of seeds sold, and they sell quite a few seeds that are available nowhere else. Nowhere else! They are continuing his legacy and trying as hard as they can to continue making his hybrids available. I think it's worth supporting this business, especially in its early stages as they figure out how to make a go of it. It would be sad indeed if their business model turned out to be nonviable.