GROWMARK is helping 35 college students from throughout the Midwest to continue their educations in agriculture and business. “GROWMARK invests more than $45,500 annually on scholarships. We’re investing today for a return tomorrow,” says Steve German, GROWMARK member employment manager, pictured here at the scholarship luncheon during the recent GROWMARK annual meeting. “There’s a need for agriculture businesses to support …
GROWMARK Grain Division Growth
The GROWMARK Grain Division is making news. First off, the division will have a new VP as of November 1. Brent Ericson has been named Vice President, Grain, replacing Davis Anderson, who retired in September. As VP, Grain, Ericson will be responsible for the overall management, oversight, support and growth of GROWMARK’s grain business, which includes 80 grain members and …
GROWMARK Helping Cultivate Master Farmers
Rick Nelson is not just a farmer from Paxton, Illinois – he’s a Master Farmer – and as such, he is helping to cultivate other master farmers in the state. I talked with Rick at the Farm Progress Show in the GROWMARK tent, since Rick is also Vice Chairman of GROWMARK, and we talked about the Cultivating Master Farmers program …
Farm Progress Show Progress
I have to confess that working in air conditioning beats the 102 degrees in the media tent around noon yesterday! It may have been a cooker out there but this year’s Farm Progress Show was great in a lot of ways. Attendance seems fantastic and with the great weather all of the demonstrations were able to run as scheduled. This …
Farm Progress Show Field Demo Hosts
I was out watching the field demos in the hot sun yesterday and was pleased to meet the hosts of the demo plots Dawn and David Brix. “We take care of about 225 acres that we use for combine and tillage tune up and then Tuesday and Wednesday during the shows we have demos out there,” David told me. They …
Get Connected to GROWMARK CropNAtion
At the 2011 Farm Progress Show, GROWMARK is showcasing CropNAtion “the place for busy, progressive farmers and ranchers” to connect. GROWMARK’s Heather Miller was signing people up for the agricultural social media site at the GROWMARK tent and Chuck talked with Cory Winsted about it. “You could say that CropNAtion is a virtual coffee shop, where a producer can be …
Illinois Farm Bureau is Proud GROWMARK Parent
As GROWMARK enters its 85th year, the Illinois Farm Bureau (ILFB) is proud to have watched the cooperative grow into something bigger and better over the years. “The GROWMARK system started under the auspices of Illinois Farm Bureau years ago, so we’re kind of the parent of the organization,” said ILFB president Philip Nelson at the cooperative’s annual meeting last …
GROWMARK Reports Record Sales, 2nd Best Year
GROWMARK CEO Jeff Solberg had great news for the system’s stakeholders at the Annual Meeting in Chicago Friday. “Our sales this year are $8.5 billion, which is a record level of sales for us,” Jeff said. “A lot of that is price inflation, we’re a commodity based business, but we also have a lot of volume growth there – higher …
GROWMARK Annual Meeting is Value Driven
The theme of the 2011 GROWMARK Annual Meeting is Value Driven and there are over 1,000 stakeholders attending the meeting in Chicago this week. I spent a few minutes with Dan Kelley, Chairman of the Board and President of GROWMARK, prior to the opening reception Thursday night about what value-driven means to GROWMARK. “The GROWMARK system has historically been recognized …
Seven Wonders of Corn Yield World
Seven has always been considered to be the perfect number, so it’s no surprise that there are seven factors that make up the combination for consistent high yielding corn crops. A new website looks at “The Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World,” based on the research of University of Illinois plant physiologist Dr. Fred Below. Dr. Below has been …