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 …
cropNAtion A Virtual Coffeeshop For Farmers
GROWMARK announced their sponsorship today of a new online location for farmers called cropNAtion. You can create a free account and be in on the start of a new social network for farmers. I’m sure they’re looking for feedback. Today’s farmers and ranchers are so busy increasing their productivity to meet the needs of a growing world that they don’t …
Retail and Acquisitions Put the GROW in GROWMARK
Retail businesses and acquisitions really put the “Grow” in the GROWMARK system. Shelly Kruse is GROWMARK vice president of retail and acquisitions and I spoke with her earlier this year about her job. “I work a lot with our retail divisions, which are member cooperatives that have actually merged into GROWMARK,” Shelly said. Three of those retail divisions are located …
GROWMARK Awards Jim Evans Endowed Chair
This is Jim Evans leading an FFA reporters workshop sometime in the 1960’s. The Endowed Chair in Agricultural Communications in his name at the University of Illinois, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences just got a large donation. If you haven’t made a contribution, please consider doing so. GROWMARK, Inc. announced today a $100,000 award to the University of …
Save Our GPS Coalition Expands
The Coalition to Save Our GPS is growing as new evidence mounts that a proposed communications network would interfere with GPS systems. New agriculture industry members of the coalition include AGCO, Agricultural Retailers Association, National Agricultural Aviation Association, National Cotton Council of America, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, North American Equipment Dealers Association, and USA Rice Federation. A report was …
Proposal Could Cost Farm GPS Users
A company that wants to create a new, integrated wireless broadband/satellite network is facing opposition from agricultural global positioning system (GPS) providers and users. As we reported on Precision Pays, Virginia-based company LightSquared has proposed to set up 40,000 wireless broad-band stations across the nation on a frequency that is right next to the one used by GPS. Opposition to …
Growing Precision Farming at GROWMARK
Here’s the latest installment of our “Getting To Know GROWMARK” series. Meet Sid Parks, Manager, Precision Farming. That means we talked about FS Green Plan Solutions, a broad area of products and services offered to local FS retailers. The definition of precision farming is very broad and the technology is advancing at a fast pace. For this reason Sid says …
GROWMARK Propane
Here’s the latest installment of our “Getting To Know GROWMARK” series. I talked propane with Randy Miller, Director of Propane Operations. He says that they’ve been marketing propane for years with grain drying being a big part of their business. Home heat is also important. They’ve expanded their territory significantly, including into the northeast. Randy says that propane is a …
GROWMARK Associate Program
Learning about various aspects of the GROWMARK system and where they might best fit is the goal of the company’s associate program and Heather Miller is working into her third rotation in the program this summer. Heather, pictured here on the left with GROWMARK Publications and News Specialist Karen Jones, has already spent six months in corporate communications, is currently …
A Gentle Reminder
The weather during the month of April has been strange for a lot of the United States and Central Illinois is no exception (my weather man on Friday said this would go down as one of the top ten wettest April’s on record). While farmers are attempting to patiently wait to either get back in the fields or get into …