Retail Business
Ken Ferrie gives some practical tips on how you can rely more on facts and less on your gut to reduce management mistakes and achieve better cropping outcomes.
While the promise of such technological leaps does not help with today’s economic realities, complementary technologies are arriving.
Adding Low Mu Tech to the company illustrates the company’s ambition toward vertical integration across crop nutrition, biologicals, and data analytics.
Serving its growers while also thinking about how to remain a high-value partner led to the award.
“We really look at, how do we solve the problem of customer loyalty, where it’s not challenging for the ag retailer to track it, because they’ve got enough on their plate,” says Anna Cardoze, vice president of strategic accounts at Growers.
Confirmed populations of glufosinate-resistant waterhemp are in Illinois with suspected resistance reported in at least six other states. Weed scientists say how farmers respond now will determine how long the chemistry remains a reliable tool.
Ignore the hype of unproven products and practices. Research shows that doubling down on five core fundamentals will deliver the best ROI.
Will 2026 be a repeat of 2016? Chris Barron, Ag View Solutions, shares four strategies to help farmers capture some profit in this down cycle.
A detailed “farming playbook” can help guide essential input investments and maximize ROI.
Planning for next season? Review the expert insights and recommendations from farmers and field agronomists on how to reduce costs and strategically reallocate resources.
An multi-industry coalition of rail customers underscores the importance of retaining competitiveness in the rail industry.
Commodity prices have not kept pace with rising costs, leaving many row crop growers struggling to keep their operations on positive footing headed into the new year.
A new report details the need for more ag funding to address existing weeds, insects and diseases as well as agronomic problems that have yet to reach U.S. shores.
“We encourage the administration to explore practical credit and lending tools that help farmers access inputs today and pay over time, so retailers can continue serving as trusted advisors while operating on slim margins,” said Richard Gupton, ARA’s SVP of Public Policy and Counsel.
Eight new members join the board. The current chair of ARA is Dave Spears with MKC.
Preemptive control of heavy-hitting diseases like white mold, frogeye leaf spot, Cercospora leaf blight and others is now possible thanks to specially designed soybeans that act like an early warning system, enabling proactive fungicide treatments and yield protection.
USDA’s Brooke Rollins says the financial details will be unveiled next week. Some groups estimate payments could total in the neighborhood of $12 billion. “There’s people that can really use them. Everyone can use them…but we’re not getting real solutions,” says one Iowa farmer.
Going into the final weeks of the year, many growers across the country are shouldering significant financial strain from land rent payments, rising input costs, and efforts to stay in business and viable until commodity prices improve.
Because every growing season is unique, agronomists are encouraging corn growers to make a management plan for the “driver diseases” they’re most likely to encounter in fields next year.
The best ag retailers aren’t waiting for better conditions–they’re reinventing how they work, lead, and serve their growers.
Matt Hansen of Grower’s Edge says the company’s technology has been a catalyst to change the conversation in ag retail.
Earlier this week, Omaha-Nebraska based Hansen-Mueller Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The project has two goals: support retail agronomists in their recommendations and support decisions with a focus on return on investment.
Number of bushels per acre is high on their list of priorities, but it’s not necessarily their No. 1 concern going into 2026.
Both products have been registered for use by the EPA, with one of them featuring a novel active ingredient.
The company also announced a transition in leadership for its retail division.
Farmers wanting to hang onto the soil moisture in their fields are struggling to address compaction and ruts where there has been little to no recent rainfall. Anhydrous ammonia applications are also difficult to get sealed in fields where moisture is minimal.
Growers say they remain cautiously optimistic and believe the U.S. is “headed in the right direction.” But they want the gridlock with China to end and for actual steps to be taken to get their crops sold and shipped.
Corn yield champs say annual soil testing is the best way to make sure fields are up to the goal of delivering profitable high yields every season.
After three straight years of having a May-planted crop that outperformed corn planted only a few weeks earlier, some Illinois farmers are ready to throw in the towel on planting corn before the calendar turns to May.