Latest News From Retail Management

This year is the silver anniversary of the first commercial combine yield monitor hitting the market. For all intents and purposes, that technology’s introduction marked the beginning of “precision agriculture.”

Bayer officials no longer expect their planned $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto to close at the end of 2017, saying instead it should close early 2018, according to Dow Jones.

To help train FS System operators, Growmark has developed an application simulator, which is located at the company's learning center in Bloomington, Ill.   Growmark aims to train 1,000 applicators over the next three

Agrible, the Champaign, Illinois startup offering a suite of decision support software tools for farmers as well as sustainability tracking for food brands, has raised $9.7 million of a $15.7 million Series B round of f

Pinnacle Operating Corporation has named Robert Marchbank President and Chief Executive Officer. In this role, Marchbank will lead Pinnacle's agriculture retail and wholesale distribution businesses across 27 states. 

Amid today’s challenges, retailers are investing in their businesses and realizing their important role in the marketplace, particularly in regard to the seed business. “In the context of seed, the retailer is the p

About 26 million science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) related jobs go unfulfilled each year. Many students lose interest in these subjects as they enter middle school, and this year Bayer teamed up with 4-H

Agrium Inc. has entered a binding purchase agreement between its Crop Production Services (CPS) ag-retail business and Southern States Cooperative, Inc. The acquisition will include 20 Southern States’ retail location

In an open letter to AGCO employees and dealers, farmers and the ag industry, Eric Hansotia, Senior Vice President at AGCO announced that the company has closed its purchase of Precision Planting from the Climate Corpor

Balancing career and family is hard for any professional, but ag professionals often find themselves in an especially pressurized situation. With field work literally surrounding you, what are the best ways to ensure th

Join Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie and team for a series of hands-on, cutting-edge agronomic sessions at the 2017 AgPro Retailer Day. This information-packed event features a combination of classroom and in-f

Asmark and AGCO have opened a new Applicator Training Center, created in a collaboration between the two organizations. The specially designed facility located in Bloomington, Ill., is the home of the new Applicator Tra

How does your business give back to the community? What is the one initiative of which you are most proud? – By Pam Fretwell Julie PayeffMaumee, OhioCommunity CommitmentManager, The Andersons Listen here.

The world needs more soil and water conservationists. The world needs more entrepreneurs. But what if the world had more entrepreneurial soil and water conservationists? 

How does your business give back to the community? What is the one initiative of which you are most proud? – By Pam Fretwell   Nanci Lilja Inver Grove Heights, Minn. President, CHS Foundation Listen here. 

Today’s selling environment can be tough. “When we are in uncertain times, there is great pressure for businesses to reduce costs,” says Linda Sowers, an instructor of ag economics at the University of Missouri. B

The latest uptick in ag cooperative mergers is pitting perception and reality against each another. Ag cooperatives formed as a tool for local farmers to pool together and gain better business scale in both buying and s

Six years ago the team at CHS in Marshall, Minn., made a big investment in time and resources to get all of their processes and facilities in compliance with regulations. In January, they found out there was still some

How does your business give back to the community? What is the one initiative of which you are most proud? – By Pam Fretwell   Alicia Heun Ames, Iowa Communications Director, Landus Cooperative    

Build more rapport with your customers at the Tomorrow’s Top Producer conference July 20–21 in Nashville, Tenn. The event, hosted by Top Producer, a sister publication of AgPro, is geared toward producers 40 and you

We’ve all heard of unexpected firings and poorly handled layoffs. The latest example was about as high-profile as it gets: When President Donald Trump fired the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James

It’s a scenario farmers face almost every season—the production plan that looked so solid in the farm office last January won’t work in the field now in May. And it needs adjusting. That was the situation this spr

2017 has been a “wet” spring for planting which also can cause compaction issues; side-wall and pinch-row compaction. Compaction of any kind can lead to emergence issues and possible yield loss. Identifying compacti

The wrong approach to empathy and encouragement validates poor performance, frustrates leaders, and hinders teams. Encouragement is better than empathy. Responsible failure calls for empathy and encouragement. Empathy

Pinnacle Operating Corporation (“Pinnacle”) announced today that Kenny Cordell will be stepping down from his role as President and Chief Executive Officer in the coming months. After the transition is complete, Mr.

Conducted in March 2017, AgPro’s 18th annual Salary Survey had respondents who hold management positions from 38 states. The survey was developed to give retailers insights about the salary and ben-efits provided to a

Networking may be top-of-mind in the job search process, as a principal connector for candidates and employers. But networking is imperative for overall career and personal growth too. Furthermore, if a company wants to

Two file cabinets, one red, the other yellow, stand along an open wall in J.R. Simplot’s office in Fresno, Calif. They are a silent testament to Paul Simpson’s ever-vigilant attention to details, both large and smal

Teddy Roosevelt once said, “When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot, and hold on.” I know from talking with retailers during the past few weeks that some of you are practicing your knot-tying about now, as

In the Shop As a farm machinery mechanic and writer, Dan Anderson brings a hands-on approach that only a pro can muster. Along with his In the Shop blog, Dan writes a column by the same name as well as the Shop Series

Farmers in Montana and Canada are already watching disease pressure in winter wheat, as reports of wheat streak mosaic virus have already been confirmed. Symptoms in the fall are unusual, but weather conditions are a la

Severe grass and broadleaf weed pressure will reduce grain sorghum yields and can make harvest very difficult. Good crop rotation and herbicide selection are essential components of managing weeds in grain sorghum. Cont

None of these qualities involves rocket science, but they can all pay dividends many times over.

U.S. farmers planted the smallest number of acres to winter wheat since 2010, and plantings of one class, hard red winter wheat, were the lowest in at least 30 years, according to government data released on Tuesday.

Both U.S. corn and soybean growers are expected to harvest record-high crops this year, according to the Crop Production report issued today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics

Federal lawmakers are looking into how U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff may have influenced findings by the World Health Organization that glyphosate probably caused cancer, according to a letter sent to the E

The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA), a consumer-facing organization dedicated to leading the national conversation about how food is grown and raised, announced the launch of the U.S. Farming and Ranching Fou

Facing a freight recession caused by slumping commodity prices and industrial output, No. 1 U.S. railroad Union Pacific Corp said Thursday hopes of strong economic growth have so far been undermined by a key missing ing

When environmental conditions are hot and dry, spider mites multiply rapidly and can become a major pest of soybeans. Problems on soybean have been increasing over the past 10 years.

Two new AutoTrac products are available to help row crop producers and ag service providers more accurately navigate row-crop fields when making postemergence sprayer applications.

Billionaire Carl Icahn, a special adviser to Donald Trump and a skeptic of the U.S. ethanol mandate, said there are others on the president-elect's team who have even deeper criticisms of the program.

Trimble launched its Trimble PULSE suite, a comprehensive portfolio of end-to-end field service management solutions that enable businesses to deliver field service excellence across a range of industries, including con

The Iowa Soybean Association Research Program offers its top five articles from 2015.

There is no shortage of doom and gloom about grain price prospects at the present time. Prices have indeed fallen to quite low levels compared to the high prices that occurred over much of 2008-2013. For some, this is p

The Context Network, a global agribusiness consulting firm has announced founding Context Global Development (CGD), a new, non-profit organization to support program implementation needs of agricultural and social impac

The message to farmers, crop consultants, and other ag industry stakeholders during The Fertilizer Institute's (TFI) 4R Summit in Indianapolis last week is that successful nutrient management requires a systems approach

A group of Syngenta shareholders said it opposes any sale of the company to China's state-owned ChemChina and called for the ousting of the Swiss agrichemical group's leadership.

Gary McMurray, division head for food processing technology at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), is hot on the trail of groundbreaking sensor technology to detect crop health issues before widespread physical s