A changing of the guard at GROWMARK, Inc. is happening this month and both incoming and retiring CEOs took the stage at the cooperative’s annual meeting in Chicago last week. GROWMARKJeff Solberg is retiring from GROWMARK after 38 years in a variety of leadership positions, including Senior Vice President, Finance, Vice President, Finance, and Treasurer. He was named CEO in … Read More
GROWMARK FS Promotes N Management
The FS STAR Energy/GROWMARK tent was the place to be at Farm Progress Show to learn more about nitrogen management. I discussed that topic with GROWMARK western region agronomy marketing manager Nate Pierce, senior field sales agronomist John Grandin, and Chuck Webb with AGRILAND FS in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Pierce says FS started introducing nitrogen management as a system several years … Read More
“Gift of Grain” Now an Option for Farmers
While cash might not always be plentiful in some parts of farming country, grain certainly can be. That’s why the American Red Cross has partnered with grain growers in Iowa who might not be able to give money but can certainly donate a portion of their harvest and cooperatives, such as GROWMARK, through the Gift of Grain program. The American … Read More
STAR Energy Powering up for Farm Progress Show
It takes a lot of energy to power the annual Farm Progress Show and that’s where GROWMARK FS STAR Energy shines. Retail fuel manager Jason Stauffer, who we talked with at the 2010 Farm Progress Show in Iowa, says it takes them awhile to prepare for the event. “It starts about the second or third week in July,” he said. … Read More
New GROWMARK Agronomy Team Members
GROWMARK is pleased to welcome three new members to its Agronomy Services team. These Agronomy Information Services Sales Managers will work with FS companies’ management teams, Ag information specialists, crop specialists and GROWMARK field staff to capitalize on marketplace opportunities with FS Advanced Information Services. Brandon Everett will serve Wisconsin, northeastern Iowa, and northern Illinois. Brandon grew up on a … Read More
Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy
This is the first of a four part series on Nutrient Management sponsored by FS/GROWMARK In March of 2013, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency hosted a meeting of stakeholders to announce the beginning of a statewide Nutrient Reduction Strategy. Marcia Willhite, chief of the Illinois EPA Bureau of Water, says the first step in implementing this strategy was to get … Read More
GROWMARK Names New Vice President for Agronomy
GROWMARK has announced the appointment of Mark Orr as Vice President of Agronomy, succeeding Jim Spradlin who was recently named GROWMARK CEO-elect. “Mark brings proven leadership experience and an excellent understanding of retail agronomy marketing and operations to this role,” Spradlin said. Orr began his career in the GROWMARK System career in 1990 at Schuyler-Brown FS. He served as controller … Read More
GROWMARK Picks AgIntegrated for Info Platform
GROWMARK has teamed up with AgIntegrated (AGI) for the development of FS Advanced Information Services (FS AIS), a suite of tools to “connect data, analysis, insight, and application into one complete user experience for advanced field optimization.” AgIntegrated is an independent provider of ag information management consulting and technologies based in Pennsylvania and President Duane Reese says they are excited … Read More
New Point of View from FS Sales Lens
A great benefit of new communications technology is how it provides farmers the opportunity to access information nearly anyplace or time right in the palm of their hand. GROWMARK is utilizing the immediacy of tablets and smartphones for crop specialists to provide farmers with visual information on the spot with FS Sales Lens. “It’s really designed for them to understand … Read More
Grow it, Kill it, Melt it with Conserv FS
The GROWMARK FS System is well known in the Midwest agricultural world for grain, energy and agronomy services, but maybe not so well known is its turf products and services. “If you want to grow it, kill it, or melt it, the turf division would be who you would talk to,” says Jim Coens, Turf Department Manager for Conserv FS … Read More