Rewind: 14 Photos From 2016 ASMARK Retailers Live! Tour (Gallery)
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Allen Summers
ASMARK Institute Executive Director Allen Summers (right) shows members of the group the difference between potash and urea at North Central Co-op in Rochester, IN, during the tour's first day.
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Co-Alliance
The crew at Co-Alliance, Wolcott, IN, was one of many impressive outfits that we visited on the tour. Above is an anhydrous ammonia filling station at Co-Alliance's Kempton, IN, facility. Process Safety Management (PSM) regulations and the effect on Anhydrous Ammonia retailing was a major theme of discussion throughout the week.
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CPS
Crop Production Services (CPS) - one of the nation's largest Ag Retailers - played a major role in the tour with five of its facilities being featured. CPS has long had a reputation for enthusiastically embracing safety and best practices in the industry.
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The Bus
The above tour bus was our home-away-from-home for the week. Shout out to Marvelous 'Marv (our trusty driver Marvin Crask)!
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CPS Riverport Terminal
The CPS Riverport terminal in Owensboro, KY, situated along the mighty Ohio River, was a top highlight of the tour for this author.
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The Equity
The Equity (Effingham Equity), Effingham, IL, was a repeat stop from the 2013 tour, and the fertilizer building that was brand new back in 2013 is still housing the cooperative's large stock of dry fertilizer for blending.
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Superior Ag Resources Co-op
ResponsibleAg's Bill Qualls (left) chats briefly with Superior Ag Resources Co-op (Chrisney, IN) manager David Scherer. The value of being able to visit ag retailers in their environment and pick their brains - for us 'outsiders' - cannot be understated.
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Grower-Customer filling up on liquid fertilizer
A grower-customer picks up a load of 32-0-0 at Ceres Solutions in Templeton, IN. Although it was the heart of the spring busy season, rainy weather throughout IN and IL made this scene a rare one on the tour.
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Helena Chemical Company
Not only did the group visit 47 ag retail operations throughout the five day, 1,400 mile journey, we also saw a brand new Helena Chemical Company distribution warehouse in Owensboro, KY.
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North Central Co-op
North Central Co-op (Mentone, IN) dedicated its new dry fertilizer storage to former President and CEO Darrell L. Smith.
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Seed in storage
Downstream seed treatment services are a great value-added service for many of the retailers the tour visited. Tom Stein, manager, Ceres Solutions (Templeton, IN) remarked that "seed gives us a new revenue stream and another touchpoint with growers. And it helps with fertilizer sales and other things of that nature, too."
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The Andersons Inc
Rain scared away many of the growers when we visited The Andersons, Inc., facility in Galveston, IN.
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Crop Protection Products
The tour also presents an opportunity to get up-close and personal with many of the crop protection products that we hear about everyday. Above is a pallet of Valent U.S.A.'s Valor XLT herbicide in storage.
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Precision Ag In Cerro Gordo
Precision agriculture was talked about in its various forms and iterations throughout the week. The folks at Van Horn, Inc., in Cerro Gordo, IL, are doing some neat things with drones and 360 Yield Center products like the Y-Drop and 360 Soil Scan.
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Allen Summers
Co-Alliance
CPS
The Bus
CPS Riverport Terminal
The Equity
Superior Ag Resources Co-op
Grower-Customer filling up on liquid fertilizer
Helena Chemical Company
North Central Co-op
Seed in storage
The Andersons Inc
Crop Protection Products
Precision Ag In Cerro Gordo
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Grassi is Field Editor for CropLife, CropLife IRON, and PrecisionAg magazines. He joined the staff in February 2012. See all author stories here.