Outlook 2010: After The Fall

Retailers are clearly getting serious about fertilizer risk management, adjusting the timing of purchasing and talking to growers in earnest about honoring their buying commitments with written contracts.

We also heard retailers ask out loud if there is a bright future in seed in the Midwest, where seed travels through multiple channels, and the level of commitment from seed companies is, at best, uneven. Why are we storing and delivering, training, and re-training personnel and making a whole-hearted commitment for pennies?

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Crop protection profitability suffered greatly with the devaluation of glyphosate worldwide, but some retailers are finding a wealth of opportunity in non-traditional products such as plant hormones.
Retailers in some areas are concerned about custom application as more growers purchase their own equipment. Are our infrastructure, our logistics, our sales approach, and our personnel set up to serve more sophisticated growers?

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Then of course there is the regulatory malaise from all fronts — the state and national organizations’ struggle to keep up with the issues resembles a game of Whack-A-Mole.

Still, as guest writer Jim Bud­zinski indicates in The Big Picture, the fundamentals of ag are sound, even if we hit another skid in the overall economy. Despite the challenges ahead, optimism — however cautious — seems an appropriate attitude to hold as we head into 2010.

 

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