A Sneak Preview
October 19, 2011 Every year, I am keenly aware of when the calendar turns to fall. And no, the tip-off to this transition has nothing to do with the shorter days, cooling weather or ever-growing pile of multi-colored leaves that accumulates in my backyard.
No, for me personally, the shift from summer to fall is much more subtle. But it happens every year about this point on the calendar, without fail.
I start getting calls and emails from interested readers wanting to know when our magazine’s latest edition of the CropLife 100 will be ready for review!
For the few that might be unaware, the CropLife 100 is our annual ranking of the top ag retailers in the country compiled from a detailed survey we send out in late summer. Our magazine has been publishing this annual list and related stories for close to 30 years now, and not a year goes by without some kind of surprise. This could be as simple as what retailer covers the largest geographic service radius from a single location (200 square miles) to what color retail equipment is becoming the most common at retail facilities across the country (still a shade of yellow, but green is coming on strong).
Now normally, CropLife® makes the annual CropLife 100 report available to its readers in the December edition — and this year is no exception. However, because of the unusual volume (and generally panicky tone) of the requests I’ve received for some kind of information from this year’s CropLife 100 survey, I’ve decided to offer everyone a bit of a sneak peek at what will shortly become common knowledge.
• This was a good year to be in ag retail. Following a trend that began after the crash of mid-2008, U.S. ag retailers continue to make money. Boy, do they ever! At presstime, there were approximately 70 CropLife 100 forms in and the sales revenue they reflect is impressive indeed. So unless the missing organizations report some major sales shortfalls (in the range of 500%, say), 2011 will go easily see the nation’s top retailers topping in excess of $20 billion as a group for a second year in a row.
• Every segment is up. Mirroring this growth, all four segments tracked in the CropLife 100 — fertilizer, crop protection, seed and custom application — will show sales gains. Not surprisingly, crop protection will continue to lose market share because it isn’t growing as quickly as the others. But surprisingly, unless things change, the seed segment might show a small share decline as well in 2011.
• Consolidation slows to a crawl. In a normal year, four to seven ag retailers tend to disappear from the CropLife 100, bought out by larger entities. In 2011, however, only three companies will go missing this way — Miles Farm Supply (which actually sold as last year’s issue was coming out), Grainland Cooperative and Cooperative Plus.
So there’s the short of it, for those of you who just couldn’t wait. For the rest of the story, look for the CropLife December 2011 issue, coming soon!
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