75 years of cooperative innovation. (View From The Top).Editor's Note Editor's Note (foaled in 1993 in Kentucky) is an American thoroughbred Stallion racehorse. He was sired by 1992 U.S. Champion 2 YO Colt Forty Niner, who in turn was a son of Champion sire Mr. Prospector and out of the mare, Beware Of The Cat. Trained by D. : Bill Davisson has served GROWMARK, Inc. as chief executive officer since 1998. He began his career at GROWMARK in 1970 with positions including controller, VP of finance and VP of member services. GROWMARK is a federated Connected and treated as one. See federated database and federated directories. regional cooperative founded in 1927 that provides agriculture-related products and services to member cooperatives in the Midwest and Ontario, Canada. AM: Now is GROWMARK observing its 75th anniversary? BD: We are celebrating `75 years of Cooperative Innovation' throughout 2002 with a wide range of activities that include media events, historic displays, a commemorative com·mem·o·ra·tive adj. Honoring or preserving the memory of another. n. Something that honors or preserves the memory of another. com·mem Web site (www.fssystem.com), employee celebrations, original artwork creation, printed pieces, advertising, and, of course, the content of our Annual Meeting in August. This has been an educational and exciting process of reviewing our proud history. Our unchanged commitments to cooperative principles For the principles governing the functioning of cooperatives, see . In social science generally and linguistics specifically, the cooperative principle describes how people interact with one another. and to the best interests of our members serve as a firm foundation for our vision `to be the best agricultural cooperative An Agricultural cooperative is a cooperative where farmers pool their resources in certain areas. There are two primary types of agricultural cooperatives:
AM: What is GROWMARK doing to ensure many more years of prosperity? BD: Our efforts begin with devoting significant resources to employee training and development. Ours is a people business--providing business solutions that address farmers' needs through highly trained and dedicated people. Certification programs that we have developed for professional salespeople sales·peo·ple pl.n. Persons who are employed to sell merchandise in a store or in a designated territory. in our product areas (agronomy agronomy (əgrŏn`əmē), branch of agriculture dealing with various physical and biological factors—including soil management, tillage, crop rotation, breeding, weed control, and climate—related to crop production. , energy, and buildings/grain systems) support this commitment. Information technology is also a key tool in furthering our mission to improve the long-term profitability of our member-owners. This supports our precision farming efforts through GPS systems and cropping recommendations to maximize the efficiency and profitability of crop production. Risk management tools and production-financing programs are also part of the package to enable member cooperatives to serve the needs of customers. As one of the means to enhance shareholder value, we have made a commitment to grow our businesses in a variety of ways, including: * grow our core businesses in our core geography; * expand geographically; * focus on value-added products and services, including specialty grains; * be opportunistic opportunistic /op·por·tu·nis·tic/ (op?er-tldbomacn-is´tik) 1. denoting a microorganism which does not ordinarily cause disease but becomes pathogenic under certain circumstances. 2. in looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. acquisitions and alliances that enhance current businesses or bring new business ventures; and * promote new market opportunities like retail fueling, commercial fuel sales, farm stores, turf programs and renewable fuels Renewable fuels are alternative fuel sources such as ethanol, biodiesel (e.g. soy, vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled restaurant greases) or hydrogen, in contrast to non-renewable fuels such as natural gas, LPG (propane). . AM: What role will co-ops play as agriculture's structure changes? BD: Cooperatives have been impacted greatly by consolidation, but their value as member-owned corporations continues to be as vital as in 1927. Just as with farmers, the number of cooperatives is much smaller than a decade ago, and those remaining are larger. Our focus is always on member needs. So as their needs change, so do our co-ops. That's the beauty of cooperation--it never goes out of style! Cooperatives' role in the future of agriculture will be profound because local ownership and control is a business structure that works. AM: Now is GROWMARK using the Internet to enhance sales and marketing? BD: The first way GROWMARK is using the Web is a business-to-business application called e-supply. This is an automated, Internet-based ordering and information system between GROWMARK and our member cooperatives. It equips local cooperatives to place orders electronically and obtain information about those orders around the clock, every day. Currently, about 40 percent of our annual dollar volume is ordered via e-supply. GROWMARK also provides Web-hosting services for FS farm supply cooperatives. Each local co-op manages the content of its own site, which is linked to all other FS co-op sites and to GROWMARK via a Web site, www.fssystem.com. The local Web sites contain links to the `back-office' software common to most Midwest FS co-ops. This is a unique and proprietary feature of our value-added initiative. We continue to make improvements in this application, one of which now equips producers to read the levels of liquid fuel and propane propane, CH3CH2CH3, colorless, gaseous alkane. It is readily liquefied by compression and cooling. It melts at −189.9°C; and boils at −42.2°C;. tanks from remote locations. We also published an e-catalog to support our local co-ops' retail store business in Ontario, Canada. This is an electronic listing of all items and prices that are available from GROWMARK and our vendors. |
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