Case Studies

Today’s eggs come from chickens that consume premixes packed with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, microbials, nucleotides, nutraceuticals and other ingredients that are essential for healthy egg production. In other words, most eggs have origins that can be traced back to businesses like Pinnacle Premix—a company that provides nutrient systems for numerous types and species of […]

Agriculture is often about delayed gratification—hard work, attention to precise measurements and yields that can’t always be predicted or controlled, all contributing to long-awaited harvests.  But plenty of contractors serving commercial growers take a shortsighted approach to the placement and installation of their farming infrastructure. Equipment like feed mills, grain elevators and grain bins are […]

The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board says that at last look, the dairy industry was bringing in over $43 billion to the state’s economy, with much of the credit due to the almost 1.3 million cows on 9,520 licensed dairy farms. On average, each of those prolific bovines produces 2,739 gallons of milk a year—and, of […]

There’s an old song about home on the range, and while it mentions deer and antelope playing, it doesn’t mention the most important animal in ranching country—the cow. In Nevada, ranching and livestock production constitute a $755 million industry, nearly half of the money generated by the state’s total agriculture activities. One man who can […]

Drive through the Midwest’s vast farmland and you’ll see massive metal structures rising from the horizon, their industrial appearance contrasting against the natural landscape. These are large, commercial grain systems, and at the heart of each are grain bins—vented, silver, corrugated steel structures that store dry grains, typically corn and soybeans. According to the National […]

Many years ago, when Lipton was repackaging its instant soup mixes, it had lots of old inventory and that presented something of a dilemma to the venerable company. Nothing wrong with the older mixes—their shelf lives weren’t about to expire—but Lipton didn’t want its products bearing different labels and competing with each other at grocery […]

The Braswell family has supplied Americans with eggs and animal feed products since 1943. Back then, everything took place in the family’s water-powered mill in Nashville, North Carolina. Over the past 70 years that operation grew into several more locations and companies. All of them fell under the umbrella of Braswell Foods, a vertically integrated […]

In a landscape dominated by fields of corn, soy, milo and hay, the rolling plains of Kansas are a classic example of America’s Breadbasket at work. Yet Monty Teeter, CEO and founder of Teeter Irrigation Inc., says the real source of the state’s economy is hundreds of feet below the ground in the form of […]

It would be easy for younger generations to turn up their noses up at the dairy industry. Working in it demands long hours, knowledge of milking systems and science, compassion for people and animals. There’s a certain odor that takes getting used to. That’s according to people who know the industry well, people like Ryan […]

You probably didn’t give too much thought to those hanging flowers you bought at Lowe’s or another big-box store for $10 or $12. But someone did, and it’s very likely that someone was involved at a massive greenhouse and distribution operation in the north-central Kentucky city of Paris, or its second facility in Granville, Illinois. […]