Case Studies Agriculture

Those long racks and shelves of annuals are an explosion of color that gardeners long to see through the winter months—an effusion of reds, yellows, pinks, blues and more awaiting a new home in a patch of soil. While the gardeners buying their annuals in big-box stores such as Lowe’s in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and […]

When grocery stores put out bins of corn, the floor tends to get littered with husks and corn silk. Plus, many people peel the husks to inspect the quality, sometimes throwing the cob back if it’s not to their liking. Seeing this mess, as well as the frustration of grocery store workers, Robert Reesor and […]

Tyler Rodrigue and David Downey know their grapes. As a third- generation farmers, they’ve picked the vines in the September sunshine in Northern California. After almost a decade away from the family business, Rodrigue returned in 2012 to help manage its organic vineyard. Downey has long worked in his own family’s vineyards, as well as […]

The proof is in the photo, Ron Seitz tells Terra Firma in January. Control, a much-loved thoroughbred in Frazeysburg, Ohio, was losing weight and going wobbly despite his owner, Pat Bringardner-Lang, sparing no expense and effort to keep him healthy after his racing days ended. So in early 2017 Bringardner-Lang paid a visit to Hanby […]

You might say they’re generalists who approach any project with a specialist’s touch. For that’s the best way—maybe the only way—for such a heavily capitalized company to operate on the vast heartland  plains as well as in the Rocky Mountain states. Work may not be plentiful at any given time, but when a project arises, […]

When was the last time anyone looked for name brand flowers at the grocery store? According to Mark Salgado, sales and distribution manager for Masson Farms of New Mexico, the answer is pretty much, never. In the retail flower sector, name brands carry less clout than beautiful, healthy flowers that won’t wilt on the kitchen […]

In Delaware, poultry integrators, who process and distribute chickens, make a big investment when they entrust local farmers to raise their birds. It’s not an easy task for the local farmers, either, requiring, among other things, that their facilities meet the latest regulations and trends—and that’s the territory of Marydel Ag Supply. The young company […]

The size of the Lone Star State not withstanding, word can travel fast. Especially in the agricultural industry, where farmers learn early which contractors and builders they can rely upon for the equipment and services so necessary to enable their high-stakes, potentially high-reward operations. It’s a fact of Texas life that Brett Marek grew accustomed […]

Brad Heimerl shakes his head at the idea that even some neighbors of his family’s farm in central Ohio might think that pork chops and bacon come from Kroger. But if that’s their perception, then the 32-year-old swine production manager at Heimerl Farms figures he must be doing something right. Mainly managing the very sensitive […]

The King brothers, John, Elmer and Merv, grew up on a farm in Ronks, Pennsylvania, where they learned to build with wood and nails rather than LEGOs. Since childhood, all three have been obsessed with craftsmanship, a passion that led them to become carpenters and form King Construction in 1978. Forty years later, King Construction […]