Implementing Fee-Based ICM Services

Since 1993, a group of agrichemical dealers and public sector agencies, including Iowa State University Extension (ISUE) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), have been exploring the potential for fee-based crop management services in northwest Iowa. The Agribusiness Association of Iowa helped to bring the public and private sector groups together. In 1995, funding from USDA, and later also U.S. EPA through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, established the Northwest Iowa Agribusiness ICM Project. The objective of the project is to demonstrate comprehensive, fee-based ICM services by dealers, ideally as separate profit centers. All dealers in a nine-county area of northwest Iowa are eligible to work with the project, which provides both agronomic and business planning assistance

Integrated Crop Management Services Selling Advice for Profit

Some progressive Iowa dealers are developing comprehensive, fee-based integrated crop management (ICM) services that increase profitability for their own businesses as well as for their customers\u27 operations. More commonly, dealers provide crop management services free in support of product sales, but these services are limited in scope and generally involve diagnosing and reacting to problems. In contrast, the principal focus of fee-based ICM services is on field-by-field planning from a systems perspective (Brown et al, 1995). ICM aims to manage (avoid or control) nutrient and pest problems, if possible, not just rescue the crop once a problem has occurred. ICM services also provide recommendations on manure management, timing, varieties, equipment and other aspects of the client\u27s operation where profit-limiting variables can be identified and refined

Planning a Profitable ICM Service

For agricultural dealers, there has never been a better time to introduce fee-based crop consulting services. Precision equipment and genetic technology have made new resources available for high yields, but they have also increased the complexity of information management and decision-making in all areas of crop production. The situation has created an opportunity for dealers as well as independent consultants to profitably market services. Public sector demonstration projects conducted under the leadership of Iowa State University Agronomy and Agronomy Extension - such as the Butler County ICM Project, an element of the Iowa Integrated Farm Management Demonstration - have documented that a comprehensive integrated crop management (ICM) service program returns $8 to over$30/A./yr from management improvements

Moyo Vol. X N 1

Million, Chris. Coming Around to Reality: Former Cult Member Turned Editor Uses You for His Own Therapeutic Purposes . 4. Louden, Annie. A Disciple of Mr. Dewey, and All His Dirty Little Decimals: Confession of a Book-Hoarding Monomaniac . 5. Soucy, Kate. 14 Days in Dumay: Reflections After a Trip to Haiti . 6. Frieberg, Alicia. Foreign Hostel Encounters:Ireland, Land of Ire . 8. Fisher, Dan. Open the Road Wider. Open The Road Wider. The Girft of the Reverend Jusan Fudo William Frank Parker . 10. Barrett, Laura. Requiem for An Okay Cat . Cinema Annex Formerly Home to One Heck of an Adequate Feline . 11. The Editors. Late-Night Delivery Frightens Editors into Submission . 12. 2nd Chief Angel of the Quill. A Statement from the Mystic and Calorific Band of the Wingless Angels . 13. Miller, Jeremy. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Keycard! Denison man Struggles to Reach Girlfriend at Medium Security Prison... er... University . 15. Mallinger, Adam. Cult-Invated Taste: Pop Cult Vs. Pop Culture . 16.; Million, Chris. A Day in the Lights. A Ballet Boy\u27s Continued Search for masculinity . 18. Newitt, Heidi. Show Us Your Tits! A Feminist Glimpse Into the Overt Misogyny in Popular Culture Today . 20. Woods, Lindsay. Stuck in the Doledrums. Attempted Seduction of U.S. Senator Strikes Out . 22. Hankinson, Tom. Wingless Angels Just a Bunch of Dorks: Denison\u27s Secret Society-Watch Out, They Might Hit You With a Pocket Protector . 20. Silverstein, Illana. First Contact: Improvisational Dance on Campus . 32. Dunson, Jim. Philosophy of Pecan Pie: The Culmination of a Grand Tradition of Cu-lino-Epistemological Thought . Kovach, Steve. Empirical Test Goes Horribly Awry: Frozen Yogurt Proves Less Philosophically Fruitful than Pie . 34

Planning a Profitable ICM Service

For agricultural dealers, there has never been a better time to introduce fee-based crop consulting services. Precision equipment and genetic technology have made new resources available for high yields, but they have also increased the complexity of information management and decision-making in all areas of crop production. The situation has created an opportunity for dealers as well as independent consultants to profitably market services. Public sector demonstration projects conducted under the leadership of Iowa State University Agronomy and Agronomy Extension - such as the Butler County ICM Project, an element of the Iowa Integrated Farm Management Demonstration - have documented that a comprehensive integrated crop management (ICM) service program returns $8 to over$30/A./yr from management improvements.</p

Integrated Crop Management Services Selling Advice for Profit

Some progressive Iowa dealers are developing comprehensive, fee-based integrated crop management (ICM) services that increase profitability for their own businesses as well as for their customers' operations. More commonly, dealers provide crop management services free in support of product sales, but these services are limited in scope and generally involve diagnosing and reacting to problems. In contrast, the principal focus of fee-based ICM services is on field-by-field planning from a systems perspective (Brown et al, 1995). ICM aims to manage (avoid or control) nutrient and pest problems, if possible, not just rescue the crop once a problem has occurred. ICM services also provide recommendations on manure management, timing, varieties, equipment and other aspects of the client's operation where profit-limiting variables can be identified and refined.</p

Implementing Fee-Based ICM Services

Since 1993, a group of agrichemical dealers and public sector agencies, including Iowa State University Extension (ISUE) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), have been exploring the potential for fee-based crop management services in northwest Iowa. The Agribusiness Association of Iowa helped to bring the public and private sector groups together. In 1995, funding from USDA, and later also U.S. EPA through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, established the Northwest Iowa Agribusiness ICM Project. The objective of the project is to demonstrate comprehensive, fee-based ICM services by dealers, ideally as separate profit centers. All dealers in a nine-county area of northwest Iowa are eligible to work with the project, which provides both agronomic and business planning assistance.</p