CHS Agronomy

BACKGROUND/CHALLENGE

CHS Agronomy is a wholesale distributor of farm inputs, including proprietary crop protection products, seed treatments, adjuvants, crop nutrients and more. CHS Agronomy also distributes products for more than 26 chemical manufacturers, including BASF, FMC and Nufarm, to ag retailers, which then in turn sell to growers.

CHS Agronomy, formerly named West Central Distribution, came to us to help build their image within the ag retail sector. Retailers have a choice of which distributors to buy from. And, they wanted to differentiate themselves to retailers by focusing on their relationships and building business based on trust.

We were presented with the challenge of improving their relationships and communications with local ag retailers, while supporting the sales of their primary brands

IDEAS/STRATEGY/APPROACH

CHS Agronomy has several unique products to offer the retail market, including starter fertilizers, custom seed treatments, and adjuvants that are used to enhance the actions of herbicides and fungicides. One of the primary features we focused on is the in-furrow application of starter fertilizers during planting. In-furrow application makes the unique features of the main brands readily accessible to early plant growth.

To help educate retailers about importance of in-furrow production, Karwoski & Courage helped form the Leaders of In-Furrow and Foliar Technology program (LIFT2) with founding partners including BASF, FMC, Corteva Agriscience and Nufarm.

EXECUTION/RESULTS

We introduced and established the LIFT program, an educational online information hub. To launch the program, Karwoski & Courage helped design and populate InTheFurrow.com as well as a companion e-newsletter. The platform includes:

  • Monthly blog posts featuring CHS Agronomy and the LIFT Partners
  • Interviews with CHS Agronomy and industry experts
  • Video content
  • New research from CHS Agronomy and partners

We have been using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure success benchmarks. Our results after the first year of the program in 2016:

  1. More than 11 million overall impressions from earned media
  2. Overall sessions to the blog from search reached 42,397 for the whole year
  3. LIFT enewsletter reached 7,150 subscribers

To continue advancing the leadership of the LIFT program, we launched the LIFT Ag Academy. Its mission is to provide continuing education units (CEU) to ag retailers, agronomists and Certified Crop Advisors. Karwoski and Courage:

  • Designed and manages content and CEU quizzes on the current Academy website: liftagacademy.com
  • Uploaded and promoted more than 15 courses to date
  • Accepted more than 1,010 members into the Academy
  • Administered and monitored more than 4,600 quizzes taken to date
  • Gather and submit CEU credit reports from quizzes passed on a monthly basis

And, finally, we promote the LIFT program to ag media on an ongoing basis and highlight relevant research during the annual LIFT Media Summit. Last year’s Summit earned more than 2.5 million media impressions with 34 placements.