 Tom Crowley
CEO
Landec Ag
USA
Major Achievements
Over the past three years, Landec Ag has commercially launched
two new functional polymer seed coating technologies for the
seed industry. Both of these applications are new technologies
for the industry, offering seed companies and producers new ways
to manage production risk and increase profitability. In
addition, Landec Ag's
Fielder's Choice
Direct®
brand continues to lead the seed corn industry in the direct
marketing category with its highly efficient, unique,
direct-to-the-farm business model.
Pollinator Plus®
The first Intellicoat®
application, Pollinator Plus, is now in use on about 70,000
hybrid seed corn production acres by thirty major seed
companies. In this application, the coating delays germination
of the male inbred seed in order to widen the pollination window
to minimize risks, and reduce production costs in the production
of seed corn. Seed companies have rapidly increased their use of
this technology in the
U.S. during the last two years.
Early
Plant®
Corn
The second Intellicoat application, Early
Plant corn, enables farmers to plant corn up to four
weeks earlier than normal - by protecting the seed against the
risk of chilling injury. The Early Plant corn seed coating
provides a protective barrier around the seed that is
impermeable to water in cold soils. The seed coating changes
permeability based on soil temperature and becomes permeable
when the soil temperature reaches optimum temperature for
germination. Intellicoat Early Plant allows farmers to reduce
planting delays, spread out spring workloads and maximize the
full yield potential of their seed corn investment. Early Plant
provides farmers increased convenience, insurance, and
profitability. This new, patented seed technology is now
available through seven popular seed corn brands.
Fielder's Choice Direct Branded Seed
Landec Ag's
Fielder's Choice Direct
brand continues to lead the seed corn industry in the
direct-to-the-farm category. Over the last few years Fielder's
Choice has transformed itself from a "discount" seed option for
farmers to a full-service company, offering a complete line-up
of top genetics, traits and seed-applied technology offerings.
During the last three years Fielder's Choice has introduced over
75 new hybrids. In addition, Fielders Choice was the first seed
brand to offer Intellicoat Early Plant in 2003, and is now
offering 30 hybrids with Intellicoat. Fielder's Choice
anticipates selling at least 5% of 2004
unit sales with Intellicoat Early Plant.
Fielder's Choice continues to offer seed through its unique
direct business model with 30 professional seed consultants who
are accessible to customers 15 hours a day, six days a week.
During the last two years, significant efforts have been made to
train and certify all consultants as Certified Crop Advisers. In
addition, significant improvements have been made to the eDC™
system, allowing for aggregation of more localized hybrid
performance data to be accessible to seed consultants for making
better customer recommendations. Focus on all of these areas has
made significant impact on product performance and the ability
to serve customers. This progress was validated in the most
recent Doane's Brand Image study, with notable ratings
improvements for Fielder's Choice Direct in product quality and
service.
Challenges For the Future
A challenge for the future of Landec Ag will be to make the
Intellicoat seed coating application process transferable to
seed company production facilities. Currently all of the
Intellicoat coating is applied in Landec Ag facilities. As the
Intellicoat demand grows, it will be more efficient for seed
companies to do the coating in their plants as part of the seed
production process. During the next 18-24 months Landec Ag will
be working on a technology transfer program, which will make the
process available for seed partners to integrate Intellicoat
into an existing plant facility. The Intellicoat application
process can be combined with
seed-applied insecticides, so some efficiency can be gained by
combining the two processes.
As we move to an era of many more products and product
variations, the challenge for seed companies will be to manage
the complexities that come along with rapidly increasing product
offerings. With the added complexity, will come additional
opportunities for companies who choose to manage it. Companies
will need to become more operationally efficient in managing
their product offerings and serving farmers. Companies will need
to a better job of matching the best genetics with the
appropriate trait and seed-applied technologies for their target
markets. In some cases, this may mean that companies like
Fielder’s Choice Direct will need to consolidate product and
trait offerings.
In addition, Fielder’s Choice Direct must continue to add value
by helping farmers make good decisions about which technologies
are profitable for their operations. Companies who focus on
operational efficiency, targeted marketing, and customer service
will be the winners in this new environment.
Landec Corporation designs, develops, manufactures and sells
temperature-activated and other specialty polymer products for a
variety of food, agricultural and licensed partner applications.
The Company's temperature-activated polymer products are based
on its proprietary Intelimer polymers which differ from other
polymers in that they can be customized to abruptly change their
physical characteristics when heated or cooled through a pre-set
temperature switch.
Landec Ag, headquartered in
Monticello,
Indiana, combines its proprietary Intellicoat seed coating
technology products with its unique electronic, direct marketing
and consultative selling approach - eDC(TM), which is supported
by its sophisticated telephonic and electronic call center.
For more information about Landec and
Landec Ag, please visit
www.landec.com |
