Capital Knowledge™ March 2003

Management Newsletter

from Prochaska & Company Inc.,

Manage your information as capital

Information management is fast emerging as the “active ingredient” in today’s production agriculture equation; where value resides in the creation of knowledge capital. Biotechnology and precision agriculture have emerged as essential production technologies in less than ten years and information technologies will be the key to extracting value from these new technologies.

What do we call this part of a business plan? One definition is ERP, enterprise resource planning, that “provides business support software that enables companies to combine computer systems of different areas of the business - production, sales, marketing, finance, human resources – that run off a single database.” Whatever it will be called, middle market agribusinesses are acquiring systems that fully integrate with suppliers and customers up and down the value chain. The day of agribusiness thinking in terms of “ag” systems may not be comprehensive enough. Think in terms of a business system that enables you to connect to any market opportunity – worldwide.

Data is the key to any system to transform information into capital, and increasingly that essential data is not only information built into new products from outside suppliers, but information you create from your own marketplace. To better understand and manage data by identifying major industry trends, our firm has been involved in three strategic studies based on year 2002 results:

1. Distribution in the U.S. Crop Protection Industry - 2002 Strategic Study

Presented by Doane Agricultural Services® and Prochaska & Company™, December 2002.

Profiles top distributors who sell 75% of crop protection chemicals in the U.S. The strategic

implications are profound and backed by a Doane survey of 340 key agricultural retailers

across the U.S. The study is available through Prochaska & Company or Doane.

2. Crop Protection Chemical Manuf. - Marketing in the U.S. for the year 2002

3. A Strategic Assessment of Plant Protection Manufacturers

in the U.S. Turf and Ornamental Industry for the year 2002.

All-new strategic marketing study researched and written by Prochaska & Company, profiling

the top 15 basic chemical manufacturers with emphasis on five major segments of the U.S.

T&O industry. This is the only study of its kind, available April 2003 from our company.

This study is the first product under our company’s new STRATOGY™ brand for specialty non-crop studies and associated products. I’ll share more on this initiative next month.

Please be sure to keep up with our five part series on knowledge capital in the current issues of Ag Retailer. The April article will feature the role of entrepreneurship in creating value from market-based information and knowledge, and why this management skill is unique to Americans.

Thanks for visiting with us,