As farm operations become larger, more producers are investing in their own application equipment. Economies of scale are in their favor. With competition from this on-farm application, ag retailers are increasingly challenged to grow the custom application segment of their businesses. Retailers do have some opportunities to build their custom application business, however, using innovative strategies and new equipment and products.

Douglass Fertilizer & Chemical, Maitland, FL, is one retail site that encourages its spreader drivers to recognize issues (for example, weed patches or fertility problems) in a grower's fields and then get the company's crop advisors involved to help the customer nip crop production problems in the bud.

Douglass Fertilizer has focused on making the applicators part of the sales team and providing incentives, says Jon Meeks, vice president of finance and administration and manager of the company's custom application business. The company's application personnel, managers and supervisors are all certified and have commercial pesticide licenses as appropriate.

The company has three business units serving customers throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina as well as the rest of the U.S. These business units include an agricultural retail division; Liquid Ag Systems (for the professional turf market, including golf courses); and Applied Solutions & Technologies, which distributes specialized products such as dust abatement and road stabilization products, coloring agents and fire retardants. The agricultural retail division provides products and services to growers whose main crops include citrus, vegetables, sod and sugarcane.

The Florida retailer also has increased its custom application sales by offering pHast-Cal, a soil amendment it developed to reduce the time it takes to adjust a soil's pH level. The soil amendment produces desired effects within weeks versus months, Meeks says. The product has been popular with growers, and it keeps the retailer's applicators busy for a longer time during the year, thus maximizing use of labor and equipment.

Equipment, of course, is essential to any custom application business, and retailers are looking for durable, productive machines. Meeks notes that Douglass Fertilizer & Chemical uses AGCO's TerraGators and RoGators “because they hold up much better than other equipment on rough ground.”

The company's TerraGators run with 60- to 80-ft. booms and have 1,800-gal. tanks. The RoGators feature 60-ft. booms and have 800- to 1,000-gal. tanks.

This is important because Douglass Fertilizer & Chemical expects to custom apply about 175,000 acres this year. Custom application acres will be up from 2004, partially because the series of hurricanes that hit the Southeast last year cut the custom application season short. The company provided custom application services on about 150,000 acres in 2004, Meeks says.

In addition to the AGCO equipment, the Florida retailer has purchased tractors and customized them for its citrus and potato markets.

Troy Ruda of Husker Ag Sales, a John Deere dealership with stores in Lexington and Gothenburg, NE, claims that the piece of equipment drawing the most attention in his area is the John Deere 4920 self-propelled sprayer. The dealership serves customers in a 12-county area. Its product line includes tractors, combines, tillage equipment, sprayers, hay and forage equipment, planting and seeding equipment and material-handling equipment. The main crops grown in the area are corn, soybeans, wheat, milo and alfalfa.

Although some ag retailers may be pessimistic about growth in the custom application business, Ruda sees opportunities. He attributes this in part to drought conditions that have persisted in the western Corn Belt. “Growers are trying to conserve moisture in the ground, and one way to do this is through minimum- or no-till operations,” he says. “Without tillage, spraying has played a major role in weed and insect control in this area.”

Growers who have increased their acreages are buying more of their own spraying equipment, increasing the demand for pull-type and self-propelled sprayers. However, there is a point where large-acreage growers still need help from custom applicators to get all the work done in narrow time frames, particularly if weather is uncooperative. Husker Ag Sales has seen growth in both the custom application and farmer-applied markets.

Custom applicators generally trade their application equipment after 3,000 hours or so, Ruda says. This means that the custom applicator's average machine is active for two to three years. The farmer, on the other hand, is more likely to keep a machine for six or more years. “The farmer may put on only 200 to 300 hours per year. That is what generally happens in this area,” Ruda says.

Custom applicators tend to buy applicators with more options because they “live in” the equipment over the season, Ruda says. “Comfort and ease is a necessity, but also leads to better productivity,” he says. “The operator is not as worn out at the end of the day and generally has enough energy to squeeze in one more field for the day.”

Several custom applicators are interested in the 4920 self-propelled sprayer because of its 1,200-gal. tank, Ruda says. John Deere had not entered the market with self-propelled models until the 2004 season (with limited production), but for the 2005 season, the company is in full production.

“The 4920 can replace a floater because it can be ordered with a high-flow solution system,” Ruda says, explaining that the system can apply rates of 50 gal./acre at 15 mph, which makes the machine productive and efficient. “Add the industry's only factory-installed 120-ft. boom, and you've got an acre-eating machine. This leads to profit,” Ruda says.

Dan Beckler, agronomy manager at Northern Plains Cooperative in Gettysburg, SD, notes that the equipment of biggest help to his co-op are two Case IH SPX3200 sprayers and a Case IH 4375 dry fertilizer applicator.

The sprayers, equipped with AIM Command Spray Systems, enable the co-op's operators to drive faster without sacrificing application quality. At the same time, the system helps control drift, which is particularly valuable for tougher fields with sensitive crops on the borders, Beckler says. According to Case IH, the system is built with pulse width modulation flow control to control drift and consistently apply the optimum droplet size across the entire field.

“Our co-op has a good reputation [with the public] because we keep chemicals in the field,” Beckler says, emphasizing the system's drift-control capabilities.

Sprayer operators do not have to dial in tips, just the gallons per acre at the desired pressure, Beckler says. The AIM Command System enables the co-op's drivers to travel from 19 to 21 mph versus an average 18 mph, which can make a difference when they apply as much as 110,000 acres a year, as the co-op did in 2004. The system enables operators to accurately apply 10 gal./acre at 40 psi, traveling at 21 mph.

This full-service cooperative serves growers in a 40-mile radius around Gettysburg in the state's center. Crops grown in the area include spring wheat, winter wheat, corn, sunflowers and soybeans.

Operator comfort also contributes to greater productivity. The co-op's sprayers have more than 10 in. of suspension travel, a large wheelbase and a high-visibility cab to provide a comfortable ride and less stress for the driver. The cab's controls and gauges also are ergonomically designed.

The dry fertilizer applicator has a mid-mounted boom, which gives the operator better visibility and is not as easily jostled as the back-mounted version, Beckler says.

“Our application equipment is well built, and we have very few breakdowns,” he says. This saves time and money. Beckler adds that, when service is needed, it is very good, and the local equipment dealership's service department is open virtually 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Service is the DeLong Company's focus. This full-service dealership based in Evansville, WI, has added a custom-made zone-till unit for growers with strip-till operations. This fertilizer applicator works very well in the area's rough conditions and features an accurate assisted steering system, says Rick Urban, manager of DeLong's Evansville facility. Growers appreciate what this particular machine can do, he adds.

In addition to the zone-till unit, the south-central Wisconsin dealership has two Air Flow dry fertilizer spreaders, one of which can also apply liquids. DeLong operators can blend dry fertilizer ingredients, such as urea and potash, and apply herbicide or insecticide at the same time, saving a trip over the field. This particular machine is in demand on the area's corn and soybean acres as well as on alfalfa acres where an insecticide can be applied to control leafhopper, for example, at the same time dry fertilizer is applied, Urban says. The Evansville facility serves growers within a 25-mile radius.

For postemergence application (and some preemergence), DeLong Company uses a Case IH SPX4410 and two Case IH 4260 row-crop units. The SPX4410 is essentially the newer version of the 4260, Urban says. Like Northern Co-op's Beckler, Urban says the AIM Command System helps control drift. “It allows us to do uniform application at different speeds,” he explains. “We don't have to use pressure to adjust rates, and we can spray when weather conditions are less than favorable.” Urban adds that, with this system, there is less overlapping and less burning of sensitive crops.

The Wisconsin dealership's number of custom application acres has remained relatively steady (at 75,000 acres) despite the fact that more land has been taken up by developers. The Evansville facility is not far from Madison, which has experienced urban sprawl over the last several years. Urban notes that DeLong has gained business from farmers who have increased their acreages and need help to get all of their work done in a timely fashion. This is particularly the case in the fall months. In late spring, when they have more time, however, more farmers do their own spraying, Urban says.

This is one of the reasons the dealership is focused on service, he says, adding that the facility employs six applicator operators to get jobs done quickly and professionally. This is not an easy feat given the area's small and often irregularly shaped fields. There also is a lot of contour strip farming here.

The DeLong Company's aim is to get an operator to a grower's fields immediately when the grower wants him. By providing such attentive service, the company avoids competing on price alone and earns enough margin to make its custom application business viable.

As more farmers expand their operations and do more of their own application work, ag retailers will need to compete effectively to retain and grow this part of their business. Retailers already have some helpful tools available to them. And with commitment to service and innovation, there still are opportunities for profit … whether they are on all or part of those acres.

Lynn Grooms is an agricultural writer living in Mt. Horeb, WI.

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