So it can be fun to look back in history to see what happened on a particular date. Like June 8. Well around that date in 1992, the June issue of Agro-Cultural News came out. It was much smaller then, basically a sheet folded in half for 4 pages. On the front page it talked about how Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers was a growing company and had been recognized as a Michigan Private 100 company, which means out of all the private companies in the state, ACLF was in the Top 100 for growth. A trend that would continue for sure.
And inside there is a section of At Your Service featuring employee news. Hey, that guy looks familiar. Well kind of. Maybe. But if you read it, it's about the new guy they hired for research and market support. Has it been 25 Years already???
Anyway, twenty five years of hard, but rewarding, work does have an effect on a person. And it's all positive! (Except maybe the hair part). We were a lot smaller then, as I think that is nearly all of the employees in that picture on the cover. After all this time, and all the employees now, there are only three that have been here longer. And I'm gaining on them. But I remember my first day. There was no NCRS then, but Troy showed me around the place that would become the NCRS. And I remember we built the first grow-out boxes as they were called. A wood frame with plexi-glass sides that enabled viewing seeds growing under the effects of different fertilizers. The light bulb started to light up with that. I was an agronomist, but had specialized in weed control and not so much with soil fertility. I remember company founder Mr. Cook (may he Rest In Peace) saying "Well that's good. Because now you won't have to un-learn everything that is wrong about soil fertility and feeding plants." Sounds funny now, as I began to understand that it's not how much fertilizer you apply, but of what you apply, how much gets into a plant and has a positive response. That was said many times by Mr. Cook as his basic explanation of how Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers are different. It was a good job, but we were so small that I remember driving to work thinking: "This is alright, but I'll just do this till something better comes along." And nothing ever did! I shared that story later with Mr. Cook and he had a big laugh. I also remember thinking that this shouldn't be so hard. Give me a few years and we would have everything pretty much knocked out for proving ACLF performance against "conventional" fertilizer, and the rest would be easy. Well, still working on that. But with an increased product line, a top-notch research farm and staff and all kinds of employees At Your Service...the next 25 years should be sweet!
