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Archive for April, 2009


Notes From The Field   
April 28th, 2009
Notes From The Field
By Tom Hill thill1

VIDEO: Woman who hoped to meet Bill Murray gets hit by his golf ball
cinderella-story.jpgDoes Bill Murray play in every Pro-Am or what? This “lucky” fan in the gallery wanted to see him play that day. She got more than she bargained for – check out the video clip for the full story and to learn more about Bill’s interest in golf pick up his 1999 book, “Cinderella Story: My Life in Golf.â€? It’s a great read!


Posted at 8:35 am
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Business Updates   
April 21st, 2009
Business Updates
By Tom Hill thill1

New BASF team members to help customers grow better turf and plants

This week we officially welcome four employees to our BASF Turf and Ornamentals team: Product Manager, Missi Koenig; Sales Specialists, David Schell and Brian McCaffrey; and Senior Sales Specialist, David Maubach.

Koenig, Schell and McCaffrey come to BASF from the recent Whitmire Micro-Gen acquisition. Maubach is transitioning from another business within BASF to provide even more experience to our talented T&O team.

Here’s a rundown of how and where our new team members will help distributors, golf course superintendents, nursery and greenhouse growers, and lawn care operators select science-based, chemical solutions for growing healthy turf and plants.

To download the BASF T&O Territory Map for new and current employees click here, or place your cursor   over the map, right click and select “save target as� to download to your desktop.

Product Manager Missi Koenig

In her new role as product manager, Koenig will draw on her specialty market experience, to liaise with the Whitmire-line production group, communicate production demand and packaging, work on new development projects, and aid in product/positioning of the acquired Whitmire-line products within the BASF Turf & Ornamentals portfolio.

Sales Specialist Brian McCaffrey

McCaffrey, who served as Whitmire Micro-Gen’s horticulture national sales manager for mid-south and West Coast sales, will now cover South Florida in his new BASF T&O position as sales specialist.

Sales Specialist David Schell

Schell will join the BASF T&O technical team supporting the Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey area. Schell carries his experience as horticulture regional technical specialist at Whitmire Micro-Gen covering the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic U.S into his new role.

Senior Sales Specialist David Maubach
Maubach joins the T&O group from the BASF Pest Control business where he was a sales specialist in the Midwest for the past two years. He also spent more than 20 years with the crop protection business at BASF. His new territory for T&O includes Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado, and North and South Dakota.


Posted at 7:05 am
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Notes From The Field   
April 13th, 2009
Notes From The Field
By Jerry Husemann jhusemann1

West Virginia GCSA seminar features Joe Vargas, Jr., Ph.D., Michigan State University Turf Pathology
wv-golf.jpgBASF Sales Specialist McGee Poole and myself attended a turf seminar early last week in Wheeling, W.Va., offered by the WVGCSA. This was pretty much an all-day seminar presented by Dr. Vargas. This was the most in-depth seminar I have attended in quite some time. A tremendous amount of tangible, technical information was presented to the group on everything from sand top-dressing and the black layer to summer stress syndrome information.

Talked turf with The Ohio State University’s Turf Pathology and Weed Science staff and faculty
BASF Senior Technical Specialist Kyle Miller and myself met with The Ohio State’s Joseph W. Rimelspach, Extension Pathologist from the Plant Pathology Department, and Todd Hicks, Program Coordinator for the Turf Pathology Program. I very much appreciate Kyle Miller putting these appointments together and inviting me to take an active role in the discussions. These meetings help us to better understand all of the opportunities there are in working with these university contacts, both from the perspective from field sales and technical service. Next, we met with John Street, Ph.D., OSU Weed Science, and Deb Holdran, Research Technical Representative for Dr. Street and Dr. Dave Gardner.

(more…)


Posted at 7:42 am
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Notes From The Field   
April 7th, 2009
Notes From The Field
By John Bresnahan jbresnahan1

Good Day Folks!
redsox.jpgFirst, I would like everyone to go to the nearest door or window and step outside for a moment. That soft distant sound you hear in the background is the Red Sox Nation Bandwagon starting up for the 2009 campaign. There is plenty of room to hop on board now, but as we all know, the Red Sox Bandwagon fills up quick! The evil empire (New York Yankees) have spent more money this off-season than most developing counties and will be poised to challenge the Red Sox once again for supremacy of the American League East. The “flash-in-the-pan” Devil Dogs (rays) have not significantly upgraded this off-season to keep up with the big dogs this year. (Yes Mr. Jackson, I am opening my big mouth already!). Opening Day at Fenway Park is today, for this time of year, the weather is acceptable, low 40s with 20 mph winds off the ocean—not too many homahs over the green monstah yet!

University of Massachusetts Field Day tests Trinity & Insignia fungicide
Attended the University of Massachusetts Snow Mold Field Day last week. BASF’s combinations looked very good. Insignia® fungicide and Trinity® fungicide held up very well under 50 percent (vt) and 15 percent (ma) pressure. The field day marked the last of the open house/trade show/ seminar season. At each event, there is considerable interest in BASF chemistries. Golf course superintendents are asking good questions as to how BASF Turf & Ornamentals products can fit into a yearly plan or spray program. This has been a very successful trade show season.

Golf courses are opened – season off to a good start; superintendents optimistic
calc.jpgAs always, the economy is on the minds of most folks. Several golf clubs in the Northeast have closed and several more are for sale. Membership is down throughout the region. The average budget cut for golf maintenance seems to be in the 5 percent to 10 percent range. With that being said, I am very optimistic that BASF and golf will have a good year this year. We are off to a great start, and while folks are buttoning down, there seems to be an undercurrent of, “We’ll pull out of this soon.â€? Most golf courses have opened over the last 7-10 days; this is 3-4 weeks earlier than normal, which means that the daily fees are collecting money already. All good news!

This week will also include travel arrangements and final planning for Talladega Superspeedway at the end of this month. Red Sox Nation!


Posted at 8:53 am
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Notes From The Field   
April 2nd, 2009
Notes From The Field
By Campbell Cox ccox1

Greeting from the Southeast
Hello again from Georgia. The topic of the day is “Rain, rain, and more rain�. The Southeast and Georgia in particular have been rain fast, rain steady, and much needed. Because most golf course superintendents are qualified meteorologists, it goes without saying most of you are well aware of the drought the entire Southeast has been in over the last few years (no offense to those of you in other drought-stricken areas). Needless to say, any rain heading our way is needed and welcome. Bring it on.

I wanted to bring those of you who haven’t attended the FarmLinks Experience a little closer to the action with the following video taken from a recent trip to FarmLinks with a few of my customers from Georgia.

The following clip is a little introduction on what you might expect from a trip to FarmLinks.

(more…)


Posted at 12:36 pm
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