Tractor Rims Add Character To High-Tech Headquarters

Tractor Rims Add Character To High-Tech Headquarters BUILDINGS Miscellaneous While taking a tour of Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers’ new facility in St Johns Mich I spotted these tractor rim “chandeliers” 30 ft overhead The company’s 53 000 sq ft headquarters is the talk of the area Residents have watched as tall cranes and dozens of workers erected a glass silo on the front of the steel and timber frame structure But along with the recycled content in the floors walls and carpeting there are obvious pieces right from the farm “A local barn about a quarter of a mile away owned by a good customer blew down last fall and the owner said ‘Help yourself’ ” says Nick Bancroft VP of Operations and Organizational Planning Sections of red barn siding are mounted on the walls while other barn wood was assembled into counters and bars with glass tops The tire rims fitted with lighting were Bancroft’s idea The original plan included a large diameter aluminum wheel to hold the lights But it was expensive and not realistic “I told the architect that I could get tractor rims and that people will recognize them and think they’re cool ” Bancroft says The rims came from a variety of tractor models: Deere Farmall Allis-Chalmers and Fords Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers a family-owned company that started as a research farm in 1983 has grown by at least 20 percent each year since 1999 “What we do is we take a conventional fertilizer program but pull the rates back so what you put down gets into the plant and has a result We stretch those fertilizer pounds farther ” Bancroft says Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Nick Bancroft Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers 3055 W M-21 St Johns Mich 48879 ph 800 678-9029; www agroliquid com

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