In Brazil, it has continued to be a growing season with much higher than average rainfall. Rainfall across the rice under pivots has ranged between 586mm to 801mm since the crop was planted. The most irrigation any pivot has applied is 100mm, mostly applied early in the season to germinate the crop. Other fields have had between 36mm to 57mm applied so far this growing cycle. All fields but one, which was planted late, are in the reproductive stage. As reported a few weeks ago, fungicide was applied for blast and that is the only application to date. With the heavy rains, it will be interesting to see how the crop finishes. Several of the fields have experienced flooding in various parts.
To continue with the introductions to the Valley Circles for Rice Team, this week I would like to highlight the marketing team, which is all based out of Nebraska. I will illustrate the sales personnel next week.
Sara Sims, Marketing Communications Manager, is responsible for coordinating not only the marketing efforts for rice in the United States and Canada but also the Valley product line. Included in her work are press releases, marketing bulletins, brochures, and advertising, among other duties. She also actively participates in many of the farm shows in the U.S. In addition, Sara works to collect pictures of center pivots and linears irrigating a variety of crops.
Michelle Stolte, International Irrigation Marketing Materials Manager, leads the Go-to-Market team for rice and in many ways has responsibilities similar to Sara's, with the focus being on the international side of Valmont Irrigation. Michelle supports the regional offices and dealers with press releases, marketing bulletins and brochures. Michelle is active on the farm show circuit and some of you may have met her at the USA Rice Conference in December.
Kelly Cackin, International Marketing Coordinator, is focused on creating, updating, and maintaining much of the web material, along with helping to create and update marketing bulletins and brochures. Kelly has started and developed most of the online tools being used. In addition, among other items, Kelly proofs the rice blog and reviews most presentations for grammatical and design errors. She also is responsible for the 2010 rice calendar and regional office online training. Kelly will also assist in writing weekly blog posts, beginning in 2010. Have a great week; my next post will be up next week! We welcome all questions and comments!
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