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About Us
The CottonHeatUnits.com website is operated by
Robert Ratliff, founder and CEO of ProfitableFarming.com Corporation,
(www.ProfitableFarming.com)
provider of internet-based agronomy wizards, financial calculators and other interactive
web services used by farmers that grow the high-value and intensely managed crops
of cotton, rice and peanuts, and the widely-grown crops of corn, soybeans, sorghum
and wheat.
His company utilizes his farm background, agronomy
education, computer programming skills and 30 years of agribusiness experience managing
farm chemical companies, farm seed suppliers and his web services company. His passion
is developing and marketing products and services based on science and technology
used in agriculture.
Ratliff established his farm-focused business nine
years ago after a diversified career spanning 22 years and five companies that marketed
planting seeds and crop protection chemicals to farmers in the United States, Canada
and Mexico. He grew up on a cotton farm in southwestern Tennessee during the early
adoption of farm chemicals to control weeds and insects, -- and manage cotton's
vegetative growth, boll opening and leaf defoliation. |
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His interest in science and technology
led him to become educated as an agronomist, graduating from the University of Tennessee with a Masters
Degree in Agriculture, with undergraduate studies in genetics and plant breeding
and graduate studies in weed, insect and disease control technologies.
While in college, he also learned to write programming
code for IBM 360 mainframe computers using punch cards containing FORTRAN and
COBOL statements. Later he wrote programming code using SAS Data Analytics for analyzing
studies of farm chemicals at various use rates, ingredient mixtures and application
timings.
Also during his college years he worked each summer
on research farms operated by agribusiness companies, including CIBA-Geigy, now
Syngenta, where he scouted cotton fields in the Mississippi Delta for the effectiveness
of various chemistries being researched to control bollworms, budworms and other
cotton insects.
After earning his MS degree in Agriculture, with a
focus on Integrated Pest Management, he joined American Cyanamid Company
as a field representative in Tennessee. In addition to his sales responsibilities,
Ratliff also wrote software in BASIC for use by farmers in budgeting their crop
production expenditures and determining which farm chemicals were the most cost-effective
for specific farming practices, particularly no-till plantings where farm chemicals
were calculated to be an economic alternative to mechanical cultivation.
In 1984, he advanced to Cyanamid's corporate headquarters
in the New York City area to lead the efforts for computer automation of the field
sales force. Later, he led the marketing efforts of several herbicide products used
on corn, soybeans, cotton, rice and peanuts. While at Cyanamid he also led the commercialization
efforts for biotech corn that was genetically engineered for resistance to a new
herbicide with greater efficacy and lower environmental impact.
In 1989, he was recruited to BioTechnica Agriculture,
based in Kansas City, as Vice President of Marketing. There, he headed the marketing
efforts for five regional seed companies with sales of planting seed across the
Midwest.
In 1991, he joined Agrigenetics Company, based
in Cleveland, and led the strategic planning and business development efforts on
several genetic engineering technologies, including vegetable oils low in saturated
fat. After the merger with Mycogen Plant Sciences he moved to Saint Paul and led the planning and development efforts for corn that was genetically engineered
with genes conferring resistance to insect feeding.
In 1996, he joined BASF Agricultural Products,
in Research Triangle Park, NC, where he led the marketing efforts for farm chemicals
used in rice production and later led the marketing efforts on fourteen weed control
products in a thirty state business area.
Upon moving to the
Research Triangle Park, he became involved with the
Council for Entrepreneurial Development and the
Microelectronics Center of North Carolina, where he began to explore new
business opportunities in Internet-based technologies applicable to farming and
agribusiness.
In 1999, Ratliff achieved his mid-career goal of starting
his own company with the founding of ProfitableFarming.com Corporation. Building
upon his 22 years of business management experiences with five technology-driven
companies, six geographic locations and a myriad business challenges, Ratliff and
his company began assisting crop farmers and agribusiness companies with crop production
planning and purchase decision support between farmers and their suppliers.
Over the past nine years, Ratliff has built his client
base to include farmers that produce seven major field crops and assisted them in
achieving more profitable farming operations.
Additionally, he has assisted a variety of agribusiness
clients achieve more profitable agribusiness operations with customized online calculators,
wizards and simulators, often using controlled-access webpages that provide private
interactions between agribusiness firms and their farmer-customers with farm-specific
recommendations for crop production products and various financial services.
Ratliff has a life-long relationship in agricultural organizations,
starting with his youth in 4–H and
FFA, and in college,
Alpha Gamma Rho. Throughout his professional career he has been active
in the National Agri-Marketing Association
(NAMA) where he currently serves as Vice President and member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors.
He has previously served as Chairman of the Membership Committee, Regional Director,
and President of the Carolinas Virginia
Chapter. For many years he has been active in coaching college students
with their marketing plans and judging their marketing presentations in national
competition. NAMA has honored him with its
Meritorious Achievement Award.
Ratliff lives in
Cary, North Carolina with his wife of 28 years. Of their three children, their
first son has chosen a career in music, their second son is serving the people of
our country in the United States Navy aboard the
USS Mahan, and their daughter is a high school student and lives for
dance.
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Email |
RobertRatliff@CottonHeatUnits.com
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Phone |
919 481 9309 (8:00 am — 6:00 pm ET) |
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Mobile |
919 414 7588 |
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Fax |
501 421 5112 |
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Postal |
102 Painted Fall Way
Cary, NC 27513-3526 |
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