There are now Web sites that sell directly to the grower. This bypasses the distribution chain that makes up our core business.

The software enables our dealers to place orders and to customize their own Web storefronts. It is all integrated into our database here in Ames.

Our business puts us right in the middle of the supply chain for agricultural chemical parts -- things like sprayers, pumps, and meters.

This gives the dealer a line of defense against Internet brokers. We launched the site in mid-January, and we now have 250 cash-and-carry stores signed up.

The hardest thing to find in life is balance - especially, the more success you have, the more you look to the other side of the gate.

He was under the impression by his trial counsel that he would receive a probationary sentence. The cumulative error in this case is something this court should look at.