Managing Stress in the World of Farming
Farmers feed the world. From sunrise to sunset, they care for the land, tend to animals, and work hard to maintain what they steward. Pressures can mount when you consider what providing food for the planet means. From readying crops for harvest and keeping livestock healthy to looming drought and wringing hands over commodity prices at the market, these concerns barely scratch the surface of what growers and producers face every day. Is it any wonder that those responsibilities can feel, at times, like carrying 100 yards of pipe alone?
Conquering Wide-Open Spaces: Maxwell Farm Drainage
When you consider the storied history of Bart Maxwell’s family, the slogan for his hometown of Crawfordsville, Indiana says it all: “Small City…Big Possibilities.” Forty-nine miles west of the state capital and home to Wabash College, Crawfordsville was founded in 1832 along the banks of Sugar Creek, a southern tributary of the Wabash River and named for then-U.S. Treasury Secretary, William H. Crawford. It’s also where you’ll find Maxwell Farm Drainage: a Fratco partner that prides itself as a company of value, integrity and relationship building.
Meet Jackie Sanchez
If you ask Jackie Sanchez what she loves most about working at Fratco, there is no hesitation in her response: “Things are different around here every day. One day? Chaotic. The next? Quiet and calm. I like that,” Sanchez laughs.
Fratco Adds Second Unicor UC 1800 Corrugator
Fratco is pleased to announce our manufacturing capacity has reached new heights with the addition of a second Unicor UC 1800 corrugator to our production line. Unicor’s UC 1800 produces corrugated pipe with an inside diameter between 18” and 60”. Adding a second UC 1800 corrugator has helped ramp up fabrication of Fratco’s trusted, durable and dependable pipe like never before.
It’s a Family Affair: Jim & Wendy Jett
Just south of Sandusky Bay’s shores along Lake Erie lies the city of Clyde. A cozy area in Northern Ohio that served as the inspiration for a collection of short stories penned in 1919 by Sherwood Anderson and whose tree-lined streets were renowned by the National Arbor Day Foundation. Clyde is also the place where, in 1900, Bower Tiling Services Inc. was born. A four-generation-strong, family company currently owned by Fratco clients, Jim and Wendy Jett and Jack Bower.
Meet Cheryl Owens
After starting her career 28 years ago and now serving as the Francesville first-shift supervisor, few know Fratco as well as Cheryl Owens. Speaking of her time with the company, one word comes up over and over again: family.
Redefining Resiliency
Farmers feed the world. From sunrise to sunset, they care for the land, tend to animals, and work hard to maintain what they steward. Pressures can mount when you consider what providing food for the planet means. From readying crops for harvest and keeping livestock healthy to looming drought and wringing hands over commodity prices at the market, these concerns barely scratch the surface of what growers and producers face every day. Is it any wonder that those responsibilities can feel, at times, like carrying 100 yards of pipe alone?
ASTM F3390 Standard
Recently, ASTM International announced that F3390 is the new standard for 3 through 24-inch lined, flexible, corrugated pipe used for land drainage applications. This specification covers all requirements and test methods. The importance of our products exceeding expectations and regulations is forefront in our minds. That’s why FlexCorr has always exceeded this standard. The requirements are intended for all manufacturers to provide non-pressure, or gravity flow, lined flexible annular corrugated polyethylene pipe for subsurface land drainage systems. This news is of great benefit to contractors and customers in the agriculture and construction industries.
Grow More. Use Less.
We are the caretakers of our natural resources; they’re essential for survival. The two at the very top of the list are soil and water. Let’s talk about soil for a moment. It’s what we move to install pipe, enrich it to grow food, and soil also holds within its layers the foundation of the places we call home. We also source materials from the ground to generate energy. Without it? Well, oxygen, heat, and water in our ecosystem would alter and drastically tailspin the world as we know it. Speaking of water, that lands at the number one spot of significant, all-natural resources. Life wouldn’t exist without it. We drink it, utilize it to grow food, and we’re also depleting it faster than it’s being replenished.
Better Together
It’s a known fact that Fratco would not be here without its loyal customers. This is a sentiment expressed by employees across every location. But sometimes, the inverse is true, and Fratco is able to make an equally profound impact on its customers.