Blackford farmer wins top award

Hartford City farmer Jim Kline was named North America’s 2011 Top Producer of the Year by Top Producer magazine.
Kline, the proprietor of Kline Family Farms, tends a 7,500-acre farm in the Hartford City area. Technological advancements have allowed Kline to add about 2,000 acres of land in the last 10 years. Four full-time employees aid Kline in growing corn, soybeans and seed wheat.
He graduated from Blackford County High School and a degree from Purdue University. He has been farming since he was 15, when he rented land and purchased his first farm by the time he was a high school senior.
Kline was selected after being named on of three finalists. Criteria for the award include business progress, community leadership, entrepreneurial originality, and use of technology.

Adding inventory
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is planning to add 8,500 items to stores in an effort to boost sales that have lagged for several quarters.
Stores will add about 11 percent inventory on average and the company is launching a TV ad campaign. Walmart sales have dipped over the past two years while competitors such as Target and Family Dollar have stolen some of the market.
The world’s largest retailer, however, has balanced U.S. decline with growth overseas.

Honored
Former Tyson Foods Inc. chairman Don Tyson was honored posthumously by the American Meat Institute.
Tyson was awarded the Industry Advancement Award for innovation in the meat and poultry industry. He died in January at the age of 80.

Competed
Five Marian University students including a Portland resident competed in the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition in Southfield, Mich.
Cythnia Muhlenkamp, a junior presentation team member from Portland, was one of the team members for the Marian team. The teams were competing to develop a proposal for a $100 million nation marketing campaign for JC Penney.
Marian University is a Catholic liberal arts university located near Indianapolis. A team from Marian competed in the contest last year, finishing fourth.

Stepping down
Marsh Supermarkets president, CEO and chairman of the board Frank Lazaran announced this week that he would be stepping down from the position.
Lazaran, 54, said he was leaving the position in order to spend time with his recently widowed mother in southern California.
Marsh parent company Sun Capital announced it had already selected a successor to Lazaran, who will be announced in May. Reports from unnamed sources claimed that former Price Chopper executive Joseph Kelley would be named to the position.
Lazaran was brought in to lead Marsh in 2006 after Sun Capital purchased Marsh in a $325 million deal.
Rumors have circulated that Sun Capital was shopping the franchise, although Lazaran said the company is not for sale and is not being shopped.

Super two?
Adams County Economic Development Corporation executive director Larry Macklin told the Adams County Commissioners this week that a potential road improvement project could make U.S. 27 between Monroe and Portland a “super two” highway.
The “super two” concept would mean expanding the two-lane highway to have wider lanes, wider berms and redesigned ditches that are more akin to four-lane highways.
The potential project is ranked fourth among 10 things being considered by the Northeastern Indiana Economic Development District.[[In-content Ad]]