LandCare held its Leadership Conference for the third year in San Diego. With more than 90 team members in attendance, LandCare’s leaders gathered for three days of thought leadership exercises and networking. The event focused on the state of the business, recognizing the improvements across the organization and solidifying the company’s action plan for 2017 and beyond. “Branches have a lot of autonomy which is great because they know their region and their customers—one size doesn’t fit all,” says CEO Mike Bogan. “But it’s important to keep everyone focused on the same overall goal. Building strong teams and delivering unparalleled quality and service will helps us establish the LandCare brand we are striving for.”

Kubota Tractor held a ribbon cutting ceremony at its new North American headquarters in Grapevine, Texas. Governor Greg Abbott, Kubota President and Representative Director Masatoshi Kimata and other state and local officials were in attendance. Kubota invested more than $50 million in the three-story, environmentally friendly office building, which is 193,000 square feet and includes an on-site research and development facility. The building will accommodate about 600 employees.

Stihl partnered with Team Rubicon, a nonprofit organization that unites military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams. The company will provide equipment, like chainsaws, and train the first responders on the proper use of this equipment.

Kioti Tractors, a division of Daedong-USA, donated a DK5510 HS utility tractor equipped with a KL5510 front-end loader to the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA for use on the Veteran’s Farm of North Carolina. The tractor will be used to train veterans who have an interest in agriculture how to operate their own farms. Produce harvested from the farm is often donated to the food bank Feeding Franklin.

Regenerative Design Studios, a landscape design/build and consulting firm in Los Angeles, was chosen by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps to lead the design of the renovation efforts on Western Avenue, between 1st and 19th Street, in San Pedro, Calif. This project, which will include 43 flowering tree species and an environmentally friendly design, will help support an “urban greening” plan on the Los Angeles Streets. Conceived by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, the program is working to transform Los Angeles into a naturally sustainable city and encourage pedestrians to explore their surroundings.

DLF, Pickseed and Seed Research of Oregon is rebuilding and expanding. After its warehouse at the Halsey, Ore., location burned down in August, the company is rebuilding a warehouse, which is slated to be in operation in time for the upcoming spring season. It’s also building a 35,200-square-foot warehouse in Tangent, Ore. The new warehouse will hold an estimated 11 million pounds of seed. Built on the company’s property, the new warehouse will give the company additional storage without outsourcing.

Profile Products held its 2017 Distributor Leadership Conference March 13-15 at the Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort. It was the first-ever combined conference for the distributors of all of the company’s divisions and product lines. The event featured speakers like Jeff Blackman, president of Blackman & Associates; Chad Ritterbusch, executive director of the American Society of Golf Course Architects; and Mike Rozow, relationship manager at LinkedIn.

Photo: LandCare