NEAFA Member Profile: FITC
By Eric Jenks, Special to NEAFA
This month, NEAFA interviewed Chris Pierpont from Feed Ingredient Trading Corporation (FITC) for our member profile. Pierpont is a member of NEAFA’s Transportation Committee, and is a merchandiser for FITC. “I’ve been a Merchandiser for FITC for five and a half years now,” said Pierpont. “We service feed mills and farms throughout the country. As a merchandiser, I get my customers the best price possible by arbitrating products from areas that not only have the lowest prices available, but also are competitive in freight rates. Some examples of products that we trade are cotton seed and distillers grains, wheat midds (middlings), and soy hulls. Our cotton seed products generally go directly to farms, while the distillers grains, wheat midds, and soy hulls usually go to feed mills.”
Pierpont’s interest in agriculture stemmed from his father’s work as a salesman for Monsanto. “He sold BST (Bovine somatotropin) to dairy farmers for 40 years,” said Pierpont. “I went to Qunnipiac University, and received a Bachelors of Arts in Communications. I hit the ground running after graduation with Interstate Commodities, where I worked from 2009-2017. I needed a change at that point so that I could stay closer to my family, and FITC proved to be a perfect fit.”
For Pierpont, NEAFA membership has a lot of positives. “I always attend the NEAFA Annual Meeting, and the Golf for Good Works Tournament (GFGW),” said Pierpont. “It’s a great organization to be a part of. NEAFA has done so many wonderful things for the agricultural community. The annual meeting is a great place to see my customers and colleagues, and to get a chance to get to know the people that I do business with. My favorite presentation during the meeting is the markets update. Similarly, the GFGW Tournament is a great chance to spend time with people. You have this wonderful opportunity to spend time together, learn from each other, and get to know them better. You could spend days at Turning Stone Resort and Casino between the golf and everything else going on there. Beyond that, for FITC, it’s great to have the opportunity to contribute to something bigger than ourselves. It’s important to be a part of an organization that does something for everyone in agriculture throughout the northeast.”
For more information on FITC, visit https://www.feedcorp.com/