Changes on the Horizon
Oct. 2016
Dec. 2016
Changes on the Horizon BY Jim Turner, GENERAL MANAGER
Happy Holidays! It is hard to believe that the Holidays are almost here. My how time flies. As of this writing, we are planning our annual meeting. The venue is different than last year. The annual meeting will be at Cornerstone Ranch (1 mile west of Bushland). It is a nice event building that will work well for our annual meeting. You also received a proxy ballot for voting for your Board of Directors. If you haven’t filled out a proxy and are not planning to attend the annual meeting, would you please fill it out. We are giving you the opportunity to vote without attending the annual meeting. Although our year didn’t even come close to our expectations, rest assured that we will do everything possible to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. This year is starting out much better. Last year is just a blip on the screen. Our Agronomy Department is in the process of positioning themselves for a banner year. We are going to add a seed and chemical warehouse at Spearman and will make this our Agronomy center for that area. With the Robinson Grain acquisition, we are going to convert the old Panhandle Coop store and tire center into an Agronomy center. We will add some liquid fertilizer storage and add a dry fertilizer plant also. We have added several new Agronomy sales personnel to help serve these areas. We have also added a couple of new salesmen in the Olton/ Plainview area. With the late season rains and extended “Indian Summer”,
the area has turned out a bumper cotton crop. It was so good that we decided to open the Plainview Cotton Gin. Dennis Flowers and his crew worked very hard to get the gin up and running. We are ginning 24 hours a day at both locations. It looks like we will gin 4 times the amount of cotton we ginned last year. On the grain side, we received 44.5 million bushels of corn and 3.5 million bushels of milo. This is down about 10% from last year. The summer heat we had took its toll on the corn crop. I have never seen a year where we had such variations in yields. There were some excellent yields and then there were some very disappointing yields. Harvest went smoothly with no major break downs. With the unification, it was good to see producers deliver their grain to elevators that were closer to their farm which saves them on freight. If it is good for our producers, then it is good for Ag Producers Co-op. The fuel card system in Dalhart is ready to convert from the old Dalhart Consumers card to the Ag Producers fuel card. This card will be universal at any Ag Producers fuel card system location. I want to wish all our members and employees and their families Happy Holidays and if you are traveling please travel safe.
Plainview Gin Open for Business By DeLynn Butler
Over the last couple years, Ag Producers Co-op has expanded into both the cotton and agronomy industries by combining forces with other, locally owned co-ops. Ag Producers Co-op now has two cotton ginning facilities; one in Plainview, formally United Farm Industries and one in Olton, formerly Olton Co-op Gin. Earlier this year, Dennis Flowers joined Ag Producers Co-op as Cotton Division Manager. Flowers is the former manager of Sudan Co-op Gin. Even though this is his first season with Ag Producers, Flowers has quickly expanded the cotton division surrounding
Olton and Plainview and is eagerly looking to the future. The South Plains saw an increase in cotton acres and crop quality due to the amount of rainfall this year and the cooperation of the temperatures this fall. CEO Jim Turner believes we will see a shift in cotton acreage in the South Plains in the coming years. The Plainview Gin did not operate the last two seasons as there was simply not enough cotton in the area to warrant operation. However the gin stayed in pristine condition and was ready to open this season and meet the demands of our producers in that area. The gin now has a full crew and is running 24 hours a day.
Dennis Flowers, Cotton Division Manager
Keeping Your Eye On It
Commodity Marketing Officer, Gary Holcomb Fall grain production in our area was down from last year, as expected. The heat in July certainly took its toll on corn. The adverse weather caused some quality problems across our region which have been a challenge to deal with. Let’s hope next year we get back to more normal…..even though it’s hard to define normal these days! However, the weather was good for cotton production and it’s nice to see the activity around the gins. Grain prices made lows in early September and trended higher through the fall. Most of the buying was speculative funds based on production concerns in other parts of the world. Unfortunately, prices seem to have topped out in October and have since fallen back some. With total U.S. supply still significantly above demand, it’s difficult to see anything which would cause prices to increase. Regionally, we have seen a shift in supplies but overall we are still oversupplied. Grain supplies on the South Plains are less than last year. The North Plains is about the same to slightly lower. But Western Kansas is much higher than a year ago. We will continue to see our cash markets being depressed due to the supplies in Kansas. Also, the Midwest will see our market as an outlet for their rail corn. Another disappointment for corn demand came in recent cattle-on-feed reports. Head counts are now below
last year. We were seeing a slight improvement this year until the last two months. Cotton prices fell back from the highs during August but found support and have been trending higher again. Expectations of good export demand has put a positive spin on traders’ price outlooks. We are hearing a lot of talk about shifting grain acres over to cotton next year which is understandable given the price spreads between commodities. It’s a long time until planting season so keep an eye out for unexpected price changes. Grain prices usually rally sometime in late winter or early spring due to talk of acreage shifts or adverse weather conditions somewhere in the U.S. We will be having our annual Market Outlook meetings after the first of the year so watch for notices. Meetings will be held at several of our locations. We encourage you to attend and welcome your feedback. Thank you for your business this year! Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Texas Grain Idemnity Fund Referendum Vote Elections have been a hot topic in the news for over a year now. No matter your stance on the recent
presidential election, there is still voting to be done. We are talking about your vote concerning the Texas Grain Producer Indemnity Fund Referendum.
Like us on Facebook
Ag Producers Co-op P.O. Box 430 Sunray, Texas 79086 (806) 948-4121 www.agproducerscoop.com
Follow us on Twitter @ag_producers
Dec. 2016
Changes on the Horizon BY Jim Turner, GENERAL MANAGER
Happy Holidays! It is hard to believe that the Holidays are almost here. My how time flies. As of this writing, we are planning our annual meeting. The venue is different than last year. The annual meeting will be at Cornerstone Ranch (1 mile west of Bushland). It is a nice event building that will work well for our annual meeting. You also received a proxy ballot for voting for your Board of Directors. If you haven’t filled out a proxy and are not planning to attend the annual meeting, would you please fill it out. We are giving you the opportunity to vote without attending the annual meeting. Although our year didn’t even come close to our expectations, rest assured that we will do everything possible to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. This year is starting out much better. Last year is just a blip on the screen. Our Agronomy Department is in the process of positioning themselves for a banner year. We are going to add a seed and chemical warehouse at Spearman and will make this our Agronomy center for that area. With the Robinson Grain acquisition, we are going to convert the old Panhandle Coop store and tire center into an Agronomy center. We will add some liquid fertilizer storage and add a dry fertilizer plant also. We have added several new Agronomy sales personnel to help serve these areas. We have also added a couple of new salesmen in the Olton/ Plainview area. With the late season rains and extended “Indian Summer”,
the area has turned out a bumper cotton crop. It was so good that we decided to open the Plainview Cotton Gin. Dennis Flowers and his crew worked very hard to get the gin up and running. We are ginning 24 hours a day at both locations. It looks like we will gin 4 times the amount of cotton we ginned last year. On the grain side, we received 44.5 million bushels of corn and 3.5 million bushels of milo. This is down about 10% from last year. The summer heat we had took its toll on the corn crop. I have never seen a year where we had such variations in yields. There were some excellent yields and then there were some very disappointing yields. Harvest went smoothly with no major break downs. With the unification, it was good to see producers deliver their grain to elevators that were closer to their farm which saves them on freight. If it is good for our producers, then it is good for Ag Producers Co-op. The fuel card system in Dalhart is ready to convert from the old Dalhart Consumers card to the Ag Producers fuel card. This card will be universal at any Ag Producers fuel card system location. I want to wish all our members and employees and their families Happy Holidays and if you are traveling please travel safe.
Plainview Gin Open for Business By DeLynn Butler
Over the last couple years, Ag Producers Co-op has expanded into both the cotton and agronomy industries by combining forces with other, locally owned co-ops. Ag Producers Co-op now has two cotton ginning facilities; one in Plainview, formally United Farm Industries and one in Olton, formerly Olton Co-op Gin. Earlier this year, Dennis Flowers joined Ag Producers Co-op as Cotton Division Manager. Flowers is the former manager of Sudan Co-op Gin. Even though this is his first season with Ag Producers, Flowers has quickly expanded the cotton division surrounding
Olton and Plainview and is eagerly looking to the future. The South Plains saw an increase in cotton acres and crop quality due to the amount of rainfall this year and the cooperation of the temperatures this fall. CEO Jim Turner believes we will see a shift in cotton acreage in the South Plains in the coming years. The Plainview Gin did not operate the last two seasons as there was simply not enough cotton in the area to warrant operation. However the gin stayed in pristine condition and was ready to open this season and meet the demands of our producers in that area. The gin now has a full crew and is running 24 hours a day.
Dennis Flowers, Cotton Division Manager
Keeping Your Eye On It
Commodity Marketing Officer, Gary Holcomb Fall grain production in our area was down from last year, as expected. The heat in July certainly took its toll on corn. The adverse weather caused some quality problems across our region which have been a challenge to deal with. Let’s hope next year we get back to more normal…..even though it’s hard to define normal these days! However, the weather was good for cotton production and it’s nice to see the activity around the gins. Grain prices made lows in early September and trended higher through the fall. Most of the buying was speculative funds based on production concerns in other parts of the world. Unfortunately, prices seem to have topped out in October and have since fallen back some. With total U.S. supply still significantly above demand, it’s difficult to see anything which would cause prices to increase. Regionally, we have seen a shift in supplies but overall we are still oversupplied. Grain supplies on the South Plains are less than last year. The North Plains is about the same to slightly lower. But Western Kansas is much higher than a year ago. We will continue to see our cash markets being depressed due to the supplies in Kansas. Also, the Midwest will see our market as an outlet for their rail corn. Another disappointment for corn demand came in recent cattle-on-feed reports. Head counts are now below
last year. We were seeing a slight improvement this year until the last two months. Cotton prices fell back from the highs during August but found support and have been trending higher again. Expectations of good export demand has put a positive spin on traders’ price outlooks. We are hearing a lot of talk about shifting grain acres over to cotton next year which is understandable given the price spreads between commodities. It’s a long time until planting season so keep an eye out for unexpected price changes. Grain prices usually rally sometime in late winter or early spring due to talk of acreage shifts or adverse weather conditions somewhere in the U.S. We will be having our annual Market Outlook meetings after the first of the year so watch for notices. Meetings will be held at several of our locations. We encourage you to attend and welcome your feedback. Thank you for your business this year! Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Texas Grain Idemnity Fund Referendum Vote Elections have been a hot topic in the news for over a year now. No matter your stance on the recent
presidential election, there is still voting to be done. We are talking about your vote concerning the Texas Grain Producer Indemnity Fund Referendum.
Like us on Facebook
Ag Producers Co-op P.O. Box 430 Sunray, Texas 79086 (806) 948-4121 www.agproducerscoop.com
Follow us on Twitter @ag_producers
