FA R M E R S C O O P E R AT I V E E L E VAT O R C O .
SEPTEMBER 2010 VOLUME 13, ISSUE 9
NEWSTALK “OUR MISSION IS TO BE A PROFITABLE, QUALITY SUPPLIER OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS & SERVICES”
News from the Office from Brad Scheer In early summer we offered some Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) for $390 per ton. There were several that took advantage of it and prepaid for their NH3. Today, the price is currently at $595 per ton, and it looks as though those that took advantage of the program did a good thing. Here at the Farmers Coop, we try to make the best decisions possible that will help you and your farming operation as well as the Coop. We do our best to make good decisions, but as you already know, there is always risk involved. We have to find a way to manage these risks the best way we know how. This also applies to your farming operation. You also have to find a way to manage the risks that go along with your day to day operations. We can’t always predict what is going to happen with the markets, we can only take the information provided to us and make a decision based off that. The same goes for you and your farming operation. We are here to help you in any way we can, and we will continue to offer different programs to you when they are available. Try not to always get hung up on “the price”. If you can be profitable at the (continued on page 2)
News from the General Manager - Terry Kohler Why do we have so few farmers, doing so much? We can ask that question to someone walking down the streets in New York, or someone in Wichita. But not many could answer it, or understand it. Today, only a small fraction, or less than 2% of the United States population works in production agriculture. To get an idea of the increase in productivity and efficiency, in 1930 the average American farmer fed 10 people. Today that farmer feeds 155 people. In 1930, 25% of household income was spent on food, as compared to today’s 10%. This 15% less disposable income, or $1.6 trillion, that was not spent on food that can be spent of various other things, such as iPods, cell phones, or maybe even savings. To have the ability to show this continued type of productivity and efficiency in Agricultural production, we need to keep young people interested in an Ag career. Just one area of interest could be Agronomy. Agronomy is going to be a key to increased production, when looking at the improved biotech crops and the relationship to the soils and unwanted plant pressures. We need improved crop yields to be able to feed 9 billion people in the world. As our aging workforce in Agricultural exits, we need to have a succession plan in place to replace that experience. Agriculture has so much to offer young people. We all can do our part in the promoting a future and a career in Agricultural. We need to get past the stereotype that we offer a transition job to get you to another job. We have a lot of hurdles to overcome in the Ag industry, but one will be able to offer flexible work schedules. Today life outside of the work environment is equally important for a quality life and job satisfaction. We sure don’t pretend to have all of the answers, but we do understand some of the challenges. We do know that we all need to eat, and socially enjoy setting down to eat a meal. We understand that today there is only one way to produce food efficiently. We thank our Agriculture industry every day for the nourishment. Help us by recruiting and retaining young people in production Agriculture.
News from our Grain Department from Larry Werner Marketing grain used to be so simple, and in fact, when I worked at the Murdock Elevator during the 6 summers when I going to college getting the markets was simply a turn of the dial on the radio and tuning in on KFDI and listening for it there. But as time passed on marketing grain has become more complex but at the same time, have more opportunities as well. Today we have not only day trading but one can also take advantage of overnight trading as well which gives one more opportunity to achieve the grain prices desired. But at the same time there have been other changes that have not been as popular and one such change has been the time at which one can market your grain. Just a few years ago one could sell his or her grain anytime from 8:00 am through 5:00 pm Monday through Saturday. Due to price volatility, changes had to be made so that the grain elevator could protect itself from price fluctuation during the market. With some of the changes that have been made I thought it would be good to take a small review of what we must face on a day to day basis when marketing grain. • Storage on all new grains is now 4 cents per bushel. The old rate was 3 cents but when the terminals raised their storage rate it forced the grain elevators to do the same. • The old marketing period during the day was 9:30 am through 1:15 pm. Monday through Saturday, and the one change here is that it is now Monday through Friday when you can sell your grain. And keep in mind that the market closes at 1:15 and not 1:30 pm. You may not see the market close on your computer on the Garden Plain Coop Website until 1:30 pm but this is on a 10 to 15 minute time delay. The market screen we have here at the Coop is live with the Board of Trade and therefore closes at 1:15 pm. • You can now put your wheat on overnight trade which is from 6 pm through 6 am the next morning. What this does is to allow you, the seller, to establish a desired price (continued on page 2)
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price levels presented to you, then take advantage of them. Sometimes waiting for that extra 5 cents per bushel can end up costing you more in the long run!
News from our Gard’n-Wise Rep. Troy Simmons: The days are getting shorter and the temperatures are getting cooler. The summer’s heat really took its toll on many fescue lawns. The good news is that this is the very best time to seed or over seed your fescue lawn. The ground is warm and the seeds will germinate very quickly and there is also less weed competition in the fall. The Gard’n-Wise fescue blend is the best and cleanest seed available. For over seeding use 4 to 6 pounds of seed per thousand square feet. For new lawns, use 6 to 8 pounds for the same area. If you are one of the lucky ones and don’t need to over seed your lawn, you still need to give your fescue a little help. Fescue naturally thickens up in the fall and a little fertilizer accelerates this and really helps it recover from this summer’s stresses. Apply 1 to 1½ pounds of nitrogen per thousand square feet in September and then again in November for the best results. If you have compacted or heavy clay soil like my lawn, you would probably benefit from core aeration. A core aeration takes 2 to 3” plugs out of your lawn and helps relieve compaction, aids in thatch decomposition and improves water, nutrient and oxygen movement into the soil.
and we can expose it to the overnight market trade. This order must be in by 4:30 pm and there is a minimum of 1000 bushel. • You can sell your grain and take the money after the 1st of the year and we currently pay 1.25% interest. If you want to sell your grain and take the money after the 1st of the year but are unsure about what your income status will be towards the end of the year, you can contract it until December and then decide whether to take it in the current year or after the 1st. • You can forward contract your grain for the current upcoming year to secure a specific price. The minimum bushel for this is 250 bushel. If you wish to forward contract your grain over a year it must be for 5000 bushel or more. • Direct Deposit is now available. If interested just call and ask for an application form. • Weights on grains are as follows: wheat 60 lbs., milo 56 lbs., corn 56 lbs., soybeans 60 lbs., barley 48 lbs., and oats 32 lbs. These are just a few items that I thought would be good to refresh one’s memory on and I’m sure there are more. If at any time you have a question feel free to call us and we will try to provide an answer for you.
News from Clonmel & Anness from Jim Schmitz Please let me know here at Clonmel when you need 11-52-0 or any other fertilizer from Anness. As I mentioned before, we are going to be taking in milo and soybeans at Clonmel this year and the way it looks they will be coming in the same time as wheat sowing. I will not have anybody at Anness unless I know fertilizer is needed. We will be glad to help you, just keep us informed of your plans. Thank You.
Dunn’s Fish Farm will have a truck at Clonmel to sell farm pond stocking fish on Wed. Sept. 29th from 9:00 am till 10:00 am. If you want to pre-order fish call 1-800-433-2950 or go to www.dunnsfishfarm.com
News from the Feedstore from Joe Krehbiel The last few weeks of crazy grain prices are great if you have grain to sell but can really hurt if you are buying feed. Feed prices are now following the up push in the grain market. Companies were slow to offer fall contracts and when they did, they definitely protected themselves. Fall contracts are running $40-$50 per ton higher on about all products. Knowing this, we worked hard to pull in as much product as possible under August prices. Tom definitely now knows how to get to Purina Mills and back! All of our overhead bins are setting full of Pasture Gest Creep, Stocker/Grower 14% pellets and Commercial Cattle Starter. Sorry, but all we can do is offer these products on a first come first serve basis. Hopefully, by the time our supply runs low the prices will level off. If you need some you might want to get it now. John and I recently attended the K&K Vet Supply’s vendor/buyer show in Rogers, Arkansas. It is always interesting to see what’s new and hot in the industry. We will be offering some new products soon. I’ll have some more information on this when we get a little further into the fall season. One new product for us now is Cottonseed Hull Pellets. We made the switch from bagged hulls to pellets for ease of handling plus they are $120/ton cheaper. This will help keep your grain based creep feed price in line. As always, thanks for your business and support. Coffee drinkers wit and wisdom: Makes sense why kids today have a weight problem - Too many choices. As a child, my family’s menu consisted of 2 choices: Take it or leave it!
News from Belmont from John Sheetz We have been getting over quite a few acres of fall fertilizer the last couple of weeks. It’s nice to get a head start on getting stuff done. It sure makes it easier on us to get your acres done as quickly as possible. We also seem to be done getting anhydrous done around the Belmont area. Please give us an idea of what you need done fertilizer wise so we can get it worked in. We have also started a little fall harvesting in our area. We took in a couple of loads of corn on September 2nd. The test weights were pretty good and the moisture was fairly good as well. We have been shipping some wheat out to make some room in the elevator for the fall harvest. Please let us know if you will need anyone to stay late or stay on the weekends to help get your crops in the bin. I have had a few guys asking if we were getting any bulk cubes in. I plan to order (continued on page 3)
some in the next few days so you might call before you come to see if they have arrived yet. We will also be trying to keep some corn in a bin available to you deer hunters out there. Thanks for your business!
News from Cheney from Dan Ramsdale Here at Cheney, we have been busy with cleaning seed wheat , shipping grain and loading fertilizer in various forms. I would like to take a moment to thank the people that work here at the Cheney location. We have Kayla helping when she is not in school ,working the counter, always smiling and eager to help you get what you need. Cody is a young man helping before school everyday. He has really stepped up and is doing a good job. Randal Holley, who most of you know, is doing an excellent job in the elevator caring for your grain. Mark Trollope, his experience and knowledge is a great benefit to us all. If you get a chance, thank these people, they are doing an excellent job for you. It is time to start planning for your animal health needs for weaning your calves or other chores you may do when bringing your cattle home from grass. With a little planning we can get any special needs you may have (vaccinations, etc ). If you have never done this, consider placing a self feeder in your creep pens with our creep feed in it, in your pasture now. With good cattle prices this year, the added gain will pay off. Also when you are weaning, just move the familiar feeder into the pen, this will help your calves start life without mom a little easier. As always thank you for doing business at “your” Coop.
News from our Crop Production Depart. from Doug Bates It is wheat planting time again here is South Central Kansas. Thanks to some timely showers and reasonably good growing conditions most of the ground is in fine shape for sowing wheat. The cool nights that we have had really kicked the germination of weeds into high gear. Cheat and volunteer wheat have been sprouting, and control should be a priority. Whether you employ full tillage, no-till or something in between, killing volunteer wheat is critical before planting. There are several disease and insect problems that can be reduced or eliminated if your volunteer is controlled. Kansas State University advises that all volunteer wheat within ½ mile of your field should be “completely dead” two weeks prior to planting. Don’t forget about those non-field areas as well, such as tree rows, places where wheat straw is stored, double-crop ground etc. K-State has published a list of 12 reasons why you should control your volunteer: “Wheat streak mosaic virus, Wheat curl mite, Hessian fly, Russian wheat aphid, Take-all, Stem rust, Barley yellow dwarf virus, Green bugs and oat bird cherry aphids, Banks grass mite, Chinch bug, Moisture loss.” K-State publication “Be a Good Neighbor: Control Your Volunteer Wheat” MF 1004. There are so many things that we can’t control that can happen to this wheat crop from now until June of 2011, so let’s do what we can to get started on the right track. Good luck with planting, let us know how we can serve you.
News from our Seed Department from Doug Scheer As some of you may know, and others will soon be finding out, some certified seed wheat is in short supply this year. If you don’t have yours ordered yet you might have a hard time finding what you want. At this time we are sold out of Everest, Armour, Endurance, and Duster. As of today Art, Jackpot, and Fuller are still available. Art is from Agripro and is tolerant to low pH soils, good resistance to powdery mildew and leaf rust, good straw strength, and resistant to Hessian Fly for early planting. Art possesses only average drought tolerance, susceptible to wheat streak mosaic and barley yellow dwarf, and is not well suited for late planting. Jackpot is also from Agripro is well suited for double crop after row crop or late planting. It has fast germination and puts out a tremendous amount of tillers to cover the ground quickly. It is tolerant to low pH, and has very good drought tolerance, but is somewhat susceptible to leaf rust. Fuller is from K-State and is a good wheat if kept off of low pH soils or phosphate is applied with the seed. Fuller has very good shatter tolerance and very good drought tolerance as well as excellent milling quality. It is moderately susceptible to tan spot and stripe rust. Avoid planting too early as it may break dormancy too early in the spring. The Farmers Coop has partnered with Wetta Seeds, north of Garden Plain, to offer certified Fuller seed in the bulk for $9.50/bu picked up at the Wetta farm. Wheat picked up from the farm may be applied to your Coop account. If you want to check availability or have any other questions about wheat seed please give us a call. I can be reached by phone at 316-772-2014 or e-mail me at (continued on page 4)
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Fuel news from Tim Bergkamp at CoMark The question that I am asked most often is, “What’s the price of fuel going to do?” I wish I could give everyone the right answer every time; unfortunately I am wrong a lot of the time. If anyone tells you they know what the market is going to do, I would be skeptical of their advice. There are so many factors that affect the market today, it is impossible to predict what is going to happen. However, there are some ways I believe we (producers and the Coop) can work together to relieve some of this stress. One thing to try is comparing the fuel and wheat price spread and come up with an index number. If the index number is favorable, the producer will sell grain and buy fuel at the same time. If the price of fuel and the price of wheat is a non-factor, remember that you are shooting for your index number. Dollars per acre are what will keep everyone in business. To figure the index, divide the price of fuel by the price of wheat. For example, $2.80 fuel divided by $5.80 wheat equals .483. Which means it will take 483 bushels of wheat to buy 1000 gallons of diesel fuel. We have some history of index numbers and based on that history, now would be a great time to start locking in some prices for the 2011 wheat crop. I know there will be some skepticism with this idea. Please give it some thought and visit with us on setting some goals you would like to achieve. “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you always got.” We look forward to seeing you in the near future.
FARMERS COOPERATIVE ELEVATOR COMPANY DIRECTORY Feed: 316-535-2291 or 800-200-2122 316-535-2518 (fax) Seed: 316-535-2221 or 800-200-2122 316-535-2518 (fax) Fuel: 316-542-3182 or 800-525-7490 316-542-0463 (fax) Fert./Chemical Orders: 316-535-2221 or 800-200-2122; 316-535-2518 (fax) Fertilizer/Chemical Billing Questions: 316-542-3182 or 800-525-7490 316-542-0463 (fax) A/R Billing Questions: 316-542-3182 or 800-525-7490; 316-542-0463 (fax) Accounts Payable: 316-542-3182 or 800-525-7490 - 316-542-0463 (fax) Grain Accounting: 316-542-3182 or 800-525-7490 - 316-542-0463 (fax)
location phone numbers: ANNESS BELMONT CHENEY MAIN OFFICE TBA – CLONMEL – GARDEN PLAIN – GP FEED STORE – GRAIN MARKETKINGMAN – MURDOCK – NORWICH – PRETTY PRAIRIE &VARNER RAGO –
620-478-2458 620-297-3911 316-542-3181 316-542-3182 316-542-3381 620-545-7138 316-535-2221 316-535-2291 316-531-2681 620-532-2662 620-243-3827 620-478-2272 620-459-6513 call Norwich
FOR SALE Big Round Bales of Prairie Hay call 316-540-0482 Wanted: JD Teeth & Clamps for a Spring tooth call 444-2384
2– 11R22.5 Steer Tires on Dayton Rims - good tread. Also an assortment of 9.00/20 & 10.00/20 tires call 316-761-6908
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[email protected]. Be watching the website for corn and soybean plot results. We have cut some corn plots already and will be harvesting beans in the next few weeks.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Greg Reno - Chairman Gregg Scheer - Vice-Chairman Jon Kerschen - Sec./Treasurer Directors : Chad Basinger - Dennis Davis Steve Davis - Martin Kerschen Advisory Board MemberAaron Pauly
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT What ever happened to the “Golden Rule” “Do unto others and you would have them do unto you.” Is it even a consideration anymore as we deal with people in our families, workplaces, out in public, etc.? Are we really treating others like we want to be treated? Are we teaching it to the next generation? Should we??
LOCATIONS AT: ANNESS BELMONT CHENEY CLONMEL GARDEN PLAIN KINGMAN MURDOCK NORWICH PRETTY PRAIRIE RAGO VARNER
visit us on our website at www.gardenplaincoop.com
PERMIT # 431 WICHITA, KS “WE’RE HERE TO SERVE YOU!”
106 E. SOUTH AVENUE P.O.BOX 340 CHENEY,KS 67025
FARMERS COOPERATIVE ELEVATOR CO.
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