connections newsletter - battle creek farmers co-op

In the Field, on your Farm, in your Communitywww.farmerspridecoop.com

Farmers Pride

Battle Creek • Bloomfield • Pierce • Osmond • Plainview • Oakland Ewing • Neligh • Oakdale • Newman Grove • Madison

Propane……what happened? How to avoid this in the future!

Your Nebraska-Owned, Locally-Owned Company

February 2014 Issue

We have all had sticker shock this winter with the price of propane….and naturally we have had numerous questions on why and how it increased in price so much this winter. Here are a few facts and tips on how to avoid this situation in the future.

First, what happened? Propane is used in a multitude of industrial processes as a feedstock. US Propane production is up, but so are the exports of propane while imports of propane are down.

-Midwest inventories have been below the 5-year average by 30% since early fall-Strong demand carried all fall with corn drying from Nebraska to the Canadian border-Crop drying continued into December when colder than normal temperatures hit Canada, the Upper Midwest and the eastern cornbelt region.-Pipeline problems coming out of Canada has disrupted supply-Railcar deliveries have been slowed by weather factors from the north

Simple logistics have made it difficult for supply to catch up to demand from our area all the way to Michigan and Ohio. Some have called this the “perfect storm” as all of the above supply challenges hit us in less than 6 months.

With the recent acquisition of Advanced Energy Fuels, Farmers Pride has one of the largest networks of bulk propane storage units in Nebraska, southern South Dakota and western Iowa. It is with this ample level of supply that we can supply you without disruptions and at prices that were less than what the current market went ; our highest retail price this winter was $3.85.

How do you avoid this in the future? First, be sure to have your tanks filled in July/August. Supply is plentiful at this time and you can fill at a very attractive price. Secondly, fix your price with a winter contract price between now and early fall. Many times the best price to contract can occur as early as April. Check with our prices and don’t be afraid to lock-in your costs. Lastly, if you are tired of the ups and downs of the market, check out our monthly budget program that allows you to spread your costs over nearly a year, helping with your monthly cash flow.

NEAR TERM HISTORY OF PROPANE IMPORTS/EXPORTS


In the Field, on your Farm, in your Communitywww.farmerspridecoop.com2

Energy Acquisition and Capital Projects

I would like to welcome all the new customers to Farmers Pride from the former Advanced Energy Fuels (AEF) Company. January 2nd Farmers Pride purchased the joint-venture company owned by CVA Cooperative and the regional cooperative Cenex-Harvest States (CHS). We will continue to offer the high quality products you have been using including the premium diesel fuel, Ruby FieldMaster, and service your needs with quality dedicated employees who live and work in your communities. We look forward to working with you and being your fuel supplier of choice! We have been working hard to correct some monitor and other delivery related issues we inherited right out of the gate. We ask for your patience as we work through to correct these computer and delivery issues. Please call with any problems

so we can get them fixed immediately and provide you the quality of service you deserve. Compounding the challenges has been the bitterly cold weather that we have had for the entire month of January and early February. The good news is that the combination of Farmers Pride and AEF has multiple locations for SIGNIFICANT propane storage to help keep you supplied in those times when it is extremely cold and product is very tight-just as the time period we went through! With this high quantity of storage space and exceptional personnel, we have also worked hard to keep your price a lot lower than many in the marketplace without limits of how much propane you would like to purchase. We again thank you for your patience during this startup period and look forward to servicing your energy needs.

We have just completed the fiscal year ending November 30, 2013. Your company had a very good local earning and excellent year overall. We look forward to sharing all of the financial information at the annual meeting March 10th in Norfolk-we hope you can all make it! As requested by popular demand we once again, we will be hosting the mini breakout sessions prior to the annual meeting. Additionally, patronage checks will be available for you to pick up after the meeting. With the great past financial performance, your cooperative will have paid back $1,645,000 this past year with equity retirements, cash and deferred equity from this past year. Yes, that is cash back into our local communities and you, our member-owners. We also spent $2,500,000 in property, plant and equipment upgrades, while at the same time improving your company’s working capital and reducing long-term debt.

Recently your Board of Directors approved approximately $22 million in fixed asset additions in our local communities to improve the speed and increase the space for your fall harvest needs. Additionally, several thousands of dollars in rolling stock was approved to improve service and facilities. We look forward to having these new assets ready for fall harvest of this year and will discuss these new assets in further detail at the annual meeting.

I want to thank all of our employees for another great year of servicing our customers and you, the member-owner, for supporting your very own company. We are here to service your needs and be an extra hand to your operation by providing quality products and services at a competitive price. We must continue to be profitable and have your support to continue to grow your local cooperative. Thank you for your support and patience in getting the new energy company started, and we look forward to working with all of you in the future.

Dean Thernes, President/GM


In the Field, on your Farm, in your Communitywww.farmerspridecoop.com 3

Harvest Photo Contest Winners

A big THANK YOU to all our wonderful customers who again this year helped us achieve a very successful harvest. Your patience as we tucked away the wet bushels of corn was awesome. Together, with the great group of employees, this year we were able to celebrate our 10th Anniversary of serving the Neligh and Oakdale producers. We look forward to many more.

As you may have heard, the Farmers Pride Board has approved an expansion project for the Neligh location. We don’t have all the details ironed out yet, but this is very exciting news to improve the speed and handling of grain. We will be building

new bins and unloading equipment that will vastly improve our corn dumping speed. We will be unloading beans at the new bins that we have built in the last few years, so that will improve soybean unloading also. Watch as the construction begins.

Again, thanks for all your support and we look forward to serving you again this year.

Neligh/Oakdale

Anna Crabtree, Location Manager

We are a locally owned Agricultural Marketing Cooperative with the mission of strengthening the well-being of

Agricultural Producers, Employees, and their Communities.

1st Place - Lyle Lingenfelter2nd Place - Susan King



Over the past few years, we have been seeing a growing problem with glyphosate resistant weeds in our soybean fields. We all know this was caused by an over reliance on the glyphosate or Roundup herbicides. When first released, Roundup Ready soybeans were advertised as only needing Roundup. Roundup Ready corn soon followed and some growers were using glyphosate only on both corn and soybeans. We now need to go back to the old methods and use multiple modes of action and multiple sites of action to kill these resistant weeds.Each herbicide has a specific Mode of Action or the effect it has on the plant. These include Lipid Synthesis Inhibitors, Amino Acid Synthesis Inhibitors, Growth Regulators and Cell Membrane Disrupters. Within these different modes of action are different Sites of Action.

For example, the Cell Membrane Disrupter mode of action has two sites of action, the PPO Inhibitors (Flexstar, Valor and Sharpen) and the Photosystem I Electron Diverter (Gramoxone Inteon). A typical corn herbicide recommendation might include Tripleflex on prior to crop emergence, and then come back with a Roundup/Cadet combination at V5. It looks like you have three different herbicides when in actuality you have five with five different sites of action. The Tripleflex is a premix of Harness, Python and Stinger. The Harness is a long-chain fatty acid inhibitor, the Python is an ALS inhibitor and the Stinger is a growth regulator. Your post emergent application has Roundup which is an EPSP Synthase inhibitor and Cadet which is a PPO inhibitor. This is a good mix of Modes of Action with five different sites of action.

Soybeans; prior to planting the beans, you spray on Pursuit Plus then plan on coming back with Syncrony once the beans are at V5. You know that Pursuit Plus is a combination of Prowl and Pursuit and that Syncrony is a combination of Classic and Harmony, so you have four different chemicals. While it is true you have four different chemicals, you only have two sites of action. The Pursuit, Classic and Harmony are all ALS inhibitors and the Prowl is a microtubule inhibitor.

There are forty-four known weed species in the U.S. that are resistant to the ALS inhibitors so it is critical that you know what weed you are trying to kill and what chemical you are planning to use. A good mix of different modes and sites of action are needed to get consistent weed control and to prevent additional weed resistance.

Diversify your Herbicides

Bob Pollack, Agronomist



We have had an unusually cold winter and this has brought a lot of diesel fuel issues to our customers that seem abnormal for our part of the country. As a preventative measure, we have added a cold flow improver to all of our Ruby Fieldmaster and Roadmaster product that we deliver to you. This cold flow improver effectively lowers the pour point of a #2 diesel fuel about 15 degrees. The only way any cold flow improver will work is if it is added to the fuel when the fuel temperature is at least 15 degrees above the cloud point. The pipeline product has a normal cloud point of about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Adding a cold flow improver at the pipeline provides the best opportunity to have the minimum temperature requirement met. Obviously, the addition of #1 fuel to Fieldmaster or Roadmaster will

lower that cloud point even further, and this has been a common practice for many years. Prior to 2008, we still had 500 ppm sulfur in our diesel fuel and that actually provided a little more cold flow protection than the current Ultra Low Sulfur fuel we have available today.

The long cold snap we had in December and January was the coldest and longest cold spell in eastern Nebraska since the introduction of our current fuel supply was changed in 2008. What used to work at a 50/50 blend with #1 does not provide the same level of protection we had with the old high sulfur product. Another issue with ULSD is the fact that water is used at the refinery to help remove all of the sulfur. There can be as much as 200 parts per million of entrained water in diesel fuel when it comes up the pipeline. When that fuel gets cold, these tiny water droplets (ice) can collect on the wax on a filter and cause the same condition as gelled fuel. Fieldmaster and Roadmaster both have a high level of demulsifier (along with 6 other premium additives) in them to push this water to the bottom of the tank. This is why it is so important to drain off the bottom of our fuel tanks in warm weather.

The other issue we have observed is over treating of fuel with cold flow improvers. Most diesel fuel additives work very well if used according to the directions. The problems arise when more than one brand of product is used or the cold flow is over treated. Over treating with cold flow can actually cause the same issue as gelled fuel. Filters will look like white sticky silicone when this happens. The picture to the right is from an over-the-road truck that was treated with 3 times the recommended level of cold flow improver. “If a little is good, more is better” is not a good practice when it comes to diesel fuel additives.

Energy

George Gleckler, Energy Sales



As you all know when you get older and you hear the phrase “we are going to do some changes“ you want to say “NO, I am too old for changes!” But when I received a phone call from Dean, our General Manager, he was saying there will be some changes in the Osmond branch. I was thinking Hallelujah! The board had voted to upgrade and make some changes in Osmond. A couple of changes you will see as you drive by will be two of our older bins removed and two new silos going up to increase our capacity to 660,000 bushels more. Hopefully, this will put the stop from putting corn on the ground.

There will also be construction going on at the new house. The pits will be upgraded so you will be able to dump your grain faster, plus the one door will be widen so duals will be able to go through either door. The plans are to be all done sometime in September. Just in time for harvest! Please be patient and careful around the construction area.

In the fertilizer department, John is busy going to meetings and making field plans for you, the farmer. If you would like to know how much fertilizer to put on or the price per acre, John can work up a plan that would work best for you. So stop on in and see the construction going on, have a cup of coffee with a fresh bag of popcorn.

Osmond

Meril Friedrich, Location Manager

What a crazy winter this has been! With little to no snow, we have been able to put out a lot of fertilizer. If you still need some dry work done, let Brent or myself know so we can get soil samples or grid samples pulled and get the best recommendations for your farm’s needs. With commodity prices down, we tend to want to lighten our input cost. Let’s sit down and put a good agronomic package together that would make your farm profitable without hurting yield! As most of you have seen, we have added a John Deere sprayer to our fleet. At Farmers Pride, we strive to be more effective and efficient in spraying your crops and having two 120 ft machines with the latest technology will let us achieve that.

We are excited to announce that we are adding another 500,000 bushel bin to your facility! This bin will allow faster receiving of beans to speed up your dump time and get you back to the field. You will see a lot of construction around the facility this spring, and the project is set to be done by harvest.

All of us at Farmers Pride thank you for your continued business and support. We are looking forward to handling all of your needs in your operation.

Newman Grove

Jeremy Fickes, Location Manager



You, as a user, will be able to look at your account, pull up any tickets, print tickets, and look at your volume and/or regular statements. Also, if you want your statement emailed instead of mailed there is a place on there you can mark to have that done. You will be able to look up any prepay or grain settlements you have. When harvest rolls around again, you will be able to look at tickets hauled in to see what the moisture was. There will be lots you can use with Connection Central! If you would like to try it out, it is located on our home page on the top right. Once you’ve clicked on the link, you will need to sign up as a user. Anything with a red asterisk must be filled in (see below). You must know your account number, which correlates with the last 4 digits of your social security number. Once you get set up, I know you will enjoy the convenience of this new tool. Let me know how you like it! If you

click on the link on our homepage, you might be directed to a screen that asks you if you would like to continue to an un-recommended sight. Some versions might show this; however, I assure you this is a 100% safe and secure http site through our homepage. If you need any help getting signed up or logged in just let me know, and I will help you with this process. I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our annual meeting held on March 10 at the DeVent Center Thank you for your business!

Connection Central is Now Ready to Go!

Linda Berg, Office

Manager

Check us out!

We have recently switched over our website to www.farmerspridecoop.com. In addition to the website change, we have also added an easy-to-use mobile site for those interested in accessing our website via their cell phone! In order to use this, first head to our website as stated above. A window will pop up that will ask you to switch to the mobile site. The picture shown here will be what pops up. You can click “yes” I want to visit the mobile site, click “yes, Chanda Goedken,

Sales &Marketing

don’t ask again” to automatically go into the site every time, or click “cancel.” Don’t worry if you accidently click “yes, don’t ask again”

because you can always click back into the full website version at the bottom of the mobile site that says “Desktop Website.” Enjoy!



Tanks of Thanks – is a program sponsored by Cenex that rewards free fuel to those who go the extra mile. Know someone who goes above and beyond in your community? Nominate them at http://withyou.cenex.com/tanks-of-thanks 100 winners are drawn monthly for $50 fuel gift card.

Recent News

Dawn Pochop, Human Resources

& Safety

This fall, a committee of Farmers Pride employees formed a task-force committee to review the Farmers Pride mission & purpose statement. The Board of Directors recently approved our new mission statement and core values. Our core values are: PEOPLE, SERVICES, PRODUCTS, FINANCIALS. Safety is a tenant of PEOPLE. To the bottom you can see what we strive for here, at Farmers Pride.

SAFETY IS……A Core Value of Farmers Pride

…An expectation of doing your job…A conscious effort & personal commitment

…Doing the right thing, even when no one is looking…Looking out for others so they go home at the end of day

…Accountability & Responsibility…Being supportive of the safety rules, policies, and procedures

…Being focused on the task at hand…Trust & Communication at every level

– sponsored by the Monsanto Fund. Farmers can nominate their local school to receive a $10,000 or $25,000 grant for the schools math/science program. Nominations must be received by April 6, 2014. Go to: www.growrualeducation.com for more information.

America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education

Career Day

Farmers Pride hosted 13 seniors from Bloomfield HS, Newman Grove HS, & Battle Creek HS on October 16th. Students were introduced to the various career opportunities in agriculture and educated on the components & structure of a coop. Students were also put in small group meetings with Farmers Pride staff members where staff members answered questions about the coop and what their jobs entailed. The group was also given a tour of the facility. It is planned to have a “Junior Day” in March for HS Junior Students.



The buzz in the cow/calf industry today is a concept known as fetal programming. Research is starting to show the plane of nutrition in the third trimester has a direct influence on lifetime performance of the calf. It appears the level of protein, energy, major minerals, trace minerals and vitamins can influence the average daily gain, feed conversion and quality grade of the calf. While this is new research it is time tested that without a properly balanced diet we see a greater incidence of dystocia, poorer colostrum quality resulting

in a greater incidence of calf scours, reduced conception rates or delayed estrus. With calf values at record levels small input costs can pay big dividends. During the third trimester and lactation hay alone will not meet the energy requirements and depending upon type of hay protein requirements for the cow. If we do not supplement an energy and protein source the cow will lose body condition and have a greater opportunity to develop the aforementioned problems.

There are several ways to supplement additional energy whether it is using the PN 20N Cube, corn silage, corn or byproducts. As for protein supplementation we offer PN 30N Cubes, the PN Hi Pro 40 tub and PN 30N Tubs. Contact your Feed Sales Consultant for assistance in designing the appropriate program for your operation.

News from Progressive Nutrition

Merlin Schlote, Progressive Nutrition

Along with energy and protein, mineral supplementation is critical at this stage. Progressive Nutrition is offering a Mineral Promotion to help you provide the highest quality products at a fair price. The products being featured are the following:

• PN 12-12-12 Mineral • LS 12-12-4 Mineral PN • O2 12-12-12 Mineral PN (Organic Copper and Zinc added) • PN 16-8-12 Mineral • LS 16-8-4 Mineral PN • PN Mag 14 Mineral • PN 12-6-26 Mineral with Aueromycin and Altosid • PN O2 Co-Product Mineral (Organic Copper and Zinc added) • PN 15-3 Stocker Mineral • PN 14-8-3+Availa 4 Mineral (**New Product for intensely managed herds, Organic Copper, Zinc, Manganese and Cobalt added) • All minerals available with Bovatec, Rumensin, Aueromycin or MOS

Please contact your Feed Sales Consultant and they will be happy to discuss the details with you.

Again thank you for your support and we look forward to serving your animal nutrition needs in the future.

Progressive Nutrition = The Leaders in Animal Nutrition



The Co-op Member Match Program sponsored by Land O Lakes provides matching funds to projects in our communities! Through this program, Land O’ Lakes matches dollar-for-dollar cash donations made by member cooperatives to hometown projects, human service organizations, education/youth (FFA/4H), civic & art endeavors, and hunger programs. This year’s recipients: Salvation Army – Food Bank Plainview Ministerial Association – Food Bank Bright Horizons – Food Bank Osmond Fire Dept. – Portable Generator Plainview Fire Dept – Stretcher Madison Fire Dept – EMT radios Ewing Fire Dept – Trauma bag Newman Grove FFA –Animal science lab kits Neligh Library – Childrens’ book shelves Plainview FFA – Mini IPADS for classroom Hometeam Project – Osmond community sign Norfolk FFA – Aquaponics Lab (a CoBank match grant)

Land O’ Lakes Matching Grants

Salvation Army Plainview Ministerial Assn. Plainview Fire Dept. Plainview FFA

Osmond Hometeam Project Osmond Fire Dept. Norfolk FFA Norfolk Bright Horizons

Norfolk Area Red Crossfor Wayne Tornado

Neligh Library Madison Fire Dept. Ewing Fire Dept.



As I was watching the weather this morning, they informed me that winter is now half over. Hopefully, the worst of the cold is behind us, especially for those of you who are getting up at night checking the cows. My memory is not great but I do remember those cold nights and so does my wife, who has a better memory of calving season.

Over the next 60 days, a lot of decisions are going to be made. Are we going to plant corn or soybeans? Listening to the latest reports, they are predicting a sizeable acre shift going back to soybeans. This is the reason for some of the soybean varieties being in short supply or sold out. Here, at Farmers Pride, we have a great position on most varieties, but some

are extremely tight. Many of you in the past don’t order soybeans until spring. This may be the year to get an order in so you will get the right variety for your farm. If you are changing anything in your planting decisions, make sure you let your local salesman know so we can move the seed to someone else’s order.

This year we will also be offering something new in the seed treatment for cyst nematodes. The product is called Clariva Complete and is made by Syngenta. Clariva had excellent farm test results in 2013. This is a product you can add to your soybean treatment package, if you wish. If you are not sure if you have soybean cyst nematodes, it only takes a sample to find out. It was only 5 years ago that soybean cysts and roundup resistant weeds were just a topic to talk about. Now, they are everywhere and many of our growers still don’t realize they even have them. If you would like a soil sample taken for cyst nematodes or have any other issues on your farm, give your local agronomist a call and he will gladly come out and discuss your needs for this spring. Keep us in mind when making your decisions this year for seed, chemicals, grain, fuel, and fertilizer! We have it ALL!

Seed

Marv Ernesti, Seed Coordinator

Director Completes “Director Certification Program”

Greg Kumm, a director of the Battle Creek Farmers Co-op, recently completed a four-phase educational program co-sponsored by the Nebraska Cooperative Council and CoBank. He recieved a Certificate of Recognition acknowledging completion of the program.


PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDBATTLE CREEK, NE

PERMIT #15

Farmers PrideP.O. Box 10

Battle Creek, NE 68715

Farmers Pride 80th Annual Meeting

Follow Farmers Pride on Facebook and Twitter to see updates, pictures, and other news

DeVent Center in Norfolk

Monday March 10th meeting at 11:00 am Lunch following at 12:00 pm.

Breakout Informational Sessions9 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

connections newsletter - battle creek farmers co-op

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