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By Scott Docherty
The echo of Surprise, Surprise, Surprise as Gomer Pyle would say kept ringing through my head this fall as yields shocked about everyone in our trade area. How could we miss the corn crop size by 20-25 % with the driest summer since 1988? What happened to Rust in beans and aflatoxin in corn??? There are a lot of unknowns that will be answered over the winter and seed selections are ordered for next spring. After you experience a growing season like this past summer you have to believe that flooding is the only way we could have harmed this crop. The varieties and stacked traits are proving their value as the research and development teams bring their technology to fruition.
Topflight always puts a plan together before harvest starts to handle the long hours and the massive amounts of grain to be delivered which we like to call plan A. What we didn’t realize was that Hurricane Katrina could disrupt the gulf market thus disrupting the river market and backing up corn from the south and west, and plug the corn market in Decatur also! A normal harvest pattern for Topflight Grain is to receive 1/3 of the corn crop in early September then start taking soybeans for 3 weeks and finally go back and finish the other 2/3 of the corn crop. September was a month where we saw rains every 3-4 days and the corn just kept coming and coming. Vanessa, Mark and crew dumped a daily record 250,589 bushels of corn at LaPlace on September 13. The corn just kept coming and coming and on September 28 Topflight Grain Coop dumped 1,043,010 bushels of corn company wide. This is where plan B came into play!
The Decatur corn market was getting enough rail corn to keep them full and reduce hours or close all together, so trucking out grain was not going to work. Topflight has 3 belt conveyors and had planned on piling 2 million bushels of corn on the ground. We kept the dump trailers running to the belt conveyors and ended up with 3 million bushels of corn on the ground for emergency storage and another 1.4 million under tarp for temporary storage. When we ran put of ground to pile corn on and the trains did not show up on time, that is when we went to plan C.
Topflight Grain Coop did struggle at times to keep the doors open this fall, but I know others did as well. Stress levels were high and the long hours and frustration started to get the best of us. We did our best with storage, emergency storage, truck and rail logistics and we will work even harder to be better prepared for the next surprise that comes our way. The volume was a great problem for Topflight and its patrons to deal with this fall and I hope we can all handle another drought year like 2005.
In the end Topflight Grain Coop corn receipts were down 4 % from last year and our soybean receipts were down 2% from fall 2004. Topflight Grain dumped 20.4 million bushels of corn and 5.5 million bushels of beans and we were able to offer very competitive storage and Price Later rates. I want to sincerely thank all our employees for the long hours and dedication it took to complete this challenging harvest. I want to thank our customers for their patience and understanding for the longer lines and facilities being closed. I can tell you first hand that you never want to be forced to use plan C if possible!
Thanksgiving and Christmas is here already, so please join us for one of our Christmas open houses and we can share some hot apple cider and trade a good story or two. We will also be planning our focus meetings and looking for some good feedback from you on how we can add or improve our services next year.
My family and I wish every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
MAROA NEWS
By Denny Hill
Harvest in Maroa, like everywhere this year was fast and furious, with the elevators finding out just how much grain farmers can deliver in a short period of time.
Our first load of corn was delivered on September 8th and the corn harvest came to a close on November 3rd. During this time we took in 2.1 million bushels of corn and ended up having to put nearly 500,000 bushels on the ground uncovered. We have another 500,000 in our bunker but it is covered. The uncovered ground pile will be picked up by the end of November if all goes well. Our yield predictions were off this year as we were expecting 150 bushel corn yields after the dry, hot summer we encountered, but the yields ended up around 175 bushel average and the moisture stayed between 18 and 20 for the biggest part of the harvest. Doesn’t look like we will have any more weather markets after raising an 11 billion bushel crop in drought-like conditions.
Our bean crop turned out to be the best by far that I’ve witnessed in my 30 years. We took 600,000 bushels of beans this fall, which was about 15% more than we were expecting. Yields were running in the high 50’s to low 60’s through most of our territory. Lack of diseases this year in the beans and some timely rains in August led to the exceptional bean crop.
The Waller location was open for harvest again this year with Sharon Brown managing the office and Gary Liggett the outside. They were able to take some of the harvest pressure off of Emery, especially when the bean harvest was in full swing. They took 250,000 corn and 150,000 beans during the 3-week period they were open.
Roger Lewis helped Jill and myself here in the Maroa office along with my daughter Meghan, who helped some evenings after school and on the weekends. Outside Ted Gandy and Ronnie Miller did an excellent job of handling this crop. Unlike the last couple of years where the corn dried down to number 2 corn by the end of September, the moisture stayed in the corn this year and some all night drying was necessary.
Life has changed around our house, with Jessica gone to the University of Kentucky, and Meghan a junior at Maroa-Forsyth busy with all her activities. My wife Terri and Meghan were able to go visit Jessica the middle of October and enjoyed a nice weekend with her and visited many sites around Lexington. I’m sure Dad will get down there sometime this winter to take in a basketball game.
by Russel Wright
Another harvest is done, and I must admit this harvest reminded me of harvests long ago. Back in the seventies and early eighties we had to close early because of too much wet corn. The 2005 harvest is a reminder as to what happens when everyone’s bins are full and no place to go with it, except on the good ole ground. Pierson was no exception this year, with the forecast of a lean crop because of the drought, we went into harvest with a lot of corn. As the corn and bean harvest progressed and the reports of 200+bu of corn and 60+ bu of beans, it was clear that we were going to run out of space, and to close early. I don’t think I can remember any harvest where we were closed for more than one day. As everyone scrambled to find open elevators, some customers were willing to drive the extra miles to deliver their grain. However there were some customers who were willing to wait until their local elevator had space, to those customers I say Thank You for their patience and understanding.
I want to thank our part time help this year. Helen Levi helped in the office weighing trucks and sampling the grain. John Beck helped outside, dumping or loading trucks or cleaning up spilled grain. After Fred left, Gary Speagle took over and did a good job running Pierson’s elevator. At Lanton this year Steve,”Jake” Jacobs did a good job running the elevator, and Samantha Brown weighed the inbound trucks. I also want to thank the many truck drivers that hauled the grain, either to Decatur, Tuscola, or to Voorhies and Bement. They put in a lot of late night hours as well as a lot of Sunday work..
After harvest is always a busy time, paperwork to be done, corn piles to be picked up and cleaning of elevators. Of course getting to spend time with the families is always a cherished time. With Thanksgiving approaching we need to say THANKS for the safe and bountiful harvest that was just completed and to count the many blessings that were bestowed on us.
SEYMOUR HARVEST WRAP UP
By Jason Goodner
Harvest is
over! Customers are chiseling, putting on anhydrous, and having local
companies apply fertilizer. Harvest was a lot better than what anyone
could have imagined. My customers, as well as myself, were shocked at the
yields with the lack of moisture that we experienced during the spring and summer.
During our crop tour around Seymour, we came up with 155 bu/ac for corn and 48
bu/ac for beans. According to most of my customers we averaged somewhere
around 162 bu/ ac for corn. The bean yields were improved a lot with some
late season rains in August and September. The average bean yield around
Seymour was 59 bu/ac.
Yields were a lot
better than people had thought, which lead to space issues for us in
Seymour. We transferred corn over to the Lodge facility in September to
allow enough space to keep our door open for wet corn. Then during
October we shipped over 40,000 bushels of beans to Bunge in Danville, to give
us more corn space in the late season push. We were able to get a train
loaded in late October to finish off our remaining customers. I would
like to thank all of our customers for their patience and cooperation during
this fall’s trials and tribulations.
This year’s
harvest was a combination of a lot of different factors. What if Katrina
wouldn’t have hit the gulf coast? Would market prices be this low, would
diesel fuel have gone up to $ 3.00 plus, and would the LDP have stayed above 40
cents for the length of harvest? These are all questions that we don’t
have the answers to. The fact is that these things did happen. This
harvest was a challenge for us on the elevator front, too. A major export
market was virtually cut off during one of the peak times of the year.
Every elevator experienced operation price increases due to gasoline, diesel,
and natural gas production decreases from Katrina. Those increased costs
unfortunately have to get passed on. But, there is a bright side!
Next March is a new year for crops!
No matter what
happened this fall, good, bad, or indifferent; one must always look at the
positive. For me, my positive comes by way of my family. Since the
last newsletter was written, my wife and I are expecting another member of our
family. We just found out on Nov 8th that we will hopefully be
bringing home a little girl in early December. Both sets of grandparents
are excited, since my wife and I are only children. My son, Kolby, isn’t
so sure yet of being the big brother. He’s heard all about this baby his
mom is going to have, but he hasn’t seen yet. I think he’ll get along just
fine.
Last but not
least! I would like to thank our wonderful part-time help this
fall. I had my wife, Kari, run the scales during the week. I think
she did a pretty good job with the long hours and being 6 to 7 months
pregnant. Matt Pruitt was a local guy that worked for us. Matt was
a great help outside. He would do anything that we needed, and it was
much appreciated. Missy Whitten ran the scales on the weekends. She was back for her
second harvest with us. Without the dedication of these 3 people to work those
hours we would’ve been in a hurt. Chris Frye and myself put in a lot of
hours drying at night or filling our ground pile around the clock. I
really appreciated Chris’s help and his experience at the Seymour facility.
I hope that
fieldwork will be winding down for most people, and everyone gets to enjoy the
upcoming holiday season. Football season wasn’t that good for our Illini,
but basketball season hopefully will put a smile on our faces. I would
like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season.
By
Lindy Powers
This was my second harvest at Topflight and the yields were sure surprising. This harvest was a lot different than last year, with the shortage of space. This year we took in 2,095,000 bushel of corn and 481,000 bushel of beans. Last year we received 1,905,000 bushel of corn and 521,000 bushel of beans. We put 1.3 million bushel of corn on the ground. I would like to thank Rick, Jeff, and Kody, for keeping the elevator open, and Henry, Louie, Andy and Roger for all their extra effort of hauling to the pile. If it hadn’t of been for these guys we wouldn’t have made it almost every day from 7 to 7.
The family is fine, Katie my youngest daughter is just starting the cheerleading season with the 8th grade basketball team. Ann and I will be there to cheer her and the team on. I am also so very proud of Katie for making the A honor roll. (GOOD JOB)
Our 3 granddaughters Mya, Madison, and Autumn, are doing great. They just love their Aunt Katie when she comes into the room they just light up. My daughter Dana is a nurse at St Joseph hospital, and Tonya is a color specialist with Colorific salon in Bloomington. My wife Ann is the office manager for the De Witt County States Attorney’s office for the last 18 years.
Just remember baseball season starts in April. I do believe this could be the year for the CUBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HARVEST 2005
By Vanessa Stinson
This harvest came
in with a big BANG! The first week of September LaPlace broke a company record
by taking in 260,000 bu of corn in one day. WOW! It never quit after that. We
ended up taking 2.7 million bu this fall. That was not with out a few days of
being closed because of being full. Just think what we could have taken if we
would have been up and going the whole time. It was a great time to show come
back Tieman how a real horse and buggy elevator could take grain. Bean
harvest was just about as chaotic; everyone went to beans and stayed there
until they were done. LaPlace took 552,000 bu of beans and 155,000 bu of non
–gmos.
All in all it has
been a great harvest. Thanks to everyone of you for being patient with us as we
worked through the difficult days.
We want to
recognize the great crew that we had this fall. In the office we had Sue
Crawford, Heather Durham, Renee Beebe, Brandy Smith and of course my girls
Gretchen, Ashley and Nicolle. Outside was Ross Butler, Jeremy Jacobs, Johnathan
Jones, and Marcus Mitchell. They all did a great job!
We at LaPlace
want to wish all of you and your families a very joyful holiday season.
SILVER LINING
By Brock Casteel
Sometimes things just don’t go as planned. This holds true in almost every aspect of agriculture. This year was the perfect example of that in the grain industry. Let’s face it. The experts missed it. I don’t know of one crop tour around that gave any predictions of 180-200+ bushel corn. If they did, those folks were drowned out by the cries of drought and 140-150 bushel corn. Sure, there were a few reports from different tours of isolated fields that may contain 200 bushel corn, for those of you who want to argue, but the overall consensus was the afore mentioned 140-150 bushel crop. This extra crop posed somewhat of a problem, as many of you know, a good problem, but a problem nonetheless, as far as storage was concerned. This problem was not an issue exclusive to Topflight Grain. Grain companies across the state struggled with the same storage issues that we coped with here at Topflight. When problems arise there are two major character traits that get you through. They are patience and cooperation. The latter of the two is what a cooperative is based on. People working together to not only help themselves but everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who displayed these traits this fall. The examples of patience and cooperation I saw this fall, lead me to believe your TopFlight Grain Cooperative will be a successful cooperative for a very long time to come.
By
Richard Thomas
I have been working on writing the
history of Bement Grain from where Glenn Durbin’s book about the first 75 years
stops and continuing on for the next 25 years up to 2003. I’ve entitled
my writing “The Next 25 Years”. It has been very interesting and rewarding
to go through the old minutes and newsletters to come up with the
information. It is something I do when they don’t have a project for me
to work on so I have no idea when it will be done. I will have officially
filled my obligation to the company on May 31, 2006 so will be looking for
other things to do.
As I write this article today Nov.
10, 2005 I am turning 65 years old. My kids had the High School band come
over and play Happy Birthday and the Bement High School fight song to me, which
was really a surprise. Bonnie brought a large birthday cake up to work so
I could share my big day with all the employees. I understand they have
pizza ordered for lunch. What a great place to work.
I worked at Voorhies again this
fall with the help of Louie Isbell. Louie and I solved all the world
problems when it was slow. We ended up filling Voorhies with
soybeans. Some days Voorhies looked like a terminal will all the
transferring of grain from the other locations. The corn we took in was
transferred to Bement until late in harvest when we had to put 250,000 bu. on
the ground in a bean field just east of the elevator. They hauled all the
ground pile corn from other branches so only Louie participated in that.
On the home front Bonnie and I were presented with another grandson on Aug 12th. We now have seven grandchildren ages from 17 down to 3 months old, four boys and three girls. Bonnie and I are looking forward to spending some time in Cape Coral Florida this winter. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and have a Merry Christmas.
By Derrick Bruhn
Fall 2005 will definitely be one to remember. A summer with almost no rain and normal to above temps and yields that were still remarkable. It makes me wonder if there is such a thing as yield reduction due to a drought. This crop was made by the subsoil moisture we had and the timely rains this summer. It is almost unbelievable that rains in late August could still be utilized by what seemed to be a dead corn stalk. During the crop tour, many of us commented about the kernel depth being very shallow, but that ended up not being the case at all. Bean pod counts were up during the crop tour and I am pretty sure every pod filled with the yields we heard this fall. Topflight Grain took in 58,000 more bushels of beans than we did last year. From October 1 till October 8 we took 67% of the total bean crop. This was a lot of bushels to handle in a short amount of time. Our corn receipts were down by 395,000 bushels from the record crop of 2004. Coming into harvest our customers carried in 192,900 bushels of beans and 809,50 bushels of corn in the elevators in preparation for a small crop. Needless to say, we were as fooled as the farmer.
Katrina caused devastation to many people in New Orleans, Mississippi, and grain elevators in central Illinois. When Katrina damaged the gulf export houses and barges, it just about eliminated the river as a form of transportation. All of the grain that is tributary to the river had to make its way into other markets. This caused the processor markets to become saturated and have to run limited hours and even close. These affects were felt by the farmers as well, when elevators had to close because there was nowhere to go with the grain. We appreciate the cooperation that many of you had this fall. The Topflight staff did everything possible to keep as many elevators open as possible.
USDA has the 2005/06 corn and bean crop estimated as the second largest crop on record. They are estimating the corn crop at 11.032 bil bushels vs last year at 11.807 bil bushels. This is a 6.5% decrease from last year. That is absolutely amazing with the lack of summer rains in Illinois. The USDA estimates the bean crop at 3.042 bil bushels vs last year at 3.141 bil bushels. The late August rain really helped both the corn and the beans.
Lynne and Mabry are both doing great. Mabry turned one on the 11th of November and is growing like a weed. She has figured out how to get into just about every drawer and cabinet in the house. We have been unbelievably blessed by having such a good and healthy little girl. It is the greatest thing to go home at night from work and no matter how bad your day was, she always has a smile when you walk in the door. Lynne is enjoying her first year teaching sixth grade. She stays very busy with Mabry, working, and everything there is to do around the house. During harvest most of my time is spent at work and she does a great job taking up my slack at home.
By Sandy
Davenport
Well, I just completed my 25th harvest. I think this one actually gave me more gray hair! Most of us thought this would be a quick and easy harvest - - - WRONG! Because of the Farm Progress Show, Emery received the first load of 2005 harvest on the 17th of August. Every few days we would get a few loads in, until September 6th, when several people started opening fields “just to see what it was like”. From then on, it was non-stop. Sure didn’t take long to realize crops were better than anticipated. Before we knew it, everything was full, even the new bin. So, it was back to piling corn on the ground. We ended up putting more than 500,000 bushels on the ground. Final receipts for Emery were 2,021,363 bushels of corn and 394,370 bushels of beans. Pretty good for a drought year, huh?
Again, Emery had a great part time crew to help with harvest. Sharon Brown, Dana Shull, Lindsey McCool and Barb Fox worked at the scale, took moisture samples, dumped sample buckets and tried to keep the office half-way clean. Pete Greathouse (this was his 3rd harvest to help) and John Boehm were great help to Charlie outside.
Now we are concentrating on getting corn shipped out so that we can pick up the pile corn. What a good group of truckers we have. They work long and sometimes frustrating hours so that we can get something accomplished. Because of weather, we have been able to work at the pile for 4 days only. As I am writing this, we started again, so hopefully we can keep at it until it is all up off the ground
It is really hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just 2 weeks away. I can taste that oyster dressing already! And then Christmas will be here before you know it. I hope that everyone can take time to relax and enjoy the true meaning of the upcoming holidays with family and friends. Have a great holiday season and a good and safe beginning to 2006!.
By Pam
Jarboe
In the “Congratulations” section of this High Flyer, you’ll see that Megan Thompson and Devin Shelton have announced their engagement. I remember when Megan came to the elevator with her dad, Dave, and would “help” us with calculating problems. Surely, that was just a few years ago! Devin is a professional musician with Emery. I asked Dave who “Emery” was. He laughed and told me that it was apparent that I didn’t have young adult children!
The high school band serenaded Dick on his 65th birthday. Most of the musicians were in 2nd grade about 8 – 10 years ago, when they were our adopted class, joining us for tours and fun. This year’s second grade class’s grandparents are almost my age!
When we were planning our Sesquicentennial, one of the committee members looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned a garden party, and no one there knew my name! He had never heard of Ricky Nelson or Ozzie & Harriett. Retelling that story in the office, and getting a similar reaction, Chuck brought us a Ricky Nelson CD, so the younger employees could rock and roll with the rest of us!
At the end of harvest, we celebrated my brother’s 50th birthday! Being the oldest of the three of us, that makes me older than 50!
Working for the ag producers of central Illinois, we work with at least three generations. Over the years, we have watched many great, talented young people grow up. Some have great careers away from here; others have great careers close to home. It’s very encouraging to see them doing well. It’s encouraging to see the generations working together, combining the knowledge and experience of one generation with the energy and vitality of another generation. It’s just unbelievable to think how fast all of this has happened!
I’m on my way to the hairdresser because I can’t pretend any longer that those light streaks are blonde. Only my hairdresser knows for sure!
CHALLENGING HARVEST!!
By Bill Dirks
What a challenging harvest!!
With the larger than expected yields, this made us fill everything very full. Even more than full! My outside help got to see the top of the bins often when we had to top off all of them more than once. Thanks to the outside help, office staff, and all the customers for the patience shown. This helped make harvest successful. Now with what is outside on the ground, and the very full bins, I am hoping a bottleneck does not form getting rid of the grain we need to.
I want to thank everyone who had anything to do with my birthday surprise.
Wishing all a great holiday season from Atwood.
HARVEST IS
OVER!!!
By Mikki Burns
Another
harvest has bitten the dust—
And we did escape the soybean rust!!
Better crops than we thought—
In a year of such great drought!!
Cisco had 2 days of over 90,000 bushels of beans—
It wasn’t easy by any means!!
LaPlace had 2 days of over 230,000 bushels of corn—
Think their nerves were a little worn!!
TopFlight Grain has a lot of corn on the ground—
Hopefully soon it will be processor bound!!
Thanks to all our part-timers who helped us—
They really worked hard and without any fuss!!
It’s a lot of long hours and a lot of long days—
And we’re thankful it’s over in so many ways!!
To all our farmers, we say ‘thank-you’—
Glad your Harvest was safe and hope your Holidays will be, too!!
By Rodd
Runyen
A live Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree? That is the annual battle in our household. And as Christmas fast approaches…let the battle begin!
In the Bah Humbug! corner, representing the artificial tree, is my wife, Tera. She is opposed to a live Christmas tree for several reasons. One is the sap that runs onto the presents and the tree skirt. It makes a mess and causes us to throw away the tree skirt when Christmas is over. Another reason is because the pine needles that fall onto the floor. With carpeting, they aren’t easy to vac up with a vacuum cleaner. And a third reason is the constant watering and care. I guess she didn’t appreciate it when the tree fell over a couple years ago and broke several decorations! But hey, we fixed it by tying it to a nail in the wall! But I don’t think that went over too well with her! So she likes the convenience of putting up our 6 feet tall artificial tree and not messing with it anymore.
In the Currier & Ives corner, representing the live Christmas tree, is myself. I love a real Christmas tree and the smell of pine filling the house. I always pick out a tree about 9 – 10 feet tall. I like the fullness of the tree as it fills up half of our living room! Nothing beats the look of a real Christmas tree all decorated and covered in shiny icicle tinsel. I also love taking the kids, wife, and Grandma and Grandpa out to the Christmas tree farm and searching all over the countryside until we find the “perfect” tree. It’s a thrill for the kids and goes down as a Christmas tradition to be cherished.
I guess this epic battle probably comes down to
our ways of thinking. It’s my antique world vs. her modern world, my antique
ornaments of glass balls, strings of glass beads, and metal candleholders vs.
her plastic ornaments, strings of garland, and strings of lights. And every year,
I lose the decorations battle - my ornaments stay packed in the boxes while
hers go on the tree. This doesn’t bother me though because it is probably best
until the kids get a little older. But when they do, this will just add to the
battle!
So we will see who wins the battle this year.
Last year we had an artificial tree. The year before that it was a live tree.
But then again, there is a third alternative we could choose. We could always
set up our big aluminum Christmas tree with the color wheel. Nah, I’ll stick
with the live tree.
Let the battle begin!
By Jason
Geppert
I thought that the common catch
phrase was “rain makes grain??” Obviously I must be confused, because
that was not the case this year. I guess the new catch phrase will
be “I’ll take a drought like the one in 2005 any year!” Who would
of ever thought that a hurricane would hold together long enough to give us the
vital rain that we needed in the middle of a drought? But then again no
one would have ever guessed that a hurricane could wipe out an entire city and
seriously affect river traffic for several months either. Well, I guess
this will be a year to remember.
This fall was very interesting to say the least. In order to help keep the doors open the decision was made to start a ground pile. So the place was decided upon and away we went. The parking lot at the old Cable plant on the south side of town was a great idea. We ended up with roughly 600,000 bushels in the parking lot.
The outside crew did a great job of keeping trucks moving through in a timely manner this fall. Aaron Holt and Kevin Taylor did a great job of dumping trucks and keeping the place cleaned up. Jack Warren did an outstanding job of drying corn, moving grain and keeping things running smoothly. Rob Dick was in charge of the ground pile and fixing anything that would break down in between time. He put in a lot of hours and did a great job. Chris Frye continued to help at Seymour this fall. Stason Kopps helped load many trains this fall in addition to making sure things were running smoothly at Lodge, Seymour, and Monticello. Jim Shaffer was running Lodge again this fall for the last time. He will be retiring at the end of the year. We all wish him well! Connie Baker continued to do a great job running the scales at Lodge this fall. Dana Warren helped run the scales a few days this fall. Sherryl Young also did a great job running the scales this fall and some how found time to keep up with rail settlements. Derrick Bruhn did a great job this fall keeping up with grain sales and organizing trains.
Hope that everyone has a great holiday season.
HARVEST 2005
By Stason Kopps
What a year. I cannot believe there was so much grain out there. For a drought year, no one can complain about the yields.
Jack Warren is glad to have his first harvest behind him, since returning to Monticello. He put in a lot of hours drying corn and keeping grain in condition. Jack had good help from Kevin Taylor and Aaron Holt. Chris Frye and Jason Goodner put in a lot of hours at Seymour. They split up working all night and all day so that we could run corn to the bunker around the clock. Matt Pruitt was very good help at Seymour. Jim Shaffer put in his last harvest at Lodge. Jim is retiring soon. Rob Dick kept busy with maintenance and filling the ground pile at Monticello.
This harvest I also kept very busy loading trains, working with ground piles, and trying to find more space for grain. I would like to thank everyone for being understanding when our elevators would go full. I would also like to wish Michael Burton the best in his new job at FedEx.
By Eric
Clements
We started picking up our uncovered ground piles at the start of November. We have had five inches of rain on the piles so far. We had about fifteen inches of rain on our ground piles last year. The condition of the corn is a lot better this year. The damage is anywhere from two percent to ten percent. We are allowed to ship five percent damage without any discounts. We are drying a lot of this corn because of the rains. The corn picked up moisture from the rains. The corn moisture is ranging from fifteen percent up to eighteen percent. We had a total of three million bushels on the ground uncovered at the end of harvest. The outside crew is working every possible day to get this corn picked up off the ground. Their hard work has allowed us to get a good portion of this corn picked up already.
We are working on storage projects for this next year. We are being told that there will be a lot of storage built in Illinois this next year. Elevators will need to plan early to insure that their bins are built in time for the next harvest. Most of the bins being built are steel corrugated bins. The cost for a concrete bin is about double the cost of a steel bin. With the corn yields continuing to increase we still have a storage deficit problem.
I want to thank the part time help for their hard work this harvest. We had a great group of part time helpers this year. We could not run these elevators without you. I want to thank the truck drivers for their hard work and dedication. These drivers understand how important it is for us to move the grain from location to location or to the processors. They hauled seven days a week and late into the night to get all this grain moved. I also want to thank the full time employees that work with me. They are truly a dedicated group and we are fortunate to have them. I always say that harvest usually last fifty days. The first ten days and the last ten days are easy. It is the thirty days in the middle that is the problem.
By Chuck Bentley
Since the last newsletter was so boring, I decided to forgo anything business related. I have installed an aerator in my pond to help the moss situation…Little did I know I had a large population of muskrats that don’t seem to agree with electric aerators. They seem to enjoy chewing on the power cord. For some reason though, the muskrats are now disappearing. They must be getting shocked to death.
Our cat population also grew since the last newsletter. Our neighbor’s cat that we have taken in decided to have her babies on the back porch with a little help from my wife, Jan. Since we already have enough cats in the house, I requested she must get these cats homes. To my amazement, a free kitty ad was placed and to date, two kittens have found homes. If anyone reading this article needs kittens or a wonderful outside cat, let me know.
Another development in my area is subdivisions. For some unknown reason, all the property around me seems to be better used as a subdivision instead of woods and conservation ground, the main reasons I moved there. I thought subdivisions were only around towns with city water, sewers, etc. I guess there is still hope. Maybe a new town will develop and they will call it Bentleyville.
Have a great holiday season.
Congratulations
to . . . .
Mr. & Mrs. Troy Tilton, parents of a new son; Megan Thompson & Devin Shelton, engaged to be married in June; Clarence & LeAndra Vogelzang, who celebrated their 25th anniversary in October; Ron Meece and Matt Pruitt, who made the front cover of an October FarmWeek, with the Seymour corn bunker in the background; Herb Evans, who celebrated his 90th birthday on November 6; Katie Wright and Casey Brittenham, the 2005 Bement Homecoming Royalty; Ed & Janet Lamb, who celebrated their 50th anniversary on October 28; Steve & Donna Catlin, who celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on October 11; Vicki Gowler and Stuart Hawbaker, inducted into the Monticello Hall of Fame; Bob & Mary Lou Whalen, whose 50th wedding anniversary was in October; Jim & Doris Bennett, who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in September; Andrea Thompson & Jeremy Dunlap, married this September; Kyle Meece and Allan Perry, recipients of Growmark scholarships; Craig & Elizabeth Mackey, parents of Carter Dean; John & Marilyn Mackey are the proud grandparents and Stanley & Twilia Mackey are the proud great-grandparents; Jonathan & Karen Bonness, parents of Grace Elizabeth; John & Marilyn Mackey are the proud grandparents and Stanley & Twilia Mackey are the proud great-grandparents; Jack Drew, who celebrated his 70th birthday recently; Bill & Charlene Brown, who recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary; Wayne Grissom, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday; Wayne Kempshall, who recently celebrated his 97th birthday; Dean & Brenda Creviston, grandparents of Connor Alan. Bobby and Lindsay are the proud parents.
Our sympathies to the families of Delbert Lewis, Corwin Hill, Ruth Romine, Ed Wood, Pauline Raglan, Margaret Feeney, Claude Stine, Charles Ater, Denise Niles Schuyler, Ralph Moery, Mona Bolsen, Ernie Dworak, Florence Braden, Ed Hardwick, James Charles Murphy, and all others who have recently lost loved ones.
Dick celebrated his 65th birthday in style!! Bonnie brought a sheet cake to share with everyone, then about 9:00, the high school band, chorus and flag corp serenaded him with “Happy Birthday” and the Bement School Song. Not long after that, Wilma Lyons showed up with a coconut cream pie!
The celebration continued when Todd, Tyler, Sydney, and Austin joined Dick and Bonnie for the evening. It was a grand day, for a grand celebration.
HAROLD’S “NEW
TRUCK”
Author: Unkown
On the first day of harvest,
Harold got a new brake line for his truck..
On the second day of harvest,
Harold got new tires for his truck..
On the third day of harvest,
Harold got a new brake booster for his truck...
On the fourth day of harvest,
Harold got new spark plugs for his truck..
On the fifth day of harvest,
Harold got new spark plug wires for his truck...
On the sixth day of harvest,
Harold got a new fuel pump for his truck.
On the seventh day of harvest,
Harold got a new carburetor for his truck..
And finally on the eighth day of harvest,
Harold got to haul a load of beans, or was that corn…..
Harold is proud of his get-it-one-piece-at-a-time truck.
PS. Harold is Harold Ponder and his truck is a 1975 Chevy. Oh by the way, Harold, thanks for letting me dump the buckets of grain from the samples that were collected, on your “new truck”.
If you live in central Illinois, you could hardly have missed the mountains of gold, scattered throughout the country side. They’re beside elevators, they’re in the fields, they’re in the parking lots! Harvest came fast and furious this year, as you have read in some of the previous reports.
Topflight Grain transferred about 275,000 bushels of corn to the ground at Voorhies. This corn re-opened the doors at Bement, Pierson, and LaPlace, late in the season.
The crew finished off the Maroa bunker, ready to tarp it. Later, another 400,000 bushels of corn was temporarily stored on the ground beside the bunker.
The pile at Emery, in front of the big new 700,000-bushel bin.
The Milmine pile finished with over 1 million bushels stored on the ground.
Who would have ever thought that the parking lot at General Cable in Monticello would be filled with corn? This pile was about 500,000 bushels.
Last summer, Ginny Einhorn brought her class from the Caring Place, to tour Topflight Grain. It was a great group, and we had a lot of fun meeting the young people from Champaign. In return, the class sent us this sign with “Topflight Grain” written in corn and beans. The grains were carefully alternated, corn, beans, corn, beans, through out the sign!
We love it, and thank the students and Ginny for their very diligent work.
NEW CLASS, NEW TEACHER
Our adopted second grade class has a new teacher, Miss Kim. We were happy to meet the class early this fall, as they toured the Bement elevator. The students met the Bement employees, toured the office and the elevator and learned a little bit about farming. They also enjoyed some freshly made popcorn.
Our annual trip to Curtis Orchard was November 8. We learned about the importance of honey bees to the apple and pumpkin production, sorted apples, and saw the cider press. The apple donuts and apple cider were delicious, and the playyard was lots of fun!
We look forward to more adventures with the 2nd grade class, as the school year progresses.
We wish Michael Burton the best, as he begins his new job at FedEx. Michael has worked for Topflight Grain for 10 years, starting when he was 16 years old. He started in general maintenance, then became the semi driver. He was always conscientious, and always did a good job, for Topflight and for the stockholders. Several people would ask, especially, for Michael, when making plans with Eric for farm pickup. As he moves on, we wish him continued success.
Jim Shaffer has decided to retire. Jim started work for Monticello Grain in 1972. For 38 years, he has shoveled grain, hauled grain, and greeted the Monticello and Lodge customers with courtesy and respect. The last few years, he has been the harvest manager at Lodge, in addition to his responsibilities at the Monticello complex.
Please join Jim at an open house reception on Wednesday, December 21, from 11-2, at the Topflight Grain, Monticello, office. We will combine his open house with the traditional Christmas open house, for lots of good food and good fellowship.
Jim has created a lot of memories in 38 years! Join us, as we recall many of them, at his retirement open house.
As you make plans with your seed representative for the 2006 season, please be aware of the acceptance of GMO grains at Topflight facilities, and the premium programs for specific traits:
RoundUp Ready NK 603 corn stacked with BT or RW traits is NOT yet approved.
Topflight Grain will accept all corn traits at 4 facilities for delivery of all corn starting in the fall of 2006. These locations are Laplace, Pierson, Seymour and Cisco. This will give farmers the ability to plant RR and Rootworm corn and deliver to Topflight Grain during harvest.
The balance of Topflight Grain facilities will accept the EU approved traits and varieties and, hopefully, the review process and acceptance will change before the spring of 2006. It is important that everyone communicates and understands good grain stewardship as these corn events and stacked events are still pending approval.
* 50-cent premium for fall delivery or 55 cents for post harvest delivery (buyers call)
* Accepted delivery locations are Atwood, Cisco, Emery, Laplace, Seymour, and Shacks
* Purity: 99% NON-GMO soybeans
* 10% maximum splits
* Must sign contract and certificate upon delivery
* 25 cent premium
* Accepted delivery locations are Bement and Monticello
* Pioneer and Beck seed only
* #2 corn specifications with purity of 95%
* Must sign bushel contract prior to harvest
Winter wheat, grown for the variety specific program, must be contracted into the program by December 15. This premium is 10 cents per bushel.
IT STILL
HAPPENS!!
In the previous newsletter, we showed Eric digging in the asphalt, behind the Bement office, when the sewer pipe disconnected. Not long after that, he was once again digging in the asphalt in the middle of the lot. This time, it was a gas leak! Jim turned the gas on, for the corn dryer, then noticed a big bubble in the asphalt, along with the smell of gas! Quickly, he turned off the gas. After notifying the affected utility companies and JULIE, we were digging in the asphalt once again, fixed the leak, and repacked the base, covered it with rock, for the harvest season.
We welcome Gary Speagle to the Pierson staff! Gary will be in charge of the Pierson elevator, receiving and shipping the grain, and maintaining the condition of the grain. Gary and his family live in Long Creek. Gary has worked the last two harvests for Topflight, so is a familiar face to the Pierson patrons.
We welcome Gary to our staff!
What a wonderful harvest day treat, when the State Bank of Bement grilled hotdogs and hamburgers for the farmers and employees of the Bement facility! The bank staff showed up with a huge grill, lots of food, chips and soft drinks, and sacks to put them in, for delivery back to the field! It was a tasty lunch, and sure appreciated by all of us!
With the low prices this fall, most of us know that we should have marketed more grain last summer. If you would like some assistance with your marketing, Topflight Grain has several programs you can choose from. Our general recommendation is that you spread your risk out between several programs, or choose one or two programs, and market the balance yourself.
NORTHSTAR MARKETING PROGRAM
This marketing program combines three different market approaches: 1)
daily average, 2) relative strength index, and 3) market advisor, Al
Kluiss. The program has several benefits, including improvement of
pricing opportunity, improvement in price-risk management, diversified
marketing plan, 24-hour access to your account, and documented pricing
performance to share with lenders. If you are interested in this program
please contact your local Topflight Grain office.
This type of contract allows producers to have bushels priced weekly above the current market, if certain conditions are met. Contents of the contract include an accumulator futures sale price, a knock out barrier, and a specific pricing period. The accumulator futures sale price will be above the current market, the knock out barrier will be below the current market, and the pricing period will be a specific amount of weeks. Pricing will occur in equal amounts once a week at the accumulator futures sale price, unless the current market is at or below the knock out barrier. If the current market falls below the knock out barrier anytime during the pricing period, the contract has finished pricing. If the current market is above the accumulator futures sale price anytime during the pricing period, the amount of bushels being priced for that week will double. The parameters for these contracts change as the market fluctuates. The fee for these type of contracts is 3 for a futures only and 2 cents for a cash contract. Please contact your local Topflight office for more information. The 05 results were:
$2.49 Dec Futures $2.45 Dec
Futures $6.05 Nov Futures
-0.19 Basis
-0.19 Basis
-0.19 Basis
$2.30 Cash + LDP $2.26 Cash +
LDP $5.86 Cash + LDP
AVERAGE PRICE
CONTRACT
The average price contract was a success again this year. The pricing started on January 6th and ended on May 26th. At the end of the pricing period there was an average price of $2.14 for fall delivery. This program prices corn during historical contract highs. We will be signing up participants for the 2006 crop year in December. We need everyone interested in the program to sign up by December 31, 2005. The first pricing date will be January 5th. If you have questions or are interested, contact your local Topflight Grain location.
TOPFLIGHT GRAIN MARKETING POOL
By Denny Hill
Each year Topflight Grain offers to their patrons a Marketing Pool where they can commit a certain percentage of his or her grain production for the Topflight staff to market for them.
We had over 2.1 million bushels in our 2005 Marketing Pool and our average price across the scale this fall was $2.21 on corn and $6.08 on soybeans, plus they were able to capture LDP on top of these prices.
For a producer to sign up, he or she just needs to determine how many bushels of corn or soybeans to enroll in the program, choose the pay dates you need to fit your cash flow requirements, read the marketing pool agreement thoroughly and sign-up.
Some of the features of the marketing pool concept:
The Topflight staff makes all marketing decisions.
The only charge is the service fees on options we purchase and this cost is part of the contract price.
Conservative risk management strategies will be used to accomplish pricing of the grain.
Participants will be provided an update on the pricing progress of the pool bushels as the year unfolds.
Margins and option premiums will be covered by Topflight Grain. Costs of the option premiums paid or earned will be charged or credited to the pool account.
We feel offering you this program gives the customer an alternative to his marketing
plan by having full-time advisors working to make better marketing decisions for your operation, giving you more time to direct your attention to producing and expanding your operation.
The sign-up for the 2006 crop year will end on November 30, 2005, so if you are interested in this program please give me a call @ 1-800-955-2180 and I will be glad to answer any questions you might have or you can ask your local branch manager and he or she will be glad to help you.
By
Derrick Bruhn
Market volatility has increased the need for crop insurance that can offer a revenue guarantee. This allows the farmer to sell grain before it is harvested and allow protection if the prices go higher. When talking about the revenue based policies there are several questions that come up concerning coverage and costs. There are many programs to choose from and many times the program that was used last year is no longer the best choice. Jason Geppert and I have been working with customers and helping them understand what programs there are and how crop insurance will work best for their operation. Different farming operations may require different programs. We spend time with customers that buy insurance from us and with customers that just want a better understanding of the programs. We really enjoy speaking to farmers about these programs and helping them select an insurance that works well for them. If anyone has any questions about crop insurance or hail insurance, feel free to call Jason or myself at the Monticello office anytime and we will do everything we can to help. Call 1 (217) 762-2163.
**Commodity
trading is risky and Topflight Grain Cooperative assumes no liability for the
use of any information contained herein. Past financial results are not
necessarily indicative of future performance. Neither the information, nor any
opinion expressed, constitutes a solicitation to buy or sell futures or options
on futures contracts, or OTC products. All rights reserved.
AN INTERESTING
STORY
by Russel Wright
A nice sunny October day, a lone rider and three spare horses rode past the Pierson road on Route 36 heading east. So naturally I went to inquire why anyone would be riding a horse on such a busy highway. As I “saddled up” to this gentleman, I asked him if I could take his picture. He said sure go ahead. Now I was really intrigued and wanted to hear his story. As semi’s and cars whizzed by, he told me his name was Gene Glasscock, an American Long Rider. He was visiting all forty-eight state capitals in the continental United States, in fact he left Springfield just two days earlier on his 20,000-mile trek, all on horseback. I asked where he started his journey and why. He told me he started in Denver, Colorado in September of 2002. The route he was taking was the same route that the first equestrian trip of the 20th century made back in 1912-1915. This trip was made by four horsemen, from the state of Washington. The only thing different is he was doing this alone, except for the four horses he needed for transportation. Gene is the oldest person, age 63, to attempt such a journey.
He isn’t doing this for himself; he has two reasons. One he is raising money for the Philip Scholarship fund, Pensacola Christian College, Pensacola Florida. The other reason is he is sending a message for the often-overlooked portion of America’s population- its senior citizens.
As he road off towards the east, he was planning on staying the night at a farmstead just south of Atwood. Then he planned to proceed the next day on his journey to the next state capital, Indianapolis, Indiana; then on to Michigan and finally end his trip in Ohio around Christmas time. I thanked him for the interesting talk and wished him the best.
I didn’t hear him say Hi-O-Silver as he left, but he did hand me his business card. In this modern day age, he has a web site that you can go to and find out more about him and his colorful past. His website is www.geneglasscock.org. As I made my way back to Pierson I couldn’t help but admire this individual with all his fortitude and goals he wants to achieve. What a remarkable way to raise money for a good cause.
AND THE WINNERS
ARE . . .
Kathy Koss, Keila Lehew, and Bob Daggett were the August, September, and October winners of the Topflight Grain Trivia Contest. They each were presented the world famous, much-coveted Topflight Grain T-shirt.
A new Trivia question is posted each Friday on the company website, www.topflightgrain.com. The questions may be a seasonable topic or an agricultural topic. Once a month, one correct answer is randomly selected as the winner. The prize is a very fashionable Topflight Grain T-shirt.
It’s a fun and easy contest, and we look forward to your answers each week!
By
Richard Thomas
Arrive at work in morning to see how many employees didn’t show up. Working these people 80 to 100 hours a week sure hope most of them stay with us. Check the spreadsheet to see what elevators are about full and those that still have room. Give those present their daily instructions while the phone is ringing off the wall. Pick up phone to find out a trucker needs to know what he’s supposed to do. Got two more waiting on hold. In between calls find out from Pam that power is off at one location. A farmer is on the phone and wants a truck for on the farm pickup this afternoon. Employee comes in to complain that a farmer has a truck with big swing out doors with no small doors for relieving pressure, so he’s not going to open the big doors to unload the truck because it’s a safety hazard. Find out by email that a train we were supposed to get was sent to Indiana because the processor we have it sold to is about full and needs for the train to take a longer turnaround. We’ll get another train in three days. Looked at returns on grain shipped yesterday to find out we have some sour discounts on grain just harvested. Got to call and check this out. Darn forgot about the truck in the driveway waiting to be unloaded, got to get someone out there to open those doors so he can get back to the field. Find out from one trucker that was supposed to show up today that he can make more money hauling fertilizer so he won’t be hauling grain for us today. A farmer is on the other line and his unload auger on his combine is broke so he needs someone to bring a vac out right away to empty the grain tank so it can be repaired. Got a call from a customer upset because Voorhies is full. Need to get some trucks out there as soon as I can. Doggone ADM will not be open tomorrow for truck corn glad we still have an open contract with Staley. Need to email all the branches to let them know about switching trucks to Staley for tomorrow. Pam hollers to say the probe is clogged better get on that right away. Murph comes in and says we got a natural gas leak on the line going to the Zimmerman dryer. He knows because there is a big bubble of asphalt in the drive and the smell of gas. Better call Atchison to see when they can get it fixed. Call Atchison and he says call Julie to mark where the line is and he’ll be up tomorrow to find and fix it. Darn I need to get someone on that vac job but where am I going to get the personnel? Guess I’ll pull our maintenance man off his job and send him to the farm with the vac. Think I’ll look in the refrigerator in the basement and see if there is anything to eat getting hungry. I see a hamburger left over from the State Bank of Bement cookout I’ll put it in the microwave. Milmine called and they’re about full need to go on the ground with corn but a weather front is coming through that might give us a few inches of rain. Like to hold off for a couple of days maybe we can split the next train with Bement to bide some time. Need to get Derrick on the phone to see if he can split that next train we’re suppose to get from ADM between Milmine and Bement. Pam says a farmer is on the phone wanting to know if we can clean some seed wheat and by the way he wants it bagged also. Need to check with Jim to see if mill is set up to clean wheat? Rodd wants to know what the trucking surcharge for the month will be. Need to check the computer and see what the price of diesel fuel is doing so I can give him an answer. Need to get back with Chuck about the price of the new maintenance truck we are going to purchase. Chuck thinks we need to lease it because the leasing company can buy it cheaper than we can from the dealer. Maybe I can put him off for another day. Need to get the track mobile moved from Monticello to Milmine if we are going to load half in a couple of days. Maybe when the man with the vac gets back I can have him move the track mobile. Pam says there’s a farmer on the phone that has turned a truck over and wants to know if we can clean the mess up. Tell him we’ll be right there. Hope I can get the employee that’s vaccing the combine bin out to go on to the overturned truck. Guess I need to get someone else to move the trackmobile. Pam hollers in to say they need a truck up where the truck is overturned to vac the corn into. Okay Pam I’ll do what I can to live up to our motto of making our customer’s life easier. Maroa calls to say their outside pile is full and is ready to be tarped. Tomorrow I’ll need to round up 5 or 6 people and go over and pull the tarp over the pile. Need to get some strong people because last year had one person fall down in the pile and we almost tarped him. The night dryer person called and said he was going home sick (bottle flu) so better go talk to Jim and see if he can work until midnight. Hate to ask him to work that late because he should be home with his daughter but he’s used to working 100-hour weeks this time of year. Then I’ll come in at midnight and relieve him so he’ll be fresh in the morning to start dumping. Called my wife to say I won’t be home for supper I’ll grab something to eat while I drive to Emery to check out how the outside pile is progressing. On my way to Emery got a call on my cell phone that the train to Cisco was going to be delayed and they were about to get full. Asked them if they had any soybean tanks they could empty out to make room for corn. They thought they might be able to gain 30,000 space by doing that. Hopefully enough to make it until the train arrives. Called Derrick to see if he could check on why the Cisco train was going to be late. Arrive at Emery to find out the people living across the road from the pile were complaining about dust blowing on their property while the conveyor was running to the pile. Talked to Charlie and he thinks we should shut the belt down until the wind lays to be good neighbors. Asked him if he had enough space to get through the next day if we shut it down. He thought so, so we shut the belt down. Boy I hope that doesn’t mess us up later on because of rain etc. On my way back to Bement I get a call on my cell from a trucker who is irate because he thinks I’m giving other truckers a better haul than he’s getting. Tried to calm him down by explaining the other job wasn’t as lucrative as he thought it was. Decided to drive by Monticello to see how things were going there and found out the big bolted steel tank was leaking corn from the top ring. Glad it’s not one of the lower rings. Get on my cell phone to call Durbins to see if they can get a crane up to Monticello tomorrow so we can look at the leak. Called Koehls Bros. to see if one of their people could come up tomorrow and give advice as well. Will just have to clean up the mess after we get the rip sealed. Finally make it back to Bement and stop by my house to catch a few hours of sleep. Family already in bed set my alarm for midnight and shut OFF my cell phone.
The old wagon that marks the harvest season at Bement, was purchased by Richard Thomas, at Bill White’s farm sale many years ago. The wagon decorates the Thomas front or back yard throughout the year, but is usually surrounded by straw bales and pumpkins at the elevator during harvest. This year, Jasper Burton came in, with a wrench for the wagon’s wheels. Dick and Jasper had to try it out, and sure enough, it fit!! Jasper was sure to tell Dick that he could borrow the wrench anytime he needed it, now that they know it fits!
HOLIDAY
SCHEDULE
Topflight Grain offices will close for the Christmas holiday, at 12:00 noon on Friday, December 23, and will reopen on Tuesday, December 27.
We will close the offices and the books for 2005, at 12:00 noon on Friday, December 30. During the New Year’s weekend, we will be writing grain checks, for 2006. These should be ready for pickup on Tuesday, January 3. The offices will be closed until Tuesday, January 3.
If you wish to pay your drying bill, or prepay storage in 2005, this must be done before the books are closed at noon on December 30. If you need to sell grain, for 2005 income, this also has to be done before noon on December 30.
We wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
ESTIMATE
(Judgment of size, number, quantity, value, distance, quality, of something, which needs calculation or assessment. An estimate can vary, according to context, from a rough guess to close determination)
by Richard Thomas
When Dr. Larry Stapleton, Dr. Charles Smith and Paul Mariman met with us for the first time about becoming ISO certified, we began to realize how agriculture differed from manufacturing. Dr. Larry Stapleton had worked for McDonald Douglas making aircraft parts before becoming a professor at Millikin and Dr. Charles Smith had been a public accountant.
One of the first questions we were asked was, “How do you go about preparing a budget?” We explained to the professors that we try estimating the size of the crop first and then we estimate the amount of drying income we might expect to generate. We also estimate the amount of storage the farmer might use and the demand the processors might have for our grain. Then we estimate the amount of transportation it might take to move the crop. After that we estimate how much labor it will take to handle the volume. They said, “You what!!?? You mean the farmer doesn’t tell you how much grain they will deliver and to which location? You mean they don’t reserve their storage needs? And the processor doesn’t let you know how much of your grain they will need?” We answered all those questions with a resounding NO!
It was a good thing Paul Mariman from the Macon County Extension office was a part of this team because he helped Pam and I explain to the professors just how uncertain the agriculture industry can be. So when you think about all the estimating that has to be done to get a crop harvested, it’s no wonder we have a problem every once in awhile.
Topflight Grain has over 23 million bushels of storage and if it’s used for storing sailboat fuel that doesn’t generate much income. The farmer can choose to use the storage or sell his grain and let the management team figure out how to make some money off the space. You begin to see how tough it is to make good business decisions on estimations.
So it is no wonder that sometimes glitches occur when working with estimates and this fall just happened to be one of them.
Edna Grace Rogers will celebrate her 100th birthday on New Year’s Eve 2005!
Edna was born in Maroa township, growing up on the farm with her parents and brother Clayton. They attended a small Methodist church in Emery, until they attended the Maroa Methodist Church. Edna began her education at Harmony school, completing 10 grades at Harmony in 1921. She graduated from Maroa High School in 1924, and graduated from James Millikin University in 1928 with a Bachelor of Science in Household Arts.
Edna’s career began with the home extension office in Macon County in 1929. She organized 4-H clubs, for $100 a month. Then she taught school at Fair Play, and then at Maroa Grade School. She taught at Maroa until 1971, teaching for 41 years; continuing to teach Sunday School at the Maroa Methodist Church until she was 94!
Edna remembers purchasing a Schwinn bicycle, that provided her transportation to her first teaching job. She continued to ride that bicycle until a few years ago! She lived on the “home place” until 1995. She moved into town for 2 years, decided she was still a “country girl”, and moved back to the country, where she maintains a garden and is still very active in the community.
We wish Edna a very happy birthday!!
When my kids graduated from college I asked them if there was anything I could do to help them get a job. They all assured me that they didn’t need my help; they could get a job on their own. It usually took about two to three months of looking for a job by themself before they would say dad do you know such and such. I’m not saying it’s right, but you soon learn in the business world it’s not what you know, it’s whom you know. Over the years I have been able to help several people, which to me is rewarding. Recently Allan Perry, who is graduating from the U.I this spring, wanted to know if he could use my name as a reference. I was more than happy and quite honored that he wanted to use my name. Allan has worked part time for the company the last two summers and did on-the-job-training with us while he was in High School. After a recent job fair at the U.I. Allan told me he was impressed by his interview with Bunge and wanted to know if I knew anyone working for them? I said, “Sure, Tim Gallagher who graduated from Bement High in 1979, is the Vice President General Manager of Bunge Grain Division North America. Bonnie and I went to his wedding in St. Louis and his mom and dad are Gert & Joe Gallagher, who are retired, living in Champaign now, but used to farm Max Pike’s farm north of Bement”. So I called Tim and told him about Allan and what a great employee he would make. We had a nice conversation and Tim thanked me for letting him know about Allan. A couple hours after our conversation Tim called me back and said he had called their HR department and Allan was one of their top prospects. The very next week I received a call from Allan on his way back from St. Louis after his second interview with Bunge letting me know how much he appreciated my support.
There’s a country western song about a person that helps another out and all they ask in return is to do the same for someone else. I have been very fortunate in my career to have made a difference in many peoples lives and hope they will do the same for others.
REMINDERS
Signatures on delayed pricing contracts are a critical, legal part of the contract, thoroughly verified by the Illinois Department of Agriculture during their annual audit of all grain facilities. Both the ag producer and the elevator manager must sign the delayed pricing contract within 30 days of the last date of delivery, in most cases. If your grain has been delivered on a DP contract, please be sure that the contract is signed and returned to Topflight Grain within 30 days of the last date of delivery. If the contract is not signed within the 30 days, state law requires that the grain be sold. So, please be certain to sign and return your DP contracts as soon as they are sent to you.
LDP (loan deficiency payments) levels lingered between 40 & 48 cents through harvest. Be certain that you have filed for your payments, or have the papers and procedures in place to collect when you choose the proper time and price levels. LDP was established with the last farm bill, to compensate producers for prices below the established loan levels ($2.03 - $2.07 for corn and $5.13 - $5.19 for beans, in central Illinois). Procedures for collection vary, according to the ownership of your grain. If you need papers, or assistance to collect the loan deficiency payments, please contact your local Topflight office.
When submitting your grain records to the FSA office, the name on your delivery sheet must be the same as your name of record at the FSA office. A few examples of problems we’ve seen are grain checks from Topflight are written to the “Mary Smith Trust”, but the FSA records are listed to “Mary Smith”; grain checks are written to the “Smith Family Farm”, but FSA records list the farm to the 2 brothers and 1 sister; grain checks are written to “Mary Jones Smith”, but FSA records list her as “Mary Smith”. Please be sure that our records are the same as the FSA records. It may effect your participation in the various government programs.
Please join
as we celebrate the Christmas season, at our open houses:
Pierson Monday, December 19
Atwood Monday, December 19
Bement Tuesday, December 20
Cisco Tuesday, December 20
Seymour Tuesday, December 20
Milmine Tuesday, December 20
Maroa Wednesday, December 21
Emery Wednesday, December 21
Monticello Wednesday, December 21
(includes retirement open house for Jim Shaffer)
LaPlace
Thursday, December 22
All open houses will be from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM, serving a variety of food, snacks and beverages. Enjoy the food and the fellowship with us!
Topflight Grain Mission Statement: We are committed to
the future of agriculture by improving the profitability of our customers
through quality service and exceptional people.