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Happy Holidays to all!!
Wishing you a joyous Christmas!
By Richard Thomas
As I sit here writing this article, I have my favorite Christmas music playing. It’s a CD titled “Christmas in the Air” by the Mannheim Steamrollers. Dan Litteken, manager of Morrisonville Grain, and Tom Johnson, manager of Stonington Grain, told me about this group a couple of years ago, and I really enjoy their music. Matter of fact, I went to one of their concerts at the Assembly Hall. So, I’m really in a festive mood. Kids and grandkids are all coming home for Christmas, which is a joyous time and I cherish every minute we are all together.
I thought I would talk a little bit about this GMO/nonGMO issue. As you know, we had a nonGMO soybean program this fall, where we separated STS soybeans. I’ve been informed that next year, ADM will be offering a premium on any nonGMO soybean, not just STS. So, we have been having discussions with our staff and outside employees on just how we are going to handle separating these soybeans this fall. As careful as we tried to be with our STS program, we had two farmers who had contaminated beans. We didn’t find this out until we took the samples in to have them tested. So, the contaminated beans were already in a bin with other STS beans. Thank goodness, we had stored these STS soybeans in a series of small bins. So far, the amount of contamination wasn’t too many more bushels than the customers brought in. Of course, we didn’t pay the farmers associated with the contamination their premium, but we stood to lose a premium on the balance of the soybeans in the bin. I know neither farmer intentionally mixed the soybeans. They either didn’t clean their combine out good enough or got over into a neighbor’s field. Whatever the problem, you can see the exposure we have in handling these specialty grains. So, as this nonGMO program gets bigger and our exposure greater, we have to figure out ways to protect ourselves, if it means testing before the load is dumped.
We just had an audit on our STS program from ADM. Here are some things they checked: they wanted to see our procedures on how we handled the soybeans once they arrived on the scale; they also wanted, from the farmer, a copy of his chemical bills, his seed bill, and even wanted to look at the seed bag; they wanted all our bins to have tags on them indicating that STS soybeans were stored in those bins.
After going through all of the above, here is where I think we’re headed. The consumer is going to want to know on their breakfast food box who grew the corn that’s in the box. The consumers are going to want to know when a crop was fertilized, what pesticides were applied, and what field the grain came from. They’re going to want to know how the hogs used in the production of the bacon and pork chops they are eating, were treated. McDonald’s has already taken the first step, in buying eggs for their Egg McMuffins from only farms where the chickens have at least 72 square inches of living space. Neither will the company accept eggs from chickens that have been de-beaked. Consumers will pay a few more bucks to know the cows and pigs and sheep are happy. It will be like cornstalks, soybeans, cows, and hogs having their own cell phones.
So, with all this good information, have a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year – but be careful what you say around your dog. He may have a cell phone, too.
By Scott
Docherty
This harvest will be talked about for years to come with all the wind-flattened corn and hail damaged beans. Monday, August 28, the phone started ringing with questions on how we were going to handle this damaged crop and did we know of anyone with a pickup reel to fit their corn head! Harvest officially started the day after Labor Day, September 5, and we were still taking in grain November 3. Everyone did a great job of harvesting, because even with all the down corn, we had yields of 165 up to 195 bushels per acre and no one, that I am aware of, was injured while working on, or cleaning out, corn that would not feed into the corn head. Job well done, for a very stressful harvest by everyone.
Topflight Grain received 12,100,000 bushels of corn and 3,400,000 bushels of soybeans this fall. Cisco will take back the “Most Dumps” award this year, blowing away last year’s record, after taking in 2,347,000 bushels of corn at harvest. This year’s crop was hard for you to harvest and was NOT any easier to handle through our pits, legs and dryers. Light test weight, damage, and a lot of dirt will make storing this crop difficult, at best.
In the November crop report, the USDA lowered the projected soybean carryout to 350 million bushels, but in the same report, the USDA lowered the average farm price 20 cents per bushel to a range of $4.40 to $5.00. The corn ending stocks was reported at 1.679 billion bushels and the USDA average farm price range of $1.70 to $2.10. If you have taken your LDP in corn of 25 to 35 cents and 80 to 95 cents in beans, you should be marketing your crops in the upper end of the USDA price ranges.
We are still dealing with the GMO issues, as is everyone else in the grain industry. NO RoundUp corn, NO Starlink corn, NO waxy corn, and only export approved varieties will be accepted for the 2001 crop year. YES, we will accept RoundUP beans and YES, we will have a nonGMO premium for beans, and YES, this is getting more complicated every year.
My family had a great time at Thanksgiving visiting with family that I have not seen in years. The kids are all doing well and for the most part healthy and looking forward to the first snow and Christmas vacation. Serge will have his annual checkup in December and is feeling great after receiving his new kidney one year ago. Denise and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Healthy 2001.
BUSY—BUSY
By Mikki Burns
Harvest lasted nine weeks this year, and we had a busy one. Cisco took 2,347,872 bushels of corn and 455,196 bushels of soybeans. We loaded out six trains and trucked out about 200,000 bushels of grain in order to keep our farmers going. All in all, we feel it went well. A BIG thanks to our part time help-in the office was Ellen Coon, Tammi Parrish, and our daughter, Stacey Kates on the weekends. Rick, Gary, and Garold basically did harvest themselves—Jon Sago helped during our two busiest weeks. A great job done by all. Thanks, again!!
Now, another busy season is upon us! Seems like busy turns into hectic! A person wonders how everything will get done for the holidays. Between working, decorating, shopping, wrapping, cooking and cleaning, there is little time left. On our porch, I have a sign that says “simplify”. Everyone should do that so we can enjoy the true meaning of the holidays.
The Cisco branch thanks each and everyone of you for your business and wishes you a safe and blessed holiday season.
By Chuck Bentley
It’s that time of year. Just got done billing drying charges. Working late to get things done so we can enter Monticello Grain information into Topflight’s records this week end (December 1, 2, & 3). Computer has been installed in Monticello, temporarily, ready to go on December 4. Lots of things in the works to update the whole computer system with newer technology that will allow you, the patron, to look up your own records through an internet connection.
Been trying to shoot a deer during shotgun season. Had an 8 point BUCK outside the picture window of the house the other night, but, of course, when sitting in by the deer blind, I only see does.
Pam & I flew to Denver on business and had poor connections. First flight was two hours late so we missed our connecting flight. Sat in the terminal four more hours on standby and luckily were able to fly on to destination but arrived too late for first night’s social event. The plane’s seats seem to be getting smaller or my butt is getting larger. Flying home, our first flight was forty-five minutes late, but somehow, got bumped up to first class. Now, we thought we were being rewarded for the first day’s problems. I don’t think they let my drink glass go empty all the way back, and I wasn’t drinking milk! The connecting flight was made on time and we thought everything was going great. Of course, we were wrong! Our luggage got lost and took two days to be delivered to us. I haven’t shaved yet!
Have a great holiday and may God Bless.
By Denny Hill
Another harvest has come and gone here at Emery. It’s hard to believe this was my 25th harvest since entering the grain business. Just like the 24 before, the harvest of 2000 had a little different twist than all the rest.
With the yield projections high, going into the fall, we planned on making a ground pile to store corn. A new conveyor belt was purchased over the summer and put together in plenty of time to serve this purpose . A few acres of ground were rented from our neighbor to the east, where we could just use the side draw off of our corn bin on the east side. This plan worked to perfection, thanks to Eric & Roger for all their expertise with this project.
We started receiving corn shortly after Labor Day and by the 15th of September, just about everyone in our area was combining corn at full speed. We didn’t think we would have to put corn on the ground until the first of October, but on September 21, we started our ground pile. It was a difficult decision to make because our friendly weatherman was calling for heavy rains over the next few days. But with the rate the farmers were bringing it in, we had no choice but to start putting on the ground. Dick came over at midnight on the 21st, and relieved John McCabe of running the corn out into the ground pile. He watched it all night and by the next morning, we had a pretty good pile on the ground before the rains came. By the end of harvest, our pile was estimated at 300,000 bushels.
Soybean harvest kicked into gear the last week of September and the yields were a little disappointing. We had beans pegged in the low 50’s, but they probably averaged around 47 bushel to the acre in this area. Corn projections were around 185 bushel to the acre and this was pretty close to the average we received. Down corn was again a problem for some farmers, but not to the extent it was for some in Piatt County.
Strong nearby basis during the latter part of harvest provided us with the opportunity to start picking up our corn pile at the end of October. The weather wasn’t very cooperative, but the crew managed to get it picked up by November 8th. Considering the amount of rain and fog that the corn pile encountered, it came up in fairly good shape.
Since taking over the Marketing Pool in late summer, I have had the opportunity to meet some patrons in our trading area that I haven’t had the privilege of meeting before. I hope to get around this winter and meet more of you. The 2000 Pool customers at this time are showing a net $2.30 per bushel on corn and $5.66 per bushel on soybeans with an average LDP included in these figures, and upside protection on these bushels into early spring. If anyone is interested in signing up for our 2001 Market Pool, or has any questions about this year’s Market Pool, please give me a call at 1-800-955-2180.
By Vanessa Stinson
Hello, from LaPlace. We are glad this harvest is over and done. I don’t think that we had enough gray tape to cover the holes that were made from all of the dirty grain that came in, which was caused by Mother Nature in early August, when she came through with a couple of doozey storms and blew all of the corn down. Well, we made it through and your LaPlace facility took in 504,677 bushels of soybeans and 1,822,457 bushels of corn. We were long on our bean projection and short on our corn estimates. Looks like the Cisco crew won the ”Most Dumps” award this year. That is great! We have been giving it back and forth to one another since Mr. Thomas started giving out the toilet seat award.
We would like to recognize and thank the part time help that dedicated many hours to us this year. In the office, Angela Warnick, Barbie Roper, Amy McCoy and Gretchen Stinson were our helpers. Outside, David Roper, Josh Shuey, and Jason Mann assisted Randy. Thank you for all your dedication and hard work. We could not have done it without you.
Now that harvest is over, we are working hard on getting the pile at LaPlace picked up and on getting the new project going. So, maybe next year, we will have the new bean complex and scale house completed.
On the home front, the girls and Keith are all doing fine. Nicolle is keeping us busy by playing basketball and cheering 4 nights a week. Gretchen is working at Twe and attending Richland College. Ashley is babysitting a lot. We are all getting excited about the holiday season. Our family would like to wish all of you a very happy holiday season.
Last of all, we here in LaPlace, would like to welcome the crew and customers of Monticello to our great establishment. Whenever you are in this area, stop in and introduce yourself to us.
Everyone have a great winter!
By Debbie Bryant
A long time ago, when I was in school, I thought that the year 2000 seemed far, far away. Well --- it was! Now, it has been here and is almost gone! I think that this has been the fastest year yet.
It’s really quiet here now at the Atwood location. It seems like every year, we look forward to the harvest season and when it gets here, it passes quickly and then it’s too quiet again.
We had a good crew this fall in Atwood. Outside, were J. W. Jacobs, Matthew Dick, Luke Imlay and Tim Pouder. J.W. was here with us during the entire season, and Matt, Luke, and Tim were each here during part of the season. In the office, I was very fortunate to get to work with Barb Holt. I would like to thank each of our harvest helpers for all of their hard work. I know that it isn’t easy to have a temporary job where there are a lot of things to learn for just a short time, but they all did a real good job. Thanks, again.
I’d like to welcome Monticello Grain, their customers and employees to the Topflight Grain family.
As you probably know by now, Gary Norman resigned from Topflight Grain in November to take another job. It’s hard to say goodby to a good employee, but I wish him good luck at his new job.
I would also like to welcome Brock Casteel, Keith Whitaker, and Mark Meyer to Topflight Grain. Brock will be taking Gary Norman’s position; Keith will be working in the Bement office; Mark has been working in the Monticello office.
Please plan to join us on December 21, for our holiday open house.
The Atwood location would like to take this opportunity to say Thank You for your business this year and to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season.
By Louie Tieman
Well, it’s newsletter time and Vanessa hasn’t called to see what I was going to write about. Flower’s One just old me ‘Ness was on vacation.
I dated my days as harvest started so I could remember things as they unfolded. First load of corn was from “ole” Jack Gallivan, (not really “old”, Jack) on August 31st. Jack always wanted to be first at Milmine. Mark Morgan started on corn the day after Labor Day at 22.1% moisture. First beans were by Jim Fendley on September 8th.
Okay, here’s how things unfolded here at Milmine:
Sept 13 – Janet James said Milmine was her favorite choice elevator to haul into. That was the day Dick Thomas was over here and she told him so. Janet said if she was mentioned in the newsletter again, she wanted something positive instead of negative.
Sept 15 – This gentleman said his house was like a big old barn nowadays since his kids weren’t there anymore. His wife doesn’t like to hear him say that. That’s my buddy Tim Donovan.
Sept 16 – I was talking to Jeff Bradley about getting my World Series tickets, for the Cardinals. Jeff said, “The last time the Cubs won the division, he had hair.” He took off his cap and showed me his bald head.
Sept 18 – Roger and Michael started getting ready to build Mount Milmine.
Sept 20 – After a short rain, Rosey Brandenburg made a Christmas ornament out of Sam’s broken combine snout. That was a good idea and I’m sure there could be a few more ornaments out there, right Johnny Bill?
Sept 21st – I didn’t know, but picking up the down corn was like playing football for the Dallas Cowboys. First and ten, do it again, Sam would tell Shirley. She thought she was a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys. How would the hairdresser know that, Shirley?
Sept 22 – Wilma Fendley, back up to her “old tricks”. I watched her drive by the scale empty, until she got ½ mile south of the office and turned around and came back to weigh empty. How many times has she done that?
Sept 24 – Joyce Hendrix wants to know what time the steaks would be done. She said she’d leave Chuck and the kids home.
Sept 25 – Sam Brandenburg talking about a pressurized water extinguisher to carry on a combine. Sounded like a good idea to me. Francis Durbin carries a 3 gallon water sprayer on his.
Sept 26 – Dave “the Shark” Thompson said we would have $2.20 corn and $6.00 beans in February.
Joyce Hendrix wanted to know if it would be okay for Josh to park the old grain truck at the office in Bement when he gets his drivers license.
Sept 27 – Jake Moore, checking out the Journal Republican for divorced women. He wants to be on Jerry Springer Show, right, Misty?
Oct 1 – Henry Larson hauled in corn to Milmine and told me he was 39 again. I was just wondering though, how many times, Henry?
Oct 2 – I wanted to get my 2 cents worth in. Who brought that truck in empty and thought it had corn in it? Misty told Teri she thought she’d poke a hole in the bed of the truck. Teri says, “I’ll get the bucket and go get some.” Turned around and told Misty it was empty. That X-Postmaster got his 2 cents Worth! Bill, who?
Oct 3 – The bell started ringing by itself and I said it was spooks. Misty said it was a short in the wires.
Linda Born said she met the sheriff on the road again and that was the second time and with no license on her.
Oct 4 – The FSA office had a Halloween hard candy dish and Pam Morgan got a little scared I heard. I won’t tell, Pam.
Oct 5 – 461.275. Ask Jennie Belton if these numbers mean anything. Don Thompson and I had a nice little talk.
Oct 7 – Called Roger Briggs to wish him a Happy Birthday, but Alice said he was gone, but said “it would be a good one.”
A little cold today, Linda Born had to put her coat on to get out and help fix the combine. And all these years, I thought Duane was the mechanic.
Oct 8 – I won’t tell anyone that “CARDA” from Cisco ran out of gas on Sunday. It’s okay, Danny, we’ve all done that.
Oct 10 – 8:35 AM. Curt Harshberger, paying off his bet. He brought a load of beans all the way from Atwood to Milmine. He bet me, on June 3rd, that if I was still running when the sun came up (at the Relay for Life), he’d bring a load to Milmine. That was midnight when he made it, and I’ll tell ya, I was beginning to wonder if the sun was ever going to come up.
Jane Bradley, throwing paper confetti all over the place. It was her last load, because Bob made her retire. Fore!!!!
Oct 11 – Tried to get Richard Steele’s autograph, on his Herald & Review picture on the front page.
Oct 12 – Linda Bowlby wants her credit that is due her. She is a features editor for a Christian paper.
Oct 13 – Friday the 13th – the White Tiger, or “Torch”, as he is known by now, told Misty he was taking beans to Burrowsville. Misty said she’d never heard of it, so Dad had to get a Topflight pamphlet to show her we did have a Burrowsville elevator.
A Bolsen enjoyed hauling to Milmine because Misty hands out the tickets. Not this Friday the 13th, Wilma said he was hauling manure.
Driest corn ever at 11.9%, out of the field, by Bob Bowlby.
Oct 18 – Bob Bowlby brought a ham that was already cooked for the employees at Milmine. It was great!
Oct 21 – Chalmer and Joyce neither one mentioned they got an Schwann’s ice cream bar.
Oct 22 – Misty left for Tennessee tonight at 9:30 PM. Got home at 1:58 AM and said she cried all the way to Tuscola. Sure does miss her Daddy.
Oct 27 – Mr. Jake and Luke Imlay going to get cranked up this afternoon on 300 acres of corn for ‘Ness. Who’s Henry R?
Oct 28 – Duane Born went up and helped Sam Brandenburg cut 250 acres of beans. Duane said it was the biggest bean field he’d ever been in. It was like cutting a wheat field in Kansas.
Nov 22 – last load of grain.
Nov 30 – Newsletter deadline and I’m just finishing mine up. Bigger is better, Chuck won’t have to write anything because mine is probably going to take up his space.
Thanks for all of your support of Topflight Grain. At the end of this, a special thanks, to my daughter, Misty, for helping me this harvest and for her husband, David, in showing and giving her support for the harvest season. Everyone of my family now, has worked at Topflight Grain Company.
PS Topflight Grain, would you please put a RED tractor on your calendars next year? F.D.
By Eric Clements
Harvest, as we all know seems to provide us with new and different challenges each year. This year, one of the biggest was to patch all the holes in our elevators. Everyday someone would call about a spout or leg leaking corn all over the place. When a spout gets a hole, it always seems to be thirty feet out in no man’s land. If you wonder what we do all winter, patching these holes is one of those jobs. Our company has 57 legs. During harvest, there is a lot of grain being moved around.
We had two corn piles this year. Emery had about 300,000 bushel piled just east of the elevator and Milmine had 400,000 bushel south of the elevator. We have both of these piles picked up and in our elevators. We finished up the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. So, we had a lot to be thankful for again this year. How much corn can we pick up in one day? One Saturday, at Milmine, we started at 7:00 and at 2:30, we had picked up 75,000 bushels. It is sure nice to have the good equipment we have, when we do these kinds of projects.
I would like to thank all of the part time help for their hard work this harvest. We really couldn’t do all this with out their help. I also want to thank the truckers for another job well done.
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
By Russel Wright
Harvest 2000 is one we will talk about for years to come, or at least until next year. In the Pierson and Atwood area, there was a lot of corn that was down. Thank goodness, no one got in a hurry and got hurt trying to push the corn into their combines. A lot of corn reels were bought or borrowed.
Harvest time is always a busy time, and of course, we couldn’t to it without good part time help. This year, at the Pierson facility, we had Luke Imlay, Ken Hug, Todd Adcock, Curtis Lawhorn, Lisa Dirks, and Stacey Lehew. A big thank you to all of you, as well as to Gray, Willard, Benny, and Gloria. At Lanton, Steve Jacobs and Chris Canull did a wonderful job there as well. And at Burrowsville, Tonya Huggler and Paul Kaufman did a good job, also.
After harvest, we said goodbye to Gary Norman. I hate to see him go, because he was always doing the necessary things to get the job done, from dumping grain, to fixing motors, to putting the tarps on the ground piles. So, Gary, thank you for all the hard work and dedication you gave to Topflight Grain. We wish you and your family well in your new job.
Please welcome Brock Casteel, a Lovington, Coalmine Road native, to Topflight Grain. He brings experience to us from working at ADM. Stop in and visit with him and welcome him to the Topflight family.
On the home front, Debby and I welcomed a new granddaughter, Tatum Abigail Auth, born November 11, 2000 to Sarah and Tedd Auth. Tatum has 2 brothers that I know will teach her all the ropes. Matt and Jodi live in Ivesdale and they are expecting their second child, a playmate for Zachary. Marcus lives in Bement and works in Champaign. Paul lives at home, still does some golfing and works in Champaign.
Everyone have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at Pierson.
By Pam Jarboe
Chuck & I had the opportunity to fly to Denver, Colorado, then drive to a meeting in Fort Collins. The meeting was about some Internet programs that would allow you to access some of your grain records, as well as watch the weather, calculate your farming costs, and even arrange a loan from John Deere. It was a fascinating meeting. We were surrounded by people that are thousands of times smarter than we are about the Internet and about computers. They showed us some of the customary pages, such as weather and markets, but then tied them together on one “dash board” that contained the CBOT prices, our prices, your grain balances & contracts, and your grain offers. You could also input your production records with dates, chemicals, seed and tillage practices, to calculate costs on each field. Using protected passwords, your landowners could then view their own field to check the progress. Given other protected passwords, your input supplier could key in dates and chemicals as they provide services. Then they talked about a wireless Internet provider. We have been talking to them also, and are excited about the possibility of faster communications, for Topflight Grain, and for our rural customers.
The trip, on the other hand, was the kind you always hear about. Our first flight left Bloomington three hours late, so we missed our flight to Denver. The first flight they could schedule us on was at 9:00 PM that evening. (This was about 11:00). Finally, we were able to catch the next plane out, at 4:00, by waiting on the stand by list. We made it to Fort Collins too late for the group dinner, but we enjoyed a good steak at a nearby restaurant.
Coming home the next day, our flight left Denver about 45 minutes late. However. . . . they did bump us up to First Class!! That was wonderful!! The seats were wider, we had room to move, service was excellent, the food was a meal (rather than a small sack of pretzels), and my wine glass never went empty! Maybe this wasn’t so bad afterall!! We arrived in St. Louis with sufficient time to catch our flight back to Bloomington. But, alas, our luggage didn’t arrive until two days later. It got pretty ugly in the Bement office – Chuck without his razor, and me without my make-up!!
It was good to get back home. We enjoyed the meeting, but the traveling was absolutely no fun.
We hope your Holidays are exciting as our meeting was, and that they are as classy as our First Class Flight! May you have time with friends and family, and may your glass of happiness never go empty!
Merry Christmas to all of you.
Topflight Grain welcomes three new employees: Keith Whitaker, Brock Casteel, and Mark Meyer.
I am really thankful for the opportunity that I have been given to come to work at Topflight Grain at Bement. I have always been involved with something in agriculture industry. I grew up on our family grain farm and was in FFA, football, and track in high school. I graduated from Illinois State University in 1988 with a B.S. in Agriculture. After college, I worked in soil surveys in Fayette and Moultrie counties. My wife, Laura, and I married in 1989, and after the Moultrie County Soil Survey, I went to work at Moultrie Grain at Cadwell, Illinois, for seven years, doing settlements, merchandising, and daily position work. My wife and I have two sons, Kirk, who is five and Parker, who will be two in January. I am really looking forward to getting to know all of you as soon as I possibly can, and look forward to serving to the best of my ability.
By Russell Wright
Please welcome to the Topflight family, Brock Casteel. Brock is a Lovington, Illinois native, having grown up north of Lovington along the Coal Mine road, just down the road and around the corner from Byron Boddy. Brock’s parents are Berle and Linda Casteel. He has two brothers, Luke and Dirk. He graduated from Lovington High School in 1997, playing on the basketball and soccer teams. After graduating from Lakeland College in 1999, Brock accepted a job with ADM. While at ADM, he worked at various ADM plants along the Mississippi and Illinois River systems. He brings to Topflight, valuable experience and grain knowledge. His duties here at Topflight will be supervising work at Pierson, Atwood, LaPlace, as well as at Lanton, Burrowsville, LaPlace, Lake City, & Smiths bin site. Brock is also the safety director for all Topflight locations. He has several hobbies, such as tractor pulls, hunting, and on occasion, a little basketball. So, if Topflight ever gets a basketball team together, Brock will most likely be the center. Stop by at Pierson, or call him and welcome him to the Topflight Grain family.
It was with much regret that we said goodbye to Gary Norman. Gary was the Outside Operations Manager for the elevators in the south part of the Topflight trade area, and the Safety Director for the entire company. He was good at fixing what was broken, office remodeling, and organizing the safety manuals for the each location. Dave Conlin, former manager of Pierson, told the story that when he hired Gary, he gave him a job for a couple of days, while he was still in high school. After 23 years, Gary decided it was time to move on to a different job and different skills.
There are only two things to worry about – either you are well, or you are sick. If you are well, then there is nothing to worry about. But if you are sick, there are two things to worry about. Either you will get well, or you will die. If you get well, there is nothing to worry about. If you die, there are only two things to worry about. Either you will go to heaven or hell. If you go to heaven, there is nothing to worry about. But if you go to hell, you’ll be so darn busy shaking hands with friends, you won’t have time to worry!
Letters from our friends . .
.
From Debby Wright . . . .
Say what you want about the Illinois flat land, but come fall, there is nothing better than to wake up to the cool crisp mornings and feel the warm sunny afternoons, the good, clean, crisp air of fall around you. Then, enjoy the most beautiful sunsets with all the glorious colors you will ever hope to see. Then be able to enjoy the clear starry nights. Wow!!! That’s fall in Illinois!
(one of our fall employees)
I have enjoyed working at the Piatt elevator. I appreciate the work and the opportunity to work with my brother; something we haven’t done since we were kids at home on the farm.
Even the port-a-potty brought back memories. When I was a small child, you waited until it warmed up before you went to the potty, when it was cold. I had only one fear of the port-a-potty – that was a grain truck would run into it with me in it!
Thanks a lot!
Congratulations to . . .
Tedd and Amanda Romine, parents of a new son, Colton Michael;
Pam and Brent Buckalew, parents of a new daughter, Cansas Jordan;
Mr and Mrs Junior Traxler, newlywed in October;
Sid James, noted and quoted in the Decatur Herald on September 26;
Richard Steele, noted and quoted in the Decatur Herald on September 26;
Nancy Cain, noted and quoted in the Decatur Herald’s “A reader remember: the farmers;
Topflight Grain, recipient of the Growmark Top Shipper Award, shipping over 15,000,000 bushels of grain last year:
Andy & Kelly Foran, parents of a new daughter, Summer Rose;
Trent & Jenny Brandenburg, parents of a new daughter, Mia;
Darren & Angie Powell, parents of new daughter, Taylor;
Tedd & Sarah Auth, parents of a new daughter, Tatum Abigail;
Our sympathies to
The
families of . . . .
Margaret Caroll
Robert Catlin
Ray Walsh
Verna Lawson
Dorothy Sheets
Stephen Stelzriede
Florence White
Charles Baker, Sr.
Ruth Goodmon Hardimon
Paul Morgan
Warren McPherson
Roy Zindars
Lu Taylor
And all others who have lost loved ones.
By Richard Thomas
As we started to write this newsletter, I learned that Ray Walsh had passed away. If there ever was someone who had nine lives, it would be Ray. He had been battling cancer for several years, and not too long ago had gone to New York for some special treatment. I sat next to him at our last Lions Club meeting and asked him how he was feeling. He replied by saying other than getting a little tired from time to time, he was getting along just fine. So, it was a surprise to me when they said he had a heart attack and had to have by pass surgery. I knew he would come through just fine, because he always told me, “You just need to keep a positive attitude and think you can beat whatever your challenge in life might be, and you’ll overcome it.” And he always did. This time, I guess some complications must have happened that he couldn’t overcome.
I’d just like to say that Ray was a good customer. Ray and his boys farmed several thousand acres and had lots of farm storage, so he could have gone direct if he had wanted. In all the years, I’ve managed this company, Ray hauled all of his grain to one of our elevators.
Ray and Patty had just celebrated their golden wedding anniversary and the whole family was there. He had told me at the Lions Club meeting what a great time he had. His daughter-in-law had made a video out of some pictures and put it to music. Ray said they laughed and cried through the whole video. You see, Ray and Patty had 10 children and they were his most prized possession. Oh, he had his antique tractors, lots of land and machinery, but his kid, grandkids, and great-grandkids were what he enjoyed the most. I never once ever heard him say anything negative about his children. Now, you know, having ten kids, they don’t always do what you expect the to, but Ray, at least in public, never let on like they ever had an argument or disagreement. I know he could never understand why one of his daughters was taken away from him at such an early age, but he enjoyed watching her daughter grow up to be quite a nice young lady.
Ray will be missed by many because he was a pillar of the community. He served on many boards in different organizations. His decisions and knowledge were respected by everyone. I’d just like to say, in closing, that I really respected Ray. Yes, he was a tough negotiator, but he was fair.
As of the 1st of December, we merged Monticello Grain in with Topflight Grain. This all started back at the end of May when Monticello’s manager resigned. With the backing from the Topflight board, Topflight’s manager approached the president of Monticello’s board to let him know we would be interested in talking to them about a merger. After several meetings, the Monticello board thought that Topflight’s culture fit better with them than others they had talked to about mergers, manage agreements, and out right sale. Topflight then signed a management agreement with Monticello Grain with the understanding, that after harvest, a merger would be taken to the Monticello stockholders. The merger vote passed on November 15, by a 80% majority. The Topflight stockholders didn’t have to vote on the merger because Monticello’s common stock was less than 20% of Topflight’s common stock. This would be called an “up stream merger”.
Topflight Grain thinks that with some changes, the addition of Monticello could add another $200,000 to their profits. The office staff at Monticello will be reduced from five, down to one. The computer system that Monticello had will be replaced by Topflight’s existing system. For the time being, the outside employees will remain the same. Topflight plans to have a branch manager at Seymour who can buy grain, and write the checks.
Two directors from the Monticello board, Ron Meece and Tim Menacher, will be added to the Topflight board, making a board of 13 people. With the addition of Monticello Grain’s 3.1 million bushels of storage, it will raise Topflight Grain’s permanent storage capacity to a little over 18 million bushels. Since Seymour is located on the IC railroad, it gives another means to arbitrage grain. With the addition of Monticello’s people to Topflight Grain’s staff, it makes a total of 38 full time employees.
And don’t cheat!!!
You should have a three digit number. The first digit of this was your original number (how many times you want to eat out each week). The second two digits are your age.
Topflight Grain has worked out an agreement with Sadler Feed Mill in Ogden to run the feed mill, now named The Feed Store. Jodie Huls is managing the store, which carries an extensive line of dog food, bird seed, and livestock feed. Hours of The Feed Store are Mondays & Fridays 9 – 6; Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday 9 – 5; and Saturday 9 – 2. Jodie offers curb service. If you can’t make the walk from your car to the store, honk your horn and she’ll come running!
Turning sixty at Topflight Grain is quite a celebration!!! Three lucky employees were honored during the fall, as they reached that important milestone!
On November 10, we celebrated Manager Richard Thomas’s birthday! The “birthday elves” adorned his office in balloons, confetti, streamers, a walker, and a basket of supplies. During the day, many people called to wish him Happy Birthday, and to visit about past associations.
On October 14, Garold Hilligoss was honored at Cisco, for his 60th birthday. Mikki and Garold’s wife had delicious peach, cherry and coconut cream pies to celebrate the occasion.
November 22 was Gary Hunter’s 60th birthday, which was another occasion for balloons and cake in the Cisco office.
Congratulations to all of these employees who have reached another significant decade, and have contributed so much to Topflight Grain.
Gary Hunter participated in the FFA auction, held at the Cisco Center, in November. Gary brought home two of the valuable pies, one cherry pie and one coconut cream pie, at $40.00 each. He said they were mighty delicious!
A LETTER FROM GRANDMA . . .
Got a letter from Grandma the other day. She writes . . . . the other day, I went up to a local Christian bookstore and saw a “honk of you love Jesus” bumper sticker. I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting, so I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper. Boy, I’m glad I did! What an uplifting experience followed! I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good He is . . . and I didn’t notice that the light had changed. It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus, because if he hadn’t honked, I’d never had noticed! I found that lots of people love Jesus! While I was sitting there, the guy behind me started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, “For the love of God, go! Go!! Jesus Christ! Go!!!” What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus! Everyone started honking. I just leaned out of my window and started waving and smiling at all these loving people. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love. There must have been a man from Florida back there, because I heard him yelling something about a “sunny beach”. I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air. I asked my teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant, and he said that it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign, or something. Well, I’ve never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back. My grandson burst out laughing . . he was enjoying this religious experience, too! A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed. So, I waved to all my sister and brothers grinning, and drove on through the intersection. I noticed I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again and I felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared, so I slowed the car down, leaned out of the window and gave them all the Hawaiian good lick sign one last time as I drove away. Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!
Grandma
RISK MANAGEMENT SEMINAR
High protection crop insurance will be the focus of a Risk Management Seminar, sponsored by Topflight Grain & Strategic Farm Marketing. The meeting will explain crop insurance and present strategies for maximizing crop returns with crop insurance and government programs.
The first meeting will be at the Hammond Community Building on Wednesday, December 20, at 8:30 am. The second meeting will be the same day, Wednesday, December 20, at 1:00 pm, in the Monticello office of Topflight Grain. Reservations are encouraged. Please call your local Topflight office for more information, or to make reservations.
The information presented at these meetings can provide income protection for your farm, utilizing programs available through the insurance company and the government. They use examples and “what-if” charts to explain the examples and aid your decisions. Please join us for these meetings, that will insure your bottom line.
ADOPTED CLASS
As each new school year begins, we anticipate another exciting year, with our adopted second grade class. Meeting each of the students is such a pleasure and all of the activities are fun for us, as well as for them.
Early in September, soon after school begins, the 2nd grade classes come to the elevator and learn a little about the grain business, growing corn and beans, and about the cooperative plan of business. Following a tour of the office and the elevator, they settle in to a big box of popcorn. That popcorn tends to be the best part of the visit, despite our efforts to teach them about our business!!!
On November 2, Joyce, Eric, and Pam accompanied the class to Curtiss Orchard. Mrs. Curtiss (the former Joyce Day from Bement) described the numerous apple trees and pumpkins they grow on their farm. The students listened intently as she explained how important the honey bee was to apple production, including the types of bees in the hive, how Mr. Curtiss harvests the honey, and how a new queen bee is introduced to the hive. After the “learning session”, she led the tour group to the cider press and the apple sorter. Nothing goes to waste in an apple orchard. The best apples are sold and the others are used for cider. The peel and skins, left from the cider press, are recycled as fertilizer on the fields.
Mr. Curtiss served apple donuts and apple cider to everyone, then it was time to enjoy the playground, with its amazing maze, hay mow jump, kittens, chickens and little billy goats. It was a fun day, and each student brought home a famous Curtiss Orchard apple.
Topflight Grain received special recognition at the Awards Breakfast, at Bement Schools, for our participation in the Adopted Class program. The experience is a rewarding experience that we enjoy and appreciate.
Topflight Grain will offer, on a first-come/first-served basis, a 20 cent premium for nonGMO beans. Delivery locations will be throughout the Topflight trade area. Please call your local office to confirm these points. This will be an acreage contract and will have a limited availability at each location. More details will be available in the next few weeks.
Topflight Grain will be accepting high oil corn at Bement and Cisco for the 2001 crop. We have a limited amount of bushels available for fall delivery and buyers call. A 20 cent premium for fall delivery and 23 cents for post harvest buyers call delivery will be offered. The premiums are based on 8% oil content and have a sliding scale down to 6% minimum.
Topflight Grain will have NO waxy corn program for the 2001 crop.
If you requested that your grain be assigned to delayed pricing, a DP contract should have accompanied your delivery sheets, when your grain work was processed. It is very important that you sign, date, and return that DP contract to your Topflight office. State grain dealer law requires that DP contracts be signed and dated within 30 days of the last date of delivery. If the contract is not returned to our office within that 30 days, legally, that grain must be priced out, and the check mailed to the producer.
These rules are strictly enforced by the Department of Agriculture. Dates on DP contracts are one of the main violations that occur during a state audit. So, please, please, when you receive a DP contract, sign and date it immediately, and return it to your local grain office.
Loan Deficiency Payments
Due to low grain prices, once again this year, the LDP program is a significant contribution to net farm income. Do not forget to claim this money, due you, based on your crop production. Your delivery sheets are the easiest forms to use, to prove your bushels, date of delivery and ownership of the grain. The FSA office will determine the value of your LDP, based on the forms you signed. Harvest delivery LDPs were 30 – 40 cents a bushel on corn, and reached over $1.00 a bushel on beans.
One recent change, allows a producer to collect LDP after beneficial interest has been lost. The payment will be based on the day beneficial interest was lost, and must be made soon!
If you need help with the paperwork, or don’t know where to start, please call us. We don’t want you to miss the opportunity to increase your profits. This is the third year that LDPs have been so important, and each year, we discover a few customers who were not aware of the program or did not take the time to get the papers submitted to the FSA office. Please, do not allow this income to remain unclaimed to you. Call us if you need assistance, information, or paperwork.
Early in harvest, you should have received a letter from Topflight Grain, explaining our position on waxy corn, Starlink corn, and RoundUp corn. These same policies will apply to the 2001 corn crop, so please be aware and careful as you order seed for the spring planting season. Waxy corn, grown without a contract (and there is no contract for the 2001 year), must be segregated from dent corn and marketed into a feed market, rather than the processor market. Therefore, we ask that you not plant any waxy corn hybrids for delivery to our facilities.
Corn with the Starlink trait was recently found in taco shells, and other food products. These products have been recalled back to the manufacturer, because of possible allergic reactions that could occur when consumed. Starlink was supposed to have been grown for the feeder market only, but it didn’t work that way. Topflight Grain will not accept any corn with the Starlink trait.
RoundUp Ready corn is not accepted in some of the foreign markets. Most of our corn (your corn) is sold into the local processing market, and much of that is exported as food and feed products. Many countries do not want that trait in their corn. Topflight Grain will not accept any RoundUp corn.
If you have any questions about approved and non-approved varieties, please call or visit your local Topflight office. It is very important that you and your company produce a crop that meets the standards of the markets we buy our products.
The 2000 oilseed program sign up is underway. A trip to the FSA office to sign the papers, will net you 14 cents a bushel on your soybean production. You can choose your bushels from your 1997, 1998, or 1999 crop. Be sure to sign up before January 12.
Sign up for the 2001 marketing pool is also underway. Call our marketing pool advisor, Denny Hill, at 1-800-955-2180, if you have any questions, or want to sign up.
With our farm pickup program, you can have your grain picked up at the farm, and delivered to a nearby Topflight facility, for 2 cents a bushel. Please call your local Topflight office to arrange the time and location for the grain to be picked up. If you need a vac, we also rent it out to clean out bin bottoms, etc.
Here is where we’re at on the LaPlace project. We were moving along pretty well until Illinois Power told us it would cost $100,000 to run electricity to our new facility. After some meetings and explanations, they have reduced the price down to $13,500. Then, we are trying to purchase the two lots at the west end of our property to make the traffic flow better. This also has taken a lot of time and meetings with a committee from the board, but we think they just about have some arrangements worked out on the property. It will end up being a benefit to Topflight Grain, as well as the community. Now, we are debating on whether to build a new office, or move the old one.
Anyway, hopefully, by the middle of December, we will be ready to sign a contract to construct 400,000 bushels of storage along with a 12,000 bushel leg and 750 bushel pit just west of our existing bins at LaPlace. Before this can be done, the office and scale will have to be moved. So, it is going to be a major project and will cost, depending on how many scales we put in and if we build a new office, somewhere around $1.3 million. That’s a lot of money for only 400,000 bushels of storage, but we only have so much space. We have provided room for another bin to be built at this site, should the need ever arise.
CORN & BEAN F.M.
Foreign material in corn and beans this year, especially, was, and will continue to be a problem. The poor combining conditions put a lot of dirt in the corn. Corn also had more field damage this year, than usual, once again, due to the strange weather we had.
Beans came in fairly weed free, but many of them contained ground up bits of the beans, that are counted as foreign material. Although those bits are still beans, they sift through the screen that determines the FM dock. Topflight Grain has taken discounts at ADM, for bean FM, the last couple of years, and we noticed more coming in this fall.
If you have farm stored grain, we strongly urge you to monitor it closely. We received delivery from a farm bin, just a few weeks after it had been combined. It was already going out of condition. Part of the problem, this year, will be that air will be difficult to move through the grain, because of the dirt and FM common to this year’s crop. Please, please, watch those farm bins, and let us know, if you have any problem!
This harvest, we stored about 700,000 bushels of corn on the ground, uncovered. We had about 400,000 bushels at Emery and 300,000 bushels at Milmine. This year’s weather didn’t cooperate with us like last year’s weather. Last year, we had corn on the ground that never had any rain on it. This year was a different story. Thank goodness, the basis improved fast and we started picking the corn up in early November. Our goal was to have it all picked up before Thanksgiving and we made it. We have experienced some damage discounts and think we have 10,000 bushels, more or less, of high damage, or sour corn that will be worth little or nothing. We still have 400,000 bushels on the ground at LaPlace that we carried over from last year, that we plan to start picking up the 1st of December. This corn was covered, as is the 300,000 bushels we have on the ground at Pierson from this year.
Our total corn receipts at harvest this year were 12,100,519 bushels, which was up 793,466 bushels over the 1999 corn receipts. Total soybean receipts at harvest were 3,414,560 bushels, which was down 284,462 bushels from the 1999 bean receipts. We bought 55% of the corn delivered at harvest and 42% of the soybeans. If you add the amount of D.P. we have ownership to, you could say we have control of 85% of the corn in our elevators and 60% of the soybeans. The average moisture on corn this year was 16.9%, down 1/2 % from the 1999 crop.
We had to truck or rail out 3,228,121 bushels of corn and 786,812 bushels of soybeans, plus had all the corn on the ground, to be able to handle this year’s harvest.
The Cisco crew reclaimed the “Most Dumps” award, for receiving the most grain during harvest.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
By Richard Thomas
With the merger of Monticello Grain, it will give us 17 locations. We plan on keeping 9 of them open the year around. Then, at harvest time, we plan to open 6 more of the locations. So, with only 38 full time employees, you can see we are going to need lots of part time help. If you know of anyone who would like to work for us part time starting about the 1st of September until the end of October, please let us know. We will have office as well as outside jobs available. In the past, we have been able to use high school students for office help and they work out well. So, if you have, or know of, anyone in high school who wants to earn a little spending money, have them give us a call. We can’t hire anyone under 18 years of age to work outside. If you know of any retired people, looking to make a little extra money, please let us know, or have them call us. It’s not too early to start thinking about harvest help.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR
Topflight Grain offices will be closed December 25, for Christmas, and
January 1, for New Years.
We anticipate most of the January checks to be ready for you on Tuesday, January 2.
Have a Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year!
NAME THAT TEAM
With the football season in full swing, and the Bowl games around the corner, here is an activity to test your football savvy:
Which NFL team does each of the following phrases represent?
Pope’s Men ______________________
Range Riders ______________________
Winged Patriots ______________________
The Moving Crew ______________________
Winter Sleepers _______________________
Heaven’s League ______________________
Seven Squared ______________________
Debits _______________________
Iron Workers _______________________
Visa Experts ________________________
Third Letter Bird of Prey _______________________
Answers to Name that Team
Cardinals
Cowboys
Eagles
Packers
Bears
Saints
49ers
Bills
Steelers
Chargers
Seahawks
If you need a terrific Christmas gift, Action in Piatt County 2000, is the perfect gift for you! It’s a monopoly type game board, featuring businesses in Piatt County, including Topflight Grain. Complete with money, properties and excitement, many people on your gift list would appreciate the home town flavor of this game. For your gift shopping ease, the game is available at the Bement office of Topflight, for only $16.50. Proceeds from the sales of the games, will benefit Faith in Action, a Piatt County Project that coordinates volunteers with seniors that need assistance.
e-Commerce
The hot topic almost everywhere, now, is e-commerce. Some of you ordered Christmas gifts over the Internet. Others have ordered new computers over the Internet. Dick’s son-in-law even purchased his car over the Internet. E-Commerce is also coming to agriculture very quickly. Grain inputs are available on-line, grain markets are available on-line, and e-mail is a quick communication tool.
Topflight Grain bids, company information, and customer pictures are posted on our website at www.topflightgrain.com. Visit it for daily bids, market comments, and the calendar of events.
We’re also investigating other uses of the Internet, for you and us. In November, Chuck & Pam attended a meeting sponsored by John Deere, VantagePoint, PrairieiNet & Agris, to present a new package that would allow the farmer to obtain market prices, Topflight Grain commodity balances, contracts and offers, on one screen. It would be interfacing with our commodity system to obtain your grain information, and interfacing with the CBOT to present your grain prices.
Also included in the package would be a farm record system to track your field operations by date and cost. This information, by field, could be available, then, to your landlords. They, or your input supplier, would have access to these records, only through your authorization. This could be another way to communicate with your landlords. It would also allow your chemical and fertilizer dealer to update your records as they perform services for you.
PrairieiNet is a wireless Internet communication, available in Iowa and areas of Illinois. They use towers on the local elevators for the communication towers that provide a faster connection to the Internet. We are researching this tool, as it may be a method for our office computers to communicate, as well as the communication tool for the Internet. It may be a useful tool for producers also, desiring faster connectivity to the Internet.
CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE
Please join us for Holiday
treats and beverages, at each Topflight office, on
Thursday, December 21