Topflight Grain Cooperative

NIGHT AND DAY

By Scott Docherty

This year versus last year is like night and day, we have all lived through record grain, fertilizer and fuel prices. December corn traded from a high of $7.99 down to $2.90 and beans from $16.60 down to $7.80 in 6 month’s time. This type of price movement is unprecedented!!

Our harvest receipts were down on corn with all the water damage from last spring. We dumped 23.4 million bushels of corn and 4.8 million bushels of soybeans and the fall of 2008 was the latest harvest I can ever remember. We were still dumping grain the last week of November and we purchased a record amount of natural gas for our dryers. The average moisture was 2 points wetter this fall with the late planting season which meant our drying revenues were also higher than we had budgeted. Our seasonal line of credit has also done a 180 degree turn around with the market change so interest expense will also be better than anticipated. I know a lot of you couldn’t wait to finish 2008 and start another year, I just hope planting and growing season goes much smoother than last year.

Topflight has scheduled our Focus meeting so we can provide some marketing and crop insurance information. I attended a FSA meeting recently and it sure looks like the Government wants to get more involved in your operation if you want to use their farm Program. Farming is definitely not getting any easier with all the variables and programs that are offered to help with your bottom line. Topflight Grain will continue to educate our staff on these programs and become liaisons for our patrons.

Remember at the end of the day you have to be comfortable with your decisions and lock in profits for your operation. Third party risk is another concern for Topflight Grain as companies struggle to turn a profit and maintain financial stability, so we all have to be careful of whom we do business with and make sure that they will be there for us when grain is delivered.

One of Topflight Grain objectives is to build Working Capital, which has been a focus area the past 12 months. We all know that the volatility in the past year that challenged our ability to keep expanding our seasonal line without building working capital is not a viable plan. Another goal for Topflight Grain is to continue to build storage but also we need to upgrade our legging and conveying capacities as well. Our patrons continue to increase harvesting capacities faster than Topflight has the ability to increase its capacities.

Every year is different and it seems as if each year we deal with a different quality issue. This year since we dried every bushel we are receiving high foreign material and broken corn grades on all the corn we are shipping. We understand that it is just not in our territory but throughout the Midwest and all the grain industry.

Annie will be starting track as she finishes 8^th grade and Dillon will be graduating from High School this spring. Serge is working fulltime and knocks on wood staying healthy the past year and continues with his dialysis treatments. Denise is still volunteering and keeps very busy with the kid’s schedule. Spring is just around the corner so I am looking forward to that first round of golf.

Remember that a positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort!

ATWOOD HAPPENINGS

by Russel Wright

Harvest of 2008 didn’t get started until September 19, when Atwood got its first load of new corn. This was almost two weeks later than normal. The corn came in wet, so the dryer was fired up. Our first load of beans came in September 22, but they were a little wet also, so bean harvest didn’t get started till September 24. With harvest getting a late start; it was looking like our Thanksgiving dinner would be served at the elevator. It seemed the dryer never shut down, except to clean it and do a little maintenance on it. But alas, harvest was over and the last load of corn was brought in November 19, two months from the start. Your Atwood elevator had their biggest corn receipt day ever, on October 17 when 93,744 bu of corn was delivered. Now that might not sound like a lot for a bigger facility, but when there are only two legs receiving grain that is a lot. We also had the award for the largest harvest receipts increase over last year. Even though we had to share with Emery, it was most appreciated. The Atwood harvest crew of Roger Benner, Kim Benner, Zac Grau, Dustin Parrish, Christy Taylor-Rahn, Bill and my self wants to extend a big THANK YOU, to everyone that patronized this facility, it is most appreciated.

Now the winter months are upon us, we have been receiving grain from farm storage. So far the quality of the grain has been really good, despite the higher moisture of the corn that was harvested.

Now for something entirely different, Rockies Express pipeline has been digging during the late summer, all fall and part of the winter, installing a new pipeline south of Route 36. This pipeline will be carrying natural gas from the gas fields in Wyoming all the way to Ohio. This has been a giant undertaking with lots of equipment. What’s interesting is that they will bore under the Mississippi River, but dam up and pipe the water around when they go through the Lake Fork and Kaskaskia Rivers. This project will hopefully be done by the summer sometime.

Ground Hog day has come and gone, and the furry little creature saw his shadow, so six more months of winter, but if you do the math, it is six more weeks till spring anyhow. Do you know the significance of Ground Hog Day? It is a cross-quarter date, meaning midway between a solstice and an equinox. There are four cross-quarter dates through out the year and each is a minor holiday. But don’t get your hopes up for getting those days off. The first one is Ground Hog Day, Feb 2, May Day, May 1, Lammas Day, Aug 1, and Halloween, Oct 31. A little bit of trivia for you.

Spring field work isn’t to far off, so everyone have a safe planting season. Stop by and enjoy a cup of coffee and have some popcorn.

LAPLACE HARVEST

By Vanessa Stinson

Hello from LaPlace. We hope that your harvest went well.

2008 is going to be one of those years that we talk about for along time. I think it has been the most messed up one that I have seen in the 28 years that I have been working in the grain business. Your LaPlace facility took 3.6 million bushels of corn and 560,000 bushels of soybeans . We met our projections and want to thank each and everyone of you for the business.

Now that 2009 is finally here we are shipping grain to the processors so that we can make room for the grain that is to come in from the farm. We are offering free dp on beans until August 31^st and corn until April 30^th.

On the home front our last child has graduated from college. Nicolle graduated from Eastern University on December 20^th. With that and the holidays we had a busy month. Nicolle is subbing at a lot of the Piatt county schools at this time. Gretchen is still with the Kroger Company. She told me the other day her job now is to make sure all of the recalled peanut butter products are off the shelves. Ashley is with the Macon County Health Dept and likes it very much. Keith is still waiting to get that new boat out on the lake.

We at Laplace hope that all of you have a great spring.

HELLO FROM MILMINE

By Terry Kuhn

I was hired in mid December, after the harvest madness was completed. With Vanessa not having enough time to help me with Agris, I was afraid to “practice” with it not knowing what havoc I could create. Obviously, I (and others) am glad that I didn’t practice. Rick filled me in on the basic weigh in a truck method when he wasn’t taking care of the outside. The next mission was getting to know the regular farmers that were coming in for coffee and conversation. Having no trucks gave me time to get to know the office and get back into keeping up on what’s happening in the world grain market.

Picking up the grain pile and transferring it to Bement in late January and early February kept it interesting to get into a faster pace along with farmers bring in the free DP corn. Thanks to Paul Peeler, Andy Parsons and Pat Lake for keeping the trucks busy on the road, not waiting at the pile. After the pile was picked up and the farmers stopped bringing in corn on the same day, the office was quiet.

My wife Susan and two boys Alex and Andy (7 and 6 years old) are still living in Rushville, IL. We are waiting for our house to sell so they can move back to this area of the state. She will be looking for a Special Ed. teaching position or sub for the rest of the semester if we move soon.

WINDMILLS

By Gloria Litwiller

I believe in my last article, I mentioned that my grandsons moved to Colfax. In order to get to their house from here you have to travel right through the wind farm in McLean County. So when I travel through there and see these massive blades on these wind mills and I look across the land, I think about the little ole windmills on each and every farm. My oldest grandson, Michael, started asking a lot of questions about these things and I couldn’t answer a lot of the questions. I mentioned the word internet and the next thing I knew he was on the computer reading about these massive things. I happen to come across a science kit about these at Barnes and Noble while Christmas shopping. I got that for him for Christmas. It consisted of building one and then doing about 8-10 experiments with it. So as he opened it up on Christmas, he corrected me, that these are wind turbans and not wind mills. So as we got to talking about the differences of turbans and mills, I asked Michael to go look out the window at the backyard. When he was there he noticed a wind mill that stands in our neighbors’ backyard. He asked why it was there. I explained to him how they used to be on all the farms to pump water. Years ago you could look out across the country and see a wind mill on each farm, now you look out across the county and you see a farm of wind turbans. Here is a poem I come across.

THE AMERICAN WINDMILL BY: Ray Meyers

Born ahead of their time,

Windmills predated ecology;

When pumping water with wind:

Was just a dream of technology.

Man’s harness on the wind,

Born of industrial revolution;

Turned the gears of the twentieth century:

To water pumping revolution.

They pumped water from a well,

To a cistern or a tank;

Found on deep paths to the barn:

Where tired horses bowed and drank.

Windmills dotted the prairie,

Every farm it seems to have one;

Serving cool refreshing water:

When a hard day’s work was done.

With tails astern that pierced the wind,

When winds changed they would drone;

Moaning brakes in eerie-gusty- dark nigh;

Shivered spines of those home alone.

On a wheel with it’s sails spinning free unfurled,

A wheel in the wind’s embrace;

Sometimes rocking just half turns:

To the wind’s uncertain pace.

The legs were tripods, most had four,

Or wooden towers ten feet high;

Some reached to eighty feet high, some more:

Catching winds up in the sky.

Their ladders were a thrill of adventure,

When wobbly rungs would break;

Or the pump rod would set to motion:

And the tower would nudge then quake.

There was Aermotro Crop, Chicago, and Butler,

Fairbury, Dempster, and Star;

Sears-Kenwood and Montogomery Ward:

Bur Eurica was cheaper by far.

There was Sandwich wheeler, and Haladay,

Eclipse had sails of wood;

Pumping water for railroads and cattle:

Devoted to duty they stood.

Eurica boasted and economy kit,

You assembled it yourself;

Butler competed with zinc coated steel:

Ball bearings gave it stealth.

Then Sears came out with Kenwood,

The affordable steel machine;

Montgomery Ward’s answer, a twenty dollar steel kit:

That you assembled to keep the price lean.

Aermotors steel was galvanized,

It had cups to oil the machine;

Farirbury and Dempster closed in nineteen sixty:

And ended their wind blown dream.

With whiskey bottles of oil in hand,

We oiled windmills in younger days;

Cowboys climbing windmill towers found:

Height advantage for finding strays.

Yet it’s hard feeling romantic about windmills,

Fixing em on a cold winter’s day;

With your fingers froze tight to a tower of ice, from cols:

Or fright maybe would you say????

But like into a Spieldberg Movie,

When you thought the American Windmill was dead:

I’ts reborn to create electricity:

With a tall sleek three bladed head.

Debbie Drake, mother of our outside operator, Randy Drake, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Debbie started treatments in mid-January. Everybody probably knows Randy’s dad, Jerry. Jerry was almost a permanent fixture around Pierson, until he decided to retire in March 2008. Jerry was a floater operator for United Prairie for many years and before that he was with the Terra fertilizer plant in Hammond. So, Jerry knows every field, land owner and farmer around for miles. Debbie is undergoing both chemo and radiation at the same time. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Debbie, Jerry, and family. There will be a benefit for the family to help with medical costs.

STAY TRUE

By Amy Brammer

The big news right now is that Brenden turned 1 year old this month! Has it really been a year? Seems like just yesterday that Elliott and I sat watching our new born son, not having a clue in the world what we were doing! I guess we are doing OK so far as he is walking, talking, and eating regular food right on schedule!

On the work front it has been a busy 6-7 months since the last newsletter. The scenery in the Bement office changed in August as Scott, Chuck, and Rodd moved to the Monticello office; the never ending harvest hit; and then Pam and I (with lots of words of wisdom and borrowed equipment from Jim!) went to work on the Bement office remodel. Many, many thanks to Chuck Hendrix and Larry Larson for helping us paint the office. Ok, I fully admit that they did most of the outer office painting! Pam and I returned from a meeting to a mostly painted office. We were so shocked! We are very grateful to you both. So, new paint in the office, a few minor changes in decoration, and hopefully by the time you all read this…new carpet/flooring. It’s going to be a wonderful upgrade!

From a marketing standpoint, it’s been a wild year. The Ag industry is getting blamed for everything from starving people worldwide to use food for fuel to high fructose corn syrup causing our obesity issues to the growing need for more crop land ultimately resulting to the US Airways Flight 1549 having to dump into the Hudson River. It’s crazy some of the stuff that’s out there. Everyone has a spin…depends on what their agenda is. Funny thing, after all the bally-who about how it was the American farmer and Ethanol that were the big bad, single handedly pushing consumer prices higher…well, here we are…economic recession, banks in ruin, domestic auto dealers in financial crisis, crude oil floating around $100/barrel lower than last year’s highs, unleaded gas around $1.80/gallon (as of this writing), corn and soybean prices several dollars cheaper, and yet the cost of food has not fallen or re-adjusted. I don’t see any signs being posted up saying, “Due to a dramatic decrease in the cost of inputs (grain, fuel, etc), we are now reducing the cost of pizza.” Interesting – no?

The global economic crisis has dramatically cut the demand for grain. That’s the biggest difference between this year and last year…demand. Loss in corn exports, feed demand, and ethanol demand all add up to a scenario that’s shaping up to be quite the marketing challenge. It’s going to be significant that you adhere to some sort of discipline. Make those sales when the market presents a rally. Use your crop insurance wisely. Last year, we saw too many producers not sell up to their crop insurance guarantees. We need to make sure you are taking advantage of those premiums and making sales against the bushels you have protected. With the carryout growing every month, at this point it feels like we are probably going to get the acres we need to meet current demand. If that is the case and we have a fairly normal growing season, things could get ugly before they get better. However, I look for some pretty interesting volatility as we nervously trade US planting, world economics, summer weather, and demand. So, stay true to your marketing plans and stay disciplined. Maybe consider buying a call against your sales as a way to protect upside swing potential. Our doors are always open if you would like to discuss your marketing options. Scale into this thing, diversify, and don’t take a major upswing for granted!

GREETINGS FROM FLORIDA

By Sherryl Young

Hello everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know that I miss you all but not the weather. We had record low temperatures here one week (Jan 19-23). The lowest was 22 degrees. Our water line to the camper froze up and Roger had to use a heat gun to thaw it out. I know that doesn’t sound bad compared to what you have been having but we came here for warm weather. We have been keeping busy with all the activities here at the park and going to the weekly flea market and farmers market. I have taken up line dancing and square dancing. It is a lot of fun. They have music jams three nights a week along with special music shows two or three times a month. Everyone here is so friendly and they encourage you to join in. We have been doing a lot of walking and bike riding. We are having a great time! I am looking forward to seeing all of you when we return.

HELLO FROM EMERY

By Sandy Davenport

Well, we made it through another harvest, then the holidays and the 1^st of January. With harvest being later than usual, seemed like one ran right into the other. With all the wet corn this harvest, I think harvest went pretty smoothly. By the time you receive this newsletter, you will be waiting for the weather to break so spring work can begin. Where does the time go?

We have been shipping corn, beans and Non-Gmo beans to ADM. It is pretty frustrating some days with the long lines, but we keep plugging away. We have not started picking up the corn in the bunker. I think Charlie will be relieved when that is off the ground.

The markets have been kind of like Illinois weather, if you don’t like it now, wait an hour or so and it will change. I thought I might let you know a few ways that you can tell if you are a true Illinoisan.

You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.

You often switch from heat to AC in the same day and back again.

You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings)

You install security lights on you house and garage and leave both unlocked.

You carry jumper cables in your vehicle and know how to use them.

Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

Your dad’s suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead.

Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole barn.

You know the difference between corn and soybeans at a glance.

You do not consider Chicago to be a part of Illinois.

As many of you know, Topflight is offering FREE DP on BEANS providing space is available. You will have until August 31, 2009 to price the beans. I know that several of you have a target price for your grain. As volatile as the market is, you might consider putting in an offer so that you won’t miss your targeted price.

By the time you receive this newsletter, Jerry will be officially retired. He took the month of January off as vacation so it was pretty nice when the bad weather came and he chauffeured me to and from work. We have been pretty busy with our grandsons’ basketball games this winter. Now we are gearing up for baseball.

I hope that everyone has dodged all the flu bugs that have been around this winter and didn’t get too many bruised tailbones from the ice that we have had. Hang in there, spring is just around the corner!

TOUGH TIMES

By Derrick Bruhn

Whatever happened to the days when the market had a 2-5 cent range and prices from week to week changed 10 cents? It’s kind of like playing a card game and the minimum just went from 10 dollars to 100 dollars. Times have changed and everyone in the world is aware of that. The US economy has affected the grain markets substantially, but the world economy has had a huge effect on the grain markets also. We are seeing the domestic and world demand for corn, beans, and wheat fall drastically. What we once thought was needed to meet demand, is now gone. Each day I speak with producers about what it takes for their operation to make money, and in most situations, we are currently below those levels. In my last newsletter article, I wrote that the hardest thing to do was going to be selling at a loss.

The use of offer contracts has really increased in the last four months. They have been a great tool to capture the overnight marketing opportunities. There have been many times when the overnight markets will accept offers before we are able to get them worked in the day session. If the offers are not in then there may be a missed opportunity for the producer.

There have been some major changes to the crop insurance programs that will offer the producer a better price coverage. The new upside limits for CRC, GRIP and RA is now 200% of the spring average and unlimited on the downside. This is a major change to CRC and GRIP that will allow the producer to have larger dollar coverage than in the past. This was a big hindrance last year when the price protection for CRC and GRIP were exceeded during the time when prices were at their highs.

The family is doing great and enjoyed the holidays and winter. Mabry turned 4 in November and is attending school 3 days a week for a half day. Mylin will be 1 on March 10^th. Mabry is thrilled to have a sister to play with until she started having to share her toys. Mylin has figured out that big sister has some pretty neat toys that sit on her bedroom floor. It doesn’t take her long to get from one room to the next if she wants something. Mabry and I have had fun playing in the snow this winter. We talked grandma and grandpa out of a wooden toboggan that works great for pulling Mabry around.

Good luck this spring!

HOW THINGS CHANGE

By Chuck Bentley

Last year at this time we had $80,000,000 borrowed on our seasonal loan. This year we only have $5,000,000 borrowed. What is going on?

GOOD THINGS are going on. With grain prices lower this year, your company has needed much less cash to operate on.

Our patrons are also storing more grain than last year. This is increasing your company’s storage income.

The corn crop was wetter this year than it has been in many, many years. This has created new record drying income for your company.

The basis level on both corn and beans has narrowed at a much faster and greater pace than previous years. This has created new record margins for your company.

This is what I call a perfect financial storm. In my 38 years in the grain business, I can not recall this happening very often. When storage, drying, and margins are at record high levels and interest rates and some other key expenses are at record low levels, a perfect environment is created for your company. If you know of nothing good in the economy, at least you can say that Topflight Grain is on course to have a record earnings year. It is nice to give good news for a change. Everyone have a safe Spring and let’s hope it arrives shortly.

BUSY WINTER

By Adam Jackson

As most of you have probably heard by now, I moved to the Monticello office. I will be helping Derrick with merchandising and crop insurance as well as doing a lot of the same things I did at Milmine. I am really enjoying my new position and meeting all of the new people here. Terry Kuhn took over my position at Milmine. If you haven’t already done so, you should stop by Milmine and meet Terry. Go ahead and say hi to Rick while you’re there, too. I really enjoyed getting to know all of you, customers and residents, in my nearly 2 years in Milmine. Since I still work for Topflight, I am hopeful that I will still see most of you again at some point.

Harvest at Milmine went well, other than the fact that it lasted so long. We didn’t have many major problems this year; nothing that slowed us down for more than a couple of hours, anyway. We came up a little short of our projected receipts this year. I think that was partly caused by having to close early for wet corn quite a few days, and those bushels going to other locations. Overall this year’s harvest was a success. Thank you to Becky Brittenham and my girlfriend Lindsay for the great help in the office. Also, thanks to all of Rick’s help, who also did a great job.

I have had a pretty eventful winter so far. Lindsay and I celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with all of our parents, which meant a lot of driving. My brother got married the Saturday after Christmas, and I was honored to be his best man. He had to return to Fort Leonardwood, MO, a couple days after the wedding to wait on medical discharge paperwork to go through. He’s already back at home with his new wife to begin his new life. Lindsay and I are in the process of buying a house in Monticello. Hopefully by the time this newsletter goes out, we will be moved in. We are excited about the approaching Spring weather. I know our dog Sugar will love having a yard to play in!

I hope everyone has a safe and productive planting season.

NEWS FROM MAROA

By Denny Hill

Through the years in the grain business one constant I have found is that every harvest is different. The last two would be found at each end of the spectrum as 2007 was one of the easiest where almost all of the corn came in early and dry to this year’s crop where the harvest was later than normal and the corn was full of moisture.

Our first load of corn arrived the last week of September and we didn’t finish up till the 3^rd week in November. We took 2.4 million bushel during this time which was just a little short of our projections. The moisture ran between 18 and 22 for most of the harvest as we had to dry every bushel that came across the scale this fall. I can’t remember a harvest where that has happened in the past. Andy Hunter, our nighttime dryer man, was planning on a couple of weeks of drying before he came back to days but it turned out to be 6 weeks.

Soybeans much like the corn was about 2 weeks later than normal but we were able to get some dry periods to get them harvested before the weather became unfavorable for bean cutting. The bean total for our facility stayed pretty much in the range we normally get at around 500,000 bushels. This figure will increase next year with all of Emery’s Non- GMO patrons coming to Maroa.

Since harvest we have been shipping corn and beans pretty regularly to Decatur. Ronnie and Gary have been fighting the winter elements to get corn and beans in a shippable position. The truck lines in Decatur are as bad as I have seen in the last few years, so I’m not sure when we can plan on picking up our bunker corn at the bin site or offer free DP on corn from off the farm. Hopefully it will be sometime in March or April.

As we move forward into another year, no plans for expansion or improvements are in the works for Maroa. Our millwrights will continue to do maintenance where needed and we will continue to try and speed up our services to help make next year’s harvest as smooth as possible.

Our two daughters are still advancing their educations with Jessica finishing up her Master’s degree in July at Kentucky and Meghan finishing her 2^nd year at Eastern Kentucky. Hopefully Jessica will join the work force next fall if she is fortunate enough to find a job. Meghan will be staying down there next summer working for the University, so I’m sure Terri and I will spend a few weekends in Lexington next summer visiting.

NEWS FROM UNITED PRAIRIE LLC

By Ken Bierman

I would first like to thank Topflight for letting United Prairie be involved in their newsletter. I have always enjoyed reading and seeing all that is going on at Topflight. My name is Ken Bierman and I am the General Manager of United Prairie. I have been with the company for twelve years and in my current position for the last four and a half years. I thought I would give a brief background for the patrons that might not know about United Prairie. United Prairie was formed in 1996 by Unity Grain and Grand Prairie Coop. Grand Prairie contributed their facilities at Tolono and Ivesdale with Unity adding their Pierson Station agronomy assets. Monticello Grain joined the organization later that year with their location at White Heath. Topflight Grain became a part of our organization after mergers between Bement, Unity and Monticello Grain. Currently, Grand Prairie Coop owns 72% of United Prairie with Topflight owning the remaining 28%.

When thinking about what to talk about today I can’t help but to look back at the unprecedented ride we have all been on in the agricultural markets over the last year. I started buying anhydrous ammonia for $660 on Feb 15^th for fall application and ended my last purchase at $1140/ton on Sept 15th. Today that ton of NH3 cannot even be purchased for fall application and the spring prices can range between $300-$600 depending on what part of the country you are in. That is a tremendous amount of price volatility in a twelve month span. It also represents a tremendous amount of risk to our company at the same time. There have been lots of different types of risk to manage, namely price risk, credit risk, position risk, and overall financial risk. It is something that everyone along the supply chain is facing and we all have had to do manage it the best way possible. I am pleased to say that that as a company we are going to weather the storm pretty well. We are not perfect and will show some negative margins on some purchases but overall the company has done a good job of calculating the potential risk and managing it. We are still in a vulnerable time until we get through this spring planting season. But none of us should be lulled into a sense of false security thinking that the volatility is over once the crop is in the ground. We will continue to see price fluctuations. So it is imperative for our growers to understand their risks as well as United Prairie and with both of us working together we can all be profitable.

“SPRING” 2009

By Mikki Burns

I think everyone is looking more forward to Spring this year than ever!! What a horrible Winter we have had!! The ‘old groundhog’ saw his shadow this morning, so you know that means 6 more weeks of Winter. Sure hope they are a mild 6 weeks and then onto warmer weather.

Everyone at Cisco has been staying busy!! We are trying to load 2-3 trains of corn a month and have also been shipping beans by truck. The grain has been coming in off the farm since January. There are always repairs to do and many other things that keep Jack, Rick and Gary busy every day.

The grain markets are like a yo-yo. It seems like Fridays have been the busiest days to buy grain which is totally opposite from the way it used to be. We sure need the prices to stay up to cover the increased input costs. Farming becomes more challenging each and every year!

The grandchildren are doing great!! Blaine is 6, J.D. and Audrey are 5, and Cooper is 10 months old. Cooper is crawling and has 6 teeth. Blaine, J.D., and Audrey are all doing great in school. Blaine was ‘Student of the Month’ last week at Maroa-Forsyth grade school!! I’m sure they will have a lot of activities this summer which will be fun to go to and see.

Planting season will be here before we know it…and that means it will finally be warmer. Please be safe and careful! We sure hope this year will be different from the last!!

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

By Stason Kopps

This year I have had some good things and bad things happen. On January 1^st I proposed to my girlfriend. Thankfully she said yes. Then on January 3^rd I got sick with mono, and I am still trying to get over that.

Here at Topflight we are busy as usual. Ben Jones has been moving grain out of Lodge. Dan Greer has been working a lot at Seymour. Chris Frye has moving grain to a load out position and cleaning. Rob Dick has been working on maintenance wherever needed.

Although I have been fighting mono, I have still been working at Monticello and Seymour.

As I write this we are starting to pick up the corn in the bunker at Seymour. So far the corn is in good condition.

On the home front, my fiancé is making plans about how she wants to decorate my house. I think it looks fine, but she has a different opinion.

HARVEST WRAP-UP / SPRING FORWARD

By Jason Goodner

What a year this has been. The planting was late, harvest was late, newsletter is late, but Christmas parties were right on time! What was the worst four letter word last year? I’m sure there are a number of them, but the one that comes to mind is R-A-I-N. How much rain, too little, or too much, but certainly never when you wanted it. Those rains did cut into our total harvest volume along with additional seed acres planted this past year.

We kicked off harvest this fall about a month behind what we’ve been use too. That gave us plenty of time to prepare the facility and ourselves. However, with a late start came a late finish. We took in 939,000 bushels of corn this fall. Looking back at our crop tour numbers we were at 169 bu/ac for corn and 46 bu/ac for beans. After fall was over the corn bushels dropped in around 157 per acre, and beans were 42 per acre. We ended up with increased bean acres this year due to the amount of flooding out in the spring. The weather did take a toll on yields. We didn’t have to transfer any bushels this fall; however we did ship out 130,000 bushels of beans during harvest. Contrary to past years, we did succumb to having to close early on wet corn. Since we had wet corn all harvest, it wasn’t a surprise when one location closed you could be next. On the brighter side of things, we now are offering free delayed pricing on corn until April 30^th and free delayed pricing on beans through August 31^st.

As harvest progressed and came to an end, so did the outstanding prices we saw over the last two years. The market peaked out in early July and continued the downward pattern throughout harvest. I commend those customers who had forward contracts well above the current prices, but as the market has been lackluster focus on offers to achieve your pricing in this upcoming season. The market is still highly volatile and prices can be hit and gone within minutes. You can’t afford to not have something offered in if you have a defined profit area. The rest of February and March will hopefully provide for some good pricing opportunities with acreage still not committed to beans or corn.

After harvest was over, it was time for our annual Open House here in Seymour. Kari and I made most all of the food. A special thanks to Tim Menacher and John Chumley for donating ground deer meat for our deer chili. Also thanks to Bruce and Will Cresap for donating the beef for the beef chili that we had. We had a great turn out this year even though the weather was pretty nasty out. We had over fifty people that came this year which was a wonderful turnout.

We have a national celebrity here in Seymour. Chris Karr who farms around the Seymour and Lodge area was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Jan 29, 2009. Chris was called in to call the Super Bowl champion pig. He wore a Steelers’ jersey and the other hog caller wore a Cardinal’s jersey. Chris was able to call the pig to his end zone, which declared the Steelers’ the champs. Since then he has been on WDWS, The Morning Show on WCIA, and on WAND’s A to Z. If anyone runs into Chris, ask to see his Hollywood book.

Last but definitely not the least is family. Kolby just passed his 100^th day of kindergarten. It’s really scary to think that in three and a half months he’ll be a first grader. It definitely makes Kari want to keep Addi at home for good. Addi still waits for Kolby to get off the bus, but she enjoys her daily dose of Sesame Street with Grandpa. This was the first year that Kari couldn’t join us for the Open House, but Kolby, Addi, and Grandpa came over. The kids have been able to come to every year, which is a great time for me to get to show them off to our customers. Addi turned three in December, and made her 4^th appearance. I get a lot of comments on how much she’s grown, but her first Open House was at 5 days old, so everyone that comes gets to she how much she’s changed.

I hope this newsletter finds all of our customers, family and friends doing well. It’s been a rollercoaster of a year on a lot of levels, but one thing is certain, every spring a new crop goes in the ground. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and has a safe planting season ahead. Please don’t hesitate to stop by for some coffee or just some conversation, because the door’s always open. Thank you for your business to Topflight Grain.

THE WAY WE WERE

By Rodd Runyen

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from a friend of mine that I graduated from Eureka College with in 1987. She had joined a website called Facebook. She was excited and wanted me to join. Now for those of you who don’t know, Facebook is a networking site where you join a group and you invite friends to be able to talk to you. People make requests to be able to talk to you and you can either accept or deny them. It allows you to be able to talk to people you know but keep out anyone you don't know. You can also download pictures of you and your family so everyone can see you. It is a way of keeping updated with a whole group of people without calling or writing them. So she was all excited and wanted me to join to reconnect with the people I went to college with.

Now I will have to admit, I wasn't thrilled about joining at first. I don't have a MySpace and haven't gotten into the chat rooms or networking websites before. But Lisa convinced me to join, so I did. After joining, I found many friends that I went to college with that I haven't seen or heard from in 22 years. It was amazing. After contacting these people, the friendships started back up like we had just talked yesterday! Many were posting pictures of our days in college that made me laugh. It also amazed me - these pictures couldn't have been from 22 to 26 years ago! We were all in college only yesterday, not that long ago! Then it hit me that, yes, it was that long ago. But now, I was having second thoughts about this whole Facebook thing. I remember most of these people as young 20-somethings - not as we are today, in our low to mid-40's. I don't want to get on their sites now and see graying hair, baldness, wrinkles, and weight gain. And I sure don't want them seeing any of that on me!! I want to remember us as the young, happy-go-lucky people we were back then.

But the more I get on Facebook and talk with my friends, the more I realize it doesn’t matter. Yes, time has changed us, but it hasn’t changed who we are. We weren’t friends at Eureka College because of what we looked like, we were friends because it was a small campus and we truly knew each other. We lived with each other and cared about what was going on in each other’s lives. It was a time that shaped us into who and what we would become. We all just weren’t friends; we were a small family that loved each other.

Now, I’m sure going to a big university has many advantages, but I wouldn’t trade the experiences I had at Eureka College for anything. As I get on Facebook and reconnect with these people, I wonder why we ever let time and distance sever our contact. But then I talk to them and realize that we are all busy just living life. Life happens. We are all raising kids and working jobs. And instead of living in our own little community like we did 25 years ago, we are now living all over the state and the country. Some are facing medical issues within their family, others marital problems, even some are dealing with the death of a family member. But it is nice to know that we can get on the computer and talk to a friend at any moment. Although hesitant at first, I have now come to embrace the whole Facebook thing. It has even gotten Lisa to start planning a reunion for all of us this fall.

So for now, I have put pictures of my children on my site for all of my friends to see. I have yet to put a picture of myself on there. But I know that I will soon break down and do it. For time continues to move on and we are all continuing to grow older. We can’t get those days of our youth back. So keeping my picture off of the site isn’t going to change anything about me that will make me look like I did at 21. So when I put pictures of myself on Facebook, they will all be able to see how I have changed over the years like they have. But the change in our outside appearances does nothing to change the way we all feel inside. We all still care about each other and are happy to have our friends back in our life. And the funny thing is that I know in another 25 years from now, we will all look back and wish we looked like we do now!

VALENTINES DAY

By Brock Casteel

Weather has been the story of the winter here so far. With the early extremely cold winter, I am hoping for a dry warm spring. As I am writing this article, it is February, and we have had a nice warm up, effectively turning everything around the elevators here to swamp, which always presents a lot of challenges for moving grain, both here at the elevator and off the farm.

We have recently formed a new safety committee here at Topflight, and have conducted a current facility inspection. It is always good to have more eyes and minds on conditions of our facilities as the group walks through and looks for corrective actions to be taken. I think this group has the potential to do a lot of good for the safety of our facilities, as we not only documented but explained, and corrected issues as we went. The group has a diverse back ground of knowledge, such as operations, safety, maintenance, and accounting.

I am taking off for the farm machinery show and tractor pulls this year in Louisville Kentucky. As most of you know, I am into tractor pulling, just a little bit, and I always have a good time down there. I always see a lot of folks I know, get a chance to visit, and take a look around at the latest and greatest in the farming industry. Although with any good trip, there are some drawbacks. The draw back to this trip is that it is over the Valentines Day weekend. Needless to say, my wife agreed to me going before she realized this little tidbit of information, and her enthusiasm for me going for a guys weekend at the pulls has been somewhat diminished by this fact. I am sure many of you that go to this event, have ran into this very unique problem. None the less, I am sure she won’t hold it over my head to long, and maybe some day I can talk her into going with me. I’ll let you know in my next article how that works out.

LONG COLD WINTER

By Eric Clements

It has been a long cold winter this year. I am sure that everyone will welcome the spring weather that is heading our way. The operations crew has finished picking up the Milmine ground pile and they are heading to the Seymour ground pile. We can usually pick up 40,000 bushels a day with one machine. We lost the Milmine tarp at the end of December due to high winds and a power failure. The aeration system helps to hold the tarps on the corn piles. We plan to install a backup generator with an automatic transfer switch at Milmine in time for next year’s pile.

The maintenance staff is going around to each location working on the harvest repair list. We ask each elevator superintendent to write down a list repairs that can wait until after harvest. The maintenance staff will be removing a lot of duct tape in order to make some of the repairs. The operations crew always says that you cannot run an elevator without plenty of duct tape.

Lisa was gone recently to a convention in Baltimore for three days. While she was gone Mitch, Hayden and I decided to eat at each pizza restaurant in Monticello. At the end of the third day we rated the restaurants. The boys thought it was great, but my pocketbook didn’t think it was so great. I will not disclose the rankings but each was good. The boys thought that I was just trying to get out of cooking dinner each night. They forgot about the dishes that I also didn’t have to clean each night.

THEY CAME TO WATCH

By Pam Jarboe

The consistent themes through this newsletter are the late harvest and the long cold winter. Our harvest was late, running right into Thanksgiving and Christmas and the weather has been bitter cold. The maintenance crew felt like penguins most of the winter, shuffling across the icy lots. With the late harvest and the Holiday activities, your newsletter is also later than usual. We’ve included a re-cap of harvest, and some of our winter activities.

As Amy mentioned, we had wonderful volunteer help to paint the Bement office, and we are looking forward to new flooring. One of my jobs in the remodeling and clean up was to remove the vinyl baseboard. It was easy to remove from the plaster walls, but along the cabinet bases, it was tough! I finally ended up with the Jim’s heat gun & power cord, Elliott Brammer’s knee pads and a screwdriver, heating up the vinyl just enough that the glue loosened to pull off the vinyl. It was amazing how many people came by to watch! Amy caulked all our nail holes and primed the walls for painting. She and Jim Quick at Dobsons Hardware created just the right color of paint to match the new floor and our cabinets. The electricians and the phone company moved, removed and improved electrical outlets and phone jacks. Roger patched up the holes they left in the floor, and solved a few other problems. Jim fetched supplies for us, then came to watch us use the caulking gun, the heat gun, and the drill (Roger laughed at that one, too.). It was a learning experience and we’re very pleased with the results!

Our Bement operations crew of Roger Burton, Henry Lust, Andy Parsons, Pat Lake, Paul Peeler, Ryan Hill, Steve Harding, and Jim Murphy begin their day in Bement, to see where they are needed for the day. Jim is usually stays in Bement, running corn getting ready for the next train, and keeping the elevator clean. Roger goes wherever the maintenance work needs to be done. Henry helps with most of the corn piles and loading trains. Andy and Pat load the nongmos out of Shacks, help with the corn piles and load trains. Ryan helps wherever needed, including cleaning in Bement and Milmine, and loading trains. Steve is usually hauling grain in the semi. Paul is also versatile, loading trains or cleaning up corn piles.

We’ll miss our women’s program this year, as we’ve decided to have it every other year. We’re always looking for good ideas; if you hear any good speakers, hear some good musicians, or other activities that would be good for the 2010 program, please be sure to share them with us.

My niece, Tricia, is planning her June wedding, and we’re busy planning a shower for her. Her sister, Katherine, will be maid of honor, and their brother, Jonathan, will graduate from Sangamon Valley High School in May. He will return from an exchange trip to Germany just in time to usher us down the aisle. We’re looking forward to all of the events of the spring and summer.

We hope your spring and summer are warm, sunny, and full of fun!

Our sympathies to the families of . . . . . Mary Short, Reatha Green, Barb Staggs, Beulah Hendrix, Jeannette Parker, Robert Austin, Orville Scott, Harold Ponder, Diane Stanley Steube, John Fay Jr, Allan Jumper, Dorothy Blaase, Jean Trolia, Jessie Shackelford, Edna Rogers, Glenn Woodard, James Gregory, Joe Gallagher, Ed Hillard, Dale Norfleet, Mary Margaret Brown, Ruth Rainbolt, Levi Porter, Carol Feeney, Tim Rogers, Carroll Koonce, Shirley Day, Cecilia “TC” Quinlan, Jerry Bickes. June Heim, Elfrie Shepherd, Wayne Kempshall, and all others who have recently lost loved ones.

Our congratulations to Jeff Mauck, recently named General Manager of the Northern Illinois Grain Region, for ADM; Marvel Cordts, who celebrated her 90^th birthday last September with a family gathering; Bill Gorrell, celebrating his 90^th birthday in September; Marlin & Shirley Krall, married 50 years last September; Luan Loudenback, 80 years old last October; Drew & Traesha McCool, proud parents of Ayden, born last December. Proud grandparents are Brad & Teresa McCool; proud great-grandparents are Don & Betty McCool and Clarice & Darlene Deal; Terra Hendrix, featured in the News-Gazette’s “Best 40 under 40”; she was joined by Angie Marker and Dan Marker, also in the “Best 40 under 40”; Kim Klein, Melissa Muirhead and Brenda Gaitros, recipients of the LeaderShop Academy award, in recognition of their school board leadership training; Kolby Schable, crown bearer for Atwood Homecoming; Jean Pense, who celebrated her 85^th birthday last September; Krista Phegley Stauder and Ryan Hendrix, married last May; Jaclyn Weisenborn, crowned Homecoming queen at Millkin University; Maroa-Forsyth volleyball team, champions of the Macon County volleyball tournament; Taylor Birch & Scott Fife, queen and king for Atwood Homecoming; Dillon Docherty, goalkeeper who won the Class 1A regional semifinal game for the Sages soccer team; Sierra Day, first place winner of the National Junior Angus Association graphic design contest; Connie Thompson, celebrating a significant 50^th birthday last fall; Mathew Gaitros & Nikki Rolen, parents of a son, born in October. Proud grandparents are Scott & Brenda Gaitros; Members of the 1957 Gibson City Football team (including Dick Thomas) inducted into the Gibson City Sports Hall of Fame for their outstanding record; Bud Perkins, celebrating his 90^th birthday in November; Josh & Julie Lieb, proud parents of William Robert, born in October. Proud grandparents are Terry & Tanya Lieb. Proud great-grandpa is Bob Lieb. Makenzie Morton, named to the 1^st all-county volleyball team; Ernestine Lammle, who celebrated her 90^th birthday in December with an open house; Ruth Benner Williams, who recently celebrated her 80^th birthday; David & Wendy Farmer, parents of Evan James Francis Farmer, born in September. Proud grandparents are Wayne & Claudette Foran; Charlie & Deloris Adkins, married 60 years, in December; Nathan & Layna Somers, parents of Kole Marcus. Proud grandparents are Theresa Somers and Mark Somers and Jim & Suellen Reeder; Haley Briggs, placing 9^th in the State Cross Country Meet; Amy Wiggins and Arthur McTaggart, married on February 6; Lindsey Walsh and Kevin Conner, engaged to be married in August; Leland & Delores Lust, celebrating their 60^th anniversary in January; Cheryl Day, elected secretary of the American Agri-Women; Andy & Elizabeth Henningsen, proud parents of Maggie Rose; proud grandparents are Brian & Debra Henningsen; Jake & Jenny Moore, parents of Brynlee Justine. Proud grandparents are Dan & Pat Moore; proud great-grandparents are Max & Jean Moore. Very proud brother is Brady Moore; Gladys Baker, who celebrated her 96^th birthday in September; Courtney Doolin & Travis LeHew, engaged to be married in April; Dean and Doris Ritchie, proud great-grandparents of Jillian Michelle; Cora Marshall, who celebrated her 95^th birthday in January; Lauren Tucker-Hinton, recognized as Illinois State Scholar, at BHS; Paul Branch, celebrating 5 generations; Paige Legue, winner of the Bement DAR award; Avis Bennett, great-great grandmother of Ave & Kali. Proud mothers are Miranda and Natasha. Proud grandfather is Randy Bennett, and proud great-grandfather is Dale Bennett; Jim & Mikki Burns, celebrating their 40^th wedding anniversary; Christy Taylor and Travis Rahn, married last September; and Chuck & Judy Runyen, who celebrated their 50^th anniversary last October.

SCARY SITUATION

By Vanessa Stinson

On February 1^st, Keith and I were awakened by the power not working correctly. We got up to see what the matter was. Everything at the house was okay, so we figured someone had hit a pole and knocked out the power. Then the scanner went off and they said there was a fire at the elevator on Front Street in LaPlace. I told Keith we had to get up there and see what was going on. As we left the house, we could see the bright light coming from the elevator.

The closer we got, we could see that the electrical box above the electrical room by the elevator was on fire. If it had not been on the elevator it would have been a beautiful light show. It lit up the sky like it was the 4^th of July. The many fire departments arrived and assessed what was going on. The longest wait was for the power company to get there and cut the power so Eric, Brock, and Mark could go inside and see if there was anything wrong. Nothing was burning inside and the fire trucks were all sent back to their stations.

I want to say thank you to all who responded to the call. You are all a great bunch of guys.

Now, the work begins to get us back up and going and to try and find out what caused the fire.

BUSHELS FOR EDUCATION

Bushels for Education is a campaign venture sponsored by the Piatt County Farm Bureau Foundation. This fundraising effort is designed to promote agriculture scholarships and assist in funding Earth Partners, Ag In The Classroom.

How do you contribute? Farmers and/or land owners can give a few bushels of grain conveniently at their elevator. It’s easy! Just fill out a contribution card, and give it to your elevator manager (TopFlight Grain, DeLand Grain, Grand Prairie Co-op). Be sure to choose how you would like your grain appropriated, either for scholarships or for Ag In the Classroom funding. It’s a tax deductible contribution. The elevator with the Piatt County Farm Bureau Foundation, will handle the cash flow.

The Piatt County Farm Bureau Foundation gives scholarships to high school seniors, college freshman, sophomores, and juniors. Students receiving scholarships from the Foundation are pursing a degree in agriculture or an agriculture related field.

Since the Foundation’s inception, in 1994, the Foundation has given over 100 scholarships to students in Piatt County.

Past scholarship receipts have gone on to make excellent careers in agriculture lending, horticulture management, and have even come back to Piatt County to the family farm.

Earth Partners, the county’s Ag In The Classroom Program has been giving support and educational materials to teachers and students in Piatt County for over 15 years. Funds go to support programs such as the county-wide 4th grade safety day, stewardship day, and summer ag institute for teachers. Supplies and materials for agriculture based science, social studies, and math units are also funded through the Earth Partner’s program.

To make a donation, just mention it when selling your grain at your local Piatt County elevator. For more information, you can contact Piatt County Farm Bureau at

Piatt County Farm Bureau
427 West Marion Street
PO Box 223
Monticello, IL 61856
www.piattcountyfb.com

Phone: 217-762-2128

Fax: 217-762-7014

E-mail: dietz@piattfs..com

ONE EARTH ENERGY

Construction is almost finished at One Earth Energy. Target date for ethanol production is early March. Talks for the ethanol LLC began several years ago, as five east central Illinois grain cooperatives and another investor pursued the ethanol business. A site was secured, plans continued and Fagen Inc. arrived onsite in October 2007 to begin building. Progress has been exciting and challenging, and we look forward to the first gallon of ethanol very soon.

Recent changes in the corn market and the ethanol market have changed the profit projections for all ethanol plants. The management team at One Earth Energy is carefully monitoring costs and profits, and continues to move forward toward ethanol production, with careful plans should the markets change.

DUCKS IN A ROW

We heard a story this fall, about Bill Sparks’ granddaughters rescuing 6 baby ducklings. It was such a good story, we wanted to share it with you.

Chad, Cammie, Jillian and Jayda Sparks live near a golf course in Normal Illinois. Last July, Cammie and the girls noticed a mother duck spending a lot of time in their yard. Soon, they discovered Mother Duck’s nest in the bushes right at the front of the house. Jilliann and Jayda watched the nest daily, and in about a week and a half, found 7 eggs had been laid. The girls continued to carefully watch Mother Duck and her nest, until 6 of the eggs hatched into baby ducklings. It was quite exciting! The girls watched them gain strength and grow.

One morning, as the Sparks were preparing to leave on vacation, the girls looked out to see Mother Duck on the sidewalk, followed by the 6 babies. Cammie grabbed the camera, and she and the girls went out to watch Mother Duck take her babies to the pond on the nearby golf course. They followed them down the sidewalk, hoping to help them cross the street safely. Mother Duck walked across the storm drain, and the babies followed. However, the grates on the drain were large enough that two of the babies fell through. Realizing that the two were gone, Mother Duck came back to get them, the other 4 followed her, and they too fell through the grates into the drain below. Mother Duck was squawking, Cammie and the girls were crying. Cammie went back to the house to make several calls for help. She called Animal Control, the city of Bloomington, the Fire Department and the Police Department. Finally, a city employee who is also a member of Ducks Unlimited, and a co-worker arrived. Unable to reach the ducks with their hands, they used a fishing net to scoop up each duck, and bring them to the nearby grass. Mother Duck was watching from afar, not trusting all these humans and their commotion. As she determined all the ducklings had been safely rescued, she joined them all, and continued the trek to the nearby pond, with Cammie, the girls and the city employees watching for any more danger on their route.

The girls hope that Mother Duck returns again this summer, so they can watch another family of ducklings grow.

Many of our farmer friends (and retired manager) visit the sunny southern state of Florida in the winter while we’re shoveling snow, and walking like penguins on ice. These stories are for these dear friends. They came to us as a collection “Growing old in Florida” . . . .

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A little old lady was sitting on a park bench in The Villages, a Florida Adult community.

A man walks over and sits down on the other end of the bench.

After a few moments, the woman asks, "Are you a stranger here?"

He replies, "I lived here years ago."

"So, where were you all these years?"

"In prison," he says.

"Why did they put you in prison?"

He looks at her, and very quietly says, "I killed my wife."

"Oh!" said the woman. "So you're single...?!"

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Two elderly people living in Ft. Myers. He was a widower and she a widow, had known each other for a number of years. One evening there was a community supper in the big arena in the Clubhouse. The two were at the same table, seated across from one another. As the meal progressed, he took a few admiring glances at her and finally gathered the courage to ask her, "Will you marry me?" After about six seconds of careful consideration, she answered, "Yes. Yes, I will!"

The meal ended and, with a few more pleasant exchanges, they went to their respective places. Next morning, he was troubled. Did she say 'yes' or did she say 'no'? He couldn't remember. Try as he might, he just could not recall. Not even a faint memory. With trepidation, he went to the telephone and called her. First, he explained that he didn't remember as well as he used to. Then he reviewed the lovely evening past. As he gained a little more courage, he inquired, "When I asked if you would marry me, did you say 'Yes' or did you say 'No'?" He was delighted to hear her say, "Why, I said, 'Yes, yes I will' and I meant it with all my heart." Then she continued, "And I'm so glad you called, because I couldn't remember who had asked me."

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A man was telling his neighbor in Miami , "I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it's state of the art. It's perfect."

"Really," answered the neighbor. "What kind is it?"

"Twelve thirty."

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Morris, an 82 year-old man, went to his doctor in Estero to get a physical. A few days later the doctor saw Morris walking down the street with a gorgeous young woman on his arm. After a couple of days, the doctor spoke to Morris and said, "You're really doing great, aren't you?"

"Just doing what you said, Doc: 'Get a hot mamma' and 'be cheerful'," Morris replied. To which the doctor replied, "I didn't say that, Morris. I said, 'You've got a heart murmur, be careful!'"

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FUN IN SECOND GRADE

We’ve met a great class of second graders again this year. On September 26, the young students walked to the Bement elevator. We visited with them, telling them what a grain elevator does, and gave them a tour of the office and the elevator. In the office, they saw how trucks are weighed and grain is sampled. Outside, they saw grain disappear out of the pit, the chart that Jim uses to record bin measurements, and the hot spot detectors. Of course, the best part of the tour is when we all meet back in the office for a fresh batch of popcorn!

On November 6, we were the last tour group of the season at Curtis Orchard. Mr. & Mrs. Curtis are favorites of ours, and the tour of Curtis Orchard is so fun and educational! Judy told us all about the honey bees. She described the queen bee, the worker bee and the drones, and how the worker bees make honey. She demonstrated the clothing that a beekeeper wears as protection when gathering the honey. Then, we saw how they sort and clean the apples, and how apple cider is made. It was a great tour that ended with one of their delicious apple donuts and a cup of fresh apple cider.

As Christmas time drew near, we were able to talk to Santa, and he thought he would have time to visit with the 2^nd grade class at school before they left for Christmas break. We had the party planned, and Santa was bringing gifts for the students, but the snowy weather of that day cancelled school. Snowy weather doesn’t stop Santa, though, and he did stop at the elevator to leave the gifts and we delivered them later.

We have a few more events planned, and we look forward to more fun with the Bement 2^nd grade class!

WHAT A LONG DAY!

By Jacie Hill

My dad (Aaron) and I were going the very next day to Florida to visit my Papa and Nana (John & Paula Hill). I came over to ride with Dad to ADM, before our trip. It took a long time to get dumped, and then we were going back again! I decided to stay at the elevator with Jill and Uncle Denny and wait for Dad. I didn’t think I could stand another 3 hour line! Eeck!! Uncle Denny took me to lunch; that was fun!

Jill got pictures of me at the scale and tester. Also, with Uncle Bob and me and my dad. We couldn’t catch Uncle Denny long enough to get a picture.

Jill said if Dad didn’t get back in time, she would use his ticket, so it wouldn’t go to waste. I didn’t know about that for sure. My dad got back in time (Whew!) and we left at 3 am for Bloomington. When we took off, I saved down “bye, Jill.”

OPERATION MIGRATION

By Adam Jackson

Imagine looking up in the sky to see birds migrating south for the winter, and seeing ultra light airplanes going with them! If you were in the Milmine area a couple months ago, you may have seen a group called Operation Migration aiding whooping cranes’ migration to Florida. Whooping cranes have been an endangered species since 1970, and this team of volunteers has trained these birds, from birth, to follow the ultra light airplanes like a mother goose. Their flight path to Florida takes them right over Milmine, and, this year, a crowd of about 50 people gathered to watch. Dwight Miner was nice enough to allow the birds and crew to use one of his fields to land in. The group even ended up staying in the Milmine area for a few days while they waited for ideal flying weather. If you missed the migration this year, Dwight has told me that the group will be taking the same route next year. If you’d like to know more about Operation Migration, visit their website www.operationmigration.org

MEETINGS, MARKET OUTLOOKS AND FSA CHANGES

Winter time is meeting time for Topflight employees and customers. We have attended several meetings that provide market information, updates on the FSA program and updates on the crop insurance program. Some of the market information is shared with you through visits to the office, over the phone, and through our website and email comments.

The FSA program is full of changes with many unanswered questions yet. We’ll do our best to learn more about it, and share that information too. If you need past yield histories for the FSA program or for your crop insurance, please ask. We can print them out for you.

HARVEST MEALS

Anytime someone calls and asks if they can serve lunch to us and our customers at harvest time, we never hesitate to say yes! This year, several of our locations enjoyed some good harvest time meals.

Farm Credit Services fed the customers and employees at the Monticello office.

Bement Chamber of Commerce provided some tasty lunches.

State Bank of Bement cooked hamburgers for the Bement patrons.

State Bank of Cerro served lunches to LaPlace customers and employees.

And new to Bement this year was Jerry Horton, who set up his Dixie-Q trailer and sold sandwiches and chips to us each day at noon. We really liked his food, the convenience, and getting to know Jerry!

NEWS AROUND TOPFLIGHT

1. A remote ticket printer was installed at Milmine for this harvest. Milmine had no ticket return, so Adam handed the tickets out to the drivers or the drivers had to come into the office each load to receive the grain delivery ticket. The remote printer was in use for most of this harvest, a few adjustments were made and it worked well. It prints fast, concisely, and saves a lot of steps at harvest time.

2. A fire in the dryer at Atwood slowed harvest down for only a short time. It was quickly extinguished and the maintenance crew had it running in just a couple of days.

3. The state examiners were here right after harvest. It was one of the many cold icy days of this winter that they arrived. The first day or two, they stayed inside to check the books and request information. Then, they went outside to measure all the bins for quantity and quality of the grain. They review their findings in the grain measurements and accounting records to ensure the stability of all state licensed elevators, including Topflight Grain.

4. The year end summaries were mailed out in late January, showing the business you did with Topflight Grain in the calendar year 2008. Also included in the mailing was the customer acknowledgement showing open grain balance and open contracts.

5. Hilary Lehew participated in the Miss Illinois State Fair Pageant in January, representing Piatt County. It was a whirlwind of busy days and evenings, and she met a lot of wonderful women. For the second year in a row, Miss Illinois stood right next to Miss Piatt County. Maybe next year . . . .

6. Russel Wright was featured in the Decatur Herald article that described some of the presidents who had visited Decatur in the past. In 1984, Russel was one of the truck drivers at ADM who shook hands with President Reagan.

CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE

We had a good time at this year’s Christmas open houses, with plenty of time to visit with the few who could battle the weather that day. Each office hosted open house on December 23, and it was snowy, icy and cold that day. We heard from many customers who started toward town, but turned around and went back home, due to the horrible weather. For the few who were able to make it, the food was good, and we enjoyed the visit.

MAROA UNITED METHODIST PRAYERS AND SQUARE MINISTRY

Can you touch a prayer? Can you pull it close and feel its comfort? You can if it’s part of a prayer quilt.

The idea behind these quilts is simple, yet powerful. A heavy thread is used to take stitches through the quilt layers, and the ends are left free to be tied with a square knot. As each knot is tied, a silent prayer is offered for some one in special need --- someone who has asked us to pray for them. The quilt is then given to that person. What makes each quilt so special is not the pattern, color, or workmanship, but the fact that prayer is testimony to our belief in God and in the power of prayer.

Prayers and Squares, the Prayer Ministry, began in 1992 at Hope United Methodist Church in San Diego, California. Since then, the ministry has expanded to include chapters in churches of many different denominations across the country and in Australia and the Marshall Islands.

Through Prayers & Squares, thousands of quilts have been distributed, each a special gift of love. They have been made for sick babies, for cancer and AIDS patients, for adults and children facing surgery or difficult family situations – for many reasons, but each for someone in special need of prayer.

The local chapter at the Maroa United Methodist Church has distributed over 300 quilts since 2004. This group began when Leesa Hagen brought one from her church, Shilo UMC in Bellville, to her father, John Rogers, who was fighting cancer at the time. John and her mom, Sue, were thrilled with the gift and the prayers that went with it. Sue decided to start a group at Maroa UMC. The original group started out with 21 helpers. Original members are Sue, Joyce Tibbs, Betty Coen, Hazel Agee, and RuthAnn Wilson. Virginia Crouch retired and Virginia Lienhart passed away December 2007. These two ladies were dedicated beyond the call of duty. Others participating are Cindy Hoffman, Norma Nichols and Mary Leach.

The motto of the ministry is “It’s not about the quilt, it’s all about the prayers.”

DIRECT GRAIN

When hauling grain direct to Decatur, we need your ticket numbers each day. This helps assure that your grain is credited to your grain account rather than someone else’s. The grain returns are processed the day after delivery, so it is very important that we receive your information daily. We need to know the ticket numbers, the farm it’s delivered from, and if there are any other special instructions. You can call, fax or email the information to your Topflight manager. Please remember, that we need that information at the end of each day.

NONGMO NOTATIONS

When selling nongmo beans, you must tell us that you’re selling nongmo beans. Just telling us they’re beans is not enough information. Beans and nongmo beans are two separate commodities, as different as corn and beans, for accounting purposes. Your grain contract must list that the commodity as nongmo. Please be sure to tell us when you’re selling nongmo beans, so that we can properly record the information.

History Exam ..
This is a History Exam for those who don't mind seeing how much they really remember about what went on in their life.

1. In the 1940s, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches located?
2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it. For what was it used?
3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters?
4. What was the popular chewing gum named for a game of chance?
5. What method did women use to look as if they were wearing stockings when none were available due to rationing during WW II.
6. What postwar car turned automotive design on its ear when you couldn't tell whether it was coming or going?
7. Which was a popular candy when you were a kid?
8. How was Butch wax used?
9. Before inline skates, how did you keep your roller skates attached to your shoes?
10. As a kid, what was considered the best way to reach a decision?
11. What was the most dreaded disease in the 1940s and 1950s?
12 'I'll be down to get you in a ________, Honey'
13. What was the name of Caroline Kennedy's pony?
14. What was a Duck-and-Cover Drill?
15. What was the name of the Indian Princess on the Howdy Doody show?
16. What did all the really savvy s tudents do when mimeographed tests were handed out in school?
17. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green Stamps with purchases?
18. Praise the Lord, and pass the _________?
19. What was the name of the singing group that made the song 'Cabdriver' a hit?
20. Who left his heart in San Francisco?

ANSWERS
1. On the floor, to the left of the clutch. Hand controls, popular in Europe , took till the late '60's to catch on.
2.To sprinkle clothes before ironing. Who had a steam iron?
3. Cold weather caused the milk to freeze and expand, popping the bottle top.
4. Blackjack Gum.
5. Special makeup was applied, followed by drawing a seam down the back of the leg with eyebrow pencil.
6. 1946 Studebaker.
7. Wax coke bottles containing super-sweet colored water.
8. Wax for your flat top (butch) haircut.
9. With clamps , tightened by a skate key, which you wore on a shoestring around your
neck.
10. Eeny-meeny-miney-mo .
11. Polio. In beginning of August, swimming pools were closed, movies and other public gathering places were closed to try to prevent spread of the disease.
12. Taxi, Better be ready by half-past eight!
13. Macaroni.
14. Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an A-bomb drill.
15. Princess Summerfallwinterspring.. She was another puppet.
16. Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a high.
17. Put in a special stamp book, they could be traded for household items at the Green Stamp store.
18. Ammunition, and we'll all be free.
19. The widely famous 50's group: The Inkspots.
20. Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good today.

Short liners ---

Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement.

- Mark Twain

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.

- George Burns

Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year.

- Victor Borge

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

- Mark Twain

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

- Socrates

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.

- Groucho Marx

I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.

- Zsa Zsa Gabor

Money can't buy you happiness .. But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.

- Spike Milligan

We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.

- Will Rogers

Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.

- Winston Churchill

Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty .. But everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out.

- Phyllis Diller

By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.

- Billy Crystal

The cardiologist's diet: - If it tastes good spit it out.