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Previous Newsletters Current Newsletter THE FAST AND FURIOUS By Scott Docherty This definitely was the largest, fastest harvest on record; the corn was flowing like water. Topflight Grain started dumping corn the day after Labor Day and by September 11 we were dumping over a million bushels of corn a day and continued to do so for the next 10 days straight. Corn dried down fast with 90 to 95 degree days. Coming off the Farm Progress Show, the last week of August, corn moistures were at 17-18%. The weather continued into September and before long corn moistures were at 13%. Topflight Grain Cooperative, Inc. had a good game plan for the increased corn acres and exceptional yields. However, the dry open weather allowed customers to keep moving from field to field. A wide range of yields occurred with the dry areas delivering 160 BPA to 240 BPA for areas receiving timely rains. Without a weather delay and good yields we quickly found ourselves putting 2.9 million bushels under tarp and without any moisture. I can tell you first hand, pulling tarp is no easy task and I was on every ground pile. When we were all said and done this fall we received 25.9 million bushels of corn and 4.8 million bushels of soybeans, a great harvest! As I mentioned before, the timing
of harvest put pressure on us to move more grain earlier than we had scheduled,
so we were rolling trains forward and trying to keep trucks moving, but every
year as soon as fields are shucked we start losing trucks to fertilizer. If we
could have kept the doors open longer I truly believe harvest would have been
over in 4 weeks! I was amazed at the number of semis that are coming off the
farm to the elevator which reduces scale traffic and improves dumping
capacities. In 2004 the average truck load delivered to Cisco was 592 bushels
per truck and in 2007 it has jumped to an average of 679 bushels per truck. When the dust settled, Topflight Grain had purchased 48% of the harvested corn at an average fall price of $3.34. The average moisture for all corn bushels delivered was 15.5% versus 17.8% last year. Topflight Grain purchased 45% of the harvested soybeans at an average price of $8.31 versus an average fall purchase of $5.86 last year. When you look at forward contracting grain for fall of 2008 it is very attractive at $3.91 for corn and $9.29 for soybeans! When you talk about fast and
furious we can also relate that to commodity trading. We have seen daily ranges
of 12 cents on corn and 30 cents on soybeans. Soybeans have rallied $1.50 since
August, right in the face of harvest. I have never seen such a strong outside
influence on corn and soybean trading like this year. When you talk about grain
marketing in today’s world you have to look at crude oil, interest rates, value
of US dollar, hedge funds, index funds, I have to get something off my chest and that is I have heard way too much about ethanol driving up the cost of food this year. When you look at dividing your food dollar remember that about 19 cents of that dollar goes back to the actual product and when you look at the recent run up in grain prices remember that index funds have purchased approximately 2 billion bushels of corn, and they will not feed, export or grind for food or fuel one bushel of corn. World demand for our grains has also increased volumes at the CBOT (which they love) and it also moves prices farther and faster than they have ever moved before, giving you better forward pricing opportunities. Ethanol has also been getting a lot of bad press even though it is discounted to gasoline by 50 cents per gallon. I know we still have a blender’s tax credit, but it has put people to work and the real question is what has the American taxpayer sacrificed and paid to keep the oil pipelines open??? Ethanol is not the answer but it is part of the solution! We realize that along with higher grain prices the prices of fertilizer, pesticides, seed, and land rents have also risen. Topflight will be hosting some customer meetings to get your feedback and also ask some questions to get information on acreage and crop rotations. We use this information as we move through the crop year making plans for the next harvest. The better the feedback, the better we can be prepared for the next fast and furious harvest! Everyone at Topflight Grain wishes you and your family a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. SPEEDING THROUGH HARVEST By Vanessa Stinson Harvest was like a race this year . Lucky for us some of the pit crew from last year showed back up. At the scale was Sue Crawford and taking your samples was Renee Beebe. Those two are veterans. Then we had the weekend warriors of Gretchen and Ashley Stinson. They can step in and run the place if need be. It was a little rough with the drivers at first, but we finally found some that could do the job. Marcus Mitchell was our returnee. Kevin Cain, Zach Grau and Chris Icenogle all stepped up and did their jobs well. We want to say Thanks to all of you. You made our jobs a lot easier. Talking about harvest being like a
race! We started harvest strong on the 4th of September, taking
close to 100,000 bushels of corn. It did not stop there. On the 12th
of September, your We have one harvest story to share with you. The day was going great, we had a bit of a line but not too bad. I had just walked out to the scales to take over for one of the girls so she could use the restroom. At that moment there were two large bangs, dust was everywhere and the ticket return was shaking. Thinking that the building was coming down, we all ducked and the girl that had to go to the restroom almost did it on the floor. After the shock and our hearts got back into our chests, I went to see what happened. One of the truck drivers had cut too short coming off the scale and had run over the ticket return, blowing out 2 tires on his trailer. We had fun with the trucker the rest of the day taking cover when he pulled on the scales. As for the girl who had to go to the restroom, she made it. We at HELLO FROM EMERY!! By Sandy Davenport Hello from Emery. What can I say? What a harvest! We started corn on September 4th and finished it on October 23rd with a total of 2,596,909 bushels. We also received 423,580 bushels of beans and 47,619 bushels of Non-Gmo beans. Except for a few days of corn lines, things went pretty smoothly at Emery. All of the farmers and drivers were pretty patient and understanding. I really think they enjoyed the time to visit with each other while waiting. We almost needed a traffic coordinator, but everyone seemed to find a place to park and be out of the way of other trucks. We got the bunker filled without a drop of rain, so that corn should be in good shape when we start picking it up. We waited until the last minute, thinking that we wouldn’t have to put any corn on the ground on the east side of the elevator, but we ended up putting around 225,000 bushels out there. It was picked up by the 2nd of November, so that corn was in pretty good shape also. In order to have a smooth harvest, Topflight has to rely on a lot of part time help. This year, Emery had an exceptional group of part time workers that deserve recognition. John Boehm was our night drying person. After the drying was over, he would help out at Emery or Maroa. Herman “Bo” Boyer and Robert Arnold dumped corn and bean trucks and did whatever else Charlie asked them to do. Chester Ohlemeyer dumped the Non-Gmo beans and Jason Edwards helped in the evenings getting the bunker filled. Last, but certainly not least, Sharon Brown and Dana Shull worked at the scale. Both of them have worked several years, so I never have to worry about what is going on at the scales. Charlie and I really did appreciate everyone’s hard work. Emery and Maroa have set Thursday, December 13th as our Christmas Open House. We will serve lunch from 11 – 1. We usually have a good crowd and everyone enjoys catching up on all the news. Not anything
exciting going on at the Charlie and I hope that all of you have a great holiday season. Stop in and see us anytime. HELLO FROM ATWOOD by Russel Wright Harvest 2007 started the day after Labor Day, and by the weekend it had ended, at least temporarily. That Saturday the Atwood area received over 6 inches of rain. Many of the streets were flooded, as well as the parking lot. The neighborhood kids were having a good time floating in their inner tubes or rafts. By Monday all the ponds were gone, the fields were a little muddy, but the next day harvest began again. Meanwhile the circus came to town, and of course there was an elephant. Rumor had it a couple of farmers had rented the elephant to pull the wagons to town. I don’t know if their corn crop was that huge or if the fields were that muddy. But alas, the circus went on and left town, leaving the farmers to haul with their tractors and wagons and trucks. Another coffee shop rumor was that there was a farmer south of town that was complaining the ears of corn were to big too go through his John Deere combine, he had to cut them from the stalk and feed them in the combine, which he said it took over ten minutes to shell the corn off the cob. Then he had to haul that one ear to town. Now I know that sounds far fetched, but we were blessed with really good yields, despite the dry weather in July and August. My first harvest was in 1972, and it lasted till almost Christmas. Now we have the harvest completed in eight weeks, thanks in part to modern technology, better hybrids, larger equipment, and more storage. However, with the size of this year’s crop, storage was at a premium. The Atwood elevator was closed for a few days because we were full of corn, but we were lucky because some other country elevators were closed for longer periods, either waiting for trains or trucks to haul out. Our company was fortunate because we could get trains in at harvest and get our corn moved out either to ground piles or to trains. I want to thank all the truckers that worked long hours seven days a week, in order to get this crop moved. This harvest we had Roger Benner, his brother Kim Benner, and Trey Rahn helping Bill outside. Helping in the office this year was Christy Taylor and occasionally Chris Isbell. They weighed and sampled the grain as it came in. Harvest goes smoothly with good help, many thanks to everyone. I also want to thank everyone who had signs on their vehicles, or called on their cell phones, again modern technology, designating what fields the crop was off of. This sure made for fewer mistakes when it comes time to settle up. Now that harvest is over, we will be looking forward to the winter months. If you have grain stored on the farm, be sure to keep your eye on your grain. For those interested in what the markets did after hours, you may call 578-2213 to find out the bids; you can also leave a short message. My collection of Atwood Grain, Pierson Grain, or Unity Grain items has grown. Stop by and see the mini-museum of memorabilia that was brought in, thanks to everyone that has donated so far. The Atwood location is planning an open house sometime December 19, please stop by. Bill and I say THANK YOU for your business that you have given us in the past as well as in the future. Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays. NEVER DATED A FARMER’S DAUGHTER By Louie Tieman Well, it’s
been awhile since I’ve written a news article for Topflight Grain. Guess I shouldn’t change a thing, that’s what
some people have told me. I got to My first load to Milmine looked like the old days when DURFR and DOBWA were guiding traffic. So, Mylinda was tabbed “TC” right off the bat. That’s short for Traffic Cop. On September 13, I took the first load of beans into Milmine. After 29 ½ years of service to TFG, I beat BORDU with the first load. JAMDE had a sore throat, and couldn’t talk. The guys thought it was nice and quiet. Sorry, Sid. We had some truck trouble at the start of harvest. Thanks to WEAV, we weren’t down long. On September 18, I was going through Milmine on the way to work and Mylinda was running to get into the office. I didn’t know she could move that fast. Then to find out I had to be her Pony Express to get some payments to the bank!! I saw BOWLI in line reading a book. As usual, I had to blow her a kiss. She asked how my hands were. She knew they would still hold a beer. Rick Chestnut says “Hurry up, Lou-lou.” So, BOWLI (that’s short for Linda Bowlby) she gave me a thumbs-up for taking notes for my newsletter. Janet James had nothing to say. Sept 21 – ‘ Sept 22 –
Got a hug & kiss from Ashley Stinson.
It was 4 days sooner this year or it would have been exactly a year
later. Got sign
language from ‘ Sept 24 – Either I saw it on the Internet or a little birdie told me that FENWI (short for Wilma Fendley) forgot to weigh empty. After all these years, she still does it. ‘ Sept 25 – Historic day, Scott the Big Kahuna’s birthday and I got my hair cut for the 1st time in 1 year and 16 days. Sept 27 – Sold corn at $3.50 today. ALBMA (Mark Albert), BEARI (Rick Beauchamp), BORDU (Duane Born) and Pierson’s manager, they all had nothing to say. Gloria just motioned zipped lips. Even old Willard had nothing to say. At 10:52 AM, I saw Work-‘n-Worry driving around in their car. Yep, no work, no worry. AYEBE (Benny Ayer) got candy from Miss Gloria at Pierson, so neither one of us could sing to her late at night. Sept 28 – Ralna said “Thank you” 12 times to me, every load. She smiled like she thought I was trouble. Don’t know what “Zipper” told her, LITGL. . . . Then Ralna wants to know if she can see my little black book. Oct 2 – BEARI’s phone is ringing and says “your wife, your wife
calling”. MCRJO, alias JC got me a
listing to buy a home in central Oct 4 – ‘ Even Oh, that farmer’s daughter dad is MORRA. That would be Ralph Morgan, and her name is Connie. I’ve know her for 38 years and we got engaged on November 9, at their farm. FAST AND FURIOUS!!! By Mikki Burns This harvest was truly fast and
furious!! We actually started harvest
the Saturday before Labor Day – had Sunday and Monday off – and then, wow!! the farmers started like gang busters!! We took in a 100,000+ bushels of corn each
day for 24 days. This year, we closed at
5 each day and were closed on Sundays for corn. It did help the guys get caught up and catch
their breaths to get organized for the next day. The beans cooperated this year and were just
steady throughout harvest. At the end of
October, Cisco’s receipts for corn were 3,897,000 bushel of corn and 619,000
bushel of soybeans. We loaded 11 trains
during harvest and filled everything to the brim. We were only closed about 4 days for corn,
which wasn’t too bad considering all the bushels. We had really great part-time help this
fall. I want to thank Joyce Bennett and
Jon Sago for helping in the office. They
are both so experienced and great at what they do. I also want to thank Ben Jones, Rick Baker,
Jerry Peake, and Justin McCabe for being excellent
help to Some exciting family news!! We are going to be grandparents again. Our daughter, Stacey and her husband, Tim are expecting their second child in April. So, J.D. is going to have a new brother or sister. He thinks a brother would be best, but will take a sister, too! Everyone is really excited!! I also want to tell you that our daughter-in-law, Andréa ran in the Chicago Marathon in October. As you probably read, the heat was intense that day, and they advised the runners to quit half way through the 26 miles. She decided that as hard as she had trained for the marathon, that she was going to finish it. And she did!! It was quite an experience, and we were very proud of her for her determination and completion of the marathon!! All the grandchildren got to come out on Halloween – we had a ‘ninja turtle’, ‘darth vader’ and a ‘barbie princess’. They were so cute and had a great time trick or treating. Out of the mouths of babes – ‘why
is We all hope everyone had a bountiful and safe harvest. Cisco wishes you and your families a very “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!” MAROA NEWS By
Denny Hill Harvest got underway the first week of September after the hot, dry August we had finished the corn off earlier than expected. Once some combines started rolling and finding the moisture between 15 and 20, nearly everyone moved up their harvest plans by a week to 10 days. By the 2nd week in September the lines stayed pretty steady from 7 AM to 5 PM each day and with no rain delays we were able to take over ½ of the corn crop in a two week period. In that period we took over 100,000 bushels each day and closed at 5 and everyone knew what our hours were going to be for corn each day. This seemed to work out well for the elevator and the farmer. With the corn coming in at a record pace we were able to get our bunker filled at the bin site shortly after the middle of September and without any rain on it before we got it covered. Once the elevator was full we proceeded to put 600,000 on the ground uncovered next to our bunker to get all of our customers done. Our harvest for corn pretty well wrapped up by the middle of October which was the earliest I can remember since 1988 and that year the corn yields were ½ what they were this year. The final total for corn receipts was 2.7 million which surpassed last year by 500,000 bushel. Soybean harvest was brisk also with most of our beans coming in the last week of September and the first of October. With more acres switching to corn, we projected around 400,000 bushels of beans for this fall and we ended up with 510,000. Yields on the soybean crop exceeded expectations after the dry August we had. Roger Lewis helped Jill and me here in the office again this year, while outside Andy Hunter, James West and Terry Augustus worked along with Ronnie Miller and Gary Liggett to take this record crop in a 6 to 7 week period. All of these people worked well together to make this harvest run safely and smoothly. For the first
time in our daughter Jessica’s 4 years in college I was able to get away from
the busy season and attend Parent’s Weekend the 20th of October at
the HAPPY HOLIDAYS HARVEST OF ’07 IS HISTORY By
Stason Kopps Harvest has come and gone again. This was an unusual harvest. From day one the elevators were very busy, but one good thing was that harvest was done very early. When
harvest began I was kind of nervous. Rob Dick spent harvest working on equipment, helping with ground piles and loading trains. I also worked on ground piles and helped load trains. It was nice to get harvest out of the way early. For the first time I was able to take vacation in October. It felt kind of weird to be away from work in the Fall. I hope everyone has a nice holiday season! GREAT HARVEST IN By Matt Dean It has been an exciting harvest
here at Topflight Grain Now that harvest is complete, and most people have put the machinery up for the 2007 crop year, it is already time to be looking forward to the 2008 crop year. The volatility in the markets makes this a very exciting time to be in the grain business, and Derrick and I are always more than happy to talk over your marketing plan with you and give you our opinion of where the markets are going, so don’t hesitate to call or stop by the Monticello office if you ever have any questions or concerns. This past year’s markets were a wild ride and if this first month since harvest has been finished is any indication, the next year should be no different! Topflight Grain offers many different marketing programs, contract types, and crop insurance programs to increase the profitability of your farm operation. Call or stop by any of the Topflight locations for more information. As I’m writing this article, it’s one week until Thanksgiving Day, and it’s amazing how
fast this past year has flown. Before we
know it, it’s going to be Christmas time and I will have been at Topflight for
an entire year. It seems like just
yesterday, I was walking into the ALTERNATIVES AND OPTIONS By Amy Brammer Another successful harvest is under our belts! I want to commend employees and customers alike on their combined efforts to make it through Topflight’s largest volume harvest in the shortest time frame yet! Baby Boy Brammer is growing and Elliott and I are anxiously awaiting his late January arrival. We have been taking classes and reading lots of books trying to learn all about our alternatives and options on everything from cribs to parenting to baby food! In much the same way, grain marketing is about alternatives. You read, discuss, and digest as much information as you can to try to determine the best marketing plan for your business. It’s a year round thing and even though you still have part of your 2007 crop to market, it’s actually time to start thinking about your 2008 crop marketing plan as well. So far the 2007 crop pricing scenario has been quite volatile and probably will remain as such for awhile as outside markets trump fundamentals as market influencers. As of this writing, the cash price highs on fall corn came in on Feb 22nd ($4.03) before the crop was even planted and then again on June 18th ($3.93) right in the middle of when we thought it was going to die. Beans are a different story. They’ve managed to slowly climb the price mountain, reaching close to cash fall price highs in late soybean harvest and rallying through the remainder of fall. ($10.16 as of this writing.) With a roller coaster price year like we’ve seen this year, no one can pick the high. The above numbers are the highs, but what is the reality? The average Topflight Grain elevator bid on corn for fall delivery 2007 was $3.38. The average price paid during fall to customers was $3.34 with 48.7% of the fall bushels sold. The average Topflight Grain elevator bid on soybeans for fall delivery 2007 was $7.83. The average price paid during the fall to customers was $8.30 with 44.7% of fall bushels sold. Neither commodity averaged the to-date marketing year highs, but the bean prices do show you all did a good job of marketing the averages to price grain higher than the average bid. This is probably because beans offered you attractive prices in gut-slot harvest. With the corn and soybeans in storage, you have already benefited from the narrowing basis and futures rally we’ve seen since the beginning of harvest. It’s all about the averages – spreading out your price risk. How do you accomplish this? You can scale up your selling - meaning, sell small amounts on rallies or as the market climbs higher. Or, have you tried diversifying your marketing strategy? Not sure where to start or how to further diversify your current plan? Here are a just a few marketing diversification contracts to try based on your level of diversification/risk comfort: Simple: § Average Price Program – Markets corn during historical season highs by selling equal portions of grain each week from January through May. No fee! (The 2007 Crop APP netted corn customers $3.63 for fall delivery vs $3.34 fall average.) § Marketing Pool – Bushels committed to the Pool are sold, collectively, using the thoughts and opinions of Topflight Grain Staff. No fee! (The 2007 Crop Pool contract netted corn customers (before options gains) $3.42 vs $3.34 fall average.) Intermediate: §
Accumulator
– Allows the producer to have bushels priced weekly above the current market, the floor price will be below the current
market, and the pricing period will be a specific amount of weeks. Pricing will
occur in equal amounts once a week at the accumulator futures sale price. If the
current market falls below the floor price anytime during the pricing period, pricing
stops. If the current market is above the accumulator futures sale price
anytime during the pricing period, the amount of bushels being priced for that
week will double. (The 2007 Crop
Accumulator contracts netted the customer $3.80 and $3.89 for fall delivery vs $3.34 fall avg.) §
Futures
Only - This tool allows the
producer to lock in a futures price, but not a basis level. It is used when
futures price meets your objective, but basis appreciation is expected. (This
tool can still be used for your 2007 crop or 2008 crop.) Advanced:
I believe
the soybean and corn markets may give us some further pricing opportunities as
we debate acreage and weather worries for the Contact any Topflight Grain office to
obtain more information on the above mentioned marketing alternatives and more! Sign-ups for the 2008 Marketing Pool and the 2008 Average Price Program must be done by December 15th!! ~ Have a happy holiday season! ~ A By The last minute rains sure came in at the right time. WOW!! WHAT YIELDS. Just before harvest the Pierson area got 5-8 inches of rain, so that put us at a slower pace than the other facilities. This got Ralna all stirred up, because some of the other locations were taking in over 100,000.00 bushels of corn and we were still at our slower pace. Finally on September 13th we took in our first 120,000.00 bushel day. Then it became a challenge around the Pierson office to take in more daily receipts than the other facilities. So Ralna became GUNG HO! about setting our goals for the daily receipts. Well, after about the third day of over 120,000.00 bushels of corn, Ben came to the office and told us that he was POOPED! Well, that didn’t stop Ralna from setting the goals. After several days of this, I was looking for a miracle. The miracle being a new big bin showing up over night, because after 9 days of over 120,000.00 we were pushing for room. Brock and I were busy praying and pacing, but Pierson ended up having to shut down for corn about 5 days. By then GUNG HO was starting to get POOPED and POOPED was really POOPED. Thanks to Randy Drake our part timer for doing such a great job of helping Ben on the outside. Also, thanks to Kelly Curry, Ben Davis and Tara Jay for helping in the office and our other outsider John Beck for moving around where needed. Thanks to Jake and Don Fogerson for their time and work at Lanton. Lanton was short lived this year. It lasted for about 10 days of corn and less than that for beans. Once Lanton got full, that was it. I would like to THANK the farmers and their helpers for being so patient and understanding during this BOUNTIFUL HARVEST! During the last couple of weeks of harvest, I rescued a six year old chocolate lab named Babe. Babe had some separation issues when I got her, so I brought her to work with me. Because of her separation issues, she would walk out the door with us when we handed the scale tickets out. It didn’t take Babe long to learn that when she went out with us, she would get a petting or even a special treat. Several of the farmers and drivers started calling her the elevator dog. Now the farmers and even the employees are asking “where’s Babe”. Babe is now only making a few visits to the elevator. She was completely trained when I rescued her and is a well behaved dog. I tell everyone that I replaced Hilary with Babe. Hilary is enjoying college and adjusting well to the changes. She has really jumped into her field of studies. She is working as Weather girl on the SIU TV station and is also the Field Editing manager for that station. Next semester the TV station is moving her to the Anchor position. SIU also has acting and makes commercials. Hilary had a small part in one of their commercials for Abercrombie and Fitch. A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT By Derrick Bruhn It seems like I have written the last couple times about change, but it seems like this industry continues to evolve into something nobody has seen before. Topflight Grain experienced that this fall with 10 continuous days of 1 million plus bushel corn receipts and a harvest that was mostly finished by the 15th of October. We shipped almost 7,000,000 bushels of corn and 1,339,000 bushels of beans during harvest. To accomplish a task such as this it takes a staff of very dedicated employees and a great working relationship with the companies we sell grain to. This production side of agriculture is not the only area we are seeing drastic changes in. The futures markets are at levels that are almost unbelievable. I believe a great deal of this has been brought about by the outside money that has entered into the agricultural commodities. It is thought that the Index funds have 125-150 billion dollars in the commodity markets. Prior to all of this outside money coming into the commodity markets, we relied heavily on the fundamentals to determine what price a commodity needs to be. Today, supply and demand seem to be part of the equation, but not the only part. Basis has started to have a much larger role in determining the true value of a product. On every commodity we have seen extremely wide basis values. This tells us that the end user is unwilling to pay the price in which the CBOT has established, so that price is discounted to a price they are willing to pay. This is more of a supply and demand function than the CBOT in today’s market. It is thought that South America will
produce 50% more beans this year than the Mabry has just celebrated her 3rd birthday and is really getting excited about being a big sister soon. The sonogram said we will be having another girl. That will be great because we already have just about everything we need for a girl, but I have just started to realize that later in life another girl may be very expensive. Lynne has assured me everything will be fine. In early October Harry Woods with FC Stone sent out a picture of some Lab puppies he had for sale, so I forwarded it to Lynne. We decided that it would be a good idea to get one. Little did I know that female dogs love shoes as much as the other females in my house. Chloe (the new pup) has a large appetite for shoes and has changed how a lot of things in the garage are stored. She and Mabry have really become great friends and she is a great companion when I am working outside. We hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving and a great Christmas. MILMINE NEWS By Adam Jackson My first harvest is in the books and with the exception of a few ugly days, everything went pretty good. Roger Hendrix brought in our first load of corn on September 4th and John McRae brought our first load of beans on September 13th. I think the beans were supposed to go somewhere else but when Louie Tieman found out we hadn’t gotten any beans yet he brought one load in here. We took in a total of 2,290,473 bushels of corn and 477,853 bushels of beans. Our biggest week for corn, which was actually only 6 days, we took 758,135 bushels. Our biggest week for beans we took in 165,914 bushels. I think “fast” would be the best word to sum up this harvest. We took in 56 percent of our total corn in a period of only 12 days! The hot, dry weather and the lack of any significant rain were the biggest reasons everything came so quickly. This, plus the fact that trains were very scarce, made it necessary to be closed for corn most Sundays. I know this was an inconvenience at times, but we appreciated all of your patience. In the end, we were lucky this year and didn’t have to put out an emergency pile. The two trains we got and our new temporary storage was enough to get us through to the end of harvest without having to close for more than a couple of days. A big “thank you” goes out to everyone who helped out this harvest. All of our part-time help that stuck it out until the end did a great job. I was lucky enough to have a veteran helping me in the office. Mylinda Blickenstaff helped Louie here at Milmine for quite a few years, and also ran the Voorhies location. She agreed to come back after seven years and help me for my first harvest. I am sure there are some of you wondering about the work that is being done around the Milmine office. Topflight bought several of the houses that are around the office and is now having work done to either clean them up or make room for future expansion. One of the lots purchased extends back behind the office. It was over grown with trees and full of junk. Now that it has all been cleared away it makes for a much better view. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. FAMILY
CHRISTMAS By
The Christmas season has arrived again! This
means it is time for us to break out the decorations and decorate the Runyen household. This is quite a chore for us! Christmas is our favorite holiday, and we go all
out in the decorating department. In our basement, we have two 4-shelf units
that are packed with Christmas decorations – and these still do not hold all
that we have! So to start things off, we have the fun of carrying all those
tubs, boxes, and bags of Christmas decorations up the narrow basement stairs to
the first floor and on into the living room. Then we open everything up and
start getting the decorations out. I don’t know how we have accumulated so many
decorations, but we have. We put most of them up, but Tera
balks at some of our older decorations – like the plastic snow/water globes
from the 70’s with the blue backs. So we pick out the decorations that we are
going to put out and repack the ones away that we aren’t. Then we start decorating the house. This seems
like an all day affair! We have 3 or 4 nativity sets that we place around the
house. (Do remember the reason for the season!). Tera
loves snowmen so they are everywhere. The Santas,
reindeer, angels, elves, and the rest of the knick knacks get placed all around
the home. There’s never an empty space left! Then Tera decorates
the banister going from our living room to the upstairs with garland and
lights. After that is done she hangs our 5 stockings from the banister. They
all match and have our names on them. It really does look like a scene out of a
book with them hanging there waiting to be filled. Then we place our lights around the house. We
have ice cube snowmen, a village, an animated Santa Claus ringing a bell, and
many more that have to be strategically placed near electric outlets. They give
that Christmas ambience to the room and give off enough glow
that allows us to keep the overhead lights turned off. Lastly, we put up the Christmas tree. We place
it in the corner of the living room in front of the window so it can be seen
from the outside too. The kids all help and we have fun decorating it. It is
fully loaded by the time we are done, and I make sure it is covered with lights
and icicle tinsel. The Christmas tree is the crown jewel of the room. Then
we have the fun of hauling all of those boxes back down to the basement! There
they wait, knowing we will have to haul them back upstairs again in a few weeks
to pack it all away for another year. In the past, we have decorated the outside of
our home too. This usually takes 2 days to accomplish. We have won first place
in the decorating contest in This year will be the last Christmas where the
family will be together as a unit. With my oldest planning on going away to
college next year, it will begin the “I’ll Be Home For
Christmas” times, as you are never guaranteed your kids will be able to make it
home for Christmas from then on. But we will enjoy Christmas together and our
home will have it’s usual festive look. So from our
family to yours, we would like to wish you a “Merry Christmas!” By Jason Goodner After my
third harvest here in Back in
August our crop tour numbers gave us 185 bu/ ac for corn and 63 bu/ ac for
beans. Once harvest was over and
delivery sheets were printed it looks like our average corn yield was around
200 bu/ ac for corn and 56 bu/ ac for beans.
While beans yields varied quite a bit around the Things were
definitely different this harvest. This
was the first year that Chris Frye wasn’t part of harvest here at Kari, Kolby, Addi, and I were very happy
to get to the end of harvest. It’s hard
on both kids to have mom and dad both working 7 days a week, but they managed
just fine. This year we got to go
trick-r-treating again with both the kids.
Addi dressed up in a pink princess costume,
and Kolby was the “Bad” Spiderman. Both of the kids are still eating the
Halloween candy. That brings me to congratulating our harvest staff. Without their help and ability to get jobs
done, things wouldn’t have been so smooth.
A big thanks goes to my office help. Kari Goodner, my
wife, ran the scales on Sundays and Mondays this fall. This was her 3rd harvest too. Melissa Whitten ran the scales during the
week for her 4th year. I really
appreciated both of their help to keep the office going while my focus was on
running the outside this year. My
outside crew included Corey Miner, Rusty Peeler, and Rob Cunningham. Corey did a good job, and was a very hard
worker for me in running the outside pit this fall. Rusty was excellent help. Rusty was our night dryer guy this fall. I would
like to thank everyone from our part time harvest help to the customers. Without us all working together and
communicating, things wouldn’t have gone as good as they did. And as the holiday time is nearing, just a
reminder that our Holiday Open House at On a closing note, deferred checks will be ready on Jan 2 along with any January contracts that are to be filled with grain in storage. We thank you for your business and have a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year. A LONG, LONG TIME AGO By I went pheasant hunting for the first time in about 7 years. I quit back then because there was more hunting than killing going on. On our hunting trip this year it turned out to be the same. A lot of walking but no birds. Instead of giving up again, I tried it one more time. Since I can’t give away my secret spot, I will say it was like hunting a long, long time ago. Two of us had our limit in less than two hours. It’s also deer hunting time. Last year I had my deer in less than one hour. We will see what this year brings. We have just finished an exceptional harvest season. Preliminary results indicate your company should have a good year. I will have more to report on this in the future. I don’t like to be too specific early in the fiscal year. There were many records broken this year for daily receipts, weekly receipts, total receipts and about any other kind of receipts. I would also consider it a record for prices during harvest. Instead of comparing this to a long, long time ago, I would say there is no comparison. Everyone have a safe and joyful holiday. MY COOL HOBBY By Brock Casteel Just yesterday it seems I was writing a newsletter article as we prepared for the biggest corn harvest in Topflight history. Today I am writing this article with a much more relaxed hand in the first week of November, due to a whirlwind September that had Topflight taking in daily receipts well over a million bushels of corn each day. In fact, a very large percentage of the 2007 crop was in by the end of September. The ground pile tarping crew had their hands full covering three piles in four days to protect nearly two million bushels of corn from the elements. This left another 1.2 million to be covered only a short week later. All of this between loading outbound trains and taking in this monster crop with minimal service interruptions was a huge feat for the operations staff. The speed at which this season’s crop came in was truly amazing, and a lot of hard work went into keeping things moving. If you get a chance, stop in and let the folks at your local location know that you appreciate all of the hard work. A kind word can go a long way. As many of you know, I have a tractor pulling addiction. I have been trying to pass along my enthusiasm for antique tractor pulling to my wife. She however, is more than a little hesitant about the “coolness” of my hobby. My next scheme is going to be getting her to drive it. She says not a chance, but we’ll see, she may just decide it’s a good time after all. FAST AND FRENZIED By Eric Clements The harvest was a fast and frenzied one this year. We received over one million bushels of corn a day for ten consecutive days. In a normal year, we have only one to three days of corn receipts over a million bushels. This is the receipt at all of our facilities combined. We were able to do this without many breakdowns. The biggest breakdown for us was a receiving leg motor at Cisco that quit and we were able to get a crane in the next day to hoist the new motor to the top of the elevator. We piled 1.6 million bushels of corn on the ground uncovered during the harvest. We had everything picked up off the ground before Thanksgiving. That gave us a lot to be thankful for during the holidays. So, it can start raining now and get us replenished for next spring. We always worry about the weather when we have the uncovered piles out. We still have 2.8 million in temporary tarped piles to get picked up before next harvest. I think we tarped all the temporary piles the same week. That is a better workout than going to any gym. I want to thank all of the truckers and part timers for their help this year. We could not do all this work without you. We work everyone very hard during the fall and their dedication is appreciated. I want to thank the full time employees that I work with for their hard work and dedication. I hope that everyone has a great holiday season. A PICTURE IS WORTH 30 MILLION BUSHELS By Pam Jarboe You’ll notice one common theme through the harvest reports in this newsletter. That theme is “fast”; and usually “furious” went with the description. We had so much grain coming in so fast, it was almost unbelievable. And then it was over, and the guys turned right around to pick up the untarped corn piles. At the Bement facility we had many good workers who helped us get through the harvest season. We appreciate their hard work, and many hours. Even our full time employees put on their work boots! Chuck helped load several trains, and was involved in tarping most of the corn piles. Scott also helped on several occasions, once even starting a corn pile on the tracks at Cisco. Harvest is a time of working together, a time of cooperation among employees and farmers. It seemed like the best way to describe the harvest in this newsletter was with lots of pictures, all 30 million bushels of the harvest! You’ll see pictures of the corn piles, graphs of the daily and locational receipts, and pictures of our customers. One of the best parts of harvest is seeing so many of our customers, farm wives and truck drivers. You give us the human touch, among so many trucks, grain legs, rail cars and mechanical equipment. We couldn’t include pictures of everyone in the newsletter, but be certain that we appreciate all of you, and your business. After the fast and crazy harvest, we hope that you have had time to finish the fall field work, make your 2008 plans, and then slow down to enjoy the Christmas season. Please join us for our open houses, as listed on the back page of this newsletter. I’ve heard some rumors of pork chops, Italian beef, chili, maybe a pecan pie. You’re welcome to visit all of the Topflight open houses – what a great way to meet the other owners of Topflight Grain! Wishing you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. WELCOME!! We welcome two new employees to the operations staff: Steve Harding joins the Bement crew, and will be driving one
of the Topflight semi trucks. Steve passed his CDL test in November, and
will be hauling a lot of grain into
Congratulations to. . . . Mary Allman, who celebrated her 90th birthday on October 17; Jan (Funk) Woodhouse, who recently won the award for “Best Student Paper”, pursuing her doctorate degree at Northern Illinois University; Mr. & Mrs. Bob Daggett, married 55 years on October 12; John Lamb, inducted into the Bement High School Hall of Fame; Haley Briggs, daughter of Gregg & Vickie Briggs, 8th grade Class A State Cross Country Champion; Jack McHale, who celebrated his 90th birthday and 62nd wedding anniversary in October; Mr. & Mrs. John Casteel, who celebrated their 60th anniversary on October 12; BHS returning homecoming queens, honored at the 2007 Homecoming: Patty Walsh, Sally Fairbanks, Mary Waldemier, Roseann Morgan, Marilyn Hinton, Peg Clark, Nancy Schnierle, Sharon Stille, Mary Hendrix, Peggy Ziebert, Anna Rita Grennan Ferris, Dolly Vance, Mary Sue Postlewait, Sharon Lawliss & Shirley Rosenberry; Dr. Jessica Moore & Dr. Andrew Weddle, married in August; Wayne & Darci Chupp, parents of Cordell Ray, born on August 24; proud grandparents are Larry & Linda Dyson; proud great-grandparents are Dwight & Mary Blythe; Jim Williams, inducted into the Monticello High School Sports Hall of Fame; Sara Runyen, queen candidate for Cerro Gordo Homecoming; Chayton Day, whose picture won Cutest Baby Photo Contest at the 2007 Illinois State Fair; Mildred Burns, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday; Connor Gross, selected to play for the Champaign Trive baseball team; Allan Parrish, inducted into the Bement High School Hall of Fame: Stan & Twilia Mackey, a part of the Piatt County Barn Tour, with their display of homemaking and agricultural antiques; Brittney & Jimmy Powell, parents of Logan Calvin; proud grandparents are Cathy & Dale Jestis; proud great-grandparents are Dick & Viola Agee and Jim & Penny Powell; Phil & Trenna Knox, married 25 years; Ruth Schall, who celebrated her 101st birthday on September 29; Mr. & Mrs. William Cazier, married 50 years in September; Max Olson, inducted into the Monticello High School Hall of Fame; Sierra Day, winning Reserve Champion Honors with her Senior Yearling Heifer, at the Illinois Junior Angus Field Day; Phillip Riley, showing the Champion Simmental bull in his class and division at the Kansas City Royal; Jeff Gregg & Jason Perry, members of the University of Illinois winning team at the Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Contest; Sara Perry and Steven Fink married on August 18; Justin & Angie Huisinga, parents of James Heath Huisinga; proud grandparents are Dennis & Lillian Neef and Rob & Cynthia Huisinga; proud great-grandparents are Charles & Wilma Sherman, Doris Neef, Dale & Nancy Huisinga and Rachel Mattox; proud great-great-grandmother is Leta Heath; Sherryl Young, winner of the WAND photo contest, with a picture taken on vacation in Kentucky; Jill Lawson, Eastern Illinois Graduate with her Master of Science Degree in Education; Michael & Jane Burton, proud parents of Ruby Elizabeth; proud grandparents are Roger & Karen Burton and Steve & Mary Mann; Mr & Mrs Joe Ponder, who just celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary. Our sympathies to the
families of . . . Becky Kamm, Sean Garkey, Marie Bushnell, Elaine Tempel, Jeff Pearl, Anna Jane Bolsen, A. Lewis Hull, Charles Kaufman, Jack Veech, Harf Remmers, Janet Brunner, Dale Kirkland, Art Moberly, Tony Einhorn and Turner York, and all others who have lost loved ones. One Sunday morning, the minister
noticed little Alex standing in the foyer of the church staring up at a large
plaque. It was covered with names and small American flags mounted on either
side of it. The seven year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so
the minister walked up, stood beside the little boy, and said quietly,
"Good Morning Alex." BURMA-SHAVE
Now, match up the following lines with each of the above: a. Please be patient b. So what did she do? c. And full of beans d. Thank God e. Is our aim f. But to get your business g. For sun, rain h. Who lived in a shoe i. Give us a call j. From your land k. You’ll get your dump. l. Is our scheme m. And Bement Grain n. She needed more storage o. Bement Grain p. See Ronnie jump q. We’re here to lend a hand. r. She called Bement Grain. HELLO FROM Nora Kirwan, from the Teziutlán,
México is located in the state of One of the main reasons that I am studying abroad this year is because I plan to major in international business and it is very important to be fluent in another language. Because I studied Spanish in high school, it has been very helpful to the beginning of my year here in México. I have found that speaking the Spanish language is still difficult because people speak so differently here than in my class. But I am picking up on it fast enough. After 3 months, I am able to hold a conversation without having to think about things very much. I have also had great help from my teachers at my school where I am studying right now and the people in my extended family. As for where I´m studying here, I am currently enrolled in a school called Instituto Tecnologico Superior de Teziutlán and I am studying administration because when they translated my application, that’s what they decided to put me in. It is normal for people to study administration for 2 years and afterwards, narrow it down into a more definite career, like international business. Where I am attending school is located in Aire Libre, about half an hour from my house and it is in a depressed area. When we were hit with the hurricanes rain, I was out of school because of power loss and because my school flooded. There wasn´t damage to the school - which was good. There are a few people at the school who speak English so in my first days at the school, they were able to help me out a great deal. As for everything else, I will be changing houses at the end of December, as part of the program. This is to experience differences in the way that people live because no two families are alike. At the end of November, I am going to to a place called Zacatecas for an exchange student meeting with all of the students in México. I am very excited about this because i absolutely love meeting new people from everywhere. This is a wonderful experience and if anyone has any questions, feel free to email me at nmkirwan@yahoo.com. 2007 HARVEST FACTS 2007 2006 Total corn received 25,833,447 bushels 21,314,722 bushels Total beans received 4,452,771 bushels 5,164,910 bushels Total nongmo beans 293,913 bushels 354,922 bushels Corn purchased 49% 75% Corn average price $3.34 $2.67 Corn ave moisture 15.5% 17.8% Beans purchased 45% 41% Beans average price $8.30 $5.90 Largest corn receipt day 1,207,914 bu/Sept 14 1,070,476 bu/Oct 21 Largest corn day/location 245,556 bu/LaPlace/Sept 13 205,076 bu/Cisco/Oct 20 Largest bean receipt day 308,442 bu/Sept 24 471,273 bu/Oct 4 Largest bean day/location 66,777 bu/Cisco/Sept 24 76,721 bu/Cisco/Oct 7 ONE EARTH ENERGY Construction has begun for One Earth
Energy the ethanol plant near BEMENT RAIL SIDING Topflight Grain continues to pursue
the expansion of the rail siding in Bement that will allow the loading of 50
cars without the switching services of the NS railroad. Zoning approval was obtained through The NS railroad is strongly encouraging all grain facilities to load the 50 car unit without the aid of NS power/switch engines, by increasing the rate for their services. Currently, the switch fee charged by the railroad is $8000 per train, or about 4 cents/bushel for every train loaded of the Bement facility. We feel it is imperative to consider all options, and look for a solution. GRAIN PAGE NONGMO BEANS The 2008 nongmo soybean contract
has been significantly improved. The
premium for growing these contracted beans is 90 cents/bushel for fall delivery
to Emery, Atwood, If you are interested in growing nongmo beans for the premium program, please contact your local Topflight manager for a grower contract. The grower contract must be signed and returned to Topflight Grain in order to participate in the program. Space is limited at all locations, so please do not hesitate to obtain a contract, and return the signed contract. AVERAGE PRICE PROGRAM Signup for the Average Price Program will continue through December 15. In the average price program, equal amounts of the committed bushels are sold weekly, from January through May. Historically, corn prices are better during this early time frame of the marketing year. The price on the 2007 average price contract was $3.63, for fall delivered corn. | |