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Previous Newsletters Current Newsletter TWELVE MILLION DOLLAR RAIN By Scott
Docherty I am sure you
have heard the old saying “That was a Million dollar rain.”, or this year you
could say we missed several million dollar rains. Topflight Grain finished our fiscal year with
corn sales just under 31,000,000 bushels.
If you said we averaged 170 bushels per acre that would mean that
Topflight received 182,000 acres of corn.
If you could equate an inch of rain to 10 bushels per acre production,
that would be 1,820,000 bushels of corn. If you were to take that production at
our fall price of $7.00 per bushel then we have missed several $12,000,000 dollar rains this past
July!!! Topflight grain had over
7,000,000 bushels of soybean sales fiscal year ending May 31. The yield verdict
is still out on soybeans heading into harvest with a several million dollar
rain needed to finish the bean crop for fall of 2011. We normally
expect harvest to begin right after Labor Day weekend, but last year and this
year we will begin taking corn the last week of August. The operations guys and
gal have been working extremely hard through all of the July heat to get
maintenance and cleaning done in time to receive the new crop. If the corn crop
doesn’t like the heat you can imagine what it was like sweeping bins with a
heat index of 105 degrees. They have done a great job, especially with OSHA’s
new interpretation of not allowing workers inside grain tanks with any sweep
auger running. My hats off to the operations
staff for getting bins cleaned and swept for harvest. Topflight Grain
has had 2 major building projects going on this spring and summer. First, we
have completed the Emery project with rebuilding pit #3 and new fill and
reclaim conveyors for our new dryer and wet tanks. This project will greatly compliment the new
pit and receiving capacity that was completed last year. Second, Topflight
Grain is working with the contractors to complete the Milmine project before
harvest starts, but with the dryness and heat we may be short by a week or two.
We started pouring concrete last December and struggled through January and
February with the snow and cold. Growmark Grain Systems is the general
contractor for the Milmine project and they have had a project manager on site
since the beginning. Project manager, Matthew Johnson, has done a good job
coordinating all the contractors and crews working on this project, keeping
everyone on track and safely completing their jobs. We have had, at the peak of
this project, 85 men working on site. We will have the capacity to dump
400-500,000 bushels per day during peak corn harvest which should take some
pressure off our surrounding facilities.
We will also have the ability to ship grain to the South East on the NS
railroad which currently has a premium to our local market by 8-10 cents per
bushel. If the opportunity is available,
Topflight will bid a premium for delivery to Milmine passing some of that
premium along to our patrons. Topflight Grain has in the past month been
bidding more for corn than the processors in Decatur, IL. Again, we’re bringing
value to the customers of Topflight Grain by keeping the competition honest. If
anyone has built their own house you can appreciate what it takes to start with
a vision and put it on paper, then make all the necessary decisions that go along with a large building
project. We are very excited to show you
how this project will work and play a vital role in Topflight’s territory for
years to come. The kids are
ready to go back to school. Anna Marie will be starting her junior year at
Monticello High School and has started running with the cross country team.
Annie had a busy summer with mission camp, track camp, leadership camp and
traveling with friends and family. Dillon will be a junior at Monmouth College
and is planning on studying abroad his spring semester. Dillon had an active
summer traveling to music concerts and recruiting for his fraternity along with
starting flying lessons. Dillon will have about 20 hours of flight time in by
the time he returns to Monmouth. Serge, our oldest son, continues as an
assistant manager with the Marriot system. Serge has enjoyed playing with his
band, teaching percussion lessons and playing beach volleyball at one of the
local watering holes. Serge continues his dialysis three times a week with his
busy schedule, so if I feel a little run down, I just remind myself of what he
has to do every week. Serge and his wife Lindsay enjoy living next to family in
the Quad Cities. Denise and I can’t believe that we will be empty nesters in a
couple of years, where did the time go???
We have enjoyed trips to Chicago and St Louis this summer with one last
hurrah at the Growmark/Midco
conference at the Lake of Ozarks before the kids begin school. We know that the
volumes will be down this year but try not to get frustrated. Remember we are
blessed to live in God’s country with the best soils in the world. Have a safe
harvest and enjoy the fall season. HARVEST REMINDERS By Brock Casteel Harvest
2011 is fast approaching. Even with an early shipping, year it seems like there
are still not enough months between harvests. There are always those items that
you would like to get done, but just don’t quite get to. The hot summer seems to have
flown by, and August almost cooled off with a switch. It will be interesting to
see what the extreme heat and lack of moisture does to the overall quality and
volume of the crop. In the area south of Bement and north of Lovington, the few
pop up showers received were spotty at best. Milmine seems to be coming along
nicely, and looks to be operational close to the beginning of harvest. This
will play a pivotal role in the flow of grain for our company during the busy
shipping weeks of harvest. Top 10 things to remember as we
all get back into the swing of harvest:
The
hot summer did allow for a little fun. Erica, Morgan and I took a short weekend
vacation to St. Louis where we visited the zoo, and Grant’s Farm. Morgan loved
getting to see all the different animals and braved the heat like a trooper,
while Dad especially enjoyed the refrigerated penguin house to beat the heat
for a little while! I hope you all have a safe harvest. Talk to you next time. IMPROVEMENTS AT EMERY By Haley Wade Highlight of the summer: Watching Pujols smack one out of Busch Stadium in the 12th
inning to beat the Cubs in the 2nd game of the series. I was with a group of girls for a
bachelorette party and we were split 50/50.
Five of us were Cardinals fans, and the other five, Cubs. We had a great time and it felt good being on
the winning side of that evening! The
rest of the summer consisted of the typical events like tractor pulls,
concerts, and working away in the Emery office. Just like most of the Midwest, we saw over 11” of
rain in the month of June. The problem
started when July came around and only gave us about .7” for the entire
month! August didn’t prove to be any
better, but I still feel as a community we are lucky to have the crop we
have. I couldn’t imagine being around
the flooded river areas and places like North Dakota where they didn’t even get
a chance to get in the field. Emery has
continued improving thanks to the new dryer, which is now in use, as well as a
new dry leg for our older corn pit. Special thanks go out to Paul’s Machine for
working months on end to finish all the new components for the dryer, legs, and
distributors. Also we want to thank
Atchison Electric for getting the dryer up and running and allowing us to be
ready for harvest. Emery is also
thankful for the handful of workers who returned for yet another busy season:
Sharon Brown, Quentin Stevens, and Tom Winebrinner. We are very lucky to have strong harvest crew
to keep the trucks rolling and the grain flowing! I wish everyone a safe and bountiful harvest! NO RAIN =
EARLY HARVEST AGAIN!!! By Jason Goodner No rain again
for most of the summer will, and has, accelerated when harvest will get
here. We had a wet spring and planting
was strung out until the middle of June with beans, so early corn and late
beans may be the case for this fall. The
weather has been a fickle one this year, and no two years are the same it
seems. This year is a lot like last year for
us. We are trying to quickly move old
grain out to make room for the new crop here in a few short weeks. We’ve had some help at slowing us down, but
we did get some needed maintenance done to our facility. LMC contractors came in at the end of July,
and started removing and installing our new auger and trough under our three
outside concrete bins. Now this won’t
speed up the elevator for fall, but it will help us unload those three bins
with less grunt labor than before. The
other project this summer was removing the east and south walls of the bunker,
and pouring a new pad for the walls to sit on.
The asphalt surface had deteriorated over time, and Seever’s
Drainage did a great job in repairing the problem. They also regraded
the ditch to the south of the bunker, and poured a driveway apron into the
bunker. What can we say about grain
prices? Do you still have hair? Is your
seat belt still locked? It’s been a wild
ride since last fall. The current fall
corn bid is hovering around the $ 7 mark.
The last USDA update dropped the corn yield just short of 6 bu/ac, down to 153 bu/acre as their projection. Even in the midst of economic problems around
the world, the grain markets keep chugging along. Private analysts have projected even lower
yield numbers than the USDA, so only time will tell, but the hot and dry
conditions this summer didn’t help. The
soybeans are looking good, but again need some rain to finish off what could be
a decent crop around here in places.
Seymour and areas just north of Seymour have received more rain than the
guys that are down closer to Monticello Rd.
I know a lot has happened since the
last newsletter, but we had another awesome turnout for our 4th of
July parade again. We had a car show and
really great fireworks put on by the Community Improvement Association in
Seymour and the Fire Department. They
had over 100 plus entries in the parade and close to 100 for the car show. On the home front, things have changed
too. This past winter Kari had blown out
her ACL; that is now fixed and she has been doing quite well. She is going to work here again this fall,
and continues going to school, working towards a nursing degree. We also found out that we are going to be
parents again to a new little Goodner around the beginning of February. Kolby is getting
ready to start 3rd Grade this year at Lincoln Trail, and Addi starts Kindergarten at Middletown this year. They are both excited. They had a great time over the summer with
pool passes to Monticello’s pool. They
learned how to swim better, and were confident enough to go down the waterslide
all the time. Most of our summer was
spent at the pool with a few trips up north to LaSalle, IL, and over to Indy
for a last of summer get away. This is the part where I slow down the
windbag in me and try to wrap this up.
However, I can’t forget a great guy that we lost this summer. Bruce Cresap was a
great guy, and wonderful to sit and talk to.
I miss our chats around lunch time with Bruce and Fred Perry. We looked forward to going out to his house
after the 4th of July parade for his Birthday party. Well, now I truly am done. We look forward to seeing you this fall, and
if you have any account changes, please notify us before you begin hauling
in. Have a happy and safe harvest. See you on the scale. PIERSON
NEWS By Gloria
Litwiller It’s that time of year…when everyone is trying to predict what the
yields will be. Of course the timing of the rains will make a difference. Well,
right now it’s been HOT and DRY. We keep watching the skies for that liquid gold. The way it looks right now it
will be an early and fast harvest. However, you can never predict Mother
Nature; she does what she wants when she wants. I will have all the harvest
stats for you in the next news article. You will not see any new updates at
Pierson this year. However, there have been some repairs to spouts, the flat
and a conveyor. You don’t always see the updates or repairs, but we are always
maintaining and repairing. Randy, Brad and Bill have worked really hard in this
HEAT to sweep and clean bins. This process takes a little longer now with
OSHA’s new rules and regulations. On the home front….Michael and Andrew
had swimming lessons during the summer. They went to the ice rink several times
to keep up and improve their hockey skills. Stacey has had several doctors’
appointments this summer for her MS. They are trying to figure out what has
been affected and how to best treat it. The medicine she is on has done a great
job of keeping it under control. Hilary graduated from SIU in Mass
Communication/Radio and TV. She is employed by WSIL Channel 3 in Carterville as
a reporter. She’s doing what she loves. So if you are ever in that area, you
can see her on TV. Everyone have a SAFE and BOUNTIFUL
HARVEST!! BUSY
SUMMER AT LAPLACE By
Vanessa Stinson Hello from LaPlace. It was another unpredictable spring and
summer. Things got off to a wet start and now we can’t get a rain. Oh well, it is
what it is and we will deal with whatever Mother Nature brings our way. That’s
why the farming community is a strong group; we take what she gives us and we
work through it. Your LaPlace facility has been busy cleaning out the elevator this
summer. At this time we are empty of corn and have a few beans to ship. The outside crew is busy buttoning up bins
and sprucing up the place with some paint. In the office we have put a new coat
of paint, also. Come in and see how nice it looks. We have not changed anything from last year’s harvest: ·
We ask that you get with us for farm
changes before you bring the grain across the scale ·
Remember no cell phones on the scale or
in the plant. ·
Inbound grain comes in on the north
scale. ·
Empties weigh out on the south scale. ·
Beans dump at the west end and corn at
the east end. If you have any questions feel free to call or drop in. Let’s all work
together and have a safe harvest. The Stinson family is awaiting the birth of our first grandchild. Our
daughter, Ashley, is due in September with her first child. We are all very
excited about this new venture in all of our lives. I teased her that she can’t
have a baby at harvest. Our daughter, Gretchen, has moved to Taylorville and is
still working for Kroger. The newlyweds, Nicolle and Kyle, have been married
for a year already! That’s hard to believe. Nicolle will be teaching Jr. High
girls PE this fall in Marshall. She also is the 7th grade basketball
coach. Kyle is still teaching Jr High boys PE and is coaching high school
football in Marshall. They are busy kids. Our family wishes all of you a safe and bountiful harvest. NEWS FROM ATWOOD,
2011 SUMMER EDITION By Russel Wright Where did the summer go? It seems like just a few months ago you farmers were planting corn and beans. Now we are just a few weeks away from harvest. Wow!! Lots of work has been done here at the Atwood facility. Practically all of the corn has been shipped; however, some corn has been retained for the bottom of the wet bin and dryer. We still have a few beans left to ship before bean harvest. Bill and his crew of Brad Dehart and Ken Ross have been sweeping out the bins. Lucky for them the hot weather didn’t get here until they were done. This year’s wheat harvest didn’t last very long, as all of the wheat was harvested before the Fourth of July. The big flat was painted and now the grain leg, spouts, and conveyors are being painted before harvest. As summer winds down, school will be starting and all the fall sports too. Speaking of sports, Debby and I attended a lot of softball games that Tatum and Kady participated in. Their team placed 4th in the tournament in Forsyth this year, not bad for a very young team against some very good Decatur area soft ball programs. Tatum was the pitcher and Kady did the catching. It sure was fun watching them develop their ball playing skills. Of course, we went to ball games in Gibson City to watch Kendyl and her brother Jaxon play T-ball. That, too, was very entertaining. Zac has started marching band, playing the trombone. He was in the spring musical “Big” enjoying every minute of it. In April Debby and I went to O’Fallon, Illinois, to attend an impromptu Army Reunion. Over the winter I had the opportunity to research where one of my platoon members that was killed in action forty years ago was buried. After finding him, I contacted my fellow buddies to tell them. I also had a surprise for them as I had found the brothers of the deceased. Needless to say, seven of us and our wives made the trip to O’Fallon on short notice. At the cemetery, there were over forty family members attending as well as the patriot guard, Representative Tom Holbrook of Belleville, and the press. I had the honor of laying the wreath and had our picture and article published in the Belleville News-Democrat. This was a very moving experience for us as well as the family members. The hot weather continues and the final preparations for harvest are under way. I want to remind everyone that if you have any farm code changes, please contact your Topflight office so we can have them all ready for you when you pull on the scales. Don’t forget the Topflight cell phone policy for no cell phones on the scales, as well as, the dump pits and please be safe and have a good harvest. PROGRESS CITY, PIATT COUNTY By Jon Carr Around
this time you’re probably hearing quite a bit about Progress City USA, the site
of this year’s Farm Progress show in Decatur. Well, here in Milmine, we’re
making our own progress! Since the
conclusion of last year’s harvest, Growmark has built a fine new facility right
here in the heart of Piatt County. Through
the winter months it was hard to tell if any progress was being made on the
project. Supplies piled up on the construction site, and with the bitterly cold
temperatures, few workers were seen. As the ground thawed and the sun began to
shine again, it was apparent that more had been done than met the eye. Holes
had been dug; foundations had been poured and backfilled; organizing and
preassembly of the towers, legs and catwalks had been done. The second week of
March the crane was brought on site (It took seven semis to get it here!) and
the pieces began going into place. From that point on it was easy to see the
progress being made from a distance. When I would visit the worksite it was
hard to believe all the different projects within the project. There were
people working on many different things but all for the same goal. Now with
everything coming together and harvest getting underway, let’s just hope everything
runs smoothly! We
haven’t just been watching though. We’ve been busy in the spring and summer
months shipping out corn, mostly to Tate & Lyle. The corn that came out of
the pile here this year all looked very good! That made a lot of people happy, especially
Rick, who did a great job of keeping the fan running and the tarp on through
the high winds and power outages during the winter. The operations crew was
able to move all the corn out of the pile and into the elevator in just nine
days, which I was told was a record. We have also taken in a good amount of
corn from the flat at Shacks too, which is now empty. On August 1st
we welcomed Chris Hood to our Milmine team. Chris will be working alongside
Rick outside as they learn how to run the new elevator. I would also like to
mention Kelly Curry, as she has been a great help to Rick and myself doing a
little bit of everything around here all year. It’s
been a good summer. I’ve been able to enjoy most weekends either playing golf
or boating on Lake Shelbyville. I also had the pleasure of driving the
Topflight ‘Airplane’ in Cerro Gordo’s Fat Hill Fest parade and the Bement 4th
of July parade. In early June, I rented a cabin in Southern Illinois and spent
the weekend with my brother (Evan) and one of my sisters and her husband
(Michelle and Blake). The cabin was very nice. It had a full kitchen, satellite
TV, and a hot tub on a screened in porch. We were really roughing it! The only
bad thing was that it was one of those weekends it was around 100 degrees so we
couldn’t really enjoy the hot tub. As
always, it’s sad to see summer go. But I’m excited for this fall, my first
harvest in Milmine and a new elevator for our customers. It’s going to be an
exciting time in this Progress City! WHEW!!! By Pam Jarboe Whew!! I thought once the
Old Glory Days and the 4th of July were past, the summer would slow
down, but I think it just sped up! Old Glory Days were fun. I was in charge of the old tractor show and
co-chaired the 50-60’s show. (Yes, there is a slight hint there that my jobs
are with the “old” segments!) I met a couple of new farmers with their old
tractors, as we lined them up in the Bement Park, and all of us had some good
visits. The 50-60’s show also went well with a good crowd and lots of good talent.
As always, the Bement 4th of July parade had lots of tractors and
people in it. Then, it seemed like it was time
to start planning. We began work on the
annual meeting, the crop tour, and an open house at Milmine. Amy & I also
began work on a presentation about our website for the Growmark managers, and
Amy prepared for 2 meetings involving newcomers and interns to the grain
business. Vanessa & I attended an
Agris meeting about iView. And then it was time to review the harvest list to
order supplies. That includes plenty of
snacks and paper goods for everyone, scale ticket paper, and Amy ordered
caramels and peanuts. Our office was
almost a maze for a few days, as we stacked boxes of supplies. Brad Dehart has moved his job to
Bement, from the Atwood & Pierson locations. He will assist Jim in running
the Bement facility. Bill Benson came back in mid-August to prepare the bean
flat for harvest. Brian Pierce is here,
too, loading out corn, cleaning the elevator, and helping keep things going.
And we were happy to have Konnor Wright remain with
us for the summer, after his high school internship. Brock took a week off for
tractor pulls. He pulled in several 2nd & 3rd
places. He keeps busy ensuring that we
have the latest safety information and ordering supplies for the operations
staff. Eric monitored the Milmine project all year, and is busy crunching
numbers together for this fall’s harvest.
As always, he, Scott, Derrick and Chuck make an initial plan for grain
receipts, sales, and transfers prior to harvest. Then, they continually monitor and adjust the
plan trying to keep space available throughout the company. The rest of the Bement
operations crew keeps busy doing maintenance, cleaning, loading out truck and
rail, assisting with safety projects, and moving throughout the company
assisting where needed. This newsletter, as always, came
together, with the help of many people.
Thanks to all of our staff for their articles, information and
pictures. Additionally, one day in the mail,
an unmarked envelope came, with dates and names of people with special
birthdays and anniversaries, and Sam Brandenburg brought in an old plat book,
that helped us with the center pages of this issue. And special thanks to
everyone who helped me collect information about Henry Larson. We all admired Henry and many people had
special stories to tell. It has been a great summer; we
wish you a safe harvest. GIFT OF 2009 By Eric Clements Topflight Grain will go into the 2011 harvest
with 3.5 million bushels of additional storage versus the 2010 harvest. We built an additional 800,000 bushels of
storage at Milmine and the rest is storage we had tied up with damage corn from
the 2009 crop. Most of the elevators in
the Midwest struggled to maintain and properly store the 2009 crop. The 2009 crop was
the corn crop that kept giving, just not in a good way. The late planting, replanting drown out areas
in fields, and mild temperatures didn’t allow the crop to mature like it
normally would. We were drying the corn
when the outside air temperatures were much colder than normal and that didn’t
allow for any additional drying from our bin fans. I am happy to
report that most, if not all, of the damage corn at Topflight will be gone
before this harvest. It was a very stressful
situation on all of us that had to deal with these damage bushels. Everyone involved did a great job of
communicating when they needed more damage corn to blend and getting the damage
blended with minimal discounts. It was a
great team effort. I hope we never see a
year like 2009 again. The outside crews
have been very busy this summer emptying out bins and making repairs in
preparations for this harvest. It was a
very hot summer and cleaning out the bins was much more difficult because of
this heat. The maintenance crew has been
to each elevator making the major repairs and will continue to make smaller
repairs as we head into the harvest. I
hope everyone has a safe and productive harvest. COVER YOUR BASES By Amy Brammer It was a busy August. Seems like it just flew by and here we are in September in the midst of harvest and another short corn crop. As I sat down to think about article topics, I once again came up blank. Well, not really. There were several topics. However, most are a bit too complex for a simple one page article to really explain correctly. And, some were just too boring! It’s also a bit challenging, as topics need to be timely yet the time span between my typing the article and you receiving it is close to a month. So, maybe I’ll just discuss some things to keep in mind in our ever changing business. No longer do we live in a world where handshakes and your word will do. Sure, they are appreciated, but not binding…legally that is. Farming is no longer simply about the love of the land and the feeling you get watching something you worked so hard on grow and thrive. It’s about complex contracts, leases, faster/bigger equipment, seed technology, locking in inputs at just the right time, marketing, crop insurance, government programs and so much more. Much like our society as whole, everything in life is just more complex and well, faster than yesterday. “Where has the time gone? It flew by.” The small farmer is slowly fading away, as it takes more acres to raise a family on, with rising costs, as heirs become removed from the farm, and as investors look to land as a safe haven for their assets from a stock market that gives volatility a new name. Grain Elevators are finding that they are increasingly dealing with customers they’ve never met and know virtually nothing about. Industry contracts are getting complex and the fine print smaller and smaller. All bases are being covered as unexpected situations are becoming bigger and more costly. As your business grows, are all of your bases covered? Read those contracts everyone is making you sign…yes – actually read them! Make sure you understand and are comfortable with what you are signing. Is your crop adequately insured? A short crop can sure make a person thankful that they are. Also, do you have your records/paperwork organized/accessible? These are only a few of examples. Make sure you are covering all of the bases for your business in these volatile times! One major area that often gets overlooked in our hurried lives is safety. Safety is a major concern in the industry today. There have been some extremely tragic events that were completely preventable over the past couple of years because someone thought, “this will only take a minute, I’ll just do it really quick” or “it’s so much easier if I just do it this way.” As we all (farmers and businesses alike) get bigger, everything gets larger and faster…bins, equipment, etc. Grain elevators have safety guidelines in place and accidents still occur. But at the farm level, many safety practices are simply overlooked in the name of ‘getting the job done.’ This has had grave repercussions. So, take a few extra minutes this fall to make sure everything is turned off properly if you have to do repairs, or that all moving parts are secure, or that you are entering a bin properly, or whatever small precautions you can take to prevent an injury. A few extra minutes mean nothing in the grand scheme of life. The crop always gets in. Lastly, its fall, and in my opinion, the most beautiful time of year in Illinois. We get so caught up in the hub-bub of harvest that we forget to enjoy the season. So, try to take a moment here and there and realize that even with the craziness of harvest and the uncertainty that so many are facing in our country right now, that it’s a great time of year and that we truly are lucky and blessed. The crop is coming in (even if it’s a short crop), most of you are doing what you love; and by doing so, helping so many around the world. And if all else fails, I’ll send you some caramels and peanuts to the field if you need a little pick-me-up!! LOTS going on in the Brammer House! Brenden is 3.5 now and keeps us busy, not only chasing after him, but with the never ending game of 20 questions. We went on a little family trip to Indianapolis to the Zoo and Children’s Museum, which Brenden loved. Elliott is still working on his MBA and will begin training soon for the Houston Half Marathon in January. The big news is that the Brammer clan is growing! We are expecting! But the bigger news is its identical TWINS!!! We didn’t have any modern medical intervention, so, needless to say we were beyond shocked, but very excited. I’m due in mid-February as long as the twins cooperate! Can you all please start praying for my sanity now?!? Have a safe harvest!!! SUMMER FUN By Dana Shull This summer, I volunteered for the Maroa 4th of July parade. I took my daughter Paige along, to help me throw candy. We had lots of fun driving the Topflight Grain airplane float. Paige said she wants to be in parades for a living. I told her she would make a wonderful princess at a certain theme park in Florida, and that she might even see some of our local farmers who fly south for the winter there. She thought that sounded like a great idea! My children are all doing very well. Zane is gearing up for another year at Richland Community College. Ceara just landed a full-time job. She is still working a part-time job and volunteering at the Macon County Animal Shelter. So she is a very busy young woman. Holden played baseball for Toledo as the short stop and pitcher. He started football practice for Cumberland in early June, and is ready to begin his sophomore year of High School. Tristan played baseball for Washington and started his football practice mid-August, and is going to be a 7th grader. The youngest, Paige, is still active in Tae Kwon do. She also enjoyed playing softball for Forsyth, and is excited to be a big 2nd grader at Maroa-Forsyth grade school. In the office, I have been getting things prepared for the upcoming harvest, making sure that I have all the needed supplies and doing some cleaning. Outside operations have been busy getting the bins emptied and swept. It will be interesting to see how the yields do this year with all the dry weather. ~Want to wish everyone a safe and bountiful harvest! WE NEVER KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT!!! By Mikki Burns Another year of
wondering what is going to happen?!? We
started off with a wet spring and ended up with a dry summer. Hopefully, the hybrids have withstood the
elements better than we think. We will
soon find out. Cisco has two
more trains to ship in August and hopefully will be petty empty before
harvest. The guys are sweeping bins and
flats and preparing for our busy time.
It will be here soon. We will still have the same
traffic pattern as in the past several years when things get busy. Jon will be back in the office to help and
Joyce decided to retire for the second time, so Ellen Coon will be here to help
us. Ellen worked here about 10 years
ago, so she is familiar with the operation.
Right now we
have Robert Phillips, Anthony Dunn and Justin McCabe on board helping Jack,
Rick and Gary. Cisco has now
updated their gas station with newer technology and more reliable pumps. The new system is an unattended credit card
system. If you were using a card issued by Topflight Grain or paying cash, that
will no longer be allowed; only credit card transactions will work. We look forward to supplying your fuel needs
with improved service and equipment. The
grandchildren have had a great summer!!
J.D. and Blaine played baseball.
Blaine and Audrey have taken swimming lessons and enjoyed a lot of
activities at the Forsyth Summer Recreation program. J.D. and Cooper have spent a lot of time on
their 4-wheelers and fishing in their pond.
Tim, Stacey and the boys enjoyed a week in Destin, Florida. Chad, Andrea and the children enjoyed a trip
to Six Flags and St. Louis attractions. Now it is time for them to start school and even Cooper is starting school
at Faith Christian in Monticello. Have a VERY safe harvest!! HEY, BIDDER, BIDDER, BIDDER By Rodd Runyen Recently,
I have been to several auctions around Cerro Gordo. I love auctions and really
enjoy going to them. I still remember getting hooked on auctions in the late
1980’s. And for those of you who like going to auctions…you know that it is an
addiction! My
first auction that I went to was in 1987, right after I had graduated from
college. It was a huge auction over by Sidney, Illinois, out in the country. My
dad, brother, and I had traveled over there, as it was a huge auction and
advertised everything. They weren’t kidding when they said it had everything.
It had glassware to a horse-drawn sleigh! It was an antique lover’s paradise!! Now,
I had grown up most of my life just 2 houses down from my Grandma Darnall. She was the only grandparent I knew, as the
grandparents from my paternal side had died before I was born and my maternal
grandfather had died when I was 11 months old. So my Grandma was a big
influence on me and had given me the “fever” of collecting antiques. So going
to auctions only increased that fever! The
heyday of my auction-going was the late 1980’s, the time before I got married
and had kids. Those days were spent going to auctions almost every weekend. My
twin brother and I would go all over – Decatur, Bement, Tower Hill, Edinburg, Wapella, and all places in between. And I will tell you,
the one that I thought was the fairest and had the best quality of merchandise,
was the Bement Auction. They were a class act and I always enjoyed going there.
They had their hodge podge
of chairs and many had reserved signs on them. They always greeted you warmly
and had good staff showing the auction items. They always let you know if an
item was cracked or broken. Many other auctions weren’t like that, it was buyer
beware. But they were honest and had a reputation as a good auction house. It
was sad to see it close several years ago. And as you pass through Bement
today, the sign is still posted on Route 105 that points the way to the old
auction house. But
when we were at the auction, it was the thrill of the chase as we bought
Depression glass, milk bottles, Occupied Japan, furniture, and many other
items. And as any auction-goer knows, you would leave each auction saying, “I
should have bought that!”. And it was always a great
feeling to have gotten a “good buy” or had something thrown in that you weren’t
expecting or hadn’t seen. But we would usually leave the auction with boxes of
stuff we had gotten! But
with my marriage and the birth of our kids, the time and money to go to
auctions for me had slipped away. And now, many of the auction houses are gone.
Auction sites like eBay have hurt them. But there are still some good ones
around, and I still enjoy going every now and then. Who knows, maybe one day, I
will take some of my stuff to an auction house. This would give people the
thrill of bidding on stuff while giving me the thrill of putting money in my
pocket! But Tera hasn’t convinced me yet to give up my treasures, and believe
me, she has tried! Until then, I will
keep going to auctions every now and then to see what there is to bid on! Family
Update: Autumn is in 8th grade at Cerro Gordo Middle School and
playing basketball. Her softball team took 3rd place this summer.
Bailey is a Junior at Cerro Gordo High School and is
currently playing football. This spring, he was named to the All-Piatt County
Baseball team at 3rd base. Sara is attending Richland Community
College and is working at Ruby Tuesdays in Decatur and The Bullseye
Bar & Grill in Hammond. FINANCIAL STATS By Chuck Bentley Financial results ending May 31, 2011: · 38,008,000 bushel sales · $249,639,000 sales · $14,196,531 total income · $11,788,371 total expense · $2,408,160 Net income Although we generated less service income last year due to the extremely dry crop, and storage income was below normal, grain margins were very good, giving us a medium range income for the year. The Board declared no patronage income and chose to build working capital and reinvest all the profits into the company. Cash spent for current additions for the year was $9,276,775. High prices for commodities mean record expenditures for your company. It was another $100,000,000 year for borrowing against our seasonal loan. Our operating line continues to rise, putting pressure on our working capital. A couple of personal notes - I decided to drive our 2004 Chrysler 300 M car until it died. Little did I know it would do just that. The timing belt broke and tore the engine up. Of course I was counting on driving it many more miles. We also gave our house a makeover after living there sixteen years without doing anything to it. We installed central air after using wall installed conditioners for all those years. It was the best decision ever, since we had such a long, hot summer. We do realize it appears to be a short crop this year because of the weather. Let’s all hope it is not as bad as it appears. Have a safe harvest. GROWING SEASON By Derrick
Bruhn This growing season has been anything but typical. We are getting used to the non-typical growing seasons, but each has different challenges. This one has been a challenge from the start. The American farmer has done a great job of equipping operations for the extreme conditions we have seen the past couple years. With the addition of equipment and technology, it doesn’t take much time to get a crop put in the ground. Once that is done, it’s up to Mother Nature to take care of it. We had some of the most extreme weather conditions hit the US this spring. The tornado damage still lingers in many areas and the flood damage is ongoing. Once the extreme damaging weather stopped, our rains stopped and the high temps began. The disease pressure, combined with the heat and drought, is taking a toll on the Central Cornbelt. Price direction will continue to be very volatile with the financial stability of the US uncertain. This, combined with a very short crop and record demand, will cause some problems. There will be rationing in some sector of demand for corn and possibly beans. This uncertainty will continue into next spring. It will be a tough decision for the US farmer to plant a large amount of corn on corn acres after the yield drag we have seen the past 2 years. Price will have to determine how this plays out. At this point everyone is uncertain what test weight for corn may be like. Many think with the lack of moisture we will see a very light test weight. Another thing that is uncertain is the possibility of aflatoxin in the corn. Aflatoxin is very prevalent in extreme dry conditions, high humidity, and extreme heat conditions. I think we can qualify for all of these. As if we didn’t have enough issues to deal with a short crop! If your crop is infected with aflatoxin, contact your
crop insurance agent immediately. There
are very strict guidelines that must be followed for the claim process. On the home front, we have had a great summer. We were able to take a couple vacations and really enjoyed the time together. I’m not sure if Lynne had the summer off from teaching or not. She has been getting her new classroom ready. She is very excited to be teaching kindergarten this year. Mabry will start first grade at Lincoln School and will be in the same building as Lynne. Mylin will be attending ˝ day of K3 at Faith Christian School and is ready to carry her new backpack. Have a safe harvest! EVERYTHING’S BIGGER
IN TEXAS By Adam Jackson This summer Lindsay and I took a trip to Texas and had the opportunity to see what Texas agriculture was all about. We stayed in San Antonio, but took a day to drive through Hill Country and another day to see the Gulf of Mexico. On the way to the Gulf, we had the opportunity to see cotton harvest in full swing. It was an amazing sight to see huge fields of pure white cotton. Close to Corpus Christi there is a town in Texas called Kingsville. Richard King was a man that made his way to Texas and in the middle of the 19th century, he bought 15,500 acres of a Mexican land grant to start a ranch. He hired the help of experienced Mexican cowboys to work on his ranch and he provided them food, shelter, and income. King’s Ranch grew into a strong community and the majority of the cowboys who live and work on the ranch today are the 4th and 5th generations of the original cowboys who started the ranch over 150 years ago. King Ranch is famous for the 1946 Triple Crown winning thoroughbred ASSULT and the first American breed of beef cattle, the Santa Gertrudis. Today, King Ranch’s operations include 825,000 ranching acres and 60,000 cotton and milo farming acres in Texas and 20,000 sod, citrus, and sugar cane farming acres in Florida. A surprising problem that Texas farmers have been dealing with for a few years now is javelinas. Packs of these wild pigs can destroy acres of corn overnight. Needless to say, javelinas are always in season and there are no bag limits for hunters. It sounds like they are slowly moving north, but hopefully they never make it this far. And although we’ve been hard up for rain this year, Texas is in incredibly worse shape. Farmers there have resorted to bailing their barren corn for hay. On a personal note, Lindsay has been hired full-time as a Research Assistant at Pioneer as of July. Also, my youngest brother, Noah, graduated from high school this year. He’ll start school this fall at Lincoln Land Community College and plans to go into AgBusiness. I hope everyone has a safe harvest! TOO MUCH HEAT By Denny Hill This year will be remembered as “the year that could have been” with the crop looking great around the 4th of July (even after a late planting period) but an extremely hot and dry July took its toll on the corn crop. The potential of 200 plus yields now have the farmers thinking maybe 130 to 160 after 6 weeks of no rain and 90 degree days being the norm. Harvest looked like it would get started in late September with the late planting but that all changed with the heat in July. Looking back this summer will be compared in dryness to the 3 years in the 1980’s where central Illinois didn’t receive the timely rains to save the crop from serious yield losses. Every farmer you talk to still remembers what their corn yields were in those 3 drought years. We flirted with crop losses in other years since, but seemed like we always got a nice rain to save us at the right time; but not this year. Around the elevator this summer we’ve been able to get nearly completely empty for the first time in several years. Dan Greer and his crew of Gary Liggett, Aaron Hill and sometimes Kenny Ross have been busy sweeping bins and blending corn and keeping this facility and the Waller location looking nice. This will be Dan’s first harvest as outside supervisor here in Maroa and he is looking forward to the many challenges he will face. The Topflight millwright team, Roger Burton, Rob Dick and Willard Kauffman, worked over here for 3 weeks in July, mainly rebuilding the old Deluxe dryer’s unloading conveyors and some other maintenance that was needed around the elevator. My wife Terri is back to teaching Math again in the Meridian school district after enjoying her summer off. Our oldest daughter Jessica will be in her 3rd year at Argenta-Oreana as the school’s Social Worker and our other daughter Meghan will be doing her student teaching this fall and graduate in December. HAVE A SAVE HARVEST! HARVEST #15 By Stason Kopps Another harvest will soon be upon us. It is hard to believe this will be my 15th harvest with Topflight Grain. During the spring it seemed to rain all the time, but it was definitely a hot and dry summer. As usual the Monticello crew has had a busy summer preparing for harvest. Chris Frye has been moving corn out of Monticello. Kris Mills has been working to get the elevator at Lodge empty. Steve Schoonover has been working at Seymour. Rob Dick has been doing maintenance throughout the company. Martin Guenther has been doing safety maintenance. On the home front I have been on a diet this summer. The diet is called Fresh Start but it is sometimes called the Kirby diet. At the time I am writing this I have lost 30 pounds and have another 13 pounds to go before I reach my goal. Marsha has been busy trying to beautify our yard but the grass and flowers don’t like this dry weather. Macy is working nights for the Piatt County Nursing Home and plans to attend Parkland College this fall. I hope everyone has a safe and productive harvest. Our sympathies to the families of “Olie” Alblinger, Phyllis Bales, Stephen Balance, Carl Ballinger, Mary Ballinger, Michael Betancourt, Helen Betz, Bob Birch, Arnold Bork, “Ike” Boyd, Jack Carr, Veda Casteel, Donald Catlin, Jerry Chesnut, Bruce Cresap, Welby Cyrulik, George Dunn, Harold Dunn, Evelyn Elder, Ellen Freesh, Jeremy Gentry, Vearl Harris, Milo Hiser, Catherine Hopkins, Ed Huffington, Duane Jackson, Don Kaufman, Howard Lamb, Martha Lamb, Gloria Larson, “Bud” Lourash, Gaylord Maden, Freeda Mann, Robert “Jack” Mechling, Sally Jo Potrafka Meyers, Grace Moberly, Normaline Monts, Marva Moore, Betty Newell, Kate Redman, Harold Remmers, Bill Rhoades, Harold Robinson, Linden Robinson, Merle Gene Rohrscheib, Harlow Snoke, Dorothy Thrasher, Susan Elaine (Curran) Tyree, Lela Mae Wildman, Charlie Winters, Rosemary Wood, . . . And all others who have lost loved ones. Our congratulations to . . . .Kelsey Birch, selected as the DAR recipient at Atwood-Hammond; Kristyn Barrett, Rebekah Seevers, and Jenny Bentley, chosen as Illinois State Scholars in 2011; Dale & Martha Hicks, married 50 years in February; Henry & Marcella Woodyard, married 65 years in February; Konnor Wright, selected to promote the dual credit program of Parkland College; Mitch Clements, recipient of a certificate for placing in the top 10% of the Illinois Workplace Skills Test; Konnor Wright, selected as BHS Student of the Month (father Ken Wright present the award); Pete and Doris Kapper, married 65 years in February; Brodie Gallagher, Katelyn Rogers, Alyssa Hendrix, Anna Hendrix, Jenny Bentley, Konnor Wright, Brock Rumple, Jared Jean, Ethan Morton & Connor Gross, recognized as Scholar Athletes at BHS; Brodie Galllagher, named to the Second Team for the LOVC All-Conference Team; Dan & Jean Chamber’s farm, recognized by the Illinois Department of Agriculture as a Sesquicentennial Farm; Samantha Thompson, named Monticello High School Senior of the month, for February; Ed & Kakie Heidcamp, married 40 years in March; Jacob & Kayla McConkey, proud parents of Levi Allen, born in December; proud great-grandparents are Paul & Helen Lilly and Jack & Faye Miner; Autumn Runyen, recognized as offensive player of the year for the Cerro Gordo basketball team; Bill & Janet Alexander, married 50 years, in April; Sammi Thompson, named to the All County girls basketball team; David & Charlotte Corman, married 35 years in April; Gene & Helen Rowe, married 70 years in March; Mike, Cheryl, Sierra & Chayton Day, recipients of the Mitchell Widholm Memorial Award, presented at the 2011 Angus Association Annual Banquet. The award was presented by former Bement Grain employee Todd Widholm; Sierra Day, crowned princess at the 2011 Illinois Angus Association Annual Banquet; Glen & Barbara Streich, celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in April; Fred & Evelyn Wentworth, celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary in May; Natasha Bennett and Scott Griffith, married in June; Chuck Foran, promoted to Farm Credit’s Regional Lending Manager, for fifteen counties in west central Illinois; The family of Bernard Alblinger – “main” street Ivesdale has been designated in his honor; Meredith Murphy, crowned 2011 prom queen at Sullivan High School; Adam & Ashley Rosenbery, married in August; Alyvia Marie Halicki, born March 17. Proud parents are John & Tiffany Halicki. Happy grandparents are Steve & Karen Halicki; Jack & Gail Potrafka, married 70 years, in May; Tim & Julie Breuning, proud parents of Michael David; proud grandmother is GloAnn Walsh; proud great-grandparents are Patty Walsh and Gaylord Hendrix; Kevin & Daphne Walsh, proud parents of Danielle Marie; proud grandparents are GloAnn Walsh and Dan & Glenda Bates; proud great-grandparents are Patty Walsh, Gaylord Hendrix, and Dan & Ruth Bates; Curtis & Becki Durbin, married in May; Rolland & Donna Malone married 60 years in May; Jennifer Hiser & Greg Yoder, married on September 10; Tyler & Jody Morganthaler, parents of a new son, Isaac, born in June; proud grandparents are Greg & Jill Morganthaler; proud great-grandparents are Duane & Linda Born and Walt & Doris Morganthler; Wayne Foran, whose World War II story was portrayed on a poster and in a Library of Congress project, by his granddaughter, Natalie LaPlant; Anne Schable, winner of “People’s Choice Best of Show” in the At-The-Woods Quilt Show; Krystin Barrett, selected as 2011 Okaw Scholar Athlete; Chayton Day, Reserve Junior Heifer Calf Champion at the 2011 Central Illinois Angus Association Preview Show; Sierra Day, owner of the prize winning junior bull calf champion at the 2011 Central Illinois Angus Association Preview Show; Wilbur & Marilyn Blacker, married 50 years in June; Adam Clodfelter, born in May; proud parents are Michael & Jill Clodfelter; proud grandparents are Jeff & Julie Clodfelter; proud great-grandmother is Jean Stoddard; Bill & Sheila Long, married 25 years in July; Samantha Thompson, selected as Monticello Class of 2011, Female Outstanding Senior; Haley Briggs, chosen to attend Illini Girls State in June; Sarah Merrell, graduate of Loyola Medical School at Navy Pier; Josh & Katie Hendrix, married in March; June Sago, who celebrated her 100th birthday in June; Alec Huisinga, named as one of WIXY “20 Exceptional FFA All-Stars”; Bus & Gert Siders, who celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in June; Elise Krause, earning the American FFA Degree; Jack Hill, 80 years old in July; Maurice Day, 75 years old in July; Juanita Jennings, Grand Marshall of the Bement 4th of July parade; Will Fombelle, ISU graduate, accepted into U of I vet program for large animals; Hilary Lehew, SIU graduate; Christian Rose, Dalton Corman, Melissa Davis, Alyssa Dukeman, Reanna Darby, Atwood-Hammond graduates; Josh & Sarah Cole, new daughter MaKenzie Jane, born July 29; Rhiannon Beauchamp, married June 2; Owen, Penelope, & Lane - Jason & Becca Bolsen, proud parent of twin sons, Lane & Owen; proud uncle is Aaron Bolsen; Bart & Christina Baker, proud parents of a daughter, Penelope; proud grandparents are Andy & Tina Bolsen and Mark & Benita Baker; proud great-grandparents are Bill & Norabel Baker, Betty Barber, Jim Williams and Joan Randal; Shannon & Jessica Somers, proud parents of John Michael & Emma Pearl; proud grandparents of the twins are Troy & Julie Price and Steve & Ellen Barrett; proud great-grandparents are Gene & JoAnn Bentley and Patty Walsh; Avis Bennett, who celebrated her 100th birthday on August 10; Kaitlyn Barrett, recognized for 22 stolen bases this season, as a member of the All-Area softball team; Kristyn Barrett, recognized for her on-base percentage and 21 stolen bases, as a member of the All-Area softball team; Christina LeCrone and Brian Szczepanek, married in July; Jim Ayers, named president of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association; Jodi Morris, representing Piatt County at the Special Olympics at the Land of Lincoln Sports Complex; Arleen Totten, who celebrated her 100th birthday on July 13; Edna Lamb, who celebrated her 95th birthday on July 30; Dick & Ann Skagenberg, who celebrated 65 years of marriage on August 25; Bailey Runyen, member of the All-County baseball team, nick-named “stat-sheet-stuffer” for his numerous contributions to the Cerro Gordo team; The Bennetts – Robbie turned 30, Rob turned 50, Nancy turned 50, Joyce turned 75!!. Autumn Runyen and Jordyn Eads. Autumn was Offensive Player of the Year and Jordyn was Defensive Player of the Year (Hustle Award) for the Cerro Gordo Middle School 7th grade basketball team. SHINE THE LIGHT!! About 90 customers attended the two annual focus meetings in Maroa and Bement. We had a delicious breakfast, served by Tracy Ferrill at the Maroa meeting and Shawn Reeves at the Bement meeting. Derrick welcomed the guests and opened the meeting with a market outlook. He talked about supply demand numbers, usage numbers, export predictions and ethanol production. Reviewing crop insurance, he highlighted the changes for the 2011 coverage and encouraged each producer to visit with the Topflight crop insurance specialists, or with their own agent, to be sure that coverage is adequate. Chuck presented a financial summary that showed lower service income this year and explained some of the banking policy requirements. Scott talked about building projects at Topflight, including the Emery project last year and the Milmine project this year. Since the 2009 harvest was so late, the pit, legs and bin were utilized at Emery. This year, the new dryer at Emery will be hooked up with gas and supporting conveyors will be installed, so that it will be ready for the 2011 harvest. The Milmine project is underway. At this time, much concrete work has been done. Some of the work had been delayed during the winter weather, but the work crews continued to work, preparing equipment to be ready when the weather permitted the work to be done. Results of the online survey were summarized, showing a few variations in acreage rotations, and a few equipment upgrades. The theme of the meeting was “shine the light”; each patron received a small flashlight. In
the May 23 edition of FarmWeek, we read an editorial
from Mary Lou Flenniken, commending an essay by Keirra DeCamp in the previous
issue. GrowMark
granted us permission to share Keirra’s article with
you. Printing it here is similar to “preaching
to the choir”, so we hope you will share it with the congregation: WHERE WOULD YOU BE WITHOUT
AGRICULTURE? By Keirra DeCamp Even before your feet hit the floor in the morning, an industry we all
take for granted becomes part of your day. The sheets on your bed, the eggs on your
plate, the milk in your glass, and the clothes are your back are all made
possible through agriculture. As you make your way down the hall to the
shower, even the floor you walk on and the doors you open are part of an agricultural
process. You
turn on the water and get in. Did you know that your soap, shampoo,
conditioner, and even the towels and washcloths you use are pieces of
agriculture? By the time you (women) style your hair, brush your teeth, apply
your makeup, and start your car, you already have used hundreds of modern
agricultural products. As
you drive down the freeway to your destination, you rush past crowded shopping
centers, restaurants, bus stops, subway stations, small businesses, and crowded
streets. Suddenly as you enter the dreaded traffic jam, you realize the
American population is growing at an excessive rate compared to when you first
started your job a few years ago. In
fact, the United States Census Bureau estimates the world population will grow
between 50 million and 80 million people every year for the next 40 years (www.census.gov). Scientists already are working to provide
the ever-growing population with enough food, clothing, and modern agricultural
products without having to take up more land. Through genetic engineering, scientists
are able to chemically and physically enhance plant seeds to produce higher
yields and prevent insect damage. This process is intended to increase crop
production on existing farmland and to provide more food for the large American
population. I’ll
bet you have even seen agricultural businesses close to your community. Some of
these are agricultural cooperatives. If you use these cooperatives, you not
only have a say in the products, prices, and leadership, but you also give back
to your community. In
return, agricultural cooperatives give back to the community, too. The business
they receive draws consumers to your town, which also can benefit other
businesses in your community. In FS gives back to our community by hosting
an annual field day with our FFA members. They inform us about new farming
methods, growing processes, and agricultural threats and influences in So,
the real question here is: “Where would you be without agriculture?” Without
agriculture you would be inconvenienced, naked, malnourished, unprotected, and
most importantly, hungry. The cotton that provided your sheets, your clothes,
your towels, and your washcloths wouldn’t be processed into these everyday
items. The
eggs and milk you had for breakfast wouldn’t be available without the chickens
that produced the eggs and the dairy cattle that produced the milk. The floorboards under your carpet and the
doors made of wood in your home wouldn’t be accessible without the agricultural
process of forestry. The consumables, such as your soap,
shampoo, conditioner, hair products, toothpaste, and makeup also would be
diminished because they are byproducts of plants, another important
agricultural process. And finally, the fuel used to operate
your car very likely is made possible by distilling corn and soybeans into
biofuels. As
you can see, if agriculture weren’t available, life would be greatly affected.
Everyday tasks wouldn’t be possible. So the next time you wake up, eat
breakfast, walk down the hallway in your house, shower, get ready for work, and
head out into the ever-growing world, remember what it takes to give the
necessities you need to live life to its fullest. - Keirra DeCamp, a student at Pleasant Hill High School and a member
of the Pleasant Hill FFA Chapter, won first place in the GROWMARK essay
contest. Her adviser is Beth Arnold. DeCamp will receive a $500 scholarship at the Reprinted with permission of GROWMARK
Inc. TOPFLIGHT GOLF OUTING
By Denny Hill The Topflight Grain Golf outing was held on July 21st at the Hickory Point golf course in Forsyth with 112 golfers braving the sweltering heat that had the heat index above 100 degrees. A shotgun start at 8:30 in the morning had teams of 4 competing in a selective shot format with the teams to be divided into 3 flights by score at the end. The winning team this year with a score of 10 under par 62 was Mark Schwarze, Bill Voorhees Jr., Ryan Katt and Mike Schwarze. At the top of the first flight was the team of Mark Morgan, Roger Hendrix, Andy Hendrix and Kyle Hendrix with a score of 1 under par 71 and winning the third flight with a score of 4 over par 76 was Dan Greer, Gary Liggett, Jason Goodner and Steve Schoonover. Each of these individuals was awarded a gift card from the Hickory Point Golf Club. A nice lunch was served by the Decatur Park District in their banquet facility after play concluded and our proximity prizes were awarded to the following golfers. Longest putt on #9 went to Jim Murphy; longest putt on #18 was won by Mitch Myers; men’s longest drive on #10 was hit by Brett Andricks; women’s longest drive on #12 was Terri Hill; closest to the pin on #13 was Steve Wentworth; closest to the pin on #16 went to Ryan Katt; and the closest shot on #8 was Roger Burton. Thanks to our vendors and special guests we had numerous prizes to give away in our drawing. Shirts, jackets, golf balls, hats, umbrellas, gift certificates, golf clubs and 4 St. Louis Cardinal Tickets were some of the prizes won. A special thanks to Barb Wood for spending the day taking team pictures and Mikki Burns and Vanessa Stinson for getting people signed in and placed on their respective teams. With their help and other Topflight employees help we were able to have another successful outing for our patrons, vendors, guests and employees. We look forward to another fun outing in 2013. “THE MILMINE PROJECT” Throughout the
winter, spring and summer, we have been watching the “Milmine project”. In his article, Jon described it as “Progress
City, Piatt County”. Yes, a lot of
progress has been made with the construction of a new complex at Milmine. The
plans were carefully laid out with an eye towards the future, as new pits, new
bins, new rail loadout, and legs were built. Many
crews have worked hard on this project, fighting the cold and snow of winter,
then a wet and windy spring. Throughout,
the crews have continued to work, adapting to the conditions, constantly
preparing for the next step. A harvest completion date was the goal, and should
be achievable (partly depending on when harvest begins!). The project includes a 515,000
bushel storage bin and a 315,000 wet-holding bin, a new 5,000 bushel/hour dyer,
2 hopper bins to collect screenings and fines, a 4,100 bushel truck loadout tank, a bulk weigher to
weigh grain prior to railcar loadout, a rail re-claim
system, and 2 10’ x 24” dump pits. GRAINEST SHOW ON EARTH Circus acts under the Big Top highlighted the 2011 annual Grain & Feed Convention, held in Springfield from February 20 – 22, this year. Your directors and some employees attended the convention, attending sessions that provided information about many topics. Following the introduction of the incoming president, the aunt of a young boy killed in a grain engulfment spoke about the tragic day and the effect on her family, with final words to encourage safe actions by all employees around grain facilities. The next act under the Big Top was a magician/comedian who humorously entertained the crowd with juggling and other antics. Breakout sessions covered human resources, director duties, customer service, banking, safety, human capital and infrastructure. Amy Brammer presented her show of “magic tricks” in customer service, listing many of the services provided to Topflight Grain customers to keep them informed of grain markets, industry news, and company news. She described text messaging, voice blasts, text bids, the website, email, postal communications, producer meetings and other methods of communications. Chris Frye was also on the program. Chris spoke in the safety session, talking about bin entry procedures, proper tie-offs in the bin, and appropriate personnel involved in bin entries. In the trade show, information was shared about elevator equipment, computer programs, promotional ideas, grain brokerage and much more. It was a good convention, full of information and learning opportunities. AROUND TOPFLIGHT Amy participated in a conference for young women who are interesting in ag careers, in February. The conference was hosted by Illinois Agri-Women, and sponsored by many of the agricultural companies in Illinois. The girls visited many booths, where they learned about careers in grain elevators, ag lending, ag merchandising, research, government, and much more. The lunch speaker was Colleen Callahan, who described how her career path (sometimes luck played its hand!) led her to a position with the USDA. About 300 young ladies attended the day-long session in Bloomington, enjoying the opportunity to know about the vast opportunities in agriculture. Vanessa and Pam attended the Agris Customer Conference in February. This meeting is hosted by our computer software company to inform its users of changes, techniques and updates to the system. They brought back information about the one-weigh scale computer, better navigation through the system, and recent enhancements. Vanessa has learned an improved method of processing our grain returns from ADM that has saved her and Rodd a lot of time each day. They also participated in a “networking” session that they shared with the office staff that included suggestions for conducting meetings, meeting people, and goal setting. Scott, and other members of the Illinois Grain & Feed, met with federal government representatives in Washington DC, about concerns in agriculture. Haley, Jon and Adam attended the first meeting of the Grain & Feed’s Developing Professionals. As a member of the planning committee, Amy also attended the meeting, providing a little history of the grain business. Eric and Stason joined fellow grain operators at the annual GEAPS convention in February. Jon, Jason & Haley attended a Hedging workshop in March. Amy worked with Illinois Grain & Feed interns to develop their job market skills as the college students complete this year’s program. Derrick, Adam & Amy met with many farmers, reviewing crop insurance needs. Amy, Adam, & Scott participated in the Monticello & Piatt County Career Fair in April; Russel Wright spoke to the Caterpillar Retirees Dinner in June, telling the all about Topflight; Jon piloted the Topflight plane in the Fat Hill Fest and the Bement 4th of July parade; Addi, Kolby, and Jason, in the Seymour 4th of July parade; Dana & Paige piloted the plane in the Maroa Celebration; The TFG calf dressing team won their contest at the Piatt County Rodeo; Chris & Morgan Frye and Derrick Bruhn, in the Piatt County Trailblazers Rodeo Parade. Chuck worked hard on this year’s financial statements! The operations crew has been busy: They rebuilt a trailer to haul the trackmobile. Roger, Henry & Paul worked on the conveyor on top of the Maroa elevator. Flats have been cleaned out, piles have been picked up, and all are ready for the harvest season! Safety meetings have stressed careful actions and proper procedures in outside operations. Rick conducted a “tour” and answered questions about the Milmine grain pile & ring, for a group from Western Grain Marketing. Rob & Martin made safety improvements at Lodge, and throughout the company. Brock, Eric, Henry, Larry & Randy attended a Safety Conference in March, focusing on grain bin safety and illustrating the explosive power of elevator dust. Randy appeared in the local television coverage of the program. Many of the crew has helped run the vac and truck grain in from the farm bins. Roger & Rob followed the crane throughout Topflight, making needed repairs. Brock continues to attend, and present, safety meetings to ensure the safest practices are followed. Roger replaced the well at Milmine; most of the Bement crew started the well in Bement, for spring and summer spraying or other water uses. Spring and summer time kept them busy mowing and spraying weeds. Willard installed handrails at Emery. Many of the operations staff attended and participated in a grain engulfment seminar at Progress City. Russel Wright, and 8 members of his unit who served in Viet Nam, paid their respects at the grave of their fellow soldier, Allen Ray Gray, who was killed in combat on January 11, 1971. Russel did the research to find the grave of their fallen team. The members made plans to meet the family and give a final salute at the cemetery in Belleville, Illinois, in April. Hugs, stories and a good fried chicken dinner were all part of the meeting, which provided answers to the soldier’s family, and was a final good-bye from the other veterans. Amy & Elliott Brammer ran in the Illinois Marathon in Champaign in April. Elliott ran the half-marathon and Amy was a member of the relay team. Chuck had a grand celebration for his 60th birthday, thanks to customers, friends, and employees who joined the party. Audits, tests,
walk-throughs During the spring and summer months, we have undergone several audits and tests to ensure that all is in order at Topflight Grain. Our moisture meters were checked for accuracy by the State of Illinois. The auditors reviewed and scrutinized and asked lots of questions as they prepared the financial statements for the past fiscal year. The insurance company has performed a “walk-through”, offering suggestions to make our facilities safer for our employees. And the State Department of Agriculture was here in August to review our records to make sure all is in order. All of these tests and visits are good, and confirm that your company is in good shape. WE WECOME BRAD DEHART TO BEMENT Hello, to all. My name is Brad Dehart. I am glad to be joining the Bement operations staff. I joined the Topflight team in 2009, the worst year for harvest in a long history. I originally was stationed in the Atwood/Pierson areas, training/learning at both of these facilities. It’s always nice for a new change to adapt to. I currently live in Atwood, and am a member of the Atwood Fire Department and an EMT also. I hope to learn all the new faces and names of the Bement customers this fall. I hope you all have a good safe harvest! WE WELCOME KENNEY & CHRIS! We welcome Kenney Ross to the operations staff!! Kenney worked several years at Emery and Maroa, and now will work at both of those locations, and other facilities as needed. This spring, he was involved in picking up most of the corn piles. We also welcome Chris Hood. He joins the Milmine staff, assisting Rick with running the new complex and learning all about the new operation. MAKING
IT BETTER Last October 22, 2010, the Bement area lost a
great innovator and inventor, and a great friend, when Henry Larson died. Henry
was best known for his invention of the pneumatic grain probe, but he was
always working, always tinkering to make things better on his farm and in his
house. Henry was born in
1914, east of Voorhies. He lived in the same house, on the same farm,
all of his life. He was the middle of
three boys; Lynn & Robert were his brothers. Their mother died soon after Robert was born,
so their dad, Lambert, sent back home to Sweden for a lady to help take care of
the boys. Gladys died in 1975 from
Parkinson’s disease. In February 14, 1979, Henry married Natalie Wall.
Natalie had three grown children, Gus, Jon, and Julia who became a good part of
Henry’s life. Gus told us this story
about Henry, “Henry, my son David and I traveled to Salt Lake City,
Utah, several years ago to bring back a motorcycle David got from my brother
Jon. I put new spark plugs in the pickup before we left and, as it turns
out; I could have done a better job. As we traveled west all was well but
as we got into the Rocky Mountains the truck started to miss a little.
Once we got to Salt Lake we checked it out and saw that I had damaged two of
the spark plug boots when removing them from the plugs. The miss had gone
away and the boots did not look too bad so we visited with Jon, Julia and their
families for a day, loaded the motorcycle and headed back to Illinois on Sunday
via Colorado. As we got into the higher mountains, the miss came back and
got worse. Soon we could barely go up the long mountain grades. To
make matters worse we were on US 40, a two lane road, instead of
Interstate 80. Towns out there on US 40 are few and far between. We
finally limped into a town and found an auto parts store that was open on
Sunday. I got a set of wires and was moaning and groaning about having to
switch out the wires through the harness on the hot engine when Henry spoke
up. He said, “Gus, use your head and think about it. You don’t have
to switch them out now, just disconnect each wire at each end, let them hang
and put the new wires on. You can make it nice and neat when we get
home.” With David’s help we were soon done and headed east. That
was Henry, think about it, find a way to keep going and make the repair
permanent when you get back to the shop. “ Henry grew up on
the farm, and farmed all of his life.
The three brothers farmed together, but tragically, brother, Lynn died
in 1957 and brother, Robert died in 1981. Henry continued to farm, and his
nephews, John, Larry, and Lynn and Vicki, and their son, Daniel, checked in on
him and helped when he needed assistance.
Natalie was also a great farm partner, hauling corn to the bin and to
the elevator, mowing, keeping the farm books, cooking, canning and being a
“gopher”. As we mentioned, Henry is most famous for his
invention of the grain probe. The story
goes that as Henry hauled grain into the Voorhies
elevator he watched Cora Marshall climb up the trucks and wagons, manually
probe each load, and climb back down.
Henry went home, put together some vacuum hoses (Henry lost track of how
many vacuums he blew up) and hydraulics, and came back with a grain probe that
Cora could operate, standing inside the office.
Henry went on to modify the probe, and filed for a patent in October
1971. The patent was granted in February
1974. That original probe has been, of
course, modified over time and the newer ones are electronically controlled,
but Henry hit upon a wonderful idea when he invented that probe!! (Our Roger Burton has kept parts of that
original probe in the Topflight workshop!) At home, Henry
made lots of improvements to the farm operation. He and Robert had a divided
downspout that fit the spout of the auger.
They would park a truck under each spout and when the first truck was
full, they could switch the corn loading to the other truck. This saved them from stopping and re-starting
the auger as they were loading trucks out of the bin. When they were running dryers constantly, which
needed fuel constantly, Henry ran a fuel line from the fuel transfer tank to
the tractor that was powering the dryer, so the tractor and the dryer could
keep running. Henry aligned a drive shaft and rotary screen
between the wagon the auger that filled the bin, to sift out the smaller fines
and broken corn. If the corn was wetter,
he had a gear & chain reducer that slowed the auger. Making it safer and easier to climb to the tops
of his farm bins, Henry built his personal man-lift/elevator. He used channel
iron, a grain auger winch and an electric motor to build the platform that
would take him to the top of the bins to sample the grain. Later, when it was difficult to climb the combine
ladder, Henry adapted the elevator idea to create a lift that would move him
from the ground into the combine cab. Another creation of Henry’s and Robert’s was a grain
leg mounted on the rear of a self-unloading wagon. Then, the unloading auger of
the wagon would swing back to the grain leg, which would then fill the dryer. When Natalie “volunteered” to help on the farm,
Henry engineered a series of electrical switches and gates that allowed Natalie
to dump the wagon of grain without leaving the tractor cab. She could start the auger and open the wagon
gate from her seat in the cab. When the
wagon ran empty, she would close the wagon gate, turn off the auger, and head
back to the field for more corn. Bob Morgan told us that Henry invented a link to
pull a tractor and chopper behind the combine, so he could chop stalks right
behind the combine. It worked until the
tractor radiator filled up with corn shucks. Jack Funk described the clod buster that Henry
invented. Back in the day that we plowed
most of the fields, the next trip across the field was usually fairly
rough. So, Henry attached a harrow type
implement to the front of his tractor to break up the clods, making a smoother
ride. Not always
mechanically inventing, Henry also experimented with different ideas and
techniques of improving their crops. He conducted bean tests in an old
refrigerator. Henry was known for his inventions and creations,
but was also known for his Swedish heritage and his wealth of historical
information. We delighted in his & Natalie’s trip to Norway, Sweden and
Denmark, where some of the Swedish cousins came to visit with him and
Natalie. Today,
Henry’s nephews carry on the family farming tradition, with the pride of the
Larson family. As Jack Funk said, “Henry
was always taking something and making it better”. Many thanks to everyone who told us stories about
Henry, and to Julia (Wall) White, for so many pictures and information that she
sent to us from Farm Journal and Successful Farming publications. WHY HEALTH CARE COSTS ARE SO HIGH . . . . Bubba
walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had. Bubba
said: 'Shingles.' So
she wrote down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have
a seat. Fifteen
minutes later a nurse's aide came out and asked Bubba what he had... Bubba
said, 'Shingles.' So
she wrote down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told Bubba to
wait in the examining room. A
half hour later a nurse came in and asked Bubba what he had. Bubba
said, 'Shingles..' So the nurse gave Bubba a blood test, a blood
pressure test, an electrocardiogram, and told Bubba to take off all his clothes
and wait for the doctor. An
hour later the doctor came in and found Bubba sitting patiently in the nude and
asked Bubba what he had. Bubba
said, 'Shingles.' The doctor asked, 'Where?' Bubba
said, 'Outside on the truck. Where do you want me to unload 'em??' FARMING IN CHINA How would you like to go back to the “good old days” of farming small acreages and performing most of the operations by hand? Amy learned more about remote northern Chinese agriculture at a marketing meeting she attended in February. Some of the information she shared on this particular area in Chinese agriculture: · The Chinese have planted corn on corn on corn for the life of the farm. Fertilizer is whatever they can get or make. · They usually plant corn in 40” rows, with 12-24” spacing, population of about 15,000. Beans are usually 36” rows, with a 45 bpa yield. · Most farmers are small, with only about 2/3 of an acre. He makes about $600/year. A larger farmer may farm 100-200 acres, making about $6,000/year. · Very little GMO corn is planted. · No part of the plant is wasted. Stocks/hulls are used to heat their woks, as most do not have electricity. · Local governments decide what crops will be planted. · 80% of the 700 million farmers do all their farm work by hand. · The farm price is set by the government, during the fall. The grain is harvested, put in 100 pound bags, and shipped to the government for storage. · A farm lease is for 75 years, with no taxes and no rent. · China went through the same housing/car buying boom as the US did in 1950. · Personal incomes are growing, as is the demand for meat, especially pork. LOTS OF FUN!! We always have fun on our adventures with our adopted 2nd grade class. This first trip of 2011 was the field trip to Decatur on March 11. Rodd, Vanessa and Pam joined the classes on that trip to the Children’s Museum and to the airport. At the Children’s Museum, the students participated in the Body Walk Program. They began by learning the importance of properly washing their hands, and then crawled through the “body shrinker”, which reduced them all to small particles of food traveling through the body. In the mouth, they learned the importance of brushing their teeth, and then traveled through the esophagus to the stomach. There, the food pyramid and a balanced diet were discussed. On through, the “villi” of the intestines, where nutrients are absorbed, the students stretched out a slinky to represent the length of the intestines. Further on the journey they learned about bones, the heart and lungs. Following the walk, they explored the many adventures of the museum, including the TV station, the ambulance and doctor’s office, the mechanic’s garage, the climbing tree, and so much more. Leaving the Children’s Museum, the Decatur Airport crew welcomed the classes with a tour of the flight tower, a movie, and a ride in the huge fire truck. There were a lot of steps to get to the top of the flight tower, but a lot could be seen from that height! The fire truck had specific equipment for fighting airplane fires, different than normal fire trucks. The students returned to school with goodies and gifts from the Museum and the Airport. It had been a fun day, full of new experiences and learning. On April 20, Vanessa, Sherryl and Pam went bowling with the 2nd grade classes. Sherryl gave the classes some instructions for bowling and some etiquette tips to be courteous to other bowlers. Then the pins began to fall! A few students scored a strike or a spare, but mostly we just had fun. The afternoon ended with refreshments, and the trip back to Bement. Our last outing of the year was the last day of school. Scott, Adam and Pam joined the classes for a sack lunch, a quiz and outdoor games. Scott came with candy and fruit, to auction with the students, illustrating the open outcry auction in the corn and bean trading pits. After all the swapping, everyone seemed happy with their trades. The quiz was also “open outcry” and multiple choices, with questions about the year’s activities. The weather was very comfortable that day, so we played games in Coles Pasture. The students learned how to jump in the potato sack race, partner up in the 3-legged race, work as a team in the tug-of-war, as well as several other games. It was a fun ending to a wonderful year with the 2nd grade classes, with Mrs. Brown and Miss Manint. CROP TOUR The Topflight Grain crop tour has remained a source of information since 1983. This year, especially, with the hot dry weather through the trade area, many of us were anxious to take the samples and calculate the yields. In mid-August,
about 10 teams of Topflight employees and patrons stepped into the corn fields
and bean fields to collect samples to project the 2011 harvest. We found many tip-backed ears, a few
pollination problems, an occasional insect problem, and sometimes we found some
good ears. The results of the findings were presented at the Crop Tour meeting
on August 16. Shawn & Brenda Reeves
served us a great meal. After
the meal, Darin Newsom, DTN Telvent senior market analyst
presented a market outlook. He talked
about the outside markets as more controlling of grain prices than actual
supply & demand, reviewing some of the US and world economic concerns. Then, he talked about crop yields, demand,
carry-out ratios and what all of the factors could mean to grain prices. After
Darin’s analysis, Derrick presented the results of the
crop tour. The estimated yield for the
2011 Topflight Grain corn crop was 148 bu/ acre, compared to 173 for the 2010
crop. In the bean fields, pods per plant
are counted. The 2011 number was 38
pods/plant, compared to 44 pods/plant last year. The aerial tour, taken on August 9, did
not show the stressed crops. From the
air, most of the fields appeared lush and green. Some spots of excess spring rains showed in
bare spots in the fields, but they weren’t excessive. We sincerely appreciate everyone who helped us conduct the tour, the prompt posting of the crop tour information to our website by Kestrel Technologies, and another great trip by our airplane pilot, Bob Cundiff. DID YOU KNOW . . . . . You
can receive cash bids & CBOT quotes via text message on your cell phone!! It's
free!!! Cash bids are free to Topflight Grain customers; a small fee is
charged to receive the CBOT quotes. Call your local Topflight
office to subscribe to the free service. You can receive morning comments,
bids & evening comments via email (which may be easier to read than
the website on your mobile phone)? Call
your local Topflight office. You
can receive a phone call about market reports? The voice blast service makes
calls to your home phone or your cell phone when important news occurs.
No fee for this service!!! Call Amy in the Bement office @
217-678-2261, for more information or to sign up. Voice
blast/audio alerts are available on
our website? If you missed your voice blast message, or want to hear it replayed, click
on the tab (end of the second row) at the top of the page. Rain
totals can be sent via text message? If you would to have the
rain totals texted to your phone, call Amy @ 217-678-2261. Historic
prices are available on our website? - Click on the Historic prices link to
see Topflight grain prices since 2001. This includes corn &
beans, cash and fall. You can open the information as a
spreadsheet, or a simple sheet. Using the spreadsheet, you
can average the prices for any time period you choose, or perform other
mathematical functions. We had this request for the variable cash
rent leases, but you may find other uses for the information, too. DP
SIGNATURES As we approach the harvest season, and all of the
bookwork and papers that are involved with harvest, we remind you that Delayed
Pricing (DP) contracts must be signed and returned within 30 days of the last
date of delivery. We realize that in the
busyness of harvest, 30 days is not very long.
This 30 day time frame is a state requirement; it must be followed. LOCATION BIDDING On
July 26th we started to publish bids on a location basis. This is a process that will be a change from
the past for both Topflight Grain and for the patrons. This process will allow us to pay premiums at
the facilities that are tributary to the best market for that delivery period. As we have upgraded facilities and expanded
rail lines it has allowed us to market grain to new places. The eastern crop production has been low for
the past year and looks to be low again this year. With the expansion of our Milmine facility we
will now be able to ship to these markets.
These premiums will differ and may change throughout the season. When calling in to market grain the
originator will need to know which location it will be delivered to and what
delivery period. The producer will need
to determine how many bushels will be delivered to the specific location they
want to sell grain. If there is a change
in the delivery location then adjustments to the contract will be made at the
difference in markets on the date of the delivery change. AGRI-STUDIES Spring brought three young interns
to Topflight Grain. In Bement, Brodie Gallagher & Konnor Wright spent part of each day of the spring semester
with us. Brodie, being under 18 years of
age, was in the Bement & Monticello offices. We told him about Topflight Grain, our
day-to-day practices, and procedures during harvest, market decisions, and much
more. He spent some time with Brock,
learning the importance of safety. In
Monticello, he observed merchandising with Derrick & Adam, and accounting
with Chuck & Rodd. Konnor
spent most of his time outside, working with Jim & Brian. He had many
experiences. They loaded beans out of
the flat, cleaned up the flat, swept down the wall of the flat, sprayed weeds,
cleaned upstairs and downstairs and maybe took a couple of breaks. Kendall Phelps, a U of I student,
originally from Jacksonville, will be visiting us throughout the year, through
an intern program sponsored by the Grain & Feed Association. Kendall’s first day at Topflight was to learn
more about the company, tour some of the facilities and meet the employees. He
will return another 6 or 7 days during the year to complete his studies. TOPFLIGHT
BELLAS It was a day of good times and good
food as Scott treated the Topflight ladies to
Administrative Assistant’s Day, on May 4.
The first stop was Bella Boutique in Champaign. After a brief tour of the shop, make-overs
and shopping began. A few good bargains
were found and lots of unique clothes were admired. And everyone looked
absolutely gorgeous in their new makeup! Lunch was served at Biaggi’s Italian Restaurant. Scott presented each of the
ladies with the book, “Oil for Your Lamp”, a
motivational and inspiring book for women. Then it was onto Prairie
Gardens. What a lovely stroll through
their green houses! Carts were filled with flowers and plants, carefully using
trunk space to bring it all home. It was a wonderful day, full of fun
and good friends! |
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