What Agronomy Practices Worked This Crop Season? 2016 Harvest As Seen in Our Rearview ...

24 Pages·2015·2.3 MB·English

WINTER 2015
What Agronomy
Practices Worked
This Crop Season? 2016 Harvest
P 10 As Seen in Our
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Rearview Mirror
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AMBER WAVES
Spotlight on Our
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WWW.CHSMILTON.COM
WINTER 2015
CONTACT INFO: INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
ADAMS
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
CALVIN
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
EDMORE
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
FAIRDALE
Phone: [phone]
P.10
Station: 701-966-2244
Fax: [phone]
HAMPDEN
Phone: [phone] P.4
There’s a Bigger Story Here
Fax: [phone]
LANGDON General Manager Tom Lehar unveils the new CHS tagline and explains how those five
words make a difference in your farming operation.
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
P.6
LANKIN People Who Made Harvest Customer-Friendly
Phone: [phone]
Whether it’s 40 years with Francis Lovcik in Pisek or the first season with Matt Holdvogt
Fax: [phone]
in Edmore, customers get the full-on CHS Milton service package.
LOMA
Phone: [phone] P.8
Fertilizer Manufacturers Have Their Own Woes
Fax: [phone]
MILTON
Agronomy Manager Travis Peterson helps you understand which prices on your input
Phone: [phone] wish-list might be achievable.
Fax: [phone]
PARK RIVER P.16
Making Transportation Our Edge
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone] One year after our Calvin and Langdon shuttle loadouts went operational, Grain
PISEK Manager Tony Gratton delivers the report card.
Phone: [phone]
P.20
Fax: [phone]
Our Mutually Beneficial Connection With
SARLES
Accurate Electric
Phone: [phone]
“When CHS Milton calls, we come running,” say the owners of the company that got
Fax: [phone]
its start designing the lighting scheme for our main office.
P 3
©2015 CHS Milton. All Rights Reserved. Published in partnership with VistaComm® (www.VistaComm.com). age
There’s a Bigger Story Here
B T L , g m
y om ehar eneraL anager
I f I say, “Nothing Runs Like a _____ ,” you imme- and our directors. I
diately fill in the blank. You also likely know which can give you a couple
company started offering you the opportunity to of timely examples of
“Fly the Friendly Skies” in 1965, and which wood- how the strong ties
land creature has been warning “Only you can pre- forged by CHS to the
vent forest fires” since 1944. So I don’t have to explain to larger world is about
you what a tagline is, or how a good one encapsulates a core to make a bigger im-
principle and anchors it in your brain. pact on your profits
locally.
You might not be familiar with the new CHS tagline unless
you’ve read the identification signs we recently started post- If you’re a canola grower, maybe you had personal experi-
ing at all our locations. It’s “Farmer-owned with global con- ence this fall with a recent big investment by CHS. What’s
nections.” In just five words, we’re telling our bigger story. known as the Processing and Food Ingredients (PFI) group
purchased the Northstar Agri Industries canola processing
Though I suspect a marketing guru stitched those words plant east of Milton in Hallock, Minn. This sizeable expen-
together, the sentiment comes straight from CHS Inc. man- diture benefits CHS Milton Group local farmers more than
agement and board of farmer-directors. The new tagline also any others in the CHS system.
resonates with your CHS Milton Group management team
Every year, Cavalier County tops the
list of U.S. canola producing counties.
Our CHS Milton elevators will have
no problem supplying 25% of canola
the new CHS Hallock plant needs to
operate. Once the plant is thorough-
ly streamlined to interface with the
CHS system, it will be an easy-to-
reach marketing outlet with signifi-
cant financial potential for local CHS
members.
Whether you deliver canola to one of
our elevators or directly to Hallock,
you’ll collect your grain check and be
very pleased to discover there’s more
to gain. Once processed into oil at
Hallock, your canola will go global as
it is turned into food or animal prod-
ucts at diverse PFI production facili-
ties and marketed around the world.
Along the way, you’ll capture signifi-
cant local patronage earnings on the
grain you sold, plus profits from CHS
“Farmer-owned with global connections.”
processing, as well as earnings on
sales of canola oil in manufactured
In just five words we’re telling our bigger story.
items. That’s a patronage refund times
three!
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Spotlighting the
From an operations standpoint, we already wit-
Crop and Our
nessed a faster harvest turnaround in Calvin
this year because of our connection to the Hal- People in This Issue
lock plant. From Location Manager Bruce Ca-
hill’s point of view, the mileage reduction is 100
miles per trip. He says, “Previously we hauled • Our fiscal year ended Aug 31. The
to a canola plant 200 miles away, one way. Now, CHS Milton Group achieved record
trucks delivering to Hallock have the ability to
volumes in grain, fertilizer, chemical,
make a second run each day.” That’s not just a
energy, and feed sales for the fiscal
time and logistics advantage, it’s a cost savings.
year. I am proud of how hard employ-
A manufacturing investment ees worked to get the job done.
with global implications
• In general, we saw a pretty big crop
Our ability to reach out to emerging grain and
locally this year, but we certainly rec-
food markets also assumes we’ll have consistent
ognize the challenges ahead in mar-
access to the agronomy inputs you need. This
summer, CHS announced a plan to nail down keting that crop. I can’t change the
vital nitrogen supplies secured by the cooper- prices, but since we all know that crop
ative’s biggest investment ever. For the price of
values are cyclical, I’m optimistic the
$2.8 billion, CHS now owns the right
downside will be short-lived. Our loca-
to purchase up to 1.7 million tons of
nitrogen yearly from CF Industries. tion managers throughout the CHS Mil-
ton Group offer a more detailed view
While the strategic-venture invest- of harvest 2015 on pages 14 and 15.
ment that makes CHS shareholders
part owners in CF Industries Nitro-
• Edmore patrons met Matt Holdvogt,
gen, LLC sounds like an immense
amount of money, it is actually far new location manager, during the
less than it would have cost to build harvest rush. Now there’s time to
a new plant in Spiritwood, N.D. This
find out more about him on page 7.
buy-in, set to finalize in February, will
Thank you to departing location man-
guarantee us a significant supply of
ager Craig Ketelsen for his 12 years
several forms of N. And it gives us access right
Bruce Cahill
away, rather than waiting four years for a new with CHS. We wish him well in the
plant to go operational. We walk into an exist- in Calvin future. Good luck to Randy Hiatt who
ing business, the biggest fertilizer production
transferred to CHS Garrison, North
company in the U.S., without having to learn can prove a
Dakota.
operations from the ground up.
recent CHS
I’m excited about the venture and foresee ben- • Congratulations to Francis Lovcik
investment
efits in supply and in crop nutrients patronage who, in September, celebrated 40
payouts to members. Whatever value the world streamlined
years with the co-op location in Pisek.
market puts on nitrogen fertilizer, we will claim
a share of the profits. ❰ the canola While it used to be common for some-
one to devote an entire career to one
harvest in
company, it is not so common these
his area. days. Read a few of Francis’s memo-
ries on page 6.
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People Who Made This Harvest
Customer-Friendly
T he crop around Pisek wasn’t for when I started was also from
a record-setter this year. In here,” Francis explains. “Eventually,
October, Location Manag- we traded jobs. When he retired, I
er Francis Lovick watched took over as manager and he started
what he figures was about half a crop working part-time for me.
of edible beans coming out of the
fields. Clearly, this isn’t the kind of “CHS is a good company to work
year you’d want to end a long career for and I appreciate the improve-
on…so, Francis won’t. After 40 years ments CHS has made over the years.
working the same location, he shrugs If you can believe it, we used to be a
and says, “I don’t know when I’ll re- single-car shipper in Pisek. We used
tire.” Spoken like a man who’s happy to ‘cooper’ a box car (fill in the gaps
in his work! in the box car with boards) and load
by manual labor. Then the standard
In 1975, he hired on with GTA in his went to 26 cars at a time, then 52,
Francis Lovick marked 40 years with the co-op
hometown after seven years in the and then 110. Taking Pisek as a cen-
this September.
Army, including a tour in Vietnam. ter point of a 50-mile circle, there are
In all, he served 27 years in the Army now ten shuttle shipping points. A
and the National Guard, including lot of things have changed.”
“CHS is a good company to work for
a return to overseas duty during the
Gulf War. But his tour of duty with the and I appreciate the improvements That could make you wonder what
co-op location in his hometown lasted changes Matt Holdvogt will have
longer. CHS has made over the years.” seen once he is 40 years into his
working life. Just after Labor Day,

—Francis Lovick
“I never expected to keep on doing Matt arrived in Edmore as our new
this, but I discovered I liked keeping location manager. “I didn’t get to see
close to home. The manager I worked a complete harvest, and because so
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much grain went practicing grain grading. I’m finding out how an elevator
into farm storage works.” Our management trainee went on the job this sum-
this one wasn’t mer in Langdon and Pisek, where he learned how to grade
complicated. I ac- edible beans.
tually put in short-
er hours than I did The University of North Dakota business major and Ma-
as a management rine Reservist from
trainee in Napoleon, Thompson, N.D.,
N.D., at CHS South graduated in May
Central. But every 2015. He didn’t grow
year is different.” up on the farm but
he “grew up around
Matt grew up on it. My grandpa and
a dairy farm near my uncles farm.”
New Edmore Location Manager Matt
Eden Valley in
Holdvogt jumped into his new responsi-
Central Minnesota. “It’s going well and
bilities mid-harvest.
He graduated from I’m learning new
SDSU with bache- things every day,”
lor’s degree in dairy production and ag business. If his name Tim says. “I like the
and face seem familiar, that’s because his brother is Dan Hol- area and the people.
dvogt, grain operations manager. (See page 16.) “As if living This is an all-around
the first 16 years of my life with my brother wasn’t enough, great experience!”❰
I’m living with him again until I find a place of my own!”
Tim Spicer, another new employee, is working his way
through the CHS Milton Group one new skill at a time. “I’ve
Tim Spicer, management trainee, demon-
been learning all the aspects of grain operations and
strates his new ability to grade grain.
It’s the
kind of canola
®The Cargill logo, ™VICTORY and ™VICTORY Hybrid Canola logo are registered
trademarks of Cargill Incorporated, used under license. Genuity,® Genuity and Design,®
Genuity Icons, Roundup Ready,® and Roundup® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology www.victorycanola.com
LLC, used under license. Always follow grain marketing and all other stewardship
www.cargillag.com
practices and pesticide label directions. Details of these requirements can be found in
the Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers printed in this publication.
©2015 Cargill, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
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B:8.75”
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Fertilizer Manufacturers Have
Their Own Woes
B T P , a m
y ravis eTerson gronomy anager
T o get to the heart of recent conversations about Once the new
current grain prices versus fertilizer costs, I went plant is operation-
back to the last time cash wheat was valued at al, we expect to
$4.85. It was April 2007, and though it might add more agrono-
seem as if circumstances were the same, a lot is different now. my employees and
equipment so we
What was the price of urea that spring? It was $430 to $475 a can complete our
ton. Today, it is in the mid to high $300 range. You’re right if work in your fields p rotection that’s
you’re thinking the natural gas used to produce urea is more more smoothly.
abundant and costs less in the United States than it did back longer-lasting and
then. But in light of that, our domestic fertilizer industry Beyond this con-
geared up the past few years, building capacity to reach out to siderable local investment in our CHS Milton Group, CHS
yield-enhancing.
what were then expanding markets in China and India. Man- Inc. is developing strong relationships at the source of fertil-
ufacturers are now subject to those same commodity price izer production. You may recall that CHS bought into West
drops hurting you. Central Inc., the maker of our CHS-brand crop protection
products.
Yes, the price has corrected, but these days urea
on the import market is being marketed near Locally, we predict Now every dollar West Central makes is re-
tUh.eS . cnoitsrto goefn pmroadnuucfaticotnu—rerms wakiilnl dgr oitp tdhoeu pbrtifcuel a more continuous tcuorunnetd wtioll CseHeS t hInatc . inbvye s2t5m%e.n tY oaus r abdadnitkio naca-l T:11” B:11.25
”
further. What they’re more likely to do is export flow of products shareholder patronage. The first year of the re-
urea if the values go lower. We have to know lationship went very well. Though CHS offers
into our storage
manufacturers are in business to make money, products from other suppliers, we see value in
too. They won’t give their products away, even XLR-rate™ starter and Aventine Complete™, our
during critical
though we wish they would. own starter fertilizer products made for us by
fill periods. West Central.
As a result, while we might not be at the low
price, I think we’re very close. Prices will look And on an even bigger investment scale, Tom
like waves—very modest waves—so start your Lehar’s story on page 4 told you the proposed
purchasing at the bottom of a wave and layer in more the next Spiritwood plant is off the table. Instead, CHS invested in CF
time prices dip a little. Nitrogen LLC to capture a long-term source of nitrogen. CF
has guaranteed sizeable N supplies to CHS, and the company
Looking at phosphates, there are likely lower costs to come has the ability to make fertilizer accessible from facilities that
but we don’t know yet. That said, lower demand for phos- can load unit trains from the Gulf of Mexico and truck tons
phates, in reaction to the current cost, has already convinced from Canada.
manufacturers to produce less.
Locally, we predict a more continuous flow of products into
Here’s our new approach to supply our storage during critical fill periods. Again, the additional
with BASF disease control.
good outcome will be our ability to recoup profits on crop
Our new Calvin fertilizer plant isn’t ready yet, though we ini-
nutrient production. What comes back to CHS as part owner What makes Priaxor fungicide such an effective tool for wheat growers?
tially hoped we’d be constructing this fall. CHS is making it a
in CF nitrogen LLC will also come back to our patrons. Since It’s powered by Xemium fungicide, which distributes its unique chemistry
priority-one project with a completion date of 2016.
the new relationship begins Feb. 1, you will see benefits in throughout the plant over time for longer-lasting disease protection. And this
fiscal 2016. ❰ kind of consistent performance can help deliver higher-quality crops and
With the objectives of timelier and more efficient service in higher yields. Grow Smart with BASF and Priaxor fungicide today.
the Calvin area, we’re upgrading to a larger and faster plant. agproducts.basf.us
Always read and follow label directions.
PPaaggee 88 Grow Smart is a trademark of BASF. Priaxor and Xemium are registered trademarks of BASF. © 2015 BASF Corporation. All rights reserved. APN 15-MKT-123
CRP150315_Priaxor_Ad_Wheat_FP4C_8-5x11 1 10/9/15 8:33 AM
File Name CRP150315_Priaxor_Ad_Wheat_FP4C_8-5x11 File Saved10-9-2015 8:33 AM InDesign CC 2014 APPROVALS INITIALS DATE
PRIAXOR Job No. CRP150315 Date 10-9-2015 8:33 AM Page ArtistKaty Coombe Creative DirectorGreg B.
AD_WHEAT Job Name Priaxor Ad Fonts: Helvetica Neue LT Std (77 Bold Condensed Images: GettyImages-538589275_RF_ULS_Wheat.eps (CMYK; 381
Client BASF Oblique, 65 Medium, 75 Bold, 55 Roman, 76 Bold ppi), BASFw_wh100lb_4c.ai, Grow_Smart_Portfolio_Icon_White.ai, AD/Designer Tim M.
Italic, 57 Condensed) Grow_Smart_People_Icon_White.ai, Grow_Smart_Risk_Icon_White.
Media Magazine ai, Grow_Smart_Plans_Icon_White.ai, GROW_HeadlineTypeWht.ai,
Live/Safety0” x 0” GrowSmart_White.ai, Priaxor_CMYK_White.eps Copywriter Greg B.
ROUND Flat/Trim 8.5” x 11” Layout Designer None
Bleed 0.125” x 0.125”
1 Pubs None Account ManagerRyan S.
Project Manager Maureen B.
Colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black Printed AtNone Print Producer None
FONTS USED WITHIN THIS FILE ARE FOR OUTPUT ONLY BY THE END PRINTER/VENDOR. CHANGES TO COPY MAY REQUIRE FONT LICENSING AND PRINTERS/VENDORS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LICENSING COSTS REQUIRED.
B:8.75”
T:8.5”
p rotection that’s
longer-lasting and
yield-enhancing.
B
T:11” :11.25
”
with BASF disease control.
What makes Priaxor fungicide such an effective tool for wheat growers?
It’s powered by Xemium fungicide, which distributes its unique chemistry
throughout the plant over time for longer-lasting disease protection. And this
kind of consistent performance can help deliver higher-quality crops and
higher yields. Grow Smart with BASF and Priaxor fungicide today.
agproducts.basf.us
Always read and follow label directions.
Grow Smart is a trademark of BASF. Priaxor and Xemium are registered trademarks of BASF. © 2015 BASF Corporation. All rights reserved. APN 15-MKT-123 Page 9
CRP150315_Priaxor_Ad_Wheat_FP4C_8-5x11 1 10/9/15 8:33 AM
File Name CRP150315_Priaxor_Ad_Wheat_FP4C_8-5x11 File Saved10-9-2015 8:33 AM InDesign CC 2014 APPROVALS INITIALS DATE
PRIAXOR Job No. CRP150315 Date 10-9-2015 8:33 AM Page ArtistKaty Coombe Creative DirectorGreg B.
AD_WHEAT Job Name Priaxor Ad Fonts: Helvetica Neue LT Std (77 Bold Condensed Images: GettyImages-538589275_RF_ULS_Wheat.eps (CMYK; 381
Client BASF Oblique, 65 Medium, 75 Bold, 55 Roman, 76 Bold ppi), BASFw_wh100lb_4c.ai, Grow_Smart_Portfolio_Icon_White.ai, AD/Designer Tim M.
Italic, 57 Condensed) Grow_Smart_People_Icon_White.ai, Grow_Smart_Risk_Icon_White.
Media Magazine ai, Grow_Smart_Plans_Icon_White.ai, GROW_HeadlineTypeWht.ai,
Live/Safety0” x 0” GrowSmart_White.ai, Priaxor_CMYK_White.eps Copywriter Greg B.
ROUND Flat/Trim 8.5” x 11” Layout Designer None
Bleed 0.125” x 0.125”
1 Pubs None Account ManagerRyan S.
Project Manager Maureen B.
Colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black Printed AtNone Print Producer None
FONTS USED WITHIN THIS FILE ARE FOR OUTPUT ONLY BY THE END PRINTER/VENDOR. CHANGES TO COPY MAY REQUIRE FONT LICENSING AND PRINTERS/VENDORS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LICENSING COSTS REQUIRED.
A s Craig Leas in Calvin and Ron
Beneda in Adams review the recent
Our Agronomy
crop year, each finds bright spots spe-
cific to his part of our territory. Craig
sees new practices that could be worth
Team Finds
repeating next year and Ron foresees an advan-
tage tucked away in the current farm bill.
Reasons for
Though Ron and Craig are old hands, they’re both
new to the CHS Milton Group and this was their
first crop season with us. Weather-wise, it was a
Optimism
year they’ll remember. “Canola farmers around
Calvin had to make hard decisions,” Craig points
out. “It turns out they were right to replant those
fields that froze or took sleet. Results from the
combines tell us it paid to reseed—to the tune of
400 to 600 pounds better than the damaged stand
that was left.”
As he talked with producers after harvest, he
heard less-glowing reviews of fungicide perfor-
mance in canola fields. “But I’m reminding them
that each year is different. Even if next year’s crop
ends up in the same planting window, it will still
be a good idea to use fungicide on a percentage
of your crop to insure your overall yield.”
On the other hand, wheat fungicide did carry its
weight delivering anywhere from 6 to 10 bushels
more. Meanwhile, spraying 28% for protein en-
hancement in wheat provided what Craig calls
“decent results, from .4 to a full point better. Farm-
ers who tested it saw an average yield increase of
about two bushels, mainly thanks to improved test
weights. If the economics are there, we will con-
sider suggesting more of that practice next year.”
There’s one more thing Craig hopes you’ll con-
sider while looking forward. “I hear customers
saying they want to cut costs in ways that will ac-
tually cut production, which is counterintuitive.
Rather than buying a higher-grade canola and
cutting fertility, I’d like to see them maybe raise
a cheaper canola and keep fertilizer rates where
they need to be.”
It could also could save money to band phos-
phate instead of spreading. “You can use 25%
less in the band. That’s something you know but
might forget in the heat of battle,” Craig says. “If
you have questions, talk to me.”
Ron has other thoughts on input savings. “In
2016, you will want to be careful about every
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