Danville Cooperative Association

February

2012

Metcalf elevator at sunset.

2 | danvillecoop.com February 2012 February 2012 danvillecoop.com | 3

SEEDSSUCCESS

FOR SEEDSSUCCESS

IN THIS ISSUE

Advantages of PartnershipNew Year Brings New EndeavorsMike Morlangeneral manager

FOR

2 New Year Brings New Endeavorsby Mike Morlan

2 Metcalf Offi ce Updates

3 Advantages of Partnership with CGMby Ryan McCoy

3 Achieving Effi ciency through Technology by Robin Stuble

4 Agricultural Consultants Providing Aidby Ron Kenney

5 Understanding Humic Acidsby Daniel Davidson

6 Tilt: Wheat’s Antibioticby Danzey Nickel

6 Argonia Updateby Aaron Hemberger

7 Beating the Droughtby Steve Schrock

8 Recipes

I would like to start off this new year with a special thanks to you, our members, for making my fi rst year here an easy transition from the Texas panhandle. It has been a very

event-fi lled year with a lot of new things going on. Our main goal was to make your coop’s operations more effi cient to help add value to your operation. We re-ceive a lot of feedback telling us we are on a good path to doing just that. We have introduced a few new things this year like precision farming meetings put on by Ron and his crew that were very well attended and which we have had great response from. One of the highlights of this year was our Expo held in November. It was a great success and we will be plan-ning to host it again next year. Like most of the coops in the grain belt, we are faced with the task of getting ready for the next twenty years of progression in farming and identifying

the role we will play in the evolution of speed and technology our farmers will demand. Your board has been spend-ing many hours this year exploring and researching what will be the right path for Danville Coop to take. One of the things we are working on or have completed is updating equipment for our agronomy department. We have added a new Case air fl ow machine that has precision ca-pabilities and will allow for more timely spreading of nutrients on your crops. Th e board has also spent a lot of hours on the new Freeport elevator project, and it is progressing well with plans to take wheat this June. Th e new elevator will have 520,000 bushels worth of storage and 20,000 bushel per hour of dumping capacity. If everything goes as planned, there should be construction going on by the time you receive this newsletter. Last but not least, your coop is still having an above average year with one month to go in our fi scal year. We will be looking forward to seeing you at our annual meeting on Friday, May 4th, so mark your calendar, and we will see you there.

Due to a weakening floor and lack of modern conveniences, the decision was made to replace the office trailer at Metcalf with

a long lasting metal building. The new office has modern updates such as hot and cold running water and heat. The new office

also features an efficient layout for scale personnel at harvest and ease of operation while shipping out later in the season. This

location gets another update as well with plans to have computerized tickets by wheat harvest. MET

CALF

OFF

ICE

UPDA

TES

CGM Ryan McCoy

Happy New Year! We hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a very prosperous new year. Th is month I am go-ing to go over some numbers and facts about CGM. All num-bers below are full year ends with the exception of 2011, which is estimated. One of the main advantages to CGM is asset utiliza-tion. Th is has cut terminal storage expense from over $1 million per year average before CGM to average $62,000 over the last four years. Read that again--CGM has on average saved all the member Coops approximately $1 million per year on terminal storage expense. Asset utilization is simply keeping full where you can when the market pays us to carry grain and emptying out when you need to move or the market tells us to sell. Another advantage of CGM is arbitrage. Th at means that we can take company owned grain from one location and

ship it to the destination where we have grain sold from another location. We can blend quality from diff erent locations to meet contract specifi cations for the cheapest amount of freight pos-sible. Grain management is also an advantage now. We look at what bushels should go where based on end user bids, freight costs, quality needed, shipment period, and the need to sell or ship. Th ere are other advantages CGM has as a whole that your local coops did not have on their own including truck ef-fi ciency, risk aversion through geographical and product mix, lower hedging costs, and lower interest rates. All of these things help to make CGM more profi table and effi cient with less risk to the local coops and the member producers that own them.

Bushels Handled (in 000’s) Terminal

Storage PaidYear Wheat Corn Milo Soybeans Total

2008 32,046 5,135 5,360 2,496 45,037 62 income

2009 25,428 8,266 7,255 6,011 46,960 384 expense

2010 26,560 10,884 6,032 6,433 49,909 30 income

2011** 23,131 2,441 971 1,705 28,248 43 income

Average 26,791 6,682 4,905 4,161 42,539 62 expense

I’m not sure, but it does seem like the world is turning a little faster than it used to. Schedules are packed, and there is always something pulling you one way or another. Everyone is looking for ways to save a little time. Grain management, record keeping, and marketing are just a few of the time consuming aspects of farm

life, but Danville Coop offi ces want to assist you. Here are a few simple ideas that might allow you to turn your attention to other important matters. For instance, did you know that by simply fi lling out a form with your bank routing information, you can have your grain sales deposited directly into your

bank account? Don’t misunder-stand; this would never elimi-nate your choice to still receive a paper grain check, but only give you another alternative. You can also utilize the technology right in your pocket by having grain bids texted to your cell phone or e-mailed, keeping you apprised of where the market is trending during the day. Off er contracts can be a useful tool as well. As long as you are willing and able to

with CGM

market at least 1,000 bushels, you as a producer pick a target price at which to sell your grain, avoiding constantly watching the market. Th e transaction is automati-cally completed if the market reaches your target price during the specifi ed time frame. Th ese contracts open up more marketing hours, too, because they are also placed in the overnight trade. Off ers can be utilized for grain in store or for harvest delivery. At harvest time for easier record keeping or insurance purposes simply tell the scale operators the fi eld name or number in addition to the grain account information, and then your recaps will have a fi eld name associated with each ticket. You also have the opportunity of pulling your own recaps or just checking your grain account totals with patron access through CoMark’s website. If there are any of these options that you would like more information about please call any of the Danville Coop offi ces.

ACHIEVING EFFICIENCY THROUGH

TECHNOLOGY

Robin Stuble

SEEDSSUCCESS

FOR SEEDSSUCCESS

FORSSSSSEEEEEEEEEDDDDSSSSSSSSSSUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS

FORFORRRFOR

4 | danvillecoop.com February 2012 February 2012 danvillecoop.com | 5

growingagronomyWITH

Farmers can choose to gather production information from their extension resources, magazines, trade shows, fi eld tours, and even the neighbors. Staying current in the latest crop research and new product availability requires quite a bit of work not to mention some prior technical expertise to muddle through this complex information. Much of the information is available at little or no direct cost; however, it will still require time, resources, and maybe a little travel to stay current with new ideas in production agriculture. Another option for producers who neither have the time nor the technical expertise is hiring an agricultural consultant, a trained agronomist who can focus on a farm’s production issues before, during, and aft er the grow-ing season.

Your Danville Coop has made this easy for you as a producer to get the latest advice for your production prob-lems simply by being a member of our organization. Th ey have hired, not one, but two Certifi ed Crop Advisers to answer the questions you may have and help solve problems regarding crop production issues. Th e American Society of Agronomy off ers both na-tional and state testing programs (similar to CPA testing) for plant science certifi cation. Th e categories of testing are in soil and water--properties, conservation and irrigation; nutrient management--major nutrients NPK, secondary nutrients, micro nutrients, soil pH; pest management--disease manage-ment, insect management, and weed management; and crop production--growth and development, plant population, plant placement, and cover crops. CCA’s are also required to sign a “code of ethics” statement, in which we must abide by. To qualify for testing, one must have a 4 year degree and two experience, or four years of apprentice experience as a pre-requisite. Although we are not a full-service contractor for

crop scouting on a regular basis, we are certainly interested in meeting your consulting needs with just a phone call. We have the resources to do any testing that a problem may re-quire and know what questions to ask to determine what the limiting factor may be. We also have a support network for further information or, in some cases, a second opinion. Recently, we have started a precision program that introduces our producers to variable rate nutrient applica-tions and precision lime amendments. Th is program may seem beyond the scope for most farmers, but our soils are so variable that in more cases than not, we can save you some money on lime amendments to a prescribed level of pH. Too much lime can be as bad as too little. So, why are we the best people for the job? We are certifi ed in knowledge; ethical because our job depends on it; caring because if you survive, we do too; most of our services are paid for collectively; and we use the latest technology available. Th ank you for choosing the Danville Coop for your crop production needs!

CERTIFIED, ETHICAL, CARING

OMAHA (DTN)--A DTN reader asked me this winter if humic acids help soil or are they just another sales pitch. It's a question I, too, have pondered since I started using humic acid last year as a component in the digester residue I spray on cornstalks. I believe they have a place as an organic catalyst to stimu-late soil's biological activity and im-prove soil health, something that seems to get ignored in our current contempo-rary farming systems. I compare using humic acids to foliar feeding plants in the summer. We can't feed the plant enough foliar nutrients to replace what it can get from

the soil, but we can stimulate its appe-tite to pull out more of those nutrients on its own. Feeding humic acids to the soil will increase biological activity to the extent that the soil will create more of its own humic compounds. Soil already contains natu-ral humic substances that arise from organic matter. Organic matter is the plant, animal, and microfl ora material in the soil that are in various stages of decay. Humic compounds are the end product of that biological decay. When cornstalks break down in the soil, the decayed organic matter is made up of these humic substances containing lig-

nin that resist further breakdown. Hu-mic substances are the glue to aggregate soil particles together to build structure and tilth, feed soil microorganisms, and contribute to soil health and biology.However, I suggest you understand the numbers before you buy. Apply-ing a quart or two of humic acids on an acre is probably akin to dropping a couple droplets in a glass of water. Just isn't very much. Th ink about how your taste buds can probably detect a couple grains of salt in a glass of water. A small amount of humic substances can have a similar eff ect on an acre of soil.

Soil with two percent organic matter means you will have 40,000 lbs per acre-foot of organic matter out of a total of 2,000,000 pounds of soil. Of that 40,000 pounds of organic matter, humic substances can range from as low as one or two percent in some mineral soils to as much as 75 percent in peat and bog soils. If you have a low-organic-matter soil with low biological activity, you may have less than 1,000 pounds of humic substances in that 2 million pounds. However, biologically rich soils might have 10 percent humic substances and contain a couple tons per acre. Just remember the greater the organic matter, the greater the biological activity, and the less you till, the more organic matter and humic substances you have.

Th e humates we apply are soluble humic and fulvic acids and come from peats and bogs, leonardite coal, lignite, and brown coal. Humic acids form complexes with ions and have other biological and chemical activities that are benefi cial to soil and plants. Humic acids are known to stimulate and feed soil microorganisms, increase water and nutrient holding capacity of soil, chelate nutrients and keep them avail-able, and stimulate root and plant growth via a growth regulator (auxin) that aff ects and serves as organic catalysts.

At the present time, most soil scientists hold a dim to moderate view about the real benefi ts of applying supplemental humic substances to the soil. Th ey feel not enough quantity is applied to increase organic matter or make a signifi cant dif-ference on biological activity. I have a diff erent view and believe that even a little humic acids applied regularly can act as a stimulant and biological catalyst. I feel it can jump-start the soil's biological activity. Th e soil should do this naturally, but somehow can't in our modern production systems.

THE SOIL

THE SCIENCE

THE BOTTOM LINE

DR. DAN TALKS AGRONOMY:UNDERSTANDING HUMIC ACIDDaniel Davidson

© Copyright 2011 DTN/Th e Progressive Farmer, A Telvent Brand. All rights reserved. http://quotes.uap.com/index.cfm?show=4&id=0702BF50&showMenu=0

AGRICULTURAL CONSULTANTS PROVIDING AIDRon Kenney

SEEDSSUCCESS

FOR SEEDSSUCCESS

FOR

6 | danvillecoop.com February 2012 February 2012 danvillecoop.com | 7

Happy New Year! Hopefully you all had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to another exciting and prosper-ous year in 2012. Our Argonia location has undergone some changes in the past year, mostly with personnel. Dean Taton and Ross Jeff ery both moved on from the Danville Coop aft er the 2011 wheat harvest. Ross returned to the family farm and Dean retired, leaving Darren Good to run facilities at Argonia North and South. Darren has been with Danville Coop for several years and has excellent knowledge of location operations and procedures. Th is includes everything from unloading grain at harvest and settling up with customers to loading grain back out aft er months of storage and caretaking. I am Aaron Hemberger and have recently been hired by Danville Coop to help out with

ARGONIA UPDATE Aaron Hemberger

operations when needed and to assist with customer marketing and agronomy as well. My current location is the Argonia North fa-cility. I previously worked for Bartlett Grain in Western Kansas and Missouri. Jeanette Koehler has also been assisting at Argonia for the past few months with answering phones and helping in the offi ce to allow more operational tasks to be completed outside. She has worked part time for Dan-ville Coop in the past and is profi cient using AgTrax, both within the Danville Coop and Comark systems. Argonia has many services to off er customers. With two facilities, Argonia can handle well over one million bushels of grain and also handles liquid and dry fertilizer and fuel. Th ere are many merchandise items available from fencing supplies and cattle feed supplements to an assortment of bolts,

bearings, and hydraulic hoses, and fi ttings. Argonia also carries oil and solvents, brake fl uid, duct tape, gloves, and other miscella-neous items. Without much of a fall crop this year, we had the opportunity to make up-grades this fall to both elevator facilities at Argonia. Th e South elevator leg was tweaked and a variable speed regulator added to make the leg more effi cient and hopefully aid grain fl ow from the leg to distributor spouting. At the North elevator, a new leg belt was installed with new plastic cups to meet safety regulations and update an older belt that was near the end of its life. Th is coming year we will continue striving to meet your needs with superior service from our personnel and facilities.

I can speak for many producers through central Kansas about how chal-lenging the weather pattern has been in 2011, and like most native Kansans, I can say that it would not surprise me to see a 180 degree change for 2012. What most of central Kansas has experienced so far in this winter wheat growing season has been adequate top soil moisture and very mild temperatures with few lasting cold periods. Th ere is no doubt in my mind that until sub-soil moisture levels can be increased, we will have to rely on timely rains to move this wheat crop along. Many of you have made nitrogen topdress applications to your wheat fi elds and have applied a residual herbicide or have made plans to in the spring at green-up. While this may not be an ideal setup for your wheat crop, it is a great breeding ground for late winter/early spring cereal diseases such as tan spot, powdery mildew, and septoria. Tan spot is most prevalent in fi elds with high residue and a history of continuous wheat but also can be found at high levels on rotated fi elds with very low residue present. Tan spot symptoms usually appear in early April, but its eff ect on yield is highest during grain fi ll when severe spotting reduces the ability of the fl ag leaf

to accumulate light and ultimately produce grain. Powdery mildew mimics tan spot’s life cycle and timing of infection in central Kansas. Most wheat plants that are infected with this fungus will have decreased tiller-ing and will be a provider of usable nitrate nitrogen through leaf stomate exchange. Crop rotation is not as eff ective for pow-dery mildew due to the higher ability of inoculums to move from neighboring fi elds. Septoria Spot is the least com-mon winter cereal disease; however, it is oft en the most damaging as up to 80% of tillers can be found with inter-veinal chlorosis. Th is chlorosis will always lead to necrotic leaf tissue that will inhibit head initiation as well as nutrient uptake. I have many personal success sto-ries as an agronomist in central Kansas by making recommendations of Tilt fungicide applications at spring green up once all tillers are formed. An application of 2 oz/

acre of Tilt helps wheat maximize spikelet formation as well as making tillers become more effi cient in photosynthesis. I oft en coined Tilt as an “antibiotic” for wheat as it knocks out what is ailing you (tan spot/powdery mildew/septoria) and gives you a healthy start. Not only can I say fi rsthand how important this oft en unheard of ap-plication is, but your very own agronomy

specialist can as well. I encourage you to speak with Ron about how economical an applica-tion of Tilt is and how a three bushel yield increase is common. Syngenta grower off ers also incentivize growers who make both an early Tilt application as well as a fl ag leaf applica-tion of Quilt for plant

performance and rust prevention. Fift y independent tests per year over a six year trial have resulted in an average 12.6 bush-els per acre increase in Kansas regardless of rust levels! I would be more than happy to further discuss the benefi ts and features of wheat fungicide applications with you at any time.

Tilt: Wheat’s Antibiotic Danzey Nickel Syngenta, Hutchinson

DA

NV

ILLE C

OO

P

BO

AR

DO

F D

IREC

TO

RS

Beating the Beating the DROUGHTDROUGHT

Lee Adams

Roy Davis

Mark McCoy

David Wedman

Wayne Drouhard

Scott Greenwood

Alan Seifert

Here we are at the beginning of a new year. Where does the time go! One of the bright sides of working with farmers is the continued optimism that there is always next year. Let us all hope and pray that 2012’s weather will be more coopera-tive with us than what 2011 was. Starting last year in July, South Central Kansas moved into the excep-tional class of drought intensity. We continued at that level (which is the most severe) until the end of November when we transitioned into the next classifi ca-tion which is described as extreme. At this point, we are one level “wetter” than that which is called severe. Th e outlook for this year seems to be a moving target. NOAA is calling for below normal precipitation the fi rst part of the year and then normal amounts the rest of the year. We are defi nitely better off with surface moisture now than we were a year ago. Subsoil moisture, however, is still behind where we would like to be. Our hope is that the rain (and snow) will continue and 2012 will be a prosperous

year for us all. Th e graphics below show how big of a shift we had in the last year. Notice the diff erence between January 2011 and January 2012. What a diff erence a year makes! Due to the drought, there could potentially be some shortage of seed. Forage sorghums are the type that I have heard a little grumbling about. I think we are going to be able to take care of your needs, but it might not hurt to plan ahead and talk to us so we can be sure and have the seed you want when you want it. Input costs continue to fl uctuate dramatically as you well know. Th ey seem to be as unstable as what the grain prices are. All it takes is a rumor to create wide swings in the markets. Some things that will probably continue to cause volatil-ity this year are the European debt crisis, Iranian issues, weather in South America, of course politics, and many, many other world situations. We will try to stay abreast of these market eff ecting situa-tions and make wise purchasing choices.

Steve Schrock

2011

2012

Mark your calendars for our upcoming

annual meeting, Friday, May 4,

2012.

>>

>>

Danville Cooperative Association

P.O. Box 67

Danville, Kansas 67036-0067

Danville, Main Offi ce: (620) 962-5238

Albin: (580) 849-2384

Argonia North: (620) 435-6331

Bluff City: (620) 967-4411

Argonia South, Seasonal Branch: (620) 435-6510

Freeport, Seasonal Branch: (620) 962-5294

Metcalf, Seasonal Branch: (620) 845-2209

In addition to helping out with the family farm, the very busy Mary Beth Petrik is also a registered dietitian and works as a consultant at Sumner County Hospital in Caldwell and in Win! eld in group homes for the devel-opmentally disabled adults. " is Petrik family favorite includes a whole suggested menu. " e recipe is from a cookbook she likes called Lickety-Split meals. Healthy, tasty, and fast; what more could you ask for?

Mary Phillips and her husband, Don, live in the Argonia area, farming wheat and soybeans. Don also works for Haviland Telephone as an outside tech, and Mary works for Hubbard Business Services. Harvest is a “family af-fair” in that Mary takes time o# from her job and cooks, drives truck or grain cart, and joins other members of their family to make sure harvest goes as smoothly as possible. Mary and Don have three children and seven grandchildren. " e recipe she submitted is one that could easily make a hearty, well-balanced meal during the busy harvest season.

bu

Mary Phillips and her husband, Don, live in the Argonia

CRISPY CHICKEN DIJONFrom the kitchen of Mary Beth Petrik

Scrub potatoes thoroughly piercing 3 or 4 times with a fork. Place in microwave 12 minutes on HIGH or until done. Place steamer basket in a pan, and add 1” water. Place over medium-high heat. Add vegetables and cover. Once boiling, set time for 8 minutes. Take out 2 bowls, and place bread crumbs in one, mustard in the other. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a medium non-stick skillet. Dip chicken in mustard, and then roll in crumbs. Brown each side in the skillet 4-5 minutes until cooked. Remove vegetables from heat and partially remove lid allowing steam to escape but to keep vegetables warm. Serve with vegetables and half a sweet potato.

2 medium sweet potatoes or 4 baking potatoes1 package (10 oz.) frozen green beans, broccoli, or pea pods

1 package (10 oz.) frozen sliced carrots½ cup dry bread crumbs, unseasoned¼ cup Dijon mustard1 tablespoon olive oil4 (4 oz. each) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

y, t; y Once boiling, set time for ne, mustard in

Pour enough oil in a frying pan to generously

cover the bottom and place over heat. A& er

rinsing steaks with water, coat them with ' our.

Salt and pepper both sides of your steak and

place in your frying pan. While meat is browning, combine the tomato soup,

mushroom soup, and diced onion in a medium-sized bowl. Mix well. Add one

can of water to mixture. Make sure that soup is dissolved completely. Salt and

pepper to taste. A& er the meat has been browned on both sides, place meat in a 9

x 13 pan or baking dish. Pour soup mixture over the meat and cover with alumi-

num foil. Bake @ 350 degrees for at least one hour. (" is may be cooked longer

at a slower temperature. And, if you prefer, you can use round steak rather than

cubed. Cubed steak is a little more tender. You may serve with baked potatoes and

bread, baking the potatoes at the same time as the meat, and place bread in oven

15 minutes before steak is done. Make a tossed salad, and you have a delicious

meal. So simple!)

4 cubed steaks

1 can tomato soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 small diced onion

pi ut ith th family f the

RECIPES

GRAM'S SWISS STEAK

From the kitchen of Mary Phillips