Chore boots and gardening gloves are part of the necessitiesof daily life at Walton Rural Life Center, where students fromkindergarten through fifth grade immerse themselves in hands-on agricultural projects. Story on page 6.

Walton seed plant bulks up to meet demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 4

Demand in bulk seed results in upgrade to seed plant facility in Walton.

Making a difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 5

MKC employees share their time and talent with their communities.

Planting the seed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 6 & 7

Today’s children are generations removed from farm life and the

concept of where food comes from. Learn how some teachers, schools

and agencies are working to bring agriculture into classroom curriculum.

Developing the leader within . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 8 & 9

MKC has a long standing tradition of providing opportunities to employees to

develop their leadership potential.

Board of Directors

David MillsSecretary

C J BlewChairman

Jason Gaeddert

Keith Becker Randy Ellwood

Myron VothVice Chairman

Cecil Wiebe

Matt Brack

Neal Beam

Associate

At Large

District 3

District 2

District 1

President & CEO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dave Christiansen

Vice President & CFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Danny Posch

Vice President & CMO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .David Spears

Director of Energy Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jason Creed

Director of Southern Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Erik Lange

Director of Northern Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Steve Peterson

MKC Connections Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kerry Watson

Contents

Kathy Murphy, third grade teacher atWalton’s 21st Century Rural Life Center,and some of her students provide waterfor the school’s sheep.

Mid Kansas Coop AssociationP.O. Box D • Moundridge, KS 67107 • 620-345-6328

www.mkcoop.com

2

March 2012

Duane Johnson

Walton 21st Century Rural Life Center third gradestudent, Emma Claassen ,encourages Lucy Bell toleave her stall so it can be cleaned.

3

The path least traveled By Dave Christiansen, President & CEO

As silly as this maysound comingfrom a guy whoadmittedly enjoysthe warmth ofspring sunshine,

summer evenings and fall days, I love thistime of year! While this time of year usedto be considered our “slow time”, it iswhen we essentially cram every kind ofimaginable meeting into four months.

The reason I love this time is that I actuallylook forward to the meetings. While I maydislike the travel and every minute beingscheduled for the foreseeable future, theexchange of ideas with so many differentpeople provides me with a way to challengeeverything we know today. This exchangeallows for intelligence to be cumulative andnot singular and it allows for an environ-ment that fosters the innovation necessaryfor improved performance. It is in thissharing of ideas and concepts, trials anderrors, and successes and failures that welearn from each other.

We have increased our efforts to provideopportunities to our members to participatein “idea exchange” sessions. We’ve alreadyprovided a number of these sessions inwhich many of you have taken advantageof. We’ve hosted meetings designed to help producers understand and use tissuesampling with the intent of increased pro-duction. We’ve provided sprayer clinics forthose who own their equipment. Our ener-gy division recently hosted meetings to helpyou better understand the refined fuel deliv-ery (RFD) program as well as fuel and oilwarranties. Additionally, Team MarketingAlliance sponsors a number of meetingsdesigned to improve our customers’ under-standing of how to capture the best in cropinsurance and marketing tools. We’ve alsooffered a host of meetings that covered arange of topics including social media,input financing, utilization of TMA’sPatron Access and MKC’s CustomerPortal. We are in the final stages of planningthis year’s women’s meeting to be held April19. The list of meetings goes on and on!We believe that meetings of this kind are

imperative for us to foster an environmentfor cultural exchange that will provide all ofus improved performance opportunity.That is part of your coop’s mission today.

I read recently in a great book - and I’mparaphrasing - that the exchange of ideas is to cultural evolution as breeding is to biological evolution. It makes sense to me.Exchanging ideas is the value of what wecan accomplish this time of year and why Ilook forward to it.

Stop and think for a moment of the evolu-tion that your local cooperative has gonethrough since its inception. We continue to transition our company, which was oncesolely a warehouse model, to a companythat can help you decipher and utilize thegigabytes of information flooding yourevery waking hour and help you successful-ly navigate the “risk” minefield that surrounds us.

I think there are times when we don’t giveourselves the credit due for what the coophas achieved with your help. I’m referringto more than just achieving financial suc-cess, because it’s given that we need to befinancially successful. I’m referring to therecognition and anticipation of what couldbe detrimental to the success of our mem-ber owners and developing the type of programs that can help them deal withmanaging these issues.

I will acknowledge there are still some people who are certainly more comfortablewith the same old problems than proposingand dealing with new solutions. (I getreminded of this occasionally by those whoprefer not to change anything.) But I alwaysreflect back to a quote that I keep nearby:“The measure of success is not whether youhave a tough problem to deal with, butwhether it is the same problem you had lastyear.”

During this time of year, I try and host asmany informal meetings with producersthat I can. One disadvantage for a largercompany is that the CEO doesn’t get tospend as much time with front line

employees or customers as he or she wouldlike. While it may seem like a “drop in theproverbial bucket”, these meetings are justone of my many efforts that I love to do.

I have hosted about a dozen meetings thiswinter and they have provided me theopportunity to listen to and visit with about100 growers. If you’ve never attended oneof these meetings and would like to, contactyour location manager and we will get youadded to the schedule. I try to keep thegroup size to less than 10 growers whichallows for some great open dialog, so itmay take a while to get to everyone on the list.

One of the great things I’ve seen happen inthese meetings over the past few years isthere is less focus on the past and a muchgreater emphasis placed on the future andwhere the coop needs to concentrate itsefforts and resources to best help ourgrowers.

These producer meetings are interesting onmany levels but one of the most extremeexamples of the heterogeneous nature ofour customer base is the varying opinionssurrounding invoices and statements. I'msure you're aware that our statements havesignificantly changed and we continue tomake adjustments to them based on cus-tomer input. At a recent meeting, one pro-ducer stated he really preferred to neverreceive any paper. He could have easieraccess, less paper to sort through, easierdocument retention and the flexibility todevelop the spreadsheets he wanted. Healso desired to receive payments and paybills on line. Seated across the table wasanother producer who resided in the oppo-site camp. He wanted everything sent tohim, including invoices. The best part isthat we completely understand andacknowledge that they are both correct andwe will strive to develop methods to makesure we are meeting the needs of those two customers and all the people who residesomewhere in between.

Cont. on page 10

4

Larger and faster farming equipmentmeans today’s producer farms at a muchfaster pace than he did twenty years ago.To keep up with this pace MKC continu-ally analyzes their facilities to ensure theyhave the speed and space to meet theneeds of their customers.

At MKC’s agronomy center in Walton,the need for more speed and space wasespecially true as the demand for bulkseed had increased two-fold resulting inan upgrade to the current system. Therecent installation of four bulk seed binshas doubled the center’s seed storage.According to Erik Lange, Director ofSouthern Operations for MKC, the oldsystem was being operated above the

capacity it was designed for. “For thepast four years, we had been exceedingcapacity during soybean and wheat plant-ing,” stated Lange. “The demand forproduct outgrew the system’s capabilities.”

Lange commented that procuring inven-tory during the peak season was a prob-lem. “It created the need to be able tostore almost an entire season of seed atone time,” stated Lange.

Installed in the late 1980’s, the old sys-tem had multiple inefficiencies. All seedhad to be weighed across the truck scaleand during wheat or fall harvests it creat-ed an inconvenience when customerswere delivering grain at the same timecustomers were trying to pick up seed.The seed plant now has its own scalehopper eliminating congestion at thetruck scale.

The overhead design of the old bins wasalso creating inefficiencies as the treaterhad to be physically moved to each binwhen treating beans. “It was increasingwait times, employee effort and waste,”stated Lange. “This new system featuresa series of conveyors that allows thetreater to be stationary.”

To treat certified wheat, the old systemrequired the seed to be loaded in a truckand then taken to the truck scale to beweighed. It then went to the seed clean-ing plant to be treated. “It was aninconvenience for our seed and graincustomers as well as customers wantingseed cleaning,” stated Lange.“Customers had to schedule well inadvance for treating purchased seed.”

Lange foresees the recent upgrade atWalton will make it much easier for cus-tomers to schedule pickup or delivery oftreated certified wheat seed. “The aver-age load time will be about 15 minutesor less,” said Lange. “The new systemwill also make it much easier to treatbulk bags and re-bag bulk bags.”

The upgrade to the bulk seed systemdoesn’t mean that Walton has done awaywith bagged seed. According to Lange,treating bulk bags and re-bagging bulkbags will now be much easier.

“This upgrade is so we can better meetour customers’ needs,” stated Lange. “Itdoesn’t matter if it’s bagged or bulk, weare here to provide either service.”

Walton seed plant bulks up to meet demand By Kerry Watson

For a second year in a row, MKC isworking with Swiss Re to offer a rev-enue program designed to assist growersin managing the risk (primarily weather)associated with growing double crop soy-beans.

MKC was the first in the nation to offerthis one-of-its kind program last yearwhen double crop soybeans weren’t traditionally eligible for federal cropinsurance. According to Dave Spears,Chief Marketing Officer for MKC, theprogram was offered in 11 counties lastyear and representatives are working toexpand to additional counties this year.

“The counties are yet to be determined,”stated Spears.

Spears further commented that MKCcontinues to work with Swiss Re as tothe parameters and details of the program. Pricing and details of the program are yet to come.

“Swiss Re is a global reinsurance compa-ny and by working with them on theprogram, MKC is able to transfer therisk to Swiss Re,” stated Spears. “Weare able to bring a risk management program to our customers and at thesame time transfer that risk to a globalcompany who is in that business.”

More information will be madeavailable once program details arefinalized.

For second year, MKC to offer revenueprogram for double crop soybeansBy Kerry Watson

47th Annual

STOCKHOLDERS’MEETING

Thursday, July 19, 20126:00 p.m.

BiCentennial CenterSalina, KS

Save The Date

5

Making a differenceMKC employees take great pride in donating their time to their communities. MKC encourages their employees to help keep

their communities strong by supporting organizations of their choosing. The following are examples of how some employees

volunteer to make a difference in their community.

Daniel Huls, IIElevator Superintendent – Burns, Kansas

Matt HendersonLocation Manager – Longford, Kansas

Matt McCuneLocation Manager – Talmage, Kansas

Matt is a volunteer firefighter for two rural fire departments in DickinsonCounty. He is currently taking classes to further his training as a fire fighterand estimates that he will average 80 calls throughout the year.

“I volunteer for the fire departments because my brother’s life was saved

by a local fire department. This is my opportunity to pay it forward to

someone in need – possibly even one of my customers some day.”

- Matt McCune

Daniel is nearing the completion of his first two-year term as a city councilmember for the Burns community. Daniel became active within his hometownafter a number of local residents encouraged him to do so. Along with servingon the city council, Daniel volunteers his time helping coordinate the city’sannual car show.

“I got involved with the city council and the annual car show because it

was a way for me to give back to the people of this community who saw a

potential in me and helped guide me towards a better path for my life.

What I’m doing is rewarding and there’s no better way for me to pay back

those folks.” - Daniel Huls, II

Matt volunteers as a little league wrestling and baseball coach for youth andteens ages 6 to 18 years. He has been coaching for the past six years.

“I volunteer not only because I enjoy spending time with the kids and

helping them learn a new sport, but also because I think sports can help

kids develop skills they will need as adults. Dealing with adversity and

achieving goals are some of those skills.” - Matt Henderson

6

School funding cuts forced a McPhersonteacher, Tiffany Pacey, to eliminate classfield trips to the farm.

But, she still wanted to introduce herEisenhower Elementary School kinder-garten students to the world of agricultureand help them understand where theirfood came from.

So, she visited the Groveland branch ofMid Kansas Cooperative and broughtback different grains to discuss with hercurious students.

“I was flying by the seat of my pants,”Pacey admitted.

She had her fifth grade son Tanner Pacey,who already had developed a passion foragriculture, help out. He brought a powerpoint presentation of farm crops that heput together, along with his collection ofmodel tractors and drills to share with thestudents. She didn’t realize until later thatMKC would send a representative to theclassroom to talk about agriculture.“That’s what we’re going to do nextyear,” Pacey said.

On a recent morning, Pacey spoke withher students who were sitting before herin a semi-circle on the floor, explaining to

them why Kansas was known as thewheat state.

While the majority of her class is removedfrom farm life there are some, like 6-year-old Jack Barrow, who have their uniqueperspective on agriculture.

“My Uncle has a farm and he cuts thewheat with the combine and puts thegrain in the elevator,” Jack said. “I likedto ride in the combine, but it got so dustybecause the door broke off.”

Faced with the challenge of teaching herstudents a vital lesson that would haveconnected them to the number one indus-try in the state, Pacey admits she had towing it. But, she now knows where toturn for helpful information.

Mid Kansas Cooperative is committed tobringing agriculture to the classroomthrough its financial support of such pro-grams as Kansas Foundation forAgriculture in the Classroom (KFAC),and the Walton 21st Century Rural LifeCenter, at Walton.

“MKC is one of our major donors,” saidCathy Musick, executive director ofKFAC. A non-profit organization, theylost 19 percent of their budget in recent

legislative cuts. The program trains andprovides extensive lesson plans and work-shops across the state to a variety of edu-cators, and Musick, as well as the KFACboard have come to greatly appreciate themajor support from entities such asMKC.

The KFAC programs train educatorsoffering agricultural based, hands-onlearning tools, plus they offer a 250-pageguide and lesson plans for just the cost ofpostage. The program also provides sum-mer training courses, as well as a new2012 program, “AG Counts,” through theBe Ag-Wise workshops they co sponsorwith the Kansas Farm Bureau. Musickand her staff go to the inter-city schoolspresenting hour-long assemblies.

“We hope the teachers will take theresource packets and model given to bring ag into the classroom curriculum,”Musick said.

It’s even more vital than ever, Musicksays, because the children of today aregenerations removed from the farm.

“They haven’t been to grandpa’s farm tosee the cattle and don’t have a sense ofconnection to where their food comesfrom,” Musick said.

Even in rural areas, the agricultural indus-try has become focused on one or twocrops on a farm.

“I grew up on a ranch and never went toa feedlot. I didn’t know soybeans,”Musick said. “How do we make that con-nection that that they (students) under-stand the agricultural system we have andthe importance of how much it suppliesto the state? It’s our number one industry,what does it pay in income for the state?”

Meanwhile, in Harvey County, at theWalton 21st Century Rural Life Center,field trips to the farm simply entails walk-ing outdoors to the school’s barn or the

6-year old Jody Mead and 5-year old Colton Lauderdale, like to share theirknowledge of agriculture. They are two of Tiffany Pacey’s kindergarten students who still live on a farm. (Photo by Kathy Hanks)

Planting the seed by Kathy Hanks, Freelance Writer

7

greenhouse to see how things grow.

As a fourth generation Harvey Countyfarmer, Alan Entz is glad that his threechildren have had the opportunity to expe-rience the Walton School.

While his children are growing up on theland that their great-great- grandfatherhomesteaded when he arrived fromPrussia, some of their classmates wouldn’thave had such an ag-based background ifit weren’t for the Walton Charter School.

The innovative teaching ideas in a ruralcenter came about as a way to save theschool, said Natise Vogt, principal. The agbased charter school was the dream of for-mer USD 373 superintendent JohnMorton. He saw it as a way of saving theailing school in the rural community thatwas down to 80 students in 2005.

Meanwhile, the building designed to hold130 students has a current enrollment of154 students. Expected enrollment for thenext year is 160.

“The rural life center is so popular thereis a growing support to keep it, plus thereis a waiting list to get in to the school,”said Entz.

Meanwhile growing pains, and state budgetcuts to education has made the WaltonRural Life Charter Foundation even morevital. Mid Kansas Cooperative is an impor-tant supporter of the school, Vogt said.

“MKC is definitely helping to sustain theschool,” said Entz, a MKC member.That’s important due to state budget cutsto education. “To keep it going we needthe community backing. The elevator atWalton welcomes the students for toursand they explain what goes on there sothey can learn different facets of farming.”

Entz hopes through the program all thestudents will have learned to understandtheir daily bread and how it originatesrom, a tiny seed.

“They learn the growing aspect fromplanting and propagating in thegreenhouse,” Entz said.

There is another collaborative partnershipbecause the facilitators at KFAC trainedthe Walton faculty, many who were cityslickers before switching over to an agri-cultural-based charter school.

“They attended our summer course andthey were able to pick up lesson plans anduse that for planning to be an ag charterschool,” Musick said. “We had a neatconnection with them one summer.”

Those courses gave Vogt and all the staffthe courage to put on their chore boots andgarden gloves and lead their students intosuch lessons as cleaning a barn, feedingcalves, hatching chicks, raising chickens,collecting the eggs and then marketing theirproduct.

They have even learned the frustration ofsupply and demand, said Staci Schill, afirst and second grade teacher. Her stu-dents put the large red sign outside theschool announcing eggs for sale. The stu-dents even give up recess to clean the eggsand package them in hand painted eggcartons. They sell the eggs for $2 a dozen,and have learned to count by 12 and workin dozens.

Then, they put the money they earn backinto the school, using it for such things asbuying fruit trees and feed for the school’ssheep.

Meanwhile back at Eisenhower Elemen-tary School, Jack Barrow knows that athis uncle’s farm the seeds are in theground for next season’s harvest. Andthanks to his teacher, he also knows whatgrain is used to make bread.

“I like my bread with butter,” Jack said.

Kathy Murphy, third grade teacher at Walton's 21st Century Rural Life Center, andsome of her students tend to chores in the barn at their school.

It goes without saying that good leadership is crucial to any successful business.Many people, however, will question what makes a good leader and how can some-one develop himself or herself into a good leader if they are not one to begin with?The answer is that there are many factors that contribute to good leadership.

MKC has a long standing tradition of providing opportunities to employees to devel-op their leadership potential. Brett Myers, Director of Development and Trainingfor MKC, makes sure employees know about the different programs available to them.

“We are always looking for programs that will allow team members to build a unified vision for MKC,” states Myers.

Programs that are gaining in popularity among MKC employees include Tomorrow’sAgribusiness Leaders, Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership (KARL) program,and Land O’ Lakes Executive Agribusiness Program (LEAP).

Tomorrow’s Agribusiness Leaders (TAL) - a jointly sponsored initiative of theKansas Grain and Feed Association and the Kansas Agribusiness RetailersAssociation - is an intensive leadership development program designed to teach par-ticipants about the state and federal legislative and regulatory process and how to bea better leader within the industry

Matt Porter, Location Manager at MKC’s facility in Benton, sought out the TAL program after hearing about the positive experiences of coworkers who had participated in the program.

“After researching what TAL was about and what its intended purpose was, I decided that the program represented many of myprofessional interests,” stated Porter. “I saw it as a way to continue my professional development.”

While the TAL program allows participants to gain exposure on a state and national level, theKARL and LEAP programs offer state, national and international exposure.

KARL is a two-year course offering intensive study, training and travel for future leaders inagriculture and rural communities. Tricia Jantz, Controller for Team Marketing Alliance, wasaccepted to the program this past spring and already has traveled to different parts of the stateto learn about economic development for those areas. She has also participated in classeswhere participants practiced their communication skills, learned about conflict managementand visited the state Capital where they heard from all three branches of the government andhow policy decisions are made and upheld.

Jantz is finding her experiences through KARL to beneficial to her job.

“If there’s one thing I’ve taken away from KARL, it’s that I need to continually nurture andbuild relationships with our customers and employees,” said Jantz. “Everything else will takecare of itself if we are taking care of these relationships.”

The class will travel to Washington DC this spring to meet with elected officials, governmentagencies, think tanks, and agriculture related organizations. Jantz will also have the opportu-nity to hone her leadership skills on an international level when the KARL class travels toPeru in March, 2013. During this trip, participants will learn about international trade rela-tionships and domestic and foreign policies. The class will also learn about the country’s agri-culture, culture and customs.

Erik Lange, Director of Southern Area Operations for MKC was encouraged by MKC’s CEOand President, Dave Christiansen, to apply to Land O’ Lakes Executive Advantage Program(LEAP) – a 12 month course designed to help participants train for future leadership positionswithin the cooperative industry.

“Exceptional employees are what make the difference when positioning the cooperative to provide the most value to its cus-8

I consistently hear from customershow much they depend on MKC toemploy knowledgeable, dependableand trustworthy people. They alsoexpress concern about making surewe are doing everything we can toretain those employees. Leadershipdevelopment is one of our rigorousefforts to do just that. Allowingthose employees who have thedesire and the capacity to continuetheir development throughout theircareer is one of the best ways wehave discovered to achieve themutual objectives of the customers,employees and cooperative. As ourbusiness environment continues tochange and if we truly believe inour “Shared Growth. SharedSuccess.” mission, it’s imperativefor us to continue to develop ouremployees.

Dave Christiansen,President & CEO

Developing the leader withinBy Kerry Watson

Matt Porter (right) is shown with

Kansas Attorney General Derek

Schmidt. Matt had the opportunity to

visit with the Attorney General when

he and members of the TAL class

attended the Kansas Legislative Action

Day in January.

9

“Exceptional employees are what make the difference when positioningthe cooperative to provide the most value to its customers,” statedChristiansen. “Since Eric joined MKC as a location manager atWhitewater, he has demonstrated a strong aptitude for learning andhelping others develop their own skill set.”

Christiansen commented that Lange’s farming background also helpshim when making operational decisions. “He’s walked in our cus-tomer’s shoes many times,” stated Christiansen. “That proves to bevery beneficial when he and his southern region team are strategizingon how to benefit our growers.”

Lange was appreciative of the opportunity to interact with some of thebest managers in the system and to further his skills.

“I’ve taken similar courses in the past,” stated Lange. “But none ofthem were as in depth and directed towards leading our industry into the future as this one was.”

LEAP also provided participants a chance to study the agriculture industry on an international level when they traveled toArgentina this past fall. Lange commented that he learned a great deal about Argentina’s import and export business, grain pro-duction and dairy processing and also discovered similarities to the same processes in the United States.

“While I feel the United States is pretty good at production agriculture, I dis-covered there are other countries who are doing things very close to us,” statedLange.

A variety of challenges—environmental, economic and political—are unfoldingand will continue to test agriculture, agri-business and rural communities.Brett Myers challenge is to keep finding programs that will further develop theleadership potential of MKC’s employees.

Myers believes the experience MKC employees gain from participating in theseintensive leadership programs is perhaps one of the truly sustainable advan-tages the cooperative has over their competition.

Tricia Jantz participates in a mock television interview with

Ken Rahjes, Network Coordinator for KRVN/Rural Radio

Network. The interview is just one of several training

modules offered through the KARL program.

Lange visited a 20,000 hectarefarm near Rosario, Argentina thispast fall. The farm included soy-beans, corn, lima beans, ediblepeas and chick peas. He is shownstanding in a field of soft redwheat that was two weeks frombeing harvested.

Lange visited a 20,000 hectare farm near Rosario,

Argentina this past fall. The farm included soybeans,

corn, lima beans, edible peas and chick peas. He is

shown standing in a field of soft red wheat that was

two weeks from being harvested.

Devin Schierling is excited about a new federal crop insurance program that he andhis sales staff at Team Marketing Allianceare offering. Producers can maximize their2012 corn and soybean revenue potentialwhen they select the Trend Adjustment(TA) endorsement for their crop insurancepolicies.

According to Schierling, the TA endorse-ment will adjust actual production historyto reflect long-term increases in historicalyields in certain counties (determined byUSDA) and can provide benefits in anumber of different ways.

“Whether it’s by increasing minimum cropinsurance guaranteed revenue, additionalpreventative planting coverage or the increased number of bushels a producercan safely forward market, this endorse-ment can help insure the farm’s revenue potential,” stated Schierling.

The adjustment is calculated on a field-by-field basis and is maximized if there are 10years of crop specific production history.According to Schierling, producers whodon’t have 10 years of history can stillenhance their farm’s revenue potential with just a three-year history.

Schierling gave the following examplesabout the program:

Example #1A producer in Sedgwick County has a dryland corn operation that produces 94bushels per acre (based on a 10-year histo-ry). If the producer purchases an 80%Revenue Protection Policy with the enter-prise unit structure, he has the potential toincrease the farm’s revenue by $55 per acreand raise the APH by 12 bu. per acre. Theresult is an extra 9.6 bushels to safely for-ward market. The producer’s investment isless than $12 per acre and he gains a netreturn of $43 per acre.

Example #2A producer in Sedgwick County has an irrigated corn operation that produces 178bushels per acre (based on a 10-year histo-ry). If the producer purchases an 80%

Revenue Protection Policy with the enter-prise unit structure, he has the potential toincrease the farm’s revenue by $83 per acreand raise the APH by 18 bu. per acre. Theresult is an extra 14.4 bushels to safely forward market. The producer’s investmentis less than $14 per acre and he gains a netreturn of $69 per acre.

According to Schierling, the TMA sales staffrepresents a very small number of profession-als who understand the new program.

“The endorsement can be somewhat con-fusing,” stated Schierling. “I’m confidentthe training our staff has received will allowthem to convey the true value of the pro-gram to our customers.”

Producers have until crop insurance salesclosing to add this endorsement.

As I wrap up each of these producermeetings, I always ask the participants tomake sure they take advantage of ourexcellent location general managers when-ever they want or have the time to do so.The location managers are integral stake-holders in our company and are chargedwith communicating with you and mak-ing sure the message gets delivered andnot overly filtered. While there are ahandful of administrative items we cen-tralize, the most important one we willnever centralize is listening to and takingcare of a customer’s needs. This is theresponsibility of the location general man-ager and his or her team. The informa-tion they gather and share helps us chartor make adjustments to our course. Thissame information is taken into planningsessions throughout our company andinto the boardroom.

Thank you for sharing your ideas andthank you to those of you who have beenincreasing your business with your coop-erative. We’ve again added more than100 new members this year. With theobvious exception of bushels (due tosome untimely dry weather), it is withyour help that we’ve increased volume inevery other commodity area in the com-pany. It’s apparent you have been pro-moting the value of your coop and weappreciate it.

A business we consider an integral stake-holder in our company recently asked us,

“How do we help you grow?” I will askyou the same question, and it doesn’thave to be interpreted to mean “size”.

We will continue our efforts to provideyou with the educational opportunitiesand the environment to foster culturalexchange. We see that as one of ourmost critical and most rewarding mis-sions. Due to the initial investmentrequired to provide these types ofexchange opportunities, it’s a path notmany of the people competing for yourbusiness choose to take. While reducingyour price by $20 a ton or raising theprice of wheat by a nickel is nice, it won’tinsure success for either one of us. Witha career steeped in sales, I will be one ofthe first to acknowledge that price isimportant. However, it’s no replacementfor use of appropriate risk managementprograms and access to good timelyknowledge.

This year we’ve been fortunate enough tolead the pack in timely programs withexceptional values that resulted in goodbusiness growth for MKC and incomeopportunities for our customers. Talkabout shared growth and shared success!With your unrelenting input, we will con-tinue developing and offering programsdesigned around your needs. Please takeadvantage of them!

The path least traveled Cont. from Page 3

TMA offers new program by Kerry Watson

10