STAR Energy Making Fuel Tanks Sparkle

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Cindy

A dirty tank can make even the best of fuel less than optimum, which is why GROWMARK STAR energy was demonstrating a high efficiency fuel tank cleaning process at the 2012 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa.

Curt Snyder with STAR Energy demonstrated the cleaner, which can run in any size tank from 500-1000 gallons. “It has a pressurized nozzle that sprays throughout the tank, scours it inside. Meanwhile, in the back, it’s sucking up the fuel and running it through our filtering system to take out all the impurities,” he explained. “We’re able to get down to even the smallest pieces of sand.”

Curt says it’s good to go into harvest season with a clean tank. “It’s very important that we don’t get any grit from an old tank into your fuel system,” he said, noting that growers at the Farm Progress Show showed a lot of interest in the tank cleaning process that many did not even know existed. He said that more information is available from STAR Energy in Iowa or any FS fuel delivery service.

Watch Curt demo the tank cleaner in this video:

2012 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2012 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by New Holland and Monsanto Roundup Ready Plus

GROWMARK Supports Farm Bill Now Efforts

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Cindy

As part of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, GROWMARK is in full support of the Farm Bill Now Coalition that will be taking its message to Capitol Hill next week when Congress is back in session.

GROWMARK Government Affairs Director Chuck Spencer says there are two basic reasons Congress should pass a five year farm bill this month. “One, because it expires September 30 and we would go back to the ’49 Act. Two, is that it’s traditionally passed on a five year basis which gives you a good planning horizon,” he said. “We need certainty in the market place.”

Chuck is confident Congress will do something in the short time they have before the current farm policy expires at the end of the month. “I know there’s a lot of talk about eight days of session in September and that it’s going to be difficult. It can be difficult. But we saw the Senate pass in one day a farm bill, the House Agriculture Committee pass in one day a farm bill. When the motivation is present to take action, we have seen our elected leaders do so,” Chuck said.

While there are options of a short or longer term extension of the current farm bill being considered, Chuck notes that Congress will have lots of other issues to deal with during a lame duck session, such as the expiring estate tax provisions that agriculture would like to see extended – or better yet, have the estate tax eliminated altogether.

Listen to or download my interview with Chuck. Chuck Spencer, GROWMARK

GROWMARK Honors Youth in Ag

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Jamie

The role of young people involved in agriculture is a true focus for GROWMARK. During their recent annual meeting State FFA Officers from Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin and representatives from the Ontario Cooperative Young Leaders spoke to members on the role of young people in agriculture and their future roles in the industry.

I had the chance to talk with Darren Riskedal, State FFA President from Illinios, and Marley Burgess, Ontario Cooperative Young Leader Representative, before they took the stage. You can find their complete interviews below.

GROWMARK also recognized forty-one college students from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin with scholarships aimed to promote higher education in agriculture and business. GROWMARK has been supporting college students since the early 1960′s and strives to provide $44,000 in scholarships annually.

Listen to my interview with Darren here: Interview with Darren Riskedal

Listen to my interview with Marley here: Interview with Marley Burgess

You can find photos from the event here:2012 GROWMARK Annual Meeting

Pride & Progress for GROWMARK in 2012

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Jamie

For 85 years GROWMARK has been a cooperative members could count on and they exhibited that through the theme for the 2012 GROWMARK Annual Meeting, Pride and Progress.

Dan Kelley, Chairman of the Board and President of GROWMARK, explained what pride and progress means to him and how the drought has and will continue to affect GROWMARK’s members.

“We are proud of our history. We are proud of the people who work with us. We are proud of our heritage, but we are also progressing. The last eight years have been the best in GROWMARK’s history in both sales and in a net income standpoint. We know agriculture, like all businesses, change and the speed of change increases everyday. We have to have great people to adjust to those changes and that is how we are going to progress.”

Listen to my interview with Dan here: Interview with Dan Kelley

You can find photos from the event here:2012 GROWMARK Annual Meeting

Also at the annual meeting, five of the cooperative’s 16 director seats, established by geographic zone, were elected and will serve three-year terms. GROWMARK directors elected include:
Rick Nelson of Paxton, Ill.; Kevin Malchine of Waterford, Wis.; David Uhlman of Tremont, Ill.; Dennis Neuhaus of Hoyleton, Ill.; and Allen Tanner of Creston, Iowa.

Fiscal Year Comes to an End for GROWMARK

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Jamie

August 31st marked the end to GROWMARK’s fiscal year. To mark the year end members from across the Midwest attended the 85th GROWMARK Annual Meeting in Chicago. The meeting didn’t just consist of business reports and elections, laughter seemed to be a key element throughout the event. Comedian Jeanne Robertson was the highlight of the banquet Thursday evening and keynote speaker Tom Bodett kept the crowd rolling as well.

It was a busy event for GROWMARK CEO Jeff Solberg who had to run off before I could interview him, but our friend and colleague Pam Fretwell of Farm Journal Media was happy to share her interview with us. Jeff was very pleased to be able to announce this year’s financial results for GROWMARK, which were very close to last year’s record.

“We continue to grow. We’re very happy with the growth and success we have had. You can have growth without success, but in the GROWMARK system in the last decade or more we have had significant growth, but significant success that has come along with that. The results we produced this year are very close to 10 billion in sales, that’s a significant increase of the past decade. We have changed our business and the success that has come with that is showing up this year. This has been the second best year of pre-tax income in our history.”

Listen to Pam’s interview with Jeff here: Interview with Jeff Solberg

You can find photos from the event here:2012 GROWMARK Annual Meeting

FS InVISION Sightings at FPS

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Cindy

A photo contest has been running to get the word out about new FS InVISION™ seed corn and today is the last day to vote for your favorite.

“This year, we’ve re-branded our FS seed corn and it’s now FS InVISION seed corn,” said Justin White with FS who explains that the FS InVISION Sightings Contest was designed to let people know about that. Six finalists were chosen for the contest and folks visiting the Farm Progress Show in Iowa have been able to vote for their favorite, which will be announced tomorrow. The six finalists all received $500 toward expenses to attend the FPS here and the Grand Prize winner will receive a $500 gift card, and the chance to be featured in FS InVISION advertisements in 2013. In addition, for every photo uploaded, $10 was donated to the Illinois, Iowa, or Wisconsin State FFA Association.

View the six finalists and vote here.

Listen to my interview with Justin here: Justin White - FS InVISION Sightings

2012 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2012 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by New Holland and Monsanto Roundup Ready Plus

GROWMARK Ensures Reliable Fuel, Stable Prices

Posted on August 2, 2012 by John

Making sure you have the fuels you need… at the prices you expect… is one of the challenges farmers face to make sure they keep their bottom lines in the black. Our friends at GROWMARK Energy are helping producers make sure they have quality fuels at stable prices. Marty Wieland, GROWMARK director of energy operations and risk management, explains that since they are also putting product into the pipeline that has to match the standards already there “that allows us to buy that product from any other vendor or shipper on the pipeline and know that it’s going to meet certain specifications so we really know what we’re getting.” Plus, he says they can put in their own additives at certain terminals specific for the needs of that area.

Wieland says their analysis, advisory and broker services give GROWMARK cooperatives a chance to lock in fuel prices as much as a year in advance. “It allows them to know what their pricing will be well out in the future,” and allows them to pass along these stable prices to the end-users. He points out that none of this should come as a surprise as GROWMARK was started by a group of farmers trying to secure a reliable source of fuel.

Wieland concluded they’re looking at expanding into other pipelines where they don’t currently have a presence.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Marty here. Marty Wieland, GROWMARK

GROWMARK: Uniting for Conservation is Refreshing

Posted on July 20, 2012 by John

Different groups coming together for a common good… that’s the name of the game on the recent Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour. Chuck caught up with one of our good friends from GROWMARK, Howard Brown, manager of agronomy services and one of the participants during the tour. He said it was refreshing to see various groups coming together to promote that common cause: conserving resources.

“It’s not about selling one thing or promoting one idea. It’s collectively a systems approach to nitrogen management,” Brown said. He added that if farmers dedicate themselves to only one approach to nitrogen management, they will fail. The dry summer was a classic example of that this year. If farmers only put all their nitrogen on at once post-emergence, they wouldn’t see much value out of that nitrogen because the rains didn’t come. And that also sets up more nitrogen runoff later on. Brown suggested an incremental approach to nitrogen application to minimize any liabilities. It’s just part of GROWMARK’s overall approach to making things work better for their member owners.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Howard here: Interview with Howard Brown, GROWMARK manager of agronomy services

2012 Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by AGROTAIN

GROWMARK Supports ASTA

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Chuck

Matt Hynes, Manager, Agronomy Marketing, for GROWMARK is on the board of the American Seed Trade Association as a Regional Vice President. I spoke with him to learn more about ASTA and why GROWMARK is supportive of the organization.

To start with Matt says that the seed business is part of what GROWMARK does. “To be part of an organization like the American Seed Trade Association is important to GROWMARK and the things we do not only because we have our own seed line but because of our agricultural industry.” He says GROWMARK has a large footprint in the United States and Canada and there are a lot of issues going on that they can’t necessarily keep up on. “That’s a huge part of what ASTA can bring to an organization like GROWMARK and those that are a part of it.”

As the representative of the central region of ASTA Matt says he made a lot of calls on members recently to find out their needs. This was part of the board’s work on the ASTA strategic plan to make sure they’re serving the needs of all member companies, small or large.

Learn more about the work ASTA does from Matt in my interview with him as well as what’s new in the agronomy area at GROWMARK: Interview with Matt Hynes

2012 ASTA Convention Photo Album

GROWMARK Celebrating 85 Years

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Cindy

GROWMARK has two reasons to celebrate this year – the International Year of the Cooperative and GROWMARK’s 85th anniversary.

“The cooperative obviously has evolved a lot over those 85 years,” says Dan Kelley, Illinois farmer and president of the GROWMARK Board of Directors. “Energy is still a main part of GROWMARK’s product distribution. Nearly half of our sales continue to be in the energy area, but we’ve also branched out into agronomy products, and we also handle primarily corn and soybeans through our grain division.”

The history of GROWMARK is charted from the time its predecessor Illinois Farm Supply was incorporated as a cooperative in 1927 and you can follow that history through the years in the “Our History” section of the GROWMARK website. Dan says they will be celebrating the 85th anniversary at the cooperative’s annual meeting in August. “We are focusing a lot of our promotion around the annual meeting toward the 85 year history of GROWMARK,” he said.

Dan says they are pleased that the United Nations coincidentally chose this year as the International Year of the Cooperative. “We have adopted the logo of the International Year of the Cooperative logo,” he said, noting that the design illustrates the principle of cooperatives, showing how individuals working together can do what no one can do by themselves.

Listen to my interview with Dan Kelley here. GROWMARK President Dan Kelley

GROWMARK Recognized for Communicators’ Works

Posted on June 18, 2012 by John

We’ve had the pleasure of helping our friends at GROWMARK tell their story right here on this blog, and now, several of the company’s employees who also tell that story have been recognized by the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) Institute, recently held in Tucson, Arizona. This company press release has details.

First place honors went to Cassie Becker, corporate communications associate, in the photo illustration category.

Second place was earned by Becker in the miscellaneous category for the Gold Rush parody video and Karen Jones, publications and news specialist, and Karen Higgins, graphic designer, in the brochures and pamphlets category.

Third place went to Becker in the promotional video category, Jones and Julie Fontana, graphic designer, in the annual report category, and Jones in the featurette category.

Honorable mention was awarded to Heather Thompson, electronic communications specialist, in the cooperative education category.

Congratulations to our friends at GROWMARK!

Help Feed the World with GROWMARK Cookbook

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Cindy

GROWMARK employees have created a cookbook to help a group focused on feeding the world.

In celebration of the International Year of Cooperatives, GROWMARK has announced that proceeds from sales of a new cookbook will go to Farmers Feeding the World, an industry-wide campaign to rally North American agriculture in the war against hunger.

GROWMARK System employees and friends submitted more than 1,000 tried-and-true recipes in a variety of categories: Appetizers and Beverages, Soups and Salads, Vegetables and Side Dishes, Main Dishes, Breads and Rolls, Desserts, Cookies and Candy, and This and That. The finished books will be three-ring binder style with an included easel and delivered in time for holiday giving.

The cookbooks are just $20.00 each and all proceeds above printing and shipping costs will be donated to “Farmers Feeding the World.” Orders will be accepted through July 20.

Click here to get an order form.

GROWMARK Hosts French Cooperative

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Cindy

In the spirit of cooperation between cooperatives, Illinois-based GROWMARK hosted leaders from the French cooperative Terrena last week as part of a 12-day tour of United States agriculture.

“We were approached by the tour leader about coordinating an exchange of ideas between the Terrena leadership and GROWMARK’s leadership,” said Chuck Spencer, GROWMARK director, Government Affairs. “Because our agricultural products compete in a global marketplace, we saw great value in having a discussion with our counterparts at Terrena to learn more about agricultural market conditions and ag supply and product infrastructure in the European Union, which will ultimately benefit our members.”

The visitors from Terrena toured the Stone Ridge Dairy near Mansfield and One Earth Energy in Gibson City. Following the tours, a luncheon was served on a nearby farm and GROWMARK senior management and board members talked about cooperative structure and governance. Dr. Aslihan Spaulding of Illinois State University also shared her research on food trends with the group.

“One of the questions we were asked was our view of cooperatives here in the United States, and we certainly see a strong need and role for cooperative businesses, especially in agriculture,” said Rick Nelson, GROWMARK vice chairman of the board. “Terrena has the same view, and we definitely had a connection with them in recognizing the services cooperatives provide to farmers.”

Terrena serves more than 22,000 farmers in France. Its business units include grains, livestock, viticulture, and horticulture. It also supplies meat, dairy, and wine products to market under several private brands.

Thanks to GROWMARK’s Karen Jones for providing us with the story and photos!

GROWMARK Keeps IT Growing

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Cindy

As a multi-state agricultural co-operative system with over 6000 employees and numerous brands, information technology (IT) is a vital aspect of GROWMARK‘s ability to communicate on a number of levels.

GROWMARK was honored with the first CropLife America and AgGateway Information Technology Innovation Award for CropNAtion

That keeps GROWMARK Manager of Network Services Scott Bross busy keeping up with the latest on-line communications tools – from improved websites to blogs and all the various social networking platforms. Last year, Scott and his team launched the redesigned GROWMARK.com, with all new functionality. “We’re continuing to add new functionality as we go,” Scott said, noting that the Media Center was one of the most exciting to develop. “To be able to provide multi-media formats, to be able to do video and audio and bring in news releases in pdf and Spirit Magazine.”

The new design won GROWMARK first place in the Heartland region NAMA competition this year and GoFurtherWithFS.com won the Merit award in the same category. CropNAtion.com was selected by CropLife America (CLA) and AgGateway to receive the first annual CLA Information Technology Innovation Award. “It’s neat to be able bring these technologies together and then get recognition and positive feedback,” Scott said. “That’s really strong affirmation.”

CropNAtion has been a very ambitious project for GROWMARK to create a social media platform that serves as a 21st century “coffee shop” for today’s farmers. “It’s about what they want to talk about, not what someone else is putting in front of them to talk about,” he said.

Scott says they have new projects in the works, such as designing a new website platform for member cooperatives, but just staying on the cutting edge of communications technology keep them busy. “Technology and social media are moving so quickly these days that by the time you begin to evolve something there’s three other things out there,” he said. Tell us about it!

Listen to my interview with Scott here: Scott Bross Interview

Total Grain and Fertilizer on Track

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Cindy

Total Grain Marketing (TGM) handled 70 million bushels of grain at its 31 locations in Illinois last year and this year is likely to be even more.

During the recent GROWMARK media tour, we visited TGM and South Central FS in Casey (that’s pronounced Cay-zee) and learned about that facility in particular which was created when the two entities joined in 2010 as part of the GROWMARK and FS member companies partnership that was started in 2006.

“We have an 8 million bushel elevator, it is on the CSX railroad, we are a 90 car unit train express load shipper, and handle about 16 million bushels of grain a year,” South Central FS CEO Randy Handel said. That express loading process can rival a pit stop in the Indy Car Series. “We have 15 hours from when the train comes to load it, grade it and put the train back together and have it ready for the CSX to take,” he says, noting that they can load 1,000 bushels a minute – or 90 cars in six hours or less.

Randy says the venture between South Central and TGM has been very successful. “It’s been a win-win for our local grain producer in that it has helped enhance their margin, it’s been profitable for us as a company, but we’re a local cooperative so in turn it’s profitable for our owners and members,” he said. Most of the grain goes to the southeast to the poultry market and ADM and Bungee on the bean market.

We also got to visit the brand new GROWMARK-owned fertilizer facility on the same site. “It is a 25,000 ton dry fertilizer blend facility and a 10,000 ton solution facility and this is the first spring we are using it,” Randy said. The fertilizer facility also benefits from being right on the rail line. “It’s a very good location being on the CSX track and it’s good sharing the resources with our grain elevator and it’s a very strategic location.”

Listen to my interview with Randy Handel here: South Central FS CEO Randy Handel

See more photos from the TGM visit here: GROWMARK 2012 Media Day

Fast Stop General Store More than Convenience

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Cindy

If you want to fill up with E85, get your propane tank refilled, grab some food for your llama and new Muck boots for spring field work, satisfy your sweet tooth with bulk candy, pick up some locally produced noodles and Fluffy Burgers for dinner, enjoy some Champ’s chicken for lunch, order a new garage door, and maybe bring your truck around back to the diesel pump – then the Fast Stop General Store in Effingham, Illinois is the place for you.

Operated by South Central FS, the Fast Stop General Store has something for everyone, according to store manager Bryan Dahnke. “We’ve tried to make this a destination for people, because they can get gas anywhere, they can get a candy bar anywhere, you can’t Illinois homegrown products anywhere,” Bryan told me when we stopped by the store on a GROWMARK media tour last week.

It is definitely a destination stop. Over 100 locally produced products line the front wall of the store including jellies, jams, salsa, noodles, and candles, with more in the freezer like the Matoon, Illinois trademarked Fluffy Burgers and other local meats. In the feed section you can get food for every animal from dogs and cats, to hogs and cattle, to rabbits and llamas. Along the back wall is the garage door display. “As part of South Central, we own Altamont Overhead Garage Doors, and that’s a good business for us,” Bryan said. In addition, they have grain handling and diesel truck facilities in the back of the store.

Bryan says the general store concept has worked very well for them. “From year one to year two, we increased about 30-35% in inside sales and about 30% in fuel and this year we’re still running about another 15% on fuel sales and another 35% on inside sales,” he said.

Listen to an interview with Bryan here and watch a video of the store below: Interview with Bryan Dahnke

GROWMARK Legislative Priorities

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Cindy

GROWMARK government affairs director Chuck Spencer shared some of the agricultural cooperative’s top legislative priorities on both the state and national level during the media day tour this week.

Chuck and other GROWMARK representatives participated in the Ag Day event Wednesday at the Illinois state capitol to talk with legislators about some of those priorities. “Obviously everyone in Illinois is very concerned about budget, the cost of operations, consistency of policies, predictability of regulation in our business climate,” Chuck says. “We are seeing agriculture in the very fortunate position of being able to grow in this economy. We want to continue to do so.”

Chuck says a specific priority on the state level is the “Keep it for the Crop” (KIC) by 2025 campaign, a legislative initiative that has passed the Illinois House and is moving through the Senate. “What is important about that is that it’s going to provide additional research dollars for stewardship programs,” in watersheds, nutrient movement, and maximizing efficiency, productivity and profitability.

National priorities include the farm bill, of course, but also issues related to pesticide application permitting (HR872), transportation (limited exemption for hours of service for agriculture) and renewal of the Pesticide Registration and Improvement Act.

Listen to my interview with Chuck Spencer here: GROWMARK's Chuck Spencer

cropNAtion App Now Available

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Chuck

It has been a long time coming. Well, not really. It just seems like it. But the cropNAtion App is now available in the iTunes Store and Android Market. The “virtual coffeeshop” was introduced last fall.

I spoke with Heather Thompson during the GROWMARK Media Tour about the newly available app. She says that cropNAtion is a social network for farmers to share information, photos and more. Work has been going on for the app since the launch last fall. The app does pretty much everything that can be done on the website. It starts out with a map showing where you are and lets you see what others are saying around you or you can move the map to other locations. The app is free btw.

You can listen to my interview with Heather here: cropNAtion App Interview with Heather Thompson

GROWMARK 2012 Media Tour Photo Album

GROWMARK Media Day Tour

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Cindy

It was a beautiful day for a media tour in Illinois on Tuesday. About a dozen journalists joined representatives from GROWMARK to tour some of the unique facilities of South Central FS around Casey and Effingham.

Chuck and I both got to attend the event this year and we’ll be bringing you some of the highlights of our trip, including some interviews with GROWMARK and FS representatives and our visits to the Total Grain Marketing elevator at Casey, the newly-constructed GROWMARK fertilizer facility at Casey, and the FAST STOP General Store in Effingham. Thanks to GROWMARK’s Karen Jones for organizing the tour and being such a great host!

Check out the photos here – GROWMARK 2012 Media Tour