Viafield CEO Kent Appler and Board President Rick Matt, along with other Land O’ Lakes member cooperative general managers
and board presidents,
brought their insight and concerns to Capitol Hill in Washington this April to call for a new farm bill, request support for farmer owned cooperatives and encourage regulatory relief for agriculture.
“This is our third time lobbying in Washington on behalf of Iowa’s farmers, and I am always proud to represent our members when it comes to legislative issues,” says Appler. “I feel confident we accomplished our objectives and raised awareness about three main issues.”
To achieve those objectives, Appler and Matt, in conjunction with the other Iowa delegation, met with all of Iowa’s congressional delegates (both senators and all five representatives). Following is a summary of what was discussed.
Viafield supports continuation of national agricultural policy to achieve two broad objectives. 1). Assure a stable supply of food produced in
the United States at a reasonable cost to consumers. 2). Support family farms as the predominant structure for ownership and control of food production.
To achieve those objectives, Viafield urged the House and Senate Ag committees to develop a new farm bill to replace the Food, Conservation, and Security Act which expires in 2012.
Encouraging Iowa’s Congressmen to support farm cooperatives was also a priority. The Iowa delegation thanked members of Congress who are members of the Farmer Cooperative Caucus and urged support in 2012 of the Farmer Cooperative campaign to raise awareness of the vital role that farmer cooperatives play in American agriculture. Congressmen who were not members were encouraged to join.
America’s farmers, ranchers, cooperatives and other ag businesses face a deluge of new and proposed regulations that will affect the way we do business and add costs to production of food, fiber and fuel. The goal while in Washington was to initiate oversight activities and legislation to restrain unwarranted regulator action by administrative agencies.
The Board of Directors and the Viafield team encourage our members to ask questions and become involved in legislative issues that affect the agricultural community. For more information on this story please contact Kent Appler.
Board of Directors
Kent Appler 563-423-5293CEO [email protected]
Brad Foster 641-420-5685Grain [email protected]
Mike Harden 641-315-2515Agronomy [email protected]
Bill Hayes 563-426-5566Feed [email protected]
Mike Kuboushek 563-380-6156Energy [email protected]
Contacts
www.viafield.com April 2012 Issue 20
ConnectionsEncouraging Political Action on Your Behalf Kent Appler and Rick Matt visit Capitol Hill in Washington
Rick Matt / Pres Clermont
Ron Balek / VP Manly
Steve Fullerton / Sec Rockford
Brad Brownell Westgate
Jerry Jellings Oelwein
Jim Jorgensen Rudd
Dennis Meyer Northwood
Karl Benjegerdes Manly
Rick Rex Marble Rock
Rodney Shaffer Arlington
Mike Staudt Floyd
Jim Trainer Northwood
From Left: Rick Matt and Kent Appler in Wash D.C.
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United Supply and DemandUnited Suppliers and CF Industries invite Mike Harden to Brazil
Crop production costs:
• Crop protection products• Crop nutrients• Seed• Crop insurance• Irrigation• Repairs
Livestock production costs:• Livestock purchases• Breeding stock• Refinancing current ownership of livestock• Labor expenses• Feed and supplements• Veterinary supplies
Other expenses:• Rent• Family living• Hedging• Transportation
Agronomy Team Leader Mike Harden was invited this winter by United Suppliers and CF Industries to tour Brazil’s fertilizer facilities (picture one) and observe the logistics of the Brazil crop as it was harvested. The aim of the trip was to gain a better understanding of the global demand for fertilizer as well as gain insight on a major bean competitor in the world market.
What Mike found was that the average farm in Brazil is 460,000 acres, the corn yields are about half of what they are in Iowa. Mike learned more about Brazilians two bean seasons and how they rotate corn with sugar cane and cotton (Picture two). It takes Brazilians about three days to travel to the port warehouse and about two days to return to the farm (picture three).
“With facilities like our dry and liquid fertilizer it’s important that we understand the global marketplace for fertilizer to ensure Viafield and our members have the best supplies possible,” says Harden. Raw ingredients are imported into the United States from all over the world, and Brazil is a major competitor for those supplies.
The chart below shows Brazil’s exports for the last two years. One metric ton equals 2,204.62 pounds.
From Left: Mike Harden, Bert Frost (Vice President CF Industries) and Matt Carstens (CEO of Fertlizer Division United Suppliers) tour the Port of Santos in Brazil
1) 2) 3)
International Students Learning While WorkingViafield welcomes ag students from the Ukraine to Iowa and Minnesota
This year Viafield has expanded its internship program and partnered with PAR (Professional Ag Resourcing) to include students not only from the Midwest, but from overseas as well. Six students from the Ukraine will
participate in our internship program as members of your cooperative’s team. “We are excited for the opportunity to share our knowledge in agriculture with students from a different background,” say Chief Executive Officer Kent Appler. “It is my hope that this strategy will create a diverse and successful workplace for our organization.”
About Professional Ag ResourcingViafield has partnered with PAR (Professional Ag Resourcing) to bring additional resources through an international internship program to our organization. This program was started many years ago with a soil sampling company that found the program extremely successful. Because of the positive experience they were able to open up the resources to co-ops. Based on their success, Viafield is trying this out for the first time. PAR interviews and screens the candidates, provides the J-1 Visa, CDL training, housing, transportation and other support. Viafield offers them employment and presents an opportunity for them to learn North American agriculture and gain experience they can take back to their country.
Our Interns will have a Class A CDL with a tanker endorsement and a chemical handlers license, but will not be able to run an applicator or pull anhydrous. Our international interns come from a plethora of backgrounds within agriculture. These students, ranging from 23 to 29 years of age, will use this internship as a resumé builder once they have completed their schooling. For Viafield this opportunity provides extra resources and presents an opportunity to learn about agriculture in Europe.
“Today agriculture is truly part of the world economy, and it’s great to have an opportunity to learn first-hand how other cultures practice agriculture. Plus, it’s great to have friends like our interns who may help open up other business avenues for Viafield,” says Kent Appler. Viafield’s international internship program began in mid March and will continue until November of this year.”
From left: Riley Pangburn and International Intern Oleksandr Sharyi fill anhydrous at Northwood
International interns from left: Vadym Kovalenko, Andriy Lyubychenko, Maksym (Max) Maga, Iaroslav Dzysiuk, Oleksandr (Sasha) Sharyi and Stanislav Kerdan
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At the heart of the Selective Hedge program is a data management system that tracks a producer’s actual and implied production values, as well as accounting for other risk management structures. This information is then transformed into an equity snapshot called the Revenue Chart that incorporates several different financial and production benchmarks. This allows a producer to make more rational business decisions with confidence, no matter what the market action is. To set up a free trial contact Grain Business Team Leader Brad Foster at 641.420.5685 today!
PO Box 38Marble Rock, Ia 50653
www.viafield.com
ConnectionsApril 2012 Issue
In this Issue
• Lobbying in Washington
• United Supply and Demand
• Viafield International Interns
• Producer Financing Information
• Selective Hedging Risk Tool
Look inside for more information! Details
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