Tomorrow's Top Producer

Relationships Reap Benefits

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:30:59 GMT

Showing interest in others can pay off in big ways.

You can own the world if you can be interested in other people, says Bret Oelke of the University of Minnesota in quoting Jay Abraham Jan. 29 at Tomorrow’s Top Producer conference in Chicago, Ill.

“You need to be able to listen and be sincerely interested in other people,” says Oelke, an Extension agricultural business management expert. “Every one of you can afford to take the time to be interested in and make other people feel valued and important.”

Oelke explains that success is powered by three things: know-how, reputation and a network of contacts. “The formula for success is human capital or what you know times social capital or who you know times reputation or who trusts you,” he says.

Oelke encourages farmers, young and old, to ask:

• What do my customers desire?
• What can I provide?
• How do I establish relationships?
• How do I improve relationships?
• How do I maintain relationships?

“Your employees are your customers,” he adds. “What’s important to them? Is time off more important than a bonus or vice versa. Employees want to be valued and respected as an important part of the business.”

If you are a junior partner in the operation, Oelke says to ask yourself what your supervisors want. “They typically want a job completed, completed now and the way they would have done it with minimal oversight,” he says. “You need to find a way to get your ideas heard up the chain.”

Most farmers don’t think of their partners and family members as customers, but they are, Oelke reminds. “What do they want?” he asks. “They want your time and these are your most important customers.”

When dealing with external customers, Oelke encourages farmers to keep in mind how they are paid. “Grain buyers are not in business to get the most out of your production,” he says. “They are in the business to maximize their own profitability Your task is to find out how you can help them achieve your goals while achieving your own.”

When looking at your customers, Oelke recommends you understand what they need from you, be responsive to their needs, find ways to lower transaction costs and do not waste their time.

See full coverage of the 2013 Tomorrow’s Top Producer event .

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Thank you to the 2013 Tomorrow’s Top Producer sponsors:

Agrotain, Farm Credit, SFP

Calling All Young Farmers: Join Us in Chicago!

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:30:28 GMT

Conference prepares the next generation to take the reins

Young producers comprise a growing and vital component of the farm industry. To help prepare this group of leaders for the road ahead, Top Producer will host its annual Tomorrow’s Top Producer conference Jan. 28 at the Hilton Chicago in downtown Chicago.

“As the senior partners in the farm prepare to exit or step down, the next generation needs to be prepared to take the reins from a marketing, business and financial standpoint,” says Jeanne Bernick, Top Producer editor and conference co-host.

Learn to Lead. Geared toward farmers age 35 and younger, the conference is held the day before the Top Producer Seminar. Participants will learn from experts in the industry and have the opportunity to network with like-minded farmers from across the U.S. Participants will also hear from former Top Producer of the Year finalists and winners.

Topics to be discussed include marketing, landlord relationships, business management and work-life balance. Speakers will share advice on how to improve your operation’s finances, tips on buying machinery and how to better position your business in a volatile environment.

In addition to top-notch speakers and breakout sessions, the third winner of Tomorrow’s Top Producer Horizon Award will be announced.

Attendees will have the opportunity to visit the Chicago Board of Trade. This year, there are two tour options: market closing on Monday, Jan. 27, and market opening Wednesday, Jan. 29. During the tour, participants will be able to meet agricultural traders and marketing experts.

Plan to join us; registration is open and costs $169. Attendees will also receive a discount to attend the Top Producer Seminar. Conference sponsors include Bayer CropScience, Case IH, John Deere, Koch Agronomic Services and SFP.

Agenda Highlights:

How to Improve Your Operation One Financial Marker at a Time

Moe Russell, Russell Consulting

Learn How to Play the Grain Marketing Game

Bill Biedermann, Allendale Inc.

Good Business Tips for Buying Used Machinery

Greg Peterson, Machinery Pete

Strategic Positioning for a Volatile Ag Environment

Mike Boehlje, Purdue University

How to Trade Around USDA Reports

Tommy Grisafi, Trade the Farm

For more information about the conference, a complete agenda and to register, visit www.TopProducerSeminar.com .

Red Bayou Bounty

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:57:24 GMT

Matching irrigation and fertilizer to the ecosystem creates sustainable profits.

The Red River slowly and smoothly snakes its way around the edges of Ryan Kirby’s farm. Named for the red sandstone that lines its watershed, the 1,400-mile river nourishes the fragile ecosystem and alluvial soils of northwest Louisiana. Yet much like a serpent, it has a nasty side. Flooding, erosion, irrigation battles and concerns about farm inputs flowing into the Gulf of Mexico has some farmers cursing Ol’ Red.

Not Kirby. Shortly after college, he followed the river to where his great-grandfather planted cotton in the 1940s. Kicking the red dirt, Kirby looked out over miles of drainage ditches and set his mind to find more sustainable production systems to preserve his family farm.

“Every farmer should work with the local environment, not against it,” says Kirby, who with his father owns UNI Plantation, a 2,500-acre farm producing corn, cotton, soybeans and wheat near Belcher, La.

He believes irrigation is the best form of crop insurance in the South. When he returned to farm in 2004, only 100 acres were under irrigation, and the crops—along with profits—were drying up. Kirby has expanded irrigation to cover 1,700 acres, drilling 30 wells that draw water from earth fed by the Red River.

A degree in petroleum engineering and time in the oil and gas industry gave Kirby his foundation in sustainability. While some might argue the oil industry is the last in line when it comes to sustainability, Kirby says his experience in the industry gives him perspective on the environment. Since returning home, he has improved water management, initiated precision agriculture practices and reduced runoff.

His efforts have made UNI Plantation more sustainable, both environmentally and financially, increasing profits by 30% in the last five years. It’s why Kirby was named the 2011 winner of the Tomorrow’s Top Producer Sustainability Award, a contest for farmers 35 and under that is sponsored by Bayer CropScience. Kirby was awarded a Toughbook computer and a trip to Farm Journal Corn College.

Irrigating for Profits. While much of the nation suffered from too much water this past spring, northern Louisiana farmers have been dealing with years of drought. The local farming community raises 20% of the state’s cotton crop, yet Louisiana lags behind other states in irrigation use and efficiency, according to Louisiana State University. This is in part due to concerns about groundwater quality and higher pumping costs.

Now that cotton and other commodity prices have climbed higher, the numbers line up in favor of irrigation, Kirby says. “Soybeans on poorer soils have seen the biggest yield boosts with irrigation,” he adds. Overall, on irrigated acres Kirby has gained an average yield bump of 40 bu. more for corn, 30 bu. for soybeans and 300 lb. for cotton.

Kirby started investing in poly-pipe irrigation as soon as he came back to the farm. This form of irrigation does a better job than center pivots of thoroughly saturating the soil profile, but it is more labor-intensive; Kirby must lay the poly pipe every year and swap the settings on a 12- to 24-hour rotation. Much of his land is broken into small fields that had already been precision-leveled for drainage, so poly pipe was a better option than center pivots.

Mindful of the area’s delicate water situation, Kirby uses variable hole sizes in his poly pipe to account for changing elevation and row lengths. This can save up to 25% on water, electricity and diesel costs.

“Irrigation expansion has more than paid off with today’s high grain prices,” Kirby says.

Tuning into precision agriculture initially saved fertilizer costs, but now Ryan Kirby is finding out it also helps with long-term planning and boosts yield. PHOTO: Neil Johnson

Precision Savings Run Deep. Kirby says the implementation of a full-scale precision agriculture program has returned threefold profits and environmental benefits.

He runs a Veris EC machine to map soil texture and establish management zones based on soil types, and gathers fertilizer recommendations for every management zone. Fertilizer is applied accordingly using variable-rate technology. This spring, Kirby added variable-rate planting to his practices. Yield maps serve as a report card.

Last year, Kirby was able to cut back potash applications to 85 lb. per acre across the farm, compared with a previous average of 125 lb. per acre. This saved him about 50 tons of potash, or $25,000.

He’s also been able to trim nitrogen rates on dryland portions of irrigated fields and maintain higher nitrogen rates in watered areas, saving about 14 tons of 32% UAN fertilizer, valued at $5,000.

The bonus is that Kirby’s yields are among the highest in his area. “I have witnessed some of my weakest fields, with both very heavy clay and light sand, achieve yields I would never have dreamed of,” Kirby says.

Sustainability may be just a buzzword for some, but Kirby knows it is a measurable concept. The engineer in him loves to crunch the data derived from the yield monitor when testing different farming practices, such as fertility rates and seed treatments.

This year he is testing something new in his area: he is applying 400 lb. of elemental sulfur in replicated strips across one of his higher-pH fields in an effort to reduce pH. This multiyear experiment could identify a new way to boost yields in Kirby’s environment.

“Ryan is a prime example of a farmer-innovator,” says John Knox Jr., branch manager for Helena Chemical Company in Gilliam, La. “Since his return to the farm, he’s used precision agriculture to distinguish productive fields from less productive fields and reduce inputs per unit of production. He has significantly reduced the water runoff and pollutants contaminating the local watershed.”

At the end of the day, Kirby doesn’t want to be known as a “do-gooder.” He just wants to raise his family and farm profitably in an area of the country that has seen its share of environmental stress.

Mother Nature Forces Cropping Switch

Ryan Kirby understands the devastation that farmers across the nation have felt this summer from flooding, drought and tornado damage. After farming in Louisiana for six years, Kirby has lived through his share of natural disasters.

Hurricane Rita destroyed roughly 500 bales of cotton on 1,500 acres in 2005. Three years later, Hurricane Ike struck and destroyed 750 bales of cotton. About that time, grain prices began to show some strength and Kirby switched more of his acreage over to grains to decrease his exposure to the inherent risks of cotton. It was a good decision in more ways than just profit opportunities; at least 30" of rain fell during the 2009 cotton harvest, costing his farming operation roughly $150,000 on only 450 acres of cotton.

“Had I planted more acres to cotton in 2009, I may not be farming today,” Kirby says. “I don’t intend to completely leave cotton, but I have had to drastically change my acreage mix to survive.”

He intends to stick with his current acreage mix even though cotton prices have surged the past year.

“Grains still show as much profitability as cotton, but my experience tells me they are less risky,” Kirby adds.

Business Skills for Young Farmers

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:57:03 GMT

The 2011 Tomorrow’s Top Producer program focused on business education to help farmers age 35 and under grow their businesses, manage employees and hone their marketing skills.

“I came for the education, but mostly I like talking to other top farmers and hearing their stories,” says Benjie Stranz of Westfield, Ill.

Stranz was among the 200 attendees who gathered in Chicago in late January on the eve of the Top Producer Seminar to network with young producers and learn from other farmers, market analysts and experts from across the nation.

Read the following highlights from the event and mark your calendar now for the Top Producer Summer Seminar, which will also include a Tomorrow’s Top Producer track. The event will be held June 7 and 8 at the Isle of Capri Conference Center in Bettendorf, Iowa.

Manage Like a CEO

Who is the boss on your farm? Does that person only “boss” others or does he or she manage them?

Dick Wittman of Wittman Consulting says the key to creating strong leadership for a farm or ranch is to clearly define goals, values, mission and vision for the operation.

“Not having a plan can be one of the most devastating things for most families,” Wittman explains.

Once everyone knows the direction the farm is headed, the right people can be empowered to work together as a team to lead the operation.

Wittman says that an ideal manager:

is a facilitator, not a boss;
empowers people and doesn’t micromanage;
focuses on people, resources, information and technology;
thinks strategically;
promotes teamwork, positive thinking and professionalism; and
is willing to be held accountable.

“Above all, you need to avoid bossing,” he advises.

Work On Your Business, Not Just In It

Farmers are known for their work ethic and tireless labor. But your farm will often benefit more from time spent working on your business, not just in it, says Darren Frye, president and CEO of Water Street Solutions.

Frye challenges young producers to recognize when they are playing the role of entrepreneur, manager or technician on the farm. He says technician jobs, such as planting, livestock chores and marketing, can be hired out, but a business owner must focus on building and communicating a business plan and vision for the future.

“If you want the farm to grow and advance, you have to move into a role on the farm that leads the business forward,” Frye explains.

Become the Go-To Farmer

You might be the best farmer to do business with in your area, but do other people know that?

Bret Oelke, an educator with University of Minnesota Extension, says that how you position yourself as a farmer will determine your success with buyers and suppliers.

“As a progressive ag business, you need a mission statement,” Oelke explains. “You need to have personal and professional missions, visions and goals.”

Oelke says you need to craft a positioning statement for your operation. The statement is a precursor to branding that will allow you to emphasize how you will interact with the businesses with which you will negotiate.

Ask yourself:

What do we do best?
Who is our target customer?
What needs do we fulfill for our customers?
Who is our competition?
What makes us different from our competitors?

“You need to know what sets you apart from your competitors,” Oelke says. “Your competition is anyone that farms around you.”

Once you create a positioning statement for your operation, Oelke says, you should commit it to memory. Be ready to recite it when you are negotiating input costs, lending rates and rental
agreements.

Louisiana Farmer Wins Sustainability Award

Today’s young producers must balance the financial, environmental and societal impacts of agriculture. In recognition of this responsibility, Ryan Kirby, a 3,500-acre farmer from Belcher, La., was named the winner of the 2011 Tomorrow’s Top Producer Sustainability Award, presented by Top Producer and sponsored by Bayer CropScience, at the Tomorrow’s Top Producer meeting on Jan. 25 in Chicago.

Kirby says his goal is to provide a stable farm income for his family while benefiting the environment. At 33, he shows a passion for agriculture and for growing cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat sustainably by using water-conserving irrigation systems, precision application of fertilizer and inputs and diversified crop rotations.

“Bayer CropScience and Top Producer recognize that the younger generation of growers will need to demonstrate sustainability to their buyers and the end consumer more than ever before,” says Nick Hamon, vice president and head of sustainability for Bayer CropScience. “We want to reward those producers who show sustainable practices in their farming operations today and who plan to grow sustainably in the future.”

In his application, Kirby defined sustainability in agriculture as “the ability of agriculture to feed the entire world population without sacrificing the long-term viability or health of anything that
agriculture affects, from the farmer to the consumer and the environment.”

Kirby received a Toughbook laptop computer and a scholarship to attend Farm Journal’s Corn College educational seminar this summer.

Build Flexibility into Marketing

The best thing young producers can do to enhance their marketing is to build flexibility into their marketing plan, says Chip Flory, editor of Pro Farmer. “Farmers do this by understanding futures and options,” he says. “Once you learn how to use futures and options, it gives you all kinds of flexibility in your planning and decision making.”

For example, if you make a bad decision and hedge corn at $5 and it goes to $5.60, using futures and options can get you out of that hedge, Flory says.

The other important thing to know in marketing is your local basis and how it can change. “When marketing your grain, you have to know your basis and how it compares to the three-year average,” Flory adds.

With this information, you can pick the right tool from your marketing toolbox.

Thank You to Our Tomorrow’s Top Producer 2011 Sponsors

Agrotain, Bayer CropScience, Cargill and Pioneer Hi-Bred

Tomorrow's Top Producer Sustainability Award

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:56:52 GMT

Are you a young producer who demonstrates excellence in business and environmental sustainability? Then apply today to win the Tomorrow’s Top Producer Sustainability Award.

Entrants are judged on entrepreneurial initative and new approaches to farming (50%), environmental and other on-farm sustainability efforts (30%) and economic stability and sustainability (20%). Any farmer or rancher age 35 and under who receives at least half of his or her income from farming and farm-related ventures may apply.

To apply, complete the entry form (below) and send a letter of reference from an accountant, banker, input dealer/representative or agribusiness leader.

First Place wins a new laptop computer and expense paid trips to the 2011 Tomorrow’s Top Producer Seminar in Chicago, Jan. 25, 2011 and Farm Journal Corn College during the summer of 2011.

Winners agree to be recognized in articles published in Top Producer magazine and online. Any financial information remains confidential unless entrants agree to its release.

Deadline: Jan. 3, 2011

Download the application form.

The award is sponsored by:

Learn about the 2011 Top Producer Seminar.

Making the Next Management Step

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:57 GMT

Farmers looking to grow their acreage are not uncommon. Those who are willing to do what it takes to get there, however, is another matter altogether, says Allen Lash, CEO of Family Farms LLC.

Lash, who presented at this week’s Top Producer Seminar on Thursday morning, says there are four basic principles farmers should embrace if they want to break through a management level that allows their farms to grow. For a typical Midwest corn and soybean operation, that is at an acreage level of 10,000 acres.

The four factors are:
· Organization Success
· Entity Structure Issues
· Capital Access
· Control Systems

Organization Structure. Developing a management attitude is often the most difficult task for many farmers to embrace. Why? Most farmers are used to doing the tasks of farming and not managing the people who do these tasks.

“This is not unique to agriculture,” Lash says. “It’s any business. And it’s not about managing the task doers, it’s about managing the people who manage the task doers.”

Those who don’t want to move to that level are often faced with hitting what Lash calls a glass ceiling on farm size. Delegating tasks to employees makes it possible for farmers to develop a sound entity structure.

Entity Structure Issues. Businesses need to consolidate their entities and coordinate activities across their entities.

Capital Access. As farms grow larger, financial partners must be evaluated and come to the realization that the same financial partners may not fit the needs of larger operations. At the same time, the information farms provide to these financial partners may not be adequate anymore. With higher financial requirements, the more information your financial health will be required.

Control Systems. This is a major concern for many farmers who grow to the point where they aren’t the task doers. By giving up the day-to-day work, they are losing control of the factors that drove them to their original success.

“You maintain the control by setting expectations and making sure there is follow up. People will do what you inspect, not what you expect.”