Brownfield» Special Reports

Wells Fargo strives to keep customers connected

Cyndi Young — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:26:04 +0000

The first session scheduled for Tuesday morning, June 26 at the IDEAg Interconnectivity Conference in Altoona, Iowa will focus on agronomy. One of the panelists is Steve Agan, Business Banking Manager with Wells Fargo. Agan tells Brownfield that the IDEAg Interconnectivity Conference fits in with the strategic initiative of his company. That strategy is to keep customers and prospective customers connected to the market and to the critical financial data that helps them(the customers and prospects) become more efficient and more successful.

Wells Fargo is a sponsor of the IDEAg Interconnectivity Conference. When registering for the event, be sure to use the Brownfield listener discount code (BFDL) and save $100 off the retail price of $350 registration fee. With your Brownfield discount, the cost is just $250!

Listen to a conversation with Steve Agan, Wells Fargo

Indirect exports important to soybean growers

Tom Steever — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:28:20 +0000

International marketing of soybeans is very important, but of equal importance is the indirect export of soybeans through the export of meat and livestock. Nebraska corn and soybean grower Mark Jagels is also vice chairman of the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). He’s quick to point out that livestock is the number one customer of corn and soybean growers, so overseas demand for meat equates to domestic demand for feed. Jagels cites a study commissioned by the USMEF indicating a return of $7 for every $1 invested in checkoff funds used to promote international demand for U.S. meat and livestock.

AUDIO: Mark Jagels (3 min. MP3)

Export promotions benefit livestock and feed producers

Tom Steever — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:31:57 +0000

A significant amount of U.S. soybeans and corn are indirectly marketed internationally through high protein rations fed to livestock and poultry. The meat is exported to other countries.

“It’s a way for us to add value to a product that we grow, whether that would be on the corn and soybean side or adding value through meat exports,” said Mark Jagels, a corn and soybean grower in Nebraska who is also vice chairman of the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Jagels goal, like other farmers who raise corn and soybeans, is to get the best yield he can.

“We have to find a home for what we’re doing,” said Jagels. “We’re producing more domestically; we probably aren’t using any more inside the United States, but exporting the soybean product or adding value to the pork side, to the poultry side, to the beef side.”

There’s a profitable relationship between soybean and corn growers and livestock producers, according to Jagels, who cites a study by Cornell University indicating that return on the checkoff export promotion investment is seven to one. On a beef animal, which Jagels raises, he says exports add $200 per head.

“Without that extra $200 that we’re getting just because we’re exporting the product, that is actually making us profitable,” said Jagels, “We’re making money instead of losing money.”

Jagels says those promotions, resulting in record 2011 pork and beef exports, benefited both livestock and grain producers.

AUDIO: Mark Jagels (3 min. MP3)

Nebraska corn grower wants flex fuel drivers educated

Tom Steever — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:42:12 +0000

Demand for ethanol will grow a bunch once more vehicles are approved to burn 15 percent ethanol versus the current widely used 10 percent blend. But Mark Jagels, one of the directors of the Nebraska Corn Growers Association, believes a lot of ethanol demand is being left on the table because of the number of people who don’t realize they’re driving a vehicle capable of using the much higher blend of 85 percent ethanol to 15 percent gasoline. The infrastructure to handle the lower priced E-85 is becoming more common and Jagels says there are “a phenomenal number of flex fuel vehicles” on the road that can fill up with it. He maintains that educating drivers of these vehicles is essential to using more E-85.

AUDIO: Mark Jagels (2 min. MP3)

State commodity leader seeks time to enjoy Classic

Tom Steever — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:39:19 +0000

Geoff Ruth has leadership in his blood. The Nebraska Soybean Association president is the son of Bart Ruth, a former president of the American Soybean Association. The younger Ruth had just emerged from a Commodity Classic caucus meeting and would soon be due at another. He was concerned that the large trade show and various other trappings of the large convention, “the fun part of the Commodity Classic,” might get only a fleeting glimpse before it was time to head back to his family’s farm. And although he appears rather young to be leading his state’s soybean association, he’s fully immersed in the formation of American Soybean Association policy. For instance, Geoff makes it clear that he’s all for the construction of energy transportation pipelines across the country as long as they’re sustainable environmentally.

AUDIO: Geoff Ruth (4 min. MP3)