The last few weeks of November saw great promise on Farm Bill passage fade into familiar skepticism, as issues related to both policy and politics continued to impede progress of the conference committee. House Republican leadership had set a deadline of Dec. 13 for Farm Bill conferees to bring a conference- negotiated bill to the House floor, a deadline that seemed all but out of reach when conference committee leaders halted their negotiations before the Thanksgiving break without...
What kid hasn’t played “King of the Hill” at some point — battling to the top, and then having to defend their hard-won turf? U.S. grain exporters have faced that same battle in recent years even as global consumption, production and imports around the world have climbed sharply. Let’s face it: The U.S. has lost our position at the top of the hill in most exports. Chart 1 shows that exports of corn, soybeans and wheat have been nearly flat overall for 20 years, while foreign exports have...
Today’s business environment is more competitive than ever. As a successful manager in the feed and grain industry, you are actively responding to the many demands of this ever challenging business environment, which likely includes a multifaceted marketing program. It is easy to become focused on all of the immediate decisions that need to be made (such as approving the latest update to your website; finalizing the price quote that is due within the hour, etc.). In this column we invite...
The rise of the Internet has created a new business atmosphere, one where businesses are playing a constant game of catch-up, with consumer trends changing as soon as industries grow comfortable with them. In response to this rapidly changing pace, the feed and grain industry is starting to implement newer, more efficient technology. In the last decade, facility automation has gone from cutting edge to the norm, tablets and smartphones have begun their integration into facility...
The International Production & Processing Expo is the most anticipated event of the year for the feed, poultry and meat industries. Consisting of three expos in one — International Poultry Expo, International Feed Expo and International Meat Expo — it is the ultimate destination for anyone involved in animal agriculture from production through processing.
There is truly something for everybody at the IPPE, ranging from hour-long educational sessions to off-site networking opportunities...
With more than 60% of exported U.S. grain transported via inland waterways and a large percent of farm and ranch exports and imports moving through U.S. harbors, new projects for flood protection, port improvements and upgrades to the nation’s aging locks and dams are critical for all involved in agriculture, and the nation’s economy as a whole.
The Evansville expansion included a 730,000-bushel storage bin. Photo by Elise Schafer
Customer satisfaction is the core of Cottage Grove, WI-based Landmark Services Cooperative’s business plan. So, when the 15,000 member strong co-op’s board of directors conducted a study in 2012 to measure satisfaction with its Evansville, WI, shuttle loading facility, it knew something had to be done to improve the results.
The Evansville location serves producers across an expansive territory throughout southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois and has taken in a little more than 200...
Dry bulk packaging is a simple yet sensitive balancing act. Maximum efficiency and productivity are at the center of a triangle with product, bag and machine at the vertices. This delicate balance is called The Bagging Triangle. It describes the relationships between the three corners and how the right combination can positively impact an operation’s bottom line. It’s a simple concept; a shift or change in one corner — the product, bag or machine — necessitates a change in one or...
An innovative brewery in Alaska has installed a sonic horn to help improve ash flow and prevent clogging in the exhaust stream of an ingenious hybrid boiler system that uses spent grain from the brewing process as fuel. Ash accumulation issues had been forcing the company to shut down its equipment to cool and manually clean the swirlers and collectors of its ash handler on a weekly basis. The process required an outage of 3-4 days, including as much as twelve hours of maintenance time...
Even with last year's drought-stricken crop, the 2013 harvest is still well behind 2012. But this came to no one's surprise, as it was almost doomed from the beginning by Mother Nature. First, she ushered in Spring 2013 with cooler than average temperatures across the entire country and healthy doses of rain in the Corn Belt, pushing planting back dangerously late in over-soaked areas.
After more than five years of deliberation, including an extended period for comments from stakeholders, the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) final amended regulations take effect Friday, September 20, 2013.The USDA initially provided notice of proposed rulemaking related to the weighing of livestock and feed on February 11, 2008. The extended comment period for the proposed rules ended on May 21, 2008 after 33 comments...
Frank Sinatra crooned that love is lovelier the second time around. But any repeat of the Drought of 2012 was less than welcome this year and it continues to impact grain flows and basis even as combines roll on the 2013 crop. The good news is all signs indicate elevators will end up with around 3 billion more bushels this season: Beginning US carryover stocks of are lower this year but total production is forecast to be around 3.4 billion bushels higher. (Corn, soybeans, sorghum, wheat,...
As the ubiquity of facility automation spreads throughout the feed and grain industry, users are beginning to look for benefits beyond simply running their equipment electronically. Removing facility operations from manual control is still an undeniable advantage to automation systems, but there is also value in their often overlooked secondary function: nearly constant data collection.
“Data collection is showing to be of increased importance to today’s feed and grain facilities,” remarks...
August 2013
| Online Exclusive
|
By Bob Young, American Farm Bureau Federation Chief Economist & Deputy Executive Director, Public Policy
After more than a few fairly good years for crop producers, 2014 is shaping up as a year where farmers are going to need to spend a little more time sharpening their pencils, a little more time sharing a cup of coffee with those that help them market their crops and maybe not looking at as much new paint as they did in 2012 or 2013. While we are still likely to see one of the most productive years ever for the sector and cash receipts will be much higher than what we observed throughout...
As you drive west on U.S. highway 2 in Northeastern Montana, you’ll begin to make out an enormous grain elevator on the horizon, amongst the oil wells that dot the Bakken oil field landscape. Impressive by all accounts, this high-capacity, state-of-the-art, highly automated loop track facility in Culbertson, MT, is strategically the only shuttle train facility within a 40-mile radius.
But despite its isolation, it is hardly one-of-a-kind. In fact, it is only one of a set of nearly...
