Agriculture &
Progress Industry SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019 • ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE
Bethany Tennis and her family have raised goats for about 17 years — since Tennis’ older sister started with one goat in 4-H. The family farm now has around 25 goats, most of whom were pregnant mid-January. COLLEEN HARRISON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE
Family tradition of livestock, life
SKILLS
PASSED H DOWN
In addition to Saanen goats — a breed of dairy goat most famously known for being all white in color, according to Tennis — the Tennis family also raises cattle and chickens.
Hayward resident has learned responsibility, leadership skills through 4-H involvement with her goats By Colleen Harrison
colleen.harrison@albertleatribune.com
AYWARD — It’s a frigid and chickens. January day in southNo matter the weather or time of ern Minnesota. Free- year, the goats need to be fed properborn County has just ly and live in a place where they can had 10 inches of snow get shelter from outdoor elements. dumped on the area, and the wind They need to be kept in a clean enis howling, making vironment, have their deep snow drifts in hooves trimmed and the most inconvenient be de-wormed. And areas. when they’re getting Still, life goes on. ready to give birth Bethany Tennis — or kid, Tennis said goes out to tend to her — they need to be family’s goats — they watched over carehave about 25, most of fully, especially if whom are pregnant they’re giving birth and ready to give — Bethany Tennis in the middle of a cold birth any day now. Minnesota winter. Tennis has shown goats for years The goats don’t seem like too much through 4-H, something that has of a chore to Tennis, though. become almost a family tradition. “I like spending time and forming “I think of it kind of being passed a bond with the animals,” she said. on to me when my sister finished “Eventually, if you spend enough 4-H,” she said. time with them, they can become The livestock is a family effort, like dogs.” and the farm is also home to cattle See more photos on Page 7.
“I like spending time and forming a bond with the animals.”
WHAT’S INSIDE?
‘You find your niche’ FFA teacher has been teaching ag at United South Central for 28 years. Page 2
Farming through the years
Settling in to Albert Lea
If you build it, they will come
Local family looks back on 50 years of farming changes. Page 3
ALEDA’s new executive director comes to Minnesota from California. Page 4
Ellendale business installs stadium seating throughout the Midwest. Page 5
PAGE 2 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PROGRESS 2019 | INDUSTRY & AGRICULTURE | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019
‘YOU FIND YOUR NICHE’
FFA TEACHER’S LOVE OF AGRICULTURE RESONATES IN HIS STUDENTS’ SUCCESS By Sarah Kocher
sarah.kocher@albertleatribune.com
WELLS — For 28 years, one United South Central teacher has been helping students think farm to classroom table. The United South Central Future Farmers of America program has 108 students in it this year, Dan Dylla said. “He’s grown an empire,” said Matthew Warnka, former Dylla FFA student and now parent to a freshman in the United South Central FFA (as well as two FFA students in the AldenConger district). Those students spend time learning and competing in all things ag, from dairy and dairy products, general livestock, horses, poultry, farm management, floriculture, nursery landscape, soil analysis and many things in between. Though he does have help in some areas, thanks to the buildup of 28 years of experience doing FFA for United South Central, a lot of the knowledge for educating students in these subjects comes straight from the horse’s mouth (that would be Dylla). “If you’re going to keep 80 or 100 kids active, you’ve got to find something for them they’re going to want to do,” he said. “So that’s why we have all these different things.” While eighth-graders are required to take an exploratory agriculture course with Dylla, he attributes the size of the FFA not to that requirement, but instead its retention. Dylla said ninthgraders come into FFA with a greater understanding of what it is, and fewer drop out of the program. But for Dylla, before ag, there was sales. Dylla studied agricultural education at Iowa State University. There, he met his wife, Janet — also a teacher at that time. There was a teaching job for her in Des Moines, Iowa. There wasn’t
By the numbers
140
Number of students from United South Central named American Degree finalists during Dylla’s time as FFA teacher
2018 Year Colin Wegner was an FFA Star in Agricultural Placement winner
28 Years Dylla has taught FFA at United South Central for him. He became a car salesman and an electronics salesman before he quit. “I couldn’t take the boring down time,” he said. He was back in town to help with the harvest, his wife still in Des Moines, when he heard there was an FFA opening — for a part-time role. He told the superintendent the position needed to be full-time or nothing, then started as the full-time FFA teacher and adviser in January 1991. The couple lived apart for nine months after Dylla took the job before his wife was able to move up. “I always like to joke I saved her from Iowa,” Dylla said. But before sales, there was ag. Dylla grew up on his own family’s farm 5 miles outside of Wells, where they grew corn and soybeans and raised cattle and hogs. “I’m a farm kid,” he said. But his real passions with the program are for floriculture and nursery landscape. “I got that from my mother,” he said. “I love flowers.” She loved gardening, and his father was picky
Dan Dylla, who leads the United South Central FFA chapter, has a special passion for floriculture and nursery landscape thanks to his mother, who cultivated his love for flowers. He spends hours tending to plants in the United South Central greenhouse. SARAH KOCHER/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE about the yard, he said. Now, he loves flowers. He loves being in the school’s greenhouse, taking care of the plants. He doesn’t have a particular favorite. “I have geraniums that are older than my son,” Dylla said. Thanks to his background in sales, Dylla said he comes to the position with a different outlook. He’s resultdriven, and goal-oriented. Students want to learn, he said. Sometimes, they just need a little push. “I come from a different perspective,” he said. “I’m not a hand-holder.” He attributes his program’s successes to this mentality, and by asking students to expect more of themselves. “I think if you set your goals and your expectations up here, you’ll try to
get there,” Dylla said. He thinks of himself as an opportunity-provider. “I tell kids openly I think they’re capable of doing way more than they think they are,” he said. Kelsey Warnka said she and her husband saw through their daughter, Erin, how Dylla operates as an opportunity-provider when she came home and announced she would do whatever project she wanted in FFA. She had enjoyed Dylla as a teacher during eighth grade, so she joined FFA. “‘Mr. Dylla says if I want to do it, he’ll look it up and I can do it,’” Kelsey Warnka said her daughter told them. Kelsey Warnka said being in the FFA has been a good fit for Erin Warnka, who lives with autism. “It keeps her attention and keeps her moving forward,”
Kelsey Warnka said.
Seeing success
More Wells students are moving forward, too, in big ways. The American Degree is one of the organization’s highest honors and, according to the FFA, is awarded to less than 1 percent of FFA members. Since Dylla has taught at United South Central, 140 students have earned their American FFA Degree. Having so many at United South Central, former student Colin Wegner said, is evidence of “Dan sticking with all the kids. … Not many chapters can say they consistently have as many kids come through the American Degree ceremony in the state of Minnesota as our chapter.” Four of those students
have been American Degree Star Finalists, recognized for having gone above and beyond in their work. Winners are considered the top in the nation. United South Central has four star finalists in its history, all earning the honor within the last 10 years. Last year, Wegner became the school’s first to win, taking home the 2018 Star in Agricultural Placement. Wegner started with United South Central FFA in 2011, in ninth grade. Dylla kept on the students about daily activities and records-keeping. He had a plan, Wegner said. “He really saw the timeline further down the road, more so than the students did,” Wegner said. “... As I got older, I could kind of
See FFA, Page 8
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019 | INDUSTRY & AGRICULTURE | PROGRESS 2019 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PAGE 3
Local farming family looks back on 50 years of farming changes By Sarah Kocher
sarah.kocher@albertleatribune.com
A lot changes in 50 years, but for local farmers living just west of the Freeborn-Mower border north of Myrtle and south of Moscow, three things are still the same: they grow corn, they grow soybeans and they keep an eye on the weather. Dean Lukes, 86, farms there with his son, Greg, 55. Together, they’ve watched as technology and industry developments have changed the face and pace of farming. “Agriculture has been a rapidly evolving area for many years,” Dean Lukes said. “I used to think my dad saw the most changes of probably anybody. Now I think I’ve seen more than he did. And where’s it going to end? It just keeps going.” In that time, Greg Lukes said the sheer size of equipment has increased. A 6-foot draper head for harvesting beans was standard 50 years ago, his father said. “When they came out with the 12-foot, all the farmers agreed that was way too big,” Dean Lukes said. “It would never work. But within a couple years, it worked. And it went from 12 to 20 to 30.” Over 50 years, there has been a growth spurt. Now, Dean Lukes said farmers are working with 45-foot draper heads. The early ’90s put a computer in combine cabs, with
Dean Lukes, left, and Greg Lukes farm on the west side of the Freeborn-Mower line, south of Moscow and north of Myrtle. SARAH KOCHER/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE
“I don’t need that,” he said. “I know where the good and bad spots are on the field. Technology, in that aspect, isn’t going to put one more bushel in the bin for you, in my opinion. It’s not.”
“The capacity to get work done has tripled and quadrupled. But you still worry about it.” — Dean Lukes a monitor Greg Lukes said is able to show calculations on bushels harvested and yield per acre on the go. Technology also allows farmers to make maps of their fields for future reference. He doesn’t, though. There’s a higher cost than he’s up for paying.
However, advancements may well put bushels in the bin faster. A machine that could cut a 6-foot swath of soybeans at 2 mph gave way to 30-foot swaths cut down at 5 mph. According to Greg Lukes, machines now provide the ability to harvest around 100 acres a day. Fifty years ago, with
a 6-foot head? He guessed closer to 20. And you pay for it. Dean Lukes bought his first white 9700 AGCO rotary combine for $60,000, he said. He estimated a comparable one now would run $400,000 — with complete heads included, half a million. It’s one of several input costs that rise over the years, while there’s one thing Greg Lukes said he doesn’t feel has grown much bigger over time: prices. According to a United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service database, the average price of grain corn in 1969 was $1.05 per bushel. For soybeans, it was $2.37 a bushel. According to the 2018
45
By the numbers
60,000
1.05
Length of a draper head used to harvest soybeans at the Lukes family farm
Cost of Dean Lukes’ first 9700 AGCO rotary combine
The 1969 price farmers got on corn sold per bushel, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service
Agricultural Statistics Annual Bulletin put out by the same USDA statistics service, the average price of grain corn per bushel was $3.05 in 2017. Soybeans were $9.17 per bushel. Those prices hurt in hard
years, Dean Lukes said. “If a farmer gets one good year, they jack up the input costs,” he said. But when a bad year returns, input prices don’t fall. “When your input cost
— machinery, seed, fertilizer, chemical — keeps going up and up and up, and your end result of selling your grain does not — it actually goes down — the
See CHANGES, Page 6
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PAGE 4 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PROGRESS 2019 | INDUSTRY & AGRICULTURE | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019
Wells Concrete recently acquired all of the business assets of Rocky Mountain Prestress in Denver. The acquisition makes Wells Concrete one of the top five largest precast companies in the United States. KELLY WASSENBERG/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE
Phillip Johnson is the new Albert Lea Economic Development Agency executive director. SAM WILMES/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE
Wells co. expands across the country New ALEDA director settling in By the numbers By Tyler Julson
tyler.julson@albertleatribune.com
WELLS — Wells Concrete, a company founded in Wells in 1957, recently acquired the business assets of Rocky Mountain Prestress, expanding the company with a plant in Denver. Already having Minnesota plants in Wells, Albany and Rosemount, as well as in Grand Forks, North Dakota, the Denver location will be the furthest Wells Concrete has ever expanded. This is the newest expansion for the company since 2016, when it opened a plant in Rosemount. The acquisition of Rocky Mountain Prestress puts Wells Concrete in the top five largest precast companies in the United States. Dan Juntunen, president and CEO of Wells Concrete, talked about the decision to expand to Colorado. “Combining the power of these two companies provides a unique opportunity to deliver the highest levels of structural integrity and architectural finishes to our customers,” Juntunen said. “In addition, our ability to drive innovation will be greatly enhanced. We are looking forward to growing our company while
5
Number of plants Wells Concrete has spread out over Minnesota, North Dakota and Colorado
1957 Year Wells Concrete was founded
3 Years since Wells Concrete last expanded maintaining strong roots in Denver.” Although Wells Concrete will be the new owners of Rocky Mountain Prestress, the crew already working for the company will remain on to provide as seamless a transition as possible, according to Rocky Mountain Prestress President Dave Holsteen in a press release. Holsteen said he sees the combining of the two businesses going over well, because both
companies see the value in long-term relationships when dealing with their clients and jobs. “Wells is a family-owned company in its fourth generation,” said Sam Nesius, chairman of the Wells company. “We are committed to this industry and a longterm view of business relationships. This position is definitely compatible with Rocky Mountain’s culture.” Both companies have worked on a number of high profile projects before coming together. Wells Concrete has done jobs that included U.S. Bank Stadium, Allianz Field, and residence halls at University of Minnesota and North Dakota State University, as well as high-rise and residential buildings. Rocky Mountain Prestress played a part in the construction of Denver International Airport, Jefferson County Justice Center, Coors Field and Pepsi Center, among other office buildings in the Denver metro area. According to a press release, plans are in place for a new plant to be constructed in Brighton, Colorado, which is set to be completed in 2020. Until the project is completed, the other plants in Colorado will remain fully operational.
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By Sam Wilmes
sam.wilmes@albertleatribune.com
New Albert Lea Economic Development Agency Executive Director Phillip Johnson said he wants to use his passion for bettering communities to improve the local economic landscape. An Iowa native, Johnson played soccer for one year at Simpson College and double majored in history and political science. He moved to Des Moines, Iowa, for about two years, working at the state treasurer’s office and Wells Fargo. He began work on his master’s degree at Drake University and later moved to Orange County in California. His first job there was in a courthouse, where he assisted in day-to-day work
Johnson’s main office is at 2610 Y.H. Hanson Ave. in Albert Lea. People in some ways take it for granted who live here, because out there, you are in a big metropolitan area. The community’s really not
“I really feel like I have a lot to bring here, and I think the foundation here in general is great. And there is just tons of potential as long as everyone is moving in the same direction.” — New ALEDA Executive Director Phillip Johnson such as briefs. “It was a good experience,” he said. Johnson was an assistant director at Indio, Californiabased Salton Sea Authority, a position he left Jan. 10 after accepting the ALEDA director position. “It was great,” he said. “It was a great experience. I never would have gotten the amount of experience I got at the Authority without doing it and taking that leap. Ultimately I wanted to come back because I wanted the sense of community.
4
there unless there is a really special occasion.” To Johnson, quality marketing and having the community buy into a longerterm economic plan and narrative will enable community growth. “I am really just excited to get immersed in the community and help it move forward into the future,” Johnson said. “I really feel like I have a lot to bring here, and I think the foundation here in general is great. And there is just tons of potential as long
as everyone is moving in the same direction.” To Johnson, community development also includes attracting young residents back to the community. “Everyone’s opinion matters, and at the end of the day, the community is as much of a part of anything that happens success-wise than me or the Authority or the Business Development Center,” he said. “It’s crucial to moving forward — the community and communication and collaboration.” Former ALEDA interim Executive Director Noelle Hagen said Johnson “brings to our organization great experience in collaborating across multiple organizations and perspectives. I feel he will do a great job bringing our agency together with other important stakeholders in our community and advancing our mission to provide and promote services and resources to retain, expand, create and attract businesses and quality employment opportunities in Freeborn County. “I look forward to working with Phillip.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Albert Lea Economic Development Agency Executive Director Phillip Johnson began in his position Feb. 4
1,812
28
Number of miles from Indio, California, to Albert Lea. Prior to being named the ALEDA director, Johnson served as assistant executive director at Salton Sea Authority in Indio
How old Johnson was when he was interviewed in January
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019 | INDUSTRY & AGRICULTURE | PROGRESS 2019 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PAGE 5
Owner and operator of SAAFE, “Stadium” Steve Snyder stands with one of his most recent projects, The Sanford Pentagon, a basketball complex in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. TYLER JULSON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE
IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME
ELLENDALE-BASED BUSINESS INSTALLS STADIUM SEATING THROUGHOUT MIDWEST By Tyler Julson
tyler.julson@albertleatribune.com
ELLENDALE — For 36 years, “Stadium” Steve Snyder has been the owner and operator of Seating and Athletic Facility Enterprises — or SAAFE. SAAFE is a company that sells and installs a variety of stadium seating and bleachers for schools and communities throughout Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Iowa. As a parks and recreation director in Grinnell, Iowa, for seven years before starting SAAFE, Snyder got the idea to get into the seating business from people he had worked with at the stadium seating plant in Grinnell. After having his first child, he said it was the right time to make the switch. “When I was in Grinnell, I just got to know those people, and they offered me a territory,” Snyder said. “So I just jumped in the car and went to see as many people as I possibly could and followed every lead that I could. I went to a lot of Minnesota athletic director shows, school board shows and that type of thing.” Operating out of his home in Ellendale, SAAFE employs three full-time employees at the office on top of multiple salespeople and installers throughout the four-state area. Snyder said the small town atmosphere doesn’t have a major impact on the business because he doesn’t
By the numbers
36
Years SAAFE has been operating by selling and installing stadium seating
100-120 Number of jobs SAAFE typically does each year
3 Number of full-time employees who work from the office in Ellendale have a traditional retail store. He relies mainly on word of mouth and people seeing the work in person. “We don’t run a retail store here, our business is everywhere,” he said. “We’ve gone to a lot of shows over the years, so now a lot of it is just word of mouth. We’ve been doing this for 36 years, and we do a majority of the bleacher work in the territory.” Typically SAAFE sells and does the installation work for about 100-125 jobs every year, with a lot of them being done in the summer months when school is not in session. Snyder said the most challenging part about owning the business is making sure projects get installed in a timely manner.
Based out of Ellendale, Seating and Athletic Facility Enterprises provides and installs telescoping seating, outdoor bleachers and press boxes to communities throughout Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Iowa. PROVIDED “It’s very cyclical, and July and August are really heavy months to get everything installed and ready for school,” Snyder said. “Even though we’re busy all year long, that’s probably the most challenging, is to get them all fit in and done on time, which we do.” He said there is a lot more paperwork than there used to be. According to Snyder, the product hasn’t changed much
over the years, but there are more regulations now, which has led to the increase in paperwork. A typical workweek for Snyder sees him on the road quite a bit. Although he spends some time in the office, he said he generally puts about 66,000 miles a year on his vehicle. Snyder used to make trips to each of the sites he sold bleachers to, but over the years he has opted to go to the
ones he personally sells. However, seeing the completed projects in person and seeing the buyer happy are still his favorite parts of the job. “My favorite part is going to the job site when it’s done, shaking the hands of the superintendent, and knowing that they’re satisfied,” he said. “Being able to see the finished product and know that we built something, that’s fun.”
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PAGE 6 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PROGRESS 2019 | INDUSTRY & AGRICULTURE | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019
THE BUSINESS OF
GOING GREEN
SOLAR, WIND POWER GAINING MORE TRACTION IN FREEBORN COUNTY By Sam Wilmes
sam.wilmes@albertleatribune.com
A
ccording to Energy.Gov, U.S. installations of solar power have grown 17-fold since 2008, from 1.2 gigawatts to an estimated 30 gigawatts today, enough to power the equivalent of 5.7 million average American homes. In Albert Lea, a new solar power facility is the first of its kind in the city and is expected to generate enough power for about 250 homes. The process began in 2015 when Dairyland Power Cooperative issued a request for proposals for solar facilities around its system. The company worked with member-cooperatives — including Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services — and the site east of Trail’s Travel Center was selected based on its location, cost, feasibility and reliability, said Craig Harmes, Dairyland Power manager of business development. Dairyland Power has a contract to purchase the renewable energy produced at the facility, then provide the energy generated at the 5,832solar panel site to Freeborn-Mower. The project is expected to be owned by a third-party developer, Engie Energy. Energy generated at the Albert Lea solar facility is expected to be used locally. Having Engie, a forprofit company, own the site will reportedly allow for federal tax incentives to be used, making it a more cost-effective facility. Harmes said he expects solar energy to be a difference-maker in the region. He noted the 18 solar facilities Dairyland oversees are spread across the region, not relegated to one large facility. “That’s why we’re doing distributed projects, because those member-consumers, the customer, they like local solar,” he said. Harmes noted the company conducts multiple, small solar projects because “they are a little easier to interconnect,” do not require upgrading current facilities and tend to be more reliable because they are next to substations. He said spacing out solar facilities allows Dairyland to take advantage of different weather conditions at its solar sites. Freeborn-Mower Director of Cooperative Services Mary Nelson said the output from the solar farm will benefit local residents. “I like that,” she said. Development is also expected to include a pollinator garden to help with site runoff.
17-FOLD Increase of U.S. installations of solar power since 2008
5,832 Solar panels at the Albert Lea site
solar energy is sustainable and as long as the sun is around, we will have a constant source of energy from it.” According to Science Trends, a high initial investment, intermittency in energy supply, the need to store energy, a high cost of storing excess energy and the fact that it requires a large space to install are drawbacks. “The biggest drawback of solar panels is that they offer intermittent energy gain, due to the fact that the sun shines for only half the day,” according to the platform. “Note that half a day of sunshine is a best-case scenario, as issues like geographical location and weather patterns that bring clouds can cut the amount of solar energy that solar panels absorb even further.”
$400,000 Estimated tax revenue Freeborn Wind Farm is expected to generate on a yearly basis. Eighty percent is expected to stay in Freeborn County
‘It’s something that benefits everybody’
Freeborn-Mower Director of Energy Services Mike Murtaugh said development will allow for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, enabling the transition from coal generated and natural gas energy sources that result in relatively high carbon dioxide emissions to cleaner forms of energy. “It’s something that benefits everybody,” he said. “All consumers, all members, ultimately.” Murtaugh noted the renewable sites are supposed to help Dairyland replace its retired smaller, less efficient coal-fired plants. According to Fortune, 18 percent of electricity in the United States was produced by renewable sources in 2017, including solar, wind and hydroelectric dams, an increase from 15 percent in 2016. According to the publication, the shift was driven by new wind and solar projects, the end of the drought in the western U.S. and a dip in the share of natural gas generation. According to Fortune, greenhouse gas emissions from power generation and consumer spending on power declined.
Litchfield said the industry provides farmers the chance to harvest their wind in addition to their crops in a difficult time for the profession. He expects the project to generate $400,000 in new tax revenue per year, with about 80 percent staying in Freeborn County. He said he has generated interest from two local companies — Schipp’s Pro Power Wash and Alamco Wood Products — on the project. He credited wind development with helping grow local business Good Steward Consulting’s staff to 12 jobs. He noted 2018’s Clean Jobs Midwest Report found a 5 percent growth in renewable energy jobs. Detractors of the Freeborn Wind Farm noted turbines might cause noise and aesthetic pollution and expressed concern over possible noise levels and the chance they could harm local wildlife. According to Energy.Gov, wind power is cost-effective. “Land-based, utility-scale wind is one of the lowest-priced energy sources available today, costing between two and six cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on the wind resource and the particular
According to science platform Science Trends, solar energy has been shown to be environmentally friendly and sustainable, available around the world, to lower the cost of electricity, produce no noise and require minimal maintenance. “Solar energy is usually dependable, sustainable and renewable,” the publication stated. “Fossil fuels are of a finite quantity, they are a non-renewable resource. Once we use them up, they are gone. However,
Continued from Page 3
last couple years, we’re not making a lot of money,” Greg Lukes said. “Technology definitely has a dollar sign in front of it, because it costs,” Dean Lukes said. In particular, Dean Lukes referenced to the cost of seed innovation for farmers. One year, seed they purchased from Monsanto came with a technology fee, he said, which they paid in addition to the initial cost of soybeans and corns. Monsanto has since restructured its pricing system. To avoid additional fees, the Lukes’ tried planting conventional varieties, but had problems with
corn rootworm. As crops evolve, so does rootworm, Dean Lukes said. They went back to Monsanto because they wanted the protection they felt the seed provided, Greg Lukes said. The pace of new seed offerings has also intensified, Dean Lukes said. A hybrid that used to take five or six years to develop can now happen in one, thanks to computer simulation software, Greg Lukes said. There have been a lot of developments. “It makes you dizzy just trying to keep up with it,” Dean Lukes said. Information on feeding and fertilizing chemicals used to come from chemical and seed meetings, where companies would host community events to
Invenergy senior manager of business development Dan Litchfield is helping oversee a local wind energy project expected to bring 42 wind turbines to Freeborn County and 58 to Iowa. The Freeborn Wind project is expected to bring 200 temporary jobs during construction and 10 to 15 long-term positions, and is slated to begin later this summer. Local wind energy development is part of a larger, nationwide trend toward the renewable form of energy. According to the American Wind Energy Association, U.S. wind energy grew 9 percent in 2017, adding 1,644 megawatts in the first three quarters of 2018. The association estimates there are 54,000 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 90,550 megawatts in 41 states, Guam and Puerto Rico. U.S. wind power has reportedly tripled within the last 10 years and is the largest source of renewable generating capacity in the country. “Freeborn Wind is a part of a bigger transition toward wind energy,” he said. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved site and route permits for Freeborn Wind Farm in September. The issue, however, was contentious locally. Approval came at a packed meeting in St. Paul attended by dozens of supporters and detractors of the project, expected to be in London, Shell Rock, Hayward and Oakland townships in Minnesota. Throughout the meeting, detractors of the project wore red shirts and showed signs telling commissioners to reject the project. Supporters wore green shirts expressing approval.
Positives, drawbacks seen in wind industry
Positives, drawbacks seen in solar industry
CHANGES
‘Freeborn Wind is a part of a bigger transition toward wind energy’
See GREEN, Page 8
“It makes you dizzy just trying to keep up with it.” — Dean Lukes discuss their new products and what they could do for the farmer. Greg Lukes said these meetings stopped 20 years ago. Now, word of mouth helps him keep abreast of new products and developments, and Dean Lukes is still his information highway, Greg Lukes said — Dean Lukes does all the reading. But farmers still get together for meetings, or rather, required trainings to earn permission to utilize restricted-use pesticides, Greg Lukes said.
He credits these trainings, stricter state application rules and advances in application equipment for reducing chemical drift, which not only spread chemicals in harmful places but also upset the neighbors whose crops were affected by your spray. Advances in application equipment also means speedier work, which allows farmers to be pickier about the weather window — and wind conditions — they spray in, Greg Lukes said. As equipment and technology grew, so did farms. According to Greg Lukes, farmers are doing more with less people. When Greg Lukes was still small himself, so were farms — if you compare acreage counts to current ones. Back then, he
said, over 300 acres was a big farm. Dean Lukes estimated a slightly higher count, at between 500 and 600 acres. “Now, that’s hobby farming,” Greg Lukes said. As time passed, the Lukes family farm became less diversified. They had livestock and grew sugarbeets. Dean Lukes still has the harvestable percent sugar content memorized, but he doesn’t use it anymore. The industry moved out of this region, he said. So did slaughtering operations with Hormel and Wilson & Co. Trucking livestock would have destroyed any profit for their operation, Greg Lukes said. But 50 years also means a change in demand for specialty crops, and what those
options are. Greg Lukes has four acres set aside for different types of organic crops, he said. Even with all the advancements, the Lukes still find reasons to sweat. “The capacity to get work done has tripled and quadrupled,” Dean Lukes said. “But you still worry about it.” Sometimes, this profession isn’t his favorite, Greg Lukes said. But at the end of the day, he likes being outside, and not having anyone tell him what to do. There’s one more thing in farming that hasn’t changed for the Lukes: holding out hope that next year’s will be a bumper crop. “We’re always shooting for that super big yield,” Greg Lukes said.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019 | INDUSTRY & AGRICULTURE | PROGRESS 2019 | ALBERTLEATRIBUNE.COM | PAGE 7
Goats have four stomachs (the rumen, reticulum, omasum and the abomasum) that each have a separate role in the digestion process.
Bethany Tennis throws hay down from a loft to feed her family’s goats. In mid-January most of the goats were pregnant. Tennis said a goat’s gestation period is about five months. The majority of the time a goat will have one to three babies; it is very rare for a goat to have more. COLLEEN HARRISON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE
Goats are very picky about what they eat, even though people tend to think they will eat absolutely anything, Tennis said. For example, she said they will nibble on her gloves or sweatpants every day, along with other items, but that is because they are naturally curious animals.
Goats do not have any teeth on their upper front jaw but According to Tennis, goats have extremely sensitive stomachs, which means eating something they are not supposed have sharp teeth in the very back of their mouth, Tennis said. to could lead them to become very sick.
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Goat’s milk is naturally homogenized, which means it is easier to digest than cow’s milk, Tennis said.
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GREEN Continued from Page 6
project’s financing,” the site stated. The U.S. wind sector reportedly employed more than 100,000 workers in 2016, and the wind turbine technician position is one of the fastest-growing American jobs of the decade, according to Energy.Gov. The sector reportedly has an annual economic impact of about $20 billion on the U.S. economy. “The nation’s wind supply is abundant and inexhaustible,” according to Energy. Gov. “Over the past 10 years, cumulative wind power capacity in the United States increased on average 30 percent per year, and wind now has the largest renewable generation capacity of all renewables in the U.S.” Wind power is still competing with conventional generation sources on a cost basis. “Depending on how energetic a wind site is, the wind farm might not be cost competitive,” according to Energy.Gov. “Even though the cost of wind power has decreased dramatically in the past 10 years, the technology requires a higher initial investment than fossil-fueled generators.”
Freeborn County farmer speaks highly of renewable energy
Freeborn County farmer Jerry Demmer said solar energy provides local farmers the chance to lock in rate increases, allowing them to avoid possibly larger increases. He noted tax incentives for solar and depreciation helps farmers as well. “Wind is different
because of the fact that solar, you are value-adding in a different way to your farming operation,” he said. According to the state, a 30 percent federal residential renewable energy tax credit available for solar and other renewable energy systems is in place. Taxpayers can reportedly claim a federal tax credit for 30 percent of qualified expenditures for a system that serves a dwelling unit in the U.S. owned and used as a residence by a taxpayer. Demmer said farmers own solar farms on their property but do not own wind turbines on their land. “That in of itself is a value added to the farm, but just in a different way,” he said. “You don’t own that wind tower.” Demmer said he decided not to own a solar farm within the last two months because of his age and belief that he might sell the farm and move into town relatively soon. “If I was younger, I would do it in a heartbeat,” he said. “And it doesn’t take up much of a footprint. I think farmers should look into it and see if it fits their situation.” To Demmer, landowners have the final say in whether wind towers can be placed on their property. “He owns the land that the wind tower could be placed on, and the landowner has to decide whether it fits his wants or needs or not,” he said. “He can choose if he wants one or he doesn’t want one. If he sees the value added in it, the dollars that come in every year for it, if he sees that beneficial for his farming operation, who is to say he’s wrong for putting one in?” Demmer said revenue
from owning wind turbines can help farmers in difficult economic times. “We need different modes of renewable energy,” he said. “That’s why I’m invested in ethanol, because I believe in ethanol as a renewable energy. That’s where solar comes in, and that’s where wind comes in.”
City, county evaluate possibility of solar energy on properties
The city of Albert Lea received a $3,500 grant last year it planned to use to evaluate the possibility of expanding the community’s solar energy footprint. Freeborn County Administrator Thomas Jensen said last month the city of Albert Lea and the county were in the beginning stages of exploring the feasibility of using solar to power public buildings in Albert Lea. “We have to explore everything,” he said. He said they need to understand how long it will take to recoup the initial investment. He noted most government agencies have a third organization involved in such projects because the public sector is not eligible for federal government tax credits. Doing so makes such projects more financially feasible. Jensen noted Wabasha County has a large solar array next to its new government and law enforcement center. He did not have a timeline on when a decision on the potential would be made. “We’re not closing the door by any means,” Jensen said, adding solar energy reduces fresh water usage coal plants and other traditional energy sources utilize.
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start to see the big picture.” Wegner was a three-time national finalist for his supervised agricultural experience projects, which changed every year. “He had it all planned out as to what areas I was going to be in,” Wegner said. Wegner’s family grows corn and soybeans. Growing up, he wasn’t really into it. But according to Wegner, Dylla told him what an opportunity he had at his disposal to work on a farm — and not to let that opportunity go to waste. “I really started taking interest in our farming operation,” he said. “... I think Dan kind of pushed me to that way, too. … He really got me kind of just to appreciate the opportunity that I had at the time.” If he had any doubts about going into farming or coming back home after college, “My time in high school pretty much blew that all up,” Wegner said. He graduated from South
“He really knows how to get his students and FFA members with these projects and everything in the right areas where they can succeed.” — Colin Wegner Dakota State University in 2018, and now works fulltime on Wegner Farms. “(Dylla is) one of the best FFA teachers around,” Wegner said. “He really knows how to get his students and FFA members with these projects and everything in the right areas where they can succeed.” United South Central senior Raven Suhr was a member of last year’s state dairy judging team. “I just fell in love with it,” she said. As she talks, she helps sort cheese dip. The FFA just got in the stock for its winter fruit fundraiser, so in the next room, other FFA members are shimmying the lids off boxes, sorting through oranges and grapefruits to be sure each is a good batch.
“Dylla gets us really involved in a lot of stuff,” she said. Like the Warnkas and Wegner, Suhr, too, has noticed how involved Dylla is as a teacher. He’s the example that made her want to become an ag teacher herself. He pushes his students to be positive, help others out and be good leaders. He does that himself, so the students want to model that behavior, too, Suhr said. “I think I learned … to work hard and keep passionate about what you want to be passionate about,” she said of her time with the program. Dylla found that passion in agricultural education. “I think you find your niche,” Dylla said. “It just worked out.”
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