8 • Feb. 15, 2012
Salute to Corn
Summit • News-Tribune
2012’s Salute to Corn
ISU report: Ethanol hit record in 2011 corn-base fuel expired at the beginning of the year. Hart said that equates to 4.5 cents/gal. of E10. Based on current futures prices for ethanol and oil, Hart said blending margins aren’t as rosy as last year. Profits of 2 to 5 cents/gal. are predicted. “Even with the tax credit gone, it’s still positive,” Hart said.
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SHELL ROCK — Ethanol plants statewide produced a record amount of fuel last year, pumping up Iowa’s economy, according to a report from Iowa State University recently released. Iowa’s 41 ethanol refineries distilled 3.7 billion gallons, up 200,000 from 2010. However, experts say 2012 won’t be as kind to the industry. According to economists and industry experts, the results indicate turning corn into fuel continues to be a boon for the state. The report said the ethanol industry creates 5,995 jobs state-wide, contributes more than $1 billion to Iowa’s gross domestic product and more than $280 million in labor income. “That’s a lot of money,” said Dave Swenson, an ISU associate scientist and report author. “The labor income to workers, that’s what we care about. Rural areas are otherwise bleeding employment. Chad Hart, ISU grain economist, said ethanol plants are a primary buyer of corn. About 40 percent of the nation’s corn crop is turned into fuel. Competition and demand for corn are keeping corn prices high and extremely profitable. March corn on the Chicago Board of Trade sold for $6.58 per bushel on Jan. 4.
Hart estimates corn would be $2 to $3 per bushel without ethanol. “We’re talking about . . . $1 billion in added corn value alone,” Hart said. Enthusiasm for 2012 has waned, experts say. Government action and supply and demand will affect profitability of ethanol and possibly production. A tax credit of 45 cents/gal. for pure ethanol to encourage blenders to use the
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Feb. 15, 2012 A supplement to the Britt News Tiribune and Forest City Summit
Salute to Corn
Summit • News-Tribune
Ethanol remains a top market for local corn BY EMILIE NELSON In the current grain industry, one of the most profitable ways to sell from the local cooperative is into ethanol production. When shipped from
Broesder, general manager at Farmer’s Cooperative of Forest City, said. The Leland Farmer’s Cooperative feed mill has a 6,000 bushel capacity used to make feed that is often
“WE NOW HAVE THE OPTION TO SEND BY RAIL TO CEDAR RAPIDS.” —Randy Broesder the 1.1 million bushel Farmer’s Cooperative Association. elevator in Forest City, most corn is transported by truck locally to the Poet Biorefining plant in Hanlontown, while a small portion goes to local feed mills, Randy
shipped to local farms. Corn stored at the Kiester, Minn. Farmers Cooperative location is shipped out by truck to the Global Ethanol plant in Lakota with some also going to Christensen Feed Mill north of Forest City .
For the past seven years, all corn shipped out of the Forest City location has been by truck. With the opening of the North Iowa Rail Corridor in November 2011, an additional option of shipping by train to the ADM Ethanol production plant in Cedar Rapids has also been added, Broesder said. “We now have the option to send by rail to Cedar Rapids,” Broesder said. “So far, we’ve sent 52 cars off to ADM. The majority of corn sold goes to Ethanol production, it’s one of the most profitable ways to sell.” Roger Allen, location
COLLECT: FROM P6
Photo by Caitlin Hamilton
Corn is loaded to a rail car in Forest City.
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Feb. 15, 2012 •7
Items from defunct seed companies among his collection
SEE MARKET, P.4
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Salute to Corn
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planter then restore it and show them what I did,” Kenkel says. “Once they saw it and realized I wasn’t going to sell it, they started selling more.” Kenkel has a planter representing every decade from the 1850s to the 1950s, including an 1854 planter that was one of the first patented. He has just more than 100 planters, including one-row hand or horse planters. Kenkel says he restored about 80 percent of the planters. He owns a planter built by George Brown, inventor of the corn planter. It is one of four known to be in existence. “It is fascinating to work with these because the designs were simple, easy to work on and included a lot more engineering than we give them credit for,” Kenkel says. “It’s so much fun to start restoring these and find the original stenciling or print on them.” Kenkel collects just about everything cornrelated, including shellers, dryers, graders,
planter stakes and check wire. “If it’s related to seed corn, I’m interested,” he says. His collection includes about 1,100 cloth sacks, including one from a California
“IT WAS JUST FASCINATING TO LEARN ABOUT THESE COMPANIES.” — STEVE KENKEL
company that bagged marijuana before it was made illegal in 1937. Kenkel also has 400 to 500 duplicates he uses for trading. “People often prefer to trade rather than sell, so those come in pretty handy at times,” he says. His research uncovered so much about the history of the seed corn industry in Shelby County that Kenkel published a book, “The Hybrid Corn Pioneers.” The book looks at the men who “made Shelby County the hybrid seed corn capital of Iowa from the 1920s through the 1960s.” Those companies included names, such as Holloway Brothers
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Hybrid of Kirkman, Joe Schechinger Hybrid of Harlan, John Rosmann Seed Co. of Defiance and Altman Hybrids of Earling. Wilson Seeds also got its start near Harlan. “It was just so fasci-
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nating to learn about these companies,” Kenkel says. “I’ve lived here my entire life and really didn’t know a lot about them until I started doing the research.” Kenkel clears out the modern machinery in the spring, turning the building into a museum through the growing season. He plants a check wire plot nearby, using old hybrid seed to demonstrate the difference between the old and new lines. Kenkel and his wife,
Nadine, also host the Hybrid Corn Pioneers Historical Expo in late August. Visitors can tour the plots that represent three centuries of seed corn, as well as look at the machinery, seed sacks and other items. “We have a lot of fun with it,” Kenkel says. “Part of the reason to collect anything is to be able to show it to people, and I enjoy doing that.” He says finding vintage items is getting harder, but Kenkel adds he has been doing it long enough that people approach him about their collection. “I can tell you about the history of just about everything in my collection, and that’s really part of the fun of collecting,” he says. “Everything has a story behind it if you are willing to look for it.”
Photo by Rae Yost
A farmer harvest corn in an area field in October. Corn continues to be a major crop in Iowa and a major contributor to the state’s economy, various ag-related organizations say. In 2007, Iowa farmers produced 2.37 billion bushels of corn. With corn prices at $3.50, this crop contributes $8.3 billion to the state’s income. A 50¢ per bushel increase in corn prices adds much to state’s income, the Iowa Corn Growers Association said. In 2007, production agriculture and agrelated industries accounted for $72.1 billion, or 27% of Iowa’s total income, Iowa Corn Growers said. Farming provides the base for a variety of agri-food industries, including food processing.
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Salute to Corn
Corny collector Man collects variety of corn-related items BY JEFF DEYOUNG OF IOWA FARMER TODAY
EARLING — A step through the doors of Steve Kenkel’s 54x75foot metal building is a step back in time. From corn planters to seed sacks, Kenkel has accumulated a collection that is museum-worthy. In fact, if it weren’t for a combine and tractor, the building would be filled with artifacts from agriculture’s past. “I may have to put up another building,” he says with a laugh. Kenkel, who farms near here in Shelby County, collects just about anything to do with corn. It’s a collection he never intended to start. “I restored my Grandpa Kenkel’s 1952 Oliver 66 and my Grandpa Weiland’s 1936 Farmall F20 along with a 1935 Oliver two-row, check-wire corn planter. And, I used to take them to shows,” he says. “About 10 years ago, I was at my parents’ house and a box in the attic caught my eye. It has some old seed corn bags in it, and I thought it would be something interesting to take to the shows with the tractors.” Kenkel says his father started telling him about all the family owned seed companies in Shelby County years ago. So, he started talking to family members and people who worked
for the companies. “I would talk to them, and they would tell me about another company,” the Southwest Iowa farmer says. “I learned that at one time, Shelby County had 18 family owned seed corn companies. “That was the most of any county in the U.S., so I decided I wanted to start collecting those sacks.” Kenkel now has 40 different sacks from those 18 companies. He says all of them were in existence as
recently as 1941. Most of them closed down by the late-1950s and early 1960s. As he started collecting the sacks, Kenkel began meeting other collectors and told them how he had restored his grandfathers’ tractors. That led to the acquisition of old corn planters he would eventually restore. “They were older collectors who were looking to start selling some stuff, so I would buy a SEE COLLECT, P.7
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Storing it up Elevators help keep a capacity of corn each season Once corn is harvested from the field every fall, it can be used for a variety of purposes, but it doesn’t often go to its final destination immediately. Photo by Emilie Nelson Several local cooperaCorn in stored in large facilities at local elevators tives and grain elevators have the capacity to hold of storage in recent years at the co-op’s Woden locamillions of bushels of corn and soybeans in prepara- tion. tion to be used for ethanol or feed production. “We’ve added storage,” said McGrath. “A few At the North Central Cooperative in Hutchins, years ago we added a 550,000 bushel bin in Woden. around 1 million of the elevator’s 1.3 million bushel They can take 1.1 million (bushels).”
“WE’VE ADDED STORAGE.” — DENNY MCGRATH
Larger storage is also needed due to higher yielding corn, McGrath said. “We usually add some storage at one of our locations ever year,” he said. “Yields keep getting better; SEE STORAGE, P.5
capacity is made up of corn storage. About 350,000 bushels are soybeans, said Denny McGrath, location manager for the NC Cooperatives of Hutchins and Woden. With more than a 1 million bushel capacity in Hutchins alone, McGrath said they are typically able to hold everything that is hauled to the elevator every harvest season. “We very rarely ever have to use ground storage,” said McGrath. “Only if we absolutely have to.” McGrath said the ability to hold the majority of the grain they receive is due largely to the addition
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Salute to Corn
News-Tribune • Summit
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Cooperatives take bids on corn MARKET: FROM P1 leader at MaxYield Cooperative of Britt, said the majority of their corn is shipped by truck to Global Ethanol in Lakota. “We have ‘in-users’ that our corn is sold to,” said Allen. “We put out bids and see if the different companies can come into agreement with them. Most of our corn goes up to Lakota.” Some of MaxYield’s corn is also shipped to a buyer in Cedar Rapids by rail. Since the start of 2012, three trainloads have been shipped from MaxYield’s Britt location.
“We don’t do as many trains as we used to,” said Allen. “There are more trains in the Belmond and Garner locations which have the rail.”
“(ETHANOL) IS STILL THE MOST PROFITABLE.” — ROGER ALLEN
About 700,000 bushels, or 200 tons a day are ground for feed and are taken by truck to Sparboe New Horizon, however, Allen said the majority of the corn is still sold for ethanol production.
“It’s still the most profitable,” Allen said. At North Central Cooperative in Hutchins, the majority of the corn is shipped to ethanol plants in Lakota, Goldfield and Mason City, while some is sold to Christensen Feed in Thompson. Last year, some of the corn was also shipped to ADM in Cedar Rapids for ethanol production and out of state to Simmons Foods in Arkansas for feed. “There’s a lot you can do with the corn,” said Denny McGrath, N.C. Cooperative location manager in Hutchins and Woden. “A lot our sales are bid in.”
Ethanol in 46 percent of America’s gasoline Ethanol is blended into 46 percent of America’s gasoline, most as E10. Ethanol comprises about 3.5 percent of total U.S. gas consumption (140 billion gallons annually). About 50 million gallons of U.S. ethanol are made into E85.
More than 55% of Iowa’s corn goes to foreign markets. The rest is used in other parts of the United States.
E85 is available at 1,100 locations in the U.S. (including both public and private) About 6 million FFVs are on America’s roads today. •From Iowa Corn Growers Association.
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Salute to Corn
News-Tribune • Summit
STORAGE: FROM A1 we’re yielding a lot better than we were 15 years ago.” One option available at North Central’s Woden and Holmes location is “condo storage,” McGrath said. With condo storage, farmers can purchase storage space in 5,000 bushel lots for a monthly service fee. “Farmers can buy as many shares as they want,” said McGrath. “It’s for all of our customers. Not just those in
Woden or Holmes. They own a portion of that bin, and it helps us pay for the bin. It’s another way to store without the farmer having to put up their own bin.” An advantage to having condo space in North Central’s bins is being able to sell at anytime. “They can sell to the co-op or out to others,” said McGrath. At MaxYield Cooperative in Britt, a capacity of 1 million bushels allows farmers to store most of their grain locally, Britt
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Field work continues after the corn is harvested each fall. The farmer at left is chopping stalks in a corn field near Forest City. Some stalks are baled, used for bedding during the winter. Cattle can also be seen in area corn fields after the harvest is completed as they seek and eat, corn left behind by the combine.
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Offer valid from 10/29/2011 until 2/29/2012. This offer excludes TX Turf Gators and ProGators. 2.9% APR is for 60 months. Subject to approved credit on John Deere Financial Revolving Plan, a service of John Deere Financial, f.s.b. For consumer use only. No down payment required. Other special rates and terms may be available, including financing for commercial use. Available at participating dealer. Prices and models may vary by dealer and are subject to change without notice. Taxes, freight, setup, delivery an optional attachments shown not included. For your safety, always wear a helmet and eye protection when driving aggressively, on rough terrain or at speeds greater than 35 mph (56 km/h). *The engine horsepower information is provided by the engine manufacturer to be used for comparison purposes only. Actual operating horsepower may be less. John Deere’s green and yellow color scheme, the leaping deer symbol and JOHN DEERE are trademarks of Deere & Company.
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Association, about 1.1 million bushels of grain are capable of being stored in the facility’s upright silos, steel bins and storage buildings. “The majority goes into the elevator,” said general manager Randy Broesder. In addition to the 1.1 million bushels in Forest City, Farmer’s Cooperative also has a 6,000 bushel feed mill in Leland and a 1.9 million bushel facility in Kiester, Minn.
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Location Leader Roger Allen said. “Most of what the farmers can’t hold in their bins comes to the elevators,” said Allen. “It all depends on what they can’t hold, but about 90 percent of that grain ends up in elevators.” Allen said they use as much bin capacity as possible at MaxYield and if the Britt location is filled to capacity, any additional grain is trucked to bunkers in Belmond or Klemme. At the Forest City location of the Farmers Cooperative
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Feb. 15, 2012 • 5
Elevators can supplement the storage farmers have
Join us on March 7, 11am - 1pm at Farmers Co-op Association for our Farmers Appreciation Luncheon in Forest City!
Corn quick facts
In 2007, Iowa farmers produced 2.37 billion bushels of corn.
News-Tribune • Summit
Salute to Corn
4 • Feb. 15, 2012
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Cooperatives take bids on corn MARKET: FROM P1 leader at MaxYield Cooperative of Britt, said the majority of their corn is shipped by truck to Global Ethanol in Lakota. “We have ‘in-users’ that our corn is sold to,” said Allen. “We put out bids and see if the different companies can come into agreement with them. Most of our corn goes up to Lakota.” Some of MaxYield’s corn is also shipped to a buyer in Cedar Rapids by rail. Since the start of 2012, three trainloads have been shipped from MaxYield’s Britt location.
“We don’t do as many trains as we used to,” said Allen. “There are more trains in the Belmond and Garner locations which have the rail.”
“(ETHANOL) IS STILL THE MOST PROFITABLE.” — ROGER ALLEN
About 700,000 bushels, or 200 tons a day are ground for feed and are taken by truck to Sparboe New Horizon, however, Allen said the majority of the corn is still sold for ethanol production.
“It’s still the most profitable,” Allen said. At North Central Cooperative in Hutchins, the majority of the corn is shipped to ethanol plants in Lakota, Goldfield and Mason City, while some is sold to Christensen Feed in Thompson. Last year, some of the corn was also shipped to ADM in Cedar Rapids for ethanol production and out of state to Simmons Foods in Arkansas for feed. “There’s a lot you can do with the corn,” said Denny McGrath, N.C. Cooperative location manager in Hutchins and Woden. “A lot our sales are bid in.”
Ethanol in 46 percent of America’s gasoline Ethanol is blended into 46 percent of America’s gasoline, most as E10. Ethanol comprises about 3.5 percent of total U.S. gas consumption (140 billion gallons annually). About 50 million gallons of U.S. ethanol are made into E85.
More than 55% of Iowa’s corn goes to foreign markets. The rest is used in other parts of the United States.
E85 is available at 1,100 locations in the U.S. (including both public and private) About 6 million FFVs are on America’s roads today. •From Iowa Corn Growers Association.
Your Agricultural Bank
See Bill... for all your ag financing needs
Salute to Corn
News-Tribune • Summit
STORAGE: FROM A1 we’re yielding a lot better than we were 15 years ago.” One option available at North Central’s Woden and Holmes location is “condo storage,” McGrath said. With condo storage, farmers can purchase storage space in 5,000 bushel lots for a monthly service fee. “Farmers can buy as many shares as they want,” said McGrath. “It’s for all of our customers. Not just those in
Woden or Holmes. They own a portion of that bin, and it helps us pay for the bin. It’s another way to store without the farmer having to put up their own bin.” An advantage to having condo space in North Central’s bins is being able to sell at anytime. “They can sell to the co-op or out to others,” said McGrath. At MaxYield Cooperative in Britt, a capacity of 1 million bushels allows farmers to store most of their grain locally, Britt
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Field work continues after the corn is harvested each fall. The farmer at left is chopping stalks in a corn field near Forest City. Some stalks are baled, used for bedding during the winter. Cattle can also be seen in area corn fields after the harvest is completed as they seek and eat, corn left behind by the combine.
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Offer valid from 10/29/2011 until 2/29/2012. This offer excludes TX Turf Gators and ProGators. 2.9% APR is for 60 months. Subject to approved credit on John Deere Financial Revolving Plan, a service of John Deere Financial, f.s.b. For consumer use only. No down payment required. Other special rates and terms may be available, including financing for commercial use. Available at participating dealer. Prices and models may vary by dealer and are subject to change without notice. Taxes, freight, setup, delivery an optional attachments shown not included. For your safety, always wear a helmet and eye protection when driving aggressively, on rough terrain or at speeds greater than 35 mph (56 km/h). *The engine horsepower information is provided by the engine manufacturer to be used for comparison purposes only. Actual operating horsepower may be less. John Deere’s green and yellow color scheme, the leaping deer symbol and JOHN DEERE are trademarks of Deere & Company.
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Association, about 1.1 million bushels of grain are capable of being stored in the facility’s upright silos, steel bins and storage buildings. “The majority goes into the elevator,” said general manager Randy Broesder. In addition to the 1.1 million bushels in Forest City, Farmer’s Cooperative also has a 6,000 bushel feed mill in Leland and a 1.9 million bushel facility in Kiester, Minn.
2.9%
Photo by Rae Yost
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Location Leader Roger Allen said. “Most of what the farmers can’t hold in their bins comes to the elevators,” said Allen. “It all depends on what they can’t hold, but about 90 percent of that grain ends up in elevators.” Allen said they use as much bin capacity as possible at MaxYield and if the Britt location is filled to capacity, any additional grain is trucked to bunkers in Belmond or Klemme. At the Forest City location of the Farmers Cooperative
Once the corn is gone
Make the Most of Your Farmland Investment
1101 13th St. N. Humboldt, IA 50548 515.332.1406
Feb. 15, 2012 • 5
Elevators can supplement the storage farmers have
Join us on March 7, 11am - 1pm at Farmers Co-op Association for our Farmers Appreciation Luncheon in Forest City!
Corn quick facts
In 2007, Iowa farmers produced 2.37 billion bushels of corn.
News-Tribune • Summit
Salute to Corn
4 • Feb. 15, 2012
173 Main St. N., Titonka 515-928-2142 • FAX 928-2042
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Salute to Corn
Corny collector Man collects variety of corn-related items BY JEFF DEYOUNG OF IOWA FARMER TODAY
EARLING — A step through the doors of Steve Kenkel’s 54x75foot metal building is a step back in time. From corn planters to seed sacks, Kenkel has accumulated a collection that is museum-worthy. In fact, if it weren’t for a combine and tractor, the building would be filled with artifacts from agriculture’s past. “I may have to put up another building,” he says with a laugh. Kenkel, who farms near here in Shelby County, collects just about anything to do with corn. It’s a collection he never intended to start. “I restored my Grandpa Kenkel’s 1952 Oliver 66 and my Grandpa Weiland’s 1936 Farmall F20 along with a 1935 Oliver two-row, check-wire corn planter. And, I used to take them to shows,” he says. “About 10 years ago, I was at my parents’ house and a box in the attic caught my eye. It has some old seed corn bags in it, and I thought it would be something interesting to take to the shows with the tractors.” Kenkel says his father started telling him about all the family owned seed companies in Shelby County years ago. So, he started talking to family members and people who worked
for the companies. “I would talk to them, and they would tell me about another company,” the Southwest Iowa farmer says. “I learned that at one time, Shelby County had 18 family owned seed corn companies. “That was the most of any county in the U.S., so I decided I wanted to start collecting those sacks.” Kenkel now has 40 different sacks from those 18 companies. He says all of them were in existence as
recently as 1941. Most of them closed down by the late-1950s and early 1960s. As he started collecting the sacks, Kenkel began meeting other collectors and told them how he had restored his grandfathers’ tractors. That led to the acquisition of old corn planters he would eventually restore. “They were older collectors who were looking to start selling some stuff, so I would buy a SEE COLLECT, P.7
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Storing it up Elevators help keep a capacity of corn each season Once corn is harvested from the field every fall, it can be used for a variety of purposes, but it doesn’t often go to its final destination immediately. Photo by Emilie Nelson Several local cooperaCorn in stored in large facilities at local elevators tives and grain elevators have the capacity to hold of storage in recent years at the co-op’s Woden locamillions of bushels of corn and soybeans in prepara- tion. tion to be used for ethanol or feed production. “We’ve added storage,” said McGrath. “A few At the North Central Cooperative in Hutchins, years ago we added a 550,000 bushel bin in Woden. around 1 million of the elevator’s 1.3 million bushel They can take 1.1 million (bushels).”
“WE’VE ADDED STORAGE.” — DENNY MCGRATH
Larger storage is also needed due to higher yielding corn, McGrath said. “We usually add some storage at one of our locations ever year,” he said. “Yields keep getting better; SEE STORAGE, P.5
capacity is made up of corn storage. About 350,000 bushels are soybeans, said Denny McGrath, location manager for the NC Cooperatives of Hutchins and Woden. With more than a 1 million bushel capacity in Hutchins alone, McGrath said they are typically able to hold everything that is hauled to the elevator every harvest season. “We very rarely ever have to use ground storage,” said McGrath. “Only if we absolutely have to.” McGrath said the ability to hold the majority of the grain they receive is due largely to the addition
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Salute to Corn
Summit • News-Tribune
Ethanol remains a top market for local corn BY EMILIE NELSON In the current grain industry, one of the most profitable ways to sell from the local cooperative is into ethanol production. When shipped from
Broesder, general manager at Farmer’s Cooperative of Forest City, said. The Leland Farmer’s Cooperative feed mill has a 6,000 bushel capacity used to make feed that is often
“WE NOW HAVE THE OPTION TO SEND BY RAIL TO CEDAR RAPIDS.” —Randy Broesder the 1.1 million bushel Farmer’s Cooperative Association. elevator in Forest City, most corn is transported by truck locally to the Poet Biorefining plant in Hanlontown, while a small portion goes to local feed mills, Randy
shipped to local farms. Corn stored at the Kiester, Minn. Farmers Cooperative location is shipped out by truck to the Global Ethanol plant in Lakota with some also going to Christensen Feed Mill north of Forest City .
For the past seven years, all corn shipped out of the Forest City location has been by truck. With the opening of the North Iowa Rail Corridor in November 2011, an additional option of shipping by train to the ADM Ethanol production plant in Cedar Rapids has also been added, Broesder said. “We now have the option to send by rail to Cedar Rapids,” Broesder said. “So far, we’ve sent 52 cars off to ADM. The majority of corn sold goes to Ethanol production, it’s one of the most profitable ways to sell.” Roger Allen, location
COLLECT: FROM P6
Photo by Caitlin Hamilton
Corn is loaded to a rail car in Forest City.
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Items from defunct seed companies among his collection
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Salute to Corn
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planter then restore it and show them what I did,” Kenkel says. “Once they saw it and realized I wasn’t going to sell it, they started selling more.” Kenkel has a planter representing every decade from the 1850s to the 1950s, including an 1854 planter that was one of the first patented. He has just more than 100 planters, including one-row hand or horse planters. Kenkel says he restored about 80 percent of the planters. He owns a planter built by George Brown, inventor of the corn planter. It is one of four known to be in existence. “It is fascinating to work with these because the designs were simple, easy to work on and included a lot more engineering than we give them credit for,” Kenkel says. “It’s so much fun to start restoring these and find the original stenciling or print on them.” Kenkel collects just about everything cornrelated, including shellers, dryers, graders,
planter stakes and check wire. “If it’s related to seed corn, I’m interested,” he says. His collection includes about 1,100 cloth sacks, including one from a California
“IT WAS JUST FASCINATING TO LEARN ABOUT THESE COMPANIES.” — STEVE KENKEL
company that bagged marijuana before it was made illegal in 1937. Kenkel also has 400 to 500 duplicates he uses for trading. “People often prefer to trade rather than sell, so those come in pretty handy at times,” he says. His research uncovered so much about the history of the seed corn industry in Shelby County that Kenkel published a book, “The Hybrid Corn Pioneers.” The book looks at the men who “made Shelby County the hybrid seed corn capital of Iowa from the 1920s through the 1960s.” Those companies included names, such as Holloway Brothers
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nating to learn about these companies,” Kenkel says. “I’ve lived here my entire life and really didn’t know a lot about them until I started doing the research.” Kenkel clears out the modern machinery in the spring, turning the building into a museum through the growing season. He plants a check wire plot nearby, using old hybrid seed to demonstrate the difference between the old and new lines. Kenkel and his wife,
Nadine, also host the Hybrid Corn Pioneers Historical Expo in late August. Visitors can tour the plots that represent three centuries of seed corn, as well as look at the machinery, seed sacks and other items. “We have a lot of fun with it,” Kenkel says. “Part of the reason to collect anything is to be able to show it to people, and I enjoy doing that.” He says finding vintage items is getting harder, but Kenkel adds he has been doing it long enough that people approach him about their collection. “I can tell you about the history of just about everything in my collection, and that’s really part of the fun of collecting,” he says. “Everything has a story behind it if you are willing to look for it.”
Photo by Rae Yost
A farmer harvest corn in an area field in October. Corn continues to be a major crop in Iowa and a major contributor to the state’s economy, various ag-related organizations say. In 2007, Iowa farmers produced 2.37 billion bushels of corn. With corn prices at $3.50, this crop contributes $8.3 billion to the state’s income. A 50¢ per bushel increase in corn prices adds much to state’s income, the Iowa Corn Growers Association said. In 2007, production agriculture and agrelated industries accounted for $72.1 billion, or 27% of Iowa’s total income, Iowa Corn Growers said. Farming provides the base for a variety of agri-food industries, including food processing.
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Salute to Corn
Summit • News-Tribune
2012’s Salute to Corn
ISU report: Ethanol hit record in 2011 corn-base fuel expired at the beginning of the year. Hart said that equates to 4.5 cents/gal. of E10. Based on current futures prices for ethanol and oil, Hart said blending margins aren’t as rosy as last year. Profits of 2 to 5 cents/gal. are predicted. “Even with the tax credit gone, it’s still positive,” Hart said.
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SHELL ROCK — Ethanol plants statewide produced a record amount of fuel last year, pumping up Iowa’s economy, according to a report from Iowa State University recently released. Iowa’s 41 ethanol refineries distilled 3.7 billion gallons, up 200,000 from 2010. However, experts say 2012 won’t be as kind to the industry. According to economists and industry experts, the results indicate turning corn into fuel continues to be a boon for the state. The report said the ethanol industry creates 5,995 jobs state-wide, contributes more than $1 billion to Iowa’s gross domestic product and more than $280 million in labor income. “That’s a lot of money,” said Dave Swenson, an ISU associate scientist and report author. “The labor income to workers, that’s what we care about. Rural areas are otherwise bleeding employment. Chad Hart, ISU grain economist, said ethanol plants are a primary buyer of corn. About 40 percent of the nation’s corn crop is turned into fuel. Competition and demand for corn are keeping corn prices high and extremely profitable. March corn on the Chicago Board of Trade sold for $6.58 per bushel on Jan. 4.
Hart estimates corn would be $2 to $3 per bushel without ethanol. “We’re talking about . . . $1 billion in added corn value alone,” Hart said. Enthusiasm for 2012 has waned, experts say. Government action and supply and demand will affect profitability of ethanol and possibly production. A tax credit of 45 cents/gal. for pure ethanol to encourage blenders to use the
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Feb. 15, 2012 A supplement to the Britt News Tiribune and Forest City Summit