Pride
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Agriculture
A different classroom Darnall Feedlot hosts IRM program page 6
A S TA R - H E R A L D P U B L I C AT I O N
W W W. S TA R H E R A L D . C O M
Hi-tech farming
Corn fed
Growing the future
Hands-on learning
Agriculture made more efficient with apps
Cornbread keeps couple connected to the community
FARM helping plant the seeds of tomorrow
Students learn skills of tomorrow in classroom today
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Photo by Maunette Loeks
Dr. John Post and Dr. Paul Post don’t collect fancy sports cars like maybe some doctors, but have an infinity for John Deere tractors. The two men collect tractors from the “30 series” of John Deere tractors because they were the last series of two-cylinder tractors. They have driven the tractors in the annual Oregon Trail Tractor Drive at the Farm And Ranch Museum. The John Deere tractors are “just for pretty,” the two men admitted.
Photos by Sandra Hansen
Sugar growers celebrate decade of progress By SANDRA HANSEN
Doctors use careers to support ag interests By MAUNETTE LOEKS
Ag Editor
The area sugar beet industry was in peril in 2000. Tate & Lyle North America Sugars, owner of the Western Sugar Company, which had operated in the region since 1910, wanted to get out of the sugar beet processing business, but had little interest from potential buyers. This spurred area sugar beet growers to take action when the British-owned corporation approached them about buying the company. Several producer representatives met to discuss possibilities for retaining the industry that had meant so much to families and businesses in northeastern Colorado, western Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, and southeastern Montana for more than a century “Tate & Lyle approached the growers to see if we were interested,” recalled Kevin Hall, Bridgeport area farmer and chairman of the Western Sugar Cooperative board of directors. “It was either the growers buy it, or there was a real possibility that there wouldn’t be a beet industry in the four-state region.” This had come close to happening in the 1980s when farmers failed in their attempt to purchase Western Sugar from owners, the Hunt brothers. In 2000, presidents of the various sugar beet grower associations gathered in Fort Morgan, Colo., to organize an interest-seeking effort. The group was led by Rick Dorn, a former president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association who had a good reputation in the industry and served as the co-op’s board president for the first year. In the beginning, the new entity was called Rocky Mountain Sugar Growers Cooperative. A letter was sent to growers asking for a $2 per acre pledge if they were interested in participating in the purchase. The money would be used to
Staff Reporter
move the project forward. Assets to be included in the purchase were factories at Greeley and Fort Morgan, Colo., Bayard and Scottsbluff, Neb., Lovell, Wyo., and Billings, Mont. There would also be storage facilities at Sterling, Longmont and Rocky Ford, Colo., and Mitchell, Neb. Hall said it took a lot of meetings and traveling, but an agreement was finally reached, and on April, 1, 2002, Western Sugar Cooperative became the official owner of the region’s sugar beet industry. The $185 million sale, which included property, equipment, grower receivables from 2000 crop, and working capital, was finalized April 30. Shares in the co-op were $185. The new name was selected in part to retain name recognition among customers. The new name was selected in part to retain name recognition with customers. In September 2002, the former Holly Sugar factory at Torrington, Wyo., was added to the co-op’s holdings when it was acquired from American Crystal. Then the decision had to be made re-
garding which plant to keep in operation — Torrington or Bayard. “Bayard would have made more sense, because of its location,” Hall said, gazing out his home office window with almost visible pictures of those early days before his eyes. “But the decision was made to keep Torrington because of its larger capacity.” Management and employees for the most part remained the same as had worked for Tate & Lyle. But as the new operation settled in, a few changes were made, and in 2003, Inder Mathur was hired as the new CEO. He then selected the team he wanted to work with. Mathur had previously worked for Tate & Lyle, but the British company wanted to keep him during the early days of the change, so the cooperative took a different route. In the meantime, Mathur had gone to work for Chiquita, and that was where the cooperative eventually approached him with an offer he couldn’t refuse. “He brought a lot of knowledge and experience,” Hall said of Mathur. See WSC, page 4
As Dr. Paul Post and his brother, Dr. John Post, sat down on a recent Saturday, Paul joked, “You are party to a real miracle, getting us together on a Saturday.” That’s because Paul, of Mitchell, and his brother, John, have inherited a family condition — the two men hardly seem to have any downtime as they juggle two full-time careers. Paul and John are both doctors at local hospitals and also take on the full-time duties of running their own farms. The two men have a lot in common — they are twins, after all — especially a penchant for story telling. They can talk at length about their family history, detailing their grandfather George Allen Post’s youth as a drifter and horse thief who entered into the Army to avoid prosecution. And his father, George Henry, had a “nefarious” background, dying in prison, they told a surprised listener. They have also inherited another family condition —“We’ve got farming in our blood,” Paul said. The Post family story — of ranching and medicine — starts with their late father, Dr. George “Pete” Post, who recently passed away on Feb. 13. He came to Morrill County from Lewellen in 1950, starting his own ranch with three or four milk cows. He and his wife, Emarie, had six kids — four of them boys “because he needed ranch hands,” the men joke, saying the ranch grew to 450 head. “He felt with four wild boys, he better have something for them to do,” Paul said. A family history of being involved in medicine also traces its way back generations, John says. After his grandfather, the Army-reformed drifter and horse thief, married his wife, Ruth M. (Mardis) Post, she was bound and determined that her son, Pete, would be a doctor. Pete Post attended Nebraska Wesleyan — another Post family tradition — for two years See POST, page 2
Meeting customer needs is a priority for potato equipment manufacturers By RHONDA SCHULTE For the Star Herald
TORRINGTON, Wyo. — Larr y and DeeDee Anderson, owners of US Small Farm Equipment Co., are preparing for another deliver y to the eastern United States. This trip means they’ve made sales, keeping their small business afloat. It also means they will meet new people and make new friends. The Andersons started manufacturing specialized potato equipment as AFIVEPLUS, Inc., in 1998 at a farm place a few miles off the Huntley highway south of Torrington, Wyo. Larr y designs and his wife takes care of sales and covers office duties. Eric, one of their three children, does fabrication. Larr y graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1968 with a mechanical engineering degree. He’s done a little farming, and worked at various other jobs since then. For 11 years he worked as a research engineer for a Gering outboard engine marine company. In 1989, he began designing potato planters
Photo by Rhonda Schulte
Larry and DeeDee Anderson work on a standard two-row planter that uses two one-row planting unit assemblies. It can be used to plant either whole seed or cut seed.
for Lockwood, an irrigation pivot and potato equipment manufacturer in Gering. During his eight years there, he designed the first vacuum potato planter. He then began designing custom equipment and developed a potato planter for another major potato equipment manufacturer. As a boy growing up in Tor-
rington, Larr y attended church regularly but without true Christian belief. “Then, when I was 15, God got my attention through a Sunday school teacher,” Larr y states on the US Small Farm website. “Finally, I gave in to God’s promptings and tr usted Christ as my Lord and Savior
as stated in John 3:16. “Outwardly little changed, but inwardly I no longer had the fear of the distant future. I also had different perspective and motivation.” While in junior and senior high school Larr y had worked for a local “truck farmer,” but aside from that experience, he knew little about farm equipment, nor did he think he would ever be involved in the potato equipment business. “I am convinced as I look back that God was guiding me down this path, preparing me years ago for this work through my work and living experiences,” states Larr y’s narrative. His time with Lockwood laid the foundation for Anderson to start up and manage a manufacturing operation. “I learned a lot about ever y facet of the business,” he said. Larr y eventually bought Lockwood’s one- and two-row planters, came up with a new configuration and started making them from scratch. When they began, the Andersons had two contracts, one from Califor-
nia and one from Idaho. In late 2006, they changed their business name to US Small Farm Equipment Company. Eric, an Eastern Wyoming College welding program graduate, buys the steel, builds the prototype planters and assembles all diggers in his 5,000-square-foot building at Worland, Wyo., where he lives with his family. He cuts metal sheets using a CNC Plasma cutter, bends them, welds and drills holes. Periodically he hauls the equipment to the Anderson farm, where painting, final assembly, packaging and shipping take place. Additions to the standard product line of planters and diggers have resulted from customer requests. They include a sweet potato option, a picking table extension and a sacking platform. Smaller products developed over the years include a small table model seed cutter and hilling discs. The demand from small acre farmers to mechanize has resulted in many other custom orders, See ANDERSON, page 3
2 SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012
Pride
Star-Herald
POST: Doctors use careers to support ag interests Continued from page 1 before serving in the U.S. Army as a medic, including a stint, along many adventures, at Walter Reed Hospital. He returned to Nebraska Wesleyan, and then attended the University of Nebraska Medical School before coming to work an internship with a Lewellen doctor. Before long, a Bridgeport pharmacist and two townspeople recruited Pete Post to come to Bridgeport. He served there for 44 years, teaching his sons to be farmers, ranchers and doctors. He helped lead the community’s medical community as its hospital grew from a veteran’s hospital to a well-respected community hospital. “The land where the hospital (Morrill County Community Hospital) is, we used to cut hay there,” John said. “I tell people, ‘Where the nurses station sits, we used to stack hay.’” As boys, John and Paul grew up under the ranching tutelage of their grandfather, George Allen. The elder George Allen was a great mechanic and great livestock man. “It is what got us interested in agriculture,” John said. “It is what we grew up doing.” “We could not get that out of our blood,” Paul said. For their father, ranching was “a means to an end,” John said. It allowed him an income to fund his agriculture interests, like purchasing “blow out” ranches along the North Platte River and cattle. To his two sons, John and Paul, he passed on his love for the river that serves as a life spring of the Valley and his philosophy. John followed him into medicine first. Paul followed suit. John joined his dad in the Bridgeport family practice in 1986. Paul Post leads an active medical career as an anesthesiologist at Regional West Medical Center. He works more than 80 hours a week, he said, even being interrupted during the interview as a nurse tried to track down the on-call doctor. Mostly, Paul says, because of primogeniture, a custom that the older sons of a family inherit the father’s estate, the two boys chose to go into medicine after two older brothers took over the operation of their father’s ranch. Paul jokes that he wasn’t interested in medicine until he was accepted into medical school. “I still remember saying to John at Wesleyan, ‘We will get back in the barn through the back door,’” Paul said of his love for the
Photos by Maunette Loeks
TOP: Dr. Paul Post talks to his brother, Dr. John Post, as the two brothers outline the family interest in ranches located near the North Platte River. Paul, John, their late father Pete, and their two older brothers all have had ranches bordering the river and consider it significant in their ranching and other activities, such as canoeing and hunting. ABOVE: Calving season is underway on the ranches of Dr. Paul Post and Dr. John Post. Cow and calf pairings on Dr. Paul Post’s ranch near Mitchell enjoyed shelter on a chilly and windy Saturday. LEFT: A metal sign, in the shape of the brand used on the ranch of Dr. Paul Post to mark his cattle, leans against a metal Quonset building on his cattle ranch.
family farm and ranch. “We call being doctors our ‘day jobs,’” John said, admitting that their “day jobs” can mean long shifts that stretch into days and late nights. Ranching also serves as an outlet, perhaps like golf does for some of their medical colleagues. The men said they don’t run large herds on their ranches because they don’t have the time or the land. Paul runs a herd of 40 shared with his hired man and John has 22 head on his Bridgeport ranch. They joke that they are called “hobby
farmers” by the Internal Revenue Service. “You have to have 30 head to be a ‘real’ rancher,” John said. “We don’t like that (being called hobby farmers),” Paul said. “We sure spend a lot of time and money on our hobby farms.” John sees himself retiring in a few years. As medicine changes, with more doctors going into specialties, r ural areas struggle to recruit physicians, and the career becomes more technological, he said he looks forward to enjoying his re-
tirement years ranching. Even so, they love what the do, taking care of feeding the cattle, fixing fences, working on machiner y, calving and hosting an annual branding involving three family farms. Paul’s proud, to say the least, of the rusted Geo Tracker he whips around his property. “It’d be a lot simpler for both of us if we didn’t run cattle,” Paul admits. “We could sit at home in our rocking chairs, wiggling our ears. But neither one of us would give up our farming and ranching because we like it.”
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Pride
Star-Herald
SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012 3
ANDERSON: Meeting customer needs is priority Continued from page 1
Photos by Rhonda Schulte
Chop saws used to cut metal are among the useful tools the Andersons use during the manufacturing process.
LEFT: Larry Anderson wipes dust from a hitch that will be attached to a two-row planter at the US Small Farm Equipment shop near Huntley. ABOVE: Plastic bags work as dust covers until it’s time to ship or deliver these potato diggers. Then the plastic is heated to shrink and form a tight protective film around each piece of equipment.
Hawaii and Canada. The Andersons agree that meeting people is the most satisfying aspects of operating their business. “We meet some really neat people, obviously,” said Larry. “They are people well worth knowing.” Buyers will drive long distances for the potato equipment. They’ve come from southern Missouri and Tennessee. The Andersons recall a man who drove from Wisconsin even though it would have cost less to ship. Another traveled from Washington to talk about making a custom planter for lily bulbs. (There were too many complexities to make it worthwhile). A Native American tribe from a North Dakota reser-
vation purchased small farm equipment for a beginning farmer program there. Some customers are rather eccentric. The Andersons tell several loading stories, such as the one about people who arrived to load a sizeable piece of equipment into a mini van. “We had this much room,” said DeeDee, placing her thumb and index fingers an inch apart. They remember the careless buyer who loaded a long machine without securing it properly with tie-downs. “It’ll make it,” the buyer assured the Andersons. They weren’t so sure. When a colony pickup pulled up, the Andersons wondered what the men were going to do with the
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such as harvesters. “It’s the most sophisticated piece of equipment we’ve made,” said DeeDee. Much less sophisticated is the water cage plant protector the Andersons manufacture. It’s a water containing device to protect tomato plants, pepper plants or other tender plants from freezing temperatures and wind early in the season. “That’s the only thing we truly manufacture here,” said Larry. “All the work is done at Torrington.” Landscaping pins, a specialty product designed to hold landscape fabric in place, are another side product. Most sales go to county tree programs and conservations districts. In their first year of production, the Andersons sold eight diggers and four planters. Order volume picked up the second year after the US Small Farm website went live. “We were just buried in work,” said Larry. Last year they sold 20 planters and 33 diggers. They are pleased with sales, but don’t necessarily plan to expand the operation. “The market will tell us,” Larry said. “We decided in the beginning we wouldn’t finance anything.” They prefer to let customers find them rather than to aggressively market the products. “We are not going to be knocking on anyone’s door,” said Larry. “We’re pretty low-key, a low-pressure business.” “As far as sales pitches,” DeeDee added with a smile. Slow sales periods haven’t concerned the Andersons. “It’s funny how it goes dead and then, boom, it gets busy,” said Larry. Standard machines have a set price. A one-row cup type planter costs $3,500; two rows go for $6,800. A small one-row potato digger sells for $3,800. The larger, pull type digger costs $6,700 (add another $1,600 for the optional long tail). Custom order prices depend on the project. Equipment is shipped for $600. It arrives in parts for assembly. The Andersons will deliver, but only if the expense to do so is less than the shipping cost. That generally takes a pretty big load, said Larry. Proceeds from one harvest year will pay for a digger on one acre of potatoes, according to Larry. He and DeeDee know from experience. They plant threefourths of an acre of potatoes on land outside the shop door. It’s a handy test plot for equipment. A typical customer is from a populated area, where people grow for local farmers markets or natural foods buyers. Most live east of the Missouri River. US Small Farm Equipment has been shipped as far as Saudi Arabia (purchased through a Texas buyer), Bermuda, Alaska,
truck bed full of camping stuff. The men told their boys to unload everything. The potato digger went onto the truck bed, and somehow the boys managed to put the camping stuff back, too.
The Andersons plan for Eric to take over someday. For now, Larry and DeeDee continue to work side by side in their shop in the country. How did Larry convince his college sweetheart and
wife to run the drill, answer the phone, check e-mails, do financial statements and take orders? “She signed up for this in 1965,” said Larry, as DeeDee nodded.
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4 SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012
Pride
Star-Herald
WSC: Sugar beet growers celebrate a decade of progress Continued from page 1 Looking back on the past 10 years, Hall said it has been challenging. “It was a large risk, and there was a lot of worry and concern about the growers and the money they had invested if it didn’t work,” he said. “There was a real sense of urgency and concern. We knew we needed to do it, but we were concerned about doing it right and if we’d be successful.” The financing remained a concern for a few more years. The young co-op hadn’t proven itself yet, and banks were skeptical of the outcome. “In 2004, the interest rate was very high, and we were looking at high unit retains for the following year,” Hall explained. “We were at $4-5 retains at that point. We needed a bank that would go longer term and was more grower friendly. We needed a better interest rate and payment plan.” That was when the fledgling co-op found S&G, or Societe Generale Group, a French banking firm with locations in 77 countries that refinanced the cooperative. “They were a real godsend,” Hall said. “That was a big deal in the history of the co-op. Those first couple of years, there was a lot of anxiety for us.” Hall said the refinancing gave Western some breathing room, and made it possible to work with what they had. There were some good crops in there, which helped. However, in 2005, quality and quantity losses in the piled beets became a big problem. Again S&G stepped in to support the co-op, and carried them through. Unit retains, money held from each producer’s check to help finance operating expenses, were set at $2.50/share/acre, and have remained at that level. In crop year 2006, a 30 percent over-plant was allowed. The next year, a 20 percent over-plant was allowed, and more shares were sold in 2006-07. These actions were taken in order to maintain operating levels in the company’s factories. This spell was followed immediately in 2007-08 when it became difficult to find acres for sugar beets. Corn, beans and wheat prices sky rocketed, while sugar prices dropped. Farmers were still struggling with irrigation supplies, as well. “We had trouble getting ground and people to raise sugar beets,” Hall said. Even though there were penalties for not growing sugar beets, some shareholders opted to grow those high return commodity crops. In 2008, the value of shares in the co-op hit bottom. In some areas, they could not be given away. Prices ranged from $0 to $250 a share. According to Hall, those were stressful years for the young start-up company, but shareholders always got their beet payments, and unit retains remained steady. In 2010, the company began revolving the retains back to the shareholders. They are now being returned, in full, to the shareholders. In 2010, the ’02 retains were returned. In 2011, the ’03 retains were dispensed, and this year, the ’04 retains will be returned. All patronage, or profits, through crop year 2008, has also been paid back to the shareholders. Since 2008, the sugar beet industry has been on an upward swing. Prices, according to Hall, are increasing and firming up, or not experiencing spikes that drop back. They are now in the mid-$40 range. Probably the biggest boost to the industry occur red in 2008 when Roundup Ready sugar beets came on the market. The plants are resistant to the Roundup herbicide, which has reduced inputs and produces a higher
Photo by Sandra Hansen
quantity and quality beet crop. Even though there have been legal challenges to the new beets, and additional research trials were ordered, the beets are being grown under a partial USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service de-regulation, which is expected to be lifted this year. “Roundup beets helped the cooperative and the shareholders,” Hall said. “We had been struggling to keep enough tonnage to keep the factories full. We get all the tonnage we need now.” In order to keep from over-producing, which leads to pile spoilage and sugar losses when the beets can’t be processed quick enough, a pro-rated minimal allocation is in place throughout the company. Nebraska is at 97 percent, Colorado at 92 percent, Montana has 97.5 percent, and Lovell is at 95.5 percent. “With the price increase
for sugar, the demand to grow sugar beets has grown very strong,” Hall explained. “Most recently, shares have been going for $1,000 in some areas. Nebraska is in the $800 range.” Rental rates have also gone up for sugar beets. Producers are paying about $250 an acre, a considerable increase from the original $185. All of Western’s growing areas are filled, with about 1,000 shareholders/growers, and 131,000 shares/acres company wide. The cooperative is managed through a ninemember board of directors, with two from each growing area, and one from the Nebco region in northeastern Colorado and southwestern Nebraska. To keep the company successful and moving forward, Hall said grower meetings have been initiated to educate them See WSC, page 5
Pride
Star-Herald
SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012 5
WSC: Sugar beet growers celebrate decade of progress Continued from page 4
Photo by Sandra Hansen
Kevin Hall, chairman of the Western Sugar Cooperative Board of Directors, maintains contact with the company’s staff and other board members through his home office north of Bridgeport. Hall, a progressive producer, has been chairman since June 2003.
about steps that can be taken to make them and the factories more ef ficient, which translates into more income for ever yone. We s t e r n h a s a l s o launched a five-year strategic plan. During that time, $110 million will be spent on factor y improvements, piling areas, storage facilities, etc. They will also be working closely with the EPA to meet its standards, which is ver y key to a successful operation, Hall said. “The business has grown ver y strong over the past 10 years,” Hall said. “It’s due to good management, higher com-
modity prices, and shareholders staying in there raising sugar beets, not coming in and going out. “It’s a big accomplishment for the shareholders and the management team that have made the past thr ee years ver y profitable. “We have matured as a company, and using other companies as a benchmark, the co-operative has done real well.” Hall said the community response also has been great. “They’re glad to have this economic engine in their communities, and they support the factories and industr y. The smaller communities even more so.”
Hall thankful for co-op, opportunities taxpayer, but there are people in Congress who want to eliminate it, or BRIDGEPORT — Kevin c h a n g e t h e s u g a r Hall, a Bridgepor t area beet/cane sugar indusfarmer and chairman of tries into program crops, the Western Sugar Coop- m u c h l i k e c o r n a n d erative Board of Directors, wheat, which rely on tax says he has learned a lot revenue for support. The during the past 10 years. sugar program is supHe was elected to the ply/demand driven. chair manT r a d e ship in agreements At the end of a l s o b e a r June 2003, one year the day, it’s a w a t c h i n g , after the Hall said. c o o p e r a - good industry, and “ T h e y a r e t i v e t o o k beneficial to the always a ownership communities and concern. We of Western need to Sugar. He shareholders watch to be h a d sure they ser ved as are fair vice presi– Kevin Hall, a g r e e dent prior Western Sugar Cooperative ments.” to that. C o r n Board of Directors chairman “ I ’ m sweeteners glad the are also on shareholders have given the watch list. Litigation me the opportunity to do is under way to determine it,” he said, admitting it whether corn “sugar” is h a s b e e n s t r e s s f u l a t really a sugar equal to times. “But overall, it’s beet and cane sugar. been ver y good.” And underlying all of He credits having a sol- these issues is the cost of id board membership with p r o d u c t i o n . A l t h o u g h being able to have good farmers, sugar beet and lengthy discussions and other crops, have enjoyed b e i n g a b l e t o w o r k increased prices during through to solutions that the past two or three have been good for all. years, their costs are also A good management increasing at a break-neck team lead by CEO Inder pace. In addition to makMathur, who according to ing up for recent poor revHall, is an excellent choice enue years, producers are for the job, has made it facing higher inputs and even better, Hall said. interest rates on loans. Even though the compaIn spite of these chalny is doing well now, lenges, Hall said the sugar there are industr y issues, beet industry is a good domestic and global, that place to be for producers, need watching, according and is a regional asset. to Hall. Probably at the “At the end of the day, top of the list is govern- it’s a good industry, and ment programs. The cur- beneficial to the communirent sugar beet program ties and shareholders,” operates at no cost to the Hall said. By SANDRA HANSEN Ag Editor
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6 SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012
Star-Herald
A different classroom: Darnall Feedlot hosts IRM program By SANDRA HANSEN Ag Editor
BANNER COUNTY — Education happens in a variety of environments. There’s the formal classroom with blackboards and rows of desks, with a teacher at the front of the room. There are symposiums with students clustered around an educator, sharing ideas. Or ... there are feedlots with students of all ages and backgrounds watching moder n technology determine any number of factors that will result in a high quality animal raised especially for your dinner table. The latter is the mode of learning found at Darnall Feedlot east of Harrisburg in Banner Count y. F o r m o r e t h a n 2 0 years Gar y Darnall and his son, Lane, have hosted an Integrated Resources Management program that was developed by the University of Nebraska. According to Gar y Darnall, its purpose is education. “I can’t say enough for the program that helps infor m ranchers about what the feedlot segment of their livestock operation does. We gather information for them about per formance and carcass quality,” Dar nall said, crediting Ivan Rush and Don Huls for the program and its success. Rush recently retired from the UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center where he ser ved as Extension beef specialist. Huls is a retired Dawes County Extension educator. “They’ve r eceived awards for their work in initiating IRM, and the program has had a big impact in other par ts of the countr y.” For their par t, the Darnalls track progress of the animals throughout their stay in the feedlot. Owners get per formance and carcass data that they can use however they want, whether for improving herd genetics or learning more about the quality of their animals. Darnall said about 1520 producers par ticipate each year, and some have animals enrolled more than one year. Overall, he estimates about 100-125 dif ferent producers have taken advantage of the program. The length of time they have cattle enrolled depends on the amount of infor mation they want, Darnall said. Most are three to five years, with an average of five to seven animals. A new educational oppor tunity began thr ee years ago when area FFA and 4-H youth took advantage of the IRM. Par ticipants have included vocational agricultur e students from Banner County High School, and 4-H youth from Chadron. About 15-20 youth have taken advantage of the oppor tunity, with some in IRM for two years. “Most have just one animal, and Dar nall Ranches provides animals for those who want that option. Their main purpose is to learn about the feedlot segment,” Darnall said, sitting at a table in the meeting room of the Dar nall Ranch feedlot of fice. “They get a feed bill and all the data, just like the producers get. “These youth are the most fun,” Darnall said, explaining that they sit around a table and talk about whatever the students are interested in. “Some are here because their buddy is, but others are focused and have some good questions. They are eager to learn more, and that’s what makes it fun.” The students had toured the feedlot prior to the Feb. 11 Appreciation Lunch. They got to see how the program works, including the ultrasound process that is used to help determine when the animals will be har vested. They learned how the cattle are fed, and what they are fed,
and what to expect in yield and grade quality, and how the grids work when the animals ar e sold. “It’s encouraging to see youth wanting to lear n more in agriculture,” Darnall said. “We need them to be involved. We need the small producers. The schools need them and the downtown businesses need them.” Producers enrolled in the IRM par ticipate in 7 a.m. conference calls once a month to review progress on their animals, and to give input on what they would like to know more about. Their comments are used to help decide what speakers will address the annual Appreciation Lunch at the feedlot of fices. They also discuss marketing dates and how to lock in the best prices. “It all lets them feel like they are par t of the process and are par ticipating,” Dar nall said. “That’s especially important for the youth.” According to Darnall, IRM changes as changes occur in the livestock industr y. What was important 20 or even 10 years ago, might not be the most impor tant issue in 2012. “It’s just whatever is happening now,” Darnall said. Computers have been the one change that was ver y welcome and has continued to be a major factor in the program. Before they came on the scene, the paper work was done with pencil and paper. Now the numbers, which include the feedlot number of the owner, owner tag color and information, star ting weight, mid-term ultrasound weight, pounds of gain, ultrasound fat, ultrasound marbling, the marketing group, yield grade in inches of back fat and quality grade.They are all sorted by heifer or steer calves and yearlings. Also, there are purchase weight, off truck weight, pay weight out, total gain, death loss, net gain, total feed cost, medications/hospital costs processing costs, insur-
Photos by Sandra Hansen
Gary Darnall is proud of the operation that has grown from his great-grandfather’s homestead that was proved up in the late 1890s. Darnall and his son, Lane, along with help from grandchildren and a small army of employees, manages the the feedlot and accompanying farm.
Gary Darnall thanks Rick Funston, UNL beef cattle reproductive physiologist, for his presentation during the annual appreciation lunch that was for all producers in the Pen of 5 IRM project. Jim Robb, director at the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver, Colo., reviews price trends for participants in the Integrated Resources Management program during the annual appreciation lunch, which was at Darnall Feedlot in February.
Gary Darnall reveiws a bid with Ruth Ammon, his office manager. Securing the best price for each animal and each owner is a major concern of Darnall Feedlot
ance costs, brand inspection cost, freight and any miscellaneous costs. There are numbers for total pounds fed, average pounds fed per head per day, total days, average head per day, average cost per hundredweight of gain, total cattle cost, total feedlot cost, and total invested. Total cost of cattle, feedlot, and profit per
head and estimated break even amount are also included. “There are no names on the tags or printouts,” Darnall said. “We don’t want to turn this into a contest. It’s just to provide a good performance record, for the producer’s benefit. “It’s a real educational thing,” he said. AS LOW AS
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Groskopfs: Brothers in agriculture By CHABELLA GUZMAN Staff Reporter
The Groskopf brothers, Larry and Vern, are like many farmers in the Valley. They have been in the agriculture business since birth and have a diversified enough businesses to keep them busy throughout the year. Unlike some farmers, they have been partners since they were ver y young. The brothers have always split the business and work down the middle. Now they run Groskopf Land & Cattle, Groskopf Seed and Groskopf Manufacturing. “From the beginning, that is the way it’s always been.” said Vern. “ We both do whatever needs to be done.” Larry and Vern took the farming operation over from their father, Edwin, after he retired in the fall of 1973. They raised all the staples, as Vern put it, which included sugar beets, dry beans, corn and fed cattle at the time. When the 1980s hit and many struggled with the economy, the brothers opened a sideline business in welding. “We started doing welding jobs and built six test Photo by Chabella Guzman Courtesy photo plot harvesters for Holly Sugar, Beta Seed and the With a degree in welding, Vern Groskopf has worked with his brother On vacation recently, Larry Groskopf took time from his farming Panhandle Extension,” to grow their agricultural business into other venues. The brothers responsibilities to travel in his fifth-wheel camper to Arizona with his own Groskopf Manufacturing, selling irrigation pipe and doing wife. While he has enjoyed time in Arizona, he is looking forward to Vern said. the spring and planting season. Vern has a degree in some repairs. welding he received from “I enjoy tilling and watch“I was born a farmer’s son can say farming is just in Western Nebraska Community College. The broth- ing the seed grow,” he said. and enjoyed it. I guess you our blood.” ers started with a Heston 565 Har vester that they modified to test plots. “We had to build decks with scales where five or six people could ride with computers,” he said. “We also had to make sure they could be transpor ted down the road.” Each har vester took about four months to create, and the brothers built a total of seven before the WE ARE SELLING HOMES!!! IF YOU THINK YOU market dried up. It was a MIGHT WANT TO SELL CALL US TODAY! rewarding venture even if they didn’t make a lot of money. “It was rewarding to know you built something,” he said. “We made a lot of good friendships Cinda Munoz, GRI Donna Garl, GRI Jesslyn Strey Bob Hergenreder JR Osborn Broker 631-5440 631-1576 Alliance 631-2591 641-3231 641-5603 with the Panhandle Extension, John Smith, Bob WilWE are your TEAM when you think Real Estate! son and Bob Yountz. It was W W W.CALLBUYERSRE ALT Y.COM a good venture.” However, the industry or stop by changed, Vern said, and 3321 Ave I, Scot tsbluf f the machines changed with it. Larry and Vern took on a new venture in selling Your hometown connection for real estate. DeKalb Corn in 1986 and are one of the area’s oldest dealers of the seed. Looking for new capital, the brothers eventually found themselves in the pipe business. They had already left the cattle side of the business behind and, with a flip of a coin, got out of sugar beets. “When the co-op started, we decided to flip a We have the specialized equipment and trained technicians it takes to deliver the coin,” he said. “Continue in sugar beets or not. It highest quality body repair and paint solutions for your vehicle. Don’t trust your car was heads, and that’s why we’re not in sugar anyto anyone but the customer-recommended experts at Scottsbluff Body & Paint. more.” 1) Scottsbluff's only PPG Envirobase Water Born 7) Computerized Estimating The pipe business bePaint Certified Collision Center 8) Auto Detail Center gan in 1991. Gated pipe is 2) I-Car Trained & Factory Trained Technicians 9) Lifetime Written Paint Warranty the biggest part of the 3) Paintless Dent Repair 10) Chief EZ Liner Frame Equipment businesses, followed by 4) All Data Factory Specs 11) Genesis Computerized Frame and Measuring System underground pipe and 5) Windshield & Glass Replacement 12) Two Down Draft, Baking Spray Booths steel culvert. Now they 6) Computerized Paint Matching Systems 13) 24 Hour Towing - 635-3118 also do some sprinkler repairs, water screens and pumps for pivots. “There are different aspects I enjoy about ag,” said Larry. “But I enjoy our customer base. Our seed business is not a large one, but a good one.” He added that agriculture has always been good to the family. While the brothers don’t live in the city, with neighbors every few yards, they consider their neighborhood to be a close one. It takes in about three to four miles around the farm between a couple of hilly ranges. “Rural life is quiet and peaceful,” Vern said. “We have a very good neighborhood. The people are very kind and get along well. We all work together. If one of us was to have disaster, everyone comes and is willing to help.” While Larry does vacation in Arizona in the winter months, he looks forward to coming home to Scottsbluff.
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Now there are apps for agriculture By BRANDON NELSON Staff Reporter
Looking to compare the prices of various forms of nitrogen fertilizer products? Well, there’s an app for that. Farmers and others in the industry, such as Rick Swenson, a Minnesota-based regional agronomist for Crop Production Ser vices, are finding they can use their cell phone for more than talking. Swenson has found several “apps” for his phone that help him do his job more efficiently. One of the computer software applications allows him to be out in the fields and call up images of diseased plants on his cell phone. This allows him to see the images and have a better idea of what to look for when surveying a field for crop disease. “It’s a good tool for teaching,” Swenson says. In years past, farmers gathered information they needed from almanacs, and weather and market pages in the newspaper. They took advice from implement and seed dealers and swapped ideas and perspectives with fellow farmers over coffee in the local café. It was never an exact science. The growing smartphone, app and social media worlds have yielded technological advances that are taking more of the guesswork out of the farming process. Farmers can now monitor weather trends, identify pests, determine the need for equipment maintenance and express their life and work to the public like never before. The process of applying this smartphone technology to farming is still in its infancy, but many useful programs are already available. The University of Nebraska Lincoln has developed an app to assist in determining the extent of an aphid infestation. South Dakota State University has developed several apps, including ones that address soybean diseases and noxious weeds in the state. Emery Tschetter, assistant director for marketing and accountability at South Dakota State University, said apps for stand count, grain moisture and harvest loss are also planned. Agriculturalists are accustomed to learning about and using new technology. Tschetter said agriculturalists are and should be interested in smartphones and apps. Also, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are bringing the farmer closer to their customers. At times, people take their food for granted and do not really consider how their food arrived on their plate. Connie Hancock, an extension educator at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, said through these social tools, the farmer’s voice is being heard once again. “The farmer gets a direct line to the customer through social media,” Hancock said. “They can tweet from their tractor.” With the growing interest in where food comes from, farmers can now use outlets like Twitter to get the word out about what they do. With an ever-growing, pocketsize database, farmers are able to access and communicate valuable information from the field. “It’s giving a face to the farmer,” Hancock said. “The consumer wants to get to know the farmer.” Implement dealers are also part of the growing Internet presence in agriculture. Systems like the JDLink telematic allow farmers and fleet managers to monitor their equipment remotely. Farmers can log into the JDLink website by way of a computer or smartphone. From there, they can monitor a tractor’s current location, fuel consumption, maintenance requirements and how long the tractor has been running. Paul Krantz, a sales representative for Frank Implement Company in Scottsbluff, said the JDLink technology is included in all new John Deere tractors and combines. “It makes serviceability a lot easier,” Krantz said. “It lets people manage equipment more efficiently.” With so many new methods being made available, it is almost inevitable that the face of farming will change. For many people in the
The display of an AFS Guidance & Steering FM-750 control panel. Systems like the FM-750 can be programmed to guide a tractor over pre-determined path with pinpoint accuracy. Here is a list of apps and websites from the University of Nebraska Panhandle and Research Center and the Cheyenne County Extension Office that are available for use for people in agriculture. ■ SoilWeb http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/ drupal/node/886 — Determines soil type, water holding capacity and other soil characteristics. http://blogs.usda.gov/2012/02/03/asmartphone-app-provides-new-way-toaccess-soil-survey-information/ ■ N Price Calculator http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/n-pricecalculator/id455090088?mt8 — gives the ability to compare the price of various forms of nitrogen fertilizer products in terms of their price per pound of nitrogen. ■ Corn N Rate Calculator http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/soilfertility/nrate.aspx — Iowa State University — assistance in selecting a Nitrogen (N) rate that improves profitability with fluctuating corn and N prices. ■ NPIPM Soybean Pest Guide http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/npipmsoybean-guide/id422404212?mt8 — A field notebook to help identify insects. ■ Growing Degree Days http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/growing-degree-days/id386655475?mt8 — Keeps up-to-date information on weather and growing degree days. ■ ArcGIS http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/index.html or http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/arcgis/id3 79687930?mt8 — An ESRI app that measures fields and views in different maps. ■ Revalor http://www.revalor.com/ — A beef implant planner. ■ Farm Minder/Chemical Caddy http://itunes.apple.com/ng/app/farmminder/id499547125?mt8 — Can access the “Farm Minder” account as well as the latest labels and MSDS for the most suitable pesticide or animal health solutions.
■ Brownfield http://brownfieldagnews.com/brownfield-mobile/ — Similar app to Farm Progress that allows the user to listen to news reports on grain, livestock and more.
Photos by Brandon Nelson
Dustan Keener, a precision farming specialist for HorizonWest Inc., demonstrates the user-friendliness of a self-guiding tractor system. Keener said these systems direct a tractor’s movement down to the inch with 95 percent accuracy.
■ Husker Harvest Days http://farmprogress.com/story-huskerharvest-days-app-introduced-0-52971 — This app is useful for planning a trip to Husker Harvest Days. ■ TurfMgmt http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/turfgrass-management-subscription/id331813805?mt8 — A handy app to help diagnose the damage an insect or disease is causing as well as identify a weed or insect. ■ True Local http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/true-local-2.0/id420481743?mt8 — This “fresh” app is an example of a tool that has been developed for Madison Wisconsin Farmers Markets. It has the user scan barcodes to help the user find and purchase local foods. ■ LeafsnapHD http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/leafsnap/id430649829?mt8 — This tree leaf identification app is an example of an upand-coming app. By using the phone’s camera, this app allows the user to identify different types of the shape of their leaves. In the future, the app may identify the trees by their DNA. ■ Aphid Speed Scout http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aphidspeed-scout/id454600279?mt8 — A UNL Extension app to assist in determining aphid infestation levels that warrant treatment. ■ Farm Progress http://farmprogressdaily.com/ — This website allows the user to select a farm magazine in a state or region for news, market quotes, blogs and more.
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SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012 9
Courtesy photo Photo by Sandra Hansen
Jerome Otto, left, representative of Dowe Agri Science in Scottsbluff, visits with Slade Franklin, weed and pest coordinator for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, during a February meeting of the Upper North Platte River Weed Management Area in Wheatland, Wyo. Private businesses and individuals are encouraged to join government entities in an effort to reclaim habitat from invasive species such as Russian olive and salt cedar.
Platte County, Wyo., weed and pest department former employ Bob Gilbert treated Russian olive trees at Gray Rocks Reservoir. The project has reclaimed much of the lake’s surrounding landscape for recreation and livestock grazing.
Invasive weeds target of five-county management project the group has determined its initial objectives. These include forming cooperaTORRINGTON, Wyo. — tive partnerships with loIt took decades for inva- cal, state and federal agensive plants such as Russ- cies, private landowners ian olive and salt cedar to and non-government orgain a strangle hold on ri- ganizations to effectively parian areas of eastern manage Russian olive and Wyoming and western Ne- salt cedar along the North braska. Reclaiming the Platte River drainage. Secland is also ond, is to imgoing to take pr ove biodiThe a long time, versity along Cooperative t h e N o r t h especially over such a Agreement has Platte River large territo- no obligation to for habitat, r y and with wildlife, agric u r r e n t f i - do anything. We culture and nancial con- would just like to recreation, straints. get a list of those and, finally, to H o w e v e r, who are on board facilitate cohethis is not sive education deter ring a with this idea. The a n d u n d e r d e d i c a t e d longer the list, the standing begroup of in- more likely we are t w e e n t h e d i v i d u a l s to get grants and weed managewho live and ment area other funding. work in the par tners, as North Platte well as – Steve Brill, R i v e r Supervisor of Goshen l a n d o w n e r s , drainage of County Weed and Pest o n t h e i m Wyoming. Department p a c t s a n d Reducing treatment of the number Russian olive of harmful plants and edu- and salt cedar. Reclamacating area residents, both tion guidelines and annuurban and rural, on the al operating plans will value of opening the land also be addressed. to its former state, are According to Steve among the goals of the Brill, super visor of the professional weed man- Goshen County Weed and agement individuals and Pest depar tment, and other state and federal originator of the effort, agency managers who are the focus will be on Russorganizing a five-county ian olive and salt cedar, effort. but other invasive plants Representing weed and will be included. pest management dis“Once the partners and tricts, the Bureau of Recla- clear objectives are estabmation and several other lished, we’ll begin to oragencies in Carbon, Conganize the education, verse, Goshen, Natrona and Platte counties, they projects and funding,” have been putting togeth- Brill said. “This is a longer an organization that will term commitment, and spearhead the efforts of while removing as much the Upper Nor th Platte Russian olive as possible River Weed Management is our overall goal, educaArea. Now in its third year, tion is our immediate priBy SANDRA HANSEN Ag Editor
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ority, both within the management area group and with the public.” Among the educational possibilities has been the production of a 34-minute video that is in limited release. Three years in the making, “River of Time, Wyoming’s Evolving North Platte River” tells See WEEDS, page 10
Scottsbluff, NE • 308-632-4440 Torrington, WY • 307-532-7071
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10 SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012
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Photos by Sandra Hansen
Rudy Hackett, an employee at the Goshen County Weed & Pest office, sprays tree stumps as part of the ongoing Russian olive and salt cedar eradication program.
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Mae Smith, left, University of Wyoming range management specialist based at Rawlins, Wyo., and Jaimy Cass, weed and pest supervisor at Saratoga, Wyo., for Carbon County, check their notes on the recent five-county weed management meeting in Wheatland, Wyo.
WEEDS: Target of five-county management project Continued from page 9 the stor y of the Nor th Platte River’s development, and efforts to contain Russian olive and salt cedar along its course and its tributaries. The video was made by Insight Creative Digital Video Production owner Becky McMillan of Scottsbluff. Funding came from the five Wyoming counties, Goshen County CRM committee, Wyoming Private Grazing Lands Team, and the U.S. Park Ser vice. The $17,000 project resulted in the production of 2,000 copies, which will be distributed free of charge. The video will be shown later on Nebraska Public Television, and possibly NE2, which, according to Brill, is important because a lot of southeaster n Wyoming viewers cannot get Wyoming public TV. Discussions with the Wyoming station are ongoing. Those interested in joining the effort may sign a Cooperative Agreement, which has a five-year life. There is no financial obligation, nor time commitment. It is mainly a statement of support for the Upper North Platte River Weed Management Area
project. Signers are encouraged to give whatever form of support they can, whether volunteer, outreach or other promotional opportunities. “The Cooperative Agreement has no obligation to do anything,� Brill emphasized. “We would just like to get a list of those who are on board with this idea. The longer the list, the more likely we are to get grants and other funding.� During the early Februar y meeting, 16 members of the group discussed their next step, an operating plan that will include an appendix of contractors, and guidelines for treatments. They also discussed possible projects that could be used for public education. “We also want to get feedback on this video,� Brill said. “If it’s successful, we could use that information to produce the next one, if funding is available.� Future plans for the weed management area activities include public oriented events, such as a demonstration at the Wyoming State Fairgrounds in Douglas. “If we’re successful, in 2013
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Pride
Star-Herald
SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012 11
Cornbread keeps couple connected to community By CHABELLA GUZMAN Staff Reporter
MORRILL — Nestled among acres of farmland north of Morrill is a small white building where some locally famous cornbread muffins are made. Monte and Nancy Flock own the farm and the building, just a few yards from their home. It was created to make Monte’s cooking venture easier. “I used to borrow kitchens,” he said. “But it was always a lot of work to get the cornbread mix and stuff to the kitchen and sometimes it wouldn’t be available next year. So I just decided to put it all into a building closer to me.” The cornbread muffins grew out of an idea Monte had while watching TV after being snowed in at Denver. It was near Thanksgiving and the newscast was about an individual who fed 25,000 people for Thanksgiving. “When I came home I saw that KNEB (radio station) had just had their first Thanksgiving in the Valley,” he said. “I volunteered the next year to make cornbread muffins.” He figured they would ask for a couple of dozen, but was surprised when they requested enough to feed 250 people. “I met the challenge,” he said. “And have been doing it ever since.” While most people might know the Flocks for their cor nbread muf fins, the couple has been active in bringing produce to the community for dozens of years. Monte Flock was born and raised in Morrill on the land his grandfather, Francis Powell, homesteaded while on his way to Idaho. Powell had stopped in Nebraska on his way west and figured that after three years he’d have the deed for the 80 acres and could sell the land and move on to Idaho. As it tur ned out, he raised his family on the farm that eventually became Flock’s farm. His parents had seen the Vietnam War coming and encouraged him to enroll in the Peace Corps, where he spent several years. “I was in Ethiopia working. I loved the country and the people. It was a wonderful time,” he said. “I could see the coup that was coming and I ran out of jobs, so I came back to the U.S.” He met Nancy in Colorado and the couple moved back to Morrill to farm with Monte’s dad, Dale, in 1973. They started growing a big garden, raised chickens, ducks and cows and processed and ate most of what they raised.
They got into farmers markets while they were teaching their children, Tom and Katie, about economics and hard work. “The kids sold sweet corn at the Walmart parking lot to purchase a game or something big,” Nancy said. “Our neighbors started selling produce at the Torrington (Wyo.) farmers market and we started after a really big crop of tomatoes one year.” They would take their extra veggies, and when Morrill started a market, they star ted taking produce to that one. “It soon became too big to be a hobby, but is too small to be a business,” Monte said. Along with selling vegetables, they also sell jams and the cornbread mix. It became apparent the cornbread was the connection that bonded Monte and Nancy’s philosophy of helping others to the majority of their projects. Even before Monte and Nancy began making the bread for KNEB, Monte was busy giving demonstrations to children at area schools about where food comes from. “I star ted the demonstrations about 45 years ago,” Monte said. “My son (Tom) was in preschool and a friend who taught there knew I did the demonstrations and asked me to come to the school.” He started visiting several schools, prompting him to volunteer for Thanksgiving in the Valley, then Morrill’s Thanksgiving, and a soup supper here and there. Last year, Flock and his squad of volunteers baked exactly 719 muf fins, an odd number because of some overzealous filling of the tins. They ran out of mix for the last one. “We had enough and it wasn’t bad, as some of the muffins break coming out
Photos by Chabella Guzman
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Entrepreneurs Monte and Nancy Flock of Morrill relax in their kitchen. The two-room kitchen holds a variety of cooking necessities that are used for their cornbread muffins. Flock purchased and modified a cement mixer for his cornbread muffins. He mixed stone and water in the mixer to polish the inside and then mixed corn to prime it. Monte Flock shows off one of his grinders that he purchased and modified to meet his kitchen’s needs. The grinder originally had a flat belt that ran it. Flock changed the belt out for an electric motor. One of the appliances in Flock’s kitchen that he is most proud of is the oven he purchased when the Morrill Elementary School moved. The kitchen is certified with sinks, oven, stove, tables and a variety of cooking utensils.
of the tins, and a few get what my grandfather told ‘ T h i s v a l l e y ( M o r r i l l ) gave the most of anyplace eaten,” he said. “I’ll never my dad and then me: promised the least but I’ve ever seen.” forget the number though.” He now has a cer tified kitchen after attending a food cooperative seminar and deciding to get his facility inspected. Since retiring from farming a few years ago, 4-5” x 6½’ ............................$5/post the couple have scaled ........................................................in bundles of 95 back a bit on operations. They still keep a few 4-5” x 8’ ........................$6.89/post chickens and have several cats, but most of the 5-6” x 8’ ........................$9.69/post other animals are gone. They rent out their land, 6-7” x 8’ ......................$12.50/post keeping seven acres for a large garden and to raise their conventional corn. The Flocks don’t see themselves ever wanting to leave the farm life. There are ups and downs, but for them it is close to per fect. “I always remember
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Pride
12 SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012
Star-Herald
FARM helping plant seeds for future growth By KAY GROTE For the Star Herald
The FARM is beginning another season of planting seeds, but this time the museum will share its harvest with the North Platte Valley Museum. Since 1988, the Farm And Ranch Museum (FARM) has preserved and interpreted the agricultural heritage of the High Plains. Now, 24 years later, collaboration between the two Gering-based museums will ensure growth and sustainability for the next generation of historians. The museum co-location project has sprouted quickly. Late in 2011 the boards of both museums approved to work jointly to develop the FARM and NPVM into one worldclass museum complex located on the FARM’s 110-acre property. The nod allowed the museum’s leaders to create an organizational structure and move forward on contractual arrangements needed to explore the proposed project. The museum marriage was viewed as a win-win for both entities. The NPVM would be able to expand their displays at a more visible location, and the FARM would utilize vacant parts of their property for expansion. The move would also prove beneficial to other community entities. In February, the Gering City Council agreed to purchase the existing NPVM building for its appraised value of $230,000. The city plans to use the building as a parks maintenance building. The revenue from the sale will be leveraged with substantial grant funding from the Scotts Bluff County Tourism Committee in the amount of $245,000, a $30,000 grant from the Oregon Trail Community Foundation, and an anticipated $15,000 in proceeds raised from the 2012 Rotary Gold fundraiser on March 24, will help to support the museum project. In a short span of three months, the museums’ capital fund will amass at least
$520,000. The money will be used to complete Phase I, the basic construction, which will include a 12,000-square-foot expansion to the existing FARM building to house the combined exhibits, and another separate 12,000-square-foot building to be used for storage and maintenance of equipment. The total anticipated cost of Phase I is $816,000.
Representatives from both museums are now getting down to the business details of the project. “We need to formulate the committee who will operate the capital campaign and put together a business plan of how these two museums will merge together,” said NPVM Executive Director Katie Bradshaw, who is also chair of the newly formed museum collaborative committee. “Basically, we’re both in the business of selling history. We need to operate our museums as a business in order to survive and grow,” she said. Good business minds and good farmers know that planning for growth, survival, harvest and sustainability are key to the museums’ goals. The FARM hands have been through it before. In 1997, volunteers answered the need to go beyond displaying antique machinery and begin providing education and experience with a new event, “Harvest Festival.” The event’s purpose is to provide hands-on demonstrations and up-close experiences with the museum’s extensive collection of antique equipment. With horses hitched and steam engines whirring, the FARM comes alive, giving visitors the experience of farming techniques from generations before. Since it’s inception, the FARM’s Harvest Festival has kept the valley’s rich agriculture history alive and has grown to become a much-anticipated annual event, turning the FARM and the community into nationally known destinations. In recent years, the FARM board has expanded the museum’s of ferings of special events to include hosting elementar y students for the FARM Hands-On Histor y days, the Kiwanis Club’s Fall Family Fun Day, the annual Bandana Ball fundraising banquet, a summer tractor rally and, this year, the new Farm Tractor Relay in June that will rally vintage tractors across the state from Plattsmouth to Lyman. FARM board members are aware that the museum’s ability to teach beyond textbooks and preserve a fading culture and era are crucial. “We have always been a volunteer-driven organization,” said FARM curator Nancy Haney. “Because of that, it gives everyone possession (of the museum) and what they
Photos by Kay Grote
TOP: The Farm And Ranch Museum, located on 110 acres in the shadow of Scotts Bluff National Monument, will be home to an expanded museum complex once the current co-location project with the North Platte Valley Museum is complete. ABOVE: Education and the preservation of agriculture for the next generation is part of FARM’s mission. The museum hosts many youth and family events throughout the year and welcomes youngsters such as the Winkelman family who was passing through the region last fall. LEFT: Rick Henderson and Max Cawiezel are longtime FARM volunteers who lend their “cowboy” expertise to the horse-drawn implements.
do here is invaluable in making us what we are.” Haney emphasizes the hope that many of the board members and volunteers at both museums, as well as throughout the community, have for the future preservation of western Nebraska’s heritage that is undeniably rooted deep in agriculture. “Both organizations have the word ‘preserve’ in their mission statements and some are holding strong to what they want to preserve,” Haney said, explaining the need now for expanded vision, commitment and ambition. “Those are things that need to be answered in a way to alleviate any fear of moving forward.” Haney and Bradshaw will also attend future workshops and museum association trainings to prepare for future collaborative work. The two will travel to Kearney this month to participate in a special
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workshop focusing on “Building a Sustainable Organization” as part of this year’s Nebraska Museums Association (NMA) conference. The two are also heading the committee for choosing an all-encompassing name for the expanded dual-entity. “A good name will define this new museum and its purpose and let visitors know at a glance who we are and what we do,” Bradshaw said. “A name is our most basic marketing tool. The committee has been struggling with how to distill our collective story into a simple name.” The collaboration committee acknowledges the new museum name should reflect the common ground in the different but related stories the museums have been telling.
NPVM has concentrated on the North Platte River valley and stories of Native Americans, westward expansion, and settlement in the late 1800s and early 1900s. FARM has focused on the broader High Plains region and the livestock and sugar beet industries, irrigation, dryland farming and techniques for growing potatoes and dry edible beans. The stories of the two museums overlap in areas of transportation development, population growth and immigration, homesteading, business development and the economic links between farms and towns. Many of the two museums’ board members and volunteers either have ties to or are directly involved in produc-
tion agriculture or ag-related and ag-supported businesses. NPVM board members are Jodi Ruzicka, George Schlothauer, Sheila Johns, Judie Moorhouse, Judy Amoo, Andy Doll, Barb Jolliffe, Rick Myers, Tori Smith, Jan Van Newkirk and Deanna Zweifel. FARM board members are Bill Booker, Jim Duncan, Marty Martinson, Jack Preston, Larry Hubbard, Allen Meyer, Charlie Fenster, Galen Larson, Betty Quintard, Dennis Wiedeman and Drew Lyon. Their commitment and vision will ensure that both museums will preserve the cultural history and heritage of western Nebraska and America’s High Plains region.
Pride
Star-Herald
SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012 13
Students learn skills for tomorrow in classroom today By RHONDA SCHULTE For the Star Herald
TORRINGTON — It’s first period on Friday at Torrington High School, and the Agriculture Construction class is in the shop learning the basics of electrical wiring. Students concentrate on their individual tasks, or sometimes help a classmate. As one student tightens screws on an electrical skill board, another wires a “pigtail” so he can test a single pole switch. As they work, agricultural education teacher Jason Groene walks from one student to the next in the shop area as he doles out instructions, encouragements and tidbits of wisdom. “If you go to work for Pittman Electric as an apprentice out of high school, the longer it takes you to do something, the more it costs them,” Groene says. “The faster you do the job, the more they can pay you.” “It’s all about the dollar bills.” Singing a short tune, he stops at the chalkboard to draw a diagram of a threeway switch, makes a few pointers and then goes to a work table where he helps a few students prepare to test their skills board. Groene sees an oppor tunity to make an instructional point to the class. “Come here, boys,” he shouts. “Everyone gather around real quick. It’s a learning opportunity.” He continues to move about the shop, giving his verbal cues, talking about power, volts, white and black wires. “I bet you’re wondering what that hillbilly’s talking about,” he says, referring to himself. “You guys have got to remember that you have to listen. Sometimes I don’t enunciate very well.” Groene’s accent is indicative of Winfield, Kan., his hometown of about 12,000 residents located 45 miles south of Wichita. His family had a diversified ag operation, raising sows, beef cattle, wheat, oats, alfalfa and soybeans. A former inspector for the Department of Agriculture Food Safety Division, Groene is a graduate of the Oklahoma Panhandle
Photo courtesy of Jason Groene
TOP LEFT: Torrington-Lingle FFA member Tyler Pickinpaugh clips his Berkshire barrow in preparation for the National Western Livestock Show. Photos by Rhonda Schulte
LEFT: Torrington High School student Anthonie Servantez works to complete his electrical skill board. ABOVE: Lindsey Lemmon takes a stack of planter pots from the school greenhouse to the vocational building where agriculture students are planting petunias in seed starter trays.
State University. Groene believes in teaching to different learning styles, which means handson instruction as well as classroom instruction. He is also a motivator. The classroom walls are bordered with encouraging phrases: “Don’t be a bump on a pickle.” “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome.” “If it was easy, ever ybody would do it.” At 9 a.m., second period students (Ag I) walk from the separate high school building to the vocational building located just to the
east of Torrington Livestock Markets. Friday is sale day. Cattle are bawling, the parking lot full, and pickups and trailers line the sidewalk curbs. The vitality of Goshen County’s ag industry is evident inside and outside both buildings. The assignment for Ag I students is to plant flower seeds in starter trays for the greenhouse that sets a few paces outside the classroom backdoor. “Safety glasses are a good thing!” shouts See AG, page 14
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Pride
Star-Herald
AG: Students learn skills for tomorrow in classroom today Continued from page 13 Groene to the students as they take their seats in the shop. “You don’t want to get soil in your eyes,” retorts a student in good humor. Groene continues his instructions, warning the students if they don’t adhere to his directions, his “grandmothers will be upset.” “Your grandmother is still alive?” teases a student. “Yes, both grandmothers,” says Groene, enjoying the banter. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. That makes me feel younger.” Groene asks students to pair up as he hands out trays and vials containing 500 tiny petunia seeds. The students’ job is to fill the plastic trays with potting soil and then gently put a seed in each section. This is a lesson in gardening and teamwork. By working together, 22 students seed more than 4,500 plugs in one hour. By cooperative effort, two boys alone place 1,000 seeds. “Those things don’t happen without kids having the right attitude, teamwork and diligence to carry that out,” said Groene. Groene teaches students at Torrington and LingleFort Laramie (a Goshen County School District K-12 school 10 miles west), rotating his schedule based on student load and class demands. Students from both schools are in a combined FFA program. He estimates 25 to 35 percent of his students are directly involved in production agriculture and another 15 percent have a secondary connection (for example, they might help grandparents farm on the weekends). The rest have no experience with production agriculture. “Those kids come in and really contribute quite a bit,” said Groene. “They have no preconceived ideas, and so they soak it up like a sponge. They get in and find that things suit them.” According to Groene, agriculture is more than “sows and cows.” Instructors not only teach about animal production and plant science, but their coursework incorporates math, English and business skills as well. “(The students) apply a lot of information they learn in the other (high school) building to this building, just simply in another form,” he said. The agricultural education system was founded in 1917 when the U.S. Congress passed the SmithHughes Act. According to National FFA website statis-
Photo by Rhonda Schulte
TOP LEFT: Torrington Agriculture Education 1 students Kady Covalt, left, Traeci Garvie and Haley Brown gently place seeds in the soil during a greenhouse class project. Photos courtesy of Jason Groene
LEFT: Torrington-Lingle FFA advisor Jason Groene, left, poses with B.W. Ochsner, Joel Kerns and Katie Ochsner during an awards dinner. The three students along with Evan Rader (not pictured) made up the Meats Evaluation and Technology team that earned a fourth-place finish at the 2010 National FFA Convention. ABOVE: Lingle-Ft. Laramie freshmen agriculture students Barry Greenwald and Clay Limmer repair a feed bunk for a local producer.
tics, more than 800,0000 students participate in formal agricultural education instructional programs offered in grades 7 and above throughout the United States and its territories. Instr uction is delivered through three components: classroom/laborator y instr uction, work-based learning and student leadership organizations.
Any student in grades 712 enrolled in an agriculture course may join FFA. Members participate and lear n advanced car eer skills in 47 national proficiency areas based on their hands-on work experiences ranging from agricultural communications and food science and technology to turf grass management and wildlife production and
management. Students who take four consecutive years of high school agriculture graduate with a broad based knowledge of the industry. Those involved in FFA have opportunities to further develop career skills and knowledge that can be applied to agri-
culture and non-ag related careers. This is the busiest time of year for ag-ed teachers in Wyoming. Groene’s students are preparing to compete in a combined 15 Career Development Events (CDEs) for the Wyoming FFA contest April 2-5 at
Laramie and Cheyenne. Their ultimate goal is to qualify for the national convention. Top recognitions include the Wyoming or American FFA degree, State or National Star and individual or team CDE Champion at both levels. See AG, page 15
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Pride
Star-Herald
SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012 15
AG: Students learn skills for tomorrow in classroom today Continued from page 14 “They don’t understand they are learning a lot about ag just by participating,” said Groene. “If they win, we’ll celebrate. My main concern is they learn something along the way.” Ideally, after four years in Groene’s classes, they will have developed into well-rounded, outspoken individuals who are decent people with positive leadership skills. They will also have learned to look a person in the eye and the value of a firm handshake. During Februar y and March, Groene advises students after school from 4-7 p.m. four days a week, plus stays after the Friday 1:30 p.m. dismissals to accommodate various student schedules. Of
the 105 students enrolled in Torrington-Lingle agriculture classes, 80 percent are involved in FFA. One FFA officer serves as team collegial coordinator to help with communications between him, students and parents. “Amongst our rather unorthodox way, we’ve found a good way to function,” he said. Groene’s 12-14 hour work days before state result in tangible awards for students. For him, the intangible rewards are of greatest value. “Just to see the look on their faces when they are named grand champion showman or high individual or team CDE at nationals is priceless,” said Groene. “I don’t know how to explain it any better than that.”
Photo by Rhonda Schulte
Tyler Pickinpaugh, left, observes as Agriculture Education Instructor Jason Groene, center, helps Joseph M a r t i n e z and Anthonie Servantez prepare to test an electrical skill board at THS on Friday morning during Agriculture Construction.
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Kimball . . . It’s a Great Place to Call Home Warm, welcoming and involved citizens. Affordable modern housing. Unique shopping opportunities. Excellent health care, assisted living, nursing home & independent senior living. Outstanding schools, teachers and administration. PGA pro-golf course, ball fields, trap range & beautiful country club. Bowling alley & movie theater with current releases. Community concerts. County seat. All this and more...
Prime opportunities abound for business expansion or relocation
The Kimball-Banner Chamber of Commerce 122 S. Chestnut Kimball, NE 69145 308-235-3782
www.kimballbannercountychamber.com kbccc@megavision.com
Pride
16 SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012
Greg France
Will Eitzman
Crop Production Division Manager, CCA
Farm Marketer, CCA
Paul Morrill
West Branch Manager, CCA Scottsbluff
Danny Gifford Farm Marketer Scottsbluff
Bryan Reimers
East Branch Manager Bridgeport
Star-Herald
Erik Tuttle
Craig Neuwirth
Chris Culek
Darin Borges
Becky Randall
Heath Solberg
Farm Marketer Burns, WY
Farm Marketer Bridgeport
Farm Marketer Torrington, WY
Farm Marketer Bridgeport
Farm Marketer Torrington, WY
Farm Marketer Berea
Steve Edwards Farm Marketer Scottsbluff, NE