Bottom Line Newsletter: Winter 2016

A publication from Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC

bottom line

winter 2016

WHAT’S NEW AT MRGA AGRONOMY ARTICLES SEED NEWS & GRAIN UPDATES CREDIT REPORT & MUCH MORE!

OUR TEAM

Prosper Location John Spiekermeier Management Team Mike Koetz Kim Nehring Leonard Location Mike Flaten Jeff Boisjolie Alex Richard Chad Johnson Casselton Office Lynchburg Location Brian Nelson Tim Rose Jeremy Rolf Steven Owen Braeden Nelson Jon Ellingson Casselton Shop Kevin Lahlum Todd Affield Karl Berg Mark Pueppke Mike Weed Nancy Hagen Casselton Warehouse Kim Koetz Christian Owen Emily Neels Chris Wilke Marilyn Prochnow Ashley Coles Casselton Trucking Joe Eberhardt Casselton Elevator Andy Boyer Mark Stevens Kevin Erickson Jamie Mann Travis Forderer Steven Horst Merle Myers John Duff Chet Garrison Keri DeVries Grant Phipps Donald Anderson Casselton Fertilizer Mac Johnson MRGA Board of Directors Bob Breiland Mike Nelson- President Laurie Krone- Vice President Peak Location Jon Watt- Secretary Tim Dean Don Woodburn Hau Tran Brent Rust Russell Ruliffson Grandin Location Mark Belter Cory Aasen Brian McDonald Connor Levorsen

CEO – Terry Johnson

GRANDIN

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PEAK

DIVISIONS

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WELLNESS

6-7

MRGA HAPPENINGS

8-9

INSURANCE & TECHNOLOGY

10-12

GRAIN ARTICLES

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FERTILIZER FOCUS

14

CREDIT

15

SEED NEWS

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AGRONOMY MATTERS

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EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT

HOLIDAY HOURS: • • •

Friday December 23rd to Monday December 26th- CLOSED Friday December 30th hours are 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM Monday January 2nd- CLOSED

DUE DATE TO DEFER: Please be aware that the deadline to defer is December 22nd, 2016. Deferred payments will be available for pickup on January 3rd, 2017. Other January payments will not be available until January 4th, 2017.

PROSPER

LYNCHBURG

IN THIS ISSUE

Published quarterly by: Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC. 1630 1st Ave S, Casselton, ND 58012.

FEATURE

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Changes in store for Maple River Communications

www.maplerivergrain.com

Casselton Location (800) 568-5402 (701) 347-4465 Grandin Location (701) 484-5293 Leonard Location (701) 645-2334 Lynchburg Location (701) 347-5487 Peak Location (701) 845-3975 Prosper Location (701) 282-4094

CHAFFEE

LEONARD

CASSELTON

This publication is provided free of charge to all local crop and livestock producers. If you are not receiving this publication and would like to be added to our mailing list please provide us with your address by calling our Casselton office at 1-800-568-5402. All rights reserved. Š 2016 Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC. Printed in the U.S.A. Layout and design by Candace Brekke.

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Terry Johnson - General Manager

MANAGER’S REPORT This harvest was a record year for Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC. We experienced record yields, which is evident by the piles of soybeans and corn on the ground at our Casselton facility. Mid-September through October, Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC dumped a record number of bushels. We had 5.5 million bushels of soybeans and 6.5 million bushels of corn dumped in a very short amount of time, with hardly any wait time at our facilities for patrons dumping these bushels. For instance, September 27th, we dumped 383 trucks at our Casselton terminal in only 12 hours. The average time on the yard was under 8 minutes per truck. The average time from the probe to the outbound scale was 4.3 minutes. This terminal has only one probe and two amazing North Dakota Grain Inspection employees weighing and grading each truck. A time lapse video of this day can be viewed on our Facebook page. It’s great to watch and see harvest come to life!

This record harvest can be contributed to our efficient operations, space, speed, and dedicated staff.

Planning and communication between our staff and our patrons was key to transitioning bushels successfully from the farm to the terminal. We are proud of our strong patron base and our efficient, hardworking staff. We know that during harvest, long days are put in all around. Our facilities had longer hours of operation to allow for extended dumping availability. In addition, we also had long nights and weekends with loading trains. Our drivers worked hard to get to the fields for custom hauling of bushels back to the terminal. Patrons put in long hours managing their farms and fields, making tough decisions, repairing machinery, and living everyday life. As harvest winds down and we move forward, we hope that our patrons and employees know how appreciated they are in making this company so successful.

As mentioned prior, the landscape has definitely changed at our Casselton facility with piles of corn and soybeans. The reasoning for piling the soybean and corn bushels on the ground was due, in part, to record high yields and the expensive cost of freight during harvest. As we move towards the end of the year, we will continue to pick up the corn and soybean piles as rail freight rates have readjusted. With that being said, we will be loading five trains in November and approximately six trains in December. This should allow us to have the piles picked up before the start of the New Year.

We hope you have a safe and happy holiday season and a great start to 2017.

Take care,

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Terry Johnson CEO

Kim Koetz - Wellness Coordinator

MRGA WELLNESS In October, the MRGA Wellness program earned a bronze level well workplace award from North Dakota Worksite Wellness. Nancy Hagen was able to attend the Summit and accepted the award. We thank all employees who take part in the wellness program, as participation is key to the success that we have had so far.

A summer 5k challenge ended on October 1st. We had 7 employees enter race bibs for chances to win prizes. Prize winners were: Kim Koetz - $250, Jeremy Rolf - $150, Nancy Hagen - $100, and Kim Nehring - Free night at Cambria Hotel. We thank all of those who entered!

A challenging harvest is finally wrapping up. The wellness committee members showed their appreciation to coworkers who were putting in long hours, by making weekend meals for all locations that were open. Meals were delivered on Friday afternoons for 4 weeks. This gesture was meant in gratitude for the time put in by our grain and fall fertilizer departments. Your efforts do not go unnoticed and are recognized as a huge contributor to the success of Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC.

2016-2017

Back Left to Right: Cindy Jensen, Kim Koetz, Nancy Hagen Front Left to Right: Todd Affield, Braeden Nelson, Bob Breiland

TAX REPORTING REMINDER Please note that you will receive a paper copy of the IRS PATR 1099 form for tax reporting purposes for the 2016 tax year. This form will be mailed in January 2017.

As a reminder, you will need to report the total dollars earned value for the 2016 tax year. This will be indicated on the PATR tax form that will be mailed and can also be found on your patronage check stub under the $ Earned column. If there are questions, please call Emily at 701-347-4465. Thanks!

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MRGA SUPPORTS 4-H YOUTH ACTIVITIES Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC attended the 2016 Cass County 4-H Livestock Premium Auction Sale and bidder appreciation luncheon on Monday, July 18th, 2016. 4-H members enrolled their livestock projects and completed their 4-H projects by offering their project animals for sale for premium. The participants received the premiums that buyers paid above the market price. The funds help pay for the project expenses, ribbons, and other livestock premiums.

Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC has happily supported the 4-H youth activities and has enjoyed participating in the live auction event over the past several years. The kids learn a lot and enjoy the events and it’s a great way for us to show support of their endeavors. Kim Koetz (Grain Merchandiser) and Kevin Lahlum (Sales Agronomist) attended the event. This year, we sponsored the below individuals in their 4-H Achievement Day projects.

Claire Christianson Blue Ribbon Lamb Premium awarded $174.40

Audra Cruff Blue Ribbon Hog Premium awarded $231.76

Sheyenne Freitag Grand Champion Hog Premium awarded $330.06

Colston Walsvik Reserve Grand Champion Steer Premium awarded $754.80

Total sponsorship awarded $1,491.02

The Liberty® Weed Control Guarantee Simply better weed control. Guaranteed.

Freedom from grasses and broadleaf weeds is here with Liberty® herbicide.

Liberty is proven to effectively control even the toughest weeds, both grasses and broadleaf weeds, and we are so confident in its performance that we guarantee it.

• Specifically designed for all LibertyLink ® crops – canola, corn, cotton and soybeans.

• The ONLY working nonselective herbicide that is still effective on tough-to-control grasses and broadleaf weeds.* • S.T.O.P.s tough-to-control and resistant weeds.

• Neighbor-friendly and convenient to use, providing peace of mind and reducing the costliness of missed weeds.

• 97% satisfaction rating among growers around the country. *Liberty’s active ingredient is a Group 10 herbicide, which is the only broad-spectrum herbicide that effectively controls grasses and broadleaf weeds, and it has no known resistance in U.S. broadacre crops.

2014 Bayer IPSOS study questions: “Overall, how satisfied are you with Liberty herbicide?” and ”Overall, how satisfied are you with LibertyLink (trait and germplasm)?

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Art Director

Copywriter

Saved at Acct. Manager

Studio Artist

8-12-2016 2:40 PM Proofreader

Printed At None Traffic

Production

Client Media Type Live Trim

Bayer Collateral 7.5" x 10" 8.5" x 11"

MRGA HAPPENINGS

MAPLE RIVER GRAIN AND AGRONOMY, LLC FARM RISK MANAGEMENT SERIES

CUSTOMER APPRECIATION GOLF OUTING Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC held its annual Customer Appreciation Golf Outing on Wednesday, September 7th, 2016.

The event took place at the Maple River Golf Club in Mapleton, ND. Patrons were able to join our staff for a 4-person scramble, with prizes along the way. This year, rain caused an early end to the golf scramble, but the festivities carried on with a steak dinner at the club house afterwards.

CASSELTON 2016 NIGHT OUT National Night Out is an event that is celebrated nationwide on the first Tuesday of every August. This year, Casselton’s Night Out event was held on Tuesday, August 2nd in the Governor’s Park in Casselton, ND. This event is designed to strengthen relationships within the community by building partnerships amongst neighbors and law enforcement, while raising awareness and aiding in crime prevention across the nation.

This opportunity allows the community to meet and visit with local law enforcement agencies.

In addition, the event features a summer meal and family fun activities, games, and prizes. The Casselton Fire Department and Casselton Ambulance Service also participated and gave tours of their vehicles and equipment, which parents and kids both enjoyed. For the past two years, Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC has taken home the first place prize in the annual cook-off contest, with this year’s specialty being a pulled pork sandwich. Many local businesses competed in the event and brought a friendly, fun competition aspect to the evening. The winning trophy is displayed happily at the front desk in the Casselton Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC office.

Edward Usset, University of MN

Please join us on Wednesday, January 18th, 2017, as we kick off our new three part Risk Management Series with ED USSET! Five Common Mistakes in Grain Marketing Explore a different approach to marketing. Ed identifies common mistakes in grain marketing, such as the reluctance towards pre-harvest marketing and holding grain in storage too long. Discover that great marketing is not predicting prices, but eliminating mistakes in our everyday decisions. See how eliminating mistakes can create a solid foundation in the development of pre and post harvest marketing plans.

Edward Usset serves as a Grain Marketing Specialist for the Center for Farm Financial Management at the University of Minnesota. Working with his colleagues at CFFM and in extension, Ed developed the award winning “Winning the Game” series of workshops. In addition, he manages Commodity Challenge, a grain marketing education platform that uses real time cash and futures data. He teaches “Commodity Markets” at the University.

His first book, “Grain Marketing is Simple (it’s just not easy)” was released in September, 2007.

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Braeden Nelson – Insurance Manager

CROP INSURANCE Getting your crop insurance through Maple River Insurance Services is now as easy as talking to your sales agronomist or grain merchandiser. Over the course of the last few months, Maple River Insurance Services has licensed five agents in addition to myself, to sell Multi-Peril and Crop-Hail insurance in the state of North Dakota. The following individuals are now licensed agents for Maple River Insurance Services: Mike Weed – Sales Agronomist, Casselton Office Jon Ellingson – Sales Agronomist, Casselton Office Kevin Lahlum – Sales Agronomist, Casselton Office Cory Aasen – Sales Agronomist, Grandin Location Kim Koetz – Grain Merchandiser, Casselton Office

AGENTS

We are excited about the addition of these five individuals to the insurance team as they all carry a high level of commitment to the clients that they serve here at Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC. Service to the client is our number one priority at Maple River Insurance Services and I would invite you to reach out to any of us for more information on how we can be a risk management partner for your operation. Also, for anyone interested in learning more about risk management options for your operation, I would invite you to take a look at the flyer in this newsletter regarding the first annual Risk Management Seminar coming in January.

NEW POTENTIAL PRODUCT ON THE HORIZON Maple River Insurance Services approved insurance provider, Armtech, has partnered with a Canadian based company called Global Ag Risk Solutions.

Through this partnership, Armtech is in the process of approving a new type of private insurance policy for North Dakota called Production Cost Insurance or PCI for short. Minnesota has already approved PCI and it will be available for this upcoming crop year. Pending approval from the state of North Dakota, we will provide more information on this new type of insurance product once it is available.

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MRC TO INVISIMAX, INC. Maple River Communications is excited to announce that we have entered into a purchase agreement with InvisiMax, Inc., a wireless broadband internet company currently servicing internet subscribers in Grand Forks, ND and surrounding ND and MN communities.

INVISIMAX, INC. COVERAGE MAP

InvisiMax, Inc. has been providing internet to customers since 1996.

Their commitment to subscribers was recognized in 2002 when they were awarded one of the nation’s Top 10 providers of broadband wireless internet access. For more information on them visit www.invisimax.com.

Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC acquired AnyConnect, a local internet company,in December 2012.The purchase secured a private network between all of our locations, provided another customer service area for our rural patrons, and brought in another income source. Since that time, we have grown the business to around 1,200 customers in North Dakota and Minnesota. It is time to move this growing company into the hands of a wellestablished company that specializes in this area. We are confident InvisiMax, Inc. is that company.

The transition will take place in December, with a first billing from InvisiMax, Inc. on January 1, 2017. If you are a subscriber, please watch for updates and mailings coming soon. Our Maple River Communications staff will be moving over to InvisiMax, Inc.; which will make the transition easier on our subscribers.

As of now, please dial 701-347-0089 for questions or service.

Maple River Communications would like to thank you for allowing us to serve you these last four years.

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Kim Koetz - Grain Originator

PRICE LATER PROGRAM It’s no secret that huge yields in corn and soybeans caused several elevators to cut off their price later programs and turn to cash or basis fixed only. In most cases, our producers were still able to put their soybeans and at least some of their corn on a price later program. Several questions have come up on the details of the price later program and what can be done with price later bushels.

The price later program that we had in effect at Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC for corn and soybeans did not change for this harvest. There was a five cent per month price later fee, with WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU WITH THE a fifteen cent (or three month) minimum.

DETAILS OF THE PRICE L ATER PROGR AM This means that after the ten day grace period expires, the price later program was locked in, and there is an upfront charge of fifteen cents. No additional fees incur until the three month minimum is reached. At that point, the price later fees begin to be charged on a daily, per bushel, rate.

Price later bushels cannot be forward contracted. Unlike “storage” programs, where the ownership of the bushels remains with the producer until sold, ownership of bushels on a price later program are transferred on delivery. These bushels are then subject to be sold on the spot market and cannot be transferred to forward contracts. So, while locking your bushels on a price later program does inhibit your ability to capture some carry in the markets, it also gives you an option to get your bushels delivered without having to sell them or lock the basis on delivery.

We are here to help you understand the programs that are offered, so if you ever have any questions, please give us a call. I’d like to invite you to a new Marketing and Risk Management series we are starting in January. It is our hope that we can help bring some understanding to our producers on the different strategies that can be used for marketing bushels in hopes of capturing some better prices. Please give myself or Jeremy a call if you have any questions about our current policies or on our upcoming marketing series.

PLOT TOUR The plot tour and demonstration from FieldView was held on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2016 just east of the Casselton chemical and seed warehouse. Climate Fieldview is a tool that utilizes real-time data that can be digitally displayed as farmers pass through their fields. This can help in the decision making process when it comes to preparing fields for Ag inputs and services. If interested in FieldView, please contact your sales agronomist or call our office at 701-3474465.

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Alex Richard - Grain Manager

GRAIN MANAGER’S MINUTE

POST HARVEST RECAP Bushels, bushels, and more bushels. Going into this fall we saw the potential for a large row crop coming. We did not have perfect weather. Rain in August was a little less than we hoped for the soybeans. July rains helped the corn immensely. When combines started to roll in the soybeans, we heard some pretty good yields. The same happened when guys started to go after the corn. We expected an above average crop; but wow, were we surprised by the yields. For the longest time it seemed like we were capped at 40 bu/acre soybeans. It didn’t matter what you did or what weather we had, getting over 40 bushels was not in the cards. The past two years on soybeans we have seen averages well above that. We heard a lot of yield reports of 50-55 bu/acre soybeans and 185 – 200 bu/acre corn this year. We hope these yield trends keep going the way they are.

As most of you saw, we ended up with a decent amount of grain on the ground this fall. The PNW market was overwhelmed with grain during harvest. Freight costs kept increasing and delivered bids kept falling during harvest. This kept pressure on nearby basis. For every incremental bushel dumped, we had to turn around and sell or pile on the ground so we could keep dumping grain. This was the reason we had to go to cash only during harvest. It was tough to get the trains at the right time. We were fortunate enough to keep grain moving through harvest and not get plugged on either corn or soybeans. This year we saw a longer harvest than normal, primarily on corn. I just want to say we appreciate feedback from patrons on yields and harvest progress. This information helps us make decisions on grain sales, freight timing, hours of operations, etc.

As always, I want to say thank you to our patrons. Without you we wouldn’t be here. I would also like to thank our employees. They put in countless hours to get the job done. This harvest season put a lot of stress on everybody. Our employees and patrons are what make Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC so successful.

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Jeremy Rolf - Grain Originator

GRAIN UPDATE

The 16/17 crop is all but done as I write this.

Corn and soybean piles dot the countryside reflecting another record harvest year (see graphics). There is a lot of work ahead of us to move all this grain through the supply chain.

With this in mind, basis will be defensive through the beginning of next year. The main issue is stress on storage and commercial elevators funneling large volumes of grain into export and domestic channels to try to relieve the stress. Once this process is completed, basis should normalize to more friendly levels.

Looking at futures, we have been in a sideways pattern since August. It will be difficult to breakout of this pattern without some meaningful fundamental change. But that doesn’t mean the market cannot disjoint itself from the fundamentals to give us a meaningful rally. Fortunately, markets have priced in this year’s crop and is now looking at the production potential of South America.

As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of work ahead of us to get this grain moved, but there is also a lot of work to be done to market the grain as well. It is important to have a marketing plan for your current crop and to start looking ahead to next year’s crop.

To help you with this, Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC is putting together a risk management seminar to help our patrons put together marketing plans, budgets, costs of production, etc. We will be bringing in speakers from industry and academia for this series of seminars. More information on this great opportunity can be found in this newsletter, and via updates by email and on our website. As always, if you have any questions, Kim and I are here to help.

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#plant16 Jon Ellingson - Sales Agronomist

FERTILIZER FOCUS FERTILIZER COMPARISON

BY NUMBERS Great weather through the month of October and even the first half of November allowed growers the opportunity to apply fall fertilizer. By November 15th, we had applied almost 30,000 acres.

Looking back at a fertilizer article from 2014, we discussed crop nutrient removal (CNR) numbers, which I feel should be reviewed again. Crop nutrient removal numbers indicate that a 50 bushel soybean crop removes about 42 lbs of P, 65 lbs of K, and 9 lbs of S. A 180 bushel corn crop removes about 68 lbs of P, 49 lbs of K, and 14 lbs of S from the soil. Many growers have indicated that they harvested the best soybean and corn crops they have ever had.

Growers will need to decide if these are high enough yield goals moving forward. 50 bushel soybean to 55 bushel soybean is about a 10% increase. 180 bushel corn to 200 bushel corn is about an 11% increase. With trendline yields increasing, indicating target yields of 40 bushel soybean and 160 bushel corn on your soil test reports just does not make sense anymore.

University data suggests that soybeans will respond to applied fertilizer. However, because of the possibility of tie-up P potential,

they don’t re c o m m e n d applying all that phosphorus to the crop ahead of soybeans. Applying at least 100# of 11-52-0 to soybeans will cover that CNR number. If relying solely on dry fertilizer applications, according to CNR numbers, to supply enough P for a corn-soybean rotation, you would need to supply 110P to cover the CNR for both crops. And if you think we should shoot for the 10% yield increase that number moves to 121P. Using 11-52-0, 121P is about 233# of product. Are you getting that much P applied or are you seeing decreasing residual P numbers on soil tests? You have all seen sulfur deficiency around the region in the last few years and sulfur numbers on soil test reports have been decreasing also. As you can see from the CNR numbers above, corn and soybeans also use substantial amounts of S. Fertilizer usually helps produce yields.

Yield usually helps with profitability.

Profitability makes us all happy!

Costs of all fertilizer products are down again for the 2017 crop year. Comparing price on a blend for 180 bushel corn that would supply 130N-91P-15K11S-3ZN from last year to this year is $99/A for 2016 and $86/A for 2017, about a 13% reduction in cost to the grower. To add 30N using 10 gal of 28% in 2016 was about $14/A and in 2017 would be about $11/A, about a 20% reduction in cost. Comparing the price of 100# of 11-52-0 for soybeans, we are seeing about an 8% reduction in grower cost.

10-34-0 for a starter shows about a 10% reduction in cost to the grower. On average, with the price reductions we are seeing, you should be able to fertilize for a 10% yield goal increase at about the same cost as last year.

We needed these good yields to make things profitable this year.

Don’t let yield slip away from you by not keeping up with the numbers!

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another year. Implementation of a new policy is never easy as it’s easy to oppose change, but I truly want to thank each and every one of you for your cooperation throughout this process. Your equity within Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC is protected more than ever before and that will continue into the future.

Braeden Nelson - Credit Manager

CREDIT REPORT I want to kick off this article by wishing a happy holidays to all of our patrons here at Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC. I hope you have all recovered from what has been a very busy harvest season full of record yields in the area. With commodity prices being where they are, we needed every bushel and the record yields have been quite a blessing. After getting a firsthand look at just how much of an impact good yields can make, the question is- where do we go from here as we shift our focus to 2017? We all have important decisions to make regarding what we are going to plant, what kind of seed to buy, and how much fertilizer to apply. I would encourage everyone to be in close contact with your agronomist and identify what decisions you are going to make on your farm to continue to produce the yields necessary to be profitable at these commodity prices. We won’t always have 100% cooperation from the weather like we had this past year, so getting the right varieties of seed that will perform on your ground is as important as ever.

Even though profitability has been stressed in the Ag Economy, Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC has been very fortunate from a credit risk standpoint. We are just wrapping up our second year following the implementation of a company credit policy and unlike a lot of creditors and other businesses in the Ag industry, we can say we have written off zero bad debt for

As we start another year, I want to touch briefly on our financing options for 2017 that we have put into place.

If you have any questions about any of these programs, please stop by my office in Casselton and I would be happy to sit down with you and show you more about these programs: Seed and Chemical Financing Program Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC has implemented a vendor financing program with competitive interest rates as low as 0% APR based on qualification for seed and chemical purchases for 2017. If you are interested in looking at this option for financing your seed and chemical purchases for the upcoming year, please talk to your agronomist or Braeden Nelson about the program details and getting qualified.

ProPartners Financial “Agrispan” Crop Input Loan If you are thinking you will be carrying a balance longer term on your charge account at Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC, I would encourage you to take a look at using this longer term financing option that we have available. The interest savings will be considerable over what you will be paying at 18% on your charge account.

A qualified borrower can request up to $250,000 of unsecured credit at competitive interest rates to be used for purchasing seed, chemical, and fertilizer products through Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC. This program gives you until February, 2018 to get through harvest and market some grain before the loan is due. For an application or if you have any questions, stop by my office in Casselton.

John Deere Financial (Farm Plan) Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC utilizes John Deere Financial to offer special terms financing on seed and crop protection, along with participating in their regular terms financing programs. If you have an interest in utilizing your John Deere Financial account, talk to myself or your agronomist. If you don’t have an account and would like to sign up, stop by my office and I can get you the application.

Standard 30 Day Charge Account As always, Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC offers 30 day convenient credit on all input purchases. These accounts are billed out at the end of the month and are due the 10th of the following month. Any account balance that goes past due will incur a finance charge at 18% APR.

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Mike Weed - Sales Agronomist

SEED NEWS UPDATE As you know, we had an exceptional growing season and with that came phenomenal yields.

The DeKalb, Asgrow, and Croplan varieties outperformed the competition. Ag inputs can be costly, and using the least expensive options does not always lead to the best performance. This year, we have seen a number of plots where we out yielded the competition by 7-8 bushels or more.

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7 bushels X $3.00 = $21.00 an acre

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On 32,000 acres you are getting 2.5 acres a bag

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2.5 acres X$21 =$52.50

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At 7 bushels an acre difference- you should be paying more than $52.50 a bag difference or that cheap seed is costing you money!

On Nov. 9, 2016, we received great news. The EPA approved the use of the Extend herbicide to be used on Extend Soybeans. We have been informed

that there is not enough product availability for all acres, so if you are wanting some of the Extend soybeans and don’t have them booked, now would be a good time to do so. As we mentioned in earlier publications, make sure you use a pre chemical on these soybeans also. There are rebates available on a number of pre’s from Monsanto on Extend and RR2 soybeans and from Bayer on the Liberty soybeans.

Also, don’t forget about Warrant herbicide. It is an encapsulated acetochlor. It can be used pre or post up to R2. If needed, I would suggest using a different pre and using Warrant post to help extend the residual out longer. It would give you extended residual control on waterhemp, lambsquarter, and pigweed. It’s not the best on ragweed, but would help.

At this time, we have a very good supply of RR Extend, RR2, and Liberty soybean seed available, as well as DeKalb and Croplan corn seed. Give the sales team at Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC a call for all your seed needs.

Thanks to all for your 2016 business and we wish you a great 2017!

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Mike Flaten - Agronomy Manager

AGRONOMY MATTERS As a recap of this past year, we ended up having dry conditions at the start of the planting season that allowed for farmers to get in their fields early. Mother Nature took it pretty easy on us with timely rains and the right amount of heat to give us some of the best yields we have seen in a while, not to mention perfect harvest weather. The downside of this season would be the pricing of commodities. I have

Use of technology in our application equipment made operations much more efficient. been trying to work over Alex to get them up –he wishes he could!

One of our sales agronomists, Ben Christopherson, took a job with a different company at the end of the summer. In his place, we would like to welcome and introduce Karl Berg as a member of our sales team here at Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC. He will be a big asset for us going forward with his broad knowledge of seed and chemistry. Karl has been with us now for the past couple of months and is fitting in perfect with all the staff and customers. To find out more about Karl, see his article in this newsletter.

This past year, we installed GPS tracking systems and IPads in our application equipment to make our operations more efficient. After using this system for almost a year, I would say it was very successful.

We covered more acres in less time by being able to see where the applicators were at in the fields and getting the trucks to the next fields before the applicators even arrived. The next piece of this system that we will be incorporating will be notification to the customer when the applicator has left their field. We also have had requests for a notification of when the applicator starts the field. Our goal is to have this accomplished before spring planting begins.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

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EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT Karl Berg

Introducing Our New Sales Agronomist WHO IS THE NEW STOOGE?

Anybody remember the fourth Stooge? (It was Schemp).

I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself as a new employee of Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC. I am Karl Berg (with a K). Some of you may already know me from working with you at Rush River Seed & Insurance in Amenia. If not, keep reading to find out more about me!

I grew up and still reside in West Fargo, ND. I was the youngest child in a family with three boys and took my younger sibling beatings, darn older siblings. I give a lot of credit to my parents for shaping me into the person I am today. My father started his career at Mobility, serving customers with Mobility fertilizer spreaders and finished as a maintenance man/welder for a local steel construction company. My mom had a long career in the Healthcare field working with patients to get their charts ready for procedures. I consider myself a bit of a Jack of all trades with all the things I learned growing up; from helping my dad work on cars to building garages, concrete work to manufacturing steel projects.

I graduated from West Fargo High School In 1999, where I was a member of two conference championships and one State Championship football team my senior year.

I was named to the all-conference and all-state football teams. I decided to further my education and football career at Valley City State University. However, in 2000 I transferred to North Dakota State University and focused

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on just my education. I graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Education with a minor in Business. The following year I moved to Saint Cloud, MN with my fiancé, where she earned her Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. I took a job selling cars in the area, my introduction to the world of sales. We found our way back home the following year and married in July of 2006. I decided to join the team at Valley Landscaping for several years working in the great outdoors, planting plants and running equipment working the dirt. I was asked to join the team at Rush River Seed doing facility management tasks and working with pioneer seed products in 2010. In my 6 years with Rush River Seed, I attained the knowledge I use today in making decisions about product selection, crop production practices and recommendations, along with the identification of all the plant diseases and pests we come across year to year. I joined the team here at Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC in mid-September as a Sales Agronomist and am looking forward to the future here with this team.

My wife Robin and I currently live on the south side of West Fargo. We have two children- a boy Reise (8) and a girl Kendal (4) and our two cocker spaniels. Robin currently runs a private practice counseling agency (River Valley Counseling) in Moorhead, MN. Our family enjoys camping in the summer, taking our yearly voyages to Itasca State Park and Lake Carlos State Park.

We also enjoy football as a family and are forever Bison and Vikings fans, as painful as the later can be. My passion has morphed over time from hunting, fishing, and snow sports into a focus on fishing on hard water as that is what my schedule has allowed. I’m as passionate about ice fishing as anything these days; hauling in Lake Winnipeg Walleyes have to be my favorite and my family is beginning to embrace the winter fishing lifestyle as well.

I am looking forward to meeting those of you in the community who I haven’t got a chance to know already and hope to continue to work with those of you I do know so that we can partner you with the products and services Maple River Grain & Agronomy, LLC has to offer that can help you and your operation.

The Fourth Stooge- Karl Berg Sales Agronomist

Roots

You know the importance of deep, healthy roots. For years, maybe even generations, your operation has supported your family and community.

Ours are strong, too. For more than 110 years, we’ve worked hand in hand with producers to grow crops, farms and profitability in rural North Dakota

Because we value what you value.

Let’s keep our way of life going strong.

W INTER 2016

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1630 1st Avenue South Casselton, ND 58012

Matador-S is the only Pre-Emerge annual grass and broadleaf herbicide which offers 3 Modes of Action that provides a sound strategy for weed control and resistance management for soybeans.

Matador-S is an all in one liquid formulation for easy use and controls tough weeds like waterhemp, lambsquarters, and common ragweed.

Application Rate for ND: 2 pints/acre Contact your Maple River Grain & Agronomy agronomist today to learn more about Matador-S.