Newsletter - Country Pride Services Co-op

Newsletter
www.countryprideservices.com
In this Issue:
Managers Report
Agronomy News
Country Pride Mt. Lake
Country Pride Windom
Energy News
2011 Board Candidates
Country Pride Services
Annual Meeting
Monday March 14th, 2011
1:30 P.M.
First United Methodist Church,
Windom MN
Notice is hereby given that there
will be an annual meeting of the
members of the Country Pride
Services Cooperative (A Minnesota
Cooperative Association)
1.
To review previous years financial performance.
2.
Election of two (2) directors.
3.
To transact any and all other
business which may come
before the meeting.
Tom Fast, Secretary
Country Pride Services Coop
Fulda Hwy 59 South
Mt. Lake 1130 Third Ave
Windom 251 First Ave
Bingham Lake 144 9th Street
Winter 2011 Edition
The unification between Cooperative Oil Association of Mountain Lake and the Windom Cooperative Association has just finished its tenth year. I
was informed at the time of the unification that
sixty percent fail, twenty percent will perform the
way they always have, and twenty percent will be
successful. I think if you look back to our beginning to where we are today, I think you can say
Country Pride Services Cooperative is one of the
success stories.
We started out with sixty one employees in
2001 and at the end of fiscal year 2010 we had
43 employees. We operated three fertilizer facilities, today we basically operate one. Fulda’s facility is operated on a limited scale. The office and
fertilizer facility in Bingham Lake was just a vision
in the mind of the Board of Directors and management. When you look at it today, Bingham Lake is
the central hub for Country Pride, we operate our
accounting, petroleum, and crop nutrients out of
this location. Some said we would never be able
to pay for the facility in Bingham Lake; well I’m
here to tell you we paid for it in just over six years,
over three and a half years ahead of schedule.
During this period Country Pride has generated
$7,107,945 dollars in local savings and
$9,644,241 in total net savings. While distributing $2,746,554 in cash patronage, of which
$1,657,792 has been distributed in just the last 5
years. And at the same time your Board of Directors has been committed at returning equities
back to its member owners. In the last ten years
your Cooperative has retired $4,054,129 in equities and in the last 5 years $2,694,608 of that
amount. That figures out to be just over seventy
percent of total earning returned to the member
owners. Your Cooperative is functioning the way
the Rochdale Pioneers envisioned a Cooperative
to work, which is to allocate earnings back to its
members’.
Thank you for your continued support and
hopefully the next 10 years can be just as rewarding for all the Cooperatives members as it has in
the past. We look forward to building relationships
with our members, through our employees and
the services we provide and be the first choice of
our Customers.
From The Manager’s Desk
Kevin Jackson - General Manager
Country Pride Services Cooperative
Locations
Main Office
Bingham Lake
C Stores
Windom, Mt. Lake
Agronomy
Bingham Lake, Fulda
Tire & Auto
Windom, Mt. Lake
Petroleum
Windom, Mt. Lake
Hardware & Plumbing
Mt. Lake
Till next time,
Kevin
Agronomy Department - Bingham Lake
First off I want to thank everybody for their
business last fall and the business you will be
doing this spring. At the time I’m writing this
letter the sun is shining and the high temperatures are near 50 degrees and the snow
is melting. Hopefully this trend will continue,
but when you live in Southwest Minnesota
anything is possible.
Right now the question of the month
is “Should I buy my fertilizer for fall?” There is
no easy answer to that question, only opinion,
just due to the fact that everybody’s situation
is different. We feel the safest position to be
in is to have fertilizer covered with a grain
sale to lock in a margin. Natural gas and petroleum are actually disconnected from the
fertilizer market while supply, demand, and
commodity prices are.
We feel that some fertilizers are at
their bottom while others may see softness
after the spring season is over, as demand
will drop off at that point. Again the supply
versus demand with commodity prices will
dictate this on all fertilizers. Call or stop in at
Bingham Lake or Fulda to talk to an agronomy specialist to get the full detail of the fer-
tilizer market.
During the week of February 7th we
held an agronomy informational meeting in
Bingham Lake and Fulda. We had an excellent turn out at both locations to talk about
the current fertilizer market as well as trends
and what to expect in the future. We will have
another one of these meetings later on in the
summer as well. Our sales staff is also updated on a weekly basis as to what the fertilizer market is doing to give you the most accurate information needed for your profitability on your operation.
You can go to our website at countryprideservices.com and click on agronomy
and contact me by e-mail with your e-mail
address and I will send you these weekly updates as well. This is just another way to get
you the information you need to put you in
the best position possible in your operation.
I want to welcome Jordan Brugman
to our agronomy sales staff in Bingham Lake.
Most of you know Jordan through custom
application for the past 10 years. Jordan has
had a lot of training in those 10 years and is
familiar with a lot of your field situations.
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We’re excited to have him on our team.
I also want to welcome John
Menssen to our custom applicator team. John
worked with us last fall doing custom NH3
application and did an excellent job. John
also brings a lot of experience in other areas
that will also enhance his abilities in your
field. We’re excited to have him on our team
as well.
Again thanks for your business and
have a safe spring.
Eric Wright - Agronomy Manager
Agronomy Department - Fulda
tissue test. Zinc helps the transfer of
nutrients throughout the plant and helps
As growers strive to achieve higher
regulate plant growth. Appropriate zinc
yields, not only is soil sampling important
levels are more important early on in a
to determine a nutrient plan, tissue samplant’s life because a plant primarily
pling can be just as important. Tissue
uses energy for growth early in their lifesampling is a great indicator of corn or
cycle and converts that energy for fruit
soybean health. This technique identiproduction near the end. The tissue testfies a plant’s uptake efficiency of nitroing done by the Answer Plot was congen, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, and
ducted on Croplan seed corn that was
boron nutrients from the soil.
treated with zinc. The first test, done in
the second week of June, showed no
Area Answer Plots did extensive research with tissue sampling this year to deficiency however, a second test conducted the third week in July, indicated
determine whether nutrients in the soil
were being taken up by the plant. These zinc levels dipped into the deficient level
samples provided information to help
of 30 ppm.
determine how well the plant was utilizBoron is another essential nutrient for
ing nutrients applied. One of the most
corn development. Boron is the forklift in
important nutrients to a corn plant is
the plant. Essentially it takes the energy
nitrogen. This year’s tissue samples refrom the leaves and carries it to the stem
vealed that during the latter part of the
of the plant so the plant can grow. Boron
season, the crop displayed nitrogen defiis not usually one of the elements that
ciency. Because nitrogen can migrate in
we are concerned about in a corn and
soil, it was not a huge surprise to obsoybean rotation, because it has been
serve the deficiency, especially with the
thought there has been enough in the
large amount of rainfall in 2010 in some
soil to meet the crop’s needs. The tissue
locations.
samples in the Answer Plot showed eviIs Tissue Sampling Necessary?
Zinc has been a micronutrient that has
gotten more and more attention over the
past couple of years. Zinc is a naturally
occurring element found in the soil that
typically should be around 35 ppm in a
dence that additional boron could perhaps prove beneficial. Boron is also mobile in the soil and cannot be applied
with the starter fertilizer because of seed
toxicity. One way we can apply boron is
by foliar feeding the corn plant with a
product called Max-in Ultra ZMB that
includes 4% zinc, 3% manganese,
and .1% boron.
In addition to zinc and boron levels,
consideration of phosphorous and potassium levels in the tissues are also important. As Industry continues to seek increased yields, it is important to continue
not only utilizing tissue sampling, but
using that data to correct the appropriate
deficiencies.
In summary, tissue samples can be a
way to increase yields by identifying deficiencies and correcting them in your
crop. There are many products out on
the market to help with your micronutrient needs and we can help you choose
which one would be the best option for
you. Country Pride is committed to helping you increase yields in both your corn
and soybean crops.
Doug Clarke-Agronomist
Agronomy Department - Bingham Lake
Many of you may already
know me, I have been at country
pride for about ten years. I started
off my agronomy career by attending Ridgewater college, where I
received my degree in agronomy
technology. In the spring of 2001 I
became an applicator for Country
Pride, over those ten years I have
learned alot and am looking forward to working with the growers.
I have been married to my wife
Sonia for five years and have a
three year old son, Logan we live
in Mt Lake.
With the
price of nitrogen being so unstable we need to maximize every
dollar worth of fertilizer we put
down. One new option in which to
do this is a product called Agrotain. To help stop the volatilization
of nitrogen, this product inhibits
the urease enzyme in the soil. In
short this is a product that could
add on average a 5 to 10 bushel
increase in corn yields. With a
bushel of corn over the five dollar
mark no one wants to leave bushels out in the field. With many
growers choosing to put down a
pre herbicide, a good option is to
use UAN as the carrier with a
product like Agrotain mixed in. For
those wetter soils there is also a
product called Agrotain Plus,
which will help stop the denitrification (tying up N in the soil) and
leaching (N washing out of the
soil). The low usage rate is another positive thing that growers
will like. One quart of Agrotain per
hundred gallons of 28%, or one
quart per ninety gallons of 32%.
This spring I will be doing some
test plots with this product and
hope to have some solid information for this area. If any growers
would like to try some agrotain
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this spring I would encourage
them to contact the agronomy
team at Country Pride.
In closing I would like to
thank everyone for the support I
have received in my new job transition, and look forward to working
with our current growers as well
as the new prospects.
Jordan Brugman
Agronomist
Country Pride True Value - Mountain Lake
improved application properties and
enamel hold-out to ensure a smooth finish especially in higher sheen products, it
has better coverage on darker colors, it
results in a beautiful smooth finish, it
has a low odor and low VOC formulation,
it gives brighter high hiding whites, it’s
available in Flat Enamel (eggshell), Satin,
and Semi-Gloss sheens.
We have a NEW PAINT in stock called
Easy Care Platinum! The paint market is
changing and we are excited to introduce
Easy Care Platinum which features all
the benefits of a paint and primer in one
for interior surfaces. The benefits of using Platinum include; it seals the surface
and top coats in one easy step, it has
Need new tires? Doug, Joey or
Joe will be happy to help you with
car, pickup, truck, tractor, implement, recreational vehicle, any tire
that doesn’t have fluid. Are your tires
wearing irregularly? Joe is ASE certified in troubleshooting suspension
and steering, relating to alignment.
After an alignment you’ll be gliding
down the road in comfort! Whatever
your car needs such as an oil
change, a battery, exhaust repair,
brakes, diagnostics, transmission
service or replacement, air conditioning recharge or most any auto repair,
the guys can fix you up and get you
back on the road. Give them a call at
427-2333.
Agronomy Department - Bingham Lake
As many of you are reading
this newsletter, you probably have
been or soon will be contacted by
one of us agronomists to begin
locking in fertilizer for 2011 fall
season. It seems that this phenomenon happens earlier and
earlier every year. The biggest
question I am asked is how much
should I book? With the needs of
everyone being a little different
based on crop rotation and base
fertility the importance of soil
sampling becomes more important.
during the summer months without having to walk all fields or
damage crops by driving a pickup
on them. By doing this we can
hopefully fine tune some recommendations in the summer, so
that there isn’t a panic in the fall
when product availability is usually at it’s tightest.
I would strongly encourage
farmers to keep soil test records
up to date. Last fall, the Country
Pride agronomists noticed a sizeable drop in a lot of phosphate
test levels in many soil tests. As
Soil sampling is not a new corn yields have increased, it is
topic to anyone who farms or
easy to fall behind in your fertilizer
works with fertilizer but it can be- rates and begin to sacrifice yield.
come easy to overlook as we
Also, as fertilizer prices have
seem to book our needs way be- trended upward again, it becomes
fore a current test is pulled. One important to utilize your dollars
way that Country Pride is trying to wisely.
get a jump on things will be our
As I stated before, the
new ATV mounted sampling unit
Country Pride Agronomists will be
for the upcoming season. With the making the rounds trying to connew unit we will be able to sample
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tact as many of you as we can. If
you have any questions on fall fertilizer pricing or soil testing, be
sure to call or stop by our office so
that we can all be ready when it’s
time to hit the field.
Eric Winters
Agronomist
Country Pride Convience Store & Auto Tire Repair - Windom
The Country Pride C– Store of Windom
would like to remind our customers that
we are able to fill small propane tanks
and motor home tanks from 10 am to 4
pm Monday through Friday. Stop in and
see Carrie or Teresa for your LP fill.
convenience needs the store is open
from 7 am to 9 pm, seven days a week.
First of all, I would like to thank all of the
patrons for last years business and we
look forward to this upcoming year.
your spring season go as smoothly as
possible. Call the Windom shop today at
831-4585 to set up an appointment for
the week of March 14-19 for your free
tire check.
Teresa
With tire prices trending upward, it is
important that you take care of your Ag
tires to maximize their lifespan. We at
Country Pride in Windom will be offering
a free tire check the week of March 1419. During this week we will come to
We are also your one stop shop for all of your farm and do an inspection of all
your hunting and fishing licenses as well. your Ag tires and help set them to the
And remember, for all of your fuel and
correct air pressure which should help
Windom
C-Store
Dave SchwartzWindom Shop Manager
Energy Department - Bingham Lake
PagePage
55
In the oil market both WTI and Brent crude have been on the rise since the Anti-Government rioting began
weeks ago due to the fear of a disruption in oil of the cargoes on the SUMED pipeline and through the
SUESZ CANAL which are both controlled by Egypt. But now with the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt tensions are easing and life in Cairo is slowly returning to normal. Now China has increased the
key interest rates to help slow their inflation in it's growing economy. This will raise concerns that the
country's thirst for oil will diminish as well. I feel the crude oil market
could take a dip in the coming weeks.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our patrons for taking
the time to remove the snow from their L.P. tanks as this helps our drivers out a lot. I would also like to inform our patrons that we have purchased a new LP delivery truck to replace one of our older units.
2011 Country Pride Board Of Director Candidates
Windom South District Incumbent
Doyle Mattson has been farming for 32 years in a corn and soybean rotation with his brother Todd. He has
been a board member since 1995. Doyle and his wife Deb have two children, Brett who also is active in farming, and Megan who is in college. In his spare time, Doyle enjoys attending high school sporting events and
getting in an occasional round of golf. Doyle says it is a privilege to serve on the board and have an opportunity to have a positive impact on the coop and its patrons. As we look to the future, Doyle says that keeping a
careful eye on product pricing and availability will be critical to the coop and its patrons.
Windom South Challenger
Dave Hansen has been farming north of Lakefield for 37 years raising corn, soybeans, hay, and purebred
Maine-Anjou Cattle. Dave and his wife Carolyn have 2 sons, Neil who is an Account Manager for Pioneer HiBred and a former Country Pride Agronomist, and Jory who is assistant basketball coach and admissions
counselor at Dakota Wesleyan University. Dave has served as an elder, and on other various boards at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Lakefield. He has also served on the REA Nominating Committee, REA Trust
Board, Ag Star Nominating Committee, Ag Star Technology Advisory Committee, and is also the secretary for
the Cottonwood/Jackson Cattle Producers. Dave sees the use of technology as something we need to keep
updating, which will benefit both the coop and its producers.
Mountain Lake South District- Currently Running Unopposed
Greg Gohr farms in the Mt. Lake area with his sons Matt and Robert and has been farming for 33 years raising corn and soybeans. Greg has three children; Bob, Matt, and Allison. In his spare time, Greg enjoys shooting sports and riding his motorcycle. Having served as a board member since 1992, Greg has found it to be
interesting and rewarding to serve the patrons of County Pride. Greg sees the major challenges for the future
are to be able to keep up with the increased amount of acres to be covered in a timely manner and remain
financially viable while still providing top notch quality and service to all the patrons.
A special thanks to the nomination committee members for their hard work; Mark Langland,
Tom Fast, Brady Mickelson, and Brian Romsdahl.
PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. POSTAGE
MAILED FROM 56118
PERMIT NO. 18
144 9th Street
Bingham Lake MN, 56118
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On A Lighter Note
A retiring farmer in preparation for selling his land,
needed to rid his farm of animals. So he went to every
house in his town.
To the houses where the man is the boss, he gave a
horse. To the houses where the woman is the boss, a
chicken was given.
He got toward the end of the street and saw a couple outside gardening. "Who's the boss around here?"
he asked.
"I am." said the man.
"I have a black horse and a brown horse," the farmer
said, "which one would you like?"
The man thought for a minute and said, "The black
one."
"No, no, no, get the brown one." the man's wife said.
"Here's your chicken." said the farmer.
-Source: AgWeb.com
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