BUSINESS

Solar Panel Plague or Progress? Controversy Explodes as Farmland Disappears

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:55:53 GMT

Roughly 2,200 acres of prime farmland is vanishing under a blue blanket of glass, plastic, aluminum, and silicon in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. The disappearing act, increasingly common in rural America, is a sweet source of income for some farmers, but a bitter pill for many adjoining producers and landowners.

“Giant solar panels mean prime farmland gone forever and the ruin of rural life, not to mention a potential environmental mess,” says Kate Smit, whose farm sits close to the proposed solar facility.

Smit’s property will be the next-door recipient of 461,000 solar panels strung in 5,400 rows, much of it surrounded by 7’-high fencing.

Bill Peter, a homeowner adjacent to the incoming facility and former longtime employee of Liberty Farms, the same operation that leased the acres for a solar transformation, is opposed to the installation: “Don’t insult me by calling it a ‘solar farm.’ I’m not fooled. What’s happening is sick, and whether you live in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, or any other state, it’s coming to your backyard. Today here and tomorrow everywhere.”

Peter was fired by Liberty Farms on March 27, he claims, as a direct outcome of his opposition to the solar lease. “I don’t agree with the ‘tiny percent of overall farmland’ excuse,” he adds. “This is one of the saddest things I’ve seen in American agriculture in my lifetime. It ends with glass and metal covering millions of acres.”

Is Peter correct? How many solar acres are planned: 10 million by 2030? 20 million by 2040? Less? More?

Eyesore or Green Beauty?
Standing at the edge of her 97 acres of grain outside Richland Township, Kate Smit sweeps an arm toward the horizon. She soon will be surrounded by a sea of solar panels. Her property almost rubs nearby Liberty Farms—which leased 2,268 prime acres to Consumers Energy, the second largest electric utility in Michigan, for a solar facility with construction and operation scheduled in 2026.

Proposed coverage of the 2,268-acre solar panel site in Richland Township.

(Image by Consumers Energy)

“Our family farm dates back 100 years and now my kids will inherit our fields beside a sprawling, industrial mess,” Smit describes. “We’re an example of what’s going on all over Michigan and the U.S.”

(The Liberty Farms solar installation is not a done deal. The Richland Township planning commission has not yet approved Consumer Energy’s application.)

“Our area in Richland has gorgeous nature with abundant deer, ospreys, bald eagles, cranes, and you name it. We’re also a wonderful agriculture community, and it’s all the bigger shame because prime farmland is what they’re using for this solar project.”

According to a release, Consumers Energy “expects the Project to be in service for at least 35 years. Consumers Energy has worked diligently with nearby landowners and residents to minimize Project impacts on the surrounding community.”

“Are you kidding me? That farmland is lost way past 35 years or 50 years, or whatever ridiculous number they throw out,” Smit says. “No one wants solar panels here, and Consumers knows that. Our community is fighting this tooth and nail. Consumers came here hush-hush, did deals with MDOT, and suddenly our landscape is permanently destroyed.”

(Consumers Energy declined Agweb interview requests regarding the Richland solar installation.)

“We want to stall Consumers’ solar project until we can get a bill passed in our state senate to where townships and counties have to vote if a solar panel company wants in,” Smit continues.

Solar lease rates for agriculture land are significantly high.

(Graph by AFBF)

Two miles from Smit, Bill Peter, 70, who sits on the Richland Township board as a trustee, lives down a mile-and-a-half road dotted with seven homes. “I’m about to get circled by solar panels,” he says. “Literally, Consumers Energy is putting panels all the way around. They’ll take out the tillable ground and replace it with glass.”

Ironically, until March 2026, Peter was employed at Liberty Farms, the new landlord of Consumers Energy. “I’m not afraid to tell the truth and they fired me for it. That’s their choice,” he emphasizes. “I’m not sitting quietly while 450,000 solar panels permanently replace the best farm soil around.”

Generally, solar panels are made of 76% glass, 10% plastic, 8% aluminum, 5% silicon, and 1% copper.

“There’s nothing green about this green energy,” Peter contends. “They want to put glass, steel, aluminum, and plastic on top of a natural watershed area, and completely cut the ground off from photosynthesis, and then tell you it’s environmentally safe for 50 years, and won’t hurt the soil with contamination? What happens when a tornado or natural disaster tosses grinds all these panels to particles?”

“We’re all tired of this renewable energy talk,” he adds. “It funnels to tax dollars and tax breaks, and backroom deals and mandates. This Richland installation is rumored to be a $50-plus million contract, ultimately paid for by us in one way or another.”

“Wake up,” Smit echoes. “No matter where you’re at in the U.S., the land beside you or the land in your community could be next. How many panels will they put in if they can get away with it?”

Battle of the Pens
In 2021, President Biden (Executive Order 14057 ) mandated that the federal government reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. A massive solar push was included in the plan. How much farmland was needed to reach the net-zero goal? Estimates ranged from 10 million to 26 million acres, with upper end projections of 50 million.

“We’re supposed to say nothing while solar panels and data centers explode, and we’re told about the wonders of green, renewable energy,” says Smit.

(Photo by iStock)

However, in 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14148 , revoking Biden’s mandate.

In 2024-2025, solar infrastructure covered approximately 1 million-plus acres of farmland, with roughly half of the acreage directly on cropland. Overall, the U.S. contains almost 880 million acres of farmland.

“It’s not that complicated to me,” says Ed Yelton, a cattle producer in Dearborn County , Indiana. “They’ll build as many as they can get away with. If you think it’s not a big deal because they’re only on a fraction of total farmland, wait till one pops up beside you. Who in the hell wants to see the monstrosity?”

“And if a different presidential administration comes in, they might pick up a pen and sign another executive order and we’ll be at 50 million acres before you know it. Let me be direct: Whatever number the government pushes, that tells me they want far, far more.”

A mile from Yelton’s pastures, Linea Energy has a lease on 1,200 acres of planned solar panels. “It’s beautiful farmland, or was,” Yelton says.

Prime agricultural land is popular for solar installations, partially because it’s often open, dry, and relatively flat. Construction costs for solar conversion on farmland are generally lower than on other types of ground.

The pressure from solar installations and data centers on rural landowners and communities is just beginning, Kate Smit says.

(Graph by AFBF)

“The energy people slipped in here and signed leases with people without nobody knowing it. These are the same people that tell you that solar isn’t permanent while they’re hauling in glass, fencing, and concrete. This is same story you see in North Carolina, New York, Kentucky, Oklahoma—it’s all over the place.”

“We’re pressuring our zoning board to do something,” Yelton exclaims. “That might be the solution in the future: Only allow solar panel installation beside the homes and properties of county officials and board members. Hell, that might sincerely stop some of this.”

Private Land v Public Choice?
Whose ox is gored? When millions of dollars in lease contracts are at stake, how does the right to use private land as a property owner sees fit weigh into the solar equation? Simply, solar pays tremendously well compared with corn, cotton, rice, or soybeans.

“It’s a tough one,” Yelton admits. “I believe a person should be able to do with their land whatever they want, but solar is something else. If you’re the next to get panels beside your land or house, you’ll be sick. The only solution to panels and AI data centers is to let a community decide.”

“The power companies and the government all know this is wrong. That’s why they call them ‘solar farms.’ They use words to trick and influence the public, but that’s an insult to anyone in agriculture. I’m sticking with common sense: Once you put glass, aluminum, and plastic all over a field, that’s no longer a farm.”

Well and Good
As of 2024, American Farm Bureau Federation estimates over 1.25 million acres of farmland has been covered by solar installations:

The ERS (Economic Research Service, USDA) approximates solar’s footprint as of 2020 at 336,000 acres of rural land based on the total solar production capacity installed in U.S. Census designated rural areas. As solar capacity has more than doubled since 2020 and is increasingly coming from utility-scale solar, this estimate is woefully out-of-date. Using SIEA’s current estimate of 200 GW of installed solar capacity, ERS’s estimate of 7.5 acres used per MW of production, and AFT’s estimate that 83% of solar installations are on farmland, we roughly estimate that 1.25 million acres of farmland have been converted for use in solar production. While that may be a startlingly high number to some, it would represent 0.14% of the 879 million acres of farmland in the United States.

“No matter where you’re at in the U.S., the land beside you or the land in your community could be next,” says Smit. “How many panels will they put in if they can get away with it?”

(Photo by iStock)

Whether eyesore and erasure, or energy godsend and income windfall, the pressure from solar installations and data centers on rural landowners and communities is just beginning, Kate Smit says.

“We’re supposed to say nothing while solar panels and data centers explode, and we’re told about the wonders of green, renewable energy,” she concludes. “If it’s all so well and good, then who wants one outside your bedroom window?”

For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:

When Conservation Backfires: Landowner Defeats Feds in Mindboggling Private Property Case

Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told

How the Deep State Tried, and Failed, to Crush an American Farmer

Game of Horns: Iowa Poacher’s Antler Addiction Leads to Historic Bust

Ghost Cattle: $650M Ponzi Rocks Livestock Industry, Money Still Missing

From Constraints to Catalysts: How Ag Leaders Turn Hardships into Strategy

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 18:19:01 GMT

In an industry defined by “one-year-at-a-time” cycles, the greatest threat to a growing operation isn’t just a market downturn—it’s the inertia that comes with size. Farm Journal CEO Prescott Shibles argues that long-term survival requires a rare blend of faith and agility. To maintain an entrepreneurial mindset, leaders must lean into “conviction” as the core of a strategy that survives the lows.

Here is how four industry leaders are turning today’s constraints into tomorrow’s differentiators.

1. Build when times are hard.

When Brent Smith, president and CEO of NewLeaf Symbiotics, joined the company in 2023, the grain market was entering a significant down cycle. While some saw a risky time to lead a startup, he saw an opportunity.

“I learned in my first startup that the best time to build a business is in hard times,” Smith said said during a discussion at Top Producer Summit. “Because if you can’t withstand tough times, you’re not going to survive long term.”

For Smith, survival meant doubling down on the company’s core: science. Despite the pressure to cut costs, NewLeaf continues to spend half of its operating expenses on science.

“It would be very easy to peel that back,” he admits. “But we focused on projects that make the most impact the quickest, while keeping an eye on the long-term innovation in our pipeline.”

2. Control what you can control.

Farmers face the ultimate constraint every year: the weather. Scott Beck, president of Beck’s Hybrids, recalls the planting crisis of 2019 when constant rains kept tractors out of the fields well into May.

“I was concerned for our customers not being able to plant, but also for us not being able to plant our seed for the next year,” Beck says. “There was nothing that we could do to control the weather, but we could control how we interacted with our customers.”

Rather than retreating, the Beck’s team focused on transparency and empathy, using video series to connect with farmers and even forming small groups for prayer and support. Ultimately, they wanted farmers to know they cared and were there to support them however they could.

Despite the financial reality of what could happen if farmers didn’t plant and returned seed, Beck’s decided their course of action would not include employee layoffs. Instead, they prepared to sell land to protect their people.

“Fortunately, the weather broke and everybody was able to get planted,” he says. “Then the second miracle happened. We had the second warmest September on record, and that’s what brought the crop through to enable 2019 to not turn out as bad as it started.”

3. Turn disadvantages into advantages.

In 2014, Lamar Steiger, owner of The 808 Ranch, was tasked with a monumental challenge: helping Walmart reinvent its beef supply chain. At the time, the retail giant was at a disadvantage, forced to accept whatever the major meatpackers provided.

Steiger’s strategy was to turn that lack of control into a new kind of independence.

“I convinced the Walmart team to go around the traditional supply chain,” Steiger says. Today, Walmart sources 28% of its beef from its own “farm-to-table” supply chain.

There’s no question that decision was really good for Walmart. But Steiger says it was also really good for him personally.

“It reminded me that no matter how big you are, there are always challenges,” he says.

4. Create “white space” for the future.

When the day-to-day tasks of an operation become overwhelming, long-term strategy is often the first thing to go. James Burgum, CEO of The Arthur Companies, believes leaders must intentionally carve out “white space” for their teams.

“It’s important to find ways where people can actually spend their time working on the business, not just in the business,” he says.

By protecting time for team members to execute ideas that are three to five years out, Burgum manages the tension between short-term urgency and long-term viability.

“It’s hard to step away from the daily fires you’ll face in your operation, but it’s important,” he adds. “How we manage that tension of short term and long term is creating that white space and making sure that we consciously work on the business.

The Long Game

Ultimately, resilience in agriculture is about knowing when to push and when to pivot.

“You have to know when to put the gas down, and you need to know when to tap the brake,” Smith says. “And regardless of what you are doing, you need to stay focused on what you’re doing.”

Whether it is investing in science during a downturn or choosing customer empathy over the bottom line, these leaders say constraints don’t have to be roadblocks; they can be the very catalysts that drive an operation forward.

Sticky Fingers: USDA Fraudster Steals $200M in Stunning Scam

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 14:30:16 GMT

A crime “mere mortals wouldn’t even contemplate.” An astounding $210-million haul pulled out the front doors of USDA.

Who steals over $200 million in fake USDA loans, drives a Rolls, runs a chop-shop, and jet-sets the globe? Who attempts to escape in a chartered plane, carries on scheming behind bars, draws his wife into the action, and triples down with more swindles—all after pleading guilty?

Nik Patel. The Florida-based con artist steered a chain of astonishing agriculture-related scams, each more jaw-dropping than the previous, and racked up a whopping 52-year sentence in the federal pen.

Welcome to the manic reign of a brazen fraudster who forged his own fall. The biter got bit.

Life in the Fast Lane
In 2012, First Farmers Financial, helmed by CEO Nik Patel, was flying high with a flagship location in Orlando, Fla., and satellite offices in California and Georgia.

Twenty-nine years young and married with children, Patel hitched his wagon to USDA, specifically to the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program, under the guise of helping rural communities. To ride USDA’s coattails, Patel and First Farmers COO Tim Fisher crafted a lie from whole cloth. They fabricated documents claiming a solid business structure, deep experience, and assets exceeding $20 million with Wells Fargo.

Fisher, later pinched by the feds and sentenced to 10 years, fessed up. “In order for us to establish the business, I assisted in creating falsified financial statements, falsified resumes, and falsified other background documents between our company, so that we could get a USDA approval from the United States, in order for us to do loans for the USDA.”

Translated: USDA bought the head fake and gave certification to First Farmers—based on Patel’s paperwork lies.

USDA certification in hand, Patel went into chop-shop overdrive, forging 26 USDA loans, ranging in value from $2.5 million to $10 million, for a total of $179 million. The 26 loans, polished with bogus USDA employee signatures, fictitious borrower names, and fake USDA loan ID numbers, were a fantasy and had no government backing.

Pictured with then Sen. Marco Rubio, Patel, left, and wife, Trisha, made the political rounds.

(Photo Instagram)

Patel then dangled the $179-million package—a criminally audacious move considering he had no prior felony history. (Patel did have previous misdemeanor convictions in 2011 and 2012, for DUI and assault on a police officer, both of which resulted in short sentences of home confinement.)

First to sniff Patel’s bait was Pennant Management, an investment company in Milwaukee, Wisc. Not willing dupes, but painfully deficient in the vetting department, Pennant reps flew to Florida and were wooed by Patel’s silver-tongued claims that First Farmers stood atop $52 million in assets, $17 million in cash, and a profit line of $1.8 million. All lies.

Patel further impressed Pennant with counterfeit balance sheets for 2011, 2012, and a portion of 2013. Pennant was willing to buy the $179-million package deal. After all, the bundle was almost entirely guaranteed by USDA, according to Patel, who later wrote to Pennant with third-person bravado: “Effectively Nik Patel serves as a one man loan committee—reviewing the opportunities as they flow into him for consideration.”

To ensure Pennant officials didn’t smell the ruse, Patel ginned up “audited financial statements,” for 2013, prepared by esteemed CPA “Geoff Kane.” However, Kane, despite a glowing biography provided by Patel, was a fiction. Kane was Patel.

Where did Patel’s stolen money go? In a hole; offshore; Dubai; family?

(Photos public domain)

In for a dime, in for a dollar. Pennant jumped headfirst and snatched the $179-million offer, wiring the funds to Patel at BMO Harris Bank in Florida.

Cha-ching. Patel hit the fast lane, dumping tens of millions of dollars on hotel projects, a lavish $4-million home, a Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini, boats, custom suits, jewelry, part ownership of a jet, international vacations, cathouse visits to a favored brothel in Panama—according to prosecutors, and political donations, even opening his home to host a fundraiser for then Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

Patel was just warming up.

Dubai Diamonds
In September 2014, Pennant got curious. After finding address inconsistencies in First Farmers’ paperwork, Pennant knocked on USDA’s door with a list of borrower names and loan numbers. USDA’s response was damning: Total sham. Name and numbers do not exist.

Panicked, Pennant ran to the FBI. Too little, too late, for the Milwaukee-based investment advisor business. Pennant collapsed the following year.

On Sept. 29, 2014, the feds filed a criminal complaint against First Farmers and Patel. In 2015, he was arraigned in the Northern District of Illinois and pleaded not guilty. However, on Dec. 6, 2016, Patel changed his plea to guilty on five counts of wire fraud . Sentencing was scheduled for April 6, 2017.

In the interim, unfazed by the inconvenience of criminal prosecution, Patel continued spending. He dropped $23,368 on a ski trip and approximately $30,000 on his daughter’s birthday party at a Four Seasons Hotel. And all the while, as he feigned remorse and awaited sentencing, Patel’s second fraud was in motion. In public, he played the penitent and announced a desire to recover money for his victims, requesting—and receiving—sentencing date extensions to generate cash.

Patel, pictured with President Trump, rubbed shoulders with political leaders on both sides of the aisle.

(Photo Instagram)

Behind the outward contrition, Patel was managing the clock, stretching time to organize the second scheme, this time another hoodwink of USDA, along with Farmer Mac, to scam investors in Iowa. While final sentencing for the first fraud was delayed until Jan. 9, 2018, Patel went into overdrive, intending to make another pile of coin and go on the lam.

Starting back in June 2017, he had invented the alias of “Ron Elias,” a fictitious “Vice President of Guaranteed Lending” at Banco Do Brasil (BDB). In reality, there was no such position at BDB and the bank never engaged in USDA lending, but Patel, correctly, predicted nobody would check.

According to DOJ, Patel’s USDA-Farmer Mac con job was three-layered: “First, Patel fabricated fraudulent loan documents that falsely represented that a bank in Miami had authorized loans to be made to convert hotels in rural areas into assisted living facilities. Although the bank in Miami exists, it had never made any of the loans … Second, Patel applied to USDA to guarantee the fake loans pursuant to its Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program. Third, after the USDA agreed to guarantee the fake loans, Patel sold the guaranteed portion of the fake loans to the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, also known as Farmer Mac. Patel executed the scheme on three occasions, receiving almost $20 million in proceeds. Patel used a portion of the funds from that scheme to pay some of his restitution, but he was saving much of it to flee the United States.”

Pocketing $20 million as Ron Elias while on supervised federal release, thanks to loan guarantees provided by USDA and a wad of cash courtesy of Farmer Mac, Patel then applied for political asylum in India and Ecuador, claiming to be a victim of abuse and persecution by DOJ. Palm up, Ecuador accepted. In the months prior to sentencing, Patel lined up a chartered flight, luxury vehicles, $500,000 in emergency cash, beautiful home, private chef, and schools for his daughters in Ecuador.

Patel, alongside then Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

(Photo Instagram)

Partnered with another business crony, Kevin Timirchand, Patel aimed to launder the $20 million by the “cleanest way to do the transaction, kill any trace, and cover everyone,” via a Dubai diamond purchase. DOJ investigators later seized a memo written by Patel, detailing his intentions:

I have arranged a diamond merchant that I trust in Dubai (based out of India-Parsas Patel). He is a major player and I’ve bought from him before, He has a 103.78 carat diamond. Shape is a modified shield, it is VS1 purity, and Color is Fancy Dark with brown greenish and yellow. He will provide a GI and Kimberly Certificate. This Is one of the rarest diamonds in the world that is very sought after. He is also going to sell us 2-3 other diamonds similar to this one (smaller but similar) The 3-4 diamonds he sells us value will look on paper like $30MM and he will invoice for it $30MM.

To cover his absence from his scheduled sentencing in Chicago for the initial $179 million scam, Patel planned to tell DOJ officials he was “going to rehab or a meditation camp for a week, this way they do not suspect anything by my phone being shut off,” while missing his court date.

“I may even use a different name to leave,” he noted. “The only people I have to tell is the pilot so he can document his flight log.”

Kevin Timirchand, Patel’s accomplice in the Farmer Mac fraud.

(Photo public domain)

On a Saturday morning, Jan. 6, 2018, three days prior to sentencing, Patel rolled to Kissimmee Gateway Airport, driven by Timirchand in a Cadillac Escalade. At 7 a.m., as luggage was transferred to a chartered jet, four FBI agents bagged Patel. In his possession, according to DOJ, “Patel had an Indian passport in his name (forged and backdated to 2010), United States currency ($20,000), documents relating to his attempt to obtain asylum in Ecuador, financial documents indicating access to accounts holding millions of dollars, and detailed checklists for tasks relating to obtaining asylum in Ecuador and setting up a new life there for himself and his family.”

Thrown in Florida lockup, Patel already was piling more blocks on the Jenga tower.

Another Drink at the Well
Awaiting transfer to Chicago, Patel pulled levers from behind bars and went all-in on the Ron Elias charade. His crony, Timirchand (later arrested and sentenced to two years in prison), was Patel’s instrument beyond prison walls. Per a DOJ attorney’s testimony in June 2018: Patel instructed Timirchand how to log-in to the account and instructed him which emails to send to various peoples in order to further the fraudulent misrepresentations and to actually cause the funds to be disbursed. There were phone calls to Mr. Timirchand from the jail instructing him how to send emails to someone else, to representatives of the USDA.

On March 6, 2018, Patel, then 34, was sentenced to 25 years for the original $179 million fraud.

Surreally, Patel, federal prisoner #61337-018, was unbowed. It was time for another drink at the USDA well.

House of Cards
The following year, in 2019, while imprisoned for the first fraud ($179 million), and under indictment for the second fraud ($20 million) stemming from the Farmer Mac debacle, Patel engineered a third fraud, this time keeping it in the family. His accomplice? Wife, Trisha Patel.

Via emails, phone calls, and prison visits between 2019 and 2023, the pair spun a wooly web. Rather than Patel taking a fake identity such as Ron Elias or Geoff Kane, Trisha assumed two bogus identities, “Maya Greer” and “Robert Engelmeyer,” later exposed by phony email addresses and burner apps.

The Patels conjured a fictitious lending company, Community 1st Mortgage, fronted by lead officer Maya Green (Trisha).

Trisha Patel masqueraded as Maya Greer and Robert Engelmeyer.

(Photo Facebook)

According to Trisha’s subsequent plea deal: “This new loan scheme had another new concept beyond the creation of a fake lender. It included the use of legitimate business to facilitate the fraud. Nikesh Patel looked for a business that was for sale and discovered a listing for Precision Powered Products, Inc. (PPP), a commercial pump manufacturer in Houston, Texas. The company’s owner wanted to retire after nearly 40 years of running the business. Nikesh Patel Inquired with a broker about the listing in late 2020 and learned specific information about the business.”

Incredibly, the Patels used Texas-based PPP to dupe USDA.

Trisha hid her true identity behind the mask of Robert Engelmeyer, a fictitious PPP executive, who needed an $8,540,000 loan from Community 1st to expand PPP business—not in rural Nebraska or rural New Mexico—but rather, in rural Puerto Rico. Trisha, acting as Robert Engelmeyer, persuaded USDA that PPP needed a loan to boost operations in Cabo Rojo.

And the business address leased by PPP in Cabo Rojo? A vacant building under renovation, with no relation to commercial pump manufacturing. A shell. No one at USDA bothered to check. Instead, USDA backed the $8,540,000 loan at 80%.

After securing USDA’s guarantee, Trisha, masquerading as Maya Greer of Community 1st, sold the loan for $7,446,880 on Nov. 21, 2021, to Hanover Securities, a broker-dealer in Memphis, Tenn. (According to Trisha’s later plea, Hanover “broke the loan into smaller portions and resold them to smaller banks. To avoid detection, Trisha Patel would pay the loan payments each month for each of these loans using fraud proceeds.”)

The day of sale, Hanover wired $7-plus million to Community 1st and Maya Greer. Trisha emailed her husband at Seminole County Jail in Florida, writing: “It’s here!!!! Finally.”

Patel answered: “Amazing news! I will call after count, after 5 pm. Make sure its showing credited and available.”

Trisha Patel, second from left, attends a White House Diwali event October 2022, during the Biden Administration.

(Photo Instagram.)

Trisha then doled $1.2 million of the haul to “various attorneys, lobbyists, and consultants on behalf of Nikesh Patel,” greasing the political skids for Patel’s release. (Keeping up appearances, she also spent $81,000 on a new BMW.) Trisha made the rounds of high society on both sides of the political aisle, even popping up at a White House party in October 2022.

However, the Patel’s house of cards finally crashed in 2023, as the FBI and USDA Office of Inspector General discovered the paper trail. Trisha was arrested; Patel, already under lock and key, was given a cell cleanout. As described by FBI Special Agent Alex Duda, the results were telltale: “On Sept. 20, 2023, officials at the Seminole County Jail conducted a cell search of Nikesh Patel’s cell. The officials observed a large quantity of documents, estimated to consist of approximately 3,000 pages, in six neat stacks under Patel’s mattress. The officials characterized the amount of documents located in Patel’s cell as ‘substantial’ and ‘extraordinary.’”

Wash, rinse, repeat. Once again, it was time for Patel’s sentencing, but this time Trisha also faced the music.

Sticky Fingers, Twisted Threads
No one left to lie to. On Sept. 18, 2024, Trisha, 41, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison, and is currently incarcerated at FCI Marianna , Florida. A month later, Oct. 8, 2024, Patel was sentenced to 27 years on top of his previous 25 years—a draconian total of 52 years in the pen, a disproportionate sentence in the eyes of many legal observers. He is doing time at FCI Bennettsville , South Carolina.

Patel, left, hosting a fundraiser at his home for Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

(Photo Facebook)

Strikingly, on the heels of his near-escape to Ecuador during his second con (Farmer Mac), and after his third con (USDA-PPP) was in motion, Patel, on July 6, 2020, while incarcerated, authored a third-person post on Medium , claiming victimhood due to “racial tactics” by DOJ: “The pattern of prosecutorial misconduct against people of color extended to ignoring evidence and making willfully false claims in the case against Patel,” he wrote. “It demonstrates a pattern of misconduct that Patel is hoping to further expose in his clemency plea.”

At the post’s end, he signed off: “Nikesh Patel, former Investment Banker, resident of Florida and the subject of overzealous prosecution. Hoping to get justice and have my narrative told.”

Patel’s claims of injustice gained the attention of Jesse Jackson in 2022. Jackson urged the U.S. attorney’s office to release Patel on home confinement. A mere 10 months after Jackson’s advocacy, Patel’s fraud No. 3 exploded, along with its surreal narrative tied to 3,000 pages stuffed under a mattress and Puerto Rican pump fakes, all bookended by another 27 years on Patel’s sentence. As of 2026, Patel describes himself as a “political prisoner” and seeks a presidential pardon.

From the get-go, the threads of Patel’s crime saga twisted deep. All told, he siphoned approximately $210 million. Where did the money go? The feds recovered over $100 million. The rest? In a hole; offshore; Dubai; family?

Nik Patel steered a chain of astonishing agriculture-related scams and racked up a 52-year sentence in the pen.

(Photo public domain)

Judge Charles Kocoras, when sentencing Patel back in 2018 for the first $179-million con job, presciently described the con artist extraordinaire: “There’s a certain diabolical genius to what he did here.”

Kocoras added a sobering kicker, particularly considering Patel’s second and third frauds were yet to spawn. Kocoras described the tangled, initial scheme as one that “most mere mortals wouldn’t even contemplate.”

Despite knowing the fuse was already burning on more theft, Patel solemnly assured the court: “It is going to be my actions that will show remorse.”

Actions, indeed.

For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:

Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told

How the Deep State Tried, and Failed, to Crush an American Farmer

Game of Horns: Iowa Poacher’s Antler Addiction Leads to Historic Bust

Ghost Cattle: $650M Ponzi Rocks Livestock Industry, Money Still Missing

Farmer Unearths Lost Treasure, Solves WW2 Mystery

It’s Meeting Season: How to Conquer the Crowded Room

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 19:27:10 GMT

You walk into a crowded room of people you don’t know. Everyone is laughing and talking in their groups. It would be much easier to walk right back out, but you are there to represent a group with the mission of meeting people and making connections. So, you take your next step forward. But now what?

For some people, this is what nightmares are made of. For Jennifer Tirey, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association , this is what she lives to do.

“Jennifer is excellent at building relationships with people,” says Josh Maschhoff, president of the Illinois Pork Producers Association. “She can walk into a room where she might not know anybody and quickly make introductions and connections with those people. And most importantly, she can remember their name, and she can do it with a lot of people.”

Maschhoff admits he often finds himself in a room with a lot of people, and he can’t remember their names.

“Whether it’s fellow producers or members of the legislature, the closer I can put myself to Jennifer Tirey, the better off I will be,” he says. “I know I’ve got a resource that can help pull me along when I’m struggling because she can remember all of those people.”

He says her ability to remember the details about someone’s personal life and truly make a connection with them makes her unique.

Authentic Relationship Building Takes Work

How do you develop a superpower like this? Tirey admits it does take work.

“You just can’t go into a room and know a lot of people’s names without putting a lot of work into it,” she says. “I go back to the very first meeting that I had with Pork Producers. I’d only been on the job for less than a week, and they had already scheduled a regional meeting in Bloomington. I spent the entire car ride — because someone else was driving — memorizing the names of the individuals that were going to be there because I wanted the producers to know that I care and want to know them.”

If you want to truly connect with people and build a relationship, you have to be willing to work at it. Before every event, Tirey devotes time to reading over the list of who will be there and looks up photos to try to memorize faces.

“I’m always learning and trying to sharpen that skill,” she says. “I think that’s a valuable asset to have within agriculture. At the end of the day, agriculture is a really small community, and you cross paths a lot. You need each other to be successful.”

How to Connect and Be Remembered in Any Room

Now, back to the crowded room. Before you enter, adopt a mindset that you are there to learn and support others, not just “work the room.” Here are a few tips to help you connect with the crowd.

1. Scan The Room.
When you enter the room, use soft eye contact as you scan the room. Don’t stare, but instead do a “sweeping gaze.” According to the Science of People , a sweeping gaze is a slow, methodical look around the room. Start the gaze the moment you enter a room by looking to your left then slowly sweeping across the room until you find your opening or where you want to go. Then, make longer eye contact there.

“It’s easier to make connections when you give yourself the outward look that you want to meet people,” Tirey says.

2. Project Confidence.
Remember to smile and stand tall to project confidence as you head toward where you want to go. If you don’t feel confident, don’t worry because you aren’t alone, says Marilyn Sherman, a well-known motivational speaker .

“Even when you don’t feel confident, act confident. It will change your entire mindset,” Sherman says.

3. Make Direct Eye Contact And Have a Firm Handshake.
Tirey says the best advice she has to offer when connecting with people is to start with direct eye contact. Let the person you are talking to know they have your full attention.

“In addition to eye contact, a really firm handshake to a person that you’ve never met gives a good impression,” she adds. “It also keeps you top of mind with them.”

4. Listen.
“Really taking a moment to listen to who they are and what they have to say is key,” Tirey says. “I think doing this gives me a chance to internally set myself and get prepared for meeting somebody new. It allows you to learn about the person you’re trying to get to know without any ulterior motive.”

She believes taking a pause and letting people share what they want to share first is a great way to understand where they are coming from, too.

5. Offer Value.
Tirey says she strives to be a straight shooter and appreciates that when meeting others.

“Life moves fast, and I would much rather cut to the chase.” Tirey says. “I love making connections and catching up with people, but there are things that must be done, too. I appreciate directness and constructive criticism because that makes me a better person.”

If you have a relevant idea or suggestion, be ready to share it succinctly.

“One thing that works like magic is creating a memorable moment,” according to Wave Connect . “Think about ways you can add value right in the moment. Maybe you overhear someone mention a challenge they are facing, and you can recommend a solution or introduce them to someone you know. That kind of value sticks.”

As Maya Angelou said: “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. People will never forget how you made them feel.”

Learn more about Tirey in the latest episode of The PORK Podcast.

Fake Farmer Steals $8.75M In Green Energy Scam

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 22:27:14 GMT

Wearing a saccharine grin, Ray Brewer swished fat fingers through a bucket of fertilizer pellets and rattled out the mating call of a con man—the sweet sound of money. In droves, the faithful dumped $8.75 million into his agricultural skin game.

Nestled in a basement chop shop beneath the glamor of an infinity pool and a house in the hills, Brewer bilked investors and farmers from 2014-2019, based entirely on cow manure and the lure of biogas, renewable energy, and tax incentives.

Most agriculture crimes are coated in a veneer of reality—enough truth to hide the rot. Not so with silver-tongued Brewer. His scam was a total lie.

He understood the rules of a modern ag heist: Nothing so green as a green energy con.

The Man From Nowhere
In a single day, a dairy cow can expel close to 100- plus lb. of waste. The U.S. leader at roughly $9.7 billion in annual milk sales, California is home to the nation’s largest dairy herd: 1.7 million defecating milk cows.

In 2014, Ray Holcomb Brewer, 57, navigated California’s Central Valley agriculture as a commanding, highly intelligent, and persuasive predator. At 6’ and 300 lb., balding and silver-mustached, Brewer presented himself as an engineer with knowledge of each nut and bolt, along with every profitability angle, of anaerobic digesters—alchemy machines that churn turds into money.

He made the rounds of dairy industry events, conferences, and equipment tradeshows, showing leg to potential investors via construction or operation of a whopping 12 anaerobic digesters ( 129 digesters are currently functioning statewide) in Fresno, Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties, and a lone digester in Idaho. As the CEO of CH4 Power, headquartered in Tulare, Brewer promised investors returns in less than two years, generated from 66% of methane gas sales, carbon offsets, fertilizer, and tax breaks—all derived from his dairy digesters.

Brewer paved his scam with fake digester construction photos.

(Photo by DOJ)

In truth, despite Brewer’s peacocking, he had no digesters under construction; no functioning digesters cooking manure; no byproducts; and no farmland. Nuffin.

Brewer’s track record was blank, says Henry Carbajal, assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California and Unit Chief for White-Collar Crime. “It was almost like he popped out of the blue. Prior to the early 2000s, we still don’t know where he came from. We believe he had a background in the agriculture industry, but it was very difficult to find records beforehand.”

“The evidence we uncovered shows he worked as a consultant or had a digester-related role, but we don’t know where,” Carbajal says. “That was in the early 2000s, but again, before that he is somewhat of an unknown.”

Joseph Barton, assistant U.S. attorney under Carbajal, says Brewer mastered the lexicon of the agriculture industry. “He created entirely fake power generation reports which were extremely complicated and detailed. He’d send the reports to investors and say, ‘Look how much power my digesters are generating.’ Where did he learn to prepare those? We don’t know.”

“This was not someone who decided overnight to execute a fraud,” Barton adds. “Brewer was a guy with a past in something agriculture related.”

Indeed. The man from nowhere knew precisely how to build a Ponzi on farmland.

Ray’s Magical Beans
Brewer hung a shingle in Tulare. His company, CH4 Power, occupied an executive suite in an office park, manned by less than 10 employees. Purposely, Brewer hired agriculture newbies unfamiliar with livestock or farms. “We don’t believe any of them knew what was going on,” Barton explains. “The people working for him thought he was running a legitimate business.”

As always with Brewer, nothing was real, including fake construction schedules for nonexistent digesters.

(Photo by DOJ)

And business, Brewer asserted, was building a better mousetrap. He didn’t claim to invent breakthrough digester technology. Rather, he insisted, his innovation was streamlining the overall digester process with superior knowledge in mechanics, land approval, environmental regs, code compliance, timeline, local authorities, farmer connections, and permitting process: I am the engineer and I know.

As described in a federal 2019 indictment: “Defendant Brewer purported to have developed an anaerobic digester that would help dairies meet or exceed greenhouse gas emission standards and generate up to ten times the amount of energy that the dairies used, which would create reliable revenue streams for years to come.”

He sought big-city investors (domestic and foreign) eager to catch the carbon wave, but ignorant about agriculture, and wooed them via marketing materials, power generation reports, digester photos, and signed buyer contracts. As a cherry on top, Brewer promised a green energy tax incentive if payment was made before the calendar year ended. The investors, on Brewer’s word, anticipated the immediate tax money bump, followed by booming returns upon digester completion the following year.

To build his bonafides, Brewer signed several lease agreements with Central Valley dairies, falsely promising to build digesters. Simultaneously, he forged lease agreements with other dairies, backed by fake farmer signatures. Brewer then used the growing pile of counterfeit documents to deceive investors. All the while, he never began construction on a single digester.

Fancy house, smooth driveway, and loads of furniture: The money all filtered to Brewer’s pocket.

(Photo by DOJ)

Whenever investors visited on-site in Tulare to eyeball completed digesters or units under construction, Brewer took them to a genuine, functioning digester and feigned ownership, or carried clients to a farm (that he didn’t own) and claimed that digester construction was imminent.

“With the ties he had in the agriculture industry, he got access to a real digester,” Barton says. “It wasn’t his, but he passed it off as his. These were machines that had to be managed, but ran by themselves for extended periods of time, so Brewer would take his tours there at the right time and there wouldn’t be hardly anyone around.”

Adding layers to the cake, Brewer kept buckets of digester-produced, no-scent fertilizer pellets in his Tulare office, gleefully showing the contents to curious investors as tangible proof of amazing returns, i.e., Ray and his magical farm beans.

“It was such a compelling prop,” Barton notes. “He had pails of pellets to give to investors. He’d say, ‘We’re so successful that even our byproducts are selling and I’ve got contracts I can show you right here. A win-win.’”

Capping off the tours, Brewer wined and dined visitors roughly 120 miles north of Los Angeles at his fine residence in the hills, a 3,700 sq ft home on 10 acres purchased with seed money from his initial investors, complete with infinity pool and the new shine of several Dodge Ram trucks parked in the driveway, along with ATVs aplenty.

Money, honey. The manure Ponzi climbed higher and higher. If, and when, the base began creaking, Brewer would take his millions and run.

$100 Million Flex
The levers of fraud were pulled in an office basement at Brewer’s home—a chop shop.

Hunched over a desk, Brewer forged financial records, power generation reports, invoices, REC certificates, construction schedules, and permitting documents, keeping unsigned templates at the ready for repeated use. He also manipulated photographs, according to the subsequent federal indictment: Defendant Brewer obtained stock photographs of anaerobic digesters that were under construction that he did not own or control and had no involvement in building. Defendant Brewer then sent the photographs, sometimes after causing alterations to be made to the photographs, to different investors at various times to show them progress on different purported digesters when there had not been any construction.

Fake license of Ray “Lenair” Brewer, purported military hero and international businessman.

(Photo by DOJ)

Each time Brewer received new investor money, he opened a corresponding bank account, and then slid the money into sub-accounts with deceptive titles (Interconnection Engineering; Interconnection Permit; Water Board Fees) seemingly related to digester construction. He then blew the funds on personal items, while maintaining forged invoices as proof the money was spent on digester materials.
As dollars poured in, Brewer partied.

According to investigators, every penny of the Ponzi traced to personal expenditure: RVs, trucks, Harley-Davidsons, scores of guns, property, and more personal assets. He spent zero on construction material.

Beyond U.S. agriculture, Brewer managed to pull in big money from foreign investors.

(Photo by DOJ)

“The dedication and detail to money laundering is almost unique to Brewer,” Carbajal says. “You just don’t see it often in these cases because it takes heavy forethought and planning.”

Brewer’s wire transfers composed a steady chain of theft across 2016-2018, ranging from $14,900 to $5,000,000. As the money flowed, Brewer made a $100-million flex: He faked a letter from Rabobank backing a $100-million loan to build anaerobic digesters.

“I think he was having a good time,” Barton says. “It was as if he’d gotten his Series A startup going with several million dollars, and now it was time for Series B. The fake $100 million letter was a broadcast to investors that a real financial institution was backing it all up. With a number so big, investors assumed everything must have been vetted. Therefore, this had to be the real McCoy.”

“But it was a lie; the letter was altered by Brewer,” Barton continues. “In the genuine letter, the bank stated it was not committed to lending money until due diligence was performed. Investors never saw the genuine letter.”

In classic Ponzi mathematics, Brewer kept his early CH4 Power investors smiling by providing them with small payments gleaned from subsequent investors.

However, as the months rolled by, he ran short of Peters to pay Pauls. Irate investors, sick of Brewer’s promises, began filing lawsuits.

One step ahead of tar and feathers, it was time for Brewer to bounce. The natives were restless.

Grifters Gonna Grift
Arkansas and Nevada were Brewer’s ticket out of California. With a stolen Social Security number plucked from a dead man in Arkansas (first used by Brewer at least as far back as 2003), and a bogus “Ray Lenair Brewer” Nevada driver’s license, he moved 1,100 miles northeast to Sheridan, Montana, and switched his remaining assets to his wife’s name.

Brewer may have separated his scams from pillow talk. “He was married, but his wife later claimed she never knew he was doing anything illegal—and based on the evidence, we believed her,” Barton says. “When we talked to victims, they had met his wife, but they said that during business talks, she wasn’t around or referenced.”

In southwest Montana, Brewer hit the ground running in a blur of skullduggery: He bought a 12-acre property in Madison County, obtained a $118,000 COVID Paycheck Protection Program in the name of defunct CH4 Power, started another digester company—Mesa Renewable Energy, and quickly scalped his first victim of $90,000 by masquerading as a custom storage shed builder.

Grifters gonna grift.

However, Brewer finally reaped the whirlwind of his prior scheme. His power generation reports from the ghost digester in Idaho, sent to a nonprofit for certification of carbon offset credits, had generated an audit. The result? A blank, i.e., the Idaho digester didn’t exist. A federal investigation opened as the dominoes fell, and Brewer popped into the crosshairs of two bulldog U.S. attorneys—Carbajal and Barton.

According to indictment records, Brewer was a major Dodge Ram fan and repeat customer.

(Photo by DOJ)

Arrested by Madison County sheriff’s deputies in November 2020, Brewer maintained flimflam form in custody, insisting his identity was “Ray Lenair Brewer,” and not “Ray Holcomb Brewer.”
When the ID switcheroo failed to gain traction, Brewer spat out stolen valor.

Hoping to gain sympathy, he told deputies he was a Navy veteran who had once saved several members of a flight crew on the deck of an aircraft carrier. After an incoming jet caught fire during a rough landing, Brewer suffered burns while shielding the crew from flames, according to his fabrication. (Significantly, Brewer floated the identical war story to several digester investors.)

“Not true,” Barton says. “Complete lie. It wasn’t true for any of his identities. He never served in the Navy or any other branch of the military.”

“In our experience, most Ponzi schemers finally give it up when they’re caught solid,” Carbajal adds. “Not Brewer. It was doubling and tripling down. He tried to get out of anything and everything to the end.”

Sent back to California for trial, Brewer was nailed to the wall when Carbajal and Barton exposed the paper trail. Brewer, 66, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft charges—yet lied to the end.

Brewer, the man from nowhere, stole almost $9M based on biogas, renewable energy, and tax incentives.

(Photo by Madison County Sheriff’s Office)

At sentencing in June 2023, he arrived in a wheelchair with a final tale to spin. During his detention at Fresno County Jail, a nurse had been attacked by inmates. Brewer played on the incident in open court by telling the judge he had jumped into the assault and saved the nurse from further injury, resulting in knee damage to himself and the necessity of a wheelchair.

Barton sets the record straight: “He lied—again. Brewer had hurt his knee previously in a motorcycle accident on one of the Harley-Davidson motorcycles he bought with stolen investor money.”

Brewer, federal inmate #14502-097, received six years and nine months in prison and was ordered to pay $8.75 million in restitution.

Green Web
At the peak of his Ponzi power in December 2016, while raking in millions, Brewer spoke to the Visalia Times-Delta about the failure of past digester models, and told a telltale lie: “In our world, we’re the guys that come in with the fund. All the dairymen have to do is collect the money.”

It was one more gross falsehood in a green web of fiction: “It was all fake,” Barton says. “There were no contracts, no digesters, no end customers, and no farmland. There was nothing but the investors.”

For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:

Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told

Cottonmouth Farmer: The Insane Tale of a Buck-Wild Scheme to Corner the Snake Venom Market

Bagging the Tomato King: The Insane Hunt for Agriculture’s Wildest Con Man

Ghost in the House: A Forgotten American Farming Tragedy

Priceless Pistol Found After Decades Lost in Farmhouse Attic

Bizarre Mystery of Mummified Coon Dog Solved After 40 Years

American Gothic: Farm Couple Nailed In Massive $9M Crop Insurance Fraud

Evil Grain: The Wild Tale of History’s Biggest Crop Insurance Scam

Fleecing the Farm: How a Fake Crop Fueled a Bizarre $25 Million Ag Scam

The Arrowhead Whisperer: Stunning Indian Artifact Collection Found on Farmland

Skeleton In the Walls: Mysterious Arkansas Farmhouse Hides Civil War History

Ag Lenders: Just Over Half of Farmers Will Be Profitable in 2024

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 21:52:58 GMT

The American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac) have released their joint 2024 Ag Lender Survey.

The big takeaway: lenders believe only 58% of farmer borrowers will be profitable in 2024. That’s down from 78% in the previous year’s study.

“The agricultural economy is inherently cyclical, and ag lenders are navigating the changing conditions across the sectors they serve,” said Jackson Takach, chief economist of Farmer Mac.

“While the responses highlight slowing land values and a profitability shift from crops toward animal proteins, ag lenders remain steadfast in leveraging their resources and relationships to guide producers through all parts of the cycle,” Takach says.

Profitability expectations did vary by region and commodity category. Optimism was greater for livestock producers over row crop farmers.

The two top concerns listed by lenders for agricultural producers are liquidity and farm income.

For lending institutions, the respondents said the biggest concern was credit quality along with agricultural loan deterioration in the next 12 months.

“Agricultural credit quality remained robust in 2024, but lenders expect deterioration in the coming year as farmers face a more challenging environment,” said Tyler Mondres, senior director of research at the American Bankers Association. “Lenders are taking prudent steps to manage risk such as tightening underwriting standards, and they remain committed to working with and supporting their borrowers.”

Demand for loans secured by farmland and agricultural production loans increased in 2024, and both categories of loans are expected to rise in the next year as well.

The ABA/Farmer Mac survey has been conducted for nine years, and this year’s responses included more than 450 ag lenders who represent institutions ranging from less than $50 million to more than $1 billion.

You can read the full report here

Secure Your Farm’s Legacy: Virtual Succession Workshop for Teams

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 16:07:03 GMT

The organizers of The DIRRT Project are ready to help farms tackle their toughest family business issues.

With both in-person attendance (in Des Moines) and for the first time ever a fully integrated online option, the upcoming event takes place Dec. 2 to 4.

The in-person event is led by experts with personalized facilitation.

The live stream offers real-time participation with the ability to ask questions and join discussions.

Register at www.thedirttproject.com

Who should attend? If any of these four challenges sound familiar, The DIRTT Project aims to help you and provide clarity.

1. “We don’t know where to start.”

“Succession planning feels overwhelming and deciding who will take over the family farm or ranch seems impossible,” says Rena Striegel, of Transition Point Advivors, who organizes the event.

2. “We have personality conflicts and dysfunction.”

“Family dynamics can be complicated, especially when it comes to discussing the future of the business,” Striegel says. “Tensions can run high, making it difficult to have productive conversations.”

3. “We’re afraid to talk about it because we don’t want to create conflict.”

Strigel says it’s common for succession planning can stir up emotions, and stakeholders may be avoiding the conversation to prevent disagreements within the family.

4. “We’ve started before, and it didn’t work.”

“Maybe you’ve tried to have these conversations in the past, but things fell apart, or decisions were never fully made. You’re left feeling stuck and unsure how to move forward,” Striegel says.

The DIRTT Project is a hands-on workshop specifically designed to help agricultural families work through the complexities of farm and ranch succession planning.

“Our program addresses not only the logistical and financial aspects of succession but also the emotional and relational challenges that come with passing the torch to the next generation,” Striegel says.

Attendees can expect to:

Create a Clear Succession Plan
Resolve Family Tensions
Encourage Honest Conversations

“The DIRRT Project is different than other farm and ranch succession planning,” Strigel says. “It doesn’t have to be overwhelming.”

She says every program is structured to give attendees the following takeaways:

Immediate Impact
Customized Solutions
Expert Guidance
Proven Results

Register at www.thedirttproject.com

Company News: Alternative Energy, IPIC Swine Webinars, BI R&D Laboratory

Wed, 15 May 2024 22:09:48 GMT

Roeslein Alternative Energy Plans to Reveal New Biomas Upgrade System

Roeslein Alternative Energy (RAE) gears up for Biogas Americas 2024 May 13-16 in Savannah, Ga. At the event, RAE will introduce a brand-new micro biogas upgrade system it calls revolutionary, which was designed to help producers start monetizing biogas immediately.
The compact, compliant and customizable system features pre-integrated feed and product measurement tools, allowing users to capitalize on expiring biogas production, diversify revenue streams by converting biogas into valuable renewable energy, and benefit immediately with a system for quick set up and operation. This system has a variety of application uses for swine and dairy operations, and landfills.

Iowa Pork Industry Center Continues Swine Production Webinars

The Iowa Pork Industry Center (IPIC) begins its second year of producer-focused webinars on May 30, 2024.

“This program stemmed from producers asking questions and wanting to learn more about select topics,” IPIC director, Laura Greiner, says. “Each session is designed to provide a more in-depth presentation of subject matter with supporting slides to enhance viewer learning.”
The intended audience includes all individuals involved in swine production, ranging from producers, nutritionists, and veterinarians to allied industry.

All webinar series sessions are free and held from noon to 1 p.m. Central time. Registration is required and that link is available on the IPIC webinars page along with links to all session recordings.

Boehringer Ingelheim Unveils New R&D Laboratory in St. Joseph, Mo.

The animal health industry has gained a new state-of-the-art research and development facility in St. Joseph, Mo., as Boehringer Ingelheim hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on May 8.

In a company release, officials said the new laboratory will streamline the process of transitioning products from development to manufacturing and enhancing BI’s ability to serve animals better.

“Boehringer Ingelheim is not just a global leader in animal health – they are a part of the fabric of our community,” says Kim Young, President KC Animal Health Corridor. “This facility underscores Boehringer’s dedication to leading the industry in research, development and manufacturing. The heart of the Corridor are the companies choosing to invest in the region.”

Caroline Belmont, Vice President of US Global Innovation, Boehringer Ingelheim, recognizes the strong presence the company has in the Midwest.

“This region is a crucial hub for the global animal health industry due to its rich agricultural heritage and extensive livestock farming,” she says. “Boehringer’s strategic positioning in this community allows it to leverage local resources and expertise, playing a pivotal role in advancing the global animal health industry.”

Audit Your Farm's Culture by Asking these 10 Questions

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 15:30:21 GMT

Ensure your farm business attracts and retains employees

No magic bullet exists to create the best place to work. Sure, compensation, incentives and benefits play a part. Yet as recruitment and retention of first-class employees becomes more difficult in your part of the country, evaluating and creating a strong company culture is imperative.

“Today, people see workplaces as more of a community,” says Bob Grace, a partner at The Leadership Effect , a St. Louis-based leadership- development firm. “It’s not just about a paycheck. Employees want to work at a place where they can marry up their skills and abilities with an organization.”

Culture is hard to define, but your employees notice it.

“It is about the little things you do when nobody is looking,” Grace says. “You can and should write down your values, but people really pay attention to what you do.”

As your business grows and your responsibilities evolve, it’s important to be aware of your operation’s culture, says Michelle Painchaud of Painchaud Performance Group, a human-performance consulting firm in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

“As you move into the strategic level, you sometimes lose touch of the culture,” Painchaud says.

Perform a culture audit. “People will fake culture when you’re around, so you want to know what the real culture is on your farm,” she says.

At a minimum, Painchaud says, aim to conduct a culture audit every two or three years.

Ask Your Team These Culture Questions

Just like financial progress or yields, you should measure your operation’s culture. Michelle Painchaud of Painchaud Performance Group suggests polling your team with some simple culture audit questions.

1. What do you like most about being an employee here?

2. What do you like least about being an employee here?

3. What is one word you would use to describe our company’s culture?

4. As an employee, what does the company do to help you feel valued?

5. Describe the leadership in the organization.

6. Do you feel the team works together to accomplish goals?

7. Do you know the vision and mission of the organization? If so, what is it?

8. Do you have all the tools and training you need to be a high-performing and engaged employee?

9. What do you need from us to provide you with more feedback, coaching and guidance to ensure you’re successful?

10. If you were the owner of this company, what three things would you do to make it the best place to work?

Want to Grow Your Farm? Ask These 10 Questions First

Wed, 17 May 2023 19:57:51 GMT

More than 50% of farmers intend to grow their operation, based on responses in Purdue’s February 2023 Ag Economy Barometer.

(Farm Journal)

If you’re thinking about scaling your farm, Michael Langemeier, Purdue ag economist, says it’s important to first ask these questions.

1. Why should I grow my operation?

Before an operation expands, consider the vision and direction you want your farm to take.

“Are you interested in a commodity-based approach or a differentiated product strategy? Commodities will focus on cost control while products will be centered around value-added production and above-average prices for your crops,” Langemeiers says. “Start here and consider how growth impacts your direction.”

Once an approach is chosen, it’s time to decide which dominoes you want to play in the expansion game.

2. What ways I can grow my farm?

There are many ways to expand an operation: acquire land, new equipment and technology, upgrade facilities, etc. However, Langemeier says some producers need to think outside the box.

“Don’t just think about what you currently do or have always done. This step is a good time to do some soul searching to consider where you want to be in five to 10 years. Do you want to be the same enterprise, or do you want to make changes?”

Langemeier says this soul-searching step is especially important when someone is coming back to the farm.

“We’re seeing that a lot of students who come from farms want to go back, and we have to look into whether there are opportunities there or not,” Langemeier says. “There’s always new interest and ideas that come with the transition back to the farm.”

After establishing how you want to grow, consider your growth approach.

3. What should my growth approach look like?

A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis is a common growth approach in business. Langemeier says another way to think about SWOT is in terms of internal and external analysis.

“Internal analysis means looking at key resources and capabilities of a team or operation,” Langemeier says. “Does someone possess a unique skill you can maximize? Take advantage of those unique skillsets.”

Internal analysis mainly centers around strengths, but weaknesses play a role here, too. Are there areas in your operation that need professional development? Langemeier says this is the time to work on both.

External analysis, on the other hand, examines economic and market trends.

“The easiest example is in livestock; raising pasture pork, poultry or beef, or offering direct meat from a producer rather than a grocery store, are all growing trends,” Langemeier says. “If you have those opportunities, think about how they might fit into your operation.”

While there’s more risk in external factors, Langemeier says “the risk can be worth the reward” for producers who understand what trends they can support.

4. How do I evaluate my farm’s growth ventures?

Now that the growth options are laid out, how does a producer choose which option to pursue?
These eight criteria can help:
• Strategic fit
• Expected returns
• Risk
• Capital required
• Cost and ease of entry and exit
• Value creation
• Managerial requirements
• Portfolio fit

Strategic fit is one of the biggest points to consider, according to Langemeier.

“A few years ago, many growers were interested in hemp production. I would ask them if hemp would require new machinery and if they were used to dealing with contracts,” he says. “If the answer was yes and no, then it probably wasn’t going to be a good fit.”

He says ease of entry and exit is the second criteria he points farmers to.

“If your farm were to pursue a new venture and it fails, would it mean you could lose the whole farm? Because there will be things that fail,” Langemeier says.

If a specific venture requires a lot of capital, he says it is pivotal to explore how the investment could affect balance sheets in the long run.

5. What skills are needed to grow, especially in people returning to the farm?

Taking stock of employees’ skillsets, this is the part where growers consider the strengths and weaknesses of human capital currently on the farm and those soon returning to it.

“When someone’s thinking about coming back to the farm, that’s the time to assess the skills that are currently needed, and then try to encourage the younger person to garner some of those skills,” Langemeier says. “We might have the skills to expand our operation, but do we have the skills to start a new venture in a different enterprise? Think about it from all angles.”

6. How do I finance?

Are you willing to take on debt to expand? If so, how much debt are you willing to take on? Langemeier suggests looking at debt as enabling you to take advantage of an opportunity, not as a negative.

“If you have 2,000 acres and are thinking about adding 1,000 acres, even if that’s leased ground, you’re still going to need more machinery and people. You probably don’t have that retained earnings, so you’re going to take on debt,” he says. “As long as you’re making a profit on those additional acres, and you can make the debt payment, it’s not a problem.”

Langemeier warns that a small profit margin can quickly turn into an issue when a venture flops. He advises producers keep a somewhat equal balance of debt and projected venture profits.

7. What business models do I use to grow?

Expanding internal growth with retained earnings and debt is a typical business model for most operations, according to Langemeier. He says there’s a new trend in this arena.

“I’ve seen a lot of production ag cases recently where a farm acquires assets from a retiring farm,” he says. “Not only do they farm the land, but they also buy the machinery, the bins and the whole farm. This really works for some operations.”

Another model that’s becoming somewhat common is a joint venture. Agribusinesses use this model frequently, but Langemeier says more mid-sized operations are leaning toward this option.

“One of the advantages of joint-venture contract turkey, laying or finishing operations, especially in the Corn Belt, is that there’s a partner with you,” Langemeier says. “It allows us to grow effectively.”

Finding a partner to go-in on the venture isn’t always easy. However, Langemeier says producers often look in the wrong places.

“Some farmers say they don’t have any outside investors, so I tell them to think about family or non-farm heirs. Pitch it as a way of investing in your business so that you don’t have to make them partners or an operating entity,” he says. “Land, for instance, could be an outstanding source of outside equity with non-farm heirs.”

8. How would an expansion impact my current operation?

When considering growth options, it’s vital to your growth success to consider how each option will impact the farm’s balance sheet and income statement. Langemeier suggests running three projected scenarios — worst, most likely and best case — through a spreadsheet or a software, like the University of Minnesota’s FINPACK system .

If you choose to run the projections by hand, this is the process Langemeier suggests:

a. Impacts on cash flow and balance sheet

“A growth change will impact both — don’t just look at cash flow,” he says.

b. Debt versus equity

“Maybe the change will reduce your liquidity and increase your solvency too much,” he says. “If that’s the case, you can’t pursue that particular venture.”

c. Time management

“There are only so many hours in the day, and some of us sometimes work too much,” Langemeier says. “Say you’re going from conventional to organic, it’s going to be management intensive. Be realistic about what you and your team can handle.”

9. What challenges would an expansion create?

Construction delays, cash flow shortages, depleted working capital, short-term inefficiencies and management bottlenecks are often at play when starting a new venture, according to Langemeier. He advises producers to be proactive.

“If a venture creates massive cash flow shortages and eats into your working capital, you need to have a plan to deal with those issues. If you don’t, it will lead you into other challenges, like inefficiencies, and you’ll end up with a failed venture,” he says. “Make sure you have a contingency plan.”

10. What is my sustainable growth rate?

Calculating a sustainable growth rate means saying what a growth rate would be if retained earnings is the only money used, and then compare that to what a growth rate would be if only debt was used. Langemeier says this equation has other variables that often go unchecked.

In the debt scenario, he says you have to think about the downside of debt — the chance of going bankrupt and variability.

“Even if your operating cash flow is low, the lender still wants his payments,” Langmeier says. “You have to think about the coping strategies to make those debt payments even when corn is at $5, compared to $6.50. Make sure you run all the numbers imaginable.”

The Main First Step When Considering Expansion

With all 10 points in mind, Langemeier says the first stage of growth shouldn’t include producers running to formulate a 50-page business plan. He says step one starts with a conversation.

“You should be having regular farm and family meetings, at least once a year, to brainstorm with your employees and family members about the things you could do differently on-farm, and allot time to consider continued improvement, opportunities and threats,” he says.

According to Langemeier, these meetings will offer more than exploring growth; they will ensure farm, family and employee survival.

5 Tips for a Better Farm Meeting

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 19:00:13 GMT

With all of the chaos and confusion centered around running an agricultural operation, regularly scheduled meetings should be a must on your farm.

Effective communication plays a very important role in developing long lasting employee motivation and trust. Short, scheduled farm meetings can help build on this. Apoorly planned meeting, however, provides no solutions. Both farmers and their employees need to be prepared to communicate and provide input in the meeting if the communication process is to be successful.

According to Jeremy Daubert, an Extension Agent for the Virginia Tech University, lack of communication on the farm can lead to the eventual death of the business, even on a well-managed operation.

In the March Virginia Dairy Pipeline, Daubert offered these tips to help improve communication:

Discuss a single topic at the meeting and schedule another meeting for the next topic.
Keep your meetings regular. Put them on the calendar and make them happen!
Delegate someone in charge of creating an agenda for the meeting and stick to it.
Don’t try to do too much at one time, keep these meetings short or possibly have them more often.
If needed, invite a facilitator to the meetings to keep them moving and on track. These facilitators may or may not have any ag experience, but they need to be able to keep the conversation moving and help ensure that all parties are afforded time for input.

Scheduled farm meetings are also a great time to reiterate the vision of your operation. Take time to recognize the hard work your employees have dedicated toward making this vision possible. Communication should be one of the key foundations of your farm. It involves a give and take relationship, openness of mind, and willingness to hear what others have to say.

For more on improving your communication skills, read:

World Ag Expo Names Top 10 New Products

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 07:44:11 GMT

The notable new products that have been named the Top 10 for the 2011 World Ag Expo range from clothing, to equipment, to hydraulic fluid, to technology.

The 44th annual World Ag Expo 2011 will take place Feb. 8 to 10 at the International Agri-Center show grounds in Tulare, Calif. The expo is the largest annual agricultural show of its kind with 1,600 exhibitors on 2.6 million square feet of show grounds.

2011 Top-10 New Products:

Air Filter Blaster, Salmon River Innovations, LLC, Idaho
A new device that cleans the element of an engine’s canister air filter in seconds helps cut fuel and maintenance costs while improving engine performance and increasing engine life.

Ag Flag, Flag-R-Mon Flag Products/Ag Flag, Atwater, CA
A new water-activated flag saves money, water and effort by eliminating the guesswork in determining when flood irrigation water has advanced to a pre-determined point in a block, check, ditch furrow, row or open field.

AMSOIL Biodegradable Hydraulic Oil, American Synthetic Lubricants, Inc., Superior, WI
A new, biodegradable hydraulic oil from AMSOIL that combines low-toxicity with high lubricity properties offers farmers and ranchers an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional petroleum-based products.

Trimble Connected Farm, Trimble Agriculture, Westminster, CO
Connected Farm, a new system of software and communication services from Trimble takes farm management efficiency to the next level by combining precision farming information collected in the field with data management software and cell phone technology.

T-HEXX Dragonhyde HBC, Hydromer, Inc., Branchburg, NJ
An innovative hoof care product for use in hoof baths offers a nonhazardous, biodegradable alternative to traditional copper sulfate or formaldehyde products. When mixed with water, T-HEXX Dragonhyde Hoof Bath Concentrate creates a long-lasting, highly visible environmental barrier that helps to promote normal hoof health for dairy cows.

EZY-Lift Hydraulic Lift System, Ezy-Lift of California, Inc., Valley Center, CA
In less than 90 seconds, with the push of a button, one person can load up to 2,000 pounds of cargo in the back of a pickup or flatbed truck, using the new model 2000-8.0PT Ezy-Lift.

Jacket With Thumb Hole Sleeve, Udder Tech, Inc., Lakeville, MN
A jacket made of waterproof nylon puts an end to wet, irritated wrists and arms when milking cows

NOx Blue Diesel Exhaust Fluid, Core Fluids, LLC, Arroyo Grande, CA
NOxBlue brand of Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF), made by Core-Fluids, LLC, exceeds the purity and quality standards established by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Push Away Grapple, Fritsch Equipment Corp., De Pere, WI
Designed for feeding bagged silage, the Push Away grapple saves time and minimizes ground disturbance when removing feed from the bag. The patent-pending tool has the power to penetrate tightly packed haylage and grasses to completely fill the bucket of a skid-steer or other type of front-end loader in less than 10 seconds.

Yuma Rugged Tablet Computer, Trimble, Corvallis, OR
Built to meet tough military standards for withstanding drops, vibration, immersion and temperature extremes, the new Trimble Yuma rugged tablet computer weighs less than three pounds and is designed to work where farmers and ranchers work.

In addition to the Top-10 New Products, ten Honorable Mention Products have been selected.

A panel of farmers, ranchers and industry professionals from across the U.S. selected the Top 10 and 10 Honorable Mention products from more than 90 entries. The Top 10 New Products will be showcased inside the New Product Pavilion on Expo Lane and R Street.

Information on all 20 of the products can be found at worldagexpo.com .

The notable new products that have been named the Top 10 for the 2011 World Ag Expo range from clothing, to equipment, to hydraulic fluid, to technology.

The 44th annual World Ag Expo 2011 will take place Feb. 8 to 10 at the International Agri-Center show grounds in Tulare, Calif. The expo is the largest annual agricultural show of its kind with 1,600 exhibitors on 2.6 million square feet of show grounds.

2011 Top-10 New Products:

Air Filter Blaster, Salmon River Innovations, LLC, Idaho
A new device that cleans the element of an engine’s canister air filter in seconds helps cut fuel and maintenance costs while improving engine performance and increasing engine life.

Ag Flag, Flag-R-Mon Flag Products/Ag Flag, Atwater, CA
A new water-activated flag saves money, water and effort by eliminating the guesswork in determining when flood irrigation water has advanced to a pre-determined point in a block, check, ditch furrow, row or open field.

AMSOIL Biodegradable Hydraulic Oil, American Synthetic Lubricants, Inc., Superior, WI
A new, biodegradable hydraulic oil from AMSOIL that combines low-toxicity with high lubricity properties offers farmers and ranchers an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional petroleum-based products.

Trimble Connected Farm, Trimble Agriculture, Westminster, CO
Connected Farm, a new system of software and communication services from Trimble takes farm management efficiency to the next level by combining precision farming information collected in the field with data management software and cell phone technology.

T-HEXX Dragonhyde HBC, Hydromer, Inc., Branchburg, NJ
An innovative hoof care product for use in hoof baths offers a nonhazardous, biodegradable alternative to traditional copper sulfate or formaldehyde products. When mixed with water, T-HEXX Dragonhyde Hoof Bath Concentrate creates a long-lasting, highly visible environmental barrier that helps to promote normal hoof health for dairy cows.

EZY-Lift Hydraulic Lift System, Ezy-Lift of California, Inc., Valley Center, CA
In less than 90 seconds, with the push of a button, one person can load up to 2,000 pounds of cargo in the back of a pickup or flatbed truck, using the new model 2000-8.0PT Ezy-Lift.

Jacket With Thumb Hole Sleeve, Udder Tech, Inc., Lakeville, MN
A jacket made of waterproof nylon puts an end to wet, irritated wrists and arms when milking cows

NOx Blue Diesel Exhaust Fluid, Core Fluids, LLC, Arroyo Grande, CA
NOxBlue brand of Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF), made by Core-Fluids, LLC, exceeds the purity and quality standards established by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Push Away Grapple, Fritsch Equipment Corp., De Pere, WI
Designed for feeding bagged silage, the Push Away grapple saves time and minimizes ground disturbance when removing feed from the bag. The patent-pending tool has the power to penetrate tightly packed haylage and grasses to completely fill the bucket of a skid-steer or other type of front-end loader in less than 10 seconds.

Yuma Rugged Tablet Computer, Trimble, Corvallis, OR
Built to meet tough military standards for withstanding drops, vibration, immersion and temperature extremes, the new Trimble Yuma rugged tablet computer weighs less than three pounds and is designed to work where farmers and ranchers work.

In addition to the Top-10 New Products, ten Honorable Mention Products have been selected.

A panel of farmers, ranchers and industry professionals from across the U.S. selected the Top 10 and 10 Honorable Mention products from more than 90 entries. The Top 10 New Products will be showcased inside the New Product Pavilion on Expo Lane and R Street.

Information on all 20 of the products can be found at worldagexpo.com .

U.S. Trade Tactics to Evolve with China's Infrastructure Plan

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 16:22:35 GMT

Agricultural Outlook Forum 2022 took flight last Thursday with early morning sessions on trade, carried on Friday when USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai brought agricultural America up to speed on current trade deals with China, as well as what’s in the works.

Where We Are

With the U.S. on the back end of COVID-19 and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine unraveling, Tai says her office is currently focused on three themes: resilience, sustainability and competition.

“We’re working intensively around the development of more resilience and trust in the global economy by figuring out new supply chains that can withstand geopolitical pressures that are rising,” Tai says. “We cannot make decisions for China, but we will continue to press the impacts of its policies on our producers.”

According to Tai, China is many things to the U.S.—rival, competitor and partner. Accountability is top of mind when trying to even the playing field with China, but she says these discussions “have gotten more difficult over time.”

Where We Were

Elizabeth Economy, senior advisor for China in the U.S. Department of Commerce, says China has developed its own infrastructure program, the Belt and Road Initiative, that acts as a major chess piece in the country’s economic puzzle.

She says the Initiative is an expansion of China’s 1990s policy, aimed at connecting its lesser developed regions to external markets through economic “silk road” avenues:
• Hard Silk Road—ports and railroads
• Digital Silk Road—fiber optic cables and e-commerce
• Health Silk Road—medical devices and traditional Chinese medicine

Beyond the economic elements, Economy says there is a political component to the Belt and Road Initiative that started out enthusiastically but quickly turned sour when countries tied to the legislation saw the full scope of the plan.

“Many countries have infrastructure needs that other lenders or donors couldn’t or wouldn’t meet that China fulfilled,” Economy says. “A lot of these Belt and Road projects are done for geostrategic reasons. Even the Chinese government is concerned about the number of countries now coming back to them saying, ‘Hey, we’d like to renegotiate the terms of this agreement.’”

Tai’s office previously initiated conversations with China regarding the Phase One agreement. However, 2021 data that has been released in recent weeks shows continued uneven shortfalls, creating “difficulties” in trade talks.

China’s investment in the Belt and Road legislation peaked in 2016 and has since been on a steady decline. Economy believes China’s changing level of commitment to its “grand scale” infrastructure plan is penning a complete digital refocus for China in coming years, morphing other countries’ interests in China.

Where We’re Heading

Trade negotiations have played out between the U.S. in China in recent months, but Tai says that’s not the only tool her team has in their toolbox. She says negotiations are held internally and externally, while Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFA), or trade pacts, are developed.

“One of the most important types of engagement frameworks are the TIFA—foundational agreements that are there to enhance collaboration and cooperation.” says Tai. “A lot of the gains that we’ve made over the course of the last year in the Indo-Pacific have come out of our agenda to intensify our TIFA engagement. This is our opportunity for innovation in terms of how we bring different ideas and different initiatives to our trading partners.”

At the Forum, Vilsack hinted China may look to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) but will not qualify as it cannot meet the agreement’s standards.

According to Vilsack, the Biden administration also is not ready to join CPTPP until public trust is reestablished and trade barriers are removed.

Jim Wiesemeyer, Pro Farmer Washington policy analyst believes Biden isn’t looking to get back into the CPTPP as this time because “they don’t have the votes, nor the trade promotion authority.”

“When asked, I tell farmers the administration has to be strategizing how they’re going to dance around this changing trade policy focus because of the war’s impact on China,” says Wiesemeyer. “I think they’re looking at one-on-one agreements, which was the approach that Trump preferred—bilateral as opposed to multilateral.”

As for China, Economy says the country tends to pursue its own “narrow” authoritarian interests that it then pitches to other authoritarian countries. She sees growing concern in the security threat that’s posed by China.

“Authoritarian leaning leaders often appreciate China’s effort to sell them surveillance technology or training them on how to do real-time censorship of the internet,” says Economy. “I think the picture really is a mixed one in terms of the global reaction, but very few countries would say that China has proved itself as truly ready to lead on the global stage.”

USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) Administrator Dan Whitley says, “One day, China could just wake up and for whatever reason say, ‘Hey, you know, we’ve kind of had enough of this,’” and shut off U.S. agricultural products to “send a signal to the American agricultural sector or the U.S. government.”

HSAs Offer Health Care, Retirement Savings

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 15:39:17 GMT

Health insurance coverage and healthcare costs are among the greatest challenges for self-employed Americans, including farmers.

One avenue that provides for cost containment combined with the opportunity to save for the future is the Health Savings Account (HSA). “More people are becoming aware of HSAs and using them as a strategic approach to managing their healthcare,” said Nathan Link, Employee Benefits and Individual Health Specialist for PDCM Insurance, Waterloo, Iowa.

To qualify for an HSA, you need to carry a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). According to the IRS website , that’s a health insurance plan with a deductible of no less than $1,400 per person or $2,800 per family, with a maximum annual deductible and other out-of-pocket expenses (like co-pays) of $7,000 per person and $14,000 per family.

“HDHPs often have lower monthly premiums than traditional health insurance plans,” said Link. “Clients can save the difference into their own HSA account and use those funds to pay out-of-pocket expenses as needed. With traditional plans, you pay a higher cost whether you use the services or not. An HSA allows you to keep that money if you don’t have to use it.”

As a savings tool, HSAs offer a triple tax advantage*, in that:

Money deposited into an HSA is not taxed.
Account balances are allowed to grow tax-free; and
Funds can be withdrawn tax-free, provided they are used to pay for Qualified medical expenses , including those not covered by health insurance, like vision and dental care.

While your HDHP will be accessed through a private agent or the Healthcare.gov marketplace, you will have to open your HSA account separately through a financial institution. Many banks and credit unions offer them, and most provide options to invest your balance in stocks or mutual funds for larger growth opportunities.

Employers of a spouse working off the farm also may offer an HDHP/HSA package, in which case they likely will have the HSA structure already set up for the company’s employees.

HSAs are individual accounts. If you are married, the account is in one spouse’s name, but the fund can pay for expenses for your spouse and children covered on your health insurance policy. The annual contribution limit applies to the entire couple or family. In 2021, it is $3,600 per individual or $7,200 per family. That limit includes contributions that may be made by an employer.

If you will be 55 or older by the end of the tax year, you can contribute another $1,000 annually as a “catch up” contribution. If your spouse also is 55 or older, he or she can open a separate HSA and contribute another $1,000 to that account, according to OPTUMbank .

When you start using Medicare – typically around age 65 – you can no longer contribute to an HSA. But at this point you can continue to utilize the funds tax-free for medical expenses and/or your Medicare Part B or Part D premiums. You also have the option of using the money for any other purpose you please after 65. But those funds will be taxed as regular income, just like a traditional IRA.

“Before age 65, it’s never a great idea to use your HSA as an emergency fund for non-medical expenses,” advised Link. “You’ll be assessed a 20% penalty, plus the withdrawals will be taxed as income at your regular rate.”

You also cannot use your HSA funds to pay health insurance premiums before age 65. You can, however, tap them tax-free to pay premiums for long-term care insurance.

“If you can cash-flow your medical expenses and leave your HSA untouched, it will be a tremendous retirement savings vehicle thanks to its many tax-advantage features,” shared Link. “But even if you can’t, there is great peace of mind knowing that you have the funds set aside to cover medical expenses if you need them, and that you can maintain control of that money if you don’t.”

*There are exceptions to these exemptions in a few states. New Jersey and California assess tax on both your HSA contributions and they earnings they generate. Tennessee and New Hampshire tax earnings only.

Don’t Waste This Crisis: Make 2021 a Leap Year

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 21:37:03 GMT

Whether you take one bold leap, or several steady plodding steps, John Phipps says both can take us to a better place. For Phipps, Top Producer Columnist and owner of Phipps Farms, COVID-19 restrictions did something years of hints and guilty conscience could not: he finally cleaned the shed. He also came to realize that he could use this time of “semi-incarceration” to make both bigger and better changes on his farm and in his personal life.

Phipps is a speaker at the Online Top Producer Summit. Learn more here .

“Instead of ticking off all the ways things are weird in agriculture, and pretty much the whole world, let’s resort to a familiar but proven approach: divide confusion about the future up into nuggets that we can dip into the sauces of reason and experience,” Phipps says.

He suggests looking at the chaos from three perspectives: immediate problems and opportunities, challenges in the near future, and long-term economic and cultural change agents.

“The number one clear and present danger for most all farmers is the same that it’s been every year and is often the hardest to acknowledge: other farmers,” Phipps says.

Farming is bound by physical constraints. For growers, it is the simple fact of limited acres. Competition from friends, and even family, commands constant attention in most cases, he adds.

“Keep your eyes on your peers, expect formerly improbable ag policy alterations, and keep in mind that a year and counting of COVID-19 behavior modification won’t go away overnight,” Phipps says.

Over the next few years, he encourages farmers to periodically check their Achilles’ heels. Don’t take technology for granted. Stay informed about what’s taking place in politics.

“This timeframe is also appropriate for tackling your most important mechanical maintenance – your personal machinery,” he says.
Make sure your heart, lungs and joints are in working condition and methodically manage stress.

Speaking of long-term plans, consider what you don’t know about the future, Phipps advises.

“Many bad things should have happened because our nation is not behaving like a responsible household,” he says. “I’m starting to think we really don’t know whether economic catastrophe is just around the corner, or under the bed with other imaginary monsters.”

From population growth and COVID-19 aftermath to climate change and China, there are a lot of questions about what will happen down the road.

“Rather than devoting time to what could possibly go wrong, our best preparation might be finding trustworthy information sources that can provide reliable data for making plans,” Phipps says. “The biggest challenge for farming as we know it, will be how to continue to add value to our production chain. What good can we provide landowners, customers and communities that technology, economies of scale and international competitors cannot duplicate or even do better?”

Phipps suggests the value of using this “COVID-19 timeout” to improve our reaction to a range of developments and lower our anxiety levels.

“COVID-19 has taken an enormous and painful toll on our families, communities and perhaps most significantly, our confidence. We cannot recover the pre-COVID-19 past, but with patience, persistence and sacrifice, this pandemic can open an unexpected door to more influence on the future than any event in my lifetime,” Phipps says. “It is not a crisis to be wasted.”

You can still register for the Online Top Producer Summit , which gives you access to content through March 31. Use the code “ONDEMAND” to take $25 off your registration fee.

Read More From John Phipps:

What if GPS goes down?

John Phipps: Less Disruption, More Stability

John Phipps: Farmer Fitbit Challenge

Tips To Reduce Employee Turnover

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:54:29 GMT

Employee retention and profitability are inseparably linked, says Mel Kleiman, president of Humetrics, a human resource consulting firm. So, you need a strategy to retain valuable employees.

Stay Conversations
Conduct regular “stay conversations,” Kleiman suggests. During these discussions, which are the opposite of exit interviews, ask intentional and effective questions to demonstrate just how respected and highly valued they are by you.

“There’s no better way to ensure employee retention than that,” Kleiman says.

Good communication is key, agrees Dave Allen, president of Agri-Search, a placement firm for agricultural jobs. “When you take time to listen, employees tell you what they want,” he says.

Small Acts Add Up
In 2020, make employee retention a priority. Strive for strong communication, and look for specific ways to encourage your team.

“The practices you choose don’t need to be expensive,” says Alice Roach, University of Missouri senior research associate in the Division of Applied Social Sciences. “However, employees should value the practices you adopt, so get to know your workers.”

Some best practices to support retention, Roach says, include:
• Offer financial incentives or gifts contingent on performance.
• Promote employees who have earned it.
• Offer opportunities for training and continuing education.
• Support an environment for a positive work-life balance.
• Say “thank you” for their work and effort.
• Provide spontaneous feedback.
• Give public recognition.

Find more results and resources from the 2019 Farm Journal Ag Labor Study at AgWeb.com/ag-labor

Trade War Will Cost Nebraska Farmers Nearly $1 Billion

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:51:19 GMT

Retaliatory tariffs imposed on U.S. agricultural exports will cost Nebraska farmers and ranchers $943 million in lost revenues in 2019. That’s the conclusion of an analysis conducted by the Nebraska Farm Bureau senior economist Jay Rempe as a way to provide an assessment of losses independent of the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) assistance available to farmers.

The “ Nebraska Farm and Ranch Losses From Retaliatory Tariffs 2019 Estimates ” utilizes U.S. Department of Agriculture data to estimate tariff related losses on a statewide per-community basis, and estimate total commodity losses on a per-county basis.

“We appreciate the administration’s ongoing support for America’s farm and ranch families through MFP assistance, but this analysis shows just how critical it is that we resolve the prolonged trade conflicts that have created the tariff pressures,” said Steve Nelson, Nebraska Farm Bureau president.

Rempe said his analysis “shows that Nebraska soybean and corn growers will likely see the greatest cumulative losses. Soybean producers as a group are projected to lose out on nearly $589 million from retaliatory tariffs and corn producers are estimated to lose roughly $251 million.”

Additionally, Nebraska pork producers are “projected to see $40 million in losses, while sorghum and wheat growers will collectively experience losses in the mid-$20 million range. Alfalfa growers are estimated to experience $9 million in losses, while dairy producers will likely lose out on roughly $3 million and dry bean growers collectively will lose $2 million due to retaliatory tariffs.”

Export losses of beef, hides and skins, ethanol, and other byproducts of Nebraska’s processing industries were not included in the analysis, but according to Rempe, losses in those areas would also impact producers bottom lines.

“Counting tariff losses for beef, ethanol, and other byproducts could easily push Nebraska farmers and ranchers’ collective losses from trade tariffs over the $1 billion mark,” Rempe said.

In terms of trade related losses estimated on a county-by-county basis, Cuming County is the most impacted county with estimated trade losses exceeding $48 million. Custer, Dawson, and Lincoln Counties followed with losses exceeding $32 million, while Platte County experienced losses of nearly $30 million.

“If you divide the total trade losses in Cuming County by population, we’re talking a loss of $5,300 per-person. That’s substantial when you think about how those monies would be spent in a local community and subsequently flow into our economy,” Rempe said.

Nebraska Farm Bureau president Nelson said the analysis underscored how important trade is for the state’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities.

“It’s vital we eliminate trade barriers and secure trade deals that allow farmers and ranchers to work freely to capture, develop, and grow international markets. Congressional passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, securing a bi-lateral deal with Japan, and progress on the China front would be very good places to start,” Nelson said.

Cell-Based/Cultured Foods Alliance Formed

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:51:19 GMT

Five start-up food companies marketing cell-based/cultured meat, poultry and seafood have formed the Alliance for Meat, Poultry & Seafood Innovation (AMPS Innovation), a coalition focused on educating consumers and stakeholders about their new industry and advocating for a clear path to market for their products.

In a statement announcing the new alliance, AMPS Innovation said, “Cell-based/cultured meat, poultry and seafood is real meat grown outside the animal, directly from animal cells. This means the companies are able to produce only the muscle, fat, skin and connective tissue that is typically eaten, without producing other parts of the animal that are not traditionally consumed. Cell-based/cultured meat is real meat, not a vegan/vegetarian meat alternative.”

• BlueNalu and Finless Foods, makers of cell-based/cultured seafood;

• Fork & Goode and JUST, makers of cell-based/cultured meat and poultry; and

• Memphis Meats, which is making cell-based/cultured meat, poultry and seafood.

“Members of AMPS Innovation understand that cell-based/cultured meat, poultry and seafood is one solution that will help fulfill the increased demand for meat as the global population grows to 10 billion people by 2050,” the statement from AMPS Alliance said. “Member companies also expect their process to provide significant benefits for the environment, animal welfare and public health.”

The five member companies said they are currently in the research and development phase and expect to have products available in the next several years, “through appropriate regulatory pathways.”

The companies said consumers want clear and transparent information about these products, and that AMPS Innovation “aims to provide a central, unified resource for consumers, stakeholders and policymakers as their industry advances.”

The companies CEOs said they are “committed to an open and science-based dialogue with all stakeholders, including industry partners, policymakers, advocates and consumers.”

AMPS Innovation said it intends to engage policymakers and stakeholders to educate them on their products in addition to working with Congress, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration as they continue to build out a regulatory framework for meat, poultry and seafood that is grown directly from animal cells, rather than harvested from the animals themselves.

Related stories:

Science Can’t Sell Fake Meat

NCBA Lays Out Principles For Regulating Fake Meat

Poultry Giants Fixed Worker Wages, Lawsuit Alleges

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:51:19 GMT

A federal class-action lawsuit filed in Baltimore alleges Perdue, Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride and 15 other poultry-processing giants conspired to suppress worker wages.

The complaint reveals a series of secret meetings at a Florida resort beginning in 2009 where company executives agreed on wage rates for thousands of processing employees. The attendees at the meeting, the suit alleges, were executives of companies that together control 90% of the U.S. chicken market.

“These ‘off the books’ meetings between senior executives of the Defendant Processors responsible for determining the compensation of Class Members involved such brazen wage-fixing that at least one Defendant Processor recently stopped attending,” the complaint states.

According to Courthouse News Service , the chicken plant workers brought their suit three months after the Justice Department intervened in another court case where chicken purchaser Maplevale Farm accuses the nation’s top poultry processors of fixing prices, lowering production and sharing data.

“The government requested a six-month break in the case to protect what it described as a grand jury investigation. Last week’s suit from workers represents the vertical-integration trifecta, with the processors accused now of conspiring to control the prices of virtually all inputs and outputs,” Courthouse News reported.

The complaint says the conspiracy started in 2008 with Tyson sharing proprietary wage information with other processors through Agri Stats, an Indiana-based data company with which Tyson had previously ceased doing business. Agri Stats is named as a defendant, as is the management-consultant company WMS.

The complaint alleges the chicken executives met at the Hilton Sandestin Resort Hotel & Spa in Destin, Florida. At these meetings, executives allegedly engaged in roundtable wage-fixing discussions after sharing comprehensive surveys prepared by WMS and Agri Stats on wages and benefits.

The complaint says the three largest processors took turns paying for the annual wage survey, and that any processor that deviated from the conspiracy by making a wage increase not agreed upon in the meeting would face rebuke from the others. In 2018, according to the complaint, one senior executive from Tyson told someone that the Florida meetings “were so inappropriate and improper that that the company would no longer attend them.”

National Chicken Council data shows that the retail price of a broiler chicken increased just 5% from $1.78 per pound to $1.87 during the time period covered by the complaint. This increase is significantly below the rate of inflation. During the same time period, pork increased from $2.92 to $3.74 (28%), and beef went from $4.26 to $5.92 (38%).

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China Will Raise Tariffs On Beef, Pork - Trump Calls Companies Home

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:51:02 GMT

Chinese officials on Friday announced increased tariffs on a host of U.S. agricultural goods, including a 10% increase on beef and pork. It was the latest salvo in response to U.S. duties on $300 billion of Chinese imports. It also comes as China is forced to increase imports of pork and beef due to African swine fever.

President Donald Trump responded. “We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP,” Trump tweeted.

“Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.”

Reuters reported Trump was meeting with his trade team at midday on Friday.

U.S. pork producers already faced a 62% tariff on their exports, a measure China imposed last year in another retaliatory volley.

In a statement released Friday, Jim Monroe, assistant vice president of the National Pork Producers Council said: “Any escalation in the trade dispute with China is a major concern to U.S. pork producers. China, the largest pork-consuming nation in the world, is seeking reliable sources of pork as it deals with African swine fever. There is no more reliable source than the United States. U.S. pork producers are eager to compete on a level playing field in China and to more fully participate in this unprecedented opportunity. Unfortunately, the current trade dispute prevents us from doing so.”

An escalation of the U.S.-China trade war threatens the global economy, warn analysts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 600 points Friday (nearly 2.4%) following news of the increased tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Business leaders said Trump does not have the authority to force U.S. companies to withdraw their businesses from China, and they also warned halting sales to such a large trading partner would further damage American companies and the overall economy.

The new Chinese tariffs range from 5% n to 10% and take effect Sept. 1 and Dec. 15 — the same dates Trump’s latest tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods are slated to kick in.

The Washington Post reported that sales of U.S. exports have decreased at the fastest pace since August 2009. When exports fall, manufacturers typically react by reducing inventories and cutting production, which can lead to job cuts. Airfreight volumes fell nearly 5 percent in June, marking the eighth consecutive month of decline. Freight airlines cited the U.S.-China standoff as a prime reason for slumping demand.

Elanco Agrees To Buy Bayer Animal Health

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:50:54 GMT

Elanco Animal Health has agree to buy Bayer’s veterinary drugs unit in a cash and stock deal valued at $7.6 billion. Subject to regulatory approval, the deal would create the second largest maker of medicines for pets and livestock and expand Elanco’s reach online.

“This combination will join two complementary animal health-focused entities previously under the human pharma umbrella into a dedicated company focused on delivering for farmers, veterinarians and pet owners,” said Jeffrey Simmons, president and chief executive officer of Elanco. “It creates increased speed, attention and investment to bring customers greater access and options at a variety of price points to make a difference in the lives of animals.”

The deal adds to the list of assets sold by Bayer, as the German company seeks to slash debt from its $63 billion takeover of Monsanto last year and inherited the potential settlement of lawsuits over an alleged cancer-causing effect of the weedkiller Roundup.

The two companies said Bayer would receive $5.3 billion in cash and $2.3 billion worth of Elanco stock based on a price of $33.60 per share, the 30-day average price as of Aug. 6.

Missing Diemel Brothers’ Business Described By Wisc. Auction Manager

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:50:50 GMT

Nicholas and Justin Diemel, missing since July 21, operated a cattle business in the rural community of Bonduel, Wisc.

“They started coming in about five years ago,” said Chris Jacobs, market manager of Equity Cooperative in Bonduel. “They bought a lot of calves each week and were a relatively bigger player in the calf business.”

The Diemel brothers were order buyers for dairy calves and were also feeding calves themselves in Indiana and Missouri, Jacobs said. Jacobs said the brothers had previously worked in construction with their father.

“They were typically buying calves that were three to five days old, both beef crossbreds and straight dairy calves,” Jacobs said. “They have been pretty successful since they started.”

The family is working to continue the brothers’ business, and many are stepping up to help, Jacobs said.

“In the week right after they went missing, no one came to the sale,” Jacobs said. “However, their younger brother Brandon is back buying calves now just like they were before the tragedy.”

Other family members are assisting with bookwork and day-to-day chores, Jacobs said. The Wis. State Farmer reports Lisa Diemel, whose husband Nicholas has been missing since July 21, filed a petition to manage the brothers’ business.

As details in the case unfold, a Kansas farmer also involved with raising dairy calves has come forward, KCTV News 5 reports.

David Foster of Fort Scott, Kan., told KCTV News 5 he entered into several business deals with Garland Joseph Nelson, who is charged with tampering with the Diemel brothers’ rental vehicle and is currently held without bond. Foster said Nelson agreed to purchase and raise the calves, with Foster and Nelson agreeing to split the profit.

“It came time to be due for them to be weaned and sold and he was coming up with all these excuses and stories as to why he hadn’t sold them,” Foster told KCTV News 5.

KCTV News 5 reports Foster reached out to others who had done business with Nelson, including the Diemel brothers. Nicholas and Justin Diemel had a separate business deal with Nelson, KCTV News 5 reports, and told Foster they also were not satisfied.

As Foster reflects on his own interactions with Nelson, he wonders what could have happened.

“It’s pretty simple,” Foster told KCTV News 5. “It could have been me. Because I could have been in that position.”

Chris Jacobs said for the community of Bonduel, Wisc., where the Diemel’s cattle business is based, the loss has been hard. Jacobs estimates Bonduel has only between 1,200 and 1500 people and primarily consists of smaller dairies at a time when the agriculture industry is changing. [BB1]

“It’s always been a tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone,” Jacobs said.

Nicholas and Justin Diemel were an encouragement to Jacobs in an aging agriculture industry and were always very polite, Jacobs added.

“You’re not seeing a lot of younger people getting into the cattle business,” Jacobs said. “They were very cordial. They’d come up to the counter, always with a ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ They were very good, people-oriented people.”

The brothers’ absence has left a hole in the rural community, who is rallying to support the family, Jacobs said.

“The men here all sit in the ring and bid against each other, but it’s still a tight-knit community,” Jacobs said. “There is a lot of support in the agriculture industry. Every community group they’ve ever been in is doing fundraisers.”

One man close to the family designed a special brand and created embroidered patches, hats, and shirts to fundraise for the family, Jacobs said. The Navarino Rangers, a local baseball team, has also contributed proceeds from games, Jacobs added.

“I hope authorities get to the bottom of whatever happened,” Jacobs said.

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Tyson: “Months Not Weeks” For Rebuild

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:50:46 GMT

Tyson is working “as quickly as possible” to return its Holcomb, Kan., beef processing facility to full operations after fire caused “major damage,” Tyson Fresh Meats Division president Steve Stouffer said. However, he told media in Garden City Wednesday “it will be a matter of months, not weeks, but no specific timeline at this point.” A spark from welding during maintenance likely caused the fire, Stouffer said.

Wednesday’s cattle market showed signs of stabilizing after two volatile days to begin the week. CME Live Cattle closed mixed, ending two days of limit-down losses. October closed down 75 cents at $98.50, while December rose 60 cents to $104.80. CME Feeder cattle contracts surged $4.70 higher to the maximum $6.75.

A few cash cattle traded on Wednesday. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service reported 280 head weighing 1,490 pounds sold at $106, fully $5 per cwt. lower than on Friday before the fire. On a dressed basis, 330 steers and 726 heifers sold at $170 per cwt., $10 under last week.

Spiking higher since the fire, the Choice Beef cutout values rose another $5.98 Wednesday to $232.34. Select increased $5.34 to $205.92 per cwt. Since Friday’s close, the Choice cutout has increased $15.97 per cwt.

Market reaction since Friday’s fire confirms packer’s solid leverage in the current market. Cattle bought at $5 under Friday’s price is $75 per head, and a choice cutout price $16 per cwt. higher adds $120 to $150 per carcass on the sales end. Per head profits were calculated by Sterling Marketing at $191 per head last week before the fire.

Such margins will likely be labeled “excessive” by cattle feeders. Yet, Sterling Marketing president says the current situation is better with packers solidly in the black.

“They (Tyson) will be more inclined to get that plant running quickly, and other packers will be more aggressive to take up the slack if they are all making good profits,” Nalivka said. “The opposite might be true if they were only making a few dollars per head.”

At Wednesday’s press briefing, Tyson officials said the square footage of the damaged area is small compared to the entire plant, but that the fire impacted critical operating systems. Tyson says structural work can begin immediately, but other repairs, particularly electrical, will likely take more time. The company says it’s completing a full assessment of the plant with electrical and structural engineers on site.

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Updated: Fire Shutters Tyson Plant Near Garden City

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:50:38 GMT

A “large fire” Friday night (Aug. 9, 2019) closed the Tyson Foods beef harvest facility near Garden City, Kansas.

A 911 call was received about 8:35 p.m. Friday by the Finney County Communications Center from the operations manager at the Tyson plant in Holcomb, reporting a fire in the building’s west end near the slaughter operations.

About 10 p.m. an alert from the Garden City Fire Department said the roof collapse was “imminent” as “fire has breached the roof of [the] structure.”

Update: A statement from Tyson Foods on Saturday said the “fire started in the box shop. We have had no reports of injuries. The plant will be down indefinitely until we can assess the damage. We will soon be notifying our team members about informational meetings.”

Update: A Tyson spokesman confirmed the company will pay Holcomb plant employees “a weekly guarantee until production resumes. We are here to ensure our team members are taken care of. We understand that this is a difficult time.”

Also on Saturday, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly directed Secretary of Commerce David Toland and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Beam to travel to Finney County to meet with representatives from Tyson, local government and economic development officials to coordinate state aid if needed.

About 1,200 employees were at the facility Friday night, with 400 working the harvest shift. All employees were evacuated and no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire and the extent of the damage are unknown at this time.

Garden City Police Department Sgt. Lana Urteaga released a statement at 11:30 p.m. that employees were still on the scene, but would be transported to Wiley Elementary School in Holcomb by Garden City USD 457 buses. The American Red Cross arrived at Wiley to assist any employees in need of help.

There was no Saturday morning A-shift production for processing and harvest at the plant, according to Tyson.

Tyson’s beef processing plant at Holcomb employs about 3,300 workers, and harvests between 5,000 and 6,000 head per day.

Tyson Will Utilize Other Sites To Keep Supply Chain Full After Fire

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:50:38 GMT

Tyson Foods says it plans to rebuild the Holcomb, Kan., beef packing facility after a fire Friday night forced the plant’s closure, and is taking steps to minimize disruption to the beef supply chain.

In a statement released Sunday (Aug. 12, 2019) Tyson said it is still assessing the damage and a timeline has not been established, but work to clear the damage has already begun. The company said it will continue to pay workers and is “taking steps to move production to alternative sites.”

In the statement, Steve Stouffer, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats, said, “Tyson Foods has built in some redundancy to handle situations like these and we will use other plants within our network to help keep our supply chain full.”

Stouffer also said Tyson will pay full-time, active team members “weekly until production resumes.” He called the aftermath of the fire a “difficult time for our team members and their families, and we want to ensure they’re taken care of.”

Holcomb team members may be called on to work during the reconstruction to help with clean-up and other projects, but regardless of the hours worked, all full-time active employees are guaranteed pay, the statement said.

Stouffer commended plant management for quickly and efficiently evacuating the building, and noted there were no injuries as a result. He also commended the Garden City, Kan., fire department and the Finney County sheriff’s office.

Tyson Foods operates six plants in Kansas, employing more than 5,600 people. In the company’s fiscal year 2018, it paid $269 million in wages, and estimated its total economic impact in the state to be more than $2.4 billion.

Read about the Tyson fire here:

Fire Shutters Tyson Plant Near Garden City

Tyson Holcomb Fire May Shutter Marketing Pace

Cattle Markets Hammered Monday By Tyson Fire News

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:50:38 GMT

Monday’s CME cattle futures opened and locked limit lower on reaction to Tyson was forced to close its Holcomb, Kan., beef processing facility due to Friday night’s fire. In the short-term, analysts say the fire will be bearish for cattle prices and bullish beef prices. Futures contract limits expand to $4.50 for live cattle and $6.75 for feeder cattle futures tomorrow.

For its part, Tyson affirmed it would work to reopen the Holcomb facility and is “taking steps to move production to alternative sites.” Yet, traders realize that even in the best of scenarios, daily cattle slaughter will drop in the near-term with the loss of operations at Holcomb. The plant has a capacity of 6,000 head per day, though actual slaughter numbers are likely lower.

According to CattleFax, Tyson’s Holcomb plant accounts for 6% of total U.S. fed cattle packing capacity, and 23.5% of Kansas fed cattle packing capacity. CattleFax also noted the growing supply of finished cattle stood at 11.5 million head July 1, which was record large. About 21% of U.S. total cattle on feed are in Kanas.

In a statement, the Kansas Livestock Association asked the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association to make contact with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. NCBA made the regulatory agency aware of the situation and contacted the office of U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue to apprise USDA of the plant fire.

Alternative Tyson facilities are located in Amarillo, Tex., and Lexington, Neb., though both are three-plus hours from Garden City, Kan. The industry anticipates other packers may pick up the slack by adding Saturday shifts, but no announcement has been made. While the industry may hope other plants could pick up the slack, America’s packing industry was already struggling with significant labor shortages, and expanded hours at other plants may prove problematic.

Tyson has not announced a timeline for the plant repairs, but industry speculation was rampant Monday. The low-end of such speculation is two months.

Sterling Marketing president John Nalivka said U.S. beef packers were running at about 91% of capacity before the fire, and absorbing cattle from the Holcomb plant would push packer capacity utilization to about 96%. He said the beef industry is set to harvest about 26 million cattle this year, and Tyson’s Holcomb plant accounts for about 5% of that total.

“It will definitely hurt front-end demand,” Nalivka told Drovers. “There’s the potential that with Holcomb out of commission the marketing pace will slow down and carcass weights will increase. That could certainly take the bloom off this fall’s fed cattle market.”

Tyson Foods’ stock price was unchanged Monday at about $88.36 per share, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.5%.

If a silver lining is visible in the Holcomb tragedy it may be the fact most feedyards are current in their marketings. Analysts say cattle in northern feedlots are especially current, and the pace of slaughter this summer has been very good.

While near-term cash cattle prices will come under pressure until the loss in slaughter capacity is absorbed, analysts also believe boxed beef values will increase going forward. That could also boost packer profit margins, which were already in the exceptional category, which will further incentivize packers to expand their Saturday operations.

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Marfrig Joins ADM To Produce Fake Meat

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:50:34 GMT

Marfrig Global Foods announced this week it has joined with Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) to produce vegetable protein products in Brazil.

The two companies will work together to plant-based products, with ADM responsible for supplying the primary raw material used in the process, while Marfrig will produce, distribute and sell the products in the food service and retail channels.

“Together, Marfrig and ADM will produce 100% vegetable protein-based burgers with the same taste and texture of beef. We want to give consumers the power of choice,” said Eduardo Miron, CEO of Marfrig Global Foods. “The plant-based burgers will complement Marfrig’s product portfolio and be distributed through all our market channels.”

In a statement, Marfrig said the product will be produced in its Várzea Grande unit, with sales expected to begin this year under a new brand. The first plant-based products under the partnership will reach the Brazilian market later this year, with exports following later.

“We offer an advanced R&D structure, natural ingredients and technological solutions, including the advantage of local manufacturing, to anticipate industry trends and meet our clients’ needs with customized service,” said Roberto Ciciliano, CEO of ADM Nutrition in Latin America. “We are the ideal partner to support and foster the sustainable development of the food, specialties and healthy nutrition industry.”

In April 2018, Marfrig announced an agreement to purchase 51% of National Beef Packing Co. for $969 million, making it the second-largest beef processor, with consolidated sales of $13 billion. The acquisition would boost Marfrig’s total slaughter capacity to 8.3 million per year with the combined operations.

In May of this year, JBS SA, the world’s largest meat packer, announced it would launch a plant-based burger in Brazil under the brand Seara. Two other large U.S. meat packers, Tyson Foods and Cargill, have previously announced their intentions to venture into the alternative protein category.

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