2013 progress ag edition

+ +

Friday, Feb. 22, 2013/Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 Farm News/The Messenger, Fort Dodge, Iowa 1F

Project LIBERTY

still on track

Page 6F

WIE part of biofuels

success

Page 7h

Alpaca farm adds

fiber mill

G

Grape, wine

industries thrive

Page 8F

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By KARENSCHWALLER

[email protected]

GREENVILLE — Highcommodity prices continue tomake producers rethink whatthey can do get the most re-turn from their farm land. AGreenville-area farm familyhas figured out their own wayto do that, while making nat-ural resources protection theirNo. 1 priori-ty.

Greg andLola Woodand theirson, Chris,operate Bit-tersweetAcres, anAngus seed-stock opera-tion that putsmost of itsacres intocommercial hay productionrather than row crops.

The family received anaward called the Environ-mental Stewardship AwardProgram from the Iowa Cat-tlemen’s Association in De-cember. The family hasbeen nominated for recogni-tion at the regional level,which includes four otherstates.

“One practice that makesBittersweet Acres stand out isthat they have maintainedforage production on morethan 400 acres in the face ofincreasing pressure to con-vert to row crops,” said DalGrooms, communications di-rector for the Iowa Cattle-men’s Association. “U.S.Census of Agriculture datafor Clay County show thatthere has been a 60 percentdrop in pasture acres between1997 and 2007. It’s likelythe 2012 Census will show acontinued precipitous drop.”

She said the 60 percentdrop is equal to 54,383acres.

Pasture and forage pro-

duction, she said, are crucialto cow-calf production inIowa, and that it’s the startof the balanced beef produc-tion for which Iowa isknown.

Dean Gronemeyer,NRCS district conservation-ist for Clay and Palo Altocounties, said that land isunder more pressure todayto produce food and fiber,and he feels that it comes at

the expenseof the soiland water re-sources.

“Farmerslike the GregWood familyhave shownthat farmingcan be donein a mannerthat protectsthe soil, water

and plant resources. As pas-tures are converted to crop-land, fertilizer rates increaseand buffers along thestreams diminish,” Grone-meyer said.

The forage operation onthe Wood farm is a mix ofalfalfa and orchard grass.They rotate 35 to 40 acresinto corn each year (usingminimum tillage), whichprovides stalk bales for bed-ding and acres for spreadingmanure when necessary.

Their hay is marketed pri-marily to horse owners, andfamily members agreed thattheir marketing efforts ofthe forage has provided abetter net return than acorn/soybean rotation.

“We like raising hay, andwe had to put up enough forall of our cows anyway,”said Greg Wood. “Most ofour hay goes to Oklahomaand Texas, and some goes toNew York and Florida,Kentucky and Alabama. Wejust picked up on a nichemarket.”

The Woods bale all those

acres of hay themselveswith no outside help, using alarge round 4-by-5 baler, abig square 3-by-3 baler and

small square baler. They usea Bale Bandit to bundlesmall square bales into 21-bale units for shipping. The

units are then moved withtheir own tractors andequipment. All 400 acres ofhay, once baled, can be

stored inside on their ClayCounty farm.

Family receives stewardship award

Chris Wood moves a few cow/calf pairs out of the barn to get some fresh air. They had just begun calv-ing two days before this photo was taken. Their rotational grazing program has lent itself to an increase incalf weights without the use of creep feed. Weaning weights have increased by 10 to 15 percent.

-Messenger/Farm News phots by Karen Schwaller

Cattlemen’s grouprecognizes Angusproducers’ efforts

GreG Wood and Chris Wood send a good share of hay out to southern and eastern states. Here, theyuse a Bale Band-It behind the baler, which ties 21 small square bales into one large bundle. This makes thebales easy to ship with less handling of individual bales. It also cuts down on labor, with only two peopleneeded to do the baling on 400 acres of hay ground.

ChrisWood

GregWood

See ESAP, Page 2F

By JESSE [email protected]

“Double-digit growth”over the past five yearsprompted Calcium ProductsIncorporated to expand itsFort Dodge plant.

The company, which pro-duces pelletized lime andgypsum for growers in agri-culture and horticulture,broke ground in April 2012on a new 58,900-square-foot building due north ofthe company’s existingplant.

The $7 million expansionwill allow Calcium Productsto increase its production ofSuperCal SO4, which is de-scribed as “a naturally-mined sulfur fertilizer andsuperior quality gypsumproduct,” is used by growersthroughout North America.

The project will create 10new jobs.

The expanded facility isset to begin full productionlater this spring, said CraigDick, CPI vice president ofsales and marketing.

“Our equipment is stillbeing shipped to us,” saidDick.

However, barring anyweather-related delays, theoperation remains on track,he said.

Dick said the expansionwould “effectively double”the company’s productioncapacity and help to meetthe increasing demand forSuperCal SO4.

According to CPI’s web-site, the company’s productsare sold by dealers in 14states and four Canadianprovinces.

“SuperCal SO4, one ofseveral soil amendmentproducts we manufacture,has led industry sales asfarmers and growers betterunderstand the importancecalcium and sulfur has onplant health, vitality andcrop production,” said Dick.

SuperCal SO4 provides17 percent sulfur in the sul-fate from, as well as calci-um, which improves soilstructure, aeration anddrainage. That results in in-creased water infiltrationwhile reducing soil surfacecrusting and improvingseedling emergence. SO4also helps break up com-pacted soil, increasing root-ing depth, helps stabilize or-ganic matter and decreasesnitrogen loss to the atmos-phere.

The overall goal of im-proving soil quality is boost-ing crop yields.

During the groundbreak-ing ceremony, CPI Presi-dent Larry E. Moore spokeabout the growth of thecompany into a profitableenterprise.

“What we make are soilamendments,” he said. “In’96, when we started downhere, people didn’t under-stand processed products.They didn’t understandpounds instead of tons peracre. They thought I wassome kind of snake oilsalesman.”

Moore said that CPI prod-ucts play an important rolein agriculture, particularlyas Canada expands its ef-

forts across millions ofacres.

“There’s a lot of room forour products to play a role inthat expansion,” he said.“That’s what we want ourproducts to do.”

According to Dick, theFort Dodge project is largeston-site expansion in the his-tory of the Gilmore City-based company, which wasestablished in 1987.

CPI’s expansion has ab-sorbed land purchased fromWestern Express, aNashville, Tenn-basedfreight hauling company,acquired the property fol-lowing a merger withSmithway Motor Xpress in2007. The remainder of theWestern Express site wassold to Iowa Central Com-munity College in July2012.

Since its announcementlast year, local leaders havelauded CPI’s commitmentto the city.

“They will be addingsome jobs and adding to ourtax base,” said DennisPlautz, chief executive offi-cer of the Greater FortDodge Growth Alliance.“More importantly, theywill be becoming a more vi-able and larger companywithin Webster County. Itadds value to the natural re-sources, but also adds valueto the companies which theyget their resources from.There’s great synergy be-tween Calcium Products andthe other companies theybuy their raw material fromin order to add value to it.”

In May 2012, membersof the Fort Dodge CityCouncil unanimously ap-proved a developmentagreement with CPI thatwill give the company up to$360,000 over four years inthe form of incrementalproperty tax rebates.

+ +


Progress 2013

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��

Calcium Products to begin expanded production

CrAig DiCk, vice president of sales and marketing for Calcium Products Inc.,looks over the digital scales at the company’s new, 58,900-square-foot facilitycurrently under construction in Fort Dodge. The $7 million expansion to the sitewill allow CPI to increase its production of mineral-based soil additives.

-Messenger photos by Jesse Helling

Larger FD plant setto go online in spring

A view of the electrical panel that will regulate ener-gy for Calcium Products Inc.’s new manufacturing fa-cility. The $7 million company expansion will “effec-tively double” the company’s capacity to manufacturea sulfur and gypsum-based soil additive, said CraigDick, CPI vice president of sales and marketing.

+ +

Progress 2013

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By LARRY [email protected]

FORT DODGE — WhenCargill’s wet milling plantgets underway, it willcreate an ad-ditional150,000bushel dailydemand forlocal corn –yet anothermarket whereseven otherprocessorsare biddingfor the com-modity.

The demand is highenough that Kelvin Leibold,an Iowa State University Ex-tension farm managementspecialist, based in IowaFalls, likens the region as acontinent of corn demand.

Picturing each ethanolplant and feed mill as an is-land for buying grain, Lei-bold said when they congre-gate in the numbers thatWebster County is seeing,they become a grain-buyingcontinent. Previous continentdevelopments were formedaround Eddyville and CedarRapids, both with a substan-tial Cargill presence.

“When we see a continentaround Fort Dodge,” Lei-bold said, “we’ll see an im-pact on the basis.”

Basis is the difference be-

tween the futures price andthe local cash price. For ex-ample, if the May futurescontract is trading at $2.96and the cash price is $2.63,

the cash priceis 33 centsunder May, orminus-33cents.

Morespecifically,basis is thedifference be-tween the cur-rent localcash price andthe futures

price of the contract with theclosest delivery month. Forexample, corn basis in Febru-ary is usually defined as thedifference between the cur-rent cash price and the cur-rent March futures price.

According to ISU’s AgDecision Maker website thefive-year average for corn ba-sis in North Central Iowa —from 2007 to 2011 — dur-ing the first week of Februaryis minus-33 cents. That aver-age was derived from a max-imum of minus-39 cents anda minimum of minus-21cents.

To show the current im-pact of seven corn buyers lo-cally, Valero’s ethanol plantin Fort Dodge was, at middayon Feb. 13, bidding corn at$7.17 per bushel, 20 centsmore than the March futures

price.At the same time, NEW

Cooperative, in Otho, wasbidding $7.07 per bushel forcorn, 9 cents more thanMarch futures.

Compared to the average

minus-30 cent basis for thefirst week of February, toplus-20 on Feb. 13, this is a50-cent swing.

And that’s before Cargilljumps into the fray to buy anestimated 52 million bushels

annually. Al Viaene, plantmanager for the Fort Dodgefacility, said the companywill source corn from a 90-mile radius buying from pro-ducers and suppliers alike.

Cargill is scheduled to start

up operations in September,Viaene said, and will gradu-ally ramp up production tofull capacity over the nextfew months.

Webster County to become ‘corn continent’

THE SHORTNESS OF 2012’S crop has kept the futures prices high and the local cash price higher, despitedomestic and export demand falling off. Farm managers said so much $7 and $8 corn was sold off the com-bine last fall in North Central Iowa, that there is little corn not under contract available for end-users, who arebidding well over March future prices to entice producers to sell what’s in storage.

-Messenger/Farm News file photo

Cargill plant will createmore demand for sixcounties’ production

Al

Viaene

Kelvin

Leibold

See BASIS, Page 4F

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4F Farm News/The Messenger, Fort Dodge, Iowa Friday, Feb. 22, 2013/Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013

Progress 2013

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“We’ll be competitive inthe marketplace,” Viaenesaid. He said Cargill willoffer a portfolio of riskmanagement solutions forproducers.

“Anytime you get anoth-er market it’s going to haveto help the basis,” said Kei-th Dencklau, vice chairmanof the WebsterCounty Supervisorsand a farmer. “Thevolume they(Cargill) will usewill have an im-pact.”

Fifteen years ago,he said, there wasonly one market andthe basis was minus-40 cents, he said,because there werefar fewer corn processorsin the area.

End-users bidding forcorn in the Webster City re-gion include ethanol plantsValero, POET in Gowrie,POET in Jewell, Corn LP inGoldfield, Cargill (in 2013),plus NEW Cooperative inseveral locations and areaegg farms.

Dencklau said it wasn’ttoo long ago that farmerswere limited to the distancethey could take grain, usu-ally by grain cart behind atractor.

“But today, everyone hasa semi,” he said. “So if Ican get an extra 10 cents,”the semi makes the longerhaul workable.

Dencklau described thecurrent plus-basis in Web-

ster County and five sur-rounding counties, as “aweather basis.”

He said 2012’s droughtwhittled the overall yield,cutting the supply, whiledemand remained high.

“Many farmers sold theircorn straight out of thefield for more than $7 and

$8 per bushel,”Dencklau said. Itwas corn that nevermade it into on-farmor off-farm storage.

He said the basisis partly caused by alow supply, plusthere’s corn still be-ing held off the mar-ket.

“Some farmerssold enough out of

the field to pay their bills,”Dencklau said, “and thenput the rest in storage.

“And it’s hard to get itaway from farmers onceit’s in storage and theydon’t have to sell it.”

But even if the WebsterCounty area has decentyields in 2013, Dencklauthinks Cargill’s bidding oncorn will have a positiveimpact on local corn basis.

“It’s a better basis herenow than (selling it down)the Mississippi.”

Importing corn soon?According to Leibold,

the addition of Cargill’s de-mand for 150,000 bushelsdaily will equate to 25 per-cent of the average total ofthe counties of Webster

(41 million bushels),Hamilton (37 mb) Calhoun(33 mb), Pocahontas (33mb), Boone (30 mb) andHumboldt (26 mb).

With seven entities al-ready looking to sourcecorn locally, including fourother ethanol plants, Lei-bold can foresee the Web-ster County region import-ing corn from outside thearea, as long as the plantsand feed mills can keeprunning.

The problem, he said, isthat grain may become tooexpensive for some plantsto operate profitably, espe-cially if 2013 sees a con-tinued drought and loweredyields as in 2012.

Another impact may bemothballing biodieselplants and soybean crush-ing plants.

Leibold said as the bio-fuels industry has im-proved corn basis, Iowafarmers, as a whole, haveshifted from their tradition-al 50-50 rotation of acresbetween corn and soy-beans, to 60-40 corn overbeans.

If basis continues to im-prove and more soybeanacres are lost to continuouscorn, he said, soybean basiswill be pulled up in corn’swake, but the lost soybeanbushels could result in beanprocessors shutting down.

He said businesses willcontinue to run as long asthey can, but if they seethey’ll lose less money by

closing than by operating,they’ll shut down, even ifit’s temporary.

Eye on revenue,not basis

Mark Wolter, a grainmerchandizer for NEW Co-operative, in Fort Dodge,which is a supplier of grainfor ethanol plants, recom-mended farmers watch theirrevenue per acre, rather thanbasis levels.

The current plus-basis is aweather-related phenome-non, as well as a shortage ofcorn in the region.

“Last year,” Wolter said,“a lot of corn was sold rightoff the combine, because theprice was high at harvest.”

He said those buyershave burned through thatcorn and now looking formore. “The numbers indi-cate the corn isn’t outthere,” he said.

Even so, he advised cau-tion for the future. “We’reonly one good harvest awayfrom $4 or lower corn.”

World demand for U.S.corn is down, as well, as do-mestic demand has fallen offdue to rationing from highprices. Even though theprice remains high, that canchange quickly, Wolter said.

Producers should keeptheir eye on the price as rev-enue per acre, Wolter said,“the basis will take care ofitself.

“They shouldn’t get hungup on the basis so they don’tsell it at a good price.”

Basis Continued from Page 3F

WHEN CARGILL begins competing for local corn inFort Dodge, it will be yet another end-user in theWebster County area, which is expected to keep lo-cal cash bids close to future market prices, especial-ly is the region fails to harvest a trend line yield in2013, keeping local supply tight.


Keith

Dencklau

+ +

Progress 2013

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By BARBARA

WALLACE [email protected]

Japan’s decision to lift re-strictions on importing beeffrom cattle under 21 monthsof age is good for the U.S.cattle industry, and it’s newsthat Dean Black can takesome personal pride in.

Black was a member ofan Iowa Meat Trade Mis-sion to Japan and South Ko-rea in December 2012. Acattle feeder near Somers,he is one ofIowa’s repre-sentatives onthe nationalCattlemen’sBeef Promo-tion and Re-searchBoard.

He waspart of a pan-el of speak-ers whoshared cattleproductionmethods, amarket out-look for the U.S. beef indus-try and animal care and han-dling methods with retailand food service representa-tives and importers.

Making face-to-face con-tact with importers in Japanand South Korea is crucialto successfully buildingU.S. market share in thosecountries, Black said.

“We met with the majorimporters over there whoimport the beef products,”he said. “They like to see theproducer who makes theseproducts; they like to knowwhere and how their productis produced.”

Japan was once Ameri-ca’s largest beef importer,but restrictions were put inplace following a U.S. out-break of bovine spongiformencephaolopathy, known as“mad cow disease,” in2003.

Although the Japanesegovernment didn’t officiallyannounce the change until

Jan. 28, importers were wellaware of the likelihoodwhile the Americans werethere.

In December, Black said,Japanese importers werelooking forward to proposedchanges that would lowerthe age of cattle that couldbe brought into the countryfrom 30 months of age.

The limitation of import-ing younger cattle onlymeans “It’s hard for them tosource cattle at certain times

of year,” hesaid. “Now,with it at 30months ofage, we willbe able tohave a con-sistent supplyto them allyear around,and they arereally excitedabout that.”

After theofficial meet-ings, Blacksaid, the im-

porters shared with theirAmerican visitors what theirprojected budgets are for2013.

“They were all right inthe 40 percent range for in-crease in imports,” he said.

It didn’t take a hard sell toconvince their hosts to dobusiness with the Ameri-cans, Black said.

“When they survey theirconsumers, they rate Ameri-can beef as their No. 1choice for taste and safety.Safety is huge over there,especially in Japan with theearthquake and nuclear dis-aster,” he said.

“We used to be No. 2 intheir market for safety inbeef; their domestic marketwas No. 1. But after thetsunami situation, wemoved up to No. 1,” Blacksaid. “So, it’s not a problemof having to sell our beef onquality and safety.”

However, the Japaneseare price-conscious, he said,

and are also dealing with astruggling economy.

Black said he found im-porters in both Japan andSouth Korea to be extreme-ly knowledgeable aboutconditions in the UnitedStates, and particularly inthe Midwest.

“They know what’s goingon in the Midwest with thedrought and the cattle num-bers decreasing because ofthe drought,” he said.“They’re almost as in-formed about what’s goingon in Iowa as some produc-ers around here.”

Both countries import al-most 70 percent of the foodthey eat, Black said, makingthem extremely dependenton outside markets.

He said he was most im-pressed by “how concernedthey are about where theysource their food, thatthey’re going to be able tohave good relationships, sothey can count on having asource to feed their people.”

While some people mightdiscount the value of trademissions, Black is a firm be-liever.

“Some people may thinkthey’re not worthwhile,” hesaid, “but they’re a definiteasset as a business source.Our economy isn’t just inour backyard anymore; it’sworldwide. I had my eyesopened more being overthere and hearing their ques-tions about our corn andbean production, and our

animal production.”Black said he was sur-

prised when trade missionmembers were briefed bythe U.S. ambassadors inboth countries to find outhow well regarded Ameri-cans are in Japan and SouthKorea.

“About 70 percent of thepeople in Korea have a fa-vorable view of Americans,and I think Japan is like 87percent,” he said. “A lot ofthat in Japan has to do withthe support we gave duringthe disaster over there.

“In fact, one of the headsof one of the largest compa-nies over, when they foundout some people from theUnited States were in thebuilding, he made a point to

come downstairs and thankthem personally. His wifewas in the destruction zoneand was helped out of thereby U.S. forces.”

In addition to Black, thetrade mission group wascomprised of Scott Heater,who raises seedstock nearWapello and is a director onthe Iowa Beef IndustryCouncil; Iowa Secretary ofAgriculture Bill Northey;and representatives from theIowa Department of Eco-nomic Authority, the IowaPork Producers Association,Iowa Corn Growers Associ-ation and the U.S. Meat Ex-port Federation. Partialfunding for the mission wasprovided by the $1-per-headbeef checkoff.

Trade mission takes Black to Japan, S. Korea

Beef Producers Scott Heater, Wapello, left, and Dean Black, Somers, visit with a worker and the man-ager of a Daiei Supermarket in Tokyo in December 2012. Signage at the meatcase explains the “We Care”U.S. beef and pork promotion coordinated by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Weeks after the trade mis-sion participants returned home, Japan lifted age restrictions on U.S. beef that had been in place since 2003,following an outbreak of BSE.

-Submitted photo

Somers beef producerpromotes U.S. meat

“They rate

American beef

as their No. 1

choice for taste

and safety.”—Dean Black

Somers beef producer

+ +


Progress 2013

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EMMETSBURG — Af-ter walls have started goingup for its receiving facilityand the Palo AltoCounty Supervisorsapproving rezoningfor the POET/DSMProject Liberty facil-ity on the southeastedge of Emmets-burg, the project isstill on schedule.

The $200 millionplant is scheduled tobegin production inlate 2013. At peakcapacity, the plant isexpected to produce 25 mil-lion gallons of ethanol, allfrom corn stover — stalks,leaves and cobs.

Adam Wirt, a 10-yearPOET employee, has beenworking with the company’scellulosic research and de-

velopment arm for the pastfive years. After months ofplanning and lessonslearned through POET’s pi-lot plant in Scotland, S.D.,

and after the Marchgroundbreaking andgrading, under-ground pipe-layingand foundation pour-ing, Wirt said,“We’re now at thepoint to see the funstuff happening.”

POET announcedlast November thepurchase of the need-ed technology todraw sugars from

corn residue in a two-stepprocess from ANDRITZInc., the American compo-nent of an Austrian compa-ny. The bases for the fer-mentation and saccharifica-tion tanks were poured lastfall.

The ANDRITZ technolo-gy includes a vertical reac-tor, an interstage washer andthen the continuous steamexplosion technology todraw out available sugarsfrom the cellulose material.It’s those sugars — throughProject LIBERTY’s propri-etary enzyme and yeasttechnologies — that getconverted into ethanol.

Stover trainingMeanwhile, in the 27-

acre stockyard, 40 trucksare daily rolling in largeround and large square balesof stover. POET is increas-ing the amount of biomassbeing delivered to the site,Wirt said, in an effort tofine-tune storage efforts andget farmers used to the bio-mass collection process.

Wirt said just as farmersare accustomed to hauling

grain to an elevator, where asample probe is taken of thegrain, the bales will also beprobed to determine mois-ture and dirt content.

Wirt said Project LIBER-TY will require 300,000tons of stover annually oncethe plant hits peak capacity.

“There’s no one in theU.S. that collects thatmuch,” Wirt said, “so weare sourcing from local pro-ducers and large suppliers.”

The stockyard, when full,will hold a mere three-weeksupply. He estimated theplant will require 70 to 90trucks daily.

“If we collect everyounce of corn residue in Pa-lo Alto County,” Wirt said,“we wouldn’t haveenough.” An acre can pro-duce roughly a ton of stover.

He said POET is seekingcontracts with producers in

a 35-mile radius from theplant. “That’s a million cornacres, so we’d need aboutone-third of that.”

This is the third fall inwhich the company is learn-ing how to handle and storeboth types of stover bales,working out the logistics ofan intense number of dailyshipments.

He said storing and han-

dling challenges at this com-mercial-scale operation, iscompletely different than atthe South Dakota pilotplant.

He said when the plant isfinished experimenting withhandling and storing balessome will go to additionalstorage research, some will

Project LIBERTY still on track for start up

Plant will produce ethanol from corn stover


EMMETSBURG — The construction phase of PO-ET/DSM Project Liberty facility will have a rippling ef-fect across north Iowa, said Maureen Elbert, executivedirector of the Kossuth/Palo Alto Economic Develop-ment Corp.

The new cellulosic ethanol plant, the first scheduledto go into production in Iowa, “will havea huge impact of economic linkage withmore housing developed, and with thedaily needs of construction as workersflowing into the area.

“Those workers will have to eatsomewhere,” Elbert said.

She said the ripple effect will likelybe felt to one extent or another in sur-rounding counties, naming Emmet andPocahontas in particular.

“They’re all going to feel the im-pacts,” she said.

The presence of Project LIBERTYwill also lead to new businesses, Elbertsaid. One Emmetsburg man, Eric Wood-ford, opened a baling equipment andsupply business in Emmetsburg to meetthe growing need for producers to balestover.

Elbert said she expects other busi-nesses to spring out of the advanced bio-fuel industry development in Palo AltoCounty.

Equally excited about the develop-ment is Myrna Heddinger, mayor ofEmmetsburg. She said adding Project LIBERTY on theeast side of town will add to the industrial agribusiness-es strength of the town, along with POET’s corn-basedethanol plant, AGP Processing Inc., and Kerber MillingCo.

In the short term, she said housing and meeting thedaily needs of temporary workers will be a boon for thecity, but said it will also aid farmers by providing an-other revenue stream for their farms — selling stoverfrom their fields.

LIBERTY to create

economic ripple

WHILE CONSTRUCTION at the site of POET/DSM’s Project LIBERTY in Emmetsburg has been progress-ing over the past few months, a new phase has begun with the start of vertical construction of facilities. Pre-cast concrete panels are being erected at the site by Lyndell Construction for the receiving facility. The na-tion’s first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant remains on schedule for completion this year.

-Messenger/Farm News photo by Dan Voight

MaureenElbert

MyrnaHeddinger

AdamWirt

See LIBERTY, Page 11F

+ +


Progress 2013

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628 Central Avenue • Fort Dodge 515-573-3341 Serving Webster County for over 100 Years

By LINDSEY

[email protected]

WEBSTER CITY — Inless than five years, Crop-land Containers’ number ofbusiness accounts grewfrom two to 225.

“I think it was the righttime, right place,” said Bri-an Bilyeu, president andchief executive officer ofthe company. “In 2009, wedidn’t know how it was go-ing to go, but it’s workedout really well.”

In 2013, the company isexpanding its 85,000-square-foot facility throughthe purchase of anotherbuilding in Webster City.

“We weren’t expecting tobuy a second building, but

White Transfer gave us a lu-crative offer and we said,‘Well, let’s grow and ex-pand in Webster City,’” Bi-lyeu said.

Cropland Containers isthe only one of its kind inthe agricultural market, Bi-lyeu said. The company re-ceives agricultural contain-ers — such as 330-gallontotes and drums — fromcompanies, such as Van Di-est and United Suppliersthat once held chemicals;washes them, recertifiesthem and then returns themto the company to reuse.

“The go right back into theag market,” Bilyeu said. “Thepurpose of the company is forbusinesses to be able to reusethe containers rather than al-ways buying new.”

With the expansion, thecompany is adding feed binsto its list of products.

“We are building a newwash line and plan to get in-to washing feed bins forcompanies like Pioneer,Monsanto and others,” Bi-lyeu said. “It will be thebiggest feed bin washing

line in the U.S.”Jim Sharkey, plant man-

ager for Cropland Contain-ers in Webster City, said thefacility has washed out feedbins on its lower washroom, but with the expan-sion, the company will builda new automated cleaningline.

The expansion is expect-ed to bring an additional 18jobs to the area.

The growth at CroplandContainers is benefiting thecommunity with more thanjust jobs. They’re also in-creasing the tax roll, accord-ing to Dave Toyer, WebsterCity’s economic develop-ment director

“They were leasing theirexisting facility,” Toyersaid. “When they made thedecision to relocate compo-nents to Webster City, theydetermined it would be agood move to purchase thebuilding they’re in and ac-quire another vacant build-ing in town.”

That increased the size toaround 150,000 square feet,Toyer said. Bilyeu said at

this point, he plans to useone building for receivingdirty containers and the sec-ond one will be used as stor-age for the clean containers.

The location of WebsterCity has been great for busi-ness, Bilyeu said.

The company’s headquar-ters are in Minneapolis,Minn., with its parent com-pany Stainlez Inc. WebsterCity gave Cropland a morecentral location.

“Webster City is a nicesize community, and the

people working at WebsterCity, like Ed (Sadler) andDave (Toyer) are excellentto work with,” Bilyeu said.“They’re always on thelookout for businesses wecan partner with. It’s beenreally nice.”

Cropland Containers expands niche, facility

ReADy-TO-Use 330-gallon totes are stacked up at Cropland Containers inWebster City. The company, which cleans and recertifies agricultural containers,is the only one of its kind in the market, according to Brian Bilyeu, president andchief executive officer.

-Messenger/Farm News photos by Lindsey Mutchler

DAVID FOUNTAIN uses a wet vacuum to remove residual water from the insideof the totes before they move down the line to an automated dryer.

Companyrefurbishesag feedcontainers

By DARCY

DOUGHERTY

[email protected]

AMES — Some thingsshouldn’t be kept bottled up,like the impact of Iowa’svineyards and wineries onagriculture and the state’seconomy.

“The in-dustry is ma-turing,” saidMichaelWhite, IowaState Univer-sity’s viticul-ture special-ist, who haswatchedIowa’s wineindustrygrow fromhumble beginnings to a sig-nificant sector of the state’sagriculture industry.

In the last few years, 15new wineries have openedfor business in Iowa. Manyare located in north centraland northwest Iowa, includ-ing the Garden Winery inFort Dodge, 99 BottlesWinery in Garner, TrainWreck Winery in Algonaand Old Town Winery inIda Grove.

As the industry evolves,other vineyards and winer-ies have gone out of busi-ness.

“Many of the people whogot into the business 10years ago when they were55 or 60 are now 65 or 70,and their priorities havechanged,” White said. “Oth-ers decided that workingFriday, Saturday and Sun-

day the rest of their liveswas not for them.”

Cold-climate hybridsThroughout these

changes, the industry con-tinues to chart a course ofgrowth, White said.

In 1999, there were 13wineries in Iowa. Today,there are nearly 100 li-censed wineries and thereare roughly 320 commercialvineyards producing grapesfor the industry, accordingto Iowawineandbeer.com.

It’s no secret that Iowa’sclimate presents grapegrowers with many chal-lenges, including harsh win-ters; late-spring frosts thatcan damage vine buds; andhot, humid summers thatcan contribute to the devel-opment of molds andmildews, which can be diffi-cult and expensive to con-trol.

While Iowa’s grapegrowing season is relativelyshort, growers are findingpractical solutions.

“The development ofcold-climate grape hybridshas helped fuel Iowa’s wineindustry growth,” saidWhite, who noted that mostof the cold-climate grapevarieties come out of breed-ing programs from the Uni-versity of Minnesota andCornell University.

The La Crescent whitegrape and Marquette redgrape are getting most of theattention in Iowa right now,said White. Both come outof the University of Min-nesota’s breeding program.La Crescent’s intense noseof apricot, peach, and citruslends itself to superior qual-ity off-dry or sweet whitewines. Marquette’s highsugar and moderate aciditymake it very manageable inthe winery.

“Wines made with Mar-quette grapes are complex,with attractive ruby color,pronounced tannins, and de-sirable notes of cherry,berry, black pepper andspice on both the nose andthe palate,” according to theUniversity of Minnesota.“As a red wine, Marquetterepresents a new standard incold hardy viticulture andenology.”

Word is getting out aboutIowa’s high-quality wines,too, as some of the state’s

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Progress 2013

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Iowa’s grape, wine industries are thriving

IOWA HAD APPROXIMATELY 30 acres of grapes in production in 2000. As ofJune 2012, Iowa had 99 wineries with approximately 300-plus vineyards cover-ing 1,200 acres, including Old Town Vineyard and Winery in Ida Grove.

-Messenger/Farm News photo by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby

Mike

White

Cold-climate hybrids fuels growth

Did you know?Here are some facts about Iowa’s wine and grape in-

dustry from Iowa State University Extension and the“The Economic Impact of Iowa Wine and Vineyards:”

∫ Wine has been made in Iowa for more than 150years. The book “History of Western Iowa” noted, “In1867, over 500 barrels of wine were made from nativegrapes and shipped to Chicago, besides large quantitieswhich were used at home.”

∫ The first commercial vineyard in Iowa was plant-ed in 1857, 11 years after Iowa became a state.

∫ In 1893, the Council Bluffs Grape Growers Asso-ciation was formed with 21 member growers and 100acres of grapes.

∫ Iowa had approximately 30 acres of grapes in pro-duction in 2000. As of June 2012, Iowa had 99 winer-ies with approximately 300-plus vineyards covering1,200 acres.

∫ There are approximately 40 different grape culti-vars being grown in Iowa to produce Iowa wines, ac-cording to Iowa State University.

∫ Grape yields can run from 3 to 8 tons per acre inIowa, with the average yield typically in the 3 to 4 tonsper acre range.

∫ It typically takes 75 to 100 hours of labor per acreto hand harvest a full crop of Iowa wine grapes.

∫ One ton of Iowa grapes will produce approximate-ly 150 gallons of wine, which equal 750 bottles ofwine.

See WINES, Page 11F

By JESSE [email protected]

“Double-digit growth”over the past five yearsprompted Calcium ProductsIncorporated to expand itsFort Dodge plant.

The company, which pro-duces pelletized lime andgypsum for growers in agri-culture and horticulture,broke ground in April 2012on a new 58,900-square-foot building due north ofthe company’s existingplant.

The $7 million expansionwill allow Calcium Productsto increase its production ofSuperCal SO4, which is de-scribed as “a naturally-mined sulfur fertilizer andsuperior quality gypsumproduct,” is used by growersthroughout North America.

The project will create 10new jobs.

The expanded facility isset to begin full productionlater this spring, said CraigDick, CPI vice president ofsales and marketing.

“Our equipment is stillbeing shipped to us,” saidDick.

However, barring anyweather-related delays, theoperation remains on track,he said.

Dick said the expansionwould “effectively double”the company’s productioncapacity and help to meetthe increasing demand forSuperCal SO4.

According to CPI’s web-site, the company’s productsare sold by dealers in 14states and four Canadianprovinces.

“SuperCal SO4, one ofseveral soil amendmentproducts we manufacture,has led industry sales asfarmers and growers betterunderstand the importancecalcium and sulfur has onplant health, vitality andcrop production,” said Dick.

SuperCal SO4 provides17 percent sulfur in the sul-fate from, as well as calci-um, which improves soilstructure, aeration anddrainage. That results in in-creased water infiltrationwhile reducing soil surfacecrusting and improvingseedling emergence. SO4also helps break up com-pacted soil, increasing root-ing depth, helps stabilize or-ganic matter and decreasesnitrogen loss to the atmos-phere.

The overall goal of im-proving soil quality is boost-ing crop yields.

During the groundbreak-ing ceremony, CPI Presi-dent Larry E. Moore spokeabout the growth of thecompany into a profitableenterprise.

“What we make are soilamendments,” he said. “In’96, when we started downhere, people didn’t under-stand processed products.They didn’t understandpounds instead of tons peracre. They thought I wassome kind of snake oilsalesman.”

Moore said that CPI prod-ucts play an important rolein agriculture, particularlyas Canada expands its ef-

forts across millions ofacres.

“There’s a lot of room forour products to play a role inthat expansion,” he said.“That’s what we want ourproducts to do.”

According to Dick, theFort Dodge project is largeston-site expansion in the his-tory of the Gilmore City-based company, which wasestablished in 1987.

CPI’s expansion has ab-sorbed land purchased fromWestern Express, aNashville, Tenn-basedfreight hauling company,acquired the property fol-lowing a merger withSmithway Motor Xpress in2007. The remainder of theWestern Express site wassold to Iowa Central Com-munity College in July2012.

Since its announcementlast year, local leaders havelauded CPI’s commitmentto the city.

“They will be addingsome jobs and adding to ourtax base,” said DennisPlautz, chief executive offi-cer of the Greater FortDodge Growth Alliance.“More importantly, theywill be becoming a more vi-able and larger companywithin Webster County. Itadds value to the natural re-sources, but also adds valueto the companies which theyget their resources from.There’s great synergy be-tween Calcium Products andthe other companies theybuy their raw material fromin order to add value to it.”

In May 2012, membersof the Fort Dodge CityCouncil unanimously ap-proved a developmentagreement with CPI thatwill give the company up to$360,000 over four years inthe form of incrementalproperty tax rebates.

+ +


Progress 2013



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Calcium Products to begin expanded production

CrAig DiCk, vice president of sales and marketing for Calcium Products Inc.,looks over the digital scales at the company’s new, 58,900-square-foot facilitycurrently under construction in Fort Dodge. The $7 million expansion to the sitewill allow CPI to increase its production of mineral-based soil additives.

-Messenger photos by Jesse Helling

Larger FD plant setto go online in spring

A view of the electrical panel that will regulate ener-gy for Calcium Products Inc.’s new manufacturing fa-cility. The $7 million company expansion will “effec-tively double” the company’s capacity to manufacturea sulfur and gypsum-based soil additive, said CraigDick, CPI vice president of sales and marketing.

+ +


Progress 2013

TEBBEN ENTERPRISES • 10009 Hwy 7 S.E. • CLARA CITY, MN 56222 WWW.TEBBEN.US • Tel: (320) 847-2200

TEBBEN LAND ROLLER Models Available Include:

7’, 17’, 31’, 33’, 41’, 42’, 45’, 52’ • The Tebben Land Roller Levels Fields By

Pushing Rocks, Root Balls And Residue Evenly Across The Surface For Better Harvesting Efficiency/Higher Yields, Seed To Soil Contact And Less Downtime.

• 42” Diameter Tubes • Rear Wheel Hydraulic Steering Standard. • Heavy Duty Four Bolt Flange Bearings With

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CULTI-ROLLER Advantages Of The Culti-roller

• Helps eliminate problems with root balls, rocks and stalks

• A new use for the cultivator stored in the back shed

• Along with using trash cleaners on the planter, the Culti-Roller will have the same results as a land roller, for a fraction of the cost

• Rolling later helps eliminate and erosion problem from high winds & heavy rains

• More time to pick rocks before rolling • Seals in moisture in the dryness of the

summer • Keeps soil open longer to absorb spring rains

TREE & STUMP SAW • 3 Pt. Cat. I, II, III or skid loader mounted. • 75HP Gearbox/Rated for 30-120 HP tractor. • 3/4” thick x 40” Dia. blade w/12 replaceable

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LLOOWW CCOOSSTT,, HHOONNEESSTT WWOORRKK LLOOWW CCOOSSTT,, HHOONNEESSTT WWOORRKK LOW COST, HONEST WORK Ryan Farrell, a Fort Dodge native and owner of Farrell’s Automotive Repair has been in the automotive industry for over 15 years. He prides himself in his low cost and honest work. No job is too big or too small, from oil changes to engine replacement you have peace of mind when leaving your vehicle at Farrell’s. Ryan Farrell

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220 East State St. • Algona, IA 50511 Office: 515-295-2401 • Cell: 515-341-5402

[email protected] Leland L. Metzger

FARM REAL ESTATE • APPRAISALS • AUCTIONS

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By CLAYTON [email protected]

CLARION — Amongfarmers, the name HagieManufacturing is readily as-sociated with sprayers, thecompany’s main productsince the first ones werebuilt in 1947. They arebased on a design of a ma-chine formerly used for de-tasseling corn.

Hagie sprayers are uniquewith their front-mountedboom and in that sales aremade only at the Clarion fa-cility. Hagie Manufacturingdoes not use a dealer net-work to sell its products.

Now a Hagie product thatfirst went on sale in 2002 isseeing increasing sales fortwo reasons; one is econom-ic and the other environ-mental.

That product is a nitrogentool bar that mounts on thefront of the sprayer using aquick method of detachingthe sprayer boom and at-taching the tool bar.

“The tool bar was meantto be used as a supplementfor side dressing,” saidNewt Lingenfelter, Hagieproduct manager.

Sales of the nitrogen toolbar were steady through2008 at around 10 to 20 an-nually, he said.

Sales for 2013 are antici-pated to be around 100 toolbars.

A 60-foot-wide model is

new for 2013 in addition tothe 30- and 40-foot bars al-ready available. A purchaserhas a choice of coulters byeither Yetter or Ag Source.

Since its introduction in2002, the tool bar has beensteadily increasing instrength from the ones thatwere designed to cover1,000 acres per year to onesnow built to cover 10,000acres annually, according toLingenfelter.

The tool bar is gaining incustomer acceptance be-cause of its versatility, al-lowing it to be tailored tospecific crop managementmethods.

Lingenfelter said the toolbar offers a wider windowof application, improvedfertilizer placement and ap-plication closer to the timeof pollination.

Large farms or commer-cial applicators are using thesprayer during the day andapplying fertilizer at night.Changing from boom to toolbar takes 15 minutes and re-quires only a few connec-tions.

“The tool bar is sellingsprayers for us,” said Lin-genfelter.

The tool bar offers a splitapplication of fertilizerwhen corn is at growthstages V8 and up when theneed for nitrogen is greatest.Side dressing typically stopsat growth stage V4.

During last year’sdrought conditions when thecrop was withering, Lingen-felter said some farmers didnot apply the second fertiliz-er application as it wouldnot have done any good,saving them the expense.

It is the tool bar’s moreefficient placement of nitro-

gen that offers an environ-mental advantage said Lin-genfelter.

The state of Iowa is de-veloping a program calledNutrient Reduction Strategyas a result of the 2008 GulfHypoxia Action Plan where12 states along the Missis-sippi River were called on to

reduce their nutrient loadingto the Gulf of Mexico.

States are to write theirown plans to take into ac-count each state’s condi-tions.

In Iowa, three categorieswere identified as practicesfor possible nutrient reduc-tion. One of these was nitro-

gen and phosphorus man-agement.

One of the managementpractices identified includedapplication rate, timing andmethod.

Hancock County is one ofthe counties participating in

Sales of nitrogen tool bar boost Hagie Mfg.

A HAgie nitrogen tool bAr is receiving its finishing touches at the company’s Clarion factory. Salesof the tool bar are expected to rise this year.

-Messenger/Farm News photo by Clayton Rye

See HAGIE, Page 11G

Item can be tailoredto specific cropmanagement methods

+ +


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the Nutrient ReductionStrategy program, and JasonMoore, who works out ofthe NRCS office in Garner.

Moore said, “Many ofthe features of the NutrientReduction Strategy will useprograms already in place.”

He said the program willlook at entire watersheds towork with nutrient reduc-tion instead of a county bycounty approach. The exist-ing programs will be usedto tailor a solution for eacharea.

Moore said nitrogen isthe main problem in north-ern Iowa, and phosphorusis the main problem insouthern Iowa.

There will be an eco-

nomic benefit to farmers asfertilizer is better used; itwill require less nitrogen togrow a crop.

Lingenfelter said, “Thatextra pass with a nitrogentool bar will require a littlemore management.”

He likes to tell of thecustomer who told him,“I’ve always got time tomake more money.”

Hagie Continued from Page 10F

be sold back to the livestock industry forbedding and feed, and some will go to theethanol plant in Chancellor, S.D., wherethey’ll be burned to provide power for thatplant.

Once Project LIBERTY gets underway, Wirt said, the waste from stoverprocessing will be burned on site to pro-vide power for the plant.

“Any excess will go to the other plant,”he said, referring to POET Biorefining,the corn-based ethanol plant next door.

“Stover in Iowa is a great start for us,”Wirt said. “Cellulosic (ethanol) is a 50-state solution.”

Future processingWhen asked if the plant would be ca-

pable of processing other source materi-als, such as switchgrass,

Wirt said the company is determined toget stover processing down pat, and thenlook to expand into other source materials.

POET is rapidly expanding its technol-ogy in corn processing and extractingmore products than distiller’s dried grainfor livestock feed.

The company extracts corn oil from theprocess and markets that to biodieselplants, and has other projects on thedrawing board for new products.

“People will see soon,” Wirt said, “thatthese aren’t just ethanol plants, but biore-fineries.

“We’re learning how to extract moreproducts from corn.”

Liberty Continued from Page 6F best wines continue to earn numerousawards in national competitions, Whitesaid.

Supporting economyVineyards and wineries are also con-

tributing to the state’s economy. Accordingto the latest data available, Iowa wineriesproduce approximately 186,700 gallons ofwine per year.

Wine, wine grapes and related industriescreated more than $234 million of eco-nomic value for Iowa in 2008, accordingto MKF Research LLC. In addition, thewine and wine-grape sectors contributed atleast $28.1 million in state and local taxesin 2008.

MKF Research estimated that Iowawineries’ revenues from wine sales totaled$7.1 million in 2008. During that sameyear, wine grapes, wineries and related in-

dustries accounted for 1,777 jobs acrossthe state, for a payroll of $50 million.

“Tourism is a major industry in Iowa,and the growth in the number of winerytasting rooms and winery events is addingto its success,” MKF Research said.

Industry leaders believe the future suc-cess of Iowa’s wine and grape industry willrely on continued support from organiza-tions like Iowa State University, the IowaDepartment of Economic Development,the Midwest Grape and Wine Industry In-stitute, the Iowa Department of Agricultureand Land Stewardship and the Iowa WineGrowers Association.

“Iowans are becoming more sophisticat-ed in their tastes in wine,” said ChristineCarlton, owner and operations manager ofTwo Saints Winery near St. Charles. “It’srewarding to be part of an industry thatcontinues to evolve and improve.”

Wines Continued from Page 8F

Project LiBertY’S campus will include 27 acres for corn stover storage.When full, it will contain a three-week supply for the plant.


Newt LiNgeNfeLter

shows one of the threeconnections used to at-tach the tool bar to thesprayer unit, a 15-minuteprocess to go from spray-ing to applying nitrogen.

-Messenger/Farm News photo by

Clayton Rye

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By BARBARAWALLACE [email protected]

MAXWELL — The suc-cess of C&M Acres’ fibermill has surprised even itsowners — two accountantswho wrote a detailed busi-ness plan.

“Our plan was, threeyears from when weopened, I would get to retirefrom my day job and just beon the farm,” said ChristianDavies. “It happened inthree months.”

Christian and MichelleDavies operate a 20-plus-acre alpaca farm nearMaxwell and have beenbreeders and fiber producerssince 2006.She hasworked full-time at thefarm sincethen whilehe continuedto work fulltime inAmes.

Last year,they beganconsideringadding anautomatedfiber mill to their operation.Today, they have a six-month backlog of fiber or-ders to be processed.

“We were very conserva-tive in our (business plan)estimate; we just didn’t real-ize how much was out there.We knew there were alpacabreeders out there; we knewthere was tons of alpacafiber,” Davies said. “But wefigured it would take a whilefor people to come to us.What we failed to realize isthere’s twice as many lla-mas running around as thereare alpacas.”

And, he said, there are atleast four to five times asmany sheep.

“We never even thoughtof dog hair, cat hair, buffalo,yak, bunny. We started get-ting massive amounts offiber in February (2012)and we didn’t start openingto the public until May,” hesaid.

The idea to operate a fibermill grew out of the cou-ple’s own business need.

“We started contemplat-ing the idea because wewere spending many thou-sands of dollars having just

some of our fiber made intoyarn,” Davies said.

After he spent a week at afriend’s mill in Minnesota,the Davieses began re-searching the four compa-nies in North America thatproduce the machines theyneeded to equip their mill.

Then they waited. “None of this stuff is sit-

ting around in a factory,” hesaid. “They make a piecewhen you order it. So inFebruary of last year, theequipment started to comein. Then we had a lot oflearning time to get up tospeed. Then, we opened tothe public in May.”

Davies al-so spent aweek at anexisting millin Pennsylva-nia learningto use thesame equip-ment that wasbeing in-stalled atC&M Acres.The coupleknew how toprocess fiberby hand, “but

we had no idea how to do allof this with industrial equip-ment.”

The equipment has to beset up differently for everytype of fiber that’sprocessed, Davies said, tak-ing into account the lengthof the fibers or the amountof crimp in each one.Sheep’s wool also presents achallenge because it has tobe washed to take out thelanolin, otherwise the oilwill gum up the machines,he said.

The couple no longersells hand-processed fiber“because you can’t produceit nearly as quickly or con-sistently,” Davies said.

As an example, “Michellecouldn’t keep enough fiberwashed (by hand), and shewas washing all day to keepme going in the otherroom,” he said.

With their new industrialfiber-washing machine, she“can now do in two hourswhat took nine hours be-fore,” he said.

C&M is now processingabout 100 pounds of fiberper week. Before theyopened the mill, the

Davieses were processingabout 5 pounds of their ownfiber.

“The reality is, we shearabout 700 or 800 pounds ofour own fiber; we have4,000 pounds of other peo-ple’s fiber sitting upstairs (atthe mill),” Davies said.

“We can now do any sizeor shape of yarn, any ply,from lace all the way up tobulky,” he said, “from sin-gle-ply thread all the way upto, right now, I have an or-der for a five-ply bulkyyarn.”

In addition, the Davieseshave found a way to uselesser-quality fiber thatwouldn’t be ideal for spin-ning or weaving.

“We make sheet felt, us-ing the leg or neck fiber thatisn’t the best fiber in theworld,” Davies said.

They also make a coredyarn that’s wrapped aroundcotton or jute cord and isused for rug making.

“They’re super soft,” hesaid, “and it’s a good use offiber that would otherwisebe thrown away.”

C&M is the only fibermill in the country, he said,that offers both woolen andworsted processing.

In woolen processing, thefibers are pulled andstretched, and the fibers arecombed in worsted process-ing. The former creates afluffier yarn that appeals toknitters, and the latter,which is known as pin draft-ing, produces a tighter yarnthat is more favored byweavers.

The Davieses are alsonow mass producing fiberproducts for commercialcompanies, something theyhadn’t anticipated in theirbusiness plan.

“We just got a contractfrom somebody for makingthe insides of pillows.We’re washing and fluffingthe fiber and sending it backto them,” Davies said. “Wehave somebody else who isworking on designer, high-end New York fashion, andwe’re making the thread forthem.”

The ability to appeal tomultiple markets is partiallyresponsible for C&M’s suc-cess. They raise both typesof alpacas — the fluffycoated huacaya and thecurly coated suri. There are22 recognized coat colorsfor alpacas, and theDavieses raise black, whiteand everything in between.

C&M Acres sells bred

and open females, herdsiresand fiber animals. TheDavieses also offer mobileherdsire breeding servicesas well as traditional breed-ing services at their farm.They hold classes on fiberand fiber processing, as wellas general education aboutalpacas. They sell Shachtweaving and spinningequipment, offer farm set-up assistance and board oth-er people’s alpacas. In addi-tion, they just refinished re-modeling their farm store,where they sell fiber fromtheir herd, along with hand-

made products, includingscarves, felting and wallhangings.

C&M also serves as ateaching facility, serving asa sponsor for the annualcamelid (primarily alpacaand llama) seminar at IowaState University in nearbyAmes, having ISU vet stu-dents get hands-on experi-ence at the farm and allow-ing one ISU professor toperform blood studies on thealpacas. The university’ssmall ruminant club gener-ally visits about twice ayear, Davies said.

Alpaca farm adds fiber mill — and backlog

christiAn dAvies prepares a machine to spin fiber into yarn at C&M Acres Alpaca Farm and Fiber Mill.Davies and wife Michelle added the fiber mill last year to their alpaca farm near Maxwell. The Daviesesprocess all types of fiber from alpaca and llama to sheep’s wool and dog hair. A limited amount of buffaloand yak fiber has been shipped to C&M from places as far away as Alaska, Canada and Montana.

-Messenger/Farm News photos by Barbara Wallace Hughes

Michelle dAvies is surrounded by bags and boxes of fiber that will beprocessed at C&M Acres’ fiber mill. The mechanized mill processes fiber muchmore quickly than Davies and husband Christian used to process it by hand.However, mill equipment has to be set up differently for each type of fiber. Forexample. the oily lanolin in sheep’s wool has to be removed before the fiber isrun through the spinning machines. But the length and the amount of crimp in afiber also determines how the machines have to be set up.

curious AlpAcAs at C&M Acres crowd around Michelle Davies. Davies andhusband Christian are accountants who decided to raise alpacas, in part, be-cause they would be small enough for her to handle on her own. Because of thefast success of the couple’s fiber mill — their business plan predicted he wouldbe able to retire from his day job in three years — both are now working full-timeon their Maxwell farm.

Success at C&M Acresquickly exceeds itsowners’ expectations

A recently instAlled, specially built washingmachine can clean in two hours the same amount offiber that was formerly processed by hand in ninehours. The company that produced the machine hasonly made 38 other such washers.

“We never even

thought of dog hair,

cat hair, buffalo,

yak, bunny.”—Christian Davies

C&M Acres

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Rick Titus of Clarion started his business, called “The Country Store”, in 1975 and even though he h as moved into town now, he has no intention of retiring any time soon. “l enjoy and love doing this.” said Titus. “I’ve covered every corner of the state because I’m an ex pert, and that is not meant as a boast. I don’t think anyone else in the state does exactly what I do.” What he does, is sell and install the Fuego Flame (brand name) fireplace in sert, which he believes are the most efficient inserts on the market, for the money. However, it took him awhile to find out about that brand. “I was living in Littleton, Colorad o. and came across a brochure for the Heatilator fireplaces, which were made at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa,” said Titus. “When we moved back here 3 years later, I decided I was going to call them and become a dealer.” Titus was soon displaying the units at county fairs and got some business. But then in checking back with his customers, to his amazement, he found out they were sending most of the heat up the chimney.

“I then tried selling other brands of fireplaces like Preway, and Majestic and found they were no be tter. These were touted to be energy efficient, having fans and adjustable dampers, but they still were not burning like a wood stove, so I just kept looking. I was selling wo od stoves, but not everyone wants a wood stove in their home. Then I found out about the Fuego Flame Fireplaces, which were as close to wood stove efficiency as you will find. This company made Zero Clearance fireplaces and also made four different sized inserts, so now I could offer my customers a super efficient fireplace, or install one of the inserts inside of their existing wood burning fireplace, no matter how large or small,” Titus said. But then it wasn’t long before he found a fireplace that has an unusual shape, l ike a two sided, or see-thru. or arched opening, and these inserts would not fit. So he decided to just make the inserts from scratch to fit these unusual fireplaces. He even built a n insert to fit a four sided fireplace for Bill Knapp in Des Moines.

The Fuego Flame fireplace inserts can make any fireplace burn up to 70% efficient, and needs no elec tricity while keeping 99% of the heat in the home. It burns slow like a wood stove while keeping the beauty of the fireplaces overall appearance and fun of watching the fir e. Once the insert is installed, the average fireplace can heat 1,000 to 1,500 square feet of a well insulated home, while using 2/3 less wood, and protects the home from runaway fires. It can burn most of the night on just 3 or 4 hardwood logs, leaving you a nice bed of hot burning coals to ignite new logs come morning. “Some of my customers use the f ireplace 24/7 all winter long, and rarely hear their furnace kick on. Thus they save a tremendous amount of fuel each month. These inserts literally pay for themselves by savi ng the customers fuel,” Titus says. The inserts are made using 12-guage steel, which Titus said transmits the heat quicker because it’s lighter. Cool air from the house enters und erneath the insert, and is then circulated up the back of the fireplace with the heated air exiting out the top, all without the use of a fan. The temperature of the air coming off this insert varies from 200 to 1000 degrees. Titus says, “You bake in your oven at 350, and you can feel that kind of heat coming out of the top of the fireplaces heat opening. Mos t heat circulating fireplaces do not come close to putting out that kind of heat, for they send all their heat up the chimney.”

The Fuego Flame inserts are installed using an insulated ceiling, which prevents the stove heat from going up the fireplaces chimney. The insert damper control is on the inserts face plate, so you can close the doors and then close the damper. The inserts also burn with their damper 95% closed, thus making the wood burn nice and slow. The twin glass doors are made using ceramic glass, which will take 1400 degrees temperature, so you neve r have to worry about breaking the glass with heat, and you get to enjoy watching the slow burning logs inside. These twin doors are easy to clean with very little effort. “ Remember when you were a kid sitting around the campfire, or at a family reunion, how much fun it is to sit around the campfire? Well, you can have that same fun in your hom e with a real wood burning fire in your fireplace all winter long, and enjoy the romance of the flames; and everyone could use more romance, right? It is actually mesmerizing to watch the flames, and you don’t even have to say a word as you watch the fire. Now you can have the romantic comfort of a campfïre and enjoy all that warmth in your home saf ely and efficiently,” said Titus.

For those that can’t or don’t wish to burn wood, Titus offers super efficient gas logs as an option. He started selling those in 1991, and they offer the same nice flame effect, but without the work and cleanup from real wood. “I’ve got people who bought a fireplace from me in the 70’s and 80’s that are now having me put gas logs in those same fireplaces,” said Titus. These gas logs are capable of heating up to 1,000 square feet of the averag e well insulated home, so if you have a power outage, these gas logs will keep you toasty warm, and keep the pipes from freezing in your home.

Titus has covered a large area of the Midwest in his sales and installation travels, “I have built a nd installed units in fireplaces from Minneapolis to Kansas City and all over Iowa.” said Titus, “I’ve learned that if I go to a county fair, I get business from that area.” He a lso feels that word of mouth has been his best advertising, and that the personal attention he can offer gets the sales. “I do all the work myself,” said Titus. “I don’t even charge for estimates when I come into your home. I feel an in home visit is the only way I can know exactly what the customer needs.” Titus is also not afraid to tackle, or at least look at , any chimney problems including a cracked chimney. “I’ve fixed one of those many times for someone,” said Titus. “I installed a stainless steel liner inside the chimney and mad e it safe and efficient.” Titus explained that these inserts are not like others that you can buy, and that it takes some time to install them. “This is not a quick fix job,” said T itus. “I don’t just shove it into your existing fireplace, collect a check and leave. Most of the other inserts on the market make your fireplace look like it has a wood stove shoved int o it, and they change the whole look of the fireplace by putting a big metal shroud around the insert. It takes me from six to eight hours to do this, but it will be done right and you’ll never need to do anything more with it.” Titus has even thought of people who like to cook food over a wood fire. “I’ve developed a barbeque grill that will fit inside there,” said Titus. “You can grill steaks or bake potatoes. It will work great for putting a dutch-oven in the fireplace too.” Feel free to contact Rick at The Country Store for more information. You can call either 515-532-3881 or 515-293-2455, or visit his website at: www.fireplacesatthecountrystore.com, or email him at [email protected]. “We don’t know what the future holds for our electrìcal system in this country,” said Titus. “If someone wants to control us, they could cut off the electricity, food supply, or disrupt our fuel. Everyone should have a way to heat their home without electricity.”

Rick Titus in his 38th year of selling and installing

more efficient fireplace inserts.

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By KRISS [email protected]

AMES — A $25 milliongrant for biofuels researchwas awarded from the U.S.Department of Agricultureto Iowa State University inAugust 2011 and is consid-ered the largest single grantever received by ISU.

The project, CenUSABioenergy, has now enteredin its second of five yearsfor the research project ofinvestigating the creation ofa Midwestern sustainablebiofuels system.

Ken Moore, professor ofagriculture and life sciencesat ISU, is the project’s direc-tor. His duties are to facili-tate the work of the projectand to essentially ensure theresearch teams have every-thing they need. He is alsoin charge of project admin-istration.

ISU, along with PurdueUniversity; University ofWisconsin, Madison; Uni-versity of Minnesota, TwinCities; University of Ne-braska, Lincoln; Universityof Illinois, Champaign;University of Vermont-Burlington and the USDAAgricultural ResearchService make up the net-work that are, according toCenUSA Bioenergy, in-vesting in a regional sys-tem for producing fuelsfrom feedstocks derivedfrom potentially high bio-mass producing herba-

ceous perennials using thepyrolytic conversionprocess.

“The focus is to growperennial energy crops onland that is not well suitedfor row crops,” said Moore.

Moore said there are nineseparate objective researchareas being focused on inthe study.

“This is a multi-stateproject with over 100 peo-ple involved, nine teams andteam leads,” said Moore. “Ienjoy interacting with thesepeople and they take the re-sponsibility for what they’llsay and do and they deliver.They are the best of thebest.”

The nine CenUSA pro-gram areas are:

∫ Feedstock Develop-ment, which is led by USDA-Agricultural Research Serv-ice employees Ken Vogeland Mike Casl er, has a goalto develop improved perenni-al grass cultivars and hybridsthat can be used on marginalcropland in the Central Unit-ed States for the productionof biomass for bioenergy.They have chosen nativegrasses, Moore said, includ-ing switchgrass, bluestemand Indian grasses.

“All three of those are na-tive to Iowa and are veryadaptive here, they want tobe here,” said Moore.

CenUSA Bioenergy researches biofuels system

KEVIN SHINNERS, CenUSA project co-director, harvests prairie grasses. CenUSA is funded by the largestsingle grant ever received by Iowa State University, a $25 million grant awarded from the USDA. The proj-ect is researching the creation of a Midwestern sustainable biofuels system. It involves nine teams with a to-tal of more than 100 people in multiple states.

-Submitted photo

See CENUSA, Page 3G

Harvest of these feed-stocks, he said comes laterin the year, such as post-frost, or around mid-Octo-ber.

Because these plants areperennials, Moore saidthere will still be 50 per-cent cover even after theharvest, so the ground isprotected over the non-growing winter months.

∫ Sustainable Produc-tion Systems is headed upby Jeff Volenec of PurdueUniversity and RobMitchell from USDA-ARSis to, conduct comparativeanalyses of the productivitypotential and the environ-mental impacts of promis-ing bioenergy crops andmanagement systems usinga network of 14 fieldsstrategically located acrossthe central United States.

∫ Feedstock Logisticsresearch is led by StuartBirrell at ISU and KevinShinners at the Universityof Wisconsin to developsystems and strategies toenable sustainable and eco-nomic harvest, transporta-tion and storage of feed-stocks to meet industrialneeds.

∫ Feedstock Conver-sion, managed by RobertBrown of ISU is a study toperform a detailed econom-ic analysis on the perform-ance of a refinery based onpyrolytic processing of bio-mass into liquid fuels andprovide biochar to other re-searchers on the project.

∫ System Performancestudy is led by Cathy Klingof ISU and Jason Hill withthe University of Minneso-ta and is a study to providedetailed analyses of feed-stock production optionsand an accompanying setof spatial models to en-hance the ability of policy-makers, farmers and thebioenergy industry to makeinformed decisions aboutwhich bioenergy feed-stocks to grow, where toproduce them, what envi-ronmental impacts theywill have and how biomassproduction systems arelikely to respond to andcontribute to climatechange or other environ-mental shifts.

∫ Markets and Distribu-tion research is handled byKeri Jacobs at ISU andDermot Hayes, also of ISUto study farm-level adop-tion decisions, exploringthe effectiveness of policy,market and contract mech-anisms that facilitatebroad-scale voluntaryadoption by farmers. Also,to evaluate impacts of anexpanded advanced biofuelsystem on regional andglobal food, feed, energyand fiber markets.

∫ Health and Safety isled by Chuck Schwab andMark Hanna of ISU to con-duct a detailed analysis ofall tasks associated withbiofeedstock productionfor hazard targets of per-sonnel, equipment, envi-ronment, downtime andproduct. Also, to determinepotentially hazardous res-pirator exposure limits as-sociated with the produc-tion of biofeedstocks.

∫ Education study is di-rected by Raj Raman ofISU and Patrick Murphy atPurdue University to pro-vide rich interdisciplinarytraining and engagementopportunities for under-graduate and graduate stu-dents in all areas of thebioenergy value chain tomeet work force challengesof the bioeconomy.

“This study,” saidMoore, “helps build up thehuman capital to supportthis research when the proj-ect is done. We’re puttingstudents with the scien-tists.”

One way this is done isthrough the CenUSA In-ternship program. Partici-pants of this program are adiverse group from multi-ple institutions across theUnited States, representingdisciplines includingphysics, biological systemsengineering and agronomy.During the internship, stu-dents will participate inweekly reports and meet-ings as well as field trips tobioprocessing facilities, re-search facilities and agro-nomic field stations.

∫ Extension and Out-reach, run by Jill Euken ofISU is to deliver science-based information and in-formal educational pro-gram linked to CenUSA

project goals to agriculturaland rural economy stake-holders and youth pro-grams linked to 4-H andFFA programs.

Extension and Outreachis also for helping to estab-lish a “citizen science” pro-gram to promote sharedlearning on the impacts ofperennial grass agricultureand ecosystems.

A third of the project’s

budget, Moore said, isspent on education and ex-tension, proving just howintegral a part they both arefor the project.

Moore said an advisoryboard has been made withindustry professionals rep-resenting the supply chainand their role is to providehigh-level, broad adviceand to serve as an impor-tant link and network into

stakeholder groups. “The advisory board

has been a very valuablecomponent to the studyand have come up withexcellent questions andideas,” said Moore.

A workshop, the “2012Commercialization Work-shop, a Roadmap to Com-mercialize Thermochemi-cal Biofuels in the Mid-west” Moore said was

held in December.With the many industry

participants, Moore saidhe considers the workshopa success.

“I am very optimisticand upbeat from the in-dustry of the potential ofprocessing materials andmaking fuels out ofthem,” said Moore.

Moore said he is alsovery confident about the

project and its outcomes,and even though it is stillvery early on in the proj-ect,

CenUSA Bioenergy hasalready seen positive re-sults.

“I have never been con-cerned about the successof the project due to theteam,” said Moore.“These people can’t fail.They are the experts.”

CenUSA Continued from Page 2G

+ +


Progress 2013

1950 Harvest Avenue Fort Dodge, IA 50501

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The Fort Dodge bio-refinery campus in an investment in the future of agriculture. Together with CJ, we will harness our investments in bio- technology and create value added products for our customers. This investment will create jobs in Iowa, reinvestment in the local community and help connect our farmer customers to global customers.

Cargill Fort Dodge will provide competitive bids and timely payments to corn suppliers. We will source corn from approximately a 90 mile radius and will operate a high speed corn unloading facility at Fort Dodge, where safety will be a top priority. We will offer a menu of unique risk management products (specialty contracts) to help growers diversify their grain marketing risk. Our merchandising staff will be making customer visits to establish relationships with local corn suppliers.

Cargill has been in the grain business for almost 150 years. Our longevity, financial stability, and global presence is unmatched in the marketplace. We are looking forward to serving local

corn suppliers in the Fort Dodge area and becoming the area’s “Partner of Choice.”

“Cargill’s newest corn wet mill ethanol facility in Fort Dodge.”

Cargill Corn Milling North America


DES MOINES — As thegrowth of the biofuels in-dustry virtually explodedin Iowa, it has spawned thecreation of additional en-trepreneurial startups, in-cluding one in Des Moines— FEC Solutions.

A part of the Riley Re-source Group, based in DesMoines, FEC was formedin 2006 as a broker of cornoil coming out of theethanol industry.

According to TroyShoen, marketing directorfor Riverhead Resources,serving the other sub-sidiary branches of thegroup, the role of FEC inthe ag economy creates alarger demand for corn oil,extracted from distillersdried grains, the byproductof the ethanol process. Theresult is added value to theoil that flows back to corngrowers.

Iowa’s 22 ethanol plantsproduce upward of 33 mil-lion gallons of corn oil“and all of that oil needs ahome,” Shoen said.

FEC sources the oil,through open bidding andthrough some contracts,then markets this oil to pri-marily biodiesel plants, butalso in exports and indus-trial uses, such as plasticsand asphalt.

In a typical year, Shoensaid, biodiesel plants cutback production during thefourth quarter because theyhave enough product onhand to meet the demandsof the Renewable FuelsStandard. The price of cornoil will then slip from 40cents per pound to 30cents.

“There is no reason cornoil should ever be at 30cents,” Shoen said. “It’s

more valuable than that.”Besides serving as a corn

oil broker, another compa-ny focus is to find addition-al industrial uses for the oilthrough refining.

“We think we’ve foundthe key to keeping the val-ue in corn oil,” Shoen said.“As one strips out moreproducts, it makes the oilmore valuable.”

As FEC’s research anddevelopment team looksfor more outlets for the oil,Shoen thinks that eventual-

ly ethanol plants will seeethanol as its primarybyproduct and corn oil asits primary income source.

“This is what’s fun aboutthe energy markets,” Shoensaid. “We’re just on thecusp of what can happen.

“There’s more room forgrowth and opportunity.”

FEC, he said, is smallenough and versatileenough to make the neededadjustments to take advan-tage of new opportunitiesas they arise.

A little historyIn 1986, FEC’s chair-

man, Bob Riley, purchasedFeed Energy in DesMoines.

Feed Energy, not to beconfused with FEC Solu-tions, removes solids fromvegetable oil stocksthrough an acidulationprocess and then marketsthe refined oil as a live-stock feed additive. Mostof the oil is mixed withpoultry feed, but some also

goes into swine feed,Shoen said. Feed Energyprovides this diet additivefor the bulk of Iowa’s poul-try feed industry.

He said the additive is away for livestock growersto get the required amountof kilocalories into animaldiets, without adding car-bohydrates or protein.

“It’s like Gatorade forus,” Shoen said.

Feed Energy’s target au-dience is animal nutrition-ists, he said. Business man-

agers are a secondary tar-get for its products.

“A tertiary audience isfeed mills,” Shoen said.“We also get feedbackfrom producers.”

This includes carry-outnumbers of daily rates ofgain and market weights.

Since Feed Energy’sproducts are derived fromsoybean oil, it has vitaminsA and D and antibodies foroverall animal health.

+ +


Progress 2013

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Startup FEC Solutions is broker for corn oil

KrySTal hamicK, an employee of Feed Energy, measures the content of free fatty acids from a batch ofacidulated soybean oil. Knowing the content helps the company accurately blend the oil into poultry andswine feed.

-Messenger/farm News photos by Larry Kershner

Feed energy employ-ee Cory Ferrel unloads atanker loaded with soapstock, the industry termfor acidulated vegetableoil, the byproduct of refin-ing soybean oil.

Company is offshoot

of biofuels industry

Troy Shoen, marketing director for Riverhead Re-sources, said the companies of the Riley ResourceGroup are small enough and nimble enough to adjustquickly to new and emerging opportunities within thebiofuels industry.

See FEC, Page 7G

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Progress 2013

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SPENCER —DuPontPioneer, a leader in soy-bean seed sales, has recent-ly announced it will be ex-panding its product offer-ings with a new line of soy-beans.

Don Schafer, DuPont Pi-oneer senior marketingmanager for soy-beans, said the newline of soybeanproducts, the T Se-ries, will be intro-duced in limitedquantities throughtrials and plots andwill have a full vol-ume launch in timefor the 2014 grow-ing season.

Schafer said thenew products will be posi-tioned in plots throughoutIowa beginning this spring,allowing producers to seethe new soybeans firsthandand eventually get to take alook at all of the data whenthey are harvested this fall.

The new T Series vari-eties succeed Pioneer’s YSeries of soybeans that wereintroduced several yearsago.

“We previously had the YSeries, and this class is sim-ilar,” said Schafer. “The TSeries is large with greatperformance in the market-place shown through fouryears of trials.”

The new series includes39 new products, which is

the largest number of soy-bean advancements by Pio-neer in a single year, andwas developed, Schafersaid, through DuPont Pio-neer’s Accelerated YieldTechnology process.

“The next generation TSeries soybean productsprovides growers a totalpackage that helps them

gain the most fromevery acre,” saidSchafer. “A stepchange from earlierofferings, the T Se-ries is a direct resultof the AYT systemthat allows Pioneersoybean breeders tomaximize yield po-tential, agronomictraits and resistanceto yield-robbing

pests.”According to DuPont Pio-

neer, the AYT process pin-points native trait genes forincreased defensive traitprotection and improvedpest resistance packages tai-lored for specific geogra-phies.

AYT employs novel traitintegration through a propri-etary matrix of gene map-ping, molecular breedingtechnologies and intense lo-cal field testing. The systemis a key part of a compre-hensive plan to accelerateyield gain and broaden re-sistance to key diseases andinsects.

Schafer said the AYTprocess helps bring products

to the marketplace quicker,with better traits and higheryielding soybeans as well.

The T Series of soybeanswill consist of 34 varietiesthat will carry the RoundupReady gene; two new Plen-ish high oleic varieties; five

new products with the Lib-ertyLink gene and two newvarieties with the RoundupReady/STS stack.

Also, 32 products aresoybean cyst nematode-re-sistant and 29 carry a majorPhytophthora-resistant

gene. The T Series was also de-

veloped with feedback fromproducers.

DuPont Pioneer teams, hesaid have worked locallywith growers, developing aproduct to fit their needs.

Schafer suggests produc-ers continue to contact andwork alongside their localDuPont Pioneer dealer, dis-cussing issues they have intheir fields, in order to getthem the right product fortheir acres.

Pioneer offers T Series, new line of soybeans

DuPont Pioneer will expand its product offerings with a new line of soybeans. The T Series products willbe positioned in plots throughout Iowa beginning this spring.


Products will be similar

to Y series of past years

Don

Schafer

+ +


Progress 2013

www.mcfarlandclinic.comMcFarland Clinic PC

To schedule an appointment or for more information, please call (515) 574-8587.

Cancer CareMcFarland Clinic physicians provide cancer care services at Trinity Cancer Center in Ft. Dodge. Medical and Radiation

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CJ BIO America, Inc. is part of South Korean conglomerate CJ Cheiljedang. CJ Bio America produces Lysine, an amino acid that is used in feed for poultry and swine. Currently in the middle of constructing a $323 million factory west of Fort Dodge, CJ Bio America is planning to produce 100,000 metric tons of Lysine per year and will employ approximately 180 employees.

Employment: CJ BIO America, Inc. is in the process of recruiting employees for all levels of the organization. In preparation for full scale production in 2013, CJ Bio America is seeking to fill positions in Production, Maintenance, Engineering, Logistics, Accounting and Human Resources. To apply, please visit Iowaworks or email your cover letter and resume to [email protected].

January 18, 2013

Our Future

October 30, 2012

November 29, 2012

December 6, 2012

January 7, 2013


AMES — The BioCentury Re-search Farm at Iowa State Univer-sity is a first-in-the-nation facilitydedicated to research and demon-stration in biomass production andprocessing.

Now in its in third year of oper-ation, the ISU BioCentury Re-search Farm has been working onseveral projects for the use of dif-ferent feedstocks in biomass pro-duction and different trials on har-vesting, storage and transportingof the biomass.

“We are designed to bring all ofthe pieces together,” saidLawrence Johnson, director of theBioCentury Research Farm. “Oth-er places may be working on aparticular piece, but nowhere elseis there someone trying to bringthose pieces together in one place.We go all the way back to plantgenetics up to conversion. Havingall of the pieces is very impor-tant.”

A current project being re-searched in conjunction withDuPont Ethanol is helping devel-op a supply chain for the 560,000bales the company will need eachyear at its cellulosic ethanol facil-ity being built near Nevada.

Andy Suby, biomass processingfacility manager, said handlingthat massive number of bales isquite an undertaking, and they areworking together on figuring outthe most productive way to har-vest, bale, store and transport thatmuch biomass.

Single pass harvestingThey are working on a single-

pass harvesting system that willeliminate the customary three tofour passes across the field, reduc-ing compaction and the raking partof the process — which shoulddramatically reduce the amount ofdirt raked up into the corn stover.

“With single pass harvesting,you pull the baler behind in thecombine where it makes a squarebale, in most cases, and all there isto do is pick up the bale later,”said Suby. “This also allows forcontrolling the height of the cut-terbar, to accommodate theground you are going over and canbe tailored site-specific to take theright amount of corn stover need-ed off of the field.”

Suby said they have also beenconsulting with POET for its cel-lulosic plant in Emmetsburg, aswell, and that this project has beenongoing at the BioCentury Re-search Farm practically since thefarm’s beginning.

Through research of handlingcorn stover, they have also found amerging market for the biomassfor other uses than fuels.

For example, Johnson said, oth-er companies are using the stoverfor other value-added productssuch as chemical, paper, construc-tion products and the BioCenturyResearch Farm are helping to pro-vide the material to those compa-nies for the development and re-search of these products.

“We are the only source ofclean stover for people,” said Su-by.

Suby added that they also havethe capacity to meet any specifica-tion and size of the stover aprocessor wants and they do themajority of the drying and grind-ing of the corn stover used in thesesituations.

“We work closely with thecompanies,” said Johnson. “Welike to see these technologies com-mercialized.”

Other feedstocksOther forms of research include

studying specialty crops, such asmiscanthus and switchgrass, foruse for biofuels and finding a mar-ket for those alternative crops;conversion processes of feed-stocks; and one of the newest sub-jects being researched is the use ofalgae to be used eventually asbiodiesel and for food in the aqua-culture industry.

Martin Gross, graduate studentat ISU is heading up the researchof utilizing algae.

“The idea stemmed from someprevious research that I read that

used a biofilm to grow algae in-stead of just allowing the algae tobe suspended in a culture,” saidGross. “Other than that, the ideakind of developed piece by piecewith no real influence by any onething.”

Gross said algae can contain upto 60 percent oils, which is muchmore than other oil crops.

“So algae is an ideal feedstockfor making biodiesel,” said Gross.“Many of these oils are omega 3fatty acids which have significanthealth benefits. The reason fishare high in omega 3s are becausethey eat algae. Algae can also beused as a feed source for aquacul-ture, livestock or pet food. Re-searchers at ISU are looking intoits potential as a thermochemicalfeedstock.”

Typically, Gross said algal cul-tivation has been mainly per-formed in open ponds or closedphotobioreactors in which thosealgal cells are suspended in liquidand harvested through costly sedi-mentation, flocculation and/orcentrifugation devices.

The objective of his project atthe BioCentury Farm is to developa novel biofilm-based algal culti-vation system to reduce the bio-mass harvest cost.

“In our attached growth system,algal cells are attached to a materi-al that is rotating between nutri-ent-rich liquid phase and carbondioxide rich gaseous phase for al-ternative absorption of nutrientsand carbon dioxide,” said Gross.“The algal cells can be harvestedby scrapping from the attachedsurface, and thus, the expensiveharvest procedures commonlyused in a suspension cultivationsystem can be avoided.”

Gross is hoping this algae har-vesting process can go commer-cial soon and has started his owncompany.

“My company, Gross Renew-ables LLC, is currently workingon this,” he said. “It is hard to saywhen, but if our research is suc-cessful, we should be able toleverage money to commercializethe process.”

“Some of our brightest studentsthat have worked on projects at theBioCentury Farm are going outand starting up companies fromtheir research,” said Johnson.

BioCentury Research Farm is first in nation

Andrew Friend, graduate student in mechanical engineer-ing, left, and Lysle Whitmer, program engineer for the Center forSustainable Environmental Technology, work on the fast pyrol-ysis unit located in the thermochemical train.

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson

It’s dedicatedto R and Din biomassproduction

+ +


Progress 2013

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Both Feed Energy andFEC are members of theSafe Food/Safe Feed Pro-gram through the Ameri-can Feed Association.

“We are always cog-nizant that what we feedthe animals feeds us,”Shoen said. “It all makesits way into us ultimate-ly.”

Forming FECSolutions

In the mid-1990s, thebiofuels industry kickedinto high gear and ethanolplants appeared on theIowa landscape like pop-ping corn. According toShoen, Chairman Rileysaw that distiller’s driedgrain would compete withFeed Energy’s products asa livestock feed additive.

So he formed FEC So-lutions to create a market-ing channel for the in-crease of corn oil thatwould hit the open mar-ket. FEC brokers that oilinto other outlets, such asbiodiesel, plastics and as-phalt, without competingwith Feed Energy’s mar-kets.

FEC Continued from Page 4G

The companies that

make up the Riley Re-

source group are Feed

Energy Co., FEC Solu-

tions, Riverhead Re-

sources and Decision In-

novation Solutions.

As chief executive offi-

cer, Robert G. Riley Jr. is a

proponent for balanced

and sustainable systems,

including agriculture, envi-

ronment, innovation, busi-

ness and government. Ad-

vocating long-term per-

spectives, he works to cre-

ate synergy and manage

polarities within and be-

tween many entities, in-

cluding his business inter-

ests, and various nonprof-

it, institutional and govern-

mental agencies in which

he is involved.

In 1986, Riley pur-

chased Feed Energy and

immediately began the

process of building a feed

ingredient company with

products developed on in-

novation, research and

sound science.

In 2006, he formed FEC

Solutions to pursue oppor-

tunities within the biofuel

industry.

In 2009, Riley started

Riverhead Resources and

became a strategic advis-

er and investor in Decision

Innovation Solutions.

Riverhead provides ex-

perts in proven business

systems. DIS specializes

in stochastic data analysis

and dynamic risk-based

modeling.

Riley has worked for

more than 40 years in the

fats and oils industry. He is

asked to speak frequently

about the essential capi-

tals of sustainable sys-

tems — feed, food and fu-

el production, government

policies and the role of in-

novation.

Riley is active in profes-

sional, state and commu-

nity organizations includ-

ing:

n Leader, American

Feed Industry Association.

n Director, Iowa Poultry

Association.

n Director, Iowa Part-

nership for Economic

Progress, of which he is

chairman of the Iowa Inno-

vation Corporation.

n Trustee, The Nature

Conservancy in Iowa.

n Director, Community

Foundation of Greater

Des Moines.

n Leader, Capital Cross-

roads Initiative, of which he

is co-chairman of Natural

Capital committee.

About Riley Resource Group

Feed energy employee Richard Mulbrookmonitors an indicator to assure that oil gets throughto injectors in the company’s acidulation processor.

-Messenger/Farm News photo by Larry Kershner

+ +


Progress 2013

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MASON CITY — A newonline service to link buyersof pigs with sellers, andrenters of hog facilities withthose with empty buildings,is going active this month.

“This is an idea that’sway past its time,” saidSteve Weiss, president ofePigFlow, based in MasonCity. “We know of no otherservice like this. There areauction services for equip-ment and cattle, but not forswine.”

Think of it as eBay forpigs, or Craig’s List for fa-cilities.

Weiss, a former chief fi-nancial officer for Iowa Se-lect Farms, said ePigFlowassists pork producers withtwo key requirements for asuccessful operation. Theyare:

∫ A robust pig-flowmodel that carries a produc-er through the financialpeaks and flows created byvarious things such as mar-ket fluctuations and dis-eases.

∫ A method forbuying/selling orrenting/leasing availableswine facilities.

“This is designed as aone-stop shop for asset uti-lization,” Weiss said.

The basic idea is that pigbuyers and sellers sign ontothe service. Signup is free.

A buyer can see who haspigs for sale and the askingprice. The buyer posts a bidand the seller can either ac-cept or counter bid. Theprocess continues until thepigs are sold or one of theparties breaks off the discus-sion.

If they enter into anagreed sale, the buyer paysthe money up front toePigFlow, which places thefunds in an escrow account.The pigs are shipped withina few days of the escrowedpayment.

When the shipment ar-rives, the buyer uses a pro-vided form to note any dis-crepancies in the pigs anddetermines a discount. Theseller either agrees to thediscount, or rejects it.

If accepted, the buyer issent the discounted amount,and the remainder goes tothe seller, minus a handlingfee for ePigFlow.

If the seller contests the

discount form, ePigFlowwill send a field specialistfor dispute resolution. Theseller will determine if thediscount is justified or not.

Weiss said the service istotally transparent. The buy-

er and seller both know whothey are. Their transactionhistories will be availablefor others to see. A sellercan see how often the buyerhas discounted pigs, or abuyer sees how often sell-

er’s pigs were discounted.Over a period of time and

multiple transactions, bothsides will get to know withwhom they want to do busi-ness and whom to avoid,Weiss said.

Another part of the serv-ice is a close-out survey forthe buyers to show how wellthe pigs fared when shippedto market.

ePig provides a one-stop shop for swine

Steve WeiSS, president of ePigFlow, a new online clearinghouse to link pig buyers with sellers, explainshow the service will work. The service works like eBay for the feeder pig industry.

-Messenger/Farm News photo by Larry Kershner

See EPIG, Page 9G

Online service to link

pig buyers, sellers

“This is an idea

that is way past

its time.”

—Steve Weiss

President,

ePigFlow

Weiss showed his newservice to pork producers atthe 2013 Pork Congress onJan. 23 and 24 in DesMoines.

He said the service wasannounced at a Minnesotaswine exhibition earlier in

January, and expected itwould go active this month.

Fees will be assessed ona per-pig-shipped basis ona sliding scale dependingon how many pigs are be-ing traded. Sellers and buy-ers can develop long-term

contracts for hundreds ofthousands of pigs. For suchlarge volumes of sales, theper-pig fee is down to pen-nies. Other trades can beupward to 50 cents perhead.

The company is a divi-

sion of Value Added Sci-ence and Technologies,based in Mason City, ofwhich Weiss is also presi-dent.

“We don’t think of our-selves as a source (for feed-er pigs),” Weiss said, “but

more of a solutions provider.”

+ +


Progress 2013

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By DARCYDOUGHERTY

[email protected]

YETTER — While JasonLudwig earned his degree ingraphic art and design, aunique career path has al-lowed him to master the artof meat cutting at the YetterLocker.

For 10 years, he has ex-panded this thriving busi-ness, which now serves cus-tomers from Algona to Jef-ferson.

Ironically, the locker’s lo-cation at the end of SummitStreet sometimes provestricky for first-time cus-tomers in this town of popu-lation 36.

“We still have peoplewho stop at the elevator andcall to ask directions,” saidLudwig, 36, who grew upon a farm near Auburn.

As one of three meatlockers in Calhoun County,the Yetter Locker hascarved out a niche by offer-ing high-quality productsand catering.

None of this was by de-sign, said Ludwig, whoworked for the GraphicEdge in Carroll from 1998to 2003. “I joke that I wasyoung and dumb when I de-

cided to buy the lockerwhen I was 26.”

From part-time to own-ership

Ludwig learned the meat-cutting trade by workingpart-time at a locker southof Omaha during his yearsas a student at UniversalTechnical Institute. Aftergraduating from UTI and re-turning to western Iowa,Ludwig occasionally helpedprocess deer at the YetterLocker, which was ownedby Mel Smith.

When Smith surprisedLudwig one day by offeringhim the chance to buy thelocker, Ludwig decided totry his hand at businessownership.

“I didn’t like sitting be-hind a desk and was willingto take on a new challenge,”said Ludwig, who graduatedfrom Wall Lake ViewAuburn High School in1994 — the same year thatthe current Yetter Lockerwas built.

For Ludwig, the customeralways comes first, he said.The business is open from 8a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondaythrough Friday, and 9 a.m.to noon on Saturday.

Some of the Yetter Lock-

er’s best-selling products in-clude fresh-cut steaks,ground beef and Yetter ba-con. “People can’t getenough bacon,” said Lud-wig, who serves on theboard of the Iowa MeatProcessors Association.

The Yetter Locker alsosupplies the sausage that’sserved each winter in Jolleyfor that town’s famous Sat-urday morning biscuits-and-gravy breakfasts.

“They wanted more spicein their sausage than ourstandard recipe,” Ludwigsaid, “so their mix has a rateand a half of seasoning.”Customers can order whathe calls Jolley sausage.

Ludwig relies on a widerange of his own recipes andthose of previous ownerCharlie Lietz for his award-winning meat products.

“In the past 10 years, I’venoticed that people wanthotter, spicier sausages andbratwursts,” added Ludwig,who continues to developnew recipes, including amaple and blueberry break-fast sausage that he hopes tooffer soon.

Catering flourishes Unique products are just

one of the ways that Ludwig

and his two full-time em-ployees and two part-timeemployees cater to cus-tomers.

“If you tell me what youwant to eat for the week,I’ll have it all boxed up andready for you to pick up,”said Ludwig, who has wonmany awards for his driedbeef, sausage and more atthe Iowa State Fair and IM-PA competitions. “You caneven save money by buy-ing locally, since we do ourbest to stay cost-competi-tive.”

The Yetter Locker alsoserves customers by offer-ing catered meals for publicevents including co-opmeetings, wedding recep-tions and family reunions.The team has served groupsranging from 40 to morethan 400 people.

Ludwig launched thecatering business in 2009after purchasing a mobilegrill from a gentleman inSac City.

While Ludwig cus-tomizes his catering to eachclients’ unique needs, typi-cal menus include roast beefor brisket, smoked or grilledpork loin, ham or pulledpork.

Popular side dishes rangefrom Ludwig’s homemadebaked beans to cheesy hash-browns, steamed vegetablesor green beans sauted withonions and bacon.

“This is meat-and-pota-toes country,” said Ludwig,

who values the assistance ofhis employee Jeremy Rier-son, of Carroll, who has aculinary degree.

The catering enterprisehas been so successful thatLudwig is looking at waysto expand the 50-by-60-footlocker to include a commer-cial kitchen.

As he continues to grow

the business, Ludwig neverforgets how closely the Yet-ter Locker’s success is tiedto the farm economy.

“There’s a lot of livestockin Iowa, and it’s such aneconomic benefit to thestate,” said Ludwig, who al-so raises cattle. “We’reproud to support Iowa agri-culture.”

+ +


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Yetter’s meat locker serves diverse area

JASON LUDWIG, who serves on the board of theIowa Meat Processors Association, is shown cuttingbeef ribs at the Yetter Locker.

-Messenger/Farm News photo by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby

Ludwig offers catering, considersadding a commercial kitchen

By EMILIE

NELSON-JENSON [email protected]

STANHOPE — A wellknown local locker is onceagain open for business withnew ownership in down-town Stanhope.

Owner Ahmad Mancipurchased the StanhopeLocker in October, and witha staff of six employees con-tinues to produce the samewell- known beef jerky,meat sticks and sausage theLocker has been known formany years.

Although he had neverbeen to the Stanhope Lock-er, Manci saw it as a busi-ness opportunity.

“I heard this locker wasfor sale,” said Manci. “Iknew that it would tie inwell with my other busi-ness.”

Manci also owns thePammel Grocery and Pam-mel Deli in Ames, and willbe able to provide meat forthe businesses through thelocker.

“For the past 25 years I

was going to other lockersfor meat,” he said.

Besides the signaturejerky and meat sticks, theStanhope Locker sellsground beef through its re-tail store.

“We have our groundbeef at $2.99 a pound, thathas been going over verywell,” said Manci.

Most of the products pre-pared at the Stanhope Lock-er come from local produc-ers, Manci said.

“Most of the products weget locally,” he said. “Lotsof local beef and lamb fromaround the area.”

The locker also butchersbeef, lamb and goats and

processes deer. “We will also work with

someone who wants to or-der a quarter or half beef,”he said.

The Stanhope Locker of-fers plenty of room forbutchering, allowing aquicker pick-up time forcustomers.

“We are available forthose who want to do beefor lamb,” said Manci.

“We have plenty ofroom. Our goal is to makesure that we not only treatour customers right wemake sure they get theirproducts on time.”

WEST BEND — Formore than 35 years, theSkoglund Meat Locker hasoffered specialty meats andmeat processing in the WestBend area.

Owner Mark Skoglundsaid the locker can processlamb, beef, pork, and deerfor area farmers and huntersin a timely matter along

with producing its specialtyretail products such as itsaward-winning hams, meatsticks, sausage and fresh cutmeats.

“We do a lot of custombeef, pork and lamb forarea farmers,” saidSkoglund. “We have thecapacity to accommodatethe orders in our new larg-er facility with less waittime for someone who

needs something processedThe venison season is al-ways a big time for us.”

Skoglund Locker also hasaccess to local producers forcustomers interested in pur-chasing half and quarterbeef.

“We can arrange for thatlocally,” said Skoglund.

Skoglund’s locker is al-so known for its private la-bel items and fundraiser

products. “We can do fundraising

with our meat products andwe manufacture snack sticksfor other groups,” he said.

The Skoglund MeatLocker also offers gift boxesand mail order gift boxes oftheir meat products.

“We have a unique retailarea and a lot of award win-ning products,” saidSkoglund.

+ +


Progress 2013

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Tau VinchaTTle, left and Ahmad Manci cut a portion of beef that will besteaks at the Stanhope Locker. Manci purchased the locker in October.

-Messenger/Farm News photo by Emilie Nelson-Jenson

Area meat lockers offer more than processingServices range fromproviding gift boxes tosupplying retail outlets

“We have a unique retail area and a lot

of award winning products.”—Mark Skoglund

Owner, Skoglund Meat Locker

+ +


Sean Wegener Service Advisor

8 years

www.fdford.com

Proud to be a part of the Fort Dodge Community.

Nick, Matt, Deb, Casey Johnson -Owners-

• Abra Auto Body - Ability to work on all makes & models and work with all insurance companies, investment in the latest technology and equipment

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747 COMBINED

YEARS OF SERVICE

Tracy Ernst New Car Manager

20 years

Tom Walters Used Car Sales Manager

36 years

Dan Ford General Sales Manager

9 years

Steve Powell Sales Consultant

20 years

Wyman Kjolsing Sales Consultant

22 years

Hans Halbur Sales Consultant

1 year

Tim McGuire Sales Consultant

43 years

Jesse Beekman Internet Manager

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Terry Miller Sales Consultant

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Angie Hiracheta Office Mgr. Abra Auto Body

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Thank You. Thank You. We really appreciate your business and friendship over the years. We really appreciate your business and friendship over the years.

515-576-5645 “Fixed Right the First Time, On Time.”

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Ken Trueblood Service Technician

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Kevin Crouse Quick Lane Technician

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Al Telschaw Parts Sales

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Chris Pedersen Parts Sales

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Cory Wolfe Quick Lane

Service Manager 12 years

Ed Rees Jr. Quick Lane Technician

1 year

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3 years

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515-576-7505 800-362-2174

2723 Fifth Avenue South • Fort Dodge

Melissa Hanson Receptionist/

Accounting Assistant 3 years

In Memory of Long Time Employees

Paul Reisner Dub Cory

+ +

Friday, Feb. 22, 2013/Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 Farm News/The Messenger, Fort Dodge, Iowa 1H

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By DARCY

DOUGHERTY

[email protected]

ST. CHARLES — Al-though Christine Carltonused to wonder what she’ddo after she retired, her an-swer came sooner thanplanned. When an unexpect-ed layoff ended her 26-yearcareer in construction man-agement amid the economicturmoil of 2008, Carltonbegan her new role as a win-ery owner.

“I either had to get anoth-er job or start my dream alittle sooner,” said Carlton,60, whose interest in Iowa’sexpanding wine industry ledto the creation of TwoSaints Winery, in St.Charles, which she ownswith her partner, Gary Edg-ington.

Carlton and Edgingtonfound the right location fortheir new vineyard and win-ery south of Des Moines andpurchased 65acres near thesmall towns ofSt. Charlesand St. Marys.The pair un-dertook muchof the con-struction workon their win-ery, which in-cludes a2,400-square-foot banquetroom, adjacentserving area,spacious outdoor deck, tast-ing room, gift shop andbasement where Edgingtonferments and bottles wine.

“We get to meet so manyinteresting people throughthe winery,” said Carlton,who noted that Two SaintsWinery’s prime locationnear Interstate 35 has at-tracted many out-of-statevisitors since the tastingroom opened five years ago.

Learning to farmManaging the vineyard

involved more of a learningcurve than building the win-ery, said Carlton, who grewup in Des Moines. “Garyand I were two city kids, andwe were somewhat naivewhen we planted our firstfive acres of grapes.”

The pair carved out avineyard in a former pas-ture, not realizing that weedseeds can lay dormant in thesoil for decades before ger-minating when the condi-tions are right.

“That first year we fought

weeds that were really talland were choking out ourlittle grapevines,” said Carl-ton, who quickly gained anappreciation for effectiveweed control.

Today, Carlton’s andEdgington’s vineyard hasexpanded to more than 10acres, where they grow ninedifferent types of winegrapes.

“Each variety has its ownpersonality,” Carlton said.“Noiret wants to grow in ajumble. Edelweiss produceslarge clusters of big grapes,but it’s kind of wild andcrazy and needs to be cutback.”

Caring for the grapevinesand running the winery re-quire a lot of hours, saidCarlton, who works at TwoSaints full time, while Edg-ington helps out on nightsand weekends when he’s notworking full time as a proj-ect manager for Baker Elec-tric in Des Moines.

“Youconstantlyhave tomow thepropertyand trainthe vines onthe wires,”said Carl-ton, who of-ten beginsher springand sum-mer days inthe vine-yard at 6

a.m. before opening thewinery at 11 a.m. She re-turns to her outdoor choresin the evening after the win-ery closes at 6 p.m.

During the labor-inten-sive spring season, Carltonand Edgington hire MaxChavez of Carlisle and hiscrew of eight to nine work-ers to handle the extensivepruning chores. One of themost inexpensive laborforces at the winery includesthe free-range Buff Orping-ton and Black Australorpchickens that Carlton pur-chased as chicks from thefeed store in St. Charles.

“Not only do they lay alot of eggs, but they do agreat job of eating bugs inthe vineyard,” Carlton said.

When the grapes areready to harvest from lateAugust to mid-September,Carlton and Edgington oftenreceive extra help from fam-ily and friends.

“While the vineyard andthe winery are a lot of work,I love it,” Carlton said.

Red distinguishesTwo Saints

Since grapevines preferhot, dry weather, the sum-mer of 2012 produced someexceptional grapes that willhelp create the superior dryred wines that distinguishTwo Saints Winery.

“We age our red wines atleast three years in specialaging tanks to get the tan-nins right and develop theflavor,” said Carlton, whonoted that Iowans are be-coming more sophisticatedin their wine tastes.

Two Saints Winery offers17 varieties of red and whitewines, including their best-selling Frontenac Blush,which starts with a delicatestrawberry aroma and con-tinues with a playful tartcherry flavor with subtle ki-

wi and floral notes. More than 90 percent of

Two Saints’ wines aremade from grapes grown atthe winery, said Carlton,whose goal is to increasethis to 100 percent. Thewine also provides thestarting ingredient for oth-er unique items. A neigh-bor, Holly Wiederin, cre-ates Off the Vine WineGelee with grapes andwine from Two SaintsWinery.

This popular product,which is sold through TwoSaints’ gift shop, can bespread between cake lay-ers; served with waffles,pancakes or croissants; in-corporated into a sauce forbaked ham; used as an icecream topping or served asan appetizer with cheeses.

Marketing a tasteof Iowa

Since the success of awinery depends not only ondistinctive products but cre-ative marketing, Carltonlooks for new ways to at-tract visitors to Two SaintsWinery. The winery hostsweddings, reunions and oth-er gatherings, along withHear It in the Grapevineslive music performances atan outdoor pavilion fromApril through September.

In the winter, Carlton andEdgington offer weekendwine tasting classes that fo-cus on wine and food pair-ings. In March and Aprilthis spring, Two SaintsWinery will debut Tanksand Tapas on the weekends,where guests can enjoytapas and sample wine rightfrom the tanks.

As members of the Heartof Iowa Wine Trail, Carltonand Edgington also ex-change ideas and cooperateon promotions with other lo-

cal wineries. This past Janu-ary marked the second yearfor The Wines of WarrenCounty, where visitors paid$5 a ticket to sample localwineries’ wines and vote ina cook-off contest featuringhomemade chili made withwine. Proceeds from theevent were donated to afood bank in Indianola.

All these opportunitiesmake Two Saints Winery anenjoyable second career forCarlton, who looks forwardto adding walking paths thisspring throughout the prop-erty’s rolling terrain soguests can experienceIowa’s wildlife, wildflowersand birds. “I’ve alwaysliked gardening and spend-ing time in nature. Now I getto do it on a big scale andshare it with others, so it’svery rewarding.”

For more information onTwo Saints Winery, log ontowww.twosaintswinery.com,or find the winery on Face-book.

Two Saints winery has grape expectations

CHRISTINE CARLTON checks a gauge on one of the large tanks in the fermentation and bottling room inthe basement of Two Saints Winery, near St. Charles.

-Messenger/Farm News photos by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby

Construction managerturns to new careerfollowing layoff

CARLTON notes that more than 90 percent of Two Saints’ wines are made from grapes grown at the vine-yard, with the goal is to increase this to 100 percent.

DURING THE WINE classes at Two Saints Winerynear St. Charles, winemaker Gary Edgington usesthese bottles to show the sugar content of varioustypes of wine, from sweeter varieties to dry wines.

“I either had to get

another job or

start my dream a

little sooner.”—Christine Carlton

Two Saints Winery

+ +

2H Farm News/The Messenger, Fort Dodge, Iowa Friday, Feb. 22, 2013/Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013

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Progress 2013

By KARENSCHWALLER

[email protected]

ALGONA — As presi-dent of the National PorkBoard, Conley Nelsonknows there is a lot ofwork to be done in tellingthe story of agriculture,and in making sure thatU.S. pork has plenty oftakers around the world.

Nelson, who is in hissecond three-year term onthe NPB, said the groupmet in SanAntonio,Texas, earlythis year todiscuss thestatus of theU.S. porkindustry andto be updat-ed on theways thatPork Check-off dollarsare beingused to pro-mote pork tothe U.S.Hispanic population.

They chose San Anto-nio, in part, because 61percent of the populationthere is Hispanic, and be-cause 37 percent of theoverall population ofTexas is Hispanic.

“The Hispanic peopleare great users of pork,” hesaid, pointing toward thecontinued demand for porkamong Latinos. “It’s partof their culture. The His-panic population is alsogrowing.”

Another reason theychose Texas is because ithas the largest populationof feral pigs, which con-cerns the NPB. Nelsonsaid feral pigs are a con-cern because of the poten-tial spread of disease.

“We wanted to go thereto understand feral pigsand the impact they have

on the pork industry,” hesaid. “Feral pigs can ex-pose our commercial-raised pork to diseases theindustry has eliminated,making today’s pork betterquality and safe for con-sumers to use.”

Nelson said they heardfrom a large Texas retailerof domestic pork who toldthe NPB that pork is one ofthe products that is veryimportant to his retailchain because much of his

customerbase is His-panic. Hesaid porkwas a goodprotein forthe chain tosell becausethe Hispan-ics eat somuch of it.

Nelsonsaid any-thing theycan do topromote thepork indus-

try to Hispanics, domesti-cally or internationallywill naturally help porkproducers in Iowa.

“Pork is the meat ofchoice in the world, andit’s the most eaten proteinin the world — not in theU.S., but around theworld,” Nelson said. “Onein three or four pigs is ex-ported. Japan and Mexicoare our top customers, withother Asian countries be-sides China, South Viet-nam and South Korea be-coming great markets aswell.”

Nelson said China’spork industry is about sixtimes larger than the U.S.pork industry, but that theirpigs are raised primarily in“backyard herds.” He saidthat as large as China is,pork producers there havea difficult time getting

their pork into their largeurban areas.

“The U.S. has low pro-duction costs, great qualityand a good supply ofpork,” Nelson said, addingthat more countries arelooking toward the U.S. asa supplier of quality porkproducts.

He went on to say thatpork is a cultural necessityin the Asian countries, andthat those countries aregrowing their middle classpopulation.

“The first thing thosepeople want to do is to getmore pork,” he said,adding that in those coun-

tries, they prepare and eatnearly every part of thepig, including snouts andears, which American peo-ple don’t necessarily wantbecause they have the “lux-ury” of being able to affordto buy the prime pork cuts.

“It’s a good fit with ourdomestic market,” he said.

Mexico and Asia arelarge enough consumers ofpork that the Iowa PorkProducers Associationsends trade missions tothose areas regularly. Nel-son said the U.S. shouldset another record on porkexports to anywhere in theworld. December numbers

on exports are not in yet.Domestically, he said

pork is becoming morepopular among urban chefsbecause of its versatility.Nelson said televisioncooking shows are begin-ning to feature more porkdishes.

But even as the popular-ity of pork increases, Nel-son said pork producerscontinue to be diligent infinding ways to raise qual-ity pork at the lowest pos-sible price.

“Today we raise 30 mil-lion more pigs than we did50 years ago, on 39 per-cent less sows,” he said.

“We’ve reduced our car-bon footprint by 35 per-cent, reduced our waterfootprint by 41 percent,and we’re utilizing 78 per-cent less land. It’s a greatsustainable story that thepork industry can be proudof. We’ve got a great con-tinuous improvement atti-tude.”

Nelson said Iowa raises30 percent of the nation’spigs, making it a dominantpork production state. Buteven with that distinction,Nelson said there is a lot ofspeculation out there.

There’s a worldwide taste for U.S. pork

Conley nelson, president of the National Pork Board and Kossuth County Pork producer, traveled toTexas in January, meeting with other board NPB members to discuss the promotion of the U.S. pork indus-try. He said the Hispanic population is becoming a large consumer of U.S. pork. Demand for pork in Asia isalso rising.

-Messenger/Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller

Kossuth Co. producer

leading NPB’s efforts

See NPB Page 4H

“The U.S has low

production costs,

great quality and

a good supply

of pork.”—Conley Nelson

National Pork Board

He said people world-wide need to understandthe story of pork produc-tion in the U.S., and knowthat pork producers raise aquality product that is safeto consume.

He said that kind ofspeculation was a lot ofthe reason that the fairlynew U.S. Farmers &Ranchers Alliance wasformed. The NPB is oneof its largest contributors.

“Modern agriculture isbeing attacked today, andwe’ve lost touch with con-sumers,” he said.“Through this alliance we

can create a dialogueabout modern ag practicesbecause our story is notbeing told out there.”

Nelson said this dia-logue session brings to-gether opponents of mod-ern ag practices, people ofthe farm, medical profes-sionals, the media andothers, who all sit and dis-cuss modern ag practices— including meat produc-tion, the use of antibioticsin the meat industry,GMOs and the promotionof agriculture in general.

“You can’t get a pointacross by arguing about

it,” Nelson said. “ ... but ifyou can sit down togetherand discuss it with logic,science and commonsense, and hearing some-one else’s perspective,you can be educated.”

Nelson said there aretoo many people — evenin rural America — whothink their food comesfrom the grocery store.

“We’re two to four gen-erations away from some-one in the family thatfarmed, so people don’tunderstand the concept offarming today,” he said.“In general, agriculturalpeople are modest —telling their story isn’tnatural for them. As wecontinue on, we’ll figureout how to tell the story ofagriculture in a betterway.”

Nelson said he remainsoptimistic about the futureof the pork industry.

“There will be lots ofchallenges, but pork pro-ducers are committed —they’ve chosen it to betheir career, their liveli-hood, their focus,” hesaid. “Their commitmentto do what they do isamazing. We’re losingmoney right now in thepork industry, but youdon’t see people gettingout of it. They’re diggingin — they’re committed,focused and passionate.”

For more informationon the pork industry ingeneral visit:www.pork.org.

+ +


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Progress 2013

NPB Continued from Page 3H

Conley nelson,president of the NationalPork Board and KossuthCounty pork producer,said he remains opti-mistic about the future ofthe pork industry.

-Messenger/Farm News photo by

Karen Schwaller

+ +


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Progress 2013


ROCKWELL CITY —Tracking some of the moredifficult records in farming— manure management,soil testing, nutritionalneeds of fields based on thenext crop — will becomemore simplefor producersthis month.

Called RealTime Ag,farm man-agers andconsultantswill be able tokeep suchrecords fortheir clients“in thecloud.” Asidefrom no longer worryingabout losing data in event of acomputer crash, inspectorswith the Department of Natu-ral Resources are also en-thused about the new service.

Software designerMichael Sexton, of Rock-well City, described the pro-gram as “the back end inrecord keeping.”

Mindy Nasers, the re-gional sales manager said,“When it hits the market,it’ll be top-notch.”

Real Time Ag ties the reg-ulatory requirements for nu-trient management of live-stock waste, with compliancethrough spreading records.

Nasers, who is also a porkproducer, she understandsthe need for accurate track-ing of manure spreadrecords. She said this pro-gram will give producerspeace of mind that they haveit right when DNR reviewstheir records.

The targetaudience ofthe programwill be toconsultingfirms and co-operativeswho helplivestock op-erationsmanage theirnutrientplans, Sexton

said. The real selling point isthat all the records will bestored on a dedicated server.

Sexton said the DNR hasreviewed and approved theprogram. Although on-farminspections will still be per-formed by the DNR, its rou-tine records checking can bedone without traveling to afarm.

Inspectors will be givenlimited-time access to theplans and can downloadcompliance records withoutleaving their offices.

“This has the same secu-rity that banks have,” Sex-ton said. For instance, if a

Farm record keeping program goes to the cloud

See CLOUD, Page 9H

A SAMPLE SCREEN Shot of the Real Time Ag records that will be kept to document producers’ manuremanagement compliance with the Department of Natural Resources. Real Time Ag is described by its cre-ator as “the back end in record keeping.”

-Submitted photo

MindyNasers

MikeSexton


WALL LAKE — Accord-ing to a study released on Jan.21 by CARDO Entrix, an in-ternational environmentaland natural resource manage-ment consulting firm, basedin Florida, the impacton a farmer’s incomeif there was no biofu-els industry equals:

∫ $64,000 lessper year for a hogproducer who finish-es 16,000 pigs annu-ally and farms 1,200acres with a corn-soy-bean rotation.

∫ $121,000 lessper year for a cattleproducer who markets 3,500head annually and farms1,200 acres with a corn-soy-bean rotation.

∫ $44,000 less per yearfor a grain farmer with 800acres in a 50-50 rotation ofcorn and soybeans.

Iowa’s 12 biodiesel plantshave rated capacity of 314.5million gallons and produced184 million gallons ofbiodiesel in 2012 accountingfor about 17 percent of totalU.S. biodiesel output.

One of those 12 plants isWestern Iowa Energy LLC,in Wall Lake, which hascarved out a unique place inIowa’s biodiesel market,manufacturing 30 milliongallons per year. Where mostbiodiesel plants use primarilysoybean oil, 75 percent ofWIE’s feedstock is in animalfat — predominately choicewhite grease. It also uses tal-low and bacon grease.

WIE, said General Manag-er Jeffrey Johannsmeyer, hasaccess to six pork packingplants for its white grease andtallow from beef plants inSioux City and Omaha; andbacon grease from food pro-ducers, such as Hormel in Al-bert Lea, Minn.

The plant can use soybeanoil; however, it currently is amore expensive feedstock,Johannsmeyer said.

Nevertheless, biodieselplants add to market demandof animal fats, value to the fatclimbs, increasing livestock

prices and benefiting live-stock growers.

Most biodiesel plants, Jo-hannsmeyer said, use “saladgrade” bean oil to makebiodiesel. Since WIE uses avariety of inedible feed-stocks, it has a refinery for

stripping out solids,such as calcium andfree fatty acids, thenuses the refined oil formake methyl esters— biodiesel.

“Five years ago,”Johannsmeyer said,“animal fats wereselling for 30 to 40percent less than to-day.”

According to theJan. 21 report, issued byCardno ENTRIX, that’sworth about $3 per pig. Justwith the increased demandfor animal fat, processors canpay more for the pig, becausethe fat is more valuable.

First in IowaWIE is the first plant in

Iowa with a preprocessingsystem for free fatty acids,said Bill Horan, chairman ofthe board of directors at WIE.

Horan and his partners alsobuilt biodiesel plants in New-ton and Washington.

“It was an iffy thing,” Ho-ran said. “No one was usinganimal fats then.

“But as it turns out, it wasone of the best decisionswe’ve ever made. It’s kept uscompetitive.”

Competitive enough, hesaid, that the plant repaid its$20 million debt in fiveyears. The board focused ear-ly in the plant’s history onpaying down debt rather thanmake distribution paymentsto investors.

“But we have made somereally nice distribution pay-ments over the years,” Horansaid.

Besides animal fats keep-ing the plant competitive,Horan also credited theplant’s crew that “keeps theplant running efficiently.

“We also have good man-agement which is key to anybusiness.”

Improving communitiesBenefits to a community’s

life is another aspect of thebiofuels industry, Horan said,that is often missed in report-ing.

He said because theseplants bring employees into

communities to operate theplants, he said, an unintendedsocial phenomenon occurs.

Young people with ad-vanced degrees get interestedin church boards and othercommunity programs, be-coming leaders, which

changes the community.“The biofuels industry,

which is extensive in Iowa,”Horan said, “has created atremendous opportunity foryoung people, where theywant to raise their families insmaller communities.”

WASHINGTON (E2) —According to a report re-leased by E2, a nationalcommunity of businessleaders who promote soundenvironmental energy poli-cy that builds economicprosperity, the U.S. ad-vanced biofuels industry“could be worth more than$60 billion within the nextdecade and more than18,000 jobs could be creat-ed by the 26 biorefineriesthat are expected to open by2015.”

Advanced biofuels areplants creating renewablefuels without using feedgrains.

There are now more than80 advanced biofuel compa-nies, refineries and relatedoperations located in at least27 states, the report said.California leads the list with30 companies, followed byIllinois (eight), Colorado(six), Texas (five) and Iowa(four).

+ +


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Progress 2013

Western Iowa Energy part of biofuels success

WESTERN IOWA ELECTRIC, in Wall Lake, is one of 12 Iowa biodiesel plants. Theplant manufactures biodiesel primarily from choice white grease, but can alsoprocess tallow and vegetable oils. Because of the biofuels industry’s presence, aJan. 21 report claims, the value of Iowa crops and livestock products are enhanced.

-Submitted photo

See TOP 5, Page 8H

BillHoran

Iowa ranks

in top 5 of

U.S. states

“We’ve got the resources,the knowledge and the tech-nology to put our country ona path to meet our trans-portation needs with cleaner

fuels,” said Mary Solecki,clean fuels analyst at E2.“The type of innovationwe’re seeing in the biofuelindustry is what makes

America great.”According to E2, U.S.

and Canadian biofuel pro-duction capacity increasedfrom 427 million gallons in

2011 to more than 685 mil-lion gallons in 2012. Capac-ity is expected to increase to2.6 billion gallons by 2015.

There are many waysstates can integrate clean fu-els into their mix, accordingto Solecki. Some states usetax incentives, while others

like California and Oregonhave a Low Carbon FuelStandard. California’s Alter-native and Renewable Fueland Vehicle TechnologyProgram also has been espe-cially helpful in gettingcompanies to open new op-erations inside California.

“States that will benefitthe most from this promis-ing and important industryare those that support soundclean fuel policies,” Soleckisaid. “States that ignore thisgrowing economic develop-ment opportunity risk miss-ing out in the future.”

+ +


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Progress 2013

Top 5 Continued from Page 7H

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Progress 2013

farmer’s computer crashes,manure management plansand other data are still safe.

The records are retainedfor five years.

It also stores results ofsoil testing, and even tracksthe dates for when the nextsoil test is required — atleast once every four years.

“The beauty of being on-

line,” Sexton said, “is ifsomething changes, theclient doesn’t have to reloada program.

“We can retool it so (thechanges) will be seamless.”

When asked how the pro-gram can discourage a pro-ducer from cheating on therecords, Sexton said, that theprogram cannot be saved

without all of the requiredinformation being entered.

This system will make itharder to cheat, he said, “butwe don’t see this. Manure istoo valuable. Guys don’twaste it.

“They want to spread itover as many acres as possi-ble.”

In fact, Nasers said if she

has excess manure, there areplenty of people in line tobuy it from her.

Real Time Ag will alsotrack the balance of nutri-ents in a field followingharvest and make recom-mendations for applica-tions prior to or during thenext growing season,based on what the next

crop will be.“No matter what rotation

you have,” Sexton said,“this system will make ithappen, regardless of themanure source — beef,hogs or litter.”

Sexton said he’s beenawarded two Iowa Eco-nomic Development grantsfor the system, one for de-

velopment and another formarketing.

He’s looking to next ex-pand the program for Min-nesota and Kansas after-ward.

Both states’ programswill be different than Iowa,he said, “because each statehas slightly different re-quirements.”

Cloud Continued from Page 6H


AMES —Iowa farmlandvalues continue to rise, andquestions are looming as tohow much longer this trendwill last.

Mike Duffy, Iowa StateUniversity economics pro-fessor and extension farmmanagement economist,said the primary reason forthe rise in farmland values isthe rise in prices producersare receiving for their crops.

“Farmers made moremoney than they have, andhigher incomes are translat-ed into higher land costs andrents,” said Duffy.

According to informationprovided by Duffy in a pressrelease, as farm income in-

creases, so will land values.In 2005, corn prices aver-aged $1.94 per bushel inIowa and the preliminary es-timate for prices for Novem-ber 2012 was $6.80. Soy-bean prices changed from$5.54 to $13.70 over thesame period.

But besides commodityprices and an increase infarm income, Duffy saidthere are other causes for theincrease in farmland values.including that interest ratesare at the lowest in recentmemory.

According to the release,farmland purchased by in-vestors went from 18 percentin 1989 to 39 percent of pur-chases in 2005, but investorpurchases are back to the

1989 level of 18 percent thisyear after decreasing for thethird year in a row.

“Land is a unique com-modity,” said Duffy. “Farm-

ers are the primary pur-chasers, and they primarilybuy land to own it, not tosell it.”

Duffy said the recent Ru-

ral Life Poll indicated 65percent of the farmersagreed or strongly agreedwith the statement that landwas overpriced, but about

the same percentage agreewith the statement that landwas a good investment.

+ +


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Progress 2013

Duffy: Crop prices spur rise in farmland value

IOWA’S AVERAGE CROPLAND value increased to $7,300 per acre, up 23.7 percent from 2011. Farm re-al estate value in Iowa averaged $7,000 per acre in 2012, up 22.8 percent from 2011. The average farm re-al estate value of farmland and buildings increased to $175 billion in 2011, a 26.3 percent increase from2010.


See VALUE, Page 11H

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Progress 2013

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How long will this trend continue?“Land prices will remain high as long as

commodity prices remain high, yields areadequate and non-land costs don’t in-crease too much,” said Duffy. “I thinkover the next few years, corn is likely tosettle back to $4.50 or so and land valueswill adjust accordingly.”

Should those paying high land prices beconcerned that history is repeating itselfand they are putting themselves at risk?

Duffy said the last big boom was in the1970s, and the bust started in 1981through 1986. During that time, land val-ues dropped 67 percent from $2,147 to$787 an acre.

There was also a boom in land prices inthe 1910-1920 period, followed by thebust from 1921 to 1935.

“In the 1970s, there was a lot of mon-ey borrowed,” he said. “The net incomewas not increasing, and there was a lot ofland sold on contract; we don’t have thattoday.”

There has been some speculation thatfarmers and investors with “old money”and those with deeper pockets are the onlyones that can make farmland purchasesand that leaves the average farmer andyoung farmers unable to compete in thefarmland buying market.

Duffy said not all of the financial sup-port buyers have has been handed down,and everyone needs to farm within theirmeans.

“It has always been hard to start farm-ing,” said Duffy. “There was even a theo-ry called the ‘land tenure ladder’ devel-oped in the 1920s.”

This theory, Duffy said was that it wasa process towards ownership — you did-n’t start out by owning land.

“People need to be patient and farmbased on the resources they have avail-able. If that means they have to pass upbuying a piece of ground for now, then sobe it,” said Duffy. “That is better than go-ing broke.

“Unfortunately, some people think likethe song that says, ‘We want it all and wewant it now.’ Similarly I saw a church bul-letin board that said, ‘Lord grant me pa-tience— now.’”

Paul Sickler, farm manager and real es-tate broker from Farmers National Co.serving counties in northwest Iowa, Min-nesota and South Dakota, reiterated muchof what Duffy believes.

Sioux County, where the record landsale was last year, is one of the countiesSickler serves.

That particular farm, Sickler said, hap-pened to be a very good 80-acre parcel ina strong area of Northeast Sioux County.

As he understands, a neighboringfarmer was interested and purchased theland for $21,900.

The main reasons Sickler sees farmersbuying land at this time includes produc-tion agriculture being very profitable forthe past three years; many buyers have themoney available to purchase land; and thatrates remain historically low and very highcommodity prices.

Sickler added that the prospects look fa-vorable for production agriculture to re-main strong into the future.

Ray Frye, owner of Frye Farm Manage-ment in Webster City, said farmland val-ues in the six-county area he managesaround Webster City have also been on therise and much like Duffy and Sickler, saidlow interest rates and high commodityprices are responsible.

“It’s a function of low interest rates,horrible investment rates outside of farmground and higher grain prices,” said Frye.

Frye has been managing farms for 35years. He said a high quality piece ofground, with good drainage and a crop soilreport of 75 or better could bring upwardsof $11,000 to $12,000 in his managingarea.

“The price ranges and a lot will dependon location,” he said.

As far as who specifically is buying theland at such high prices, Sickler said thereare a few possibilities.

“As far as investors, there is a lack of al-ternative investments that provide much ofa return on investment, as compared tobuying land,” said Sickler. “Recently,there has been land come up for sale, andthis may be the only time in that farmer’slifetime that particular parcel of landcomes up for sale.”

Frye echoed Sickler, saying that buyersare farmers with sizable operations whohave the opportunity to buy a piece of landthat connects to theirs as well as some in-vestor purchases, and farmers that mayhave an emotional tie to the ground aswell.

Frye said although there has been a lotof talk about the farmland market crash-ing, he doesn’t see that happening.

“There has been a lot of concern, butnot right away,” said Frye. “It could drop20 percent or so someday, but not seeing ahuge crash happening.”

Should the rise in land values be con-sidered a speculative bubble?

“Some are concerned that land pricesare getting too high and that this may be aspeculative bubble,” said Sickler. “I guesstime will tell in regards to that, but it doesmake it harder for younger/beginningfarmers to purchase land.”

“I don’t think we are on a speculativebubble,” said Duffy. “I think land valueswill correct as we see commodity pricesget back to a more ‘normal’ level, butthat will be like a tire with a nail, not abubble.”

Value Continued from Page 10H

+ +


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2013 progress ag edition

Documents

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