SIDNEY HERALD SUNDAY, JAN. 23, 2011 1B

TOP 10 BEET GROWERS

CONGRATULATIONSTOP 10 BEET GROWERS

SIDNEY, MONTANA: 433-8600

© 2011 Stockman Bank

2

JON REDLIN DANA JONSSON WADE WHITEMAN

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HARRY LIPSIEA | SIDNEY HERALDTop 10 growers include, front from left, Gary Lapp, Floyd Gabel, Harold Wallace and Marvin Wallace, Jim Finneman of Finneman Inc; back, David Hoffman, Dan Rice, George Rice and Dave Rice of Rice andSons, Scott Flynn, Kirk Johnson, Brandon Johnson, Russell Steinbeisser Craig Steinbeisser and Joe Steinbeisser Jr., and not pictured Don Steinbeisser Jr., of V’s Inc. Not pictured is Rowdie Prewitt. The top 10banquet was held Wednesday by Sidney Sugars at the Elks’ Lodge.

Top 10 growers honored by Sidney SugarsBY HARRY LIPSIEASIDNEY HERALD

It was a time of recogni-tion and celebration forarea sugar beet growers asSidney Sugars capped off2010 with its annual top 10banquet at the Elks LodgeWednesday.

“We had just an excellentcrop this year. That justshows the success that eachof you had,” Russ Fullmer,agriculture manager forSidney Sugars, told thegrowers in attendance. “Asgood as the crop was, you

were the cream of the cropthis year, and we want torecognize that.”

David Hoffman earned tophonors for growers with 250acres or more with a qualityrating of 33.02.

Rice & Sons placed secondwith a score of 32.92. Scottand Dona Flynn came inthird at 32.68.

“The biggest challenge forthe harvest this year wasthe heat,” Scott Flynn said.“We were able to have somepretty good conditions, andit showed in the final re-sult.”

Kirk Johnson took fourthwith a score of 32.58.

With 841 acres, V’s Inc.came in fifth at 32.54. Moreacres doesn’t always trans-late into a good quality rat-ing.

“You don’t see producerson the top 10 list with thatmany acres very often,”Fullmer said. “It’s a testa-ment to their hard work.”

Topping the division forgrowers of 50-249 acres forthe second year in a rowwere Garry and Duane Lappwith a quality score of 37.15.

“It was good,” Garry Lapp

said. “It was one of our bestyears to date.”

Floyd Gabel finished sec-

ond with a score of 35.04.Harold and Marvin Wallacewas next in line at 34.56.Finneman Farms wasfourth at 34.33. Rowdie Pre-witt took fifth with a scoreof 34.33.

To begin the banquet,Steve Sing, general manag-er for Sidney Sugars, con-gratulated the growers fortheir efforts. It was an ex-cellent year, Sing said.

“Thank you for your hardwork,” he said. “It definite-

ly paid off.”It wasn’t just a good year

for local producers, but the

sugar industry in general.Crops were profitablethroughout the nations andthe yields are high.

“The prices are very good,and they are predicted tostay good,” Sing said.

Fullmer dispelled the ru-mor that luck is a major fac-tor in the success of areaproducers.

“People say that, but youare all good growers,” hesaid. “And don’t let anyonetell you otherwise.”

sports@sidneyherald.com

‘We had just an excellentcrop this year. That justshows the success that

each of you had.’

Russ FullmerSidney Sugars agriculture manager

Top 102B SUNDAY, JAN. 23, 2011 SIDNEY HERALD

Congratulations Top Ten Growers

and All Growers for a Successful Finish to the 2010 Season.

Holly Hybrids congratulates this season’s sugar beet growers on a successful 2009 harvest. We look forward to serving you in the futureand helping to meet your sugarbeet seed needs.

Holly Hybrids Grower DealersCulbertson, Fairview and North Sidney and South

Phil Hurley Keith Nelson(h) 701-744-3331 (h) 406-798-3458(c) 406-489-0416 (c) 406-480-2026Rocky Mountain Region Sales Representative

Ron Groskopf(w) 307-672-8997 ext 106 (c) 307-620-2803 (e) ron.groskopf@beetseed.com

www.beetseed.com • 1-888-331-8997

HARRY LIPSIEA | SIDNEY HERALDEarning honors in the larger acre group were, front from left, David Lapp, Scott Flynn, Kirk Johnson,Brandon Johnson and Craig Steinbeisser; back, Dan Rice, George Rice, Dave Rice, Russell Steinbeisserand Joe Steinbeisser, Jr. The top 10 banquet was hosted by Sidney Sugars Wednesday.

HARRY LIPSIEA | SIDNEY HERALDEarning honors in the smaller acre group were, front, Gary Lapp, Floyd Gabel, Harold Wallace, Mar-vin Wallace and Jim Finneman. Not pictured is Rowdie Prewitt.

Sidney Sugars recognizes top 10 growers during annual banquetTop 10 Growers for CY 2010

Acres 250 and overGrower Acres TPA Sugar% NO3 Quality Pts.

David Hoffman 397 30.1 17.74 22 33.02Rice & Sons 267 28.9 18.55 10 32.92

Scott & DonapFlynn 384 30.4 17.84 18 32.68

Kirk Johnson 321 30.6 17.50 20 32.58V’s Inc. 841 30.0 17.76 20 32.54

T

Top 10 Growers for CY 2010Acres 50–249

Grower Acres TPA Sugar% NO3 Quality PtsGarry & Duane

Lapp 52 35.6 19.44 10 37.15Floyd Gabel 88 34.9 17.73 14 35.04

Harold & MarvinWallace 192 32.0 18.64 8 34.56FinnemanFarms, Inc. 122 31.7 18.62 12 34.33

Rowdie Prewitt 170 36.8 16.19 28 34.33

Top 10SIDNEY HERALD WEDNESDAY, JAN. 23, 2011 3B

Here in the MonDak region, the sugarbeet business is good for our community.The contribution this industry makes to our economy is substantial.It’s an honor to recognize the local sugarbeet growers and processorsfor helping to keep our community strong and healthy in so many ways.

Wells Fargo • 101 2nd Avenue Southwest

We proudly salute MonDaksugarbeet growers

wellsfargo.com© 2011 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.All rights reserved. Member FDIC. (423304_00956)

BY LOUISA BARBERSIDNEY HERALD

A lot of rain and a littleluck – the key to a successfulsugar beet season. Or at leastthat’s what a couple of thetop 10 growers say.

This year’s sugar beet sea-son was dubbed as beingquite an odd year, what withrain, the hail, the cool weath-er in September followed bywarm temperatures in Octo-ber. “That’s unusual for thiscounty,” Russ Fullmer, Sid-ney Sugars agriculture man-ager, said during the annualtop 10 sugar beet growersbanquet Wednesday. “It was afunny year.”

Fairview and northwardarea was hit hard with hail.Glendive was equally hithard with rain that eventual-ly flooded crops. Crop yieldsin both regions were not upto the level of the rest of thesugar beet areas. While some

producers suffered, othersflourished.

Gary Lapp and his brother,Duane, were awarded thisyear’s top growers in thesmall grower sugar beet cate-gory but credit their success-ful season to timing. “I thinkthe key to it is a lot of timingand doing things when youshould be,” Gary Lapp said.Also making sure ridges areprepared and fertilizer is aquality brand. It’s crucialthat the first irrigation isdone early and the crops arenever dry until late August.

Lapp said they were alsolucky because they did notexperience hail or “badweather,” only near-perfectconditions. The brothershave been successful before,having landed in the top 10growers quite a few times.They credited their smallacreage of 52 as being a fac-tor. The small area of land al-lows them to pay better atten-

tion to the crops, they said.Harold Wallace and his

brother, Marvin, another topbeet grower, knew exactlywhere to give credit. “Theweather helped out a lot. It’sjust luck,” Harold Wallacesaid. He echoed Lapp’s senti-ments, saying timing makes adifference such as planting atthe right time. His crops hadno frost, so he was lucky notto replant, he said. “Mothernature does a lot for us,” hesaid. “It was a good year.”This was the brothers’ sec-ond year in a row of beingnamed a top sugar beet grow-er.

Following processing thebeets from this year’s harvest(about mid-February),Fullmer said Sidney Sugarswill prepare for the followingseason by setting up meet-ings and presentations withproducers. The company con-tinues to keep tabs on issuescritical to the industry.

Weather key to 2010 success

BY HARRY LIPSIEASIDNEY HERALD

“In limbo” is a term thesugar beet industry has be-come all too familiar with inthe past six months.

“That’s the best way I candescribe it,” MonDak BeetGrowers Association presi-dent Don Steinbeisser Jr.said.

Since August, sugar beetproducers throughout thenation have been waiting fora decision on the use ofRoundup Ready beets for theupcoming harvest. U.S. Dis-trict Judge Jeffrey S.White’s Aug. 13 ruling vacat-ed the deregulation of sugarbeets. In doing this, he re-ferred the case to the Ani-mal Plant Health InspectionService (APHIS), the USDAagency charged with regu-lating the genetically modi-fied seed.

A proposal allowingbiotech crops under highly-regulated supervisions isexpected, but hasn’t beenannounced as of yet. Fornow the crop can’t be grownuntil the USDA prescribesconditions of cultivations.So now, area producers con-tinue to play the waitinggame with planting justmonths away.

“It’s been a difficult timefor everyone in the indus-try,” Steinbeisser said.“Everyone’s still kind ofwondering when we willknow for sure, and that’sjust tough to answer rightnow.”

A separate appellate courtruling is set for Feb. 13, butthe decision by the USDAwill have the most bearingon area producers. Growershoped for action by now butunderstand that the agencyis working hard on the proj-ect. While not setting anyhard deadlines, LutherMarkwart, of the AmericanSugarbeet Growers Associa-tion, is hopeful.

“I like to think the USDAwill make its decision beforethe court’s ruling,” Mark-wart said. “They’re workingfast to come up with some-thing in the near future.”

With no answer from thecourts as of yet, area pro-ducers are trying to makeplans for spring plantingthat normally begins inMarch. Decisions regardingseeding and planting areusually made in early De-cember, but now thatprocess will wait until theUSDA decision.

“It’s a super confusingtime,” Ron Groskopf, salesmanager of Holly Hybrids,said. “It’s added a lot ofstress for our staff. We’veput in a lot of extra hoursbecause we don’t know ifproducers are going to needRoundup Ready or conven-tional seed.

Since hitting the scenemore than three years ago,Roundup Ready beets havebeen very successful in thearea and throughout the na-tion. The biotech crop pro-duces good yields and solidsugar content. Conventional

beta seed doesn’t have thetraits to fight disease as wellas Roundup Ready varietiesand requires more chemicalapplication.

“There would be some se-rious changes if Roundup-ready beets were banned,”Groskopf said. “There aresome growers that havetalked about halting theirproduction of sugar beets ifthat happens.”

The Roundup Readymethod has another very bigplus for producers – beetswon’t be killed by chemicals.“It’s common that you’ll killabout 10 percent of yourbeet crop using convention-al farming chemicals,”Steinbeisser said. “By usingRoundup Ready beets, that’sno longer a problem.”

Area producers haven’tseen any negative effects inthe environment since theyswitched to biotech crop.

“It’s a very environmen-tally friendly product. Wehaven’t seen any resistancetrouble,” Steinebssier said.“There is less erosion, re-duced chemical use, less soilcompaction and a betteryield.”

Despite this long process,there’s plenty of reason foroptimism for the sugar beetindustry, Markwald said.

“We are coming off a greatyear, and the prices are veryhigh right now,” he said.“We have to work throughthese issues which I’m confi-dent we’ll do. There’s a lot ofreasons to look forward to2011.”

Roundup Ready beets future in limbo

FILE PHOTO

Top 10 from 1995The top 10 producers honored by Sidney Sugars were, front from left, Duane Lapp, Nolan Tveit, LarryTveit Jr., Richard Cayko, Scott Flynn, Terry Cayko, Marlin Norby and agriculture manager RussellFullmer; back, Gary Lapp, Richard Propp, Harlow Bieber, general manager Richard Parrill, HaroldSchlothauer, Dirk Schlothauer, Kirk Johnson, Toby Miller, Terry Miller and Ron Norby.

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SUBMITTED

Winner at Ag DaysLeslie McMillen, right, was drawn as the Stockman Bank giveaway winner of this year’s Carhartt coatat the 2011 MonDak Ag Days. Presenting the prize is Wade Whiteman, Stockman Bank.

Stocks of all wheat in Mon-tana on Dec. 1, 2010, were171.2 million bushes, up 15percent from Dec. 1, 2009, ac-cording to the USDA, Nation-al Agricultural StatisticsService, Montana Field Of-fice.

All wheat stocks stored onthe farm amounted to 142.0million bushels, up 19 per-cent from a year ago. Allwheat stored off-farm wasdown 2 percent from the pre-vious year to 29.2 millionbushels. All wheat disappear-ance for the September-No-vember 2010 quarter was up69 percent from the samequarter last year to 63.4 mil-lion bushels, compared with37.5 million bushels a yearago.

All durum wheat stocks inMontana were 14.0 millionbushels, down 11 percentfrom the 15.7 million bushelslast year. There were 12.0 mil-lion bushels of durum wheatstored on the farm, down 14percent from last year and1.97 million bushels storedoff-farm, up 15 percent froma year ago.

All barley stocks in Mon-tana on December 1, 2010were 41.3 million bushels, up1 percent from a year ago.Barley stored on farms was28.0 million bushels, up 8 per-cent from last year. Off-farmbarley storage was up 22 per-cent from a year ago to 13.3million bushels. All barleydisappearance for the Sep-tember-November 2010 quar-

ter was 6.8 million bushels,up 1 percent from 6.7 millionbushels a year ago.

Oat stocks in all positionswere 1.39 million bushels,down 6 percent from lastyear. On-farm oat stockswere 1.3 million bushels,down 7 percent from a yearago. Oats stored off-farmwere up 23 percent from lastyear to 92,000 bushels.

The on-farm storage capac-ity of all storage facilities inMontana, normally used forstoring grain, was 340 mil-lion bushels, unchangedfrom a year ago. There were161 off-farm storage facilitiesin Montana on Dec. 1, 2010,down five from a year ago.The storage capacity of off-farm facilities was 75.9 mil-lion bushels, up 1 percentfrom a year ago.

In the United States, allwheat stored in all positionson Dec. 1, 2010, totaled 1.93billion bushels, up 8 percentfrom a year ago. On-farmstocks are estimated at 550million bushels, down 2 per-cent from last December. Off-farm stocks, at 1.38 billionbushels, are up 13 percentfrom a year ago. The Septem-ber – November 2010 indicat-ed disappearance is 522 mil-lion bushels, up 22 percentfrom the same period a yearearlier. Durum wheat storedin all position on December1, 2010 totaled 68.5 millionbushels, down 10 percentfrom a year ago. On-farmstocks, at 46.6 million

bushels, are down 8 percentfrom Dec. 1, 2009. Off-farmstocks totaled 21.9 millionbushels, down 13 percentfrom a year ago. The Septem-ber-November 2010 indicateddisappearance of 31.6 mil-lion bushels is up 22 percentfrom the same period a yearearlier.

Barely stored in all posi-tion on Dec. 1, 2010, totaled181 million bushels, down 12percent from December 1,2009. On-farm stocks are esti-mated at 91.7 millionbushels, 20 percent below ayear ago. Off-farm stocks, at89.5 million bushels, are 3percent below December2009. The September-Novem-ber 2010 indicated disappear-ance is 42.8 million bushels,29 percent above the same pe-riod a year earlier.

Oats stored in all positionon Dec. 1, 2010, totaled 101million bushels, 9 percent be-low the stocks on Dec. 1, 2009.Of the total stocks on hand,34.1 million bushels arestored on farms, down 21 per-cent from a year ago. Off-farm stocks totaled 67.0 mil-lion bushels, down 1 percentfrom the previous year. Indi-cated disappearance duringSeptember-November 2010totaled 15.9 million bushels.

Corn stored in all positionson Dec. 1, 2010 totaled 10.0 bil-lion bushels, down 8 percentfrom Dec. 1, 2009. Of the totalstocks, 6.30 billion bushelsare stored on farms, down 15percent from a year earlier.

Wheat production up in Montana

The Non-Insured Crop Disaster AssistanceProgram (NAP) was designed to provide fi-nancial assistance to producers of non-insur-able crops when low yields or preventedplanting occurs as the result of natural disas-ters. Statutes limit NAP coverage to eachcommercial crop or agricultural commodity,except livestock, for which the catastrophic(CAT) level of insurance is not available.

Application deadlines for 2011 NAP cover-age for all crops, except value-loss and honey,is March 15. Deadline for value-loss cropswas Sept.1, 2010, and Dec. 1, 2010, for honey.

Producers who choose to obtain NAP cover-age for 2011 must file a CCC-471 applicationfor coverage and pay the applicable servicefee by the sales closing deadline.

Eligible producers must pay a service fee of$250 per crop per administrative county or$750 per producer per county, not to exceed$1,875 for a producer with farming interestsin multiple counties. Service fees may bewaived for limited-resource producers.Please contact your local FSA Office for addi-tional information.

NAP coverage deadlines set for 2011 crop year

Top 104B SUNDAY, JAN. 23, 2011 SIDNEY HERALD

Top 10SIDNEY HERALD SUNDAY, JAN. 23, 2011 5B

Congratulations Top 10 Beet Growers!

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Wheat markets pushedhigher as world export busi-ness picked up notably on in-creased fears of food short-ages. With food prices at anall-time high, riots have bro-ken out around the world,similar to 2008. Major im-porters are stepping up theirpurchases of grains hopingto avoid a repeat of that un-rest and assure their popula-tions that food supplies areadequate.

Wheat was also supportedby more rains and flooding inAustralia, this time in thesouth where harvest was notyet completed. It is estimatedthat at least half of Aus-tralia’s wheat crop will bedowngraded to feed status be-cause of excessive rains dur-ing harvest.

Corn managed to be higheras well, even though it put ina significant reversal downafter reaching a new contracthigh. Weather problems inArgentina have contributedto a long rally in corn, butnews that China purchasedfeed grade Australian wheatinstead of corn pulled cornoff of its highs. The soy com-plex was mixed in choppyprice action. Supportstemmed from hot and dryweather in Argentina as thecrop heads into pollination,but pressure came from Chi-nese cancellations of soy car-gos as their government con-tinues to clamp down on in-

flation.The cattle complex was al-

so mixed after choppy andvolatile price action in bothlive cattle and feeders. Bothsaw new all-time highs in asurge of buying beforefalling sharply, leaving thecharts with a spike high.

Cash markets were also in-to new all-time highs as beefdemand remained robustfrom the export market aswell as domestic market.Supplies are expected to re-main very tight for the nearfuture as herd expansion hasyet to really take hold.

Commodity This week Chg/Lst Wk

Brought to you by

Commodities Report

KC Wheat 8.77 0.25Minn. Wheat 9.11 0.34Chicago Wheat 7.97 0.27Corn 6.41 0.10Oats 3.86 -0.08Soybeans 14.11 -0.04Soybean Meal 383.30 1.80Soybean Oil 57.69 -0.18Live Cattle 108.80 -1.57Feeder Cattle 127.00 2.78Sugar 31.18 -0.84Crude Oil 90.65 -1.17Heating Oil 2.65 0.04Unleaded Gas 2.48 0.01Natural Gas 4.58 0.08Silver 28.75 -0.96Gold 1369.00 -17.60US $ 78.75 -1.47Canadian $ 1.0035 -0.0095Euro 1.3469 0.0339Dow Jones 11825 70

SC S p e c t r u m C o m m o d i t i e s1 - 8 0 0 - 8 8 8 - 9 8 4 3

Wheat marketspush higher I know that with the

mounds and mounds of snowthat are piled up everywhere,it is somewhat difficult toeven fathom that plantingseason will be here in just afew short months.

Even though this is onlymy second winter spent ineastern Montana, I am goingto go out on a limb and saythat every year up to thispoint, spring has shown up.It may have been late someyears and early the next, butI would be willing to wagerthat, at some point, it didshow up.

With that being said, it isnever too early to start think-ing about planting season.While you are stuck on thefarm and cannot get out to domuch else, you may just con-sider bringing the planter in-to the shop and going over itand trying to make sure thateverything is in working or-der.

Or at least that everythingappears to be in working or-der. I know that this is easiersaid than done but whoknows what kind of window

you may ormay not haveto get theplanter upand goingwhen thingsdo thaw outand warm up.

While Iwould ven-ture to guessthat mosteveryone al-ready has

their seed ordered for thisspring, this may be a goodtime to think about exactlywhich crops and, morespecifically, which varietiesof those crops, you are goingto run through that planteronce it is functioning andready to go.

To help with those deci-sions, I would suggest stop-ping by our office or out atthe Eastern Ag ResearchCenter for the latest copy oftheir research update. If youare not familiar with thispublication, it gives a de-tailed description of the re-search that the staff at boththe Eastern Agricultural Re-

search Center and the Willis-ton Research Extension Cen-ter are conducting.

There is way too much in-formation packed in the freepublication for me to list allof it, but as a producer, if youwanted to know how a partic-ular variety of durum per-formed on an irrigated site,chances are you would beable to find it.

Name a crop that is grownin this region and a croppingsystem that it is grown underand you will more than likelyfind the research data toshow how it performed intheir trials.

Both the Eastern Ag Re-search Center and WillistonResearch Extension Centerfaculty and staff should beapplauded for all the workthat they do in testing thesevarieties, and collecting andanalyzing the data.

If you would like a copy ofthe report, give me a call at433-1206, send an e-mail totfine@montana.edu, or callthe research center at 433-2208.

Planting season will arrive quicker than you think

Extension

Tim Fine

The Montana Farm Bureau Federationcaptured the esteemed President’s Award aswell as three Awards for Excellence at theAmerican Farm Bureau Annual Conventionin Atlanta. The MFBF won the Awards forExcellence in the areas of Leadership Devel-opment, Member Services and Public Rela-tions and Information.

They received the President’s Award for

Member Services. President’s Awards arethe “best of the best” and are presented forexcellence in each five program areas tostates by membership category size.

Montana Farm Bureau also won the Navi-gator Award for outstanding membershipgrowth. The group was the first state in thenation to make quota for hitting the goal ofmembership growth for the coming year.

Montana Farm Bureau wins awards at national convention

Top 106B SUNDAY, JAN. 23, 20011 SIDNEY HERALD

Congratulationsto our Top 10.

We are proud to be associated with an incredible group of top growers this year. Thanks for sticking with us.

Thank Youto everyone who helps make beet harvest happen...

both in the field & the factory.Thank you for taking time from your regular jobs to work

at the piling stations and the factory and to drive beet truck.

We sincerely appreciate all of you!Congratulations to the Top 10 Growers!MONTANA-DAKOTA BEET GROWERS ASSOCIATION

SUBMITTED

25 years agoDave Melin, Holly Sugars ag manager, back left, congratulates the 1985 top beet growers, front from left, Joe G. Steinbeisser Jr., Joe G.Steinbeisser Sr., Fred Gardner, David Frandsen and Orlin Hansen; back, Mike Strasheim, Ray Strasheim, Terry Miller, Steve Joslin, Con-rad Conradsen and Harlan Conradsen.

The 58th annual NationalHard Spring Wheat Show willbe held Feb. 7-9, at the AirportInternational Inn, Williston,N.D.

This year’s featured speak-er is Dr. Danny Klinefelter,professor and Extensioneconomist at Texas A&M Uni-versity. Klinefelter will speakFeb. 8 and will include“Twelve Best ManagementPractices” and “Being Pre-pared to Borrow in a RiskManagement Environment.”His presentations are thoughtprovoking and will challengebusiness management deci-sions for the farm and ranch.

Other speakers of great in-terest will be Joe Victor, Min-neapolis Grain Exchange;Darren Hefty, co-anchor ofthe television show “Ag PHD”and Doug Goehring, NorthDakota Commissioner ofAgriculture. High prioritytopics on this year’s agendainclude soil health, worldtrade issues and crop rota-tions.

Wheat showset for Feb. 7-9

BY JON TESTERU.S. SENATOR

Montanans are tough,hardworking folks. So I’mnot surprised that Mon-tana’s sugar beet growerswere able to bounce backfrom some challenges in2009 and make 2010 a ban-ner year for sugar beet pro-duction in Montana. Whilemore challenges out offarmers’ control may beover the horizon, I knowthat Montana’s growers willrise up to overcome them.

This year,prices forsugar beetswere high,the weathercooperatedand theyield fromevery acreplanted setnew stan-dards. As athird-gener-ation familyfarmer, I un-derstandthe time andenergy thatgoes intoevery harvest, and I’mproud that Montana re-mains one of the nation’stop providers of sugar beets– and the jobs that comewith them.

I’ve been working hard asyour senator to make surefamily farmers and foodproducers, like the sugarbeet growers of RichlandCounty, are able to keeptheir hands in the dirt. Assomeone who is still verymuch a part of rural Ameri-ca and family agriculture, Imake every decision basedon what’s right for Mon-tana’s farmers, ranchersand small businesses.That’s why I stood up forfamily farmers in the re-cent Food Safety law, whichpassed with unanimoussupport in the Senate. I’mproud we were able to work

together to make our foodsafer while protecting thejobs of family farmersacross the country.

Agriculture is the back-bone of Montana’s econo-my, and I’m working hard tohelp it grow even stronger.Just after the New Year, Isat down with folks fromMontana’s food industry totalk about the 2012 FarmBill and find out whatworks and what doesn’t. Iplan on traveling across thestate to keep listening to allmembers of the ag commu-

nity to shapelegislationthat works forrural Mon-tanans.

I want tohear what youthink. If youhave anyquestions orfeedbackabout theFood Safetylaw, the FarmBill, or any-thing else, Iencourageyou to reachout to my

agriculture liaison, JacobCowgill, a farmer whoworks out of my Great Fallsoffice. Penny Zimmermanis also available in my Glen-dive office. You can reachboth of them toll-free at 866-554-4403.

My congratulations go outto the sugar beet growers ofRichland County on an im-pressive year. It’s folks likeyou who make Montanastrong and move our econo-my forward with jobs andnew opportunity. As yourSenator, I’ll keep bringing aMontana farmer’s perspec-tive to the U.S Senate, andI’ll keep working on yourbehalf in the coming year.Thanks again. Be well, andkeep in touch.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester is a third-generation farmer from Big Sandy.

Tester salutes area’stop sugar growers

‘This year, prices forsugar beets were high,the weather cooperatedand the yield from every

acre planted set newstandards.’

Jon TesterU.S. senator

Top 10SIDNEY HERALD SUNDAY, JAN. 23, 2011 7B

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BY BRIAN SCHWEITZERMONTANA GOVERNOR

Agriculture has been abright spot in Montana dur-ing the past year, with thecombination of good yieldsand prices we’ve had. Givenmarket trends and the mois-ture outlook so far, the futurelooks pretty good too, whichis one of the reasons I believeMontana’s economy will doeven better in 2011 than mosteconomists are predicting.

Montana’s economy is onthe rebound. Jobs are beingcreated. Commodities are atrecord production levels andat record prices, tourist vis-its at new highs and newtechnology companies arechoosing to locate in Mon-tana in record numbers. Un-like almost all other states,we have “cash in the bank.”Our state’s finances aresound.

Processed sugar on worldmarkets moved to 30-yearhighs before Christmas,which bodes well for Rich-land County producers whoalso are seeing higher pricesin rotation crops like wheatand durum. High prices forwheat and fertilizer maycause some producers tothink twice before commit-ting to beets next year, butprudent farmers know that astrong rotation with morethan one profitable crop isthe best insurance againstthe unknowns of weatherand prices.

Preliminary 2010 estimatesfrom the National Ag Statis-tics Service show 1.26 milliontons of sugar beets producedin Montana, the higheststatewide production since2006. Richland Countyclaimed 242,600 tons of thattotal, trailing only Big Horncounty in Montana produc-tion.

Energy derived from ourrich resource base and agri-culture have always been ma-jor drivers of our Montanaeconomy, especially in rural

counties. Northeastern Mon-tana is a major player inboth, which is a good place tobe.

Montana is fortunate to beweathering the economicturmoil wreaking havoc onour nation’s economy. Infact, our economic rankingsin the nation continue toclimb due to our pro-busi-ness environment and soundpolicies.

Montana currently has thefollowing high national rank-ings:

• Entrepreneurship andoverall business start-up ac-tivity – first place

• Economic performance ineconomic competitivenessindex – second best

• Sales taxes for business –third best

• Most educated workforce– fourth best

• Overall tax climate forbusiness – sixth best

• Cost of Labor (includesproductivity) – sixth best

• Overall business climate -eighth best

• Combined state and localtax burden – eighth lowest

• Quality of life – eighthbest

• State economic growthover last three years – eighthfastest

• Property tax index – 10thbest

• Montana has had strongjob growth – at record highwages

• 5,000 private sector jobscreated in the first eightmonths of 2010

• Highest average wages inMontana history.

• We have held state gov-ernment executive branchjob growth to less than onequarter of 1 percent per yearover the last 10 years.

I commend RichlandCounty and all of northeastMontana for continuing toplay a key role in the state’seconomic success. Don’t hesi-tate to contact me if you haveideas about how we can con-tinue to move Montana for-ward. You can reach me atgovernor@mt.gov or byphone at 406-444-3111, and ifyou find yourself in Helena,please stop by. My door is al-ways open.

Montana weathers economic stormwith great agriculture year in 2010

SUBMITTEDGov. Brian Schweitzer says Montana is one of the nation’s leadersin a variety of pro-business categories.

The Richland County commissionerswould like to take this opportunity to con-gratulate the members of the Top 10 BeetGrowers as well as all of the member/grow-ers on the Yellowstone and Missouri River Ir-rigation Region.

To become a member of the Top 10 Growersis a very significant accomplishment that hasonly been afforded to a few growers in the re-gion. As a member of this select group, eachgrower shows a dedication and commitment

to agriculture not only as an occupation butas a way of life.

They are committed to innovative ideas,technology, machinery and changes to theirfarming practices that keep them at the top ofthe field of agriculture.

Once again, we salute the members of thisyear’s Top 10 Growers.

Richland County CommissionersDon Steppler, Loren Young, Shane Gorder

Commissioners salute top growers

U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., has announced per-manent disaster relief avail-able to Montana farmersand ranchers through theSupplemental Revenue As-sistance Payments (SURE)program this week.

The signup period for 2009crop year SURE paymentsopened this week and willrun through July. Baucusdesigned the SURE programto provide support for Mon-tana farmers and ranchershit by natural disasters, likefloods, fires and drought,and fought to pass it as partof the 2008 Farm Bill.

“Agriculture is the heartof Montana’s economy andthe soul of our way of life.We depend on agriculture tomake a living and put foodon the table, and Montanaranchers and farmers needto know they can depend onus when disaster strikes,”Baucus said. “I wrote thePermanent Disaster Assis-tance Trust Fund into the

Farm Bill to make sure ourranchers and farmers havethe support they need whenweather wreaks havoc with-out having to travel to Wash-ington to ask for help. I en-courage all Montana ranch-ers and farmers to get intouch with their countyFSAs to learn more aboutthe SURE program and howto apply.”

The sign up period for 2009crop year SURE Paymentsruns through July 29. Near-ly every county in Montanaqualifies for SURE pay-ments this period due to se-vere weather in 2009. Bau-cus is encouraging Montanafarmers and ranchers tocontact their county FarmService Agencies (FSA) formore information and tosign up.

As a member of the Sen-ate Agriculture Committee,Baucus helped write andpass the 2008 Farm Bill tohelp Montana’s farmers andranchers. He led the fight to

create the Disaster Assis-tance Trust Fund provision,which finances five pro-grams, including SURE,that comprehensively ad-dress agricultural disastersacross the nation.

In September, Baucus re-ceived the National FarmersUnion’s “Golden TriangleAward,” the union’s highestlegislative honor. The annu-al award is presented tomembers of Congress whohave demonstrated leader-ship on issues relevant toAmerica’s family farmers,ranchers, fishermen and ru-ral communities.

The current Farm Bill ex-pires in September 2012.Baucus is committed to con-tinuing important programslike SURE and addressingthe needs of Montana agri-culture when Congress de-signs the next Farm Bill.

For more information onthe 2009 SURE program, vis-it any FSA county office orwww.fsa.usda.gov/sure.

Baucus announces signup period for 2009 crop year relief

Top 108B SUNDAY, JAN. 23, 20011 SIDNEY HERALD

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Recognizing ExcellenceCongratulations to Sidney Sugar’s2010 Top 10 Sugar Beet Growers.

LOUISA BARBER | SIDNEY HERALDWeatherman John Pulaski speaks during Ag Days as Tanya Fransen, National Weather Service, Glas-gow, looks on.

BY LOUISA BARBERSIDNEY HERALD

Last year was a year for thrill and chills interms of global weather as MonDak Ag Daysattendees learned Jan. 14.

Tanya Fransen of the National WeatherService spoke of the global and nationalweather patterns that at times have put na-tions into catastrophic situations but mayhave positive influencefor local farmers andtheir crops.

Wildfires, floods, hur-ricanes and tornadoescap off a tumultuousyear. Highlights includeRussian wildfires duringa summer that was thehottest on record for thecountry, the Haitianfloods along with thefloods of Pakistan and,more recently, Australia,and the Brazilian draught.

In South America, 65 storms produced 35hurricanes. In Australia, authorities record-ed the wettest year since 2000, and the thirdwettest year since records began being keptin 1900. China was also subject to a wet year.There was flooding along the Yangtze River.Opposite of that, the Pacific Northwest,specifically Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada, experienced its own draught (WinterOlympics officials brought in snow to coverthe mountains for skiing events).

2010 tied 2005 for the warmest year onrecord. Major events of the year included theRussian heat wave, the Icelandic volcanoeruption and a 22 percent decrease in normalarctic ice. That’s roughly the size of the east-ern seaboard. And yet a little closer to home,

the country had its own worries. 2010 saw1,302 tornadoes in the year, the 10th busiestyear since 1958. Minnesota experienced arecord 104 tornadoes alone. North Dakotahad its most rainfall ever. Los Angeles, Calif.,experienced a record 113 degrees Farenheit.

In Montana, the big news was the mac-roburst in northeast Montana during thesummer that resulted in fatalities. A tornadofollowed shortly thereafter, also resulting in

deaths. Hail pound-ed eastern Montanain the fall after thearea experiencedearly snow in Sep-tember.

The average snow-fall for the area is 52inches; Sidney is al-ready well on itsway to topping that.

Fransen toldthose who had gath-ered to listen that

farmers believe knowing what’s going on re-gionally, nationally and globally weather-wise will help them determine how businesscould be.

“Some of these farmers are thinking aboutthese things and they’re saying, ‘Well, ifthere’s going to be draught there, that meansprices of wheat could go up,’ ”she said.

Weather experts are looking ahead to thefuture and expect overall lower temperaturesgoing into the the fall. There is no droughtforecast yet. With such a wet winter thus far,forecasters have become concerned over up-coming snow melt as they look toward the fu-ture.

“We are thinking about flooding,” Fransensaid, because of precipitation. “There are nored flags yet, but we’re planning.”

Weather or notEvents influence the planet of agriculture

‘We are thinking about flooding.There are no red flags yet,

but we’re planning.’

Tanja FransenNational Weather Service

USDA Farm ServiceAgency State executive direc-tor Bruce Nelson has quali-fied Montana livestock own-ers with 2010 losses must filean application for paymentno later than Jan. 31.

The Livestock IndemnityProgram (LIP) provides as-sistance to eligible livestockowners and contract growersfor eligible livestock deathsin excess of normal mortali-ty due to adverse weather in-cluding losses due to floods,

blizzards, disease, wildfires,extreme heat and extremecold.

For 2010 losses, producersmust file a notice of loss nolater than 30 calendar days ofwhen the loss of livestock isapparent. A notice of losscan be reported to the officeby phone, fax or e-mail. Eligi-ble livestock deaths musthave occurred in the calen-dar year for which benefitsare being requested. An ap-plication for payment may be

filed at any time in 2010 butmust be filed no later than 30calendar days after the end ofthe calendar year in whichthe loss of livestock oc-curred. For 2010 losses, theapplication for paymentmust be filed no later thanJan. 31.

Please contact the office foradditional eligibility require-ments. A list of eligible live-stock is available atwww.fsa.usda.gov/mt.

USDA reminds producers of upcoming Jan. 31 deadline