Construction commences on the actual concrete grain tank structure today. Two months from now the structure will have the walls and roof complete. The millwright and electrical will finish this summer. The tank will be ready to use for fall harvest.
With this tank, we will be able to minimize ground piles, and allow us to efficiently run our elevator. Ground piles are a good short term solution, but a poor long term solution.
The new tank will have a capacity of 714,000 bushels, giving us a total capacity of around 2.4 million bushels. Over 90% of the storage is upright concrete, with the majority of the storage being built in the last 10 years. The newer storage has fast receiving capability with easy unloading systems and good aeration systems. Our goal is to run an efficient business!
Favorable long term interest rates have made this project happen sooner than would have otherwise been possible. Increasing acres of high yielding corn have prompted the need for more storage. Dump fast, pay faster!

Our experience has been that the manager of an already high-cost operation frequently is uncommonly resourceful in finding new ways to add to overhead, while the manager of a tightly-run operation usually continues to find additional methods to curtail costs, even when his costs are already well below those of his competitors”
Warren Buffett, 1978

These are the spring insurance prices for corn for the last 6 years.
2011 $6.01
2012 $5.68
2013 $5.65
2014 $4.62
2015 $4.15
2016 $3.88 (MTD)
This could be a challenging marketing year. It does help highlight the fact that $4.00 to $4.50 Dec Corn futures could be a good place to price new crop corn.
A few things to think about when doing market planning.
Improbable things happen a lot, when given enough chances.
Make a decision based not just on the most likely future,but on the cloud of all possible futures, with attention to the ones that are most likely and which ones are not.
Regression to the mean is a mathematical fact. That dictum would mean that $6.00 corn is not a likely long term scenario.
Producers don’t plan to fail, but at times fail to plan.

Will there be a rally in the grain markets?
If so…
What will cause it?
When will it happen?
How long will it last?

The answers to the last three questions,
Something we didn’t expect.
Sometime we don’t expect.
Probably not as long as we’d like it to last.
Fortunately, there is an astonishingly simple, effective and free tool available for farmers who want to capitalize on unexpected opportunity.
Tell Geary Grain what price you want, how many bushels you want to sell and we will put the target orders into the market. The orders will be watched for 17 hours a day on each trading day. This is a free, disciplined, and effective Target Contract.
Oftentimes, the general approach to marketing is to do nothing, leaving most people unsatisfied with the results. What if you tried something instead?
A Target Contract does not guarantee the availability of a price, but it does guarantee the farmer will not miss out because of being too busy. Target Contracts are tools to use to increase discipline and focus.
Let us know if we can take Target Orders from you.
Sincerely, Joe Hund

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage earner down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
-Abraham Lincoln

THE EASIEST WAY TO CONTROL ROUNDUP RESISTANT WATER HEMP AND PALMER AMARANTH IS TO NEVER LET IT COME UP!
Fall program for 2016 soybean planting.
After the soil cools in the fall is a good time to apply residual herbicides for control of winter annual weeds, downy brome and volunteer wheat, and marestail. After Nov 1, apply 1.1 oz Cloak with 12 oz of Dicamba. Add 32 oz 4# glyphosate as needed to control emerged downy brome or volunteer wheat. The Cloak and Dicamba should do a good job of controlling the winter annuals and marestail. DO NOT DELAY THIS APPLICATION! The temperature can be cold enough after Thanksgiving to stop chemical and water applications.
Springtime of 2016, apply 4 oz Authority XL around April 15. If the weather works right, this will keep the soil fairly weed free until right before planting.
One week before planting, spray five ounces of Verdict with 10 Metro and glyphosate if needed, for burndown and residual, with 1 ounce of Zidua. If this program works well, glyphosate would be needed only to clean up the beans in crop.
HIGH PH SOILS. After November 1, use 5 ounces of Tricor with 12 ounces of Dicamba. The April 15 treatment would be 3.2 ounces of Authority First. Do not use products containing Classic on high PH soils! One week before planting, use 5 ounces of Verdict with 10 ounces of Metro, and glyphosate as needed for grasses, along with 1 ounce of Zidua. Once again, glyphosate would be used in crop on a clean up basis!
FALL PROGRAM FOR 2016 CORN OR MILO PLANTING
After the soils cool in the fall, apply 1.5# atrazine with 12 oz Dicamba. This should give control of winter annuals and marestail, add glyphosate as needed. This application should be made as soon as possible after the first of November, before the temperature get too cold for chemical and water applications.
This treatment should give good control until around corn planting time. With milo, it will probably take one or two more trips with herbicide to be able to plant in a clean seed bed.
PLANTING CORN OR SOYBEANS BUT DON’T KNOW WHICH ONE? Fall apply 5 oz Tricor with 12 oz Dicamba. The field is open to either soybeans or corn in the spring. This is also recommended for fall application for subsequent spring planting of beans on ground that is over 6.8 PH.
MILO SPRING TIME CHEMICAL APPLICATIONS
If needed, around April 15 make a glyphosate and Metro application to control any growing weeds. One week before planting, apply 10 oz Verdict with 10 oz Metro, glyphosate as needed, along with 1.5 quarts of atrazine. This application will serve as a burndown, and also for the needed residual control in milo.

Clean fields for planting start in the fall. Fall chemical applications will help control winter annuals and marestail. Keeping fields clean through the winter is very important. For fields that will be planted to soybeans in the spring, apply 1.1 oz Cloak and 12 oz Dicamba after November 1. If the PH is over 6.8, use 5 oz Tricor and 12 oz Dicamba.
For fields that will be planted to corn or milo in the spring, apply 1.5 quarts of Atrazine and 12 oz Dicamba.
If you are unsure which crop will be planted in the spring, use 5 oz Tricor and 12 oz Dicamba. With this treatment, either soybeans or corn could be planted in the spring.
Our goal, as always, is to keep the fields clean, staying ahead of weed pressure.

Controlling costs is always one of the most important tasks for any business. This is very true for production ag also. Minnesota Farm Management figures show that for producer owned and operated farms, the 20% of producers in the highest profit category have a cost of production of $2.48/bushel. The 20% of producers in the lowest profit category have a production cost of $4.43/bushel.
For farmers that rent their ground, the highest profit group has a corn production cost of $3.25/bushel, compared to $5.03/bushel for the lowest profit group.
These numbers underscore the importance of controlling costs by managing input costs, and also the importance of achieving high yields to reduce the price per bushel cost.
Two ways of assuring a high cost of production is to pay too much for cash rent and having high per acre machinery costs.

The Easiest Way to Control Roundup Resistant Water Hemp is to

Never Let It Come Up!

No-Till Program
November of year preceding soybeans apply 1.1 oz Cloak, 8 oz Metro and 4 oz Dicamba. Soil over 6.8 PH use 6 oz Tricor instead of the 1.1 oz Cloak. This will help control henbit, pennycress and marestail during the winter and early spring. Do not put this on until the soil temperatures are around 56 degrees.  If the soil temperature is too warm, the Cloak will degrade too quickly and not give as long of control.

Two weeks before anticipated planting, apply 4 oz Authority XL.  Don’t apply the Authority too early or it will wear out too quickly in the growing season.  If the soil PH is over 6.8 PH, use  3.5 oz Authority First instead of Authority XL.  The Authority XL has too much Classic in the formula to use on high PH soil.  The Classic can really stunt the soybeans.  Add 24D and/or glyphosate as needed.  Alternatives to Authority are Valor XLT and Fierce.  Fierce can be used on soil 6.8 PH and higher, Valor XLT cannot be used on high PH. (Add glyphosate and 24D as needed for the burndown.)

21 to 28 days after planting, use 32 oz Power Max (6# product) and 3 pints Warrant.  Glyphosate does a much better job on small weeds.  The Warrant is in the spray to provide another shot of residual to try to keep the waterhemp under control.  This is also the best time to control volunteer corn if present.

Using this program should really help waterhemp control and cut down on the amount of leaf burner herbicides that are required.  Leaf burners also burn the beans, taking about a week out of their growing season.  They are also expensive to use and do not always do the job.

Till Program
Tillage will be used in the fall, rather than using a herbicide for winter and early spring weed control.

Plant the soybeans and immediately apply 4 oz Authority XL on soil that is less than 6.8 PH.  For higher PH soils, use 3.5 oz Authority First.  These herbicides cannot be applied to a field where the soybeans are emerging.  They can stunt or even kill emerged soybeans. If the soybeans emerge before a herbicide application, a different plan will be used.

1. Use 1 quart Prefix and 32 oz Power Max as an early post emerge.  Prefix is metalachlor and fomesafen.  Fomesafen is a leaf burner, metalachlor provides a residual herbicide.
2. Or, use 42 oz Power Max and 3 pints Warrant at 21 to 28 days after planting.

If there are not two applications of residual herbicide, there is a greater chance that a later application of a leaf burner, such as Fomesafen,  Ultra Blazer or Cobra will be needed to attempt to control the waterhemp.

Double Crop Soybeans
After planting the double crop beans, spray as soon as possible after planting with 32 oz Roundup Power Max and 3 pints of Warrant.  The Warrant helps give residual for water hemp control and does not tie up easily in the wheat stubble.  If there is water hemp present at spraying time, add 1 oz of Sharpen to burn them down.  As always with Sharpen, use a flat fan or turbo tee nozzle, 20 gallons of water with a spraying pressure of between 30 and 40 psi, and add methylated soy oil at 1 gallon/100 gallons of water. If the beans have emerged, do not use Sharpen.  Sharpen will kill emerged soybeans!