By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The title of this year’s 75th annual Indiana Farm Management Tour could well be “Change.”
Scheduled for June 26-27, the tour highlights four Kosciusko County farms and an agribusiness that has changed to meet shifting markets, trends and techniques.
According to Alan Miller, Purdue University farm management specialist, the tour gives people an opportunity to learn successful management techniques directly from the business operators. “It is an excellent way to learn about the opportunities and challenges currently faced by Indiana agriculture,” he said.
“This is especially true since the agricultural economy is changing rapidly because of U.S. biofuels development.”
The tour is free, but lunch on June 27 costs $5. Anyone planning to attend should pre-register for lunch by June 18, by calling 888-EXT-INFO or the Kosciusko County extension office at 574-372-2340. The tour schedule, with times listed as EDT, follows.
Tuesday, June 26
Lunch and registration at Sam Beer Farm, Inc. near Milford. Lunch will begin at noon and is free; however, pre-registration is required.
Sam Beer Farm is a medium-sized (240 sows) farrow-to-finish hog operation that maintains profitability and growth in a biofuel-driven economy by raising all its own feed – 500 acres of corn, 350 acres of beans and 35 acres of wheat. Beer, who favored building an ethanol plant in the area, said, “I’m pro-business.
“If you’re going to farm, you have to be optimistic. We’re independent hog producers – not big in any area, but we hope to do a good job in spite of tighter margins. I’m a firm believer that people will continue to eat pork, and we plan to provide it.”
Interview time at the Beer farm is 1 p.m., with mini-tours at 1:45 p.m. on Feed Pro System/feed records and their usage in evaluating swine enterprise costs and returns, and Monsanto’s Vistive brand soybean plots.
Discussion topics include considerations required to find size-consistent competitive advantages in an era of increasing input costs; nutrient management; production data analysis; and cooperative input purchases.
Tom Farms is a family business that serves as an umbrella for five agribusiness entities. Interview time is 3 p.m. with mini-tours starting at 3:40 p.m. on seed corn production, the future of crop genetics and GPS, TRK and tomato production technology and a discussion of how biofuel will change marketing.
Kip Tom, company president, attributes the farm’s success to its ability to apply non-agricultural procedures to agriculture.
“We’re a value-added farm,” he said. “We continually strive to increase our return on investment. We attempt to utilize what we call the Wal-Mart approach – asking ourselves if the cost will justify itself.”
Tom, recently selected the nation’s “Top Producer of 2007” by Top Producer magazine, added, “In order to succeed, a farm must be open-minded and look outside the industry. Above all, be optimistic, even when things are down.”
Other speakers will include Ted Crosbie, who heads Monsanto’s Global Breeding Program, and Andy Miller of the Indiana Department of Agriculture.
Wednesday, June 27
Milk and donuts provided by Foremost Farms and Northstar Cooperative will open the tour of Gingerich Dairy Farms at 7:30 a.m., followed by an 8 a.m. interview. Mini-tours begin at 8:40 a.m.
Owned and operated by brothers Phil and Merrill Gingerich, with a milking parlor that features a subway-milking system, the 50-50 dairy partnership involves a lot of give and take. Each brother owns some land; they lease other acreage, including their father’s 72 acres.
Utilizing their own commodities whenever possible, the brothers have a division of labor that works for them. Merrill is in charge of feeding and 700 acres of crops, a large percentage of which goes to feed their 250 head of cows. Phil oversees breeding and milking operations.
Their current focus is on reproductive technologies, including the use of sexed semen (sorted to produce calves of specific gender) with heifers and selected cows. They also have tried crossbreeding their Holsteins with Jersey semen.
Phil attributes their success to clear priorities and shared values. “We complement each other despite our different personalities, management styles and interests,” he said.
Both believe in implementing innovation, efficient facilities and sound genetics, watching spending and controlling debt.
The Bishop Farms interview is at 10 a.m., followed by 10:40 a.m. mini-tours focused on irrigation, specialty crops, crop recordkeeping technology, grain marketing and storage.
Bob and Waneta Bishop will explain how Bob made the transition to full-time farming (4,200 acres) after teaching school for 16 years.
Discussion topics include the farm’s 270,000-bushel grain facility, the economics of investing in storage at the current time, the farm’s marketing plan, technology and the challenges of grain marketing.
The Clunette Elevator lunch is at noon will cost $5. See above for pre-registration details. Interview is at 12:30 p.m.; mini-tours begin at 1:15 on enhancing crop performance with custom seed treatments, crop technology and in-season monitoring and managing plant nutrient requirements/suspension fertilizers.
At 2:30 p.m., Dr. Chris Hurt will update the market outlook for grains, soybeans and livestock.
Clunette Elevator’s business has grown and changed to meet customer needs. Fertilizers and crop protection, applied by variable rate rigs and GPS-enabled automated steering for precise application, are a core part of today’s business.
The elevator, located in the tiny town that calls itself “the crossroads of the Prairie,” adds value by assisting customers with technology. It owns an RTK network, sells and services guidance systems and plans to align its grain business with end users, such as the livestock industry, soybean processors and ethanol and biodiesel plants.
For information on lodging, call 800-800-6090 or 574-269-6090, or e-mail www.koscvb.org and a detailed map is available at www.agecon.purdue.edu/extension/programs/farm_tour.asp |
