WEST DES MOINES, IOWA - Nov. 20, 2012 - The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) is proud to welcome Farm Bureau employees to new roles this fall.

Jim Gardner has been named IFBF chief financial officer and controller, following the retirement of Jim Christenson.  Gardner will be responsible for directing all financial and technology affairs of the federation; including finance and accounting, information resources and community resources. He will serve as a member of the IFBF executive team and represent the federation on the affiliated companies' benefits administration committee.

Gardner has been a member of the Farm Bureau family since 1996, serving as the finance and accounting manager. He has worked extensively with the county Farm Bureaus and spearheaded the new county accounting system. He serves as a member of the Insurable Risk, Investment and Exempt Hay committees.

Prior to joining IFBF, Gardner served as audit manager with Meriwether, Wilson and Co., P.L.C. in West Des Moines. He currently serves as treasurer of the Iowa FFA Foundation Finance Committee and chairs its finance committee.

Gardner has also served on the boards of directors of the Iowa Farm Bureau Foundation Council, Dallas Center-Grimes Youth Football, First Presbyterian Church in Grimes, Valley Apparel Co. in Cedar Rapids, and the Wakonda Christian Church in Des Moines.

Gardner became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in 1987 and earned his bachelor of arts degree in accounting from the University of Northern Iowa.

IFBF also welcomes a new staff member to the organization's field service team. Jeremy Coyle has been named Regional Manager for region 11, which includes the counties of Boone, Dallas, Greene, Polk and Story. Coyle will work with county officers, committees and members to help develop and carry out program activities, organize and assist with the annual membership campaign and supervise the operation of county Farm Bureau offices in the region.

Coyle grew up on a grain and livestock farm near Pisgah in western Iowa.  He is a graduate of Iowa State University where he majored in journalism and mass communications with an electronic media emphasis. Coyle joined IFBF in 1997 and served as the senior producer/writer.

Aaron Siskow joins the Marketing and Communications staff as producer of digital multimedia services. Siskow comes to the IFBF with nine years of experience in the video and digital multimedia field. He was most recently the senior multimedia developer for Farm Bureau Financial Services.

Siskow has extensive experience in writing, producing and directing video and digital multimedia communications. He is the winner of an Iowa Motion Picture Award of Excellence for Lighting Design and the winner of a Research Excellence Award for his outstanding research accomplishments in Iowa State's graduate program.

In his new position, Siskow will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of IFBF's video/digital multimedia services including the creation of IFBF's multimedia presentations, video and television and radio content, helping to share agriculture's story to our members and all Iowans.

Siskow grew up in Sheffield and is a graduate of Iowa State University, where he studied journalism, earning a bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees.

 

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Iowa State University Extension is offering business and farm succession workshops to help business and farm families begin those conversations and start putting transition plans on paper. Gene Mohling, ISU Extension Regional Director, says the Business and Farm Succession Workshops are a result of needs expressed by residents in SE Iowa.

"I hear people express concerns about the future, about whether a spouse will be OK with their goals and about parents or children not knowing what the other plans to do - or when," said Mohling. "As I listen, I hear that the situations involve the whole family - men and women and more than one generation. That is why we are bringing Iowa State University transitioning experts to SE Iowa."

The workshops are planned as a multi-generational event for exiting owners and spouse, and succeeding owners and spouse. The two session workshops will be held on consecutive days to allow for the initiation of conversations and written plans. David Baker and John R. Baker, Beginning Farmer Center Administrator and Attorney at Law, will present the workshops. Workshops are scheduled for Dec. 14-15 at the Washington County Extension Office

Over the two days, participants will review the retirement plan concept and receive information on transfer plans, estate plans and a process for creating a family statement of intention. Family groups will be given time to write a statement of intent and vision of the future. "Families will go home with a blueprint to the future - knowing what they need to do, who they need to talk to, and understanding that the plan may need to be adjusted along the way."

Pre-registration can be made by contacting the Washington County Extension Office at 319-653-4811 or email Nancy Adrian at nadrian@iastate.edu. This program is sponsored in part by Farm Credit Services.

For more information about the workshop contact the hosting county offices. Additional information about the Beginning Farmer Center is available online at www.extension.iastate.edu/bfc/ , by e-mailing bfc@iastate.edu, or calling 877-BFC-1999. The Beginning Farmer Center is backed by 20 years of research and experience helping farmers with transition plans.

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As the world population continues to grow, and there is increasing demand for crop production acres to raise food and fuel, efficiency in the cattle industry is becoming ever more important. Feed efficiency, or the amount of body weight gain from a pound of feed, is key to feedlot performance and profitability. Global food security is dependent on increased production from fewer inputs.

Efficient use of feed is even more important as the cost of feed and other inputs continues to increase. Feed costs have historically been 50-70 percent of the cost of production in beef enterprises, and as corn prices exceed $7 per bushel feed costs are nearly 80 percent of the cost in many feedlot operations. A feed efficiency improvement of approximately 10 percent across
the entire feedlot sector would reduce feed costs $1.2 billion.

Feed efficiency is often thought of as a feedlot attribute. But the cow-calf segment consumes about 70 percent of the calories in beef production, and of those more than half are used for maintenance. Unfortunately feed efficiency and feed intake is difficult to measure on large numbers of cattle, so improvements have been slow in coming.

The genetic improvement of feed efficiency in beef cattle is the focus of a large USDA funded integrated research and extension project. It will leverage a variety of methods to achieve the goal of feed efficiency. The five year, USDA-AFRI funded project titled "National Program for Genetic Improvement of Feed Efficiency in Beef Cattle" (www.beefefficiency.org) is to sustainably reduce feed resources required to produce beef. The project will rapidly develop and deploy novel nutritional, genomic and genetic improvement technologies.

Stronger international competitiveness of U.S. agriculture, increased food production through increased animal protein production without additional feed inputs, and reduced greenhouse gas footprint are goals of project participants. The project will gather existing individual feed intake and composition records across the major U.S. beef breeds and back fill deficiencies in these represented breeds through collection of new records.

This project will be featured at the upcoming Driftless Region Beef conference Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2013, in Dubuque, Iowa. Three of the speakers are involved in the feed efficiency project including Dan Shike University of Illinois; Matt Spangler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Dan Loy, Iowa State University.

The conference will begin at 1 p.m. on Jan. 31 and run till 11:45 a.m. on Feb. 1. Thursday's afternoon program will focus on feed efficiency at all stages of production, with an evening discussion focused on straight versus crossbreeding. Friday morning's program includes three breakout sessions for feedlot operations and three for cow herds.

Registration for the conference is $80 before Jan. 15 or $100 after Jan. 15. Additional information about the conference is available at www.aep.iastate.edu/beef . Registration will open for the conference on Dec. 1.

The Driftless Region Beef Conference is sponsored by the University of Illinois Extension, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, the University of Minnesota Extension, and University of Wisconsin Extension. The planning team strives to deliver the latest in research-based information regarding the beef cattle industry. For more information or to receive a brochure, contact Denise Schwab at 319-721-9624.

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WEST DES MOINES, IOWA - November 6, 2012 - Whether you're feeding your family or your livestock next year, you'll feel a pinch in your pocketbook. After dealing with the worst drought in 50 years, Iowa farmers found corn and soybean yields down across the board, causing crop prices to increase due to the weather's pressure.

The increase in corn prices will affect farmers' feed prices for their livestock and that will trickle down to consumers as early as January at the grocery store.

"These higher grain prices continue to put pressure on grain users, from ethanol plants to livestock farmers," explained Dave Miller, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) director of research and commodity services. "In the past few weeks, ethanol production is running 12 percent below last year's levels. Cattle, hog and poultry farmers are trimming back production expectations for the coming year."

These adjustments aren't causing concerns for consumers just yet. As farmers bring livestock to market sooner and at lighter weights, meat supplies are strong. Miller warns that this will change at the beginning of the year.

"Lowered production levels are expected to support beef and pork prices in 2013," said Miller. "Consumers can expect higher meat prices in the coming year as livestock farmers continue to make adjustments due to the continued strength and increases in feed costs."

Despite dry conditions throughout the growing season and reduced yields, Iowa farmers continue to lead the nation in corn production. According to Miller, the statewide corn yield is estimated to be 140 bushels per acre, down 32 bushels per acre in 2011. Iowa farmers raised 1.9 billion bushels of corn this year, accounting for nearly 18 percent of U.S. corn production.

Iowa soybean fields weathered the drought better than expected and Iowa farmers will have harvested an estimated 399 million bushels of soybeans this year, representing 14 percent of U.S. soybean production. Soybean yields were also down from last year, coming in at an estimated 35.3 bushels per acre.

The drought brought stresses not only to farmers, but to the markets, as well; tightening supply estimates and raising prices.  Miller said prices for corn and soybeans are higher than a year ago, with corn prices 23 percent higher and soybean prices 20 percent higher. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) releases its monthly crop production report Nov. 9 and Miller says the mid-range of the USDA estimate of season-average prices is $7.80 for corn and $15.25 for soybeans.

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