SFG Update - Fall 2022

A Year of Changes Max Smith President & General Manager

In my career, 2022 has been the biggest year of change. The pandemic has been declared over in many parts of our country, until this year prices and yields have been good to excellent, fuel prices have doubled, and interest rates have tripled.

Farming used to be judged on how hard you worked. Today you must be a good bookkeeper or at least marry one. SFG is taking a firm grip on the rudder. Our emphasis is on programs that will increase your profitability in the years to come, such as:

• Provide training and continuing education programs to increase your profitability in the future.

• Focus on nutrition for livestock, chemicals to target resistant weeds, and seed varieties that are resistant to dry weather patterns like we are going through today.

• Continue to look for marketing opportunities to improve your bottom line.

• Fine tuning our pricing structure to give you the best price possible. Banks are better at financing than we are. Some of these policies are a pain, but they do contribute to keeping you profitable. They allow you to manage your input costs as interest rates reach new highs in the years to come.

• We encourage you to prepay for most of your

inputs. We will continue to extend the best value in all products we sell.

SFG grain receiving locations are ready for harvest. Grain managers are:

• Jason Smith at Albia and Centerville

• Mark White, Senior Grain Manager, at Knoxville and Melcher

• Charles Smith at Milo and Pleasantville

The Knoxville “City” location is closed for daily business. The grain facility there will be used for extra storage room until further notice. The feed store has been moved to our main office south of Knoxville. Our Melcher Dallas location will be open as a seasonal elevator, with regular hours during harvest and open by appointment in the slower months. The Milo facility is much improved from what it has been in the past. It’s been modernized to allow dumping 20 semis per hour and we’ve installed high speed equipment to load outgoing trucks in two minutes.

The labor crisis is real. We need general laborers, mechanics, detailers, full or part time truck drivers, office personnel, and so on. Any referrals you might have would be much appreciated.

As soon as the crops come out, the agronomy team and equipment are ready to apply lime and fertilizer. We have lots planned and I encourage you to keep our salespeople in the loop.

Thank you for your continued support. We will continue to do everything we can to earn your business. Our employees and customers are very important to us. Be safe this fall!

Max Smith, President and General Manager since 1989

Market Update

Mark White, Grain Manager

After a season of less than ideal weather we are closing in on harvest. It appears it will be a year of the had rain and did not have rain when it comes to yields. We will also see how much the quality of dirt plays into crop yields as the good black dirt held moisture much better than the thinner ground. This has been a year that proves water is the most important crop input and we have no control over that. I have had 7 inches of rain the past 2 weeks. That will bring our season total almost back to normal. However, we went 60 days in the middle of summer with minimal rain and hot temperatures, and we will see that affect on our yields. Last year most of us saw record yields and an up trending market. This year we are hoping for at least average yields and though prices are above average, so is the cost of production. Marketing crops in a normal year takes a lot of planning. It will take more planning this year as we are faced with increasing production costs, while commodity prices seem to be wavering right now due to world events. The war in Ukraine continues to be in the news. Grain is slowly moving out of the country and that has been bearish to corn and wheat prices. China has locked down large areas due to Covid and that is holding back their economy which in turn slows their import of grain. Inflation has been rampant, not only in the US, but worldwide. One of the

cures is higher interest rates which affects agriculture due to the amount of borrowed capital it takes to operate. South America will start planting beans in about a month and they are expected to plant record acres. Right now, there seems to be more negative news than positive but there is still a huge amount of volatility in these markets, and we can jump back into a rally in a moments notice. The October WADSE report is 2 weeks away and it could surprise the markets with lower yields and carry outs. Actual yield reports may come in below expectations and prompt the specs to get back into the market. At some point China will need to refill their government warehouses which they have drawn down in the past year. All of this means you will need to be prepared to respond to the markets in order to protect the investment you have in the crop.

All SFG grain locations are ready to accept new crop grain. We will run extended hours when necessary to keep our customers going. We are excited about the improvements we have made at Milo. Unloading will be very fast for both corn and beans allowing you to get back to field in a hurry. We will not be operating the Knoxville City location this fall. We welcome the customers who used that facility in the past to deliver their grain to one of our surrounding elevators which includes our Main location south of Knoxville, Melcher, and Milo. Our charges for corn drying and open storage are remaining the same as last year, but Grain Bank storage rates have changed. Please ask if you need more information on our grain policy. We ask that you check your tickets before leaving the scale to make sure we have the proper splits along with what you want to do with the grain. We look forward to giving everyone the service they have come to expect from SFG. Have a safe harvest.

Operations Update

Charles Smith

Agronomy Operations Manager

All bins have been cleaned out and all the old grain removed. The bins were cleaned and swept out eliminating all fine material. This is the best way to keep harmful insects from invading our facility, thus ensuring that your stored grain will be of the best quality when sold. After everything is clean, we spray our facility to further enhance the elimination of harmful insects. We look forward to taking care of your grain handing needs this fall, whether it be storing or selling your harvested grain.

Another summer has come and gone. This summer was far from what we call normal. Spring seemed like it was never going to arrive, putting us behind from the start.

Weather conditions wouldn’t warm up and then everything went to hot and extremely dry. Some farmers are testing the fields to see if they will be ready to go before too long. Some of the corn ran out of moisture and dried down early due to the dry summer. This past weekend we finally got some rain in our area, between 3 6inches. This should help finish out some of the later maturity beans.

SFG is still in the process of updating the elevator at Milo. It is estimated to be finished before the end of September. This has been a year long project, but we are happy to see the changes and growth for the Milo location. We will now be receiving corn outside at the capacity of 14,000 bushel per hour and will also have a 500 bushel receiving pit. This is a huge change for that location that will quickly be utilized this fall. Soybeans will continue to be dumped on the inside of the elevator at the rate of 5,500 bushel per hour.

SFG Pleasantville has the new beet juice tank fully operational. We started filling the tank in late July. This allows all deicing products to be held at Pleasantville, saving us from needing to go get the product from up north in the winter months, and will also allow it to be stored and shipped out of one location.

Most farmers are starting to think about crop year 2023. Let our SFG salesman help you with your needs. Give us a call and we will direct you to the right person. Fall application is just around the corner.

Tune into SFG Top Performance, our weekly podcast with all the information you need to increase your profitability and success!

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Operations Update

Jason Smith Operations Manager

My role will be to help our team maximize the use of our resources to ensure everything runs as smooth and efficient as possible while providing the very best customer service out there. Who knows, they may even ask me to drive a tractor or a sprayer now and then. As always if there are any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to reach out to the location managers, or even myself at 641 891 6070.

I hope you all have a safe harvest.

This harvest at our Albia and Centerville locations you will see some new as well as familiar faces. Starting with Albia, some of you may have already met Clint Baker, the location manager. Clint has been with SFG since early this year and is looking forward to meeting new customers and assisting with their needs. Holly Dyke has moved from our Centerville location to become the new Albia office manager. In Centerville Holly had been running the scales as well as working in the billing department. She is excited and looking forward to this new challenge ahead. The newest member to the team is Seana Vogt. Seana will be working at the front counter assisting customers as well as working in billing.

At Centerville there is a familiar face in the office manager position, Beth Morris. Beth has been employed with SFG for 7 years now. She has worked the scales most of those years. This year she will be working behind the scenes with customers grain paperwork and helping with the scale when time allows. A new face that you might see around the Centerville location is Scott McCoy. Scott has recently accepted the position of location manager. Scott has a very strong agricultural background as well as being a well respected man within the local community.

Feed Update

Kyle Smith Feed Manager

Another change to note this fall is our Grain Bank rate. Previously we were charging 18 cents upon arrival for the entire year. After much discussion with our salesmen and customers we have decided to charge 3 cents per month with a cap of 20 cents for the year. We feel this will greatly benefit everyone, both those who don’t need long term storage and those who do.

I’m starting off this quarter’s feed update with some unfortunate news. Scott Goetz has accepted another job outside of SFG. We hate to see him go, but wish him the best of luck! Our southern district feed salesman, Mike King, will work with Scott over the next few weeks to meet and establish relationships with the Milo and Pleasantville customers. Both Milo and Pleasantville are closer to Mike’s hometown, so we feel this should make for a smooth transition.

Centerville has a new location manager, Scott McCoy. We’re excited for Scott to bring his sales background to the area and know that he will be a focal point for local producers in the area.

Scott grew up on his family farm near Moravia, Iowa. He graduated from Moravia High School and eventually received a BS degree from NMSU at Kirksville, MO. His first job was as a Territory Manager and later a District Manager with Purina Mills feed division. His feed background led him to take a manager role for Roemerman Feed & Grain’s Albia location, which is now the SFG Albia Location. He would later accept a position with Cargill Corn Milling and just completed 25 years with them.

Scott is excited about his new role with SFG. He wants to gain the latest knowledge and expertise in order to Influence and lead producers by providing the tools and technologies they will need to grow their farming operations in the future.

SFG’s initial creep contracts are filled but we do have some tons remaining for fall calves. The price isn’t forecasted to come down any time soon and will likely continue to increase as time goes on. Tub prices are also forecasted to go up. You don’t want to get caught paying more than you have to on either of these necessary products. Reach out to Mike King at (641) 218 4232 to discuss locking in prices ahead of time!