SVM_Todays Farm_010819

Today’s Farm New

aws

for the new year

Find out about changes to laws for hauling heavy loads, hunting and more: PAGES 2-3

Also inside ... Oregon family still growing after more than 100 years – Page 4 Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019

A supplement to Sauk Valley Media

Sauk Valley Media • January 8, 2019

| TODAY’S FARM

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New

aws

for the new year

KAY SHIPMAN FarmWeekNow.com

The new year ushered in more than 250 new state laws, including some of particular interest to farmers. During the 2018 legislative session, Illinois Farm Bureau successfully helped gain passage of a couple of state legislative priorities.

Harvest season truck permit: Starting Jan. 1, Illinois farmers gain a new ability to efficiently haul crops on state highways between Sept.

1 and Dec. 31 without requiring a gubernatorial declaration. The new law allows farmers to apply for a free special permit from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).

A farmer may apply to IDOT to haul up to 10 percent more than the gross vehicle weight on a state route, excluding interstate highways.

The harvest season permit will allow gross and axle weight overages for a divisible load and the vehicle’s weight to exceed its registered/ license plate weight.

LAWS continued on 34

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Hunters are now allowed to think pink t

2019 brings new rules for dicamba use Operators must now be certified applicators, too FarmWeekNow.com

Planning to use crop protection products containing dicamba in 2019? You’re going to want to read this.

The new label means some changes for those who apply the product.

“You have to be a certified applicator in 2019,” said Lyndsey Ramsey, associate director of natural and environmental resources for Illinois Farm Bureau. “Previously, you could be a licensed operator working under a certified applicator.”

That’s no longer the case. If you have a private applicator’s license or commercial applicator’s license, you are good to go heading into 2019.

But, “if you are a licensed operator, you have to go in and take

your field crops test and pay the difference to get yourself to the level of a commercial applicator,” Ramsey said.

Dicamba specific training is also now an annual requirement for applicators.

“Even if you went to dicamba training last year, you have to go again this year,” Ramsey said.

For 2019, it all boils down to the word “use” under the Illinois Pesticide Act. “Anybody that’s going to use the product has to be a certified applicator,” Ramsey said, adding that even if you only mix or load the product, or just open the jug, you have to be certified applicator. “The only difference is that if you’re transporting only, you do not have to be a certified applicator.”

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• January 8, 2019

Farmers are required to check with local road jurisdictions about the possible need for permits on their roads and may need to seek a permit from each road’s jurisdiction. Each jurisdiction can specify the dates for which a permit is valid based on the law designating Sept.

1 through Dec. 1 as the available permit season.

Local jurisdictions have the ability to allow or not allow trucks to operate at higher rates on their roads and may waive the requirement to carry a written permit.

Covered Farm Vehicle Designation: Farmers with vehicles registered for 8,000 pounds or less with specialty plates can now receive a covered farm vehicle (CFV) designation on the vehicle registration card.

Vehicle owners requesting the CFV designation must pay an additional $10 surcharge for the designation.

To qualify for the CFV exemption, the vehicle must be driven by a farmer or employee of a farmer and used only for that farming operation; registered with a farm plate; driven anywhere within Illinois or less than 150 miles outside Illi-

nois; if weighing more than 26,001 pounds; not driven for hire; and not transporting hazardous materials.

Dairy farm inspection reports: The Illinois Department of Public Health or the local public health inspector is required to provide a paper copy of a dairy farm’s inspection report to the dairy farm being inspected at the time of inspection.

Previously, the department could provide an electronic notification and copy of the inspection report.

Wooded land transfers: The law allows a transfer of wooded property from one spouse to another without disqualifying the wooded acreage from the provisions for the assessment of the untransferred wooded acreage.

Urban agriculture zones: Municipalities may create urban agriculture zones and offer tax incentives to businesses associated with qualified agricultural products.

Municipalities would also be allowed to authorize local utilities to offer wholesale or reduced rates for businesses in urban agriculture zones.

Wildlife hunting clothing: Hunters in Illinois may wear solid blaze pink clothing in addition to blaze orange clothing during firearm deer season and upland game season.

TODAY’S FARM | Sauk Valley Media

LAWS

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LEFT: Bob Groenhagen takes his daughter, Linda, for a ride on a Case tractor during the 1950s. BELOW: An aerial view of Circle G Farms & Feedlots, its headquarters at left, and one of its feedlots at right.

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ON-FARM SERVICE

Farming comes full circle An Oregon family has been growing for more than 100 years, and they don’t plan to stop anytime soon

BY VINDE WELLS Shaw Media vwells@oglecountynews.com

There’s more than just corn growing on Circle G Farms & Feedlots.

There’s a family tree with roots that go deep. They should – they’ve been growing for more than 100 years.

Three generations of the Groenhagen family raise corn and cattle at Circle G Farms & Feedlots on Limerick Road northeast of Oregon, a farm that has been in the family since 1898. That 100-plusyear legacy of hard work and family values has earned the farm the distinction of being designated a Centennial Farm by the Illinois Department of Agriculture. The program honors farms that have been in the same family for at least 100 years.

who is in high school, also helps out.

With the help of five full-time employees, they farm 6,000 acres of mostly corn, and finish 6,000 to 7,000 Angus cattle for market each year in their feedlots, which can house 4,000 steers at a time.

The family raises corn and cattle at the farm on Limerick Road, northeast of Oregon.

Bob Groenhagen, 90, and his wife, Leona, live on the property they bought from her grandfather, John Roos, in 1950. Both of their families have farmed in the area since the 1860s.

Bob said he enjoys farming and seeing his family take part in the operation.

“I get so much satisfaction from seeing crops grow and the cattle mature,” he said. “I like seeing the other generations take over.”

In addition to Bob, Circle G includes his brother, George, 80; Bob’s sons, Larry, 64, and Gary, 55; and Larry’s son, Chad, 32, who all live within 2 miles of the each other.

George’s grandson, Jonathan,

CIRCLE G continued on 54

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Sauk Valley Media • January 8, 2019

| TODAY’S FARM

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CIRCLE G

What is a Centennial Farm?

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• FARM • VEHICLE

• CROP • HAIL

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was formed. Since then Gary and Chad have joined the corporation.

“Over the years, the dairy, hogs, and chickens were dropped, and we concentrated on cattle and raising corn,” Bob said.

The farm does more than just provide a living, it provides learning opportunities, too. The family has hosted several farm visit days, and the Rockford tourism bureau has brought visitors from other countries to see the operation.

• PROPERTY • HEALTH

More than 9,200 Illinois farms have been named Centennial Farms since the program was created in 1972.

Every county in the state has at least one Centennial Farm. Ogle County has more than 150 on its list. Whiteside has 105, Lee County 121, Bureau County 209 and Carroll County 86.

The Sesquicentennial Farms Program recognizes farms that have been held by descendants of the same family for 150 years or more.

To qualify for Sesquicentennial Farm status, an agricultural property must have been owned by the same family of lineal or collateral descendants for at least 150 years.

Applicants who complete a form and meet all requirements of the Sesquicentennial Farms program receive an official Sesquicentennial Farm sign and certificate.

A $50 application fee is charged.

More than 600 Illinois farms have been named Sesquicentennial Farms since the program was created, and 22 of those are in Ogle County.

Go to shawurl.com/3aet for more information.

Each family member has his own area of expertise.

Bob works with landlords, keeps up with the mowing and spraying, and does overall quality control.

Larry plants, harvests and handles the bookwork.

George feeds the cattle, while

Gary specializes in their health as well as overseeing the spraying and grain elevators.

Chad is what his grandfather called “the tech man.” He takes care of data management and integration.

CIRCLE G continued on 64

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Larry said he’s proud of his family farm roots.

“You see what your father and grandfather have built and you want to keep it for the next generation. You want the ball to keep rolling,” said Larry. “I can’t think of a better life than living on the farm and working with family.”

That pride runs in the family.

“I’m proud to see where we started and that we’ve kept it up and expanded,” George said. “I enjoy working with the family.”

Gary appreciates the legacy his father and previous generations built.

“I like the pride and the challenge,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure to succeed when you’ve started with what we started with.”

Chad also feels that pride and challenge. “I feel it’s an incredible opportunity to take what my father, grandfather, and uncles have done and got from their ancestors and build on that,” he said.

When Bob started farming in 1950 with 400 acres, he raised dairy and beef cattle, hogs, sheep, and chickens, as well as rotating crops and planting corn, oats, and hay.

When Larry and George joined the operation in 1973, Circle G

The Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Centennial Farms and Sesquicentennial Farms programs honor generations of farmers who have worked to maintain family farms in the state.

To qualify for Centennial Farm status, an agricultural property must have been owned by the same family of lineal or collateral descendants for at least 100 years.

A lineal descendant is a person in the direct line of descent, such as a child or a grandchild.

A collateral descendant is not a direct descendant, but is otherwise closely related, such as a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin.

Applicants who complete a form and meet all requirements of the Centennial Farms program receive an official Centennial Farm sign suitable for outdoor display and a certificate bearing signatures of the Governor of Illinois and the Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

A $50 application fee is charged to offset the cost of the sign.

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TODAY’S FARM | Sauk Valley Media

Family farm’s operations have evolved through the years

Despite changes, family pride has remained a constant CIRCLE G

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“When I came back from college they told me I needed to focus on this,” Chad said, and that’s just what he did. Today’s technology helps with planning and mapping, soil sampling, tractor guidance, crop scouting, fertilizer application, data analysis, and determining yields.

Chad can pinpoint where rows of corn should be planted, how far apart seeds should spaced, and exactly where to apply fertilizer and herbicides.

Each tractor has a computer connected to Chad’s in the farm’s office.

“When we pull into field, he’s got the lines set for us,” Larry said.

“We’re 100 percent automated and remotely monitored,” Chad said.

“We can come within 6 inches of telephone poles.”

That’s quite an improvement from days past, when human error could cause on a occasional headache, especially for a budding young farmer. Bob recalled a mishap that happened when he was about 10 years old.

“I wrecked my first barn because I couldn’t reach the clutch on the tractor,” he said with a grin.

“Many changes have taken place through the years, from horsepower to tractors, and now all the technology,” Bob said. But one thing has never changed: His passion for farming.

“Farming is all I ever wanted to do,” he said.

Vinde Wells/vwells@shawmedia.com

ABOVE: Three generations of the Groenhagen family raise corn and cattle at Circle G Farms & Feedlots on Limerick Road northeast of Oregon. From left: Bob Groenhagen, his son Gary, brother George, son Larry, and grandson Chad stand in the operation’s newest cattle building.

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Sauk Valley Media • January 8, 2019

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• January 8, 2019

Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker announced his choice to head the Illinois Department of Agriculture, selecting former state Sen. John Sullivan of Rushville.

Sullivan, who represented Illinois’ 47th state senate district from 2002 to 2016, served as chair of the Senate’s Agriculture and Conservation committee and was a strong advocate for the state’s agriculture industry while in office.

Sullivan’s appointment “is a great win for Illinois agriculture,” Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert Jr. said. “During his tenure as state Senator, John’s leadership in the Senate Agriculture and Conservation Committee was evident as he successfully negotiated appropriation of state monies for agricultural programs.”

Sullivan also helped pioneer the state’s new agricultural John and renewable fuel programs and championed legislation Sullivan to create jobs, improve industry and infrastructure, and grow the economy. More importantly, Sullivan used his influence to ensure successful passage of the state sales tax exemption to benefit Illinois farmers.

Sullivan took active roles working with the Illinois Farm Bureau’s Adopt-A-Legislator program and the IAA Foundation, serving as the auctioneer during the Foundation’s live auction fundraiser at the IFB Annual Meeting.

He earned the Friend of Agriculture award from IFB ACTIVATOR and was named the Illinois Farm Bureau Distinguished Service Award winner in 2016.

Prior to serving in the state Senate, Sullivan earned his real estate license, served as a loan officer for Production Credit Association, and as a farm manager and loan officer for Rushville State Bank. He is still active in his family’s auction business, Sullivan Auctioneers, and manages his own farm in Schuyler County.

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Sauk Valley Media • January 8, 2019

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Illinois Case IH plant bounces back GOODFIELD (AP) – It’s been a decade since one of Woodford County’s biggest employers bounced back from the brink of closure.

The rebound of the Case IH plant in Goodfield faced the same obstacles to growth as other manufacturers of heavy equipment across the country, and it has not restored the employee population to the historic highs of decades before the 2006 announcement that CNH Industrial would shutter the facility.

Ever since the corporation reversed course in 2008, however, the factory that churns out tillage and fertilizer application equipment in an almost infinite variety of configurations – possible combinations literally number in the millions – has been transformed.

The most visible part of that transformation began in 2013 with an expansion that increased manufacturing floor space by twothirds to today’s total of 593,000 square feet.

Less tangible but no less significant in plant manager Brian

Hansche’s mind has been a shift in operational perspective set into motion with the World Class Manufacturing methodology introduced in February 2015.

The strategy, which CNH Industrial first adopted in 2008, has its fair share of white-collar buzz words and corporate Power Point illustrations, but it also relies on blue-collar input from the laborers who actually make the products on the factory floor.

“It really requires engagement from everybody in the plant,” Hansche said during a recent factory tour. “It can’t be a top-down methodology, it really has to be floor-up. ... If these guys aren’t buying into it, it’s not happening.”

By WCM standards, and other more universal measurements such as man-hours worked without a lost-time injury, the Goodfield plant is continuously improving, Hansche said. It earned a bronze WCM rating last fall – the first CNH Industrial plant in North America to achieve the rating on the first try.

First-aid incidents are down

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89 percent since WCM was first implemented, according to factory figures, and 2018 is on track to be the safest year in plant history.

Against that backdrop, Case IH in Goodfield maintains other relevant rankings – top Woodford County tax revenue generator, one of the county’s top three employers – while cross-training its welder-heavy workforce to optimize agricultural component production across six different factory configurations arranged according to season.

On a broader scale, the company constantly refines and redesigns its components to meet farming industry trends and advance technological capabilities for greater precision and automation.

“Our equipment provides the perfect seed bed floor to plant seeds on,” Hansche said. “Our products really are geared for sustainability, in the way we make them and for farm operations by improving efficiency to increase yields and reduce inputs [such as fertilizer].”