Fargo Moorhead Business News: Agriculture

N.D. Farmer Forecasts Via Pig Spleens

By JAMES MacPHERSON –

STEELE, N.D. — Paul Smokov doesn't need radar or other high-tech equipment to forecast a major snowstorm on the prairie. He consults pig spleens.

"It looks like a normal year with no major storms," said the 84-year-old Smokov, peering at two of the brown, glistening, foot-long organs on his kitchen counter like a Gypsy gazing into a crystal ball. "That's what the spleens tell me."

Smokov and his wife, Betty, raise cattle on their 1,750-acre ranch north of this town of about 760 people. He is happy to share his forecast with his neighbors or anyone else willing to rely on the reading of animals' innards.

If the spleen is wide where it attaches to the pig's stomach and then narrows, it means winter weather will come early with a mild spring, Smokov said. A narrow-to-wider spleen usually means harsh weather in the spring, he said.

The spleens obtained by Smokov this year are pretty uniform in thickness, which means no drastic changes.

Janice Stillman, editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac in Dublin, N.H., said she had heard of at least one other pig spleen weather prognosticator — Gus Wickstrom of Saskatchewan — but he died earlier this year.

"It's folklore and a dying art, obviously," she said.

Smokov's Ukrainian parents brought their knowledge of pig spleen forecasting with them when they came to the U.S. a century ago. As for listening to forecasts on the radio — electricity didn't reach Smokov's ranch until 1949.

"The spleens are 85 percent correct, according to my figures," he said. As for the weathermen, "Those guys aren't any better."

At the National Weather Service office in Bismarck, meteorologist Vic Jensen relies on Doppler radar and other sophisticated scientific instruments. But he is charitable toward folk methods such as Smokov's.

"I can't discount some of these kinds of theories," Jensen said. "It's just another way for people to forecast what's going to happen."

The weather service's three-month outloook is typically at least 60 percent accurate, Jensen said. Forecasters are calling for a normal winter for North Dakota. That matches Smokov's gut feeling.

Fargo Moorhead Business News and Information: Agriculture

Business news and notes

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Federal grant will help ethanol plant

FARGO, N.D. -- A $1 million federal grant has been awarded to help build roads and water lines for a regional agriculture industrial park in the southeastern North Dakota town of Hankinson, state and federal officials say.

The park includes a $157 million ethanol plant that is under construction and scheduled to open by mid 2008, said Randy Schneider, an advisory board member for the US Bio Hankinson facility.

"We're very much on schedule," Schneider said last week. "It's support like this that made the decision a lot easier to locate our plant in North Dakota."

The US BioEnergy plant is expected to produce 100 million gallons of ethanol a year, Schneider said. It's expected to employ about 40 people with an annual payroll of more than $2 million.

US BioEnergy Corp., based in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., is being acquired by VeraSun Energy Corp., of Brookings, S.D., in a deal announced last month.

Ag Leader Technology donates to ISU

AMES, Iowa -- Ag Leader Technology has donated its latest precision ag equipment to the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University for use in educating students on precision farming systems.

The donation starts a new laboratory at ISU, complete with hardware and software.

Students taking classes on precision farming will now be able to use the lab to gain knowledge and understanding of the equipment in a real-world situation. By using the hardware and software together, students will be able to simulate a working farm and collection of valuable information using geopatial technology.

State probing illnesses among Quality Pork workers

AUSTIN, Minn. -- State health officials are investigating neurological illnesses among 11 workers at Quality Pork Processing in Austin.

Health Commissioner Dr. Sanne Magnan said there is no evidence that the general public is at risk, or that the food coming out of the plant has been contaminated.

The workers who became ill had symptoms such as numbness, and tingling in their arms and legs.

Two were hospitalized but have been released. Some of the workers recovered completely, while others are still going through rehabilitation, she said. Five of the workers had symptoms consistent with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.

The patients included men and women from a range of ages and ethnicities, said State Epidemiologist Ruth Lynfield. But they all worked in the same part of the plant, removing hog brains with compressed air. None of the plant's other 1,300 workers reported similar symptoms, and there have been no similar reports at Minnesota's other large hog slaughterhouse in Worthington, officials said.

Wheat growers have new weed-fighting option

FARGO, N.D. -- Wheat growers have a new weapon against broadleaf weeds.

Huskie Herbicide, a Bayer Science product, received full registration this year. The product is the first significant mode of action for wheat and barley in more than 20 years, said Bayer representative Dave Olson at the Northern Ag Expo in Fargo last week.

The product controls a broad spectrum of broadleaf weeds including kochia, Russian thistle, China lettuce and wild buckwheat. It's a tool to fight broadleaf weeds regardless of resistance issues from other products, he said.

Huskie Herbicide has a safener that protects crops but kills broadleaf weeds, he said.

It's available in liquid from as a package or bulk product.

"It's very fast acting," Olson said. "You will see very quick results."

Boudreaux will lead United Soybean Board

ST. LOUIS -- The United Soybean Board has elected soybean farmer Ike Boudreaux as its new board chairman.

Boudreaux is from Lebaeu, La.

Other board officers are Chuck Myers, vice chairman from Lyons, Neb.; Chuck Friedrich, Auroa, S.D., secretary; and treasurer Marc Curtis, Leland, Miss.

USB will be working with a budget of just more than $63 million in 2008.

Farm Bureau membership tops 6 million

WASHINGTON -- Farm Bureau membership across the country has surpassed the 6 million mark for the second consecutive year -- 6,231,176 member families.

The milestone was passed as state Farm Bureaus reported 30,838 additional families registered for membership in 2007.

The number of Farm Bureau members in Minnesota is now 27,967. There are 153,685 in Iowa, 26,397 in North Dakota, 9,311 in South Dakota and 41,870 in Wisconsin.

Organic Valley earns Co-op America honor

WASHINGTON -- Organic Valley Family of Farms has received the 5th annual Green Business Leadership Award from Co-op America.

Organic Valley, based in LaFarge, Wis., was chosen from five nominees.

"Organic Valley started 20 years ago with $1,000, eight farmers and a goal of supporting family farms,'' said Denise Hamler with Co-op America. "Now, with over $400 million in sales and the most innovative environmental practices in the industry, Organic Valley has proven that being green and being successful can walk hand-in-hand.''

Foremost Farms' cheeses do well in contest

BARABOO, WI -- Foremost Farms' aged cheddar cheese produced in Marshfield, has been named "Grand Champion" of the National Milk Producers Federation Cheese Contest, which was recently held at the organization's annual meeting in Orlando.

Foremost's aged cheddar won first place and overall grand champion. Its mild cheddar placed third and its soft Italian placed first.

Foremost Farms also received a "Best of Class'' designation in the cheddar and Italian categories.

Groups demanding an end to NAFTA

MEXICO CITY -- More than 70 groups are supporting Mexican farmers' efforts to suspend the North American Free Trade Agreement and to renegotiate the trade deal.

NAFTA's final provisions are scheduled to be implemented Jan. 1. Those provisions include the removal of tariffs on white corn, beans, powered milk and other staple foods.

The groups called for the United States, Canada and Mexico to "halt the agricultural trade liberalization that is destroying the Mexican countryside, rural communities, indigenous peoples and farmers, driving them to economic exile.

Check out other local news at www.In-Forum.com or www.FMBizJournal.com. That's the Forum of Fargo Moorhead and The Business Journal Serving the Greater Fargo Moorhead Area.

Fargo Moorhead Business News: Building the Biofuels Industry

Wanzek Construction Inc. started in 1971 as a small firm headquartered in Leo and Janet Wanzek’s home in Fargo, N.D. Today, the company has more than a thousand projects under its belt, employs 800 people and owns a fleet of 30 cranes.

by Craig A. Johnson

On a brisk North Dakota morning in early November, the crew at the Tharaldson Ethanol LLC construction site started the day planning for one of the more risky operations: lifting and setting two 14,000-pound hammermills. Planning for the move took more than an hour as each team learned its part in the process. The 70,000-pound crane gently lifted the first hammermill and placed it on the slab without incident, exactly what every contractor wants. In this case, the general contractor is Fargo-based Wanzek Construction Inc.

Jim Heyer, vice president of engineering and construction for Tharaldson Ethanol, says Wanzek Construction was the first contractor the company considered when they began to seek a general contractor to build a 110 MMgy plant near Casselton, N.D. “Wanzek is a professional company dedicated to safety. That’s what we wanted,” Heyer says referring to Wanzek’s decision to keep a team member on-site at all times, which shows the company’s desire to create a safe and dynamic environment. Among general contractors, Wanzek has a sterling reputation not only because it employs a professional staff, but also because of its commitment to safety and precision on the job site. Getting the job done doesn’t mean getting the job done fast if someone might be injured. This is part of what Jason Kaufman, director of project development for Wanzek Construction, refers to as Wanzek’s “safety culture.” There is value in having an experienced staff, Kaufman says. “We put the time into people,” he says. “We’ve put a lot of effort into creating a corporate culture that takes care of those people.”

Wanzek was also careful to create a service that other construction companies could utilize. “They’ve always been forward thinking,” says Kevin Bucholz vice president of Moore Engineering Inc. in West Fargo, N.D., which has partnered with Wanzek to build dams, sewer and water, and heavy earthwork projects. “In this region you have a lot of smaller general contractors … [Wanzek’s crane service] is a specialized service, but it was their vision to find markets where they could utilize their capabilities,” Bucholz says.

In 1971, Leo Wanzek and his wife, Janet, founded Wanzek Construction and based the company out of their Fargo home. Their first contract came from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who hired them to complete a visitor’s center on Lake Ashtabula, near Valley City, N.D. Since then, Wanzek has established a reputation as a family-owned company that provides world-class services to the biofuels and wind energy industries, and the heavy/civil construction sector. Early projects the company undertook were civil engineering jobs involving mainly road work, excavations and bridges. Thirty years later, with more than a thousand projects behind them, Wanzek has developed into one of the leading providers of construction support in the industry with more than 800 employees and a fleet of 30 cranes. The company has been involved with 15 biofuels projects, including nine Poet LLC plants, three VeraSun Energy Corp. plants and Archer Daniels Midland Co.’s Marshall, Minn., facility.

Wanzek’s diversity in the heavy-industrial markets allows it to meet a client’s expectations and field a team to get the job done. One of the company’s strengths is its large crane capacity. Even if Wanzek doesn’t win a contract, oftentimes the company is called in as a subcontractor because of its crane fleet.

Wanzek’s involvement with the ethanol industry dates back to some early projects and its business relationships continue to the present. Ethanol and biodiesel have been an important aspect of those business relationships, as well as Wanzek’s ability to meet the needs of its clients. “As our company has grown over the years, our core competencies in heavy industrial work have expanded,” says Jon Wanzek, Leo Wanzek’s son and president of Wanzek Construction.

The Ethanol Industry
In the past year, the ethanol industry has experienced a slowdown in construction, brought on by the high cost of feedstocks and building materials, according to Kaufman. Despite the slower pace, he’s confident about the company’s future in the biofuels industry. “There’s no question there’s been a slowdown, but we’re optimistic that in six to 12 months, you’ll see a turnaround,” he says.

According to Art Wiselogel, a project development manager for BBI International, ethanol plant construction starts coming out of 2006 were benefited by low-cost corn and good returns for ethanol. In 2007, the landscape changed. Following demand, the price of corn went up. Construction materials, which were already high, went higher. Then the price of ethanol dropped, leaving construction starts in a precarious position. “Last spring (2007) is when we started seeing the closing of equity drives,” Wiselogel says.

Kaufman thinks that improving the ethanol distribution system is the most important step toward continued industry growth. He and many others believe the low ethanol prices are not the result of an ethanol glut, but rather a dearth of handling facilities. As production increased, the infrastructure necessary to assist the ethanol industry didn’t keep up. “A lot of folks could see this coming; the market was obviously overheated,” he says. Wiselogel echoes his sentiment, pointing to the current infrastructure. “The infrastructure for getting ethanol into the gasoline market needs to be upgraded and improved … specifically, refineries and ethanol storage in these refineries needs to be increased. Those are the primary limiting factors.” Wiselogel predicts there to be a two-year lag for the entire storage and infrastructure complex to come on line.

Thinning margins and more competition for fewer contracts in the ethanol industry may signal belt-tightening for some contractors, who are also dealing with high fuel, equipment and labor costs. Addressing the rise in the cost of labor, Kaufman points to the role of experience as a determiner of future success. “Finding qualified personnel is the most important step. [Wanzek] has to get the right equipment into the right hands at the right time.”

Despite the increased competition for construction projects, Jon Wanzek sees a future in the ethanol industry and a place for Wanzek Construction in it. “We’re optimistic that there will opportunities for smart, strategic growth,” he says. “There’s going to be a continued demand for ethanol and biodiesel.” We’ll continue to manage our growth in a changing industry.”

Craig A Johnson is the Ethanol Producer Magazine plant list & construction editor. Reach him at cjohnson@bbibiofuels.com or (701) 746-8385.

Check out other local news at www.In-Forum.com or www.FMBizJournal.com. That's the Forum of Fargo Moorhead and The Business Journal Serving the Greater Fargo Moorhead Area.