Fuel prices driven by various factors

The phrase, “remember when”, has commonly been used all throughout history. As the speed of available information increases and the world continues to change, it is probably safe to say that “remember when” used to mean 20, 30 or 50 years ago. Today it can easily mean a year or less.

Many of us remember when the price of fuel changed a couple times a month (at most). We also remember when a change of 10 cents over a month’s time was a big deal. Back then we would have been shocked to know that the market could fluctuate more than 10 cents in a single day.  

Return of funds in MF Global bankruptcy to be priority

Producers and business people from across the United States submitted testimony this past week before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry about the effects of MF Global’s bankruptcy filing.   CJ Blew, Castleton-area producer and MKC’s Board Chairman, was asked by Senator Pat Roberts to participate in those hearings on Tuesday.

Blew testified that although he did not personally have assets tied up in the MF Global bankruptcy, he was impacted.  “I rely upon my cooperative to manage my risk by forward pricing grain and my cooperative is impacted by the bankruptcy.” 

Blew further testified about the amount of time both MKC and Team Marketing Alliance (TMA) spent in the days following the bankruptcy filing trying to understand how and why various adjustments to account balances took place. 

MKC Sends Representatives to CHS New Leader Institute

Kent Nichols, Amber Brown, Aaron Vogts,
Katie and Derek Sawyer, Jon Brown, Doug Graber, Austin Greve

In their continuing effort to provide area producers with leadership development opportunities and a greater understanding of the relationship between CHS and the local coop, MKC recently sponsored another group of young leaders to attend the CHS New Leader Institute.  The Institute, hosted annually, was held in conjunction with the CHS annual meeting in Minneapolis, MN. 

Building leaders, advancing agriculture and strengthening rural America is the Institute’s mission. With this mission in mind, MKC continues to be one of the strongest supporters of the program sponsoring 58 local producers and young employees since 2004. This year’s attendees included Jon and Amber Brown, Doug Graber, Austin Greve, Kent Nichols, Derek and Katie Sawyer and Aaron Vogts.

MKC launches new web site; embraces social media

MKC launched their completely redesigned and enhanced web site in early October. With a totally fresh appearance and format, MKC's new web site embodies the coop's forward-thinking vision. "We believe the changes made to the web site have resulted in a significant improvement in the areas of content, navigation and design," stated Kerry Watson, Communications Specialist for MKC.

www.mkcoop.com

Producers benefit from unique revenue program

Traditionally producers in less than 10 Kansas counties have had access to federal crop insurance for double crop soybeans. No other program was available to the producer. Until this year. In keeping with their mission of helping farmers to be more successful, MKC management set out to find a risk management tool that would mitigate the risks for revenue and weather for growing double crop soybeans.