We are very excited regarding the program that is lined up for the upcoming Convention and Trade Show to be held at the Kalahari resort in the Dells on January 24 and 25. We’re building on last year’s success and we must be doing something right because the trade show is already sold out and we have had to add booth space in the convention center hallway.

We have added a speaker who we are sure will be of interest to everyone in the industry. He is Corwin Tufte, CEO of Ag States Agency in St. Paul. Mr. Tufte will speak on the current ‘hard’ property and casualty market the industry is experiencing and on what you, as an owner or manager, can do pro-actively to lessen the effect on your business. This is a very important topic because most businesses will experience 10 to 20%+ premium increases in the coming year, with some facilities seeing substantially higher increases and a small percent of businesses finding themselves having to buy insurance from non-rated companies. The speech will primarily be a repeat of his presentation at the National Grain & Feed Assn.’s Country Elevator Council meeting earlier this month in Indianapolis. The speech was an eye-opener for the industry at that conference and Mr. Tufte is to be commended for his ‘just the facts’ style of presenting. It is something you will not want to miss.

Add to this group of speakers, our closing luncheon keynote address by Vince Lombardi, and you have a program that you’ll remember for years. If you haven’t seen or heard Vince before, trust the comments of others that have. The most common praise is that he is ‘one of the best speakers I have ever heard.’ We’re sure you’ll agree. Be sure and get your registration in, we want to be ready for you.

While the new OSHA recordkeeping regulations take effect January 1, it must be remembered that the changes in the definitions, forms and posting requirements do NOT affect any injury and illness reporting for 2001 or previous years.

If your operation is covered by OSHA's injury & illness reporting requirements (basically all company's with 10 or more employees, including seasonal, part-time workers and paid family members), you must have a completed OSHA 200 log for calendar year 2001 and the previous 4 years (at a minimum), in your files. The right half of the 2001 log needs to be posted from Feb. 1 thru Mar. 1, 2002, even if there were no recordable injuries or illnesses.

Detailed information regarding the changes that take effect Jan. 1 will be presented at the Fourth Annual Safety Day, on Wednesday, January 23, (the day prior to the beginning of the Convention) at the Kalahari Resort, in Wisconsin Dells. Additional information is also available by contacting the WASA office.

Last week, a feasibility study was unveiled at the Dane County Extension office regarding the possibility of a soybean processing facility in south central Wisconsin. The study was completed by the consulting firm of Frazier, Barnes & Associates and was partially funded by the Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board and Dane County government.

Positives that were cited for the building of a plant in the area were that currently over 60 million bushels of soybeans are exported for further processing out of state and strong local markets exist for both soy oil and soybean meal. The study suggested that a plant could be sited in one of three possible locations; Dane County, the greater Milton area or Janesville area. Any of these locations could potentially draw soybeans from an 11 county region that currently produces approximately 23 million bushels of beans. The study also suggested that a plant processing about nine million bushels of beans annually in this area would be economical. Just to put that number in relative terms, that’s 15% of total Wisconsin bean production.

The study also suggested that soy diesel products could be added to the product mix, but they were not in the initial ‘startup’ plan. Again, this was a feasibility study, which was paid for by-and-large with ‘public’ funds. We are not aware of any individuals or groups planning to 'break ground' anytime soon, but we thought you might find the study results interesting nonetheless. And for all the naysayers, who will say this is just another dream, remember that was what folks said for years about ethanol in Wisconsin and we now have two plants under construction. And there are three more groups that are very serious about building ethanol plants and are putting their money where their mouth is.

In case you missed the news last week between the hearings into the Enron collapse and the hunt for Usama, Rooster.com closed their doors. If you weren’t aware, perhaps that was part of their problem. They never had what the tech industry calls a ‘killer app.’ As in, killer application. That one thing about a commercial product that forces customers to buy a product, because if they don’t, they will be at a commercial disadvantage.

Rooster was an Internet ‘trading platform’ that was developed to allow producers to trade with country elevator gathering points and terminals. It was supposed to revolutionize producer marketing, and some ‘experts’ forecast the end of business as we knew it. Well, it didn’t happen. In fact, four months ago, Pradium.com was merged into Rooster. Pradium was supposed to be a marketplace for commercial merchandisers and traders that would also supply logistics, financing, risk management and integrated back office e-paper flow. Pradium was supposed to change merchant to merchant dealings. That didn’t happen either. In both cases, they missed what is still so very important in agricultural transactions, personal trust.

Agriculture may be a mature industry, but the marketing of its products is still one that is based on relationships and transactions that take on a very personal aspect for some producers. The ‘smart guys’ missed that. They thought that cheaper, faster, more impersonal was always going to win the day. A tortoise proved that theory wrong a long time ago.

State Secretary of Agriculture Jim Harsdorf has named WASA Executive Director, John Petty, co-chair of the Agricultural Security Task Force. John will co-chair the group along with Wisconsin Farm Bureau representative Paul Zimmerman. The nine member Task Force, which covers and includes all aspects of Wisconsin agriculture, is charged with reviewing existing Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection emergency response plans for any gaps or holes. Since the groups represented on the Task force’s members are the ‘front line troops’ in remaining vigilant against any attack on Wisconsin agriculture, the group will also serve as a sounding board for any news ideas or suggestions to keep the food supply chain safe. Lastly, the group will also serve as a resource for Secretary Harsdorf in both his official capacities as Secretary of Ag and as a member of the Governor’s Terrorism Task Force.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, John would be glad to hear them.

UW - Cooperative Extension is offering a schedule for the 2002 Agronomy Update meeting series to be held January 3-9, 2002. This annual meeting series is designed to bring current information to consultants, farmer/seed dealers, seed company and industry representatives, and crop contact agents. The latest information will be presented on hybrid/variety performance, including an analysis and discussion of last year's production season, and updated recommendations for field crop production. This event is for seed dealers, agronomy managers and top farmers from your county or area and you should encourage them to attend.

There is a $12.00 registration fee per participant; meal cost is extra. The information packet will contain 2001 variety trial results, plus numerous new seed related reference materials. Additional copies of the packet will be available for purchase at the meeting. Certified Crop advisor CEU credits (2.5 hours) in crop production were requested for each session.

All meetings begin with a "Dutch treat" dinner or lunch, followed by the formal meeting. Meal price information must be obtained from the appropriate host agent. If you intend to join them for dinner or lunch, be sure the host agent (contact you local UW Cooperative Extension office for a schedule and list of host agencies) receives your dinner or lunch registration no later than one week before the meeting you plan to attend.

If you have questions or suggestions concerning these meetings, please contact UW – Cooperative Extension. Thank you in advance for your efforts to publicize and attend these meetings.

Three seats on the WASA Board of Directors will be up for election this year. The seats up for election are the Southeast District and the Northwest District seats, as well as the Grain Industry seat. The candidates for the Board are as follows:

John Kraus, Jr., Agro Distribution, Ripon

Ballots will be mailed immediately after the first of the month along with a WASA-addressed envelope. Be sure and return your ballot in the ballot envelope as faxed ballots cannot be counted.

The Board of Directors at the Convention will tabulate election results on January 24 and the results will be announced the following morning at the annual meeting.