McGinnis Honored by ISU College of Business

Retired GROWMARK Vice President of Strategic Planning and Corporate Services Vern McGinnis was recently inducted into the Illinois State University College of Business Hall of Fame.

McGinnis served as president of the college's Advisory Council for 10 years and was instrumental in establishing leadership programs for GROWMARK employees and directors through the College of Business faculty.

At McGinnis's induction ceremony, GROWMARK CEO Bill Davisson also announced the formation of the GROWMARK-Vern McGinnis Endowed Leadership Scholarship Fund to support outstanding sophomore or junior students enrolled in the college.

ILMA Scholarships Available

GROWMARK and FS member cooperative employees and their children are eligible for scholarships from the Society of Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA).



To be eligible, applicants must: be a citizen in a North American country, attend or be enrolled in a college or university in North America, register as a full-time student, and have a minimum 3.0/4.0 cumulative grade point average. Preference will be given to those with majors in math, science, and engineering.



For more information and an application, visit http://www.ilma.org// and click on the Scholarship Program link on the left side of the home page.

Chuck Spencer Named Director, Government Affairs

Chuck Spencer will join GROWMARK as Director, Government Affairs, effective April 20, 2009. In this position, Chuck will be responsible for the management direction and strategy development regarding legislative, regulatory and trade issues pertinent to the GROWMARK System. He will also develop and implement strategies to promote GROWMARK’s position on key issues and maintain relationships with industry, legislative and agriculture organizations, officials and associations.

Chuck’s professional experience includes more than 15 years of state and federal legislative and regulatory work for the Illinois Farm Bureau. Most recently, he was director of national legislation and policy development, responsible for directing the organization’s policy program, promoting the organization’s position on federal legislative and regulatory issues, and directing grassroots advocacy programs. Other relevant positions at Illinois Farm Bureau include associate director of state legislation where Chuck represented the organization before the Illinois legislature, and assistant director of natural and environment resources, responsible for representing the organization at public meetings with U.S. and Illinois government agencies and implementing environmental regulation and conservation programs.

Chuck is a registered national lobbyist and has extensive relationships with state and federal government agencies, as well as industry organizations and associations. He received his B.S. degree in agriculture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

GROWMARK Media Day

The second annual GROWMARK Media Day was held on March 25 in Bloomington, Ill. The event was designed to show members of the print and broadcast media the various products and services GROWMARK and its member cooperatives offer.

The day began with opening comments by Jim Hoyt, vice president, strategic planning and corporate services. Presentations were made by Dale Durchholz, senior commodities market analyst and Rob Huston, manager, AgriVisor, LLC; Joe Dillier, director, plant food; Tom Hunsley, FS Seed soybean/wheat product manager and Dennis Garzonio, FS Seed seed corn product manager; Randy Holthaus, grain systems marketing manager; Sid Parks, manager, precision farming; John Cripe, energy risk manager; and Bill Taft, Logistics Division manager. After each presentation there was a question and answer period where the nine attendees could interview the speakers for their publications and broadcasts.

A Day for Safety

This post is courtesy of Pat Titus, Illini FS safety and regulatory administrator.

The Illini FS Safety Committee conducted an all-employee Safety Day on March 2nd in Tuscola, Ill. Employees from the ag supply cooperative came to learn more about the importance of safety in the workplace.

“This was a great opportunity for all of our employees to get together and receive training that pertained to their field," said Dennis Mangers, safety committee member. Topics included ergonomics, hazardous material communication, pesticides, and safety attitude as well as several other job-specific topics. GROWMARK Safety Services Manager Doug DeFilippo and Safety Specialist Jenny Poole assisted in the training.

“As we work around our five-county area, not only do we want our employees to be safe but we want to let our customers know that we take care in educating the employees to work safely," said Pat Titus, safety and regulatory administrator. "Our objective is to give the employees training they can use on and off the job. Many of us live in the little towns throughout our trade territory. We want the communities we serve to know that we offer a safe working environment to our employees."

In addition to training and education, employees were recognized for their service to their communities. Employees were recognized who served on fire departments, emergency squads, or LEPC boards. HAZWOPER (Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response) and CPR-trained employees were also recognized.

As a reminder of their commitment to safety, all employees signed a safety contract at the Safety Day. Copies will be made and will hang in all of the cooperative's facilities.

DeFilippo presented Dave Mattingly, Paris facility, with the T.R.U.T.H. (That’s Really Using The Head) in Safety Award. Mattingly was also awarded the Illini FS Partner in Safety Award for 2008. He earned these awards as a result of designing temporary electrical systems for the double-tank anhydrous ammonia nurse tanks.

David Rich, GROWMARK career development trainer, led an afternoon session focused on the importance of customer service.

Iowa FFA Essay Contest Winner Announced

Becca Siemens of Buffalo Center, Iowa, has been named the Iowa winner of the 2009 GROWMARK essay contest for FFA members. The theme of this year’s contest was “Homegrown Fuels: Good for American Agriculture.”

Siemens is a student at North Iowa Community School and a member of the Bison FFA chapter. Her FFA advisor is Dean Gerzema.

As the contest winner, Siemens will receive a $500 scholarship from GROWMARK at the Iowa FFA State Leadership Conference, held in Ames during April. The Bison FFA chapter will also receive a $300 award in honor of her accomplishment to help future students.

Four state runners-up will each receive a $125 scholarship. The runners-up and their FFA chapters are: Emily Hansen, Earlham FFA; Josh Rohn, Linn-Mar FFA; Marcus Samson, Diamond Trail FFA, and Josh Schade, North-Linn FFA.

Students were asked to describe renewable homegrown fuels made with agricultural commodities and the benefits they provide.

This is the sixteenth year for the program, sponsored by the GROWMARK System and FS member cooperatives, in conjunction with state FFA leaders, to help young people develop their writing skills, learn about current issues in agriculture, and understand the unique role of cooperatives.

Siemens's winning essay is below:

Homegrown Fuels are Good for America and Agriculture

Imagine a world where our cars, planes and homes are fueled by renewable resources, but not just any renewable resource, the “Perfect Resource.” We have the potential of producing one of the cleanest burning alternative fuels available to the world, and it’s right underneath our feet. The truth is, we’ve been growing it for hundreds of years! Now is the time to put it into action: locally, nationally, and across the world. Ethanol and biodiesel, made respectively from corn oil and soybean oil, may be the answer to the prolonged question of how to cleanly fuel our world.

Soy biodiesel is currently the most widely tested and used biodiesel in the United States. Biodiesel contains no petroleum although it may be mixed with petroleum to produce a desired blend. It is nontoxic and is biodegradable, making it a huge environmental, “yes.”

To illustrate just how big of a difference using soybean oil in a biodiesel fuel could really make, picture this fact quoted from Frontier FS Cooperative: “If only 1% of all diesel fuel used in America was replaced with soy biodiesel fuel, it would amount to 600 million gallons of fuel that we would no longer have to purchase abroad. We need to get the word out about this product. It not only supports our economy but also is an environmentally sound alternative fuel choice.” Now that’s a big difference, and the opportunity is right here!

Ethanol is stretching its potentials too. Ethanol’s market share is now 78% of Iowa fuel. A recent study states that just blending ethanol with gasoline saves the consumer 45 cents at the pump, and with Iowans buying over 1.2 billion gallons of ethanol blends in 2007 alone, that makes a huge impact. Not only does it directly save us money here at home, but it saves us money through oil imports. Using homegrown ethanol reduces U.S. oil imports by 9 billion gallons.

With new technologies in the ethanol industry, and increasing usage across the nation, the ethanol industry has resulted in more than 47,000 new jobs in Iowa. This not only benefits those receiving the jobs, but it boosts the economy of thousands of rural communities across the state. More employment opportunities mean a larger population of people to help support our schools, small businesses, and other assets in our small towns.

But ethanol has more than just the economy going for it; the positive environmental status of ethanol is another benefit. By using E85, we can reduce ozone-forming pollution by 20%, fuel life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 30%, and the release of other toxic chemicals into the environment. Another important factor, which isn’t often thought of in the production of fuels is water usage. It takes 33% less water to produce a gallon of ethanol over a gallon of gasoline. For a more visual example, a typical 40 million gallon ethanol plant uses the same amount of water daily as an 18 hole golf course.

Homegrown fuels, such as biodiesel and ethanol, are becoming a more popular alternative choice for fueling our lives everyday. The word is out, and people are catching on. Even big events, like the Indy 500 are promoting these fuels. Indy car drivers burn 100% ethanol in their engines, and can’t say enough about the performance it provides, even at 220 miles per hour, and that’s something nobody can argue with.

Homegrown fuels have provided so much opportunity locally and nationally. Living on a farm in “Small Town”, Iowa, I have learned to understand the importance and potential of these alternative fuels. The facts are there, now all we have to do is show it, and maybe someday our world will be powered by that “Perfect Alternative Fuel:” the one right beneath our feet.

2009 GROWMARK System Marketing Conference

The 2009 GROWMARK System Marketing Conference was held on March 11 at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria, Ill. Over 300 managers and marketing personnel attended.

Featured presenters included Ira Blumenthal, president of Co-Opportunities, Inc. He spoke about change in the marketplace and how some companies go from "distinction to extinction." He offered three ways to deal with change - ignore it; adapt, adjust, and react to it; and to use it as a catalyst to make further changes. He noted that in today's marketplace, collaboration is a key component to success.

Dr. W. Scott Downey of Purdue University led a panel discussion focused on results from a survey of large acreage producers. He spoke about three eras in history and the changing expectations consumers had during those eras. The study showed that today customers value the relationship they have with a salesperson more now than in the past. These findings were reinforced by panelists Don Bierman of Wabash Valley Service Company, Brock Bentsen of Conserv FS, Inc., and Bruce Zimmerman of AGRILAND FS, INC.

The keynote speaker of the conference was Mike Ditka, Pro Football Hall of Famer. He spoke about how he achieved success on the football field both as a player and a coach. He encouraged attendees to "play their ACE - attitude, character, and enthusiasm."