Kent Appler 563-423-5293CEO kappler@viafield.com

We’re Here For You!

Mike Harden 641-315-2515Agronomy mharden@viafield.com

Bill Hayes 563-426-5566Feed bhayes@viafield.com

Mike Kuboushek 563-380-6156Energy mkuboushek@viafield.com

Steve Bodensteiner 641-330-9345CFO sbodensteiner@viafield.com

Consolidation Revote Viafield Board of Directors

After the recent voting results of the proposed unification, your board of directors spent the past several weeks visiting and listening to the thoughts and wishes of our members, receiving input from Viafield team members, and discussing a variety of “next step” options within the board room. Thank you to those members who called, wrote letters, emailed and stopped to visit the directors. Some directors also visited with class A neighbors in their areas to determine their feelings on the consolidation.

After careful consideration of our options and discussion of all the inputs received, your Board of Directors unanimously voted to move forward to a revote on the Five Star – Viafield Consolidation. We feel a decision of this magnitude needs to have a strong membership participation in the vote. With just over half of our members voting and with almost 60% saying yes, we owe it to the majority of members who voted yes to allow the rest of our membership to voice their opinion. Here are some of the additional items that we feel are vital to combining these cooperatives:

1. Overlapping trade territories of Viafield and Five Star will capitalize on transportation savings. 2. Current and future assets are placed strategically across the future cooperative’s footprint.

3. Advantages to grain merchandising with rail and truck.

4. Financial strength to allow for projects of size and scale. The Feed mill is a great example.

5. Take advantage of the combined knowledge, skills and abilities of our talented team members.

6. Keep your local cooperative strong.

7. Control our own destiny: Today we can choose who we want to partner with, may not be an option in the future.

8. Locally governed and owned vs foreign control and ownership.

9. One of our members said it best: “This is a vote for the next generation not this one.”

For more information and details go to www.viafield.com/consolidation

www.viafield.com June 2015 - Issue 54

ConnectionsR

June is Dairy Month!

Your Viafield Directors;

Scan code with phone to check out the website.

This past spring the Clermont and Marble Rock locations were honored by local FFA chapters with Outstanding Service Awards at the chapters’ spring banquets. The North Fayette Valley FFA chapter recognized our Clermont location and the Rockford FFA recognized our Marble Rock location.

The North Fayette Valley FFA wanted to thank our Clermont team members for serving as judges at the Northeast District Convention. They hosted this convention one year ago in March and didn’t want to forget to thank our team members for their assistance. They also wanted our Clermont location to know they appreciated their help with the FFA chapter’s test plot. The location donated and applied the start up fertilizer and herbicide for the 8.3 acre test plot.

The Rockford FFA awarded our Marble Rock location with an Outstanding Serivce Award to thank them for their help with the FFA chapter’s test plot. Each year the Marble Rock location donates the dry fertilizer and applies it to Rockford’s two test plots. Between the two test plots there are approximately 12 acres the Viafield team members help with. The FFA chapter recognized the Marble Rock team members at their spring banquet.

Viafield is very proud of these two locations for their service to the local FFA chapters. As a company we believe it is very important to support local students as they learn more about agriculture. We are happy to help the local FFA chapters. Thank you to the North Fayette Valley FFA and the Rockford FFA for recognizing our Clermont and Marble Rock locations.

Outstanding Service FFA Award Clermont and Marble Rock locations honored with an award from local FFA Chapters

Take Your Planter to Next Level of PerformancevDrive®-DeltaForce® Double Play and 0%-36 month Financing on Precision Planting Products

Gain control of your planter row-by-row with the benefits of vDrive and DeltaForce. Standard drive motors don’t allow individual rows (from the outside to the inside of the planter) to adjust around curves. With vDrive, each row adjusts independently, so you get accurate populations on curves and with your prescriptions. Created exclusively for vSet™ meters, vDrive enables amazingly precise population control through curves and ground speed changes. It works with all variable rate prescriptions. With its row-by-row control, you’ll get precisely planted headlands, high-definition population reporting, and even the ability to plant male and female seed corn plants in the same pass. With no need for clutches, chains, or ground drive transmissions, the associated headaches are no longer an issue.

DeltaForce replaces the springs or air bags on your planter with hydraulic cylinders. That means it automatically increases or reduces weight with military precision, on each row individually. So when one row encounters conditions different than another (wheel tracks, old road beds, clay knobs, headlands, whatever), each will adjust independently. Row by row, foot by foot, depth stays exactly where you want it. Row by row, foot by foot, even seed by seed, you produce an environment that fosters uniform germination, optimum growth and maximum yield. In a third-party, five-year study, DeltaForce added more than 11 bushels per acre more than static down force control.* *Jason Webster, Becks PFR Research Study, 2013.

Purchase both vDrive and DeltaForce this summer and receive a per-row discount. For the month of June receive a $300 per row discount, July receive a $200 per row discount, and August 1st through the 28th receive a $100 per row discount. There is also 0% financing for 36 months on orders over $10,000.

Contact your Precision Ag Specialist, Nick Johansen, at 641-330-9236, for more details.

Food for ThoughtFriendly advice for marketing your corn and soybeans in the next year

The corn market continues to be a balancing act. Keeping bids competitive while maintaining good margins has been difficult, but the carry in the corn market along with slowly improving basis levels has allowed us to maintain momentum. Basis has improved as the futures market has descended. When enough producers are willing to sell and provide more corn to the market than it wants, our nearby inverse will disappear and basis will drop. Eventually, someone will have to store last year’s corn into next year. Are you keeping your bins full at home? If basis levels drop as expected, carrying corn from this year to next may be very profitable, but will you have room for this year crop? Currently, July 15 to July 16 spread is running 36-40 cents, which will pay storage and interest to carry it. Remember, the only way to capture carry is to sell it.

The soybean market has become the opposite of the corn market with an inverted market. July 15 to July 16 is an invert of 5-7 cents. This puts the market in the mood of need it tomorrow, bid for it today. We assume a good portion of the farmer owned beans in our elevators will be marketed before new crops, as we have no carry. The next couple of months will allow Viafield operationally to empty all of the soybeans from most of the locations companywide, while maintaining the physical inventory of farmer owned bushels in elevators that traditionally have excess space.

As we move from inverted markets to carry markets, we will have a new set of challenges to deal with. With that said, we need to turn our attention to the next crop that is just planted.

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Viafield Ag Youth Scholarship worth $1,000. This year’s winners are:

Viafield Announces 2015 Ag Youth Scholarship Recipients

Applications for this scholarship were judged by professors from North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar, and representatives from Iowa State University Extension Offices. Applicants were judged on their leadership skills, scholastic achievement, extracurricular activities, motivation, and academic and personal goals. For more information visit www.viafield.com/scholarship.

Recipient High School Planning to AttendAdam Fliehler Starmont High School NICC

Karl Klocke Starmont High School NICC

Luke Orr Central Community High School Iowa State University

Brady Ott RRMR NIACC

Austin Staudt RRMR Iowa State University

Katherine Stewart Oelwein High School Iowa State University

1001 Blunt PkwyCharles City, IA 50616

www.viafield.com

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Independence DayOur locations will be closed on Friday, July 3rd in

observance of Independence Day.

Connections June 2015 Issue

In this Issue

•Consolidation Update

•Outstanding Service Award From FFA

•Precision Planting

•Grain Futures

•2015 Ag Youth Scholarship Recipients

Look inside for more info