After graduating high school, John wanted to farm. Unfortunately though, his dad’s farm near Alpha, MN, was just 440 acres (including cattle) and the ag economy of the early 1980s wasn’t a good time to jump into agriculture full-time.

“I had to find a way to supplement the farm income, so I started a racing engine business,” John explains. For the next 30 years, he custom-built engines for racecar drivers, all the while helping his dad, Paul, and starting to farm on his own. Through his company, Weseman Engineering, John built over 800 engines; but his goal was always to farm full-time. That’s what he and his wife Dawn are doing today.

“Building engines is a hobby today,” says John, adding that he picks what he wants to do

when he wants to do it. “I still have the equipment, and if a racer has a project that sounds fun and fits my schedule, we’ll do something.”

These days, John applies his considerable technical skills to his full-time occupation. “I brought the computer analysis I used to build racing engines into my farming business,” he states. Now, instead of a shop full of equipment, John works with a cab full of computers that he uses to apply his fertilizer, seed, and herbicides at variable rates to 1,240 acres of corn and beans, some owned and some rented. He and his wife, Dawn, are sole proprietors and employees of their farm.

DECEMBER 2015 • VOLUME 15 ISSUE 3www.nuwaycoop.comD

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NUWAY COOPERATIVE • PO Box Q • Trimont, MN 56176-0370 • Main Office: 507-639-2311 • 800-445-4118 • Fax: 507-639-4006

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From Building Engines to Precision AgAlpha farmer John Weseman applies his considerable technical expertise to producing the best crops.

Bulk Propane & Refined Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-445-4118CEO, Kevin Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507-639-7124Business Development Director, Rock Reker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7126Account Manager/Sales and Marketing Director, Jeff Crissinger . . . . . . . . ..507-639-7120Sales/Business Support, Callie Austin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7107 CFO, Tyler Olson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507-639-7104Human Resources, Safety and Compliance, Anne Bedford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7134Credit Manager/AgQuest Finance, Emily Boelke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7114 Operations Manager, Jake Oldenburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507-639-7146Account Manager/Crop Nutrient Specialist, Dan Schley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507-639-7132

Account Manager/Crop Protection Specialist, John Sandmeyer . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7130 Account Manager, Matt Bezdicek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7138 Account Manager, Neil Chaffee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7122Seed and Genetics Manager/Account Manager, Luke Daninger . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7102Account Manager, Dan Knips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507-639-7170Certified Energy Specialist, Chad Larson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7118Certified Energy Specialist, Reid Rettke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7172 AgQuest Insurance, Jim Paulson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507-317-1930WinField Associate, Lisa Nelson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507-639-7136

Continued on page 2

With a variety of terrains and soil types, John takes the same precision approach to farming each field today as he did in the past to build each unique engine. “Every one of my fields is an experiment,” he states. “There’s something different going on with fungicide, insecticide, and fertilizer on each plot of land—to me it’s just a big laboratory.”

While he does much of his own agronomy, John relies on NuWay Cooperative for the products he applies and for advice. “I still rely on NuWay’s recommendations and experience to validate what I do,” says John, who adds that the cooperative is “light years ahead of other companies” in helping their customers to farm with precision.

John also appreciates having NuWay’s services to fall back on when he gets behind. “I got behind this spring on variable rate fertilizer application, and I sent my prescription to NuWay,” says John. “It came right into their system, and they applied it for me.”

Besides his agronomy inputs, John purchases his LP from NuWay Cooperative.

Wesemans and NuWay enter seed relationship John and Paul have operated a thriving Asgrow®-Dekalb®

Seed dealership since 1981. This fall, for the first time, the Wesemans will take on a seed partner—NuWay Cooperative. “We’ll do the sales and service and NuWay will take over the delivery, warehousing, and seed treatment,” explains John.

In the past, the Wesemans ordered their customers’ seed with treatment on it. With seed moving to bulk and logistics and timing becoming ever more important, the Wesemans decided to join forces with NuWay Cooperative so they can continue to bring the best products and services to their many seed customers.

“We decided to partner with NuWay because the cooperative is serious about seed,” states John.

NuWay account manager Dan Schley grew up as a neighbor of the Wesemans and has worked with Paul and John for over 35 years. “It’s been fun to watch as the operation has grown,” says Dan. “I think the seed partnership is going to be good all the way around.”

Editor’s Note: Besides corn and soybeans, John and Dawn have raised three children on their farm near Alpha: two daughters and a son. They also have three grandchildren.

PAGE 2 ©2015 NuWay Cooperative. All Rights Reserved. Published in partnership with VistaComm® (www.VistaComm.com).

From Building Engines to Precision Ag Continued from page 1

John works with a cab full of computers that he uses to apply his fertilizer, seed,

and herbicides at variable rates.

John with his account manager Dan Schley. John says NuWay Cooperative is “light years ahead of other

companies” in helping farmers farm with precision.

John and Dawn Weseman farm near Alpha, MN.

We wrapped up a successful fiscal year on July 31, 2015. Despite the troubled ag economy, NuWay Cooperative met (and in some cases exceeded) its budget and ended the year with a positive outcome, which further strengthened our balance sheet.

Thanks for your part in moving this company—your company—forward.

I would be remiss if I did not mention a very large bankruptcy going on in our market area. On Sept. 29, 2015, a local independent grain merchandiser and seed producer filed for Chapter 11 protection.

When you see things like this happen, whether to a large or to a small independent company, it takes your breath away. No one wants to see something like this happen to a neighbor, and it leaves many people including creditors, customers, employees, and vendors in flux.

At the same time, it illustrates the value of the cooperative system. If you deliver grain, pre-pay for supplies, or if you have equity invested in a company, you need to know its financial situation. A private company is not required to report that.

In a cooperative like NuWay, we are required to share our financials on an

annual basis, and we are audited by a third party accounting firm to make sure what we share gives an accurate financial picture of the company. Creditors, customers, employees, and vendors are welcome to come in and ask questions of the management and board of directors.

In these difficult economic times, you need to feel very comfortable with the company you are doing business with

and make sure it is secure.If you are not currently

doing the majority of your business with a cooperative—if you are doing the majority of your business with independents where you cannot see their financial workings, I encourage you to think twice. What happened to our local independent company could happen to any independent, large or small.

NuWay Cooperative is extremely sound financially and poised for the future. Our task, every day, is to

keep it that way. We take that task very seriously.

PAGE 3

A Positive Year in a Down Economy

The auditors have completed NuWay

Cooperative’s Fiscal 2015 audit, and the results have been approved by your board of directors. We met/exceeded our budget goals for 2014, so it was a positive year in a down economy. Read more about your cooperative’s Fiscal Year 2015 operations in the annual report, which we recently mailed to our voting members.

If you are a voting member but did not receive the annual report, along with the minutes of our last annual meeting and a ballot containing the names of the members standing for election, please call the main office

at 507-639-2311 or toll-free at 800-445-4118. NOTE: Requirements for voting membership include annual purchases of $20,000 and being a producer at risk.

Allocation of patronage has also been approved. You should see those checks this spring. Rates and other information relating to the patronage allocation will be communicated as the time gets closer.

Patronize Financially Transparent Companies

NuWay CooperativeBoard of Directors

Cory Andersen 507-728-8718

Dan Bebernes 507-235-9461

Dennis Carlson 507-317-5019

Mark Flohrs 507-630-7007

Jeff Mayo 507-920-9840

Matt Moeller 507-235-5470

Randy Nelson 507-764-3901

Jerrod Simmons 507-847-5464

Brian Steen 507-840-0997

Ben Truesdell 507-764-7153

KEVIN JONESCEO

507-639-7124kjones@nuwaycoop.com

DAN BEBERNESBoard Chairman

507-235-9461bebernes@frontiernet.net

NuWay Cooperative is financially sound and poised for the future.

On July 31, 2015, NuWay Cooperative closed out another successful financial year. Please reference the Annual Report you were mailed recently for a detailed comparison of Fiscal 2015 and 2014.

Your cooperative’s sales for FY2015 totaled $115,433,718 compared to $100,294,588. Lower fertilizer sales, because of the ag economy, were eclipsed by higher energy sales resulting from the acquisition of Best Oil at Cloquet, MN.

NuWay Cooperatives’ net income on these sales totaled $1,744,162 compared to $2,663,219 for FY2015. Net income was lower than the previous year, but still ahead of budget. Key factors in these results include:

• Growth in our wholesale business which is low margin— part of our wholesale profitability comes the following year when we receive a dividend from our suppliers.

• Growth in chemical which is also low margin—these sales are program-based, meaning that we receive part of our margins the year after the sale.

In summary, our higher sales in the low margin wholesale fuel and retail chemical businesses reduced our net income for the current year, but will positively affect our bottom line in 2016. Again, we ended the year ahead of our budget which took into account the current ag economy.

FY2015 income will be allocated as follows: 60% qualified patronage and 40% non-qualified patronage. We will pay a 30% dividend on the qualified patronage this spring. The dividend paid will be based on all sales a customer has transacted with NuWay Cooperative.

Thanks for your continued support. We look forward to serving you in the years to come.

PAGE 4

Sales Up, Margins Down: We’re Ahead of Budget

Some growers this fall may have experienced problems with lodging due to nitrogen cannibalization in their cornfields. Lodging can occur when nitrogen is robbed from the plant’s leaves and stalk to fill out the grain.

As corn matures, it pulls nitrogen out of the stalk to finish the kernels in the ears. In some instances, there may have been a nutrient deficiency in the soil. It could also be the case that the corn simply ran short of nitrogen because of unusually favorable weather conditions which made a large harvest possible.

A lot of times, corn plants won’t visually show that nitrogen is being taken from their stalks. You need to get out in the field and walk through the crop. Nitrogen-deficient stalks will snap right off.

Nitrogen movement within the corn plant is an aspect of normal development. Proteins begin to accumulate in the grain shortly after pollination. They continue to accumulate until the grain reaches black layer.

To produce these proteins, the plant utilizes nitrogen from its stalks and leaves—which act like a reservoir. This reservoir can only be filled during the crop’s vegetative stage. As soon as it begins to die, there is nothing that can be done to add more nitrogen to the plant.

Frequent rains like we experienced this season increased the ability of a corn plant to yield, so it needed more nitrogen. If the plant did not contain enough free (non-structural) nitrogen, it began to cannibalize itself to make the protein required to fill the grain.

We haven’t experienced nitrogen cannibalization in years, but we may have seen it over a wide area in 2015. Hybrids from all companies were susceptible.

Lodging May Have Resulted from Bumper Crop

TYLER OLSONCFO

507-639-7104 tolson@nuwaycoop.com

Lodged corn in a Martin County field.

Cannibalized stalks on the left; healthy stalks on the right.

ROCK REKERBusiness

Development Director

507-639-7126lreker@nuwaycoop.com

PAGE 5

You’ve probably heard the term benchmarking, but do you know what it means? www.BusinessDirector.com defines benchmarking as a measurement of the quality of an organization's policies, products, programs, strategies, etc., and their comparison with standard measurements or similar measurements of its peers.

The objectives of benchmarking are (1) to determine what and where improvements are called for, (2) to analyze how other organizations achieve their high performance levels, and (3) to use this information to improve performance.

NuWay Cooperative growers involved in the Technology Advantage Program will see more enhancements to their current program and will be shown more benchmarks. In the past,

Technology Advantage customers have received information on hybrid or product effectiveness. We are adding more reports and analysis on how practices performed on a field and farm compare with others. For instance, “What percent of growers plant at a speed over five miles per hour? Do I plant faster or slower than them? Does it affect my yield?”

Your data is important, and we want you to make the most of it. We will continue to evaluate programs and procedures to give the best results and recommendations back to growers involved in Technology Advantage. We will also continue to investigate what areas of analysis we do not offer that would get more growers involved in Technology Advantage. 

By using benchmarking, you can anonymously compare farming practices without a large time commitment. We will keep on adapting as technology changes, but we will always keep YOUR data secure and anonymous. 

Ask your NuWay Cooperative account manager if you have a question about benchmarking and the Technology Advantage Program.

Technology Advantage—More Benchmarking Soon

KEVIN ANDERSONGIS Data Specialist

507-639-7164kanderson@farmrx.com

Consider the Tundra® Supreme Assurance Program as insurance coverage for your investment in seed, fertilizer, etc. Tundra Supreme, by Winfield, is an insecticide with a dual mode of action. It’s used to control soybean aphids and other insects. It offers a quick knock down with residual control to follow.

Growers who upgrade to 10 ounces per acre of Tundra Supreme for their 2015 soybean aphid control will also receive these added benefits for no additional cost:

• 4 ounces per acre of Interlock® for enhanced spray deposition and canopy penetration

• A 30-day respray assurance programContact your NuWay Cooperative account manager for more information.

Is YourSoybeanInvestment Covered?

PAGE 6

NuWay to Help You Evaluate Ag Start-upsBy definition, a “start-up” is

an entrepreneurial venture or new business, often a temporary organization designed to search for and create a repeatable and scalable business model. Start-ups are created in all sectors of businesses; however, some locations and business sectors are particularly associated with the “start-up” mentality.

The Silicon Valley, an area in Northern California that is well-known for its level of start-up activity, is increasingly taking an interest in modern agriculture. Silicon Valley firms are quickly finding ways to integrate their expertise in the fields of data analytics, cloud computing, and mobile app creation. According to data from the Cleantech® Group out of San Francisco, between 2013 and 2014 Silicon Valley’s interest in backing ag and food related start-ups doubled. That pace continued to accelerate through 2015.

Using funding dollars from multiple investment companies like Google Ventures, for example, start-ups are designed to grow very quickly and get noticed. Their motivation or hope is often to be purchased and integrated into a larger company. A great example of this is The Climate Corporation, one of the original ag start-ups.

The Climate Corporation got its start in 2006 with the idea of selling and underwriting weather insurance to growers by collecting very specific current and historical weather data metrics, and then using high-end data analytics to predict outcomes. Monsanto liked their idea enough

to buy The Climate Corporation in October of 2013 for about $1.1 billion dollars. Monsanto has since further developed The Climate Corporation into what it is today.

Start-up companies like The Climate Corporation sometimes produce huge returns for their initial owners, creators, and investors. However, the failure rate of start-ups is very high. A common reason for failure is that start-up companies simply run out of

funding. Start-ups often operate by using funds gathered from multiple rounds of investment sourcing. They often run at a loss during the rapid growth phase of development when they are trying to get noticed. If the start-up company runs out of dollars before additional investment dollars are secured or before the company is self-sufficient, the company can fail quickly and suddenly cease to exist.

How does all of this affect you, as a grower? Every day you decide who to share your data with and which opportunities to invest your dollars in. Because of the nature of the start-up, growers and service

providers alike can easily invest significant time, energy, and dollars into a start-up opportunity, just to have

that opportunity significantly change due to an acquisition, or disappear altogether if the start-up company fails.

Some of the more popular start-up companies aspiring to serve agriculture include Farmers Business Network, Adapt-N, FarmLogs, Granular, Blue River Technologies, and Precision Hawk—to name just a few.

Which start-ups will succeed and which will fail? Unfortunately, that is anybody’s guess. However, you can be sure that

NuWay Cooperative is diligent and targeted when it comes to evaluating new opportunities in the ag sector. Our intent is to efficiently bring to our growers only new and developing technologies that are also practical.

Do we take risks on some of these unproven opportunities? Absolutely! If we don’t, we are being too cautious.

In today’s digital world, things develop and change rapidly. NuWay can’t possibly pursue and evaluate every new opportunity out there, so if you come across something you think might be valuable to your business, by all means let us know. We would love to explore the opportunity with you.

JEFF CRISSINGERAccount Manager/Sales & Marketing

Director507-639-7120

Cell: 507-236-0742jcrissinger@nuwaycoop.com

NuWay Cooperative intern Courtney Severson helped evaluate new soil testing technology this past summer. We’ll help you

evaluate new technologies and opportunities. Just ask.

PAGE 7

Securing Our Role In World Food ProductionAt NuWay Cooperative, we care about the long-term success of our member-

owners. This means we strive to improve your bottom-line and maintain your land for future generations. Our newly launched SUSTAIN platform will help improve productivity and input efficiency while building soil health and enhancing stewardship of natural resources.

What is SUSTAIN?SUSTAIN combines leading, highly

effective and field-tested tools, technologies and practices that are proven to help growers improve nutrient use efficiency, soil health, and productivity. Growers participating in

SUSTAIN will work with their NuWay Cooperative Account Manager to bring the latest learnings and science to the field in ways that are practical, usable, and effective in improving crop management for economic benefit and reduced risk.

Why SUSTAIN? Growers like you will benefit from SUSTAIN through:• Improved farm management. SUSTAIN growers benefit from practices and

technologies that improve efficiency, protect soil health, save money and maintain high yields.

• Increased market appeal for their farms. SUSTAIN will position growers at the forefront of marketplace momentum on sustainability. An increasing number of companies like Wal-Mart, General Mills, Campbell Soup, and Smithfield are developing and implementing sustainability programs aimed at improving the environmental footprint of commodity grain crops.

• Improved reputation. SUSTAIN offers growers and their retailers a way to document and communicate their effective and responsible management of the land. The program will enable growers to show their neighbors and the public at large the value their lands bring to water quality, climate stability, soil conservation, and food security.

By participating and implementing SUSTAIN, NuWay Cooperative will be leaders in providing the programs and services that enable growers to meet the new market demand for sustainably grown crops and benefit from improved economics of nutrient use efficiency, soil health and high productivity.

To learn more about SUSTAIN and to adopt it as a part of your farming operation, contact your NuWay Cooperative Account Manager or visit www.sustain.ag.

Fertilizer market and supply updateDespite pricing, which remained flat this past fall, we struggled to keep tons

of phosphate and potash in the bin. Sales were up because of excellent crop yields. As far as I know, however, fertilizer was applied on all fields where it was requested by our customers.

Following last spring’s explosion, the performance of the United Suppliersdry fertilizer plant at Welcome has been excellent. Chris Cosgrove, the new plant manager, has done a great job, as has his crew—which includes former NuWay operations manager Brian Carlson.

Going into spring, I see little strength in the fertilizer markets.We’ve taken 10-34-0 in by truck, and railcars of 32-0-0 are showing up

regularly, so we are in good shape as far as supply for next spring.

DAN SCHLEYAccount Manager/

Crop Nutrient Specialist

507-639-7132Cell: 507-236-2568dschley@nuwaycoop.com

Dry tender loading at United Suppliers plant

PAGE 8

Addressing Resistant Weeds By the Account Managers

With all the weed resistance issues out there, we’re recommending that you start the 2016 crop production season with a pre-plant herbicide and come back with some kind of post residual herbicide as well. Make sure you’re using multiple modes of action over the field.

Read John Sandmeyer’s article on page 12. Then work with your account manager to craft a specific program to control the resistant weeds on your farm. Just a reminder: we need to spray those weeds at four inches or less, in a post-emergence application, to control them.

For most of your post-emergence applications, you’ll want to increase the water you’re using from 10 gallons to 15-20 gallons. This is because you’re applying a contact herbicide rather than a systemic herbicide. Pair that with a nozzle of small droplet size and products like Interlock® to help with coverage.

If you’re running into some bad weed resistance problems, another alternative would be LIBERTY® herbicide sprayed on Liberty-resistant soybeans at 20-gallons or more. The standard practice would be a pre-emerge and two passes of Liberty.

Insecticide-starter combinations

A lot of corn will be planted in 2016 that is not traited for corn rootworm control. As a result, more insecticides will be used.

Be selective and very careful which insecticides you try to apply with your starter fertilizer. If you try to mix an insecticide that is not compatible, it could either separate out and you could get no activity or (and this is a worst case scenario) you could have a chemical reaction in the tanks.

Use a compatible insecticide. We recommend Capture® LFR® with starter.

Upgrading our seed treatment facilities

We’ve updated the Caldwell Brothers’ Amboy Seed Warehouse—adding two 3,000-unit bulk soybean tanks and a seed treater. In addition, we’re installing a new treater at our Welcome Operations Facility that will increase our capacity to put seed through. Those improvements will be ready for spring 2016.

This year, we’ll carry the seed treatments Warden® CX, Acceleron I/F®, and Warden RTA®, plus we handle the inoculant Optimize®. And we’ll also have the capacity to treat with other products such as Clariva™ or ILeVO®.

NEIL CHAFFEEAccount Manager

507-639-7122Cell: 507-236-2560nchaffee@nuwaycoop.com

JOHN SANDMEYERAccount Manager/

Crop Protection Specialist

507-639-7130Cell: 507-236-2561

jsandmeyer@nuwaycoop.com

LUKE DANINGERSeed and Genetics Manager/Account

Manager507-639-7102

Cell: 651-829-0604ldaninger@nuwaycoop.com

MATT BEZDICEKAccount Manager

507-639-7138Cell: 507-236-4741

mbezdicek@nuwaycoop.com

DAN KNIPSAccount Manager

507-639-7170Cell: 507-360-4041

dknips@nuwaycoop.com

DAN SCHLEYAccount Manager/

Crop Nutrient Specialist

507-639-7132Cell: 507-236-2568dschley@nuwaycoop.com

LISA NELSONWinField Associate

507-639-7136Cell: 641-590-5771 lnelson@nuwaycoop.com

JEFF CRISSINGERAccount Manager/Sales & Marketing

Director507-639-7120

Cell: 507-236-0742jcrissinger@nuwaycoop.com

NuWay customer consults with WinField Associate Lisa Nelson.

PAGE 9

CornIn the data set

harvested from Minnesota Answer Plots, DEKALB® products yielded an average of 9.5 bushels per acre better than Pioneer® across our maturity range.

NuWay Cooperative also carries Croplan®, NK®, Producers® Hybrids and Renk Seeds, with conventional options in both Renk and Producers.

Supply will be tight this year on several key hybrids. Make sure to meet with your NuWay Cooperative account manager to get your order secured on hybrids that fit your ground the best.

I would challenge each of you to ask if the data supports the products you are purchasing and if there is information on how to place and manage those products correctly to optimize them throughout the growing season.

Our account managers have the data to help you make the correct choices and to establish profitable management practices on your farm. Data such as each hybrid’s response to population (RTP), response to nitrogen (RTN), response to corn-on-corn (RTCC), and response to fungicide (RTF) are keys to making informed decisions for each of your acres, in order to make good decisions in a down commodity market.

SoybeansCroplan and Asgrow® averaged a combined 3 bushels per acre

better than Pioneer in Minnesota Answer Plots. NK and Stine® have also performed very well this past fall.

Protect your seed investment with the correct seed treatment. Products such as Warden® CX and Acceleron® I/F have shown their value year over year with increased vigor and higher final population counts averaging about 16,000 plants per acre in the case of Warden CX. Not all seed treatments are created equal, so make sure to visit with your account manager to dive into any questions there may be.

Along with that, inoculant has proven to be successful in helping to increase nodulation on the soybean plant—which increases its ability to fix nitrogen. In higher yielding environments, this is especially valuable as the plant works to keep up with the demand for nitrogen. NOTE: Sixty bushel soybeans remove 228 pounds per acre of nitrogen alone!

Manage your data for future useNow that you have gathered your fall data, your

goals should be to use it. Even if you are not using it today, though, it is very important to store it in a safe, easy to access location. Data is becoming more and more valuable every year. Read Kevin Anderson’s story on page 5.

NuWay Cooperative will collect and store all of our growers’ data on our server system, whether you are currently using it or not. That way, you know it has been stored in a safe place that it is accessible when you want to use it.

Let us know, and we will come out to your farm and collect the data you have collected digitally with your planter, sprayer, combine, or other equipment.

Prepay and planningWe’re encouraging all of our growers to come in

now to plan for next spring and summer. In order to have the products and resources you need on hand next spring, we must talk with you early this winter.

Your seed decision is especially important. The more you change the traits you use—and especially if you decrease the trait protection of your seed—the more management you’ll need to put into your plan in order to protect that crop. Let’s talk soon about putting the right seed on the right field.

If you have a low input field scenario, you’ll want to make sure you have hybrids out there that can withstand that environment. Some hybrids require higher management and more inputs. So you must select and place the seed accordingly. Certain hybrids can handle a low input scenario better than others.

Your NuWay Cooperative account manager will have data from the 2015 Answer Plot, showing each hybrid’s response to various management situations. By choosing the right hybrid, you can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Call your account manager today.

Your 2016 Seed Choice

LUKE DANINGERSeed and Genetics Manager/Account

Manager507-639-7102

Cell: 651-829-0604ldaninger@nuwaycoop.com

DEKALB hybrids out-yielded Pioneer hybrids by 9.5 bu/A

in 2015 Answer Plots.

Account manager Neil Chaffee tests moisture of corn being harvested by NuWay grower Greg Belknap for yield monitor calibration.

Harvest started the middle of September. Since then, NuWay Cooperative’s growers and operations employees have had few breaks, other than a couple of rainy days in October. Both harvest and post-harvest fieldwork went smoothly. Our fleet of equipment stood up well. My hat is off to the guys at the Sherburn shop, who worked all summer long to prepare our application fleet for fall.

Across the tracks from the United Suppliers dry fertilizer plant, Ranco employees (Sioux Rapids, IA) have been constructing a railcar unloading conveyor. With this installation, dry fertilizer will be unloaded from railcars and conveyed over the tracks to the fertilizer plant. The goal is to have the conveyor unloading fertilizer into the plant by spring.

We had some issues at the dry plant last spring, but those have been corrected. So far, everything is working well.

This fall we were challenged to keep enough fertilizer in the plant to supply our application fleet, but we never ran out. We had a lot of people tasked with hauling product from St. Paul and Rosemont into this plant at Welcome.

Other Operations developments

At the NW Agronomy Plant, across the tracks from the Welcome Operations Center, the third loading bay we added last winter continues to make a big difference.

During the summer, we cleaned out two liquid fertilizer tanks at NW Agronomy and then three on our side of the tracks. Removing rust and sediment that builds up in these tanks over time eliminates the potential that our equipment will clog and cause unwelcome in-season delays. It also extends the life of the tanks.

NuWay Cooperative is still working with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture on protocols and plans for excavating the contaminated soil that once lay beneath our old dry fertilizer plant at Welcome. It’s gone now, and we’re still planning to expand our liquid plant on this ground once it is cleaned up.

At this point, we expect to begin removal of contaminated soil in the summer of 2016 and to begin construction of the liquid plant expansion that fall. We’ll keep you posted.

At the beginning of November, we received seed corn shipments at our Welcome warehouse, and we’re busy putting that inventory away. When it gets cooler, we’ll take some seed beans for 2016 into the warehouse.

New equipment and facesThis fall, we traded one of our older

sprayers for a new John Deere sprayer. We’ve also ordered a new 6,000-gallon propane bobtail for delivery in January or February. That new, larger bobtail has the potential of replacing one or two smaller trucks.

You may have seen a few new faces this summer and fall. Ron Crawley has been helping us out by driving tender truck and hauling anhydrous tanks.

We also had four interns from Ukraine working at Welcome since March. They left in November to attend college in Chicago. Thanks to everyone who made them feel welcome. They had a good experience, despite coming

PAGE 10

With Harvest Over, Ops Prepares for 2016

JAKE OLDENBURGOperations Division

Manager507-639-7146

Cell: 507-236-5766 joldenburg@nuwaycoop.com

Crane and crew of KSI, from Sabetha, KS, move tanks feeding the seed treatment facilities at Welcome.

Workers from assemble the new seed treater at Welcome.

New Faces at TrimontMeet the two newest members of NuWay Cooperative’s administrative staff: Emily Fast and Bonnie Watson.

Emily Fast grew up in Butterfield where she graduated high school in 2007. She went on to earn a degree in payroll from South Central College in Mankato, and has worked for the past three years at Wells Federal in St. James.

She started at NuWay Cooperative Oct. 12 and will be engaged in account services—primarily invoicing and billing for Best Oil. She’ll also be taking orders and answering phones as needed.

“I look forward to building relationships with NuWay Cooperative’s customers,” she states.

Emily and her husband Ryan have two children: Kinley, 4 months, and Grayson, 2 years. The family lives in St. James.

In her free time, Emily loves to be outside—playing with her kids, fishing, and four-wheeling.

Bonnie Watson grew up on a farm five miles south of St. James. She married her husband Lonny and moved to Ormsby, where they raised two children and continue to live today. The Watson’s two sons, Brandon and Burke, are both married and have given the couple four granddaughters.

Before joining the NuWay Cooperative staff on Oct. 16, Bonnie worked for 27 years in local government. There she was the Utility Billing Clerk and performed other financial duties.

“I’ve always heard NuWay Cooperative is a nice place to work and I’m looking forward to new opportunities here,” says Bonnie.

Bonnie’s primary responsibility will be as the receptionist at the cooperative’s main office in Trimont and other duties as assigned.

Bonnie likes to be active in her church and does books for her family’s plumbing business as well. “I enjoy being with my little granddaughters,” she says, noting that they have another grandchild on the way.

Thursday, Dec. 24 Closed Christmas Day Closed New Year’s Day Closed

All offices are closed on weekends during the winter.

Bonnie Watson

Emily Fast

PAGE 11

all that way and not knowing our language.

They were a great help in making sure everything our customers ordered got delivered. Hopefully, the experience you had with them was positive. We’ll most likely do it again.

Keeping you safe and warmWith a lack of snow-cover, our LP

drivers and technicians are still out doing leak checks. To remind you, we need to do a leak check every five years on residential storage systems and every year on commercial storage systems.

We appreciate your cooperation in making arrangements to be on site when our technicians arrive. They’re tasked with making sure your propane system is safe and identifying the potential for product loss. It’s a great comfort to have your cooperation in that task.

One final request: please clear the path to your propane storage tanks this winter. Our delivery personnel can work quicker and it’s safer for them if they don’t have to haul a 150-foot hose over a snow-bank or to move snow. Thanks for your help.

Ranco employees construct a railcar unloading conveyor

across the tracks from the United Suppliers dry fertilizer plant.

A broad-spectrum corn herbicide, Acuron contains four active ingredients

and three complementary overlapping modes of action for multi-targeted control

of the most difficult weeds in corn. It will give you broad-spectrum control of 70-plus broadleaf weeds and annual grasses in corn, including some of the toughest to control. These tough weeds include Giant Ragweed, Common Ragweed, Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, marestail, kochia, cocklebur, morning glory, and Russian thistle. With excellent pre- and post-emergence crop safety, this herbicide is labeled for application from 28 days pre-plant to 12” tall corn.

Acuron is made up of the following chemistries: Atrazine, Bicyclopyrone, Mesotrione (Callisto), S-metolachlor (Dual II magnum). This combination of chemistries represents Group 5, 15, and 27 herbicides for three modes of action.

A pre-emergence corn herbicide that offers burndown, residual, and reactivation for consistent performance all season long, Corvus will deliver consistent broad-spectrum control of both grass and broadleaf weeds. With its

two modes of action, Corvus promises control of more than 65 weeds including those resistant to glyphosate, ALS, PPOs,

and triazine-based herbicides—such as Palmer amaranth and waterhemp.

Corvus includes highly active Crop Safety Innovation (CSI) Safener technology that has both soil and foliar uptake. Because the safener is active in both pre- and early post-application, Corvus can be used on any soil for greater crop compatibility and can be applied from burndown through the V2 growth stage.

Performance observedProduct supply of these herbicides should not be a problem.

NuWay Cooperative has already taken possession of 1,000 gallons of Acuron based on the good trials we’ve seen.

We didn’t see Corvus perform in 2015 in Minnesota. It was registered in Iowa and NuWay Cooperative account manager Neil Chaffee did sell some and observed some pretty good results.

If you are interested, please let your account manager know. We need to order product early to get it at the lowest price.

If you have any questions about the new herbicide options for this upcoming year or about any herbicide, contact your NuWay Cooperative account manager.

IS YOUR SOYBEAN INVESTMENT COVERED? PAGE 5

Our VisiOn:nuWay COOperatiVe is a diVersified partner

tO yOu and yOur COmmunity, deliVering

exCeptiOnal Value thrOugh knOWledge and

innOVatiOn.

New Corn Herbicides for 2016 JOHN SANDMEYER

Account Manager/ Crop Protection

Specialist507-639-7130

Cell: 507-236-2561jsandmeyer@nuwaycoop.com

For the 2016 growing season, NuWay Cooperative will offer two new herbicide options: Acuron and Corvus. We always talk about resistance and how we need to use multiple modes of action. These products give us what we need to fight against weed resistance.

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAID

VISTACOMM