AGCO, Duluth, GA, and Russian Machines announced the $100 million joint investment, saying the companies will build a manufacturing plant near Moscow that will include a show room, training center and eventually a model…

Art’s Way Manufacturing Co., Inc., Armstrong, IA, and Ohio Metal Working Products Company announced they have signed a letter of intent. The letter of intent calls for Ohio Metal Working Products Company to sell to Art’s Way Manufacturing Co., Inc. the operating assets of Ohio Metal Working Products Company, doing business as American Carbide Tool Company.

A federal district court’s recent decision upholding EPA’s total maximum daily load (TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay wrongly puts federal agency staff in charge of intensely local land use decisions, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). AFBF and other groups challenged the TMDL as an unlawful overreach of EPA’s power under the Clean Water Act and as based on faulty science and inadequate opportunity for public comment.

There are two updates on important issues we’ve been covering over the last six months. In each case, this is far from the last word; we will remain focused on these issues in the months ahead. Wisconsin State Restrictions On Farm Equipment and New Hampshire Dealer Law.

New Hampshire Dealer Law: This past Monday, portions of the so-called “Dealer B1ill of Rights”, became law in New Hampshire. Last week, the New Hampshire Superior Court granted the three major tractor manufacturers a preliminary injunction halting enforcement as it would apply to…

Wisconsin State Restrictions On Farm Equipment: Last week, we received a DRAFT copy of the Phase II Addendum Report.
At first reading, it appears that many of the concerns we had with the IoH Study Report have been addressed…

Nearly 40% of the dealers responding to Ag Equipment Intelligence’s (AEI) “2014 Business Trends & Outlook Survey” expect revenues from new equipment sales to increase anywhere from 2% to more than 8% in the year ahead. Another 36% are calling for…

Bigham Brothers, Inc. of Lubbock, TX recently announced the acquisition of Pitonyak Machinery Corporation (PMC) and its entire line of farm equipment.

Manufacturing will continue in both the Lubbock and Carlisle facilities. The equipment from both plants will now be available through a nation-wide network of…

USDA recently announced loans to help finance the construction of broadband networks in rural Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon and South Dakota. The announcement is one part of the Department’s efforts to strengthen the rural economy.

It’s always your choice — delivered on paper or via email — we want to be sure we are sending the Shortliner newsletter in the format that works best for you.

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Most of our industry, and the farmers we serve, have overall experienced a pretty favorable business climate in recent years. However, we know that for every mountain top in agriculture there are also valleys. Better business decisions will be more crucial than ever to position member companies for a tougher business environment.

If you knew where your company had the best opportunities to improve performance, you’d take action on that insight. But how can you know where to focus your team’s efforts to protect and improve profitability?

The annual business meeting of our Association will be held on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. during the Fall Convention in Indianapolis, IN. The purpose of the meeting shall be the election of directors and for the transaction of such other business as may come before the meeting.

The Tillage Council, meeting at the 2013 Indianapolis Fall Con-vention, is hosting special guest speaker Dr. Hans Kok, the coordinator of the Indiana Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative (CCSI), a program sponsored by the Indiana Conservation Partnership.

The CCSI promotes a continuous, systematic approach to production agriculture, resulting in improved profitability, soil quality, and water quality on Indiana cropland by focusing on the following:

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) 2013 California’s average farm real estate is valued at an all-time record $7,300 per acre.

This amount is $100 above the previous record set in 2012. Annual California farm real estate values have continually increased since…

Ken Brown & Sons Inc., in Theresa, NY recently were notified by John Deere that sales of Deere’s products must officially end October 1, 2013.

Straub International is celebrating the grand opening of its new location.

All businesses must protect their profits. This is even more critical as more and more enterprises participate in the global economy. Credit terms, methods of payment, currencies, taxes, fees, and other fiscal items must be considered. The easy part is selling the product, compared to the money side of international trade. Almost every country has its own protocols and if particular attention to these details are overlooked, the exporting enterprise may…

Under Obamacare, employers with at least 50 full-time employees are liable for a $2,000 per employee penalty if they do not offer qualified coverage and one employee obtains a federal premium subsidy to purchase coverage in a public insurance exchange.

While the recent special session of the Minnesota Legislature did address disaster relief for counties hit by severe storms, it failed to repeal the new sales tax on farm equipment repairs that took effect on July 1 of this year.

It is unfortunate that the legislature missed the opportunity to bring relief to farmers and small business owners affected by what one senator called a “man-made disaster” — the problems caused by…

The President will not lead and the Congress has no idea how to lead. Washington is dysfunctional. Our politics have been captured by the wingnuts on either end of the spectrum that do not understand that democracy requires compromise, civil discourse and…

Mailing out this week, members will soon be receiving the 2013-2014 Membership Directory & Product Index paper edition. Members may also find this information online at FarmEquip.org/members/
online_directory. S

After sending 1,330 e-mails to employees of Case New Holland, Inc. and its affiliates in an alleged effort to solicit plaintiffs to commence a class action lawsuit, the federal EEOC found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit alleging that the agency acted without authority and violated the employer’s statutory and constitutional rights.

The Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association provides space FREE of charge for Regular Members to advertise for sale surplus supplies and equipment online at FarmEquip.org/surplus.

The only limitation is that items offered cannot be lines normally sold by your company. If you would like to post surplus inventory, please email your information to: surplus@FarmEquip.org.

Newly added to the Surplus Page:

Worksaver is offering one of the largest items we have ever listed on this page:

Recent media reports suggest that United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials are pushing Volkswagen (VW) to eliminate a secret ballot vote on unionization and instead unionize all workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee on the basis of an unreliable and abuse-prone “card check” process.

Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that California’s 80,500 farms and ranches had revenues in 2012 of $44.7 billion, a 3% increase from the previous year and a new record.

The highest revenue gain was seen in pistachios, which increased in value by 27%. California remains the nation’s largest agricultural state in terms of revenues, representing 11.3% of the U.S. total. It’s followed by Iowa and Nebraska.

The IRS is proposing new regulations designed to encourage businesses to conduct research and development. The rules announced last week clarify the agency’s policies on when companies can deduct expenses for new tests and experiments.

The draft rules explain that businesses that profit from products that come from their research are still eligible to claim a deduction for the spending that went into their development.

A report released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) says the skills gap is not a serious problem short-term and won’t prevent a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing, Industry Week reports. The report, titled “The U.S. Skills Gap: Could It Threaten a Manufacturing Renaissance,” says that the skill shortages that manufacturers face are a result of supply-demand imbalances in specific jobs and locales.

Founder of Eastern Farm Machinery Stan Snyder, age 88 years, passed away on July 22, 2013 at the Guelph General Hospital.

Snyder founded Eastern Farm Machinery Ltd. and later Ontario Harvestore Systems. Eastern Farm Machinery has been in the wholesale equipment distribution business since 1952 . . .

Cequent Performance Products has joined Bob Quick in his coast-to-coast journey. Bob and his son are cycling from San Diego, CA to St. Augustine, FL using Cequent’s ROLA® product line.

Quick has advanced stages of coronary artery disease, a hereditary heart problem that caused a massive heart attack in 2004. Due to the condition . . .

Montana appears headed for another billion-dollar wheat crop, though wet weather has dramatically slowed spring harvest in the northern counties, USAgNet reports.

A billion dollars is the high-water mark for wheat values, achieved only six times in state history, but five times since 2007 as commodities prices have surged.

While the health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act are scheduled to open on October 1 and at least as of today, all companies, regardless of size, are required to notify their employees about the Obamacare marketplaces. Links to Dept of Labor approved notices.

Woods Equipment Company, a division of Blount International, Inc., announced a supplier partnership with Cabela’s Incorporated. Through the new partnership, Woods will supply implements for Cabela’s new “Wildlife and Land Management” product category.

It’s always your choice, delivered on paper or via email, we want to be sure we are sending our Shortliner newsletter in the format that works best for each member.

Here are your options:

The chief financial officer of Fiat Industrial SpA and CNH Global NV (CNH), Pablo Di Si, resigned to pursue other interests and will be replaced by Massimiliano Chiara, effective immediately.

Additionally, Fiat and CNH Chairman Sergio Marchionne said Rich Tobin, currently CNH Global’s chief executive, will be CEO of CNH Industrial once Fiat completes its acquisition of the company. Italian auto maker Fiat owns about 87% of CNH and is in the process of acquiring the remaining stake.

Titan Machinery Inc.’s fiscal second-quarter net income declined 27% as operating expenses climbed.

4 Rivers Equipment: John Deere Agriculture, Construction, and Forestry equipment dealer in eastern Colorado and Wyoming has changed its name to 4 Rivers Equipment.

Deere & Company announced plans to purchase Iowa-based Bauer Built Manufacturing. Bauer has previously partnered with Deere to make co-branded planters since 2002. Bauer makes 44- to 120-feet ultra-wide DB Series planters at its plant in Paton, IA.

Under the purchase agreement, Deere will buy the manufacturing facility, equipment and inventory at the Bauer facility plus the . . .

A year long state effort in Wisconsin to examine damage to rural roads caused by high-frequency animal waste transport, at times when roadbeds are most susceptible to harm, has gone seriously off track, and now needs the direct attention of state elected officials to protect agricultural interest in the state.

As is the tendency of such groups, the Implements of Husbandry (IoH) Study Group greatly expanded its scope to include nearly all categories of farm equipment which have historically been considered exempt from permits and regulatory controls.

A project has been proposed at ASABE Headquarters to adopt with deviations ISO 4254-13:2012, Agricultural machinery — Safety — Part 13: Large rotary mowers and withdraw ASABE standard ASAE S474.1, Agricultural Rotary Mower Safety. The purpose for this adoption is to move another step forward in international harmonization.

We would like to recognize the following companies for their continued support of the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association and thank them for their membership over the years. We look forward to many more years of having these companies, and yours, as members. Please help us congratulate the following members on their anniversaries.

Exports of U.S. agricultural equipment dropped 9.5% during the first half of 2013 compared to midyear 2012 to total $6.5 billion, down from $7.2 billion a year earlier, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). The AEM off-road equipment manufacturing trade group produces global trends reports for members consolidating U.S. Commerce Department data with other sources.

The steepest declines in American farm machinery exports were to South America, Europe and Australia/Oceania, with Asia among the regions showing a modest gain.

For ag equipment exports for the first half of 2013, compared with midyear 2012:

A member is seeking a VP of Manufacturing to join their team. This position will be responsible for the overall direction, strategy, planning and execution of manufacturing operations. They will be responsible for creating the structure and processes necessary to manage the organization’s current activities and its projected growth, and for providing. . .

Deere, CNH and AGCO have filed a lawsuit in New Hampshire state court, seeking to halt enforcement of S.B. 126. This new law is scheduled to go into effect on September 23, 2013.

The complaint asks the state court to declare S.B. 126 — as it applies to Plaintiffs’ existing dealership agreements — unconstitutional, void and unenforceable; and seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction against the state to stop New Hampshire’s enforcement of this law. It is anticipated that the plaintiffs will ask the court to . . .

Net farm income took a step backwards in 2012, however the latest forecast by the USDA predicts an increase of 6%, or $6.8 billion in 2013. The forecast for this year’s net farm income totals 120.6 billion, a slight improvement over $118 billion in 2011 and better than the net total of $113.8 billion in 2012. This year’s expected net farm income is almost double the net total of $60.4 billion from 2009.

Net cash income is expected to decline by over 10% in 2013, losing $13.5 billion compared to 2012. The lower cash income is a result of higher cash expenses, which the USDA predicts will total $13.4 billion this year. Total expenses are expected to reach . . .

The Agriculture Secretary and several U.S. senators expect the Farm Bill to be finalized before the deadline of the end of the month.

“There is not going to be another extension. You can’t reward continued failure by taking folks off the hook,” said Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack. “There are differences and those differences can be worked out. There are many benefits to this new farm bill. There is no reason not to get this done.”

Secretary Vilsack pointed out a number of implications with continued inaction on the farm bill. One of those looming challenges is an . . .

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has completed adoption of ISO 4254-6:2009, Agricultural machinery Safety, Part 6: Sprayers and liquid fertilizer distributors. The adoption, clarifies the North American design practices for such equipment.

AGCO recently appointed Dr. Rob Smith as Senior Vice President & General Manager Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME).

Both Republicans and Democrats share a generally positive view of farming and agriculture, according to a new Gallup survey.

Agriculture and farming were popular most among Republicans, who considered it more positive than any other business and. . .

When you visit with members of our Association regarding the annual Fall Convention and why they attend, you quickly learn just how diverse our membership has become and how our fall meeting has changed to meet the needs of our members.

What began as a funding mechanism for a social function with FEWA wholesalers in the late 1940’s had grown into an association by 1951 when the first Fall Convention was held at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago.

Wholesale distribution of the products our members manufacture was the reason for the meeting; many members brought in their entire management and sales team. For some members, the Fall Convention would account for the majority of the coming year’s sales.

As much as distribution networks have changed over the last 60 years, meeting with your independent sales representatives or wholesalers still can’t be done more effectively than during our annual Fall Convention.

Here are just a few of the issues to be addressed at this year’s Fall Convention in Indianapolis:

The New York Times reports that hedge fund billionaire Philip A. Falcone is in a litigious mood. Just three days after suing Dish Network in a last-ditch attempt to maintain control of LightSquared, the bankrupt wireless broadband company he owns, Mr. Falcone has turned his focus on the GPS industry.

Falcone’s hedge fund, Harbinger Capital, and its subsidiaries sued Deere & Company, Garmin International and Trimble Navigation, along with the Coalition to Save Our GPS and the United States GPS Industry Council, accusing them of preventing LightSquared from operating a crucial 4G network.

The lawsuit which seeks $1.9 billion in damages, contends that lobbying from the GPS industry, and the resulting FCC decision to deny LightSquared a license helped to …

The Obama administration has quietly delayed a key provision in the U.S. national healthcare law that would limit out-of-pocket insurance costs for consumers until 2015.

The cap, which includes deductibles and co-payments, was supposed to limit consumer costs to $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. The change means some insurers could set higher limits or set no limit at all on out-of-pocket costs starting in 2014.

A group calling themselves Iowans for Animal Liberation is taking responsibility for coating the Butter Cow with red paint at the Iowa State Fair.

The group painted the words “Freedom for all” on the window of the Butter Cow and then put paint on the…

ASABE has revised its standard on the lighting and marking of agricultural equipment operating on a highway.

The revised standard, ANSI/ASAE S279.17, Lighting and Marking of Agricultural Equipment on Highways, adds provisions for self-leveling lamps, as well as significant updates to the Normative References.

Buhler Industries, Winnipeg, Manitoba, reported that revenue for the company’s third quarter set a record of (Canadian dollars) $100.1 million, surpassing last year’s record of $95.8 million.

Sales of $271.7 million for the first nine months were off last year’s record of $274.8 million. The high level of sales are a result of the continued strong demand for…