Association members have asked to learn more about the work of committees and councils. Lucas Sutterer, who is Chairman of the Tillage Council and CEO of Bigham Ag, submitted this overview of the Tillage Council.

Only in Vermont – Bill “Spaceman” Lee, the former Major League Baseball pitcher has declared himself a candidate for governor. He’s running on the Liberty Union Party ticket, a socialist organization that presidential candidate Bernie Sanders helped launch in the 1970s.

Member companies are hiring. Check out these recent postings.

Regional Sales Manager/Account Manager (Jobs 117 and 118)

Vice President of Sales & Marketing (Job 119)

Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) won a precedent-setting victory for property owners this week when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its favor in the United States Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes.

In the latest trade spat between the U.S. and China, U.S. regulators launched an investigation into complaints from United States Steel Corp. that Chinese competitors stole secrets and fixed prices.

U.S. Steel is seeking to halt nearly all imports from China’s largest steel producers and trading houses in its complaint.

Over the past 15 years, the fraction of U.S. farms run by women has nearly tripled to about 15 percent. And nearly one-third of farms in this country are run by couples working together.

Genetically engineered crops are safe for humans and animals to eat and have not caused increases in cancer, obesity, gastrointestinal illnesses, kidney disease, autism or allergies, according to an exhaustive report from the National Academies of Science.

As of April 30, sales of equipment in Deere’s agriculture and turf division were down by 5 percent for the first half of the fiscal year. Comparing quarters, sales were roughly the same. A news release from Deere says that the six-month decline is largely the result of lower shipment volumes.

In April, our Association, with the endorsement of the Board of Directors, accepted an invitation from the National Association of Manufacturers to join an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.

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The news that Kubota will buy Great Plains Manufacturing was big, and it rippled through the ag community, the farm equipment industry, and the community of Salina, Kansas. In a commentary that ran in the Salina Journal, Marshall Stanton, retired president of Kansas Wesleyan University, characterized the sale as a “shock” and described Great Plains as “one of Salina’s greatest points of pride.”

Depressed commodity prices and falling farm income are forcing mergers of ag giants, squeezing elevators, implement dealerships and manufacturers into consolidating, and winnowing the number of farmers dotting rural America.

“We talk about the mega-mergers, but acquisitions are happening across agriculture,” said Chad Hart, an Iowa State University agricultural economist. “It doesn’t matter if you’re big or small.”

Iowa led the country in 2015 in the number of ag jobs. Others states in the top five were California, Illinois, Nebraska, and Texas.

With the farm slump moving into its third year, banks have become more cautious about approving loans to farmers, requiring some growers to offer more collateral and sometimes denying financing outright to others who need it for seeds, crop chemicals or rent.

Farmers typically take out loans in the first three months of the year before spring planting begins. But this year, growers, including some who have been turned away by their primary lenders, have been searching for financing as late as April.

The pesticide glyphosate, sold by Monsanto in Roundup weed killer, is unlikely to cause cancer in people, according to a new safety review by United Nations health, agriculture and food experts.

The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) said glyphosate is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans” exposed to it through food.

This issue of Shortliner is a collection of current news stories that reinforce what we have long known: These are challenging days for many in the agriculture industry.

In the context of these circumstances, the Association has doubled down on its commitment to serve members and bring value to their membership.

This single priority will frame the conversation when the Association’s Board of Directors gathers in two weeks for its summer meeting. This is one of three meetings a year in which the full board convenes. It also is the meeting in which the board approves the budget for the 2017 fiscal year and affirms our priorities for the coming year.

These June anniversaries represent an impressive 255 years of collective participation in the Farm Equipment Manufacturers
Association. We mark these milestones with gratitude for the companies’ commitment.

Terry Schruth, retired president of Pepin Farm Implements, died May 19. He was 88.

Schruth was president of the family business from the mid-1960s until 1991. The harrow manufacturer is today under the ownership of the family’s fifth generation.

The USDA expects farm sector profits to fall for the third straight year. Net farm income is projected to decline 3 percent to $54.8 billion.

The U.S. economy expanded by 160,000 jobs in April, which missed analysts’ projections of 202,000. The unemployment rate remains 5 percent.

Loftness Specialized Equipment, an Association member since 1980, is celebrating 60 years in business. See the company’s story at FarmEquip.org/Loftness.

Reports filed in the federal lobbyists registry show communications in April between federal officials and groups such as the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Chicken Farmers of Canada, Egg Farmers of Canada, Soy Canada, the Canada Seed and Trade Association, and dairy associations from three provinces.

Buhler Industries reported its sales revenue for the most recent quarter was up, but for the first half the fiscal year, sales are lagging.

Agribusiness executives have another tool to measure the health of the U.S. agriculture economy—this one seeking input from growers.

Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture, in partnership with the derivatives marketplace CME Group, have launched the Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer, a monthly economic indicator report that underscores the importance of the ag economy to the U.S. and global economies.

We communicate today through channels that are one step removed from personal interaction. I wonder if as we rely more on text and email, we compromise our skills to listen.

Along the same lines, with so much information available to us from digital sources, are we prone to wrongly assume that everyone is operating with the same information we are? And does that ultimately diminish the quality of our face-to-face conversations?

The Association staff and I are determined to renew our focus on listening, and we start with this newsletter.

First, I want you to know what we’ve heard recently, beginning with the Spring Conference. In visiting with a wide section of members, we learned that to reach most of you, we need to cast a wide geographic net from the upper Midwest to cities like San Antonio, Charlotte and even an occasional beach location like this year’s event in Clearwater, Fla.

AgJunction, on the heels of acquiring Novariant, reports first quarter gains compared to the same quarter last year.

A massive fire destroyed a Titan Machinery building in Milbank, S.D. earlier this month.

Greg Cole, CEO of AgHeritage Farm Credit Services, shared this thought recently at an ag conference: A Purdue University study showed that “good times last five to seven years. Not so good times last 10 to 12 years” in agriculture.

Have you ever wondered what they talk about in the Towed Implement Product Council meetings? Here’s your opportunity to learn.

You should have received your 2016/2017 membership directory by now. Please check your listing. If you’d like to make changes, you can update the digital directory today.

The Association will again this year provide free copies of the ASABE standards CD to regular members who do not have access to an ASABE membership. The CD is a $549 value.

Bobby Warren Pence of Hi-Light USA in Memphis died in April. He was 56. Pence is survived by his wife, Lynne O’Malley Pence, a daughter, a son, and brother Terry Curtis Pence, with whom he began Hi-Light.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers has released information about several standards.

Farmers in South Carolina were hit with two feet of water in October. The state’s governor has vetoed a bill that provided funding to recover, suggesting farmers shouldn’t be singled out from other flood-affected businesses. The House has approved an override of the veto, and the Senate is expected to follow.

Do you know someone who would make a good addition to the Association’s Board of Directors? Paula Kaster from Kasco Manufacturing will lead the committee to nominate candidates for the board. Find out how the process works.

Are you affected by regulations related to the Clean Water Act? Get in touch. We want to tell your story.

Brazil’s Senate voted last week to suspend its president and put her on trial. The interim president appointed the country’s largest soybean farmer as the new agriculture minister. The ag industry is among Brazil’s strongest sectors as the country battles a financial crisis.

Rocky Mountain Dealerships report that in the company’s first quarter, used equipment inventory declined by $10.9 million, or 3.8 percent. Total revenues declined by 14 percent to $189.5 million.

Meat and livestock prices are likely to fall further in North America in 2016, according to Tyson Foods. Lower feed costs, however, will support profit margins.

The legal battle over water quality in Iowa will not make it to trial this summer. The judge, who was reassigned to the case in February, cannot honor the August trial date set prior to his assignment.

Numbers from the USDA tell us that as of Sunday, 75 percent of corn had been planted nationwide, which is up 11 points from a week ago. This time last year, about 82 percent of corn was in the ground.

A Supreme Court decision means that cities and states that increase the minimum wage must treat franchises as offshoots of brand parents rather than independent small businesses.

Kubota Corporation announced Friday that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Great Plains Manufacturing, Inc.

Roy Applequist, who founded Great Plains in 1976 and remains chairman today, will continue on the leadership team to assure a seamless transition.

“My plan is to play a significant role in helping Great Plains become a vital part of the Kubota family,” Applequist said. “Great Plains’ leadership position in the agricultural implement business has been earned by striving to do our best in satisfying our customers’ needs, and we are confident that teaming up with Kubota will allow us to continue to uphold this tradition.”

Look who’s celebrating an anniversary! These companies represent a collective 90 years of Association membership.

President Obama last week signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act, which allows companies to file suit in federal court over allegations of trade secrets theft.

Trade secret theft was already a federal crime, but without the right to sue in federal court, companies had to seek redress amid a patchwork of state laws.

The U.S. Department of Labor is expected to lower the salary threshold in its forthcoming final rule related to overtime pay. The new threshold, $47,000, would double the current threshold.

The overtime salary threshold is the level at which virtually all salaried employees who earn that amount or less qualify for time-and-a-half pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week.

This is the Association’s sixth year of publishing the magazine, and with each issue, the publication more firmly establishes itself as a resource and valuable benefit of membership.

You likely recently received the Spring 2016 issue of Ag Innovator magazine. It includes insights into how to:

Start-up company Carbon3D Inc.is developing a 3-D printing method that manufacturers, including Ford Motor Co., say shows greater promise than existing methods. It’s expensive, so it’s early uses may be in customized products like parts for airplanes.

But, a startup backed by Alphabet Inc.’s Google Ventures is developing a different 3-D printing method that some manufacturers, say shows more promise. Carbon3D Inc.’s printers project light continuously through a pool of resin, gradually solidifying it onto an

More than ever before, cyber crooks are targeting small businesses, according to law enforcement and cybersecurity experts. Mom-and-pop businesses are getting hit, and it’s pushing many entrepreneurs to the verge of bankruptcy.

An EPA-funded public relations campaign in Washington state takes aim at farmers.

The billboards and other promotional materials juxtapose photographs to suggest farmers are polluting waterways and killing fish. Federal lawmakers are demanding answers.