Two member companies are among winners of the World Ag Expo’s Top 10 New Products competition. Their company’s products will be showcased at World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., Feb. 9 to 11.

Buhler Industries last week released its year-end earnings report. The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based company said revenue for the year was $245.7 million, down $79.8 million from the $325.5 million reported in 2014.

Bridgestone Americas has announced that it has named Kimberly Lang as Director of Marketing for Firestone Farm Tires, the company’s agricultural tire division. In her new position, Lang will create and implement the marketing vision for the Firestone agricultural brand while growing the product portfolio to encompass a wide breadth of solutions, including farm tires and agricultural rubber tracks.

Dethmers Manufacturing Company (Demco) has completed its acquisition of Maurer Manufacturing.

AgJunction Inc. has announced that after completing its merger with Novariant, Inc., and conducting an internal review to identify operating synergies, it is implementing a program to consolidate operations and redundant resources and reduce its global workforce by about 20%.

With tax season upon us, the IRS requires the Association to remind members that a small portion of members’ dues are not tax-deductible as an ordinary and necessary business expense, because that portion reflects ongoing lobbying activities on our members’ behalf.

Our accounting firm has notified us that, for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2015, 12.33% of the total amount of dues paid is non-deductible.

Last week, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled against a challenge brought by makers of farm equipment to the state’s “dealer bill of rights.”

We noted when we opposed the legislation in 2013 that the law provides targeted relief by exempting single-line equipment dealers who buy 90% of their product inventory from a single supplier and have annual average sales volume for the previous three years in excess of $100 million. That might be nice for a manufacturer like Caterpillar, but if they deserve an exemption, why not also exempt shortline farm equipment manufacturers?

The Alamo Group Inc. completed changes to its Board of Directors this week and announced the appointment of Gary Martin as Chairman of the Board, effective Tuesday, Jan. 5.

Retiring from the board are James B. Skaggs and Jerry E. Goldress. Skaggs joined the board in 1996 and has served as chairman since 2011. Goldress became a director in 2000.

Good news emerged for farmers and equipment manufacturers in December when Congress approved the 2,250-page, $1.8 trillion tax-and-spending bill.

Rather than the short-term extensions that have characterized a series of tax breaks relevant to the industry, lawmakers opted to make permanent a series of tax incentives, and in one case, extend an incentive for three years.

For farmers, farm equipment manufacturers, and dealers, that certainty comes primarily in the permanent extension of Section 179, permanent extension of the research-and-development tax credit, and the extension of bonus depreciation expensing through 2019.

With the release in December of a final rule from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, truck drivers and trucking fleets have until December 2017 to transition from paper records to tracking their driving electronically.

Weather scientists now say this year’s “extreme” El Niño weather phenomenon is the strongest ever recorded, which could mean more abnormal winter weather for all of North America, the Delta Farm Press reported in December.

Lawmakers repealed the unpopular Country-of-Origin Labeling rule as part of the massive omnibus bill passed in December.

The repeal came weeks after the World Trade Organization authorized Canada and Mexico to impose $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States.

Low interest rates and limited opportunities for companies to build their bottom lines set the stage for a record-setting year in acquisitions.

The Associated Press reported that Dealogic, a financial data provider, said companies around the world spent $5.04 trillion on acquisitions in 2015.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued the 2016 optional standard mileage rates. The dips in mileage rates for 2016 reflect lower gas prices nationwide. According to AAA, U.S. drivers are paying the lowest average price for regular unleaded gasoline since 2009. On average, taxpayers are paying 79 cents per gallon less than they did in 2015.

Global Payments Inc. has agreed to buy Heartland Payment Systems Inc. for about $3.8 billion, a deal that would expand its reach among mid-size and small merchants, the Wall Street Journal reported.

This week we opened registration for our 2016 Spring Conference in Clearwater Beach, Fla., with a waiting list of members eager to engage and learn from each other in what is not likely to be a record-breaking year for many members.

We can’t think of a better place or a better time to step back from daily manufacturing operations and take a fresh look at the challenges and opportunities of 2016.

With two airports within 20 minutes of our meeting location, direct flights and good connections are plentiful, and many discounted airfares are available now.

LifeLock Inc., an identity theft protection company, has agreed to pay $100 million to settle charges that it violated the terms of a 2010 settlement with the FTC, The National Law Journal reported. The award is the largest the FTC has obtained in enforcing a court order.

The commission accused LifeLock of violating the 2010 settlement by failing to protect users’ information and continuing to make deceptive claims about its services. In that same time period, LifeLock continued to misrepresent its services by claiming it protected personal data with the same safeguards as financial institutions, the FTC complaint said.

It was not a smooth ride, but a five-year highway funding bill became law last week.

The $305 billion plan, known as Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, or FAST Act, is celebrated for offering assurance and stability after years of short-term funding extensions for highways.

The law calls for spending $205 billion on highways and $48 billion on transit projects through September 2020. It designates $6.5 billion for a national highway freight program, which will allocate money for states based on a formula.

A dozen states intend to increase their minimum wage on the last day of 2015 or the first day of 2016. Increases range from a quarter to a dollar. In some cases, the bumps are part of a series.

The U.S. Department of Labor reports increases in these state

The FAST Act is focused on improving the surfaces upon which we travel, but the bill included a few things beyond roads and bridges of note to the industry.

The law restores a $3 billion cut to the federal crop insurance program, which had been part of last year’s farm bill but was cut in November’s bipartisan budget agreement. The restoration of the funds provides $3 billion over 10 years for the $9 billion-a-year crop insurance program.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers has initiated a standards project to develop an identification system for seed cotton modules.

Seed cotton modules often have been identified using custom systems developed by individual gins for their customers, or by a third party supplying tags.

The U.S. Labor Department announced earlier this month that the economy expanded to add 211,000 new jobs in November, which surpassed economists’ expectations by 11,000 jobs.

Among small businesses, however, opportunities for employment were relatively flat in November.

Osmundson Mfg. Co. has named Joe Sampson as its Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Sampson started in sales at Osmundson in

The Department of Labor broke its silence last month when Solicitor of Labor M. Patricia Smith said, during a panel discussion, that the final changes to the FLSA’s overtime eligibility rules likely will be delayed until late 2016.

Titan Machinery saw revenues drop in its third quarter this year, falling from $493 million last year to $345.5. The company’s equipment sales slid from $343.5 million for the third quarter last year to $215.7 million for the same quarter this year, a 37% decline.

EPA officials broke the law when they created a social media campaign to generate support for the controversial Clean Water Act rule, which redefines waters of the U.S., the Government Accountability Office said in a report Monday.

EPA also violated grassroots lobbying laws by linking the agency’s website to the website of lobby groups that supported EPA’s position.

Italian tractor manufacturer Antonio Carraro issued a statement last week to put an end to speculation of a potential deal with AGCO.

“We categorically insist that no such deal is in progress,” the statement said. “Furthermore, there has never been any meeting with any representative from AGCO.”

The Internal Revenue Service in November simplified the paperwork and record-keeping requirements for small businesses by raising from $500 to $2,500 the safe harbor threshold for deducting certain capital items.

A long-running legal dispute over how a wireless broadband network can share pockets of airwaves that also serve GPS systems has been resolved.

Deere was a central player in the dispute and its resolution.

LightSquared, which seeks to provide a nationwide, wireless broadband network that integrates satellite coverage, went into bankruptcy in 2012 after federal regulators refused to clear its plans. The regulators’ decision was in response to warnings from Deere and others in the GPS industry that the broadband network could interfere with the GPS network.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is urging leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee to oppose legislation giving the IRS broad authority to regulate tax return preparers, The Hill reported.

Our goal with every issue of Ag Innovator magazine is to give you stories that offer tools to simplify your work.

The November issue of the magazine included the second in a series of articles written by retirement plans expert Todd D. Thompson with Sentry Insurance.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri carried through on a campaign pledge by eliminating export taxes on agricultural goods including beef, wheat, and corn, while also cutting a tariff on soybeans by 5 percentage points, Bloomberg reported.

“There are no more excuses to not produce more,” Macri told farmers gathered in a city west of Buenos Aires. “I will sign the decree today for the end of punitive export taxes and government regulations.”

We are blessed with a freedom and abundance denied to so many. Let those candles remind us that these blessings bring with them a solid obligation, an obligation to the God who guides us, an obligation to the heritage of liberty and dignity handed down to us by our forefathers, and an obligation to the children of the world, whose future will be shaped by the way we live our lives today.

House and Senate lawmakers last week announced a deal that would bolster U.S. customs enforcement. Two days later, the House voted 256-158 to pass the long-awaited measure, which goes to the Senate for final approval this week and then to President Obama’s desk for signature.

The measure reauthorizes and modernizes the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, streamlines rules to stop importers from skirting U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties, adds new protections for intellectual property, and provides more tools to crack down on

This year, the Association office will be closed on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 24 and 25, in observance of Christmas and to provide our staff a long weekend for travel and extended time with friends and family.

An arbitration panel at the World Trade Organization released a final decision last week in the ongoing dispute over Country of Origin Labeling, authorizing Canada and Mexico to impose $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs on the United States.

In the days since the decision, U.S. groups have intensified their calls to Congress to repeal COOL, which is tied up in a series of end-of-year decisions in Washington this week.

Highlights from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers’ Ag Flash Reports. For complete data, go to FarmEquip.org/flash.

Consumers’ heightened interest in what goes into their food is driving a group of big food makers and other consumer- goods companies to introduce a smartphone app that scans products in stores, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The app will allow shoppers to go beyond the label in understanding what’s in the food.

The SmartLabel app was announced last week by the Grocery Manufacturers Association. So far, it includes more than 30 companies, including General Mills Inc., Hershey Co., and PepsiCo Inc. The association said in the Journal that companies are expected to use the technology on 30,000 products by the end of 2017.

Washington leaders have yet to unveil a $1.1 trillion omnibus budget package, and the holiday countdown is on. The Association has contacted leaders in Washington to urge them to permanently adopt the higher threshold and will notify members of the status of Section 179 as soon as the omnibus bill passes.

Planning is well underway for our 2016 Spring Conference at the Hilton in Clearwater, Fla. Our staff is meeting with the hotel and making final arrangement for off-site social activities this week. Online registration opens December 28. More than a third of the Supplier Showcase space is already reserved.

Salford Group, a manufacturer of tillage, seeding, and fertilizer application equipment, announced it is expanding its tillage product line through the acquisition of AerWay advanced aeration products, manufactured by SAF-HOLLAND Canada Ltd.

Blount International, Inc., announced last week it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by affiliates of American Securities LLC and P2 Capital Partners, LLC in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $855 million.

A new year means new regulations under the Affordable Care Act. Attorney and health care thought leader Dan Kuperstein shared this great list of six things he expects in 2016 related to the ACA and employers with Employee Benefit News.

Lessiter Media’s Farm Equipment magazine has won an Editorial Award, or “Eddie,” from Folio magazine. Farm Equipment won first place in the Business-to-Business Series of Articles—Agriculture.

Dexter, a manufacturer of trailer axles, brakes, and hubs and drums for more than 50 years, announced last week it has acquired the assets of Titan International’s brake and actuator business.

Dexter products are made in automated facilities in Indiana, Georgia, Oklahoma, California and Tennessee with distribution…

Titan Tire Corp. and the United Steelworkers union may soon file a joint petition with the International Trade Commission related to off-the-road (OTR) tire imports, according to Tire Business.

Titan President and CEO Morry Taylor said the action would be filed against

Fisher Barton in Watertown, Wis., has announced the appointment of Jeff Russell as the President of Fisher Barton Blades Inc (FBBI).

Fastline Media Group has announced the launch of BigAg.com, a community website that brings together owners and operators of large commercial farming operations. The site focuses on animals, ag news, equipment, financial/markets, row crop and technology.

With the launch of the site, Fastline is asking farmers to register for online forums and submit field reports.

Polygon Company, a manufacturer of composite tubing, has announced the appointment of Benny F.H. Lee as Regional Director of Sales for Asia Pacific.

Lee’s primary focus will be to expand Polygon’s sales, distribution and marketing efforts in support of

These members represent 165 years of collective participation in the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association. We mark their milestone anniversaries this month by thanking them—and each of you—for your commitment to the shortline industry and the Association that supports it.