Co-ops Managing Through Low Margins

The current environment for Midwest firms marketing corn and soybeans presents challenges for identifying margin opportunities. Rising grain inventories, a stable basis and hesitant selling by producers continue to depress overall grain margins

Understanding the economics of a system of perennial grasses for bioenergy in the Central United States

Through policies and programmatic commitments, the United States is exploring the use of alternative transportation fuels as means to meet the growing global demand for energy and the nation’s RFS targets. The CenUSA Bioenergy project is a five year, multi-state, and multi-disciplinary coordinated research and education effort to develop a sustainable system for the production of biofuel feedstocks derived from perennial grasses on land marginal for row crop production

Perennial grasses for bioenergy in the central United States: Updates on economics and research progress

Through policies and programmatic commitments, the United States is exploring the use of alternative transportation fuels as means to meet the growing global demand for energy and the nation’s RFS targets. The CenUSA Bioenergy project is a five year, multi-state, and multi-disciplinary coordinated research and education effort to develop a sustainable system for the production of biofuel feedstocks derived from perennial grasses on land marginal for row crop production. Now in its 3 year, the project, funded by the USDA under the NIFA-AFRI Sustainable Biofuels Initiative (project #2010-05074), focuses on the production of perennial grasses integrated within the row crop landscape in the region consisting of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. CenUSA is comprised of researchers, scientists, and educators working in nine objective areas to move the project forward: 1) feedstock development, 2) sustainable production systems, 3) feedstock logistics, 4) system performance, 5) feedstock conversion, 6) markets and distribution, 7) health and safety, 8) education, and 9) extension and outreach

A Discussion of the Sec 199A Deduction and its Potential Impacts on Producers and Grain Marketing Firms

The newly passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 introduced substantive changes to individual and entity-level tax rates and deductions, many of them welcomed by individuals and corporations. One section of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) in particular–IRC § 199A Deduction for Qualified Business Income of Pass-Through Entities (Sec 199A hereafter)–is getting a lot of attention, raising questions and eyebrows for its potential impacts on grain marketing decisions. In essence, language in this section of code gives producers marketing grain a significant incentive to sell to a cooperative rather than a non-cooperative firm. The purpose of this article is to highlight the primary features of the Sec 199A deduction causing concern and discuss potential implications for producers and grain marketing firms. Note that at one month into the new tax year, there are ongoing efforts directed at modifying the language in the code to correct the unintended effects on producers and grain marketing firms

How Farmers Bid Into the Conservation Reserve Program: An Empirical Analysis of CRP Offers Data

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/19/11.Land Economics/Use,

Governance Structures and the Value of the Firm: The Case of Great Lakes Cooperative and Green Plains Renewable Energy

In early 2007, Great Lakes Cooperative\u27s (hereafter GLC) board of directors and CEO held meetings with its membership to lay out the terms of a merger agreement with—a sale to, rather—Green Plains Renewable Energy (hereafter GPRE). The agreement was the result of months of discussions between representatives from GLC, a farmer-owned grain and farm supply cooperative, and GPRE, an investor-owned ethanol producer. What would ultimately lead to the merger of the two companies began as discussions about grain origination for GPRE\u27s ethanol plant