Biotech: the good news

Outlook a year ago would have been for biotech crops to decline in 2000. In fact, biotech acres on a worldwide basis improved by 50 percent. As you look at 2001, we predict 11 percent growth in biotech products in the U.S., despite consumer challenges. This is strong evidence that first, biotechnology is delivering benefits to the grower, and second, it is being accepted by consumers around the world, said Kerry Preete, Monsanto vice president, global product management, at the Agricultural Retailers Association annual meeting.

In Europe, specifically, where resistance to biotech is most severe, exports of soybeans increased by over 13 percent during the past year. Secondly, there are no significant premiums being paid, as predicted, for non-GMO crops. These are signs that Europe is accepting biotechnology, Preete said.

The retailer's role? The retailer is in the middle of all the changes going on in the industry. In fact, you're helping to manage a lot of the changes at the grower level. We think the retailer in the U.S. will continue to be the most logical way to move seed and chemistry, including biotech products, to the grower. We base this on the fact that growers continue to rely on the retailer for information, stewardship and know-how.

Fords online

In an unprecedented partnership between a manufacturer and its dealers, Ford and Ford Division dealerships have formed Ford Direct.com. The Web site will allow customers to configure, select, price, finance and initiate the purchase and schedule the delivery of a new car or truck from participating Ford dealers, who will finalize the transaction. The Internet has become a major force in buying new cars and trucks and in the ownership experience that follows, says Jerry Reynolds, chairman of the national Ford Dealer Council. This new enterprise will be jointly owned and supported by participating Ford Division dealers and Ford Motor Company.

Software updates

Version 3.0 of AgChek for Windows accounting and financial management software from Red Wing Business Systems is ready for downloading.

In this new version of the general ledger software, the processing of accounts payable and receivable is faster because you can apply payments from customers to several invoices at a time, and you can write checks and apply them to multiple invoices. The new version also interfaces with the company's tax form printing package. Contact Red Wing Business Systems, Dept. Apply^* , 491 Hwy. 19, Red Wing, MN 55066, 800/732-9464.

SST Development Group (makers of the SSToolbox GIS) and FBS Systems (makers of financial management software) will work together to create the first software that links accounting capabilities to a GIS. The software will allow users to evaluate the economic return of precision farming practices. Contact FBS Systems, Dept. APPLY^* , 1855 55th Ave., Aledo, IL 61231, 800/437-7638, www.fbssystems.com.

Tips on farming's future

Talk to a dozen or so progressive farm managers on large and small farms and you'll quickly come up with all kinds of new ideas. Kent Olson, University of Minnesota's extension farm management specialist, did just that and grouped ideas into four areas:

1. Just producing and selling won't work anymore. Farmers must capture value and respond to consumer wants and needs. They should look at contracts with elevators, companies, even neighbors to gain added value.

2. The production system should be redesigned beyond the present drive to cut costs. Farmers must meet the price offered by the market instead of continually looking for a market to cover costs.

3. Use of new technology, including precision farming, computers and the Internet, will change both physical practices and management methods. Farmers are concerned about local communities and businesses and stated that they want local services, not just low prices from the Internet.

4. Farmers must develop broader management skills including risk management to protect income and farm resources. This means big picture thinking, more than hedging and use of options. Producers need to look at such aspects as personnel selection and management, process controls and profit centers.

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