1. 106 years
Strong
Comfrey • Morgan • Morton • Springfield • Wabasso
www.HarvestLand.com
Vol. 14 No. 3 • September 2012
You Define Value
At Harvest Land, we feel that the
best use of our time and energy
is in strengthening our relation-
ships with our most important
assets—our owners, employees,
and business partners. As I
wrote in the last newsletter,
we continue to pursue our goal
of building a better organiza-
tion and improving our relation-
ships by bringing value to our
owners. One important step in
accomplishing that is creating
a common focus, then commu-
nicating it effectively within our organization. That was
the driving force behind our Value Proposition.
What is a Value Proposition?
A Value Proposition is a promise of value to be delivered
and a belief from the customer that value will be
delivered. Put another way, we make a commitment to
you, and we expect you to hold us to that commitment.
A diversified team of Harvest Land employees was
created to develop our Value Proposition, and we
worked closely with United Suppliers, one of our
business partners with experience in helping to facili-
tate the Value Proposition process. We were motivated
by a desire to make a real difference in the lives of our
owners, employees, and business partners.
The Value Proposition gets all of us on the same page. Ulti-
mately, we believe it will result in easier decision making
and better resource allocation, create a highly engaged
workforce, and clarify why you, as our owners, should
support this business. It’s putting our purpose statement—
“Committed to Our Owners’ Success”—into action.
The Value Proposition isn’t an entirely new direction,
but rather a focusing concept developed from the core
values that have guided Harvest Land for decades:
vision, financial strength and stability, and maintaining
mutually beneficial relationships with all stakeholders.
These are values that don’t change, but instead are the
underpinning of our company culture.
You suggested, we responded
Our Value Proposition isn’t a concept to be implemented
“down the road.” We are, and have been, listening to
our owners, and we’ve already taken steps to deliver
value in response to what we’ve heard.
Kevin Langemo, livestock production specialist, was
added to our team in August. His hiring was based
on your suggestion that it would be of value to you if
we would step up to the plate, better utilize our new
feedmill, and address livestock producers’ need for
improved nutritional information, swine sourcing for
independent producers and integrators, and production
and risk management services. Read more about Kevin
on page 8.
Long-time Harvest Land employee Kurt Soupir has also
stepped into a new role as producer marketing advisor.
You suggested that a source of readily available grain
marketing advice would be of value to you in these
extremely volatile times. Kurt is that presence, available
to visit you on your farm, by phone, or in the Morgan
office—whichever is more convenient for you.
Yes, the numbers are important and there will be time to
talk about them. But those numbers mean nothing if our
success doesn’t translate to yours. You are the reason
we exist, and that’s why we remain “Committed to Our
Owners’ Success.”
As always—and we cannot say it enough—thank you,
and keep your input coming. We are intently listening,
engaged, and ready to deliver. n
By DENNIS SCHREIER
GENERAL MANAGER

2. Page 2 ©2010 Harvest Land Cooperative. All Rights Reserved. Published in partnership with VistaComm®
(www.VistaComm.com).Page 2 ©2012 Harvest Land Cooperative. All Rights Reserved. Published in partnership with VistaComm®
(www.VistaComm.com).
A Fond Farewell
Mike Vollmer will miss two things when he retires at the
end of this month—the friends he’s worked with, and
the customers who have become friends
through the years.
With more than 40 years of experience in
the farm credit industry—the past 16 with
AgQuest—Mike’s accumulated wisdom will
be difficult, if not impossible, to replace.
But he’s also irreplaceable in his other
role. “My wife, Patricia, has been retired
for two-and-a-half years, and she’s tired of
being home alone,” Mike states.
Mike began his career in 1971 with Farmers
Home Administration, and later worked with the Federal
Land Bank. He started at what was then Harvest Land
Inc. in the fall of 1996. “When I started, I recall that
all of our loans fit into two file drawers,” Mike notes.
“AgQuest has grown tremendously since those early
days.”
Many producers have worked with Mike
during his entire AgQuest career. “With
some of those, not only have we developed
a growing business relationship, but we’ve
also become friends,” he says. “I’ll miss
that, but I think the hardest thing will be
leaving the relationships that I’ve developed
with my co-workers over the years.”
The Vollmers have no big plans for retire-
ment, but it sounds like he’ll have no
trouble keeping busy. “We moved into a
new home about two years ago, so there are odds and
ends that need to be done there,” he says. “We’ll take
some day trips and do some antiquing. And we have
three generations of things to go through to prepare for
some gigantic garage sales.” n
Is Your Grain Covered?
Many Harvest Land producers carry peak-season grain
coverage with us. With the steady (and sometimes
spectacular) increases we’ve experienced in grain prices
over the past few years, it’s a good idea to touch base
with us and make sure your policy values are still in line
with the real value of your stored grain.
If you don’t carry peak-season grain coverage and are
wondering what we’re talking about, here’s a quick
explanation. The normal property insurance policy
would cover the bins on your farm in the event of loss—
for example, a windstorm ruptures a bin. The grain
inside, however, would not be covered.
Peak-season grain coverage
insures the grain against loss.
And, it is structured so that
the coverage is adjusted as the
volume of stored crop changes.
Give me a call at 320-523-5824
to review your coverage or get
the details about peak-season
coverage. And, of course, if
you’re in the market for farm
coverage from someone who
really understands the unique risks involved in agricul-
ture, call me for a quote. n
By Amber Weber, AgQuest
Bridge Project Nears Completion
Work on the State Highway 258 bridge two miles south of State
Highway 14 should be wrapped up in the next few days.

3. Page 3
Preparation Will Make Claim Process Easier
As we prepare for the harvest, there are a few things to
keep in mind. Before chopping for silage or the destroy-
ing of any crop, it is imperative to contact your AgQuest
agent. Those fields need to be appraised or released
before the crop is put to another use. If you believe you
will have a production loss as you are checking your
fields, please call us at that time. We will set up a claim
to follow notice of loss procedures. Old crop grain
must be measured prior to new crop storage.
The moisture-short 2012 season raises the possibility of
a $200,000 claim. Any time there is a $200,000 claim,
the system will trigger an APH review, which is a review
and verification of your actual historical production.
Once you have had a $200,000 claim and your APH has
been verified, that information will be maintained and
you will not be required to submit it again.
Keep production separate by unit, and/or by field if
possible. Permissible methods of keeping production
separate include:
• Printable combine monitor records along with total
accountable production.
• Settlement sheets of proof of sale receipts.
• Appraisals performed by an adjuster
• Marking a bin by unit number.
• Weighing production with a certified scale.
• Recorded weights from a grain cart with an integrated
scale.
• An accurate count of wagons, trucks, or combine
hoppers.
• Acceptable feed records.
Record retention
You are required to retain your harvested produc-
tion records for three years. If you are in the 2012
crop year, then records from 2011, 2010, and 2009
would be required. Records to
retain could include, but are not
limited to:
• Settlement sheets or other
acceptable proofs of final
crop. It is recommended that
you label each load with the
unit it was harvested from.
• Appraisals.
• Bin measurements by a
claims adjuster or FSA
representative.
Please make sure that your crop insurance payments
are received by, or are clearly postmarked on or before,
10/31/12. If this does not happen, then interest must
be charged from the original due date or from 9/1/12,
depending on the policy. The RMA rule applies only to
this year, so the dates will change for 2013.
Aflatoxin
Aflatoxin takes advantage of moisture stress and insect
damage under high temperatures conditions like we
experienced this summer. If you suspect your crops
have aflatoxin, contact your AgQuest insurance agent
before you:
• Harvest the grain,
• Put the grain in storage, or
• Deliver it for sale.
AIP must perform the sampling to be taken directly from
the field and processed through an approved testing
facility before moved to storage.
Please call us if you have any questions. When in doubt,
check it out, and have a safe harvest season. n
By kathy mainer
Agquest insurance
office manager
Some Issues Could Surface at Harvest
Conditions during the growing season weren’t necessarily prime for top yields, but they were,
in many cases, favorable for stalk rot. It’s a good idea to check your fields for stalk issues and
schedule the worst fields to harvest first.
I guess the only good thing you can say about a year like this is that it offers a great oppor-
tunity to evaluate seed treatments and how various hybrids and varieties performed.
Early birds likely to get the seed
It’s too early to sound an alarm, but keep in mind that seed fields went through the same
growing season our crops did. The sooner you can sit down with your account manager
and come up with your order for next year, the better. Some of the experts are talking about
100 million acres of corn next year, which would be a tall seed order to fill in a good year.
Finally, a general reminder that if you see something in the field that doesn’t look right, call
your account manager right away. Don’t wait until the field is harvested and worked up
before you report a problem, because those are pretty tough to confirm. n
By Brett Braulick and
Doug Jeske

4. The Harvest Land herbicide eval-
uation plot was planted May
21. Corn pre-plant incorporated
herbicides were applied April 26
and soybean pre-plant incorpo-
rated herbicides were applied
April 30. The pre-emerge appli-
cations were not made until
May 21.
We planned on applying
pre-plant corn and soybean her-
bicides within a week before
planting, followed by the pre-
emerge applications the day of planting. Once again,
nature did not cooperate with us. Wind and rain resulted
in a three- to four-week gap between these two sets of
applications, so please take this into consideration when
looking at the overall ratings for the soybean and corn.
The pre-plant incorporated herbicides had suppressed
weed germination much longer than the pre-emerge
applications when ratings were done.
Next year, we will add more checks to the herbicide plots
to make rating individual products easier, as we had too
much distance between checks in this year’s plot. When
you look at rating percentage differences, understand
that no actual counting of weeds is involved. A rating of
92% vs. 86% is not a large difference because it is more
of a visual opinion. Conversely, a rating of 85% vs. 65%
would indicate a significantly visible difference.
The corn pre-plants
It became obvious that we waited one week too long
in rating the corn pre-plant incorporated products vs.
2011. One thing I can take from that is when using a
fall-applied product, we probably should be applying the
post-emerge application within six weeks of planting.
A spring incorporated or pre-emerge should be done
within seven weeks of planting. For those of you
that are considering a fall application, Metalachlor
(Dual®
) seems to have less breakdown than acetachlor
(Harness®
). If using acetachlor, possibly increase rates a
little. For spring, in my opinion (based on past seasons),
acetachlor products seem to have a little better activity
on small-seeded broadleaves.
The soybean pre-plants
As I stated above, these products were on approximate-
ly three weeks longer than the pre-emerge applications.
From my perspective (as well as the others rating these
herbicides), as was the case in 2011, Authority™ First
performed well, coming close to matching the best pre-
emerge applications that were applied much later. As
long as your fall tillage does not have too much variation
(4” from high to low), it allows a much wider window
of application (three weeks prior to planting in this case)
while still showing very good residual activity. The
Prowl®
/Sharpen®
combination did well on waterhemp
and lambsquarter, but because we can only apply 1.25
oz. of Sharpen, the ragweed control faded after about 3
½ weeks (this is expected).
I would like all of you (at least the ones without rota-
tional restrictions) to consider an incorporated Authority
First application vs. a pre-emerge application for two
reasons.
• After the lambsquarter problems this year (too many
escaped the field cultivators), please consider a
leveling pass on cornstalks followed by Authority,
and then a shallow second pass. This additional pass
will help reduce the lambsquarter left in the field, or
possibly eliminate them.
• If counting on a pre-emerge application, remember
that if soil conditions are good, you may only have
five days to make this application. Throw in wind
and rain events and it leaves a very narrow window
(sometimes a day or less) to get your pre-emerge
applied.
Please keep in mind that in a field that has or is suspected
to have resistant weeds (waterhemp or ragweed) it is
crucial to have that soil-applied herbicide on! With the
limited options we have with post-emerge, trying to get
a heavy population of resistant weeds under control
after they germinate is next to impossible.
New soybean products
There are three new herbicides containing Zidua®
that
were tested in soybeans pre-emerge: Anthem™, Fierce™,
and a tankmix of Zidua and Verdict™. Each was impres-
sive on lambsquarter and waterhemp. Unfortunately,
the availability of these herbicides in 2013 will be very
limited. One new post-emerge product, Marvel®
(pre-mix
of Flexstar®
and Cadet®
) was tested and seemed to do a
very nice job. We are expecting a little better supply of
that product, possibly to pair up with Authority, as they
are both made by FMC.
Summary
There were only 16 rows of soybeans that that did not
receive a mode of action change to control waterhemp
(pre-emerge or post-emerge). Coincidentally, 12 of those
16 rows have waterhemp taller than the soybeans.
Resistance?
I would appreciate hearing your thoughts or questions
directly or through your account manager. I would
also welcome suggestions of what you would like to
see next year and beyond. Space does not allow us to
publish the ratings in this article, but some of the plot
pictures, as well as this year’s ratings, will be posted on
the website. Or, you can get a copy from your account
manager. n
Herbicide Plot Yields Wealth of Data
Visit www.harvestland.com to view pictures and ratings
Page 4
By Tim Woelfel
Crop Protection Manager

5. Page 5
All Over the Board
You can understand the uncer-
tainty in the market when you
consider the incredible variability
in yields just in our trade area.
We’ve seen fields with virtually
no yield already cut all the way to
fields with better yields than last
year. Our best estimate locally
has our grain handle down 5-10%
from last year on both corn and
beans, and last year was down
15% from the year before. So yes,
there will be an impact.
In light of that, we only have three
bean trains sold for fall. We haven’t booked many corn
trains, because producers don’t want corn and because
producers don’t want to sell what they’re not sure they
have, and neither do we. We are fortunate in that you
traditionally do a good job of planning your marketing and
are appropriately conservative. As a result, we generally
don’t have many producers who are oversold, and conse-
quently no concerns about filling contracts.
The good news, if this qualifies: The BNSF planned to
increase freight rates by almost eight cents per bushel
back when they were anticipating a huge crop. They
have now backed off on that rate increase in light of
the projected harvest numbers. And, forecasters are still
predicting the switch to an El Niño pattern later this fall.
Hard to imagine a wet fall at this point, but who knows.
Backward beans
We may be entering a new marketing era, at least when
it comes to soybeans. As you look at the board, May
beans are cheaper than harvest beans because of what
is expected to be a huge South American crop. We’ve
only seen this on a couple of other occasions, and then
only for short periods. This looks like a lengthier event.
I tend to believe this is the way the bean markets are
going to be going forward, good crop or bad, because
of the role South America is playing in the world market.
The world now has two big new crop pricing periods
every year, and this will result in some fundamental
changes in bean marketing and bean movement.
New role
Finally, congratulations are in order to Kurt Soupir, who
will be taking his marketing knowledge and experience
into the field in his new position as producer marketing
advisor. He will be a fantastic resource for Harvest Land
grain customers. n
By Kevin DeBerg
Grain Merchandiser
Upgraded and Ready
With an early harvest on the horizon, I believe
we’re in good shape to take advantage of
what could be an extended fall applica-
tion season. Virtually all of our dry product
is onsite now. Last fall was rough on our
custom ammonia rigs, so we have upgraded
the fleet with new bars. We felt we had to
make that move in order to provide the level
of service you deserve. We also purchased a
new chisel plow for anhydrous application.
We would encourage you to line up your
phosphorous and potassium application as
soon as possible so we can get that down
early before the anhydrous rush. That’s a
huge help in scheduling our equipment and
providing timely service.
Finding part-time drivers has been a struggle
recently, so we have initiated a pilot program
offering generous incentives to try to expand
our pool of drivers. If you’re interested in an
excellent part-time income or just want more
information, contact me or Kristin Henning at
507-249-3196. n
By Joel Kretsch
Operations

6. Page 6
Spend Time to Save Time
As the harvest season approaches quickly, take the time
right now to ensure that this harvest will be a safe and
efficient one. One way to accomplish that is to make
sure that your most important piece of equipment for
this season—your combine—is ready for the rush of
harvest.
The key to safe and efficient combine operation is an
operator who is concerned about safety and is constant-
ly alert for situations which may result in injury to them-
selves, family members, and co-workers, or damage
to their machine. Simply put, accidents contribute to
higher costs, both in terms of dollars spent on repairs
and/or medical expenses and dollars lost to downtime—
not to mention the human cost.
Pre-harvest machine preparation
Safe operation during harvest depends in part on pre-
harvest preparation. Preparation should begin several
weeks before harvest to allow the lead time necessary
to secure replacement parts and efficiently prepare the
combine for harvest. Pre-harvest preparation is also an
effective way to reduce possible breakdowns during
harvest.
One of the most important parts of your pre-harvest
preparation is a review of your operator’s manual. A
quick review will help experienced operators refresh
their memories about correct operating procedures and
appropriate safety precautions. New or inexperienced
operators should take time to carefully read the manual
and become thoroughly familiar with the operating
instructions and safety precau-
tions for the machine.
Pre-harvest preparation should
also include a number of other
important operations which
can help detect potential safety
hazards and improve combine
efficiency.
• Thoroughly clean the combine to remove any field
trash, rodent nests, and oil or grease buildup. This
will not only help improve combine efficiency but
may also improve safety. By removing trash, oil, and
grease that has built up, you will also greatly reduce
the risk of a combine fire during drier harvests.
• Carefully check for loose or missing nuts, screws,
shields, and sheet metal. Missing shields should be
promptly replaced to prevent accidental contact with
the components they are designed to guard. Other
loose or missing hardware should be tightened or
replaced to prevent machine breakdown.
• Inspect all belts, chains, and other drive components.
Look for evidence of wear, such as frayed belts, worn
or loose chains and sprockets, or sloppy bearings.
Replace any components which you do not feel will
last through the harvesting season. It is much easier
and safer to replace worn or broken parts while your
combine is sitting in a well-lighted, well-equipped shop
than it is to try to replace parts in a corn or soybean
field under the hot sun or in the middle of the night. n
By aaron guggisberg, safety manager
By Pat Macht
Energy Division Manager
Don’t Wait to Line Up Energy Needs
It may be too soon to know
exactly what your fall propane
needs will be, but it’s definitely
not too early to contract some
of the propane you’ll need for
drying, home heat, and agri-
culture use. We’ve got a full
range of contracts for propane
and refined fuel, so talk to us
before you get busy in the field.
Don’t forget about our budget
payment plan for residential
propane.
If you need some work done on barn heaters or any
other propane-related equipment on your farm, now is
the time. If you’ve already had work done this summer—
new service, remodeling project, or new appliances—
we’ll need to leak check that prior to delivery. Call us,
because there’s no charge when we do the checking.
What’s your plan?
There may be some confusion out in the country about
the deadline for having your Spill Prevention, Contain-
ment, and Countermeasures (SPCC) in place. The EPA
has established a deadline of May 10, 2013, but that
deadline only applies to farms that began operating after
August 16, 2002. If your farm was operating before that
date, you should already have your plan in place.
As I’ve mentioned before, farms that store fewer than
10,000 gallons of oil products can create and self-certify
their own plan without enlisting the help of a profes-
sional engineer. A template that will guide you step-by-
step through the process is available at http://epa.gov/
osweroe1/content/spcc/tier1temp.htm. n

7. Page 7
Pre-harvest Notes
As combining gets under way, contact me or your account manager so we can
calibrate your yield monitors for both corn and soybeans.
It’s also time to get on the schedule for fall soil sampling. Contact your account
manager with the fields that need to be sampled so we can get them done as soon
as you’ve harvested the crop. As usual, soil labs are busy in the fall, so the sooner
we can get sampled and the results processed in, the sooner we will have fertilizer
recommendations and can spread those fields. n
By matt pietig, harvest max
Catching Up on New Employees
We’ve brought a lot of new talent onto the Harvest Land
and AgQuest teams over the past several months—so
many people, in fact, that we’ve fallen a bit behind in
our introductions. We’re going to try to catch up right
now.
Let’s start with Terry Jensen, who’s been pretty good
at flying under the radar and dodging interviews. He’s
been with Harvest Land since last October, and has kept
plenty busy with custom application and other duties as
assigned in the agronomy department.
Terry and his wife, Sarah, live in Springfield, where
Terry grew up on the farm. He enjoys the chance to stay
active in agriculture and work with area producers. He
also appreciates the agronomy team he works with in
Springfield.
Living two worlds
New AgQuest loan servicing representative Tanner
Hansen is living in two worlds at the moment. “In a
way, this is almost an extended internship for me,”
He says. “I graduate from Minnesota State Mankato in
December.”
Tanner is already putting the finance degree he’ll earn
to work, entering loan information and learning the
AgQuest system. A native of Redwood Falls, Tanner
grew up in town but was always hanging around the
family farming operation in Tyler.
“This is the area of the finance industry I want to be in,
and the kind of company I want to work for, so I’m in
a good place here,” Tanner states. “I’m also hoping to
farm one day.”
When he’s not working, Tanner like sports, hunting,
fishing, farming, and spending time with his family.
New direction
Just about everything is new for Jessica Keech—new
career path, new surroundings, and marriage. And the
change has been great.
A graduate of Minneapolis Business College with an
administrative assistant’s degree, Jessica works with
payroll for Harvest Land. That’s a bit of a shift from
her former position in a commercial real estate firm
in downtown Minneapolis.
She’s also returned to her
home town of New Ulm.
“I lived in Minneapolis for
seven years, and I got to
experience life in the city,”
she says. “But I recently
married and I want to start
a family, and this is where I
want to be to do that.
“This is totally different
work than what I was doing
before,” Jessica continues,
“so I’ve been learning a lot
about insurance and agri-
culture. But everyone I work
with has been really nice
and very helpful. And I do
bring some good organiza-
tional skills and expertise in
Excel. I think this is a good
fit.”
Jessica’s husband, Justin,
is also a New Ulm native
who also came back home
from the city—Seattle, in
his case. They knew each
other in high school, but
got re-acquainted when
both returned to New Ulm
and were married in May.
Though she’s been busy
lately, when she does have
downtime, Jessica enjoys
volleyball, golf, and motor-
cycle riding. n
Tanner Hansen
Jessica Keech
Terry Jensen

8. PO Box 278
Morgan, MN 56266-0278
Licensed Agquest CROP INSURANCE agents
Morgan 877-626-7453 Lynn Button, Kathy Mainer, Mark Kubesh, Cheryl Manderfeld
507-249-3196 Pat Macht, Dennis Schreier, Mark Vogel, Matt Pietig
Comfrey 507-877-2441 Rick Kastner
Morton 507-697-6113 Todd Beran, Keegan Mammen
Olivia 800-463-3616 Sheri Bakker, Amber Weber
Springfield 507-723-7350 Jim Boyle, Joel Heiling, Tim Woelfel
Wabasso 507-342-5184 Jon Christensen
New Resource for Swine Producers
Harvest Land Cooperative would like to introduce our
new Swine Specialist, Kevin Langemo. Kevin grew up
raising hogs as the 6th generation on his family’s farm,
and he’s been working in the swine industry ever since.
Kevin attended the University of Minnesota majoring
in ag education. Following
graduation, he went to work
for Land O’ Lakes, earning
the position of Pork Enter-
prise Consultant. He left Land
O’Lakes but continued to
work in the swine industry,
selling feed, helping put
together producer groups,
and advising individuals and
producer groups as to best
management and marketing
strategies. Currently, Kevin is once again employed at
Land O’Lakes and has now joined Harvest Land Coop-
erative, which leads us to another major announcement.
Harvest Land is excited to announce the launch of our
retail feed sales program. Kevin will be
in the country making farm calls to help
bring benefits to you and your farming
operation. This program will be available
to livestock producers who raise various
species, but swine will be a particular
focus. The program will also provide
nutritional expertise to area producers,
whether you mix your feed on the farm
or have your feed milled and delivered.
Thanks to our industry affiliations, Harvest Land is
able to offer services in addition to feed milling. These
services include pig sourcing, production management
recommendations, financing through AgQuest, risk
management, and producer networking.
If we can help you in your swine enterprise, or if you
have questions about the new program, please contact
Glenn at 507-249-3196 or Kevin at 507-720-5561.
Kevin will be glad to stop out and talk with you about
your operation. n
AgQuest Insurance Agency is an Equal Opportunity Provider