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Mid-County
Spring
Messenger
INSIDE:
Page 2 - 3 Energy
Page 4 - 5 Agronomy
Page 6 - Auto, Truck, & Tire
Spring 2017 • Vol. 31
www.midcountycoop.com
It’s going to be a great spring!
It’s going to be a great spring!
I have always thought that a farmer is the
ultimate optimist. Not many businesses are
controlled by the weather to the degree that
a farmer is, but no matter what is thrown at
them, they look forward to another great
crop year. To be in agriculture, you need to
Bill Reimers
have a good attitude towards the future,
General Manager
and the rewards are to work in the greatest
(952) 466-3721
industry
in the world.
[email protected]
Your coop has a good attitude looking
forward, and we are as ready as we have ever been for a busy
spring. We are continuously investing in the future. This year we
have an additional sprayer, an additional airfl ow, 2 additional
tenders, and 5 additional pull type spreaders. Most importantly,
we have additional staff
to make sure you receive
great service.
We have also recently
hired additional staff in
the energy department.
Kevin Galbraith has
joined our Energy
Department for service
and delivery, and Mark Kelzer is our new transport driver.
Our Auto, Truck and Tire department is well staff ed with an
additional Auto Technician, Adam Voelker, and Eric Nelson in the
tire area.
We have had several very good years fi nancially, and even
though we had a challenging fall with the wet weather, we still
have some cash in the bank with no borrowed money. And again,
we are budgeting for a great spring and another great year for the
coop fi nancially.
Part of our success is our ability to adapt to a broad range of
customers. Our fuel drivers may deliver to cranes that are building
a football stadium in the morning, and then haul diesel fuel to
a dairy farm that afternoon. It goes along with one of our Mid-
County taglines – “from large to small, we do it all.”
With OPEC agreeing to cut production, the gasoline and fuel
markets have been propped up for the last few months. Whether
they follow through long term with the cuts remains to be seen.
But the news itself has kept the markets fl uctuating up and down,
making it hard to identify a bottom.
Usually the seasonal low prices for gas and diesel are from
mid-December to mid-February. If we look at 3 year and 5 year
historical charts, now is the time of year that prices start to rise all
the way throughout the summer. Is now the right time to buy? To
hit the absolute bottom of the fuel market is very diffi cult, now
and then we do buy just at the right time. But most times we want
to look at what is the downside for prices and what is the upside.
History would tell us that in February there is a better chance for
the fuel markets to rise than to decline.
Propane
has
shown us bigger
price increases than
we were expecting.
Last year had record
inventories that kept
prices low. This year, we started out the fall with more crop drying
demand, add to it a cold December, and to top it off there were
huge increases in exports due to the expansion of new terminals
in the Gulf of Mexico that are capable of shipping propane all
over the world. The improvements to the Panama Canal also
allows larger vessels to deliver to the Far East at a lower cost than
before.
Thank you for your support, and keeping Mid-County a strong,
locally owned coop, for over 80 years. As always, I appreciate your
comments, and suggestions to make your co-op better.
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • VALUE
AGRONOMY
FUELS • PROPANE • LUBRICANTS
710 Lake St., W., Cologne, MN 55322
(952) 466-3710
Serving You With Honesty, Integrity & Value since 1935
700 Lake St., W., Cologne, MN 55322
(952) 466-3720
700 Lake St., W., Cologne, MN 55322
(952) 466-3730
COLOGNE
Hwy. 212 & Hwy. 284, Cologne, MN 55322
(952) 466-5657
(952) 466-3700 • 888-466-3700 • 700 Lake Street West, P.O. Box 177, Cologne