Be Prepared with FCS Financial

Crop InsuranCe

EXPERTISE YOU CAN COUNT ONChris Broderick’s mom, Loretta, smiles and remarks that her son has been a farmer since he was three years old. “That’s all he’s ever wanted to do,” she says with obvious pride. Literally and figuratively, Chris followed in the footsteps of his late father, Tom, who was a well-known leader in the Missouri beef industry. Today, Broderick Farms combines crops and cattle. On the beef side, Chris runs a stocker enterprise, buying mostly black heifers throughout the year and growing them to about 800 pounds. The cattle run on grass and crop residue, supplemented by corn silage, gluten and ground hay to achieve a target gain of about two pounds per day. Corn and soybeans are the cash crops, including some waxy corn marketed to Ingredion and non-gmo beans merchandised as food-grade. Whether the crops are commodity or specialized, the Brodericks know the financial exposure is high when the seeds go into the ground. Careful management minimizes some of the risks but for factors beyond his control, Chris looks to his FCS Financial crop insurance specialist, Kristie Hulet. “Kristie’s great to work with,” he says. “She knows her stuff and does a good job for us. You have a lot of choices with crop insurance and it’s good to deal with someone who knows how to make it work best for you. “They’re all nice people at FCS Financial and we’ve counted on them for as long as I can remember — Dad went with Farm Credit in the early ‘60s and later served on the Federal Land Bank board.” Two years ago, having the right crop insurance coverage was especially important. “I was really glad we had it,” Chris notes. “Our corn made about 70 bushels and the beans were about 20 — 150 and 50 is normal for us so we would have seen over half of our crop gross income dry up and blow away without crop insurance.”

The Crop Insurance Team at FCS Financial is ready to help you manage your business risk with the expertise you need to make sound decisions. We’ll help you find the products that protect your operation and give you peace of mind.

By Mark Parker

Growing Relationships. Creating Opportunities. is a trademark of FCS Financial, ACA. FCS Financial is an equal opportunity provider.

Multi-Peril Crop Insurance• Yield Protection/Actual Production History• Revenue Protection• Revenue Protection with Harvest Price Exclusion• Rainfall Index-Pasture, Rangeland, Forage & Apiculture

• Area Risk Protection Insurance• Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO)Crop Hail InsuranceLivestock Insurance (LRP, LGM)

Contact an FCS Financial Crop Insurance team member today to learn more about our risk management products. Remember March 15 is the last day to sign up for spring crop insurance and to make any changes to existing coverage. Call 1-800-444-

3276, visit myfcsfinancial.com or stop by an FCS Financial office, and let us put our experience to work for you.

SOLID ADVICE TO GROW ONIt’s been a good growing year for Wes Blankenship who farms in partnership with his father-in-law, Rex Sykes, near Brashear. Joining the operation 10 years ago, Wes has been farming long enough to know that good growing conditions are things to be hoped and prayed for but certainly not taken for granted. “Crop insurance is a necessity so the important decision is getting the right type of coverage,” he says. “I wouldn’t even try to keep up with all the changes but I don’t have to because we have Shane Albertson from FCS Financial to do that for us.” “Shane’s the best. He’s very thorough and makes sure we have the kind of policy we need. We listen to his advice and it’s something we appreciate be-cause little mistakes can cost you big money.” Just 60 miles from the Mississippi, the farm sends most of its soybeans directly to ports and pro-cessors there. This year, about a third of the beans were non-gmo destined for food grade markets.

“We got along real well with them so we’ll probably do that again,” Wes says. “There’s some extra work but if you fol-low the protocol it’s not bad.” Most of the corn they grow goes to the ethanol plant at Macon. FCS Financial services are important for the livestock portion of the operation as well. Their stocker cattle enter-prise has benefited from a new backgrounding yard and a total-mixed-ration mixer to zero-in on optimum nutrition. “My wife’s grandpa told me you can never make money starving livestock and we take nutrition pretty seriously.” Wes and his wife, Tiffany, have two children, Zoe and Levi. FCS Financial is part of a continuing family heritage, Wes concludes: “Tiffany’s family has a history with Farm Credit that goes back to the PCA days. They helped us get started in 2004 and now they’re helping us grow.”