04-Lancastar Farming, Saturday, December 2, 2000 s r USD A To Educate About Crop Insurance WASHINGTON, D.Cc U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman recently announced a new five-year, $25 million initia tive to increase risk manage ment education and crop insurance products available to farmers in 15 underserved states. “This new initiative will help strengthen the farm safety net by educating farmers on the benefits of crop insurance as a tool they can use to help manage risk,” said Glickman. The plan encourages in creased crop insurance partici pation by enhancing risk management education in states with traditionally low levels of Mid Atlantic Farm Credit Hires Marketing V.P. WESTMINSTER, Md. Bob Frazee, president and CEO of Mid Atlantic Farm Credit, has announced the appointment of Sandy Wieber to vice president of marketing. Wieber, a native of Berks County, has more than 15 years of experience in marketing and public relations. “With Mid Atlantic Farm Credit’s recent consolidation, we felt an expert in the market ing and communications field would help us better serve our members throughout the multi state area. Sandy has a back ground in agriculture, and an understanding of the challenges our members face,” said Frazee. “We are very excited to have her join our management team.” Wieber comes to Mid Atlantic from an information technology company, where she was direc tor of marketing and communi cations. In this position she implemented communications plans, direct mail programs, de veloped marketing materials, and managed the company’s Website. In addition, she over saw trade journal advertising, coordinated national trade Deere Earnings Double For Year MOLINE, 111. Deere and Company recently reported that its net income more than dou bled for the year and showed a sharp improvement for the fourth quarter. Worldwide net income was $485.5 million, or $2.06 per share, for the year ended Oct. 31, versus $239.2 million, or $1.02 per share, in fiscal 1999. Net income for the fourth quarter was $71.1 million, or $0.30 per share, compared with a net loss of $29.5 million, or $0.13 per share, for last year’s fourth quarter. “It is gratifying that the com pany remained solidly profitable for the quarter and registered more than a two-fold increase in earnings for the year,” said Robert W. Lane, chairman and chief executive officer. “In spite of weakness in our major mar kets, we improved profitability, saw an extremely positive cus tomer response to new John Deere products, and brought <♦ 'V ' £ Business news federal crop insurance partici pation. For example, in New Hamp shire, about 10 percent of the eli gible acres were insured in 1999, while in North Dakota about 90 percent of eligible acres were in sured. In keeping with USDA’s efforts to support family farms, special emphasis will be to small and limited resource farmers. USDA will work with local groups around the country including universities, lenders, insurance providers, and farm lenders to sponsor seminars, training sessions, and research. More information is available on the Web at http://www.act.fcic.usda.gov/ news/pr/2000/001120.html Sandy Wieber shows, and created a national public relations campaign. Under her maiden name Moser, Wieber has been a freelance writer or special corre spondent for Pennsylvania Farmer, Lancaster Farming, Farmshine, the Pottstown Mer cury, and the Reading Eagle. A resident of Baltimore, Wieber continues to do freelance writing for the Baltimore Sun and has worked as a freelance marketing consultant. down field inventories of used farm equipment. As a result, we have set the stage for a further improvement in our perform ance in the future.” Worldwide net sales and reve nues were $3,376 billion for fourth-quarter 2000 and $13,137 billion for the year, compared with $2,788 billion and $11,751 billion, respectively, last year. Net equipment sales increased by 25 percent for the quarter, to $2,842 billion, and by IS per cent, to $11,169 billion, for the year. Sales rose because of strong customer response to new prod ucts, an improved ability to pro duce equipment at a level equal to retail demand, and the inclu sion of Timbeijack sales. These positive factors were partially offset by the effect of weaker European currencies. Overseas net sales were up 20 percent for the quarter, prima rily due to the Timberjack-sales inclusion, and eight percent for Three Named To New Positions With Chore-Time Hog Production Systems ■V * <. 'V, MILFORD, Ind. Three in dividuals have been named to new positions with Chore-Time Hog Production Systems, ac cording to George Zimmerman, vice president and general man ager of the Chore-Time Brock (CTB, Inc.) business unit. Bryan Shive has been ap pointed marketing and engi neering services manager for Chore-Time Hog Production Systems, and will be responsible for product design, manufactur ing engineering, and market planning. He has worked for Chore-Time/STACO since 1991 and held the position of market- Claas Introduces New, High-Output 900 Jaguar Self-Propelled Forage Harvester COLUMBUS, Ind. Claas of America introduces its power ful, new Jaguar 900 self propelled forage harvester. The newest addition to Claas’ line of high performance forage harvesters, the 900 is equipped with several heavy-duty features such as a heavy-duty cutting drum, a heavy-duty corn cracker, as well as a new heavy duty feed roller system. Equipped with a fuel-efficient Mercedes 500 HP V-8 engine with electronic controlled fuel injection, the 900 can maintain high output in a variety of field conditions. Other new features include automatic overdrive transmission, high capacity cooling system, and a 283-gallon capacity fuel tank. A spacious cab with improved operator’s platform delivers an unobstructed view for the driver during harvest. Controls are easy-to-reach and all harvesting and hydrostatic ground drives are controlled by one multifunc- the year. Excluding the impact of weaker foreign currencies, the overseas sales increases were 32 percent and 17 percent, respec tively. Overall, the company’s physical volume of sales rose 27 percent for the quarter and 18 percent for the year, in compari son with last year. Worldwide equipment opera tions had net income of $33.3 million for the quarter and $311.1 million for the year, com pared with a net loss of $69.1 million and net income of $43.2 million in the comparable 1999 periods. The increases were pri marily due to manufacturing ef ficiencies associated with higher sales and production volumes, in addition to lower pension and post-retirement health-care costs, and the impact of quality and efficiency-improvement ini tiatives. Partially offsetting these fac tors were an anticipated in crease in the cost of promotional Bryan Shive Barbara Martin ing and sales manager. Shive received a bachelor’s degree from Messiah College and a master’s degree from Evangelical School of Theology, Myerstown. Barbara Martin has been named controller for Chore- Time Hog Production Systems. She joined the company in 1999 and was accounting supervisor. She was graduated from Millers ville University with a bache lor’s degree in business administration. Prior to coming to Chore- Time Brock, Martin worked 13 years for V.J. Martin, Inc., Leba- Claas of America’s powerful Jaguar 900 self-propelled forage harvester is the newest addition to its line of high performance forage harvesters. tion lever. A metal detector is foot wide hay pickup head. Corn standard. heads are equipped with Auto- The 900 Jaguar is available Steer, which automatically with a six- or eight-row com guides the Jaguar down com header or with a 10-foot or 12.5- rows. programs for the sale of used farm equipment and higher ex penses regarding the develop ment of new products and growth initiatives. Last year’s results included a $4O million after-tax charge for an early retirement program. Excluding interest, taxes and certain other corporate ex penses, worldwide equipment operating profit increased sig nificantly, to $B3 million for the quarter and $693 million for the year. This is in comparison with a $69 million operating loss for fourth-quarter 1999 and a $272 million operating profit for the full year. Sales of the worldwide agri cultural equipment division con tinued to show a major year-to year improvement, rising by 37 percent for the quarter and by IS percent for the year. At the same time, average assets declined by 11 percent. Operating profit in creased to $6B million and $4OO million for the quarterly and yearly periods, compared with Rick Dripps non, as controller. Rick Dripps has been named sales and product manager for Chore-Time Hog Production Systems, and will oversee the company’s sales efforts in the U.S. and Canada as well as managing new product develop ment. He held the position of product manager. Dripps has worked for Chore- Time Brock since 1993 and was graduated from Northern lowa University with a bachelor’s degree in business management. He is a native of Reinbeck, lowa, and still lives in the Reinbeck, lowa, area. operating losses of $129 million and $5l million, respectively, in 1999. Operating profit rose be cause of improved manufactur ing efficiencies associated with higher sales and production vol umes, as the division was able to better align production sched ules with retail sales. Also aiding results were lower pension and post-retirement health-care costs and the impact of initiatives aimed at quality and efficiency improvement. Selling and administrative ex penses and research and devel opment expenses were higher due to growth and other initia tives. These increases, however, were proportional to the year’s rise in sales. During the fourth quarter, promotion expenses in creased as part of a program that significantly reduced inven tories of used equipment held by John Deere dealers in order to better position the company for increased sales volumes in thd future.
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