Pearl City 800-851-8584 | McConnell 815-868-2258 | Dakota/Harrison 815-449-2254 | Warren 815-745-2056 Baileyville 815-362-2667 | Alliance Nutrition 815-369-9014 | Alliance Commodities 815-809-2667 | Lena 815-369-2333

PROUDLY SERVING TH IS GREAT COMMUNITY S INCE 1918 . MAY 2020

Pearl City - McConnell - Dakota - Harrison - Warren - Baileyville - Alliance Nutrition - Alliance Commodities - Lena

The Cooperative Perspective:

I took a glance at the weather radar tonight and saw a huge line of storms that stretched from northern Texas to Michigan. We’ve had a great start to the planting season here in Illinois and Wisconsin. Almost all of the corn belt is ahead of the 5-year average at this point with Minnesota at the highest amount. Minnesota is at 40% planted on corn, which is almost 40% higher than a year ago. Iowa and Illinois are right behind at 39% and 37% respectively. Last weekend, I took a picture of our Lena/Alliance Agronomy facilities. Mid-morning we had trucks getting filled up in all of the bays in the liquid and dry facilities. That’s 6-bays and there was no waiting line for any of the bays. It’s great to see production agriculture adapt and work at such a high level, especially during the COVID-19 emergency where a lot of our cities and towns can’t operate because of the emergency. The COVID-19 emergency is showing the fragility of our systems and especially what we as humans can overcome. My family and I moved to NW Illinois from a city of 50,000 people in central Nebraska. As with many rural areas, these larger towns become the trade center for a large region. The toughest part of our agricultural supply chain system to run during this emergency is the facilities where people have to work together in close confines. Sometimes, these workers also live in close quarters with large families. Communities like our previous home have struggled with the emergency. The amount of people who have gotten sick outnumbers even communities that are 20 times larger with over 1,000,000 people living and working. We have been fortunate at PCE to be able to “socially distance” by changing our work schedules, using a home office, and increasing the use of technology. We’ve followed the hygiene and cleaning guidelines in our workplaces. Those practices and abilities plus the trust that each teammate is following the right guidelines at home and in public to stay healthy has worked very well to this point. The tough part is that it hasn’t worked very well for other critical parts of our supply chains and this is affecting what we are able to do locally with our businesses. We are undoubtedly learning quite a bit from this unexpected event. Good leadership will be needed as we move from the emergency into the startup phase.

Phil Ramsel | General Manager & CEO | pramsel@pce-coops.com | 815-809-2667 Ext. 506

Agronomy Update...

Spring has started with a big bang in April! We have already had many “opportunities” that we have faced so far this spring. I suspect all of us have heard more than we care for regarding COVID-19. While there has been plenty of discussion around how to approach this, one thing is for sure, agriculture is an essential business. Pearl City Elevator’s Agronomy group has been taking every precaution we can to protect you and our employees with the goal of giving you the best service. We have been forced to try new things in order to service you, and I believe this has been a learning experience that will aid us now & in the future. We have had a lot of fertilizer applied already this spring and it amazes to me how fast this happens. The speed brings a lot of stress to the distribution systems. We pull the majority of our NH3 out of East Dubuque and there can be long lines of trucks waiting to get a load. East Dubuque had another record day this year of loading 5,500 ton in a 24-hour period! That is approximately 290 loads or about 12 loads an hour! Due to the Mississippi opening late, supplies of Fertilizer got very low in river terminals. Your Cooperative was able to handle that challenge because it has great storage. As always, we strive to bring you the best products and service in the best response possible. Pearl City Elevator has a good supply of seed, crop protection products, and fertilizer in inventory. Work with our Agronomy group for any additional spring needs you will need. Please be safe in this very busy time and thank you for your support. Brian Wambeke | ||VP Agronomy | bwambeke@pce-coops.com | 815-809-2667 ext. 508

P r o d u c t o f t h e M o n t h ! Active soil biology is a sign of soil health! With soil health comes more yield potential, better starts, nitrogen use efficiency, quality forage, and more uptake of nutrients when foliar feeding. PCE offers liquid-carbon based fertilizers derived from molasses to promote soil health. By applying QLF L-CBFs (Liquid-Carbon Based Fertilizers), sold by PCE, you will see the benefits of sugar and phytochemicals, all while buffering the salt of fertilizers and adding carbon to the carbon-biological cycle in the soil to enhance nutrient accumulation in the plant! Over 3 years of trials have shown yield advantages of 6.3 bushels on corn and ROIs of $39 on soybeans! Side-dress UAN in corn, foliar feeding in soybeans, and fertilizing alfalfa gives you opportunity this season to reap the benefits of carbon in your fertility program!

Learn More & Apply online www.pce-coops.com/learn

Grain Update:

Let’s face it, it has been a rough six to eight weeks in commodity markets and in agriculture in general. No one has had to look too far for negativity. While it may be hard to see a substantial rally this year due to demand destruction, there are a few things to look for this growing season. With planting well on its way, it brings opportunity to add risk premium to the market. It seems at least once a growing season we “kill” the crop. Also, we have seen dry weather in Brazil and there is a potential to see reduction in their Safrinha corn crop. In this price sump, it is easy to get distracted by the low prices and bury your head in the sand, but you can’t lose sight of breakeven and adjusting targets because more than ever we need to be ready capitalize on that opportunity when it arrives. Please do not be afraid to reach out because we have an assortment of tools to aid you in setting targets and help you wade thru these murky waters. Also, the Pearl City Grain team is excited to announce we have unrolled a new format for our grain settlements. We are looking forward in hearing your feedback and if you have any questions feel free to reach out. As always, the grain department is available to answer any questions you may have as well as assist you in getting your grain to the best markets. For any assistance call the grain hotline 84-Get-Grain. Remember as difficult as these times are, this shall pass too, we are in this together. Stay Safe!

Sarah Story | Grain Merchandiser| sstory@pce-coops.com | 815-809-2667 Ext 509

Leading in Adversity…

I was so encouraged when Chad, one of our young farmers, shared the following, this past Tuesday, on social media: special feeling planting corn this afternoon. This is the 1st year we’ve farmed the farm that my Grandpa grew up on and he probably helped my Great Grandpa farm here with horses! I connected with this post as I was blessed to grow up on our family farm that was also farmed by my Great Grandpa. Just think of the adversities that Chad’s Grandpa and Great Grandpa experienced in their lifetime of farming. Our greatest strengths come from within: perseverance, endurance, determination, commitment, dedication, and a belief in a better tomorrow. It is in these challenging times that we need to draw strength from within ourselves, from the strengths of those around us and those that farmed this rich land before us. I recently read a poem about this very thought (author unknown):

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Success is failure turned inside out-- The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far,

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-- It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

For 30 years, I have been witnessed firsthand the determination of our PCE employee team and our PCE customers. We do not quit; we are resourceful and most important we are determined. It is with these qualities, that our employee team delivers exceptional products and service and our customers believe in a better tomorrow with PCE as a trusted partner. From agronomy, energy, grain, and feed nutrition, our team is here to help your operation. This same determination can be witnessed with our investment in Adkins Energy. When we were initially selling shares for Adkins, I never imaged the possibilities of our ethanol plant teaming up to make hand sanitizer using ethanol form 100 percent locally grown corn. We are proud of the collaborative effort with Lena Brewing Company and Adkins Energy utilizing our farmers corn making hand sanitizer. We are proud to offer this at Lena Coop. It is the cooperative spirit alive and well in the region we serve. Be safe, be positive, and believe.

Pennie Groezinger | VP HR & Communications | pgroezinger@pce-coops.com | 815-809-2667 Ext. 517

Alliance Nutrition Update:

If you have not entered planting season already, I’m sure you will be soon! As everyone gets rolling with a very busy time of year, the next

important one sneaks up on us, first crop! With first crop coming in shortly, it is important to make sure you have all items needed to keep

running as smooth as possible. Do you have enough bale wrap? How about silage bags? Oh, and do you have your inoculant?? There may

be questions running through your head, “Do we really NEED inoculant?” or “Can I save more money by not applying this year?”. So far,

2020 has been a challenging year up to this point and these are two questions which I’ve found to be frequently asked by producers. When

looking at the topic head on, inoculant appears to be an easy expense to not consider for 2020, but I’d highly recommend you reevaluate

that consideration. Inoculating all crops not only increases stability of the forages harvested but also increases utilizable tonnage, improves

forage quality, and has been seen to increase milk production. At Pearl City Elevator we are proud to promote CHR Hansens’s SiloSolve FC

and MC as inoculant choices. SiloSolve FC not only improves aerobic stability of feed after the silage is open but increases early feed out

potential as the length for fermentation is greatly reduced as well. A shorter window for fermentation to occur allows producers the

opportunity to dig in sooner if faced with a feed shortage without harsh negative side effects such as heating, mold/yeast production, and

decreased feed intakes due to silage being compromised. SiloSolve FC can be utilized on all types of ensiled feeds and has been noted to

also assist in reducing the fungal growth on ensiled feeds which are at the highest risk such as corn silage, snaplage, high moisture corn, and

cereal grains. SiloSolve MC is most popularly admired for reducing undesirable microbial fermentation, increasing dry matter recovery, and

increasing protein availability in forages that are at the high risk such as alfalfa and grasses. So when considering inoculant remember,

treating reduces feed spoilage, increases available protein, protects against pathogenic bacteria, can increase feed intakes, improves

aerobic stability, can boost milk production, and reduces feed refusal. To me, all of those benefits really outweigh the initial cost and prove

that investing on preserving our crops truly can help us be advantageous all year long! Give myself or Dave Waddell a call to book your

inoculant today!

Mackenzie Torstenson | Animal Nutrition Sales | mtorstenson@pce-coops.com | 815-369-9014

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