There’s a new worker at our plant in Alexander. This one can work nights, weekends and never ever needs a break!

December 1 was the first day on the job for “Willard,” as we’re affectionately calling our new robot. Willard was installed by Chantland Company of Humboldt, Iowa, and Latham crew members spent five days learning how to program the robot and to integrate it into our bagging system. Willard does some heavy lifting! It can stack 18 bags of soybeans per minute, which greatly reduces the amount of physical labor required to move seed from the bagging line to the warehouse.

The addition of Willard frees up team members to complete other tasks, thus increasing our efficiency. Another benefit of Willard is built-in safety. Its electronic eyes will see when a foreign object (like someone’s hand) ventures into the work area; if so, the robot automatically and immediately shuts down.

When your Latham® Hi‑Tech Soybeans get delivered in 2012, know they were probably stacked by “the new guy.” To see video of Latham’s robot in action, go to http://youtu.be/6IyB97uF2nI.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IyB97uF2nI&list=UUfZtxNBIboE3I2RgYLdgDTw&index=1&feature=plcp[/youtube]

The Role of Social Media in Iowa became the topic of the early morning #iacaucus coverage. 

During a live broadcast this week, the following question was posed to Franklin County farmer Larry Sailer:  How are you using social media to assist with farming?  Facebook, Twitter and blogs have become virtual coffee shops.

Common uses of social media within the agricultural community include:

• Advocacy – helping others understand farming practices and educates the masses about important issues impacting agriculture and farmers.
• Community Building – connects consumers with producers; helps farmers connect with the people their feeding; and connects people who have similar interests.
• Relationship building – getting better acquainted with people you already know and meeting others with whom you can network and work together for a common cause.

Farmers Do Text.  (In fact, I set up all of the farm stops for the WHO Radio 2011 Crop Tour through texting!)  They also tweet and post status updates on Facebook, too.

“Twitter and Facebook are popular,” agrees Deb Brown of Debworks, a marketing organization based in Hampton, Iowa, that uses traditional and new media to help businesses get noticed.  “Fifty-seven percent of Franklin County residents are on Facebook; it’s the new ‘party line’.”

I just love Deb’s sound bite but can’t help but wonder how many politicos connected “party line” to Democrats v. Republicans rather than the shared telephone lines that were common in rural areas when I was a kid.

Aren’t double entredrés great?  The more I think about it, the more fitting I find it that social media has become the new party line.  Rather than “drawing a line in the sand,” we can use social media to connect “two or more users in an exchange” of ideas.  Regardless of whether people or Democrats or Republican, we can unite around common interests including family and community, food and fun!

Naturally, all Americans look forward to the time between Christmas and New Year’s.  It’s often filled with rest, relaxation and anticipation for the future.  Even if adults are working that week, it reminds me of taking summer classes while a college student: You do the work but the atmosphere is a lot more relaxed.

That is unless you’re an Iowan and it’s the week before the first-in-the-nation caucus!  Then your telephone rings several times a day – even interrupts family gatherings as you celebrate the holidays – with political candidates trying to win your support.  (On the upside, it beats having bill collectors call!)  You can find 24/7 news coverage of the upcoming landmark political event as even the “local news station” is providing its own angle.

But I’m not complaining!  I honestly believe it’s an honor for Iowa to host the caucus.  We have the privilege of exercising our freedom to vote, take part in the political process, plus showcase all that Iowa and its wonderful small towns have to offer.  And that’s exactly what happened when CNN’s Starting Point with Soledad O’Brian rolled into the Hawkeye State.

CNN producers met right before the New Year with Franklin County residents including Larry Sailer, farmer and Franklin County Farm Bureau member, and Deb During Brown of Hampton, founder of Debworks, who specializes in using traditional and new media to connect people.

So how did a powerful New York media outlet find two experienced social media users in the middle of Iowa?  It wasn’t random.  It was the result of the 2011 Harvest Tour, sponsored by Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds, Franklin County Farm Bureau and Debworks, founded by Deb During Brown.

“CNN found more stories about our bloggers tour,” writes Brown in a Dec. 30 blog post.  “Residents of Franklin County were actually using social media!  Suddenly the topic changed from politics to how rural communities were using social media.  Larry Sailer – a farmer in the county, myself, Claire Celsi – businesswomen and blogger from Des Moines and Michael Libbie – advertising man and blogger will be on a live panel Monday morning.  Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien – here we come!”

Click here to watch a news clip of Franklin County residents and bloggers, who were interviewed Monday on CCN’s Starting Point.

Farmers, support education in your community and help strengthen your rural communities by applying for a grant from America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education. Applications will be accepted from January 6 through April 15, 2012. Nominating your public school is as simple as completing a one page form.

Grants will be awarded based on merit, need and community support. That mean the more farmers who nominate a school district, the more it demonstrates community support and thus strengthens that school district’s application. So, encourage all of your friends and family members to apply! A little grassroots organization could go a long way toward helping your school.

Skeptical? Your odds are much better receiving a grant from the rural education fund than from winning the Publisher’s Clearing House. Just ask the folks who farm near Wells, Minnesota. Last year the United South Central School District in Wells, Minnesota, received a $25,000 grant for new lab equipment and graphing calculators.

America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education is sponsored by the Monsanto Fund to help farmers positively impact their communities by supporting local school districts. Specifically, the program gives farmers the opportunity to nominate a public school district in their community to compete for a merit-based grant of either $10,000 or $25,000. The program is available in 1,245 counties in 39 states. Overall, the program will donate more than $2.3 million to school districts.

Grant recipients will be selected by America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education Advisory council, a group of 26 farmers from across the country. Grants will be announced in August 2012.

For more information, visit GrowRuralEducation.com or call 1-877-267-3332. NOTE: The referenced website, including an online application form, will not be updated with 2012 information until closer to the application period. In the meantime, you can download a hard copy form here.

Motorists have one more “tool” for their winter survival kit, thanks to a new smartphone application. It’s available – free – for both Android and iOS systems.

“The app will help you find your current location, call 911, notify your friends and family, calculate how long you can run your engine to keep warm and stay safe from carbon monoxide poisoning,” says Iowa State University Extension Safety Specialist Charles Schwab in a recent Wallaces Farmer article. “You can use the Winter Survival Kit app to store important phone and policy numbers for insurance or roadside assistance. You can also designate emergency contacts you want to alert when you become stranded.”

The Winter Survival Kit app can be used to determine geographic location.  It’s gas calculator estimates how long the car engine will run on the remaining fuel plus every 30 minutes it will remind motorists to turn off the vehicle’s engine and check the exhaust pipe for snow buildup to avoid deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.  In addition, the Winter Survival Kit app provides information on preparing one’s vehicle for winter driving and on staying safe when stranded in a storm or stuck in snow. Click here to read the entire Wallaces Farmer article, “Phone App Is Winter Preparedness Tool for Motorists.”

Click here to download for iPhones.
Click here to download for Android Phones. 

Deb Brown is the CMO, chief foot soldier, answering machine and traveler at Debworks.  Debworks is a marketing organization, traditional and new media, dedicated to getting the word out about your business.  www.debworks.com | deb@debworks.com 641-580-0103

What if you made the decision to purchase one product locally?  You might be surprised at the huge impact just one purchase could have on a small town.

Let’s just consider what would happen if every resident of Greater Franklin County decided to buy their toilet paper locally.  There are 15,000 people in Greater Franklin County and the average person uses 105 rolls of toilet paper a year.  Do the math – just this item would keep almost $2 million dollars in sales in our county.  Two million!  It would also generate $140,000 in sales taxes.

Last year it was estimated that the amount actually spent on toilet paper in Greater Franklin County was $335,800 – that’s lost revenue of $1,631,244!  We haven’t even covered the fact that revenue spent in local businesses tends to stay in the county.  They pay their employees and local taxes, shop for products locally themselves, contribute to non-profit organizations locally and generally support the local community.

Debworks has a commitment to shopping local.  The first thing that comes to mind is shopping at the retail stores.  And we do that.  But we’ve expanded our commitment to say – we support local too.  I live and work in Franklin County and think it’s important that we learn to work together not only to improve quality of life, but also to strengthen our businesses.

What does that mean?  Easy enough – shop local! (See www.debworks.com/5-things-consider)  But it’s more than just shopping local.  It’s also working together.  John F. Kennedy said “a rising tide lifts all boats” (he took it from a New England Chamber of Commerce).  That means if we all work together, we all get better together.

We’re doing a few things in Franklin County that are making a difference:

1.     Thinking about advertising and promotion in an artistic kind of way.

Our Franklin County Arts Council puts on two big productions a year.  At the winter event, it’s a live radio play done on a stage set in the 1940’s.  There are 6-8 commercials between the acts.  These commercials are from local companies!  So not only is your commercial seen live at both showings, it is recorded and played on the radio (and you get the spot for your use) and it is also filmed and you receive that as well.  We like the idea “write once, use many times” – and this works well!  You are supporting the arts, and getting your name out there too. Win-win.

2.     Last year Debworks, Latham Hi Tech Seeds, Franklin County Farm Bureau and Franklin County Tourism teamed up to host a bloggers tour.

We invited 10 bloggers and their families into our community.  We fed them, housed them and entertained them for a weekend.  In turn, they wrote about their adventure in Franklin County.  The short tail on this is – we got immediate blog coverage from Midwest bloggers.  The long tail is – we are still getting noticed and talked about.  CNN found Franklin County and asked some of our residents to come to Des Moines and talk about the caucus with them.  We’ve been featured in newspapers around the state for this tour.  Uptake author Jody Halsted is still posting there about Franklin County.  It continues to be a productive venture.

3.     Debworks and Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds are putting together a Partnership Seminar to be held at the end of the month at TownsEnd Winery. 

We’ve invited a few local businesses to attend and brainstorm on different ways to partner this year.  We’re looking at the calendar for the year’s events (thanks to the Chamber for keeping a great community calendar!) and figuring out how we can be involved and partner up with other businesses.  For example, Shannon’s Pumpkin Patch might partner up with Country Heritage Bed and Breakfast.  For visitors traveling out of town to visit the Harriman Nielsen Historic Farm over their Festival weekend, they could stay at the B and B and take home a great pumpkin from Shannon’s Pumpkin Patch and attend the Festival.  Just imagine what the winery, the Soybean Association and the downtown retailers could dream up!

So why not take a good, hard look at what is available in your community.  What is the Historical Society doing?  How about County Conservation?  Don’t forget the Farm Bureau and Soybean Association.  Now – how can you as a business owner create some fun things that bring people to you?  As a consumer – where can you shop local and help support your community?

Today we pay tribute to the 1962 Master Homemaker
and Matriarch of the Latham family 

How would you begin telling a story about someone for whom you have the utmost respect and who has lived a very full 95 years?  That’s a lot of time to cover in a short amount of space!

After much thought, I’ve decided to begin with an excerpt from memories that Evelyn Latham penned a few years ago for her family.  “My story is one of love and hard work, interspersed with joys, tragedies, achievements, and a lot of family pride.  I was born on December 17, 1916, to John A. and Nora Ladegaard Johansen at our farm home near Latimer, Iowa.”

Yes, Evelyn Latham – grandmother of John and Chris – turns 95 years young tomorrow!  We’re blessed that she still lives in Franklin County, and there’s nothing she enjoys more than visits from family members and friends.  Each time we visit, she is sure to ask about our seed business.  And, it’s no wonder!  She’s been a very integral part of the Latham family business since it began nearly 65 years ago.

“In 1947 Willard bought a large seed cleaner,” Evelyn writes in her memoir.  “He built a trailer to transport it, and that was the beginning of our seed business.  He made a home-made seed treated, and he and John Hill went from farm to farm to clean oats that were full of weeds and infected with smut fungus disease.  They almost froze to death, so the next year Willard had farmers bring their oats to a shed on our farm where they could be cleaned and treated. 

We soon outgrew that, so Willard remodeled our corn crib (granary).  I’ll never forget how hard he worked putting in an elevator and machinery!  He had a man helping him.  When they started the equipment, they discovered the elevator wasn’t high enough.  He was just sick about it.  He came into the house and said, “Eve, come, we have to go for a ride”.  So we went for a little ride.  Then, of course, he had to rebuild it.” 

(Click here for Evelyn’s video)

Evelyn helped support Willard and their business in numerous ways.  The family’s kitchen table served as the company’s office, so she made numerous trips daily from the house to the outbuildings whenever Willard was needed to a phone call.  Known for her cooking skills and hospitality, it wasn’t unusual for Evelyn to feed a room full of hired men and customers.

In addition to serving as secretary and caterer in 1947, Evelyn was busy caring for four boys ranging in age from 6 to 1.  (The Latham’s fifth son was born in July 1948.)

It’s no wonder Wallaces Farmer magazine recognized Evelyn as Iowa Master Farm Homemaker of the Year!  An excerpt from the December 15, 1962, issue of Wallaces Farmer states, “Mrs. Willard Latham, Franklin County, shares her interest in music with her husband and sons…  she loves music and likes to read when she has time.”

No matter how busy and full her life might be, Evelyn has been known for making time to share coffee and fellowship with family and friends.  She’s one of those rare people who puts you at ease from the first meeting.  When John first introduced me to her, Evelyn pulled me into a hug.  Her smile reached her eyes as she told me how glad she was to meet me.  In the next breath, she said, “Let’s go into the kitchen for some coffee and cookies.  You’ll have some, won’t you?  Sure you will.”

Anyone who has ever met Evelyn knows there is no choice but to make time for coffee and cookies.  Fast forward 16 years, and the greeting is still the same.  Evelyn’s eyes still light up when she has company and she’s always more than ready to share a cup of coffee with family and friends.  The coffee is sure to be flowing as Evelyn celebrates her 95^th birthday with friends and family.

In honor of this milestone, today we’re sharing two recipes straight from Evelyn’s recipe box.  The first one is for popcorn balls because they were also such a hit with her 12 grandchildren during the holidays.  In fact, Evelyn was still making her notorious popcorn balls even after great grandchildren arrived.  The second recipe is for a classic ice cream dessert because no birthday celebration would be the same without ice cream.  You’ll see Evelyn has even included a note about how you can make this ice cream dessert fitting for the holidays.  We hope you’ll enjoy these family recipes as much as we do!

Ice Cream Dessert

from the kitchen of Evelyn Latham

Ingredients:

• ½ gallon vanilla ice cream (softened)
• 2 c. Rice Krispies
• 1 c. coconut
• ½ c. nuts
• 2/3 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions:

1. Crush Rice Krispies with rolling pin and then mix them with coconut, nuts, brown sugar and butter.
2. Put 2/3 of this mixture in the bottom of a 9×13 cake pan.
3. Next place the ice cream put the rest of the Rice Krispies mixture on top.
4. Place in freezer.

COOK’S TIP:  Use peppermint ice cream for Christmas.

A coalition of Iowa farmers, businesses and agricultural organizations are helping bring new meaning to “home for the holidays.”

This week this coalition announced a goal to purchase up to 48 pre-made homes, as well as providing Meals from the Heartland, for earthquake ravaged victims in Haiti.  The housing units were designed and are being manufactured by Sukup Manufacturing Co., a family-owned company headquartered in our hometown of Sheffield.

Each pre-made home, called a SafeTHome, measure 18-feet wide by 14-feet tall and can sleep 10 or more people.  Made entirely of metal, the structure is resistant to termites and moisture.  Each one features two windows, which can be locked from the inside.  Plus, a double-roofed system displaces heat.

More than 1.6 million Haitians have been without homes since the 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit their country on Jan. 12, 2010.  Nearly 80% of Haitians live in poverty.  Their need is great.

“When you learn of their struggles, you’re moved to act,” Iowa Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds is quoted in a recent Wallaces Farmer article.  “Working together, we can make a real and positive impact in a way that’s uniquely Iowa.”

Reynolds and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey are co-chairing the “Special Delivery: Homes. Help. Hope. For Haiti.” campaign, which is being coordinated by the Iowa Food & Family Project.  You can get involved in this campaign, too!  “Special Delivery: Homes, Help, Hope. For Haiti.” runs through spring 2012. To make a donation, log on to www.iowafoodandfamily.com.

Help Send A Home.
Help Deliver Hope.
Join us by making a contribution and delivering a better way of life for Haiti.