KLA Meets At Chore Time
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Staff Report-
Mindy Truex, vice president, Creighton Brothers, began the session by sharing the company’s start by Hobart and Russell Creighton with 2,800 white leghorn chicks in 1925. Today, the company has grown to 3 million laying hens from which 400,000 dozen eggs are graded and packaged each week.
Creighton Brothers also has expanded into breaking and hard cooking nearly 650,000 dozen eggs weekly. Farming 9,000 acres allows the company to produce chicken feed with their own ground corn. Additional corn is also purchased from area farmers. Creighton’s also grows and purchases soybeans.
As one of the major egg producers in the area, Creighton Brothers contributes to the three reasons Kosciusko County is known as the egg basket of the Midwest (egg production, corn production and rail system). This vertically integrated company operates with 250 employees.
Kelly Heckaman, Purdue Extension educator, explained that less than 2 percent of the population is involved in farming today. his is a significant decrease over the past 70 years when almost everyone did some type of farming. This occupation has very significant start-up costs and land costs.
Most farmers rent the ground. Cash rents vary from $105 an acre (U.S.) to $180 to $200 an acre in Kosciusko County for prime ground. Future crop land values are expected to be driven down by the price of corn.
Currently, valued at $7,100 an acre for prime farmground, the highest has sold for over $10,000 an acre. Corn cost $4.50 to $5 to produce and could be sold for up to $7.50 a bushel last year.
Kosciusko County has not converted as many acres to housing as some areas have. The average farm size in 2007 was 204 acres. In 2012, the average had grown to 251 acres.
Rick VanPuffelen, sales and marketing manager, CTB Inc., hosted this session and spoke about the Berkshire Hathaway Company headquartered in Milford.
Howard Brembeck began the company with a vision, which has successfully grown to approximately $1 billion in annual revenue. With 13 overseas and 14 U.S. operations, the company manufactures agricultural systems and storage units.
“Half of our business is United States and Canada based; Agriculture is big business” according to VanPuffelen. There are several products and divisions including poultry, eggs, pigs, grain, horses, industrial, horticultural, air cleaning systems, storage, handling and containment and precision plastic molding. Sixty-five to 70 percent of the cost of producing protein is in the feed costs.
Feed conversion (the amount of feed used to produce a pound or kilo of meat) is key. The demand for food is growing due to the growing world population. Another division, Brock grain storage systems, produces the largest grain storage system, which holds 1.34 million bushels.
KLA is a not-for-profit organization devoted to serving Kosciusko County by encouraging leaders and future leaders to dream and create a better community through white paper projects.
edit 4.2.2014 1:07 p.m.: uploaded correct photo[[In-content Ad]]
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Mindy Truex, vice president, Creighton Brothers, began the session by sharing the company’s start by Hobart and Russell Creighton with 2,800 white leghorn chicks in 1925. Today, the company has grown to 3 million laying hens from which 400,000 dozen eggs are graded and packaged each week.
Creighton Brothers also has expanded into breaking and hard cooking nearly 650,000 dozen eggs weekly. Farming 9,000 acres allows the company to produce chicken feed with their own ground corn. Additional corn is also purchased from area farmers. Creighton’s also grows and purchases soybeans.
As one of the major egg producers in the area, Creighton Brothers contributes to the three reasons Kosciusko County is known as the egg basket of the Midwest (egg production, corn production and rail system). This vertically integrated company operates with 250 employees.
Kelly Heckaman, Purdue Extension educator, explained that less than 2 percent of the population is involved in farming today. his is a significant decrease over the past 70 years when almost everyone did some type of farming. This occupation has very significant start-up costs and land costs.
Most farmers rent the ground. Cash rents vary from $105 an acre (U.S.) to $180 to $200 an acre in Kosciusko County for prime ground. Future crop land values are expected to be driven down by the price of corn.
Currently, valued at $7,100 an acre for prime farmground, the highest has sold for over $10,000 an acre. Corn cost $4.50 to $5 to produce and could be sold for up to $7.50 a bushel last year.
Kosciusko County has not converted as many acres to housing as some areas have. The average farm size in 2007 was 204 acres. In 2012, the average had grown to 251 acres.
Rick VanPuffelen, sales and marketing manager, CTB Inc., hosted this session and spoke about the Berkshire Hathaway Company headquartered in Milford.
Howard Brembeck began the company with a vision, which has successfully grown to approximately $1 billion in annual revenue. With 13 overseas and 14 U.S. operations, the company manufactures agricultural systems and storage units.
“Half of our business is United States and Canada based; Agriculture is big business” according to VanPuffelen. There are several products and divisions including poultry, eggs, pigs, grain, horses, industrial, horticultural, air cleaning systems, storage, handling and containment and precision plastic molding. Sixty-five to 70 percent of the cost of producing protein is in the feed costs.
Feed conversion (the amount of feed used to produce a pound or kilo of meat) is key. The demand for food is growing due to the growing world population. Another division, Brock grain storage systems, produces the largest grain storage system, which holds 1.34 million bushels.
KLA is a not-for-profit organization devoted to serving Kosciusko County by encouraging leaders and future leaders to dream and create a better community through white paper projects.
edit 4.2.2014 1:07 p.m.: uploaded correct photo[[In-content Ad]]
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