Our Universities: Yes-Men and Corporate Citizenship

October 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Loyal dissent is the highest form of assistance to an organization, while going along mindlessly, is a debilitating form of treachery, made more so when consciously engaged in for personal gain.
“Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels – men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.”
— Dwight D. Eisenhower —
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Organizations are populated with men and women of every stripe, yes, yes-men too.   And, this old-fashioned gender biased term is now free of any trappings of a past age.   Described ineloquently, and gender neutrally, as apple-polishers, toadies, bootlickers, minions, lackeys, sycophants, puppets, kowtowers, fawners, pawns, and brownnosers:  And Juliet nearly missed the point, “Tis but thy name that is my enemy.”

Walter Wendler mug 2It’s the action, not the moniker.

Healthy debate and discussion in a vacuum of thoughtful leadership causes otherwise potent organizations to falter: in boardrooms, classrooms, sanctuaries, or statehouses.  Fear of divergent views by leaders transforms complacency into callousness rather than strength.  Dishonest agreement is alchemy. People pleasers, often defended by their bosses as loyalists, drain the life out of an organization even if for a season cohesiveness seems to prevail.

Umair Haque, writing on the Harvard Business Review website, November 17, 2010, suggests, “The simplest way to uncover a worst practice is to ask your critics — the fiercer, the better. Most companies have been taught to bash, beat, and silence them — but if you really want to discover where “best” is far from good enough, your critics are worth about five hundred times their weight in management consultants, pundits, and assorted beancounters.”

Don’t misunderstand.  Argument for its own sake may be the supreme form of Ike’s “subversion.”
Good organizations encourage and instill the values of debate directed toward vision-defined progress.

Every leader must have a “Challenger in Chief”, yes-men need not apply.  Noreena Hertz writes in the Harvard Business Review that leaders need a person who is willing to argue with them.  There is absolutely no down side to this perspective.  Progress crippling issues might be exposed before they attain corporate culture as “best practice.”

The yes-men at Amazon have their own corporate identifier based on the nature of Chief Jeff Bezos, according to Dan McGinn in HBR last week, “How Jeff Bezos Makes Decisions.”  They are called “Jeff-Bots.”  Brownnoser sounds like a compliment in comparison.  McGinn says the leadership style of Bezos is “infectious”.  Maybe the approach works in the corporate world where a single vision guides all, but I doubt it.  It falters in a shared governance environment, such as a university; where the vision must well up from a thousand voices, and be glued together by the ringing call of leadership.

The price of silence in the face of insight regarding foolishness, greed, or narcissism is high. Will Yakowicz writes in Inc. last month, ‘It’s Time to Fire Your Yes Men.”   “At Lehman Brothers, for example, there was an unspoken rule: Voice dissent and you’re going to get fired. Before Lehman’s demise, the board of directors and management were so agreeable no one dared to say their decisions were leading them right into the financial crisis.”

Further he suggests that Abraham Lincoln was always surrounded by a “team of rivals” and Google Chief Eric Schmidt brings in informed, intelligent dissenters.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another,” proclaims the Book of Proverbs.

Evidently the great emancipator and the king of the Internet embraced this simple but challenging concept.
In Forbes last May Alex Knapp revealed a series of leadership principles professed by James T. Kirk, Captain of the Starship Enterprise.  “One of the advantages of being a captain, Doctor, is being able to ask for advice without necessarily having to take it.” He confided this to Bones — you know the compassionate human being — in reference to a  conflicting opinion offered by Spock — you know the relentlessly logical  Vulcan  — seemingly devoid of any feelings at all.
While imitation is regarded as the sincerest form of flattery, honest, sincere, mission-guided dissent may be the most loyal form of citizenship in any complex organization.
Good leaders welcome it.  Weak ones run from it.

Filed Under: Columns

Franklin County Farm Bureau News

October 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment

 By J. Larry Miller

We lost a good man this past week – a good husband, a good Dad, a Good Grandfather and a good farmer. We remember Jay Webb in a special service at the farm where he was born, lived his entire life and where he was taken to be with the Lord. Many of Jay’s friends and fellow farmers were there to embrace the family with their love and support. Many stories were told around the tables and the thoughts of Jay Webb brought joy to everyone’s hearts. Jay was a Franklin County Farm Bureau Board Member for 13 years and Jay Webb will be sadly missed.

Larry Miller, executive director Franklin County Farm Bureau

Larry Miller, executive director Franklin County Farm Bureau

Rain late week caused farmers to be on the sidelines accept for some limited shelling of corn but soybean harvest has now resumed but moisture levels have never gotten dry, at least what I have harvested. The cooler drier air will aid in lowering moisture levels in both corn and soybeans.

Corn yields continue to be very good and will probably be better than the 158 bushel yield that we anticipated in the August yield tour in Franklin County. I believe that the increase is because of the size of the kernels which is not part of our calculation. The kernel size in corn is larger than normal.

Soybean yields have also been a pleasant surprise but the size of the bean varies greatly and being on the small side. If rains would have come in August we probably would be looking at the best ever soybean yield but will only be average or above.

With all of the good news about yields some may think that farmers are in a very admiral position financially and everything is good but there are some issues to consider about what farmers face on a daily basis. The cost of planting a crop has risen dramatically in the last few years with seed cost alone for corn reaching $100 per acre. Corn prices are 50% lower than last year. Land values increase crop expenses and machinery is out of sight and getting higher. Farming is a very volatile business and a big can burst!

Happy National 4-H Week! Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) is celebrating the 4-H members who are helping form the future of agriculture.

4-H is a youth development program serving more than 6.5 million young people.  The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development found that, when compared to other youth, those in 4-H have higher educational achievement and motivation for future education and make more civic contributions to their communities.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

Filed Under: Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion

Our Universities: The Liberal Arts and China

October 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The fundamentals of a free thinking society, communication and ciphering ability, are not do-dads, or throw-aways but essentials for a university to meet its public responsibilities and have durable economic impact.
“So what does business need from our educational system?  One answer is that it needs more employees who excel in science and engineering and the remainder of a workforce that is exposed to enough science and mathematics to function in the rapidly evolving high-tech world.
But that is only the beginning:  one cannot live by equations alone.  The need is increasing for workers with greater foreign language skills and an expanded knowledge of economics, history and geography.  And who wants a technology-driven economy when those who drive it are not grounded in such fields as ethics?”
— Norman Augustine, former Chairman and CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, 2013 —
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The impact of Chinese universities on international higher education is inarguable. The order of magnitude will not be fully realized until mid-century, but the effects will be pervasive and likely equal in influence to the German Polytechnics of the mid 19th century.

Walter Wendler mug 2  Gerald A. Postiglione, director of the Center of Research on Education in China at the University of Hong Kong, like many educational leaders worldwide, believes the Western conception and centrality of the liberal arts will take root in China. Norman Augustine is correct and Chinese educators sense it.
High-energy, high-achieving research universities power economies.
Tremendous pressure exists in a developing economy that is shedding top-down authoritarian traditions and adopting an entrepreneurial bottom-up approach to focus on pragmatics.  But, producing “useful” skilled workers without regard to creativity, free thinking, and inquisitiveness is shortsighted.  Short-term cost-benefit thinking rather than long-term economic vision flashes brightly for a season but fades brusquely.  Chinese leaders know this, having lived the fruits of a “rote learning culture.”  The pressure to train students with marketable skills is important, but must be looked at long-term, not solely through the myopia of immediate need.

In the U.S. this consternation existed before the Morrill Act that created public research universities as we know them today signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. The act, its founders, and endorsers, had the vision and foresight to “promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.”

Societies that focus on the practical, without regard to the liberal, pay the utmost long-term cost.  The power to sustain is trumped by the power to produce. The value of balance is irrefutable.  In America’s best research universities, which have ubiquitous economic impact, a broad “liberal” view of learning is absolutely essential and recognized as such by university leadership and faculty.

Examples of powerful economic impact, nurtured by a liberal arts background, are well-known in America. In 2011, Stanford faculty published a report, “Impact: Stanford University’s Economic Impact via Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” that identified 12 Companies with Stanford “DNA” whose market values exceeded $10 billion each, and whose economic impact topped $.5 trillion.  A case-by-case analysis of the entrepreneurs reveals a wide range of educational experiences but, each one of them exhibits an understanding of the value and economic power of discovery and creative thinking.
Domestic universities generated $1.8 billion in patent revenue in 2012, and more than double that in recurring royalty income.  University “profits” follow research investments yielding between a 4% and 8% return.  During 2012 in the U.S., return on investment was $54.2 billion.

California, Columbia, Dartmouth, Florida, Michigan, MIT and a host of others combine a strong liberal arts foundation with sound scientific and practical educational opportunities.  Other institutions perform proportionally to investment and vision.

Chen Yongfang, a Chinese national, studied at Bowdoin College, a perennial champion of liberal arts. His record allowed him entry into leading research universities.   He was so impressed with the Bowdoin experience he penned a book: A True Liberal Arts Education heralding the virtues of an experience little known in China.  He suggests thoughtful reflection is invaluable to individual and state.  Not a do-dad.

Our universities are responsible for vitalizing economies with skillful workers. But, uncoupled from a keenly nurtured mind that responsibility is squandered.  The marriage of creative thinking and high skill creates strong economies. Nothing else will.  The Chinese are on the precipice of belief.

Filed Under: Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion

Our Universities: Adjunct Faculty

September 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Adjunct or contingent faculty — the part-time year to year teachers, often on semester to semester or even course to course appointments — make up an ever increasing portion of the teaching force at public universities.  They are, however, largely invisible, and this formula is destined to change the university more than any other single phenomenon, internet included.
“Being an adjunct is sometimes hard on the ego as nobody knows you are there except the students and maybe the security guard, cafeteria ladies and librarians.”

— Kim Burdick, adjunct instructor of history —
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The Daily Iowan’s editorial board posted a dirge on the dramatically increasing numbers of adjunct faculty March 29, 2010. In 1960, 75% of the faculty at U.S. universities were either tenured or tenure-track, and full-time. In 2011, 27% hold that status. At the University of Iowa from 2005 to 2011 adjunct faculty increased 19% while tenured and tenure-track faculty only grew 6%.

Walter Wendler mug 2“Efficiencies” are the primary benefit of adjunct teachers.  Adjuncts spend almost double the time in the classroom as their tenured colleagues at less than half the pay creating the facade of economy.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that from 2007 to 2013 state appropriations for higher education have dropped $16.8 billion, a decline of nearly 20%. However during that same time enrollments had increased by 1.2 million students or 11.7%, diminishing the appropriations per full-time enrolled students from $8,487 to $6,134, or nearly 28%.

In response to a Wall Street Journal editorial, Mediamatters for America posted a study in August this year indicating the average tuition at public four-year colleges is increasing dramatically.  In Arizona, from FY 08 to FY 13, the inflation adjusted increase per student of $4,275 led the nation. These figures do not include fees — the popular tool used to hide unpopular tuition increases.

Growing the number of adjunct faculty lessens tuition increase rates and reduces the size of Pell grants.  Adjuncts are becoming shock absorbers in the broken financial mechanism of U.S. higher education.

The price of low-cost teaching?

In 2010 the University of Iowa received $429.5 million in research funding generated by the 1,672 tenured faculty members:  About $250,000 each.  This same faculty group accounts for 62% of total teaching staff. A reduction of 10% of the tenured faculty, to be replaced by contingent faculty, could lead to a $43 million reduction in research funding, and compromised reputation to boot.

Funded research is supported by the painters, poets, performers and philosophers who spark insight, creativity and inquisitiveness in students and faculty, even though they may not secure vast sums of extramural support.
Strong tenured faculty members are like cottage industries. At Iowa, there are 1,672 of them.

Institutions downplaying or devaluing scholarship, research, creative activity, and public and professional service are no longer universities. Contingent faculty members are less valued by the university community: The lower pay and higher workloads stridently affirm that perspective.

To rub salt in the wound, the Affordable Care Act may force adjuncts out of some state health care systems. In Washington Keith Hoeller, a 25-year adjunct, reported in The Olympian, that contingent faculty toil and earn at levels consistent with the national norms: 200% course loads and 50% pay.  When on half-time appointment, Hoeller says they fall below the federal poverty level of $19,530 for a family of 3.
Some of the best teachers I know are adjuncts. A very few produce scholarship beyond teaching, but they are only compensated for teaching.  However, the scholarly and service function of a research university is sacrificed if two of the three legs on the stool are weakened.  An antiquated model?  Maybe, but research funding is essential to research universities.

The advance of distance education further exacerbates the muddle. Contingent “faculty” may work out of their kitchen. (Another economy, no office.) Students forego the intellectual life of on-campus engagement. That lack of access has trickled into the teaching community so that neither students nor teachers must come to campus.  Everyone is “on the wire.”  Soon, a student will cause an accident:  He will have been attending calculus class on his cell phone at 55 mph, and the electronic record will memorialize it.  Looking for a derivative, he neglected to yield the right-of-way.

At least he didn’t skip class.

Something has to give. University teaching is being transformed from a three-part harmony of engaged instruction, research, and service, to a monotone composition, delivered anywhere anytime at the speed of light.
Our universities can’t balance the books on the back of low-cost teaching; no matter how committed or capable the teachers are, unless they are willing to stop being universities.

Filed Under: Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion, Uncategorized

Our Universities: A Canary in the Mine

September 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The future of higher education is intertwined with the future of the economic health of our states and nation.  The two are inseparable, and our universities are barometers.  We need to face challenges head on.
“The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.”
Theodore Rubin
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By Walter V. Wendler

Jodi S. Cohen and Alex Richards posted a piece in the Chicago Tribune last week, “Illinois Share of Students at U of I Continues to Decline.”  Reportedly, a decade ago 90% of the freshmen at U of I called Illinois home. Currently, in-staters number 73 percent of the beanie-wearing class, 2% less than the University goal of 75 percent.

Walter Wendler mug 2The reporters have spotted an important “canary in the coal mine.” The birds were used to proclaim the presence of poisonous vapors. When they died, it meant “get the hell out,” to borrow Gov. Chris Christie’s admonition. Similarly, the in-state enrollment decline at the U of I is one of many indicators that universities are choking on their civic commitment as catalysts for growth. Moon shots, the internet, biomedical technology, personal computers, cell phones, and airbags, are examples of economic progress nurtured by ideas — the matrimony of education and commerce — during the second half of the last century.
Cohen and Richards suggest that the universities are accepting out-of-state students because visiting scholars pay full fare…no discounts. Conscientiously, university leaders may be working to balance the books in difficult fiscal times.

Yes, freshmen are going out of state. Illinois is a significant exporter of college students. Why do Illinois families send progeny to out-of-state institutions?  Do families and students see wheezing canaries? The “mind-flight” of Illinois’ students is beginning to rival the dire distinction held by the national leader, Chris Christie’s New Jersey.
A covey of canaries offers a glimpse of the contracting impact Illinois has on the nation’s economy through diminished knowledge production.

Could it be that, according to the National Science Foundation, the Illinois decline in total research and development expenditures per capita is not keeping pace with national trends? NSF says that in 2000 Illinois ranked 23rd, sliding to 26th 5 years later.  That’s a coughing canary.
Perhaps parents and students see the declines in per capita income from 13th to 15th, from 2005 to 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Unsurprisingly, median family income dropped 3 spots, 14th to 17th, from 2000 to 2010.   Families sending sons and daughters out of state may believe that it’s in the best interests of their children to study in another state in the hope of eventually working there.  Such markers may be a sign of decreasing quality. Birds in flight?

According to the National Council of Education Statistics (NCES), credentials and degrees awarded per $100,000 of state, local, and tuition revenues dropped from 38th in 2005 to 46th in 2010. In other words Illinoisans are getting less “bang-for-the-buck.”
Six-year graduation rates, a good indicator to time-to-degree completion, are falling according to IPEDS (Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System.) Additionally retention rates for first-time college freshmen returning to their second year, an important measure of persistence, dropped from 10th to 18th nationally.

Alarmingly, in the rate of change for undergraduate degrees awarded in 2005, according to the NCES completion survey, Illinois ranked 3rd nationally in the number of degrees awarded to undergraduates, but by 2010 dropped to 28th.
From 2000 to 2010 Illinois unemployment rates rose from 32nd at 4.4% to 8th at 10.5% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, affecting all Illinoisans and every facet of Illinois’ economy.  Not a canary but a circling vulture.
Chicken-lickin’? Maybe Cohen’s and Richard’s canary is a single bird, but there is a flock gasping for breath.

Institutional and elected leadership are stewards of the quality and efficacy of higher education.  Student and family’s desire for education has never been higher. And for Illinois — a former national leader in higher education attainment, cost effectiveness and efficiency — to fritter= that leadership away is a costly cultural and economic tragedy.
Our universities should not look the other way while chicks flee the nest.

Filed Under: Benton News, Christopher News, Coello News, Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion, Royalton News, Sesser News

Franklin County Farm Bureau News

September 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

By J. Larry Miller

As summer comes to an end soybeans are in need of some beneficial rainfall.  We are as dry as we have been all summer and soybeans will be reduced if some moisture does become a reality in a few days. That being said it will not be a disaster but we could lose as much as 25 percent of yield without some sun. The window of opportunity will close rapidly in the next two weeks.

Larry Miller, executive director Franklin County Farm Bureau

Larry Miller, executive director Franklin County Farm Bureau

I have heard of some corn being harvested in Saline County but have no report of yield or moisture content. It will be at least two weeks before any corn will be harvested in Franklin County.  Anticipation of high yields remains but many believe that the cool weather in August will cause some farmers to be a little disappointed. Rather that the best ever – it may only be one of the best. I remain optimistic it is the best on my farm.

A farmer in Central Illinois has corn coming out the field at 32.4 percent moisture and about 215 bushels per acre yield.

Farm shows in the last couple of weeks have been attended in record numbers. This year’s Half Century of Progress Farm Show in Rantoul was the largest ever. The show saw a 14 percent increase at the gate and a 29 percent increase in the amount of machinery brought to the show compared to two years ago.

This year’s Farm Progress Show was a flurry of activity – on Tuesday the morning began with a $70,000 check presentation to Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom from FS and Growmark.  The AITC program is reaching thousands of students and teaching them about agriculture in Illinois.

Melissa Lamczyk, AITC Coordinator from Franklin County was joined by AITC Coordinator Maridy Tso from Saline/Galatin County at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.  On both Thursday and Friday of last week they taught over 450 school children in grades K – 4 about agriculture in the Ag Expo Building.  There was a science experiment, a lesson about cows and many of them children made cow masks.  Everyone involved had a great time and Melissa is looking forward to making the experience even better next year.

Under a new federal law, every driver with a CDL must visit one of 47 state CDL facilities to declare which of four medical card categories is applicable. If someone’s CDL expires before Jan. 30, that individual may take care of the matter while renewing the license, Montalbano said.       Drivers who fail to declare their status by the deadline will have their CDLs suspended. By early August, 71 percent of drivers had declared their status. That still leaves 135,000 drivers at risk of losing their CDLs.

A driver with a CDL who does 100 percent of his transportation duties within the state’s borders would declare his status as “intrastate.”

However, a driver with a CDL who crosses the state border, no matter the distance, would declare his status as “interstate,” according to Montalbano.

The intrastate section offers a nonexcepted category for those subject to federal driver qualification requirements. An “excepted intrastate” category is offered for those who are excepted from all or parts of the state driver qualification requirements, such as the medical card.

“If they have a CDL, they must declare,” Montalbano said. “As farmers, if driving a straight truck, they would be exempt (from the driver qualification requirement) within their 150 miles across state lines doing farming business, etc. So that farmer can either mark EI (excepted interstate) or EA (excepted intrastate), and neither is wrong.

“However, if that same farmer does nonfarm work in the off season and crosses state lines for commercial purposes, he must mark NI (non-excepted interstate) and that covers all transactions,” Montalbano said.

More information on this issue can be found at http://bit.ly/17rtEAn.

Remember, we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

Filed Under: Benton News, Christopher News, Coello News, Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion, Royalton News, Sesser News, Thompsonville News, Uncategorized, Valier News, West City News, West Frankfort News, Zeigler News

Our Universities: Function and Finance

August 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Clear communication regarding value and cost in higher education is more important than ever.  College presidents and financial analysts agree — mission focus is essential.
“In general, higher education does not know how to speak for its interests. It offers a stance that is defensive, cowardly and likely to be ineffective.”
— Stanley Fish —
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Nobody ever suggested that money is inconsequential in higher education. Derek Bok, twice former president of Harvard University has a book scheduled for release soon entitled Higher Education in America. A recent essay from that book in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “The Ambiguous Role of Money in Higher Education,” presents a case for university leaders to understand the flow of money in universities.  Bok’s caution: Donors, private research funding, and statehouse favors can all be poor investments when misguided by short-term myopia.

Walter Wendler mug 2 Philanthropic pressure to shape programs or hiring can become imperious. Some might say, “Maybe for Harvard, but not my university.”  In fact, fiscal pressures exist at every institution, from community colleges to flagship research universities. Even a modest contribution can exert damaging influence if leadership is beguiled by a gift’s perceived value or an associated quid pro quo.
Bok is forthright. Donors who look for admission favors for offspring or friends should be “rebuffed.”   Likewise, privately funded research seeking predictable outcomes has only two: impugned conclusions and compromised integrity.  His powerful and simple conclusion: “Presidents and trustees would thus be well advised to examine their existing policies and try to eliminate practices that seek immediate financial benefit at the cost of compromising important academic values.”

I’m not convinced that the role of money in higher education is ambiguous at all. What is ambiguous is the rationale for university leadership sacrificing academic quality for any real or imagined gain, personal or institutional.
Moody’s recently lowered the credit ratings of all but one public university in Illinois.  This follows a national trend.  Bok’s advice about academic mission is echoed by Moody’s seers in an August 15, 2013, report, “Moody’s Offers Downbeat Analysis of Public Colleges.”  Crystallizing the challenge: “The analysis, which examined median financial data, show that revenues for public institutions grew by 1.7%, down from 4.8% in 2011, and that expenses grew at 3.3%, a combination that the ratings agency called ‘unsustainable.’”  Fish would say we should be focused and fearless.

Strikingly, a November 2010 Moody’s Investors Service Analysis, “Governance and Management: The Underpinning of University Credit Ratings” affirms Bok’s observation.  The emphasis on financial performance is the key factor for Moody’s, but performance is guided by an appropriate academic mission. Moody’s assesses these five factors in rating considerations:

Management team leadership capability in stable and stressful times

Oversight and disclosure processes that reduce risk and enhance operational effectiveness

Executed integrated short and long-term plans to optimize resource utilization

Commitment to self-assessment assessment and benchmarking to promote ongoing improvement

Effective management of government relations to encourage future support.

Moody’s studies key leadership influences: the characteristics of tenured and new board members, a president who demonstrates leadership in fiscal and academic matters, the chief financial officer and other executives who demonstrate independent expertise, and board leaders who bring a wide range of experience.  The long-term plan, astute management, utilization of endowments, and the impact of these on academic success are all appraised, and exert considerable impact on academic and fiscal integrity.

Bok’s concern about the inappropriate influence of resources, whether from philanthropy, research funding, or capricious investments reflect Moody’s priorities in establishing bond ratings. Moody’s and Bok share anxiety about diversions from academic integrity.

Our universities should be ever mindful of how tightly woven leadership’s academic values are in the fiscal health of the organization, and vice versa, no matter what perspective they are viewed from.

Filed Under: Columns, Editorials, Franklin Co. News, Opinion

Franklin County Farm Bureau News

August 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

By J. Larry Miller

Pleasant temperatures, low humidity and showers certainly make for good conditions for humans and livestock. Pastures have been better this summer than I have ever seen. The good condition of the cattle is indicative of the plentiful forages as feeder calf weights coming off of cows should be very good. Prices for feeder cattle will make for very good income on cow-calf operations.

Larry Miller, executive director Franklin County Farm Bureau

Larry Miller, executive director Franklin County Farm Bureau

What makes good livestock conditions does not necessarily translate into good conditions for crops.

With lower temperatures, crops are maturing very slowly and harvest will not occur until at least the middle of September. Farmers are gearing up for drying some of the corn artificially which will slow harvest and increase cost. We hope that Jack Frost will be late this year!

Tuesday August 20 the Franklin County Farm Bureau will be conducting their annual Corn Yield Tour of the county.  We are pretty sure that they will find record numbers in the fields this year.  The tour begins at 9 am and everyone will leave the Farm Bureau at that time to spread out and count the “ears” and the kernels.

U of I farm management specialist Gary Schnitkey says there continues to be a movement away from share-rent leases to cash rental arrangements.

While a number of reasons can be given for this switch, he says one of those should not necessarily be higher returns from cash rental arrangements. Since 2006, during a period of relatively high agricultural returns, share rent landlords received higher returns than the average cash rent as reported by NASS.

Share rent landlords had comparable returns to negotiated average cash rents on professionally managed farmland. Of course, many professionally managed acres have higher than average returns, likely following the desires of the owners of that farmland.

Comparison of share-rent returns to cash rents will be of interest in the next several years.

Schnitkey says lower agricultural returns likely will lead to lower cash rents. How fast cash rents will come down is an open question.

Share rent returns will react to the market; hence, share-rent returns will closely follow changes in market conditions. Just as share-rent returns moved up since 2006 as a reflection of higher agricultural returns, they will move down when agricultural returns are lower. This characteristic of share-rental arrangement may be an advantage, as renegotiations of cash rents do not have to occur during times of changing agricultural returns. It also could cause share-rent returns to be below cash rents in a declining agricultural return environment.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday the United States is at risk of losing its position as the preeminent exporter of corn, soybeans and other commodities unless Congress steps up its investment in the country’s aging infrastructure and moves quickly to pass a farm bill.

“We’re in a global marketplace and whatever advantages we have can disappear pretty quickly because other countries have extraordinary opportunities,” Vilsack said in an interview from Brazil where he is meeting with agricultural officials during a week-long trip. “If our Congress and House of Representatives can’t pass a farm bill, the message that sends to the rest of the world is we can be caught.”

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

Filed Under: Benton News, Christopher News, Coello News, Columns, Editorials, Franklin Co. News, Opinion, Royalton News, Sesser News, Thompsonville News, Uncategorized, Valier News, West City News, West Frankfort News, Zeigler News

Faith Matters: As Uncle Sam would say, “Men, Your Country Needs You!”

August 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

By Jerry Travelstead

This Sunday, August 18th at 5 p.m. there will be a memorial service for Thomas Lee Williams at Valier 1st Baptist Church. Tom is a part of a dying breed of Godly men in our country. A breed of man who would proudly bear a t-shirt stating “God and Family are Life, the Rest is Just Details.”  I could go on and on about the positive male role model that Tom was to me and many others. From his bone crushing hand shake, which came with his decades of brick and block laying, to his ever so soft heart. Tom was truly a Godly man and an unequivocal male role model for any young (or not so young) man that he came in contact with. He will always be remembered as a pillar of strength, a pillar, standing firmly on the Rock of Salvation.

Psalms 62:2 says, “Truly he is my Rock and my Salvation; he is my Fortress, I will never be shaken.” Like never before, I feel this verse needs to be believed in. Jesus Christ is my Rock. Jesus Christ is my Salvation. Jesus Christ is my Fortress. And I will NEVER be shaken. We live in a culture where we have a mentality, or even an expectation, that everyone is to make mistakes, major mistakes. Don’t get me wrong I have made, and continue to make, mistakes every day of my life. However, as Christian men we have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to God, to our families, and to the young men and women around us. We need to stand up and be different! Our young men and women are inundated with poor examples of men of influence in our country who continue to disappoint.

We need Christian men, young and not so young, to stand up and make a commitment to God. To stand firm just as Thomas Lee Williams did throughout his life. We need to hold strong to Psalms 62:2. We need to remind ourselves daily that we influence those around us and ask God for the strength and wisdom to go about our lives in a way that glorifies Him. We need to go about our lives in a way in which other men look at us and know that we are serious about our Faith in God. We need to set our expectations high, knowing full well we will make mistakes. But, not allowing ourselves to make the kind of mistakes that permanently scar the young men and women around us. Accountability may have been lost a generation or two ago. But as Christian men it is mandatory that we bring in back into our lives.

Men of God, stand firm on the Rock of your Salvation! Do your part in raising the bar for the next generation. Put down your video game controller and pick up your Sword of the Spirit. Be a pillar in your family, in your church, in your community, and in your country. Refuse to be “shaken” as the psalmist stated. Take up your cross and follow Him.

Jerry Travelstead

Jerry Travelstead

Finally I would like to leave you with this well-known verse out of Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:10-19 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

Filed Under: Benton News, Christopher News, Coello News, Franklin Co. News, More Featured Articles, Opinion, Royalton News, Sesser News, Thompsonville News, Uncategorized, Valier News, West City News, West Frankfort News, Zeigler News

Faith Matters – Perpetuating Freedom

August 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

By Kirk Packer

We live within a culture and a nation that places a high value on freedom.  Many cultures outside of our nation look at our freedom with a certain amount of envy.  Many of them long to live in such a place that allows the freedoms of choice that we enjoy.

Kirk Packer, pastor First Christian Church in Sesser

Kirk Packer, pastor First Christian Church in Sesser

However, if we are to perpetuate this freedom beyond our current generation, there are few worthy characteristics of freedom that must be understood.  First of all, our personal freedom is always limited.  What I mean by this is that as relational beings, we must always be willing to sacrifice desires for the sake of relationship with others.  We are created to live and thrive within relationships.  Relationships though, always require the suspension of our desires in order to meet the desires of another.  If we are unwilling to suspend our desires, we will find ourselves without relationship.  This is not a place any of us desires to be.  And so, we sacrifice for the sake of relationship.  Does this make us less free?  No, for we had the choice of which desires we would meet.

Another worthy characteristic of freedom is that you cannot have it without also being willing to submit.  This unfortunately is a word that many in our culture show nothing but disdain for.  However, you should know that it is absolutely essential for freedom to thrive.  So then where is our freedom?  Our freedom is in the blessing that we can choose to a certain extent who we submit too.  For instance, when I choose an employer, I am choosing who I will submit too.  When I choose a spouse, I am choosing who I will submit too.  When I vote for any kind of an official, I am choosing who I will submit too.  And finally, when I engage in worship, I am choosing who I will submit too.

The Packer Family

The Packer Family

 

If we do not grasp the importance of these two characteristics of freedom, we end up giving our freedom away, rather than perpetuating it for the next generation.  This occurs when the basis of my relationships and who I submit to is all about what I get in the immediate.  Rather than looking at the real heart of people I am in relationship with, I simply look at what I think I can get from them.  Rather than looking at the heart of the people I choose to submit too, I simply look at what they are promising me.  Both of these fallacies eventually lead to the loss of real freedom.

So let us perpetuate freedom by understanding its limits.  For if we do not live within the limits of a blessing such as freedom, we end up losing that freedom.

(Kirk Packer is the pastor of First Christian Church in Sesser, located at 212 W. Callie St. (Phone – 618-625-5092 and email – sesserchristian@gmail.com.)


Filed Under: Benton News, Christopher News, Coello News, Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion, Royalton News, Sesser News, Thompsonville News, Uncategorized, Valier News, West City News, West Frankfort News, Zeigler News
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