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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1996)
———————“—““"™““'””““' Shelby man to be elevated at banquet Nebraska Agribusiness Club to honor 63-year old co-op manager. SHELBY (AP) - Jerome Gabriel has seal technological changes since he began working as an employee at the Shelby elevator in 1959. “When I started out, we were using com pickers, and now we are using combines,” he said. “The amount of grain that we handle has grown tremen dously during that time.” And after managing elevators for 34 years, the only thing Gabriel, 63, said he doesn’t like about his job is the thought of leaving it. “Besides being employment, it has also become a hobby,” Gabriel said. “It is what I like to do. “If anything, it’s scary as I near re tirement because I will lose my hobby as well.” Gabriel will be one of four people honored at the Nebraska Agribusiness Club’s 30th awards banquet. “It was a shock to me. I know some of the past recipients, and I don’t think I fit the same mold they are in,” he said. “I’m just an old country boy.” A Dryer Award plaque hanging in his office, which recognized him as elevator manager of the year for Farm land Industries about 10 years ago, shows that another group also has rec ognized his service to the industry. The former farmer and U.S. Army M I know some of the past recipients, and I don’t think I fit the same mold they are in. I’m just an old country boy.” Jerome Gabriel 63-year-old elevator manager serviceman has managed the Farmer’s Co-op Business Association in Shelby for the last 30 years. He managed a conjp in Ong for four years before coming to Shelby. Being good at one’s work begins with enjoying it, Gabriel said. He also credits a staff of 45 employees at all of the co-op’s facilities for the company’s success. Working with farmers is an enjoy able part of the job, Gabriel said. He marvels at how farmers can continue to operate with the weather and other variables. “It is the resiliency of farmers that lets them get through some tough times and cone back with new hope the next year,” he said. The LincoLnaIre Show ChoRus A Chapter of Sweet Adelines International presents . . November 16,1996 Northeast High School 2:30 & 8:00 P.M. BLAZE featuring 1996 Sweet Adelines Intn’l. 1995 SPEBSQSA Central States Region #20 Champion Quartet District Champion Quartet THE PATHFINDERS 1996 SPEBSQSA Central States District 3rd Place Chorus To order Tickets, please call The Lincolnaire Chorus’ Voicemail. !==== 434-6456 ======1 Farmers face falling profits Prices will remain low with high supply of grain By Erin Gibson Staff Reporter Unusually high summer grain prices have left farmers feeling a little down this harvest season. A record-breaking harvest this fall means supply is high and com prices are dropping fast —just as farmers finish with harvest, said Randy Klein, director of market development for the Nebraska Com Board. Farmers who looked forward to (me of the most profitable harvests ever may be disappointed, he said. “Prices dropped a lot faster than anyone expected them to drop,” Klein said. Prices currently range from around $2.30 to $2.48 a bushel, he said. Prices are typically the lowest around harvest season, but probably won’t rebound to where they were this August—more than $3.80 per bushel. Andy Anderson, controller at the Greenwood Farmers Coopera tive grain elevator in Greenwood, said the quick drop in prices has —prompted some farmers to store their grain and wait until prices rise again before selling. “It’s just psychologically hard to sell for under $2.80 a bushel when it was $5 a bushel a few months ago,” he said. George Pfeiffer, UNL professor of agricultural economics, said prices are lower around harvest be cause elevators are inundated with ft If you drop a dead cat from high enough it will bounce back. But it’s probably not in the cards for prices to be back up where they were this summer.” George Pfeiffer UNL professor of agricultural economics com and other grain. Prices will stay low while the grain supply stays high, so farmers’ plans to sell after the harvest season could be profit able. These fanners should not give up hope that prices will rebound, he said. “If you drop a dead cat from high enough it will bounce back,” Pfeiffer said. “But it’s probably not in the cards for prices to be back up where they were this summer.” This season, Klein said, low de mand for grain adds to farmers’ woes. Buyers are waiting to see how far prices will fall before they start purchasing the year’s com stores, he said. “Their perception is that there’s plenty of com out there,” he said. “There’s no hurry to buy.” And the buyer’s perception is right, Klein said. The Nebraska De partment of Agriculture predicted com yields this fall to reach a record 1.18 billion bushels. That total would be 2 percent higher than the previous record crop'in 1994, and 38 percent higher than last year’s poor harvest. A good international harvest could further saturate the grain mar ket this fall, he said. Foreign coun tries, such as China, that often im port American grain could export it this year. Last fall’s poor harvest in the United States created a shortage in supply that drove prices sky-high this summer, he said. Pfeiffer said some farmers chose to contract their crop to buyers be fore harvest and lock in high sum mer prices. Farmers should take advantage of opportunities to profit through contracting, but should avoid the temptation to be greedy and wait for prices to climb higher, he said. It is difficult to predict when prices will stop climbing and begin to fall, he said. —Bf 1 1 .. - ■ Leave your mark on the world... Nebraska Methodist College invites you to join those who give not only to their profession, but also to the future. Methodist College has educated health care professionals for more than a century, graduating more registered nurses than any other single campus in Nebraska. I Choices in Health Professions • Bachelor Degree in Nursing ' Associate Degree in Nursing on Jennie Edmundson campus; Council Bluffs, Iowa ■ Bachelor or Associate Degree in Diagnostic Medical Sonography or in Cardiac/Vascular Sonography ■ Bachelor or Associate Degree in Respiratory Care • Certificate Program in Health Promotion L j. ■ |p§|;?: r|§,. h !_______...______________________... ______ __..... ___________HPh
