1999 is now history and all of the anticipation and celebration for the year 2000 has taken place. It is now time to look ahead and make plans for the coming year. When planning for the future, it is useful to look at the past. This is almost a necessity when we are preparing budgets and doing cash flow projections.
I encourage you, our customers, to project realistic goals that you are likely to achieve. This is extremely important when you are preparing your marketing plans for this upcoming year. My suggestion would be to set goals that include a minimum target, an established average and a high performance objective. We all should be aiming at the highest goal, but realize the minimum and average does create cash flow.
The most effective way to set a goal for crop income is to use a dollar-per-acre measurement. This is common knowledge for many of you, but this measurement is less variable than using dollars per bushel because it really shows your gross return per acre on each acre you farm.
As you look forward to 2000, look back at previous years to generate a starting point. Search for every option you can to insure reaching the minimum goal and hopefully obtain the highest performance possible.
The GMO topic continues to be in the headlines recently. As many of you have heard, Cargill grain elevators will accept crops enhanced through modern biotechnology that have been approved for use in the United States and Europe. This is a giant step taken in the grain industry. With this latest announcement, I am not immediately

alarmed about the GMO issue, but I don't think we should treat this issue too lightly because the consumers in other countries are serious about making this a battle point.
The key country to keep an eye on is China. With a population of 1.2 billion people, they are a huge market for our exports. Entry into the World Trade Organization will force China to lower its trade barriers and abide by the same rules as the U.S. and other countries. We hope that this will sharply increase the U.S. exports to this country in the coming years.
The outlook for other farm export possibilities looks bleak for the upcoming year. This is due to increased competition abroad and innovative farming technology, which is increasing production and creating worldwide surpluses. We hope the dip in farm exports is only temporary until the economies in the Asian countries get back to normal. Until this happens, the producers will need government cash payments to survive.
The message to farmers is clear, U.S. agriculture will continue to become more dependent on exports. Be prepared to produce what the consumer demands.
One last item that I want to mention that is a key to the success for you, our customers, and your cooperative is Teamwork. Successful teams have some common characteristics which include Commitment, Communication, Consideration, Cooperation and most importantly TRUST. I hope we are showing you a team of people working together that are committed to improving your cooperative by