Bringing It Together 05-06.qxd - Agren Inc

MAY 2006Our Mission:Agren, Inc. responds to agricultural and environmental challengesby providing comprehensive, integrated services to groups andindividuals to positively impact our natural resources. TheAgren team is dedicated to achieving client objectivesthrough a commitment to quality and excellence.Agren Services Now Available Through Federal General Services AdministrationIt's now easier than ever for governmentagencies to take advantage of theenvironmental consulting services providedby Agren. Agren has been awarded aFederal Supply Schedule contract throughthe General Services Administration (GSA).A GSA Federal Supply Schedule is a listingof contractors that have been awarded acontract that can be used by all federalagencies to purchase products or services.Under the Federal Supply Schedule,GSA establishes long-term governmentwidecontracts with commercial firms, suchas Agren, to provide access to millions ofstate-of-the-art, high-quality commercialsupplies and services at volume discountpricing. These supplies and services can beordered directly from GSA-approved contractors.Agren's contract allows them to provide"Environmental Services" includingenvironmental planning and documentation,environmental compliance, and waste management.Any government agency in needof these services may select Agren as theirprovider at rates established in Agren'sGSA contract."GSA is a vehicle to help businesseswork with the federal government," saidDeana Hoeg, Agren's Business andMarketing Manager. "The government isthe No. 1 buyer in the world. GSA wascreated to make it easier for them to buygoods and services. It enables businesses tosay 'this is my service and this is my price'without renegotiating each time a service isneeded."The advantages to using the GSA programschedule are many:• Dramatic reduction in lead time toobtain services.• No order limitations - you can place anorder for any dollar amount.• Government ordering offices have theopportunity to meet small businessgoals, while promoting compliancewith various laws and regulations.• Flexible purchasing options save youtime and money.• Task order based on Best Value inaccordance with the FederalAcquisition Regulation (FAR).• Competitive prices have been met.• Prices have been determined to be fairand reasonable by GSAOrders are placed directly with Agrenin a "task order" fashion, and Agren providesservices directly to the customer.Ordering through a GSA schedule greatlyspeeds the procurement process. A recentstudy of the GSA schedules program foundthat it takes a federal agency an average of15 days to procure services under a GSAschedule, compared to 268 days to procureservices without a schedule. That's goodnews for agencies that want to do businesswith Agren."Now that we have been awarded aschedule, we are excited to let everyoneknow how much easier it is to do businesswith us," Hoeg said.There are many benefits for U.S. governmentoffices to procure goods and servicesfrom companies that have a GSA contract.Government ordering offices have noneed to seek competition outside of GSAschedules, synopsize the requirement, andare not required to make a separate determinationof fair and reasonable pricing. Theordering agency has already concluded thatthe order represents the best value andresults in the lowest overall cost alternativeto meet the government's needs.Agencies have access to millions ofcommercial services and products that canbe ordered directly from GSA Schedulecontractors. They will be able to order thelatest technology and quality servicesand/or products, conveniently and at mostfavoredprices.(continued on inside)

Agren Services Available Through Federal GSA (cont.)It is because of these benefits that themore than 5,000 federal government buyingagencies prefer to buy from companies thathave GSA contracts.To view a wealth of information onGSA Schedules and contracting withAgren, visit http://www.GSA.gov or contactDeana Hoeg at deana@agren-inc.com.The website includes tutorials and comprehensiveinformation.Prescribed Fire Message Reaches Dozens of Participants at Series of Winter MeetingsFire was the hot topic at a series of educational meetings heldthrough the winter in the Loess Hills region of western Iowa. Themeetings were part of an educational outreach project to increasethe understanding and application of prescribed fire in the hills.The ultimate goal of the project is to restore native plant communitiesand revive economic opportunities associated with livestockgrazing.Nearly 190 Loess Hills landowners took part in eight educationalprograms presented at various locations along Iowa's westernborder from December through February. At the meetings, participantsreceived detailed information on the benefits of prescribedfire, the services of the Loess Hills Burn Crew, and financial incentivesto scheduling a prescribed fire."We want to help landowners to understand that the nativeprairie is worth keeping and protecting," said Bob Moritz, pastchairman of the Loess Hills Alliance. The Alliance received fundingfor this project from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources(IDNR) REAP program, and the Alliance contracted with Agren tocoordinate much of the work.Several prescribed fire experts joined with Agren staff as presentersat the series of meetings. Matt Graeve, burn boss for theLoess Hills Mobile Prescribed Fire Crew based in Council Bluffs,talked about his crew at each session. The Burn Crew is available tohelp landowners plan and execute a controlled burn on their property.Graeve said he believes the series of meetings was effective asan educational tool."I think overall they were helpful in getting new people tothe table," he said. "I've had a few landowners call and ask forfollow-up."Graeve and his crew already have 13 prescribed fires scheduledfor this spring, but he said he intends to follow-up with interestedlandowners as time permits.Also attending each session was Agren President Tom Buman.He said that although the company has worked with insuranceissues and conducted feasibility studies related to prescribed fire inthe past, this was their first educational project with fire."We wanted to increase the number of prescribed fires andThanks to the input of several ranchersfrom throughout the western and southernUnited States, great strides are being madetoward making "The Grazing Manager"(TGM) software a valuable, user-friendlytool.A little more than a year ago, Agrenstaff recognized a need to develop a tool tohelp rangeland producers make tough decisionsabout their herds during prolongeddrought. After analyzing 17 different tools,Agren selected The Grazing Manager,which was originally designed at TexasA&M University to help ranchers adjusttheir herd stocking rate more proactively.The goal of Agren's project is to take thisproven tool and make it more user-friendlyfor ranchers who are struggling to manageunder drought conditions.Rob Ravenscroft, a retired Nebraskarancher now living at Lincoln, NE, washired by Agren to work with TGM. He hasmet one-on-one with ranchers fromMontana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas,Okalahoma and New Mexico to help themmaster TGM and find the "bugs" that needMatt Graeve, burn boss for the Loess Hills MobilePrescribed Fire Crew, explains the benefits of prescribedfire to a group of landowners from the Percival area.motivate people to use prescribed fire," Buman said.All participants were surveyed at the conclusion of each session.Results show that 71 percent of those in attendance have landthat would be eligible for a burn. Landowners' interest in conductinga burn and exploring financial assistance both went up following themeetings, according to the surveys.In addition to the series of meetings, the prescribed fire projectresulted in release of several press releases and radio interviews, aswell as creation of promotional mailings and information packets.As the project winds down, Agren personnel are preparing theirfinal report to REAP.Buman said that the success of the prescribed fire educationalproject has prompted Agren to contemplate a follow-up project. Onepossibility is outreach to absentee landowners – those who own landin the Loess Hills but don't live there or manage the land directly."They're part of the ecosystem and they need to be informed,"Buman said.Ranchers Assist Agren to Make TGM Grazing Software More User Friendlyto be worked out. Comments and questionsraised by the "test group" are then sharedwith a computer programmer to improvethe software.This group of ranchers represents severaldifferent grazing styles ranging fromseason-long to intensive. They includemembers of the Zuni Tribe in New Mexicoand the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes onMontana's Fort Peck Reservation. Theranchers have different levels of computer(continued on next page)

TGM (cont.)skills, but all share an interest in improvingtheir herd management.The first group orientation and TGMtraining session with Agren staff was heldin May 2005 in Rapid City, SD.Ravenscroft later scheduled two or threeon-site visits with each rancher, and metwith them as a group again in February inRapid City. By working one-on-one and asa group, Ravenscroft said the sessions"gave us all a greater understanding ofTGM, how to use it and what to expectfrom it.""We all learned about TGM together,"Ravenscroft said. "Tracking livestock as'herds' and quantifying range productionin terms of energy for maintenance andgain are new concepts, but this approachis precisely why TGM is such an effectivemanagement tool."TGM concepts that ranchers havestruggled with are "demand days," "herdsetup", and "forage year and utilization,"according to Ravenscroft. Some of the benefitsof the software that ranchers appreciateare the annual records it provides andthe potential for drought forecasting, headded."In the midst of ranch work demands,our cooperators made time to work with meto keep their TGM databases updated,"Ravenscroft said. "They now have a base toplan this summer's forage production andlivestock demand. They will be practicingtheir observation skills as they record growingconditions, forage utilization, and grazingschedules. They are looking forward totesting TGM's prediction and planningfunctions, and they also are anticipating a'bug-free' software!"Ravenscroft said he greatly appreciatesthe time the ranchers and agency peoplehave taken to make TGM a valuable managementtool."Their patience with a beta software,and the frustrations that go with it, wasamazing," he said. "They were all willing tolearn the computer skills required in using aprogram that hadn't been optimized for easeof use. Future users will never know howmuch they are benefiting from our testers'frustrations!"Agren and Ravenscroft will continue towork with ranchers through the '06 growingseason. A final software product is anticipatedto be released in March of 2007.New Employees Add Dimension to Agren StaffIn the fall of 2005, Agren had anunprecedented eight grant applicationsapproved by various agenciesand organizations. These eight newcontracts were in addition to severalongoing projects already underway.This added workload created a needto hire additional staff. SinceNovember, three new employeeshave come on board.Piper Potthoff, a native ofCarroll, began at Agren the first partof November. Piper recently graduatedfrom Loras College in Dubuque,IA, with degrees in Public Relationsand Spanish. During her time at college,she acquired event planningskills and was also able to study abroad in Granada, Spain, for asemester.At Agren, Piper works on a national Conservation InnovationGrant for a Center for Absentee Landowners. She is helping todesign a website to target landowners who do not operate theirland. This website is designed to educate absentee landownersabout the conservation programs that are available to them. Otherprojects that Piper assists with include the animation project forBest Management Practices and prescribed fire education. Piperalso acts as the cultural liaison for the office as they begin to workwith new clients. The event-planning skills that she acquired atcollege have been put to use planning expert panel meetings.Piper was raised on a grain and livestock farm just outside ofCarroll and is glad to be back in the community. She recentlybought her first house in Carroll and is working on making it home.Two weeks after Piper's first day, Mary Bower started atAgren. Mary brings to the Agren team more than 25 years of experiencein the newspaper field. After graduating from WartburgCollege in Waverly with degrees in Mass CommunicationJoining the Agren staff since last fall are, from left:Mary Bower, Piper Potthoff and Austin Sewell(Journalism) and English, Mary tooka job as reporter for the Carroll DailyTimes Herald, specializing in educationand agricultural issues. She lateraccepted positions with Central IowaPublishing in Bayard, and as editor ofThe Glidden Graphic in the mid-1980s. She has also done extensivefreelance writing for various ag-relatedpublications in Iowa.At Agren, Mary assists withIowa Farm*A*Syst, an on-farm waterquality education and risk-assessmentprogram. She is currently coordinatingan outreach program to ruralIowans on proper handling of solidwastes and hazardous materials, andprepares scripts for computer-animated videos of soil and waterconservation practices. Mary was raised on a grain and livestockfarm in northern Iowa, and now lives with her husband, Mark, ontheir farm in Guthrie County near Coon Rapids. They have twochildren: Hannah, a sophomore at Northwest Missouri StateUniversity in Maryville, and Ross, a junior at Coon Rapids-BayardHigh School.The newest member of the Agren team is Austin Sewell, whocame on board in late March. Austin is a rangeland professionalwith a Bachelor of Science degree in Rangeland Ecology andManagement from Oklahoma State University (2005). He wasraised on a cattle ranch near Fort Worth in north-central Texas.Austin brings to Agren expertise in grazing and rangeland ecologyand management. He has previous fulltime experience on variouscattle ranches.Austin assists with grazing and rangeland related projects atAgren including the Loess Hills Grassbank project, and developmentand implementation of The Grazing Manager software.Austin and his wife, Valleri, have settled in Breda, IA.

Get to Know…….Deana Hoeg, Agren's Business & Marketing ManagerDeana Hoeg, Business& Marketing ManagerMore than likely, the friendly voicethat answers your call to Agren is thatof Deana Hoeg, Business and MarketingManager since January 2004. Deana'sresponsibilities are far-ranging and crucialto the smooth running of Agren'ssmall staff.Deana grew up in Sioux Falls, SD.Her first exposure to agriculture was asa Soil Conservation Aide inWorthington, MN, where she met herfuture husband, Mike Hoeg. Severalyears later, Deana and Mike movedback to his family farm in Lake View,IA. After moving to Iowa, Deana washired by Tom Buman, District Conservationist at the Carroll officeof the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). She alsoworked part-time at the NRCS office in Sac County. It was duringher 10 years with NRCS that Deana said she developed a strongunderstanding of government policy.After her husband's untimely death in a farm accident, Deanareturned to college and earned her Bachelor's Degree from BuenaVista University in Storm Lake, IA, majoring in BusinessManagement/Entrepreneurship. After graduation, in an interestingtwist of fate, she was again hired by Tom Buman, who by then wasrunning his new company, Agren, Inc., with his brother, Stan.Deana's responsibilities at Agren consist of all aspects of financialmanagement including payroll, billing, budgeting projections,state and federal reporting and auditing. She is also responsible forthe marketing direction of the company, which includes researchinggovernment procurement opportunities and developing and implementingshort and long-term marketing plans. Additional dutiesinvolve human resource issues, maintaining the employee benefitsprogram and, finally, overseeing the daily operations at Agren."As a city girl, I never dreamed I'd be so deeply involved inagriculture as I am now," Deana said, "but now I have a greaterunderstanding of agriculture and the environment, and have appreciation,admiration and respect for everything Tom and Stan haveaccomplished with their business."Outside of Agren, Deana spends most of her time raising hertwo children, Audrey, 13, and Mitchell, 9, and supporting them intheir activities – soccer, track, volleyball, baseball, softball andwrestling. She's also active in her church as director of VacationBible School and teaching Sunday School.Deana describes herself as self-sufficient and independent, andis very grateful to her adopted community of Lake View. "It's awonderful place to raise your family," she said. "This communityhas been so important to me, and I can't imagine living anywhereelse. I am also very fortunate to have Mike's parents, Grahamand Norma, close since they have been instrumental in helpingwith Audrey and Mitch. My world revolves around my friendsand family."Agren, Inc.1238 Heires AvenueCarroll, IA 51401www.agren-inc.com(712) 792-6248