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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 19, No. 18
40 Square may be answer for healthcare woes By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
NEW ULM, Minn. – When the Affordable Health Care Act went into full effect three years ago, Steve and Kerry Hoffman were one of many individuals who lost their health insurance plan through a private provider. Now, an answer to the Hoffmans’ – and other dairy farming families’ – healthcare troubles is within reach. In the last Minnesota legislative session, 40 Square Cooperative Solutions was legally granted permission to offer healthcare coverage to participating members in the open enrollment period, which began Nov. 1 and will run until Dec. 15. “With 40 Square, farmers have an option for health insurance. From the informational meetings we’ve attended and what I know, I truly believe this is a great victory for us,” said Steve, who milks 135 cows with his wife, Kerry, near New Ulm, Minn. The structure of 40 Square Under Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement (MEWA) specications, 40 Square Cooperative Solutions is a cooperative with a self-funded insurance plan for farmers of all agriculture sectors in Minnesota. The cooperative developed a plan, the 40 Square Consortium Health Plan (Consortium), which offers six benet packages for its members through a trust. Plans range in $1,500 to $6,550 deductibles, with four being Health Savings Account (HSA) compatible. All plans use the Cigna PPO Network. “The structure is unique in the sense that by law the co-op is allowed to sponsor MEWA,” Char Vrieze said. “The co-op and plan exist alongside each other, they cannot exist independently.” Vrieze helped develop the cooperative structure and is currently serving as the organization’s project manager. 40 Square Cooperative Solutions is made up of a board that markets and supports the Consortium and its plans, and consists of ve farmers and three outside investors. The Consortium’s board, on the other hand, will be made up of ve individuals – all farmers and members of the cooperative. The farmer members of both boards must be plan participants. “Because open enrollment just began, we don’t have any plan participants yet,” Vrieze said. “Therefore, when we do have plan participants next year, an election will take place to establish the permanent board.” Dairy farmer Steve Schlangen, of Albany, Minn., is currently serving as a board member for 40 Square Cooperative Solutions. “Fifteen years ago, this was an important issue, and then [due to regulatory and other issues] it got put on the back burner,” Schlangen said. “Now, within the last couple of years, laws have changed and we’re moving forward with something brand new.” Vrieze agreed. “For the rst time, we’re putting the power in the hands of farmers,” she said. Those interested in enrolling will pay a one-time fee of $100 in voting stock and an additional $1,000 in common stock that supports the trust, paid out in the course of the rst 12 months of membership. By federal law, members must have at least one common law employee. “Employees must issue someone on the farm a W-2 form,” Vrieze said. “Some people have voiced concerns about not having an employee. But if you have a spouse that does bookwork or Turn to 40 SQUARE | Page 5
November 11, 2017
“This is the worst weather we’ve ever had.” – Jerry Capko
A long fall
USDA reports Minnesota harvest 60 percent complete By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
SWANVILLE, Minn. – It has been several years since farmers expected to still be harvesting by Thanksgiving, but the 2017 season is on schedule to surpass that date. Across Minnesota, only 60 percent of the corn was harvested as of Nov. 5, according to the United States Department of Agriculture-National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS). With wet weather conditions throughout the growing season, and now during harvest, that puts the state’s corn harvest 24 percent behind Nov. 5, 2016 and 27 percent, or 12 days, behind the ve-year average. “In a general sense, it was not unusual to be combining corn at Thanksgiving 50 years ago, but our expectations have since changed,” said Dan Martens, University of Minnesota Extension. “I think farmers would like to see the soil freeze up to get the crops off. We might be in the elds yet in December.” Unfortunately, Jerry Capko and his family can relate to Martens’ predictions all too well. Jerry and his son, Jared, and brother, Larry, run 1,500 acres of row crops on their 250-cow dairy near Swanville, Minn. As of Nov. 5, the family had nearly 650 acres of corn to complete of their own, in addition to 200some acres of soybeans and corn to nish custom combining.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
During corn silage harvest this fall, Drew Schefers’ chopper box became stuck in the elds on his farm near Foley, Minn. “This is the worst weather we’ve ever had,” said Jerry, who has been farming for 40 years. “Usually, we’re 90 percent, if not 100 percent, done with harvest. We’re still combining soybeans.” Jared agreed. “It’s been a nightmare,” he said of the fall harvest. “Our corn silage elds look like a jigsaw puzzle, with what we could get and couldn’t. One eld took us
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Jerry and Jared Capko milk 250 cows, with Jerry’s brother, Larry, near Swanville, Minn. The Capkos recently put tracks on their combine to get through their wet elds.
two hours to get through and we only got two loads off it.” Drew Schefers, of Foley, Minn., agreed. “We have 20 acres of silage left to chop, but the ground is too wet. I might try and chop it when the ground freezes, but it’s not going to make good silage,” said Schefers, who will harvest the remnants of his corn silage for a fodder-type feed. Schefers and his wife, Renee, milk 80 cows and run 90 acres of tillable land, all of which is corn silage. The troubles of this fall began during the summer months when precipitation was abundant and temperatures were unusually cool. From May until the rst week of November, the state received an average precipitation of 28.43 inches, as temperatures averaged 60 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). From Oct. 30 to Nov. 5, a majority of the state received 0.5 inches of rain, if not more. Likewise, temperatures were noted nearly 8 degrees below the normal temperatures recorded
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