The name says it all: The Big Event. Those who have never had the good fortune to set foot in the Express Ranches Sale Barn have no inkling of the beehive buzzing under the big top. In one corner, eager servers tote trays of tri-tip, biscuits, and brownies to buffet tables where more than 400 will break bread in the next 90 minutes. At the shoeshine stand, cattlemen and their brides queue up two and three deep to have their boots given that like-new look. Lording over the entire affair, auctioneer Eddie Sims barks out bids as the price of a half-interest in an Angus cow and her calf soars past $100,000.

Arms folded, eyes twinkling, Bob Funk sits in the middle of this extravaganza. Garbed in true cowman style, Funk’s distinguishing trait is actually his smile. Could it be because he’s chatting with his girlfriend and his son? Or is his contagious grin because friends have flown in from across the country? Then again, there’s a pretty good chance that Funk’s smile might be directly tied to the sound of Sims’s gavel, which just came down at $195,000.

At first glance, Funk’s credentials stand out as boardroom caliber, not the sales-barn sort. As the chairman and the chief executive officer of Express Employment Professionals, Funk oversees a thriving organization with more than 550 offices in four countries and projected revenues in excess of $2 billion this year.

The largest privately-held staffing company in the U.S., Express Employment is a heavyweight in the human resource industry. Unlike many of its competitors, Express Employment has gained market share during the economic uncertainties of the Great Recession. Through the second quarter of 2011, Express has seen double-digit growth for six consecutive quarters. Since 2009, the Oklahoma City company has nearly doubled in size. Sales are up a robust 92 percent.

Given this track record, it’s no surprise that the number of boards that vie for Funk’s time and support is mind boggling. Churches, schools, and even Uncle Sam have come calling. Funk was chosen as a director of the Tenth Federal Reserve District, the seven-state region that anchors the heart of the Great Plains. Initially appointed to the Oklahoma City branch, he then joined the board of directors of the Kansas City Fed, was chosen chairman, re-elected chairman, and, in 2007, selected as the chairman of the Federal Reserve’s Conference of Chairmen. Funk advised the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, including former Fed chair Alan Greenspan and current chair Ben Bernanke. “Don’t go telling too many people that. They might hold it against me,” he says and bursts out laughing.

Yet the truth is Funk is equally at home on the range or behind a desk. For that matter, he can hold his own on the altar as well. Few people realize that this civic leader, this rancher and cowman is also an ordained minister who earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in theology from Seattle Pacific University while studying business. His broad range of interests is fueled by a level of energy that can best be described as boundless.

During a three-month span this summer, the 71-year-old journeyed to Italy to officiate at the wedding of a close friend, traveled to Scotland to dine with Prince Philip, landed not one but two hundred-pound halibut off Canada’s Queen Charlotte Islands, and escorted the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge to the Calgary Stampede aboard an Express Ranches stagecoach that was drawn by four of his champion black-and-white Clydesdales.

The secret of his success? No matter the venue, Funk applies the lessons he learned from those he loved growing up on the land. These building blocks have led to a series of successes he readily admits he could never have imagined. They have allowed him to make countless acts of generosity. Most of all, they have given him a mission, one he pursues day in and day out: Bob Funk believes it is absolutely essential to instill those same lessons in the hearts and the minds of youngsters growing up today.

So it’s safe to assume that Funk grew up enjoying the many activities he endeavors to share with kids across Oklahoma, right? Think again.

“We were very poor at home,” says Bob’s older sister, Joanne Benton. “Bob didn’t get to go and participate in county fairs like most kids we knew growing up. He was too busy working for Adolph.”

The mere mention of this older cousin’s name puts a smile on Funk’s face. This tough taskmaster was the wellspring of Funk’s ferocious work ethic. In his barns and on his fields, Funk learned leadership tenets that would build a multi-billion-dollar company.

“Adolph Hanish started at 6:00 a.m. and finished milking 60 cows at midnight every night, seven days a week. And he didn’t think that was working too hard. He loved his cows. They were his life. Adolph taught me a good work ethic. So did Dad. Dad just loved to work. He loved the land. He loved his cattle. My dad worked cows at all times, even after he went broke in the dairy business. He spent more money on his cattle than he should have: the best hay, the best grain. After he went to work for the highway department, he still kept some cows. He’d go milk four cows by hand every morning, start his job at 8:00, finish at 4:30, and milk cows until 7:00 every night. And that was just standard for our family. Dad was a hard worker. He was a wonderful man,” Funk says.

The formative influence of these hardworking men had some unexpected consequences, namely, cheap shots from childhood friends. “Some of our cousins used to call Bob ‘nothing but a dumb farm boy,’” says his sister. “They would make fun of him for working so hard for Adolph.”

There are two sides to this anecdote, and they reveal the mettle of the man. Ask Bob Funk about his cousins’ taunts and he dismisses the personal discomfort that every adolescent endures. Instead, he speaks of the journey of a fellow human being.

“Adolph was a single man who never took a day off. His whole life was his cows. When I started working for him, he had gone 17 years without a day off. The Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas — he worked holidays, he worked when he was sick, he worked no matter what. I was glad to give him a break,” Funk says.

Ask his sister, however, and another side to her younger brother emerges. “Those boys couldn’t have known it, but what they were doing was challenging Bob. They challenged him to make something of himself, and he sure did,” Joanne says.

For some inexplicable reason, cousins have shaped Funk’s life. Hanish, his father’s cousin, helped mold the young boy into manhood. Decades later, one of his mother’s cousins opened a new chapter in his life by steering him out west.

Most Americans know Ed Pease for his service as an Indiana Congressman. But in Northern New Mexico, the Eagle Scout is known for his service at the legendary Philmont Scout Ranch. The 137,000-acre ranch is nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the heart of the historic Maxwell Land Grant (see “Lucien Maxwell,” Land Report Fall 2008). The grant’s 1.7 million acres had been divvied up into a series of enormous ranches, and some 300,000 acres were acquired by legendary Oklahoma oilman Waite Phillips. It was his bequest that created the Scout Ranch.

In 1996, Pease learned that a key inholding was about to change hands. “Word got out that the Atmore Ranch was going to be sold and then cut up into 20-acre parcels. I support a landholder’s rights to do what they see fit with their property, but the idea of walking through a subdivision to get to the biggest mountain on Philmont ruins the concept of hiking through the wilderness, doesn’t it?” Pease asks.

Pease knew the clock was ticking. “In all the time I’ve known Bob, I never ever asked him to do anything financial. But this time I had to. I called him and made the pitch. Bob had never been a Scout as a kid. Growing up he was too busy working to have time to be a Scout. There was no reason for him to buy this ranch. But he knew what it would mean to generations of Scouts to come, so he went ahead and bought it,” Pease says.

Ten years after acquiring the Atmore, Funk expanded his New Mexico holdings when he bought from Brad Kelley the portion of Philmont that Waite Phillips kept for himself. Called the UU Bar Ranch, it is a Rocky Mountain paradise that rises from the high-desert rangeland at 6,000 feet to more than 11,000 feet above sea level in the Sangre de Cristos.

“The UU Bar is more like a state than a ranch,” says former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating. “You have those alpine meadows, the beautiful forests, the abundant wildlife. It’s absolutely a colorful affirmation of the beauty of America, a spectacular picture-postcard ranch.”

Keating’s wife, Cathy, concurs. Like her husband, Oklahoma’s former First Lady has been a regular at the UU Bar since before Funk bought it.

“We’ve been elk hunting with Bob every year since he bought the Atmore. There’s really just nothing quite like that country out there. It’s just a very special place. You’re in God’s country. I love those moments at the UU Bar – the early morning breakfasts at the lodge that Ralph [Knighton] prepares, driving up to the meadows and waiting for the bugling to start. Then you hear the bugling and the thrill of the chase. I really don’t care if I shoot or not,” she says.

As memorable as a visit to the UU Bar may be, the vast property is an integral element of the Express Ranches portfolio. This multifaceted beef production entity is driven by one goal: better cattle. On a trip to New Mexico, Funk points out that yearling bulls are conditioned on the UU Bar before being taken back to Yukon and sold.

“Jarold likes to tell me we beta test our genetics at the UU Bar,” Funk says, referring to Jarold Callahan, president of Express Ranches. The two teamed up in the mid-1990s when Funk negotiated the purchase of the B&L Ranch and the B&L Angus cow herd near Shawnee from the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association Foundation. Up till then, Funk had focused primarily on Limousin cattle. With the purchase of the B&L, Angus cattle became the driver in the expansion of the Express Ranches brand and Callahan was put in charge. “I told Jarold, ‘You sold me these suckers. You come and make them pay,’” Funk says. And that’s exactly what those black-faced cattle have done. According to National Cattleman, Express Ranches is the nation’s largest seedstock operation. Judging from the strong sales numbers at this year’s Big Event, that ranking is safe and secure.

So what does this mean to Bob Funk? It goes without saying that there’s a sense of accomplishment. Back in 1996, he, Callahan, and their team set out to become No. 1, and they’ve done exactly that. It’s the same exact approach that Funk has taken at Express Employment Professionals: putting a team together, setting a high bar, and doggedly pursuing that goal. In three or four years, Express Pros will also be No. 1, Funk tells me.

Bob Funk Jr. is also drawn to the rhythm of the cattle business. His day job may be president of the Oklahoma City Barons, but in the back of his mind are lessons he learned years ago.

Like his father, he insists those lessons be shared. Both men are passionate supporters of the Oklahoma Youth Expo. The organization’s director, Jeremy Rich, tells me that thanks to the Funks, the Expo has gone from near extinction in 2001 to the largest junior livestock show in the nation. I think I know why.

“Growing up in Piedmont, I actually enjoyed working cattle,” Bob Funk Jr. tells me. “Dad used to take me out to feed. It was a hobby, for him and for us, getting up and going to feed the cattle in the morning. It was always fun. It never seemed like work. The best part was really just spending time with Dad.”

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Farmers National Company was begun in 1929—historically not a banner year for starting new businesses, but over 80 years have passed and the company is thriving. Originally, the company’s core business was farm management, and today it’s the largest, fastest-growing and most successful farm management company in the U.S. The full-service real estate company offers traditional listing services as well as auction services.

Where: Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Operates in 23 states, covering a wide swath of the middle of the country. Its newest office was just added in Washington state.

Why: “We completed nearly 200 successful auctions of over 41,000 acres in 2010,” say Lee Vermeer, VP of Real Estate Operations. The sheer reach of Farmers and impressive closed sale numbers are overwhelming.

Wow: “Farmers National Company has sold over 2,600 farms and ranches and completed 750 successful auctions, resulting in over $1.25 billion in sales in the last four years,” says Vermeer. “We have over 200 licensed agents, all of whom can offer full auction services.”

Farmers National Company
$135 million (2010 auction revenues)
www.farmersnational.com

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“Land is not only a great place to store wealth. It is yesterday’s small cap stock without the risk.” — Kevin Pifer.

Pifer’s Auction & Realty is a full-service auction and real estate firm headed by Kevin Pifer, former North Dakota Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture. “Pifer’s has sold nearly 350,000 acres since its inception in 2001,” says Pifer. Pifer’s also manages a land investment fund, Farm USA Trust, which focuses on buying and managing corn and soybean land in the upper Midwest.

Where: Offices in Moorhead, Minnesota, and Mesa, Arizona. Covers South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin, Arizona, and California.

Why: The firm offers auctions, traditional real estate brokering, and land management. “In addition to land sales, Pifer’s manages approximately 30,000 acres of land in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin,” notes Pifer.

Wow: Sales were up 150% over last year. “We sold $20.4 million of land through 85 transactions during the last quarter of 2010. On October 26, 2010, Pifer’s conducted seven auctions in southwestern North Dakota for seven different sellers, representing 2,800 acres of crop land, pasture land, and hunting land,” says Pifer.

Pifer’s Auction & Realty
(877) 700-4099 • www.pifers.com

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Minnesota Power has notified the North Dakota Public Service Commission of its intent to begin the second phase of the Bison Wind Farm project in central North Dakota. The additional capacity will increase total power generation to 185 MW. The Bison 2 wind project  will use 35 3-megawatt turbines manufactured by Siemens AG. Further expansion of the Great Plains wind farm is planned to meet Minnesota’s mandate for 25 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2025.

“The timing is fortunate for expanding our renewable energy production,” said Alan Hodnik, president and CEO of Minnesota Power’s parent company, ALLETE. “Development of Bison 2 will leverage substantial investments we’ve already made in North Dakota and take advantage of the federal production tax credit and a very competitive wind turbine market.”

“Bison 2 will be very economical for our customers,” Hodnik added. “This project is an example of our larger strategy of meeting the demands of a changing energy landscape, reducing our overall reliance on fossil fuels, and making effective use of existing transmission capacity.”

Electricity generated by the Bison Wind Farm travels to Minnesota via transmission lines used for coal-generated power from the Milton Young station near Center, North Dakota.

Read more HERE.

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According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, wind energy is one of the fastest-growing forms of electricity generation in the world. The United States can currently generate more than 25,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity from the wind, which is enough to power about 7 million average American homes. Industry experts predict that, with proper development, wind energy could provide 20 percent of U.S. energy needs.

For more information on the Nebraska Wind Power 2009 Conference, read HERE.

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Want an opportunity to meet the top gun on The Land Report 100 on one of his many ranches? Now you can, thanks to a Montana fundraiser. Tickets to tour Ted Turner’s 119,000-acre Flying D Ranch are still available, and they’re going for $1,500. Proceeds go to the Greater Yellowstone Coalition; Turner is a board member.

Your $1,500 fee gets you a driving tour of the ranch from the nation’s largest landowner, cocktails on his back porch, and a dinner featuring ranch-raised bison. Turner has the world’s largest private herd of bison, which he raises on the Flying D and markets through his restaurant concept, Ted’s Montana Grill, with over 50 locations in 18 states.

At last report 10 of the 60 tickets remained.

Read more at:
“Enviro Group Plans Fundraiser at Turner Ranch,” Billings Gazette, June 5, 2009.

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As previously reported, the Bell Ranch is the largest piece of property for sale in the United States today. At more than 290,000 acres, the massive holding would instantly qualify its new owner(s) for inclusion on The Land Report 100.

But what about the second largest land listing? I did a little digging and came up with a much different type of landholding: the 193,000-acre Split Rock Ranch in south central Wyoming, which is listed with Ranch Marketing Associates.

This is a much different transaction. First off, only 16,000 acres of the ranch are deeded. The rest is BLM, state, and private leases. The second proviso is that the $14 million purchase price is for a 50 percent interest. The remaining 50 percent interest would be owned by a silent partner.

Split Rock is a working cattle ranch and runs 2,400 pair, plus 600 yearlings. It features 12 miles of Sweetwater River on the property. This isn’t the sort of property a weekend warrior need consider.

That’s not to say a little fun couldn’t be had on the property like trout fishing in the Sweetwater or world-class hunting for elk, deer, and antelope.

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Of note is the fact that 1,760 acres are subject to a wind lease with Hays Wind, which is controlled by Iberdrola Renewable Energies. Iberdrola has been granted a conditional-use permit to construct a 200-megawatt wind farm south and west of Hays, Kansas.

The acreage had been willed to the college by Donald Kraus, an Ellis County resident, but college officials reported that York wasn’t interested in going into the farming business. The auction was conducted by Farm & Ranch Realty.

Read more at:

“Neb. College Sells Land in Proposed Wind Farm Area,” Hays Daily News, February 2, 2009.

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In 2008, land values increased 18 percent, up for the ninth straight year, to $765 per acre, according to the North Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. Since 2004, when farmland prices equaled the 1982 record average of $455 per acre, a new record has been set every year, said Brian Kugel, a statistician with the North Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service.

Among the reasons being cited are strong farm commodity prices and a surge in oil production.

Nationally, farm real estate values averaged a record $2,350 per acre in January, up about 9 percent from 2007, according to the USDA. The agency cited strong commodity prices, farm programs, and tax incentives among the reasons for the increase.

More specifics on North Dakota land values can be found in this article from the Bismarck Tribune. A good overview of the overall picture in the Sioux State can be found in Saturday’s New York Times.

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The robust demand for ethanol continued to bolster the price of corn as did worldwide demand for commodities. Keep in mind that it was this combination of lean supplies and strong demand that created farmland booms in the 1970s and the mid-1990s. Another essential element of the 1970s boom was the weak U.S. dollar, a factor that created substantial demand for exports then and now.

And don’t forget what happened in the 1980s. Farmland values plummeted 5.2 percent annually, thanks to a global recession, a stronger U.S. dollar, and federal policy decisions. Sound familiar?

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