Morgan Joseph

FARMERS AND WALL STREET TO MEET AT THIRD ANNUAL “AG DAY” CONFERENCE HOSTED BY MORGAN JOSEPH
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March 3rd Event at Times Square to Feature Farmers and Ag Specialists Discussing Trends in Fertilizers, Combines, Seed and Crops, Among Others
2/16/10

NEW YORK, NY, February 16, 2009 – The canyons of Wall Street may be far removed from the wheat and corn fields of the Midwest, but come Wednesday, March 3, the two are destined to meet in Times Square.

That’s when the investment banking firm of Morgan Joseph & Co. Inc., in cooperation with Lessiter Publications’ No-till Farmer, is sponsoring the 3rd Annual Ag Day at the Westin Times Square, providing an opportunity for institutional investors to hear about the latest trends and thinking in agriculture from a representative group of the nation’s farmers.

“We design these meetings to bring together investors with practicing members of the farm community, who can provide a grass roots view of what’s going on in the world of agriculture, a not inconsiderable segment of the country’s economy,” says Morgan Joseph’s agricultural and machinery equity analyst Charlie Rentschler.

Ag Day will feature farmers from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, as well as small agricultural suppliers, speaking on purchases, productivity and government programs, including such topics as:

· Will more fertilizer be used this spring due to lower prices?
· What type equipment provides the best returns?
· Does it pay to use premium priced 8-trait corn seed, 3-trait soybean seed or more conventional hybrids?
· Is 300 bushel/acre corn possible?
· What’s hotter than narrow-row corn planters, GPS or crop storage systems?
· Does “tiling” produce the most bang for the buck?
· Is the nation’s infrastructure up to handling future huge harvests?
· What do farmers expect from Washington?

Among farmers scheduled to participate are Allen Berry, of Nauvoo, IL, who farms 2300 acres of corn and beans and is an expert on narrow row corn planting and weed management; Jim Leverich, a researcher for the University of Wisconsin, who operates a 500-acre farm in Sparta, WI, and is an expert on fertilizers; Joe Nester, of Bryan, OH, a full time crop consultant with 100 clients having over 300,000 acres in the eastern Corn Belt, and who uses GPS for mapping and zone management; and Troy Prescott, who farms 2500 acres in Winchester, IN, and heads up a successful independent ethanol refinery with 1200 shareholders.

Also on the program will be Steven Koles, President and CEO of Hemisphere GPS, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed “precision ag” company that, among others, produces low priced, high functionality automatic steering for farm machines, and Morry Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Titan International, Quincy, IL, a NASDAQ-listed company that is the country’s largest manufacturer of farm machinery wheels and tires.

No-till Farmer’s Frank Lessiter will also join a panel.

Additional information on the Ag Day meeting can be received by emailing conference@morganjoseph.com.

About Morgan Joseph
Morgan Joseph & Co. Inc., a New York City headquartered full service investment bank, provides financial advisory and capital raising services including M&A and restructuring advice, and equity and debt private placements and public offerings. In addition, Morgan Joseph provides research and trading for institutional clients. Morgan Joseph’s staff of over 130 includes more than 70 investment bankers, who are highly experienced professionals mostly from major Wall Street firms and intimately familiar with the issues facing middle market companies. The firm is a member of both the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investors Protection Corp. (SIPC).