Protecting The Harvest, A Mission Worth Supporting

By Gary Truitt

Original article from Hoosier Ag Today

Last week I wrote about how agriculture needs to draw a line in the sand and stand up against certain forces bent on its destruction.  I got a few e-mails in support of that position, most thanking me for standing up for agriculture. But folks, I am not the one who needs to stand up — you are.  In my opinion, the response of many large farm organizations to the attacks from HSUS and others has been a bit on the timid side. We have relied on facts, science, and engaging in “dialogues” on food and agriculture issues.  Meanwhile, those on the other side have resorted to lawsuits, intimidation, voter referendums, misleading television commercials, and even lobbying and legislation.  There has emerged, however, an organization that is taking a much more aggressive and effective strategy when dealing with anti-agriculture activist groups.

Protect The Harvest was created to fight back and defend American families, farmers, hunters, and animal owners from the growing threat posed by the radical animal rights movement. They have three objectives: inform, protect, and respond. Protect The Harvest is a group of concerned citizens that is seeking to aggressively educate and communicate with the general public wherever those elements, including extremist animal rights groups, pose a threat to farmers, ranchers or hunters. According to the group’s web site, “Protect The Harvest exists to defend our way of life, preserve our food freedom and stand up for America’s farmers, hunters, and animal owners.”

Protect the Harvest was born out of the battle with HSUS that took place in Missouri and North Dakota. When farmers in these states found themselves on the losing end of voter referendums that would have devastated their animal agriculture industry, they got mad and got organized. With the help of Protect the Harvest and other grassroots farm organizations, they beat back HSUS in North Dakota and reversed the ballot box gains in Missouri. What is even more amazing than the founding of Protect the Harvest is the man who singlehandedly funded and gave birth to this incredibly effective movement.

Forrest Lucas is best known for the oil company that carries his name and for his involvement in racing and for securing the naming rights on the stadium in which the Indianapolis Colts play football. For me, the real accomplishment of Forrest Lucas is what he has done for agriculture. Growing up in rural Southern Indiana, Lucas learned how to work hard. He began his road to success driving long-haul trucks. When maintenance costs cut into his bottom line, he did what many farmers do — he innovated. He invented a lubricant that reduced his trucking costs and Lucas Oil products was on its way. In addition to oil and racing, Lucas is a cattleman.  He is one of the largest breeders in the nation and is passionate about agriculture.

The kind of no nonsense, get it done approach Lucas has taken in his oil company was put into the Protect the Harvestorganization. They are not afraid to take on groups like HSUS head on. And it is not just ads and fancy PR, they do what it takes to defend agriculture.  Protect the Harvest is not above retaining a team of lawyers to file legal challenges, hire lobbyists to fight for or against state or federal legislation, or fund a grass roots movement to mobilize public opinion in favor of US farmers.  Unlike many farm groups who tend to be reactionary, Protect the Harvest goes on the offensive before activists mount a slander campaign against agriculture.

Protect the Harvest has a solid base of support in states such as Missouri, Iowa, and the Dakotas where farmers have been on the front lines of the animal welfare movement. Now, however, they are growing in other Midwest farm states including Indiana. Lucas recently invited over 400 Indiana farm leaders to his mansion in Carmel for a pep talk onProtect the Harvest.  Everyone in the room was impressed with his vision, his focus, and his commitment to supporting agriculture. The room erupted into applause when he said, “I want my legacy to be that I was the guy who beat HSUS.”  While Mr. Lucas is very rich and very powerful, he cannot and should not go it alone. Farmers and others who support agriculture and our rural way of life need to support this organization.

One of my personal heroes General George Patton once said, “A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later.” This is the approach of Protect the Harvest.  While academics discuss the right balance with consumers on the animal welfare question and industry groups post questions on social media channels, Protect the Harvest is exposing the these activists for what they are frauds.  Protect the Harvest deserves your support or as the good General would say, “Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.”

Lucas Oil Purchases MAVTV

Forrest Lucas: Entrepreneur Blends Success, Downhome Style

Forrest Lucas

Age: 69 

Title: President, Lucas Oil Products 

Business: Manufacturer of oil stabilizers, fuel treatments, octane boosters, greases, lubricants and motor oils for the auto industry, marine, mining and agricultural industries. 

Annual revenue: More than $150 million, according to Forbes. 

Aggressive advertising: The company has 700 sponsorships in an array of auto racing circuits and in pro basketball, baseball, football, hockey, and bull riding. 

Other holdings: 
Lucas Cattle Co. in Cross Timbers, Mo.; 
Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.; 
Lucas Oil Production Studios - Television & Video Production Company; 
Property Development in California & Phoenix, Ariz.-based property management company; 
Lucas Rail Lines, a short-line railroad in Corydon, Ind.; 
Naming rights to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and nearby Lucas Oil Raceway. 
Personal: Married to Charlotte Lucas since 1982; their blended family includes seven children and 17 grandchildren.

Forrest Lucas grew up in Ramsey, Ind. and went on to become a multi-millionaire with his Lucas Oil Products, Inc. Lucas, who founded the business -- which makes a variety of lubrication oils for vehicles from race cars to trucks -- also bought the naming rights to the recently opened Lucas Oil Field where the Indianapolis Colts play their home games. Lucas operates two plants: one in California and the other in Corydon, Ind.

Whether he's glad-handing guests at an Indianapolis Colts game or hiking through barns on his cattle ranch, Forrest Lucas says new acquaintances always turn the conversation to his improbable life story.

“Everybody asks, ‘How did you do it?' ” Lucas said.

The 69-year-old entrepreneur and president of Lucas Oil Products, a nationally known brand since he bought the naming rights to the Colts' new stadium in 2006, has the answer, tied to a difficult upbringing in Southern Indiana:

“You have to grow up really poor to have the willpower to do what I've done.”

Forbes Magazine estimated last year that Lucas' privately held company — one of the world's largest makers of automotive lubricants, additives and greases — brings in more than $150 million in revenues a year selling its line of more than 100 products across the United States and abroad.

He and his second wife, Charlotte, own a video-production company, a western Missouri cattle ranch and racetracks in Missouri and California, and they have homes in Arizona and Southern California, along with a mansion near Indianapolis.

But in his native Southern Indiana, where they own a home in Marengo, Lucas' footprint continues to grow.

Since his Corona, Calif.-based company opened a second production plant in Corydon, he has tripled its employment to 160, bought a short-line railroad, and written checks for tens of thousands of dollars for local sponsorships and charities.

Next month, the company will sponsor the annual Madison Regatta for the second straight year for an undisclosed sum. “I have my causes,” Lucas said during a recent tour of his Corydon facility.

And he shells out big money for those causes, drawing admiration from activists and anger from opponents.

For example, he spent more than $250,000 to support citizens fighting proposed biomass-to-electricity power plants in Jasper, Scottsburg and Milltown.

And he paid the Indianapolis law firm Ice Miller to draft a county ordinance that would place restrictions on attempts to build the $100 million plant near Milltown, which would burn wood chips to generate electricity to sell to utilities.

“I'm no wing nut, but it's hard not to sound like one when you get into this,” Lucas said of his opposition to the biomass trend, which he believes is a boondoggle subsidized by taxpayers. “I shouldn't have to pay my money to fight our government, but somebody's got to stand up.”

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

When the Colts announced their $122 million, 20-year deal with Lucas, Hoosiers, Colts fans and industry analysts wondered who he was.

“There was this huge, huge ‘Who is this guy?' ” recalled Myra Borshoff Cook, an Indianapolis marketing executive and consultant. “The story was not just what he did, but who he was.”
“I didn't know who he was,” said Mayor Jim Brainard of Carmel, where the Lucases let their 36-room mansion be used for community events. “We know who he is now.”

Forrest Dewayne Lucas was born in 1942, and was followed by three younger sisters. His family was extremely poor, he said, which was made more difficult by his father Raymond's struggles with alcohol.

Lucas said his now-deceased father was a bricklayer, concrete finisher and “never had an easy day in his life.”

His mother, Marie, and his two grandmothers held the family together as the Lucases moved from Jackson to Brown then Bartholomew counties.

“We never heard of welfare, never took a dime,” said Lucas' sister Connie Schooler, now a real-estate agent who handles properties for her brother in Arizona. But “believe me, we qualified.”

Their mother worked in a shirt factory and paid a co-worker for rides to work. Lucas and his sisters churned butter and tended animals. His sister said her brother's sales debut came at age 8 when he went door to door selling White Cloverine Salve, a cure-all ointment, to get a bicycle.

In his early teens, while showing cattle at the Indiana State Fair, he met Jacque Glen, a cattleman and Harrison County commissioner who asked Lucas if he'd like to work at his farm. Eventually, they struck a deal where Lucas got his parents' signed permission to move in with the Glen family in Ramsey and promised to finish high school.

“He didn't have anything,” Glen, 84, said of Lucas then — though within weeks, he surprised the family by rolling up in a battered Ford Mercury. He was 15, but not licensed to drive.

From then on, Glen said, Lucas' days started by feeding calves before catching the school bus.

Before graduation in 1960 from North Central High, now called North Harrison, he married Sharon Deloris Mills, with whom he would have three sons and two daughters.

Lucas said he supported his young family working factory jobs and hauling loads in a Ford dump truck on the side. In one stint, he worked in a Columbus muffler factory and “was bored stiff,” Schooler said.

So he enrolled in truck-driving school and scraped money together to buy his first semi tractor-trailer to contract with Mayflower Transit Co.

It was 1963, well before the country was covered with interstate highways.

“I was fascinated with long-haul truckers,” he said. “It was about the best job you could get.”

Over the next decade, Lucas bought a second semi, then another. He ran a convenience store and converted it to a bar near his trucking business in Marengo.

He and his wife divorced in 1969, and Lucas met Charlotte a decade later when she gave him a haircut at her salon in western Crawford County. He likes to say that he doesn't remember the haircut, but he'll never forget the barber.

“She's still a beautiful woman, but back then she was drop-dead gorgeous,” he said. “I was lucky to get her.”

The couple married in 1982. Lucas adopted Charlotte's son, Bobby, and they had a son, Morgan, now 27, a driver on the National Hot Rod Association's Top Fuel drag racing series. Charlotte Lucas still cuts her husband's hair, but her job evolved into bookkeeper and secretary.

The couple moved to Southern California in 1986, taking with them their fleet of 14 moving vans — and Lucas' habit of mixing his own oils and additives to squeeze out better mileage. His frustrations with trucks breaking down on runs through the desert led him to a salvage shop where he says he found a barrel of stuff he still describes as if it were magic.

He won't reveal its ingredients, or even where he found the barrel, but it became part of the secret recipe for his products. “Take any oil and put our additives with it and it'll make it better oil,” he said.

The couple incorporated Lucas Oil Products in 1989, and opened a manufacturing facility in Corona.

GROWING A BUSINESS

Working side by side with Charlotte, Lucas juggled the trucking business and sales calls for his oil products.

“Word got around, not that Charlotte and I weren't helping it. We were working our butts off” putting in 12- to 14-hour days, Lucas said.

Now, they live about half the year in Indiana, staying at their rural Crawford County home, and divide the rest of their time between their primary residence in California and their homes in Arizona and Missouri.

But the couple hasn't shifted into low gear, said Darrell Voelker, director of the Harrison County Economic Development Corp., which works with local businesses. “He works really hard and so does she. (Lucas) gets in a jet and goes to Arizona and back. People might say that's a great life, but he's working all the time.”

Weekends often are spent traveling to races or, in the fall, to a Colts stadium suite where the Lucases host customers and special guests. Charlotte Lucas said her husband's favorite form of relaxation is working with cattle in the Ozarks.

“He doesn't play golf — even though we own an interest in two courses,” she said. Their ranch near Cross Timbers, Mo., “is his golf course, he loves it there.”

As he sipped coffee in his Corydon office, Lucas said he's trying to put things in place so Lucas Oil survives for generations.

“I've got all these great people working for me,” he said, many of whom spend weekends watching races and traveling together. “It's a lifestyle working for us … (and) I want to keep (that) going.”

He said has no plans to pass the reins to family, although four relatives, including two grandchildren, are Lucas Oil employees. They're good workers, he said, but “they don't have the passion” he had to start and grow a business because they didn't grow up the way he did.

SPREADING THE WEALTH

The Lucas family's wealth has drawn a stream of groups and individuals asking for help with causes, charities and sponsorships.

Cathy Hale, an adviser to Lucas when his company bought the Corydon-based railroad, said he and his wife “get hit up constantly. Everybody wants a piece of them.” But they are humble and generous, Hale said, and willing to put their money toward causes they believe in.

Lucas spent $350,000 helping a coalition unsuccessfully try to derail a statewide ballot proposition in Missouri last year to restrict the size of dog-breeding operations.

As for the biomass fight in Southern Indiana, Lucas said he believes regulators have been hoodwinked into accepting claims that the technology is green and sustainable, while investors garner lucrative tax credits and energy incentives.

He said the reality is that residents will get to “gag down” polluted air and pay higher taxes to bail out cities and towns that partnered with such developers.

He has funded TV commercials in Scottsburg to oppose biomass plans there, and he paid for mailings this spring to several thousand homes in Jasper, where officials are negotiating with an Atlanta company to convert an old power plant to biomass.

Some of those officials have questioned why “outsiders” have gotten involved in the plan, which causes Lucas to scoff. People can and should question their elected officials, “but that's not something they're used to doing” in Jasper, he said.

The Rev. Christopher Breedlove, the opposition leader in Jasper, said the group “didn't have what you'd deem movers and shakers involved until after Mr. Lucas came in.”

But Lucas said he and Charlotte can't respond to every call for help or every request for a donation, but “I like to do what's good for my neighbor … I think when you've been successful, you should do some things for your community.”

Shirley Raymond, former executive director of Community Services, an emergency assistance agency in Harrison County, discovered that a few days before Christmas in 2009 when Charlotte Lucas called to ask about sending a $25,000 check to help low-income families during the holidays. “I was astounded,” Raymond recalled. “I thought, ‘This man hasn't forgotten his roots.' ”

Reporter Grace Schneider can be reached at (812) 949-4040.

MavTV And NCTC Sign Distribution Deal

DENVER (May 23, 2011) – MAVTV and the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) have executed a long-term affiliation agreement.  The deal includes provisions for high definition, standard definition, and VOD services.  MAVTV is already carried by 7 of the top 10 distributors and is available to nearly 40 million homes.  NCTC and its membership of nearly 1,000 strong represent an enormous opportunity for MAVTV to expand its reach.  While some NCTC members already carry the male skewing network through prior carriage agreements, there remains incredible distribution potential across the millions of subscribers represented by NCTC.

Doug Jost, MAVTV’s EVP of Sales and Distribution said, “MAVTV is one of the fastest growing networks on the landscape and we are thrilled to continue our momentum through this partnership with NCTC.  I have worked with Frank Hughes and his team for over two decades and know very well the efficiencies and incredible support NCTC will bring to our distribution efforts. “

Frank Hughes, Senior Vice President of Programming for NCTC commented, “We are very excited to formalize a relationship with MAVTV.  A network featuring an extensive lineup of original content, exclusive motorsports, theatrical films and more, MAVTV presents a fantastic value proposition for our members and their subscribers.”

About MAVTV
MAVTV broadcasts in both SD and HD, as well as, offers VOD.  The network features programming themes targeting men 18 to 54 including sports, gaming, comedy, health and fitness, gadgets and more in a destination channel dedicated to reaching men in an irreverent, humorous and opinionated manner.  The network is now available to approximately 40 million homes and carried on most major cable, telco, and satellite providers, as well as, mobile television platforms.
www.mavtv.com

About NCTC
The National Cable Television Cooperative, Inc. (NCTC) is a Kansas not-for-profit corporation that operates as a programming and hardware purchasing organization for its member companies who own and operate cable systems throughout the United States and its territories. NCTC is located in Lenexa, Kansas

Thiel to Debut Lucas Cattle Company Funny Car in Charlotte

Brownsburg, Indiana (April 12, 2011) – The worlds of agriculture and motorsports will once again merge together through NHRA Nitro Funny Car team, Brian Thiel Racing. Continuing the campaign to promote agriculture and food production, Thiel will debut a Lucas Cattle Company themed Nitro Funny Car at the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 4Wide Nationals, April 14th - April 17th at the NHRA zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, NC.

Thiel, a 2011 NHRA Rookie of the Year contender, will drive the Lucas Cattle Company themed Charger in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing series at multiple national events, with specific races to be announced in the near future.

"I am excited to promote the Lucas Cattle Company, as well as bring awareness to the agriculture industry," said Thiel, "Forrest and Charlotte Lucas's establishment of unparalleled line of premium products and unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction are not only key factors of the success of Lucas Oil, but those same principles are applied to the Lucas Cattle Company as well."

"As a newly established team, performance is number one, and Johnny West and my crew are working very hard to get the Lucas Cattle Company entry some round wins this upcoming weekend," commented Thiel. "It is also equally and personally important to me that we promote brands and companies that we truly believe in, such as the National FFA Organization, Lucas Oil, Case IH, and Lucas Cattle Company."

The California rice farmer continues to look for unique opportunities to promote the FFA, and encourages all NHRA and agriculture involved fans to stop by the BTR pit and say hello at the 4Wide Nationals. The Lucas Cattle Company car, team, and driver will be easily identifiable, as the funny car body, team apparel, and driver's suit depict the landscape of the ranch, and even features an actual cow from the Lucas Cattle Company fields.

The Lucas Ranch raises Simmental cattle as seedstock, with herds of over 1000 registered and 600 commercial cattle. The Cross Timbers, Missouri ranch is located about 65 miles North of Springfield, and spans over fifteen thousand acres.

The Lucas Cattle Company Nitro Funny Car can be seen live at the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 4Wide Nationals April 14th - April 17th in Charlotte, NC. Qualifying takes place Friday and Saturday, with eliminations beginning Sunday at 12 p.m. ET at the NHRA zMAX Dragway.

Televised coverage of qualifying can be found on ESPN2, April 16th, 6p.m. ET, and Eliminations can be seen on ESPN2, April 17th at 7 p.m. ET.

About Brian Thiel Racing (BTR)
BTR is a newly established premier Nitro Funny Car team that competes on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Brian Thiel is the team owner and Funny Car driver. The BTR team is based in Brownsburg, IN, but originated in Pleasant Grove, Calif., where Thiel farms 4000 acres of rice.

The American Rancher

This week, THE AMERICAN RANCHER takes at look at the ranching operation and interesting life path of oil industry magnate Forrest Lucas. Indiana born and bred, entrepreneur Forrest Lucas is the epitome of everything that's good about the Hoosier state. He came from very humble beginnings and managed to rise to great heights through exceptional effort and dedication to his beliefs. When people think of folks as Hoosiers, they often think basketball players. But people from the Crossroads of America understand a true “Hoosier” as an individual who embodies a hard-working, blue collar-attitude that never forgets where he came from. A few years back, Mr. Lucas picked up a lifelong desire to own a cattle ranch.

 In his early 20’s, Forrest began his career as a long haul trucker. Eventually, he came to own fleet of trucks and encountered the challenges that come hand in hand with a business enterprise. Lucas realized the best way to meet his need for better oil products for his own growing fleet of rigs and tractor-trailers was to make them himself. So he and his wife Charlotte founded Lucas Oil in 1989 with a small bank account and some very big dreams. Coupling innovative research and development with an aggressive marketing program, the company quickly established itself as a top-selling additive line in the trucking and automotive retail industries. Nowadays, Lucas Oil is a world leader in the additives and lubricants sector.

As a young woman, Charlotte became a beautician, a career path she pursued for 18 years. It was during that stretch that she met a customer named Forrest Lucas, who at the time was a truck driver. The two became friends and eventually began a relationship. Before long, they fell in love and got married, combining their two families Brady Bunch style. As Forrest worked two jobs trying to build his trucking company, he got fed up with equipment breaking down and it was then that he realized he needed to develop better oil products. Lucas Oil Company was born by Forrest’s efforts to fix his own stuff. After putting this and that together and watching it work, it wasn't long before Forrest hit the road selling his products with wife Charlotte along his side.  And much the oil products he invented, it all worked and the business exploded. Forrest and Charlotte are a "down to earth" couple who've been through their ups and downs over the past 23 years.

Although racing is their favorite sport, football is now a close second. Forrest Lucas shelled out more than $100 million for the naming rights of the new Indianapolis Colts stadium. Lucas Oil Stadium is a magnificent facility. The stadium opened in 2008 and is the home field for the NFL Indianapolis Colts. Future events scheduled for Lucas Oil Stadium include Super Bowl 46 (February 5, 2012), the 2015 NCAA Basketball Men's Final Four, and the 2016 NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four. Forrest likes the Colts organization and says the players are good guys. Peyton Manning is very typical of the whole team.

Lucas also is heavily involved in all forms of motorsports, further endearing him to his fellow car-crazy Hoosiers. Both Charlotte and their youngest son Morgan drag race in the National Hot Rod Association, which holds the U.S. Nationals each year in Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil sponsors several different racing sanctions as well as hundreds of individual racers. Charlotte has her own 175-mph dragster in the National Hot Rod Association's Super Comp category. Forrest spent millions to renovate the race track at Wheatland, Missouri not far from the Lucas Ranch. Now the Lucas Oil Speedway is the nicest dirt track in the country. "We started renovations and got carried away," he says.

Forrest’s passion for the cattle business goes back to his rural youth in Indiana. When he first bought the Missouri ranch, the staff was surprised that he knew as much as he did about it. The Circle L Ranch is located at Cross Timbers in the Ozarks of Missouri and covers some great rolling country. The Lucas Ranch raises Simmental cattle as seedstock, has a commercial herd and also feeds out some cattle.  The ranch is spread over several thousand acres and has underwent significant development. The staff does a great job with the cattle and the land. Reflecting on his youth Forrest Lucas holds organizations like 4H and FFA in high regard. Like a true “Hoosier” Forrest sees a direct correlation between one’s work ethic and what that establishes in their life.

Denver Stock Show 2007

Lucas Cattle Company had a very successful trip to the Denver Stock Show this year with their class winning pen of three Sim/Angus bulls.  The bull pen show was designed for cattlemen by cattlemen to showcase bulls displaying uniformity, impressive performance stats and correct structure. The very competitive Simmental pen show had the largest number of entries over all breeds and featured top seedstock producers from all over the country. Be sure to attend the Lucas Cattle Company "Saturday Night Out" production sale presenting these class winning bulls along with 50 other top performance tested bulls and over 100 head replacement quality registered and commercial females.

The sale starts at 6:00 pm on Saturday April, 21 2007 at The Springfield Livestock Marketing Center on Interstate 44 west of Springfield, MO.

Lucas Cattle Company Junior Incentive Program

Katie Fields from Mt. Pleasant, Texas with Lucas Ms Jo Jo (SAC Mr MT x Lucas Cornerstone). Crowned Grand Champion Female at the 2005 AJSA South Central Regional. Earlier this year, Katie and Miss JoJo received Reserve Grand Champion Female honors at the 2005 San Antonio Stock Show. Lucas Ms JoJo was purchased in the 2004 Fall Production Sale. Congratulations to Katie Fields and to all juniors exhibitors who purchased cattle from Lucas Cattle Co. The new generation of Simmental breeders and beef industry leaders need everyone’s support and encouragement to keep this breed on track for the future.

Katie Fields receives congratulations from Rob Laird, Lucas Cattle Company Manager on her accomplishments with Lucas Ms JoJo