Staff
- Dave Wert, President, Livestock Market Reporter and Livestock Grader
- Jill Federoff, Livestock Grader and Animal Identification Specialist
- Kristen Goodyear, Animal Identification Specialist
- DeAnne Haas, Office Manager, Hay/Grain Reporter, computer website updates
- Ben Deardroff, Livestock Market Reporter
- Scott Rhoads, Western Pa, Western Md Livestock Market Reporter and Livestock Grader
History
Founder Dave Wert was employed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for 13 years, with a staff of 4 full time and 2 part time employees. Due to budget cuts, market reporting was dropped. None of the reporting auctions paid to have their auctions covered. Most of the auctions saw the need for their auctions to be reported and agreed to pay for this service.
In July 2012, Ag Market News LLC was established with two reporters. As of November 2015, staff was increased to 4 full time and 4 part time employees. Our services have also been expanded. In addition to providing auction reports, we also grade calves, feeder pigs and feeder cattle. This allows buyers to use our grading sheet to purchase stock without the need to see the animals. Another service we provide is animal identification of slaughter hogs, sheep, lambs, goats and calves.
In 2013, we became the eastern United States representative for Dinamica Generale, a company based in Italy. They manufacture and design the Precision Feeding System for balancing feeding rations based on forage dry matter. They also manufacture the AgriNIR portable forage analyzer which is a portable lab that provides results of your forages on the spot.
In 2014, we expanded into the state of Maryland to do Livestock and Produce reporting.
In 2015, we became a repair service center for Agricultural weighing components such as scale heads and load cells.
Ag Market News LLC is the only private firm in the United States that is accredited by USDA to do market reporting and animal identification.