Monday December 10 Ag News

Planning for Next Year's Drought
Bruce Anderson, University of Nebraska Extension Forage Specialist

The data are in and the climate experts have made their forecasts. The chances of you having average soil moisture going into next year are slim and none. So what are you going to do to prepare? Stay tuned.

Drought is hard to prepare for and even harder to predict. Last summer caught a lot of people by surprise and now we are paying the price with high feed costs and limited availability.

Next year, though, shouldn't catch anyone by surprise. We know already that it is nearly impossible to fully recharge moisture into the soil profile by next spring. Unless you receive lots of extra, good soaking moisture next spring, dryland yields are likely to be below average. And since there will be very little hay carryover, prices are likely to stay high.

We also know that most pastures were grazed more heavily last year than usual. They have almost no forage remaining for use next year and most root systems were weakened going into winter. Therefore, carrying capacity next year probably will be less than average unless you receive way above average precipitation. Even with extra rain, though, spring growth could be slower or later than usual.

What should you do with all this depressing information? I suggest you begin by taking a realistic look at your livestock forage program. If it stays dry, can you afford to keep doing what you have been doing? Should you plant annual forages to get more hay? Or rent more corn stalks for winter grazing? How about grazing more stockers and fewer cows? Or even sell all your cattle and rent out your pasture? And if it does rain, how can you take the most advantage of it?

The time to think about and answer these questions really was a year ago, but now is better than next summer. What will you do?



Learn More About Iowa Nutrient Strategy at Meetings

Three informational meetings regarding the recently released Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy will be held in Denison, Ames and Waterloo the week of Dec. 17.  "These meetings are an important opportunity for the public and key stakeholders to ask questions and learn more about this plan," said Chuck Gipp, director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The goal of reducing nutrients in Iowa's waters is an effort that will require everyone working together, according to Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey.  "This is what makes this plan so exciting. It's the first time we have had all the key stakeholders moving in the same direction toward the common goal of reducing nutrients, both here in Iowa and eventually the Gulf of Mexico," said Northey.

The time and location of the meetings include...
-- Denison -- Dec. 17, 6:30 p.m., Boulders Conference Center, 2507 Boulders Dr., Denison
-- Ames -- Dec. 19, 10 a.m., South Ballroom, Memorial Union, Iowa State University, Ames
-- Waterloo -- Dec. 21, 10 a.m., Ramada Waterloo/Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center, 205 W Fourth St., Waterloo

 Comments on the strategy will not be accepted during the meeting, but all Iowans are invited to review the full strategy and provide comment at www.nutrientstrategy.iastate.edu.



China Soybean Purchase, Drought Defining Events in 2012 for Iowa’s Soybean Farmers

A $4 billion purchase of soybeans by China, severe drought conditions that continue across most of Iowa and the Midwest and a scientific breakthrough in soybean research were defining moments for Iowa’s soybean farmers in 2012.

“There were both planned and unexpected events that shaped the year that was for Iowa agriculture and Iowa’s soybean farmers,” says Mark Jackson, Iowa Association (ISA) president from Rose Hill. “Some had an immediate impact while others will have lasting affects well into 2013 and beyond.”

Events of significance in 2012 included:
-    Chinese leaders, including then-Vice Premier Xi Jinping, arrive in Iowa in February and commit to purchase $4 billion of U.S. soybeans during signing ceremonies at the World Food Prize Center in Des Moines.

-    Food purchasers representing Kraft, Kellogg’s and Sodexo are hosted by the ISA in May as part of a three-state “Soy Sustainability Farm Tour.” The group participates in on-farm tours where farmers showcase activities the strengthen soil and water quality.

-    Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Ag Secretary Bill Northey join ISA leaders and guests at a news conference hosted by Sukup Manufacturing Co. in Sheffield to announce more than $400,000 in contributions to “Special Delivery. Homes. Help. Hope. For Haiti.” The campaign, launched Dec. 2011 by Iowa Food & Family Project and co-chaired by Reynolds and Northey, totaled the equivalent of 64 Safe T Homes® and more than 230,000 servings of Meals from the Heartland for Haitians.

-    ISA leaders travel to the European Union (EU) in July and meet with farmers, industry stakeholders and officials to better understand the impact of EU legislation and its impact on U.S. trade relations.

-    Summer brings continued drought. Called worst in nearly 50 years, dry conditions plague large portions of Iowa and the nation’s soybean growing region. Weather worries temper soybean production estimates causing per-bushel soybean prices to climb to nearly $17.

-    Soybean checkoff-funded research yields potential breakthroughs in fighting the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), a pest that costs U.S. soybean farmers billions of dollars annually in crop losses. Scientists identify the gene at the Rhg4 locus, a key player in the soybean plant’s resistance to SCN. Researchers are hopeful discovery will lead to understanding how the resistant genes work and ultimately to improved crop yields.

-    Soybean farmers take to the field in September as drought continues to grip the state. Many are pleasantly surprised by strength of soybean yields. Better plant genetics and soil management cited as reason for better-than-expected crop performance.  

-    Iowa Environmental Protection Commission meets in October and maintains use of manure on acres that may grow soybeans at the precautionary rate of 100 pounds Nitrogen. The rate was maintained as illustrated and recommended by Iowa State University scientists and backed by the ISA and other farm groups.

-    Nearly 100 World Food Prize (WFP) attendees participate in tours of two central Iowa grain farms. The events, sponsored by the ISA, were a new feature of this year's WFP providing visitors from around the world their first opportunity to see Iowa agriculture up close.

-    Renewable Fuel Standard 2 (RFS) target for biodiesel volumes is increased in October by 28 percent for 2013 to 1.28 billion gallons. This responsible growth in the biodiesel market is supported by available production capacity and available feedstock to meet the ever-growing energy needs of our country.

-    USDA’s November crop report bumps soybean production by 111 million bushels, largest-ever, one-month increase from October. Also includes a 100 million-bushel increase in demand, yet soybean prices recede as attention shifts to South America where favorable growing conditions indicate potential for strong global soybean supplies.

-    Elected leaders and trade groups push for an emergency declaration in December to keep barges moving on the drought-riddled Mississippi River. Action comes after Army Corps of Engineers begins reducing the outflow into the Missouri River from the Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota from 37,500 cubic feet per second to 12,000. “This is an economic disaster in the making,” said Mike Toohey, president and CEO of Waterways Council Inc. Experts say the economic impact of terminating barge traffic would reach into the billions of dollars.



Iowa Learning Farms’ December Webinar Discusses ISA Bioreactors

Iowa Soybean Association watershed management specialist Keegan Kult will be featured in the Iowa Learning Farms’ webinar Wednesday, Dec. 19 at 11:30 a.m. The webinar is part of a free series, hosted by ILF, through Adobe Connect. The series is usually held on the third Wednesday of each month. All that is needed to participate is a computer with Internet access.

Kult has been at ISA for four years, after graduating from Iowa State University with an M.S. in environmental science and a B.S. in forestry. Kult works with farmers to incorporate best management practices into their operations and also conducts edge-of-field monitoring. He currently monitors a network of 18 bioreactors on private farms for ISA. During his webinar he will discuss the latest results from these bioreactors.

A denitrifying bioreactor is an edge-of-field practice featuring an excavated area that is filled with woodchips and then covered with soil. Water flowing through tile drains in the field is routed through the bioreactor to reduce the amount of nitrate through conversion to nitrogen gas by natural denitrifying bacteria. After passing through the bioreactor, water released through the outlet contains 30 to 70 percent less nitrate than the water flowing in the bioreactor. This process helps to lessen the amount of nitrate that eventually ends up in the Mississippi River and downstream to the Gulf of Mexico’s hypoxic zone (or Dead Zone).

To connect to the webinars, go to https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/ilf/.  Kult will be able to answer questions from webinar “attendees” via the Adobe Connect chat box. The ILF website contains links for archived webinars from previous months at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ilf/Webinars/.

Iowa Learning Farms is a partnership of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa Natural Resources Conservation Service and Iowa Department of Natural Resources (USEPA section 319); in cooperation with Conservation Districts of Iowa, the Iowa Farm Bureau and the Iowa Water Center.



ASA Provides Views on Final Farm Bill to Ag Committee Leadership

As Congress continues to debate potential solutions to the fiscal cliff issue, the American Soybean Association (ASA) reached out today to leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to provide its views on potential provisions in a comprehensive five-year farm bill.

In a letter from ASA President Danny Murphy, ASA restated its support for many of the provisions included in both the House and Senate versions of the farm bill, and expressed specific support for the Senate’s Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) program, which will provide important protection against reductions in both price and yield. ASA also pointed out major drawbacks to the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) option included in the House bill identified in a recent analysis by AgRisk Management, LLC.

The PLC program “establishes much higher and disproportionate reference or target prices that bear little relation to recent average market prices or production costs,” stated ASA. “Moreover, by tying payments to crops that are actually grown in the current year, the PLC option has the potential to significantly distort planting decisions, production, commodity prices, and government program costs in the event market prices fall.  ASA noted that, according to the analysis, “soybean farmers would receive less protection than producers of other crops, and the soybean share of crop production in almost all regions would be adversely affected.”

ASA’s letter concluded that “if this option is included in the final farm bill, payments must be decoupled from current-year production and tied to historical crop acreages.”   

ASA remains committed to a farm bill that protects planting flexibility, and protects and strengthens the current federal crop insurance program. ASA also strongly supports streamlining and eliminating duplication of conservation programs, authorization of the MAP and FMD export promotion programs, and renewal of research, biofuels, and biobased product program authorities.



NCBA Environmental Stewardship Award Calls for Entries

The 23rd annual Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) has officially opened its nomination season for 2013. Established in 1991 by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the program has recognized the outstanding stewardship practices and conservation achievements of U.S. cattle producers for more than two decades. Regional and national award winners are honored for their commitment to protecting the environment and improving fish and wildlife habitat while operating profitable cattle businesses.

Seven regional winners and one national winner are selected annually by a committee of representatives from universities, conservation organizations, and federal and state agencies. The nominees compete for regional awards based on their state of residency, and these seven regional winners then compete for the national award. Candidates are judged on management of water, wildlife, vegetation, soil, as well as the nominee’s leadership and the sustainability of his or her business as a whole.

“Environmental stewardship and conservation have long been the focus of farmers and ranchers, who are America’s foremost land stewards,” said NCBA President J.D. Alexander. “Responsible use of land and resources is a priority for cattlemen and women. The ESAP award highlights efforts by producers who are committed to conservation and sustainability efforts.”

Any individual, group or organization is eligible to nominate one individual or business who raises or feeds cattle. Past nominees are eligible and encouraged to resubmit their application; previous winners may not reapply. Along with a completed application, the applicant must submit one nomination letter and three letters of recommendation highlighting the nominee’s leadership in conservation.

The program is sponsored by Dow AgroSciences; the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS); the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the National Cattlemen’s Foundation (NCF); and NCBA.

Applications for the 2013 ESAP award are due Mar. 1, 2013. For more information and a complete application packet, visit www.environmentalstewardship.org.



Blank and Kirk to Convene 23rd Session of U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade

Acting U.S. Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will host Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan for the 23rd session of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), December 18-19, in Washington. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will also take part in the discussions to address key agricultural trade concerns.

"This year's JCCT is an opportunity for the United States to continue building a strong foundation for our bilateral trade with China," said Acting Secretary Blank. "These discussions come at an important time and are an opportunity to set the future trajectory of U.S.-China economic relations. Creating a healthy and balanced trade relationship with China is important to the United States, and our goals for these discussions include securing markets for U.S. exports, protecting intellectual property, and eliminating regulatory obstacles in China that obstruct trade. The annual high-level JCCT meeting is the culmination of a year of work, and we look forward to once again engaging with the Chinese on issues of mutual importance to our two countries."

"The JCCT is critical to resolving important trade and investment issues for American stakeholders and to moving our trade relationship with China forward.  This year we're focused on delivering meaningful results on issues including enforcement of intellectual property rights, combating pressures to transfer technology, eliminating trade-distortive industrial policies, and removing key obstacles to our exports," said Ambassador Kirk.

"The JCCT provides an important forum to discuss ways we can reduce trade barriers for American agricultural products and provide greater export opportunities for our farmers, producers, and ranchers," said Secretary Vilsack. "China remains a valued trading partner and the bilateral relationship will be strengthened through the exchange that will take place at these meetings. Specifically, we plan to address a range of market access issues affecting exports of U.S. meat and poultry products, as well as horticultural products."

The JCCT holds high-level plenary meetings on an annual basis to review progress made by working groups that focus on a wide variety of trade issues. These working groups meet throughout the year to address topics such as intellectual property rights, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, information technology, tourism, commercial law, environment, and statistics.

Established in 1983, the JCCT is the main forum for addressing bilateral trade issues and promoting commercial opportunities between the United States and China. The 2011 JCCT meeting was held in Chengdu, China, where China agreed, among other issues, to improve intellectual property enforcement, delink innovation policies to government procurement preferences, and provide a fair and level playing field in China's Strategic Emerging Industries.

China was the largest supplier of U.S. goods imports in 2011, and the third-largest market for U.S. exports in 2011 (after Canada and Mexico).  U.S. goods exports to China were $104 billion in 2011, up 542 percent since 2000.  Trade in services with China (exports and imports) totaled $38 billion in 2011; services exports were $27 billion and services imports were $11 billion.



USMEF Supports Efforts to Lift Russian Trade Restrictions

Last week, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) advised U.S. red meat exporters of the declaration published by Russia's Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (VPSS) on Wednesday, Dec. 5, concerning pre-export certification of meat products destined to Russia and of the ongoing exchanges between government officials of both countries.

While USMEF does not comment on ongoing government-to-government discussions, we support calls by U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack for Russia to suspend these new measures and restore market access for U.S. beef and pork products.

Later this week, further meetings will take place between representatives of the U.S. and Russian governments and USMEF looks forward to the outcome of these discussions. U.S. beef and pork customers throughout the world can be confident that the U.S. industry is committed to supplying healthy, nutritious beef and pork. This commitment is based on the best available science and has the backing of the United States government. We are confident that a science-based solution to the disagreement over testing and certification can be found quickly so that exports of U.S. beef and pork to Russia can resume in the near future.



CWT Assists with 3 Million Pounds of Cheese and Butter Export Sales

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 24 requests for export assistance from Bongards Creameries, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold) and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell 2.068 million pounds (938 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese, and 947,988 pounds (430 metric tons) of butter, to customers in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. The product will be delivered December 2012 through May 2013.

In 2012, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in making export sales of Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Gouda cheese totaling 115.7 million pounds, butter totaling 71.5 million pounds, anhydrous milk fat totaling 127,868 pounds and whole milk powder totaling 171,961 pounds. The product is going to 36 countries on four continents. On a butterfat basis, the milk equivalent of these exports is 2.630 billion pounds, or the same as 76.6% of the increase in U.S. milk production through October 2012.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the short-term by helping to maintain inventories of cheese and butter at desirable levels. In the long-term, CWT’s Export Assistance program helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the farm milk that produces them.

CWT will pay export bonuses to the bidders only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.



Weather Leads Argentina Cuts 2012-13 Wheat Export Quota

Argentina has cut the amount of wheat it will allow for export from the 2012-13 crop by 1.5 million metric tons because of disappointing output from the winter crop, according to a person representing the grain export sector.

Argentina was expected to be the world's No. 5 wheat exporter this season, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with most of that going to neighboring Brazil. Argentina will likely slip to seventh place now, and a smaller Argentine crop will likely send Brazilian buyers to other markets like North America to sate demand.

In June, the Argentine government said it planned to allow six million tons of wheat exports from the 2012-13 crop, but with the harvest about a third complete, damage from flooding and other problems led the government to trim that to 4.5 mmt, the grain exporter representative said, on condition of anonymity. The representative confirmed a report in local newspaper La Nacion. A spokesman for the Agriculture Ministry didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

Domestic wheat demand for 2013 is estimated at 6.5 mmt, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

Total 2012-13 wheat production is estimated at 11.5 mmt by the ministry, while the Buenos Aires cereals exchange pegs the crop at 10.1 mmt.



New Study Finds Global Warming Is Not Hurting Plant Growth

A new study by the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change – The State of Earth’s Terrestrial Biosphere: How is it Responding to Rising Atmospheric CO2 and Warmer Temperatures? – refutes claims by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that global warming is stressing Earth’s natural and agro-ecosystems by reducing plant growth and development.

“Such claims are simply not justified when one examines the balance of evidence as reported in the peer-reviewed scientific literature,” said report author Dr. Craig Idso, founder and chairman of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change and a senior fellow for environment policy at The Heartland Institute.

“Far from being in danger, the vitality of global vegetation is better off now than it was a hundred years ago, 50 years ago, or even a mere two-to-three decades ago,” Idso said. “And the observed increases in vegetative productivity and growth are happening in spite of all the many real and imagined assaults on Earth’s vegetation that have occurred during this time period, including wildfires, disease, pest outbreaks, deforestation, and climatic changes in temperature and precipitation.”

Specific findings in the meta-analysis examining hundreds of scientific studies on the subject include:
-    The productivity of the planet’s terrestrial biosphere, on the whole, has been increasing with time, revealing a great greening of the Earth that extends throughout the entire globe.
-    Satellite-based analyses of net terrestrial primary productivity (NPP) reveal an increase of around 6 to 13 percent since the 1980s.
-    There is no empirical evidence to support the model-based IPCC claim that future carbon uptake by plants will diminish on a global scale due to rising temperatures. In fact, just the opposite situation has been observed in the real world.
-    Earth’s land surfaces were a net source of CO2-carbon to the atmosphere until about 1940. From 1940 onward, however, the terrestrial biosphere has become, in the mean, an increasingly greater sink for CO2-carbon.
-    Over the past 50 years, for example, global carbon uptake has doubled from 2.4 ± 0.8 billion tons in 1960 to 5.0 ± 0.9 billion tons in 2010.
-    There is compelling evidence that the atmosphere’s rising CO2 content – the chief reason behind the IPCC’s concerns about the future of the biosphere, due to the indirect threats the IPCC claims will result from CO2-induced climate change – is actually most likely the primary cause of the observed greening trends.
-    In the future, Earth’s plants should be able to successfully adjust their physiology to accommodate a warming of the magnitude and rate-of-rise that is typically predicted by climate models to accompany the projected future increase in the air’s CO2 content. And factoring in the plant productivity gains that will occur as a result of the aerial fertilization effect of the ongoing rise in atmospheric CO2, plus its accompanying transpiration-reducing effect that boosts plant water use efficiency, the world’s vegetation possesses an ideal mix of abilities to reap a tremendous benefit in the years and decades to come.

Given these findings, the report contends the recent “greening of the Earth” observed by a host of scientists will likely continue. Government leaders and policy makers should take notice of the findings of this important new assessment on the state of the Earth’s terrestrial biosphere.

The report can be viewed or downloaded here at The Heartland Institute, or at the Web site of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change.