Wednesday August 27 Ag News

Rain Delays Ruskamp Seed Field Day near Beemer
The Ruskamp Seeds plot tour scheduled for 10:00 AM on Thursday August 28th is postponed to a later date.  However, the appreciation dinner will go on as scheduled.


TESTING FOR HAY QUALITY
Bruce Anderson,  UNL Extension Forage Specialist
How much did the spring and summer's weather affect the feed value of your hay?  Let’s talk about why forage testing is so important this year.

Nutrient concentration varies considerably in hay.  Why does this happen?  Well, there are many causes.  For example, leafiness of the hay, or maturity of the plant when your hay was cut, or even how you handled the hay during raking and baling all can affect its feed value.

Weather conditions often make things more complicated.  This spring's cool, wet weather caused many folks to delay first cutting.  Leaf diseases, mature plants, and other factors made much alfalfa lower in quality.  But some fields had the second growth already growing when first cut was taken, keeping feed value relatively high.  We had some periods this summer of hot and very humid weather that often causes plants to burn off their easily digested nutrients at night, leaving us with hay that looks really good but is high in fiber and low in energy.  And who knows how hail affected quality.

Grass hay might be even more difficult to predict.  Some fields had fewer seedheads than normal.  This might give higher quality hay, but if harvest was delayed in hopes of increasing yield or if the heat affected grass quality like it affects alfalfa, grass hay quality might actually be lower.  And when growth is stimulated by extra rain, many nutrients are used for tonnage instead of quality.

So you see, this year, just like always, forage testing is important.  It is the only way that you can find out for sure ahead of time what the feed value is of your hay.

So gather samples now for testing, before feeding your animals and before it's too late.



Valmont Acquires Majority Stake in AgSense

Valmont Industries, Inc., Omaha, a leading global provider of engineered products and services for infrastructure and mechanized irrigation equipment for agriculture, announced today that it has acquired a majority interest in South Dakota-based AgSense (www.agsense.net). The acquisition further extends Valmont's leading offerings in remote monitoring and control technology for agriculture.

AgSense's cutting edge global WagNet network provides growers with a more complete view of their entire farming operation by tying irrigation decision making to field, crop and weather conditions.

"We are pleased to have entered this long-term partnership," said Leonard Adams, group president of Valmont's Global Irrigation Division. "Growers increasingly seek to utilize data driven technology to increase yields and maximize water efficiency. The cutting edge approach AgSense takes to providing technologies that our customers desire, their passion for customer service and their outstanding reputation fit perfectly with Valmont's strategy. Combining AgSense with our industry-leading BaseStation products will deliver the most comprehensive line of integrated solutions available to the market."

AgSense President Terry Schiltz said the similarities in customer-focused values led to the creation of this strategic alignment. "We are very excited about this partnership with Valmont," Schiltz said. "Partnering with the recognized market leader not only enhances our strong position in North America, but will provide opportunities to accelerate our growth internationally."



Cedar Co. ECP Signup Begins for Restoring Damaged Permanent Fences

Cedar County USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Executive Director (CED) Angela Teboe announced that farms suffering severe damage from the June 17, 2014, tornados may be eligible for assistance under the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) to restore permanent fences for the purpose of enclosing or excluding livestock.

A producer qualifying for ECP assistance may receive cost-share levels not to exceed 75 percent of the eligible cost of restoration measures. No producer is eligible for more than $200,000 cost sharing per natural disaster occurrence.

Producers who have suffered a loss from the tornados may contact the Cedar County FSA Office and request assistance by Sept. 23. To be eligible for assistance, practices must not be started until all of the following are met:
-- an application for cost-share assistance has been filed
-- the local FSA County Committee (COC) or its representative has conducted an onsite inspection of the damaged area
-- a needs determination has been completed.

If the repair of the fencing has started already, please contact the FSA office to discuss if assistance would still be available. CED Teboe reminds producers that they may be eligible for the Livestock Indemnity Program and other disaster assistance programs for livestock deaths or other damage due to the tornados.

For more information and to apply for ECP or other disaster assistance programs, contact the Cedar County FSA office at 402-254-6855 extension 2, or by going to www.fsa.usda.gov/ne.



United Western Coop and Heartland Coop Complete Merger

The Board of Directors and management of United Western Coop, Missouri Valley, IA announced it has completed a merger with Heartland Co-op, West Des Moines, IA, effective September 1, 2014.

The terms of the merger provides the member-owners of UWC an influx of capital for new infrastructure, rolling stock, and customer service support. The employees of UWC will become employees of Heartland Co-op.

Milo Ruffcorn will represent the new district, District K, on the Heartland Co-op Board of Directors.

Trent Sprecker has been named Regional Operations Manager.

Chris Russmann will serve as the Agronomy Sales Manager for this region.

Tom Hauschel, CEO for Heartland Co-op will continue as CEO for the new organization which will be headquartered in West Des Moines, IA.

Heartland Co-op has corporate offices located in West Des Moines, Iowa and consists of a total of 71 locations in Iowa.

The organization serves more than 5,500 members with operations in grain handling and marketing, fertilizer and application, agriculture chemicals and application, livestock feed and processing, agriculture energy products, and propane.



EPA Finally Hands Over Maps Detailing the Extent of their WOTUS Proposal

The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology released maps today of waters and wetlands the Environmental Protection Agency has to-date refrained from making public. After multiple requests, the Agency finally handed over the maps to the committee, which appear to detail the extent of the “Waters of the United States” proposal.

“Given the astonishing picture they paint, I understand the EPA’s desire to minimize the importance of these maps,” said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Science Committee, in a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “But EPA’s posturing cannot explain away the alarming content of these documents. While you claim that EPA has not yet used these maps to regulate Americans, you provided no explanation for why the Agency used taxpayer resources to have these materials created.”

Knowledge of the maps came as the Committee was doing research in preparation for a hearing regarding the proposed “Waters of the United States” rule. The maps were kept hidden while the Agencies marched forward with rulemaking that fundamentally re-defines private property rights, said Chairman Smith.

“It is deplorable that EPA, which claims to be providing transparency in rulemakings, would intentionally keep from the American public, a taxpayer-funded visual representation of the reach of their proposed rule,” said Ashley McDonald, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association environmental counsel. "Unfortunately, it is just another blatant contradiction to the claims of transparency this Administration insists they maintain.”

These maps are very similar to the maps produced by NCBA and other agricultural groups, which also showcase the EPA’s extensive attempt to control land across the country. These maps show individual states facing upwards of 100,000 additional stream miles that could be regulated under the proposed regulation.

“This is the smoking gun for agriculture,” said McDonald. “These maps show that EPA knew exactly what they were doing and knew exactly how expansive their proposal was before they published it.”

The maps are available on the House Committee website here.... http://science.house.gov/epa-maps-state-2013#overlay-context.  



Webinar to Help Producers Expand Profitably

CattleFax will hold another of its popular CattleFax Trends+ webinars at 5:30 p.m. MT, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, and registration is now open. Previous Trends+ webinars have attracted nearly 1,500 cow-calf producers, stockers and backgrounders over the past year.

The upcoming webinar will provide producers and industry leaders with a discussion on market factors affecting the cow-calf, stocker and backgrounding segments of the cattle industry this fall and winter. Elanco Animal Health is sponsoring the webinar – making it free for all cattle and beef producers to attend.

The CattleFax team will share its analysis and perspective on how these factors will influence cattle producers in the upcoming year:
-    Outlining the market factors and price expectations for the fall and winter calf, feeder cattle and feedstuffs market
-    Developing a management plan for restocking pastures during an expansion-phase cattle market
-    Managing expansion efforts with a focus on long-term ranch profitability

The one-hour webinar will help attendees understand how to navigate through the next six to 12 months of market activity, and gain CattleFax’s insight on the market trends that will have the biggest influence on profitability over the next few years.

The Trends+ webinar is designed to inform cattle producers about current market realities and provide producers with decision-friendly information to assist in making intelligent marketing decisions. To participate in the seminar and access program details, producers and industry leaders simply need to register online at www.cattlefax.com/meetings.aspx.



Weekly Ethanol Production for 8/22/2014

According to EIA data, ethanol production averaged 913,000 barrels per day (b/d)—or 38.35 million gallons daily. That is down 24,000 b/d from the week before. The four-week average for ethanol production stood at 921,000 b/d for an annualized rate of 14.12 billion gallons.

Stocks of ethanol stood at 17.3 million barrels. That is a 5.1% decrease from last week and a 14-week low. It also represented the largest week-to-week percent change in stocks since a 5.6% build during the week ending 1/17/2014. Stocks were under the 20-day supply mark for the first time since late May.

Imports of ethanol were zero b/d for the fourth straight week.

Gasoline demand for the week averaged 382.2 million gallons daily.

Expressed as a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production was 10.03%.

On the co-products side, ethanol producers were using 13.843 million bushels of corn to produce ethanol and 101,279 metric tons of livestock feed, 90,224 metric tons of which were distillers grains. The rest is comprised of corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal. Additionally, ethanol producers were providing 5.37 million pounds of corn distillers oil daily.



Urge Congress, Secretary of Ag to Act in Corn Farmers' Best Interest

The COOL Reform Coalition, of which the National Corn Growers Association is a member, asks farmers to join them in respectfully urging Congress to authorize and directing the Secretary of Agriculture to immediately suspend the Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling regulations for meat upon a final WTO adjudication of non-compliance with international trade obligations.

Such a congressional action would neither pre-judge the pending WTO litigation on this matter nor allow an on-going period of knowing violation of international trade obligations.

Composed of a diverse group of associations and companies, the COOL Reform Coalition represents U.S. food, agriculture and manufacturing industries, advocating for U.S. compliance with WTO obligations. Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling rules require most retailers to provide country of origin labeling for fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, shellfish, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, ginseng, meat and poultry. The rules are required by the 2002 farm bill, as amended by the 2009 farm bill.

U.S. corn farmers have a vested interest, as corn products are included on the retaliatory list already outlined by Canada and will likely be included in any list produced by Mexico. Inclusion in the retaliatory lists has the potential to impact trade demand, thus harming the economic well-being of the U.S. corn industry.

Less than one year after the COOL rules took effect, both Canada and Mexico challenged the rules in the World Trade Organization, arguing that COOL has a trade-distorting impact by reducing the value and number of cattle and hogs shipped to the U.S. market.

On June 29, 2012, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body adopted its Appellate Body's holding that COOL rules violated the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement because they treat imported Canadian cattle and hogs and imported Mexican cattle less favorably than domestic livestock.

A WTO Arbitrator set a deadline of May 23, 2013, for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to correct its regulations. On that date, USDA published its revised rule. Unfortunately, government officials of both Canada and Mexico stated that the revisions were inadequate.

On September 25, 2013, Canada and Mexico requested the establishment of a compliance panel to determine whether the revised rule is WTO compliant. Should the compliance panel find that the revised rule is noncompliant, both nations indicated they would seek authorization from WTO to retaliate against U.S. exported goods. The WTO is expected to make the decision public in September 2014.



Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy® seeking next class of stewardship stars

The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy®, established under the leadership of dairy farmers, is now accepting nominations for the 2015 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards. The awards recognize outstanding dairy farms, businesses and partnerships for socially responsible, economically viable and environmentally sound practices. These practices, large and small, are steps that add up to promote the health and well-being of consumers, communities, cows, employees, the planet and business. In its fourth year, the awards program will feature two new categories: Outstanding Achievement in Resource Stewardship and Outstanding Achievement in Community Partnerships.

“These two categories recognize the increasingly systemic and collaborative approaches we are seeing to food, energy and water security challenges in communities across the country,” said Barbara O’Brien, president of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. “The winning stories will show how innovation and improvements sparked by one farm, one person or one organization can have a ripple effect that goes well beyond their farm gate or front door.”

Nominations are open through Nov. 7, 2014, to all segments of the U.S. dairy value chain — from farm to table — for the following categories:
-    (New) Outstanding Achievement in Resource Stewardship: Recognizes dairy operations (both on and off the farm) that have measurable success in managing their resources with optimal efficiency and quality. Successful nominations have implemented efficiencies or innovations in areas such as energy, water and soil conservation, manure and waste management, and/or renewable energy generation.
-    (New) Outstanding Achievement in Community Partnerships: Recognizes collaborations (both on and off the farm) to improve lives and communities through their positive impacts on child health and wellness, hunger relief and/or environmental stewardship. Successful nominations will demonstrate instances where organizations collaborate with other stakeholders to develop practical and effective solutions to shared challenges and goals.
-    Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability: Recognizes three farms that serve as examples of socially responsible, economically viable and environmentally sound dairy production. Successful nominees take a holistic approach to sustainability and provide replicable results that can inspire greater industrywide change.
-    Outstanding Dairy Processing & Manufacturing Sustainability: Recognizes dairy processors and manufacturers whose businesses exemplify the triple bottom line of sustainability. Successful nominees have demonstrated both measurable progress and corporate commitment.

“There are incredible efforts underway by farmers, processors and brands that are changing the way we think about producing, processing and delivering the nutritious dairy products consumers love,” said Paul Rovey of Rovey Dairy and chairman of Dairy Management Inc.™ “We encourage dairy farms and businesses to nominate themselves, their business partners or their neighbors so that we can tell the great story of dairy stewardship both within the industry and directly to consumers.”

Winner Benefits
The U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards have honored 19 businesses in the past three years. Help us celebrate others who are changing the equation in dairy. The 2015 winners will receive:
-    A trip to Washington, D.C., in April 2015 for the awards ceremony provided by this year’s sponsors
-    National and local recognition of their stories and passion for sustainability
-    A featured case study on USDairy.com/Sustainability to share insights and lessons learned with industry peers
-    Opportunities to work with others in the industry, helping to advance sustainability

Program Details
The awards are part of the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment, an industry-wide effort to understand and communicate about dairy sustainability, demonstrate progress, create long-term economic growth and build consumer trust.

An independent panel of judges will evaluate all nominations based on measurable results and the potential for other dairy farms and businesses to adopt the practices; demonstrated learning, innovation and improvement; and scalability.

This year’s gold-level sponsors include: the Center for Advanced Energy Studies; DeLaval; DVO Anaerobic Digesters; Elanco Animal Health; InSinkErator; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; World Wildlife Fund and Zoetis. Silver-level sponsors include ChemTreat; DSM Nutritional Products; HDR; Organic Solution Management; and Syngenta.

The deadline for applications is Nov. 7, 2014. There is no fee to enter. For more information, visit USDairy.com/Sustainability/Awards.



World Dairy Expo Entries Due Now

Dairy cattle exhibitors are encouraged to submit their entries now for World Dairy Expo. The initial deadline, to avoid late fees, is Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014 by midnight (CDT). Paper entries must be postmarked by that date to avoid late fees.

Exhibitors are encouraged to submit entries on the user-friendly Expo online entry system. The Premium Book is available online at worlddairyexpo.com. Animal entries, stalling requests, tent and/or booth space purchases and 2017 International Futurity entries can be submitted within the online entry system. World Dairy Expo’s Youth Fitting and Youth Showmanship Contest entries may also be submitted. Special thanks to AgriLabs for sponsoring the Premium Book and their support of the show.

When submitting animal entries, please include an AIN 15-digit number (visual or electronic) for all animals. Acceptable forms of animal identification are: USDA AIN 840 tag (RFID or visual), Canadian CIA RFID 124 tag, Manufacturer Coded RFID 900, 982, or 985 tag. This information will be used for health check-in upon arrival. Breed show check-in will continue to use an original breed association registration paper.

Entries may be made between Sept. 1 and Sept. 7 online or by paper at $50 per animal. After Sept. 7, all entries are $100 per animal. Online entries will be accepted until Sept. 14. After Sept. 14, all entries must be submitted via the paper entry form. You may utilize the online entry system and pay by credit card (online only) until 11:59 p.m. (CDT) on Sept. 14, 2014.

Staff is available to answer entry and show-related questions as Expo approaches. Please contact either Ann Marie Magnochi or Laurie Breuch for assistance at 608-224-6455.



BASF study highlights the need for increased innovations to help feed the world

A majority of U.S. consumers and farmers agree that farmers are responsible for feeding the world and new technology and innovations are critical to achieving this goal.

These findings were uncovered in the latest BASF Farm Perspectives Study, conducted in early 2014, comparing consumer and farmer viewpoints on agriculture-related issues. More than 9,000 people located in seven different countries participated in the study.

“Farmers and consumers understand the importance of new technology in agriculture and the role it plays in feeding a growing world population,” said AJ Woodyard, Technical Crop Production Specialist, BASF. “BASF recognizes the need for innovative solutions and continues to develop new tools and technologies to meet this important challenge.”

Farmer and Consumer Opinions
Nearly all farmers (95.6%) in the seven surveyed countries agree they have a shared responsibility to feed the growing population, and they’re held to high expectations when doing so. With the world population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, production will need to increase by 70 percent, and must include production of high-quality crops.

Although farmers feel prepared for this tremendous responsibility, most feel the responsibility is not valued by consumers. Only 40 percent of U.S. farmers feel respected by the general U.S. population. Despite this feeling, farmers understand the importance of feeding the world and look forward to new innovations and technologies to help them achieve this goal.

Most U.S. farmers (78.6%) and consumers (67.9%) agree that innovations are necessary to help farmers with the challenge of feeding a growing population. Survey respondents noted that feeding the world will require sustainable food production, possible through innovations in precision agriculture, machinery, fertilizers and chemical developments.

“The agricultural industry has made significant strides in innovation to improve food production methods over the years,” Woodyard said. “At BASF, our goal is to continue to provide advanced tools and resources to help farmers get the most out of every acre.”

In addition to partnering with farmers to bring value to their operation, BASF helps farmers through the introduction of new product innovations. BASF recently introduced Priaxor® fungicide, an advanced soybean fungicide, and plans to bring two new products – Engenia™ herbicide and Limus® urease inhibitor – to the market in the near future. These products, among others, will help growers be more successful and ultimately provide more food for a growing world population.

About the Study
The U.S. results of the BASF Farm Perspectives Study were announced today at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, with insights from Brady Spangenberg, Market Intelligence & Research Manager, BASF and Woodyard. The most recent wave of the study was conducted in early 2014 and included more than 2,100 farmer and 7,233 consumer participants in seven countries: U.S., Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, India and China.