Friday November 28 Ag News

Reinke Recognizes Grossenburg Implement with Gold Pride Award at Annual Convention

Reinke is excited to announce that Grossenburg Implement, Inc., with locations in Wayne and Bloomfield, Neb., has received a Gold Reinke Pride award in recognition of the company’s 2013-2014 marketing year success. The Reinke dealership was honored during Reinke’s recent annual convention held October 23-25, 2014, in Palm Springs, Calif.

“Congratulations to Grossenburg Implement on this well-deserved recognition,” said Reinke Director of Marketing Tom Palmertree. “We are proud to have them as a dealer and appreciate their ongoing commitment to Reinke and to their community.”

Reinke dealerships from across the United States and Canada gather each year to attend the company’s sales convention. The convention awards ceremony recognizes select Reinke dealerships for their hard work and dedication to sales and marketing throughout the past year.

Gold, silver and bronze Reinke Pride awards were given to a total of 118 dealerships this year. The Reinke Pride awards are determined as part of an incentive program that distinguishes superior achievement levels according to an evaluation based on a dealership’s exterior and interior housekeeping and maintenance, indoor and outdoor displays, safety, retail environment, merchandising, professionalism, promotions and event participation, and market share.

“We really look forward to coming together each year to recognize the efforts of our dealers and applaud them among their peers,” said Palmertree. “Our annual convention is also an opportunity for us to share ideas, learn from one another and get set for another successful year serving the agriculture industry.” 



Field Assessments to Improve Efficiency Workshops

A new educational effort by Nebraska Extension seeks to enhance the knowledge of Nebraska corn, soybean and wheat producers on their sustainability and operational efficiency measures.  Workshop participants will use a web-based tool called Fieldprint® Calculator.

Growers in Nebraska should be better able to understand and communicate how management choices affect overall sustainability performance and operational efficiency of their farm operations, said Extension Educator Randy Pryor.

Pryor said the inspiration of the new workshops came from a similar effort in Crete in 2011 led by Bunge and Kellogg with assistance from UNL Extension and other partners. The project included 23 corn producers who delivered grain to the Crete Mill. They compared efficiency measures and were able to assess their farm's efficiency and sustainability. Lessons learned led to an updated version of the Fieldprint® Calculator.

Calculating "Fieldprints" can help growers establish benchmark data on a field and track improvements over time, set energy-saving and efficiency goals and compare performance against local, state and national benchmarks.

The new Field Assessment workshops in Nebraska are hands-on and will show growers how to document eight sustainability and efficiency indicators:
-    Land use
-    Conservation
-    Soil carbon
-    Irrigation water use
-    Water quality
-    Energy use
-    Greenhouse gas emissions
-    Water quality

Participants will select a representative crop field for 2014 and complete a data input sheet in advance of the Fieldprint® Calculator workshops. Meals and workshop materials are sponsored through a Nebraska Extension Innovation grant.  Computer laptops will be provided or you can bring your own.  Pre-registration is required. Pre-register by Friday, Dec. 5, by contacting a host Extension office.

Workshop Schedule
Monday, Dec. 8, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., UNL Extension in Clay County, 111 West Fairfield, Clay Center
Monday, Dec. 8, 5:30 p.m. – 9 p.m., Geneva Public Library, 1043 G Street, Geneva
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Nemaha County Hospital Meeting Room, 2022 13th Street, Auburn
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 5:30 p.m. – 9 p.m., UNL Extension in Jefferson County, 517 F Street, Fairbury
Wed., Dec. 10, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., UNL Extension in Merrick County, 1510 18th Street, Central City
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 5:30 p.m. – 9 p.m., Leadership Center, 2211 Q Street, Aurora
Thursday, Dec. 11, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., UNL Extension in Dodge County, 1206 West 23rd, Fremont
Thursday, Dec. 11, 5:30 p.m. – 9 p.m., UNL Extension in Colfax County, 466 Road 10, Schuyler



Nebraska Corn Board welcomes Thornburg to Staff

The Nebraska Corn Board is pleased to announce its newest team member, Emily Thornburg, who was hired as the Director of Communications on November 10.

In this role, Thornburg will work on behalf of Nebraska corn farmers to expand marketing opportunities through communications, industry partnerships, program coordination, education and promotion. She will coordinate numerous corn promotion and education activities throughout the year. Thornburg will also manage Nebraska Corn Board’s social media along with various other communication outlets.

“We are excited to welcome Emily to the Corn Board team,” said Kelly Brunkhorst, executive director of the Nebraska Corn Board. “Emily has proven to be a committed leader and advocate for Nebraska corn farmers, and is well qualified to lead Nebraska Corns’ communication and outreach efforts. With prior experience at Nebraska Corn Growers Association, in addition to a strong background in Nebraska agriculture, Emily has a thorough understanding of the industry and will be a great addition to our staff.”

Thornburg grew up on her family farm near Geneva, Nebraska. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business and marketing. Upon graduation, she worked in marketing at ConAgra Mills. In the fall of 2013, Emily joined the Nebraska Corn team as the Program Director for the Nebraska Corn Growers Association. During her time there, Emily was responsible for the program coordination and membership servicing for the 2,600 member organization.

“I am very excited to be joining the Nebraska Corn Board staff,” said Thornburg. “It is an honor to have the opportunity to work on behalf of Nebraska’s 23,000 corn farmers. I look forward to working closely with the wonderful board and staff as well as the industry partners to communicate the important story of Nebraska’s corn industry.”



A FORAGE FOR EVERY SEASON
Bruce Anderson, UNL Extension Forage Specialist

Think back over the past couple of years.  Did you have ample pasture all season long, or were there times when more forage growth would have helped?

If you have cows, horses, ewes, or other livestock that can graze year-around, one of your goals should be to graze for as many days during the year as possible.  But no matter where you are, no single pasture can meet that objective.

Warm-season range grasses provide good summer grazing in many areas, but more green grass would be nice in early spring and for late fall grazing.  For livestock producers in many other places, though, smooth bromegrass, wheatgrass, needlegrass, orchardgrass, fescue, and other cool-season grasses grow well in spring and fall but mid-summer pasture often is limiting.

To overcome these pasture shortages, you need to have several different types of pasture available.  For example, warm-season grasses like the bluestems, indiangrass, blue grama, and switchgrass provide excellent summer pasture.  Match them up with other, but separate, pastures or meadows that contain cool-season grasses for spring and fall grazing and you will have a good, long grazing season.

To extend grazing even further, plant winter wheat, rye, or triticale during fall to get pasture as early as late March.  And oats planted in late July or August can be grazed through November, while turnips often provide pasture into December or even January.  Don’t forget that alfalfa and corn also can be grazed effectively throughout much of the year, giving you even more options for timely pasture.

Start looking at your pasture gaps.  Maybe next year you can extend your grazing season with new and varied pastures.



Adding Value to Calves by Grazing Corn Residue
Mary Drewnoski, UNL Beef Systems Specialist
Daren Redfearn, UNL Forage and Crop Residue Systems Specialist
Jay Parsons, UNL Biosystems Economist

Given current calf prices, it is tempting to sell immediately after weaning. However, grazing calves on corn residue and providing supplemental distillers grains is a cost effective way to add value to weaned calves. The two most important considerations to successfully and economically increase calf value are stocking rate and supplementation level.

Grazing corn residue is unique from all other forages in that the total amount of forage available is present at turn out. Because the quality and availability of forage decreases over time, following the recommended stocking rate is essential to achieving targeted gains.

It is important to remember that for every bushel of corn produced, there are approximately 16 pounds of leaf and husk. However, some leaf and husk will be lost to wind and trampling. Based on this, the recommend stocking rates are based on the availability of 8 pounds of leaf and husk per bushel of corn. This means that fields with greater grain production can have greater stocking rates than fields with lower grain yields (Table 1 http://go.unl.edu/k2t7). However, it should be noted that the leaf and husk of irrigated fields (3.7% CP and 52% digestible) are lower quality than dryland fields (6.4% CP and 50% digestible). When stocked appropriately, ADG (Average Daily Gain) from dryland corn production may be greater than ADG of calves from stover produced under irrigated corn production.

Data from UNL suggests that supplemented calves grazing irrigated corn fields with 3 lbs/d of dry distillers grains (DDGS) will gain 1.3 lbs/d. When the supplementation level is increased to 6 lbs/d of DDGS gains increase to 1.8 lbs/d (Figure 1 http://go.unl.edu/8oyx). Using a price of $150/ton for DDGS, it will cost $0.23 per day to supplement at 3 lbs/d and $0.45 per day to supplement at 6 lbs/d.

With current calf and feed prices, supplementing for increased ADG will be more profitable. If you are close to an ethanol plant, modified distillers grains are usually a less expensive source of protein and energy than dried distillers grains. Plus, modified distillers grains has the added benefit of being able to be fed on the ground. It is important to remember that modified distillers are about 50% DM, so twice the amount is required to achieve the same gain as supplementing dried distillers grains.



Nebraska farmers return from trade missions in Asia

Two members of the Nebraska Corn Board recently returned from trade missions in Asia promoting U.S. corn and red meat. Brandon Hunnicutt, farmer from Giltner, Neb. and district 3 director on the Nebraska Corn Board (NCB) participated in the U.S. producer’s mission to Japan and Korea with the U.S. Grains Council (USGC). David Bruntz, farmer from Friend, Neb. and district 1 director on NCB participated in a trade mission with the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) in Japan and China.

While in Japan and Korea, Hunnicutt traveled with farmers and USGC staff to engage key buyers and end-users, providing insights on the current U.S. corn crop condition as well as the global supply and demand outlook. Japan and Korea are two key markets for U.S. corn, yet, a high level of engagement with the industry, trade and government is still needed to defend U.S. market share.

Hunnicutt observed that the Japanese and Korean buyers and end-users were very pleased to hear about this year’s abundant, high-quality U.S. corn crop that will be available for export in the coming year.

“One of the most important things we, as the American farmer, need to remember is how important it is to raise a high quality crop that the world wants,” said Hunnicutt. “Many times we tend to worry about yield. After spending some time with our ag friends in Japan, I have come to appreciate the need to make sure that the quality of crop I am producing is the highest quality corn crop I can produce.”

Hunnicutt was one of the farmer-spokesmen on the mission who presented on technology in farming to a seminar in Japan that was attended by more than 160 end-users and importers. This delegation helped build on the established relationships between the United States and two of its key international markets, stressing the importance of trade and promoting the United States as the preferred, reliable, long-term supplier of quality corn and related products.

Dave Bruntz returned from Japan and China with a similar message on the importance of establishing relationships with key end-users of U.S. agricultural products. The trade mission objectives with USMEF were to allow U.S. producers to personally communicate their farming practices and commitment to production of safe, high-quality food to international buyers, interacting with livestock producers in Asia, and observing the manner in which U.S. pork and beef are merchandised overseas.

While in Japan, Bruntz’s team gave presentations on U.S. farming practices at a USMEF seminar in Tokyo, which was attended by more than 600 meat buyers from across all sectors of the Japanese food industry. The seminar focused on soil sustainability, the seed used to produce feedgrains, and the specific feeding formulations and processes that allow the U.S. industry to produce such high-quality meat.

“Our Japanese customers and across the world want to know the details of how U.S. meat is produced,” said Bruntz. “They were glad to have U.S. farmers there to ask us questions, but they also wanted us to know to ‘keep the meat coming’!”

The reliable, high-quality supply of U.S. meat was prevalent at a blogging event held with young, Japanese food bloggers, predominantly women.

“They were interested in our production systems of both beef and pork, but love the U.S. products,” said Bruntz.

In China, the delegation gathered in Beijing for the 2014 U.S.-China Swine Industry Symposium. This was the third year for the symposium, with this edition focusing on livestock nutrient management with more than 200 attendees, including industry representatives, agricultural policy makers, animal health experts and university researchers.

They also met with government and industry officials in China and continued on-going discussions about corn, distillers grains and biotechnology. Bruntz reported that there was plenty of dialogue on resolving trade barriers to export beef into the country.

“The U.S. has been free of any BSE cases for 10 years,” said Bruntz. “As producers of crops and livestock, we want to gain relationships with end users in China to build trust and gain respect to open up markets for U.S. ag products.”



NFU Thanks USTR for Supporting Family Farmers, Ranchers, Consumers;  Urges Congress to Keep Its COOL and Let Process Play Out
National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson applauded today’s decision by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to appeal the recent World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling on Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) for family farmers, ranchers, and consumers. Johnson also urged Congress to leave the popular labeling law alone and allow the WTO process to run its course.

“The decision today by the USTR to appeal the WTO ruling on COOL is the right thing to do for American family farmers, ranchers and consumers,” said Johnson. “The October WTO ruling found once again that the COOL law is WTO-compliant and acknowledged that the May 2013 USDA regulations were a significant improvement in terms of providing more accurate information to consumers. Nonetheless, the WTO incorrectly found the rules were noncompliant and an appeal is the obvious course of action.”

Johnson noted that the popular sentiment towards the labeling law shared by family farmers and consumers is not echoed by large international meatpackers, who continually try to pressure Congress to repeal the law.

“The multinational meatpacking industry continues to urge Congress to repeal COOL laws before the WTO process runs its course,” said Johnson. “These are inappropriate attempts to prevent consumers from having access to basic information about their food. Congress should ignore these scare tactics and allow the WTO process to play out before acting prematurely.”

“American consumers have been crystal clear that they want to know where their food comes from and family farmers and ranchers are proud to provide it,” said Johnson. “The decision by the USTR to appeal the WTO’s erroneous finding demonstrates full support for American family farmers, ranchers and consumers.”



Argentine Soy Planting Advances Quickly

Favorable weather conditions have allowed Argentine farmers to make quick progress with soybean planting over the last week, according to the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange.

Fieldwork moved forward 14.4 percentage points to cover 44.8% of the projected area of 50.9 million acres, it said in a weekly report.

However, planting remains 4.1 points behind last year, a delay caused by heavy rains that fell in October and early November and also by the fact that a larger proportion of the crop is being planted after wheat this season.

As for corn, the exchange reported farmers had started planting lots of second crop this week, while first crop corn was developing well amid elevated soil moisture levels.  Farmers had planted 41.4% of the corn crop as of Thursday, up 1.2 points on the week before but 1.1% behind last year.

Wheat harvesting was 31% complete as of Thursday, said the exchange, with yields in some regions coming in below expectations. The exchange forecasts Argentina will produce 11.5 million metric tons of wheat in 2014-15 but warned that it may have to lower its forecast



Ukraine Harvest Ahead of Last Year

Ukraine's grain harvest to date is greater than last year, despite inclement weather conditions and the current economic instability in the country, the agriculture ministry said Thursday.

The ministry said Ukraine harvested 62.713 million metric tons of grain on 14.484 million hectares by Nov. 27, 98% of the total area to be harvested, with an average yield of 4.33 tons a hectare.

On the same date last year Ukraine's grain harvest was 60.698 million tons on 14.966 million hectares with an average yield of 4.06 tons/ha.

Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said Aug. 19 that Ukraine's grain harvest this year was likely to fall to 55 million tons from 63 million tons in 2013 because of the loss of the Crimean Peninsula and the current military fighting in the Southeast of the country. The economic development ministry expects this year's harvest at 60.8 million tons.

Ukraine exported 14.855 million metric tons of grain between the start of the current marketing year July 1 and Nov. 27, outstripping last year's pace, despite predictions that the country's grain harvest and export will fall because of the current political instability, the agriculture ministry said Friday.

The ministry said the total amount of export to date included 7.349 million tons of wheat, 3.316 million tons of barley and 4.015 million tons of corn.

The ministry did not give last year's figures for comparison but, according to the ministry's past reports, Ukraine exported 13.96 million tons of grain from July 1, 2012 and Nov. 29, 2013.



W.Aussie Forecast Cut 5%

CBH Group, which dominates grain storage and handling in Western Australia, has downgraded its estimate of the state's 2014-15 harvest by about 5% due to wet weather.

CBH said its forecast for 2014-15 receivals has been cut to 12.8 million metric tons, from 13.45 million tons previously, due to crop yields being about 15% less than growers originally expected.

Total receivals have now reached 8.79 million tons, meaning that Western Australia is at least two thirds of the way through the harvest program, CBH said, adding that quality hasn't been affected so far by the late spring rains.



Schmidt Named Louis Dreyfus CEO

Louis Dreyfus Commodities on Friday said it has appointed Mayo Schmidt as chief executive, ending a transition process that began nearly 18 months ago.

Mr. Schmidt, who will start work on Jan. 5, is taking over from interim CEO Claude Ehlinger, said the company in a statement. A former president and CEO of Viterra Inc., a Canadian-based global food ingredients company, Mr. Schmidt has also worked for major U.S. food company ConAgra Foods Inc (CAG).

Mr. Ehlinger will remain as chief financial officer, the company said.

Rotterdam-based Louis Dreyfus Commodities is a global merchandiser of commodities and processor of agricultural goods and is about 85% owned by Louis Dreyfus Group, according to the company website.