Friday April 10 Ag News

Nebraska Cattlemen Applauds Advancement of LB 623

Nebraska Cattlemen (NC) today applauded the Nebraska Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee for advancing LB 623, introduced by Sen. Jeremy Nordquist of Omaha. If passed, the bill would provide immigrants with deferred action for childhood arrival (DACA) status the opportunity to obtain Nebraska driver’s licenses. NC policy supports comprehensive immigration reform to ensure a thriving employee base for beef cattle producers.

“Nebraska Cattlemen appreciates the Committee’s efforts to bring this common sense measure forward,” said NC Vice President of Regulatory and Legal Affairs Kristen Hassebrook. “The broad base of 25 cosponsors is a testament to the bill’s reach as well as the positive impact its passage will have statewide. We encourage members of the body to recognize this potential and support LB 623.”



Teacher Loan Program Helps Meet Growing Demand for Agricultural Education, FFA Programs

A growing demand for agricultural education and FFA programs in schools across Nebraska, paired with a critical shortage of agricultural education teachers in the state, is bringing the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture (NFBFA) and the Nebraska FFA Association together to promote opportunities to encourage more students to look at agricultural education as a career path.

"It’s exciting to see so many students, parents and schools expressing interest in adding agricultural education and FFA programs, but the shortage of teachers available to fill this growing need is a major concern,” said NFBFA Board Member Rich Herink of Lincoln.

Encouraging students to consider agricultural education as a career choice and supporting existing ag teachers is critical at a time when the number of schools looking to expand agricultural education opportunities has exploded, according to Matt Kreifels, director of agricultural education for the Nebraska Department of Education.

“Over the last five years we have 40 schools that have added, or are looking to offer agricultural education and FFA programs. That includes 15 new schools looking to add agricultural education programs for next year if they can find the teachers. Right now we still have 12 job openings statewide. There is a definite need for more teachers, but there is strong competition for candidates from other agriculture-related fields that are pulling away many students who would be potential agriculture teachers,” said Kreifels.

Enticing more people to look at opportunities in agricultural education is the main reason the NFBFA started a scholarship and loan assistance program in 2014. The program was designed to offer scholarships to students studying agricultural education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, while providing a loan repayment program for active teachers based on their continued commitment to teaching in the agricultural education field.

“NFBFA is proud to be a part of the solution to the agriculture teacher shortage through our scholarship and loan program. The goal is to help those who have a passion for agricultural education by working to make sure financial reasons aren’t the sole factor students avoid the agricultural education profession or teachers leave the agricultural education profession,” said Herink.

According to Emilia Woeppel, a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a 2014 recipient of an NFBFA scholarship, programs that help potential agriculture teachers are a step in the right direction to addressing the teacher shortage.

“I love teaching students about agriculture. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. The NFBFA scholarship has been tremendously helpful. It’s great to know there are others who value agricultural education and FFA to the point they would provide financial support to make sure programs like FFA can continue to grow in Nebraska,” said Woeppel.

Thomas Dux, is the agricultural education teacher and FFA instructor at Mead, Nebraska. Dux is currently participating in the NFBFA’s teacher loan assistance program.

“The hands on experience that we’re giving students through agriculture education and the leadership component that comes through FFA are invaluable in helping develop the leaders of tomorrow. The NFBFA program is helping make sure those opportunities continue to exist,” said Dux.

Twelve agricultural education students and teachers from across Nebraska were selected to participate in the scholarship and loan program in 2014.

The 2015 deadline for applications is May 1, 2015. Students and teachers interested in applying for the program should visit nefb.org for applications and more information.

Those interested in supporting the NFBFA Ag Teacher Scholarship and Loan Program can make a donation to NFBFA by visiting nefb.org or by contacting NFBFA Interim-Executive Director Laura Schabloske at 402-421-4744 or at edfoundation@nefb.org



WRAPPING HAY TO BEAT THE WEATHER
Bruce Anderson, UNL Extension Forage Specialist

               Does rain often damage your high quality hay just before it’s ready to bale?  Here’s a baling method that may help solve that problem.

               Rain plays havoc with hay quality.  Even when you study weather reports and do your best to cut when good drying weather is expected, just before your hay is ready to bale, it gets damaged by rain.

               So what are your options when dark clouds are on the horizon and your hay still is a little too wet?  Well, you could go ahead and bale that tough hay and hope – hope that it doesn’t spoil, or even worse, get hot and burn.  Or you can wait out the storm and cross your fingers that you get good moisture for your row crops but it skips over the hay fields.

               There is another option.  Maybe you bale it tough, then wrap it with stretch wrap plastic to keep water and air out and keep nutrients in.

               Studies have shown excellent success wrapping bales containing twenty-five to forty percent moisture.  After a full year in storage, the hay came out of the wrapping in great shape, with very little storage loss, a nice silage odor, and well-preserved nutrients.

               Wrapping tough hay reduces weather risk because wrapping often occurs a day sooner than normal baling.  Both yield and forage quality can be higher because fewer leaves are lost than with dry hay.

               It does take a lot of plastic, though.  Six or seven layers are needed to maintain feed quality.  If you don’t use enough plastic or fail to repair any holes, this kind of hay can spoil very fast.

               Wrapping slightly tough hay in plastic can improve your forage quality and reduce weather losses.  If rain damage often plagues your hay making, it might be worth looking into.



USDA Expands Beef and Pork Trade with Mexico and Peru

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has recently reached agreements allowing U.S. beef and pork producers greater access to consumers in Mexico and Peru. The two agreements announced Friday will allow U.S. producers to export slaughter cattle to Mexico and expand access to consumer markets in Peru for U.S. fresh and chilled pork. The Secretary made the announcements during a meeting with producers in Des Moines, Iowa.

"Our priority at USDA is not only to open or reopen markets for our producers, but to help drive U.S. economic growth through trade by supporting and creating American jobs on and off the farm," said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. "Mexico is an important market for U.S. cattle producers, with the potential to import $15 million of live U.S. cattle per year and we expect Peru's market could generate $5 million annually in additional pork sales."

The United States and Mexico reached an agreement that takes effect immediately and will allow U.S. producers to export slaughter cattle to Mexico for the first time in over a decade. The USDA has been working with Mexico since 2008 to reopen this market and the final agreement was reached between USDA Under Secretary Ed Avalos and Enrique Sanchez-Cruz with SAGARPA during meetings this week in Washington, DC. Exporters and producers can find the required documents on the APHIS website or through their local Veterinary Services office.

Similarly, USDA has conducted extensive negotiations with Peru's Servicio National De Sanidad Agraria (SENASA) since 2012 to expand access for U.S. fresh, chilled pork and pork products. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service export library will be updated to the new export requirements for these pork and pork products exports.

"More than one million people go to work every day thanks to exports of American-grown products. Expanded U.S. agricultural exports mean more new jobs, but our farmers and ranchers will miss out on new markets for American products if Congress doesn't act on Trade Promotion Authority early this year and if we don't continue to build support for a Trans-Pacific Partnership with Asian nations."

USDA continues its push to eliminate all remaining trade barriers to U.S. cattle and cattle products stemming from past detections of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service continues to work with its trading partners to ensure any unnecessary requirements for U.S. origin beef are eliminated. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) considers the United States' to have negligible risk for BSE. This is OIE's lowest risk category for this disease.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture continuously seeks opportunities for U.S. agricultural products and producers to expand access to overseas markets and contribute to a positive U.S. trade balance, to create jobs and to support economic growth. The past six years have represented the strongest period for American agricultural exports in the history of our country. In fiscal year 2014 American farmers and ranchers exported a record $152.5 billion of food and agricultural products to consumers worldwide.



EPA Establishes RVO Timeline for 2014, 2015 and 2016

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entered into a consent decree agreeing to a court-enforced timeline for establishing Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) numbers for 2014 and 2015.  The consent decree was the result of a lawsuit by the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers relating to EPA’s failure to complete its 2014 and 2015 RFS rules by the deadlines required by law. Following today’s announcement, Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, issued the following statement:

“I am pleased to hear that the EPA has finally put a process in place to establish some certainty for biofuel producers with the recent announcement of the timeline for the proposed 2015 RVO rule by June 1st as well as the final 2014 and 2015 volume obligations by November 30, 2015.

“Our producers have faced ambiguity for too long and today is welcome news that they are establishing a level of certainty with this announcement. However, far more important than timing is that that the EPA establishes a final rule that moves our industry forward, and reflects the bipartisan vision Congress intended for the RFS.

“Additionally, while not part of the consent decree, we are pleased to see that the EPA has committed to finalizing the 2016 RFS RVO numbers this year as well. By taking this action, they are ensuring that the RFS is back on a path to certainty for the biofuels industry, providing the necessary guidance for the industry to continue to thrive and advance alternative fuel options for American consumers.”



RFS back on track for implementation

Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), released the following statement in response to an announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that, under a court settlement with oil companies, the Agency will propose the 2015 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations by June 1, 2015, and issue the final 2014 and 2015 RFS blending targets by November 30, 2015.  

While not part of the court settlement, EPA also announced it will propose the 2016 RFS renewable volume obligations by June 1, 2015 and finalize the 2016 standard by November 30 – the same time as it finalizes the 2014 and 2015 standards.   EPA indicated the 2014 volumes will “reflect the volumes of renewable fuel that were actually used in 2014.”

“ACE has consistently said it is much more important for EPA to get the RFS done right than it is for them to get the RFS done quickly, and that bears repeating given today’s announcement that the RFS will be getting back on track for implementation,” said Jennings.

“Last year Big Oil came close to bullying EPA to completely re-write the RFS so they could escape their legal responsibility to blend E15 and flex fuels into gasoline.   But thanks to comments from ACE members and other biofuel supporters, EPA wisely chose to abandon their proposal to set the 2014 RFS on the E10 blend wall.   It appears EPA is going to get the RFS back on track for implementation.   Our priority will continue to be to ensure EPA holds oil companies legally responsible under the RFS for making cleaner and less expensive fuel choices, such as E15 and E85, available to consumers.”



Biodiesel Industry Welcomes EPA RFS Announcement

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) issued the following statement from Vice President of Federal Affairs Anne Steckel in response to the EPA’s announced plans for finalizing Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volumes in the coming years:

“We are pleased to see the EPA make these further commitments toward ending these delays. Biodiesel is the most successful EPA-designated Advanced Biofuel under the RFS to date, and the Obama Administration should be doing everything it can to promote biodiesel so we can show that Advanced Biofuels are here today, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 percent, creating jobs and reducing our dependence on global petroleum markets that wreak havoc on our economy.”

“The RFS is the most successful policy we have for reducing emissions in the transportation sector, and it is working. We applaud the EPA for taking this step and look forward to working with the Administration in the coming weeks to get this program back on track.”

Clearly, ongoing questions will remain as to the volume levels proposed by EPA but EPA has reiterated that it will "re-propose volume requirements for 2014, by June 1, that reflect the volumes of renewable fuel that were actually used in 2014.”  The volumes for Biomass-based Diesel in 2014 were approximately 1.75 billion gallons so EPA reaffirming its commitment to “actual use” appears to be a step in the right direction.



USGC Launches New Facebook Page for 2015 Corn Crop

The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) this week launched a new Facebook page - Growing the 2015 U.S. Corn Crop - as a direct channel for communication between farmers and overseas customers about the condition and quality of the 2015 U.S. corn crop.

“This page helps illustrate this year’s theme of Global Awareness, Global Connections,” said USGC Chairman Ron Gray.

“We are more globally connected than ever, and we are constantly looking for ways to use modern communications tools to build the connections between our farmers and their customers around the world. We are excited about this opportunity to increase awareness of how the 2015 U.S. corn crop is growing.”

All U.S. corn farmers and international customers are invited to like and post on the page. The Council encourages U.S. corn producers to post regular updates on the progress of their corn crop with photos or videos and commentary. The Council will also be providing some content for the page, including videos tracking the season as experienced by three farmers in Indiana, Iowa and Texas.

All farmers interested in contributing to the page are welcome to complete a webinar-based social media training that will be offered by the Council on April 23 at 11 a.m. Eastern and again on May 12 at 2 p.m. Eastern. Interested parties should email grains@grains.org for more information.



Bird Flu Confirmed at 4 More Minnesota Turkey Farms

(AP) --- State and federal authorities have confirmed outbreaks of a deadly form of bird flu at four more turkey farms in Minnesota, raising the number of farms affected in the state to 13.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the new cases are in Cottonwood, Lyon, Watonwan and Stearns counties.

The four farms with newly confirmed infections housed a combined total of 189,000 turkeys. The turkeys not killed by the virus will be euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease.

Once those birds have been euthanized, the 13 affected Minnesota farms will have lost a total 872,000 turkeys.

Officials continue to stress that the risk to public health is low, and that there's no danger to the food supply.



Strengthening U.S. Dollar Highlights Significance of Trade Agreements

As the U.S. dollar strengthens and makes U.S. grain relatively more expensive in the global marketplace, the impact of favorable trade policies on sales is coming to the forefront in marketers’ minds.

Over the last year, the U.S. dollar has strengthened against most currencies, including 15 percent against the currencies of most major corn customers since 2012. In the time between 2001 and 2009, the dollar strengthened but did not significantly affect the price of U.S. corn to customers. This year will likely follow that pattern.

However, the effects of a stronger dollar are more pronounced in comparison with the United States’ corn export competitors, with the greenback strengthening by 42.5 percent against an index of major competitor currencies.

“The most important implication of a strong dollar will be for U.S. market share as competitor countries will be able to export corn at lower prices than the United States,” said U.S. Grains Council (USGC) Vice President Erick Erickson. “With expanded production in South America and Ukraine, U.S. competitiveness in major corn markets may be reduced up to the capacity of these major competitors.”

Currency competitiveness is one more challenge for U.S. export growth and an added incentive to move forward with pending trade agreements to strengthen the U.S. market position.

“We have to remember to keep a long-term perspective,” Erickson said. “So many different factors that influence exports are beyond our country’s control including the strength of the dollar, world acres planted, weather and more. However, sound trade policy is not one of those uncontrollable factors. It’s one of the things our policy makers can influence, so it’s important to get it right.”

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) are two potential multilateral agreements that would offer the United States greater market access to countries in the Pacific Rim and the European Union, respectively. Negotiations on both are underway but could be stymied by a lack of trade promotion authority (TPA), which allows U.S. negotiators to finalize agreements for an up-or-down vote in Congress.

As the dollar strengthens - and with USDA projecting an increase of 3.2 million metric tons (126 million bushels) in world corn production in 2015 - agreements like these would give U.S. coarse grains and co-products more access to critical markets, which would in turn help lessen impacts from factors like the strengthening U.S. dollar on U.S. agricultural exports.

“These trade agreements hold great promise for expanding trade opportunities for U.S. agriculture,” Erickson said. “The countries engaged in the TPP negotiations are responsible for 40 percent of global trade and have a combined population of 800 million people. T-TIP has the potential to boost U.S. trade with the EU by more than $140 billion within five years and increase GDP by $180 billion.

“We can’t control the weather and we can’t control the value of the dollar. But we can unlock some important doors, if we can finalize these agreements.”



Argentine Crops Continue to Look Good

Argentine grain crops continue to look in excellent condition with showers nourishing soybeans and corn over the last week, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Thursday.

The rains did not greatly impede soybean harvest efforts, which moved forward 6.8 percentage points during the week to reach 13.8% complete as of Thursday.

In its weekly report, the exchange noted that yields from the latest soybeans collected had fallen by around 6% to 60 bushels per acre. This is a phenomenon that it expects to continue. But a bumper crop of 58.5 million metric tons is still expected

Drier weather has also allowed corn harvesting to gain momentum. As of Thursday, Argentine farmers had harvested 17.1% of the corn crop, with average yields of 142 bpa.

The exchange forecasts Argentina will produce 23.0 mmt in the 2014-15 season.