Friday August 5 Ag News

NEBRASKA 2016 FARM REAL ESTATE VALUE AND CASH RENT

Nebraska’s farm real estate value, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, decreased from 2015, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Farm real estate value for 2016 averaged $2,950 per acre. This is down $100 per acre or 3 percent lower than last year.

Cropland value decreased 4 percent from last year to $4,850 per acre. Dryland cropland value averaged $3,800 per acre, down $170 from last year. Irrigated cropland value averaged $6,560 per acre, down $310 from a year ago. Pastureland, at $910 per acre, increased $40 from a year ago.

Cash rents paid to landlords in 2016 for cropland decreased from last year. Irrigated cropland rent averaged $243 per acre, a decrease of $11 from last year. Dryland cropland rent averaged $150 per acre, down $10 from a year earlier. Pasture rented for cash, averaged $24 per acre, down $4.50 from the previous year.

County level averages of 2016 cash rents paid to landlords will be released on September 9, 2016 and will be available through NASS Quick Stats located at http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/.



IOWA 2016 LAND VALUE AND CASH RENT

Iowa’s farm real estate value, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, averaged $7,850 per acre in 2016, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Land Values 2016 Summary. This is down $150 per acre or 2 percent below last year’s level. Cropland value decreased 2 percent from last year to $8,000 per acre. Pasture, at $3,400 per acre, is unchanged from a year ago.

Cropland cash rent paid to Iowa landlords in 2016 averaged $235.00 per acre according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Non-irrigated cropland rent averaged $235.00 per acre, down $15.00 from a year earlier. Irrigated cropland rent averaged $240.00 per acre. Pasture rented for cash averaged $52.00 per acre, up $2.00 from the previous year. County level cash rent averages will be released on September 9, 2016



Agricultural Land Values Highlights

The United States farm real estate value, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, averaged $3,010 per acre for 2016, down $10 per acre (0.3 percent) from 2015 values. Regional changes in the average value of farm real estate ranged from a 3.3 percent increase in the Pacific region to 4.3 percent decrease in the Northern Plains region. The highest farm real estate values were in the Corn Belt region at $6,290 per acre. The Mountain region had the lowest farm real estate value at $1,110 per acre.

The United States cropland value decreased by $40 per acre (1.0 percent) to $4,090 per acre from the previous year. In the Southeast region, the average cropland value increased 4.0 percent from the previous year. However, in the Northern Plains region, cropland values decreased by 5.4 percent.

The United States pasture value remained constant at $1,330 per acre. The Delta region had the highest increase of 3.9 percent from 2015. The Northeast region had the highest decrease in pasture land at 2.6 percent.



GROWING SEGMENT OF NEBRASKA AGRICULTURE HIGHLIGHTED DURING NATIONAL FARMERS MARKET WEEK

Farmers markets in Nebraska are a great opportunity for vegetable and fruit growers in the state to sell to consumers seeking locally produced products.

“We continue to see considerable growth in the number of farmers markets in the state, and don’t expect that trend to end anytime as consumer demand for ‘farm to table’ produce remains strong,” Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) Director Greg Ibach said. “We have had a good mix of vendors at these markets. They range from fulltime producers, to hobbyists, to farmers who use the opportunity to diversify their current operation.”

National Farmers Market week is being celebrated across the country Aug. 7-14.

The number of farmers markets in the state, registered with NDA, has seen a dramatic increase of 259 percent the past 16 years. In 2000, the number of registered markets was 39, increasing to 101 this year.

“Because of the rapidly growing number of farmers markets across the state, we launched an online database last year that can be accessed by both vendors and consumers,” NDA Ag Promotions Coordinator Casey Foster said. “The webpage provides details on locations, days and times of farmers markets across the state. Produce farmers also are given the opportunity to list locations where they sell from, as well as the types of produce they sell.”

Foster said there are over 600 producers and 100 farmers markets listed on the site which can be accessed through the NDA website at www.nda.nebraska.gov. There are farmers markets located in 50 counties statewide. Market managers and vendors can be added to the database by contacting Foster at 800-422-6692.

In addition to coordinating farmer’s market programs, Foster also manages several federally-funded programs. The Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Farmers Market Nutrition Program both are designed to increase sales for produce growers by encouraging the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables among qualified senior citizens and individuals in the WIC Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Foster is working with program officials in Omaha to host cooking demonstrations for WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program participants during National Farmers Market Week. The cooking demos are being held Aug. 11, at 1p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., at the OneWorld Community Health Center, 4920 South 30th Street in Omaha.

“The growth of farmers markets in the state has been a win-win for Nebraska,” said Ibach. “It provides more opportunities to grow agriculture and more choices for consumers.”



INOCULATING CORN AND SORGHUM SILAGE
Bruce Anderson, NE Extension Forage Specialist

               To make good silage, a little help from inoculants can improve fermentation.  When and how can you get the best use from them?

               Silage inoculants can be hard to figure out.  There is no clear cut, consistent way to predict when inoculants will be most useful or cost effective.  Silage fermentation is just too complex.

               Inoculants primarily reduce storage losses.  The most effective ones contain homolactic acid bacteria like Lactobacillus plantarum.  Fermentation starts and ends quicker with inoculated silage so more silage remains for feeding.  Typically, you save about 5 percent.  Some inoculants also improve aerobic stability by using the heterolactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus buchneri.  They reduce spoilage losses when silage is re-exposed to air, thus extending bunk life.  These bacteria are especially useful at reducing spoilage on the face of bunker silos.

               Inoculants consistently improve wet silage, especially sorghum silage.  If you start chopping early enough to prevent silage from being too dry at the end, inoculants should help.

               In the past, inoculants rarely improved properly made corn silage – silage at the right moisture, chopped fine, packed well, and sealed tight.  Nor did they improve dry silage.  But recently developed inoculants, with more effective strains of fermentation bacteria, are producing slightly better quality silage even from these feeds.

               If you use an inoculant, make sure that it contains live bacteria.  Also check to see that the inoculant provides at least 100,000 colony forming units per gram of wet forage when applied at the recommended rate at the chopper.  You need plenty of live bacteria for the inoculant to do you any good.

               But used in the right conditions, inoculants can be worth it.



PLATTE VALLEY CATTLEMEN MOVE UP ANNUAL OUTLOOK MEETING

This year, the board of directors for Platte Valley Cattlemen decided to move the outlook meeting up to see if they can capture a larger audience. On Monday, August 15th at Jarad and Kathy Doernemann’s barn venue in Clarkson, the annual Outlook meeting will get started with a social hour at 6:00 p.m. and the meal to begin at 7:00 p.m.

Directions to the Barn:
Off of Highway 91, turn north and take the main entrance into Clarkson. The street sign should read Bryant Street or Road 8. Go north through town past the park until you get to Road X. Then go east a quarter mile and turn north on 570th Ave. The barn will be on the east side of the road.

PVC President Marcus Urban says the featured speakers for the night will be Jim Jansen, Livestock Extension Educator, and Dr. Jay Parsons, UNL Ag Extension Economist. He also thanks Pinnacle Bank for sponsoring the social hour.

See you on August 15th!



NE Corn Board to Meet

The Nebraska Corn Board will hold its next meeting on Friday, August 19, 2016 at Embassy Suites located at 1040 P Street in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The meeting is open to the public, providing the opportunity for public comment. The Board will conduct regular board business and hold election of officers. The meeting is open to the public. A copy of the agenda is available by writing the Nebraska Corn Board, PO Box 95107, Lincoln, NE 68509, sending an email to susan.zabel@nebraska.gov or calling 402/471-2676.



Current National Drought Summary
droughtmonitor.unl.edu

Shower and thunderstorm activity was scattered across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country, but in most places, moderate to heavy precipitation was not widespread enough to bring significant drought relief. Some exceptions included southwest New England and the lower Northeast, the central Appalachians and Piedmont, the lower Mississippi Valley, parts of the central Great Plains, the Black Hills and adjacent areas, southeast Arizona, and Hawaii. Heavy rains in the latter area were primarily associated with Tropical Storm Darby.

The Middle Mississippi Valley and the Plains States
Bands of heavy rain were not widespread, but did drop 2 to 7 inches of precipitation to areas where they set up, specifically the central tier of Nebraska, part of central and northern Missouri, part of central and southern Iowa, and upper southern Texas. Beneficial moderate to locally heavy precipitation dampened much of the Black Hills and adjacent Wyoming, the northeastern quarter of Oklahoma, and scattered small areas in both Kansas and Texas. This precipitation brought improvement to the areas that received the heaviest amounts, but also to the Black Hills and adjacent Wyoming, where 30-day totals were sufficient to bring improvement to some of the extant drought areas. In addition, dryness and drought changed in relatively small areas through the rest of the region, improving where isolated heavy rain was reported, and deteriorating in places where significant rain has not been observed for two or more weeks, at least.

Looking Ahead
During the next 5 days (August 4 – 8), heavy precipitation (1.5 to locally approaching 6 inches) is expected along the central Gulf Coast, the central and northern Florida Peninsula, and the central and southern Carolinas. Farther west, similar amounts of rain are anticipated in a swath from eastern Arizona northeastward through Iowa and northern Missouri. Moderate amounts are forecast in the eastern Great Basin and northern Arizona, through part of the north-central Plains, and in the interior Southeast. Only a few tenths of an inch at best are expected elsewhere, with little or none falling on Texas and California.

During August 9 – 13, the odds favor drier than normal weather in eastern Virginia, the East Coast Megalopolis, and portions of New England. Most of the Four Corners states and the Great Basin also have enhanced chances for subnormal precipitation. In contrast, wetter than normal weather is favored from the northern Rockies eastward through the Great Lakes Region, in the lower Ohio and middle Mississippi Valleys, and across the areas of current dryness and drought in the interior Southeast.



Biotech Working Group Discusses Consumer Engagement, More in Indianapolis

Members of the American Soybean Association’s (ASA) Biotech Working Group discussed how farmers can better engage with consumers  and also met with Dow Agro Sciences CEO Tim Hassinger and several members of the Dow team.

Members of the American Soybean Association’s (ASA) Biotech Working Group met in Indianapolis this week to discuss issues facing the industry.

Participants included industry representatives and grower leaders from ASA, United Soybean Board (USB) and the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), including Vice-Chair Jim Miller from Belden, NE.

Featured speaker, Dan Nowicki of the JM Smucker Company, engaged the group in a discussion on post-Vermont reformulation in the U.S. food industry. Nowicki stressed the importance of consumer engagement from all sectors involved in food production, stating that farmer involvement is critical. Participants also heard updates on the U.S. Biotech Crops Alliance, International Soy Grower Alliance and the status of technology in both the European Union (EU) and China.

While in Indiana, grower members also met with Dow Agro Sciences CEO Tim Hassinger and several members of the Dow team.

The Biotech Working Group is a confidential forum for technology providers and soybean growers to discuss the issues facing the biotechnology industry. The forum also provides industry members the opportunity for one-on-one consultations with grower leaders from ASA, USB and USSEC to discuss issues and technologies related to their organization and develop action plans specific to those technologies.



Recent changes to the CME Live Cattle Futures Contracts Alarm Iowa Cattlemen

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) announced recently that a $1.50 per hundredweight discount would be applied to cattle delivered to the Worthing, SD delivery point on the October 2017 cattle futures contract. Even more concerning, however, are CME’s threats to move to a cash settled live cattle futures contract if price discovery and cash negotiated trade do not increase, and increase quickly, across the major cattle feeding regions.

The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association has been vocal in their opposition to the Worthing discount and successfully advocated for changes to NCBA’s policy reflecting this stance.

“It’s upsetting that CME has gone against industry wishes and applied the discount. The discount takes place during a time when cattle in the north are typically ready to go to the packer. That’s an issue for us.  Frankly, this decision feels like a mandate to our folks on how and when they can and should feed cattle for market.  It’s a multi-faceted marketing disadvantage that may decrease cash negotiated trade in the upper midwest,” says Matt Deppe, ICA CEO.

In a seemingly contradictory move, CME expressed concern about lack of negotiated trade across the country and subtly threatened to move to a cash settled contract if price discovery and transparency does not increase. While Iowa and surrounding states average 60% cash negotiated trade, other major cattle feeding states, including Texas and Oklahoma, average less than 5%.

“Our problem, from a price discovery standpoint, is in the south. We have not yet, as an industry, found a way to encourage states like Texas and Oklahoma to put more cattle on the cash market,” explains Deppe.

The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association brought strong policy to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Summer Business Meeting, encouraging 50% cash negotiated trade across all major cattle feeding regions. NCBA adopted policy encouraging more cash negotiated trade.

However, the move does not seem to be enough for the CME. The December 2017 cattle futures contract is scheduled to be listed in the next 30-60 days, which leaves precious little time for the major changes in price discovery that are needed to avoid a cash settled futures contract.

ICA members do not believe a cash settled contract will solve any of the price discovery problems cattlemen are currently facing. “If we don’t have enough cash negotiated cattle, there’s no way to have an accurate cash settled contract. Price discovery is an issue that will only be made worse through a cash settled contract.

Further compounding cattlemen’s frustrations with the CME Live Cattle Futures Contract is that data on high frequency or algorithmic traders has remained inaccessible. ICA would like a third party to audit the data to determine how these traders have influenced the cattle market volatility that has taken place over the past several months.

Recent efforts by Iowa’s cattlemen to improve the cattle futures contract and delivery point system

Cattle market volatility has been a concern for Iowa cattle producers, especially since the historic drop in fed cattle prices that occurred in October of 2015. Since that time, volunteer leaders from the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association have been actively working toward solutions to the current issues in cattle marketing.

Many of those solutions became part of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) official policy during the annual Summer Business Meeting. The NCBA meeting took place in Denver July 13-16. Several Iowa Cattlemen’s Association leaders attended the meeting including Brad Kooima of Rock Valley, Mike Cline of Elgin, David Trowbridge of Tabor, Justine Rowe of Dallas Center, Ben Novak of Elberon and Ed Greiman of Garner.

One of the priorities for Iowa cattle producers was strengthening support for the Worthing, South Dakota delivery point. Amendments to NCBA’s policy now include broader support for the delivery point process, including opposition to “any changes by the CME group that would adversely affect cattle feeders’ ability to deliver on Live Cattle contracts including, but not limited to, the discounting of deliveries to any delivery point.” The same policy, passed by the Cattle Marketing and International Trade (CMIT) committee, includes the resolution to “encourage and support the existence of numerous well-designed and efficient physical delivery points to which cattle may be delivered.”

Increasing price discovery in all major cattle feeding regions was another priority for Iowa Cattlemen’s Association members. The NCBA CMIT committee passed a resolution to “pursue market-driven initiatives that encourage and increase negotiated cash trade in all major cattle feeding regions.”

CME’s announcement regarding Worthing and threat to move to a cash-settled contract stand in clear opposition to industry input. “The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association whole-heartedly believes that producers should have options when it comes to marketing their cattle.  That said, it’s disheartening that we have yet to see all market participants understand that each non-cash negotiated trade is reliant on true price discovery and cash negotiated trade for its foundation,” says Deppe.  “Increasing confidence in cattle market price discovery will take full industry participation, not just among the producers in our state, but among producers all the way across the feeding sector in the US Beef Belt.  Solutions are working forward, but the question is whether the pace and frequency of cash offerings will be enough in the south.”



Informa Raises Crop Forecasts

In one of the flurry of report estimates leading up to next week's USDA crop production report, private analytical firm Informa Economics on Friday bumped up its forecasts for corn and soybean production.

Informa projects corn production at a record 14.69 billion bushels and a yield of 169.8 bushels per acre. If realized, the corn crop would be 1.09 billion bushels higher than last year's crop. Informa cited higher corn conditions since the first week of July that remained steady throughout the month. As of July 31, 76% of the corn crop was rated as good to excellent.

Informa pegged soybean production at 3.958 billion bushels with a yield at 47.4 bushels per acre. Both are also increases from Informa's forecast last month and the July WASDE report. Informa projected higher yields in the western side of the production areas and Midsouth, tempered with some potential declines in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.

Informa also raised its projection for all wheat production to 2.318 billion bushels, which is 57 million bushels higher than the July WASDE projection. For winter wheat, Informa pegged the production at 1.671 billion bushels, which also is 8 million bushels higher than the July USDA Crop Production report.



US Rail Traffic Down 4%, May Be Bottoming Out

Total U.S. rail traffic fell only 4% last week, another sign that cargoes may be starting to bottom out. According to the Association of American Railroads, total carloads were down 5.3%, as gains in chemicals, farm products and grain helped stem losses. Coal, still the largest commodity group by carload, was down 12% compared with weekly YoY comparisons of more than 30% earlier this year. Intermodal declined 2.6%, while total year-to-date traffic was down 7.4%, or more than 15M carloads, trailers and containers.