Thursday July 29 Ag News

 STORING SILAGE
Ben Beckman, NE Extension Educator

Corn silage harvest may seem like a long way off, but preparation for a successful harvest begins now.  Improper silage storage and fermentation can result in losses up to 20% prior to feeding. Plan your storage now to keep excessive storage losses from happening to you.

Preventing oxygen from entering your silage should be a top priority when considering silage storage. Bagged silage is a versatile option that allows the storage location to move year to year.  Placing the silage in a bunker is optimal for excluding oxygen, but make sure to check these structures for cracks and repair any that are found to maintain their integrity.  If silage is a feedstuff on your operation, the reduction in losses that a permanent structure provides can offset the costs when spread out over several years.

Silage piles are the more traditional approach and can allow for greater volumes of silage to be stored in a smaller area. Oxygen exclusion in piles that lack a permanent structure can be enhanced with some planning.  Before harvesting, line the sides with bales and place oxygen-limiting plastic down the sides and for several feet under the bottom to seal the sides of the pile.  At a minimum, placing plastic on top of the pile is an investment worth the time, labor, and money.  By covering the pile, we can reduce oxygen from moving into the pile from the top and reduce precipitation exposure. Increased moisture can lead to spoilage, and result in the pile “weeping” and leaching out valuable energy and protein.

Corn silage is a valuable feed resource but suffers from high dry matter losses when stored incorrectly.  Keeping oxygen out of your silage requires planning now. Pick an appropriate location for harvest and feed out success and store correctly to minimize feed losses.



Webinar on early weaning calves to cover nutrition, management practices

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Agricultural Profitability will host a webinar on early weaning beef calves at noon on Aug. 5.

Early weaning can be a helpful management practice for many cow/calf operations, especially where quality forages may be lacking due to drought and other factors. How calves are managed depends largely on the age of the animals the goals of the producer.

The webinar will explore different options and best practices for early weaning, covering nutrition, costs and potential benefits. It will focus on management-related topics like digestibility, passage rate through the rumen, vaccinations and feeding. Economic considerations covered will include breakeven costs for feeding, risk management tools, marketing and more.

Panelists will include Karla Wilke, a cow/calf specialist in the university’s Department of Animal Science; Randy Saner, a beef systems educator with Nebraska Extension; Matt Stockton, an agricultural economics specialist with Nebraska Extension; and Jay Parsons, a farm and ranch management specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics.

It is presented as part of the Center for Agricultural Profitability’s weekly webinar series, held every Thursday at noon.

The Center for Agricultural Profitability opened June 28 to support informed economic decision-making in agriculture through research, extension and education. It is housed in the Department of Agricultural Economics. For more about the center, and to register for the Aug. 5 webinar, visit https://cap.unl.edu.



HUSKER RESEARCHER PART OF MULTI-UNIVERSITY EFFORT TO IMPROVE AG DECISION MAKING

The use of “digital twins,” virtual copies of physical objects and operations, is gaining steam across a wide range of industries. Updated constantly with real-time data, these virtual mirrors allow engineers to keep an eye on and predict traffic flow, retailers to optimize supply chains and railway operators to spot wear and tear on tracks. Researchers are even working toward digital twins of the human heart, which would let doctors diagnose, treat and monitor patients from afar.

Until now, the technology had not been widely employed in agriculture, even as the world races to secure a sustainable food supply for a population on track to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. Today, the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture announced a five-year, $20 million grant to establish the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture, or AIIRA. It’s part of a $200 million federal effort to develop artificial intelligence hubs that address a variety of national needs.

A collaboration of eight institutions — including the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and led by Iowa State University — is launching the institute with the aim of deploying digital twins, powered by advances in artificial intelligence, throughout the agricultural space.

“In the tradition of USDA-NIFA investments, these new institutes leverage the scientific power of U.S. land-grant universities informed by close partnerships with farmers, producers, educators and innovators to provide sustainable crop production solutions and address these pressing societal challenges,” said Carrie Castille, USDA-NIFA director. “These innovation centers will speed our ability to meet the critical needs in the future agricultural workforce, providing equitable and fair market access, increasing nutrition security and providing tools for climate-smart agriculture.”

AIIRA was one of 11 NSF-led AI institutes announced July 29, which join seven that were launched in August 2020.

The AIIRA research team, which includes Husker plant geneticist James Schnable, believes the technology may help ramp up food production by enabling farmers to increase yields and plant breeders to strategically improve varieties. Schnable brings to the project Nebraska’s diverse geography, climate and soil — variations that are key to understanding how plants behave under different circumstances, including accelerating climate change and decreasing available cropland.

He will tap into the university’s Research and Extension Centers, which span the state from a site just outside of Lincoln to the Panhandle Research and Extension Center — located 400 miles to the west, at 2,700 feet higher in elevation and with only half of Lincoln’s precipitation — to grow, test and genetically analyze various corn and sorghum varieties during the project.

“In Nebraska, we’re able to evaluate crops under a wide range of different stressful conditions,” said Schnable, associate professor and the Charles O. Gardner Professor of Agronomy. “Only a few states have the geography to make that possible, and of those, few have made the necessary investments in facilities and people. It’s a really unique asset we have here, and it’s a big part of what I’m able to leverage to get big consortiums interested in doing research in Nebraska.”

The collaboration also includes New York University, the University of Arizona, George Mason University, the University of Missouri, the Iowa Soybean Association and Carnegie Mellon University, home to the world-class AI expertise that will power development of the digital twins. The institute also includes partners from the tech and agriculture industries, governments, commodity groups and other organizations.

To bring digital twinning to agriculture, the researchers are capitalizing on increasingly sophisticated plant, soil and weather sensors and automated devices such as drones and robots. These technologies transmit real-time data — such as weather information, water and nitrogen measurements, and soil and topography maps — to predictive digital twins, which also incorporate data reflecting the latest understanding of plant growth and development. The team will twin both individual plants and entire farm fields.

Digital twins overcome real-world constraints on the number of experiments researchers can run on crops in the real world, where a breeder might evaluate 2,000 potential new varieties in a single environment, or an agronomist might test five levels of fertilizer application on 10 hybrids at a dozen locations, each with their own unique combination of weather and soil properties. Digital twinning circumvents that, enabling researchers and producers to simulate endless what-if scenarios and apply their findings to on-the-ground decision making.

“Creating a digital twin means building a model of how plants perceive and respond to their environment,” Schnable said. “Once we have that, we can run hundreds of thousands of different simulations where we put the digital twin of an individual corn plant or a whole field through different weather or agronomic practices, or make specific changes to the plant we know is possible to achieve through breeding. Running all these simulations lets us prioritize which combinations of plant genetics and farm management practices are likely to give the best outcomes for farmers in specific environments.”

For farmers, this could eventually translate into a decision support tool that provides actionable information. Today, farmers make decisions about which hybrid to plant, and the timing and amount of irrigation and fertilizer, based on their knowledge of the weather, their farm’s soil and previous experiences. But for farmers who may have only 40 growing seasons in their careers, big changes can be risky. Digital twins would let them test out a wider range of options on a computer, helping farmers maximize profit and minimize environmental impact.

For Nebraska, participating in the institute is an opportunity to strengthen its position as a national leader in agricultural resilience. Collaborating with global experts in AI will advance the university’s extensive work in this area and underscores Nebraska’s commitment to its Grand Challenges, which include climate resilience and sustainable food and water security.

“We’re getting to work with and build new connections with some of the world leaders in AI,” Schnable said. “Just in the process of organizing the team and writing the proposal, I’m already seeing folks develop a new excitement about the research questions and problems of agriculture and stress biology.”



Fischer, Colleagues to Biden: Biofuels Noticeably Absent From Your Agenda

U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, joined several of her colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden requesting a meeting with him and representatives of his cabinet to discuss the Renewable Fuel Standard and promote biofuels as a key solution for America’s energy and climate agenda. The Biden administration’s energy and climate agenda lacks meaningful consideration of biofuels, which contribute significantly to emissions reductions and energy security and serve as an important market-driver for farmers.

“We seek an audience to discuss the tremendous opportunity that biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel present to bolster affordable American energy, underpin a strong agricultural economy, and immediately lower transportation emissions using the existing consumer vehicle fleet and fueling infrastructure,” wrote the senators.

They continued: “Unfortunately, the promise of homegrown biofuels and our agriculture sector appear to be woefully underrepresented in your administration’s energy, environmental, and transportation agenda.”

The letter was led by Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) In addition to Senators Thune and Fischer, also cosigning the letter were Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).

Full text of the letter below:

Dear President Biden:
We write to request a meeting with you and members of your Cabinet regarding your energy and environmental agenda.  Specifically, we seek an audience to discuss the tremendous opportunity that biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel present to bolster affordable American energy, underpin a strong agricultural economy, and immediately lower transportation emissions using the existing consumer vehicle fleet and fueling infrastructure.  Unfortunately, the promise of homegrown biofuels and our agriculture sector appear to be woefully underrepresented in your administration’s energy, environmental, and transportation agenda.

You have made clear your interest in going all-in on electric vehicles (EVs) despite the outstanding costs, critical mineral constraints and related labor exploitation, electricity generation and transmission demands, consumer needs, and other unresolved aspects of this ambition.  While we recognize that EVs will eventually play an increased role in America’s transportation and energy future, and that American innovation and ingenuity will overcome some of the hurdles faced by this nascent industry, we urge you to not look beyond the current generation of biofuels technology and forgo the meaningful reduction in carbon emissions they can provide.  Recent studies have found corn ethanol to have 46 percent lower lifecycle emissions than gasoline, and proven advancements like ethanol derived from corn kernel fiber, when combined with increasingly efficient farming practices, can reduce lifecycle emissions as much as 70 percent. Expanded investment in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) will further lower the lifecycle carbon intensity of biofuels, approaching net-zero or even net-negative emissions.

We hope to discuss with you immediate and intermediate steps your administration can take to feature American agriculture and biofuels as part of your energy and environmental agenda.  Two foundational actions would be to direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adopt modern greenhouse gas modeling for renewable fuels (specifically, Argonne National Laboratory’s Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) Model) and approve long-stalled registrations for advanced, cleaner fuels.  These two straightforward acts would acknowledge that modern farming practices and the domestic research and private investment spurred by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) have produced cleaner fuels and reduced emissions—an acknowledgement that would spur expanded utilization of these low carbon fuels.

Through formally recognizing the reduced carbon emissions of American biofuels and enabling greater utilization of advanced biofuels on the U.S. market, your administration can also foster expanded export opportunities to countries like the United Kingdom and India that are implementing clean fuel standards and other programs to lower their transportation emissions.  Homegrown, American biofuels are a prime candidate for reducing our trade deficits, and updating EPA’s modeling and advancing fuel registrations, which can simply be done through administrative action, can help unlock this potential.  Additionally, updated and current modeling across related industries and for associated feedstocks will further highlight the environmental contributions of the bio-based economy.  Modern technologies should be evaluated on a level playing field, and we are confident that the many environmental and economic benefits of biotechnologies and efficient agriculture, especially biofuels, will be self-evident when scored fairly.

Further, the administration can maximize near-term emissions reductions through its support for biofuel blending infrastructure, expanding on the efforts of the Department of Agriculture.  We were dismayed to see the administration first promote in its infrastructure proposal $174 billion in EV investment compared to a substantially smaller $15 billion program for which renewable fuels would be one of numerous competing technologies.  If the administration is serious about achieving near-term emissions reductions in the transportation sector, it should support, at a minimum, investment parity for biofuel technologies and policies like CCUS that will further lower the lifecycle carbon intensity of fuels.  EPA has approved over 97 percent of the vehicles on the road today to run on E15 fuel; the administration should take aggressive action to enable millions of American drivers to reduce their emissions via higher biofuel blends, including year-round access to E15 and reducing other regulatory hurdles.

Lastly, the administration should rigorously implement and enforce the RFS in accordance with Congress’ clear intent, restoring integrity to the program.  Recent court proceedings have sought to undermine the RFS by expanding opportunities for oil refineries to evade their blending obligations via small refinery exemptions (SREs) and by contesting the ability to sell E15 fuel year-round. EPA should require SRE petitioners to prove an actual “disproportionate economic hardship” for compliance costs that are not ultimately recovered by the petitioner, and EPA should put forth robust, timely renewable volume obligations that reallocate any gallons waived by SREs.  Of course, blending targets can be more easily met—and the associated credits (renewable identification numbers) more easily obtained—through the higher rates of blending afforded by year-round E15.

Mr. President, these are but a few administrative actions you can direct to further advance American energy security, expand consumer access to affordable energy, and reinforce gains in environmental stewardship, all while supporting a rural economy that looks forward to capitalizing on its full potential.  We look forward to the prospect of discussing these policies with you and leaders of your administration to ensure they are quickly incorporated in your ongoing deliberations.  Given the bipartisan support for biofuels and leveraging the agricultural economy as energy and environmental solutions, including the aforementioned policies, we would welcome including our Democratic colleagues in such a dialogue.

Thank you for your timely attention to these matters.  We hope you will take the necessary action to utilize homegrown biofuels as an American energy solution and look forward to a productive discussion.



IFBF Welcomes New Leaders to Young Farmer Committee

The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) Young Farmer Advisory Committee has elected new leaders for 2021-22. These officers and district representatives are committed to uniting young farmers, ages 18-35, throughout the state through engaging programs and events, including the annual IFBF Young Farmer Conference, which draws hundreds of young farmers and agribusiness leaders together to connect and share ideas. Elected to officer positions were:
- Randy Francois, Buchanan County, Chair
- Kristin Plate, Mahaska County, Vice-Chair
- Megan Hansen, East Pottawattamie County, Secretary
- Vanessa Trampel, Hancock County, Historian
- Dee Pickard, Marshall County, PR Chair

Randy Francois and his wife, Megan, raise grain and hogs on their northeastern Iowa farm. Megan works as a consumer and mortgage lender, and the pair have two young children who keep them busy, in addition to other farm work like hauling manure and delivering feeds. Randy is a graduate of the IFBF Ag Leaders Institute, serves on the Buchanan County Farm Bureau board and is a past Young Farmer Discussion Meet competition participant.

"The farmers I've met from across the state through the Young Farmer Program are innovative, resilient and forward-thinking," says Francois. "It's exciting to see all these great minds come together throughout the year to share ideas related to how to improve the family farm, as well as our local communities, through rural vitality efforts and helping those in need."

Kristin Plate returned to the farm in 2010 after living in five states and four countries, following her husband, Sherwin's, U.S. Army orders. They have three kids and raise grain and hogs. Plate also substitutes at her children's school and teaches bible studies to three- and four-year-olds.

Megan Hansen along with husband, Dan, have three kids and own and manage Ag Decisions Services LCC, an ag consulting business focused on fertility management, seeding prescriptions and soil sampling for the Granular Agronomy, Pivot Bio and Soil Analytics brands. Hansen has also represented Iowa in the American Farm Bureau national discussion meet.

Vanessa Trampel is a licensed practical nurse, and her husband, Kody, is a crop specialist. The two raise corn, soybeans, alfalfa, cattle and hogs on their farm along with two children. The Trampels are active Hancock County Farm Bureau members, serve with North Iowa Ag in the Classroom and are members of the Garner Chamber of Commerce.

Dee Pickard works full time at a medical clinic and coaches high school color guard. With her husband, Brandon, and two children, the family raises grain, cattle and hogs. Outside of their Farm Bureau involvement, the couple enjoys playing slow pitch softball, golfing and shuttling their kids to various activities like volleyball and 4-H.

"Our young farmer program has a long history of building strong agricultural and community leaders," says IFBF President Craig Hill. "These young people see things from a different perspective, take risks, try new things, and even older generations are learning from them. Iowa Farm Bureau is proud to support these farmers who have a passion for agriculture and dare to do more."

New district representatives joining the committee include Kody and Vanessa Trampel of Hancock County, Sam and Danielle Bennett of Ida County and Cordt and Krista Holub of Tama County. These new committee members will serve three-year terms as communicators for their districts.

The 2022 Young Farmer Conference will take place Jan. 28 and 29.



Council Checks In With Overseas Leaders During Second Day of Summer Meeting

U.S. grain sector leaders met in Des Moines and online Thursday as part of the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) summer annual meeting, focused on better understanding the challenges affecting their industry, from sustainability to cybersecurity, and engaging with Council staff in many of the markets to which their exports are headed despite still being affected by COVID-19 pandemic.

This morning’s general session allowed attendees to hear from USGC regional directors in Latin America, South Asia and the Middle East, Africa and Europe and get market updates on the two largest markets for U.S. grains – China and Mexico.

"Mexico is extremely important to the United States, feed grains and the Council's work," said Cary Sifferath, USGC senior director of global programs. "It is an important market for us year-to-year. Mexico has been a longstanding, good customer of corn, sorghum, barley and DDGS, and we’re even on pace to see a 10% increase in corn exports to Mexico compared to last year."

The Thursday afternoon general session featured Bushel Co-Founder and CEO Jake Joraanstad who discussed creating digital infrastructure in agriculture to increase commodity competitiveness. Hogan Lovells partner and USGC general counsel Deen Kaplan followed Joraanstad then covered cybersecurity and how it relates to the business of agriculture.

During the meeting, the Council also bestowed two longtime figures with its Lifetime Achievement Award: Ray Defenbaugh, who passed away in 2019 during his tenure as a Council board member, and Tom Sleight, who retired as the Council’s president and CEO in 2019.

Tomorrow, attendees will enter the Board of Delegates meeting where they will elect USGC officers and present A-Team and sector reports.



 ASA, Keep GPS Working Coalition Support House RETAIN Bill

The Keep GPS Working Coalition, of which the American Soybean Association is a member, endorses bipartisan legislation introduced in the House in response to the Federal Communication Commission’s Ligado Order, which went into effect April 2020 and allows Ligado Networks to establish a wireless network that will threaten the reception capability of hundreds of millions of GPS devices and growers’ abilities to use GPS technology in their operations.

The Recognizing and Ensuring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary (RETAIN) for GPS and Satellite Communications Act of 2021, introduced by U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), is a companion to the Senate bill introduced in June by U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and Jack Reed (D-RI).

Both bills aim to keep GPS reliable and ensure unfair cost burdens won’t fall on U.S. farmers or other end users who rely on the network to operate safely and efficiently.

While FCC’s order acknowledges the likelihood of interference to GPS signals and requires Ligado to pay the federal government the costs for repairs, it does not specify what those costs are and, importantly, does not currently include the millions of other devices that will be affected in the private sector.

The House and Senate bills would require Ligado to cover the cost of correcting any interference its operations create and specifically outlines the areas of potential costs, including engineering, construction, site acquisition, research, personnel or contracting staff and labor costs. For agriculture, this means Ligado would need to upgrade, repair, or replace any farm equipment impacted by Ligado.

Because growers heavily rely upon navigation systems and precision technology, the prospect of GPS units not working is alarming to soybean farmers.

ASA urges changes to FCC’s Ligado decision and will continue prompting the Biden administration and Congress to step in to protect GPS reliability.



Spring Wheat Tour Scouts Calculate Final 2021 All Spring Wheat Yield at 28.9 BPA

Scouts finished off the Wheat Quality Council 2021 spring wheat and durum tour late Thursday morning, ending the day at the National Crops Institute in Fargo, North Dakota, for the final tour discussion. The final tour yield for all spring wheat was calculated at 28.9 bushels per acre (bpa) with hard red spring wheat at 29.1 bpa over 257 samples drawn and durum wheat yields at 24.3 bpa over 15 samples.

This was the tour's lowest calculated yield for both crops since 2008. That year, hard red spring wheat yield was calculated at 31.7 bpa, durum at 23.3 bpa and all wheat at 31.3 bpa.

Comparing this year's results to the most recent previous tour, the final totals over the same routes in 2019 were calculated at 43.1 bpa for hard red spring wheat and 32 bpa for durum for an all spring wheat total of 42.6 bpa. The tour was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.



USDA Releases Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Justin Maxson today, on the 10th anniversary of the creation of the USDA’s Certified Biobased Product Label, unveiled an Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry (PDF, 8 MB). The report demonstrates that the biobased industry is a substantial generator of economic activity and jobs, and that it has a significant positive impact on the environment.

“Biobased products are widely known for having a substantially lower impact on the environment compared to petroleum-based and other non-biobased products,” Maxson said. “Beyond being more responsible alternatives, these products are produced by an industry responsible for nearly 5 million jobs in the United States alone. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is playing a key role in labeling biobased products so that consumers can make educated decisions for themselves, their families and their places of work.”

According to the report, in 2017, the biobased products industry:
    Supported 4.6 million American jobs through direct, indirect and induced contributions.
    Contributed $470 billion to the U.S. economy.
    Generated 2.79 jobs in other sectors of the economy for every biobased job.

Additionally, biobased products displace approximately 9.4 million barrels of oil annually, and have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 12.7 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents per year. See all the highlights of the report on Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry Infographic (PDF, 289 KB) and Fact Sheet (PDF, 390 KB).

Established in 2011 underneath USDA’s BioPreferred Program, the Certified Biobased Product Label is intended to spur economic development, create new jobs and provide new markets for farm commodities. By harnessing the powers of certification and the marketplace, the program helps purchasers and users identify products with biobased content and assures them of its accuracy. As of June 2021, the BioPreferred Program Catalog includes more than 16,000 registered products.



 ACE 2021 Conference Sessions Explore Strategies for Ethanol Boards to Grow, Protect and Lead their Ethanol Businesses

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) 34th annual conference taking place next month August 18-20 in Minneapolis provides content focused on ways to make ethanol plants more profitable and efficient. The event draws industry leadership for updates on public policy, market development, board of director training, and much more.

Consulting firms Christianson PLLP and K·Coe Isom will host breakout sessions centered on planning for the future, ways to address changes in the workplace and leadership, and how to set up and monetize projects that capitalize on carbon-focused incentive programs and tax credits.

Christianson PLLP will provide insights from the first complete cycle of California Low Carbon Fuel Standard reporting and verification, as well as other low carbon programs under development, explore effective monetization of 45Q tax credits, and correlations between profitability and an ethanol plant’s focus on low carbon programs drawn from the latest data available through its Christianson Benchmarking service.

“The tax and compliance team at Christianson is excited to connect in person again at this year’s ACE Conference,” said Connie Lindstrom, Senior Biofuels Analyst with Christianson Benchmarking, LLC. “This year, more than ever, it’s so important to understand the best ways to set up and monetize projects that capitalize on carbon-focused incentive programs and tax credits, and our team has lots of examples and best practices to share.”

K·Coe Isom-led sessions will focus on strategic planning, and how to address changes in the workplace and changes in leadership needed to navigate our new reality.

“K·Coe Isom is pleased to participate in the ACE conference,” said Donna Funk, K·Coe Principal. “We will be helping attendees understand how to effectively advance their talented workforce and will also hold a session on board planning and successful succession planning.”

For a full list of conference topics and speakers, access the agenda at ethanol.org/events/conference.