Friday November 25 Ag News

 USDA Announces Appointments to the United Soybean Board

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the appointment of 40 members and five alternates to serve on the United Soybean Board. Forty-four members and alternate members will serve three-year terms and one member will serve a one-year term. The terms of board members appointed to three-year terms start December 2022 and end December 2025.

Newly appointed members are:
    Arkansas – Dustin Henson, Paragould
    Delaware – Cory Atkins, Seaford
    Illinois – David Wessel, Chandlerville; Dwayne R. Anderson, Lynn Center
    Indiana – Donald Andrew Wyss II, Fort Wayne; Matthew Chapman, Springport
    Iowa – Robb Ewoldt, Davenport; Brent Renner, Klemme (1-year term)
    Kansas – Kurt Maurath, Oakley; Lance Rezac, Onaga
    Kentucky – Barry Lee Alexander, Cadiz
    Louisiana – Joseph Boudreaux, Port Barre
    Maryland – R. Travis Hutchison, Cordova
    Michigan – Dennis J. Gardner, Croswell; Carla Schultz, Mayville
    Minnesota – Gene Stoel, Lake Wilson; Thomas F. Frisch, Dumont
    Mississippi – Matthew Guedon, Natchez; Jerry Slocum, Coldwater
    Missouri – Neal W. Bredehoeft, Alma; Meagan Kaiser, Bowling Green
    Nebraska – Edward Lammers, Hartington; Victor Bohuslavsky, Seward
    New Jersey – Patrick Giberson, Pemberton
    New York – Jason E. Swede, Piffard
    North Carolina – Reginald H. Strickland, Mount Olive
    North Dakota – Matthew Gast, Valley City; Ryan Richard, Horace; Darren Kadlec, Pisek
    Ohio – Steve Reinhard, Bucyrus; Charles W. Bayliss, West Mansfield
    Oklahoma – Brent A. Rendel, Miami
    Pennsylvania – John Harrell, Lebanon
    South Dakota – Michael McCranie, Claremont; Dawn Scheier, Salem
    Tennessee – Don Willis, Hillsboro; Steve May, Hurricane Mills
    Virginia – Susan A. Watkins, Sutherland
    Wisconsin – Nancy Kavazanjian, Beaver Dam; Tony Mellenthin, Eau Galle; Sara R. Stelter, Wautoma
    Eastern Region – J. Nicholas Kercheval, Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
    Western Region – Rod Hahn, Yuma, Colo.

Newly appointed alternates are:
    Delaware – Robert L. Emerson III, Middletown
    New York – Seth Pritchard, Canandaigua
    Eastern Region – Mark H. Kable, Charles Town, W.VA.
    Western Region – Ross Watermann, Vona, Colo.

The board is authorized by the Soybean Promotion, Research, and Information Act and is composed of 78 members representing 29 states and Eastern and Western regions. Members must be soybean producers nominated by a qualified state soybean board. More information about the board is available on the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) United Soybean Board webpage.



NORTHERN PLAINS FARM LABOR

In the Northern Plains Region (Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota) there were 38,000 workers hired directly by farm operators on farms and ranches during the week of July 10-16, 2022, down 7% from the July 2021 reference week, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Workers numbered 45,000 during the week of October 9-15, 2022, unchanged from the October 2021 reference week.

Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $17.69 per hour during the July 2022 reference week, up 4% from the July 2021 reference week. Field workers received an average of $17.57 per hour, up $0.56. Livestock workers earned $16.85 per hour, up $0.49 from a year earlier. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate at $17.25, was up $0.54 from the 2021 reference week. Hired laborers worked an average of 44.4 hours during the July 2022 reference week, compared with 47.1 hours worked during the July 2021 reference week.

Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $18.22 per hour during the October 2022 reference week, up 6% from the October 2021 reference week. Field workers received an average of $18.46 per hour, up $1.25. Livestock workers earned $16.88 per hour, up $0.43 from a year earlier. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $17.88, was up $0.97 from the October 2021 reference week. Hired laborers worked an average of 45.9 hours during the October 2022 reference week, compared with 48.8 hours worked during the October 2021 reference week.



Labor Report: Cornbelt II

There were 22,000 workers hired directly by farms in the Cornbelt II Region (Iowa and Missouri) during the reference week of July 10-16, 2022, according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Farm Labor report. Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage rate of $18.10 per hour, $1.21 above July 2021. The number of hours worked averaged 39.3 for hired workers during the reference week, compared with 35.5 hours in July 2021.

During the reference week of October 9-15, 2022, there were 29,000 workers hired directly by farms in the Cornbelt II Region (Iowa and Missouri). Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage rate of $18.19 per hour during the October 2022 reference week, 93 cents above October 2021. The number of hours worked averaged 40.6 for hired workers during the reference week, compared with 41.0 hours in October 2021.



USDA: October Hired Workers Up 2 Percent; Gross Wage Rate Increased 7 Percent from Previous Year

There were 785,000 workers hired directly by farm operators on the Nation's farms and ranches during the week of October 9-15, 2022, up 2 percent from the October 2021 reference week. Workers hired directly by farm operators numbered 797,000 during the week of July 10-16, 2022, unchanged from the July 2021 reference week.

Farm operators paid their hired workers an average gross wage of $17.72 per hour during the October 2022 reference week, up 7 percent from the October 2021 reference week. Field workers received an average of $17.04 per hour, up 6 percent. Livestock workers earned $16.52 per hour, up 7 percent. The field and livestock worker combined gross wage rate, at $16.90 per hour, was up 6 percent from the 2021 reference week. Hired laborers worked an average of 41.8 hours during the October 2022 reference week, down slightly from the hours worked during the October 2021 reference week.

Farm operators paid their hired workers an average gross wage of $17.63 per hour during the July 2022 reference week, up 6 percent from the July 2021 reference week. Field workers received an average of $16.80 per hour, up 4 percent, while livestock workers earned $16.65 per hour, up 10 percent from a year earlier. The field and livestock worker combined gross wage rate, at $16.76 per hour, was up 6 percent from the July 2021 reference week. Hired laborers worked an average of 41.1 hours during the July 2022 reference week, up slightly from the hours worked during the July 2021 reference week.

The 2022 all hired worker annual average gross wage rate was $17.56 per hour, up 7 percent from the 2021 annual average gross wage rate. The 2022 field worker annual average gross wage rate was $16.77 per hour, up 6 percent from the 2021 annual average. The 2022 livestock worker annual average gross wage rate was $16.29 per hour. The 2022 annual average combined gross wage for field and livestock workers was $16.62, up 7 percent from the 2021 annual average of $15.56 per hour.



Optimistic Keynote Slated for 2023 American Farm Bureau Convention

Bert Jacobs, co-founder and Chief Executive Optimist of the $150 million lifestyle brand Life is Good®, will address attendees as general session keynote speaker during the 2023 American Farm Bureau Convention. When Jacobs and his brother John started the company in 1994, they had $78 in their pockets, lived out of their van and sold T-shirts on the streets of Boston. Jacobs will speak during the closing general session at the convention on Monday, Jan. 9, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His powerful message will include why he has championed the same mission for more than 25 years: to spread the power of optimism.

“We’re looking forward to hearing Bert Jacobs’ message because farmers and ranchers are eternal optimists, rising each day to grow a safe and sustainable food supply, but we all need a boost once in a while and Bert’s message is powerful,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “We have a great line-up in January, including great speakers, big competitions and critical conversations about the farm bill and other top priorities for agriculture.”

While Bert and John believe life is good, they also know life isn’t perfect, which is why Life is Good donates 10% of its annual net profits to the Life is Good Playmaker Project, which helps over 1 million kids overcome the impact of poverty, violence and illness each year. In making their company a fully integrated for-profit/nonprofit model, the brothers hope to use their business as a vehicle to do good in the world.

Virtual and In-person Convention Registration
The convention will be held Jan. 6-11, 2023, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with Duvall giving his annual address to Farm Bureau members during the opening general session on Sunday morning, Jan. 8.

In-person and virtual registration options are available. Virtual-only registrants have access to convention keynote speeches including those from Jacobs and Duvall, select workshops and Cultivation Center Stage presentations (town hall-style workshops covering a variety of topics). View the high-level convention agenda here. Learn more and register here.

The official event hashtag is #AFBF23 and the event website is https://annualconvention.fb.org/.



Nearly $11,000 Raised for Ranch Group at Platte Livestock Market

Platte Livestock Market recently hosted a successful fundraiser that raised nearly $11,000 for R-CALF USA, the largest national producer only organization, whose mission is to ensure the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry.

"It was noticed that we had more rancher involvement supporting R-CALF,” said Brad Veurink, auctioneer at Platte Livestock Market. “Businesses stuck with us supporting the fundraiser. It was a good day."

According to Veurink, cattle producers understand what R-CALF USA is doing and are tuned into the hot button issues like mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef and how much beef the U.S. imports.

Thousands of cattle ranchers across the U.S. support the organization for its ongoing work to restore MCOOL for beef and to stop anticompetitive practices by the four largest meatpackers that control 85% of the fed cattle market, two of the four meatpackers are foreign-owned.

For the second year in a row, James Fulwider and Kevin Talsma, both of Iona, donated a steer for the fundraiser.

"It’s a no brainer for me to donate to R-CALF, as a cattle producer, because they don't take money from the beef checkoff, they can truly represent the independent cattle producer without having to satisfy outside forces," Fulwider explained.

"I continue to support R-CALF because I can't stand the thought of the American consumers being deceived at the meat counter,” he commented. “Find me a consumer that tells me that they do not want their beef labeled. I have never found one yet.”

Fulwider said there was tremendous business support at the rollover fundraiser.

“When I was in high school Gregory, South Dakota, had three grocery stores. Now we have one,” he noted. “Our area businesses know that they can only survive with cattle producers supporting them.

“If we don't save this cattle industry there is no future in it for young families to come back and that will continue to affect every main street in every small town,” Fulwider said adding, “Even if we win today, we have to keep fighting because there will always be another fight at our front door."