Tuesday December 27 Ag News

 March 1st Filing Deadline 
Tina Barrett – Program Manager, Nebraska Farm Business, Inc. 

One of the many special tax provisions that has applied only to qualified farmers is the relief from estimated tax requirements. A qualified farmer, who is a calendar year taxpayer, can avoid the estimated tax payment penalty by either: 
1)      Filing an estimated tax payment by January 15th that is either 2/3 of your expected tax for the current year or 100% of last year’s tax, whichever is less, or 
2)     Filing and paying 100% of the tax by March 1st. 

If you are not a qualified farmer, you are required to make quarterly estimated tax payments throughout the year that must equal 90% of the expected tax or 100% of last year’s tax. A qualified farmer is defined by receiving 2/3 of your gross income from farming, not including the sale of machinery. Since 2018, many full-time farmers who trade a significant amount of equipment may not even be a qualified farmer with this definition. 

For many years, March 1st has been known as the farmer tax deadline but in the past 8 years, the IRS has had to waive that deadline multiple times because it has been impossible for many taxpayers to file returns by then. Lots of things have contributed to this struggle and are certainly not limited to: 
Late changing tax laws 
Slow development/release of tax forms 
Ever increasing complexity of tax returns 
Late arrival of information forms such as dividends from investment companies and K-1’s from investments in partnerships and s-corporations. 

The IRS is aware of these issues, but they don’t have the authority to eliminate this deadline as it is part of the tax code. This means only Congress has the power to change the deadline. 

As a farmer, it may be worth the consideration of electing the use of the January 15th estimate deadline to avoid potential complications of missing the March 1st deadline and being faced with unnecessary penalties and/or preparation errors of rushed work. As always, it’s best to discuss your situation with your tax professional. 



DECIPHERING A HAY TEST – MOISTURE
– Ben Beckman, NE Extension Educator

Having hay tested for nutrient quality is critical in getting the most out of the feedstuffs you have.  Once the results come back, the next step is understanding the report you’ve received.

The first thing we notice on most feed or hay tests are the results are given in two different groups or columns.  One is labeled along the lines of “as received” or “as fed” and another “dry basis.”  Understanding the difference in these two columns is key to properly using the information provided when feeding your livestock.

“As received” represents the analysis of the sample as it was provided.  This is what we will use to figure out rations or how much hay animals need to be provided.  The “dry basis” is the sample after all moisture has been removed and doesn’t accurately represent the sample as it sits in the yard.

So why bother with “dry basis” if we don’t use it to figure feed amounts?  Because when it comes to comparing feeds and finding the correct ratios in a ration, we need to compare things on an equal playing field.

For example, we could have a forage test on hay and silage come back as equal on a dry basis for energy, meaning that both feeds would provide the same amount of energy if dried out and fed.  For the hay, this is pretty close to reality, but the silage contains much more water as is.  Because of this, we would have to feed quite a bit more silage than hay to reach the same amount of energy in the ration, simply due to the extra weight from water.

“As received” and “dry basis” columns, may make a feed report look daunting, but understanding and using both is critical to getting the most out of your feed.

USING BAD HAY AND SILAGE
Low supply and high costs mean some less-than-ideal feedstuffs may be used this winter.  Low quality, mold, and even mycotoxins can all be a risk for poor quality feeds.  Can we still make use of these forage options?

Silage put up too wet has likely had a clostridial fermentation resulting in poor quality and high levels of butyric acid.  Not only is feed quality reduced, but the stability of the pile once opened drops as well and mold growth on the feeding face is more likely.

In both hay and silage stored too dry, mold growth is a primary concern.  Mold reduces feed quality and can limit intake in high quantities.  In some circumstances molds can produce mycotoxins, even with low mold counts.  Impacts of mycotoxins are wide-ranging and depend on the specific toxin or toxins present and concentrations.  Impacts can range from reduced intake to liver and rumen damage to infertility and abortions.

Whether too wet or too dry, these feed options are less than ideal, but can still be used if we take precautions.  First, test.  Knowing the levels of mold, butyric acid, or mycotoxin in a feed can help with the next step, dilution.  Keeping poor feed to a low percentage of the overall diet can allow for use while minimizing risk to livestock.  Finally, don’t feed to high-risk animals.  Young calves, stressed animals, and those in late gestation are all at higher risk of impact.

Low quality silage and hay comes with risks.  Knowing the impact mold, mycotoxins, and butyric acid can have on quality, intake and animal health is important and can help us plan the best way to use these imperfect feed resources.



Nebraska Dairy Ambassadors earn educational scholarships

Through application and successful participation in the Midwest Dairy Ambassador Program, Nebraska Dairy Ambassadors earned educational scholarships from Midwest Dairy. Senior Dairy Ambassadors who received $1,000 scholarships were Jenna Albers of Randolph, Whitney (Hochstein) Haahr of Wynot, Abigail Langdon of Clarkson, Mikayla Martensen of Humphrey, and Jaycie Meggison of Blair. Junior Dairy Ambassador Kaitlyn Hanson of Mead received a $500 scholarship.

Late last year, Nebraska high school juniors and seniors were selected to serve as the 2022 Nebraska Junior Dairy Ambassadors and college students were selected to serve as the 2022 Nebraska Senior Dairy Ambassadors for Midwest Dairy. Throughout the year, the Nebraska Dairy Ambassadors promoted the dairy community and supported Midwest Dairy’s mission to give consumers an excellent dairy experience at a variety of industry and consumer events in Nebraska.

Helping to grow trust in dairy during their year-long experience, the Nebraska Dairy Ambassadors took part in 54 event activations and leadership opportunities and were skillful and committed to promoting dairy through four media interviews and 35 photos posted on the Nebraska's Dairy Ambassador Facebook page.

The ambassadors gained insight on the dairy industry and developed their leadership skills by attending industry events and tours as well as participating in virtual trainings. Events that the ambassadors served as dairy industry advocates included Earth Day Lincoln, Undeniably Dairy Grant supported events such as Toast of Nebraska and Dairy Barn Fair Fun at the Cuming County Fair, Cream of the Crop Dairy Show, Omaha Baseball Village Booth during the College World Series, Nebraska State Fair, Nebraska Extension Ag Literacy Festivals and more.

Midwest Dairy’s Ambassador Program is an educational and leadership opportunity for students who are passionate about dairy, are enrolled in post-secondary school, and possess strong communication abilities. To learn more about the Midwest Dairy Ambassador program, visit www.midwestdairy.com (Ambassador Program found on the Young Dairy Leaders tab).



SSGA announces Transportation Go! for March 15-16 in Omaha

Transportation Go!, the premier conference for soybean, grain and other agricultural transportation issues in the Upper Midwest, is set to take place March 15-16, 2023, in Omaha, Nebraska, at the Hilton Omaha, and registration for this second-annual event is now open at transportationgo.com.

The 2023 version of Transportation Go! follows a wildly successful and interactive 2022 show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The inaugural event, known then as the Northern Commodity Transportation Conference, took place in 2020 in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Thanks to the generous support of show sponsor, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Transportation Go! moves to another key ag transportation hub, Omaha, to bring together the industry’s top stakeholders, from boots-on-the-ground commodity growers and organizations to traders and shippers of specialty field crops. Together and through a robust agenda featuring high-level speakers, they will discuss challenges and opportunities for agricultural freight moved on intermodal, rail and ocean lanes, including containerized shipping and refrigerated traffic.

Transportation Go! is a highly engaging conference focused on in-depth discussions on the global supply chain and how it affects the vital movement of agricultural products from the Upper Midwest to locations throughout the country and the world.

“Transportation Go! is an active conference, not a passive one,” said Eric Wenberg, executive director of the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance, which organizes and hosts the event. “We encourage discussion and expect real dialogue to take place during every segment of the agenda. There are many challenges in agricultural transportation, and this conference puts smart, experienced people from different avenues of the supply chain into the same room to take on those challenges together.”

This year, SSGA is thrilled to announce that the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) will take part in Transportation Go! and hold a workshop for its members at the Hilton Omaha following the conclusion of the conference on March 16 (watch for details in the coming weeks).

Besides Nebraska’s Department of Agriculture and its cooperative support from that state’s various commodity boards (Nebraska Soybean Board, Nebraska Corn Board, Nebraska Ethanol Board, Nebraska Wheat Board), Transportation Go! thus far is also supported by Platinum Sponsors, including the Illinois Soybean Association, the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, the North Dakota Corn Council, the North Dakota Soybean Council, the South Dakota Soybean Research & Promotion Council and the Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board; along with Gold Sponsor, the Ohio Soybean Council. As well, Transportation Go! has received sponsorship support from Norseman Protective Solutions and Ray-Mont Logistics.



2022 Iowa Cattlemen's Association Hall of Fame Inductee Honored

The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association (ICA) annually honors an individual who has contributed a great deal of time and effort in promoting the beef industry in Iowa. The 2022 recipient of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association Hall of Fame award is Dr. John Lawrence, of Ames. Lawrence was nominated for this prestigious honor by a group of producer and allied leaders for his service and engagement through many Iowa beef industry evolutions throughout his career.

Dr. John Lawrence, Vice President of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, will retire in March 2023. He’s been a livestock economist at heart even when his title changed.

Always a cattleman, John was raised on a southwest Iowa crop and livestock farm. And always an Iowan at heart, it’s been his home except while he earned his Ph.D. in agricultural economics at the University of Missouri in Columbia, and served as extension livestock economist in marketing and assistant professor at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. In 1991 he returned to Iowa as the ISU extension livestock economist and assistant professor.

John continued as extension livestock economist as he advanced in his faculty position, and began adding administrative responsibilities which often overlapped. In 1998 he was named Iowa Beef Center director, a position he held until 2010. From 2004-2010, he was assistant director of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. In 2010 he became associate dean of extension and outreach for the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and director of agriculture and natural resources extension. Seven years later he was named acting, then interim ISU Vice President for Extension and Outreach, and the following year was appointed to his current VP position.

Along the way he held several interim positions in addition to his full time role, including interim director for the ISU Beginning Farmer Center and Iowa Nutrient Research Center, and interim chair for the ISU animal science department.

The constant through the decades has been his dedication to working with people. From early days on Iowa farms and at producer meetings, to advocating for livestock industry members at the state, national and international levels, John has been a strong supporter of Iowa agriculture and its people.

“John is a true believer in engaging Iowans. Without question, his commitment to building strong, sustained partnerships like the one we enjoy with the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association make him worthy of hall of fame status,” said Wendy Wintersteen, president of Iowa State University. “For more than 30 years, John’s devotion to the power of ISU Extension and Outreach to change Iowans’ lives for the better has been unwavering.”

John and his contributions have made him an important piece of the beef industry past, present and future, and thanks to John, that future is bright.

The ICA would like to thank Dr. Lawrence for his commitment and sacrifice to Iowa’s cattle industry by inducting him into the ICA Hall of Fame.



Monthly Dairy Webinar Jan. 18 to Focus on Climate and Weather Predictions for the 2023 Growing Season

The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Dairy Team monthly webinar series continues on Wednesday, Jan. 18 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. This program will focus on the climate and weather predictions for the 2022 growing season.

Dennis Todey, director of the USDA Climate Hub in Ames will lead the presentation. Todey is a native Iowan with his B.S. and Ph.D. from Iowa State University in Meteorology and Agricultural Meteorology. He has spent two stints in South Dakota, first completing his M.S. at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and most recently as Associate Professor and State Climatologist for South Dakota at South Dakota State University. He is well known regionally as a speaker and media source on various climate issues and is the former president of the American Association of State Climatologists.

Producers, dairy consultants, and industry reps are encouraged to attend the free webinar live from noon to 1:00 p.m. on January 18 by pre-registering at: https://go.iastate.edu/NYRCQK

For more information contact the ISU Extension and Outreach Dairy Field Specialist in your area: in Northwest Iowa, Fred M. Hall, 712-737-4230 or fredhall@iastate.edu; in Northeast Iowa, Jennifer Bentley, 563-382-2949 or jbentley@iastate.edu; in East Central Iowa, Larry Tranel, 563-583-6496 or tranel@iastate.edu.



USDA to Measure Financial Well-Being of Iowa Farmers and Ranchers

Beginning in late December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will spend several months gathering information about farm economics and production practices from farmers and ranchers across Iowa, as the agency conducts the third and final phase of the 2022 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS).

“ARMS is the only survey that measures the current financial well-being of Iowa producers and their households as a whole,” said Greg Thessen, director of the NASS Upper Midwest Regional Field Office. “The results of this survey will help inform decisions on local and federal policies and programs that affect Iowa farms and farm families.”

In an effort to obtain the most accurate data, NASS will reach out to more than 35,000 producers nationwide, including 1,600 in Iowa, between January and April. The survey asks producers to provide in-depth information about their operating revenues, production costs, and household characteristics. The 2022 ARMS survey includes a version of the questionnaire focused on farm costs of production and expenditures for wheat producers. The survey also includes questions to help measure any impacts of COVID on farms, farm and household finances, and off-farm employment.

“In February, our interviewers will begin reaching out to those farmers who have not yet responded,” said Thessen, “We appreciate their time and are here to help them with the questionnaire so that their information will continue supporting sound agricultural decision- making. Completing this questionnaire fulfills your 2022 Census of Agriculture requirement.”

Information provided to NASS is kept confidential, as required by federal law. The agency only publishes data in aggregate form, ensuring that no individual respondent or operation can be identified.

The expense data gathered in ARMS will be published in the annual Farm Production Expenditures report on July 21, 2023. That report and others are available at nass.usda.gov/Publications. More reports based on ARMS data and more information about ARMS are available at ers.usda.gov/arms.



Theme for 2023 National Ag Day Essay Contest Announced

In preparation for National Ag Day 2023 on March 21, the Agriculture Council of America is hosting an essay contest. The theme for this year's entries is: Growing a Climate for Tomorrow: How American agriculture does it every day.

The essay contest is divided into two categories of competition: written essay and video essay. Winners in both areas will receive $1,000.

The contest is open to students currently enrolled in grades 9-12. Contestants must be a U.S. citizen and attending school in the U.S.

The deadline for submitting entries is Feb. 15. Go to https://www.agday.org/essay-contest for more details.

National Ag Day is organized by the Agriculture Council of America, a nonprofit organization composed of leaders in the agricultural, food and fiber community, dedicating its efforts to increasing the public's awareness of agriculture's role in modern society.