Tuesday November 21 Ag News

 So much to be thankful for
Alfredo DiCostanzo, NE Beef Systems Extension Educator

As the week of Thanksgiving 2023 draws to a close, there is so much to be thankful for. Although it is easy to concentrate on negativity around us: wars, inflation, social unrest, and threats to the freedom upon which this nation was built, we manage to remain free and prosperous.

The beef industry is going through a period of shrinking inventories. This cyclical response to supply and demand caused beef prices to increase: the Choice beef cutout increased nearly $50/cwt since November 2022. Yet, the American consumer continues to put beef on their table.

The Weekly Economic Index, a collection of ten indicators aggregated weekly of real economic activity reflecting GDP growth, consumer behavior, the labor market and production, has been increasing slowly and steadily since mid-2023. This is great news for the nation’s economy and beef cattle producers.

Although news of declining export activity has been heard frequently in 2023, it is important to note that beef production also declined. Therefore, this response was somewhat expected and not directly related to a waning appetite for US beef by our trading partners abroad.

Closer to home the drought monitor map depicts Northeast Nebraska under severe or less than severe drought. In recent weeks, pastures and crop fields are greening up hopefully reflecting soil water recharging.

Fed cattle prices traded mostly laterally since the summer; yet, fed cattle prices remain at record high levels. We expect that in early 2024 fed cattle prices will find new highs; just in time to accommodate higher break-even because of higher prices of feeder cattle entering the feedlots since the summer.

Concurrently, high feeder calf prices are good news to the cow-calf sector. This cash influx is much needed by the communities where cow-calf ranches exist.




CVA reports on 2023 Fiscal Year at Annual Meeting

On November 20, 2023, Central Valley Ag (CVA) hosted its Annual Meeting at the Holthus Convention Center in York, Neb. CVA reported $61.1 million in total profit with $39.1 million in local profit from $2.4 billion in total sales for the 2023 fiscal year, ending on August 31, 2023. Within this profit, the cooperative was able to pay out the highest amount of cash paid to patrons in the last seven years.

CVA reported over $38.4 million in cash paid out to patrons through equity redemptions and patronage for fiscal year 2023. “Central Valley Ag could not be successful without the member-owners,” said President/CEO of CVA, Carl Dickinson. “It is gratifying to share success with them in the form of cash payouts.”

Central Valley Ag continued to improve service to patrons through improvements and expansion projects this last fiscal year. The cooperative reported an investment of $64 million in capital expenditures in fiscal year 2023. “To effectively provide for our member-owners, we need to ensure we have top-tier facilities, equipment, and people. Reinvesting capital is an important part of running a prosperous business,” said Dickinson.

Through its mail-in ballot process, CVA held elections for the Board of Directors. Voting stockholders elected the following producers to the board: Kurt Thoene of Hartington, Neb., Region 2; Heath Reimers of Clarks, Neb., Region 3; Carmen Schlickbernd of West Point, Neb., Region 4; Luke Carlson of York, Neb., Region 5; Tom Vodicka of Surprise, Neb., Region 6; and Ryan May of Hunter, Kan., Region 9.

The Board of Directors is made up of local agricultural producers who are recognized for their industry expertise, as well as economic and community development skills. Its mission is to provide leadership of CVA’s current direction and initiatives, in addition to positioning the organization for future success and profitability for members.

“Serving on the CVA Cooperative Board is about representing your neighbors,” said CVA Board Chairman, Luke Carlson. “We make sure that their needs are met, and if they're not being met, we find out how we can better serve them.”



Albion woman honored for generosity with time, dedication to agriculture

An Albion woman whose dedication to agriculture has been described as inspiring to others was honored at Northeast Community College on Friday morning.

Hilary (Esch) Maricle was named the 2023 AgCeptional Woman of the Year during Northeast Community College’s AgCeptional Women’s Conference on the Northeast campus in Norfolk.

The announcement was made as part of a video tribute that was played during the opening session of the 15th annual conference. The video was sponsored by Farm Credit Services of America and produced by the Northeast Agriculture Department and District 25 Productions.

Maricle said the award belongs to the other women in the room as they make it happen on the farm every day. She had been surprised earlier when she was given the award – a moment that was captured on the video shown Friday morning at the conference.

“It was a wild day. It was the day they had a big shower for our family (with a family event), so that was exciting. And then that night was homecoming, so it was like, ‘OK, we’ll squeeze one more thing into our day. This is our life. This is normal.’ And so I think that’s the reality for most of the people in this room,” Maricle said to a room full of hundreds of women gathered to celebrate women’s accomplishments in agriculture.

A special selection committee made up of professionals from agricultural businesses and operations is assembled each year to select the winner from a competitive group of nominees.

Even though Maricle’s parents owned a grocery store in Spading where she grew up, her goal was a farming career, patterning those of both sets of grandparents.

That dream became a reality when she met Brian Marcile of rural Albion at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where both were agricultural majors. She earned a bachelor of science degree in agricultural sciences and a master of science degree in leadership education from UNL.

She and Brian married and live on the homestead farm that has been in the Maricle family since 1871. As owner-operator of Maricle Family Farms, she is immersed in the couple’s livestock and grain operations.

Her accomplishments include:
• Agriculture education instructor/FFA adviser at Spalding and Albion
• Agribusiness instructor and associate dean of agriculture, math and science at Northeast
• UNL Extension Leadership team (including engagement zone coordinator)

Last January, Maricle was appointed Nebraska’s deputy director of agriculture in recognition of her extensive experience and education in natural resources, leadership, agriculture and agribusiness.

“I have a deep-rooted passion for agriculture that I want to share with others, and I’m excited to be a part of NDA (Nebraska Department of Agriculture) in my home state where agriculture is our No. 1 industry,” Maricle said.

In her new role as deputy director, she will build on Nebraska’s successes in agriculture and pursue future opportunities both locally and internationally to grow the state’s economy.

Sherry Vinton, Nebraska Department of Agriculture director, said, “With her extensive knowledge and background, Hiliary understands agriculture and how important ag is to growing Nebraska’s economy. I can’t think of a better person to promote and support Nebraska’s ag industry.”  

Maricle was nominated for the AgCeptional Woman award by Mary Pat Hoag, Norfolk, who was a pioneer for women on reporting on agricultural issues for the Norfolk Daily News for decades.

Hoag said Maricle is passionate about the agricultural industry as evidenced by her selfless giving of herself as an “ag-vocate” on many agricultural fronts over the years.

“Hilary uses social media as an ag producer to connect with consumers and has championed for the family farm in Washington, D.C. She was in the Nebraska Leadership Action Development Program’s Class 34, enhancing her leadership and communication skills and knowledge of the world. Hillary’s other involvements include her community and her parish (St. Michael’s in Albion), as well as serving four years as an elected Boone County commissioner,” Hoag said.

The AgCeptional Women’s Conference is northeast Nebraska’s premier event for women in agriculture, attracting over 400 women annually who come together for a full day of networking, professional development, and personal growth opportunities.

This year’s event was to continue through the day on Friday, featuring speakers who discussed issues related to agriculture on a range of topics.

Anita Keys, Elsmere, was named the 2022 Ag-ceptional Woman of the Year during last year’s conference. Other past Ag-Ceptional Woman of the Year honorees include Joan Ruskamp, Dodge (2021), Lisa Kruger, Columbus (2020); Lisa Lunz, Wakefield (2019); Shana Beattie, Sumner (2018); Liz Doerr, Creighton (2017); Anne Meis, Elgin (2016); Karen Grant, Meadow Grove (2015); Dawn Winkelbauer, Norfolk (2014); Jan Frenzen, Fullerton (2013) Nancy Kirkholm, Homer (2012); Jan Miller, Belden (2011); and Bonnie Schulz, Battle Creek (2010).

When Maricle thinks of a successful future for the U.S. agricultural industry, she thinks of her five children.

“I want to make sure the seventh generation (of Maricles) gets to farm,” she said.

To learn more about the annual conference, contact Karmen Hake at khake1@northeast.edu or call (402) 844-7181.



Nebraska Cattlemen Announces Young Cattlemen’s Connections Class of 2024

Nebraska Cattlemen is proud to announce the Young Cattlemen’s Connections (YCC) Class of 2024. The selection committee chose ten emerging leaders for the prestigious two-year program to help these participants develop a solid foundation of industry knowledge and to strengthen the future of Nebraska’s beef industry.

Nebraska Cattlemen President-elect Dick Pierce stated, “Again, as in the past, we have a group of top notch candidates for Nebraska Cattlemen’s YCC program. Congratulations to each and every one for applying and showing a commitment to this fine program. This has become a proving ground for leadership and we expect great things from our candidates as they journey through the program and later as they assume leadership roles not only in our industry but in their respective communities.”

Young Cattlemen’s Connections Class of 2024
Krista Carter, Alliance
Caitlin Coulson, Ceresco   
Talia Goes, Talmage
Dan Malousek, Prague
David McDonald, Phillips
Stephanie Nelson, Gibbon
Kolin Scheele, Fairbury
Jason Star, North Platte
Collin Thompson, Eustis
Eric Woita, Plainview

During the two-year program, YCC members are provided with extensive communication training, given the opportunity to tour multiple Nebraska-based agriculture production facilities, and trained on how to navigate state agencies and legislative processes.

This program is made possible by the sponsorship of Farm Credit Services of America, Neogen and the Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation.

To learn more about the Young Cattlemen’s Connections Program, please visit www.nebraskacattlemen.org.



Farmers Tax Guides

Farmers can better understand their 2023 tax returns with help from a guide available through  the IRS. The 2023 Farmers Tax Guide has illustrated examples, a sample return, and explains how the federal tax laws apply to farming. The 2023 Farmers Tax Guide is available for free to download from the IRS website at this link: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p225.pdf.



Custom operators invited to participate in UNL Custom Rates Survey
 
One of most popular Nebraska Extension publications for those involved in providing or hiring custom machine hire on farms and ranches is the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s biennial Nebraska Custom Rates Survey and Report. The 2024 survey is now in development, and anyone involved in providing custom work for hire in Nebraska is invited to participate.

The survey of agricultural custom operators is conducted in the state every two years by the university’s Center for Agricultural Profitability. Corresponding reports publish the current rates charged by custom operators for machine hire services or other work they provide for neighboring farms and ranches, or as part of a business enterprise that covers a broader area.

“The larger the survey sample size of those completing the survey, the more useful the survey results will be,” said Glennis McClure, an extension educator and farm and ranch management analyst who leads the survey.

Participants may submit their responses either online or by mail. Requests for a survey should be made on the Center for Agricultural Profitability’s website, at https://cap.unl.edu/customrates.

The Nebraska Custom Rates Survey includes spring and summer operations such as tillage, planting and haying in part one. The second part surveys operators that provide custom machine hire typically done in the fall, including grain harvest, hauling, cutting ensilage, hauling livestock and other miscellaneous operations. Results from the 2024 survey will be published by second quarter of 2024. Custom rate information in Nebraska is grouped in the report by the eight Nebraska Agricultural Statistics Districts.

The 2022 Nebraska Custom Rates report is available online at cap.unl.edu/customrates. For questions, contact McClure at 402-472-0661 or gmcclure3@unl.edu.



REDUCING HAY FEEDING LOSSES
– Jerry Volesky, NE Extension Educator

Hay is expensive and many long hours go into harvesting, storing, and feeding it.  Don’t waste up to a third of it by using poor feeding practices.

Believe it or not, cattle can trample, over consume, manure on, and use for bedding up to 25 to 45 percent of your hay when it is fed with no restrictions.  Extra control in feeding can pay off big time with that expensive hay.

For starters, don’t provide more than one day’s supply at a time.  Research has shown that when cows are fed a four-day supply, they will overeat and waste 20 to 30 percent more hay than when they are fed one day at a time.  This adds up to $50 to $75 more per cow over a four-month feeding period.  Best of all is to feed only what the livestock will clean up in one meal, so nothing is left over to be wasted.  Be sure to provide sufficient space, though, for all animals to eat at once so boss cows don’t stop timid cows from getting their fair share.

Another thing you can do is restrict access to hay.  Use bale racks or rings to keep animals off the hay.  Especially useful are racks with barriers around the bottom that prevent livestock from pulling hay loose with their feet and dragging it out to be stepped on. If you unroll bales or grind and feed on the ground, position an electric fence alongside or above the hay to keep cows from trampling or bedding down on the hay.

As always, feed a balanced ration that provides sufficient energy and protein, but not too much.  Animals that eat more protein than they need will simply excrete it as extra nitrogen in their urine.  This is just as wasteful as directly trampling it into the ground.




The Renewable Fuel Standard Shattered the “Blend Wall” for Ethanol
Scott Richman, Chief Economist, Renewable Fuels Association

Not so long ago, renewable fuel critics claimed that due to purported infrastructure and vehicle constraints, the ethanol content in gasoline simply could not exceed 10.0%. They referred to this supposed limitation as the “blend wall,” and for several years that terminology found its way into virtually every debate about ethanol, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), and higher-level blends.

But no one really talks about the “blend wall” anymore. Why?

Because ethanol’s blend rate has exceeded 10.0% every year since 2016 and hit a record 10.38% in 2022, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The experience of the past several years shows that the “blend wall” was nothing more than a fictional barricade. In fact, as this analysis shows, the U.S. market is on pace to consume some 630 million gallons of ethanol over and above the so-called “blend wall” this year, proving once again that the 10.0% threshold is not a real barrier.

Given this reality, critics changed their tune to say that the blend rate would not have exceeded 10% if not for the RFS, the primary federal program that has promoted the usage of biofuels since 2005. While this argument de-emphasizes other factors that have contributed to the rising blend rate, such as ethanol’s cost-competitiveness compared to gasoline and especially other sources of octane, it is consistent with the intent behind the enactment of the RFS.

As the Environmental Protection Agency has noted, “The RFS program can be thought of as a market-forcing policy. The objective of the program is to introduce increasing volumes of renewable fuels … into the marketplace. Congress made the decision that this is an appropriate policy objective, and put in place a program to achieve that policy goal.”* Indeed, if we accept the argument that ethanol blending would be “stuck” at or below 10.0% in the absence of the RFS, then actual ethanol consumption without the RFS in 2023 would be around 13.6 billion gallons rather than the 14.2 billion gallons we are expecting with the RFS in place.

The facts clearly show that the RFS has been successful in expanding the market for ethanol. This analysis takes a look at one aspect of that expansion: consumption above the “blend wall.”

The vast majority of gasoline sold in the U.S. contains 10% ethanol (E10), but ethanol flex fuels (for example, E85) have been available for more than two decades, and E15 has been experiencing record sales, due in part to prices that are usually at a substantial discount to regular unleaded gasoline at the pump. Still, there are small volumes of ethanol-free gasoline (E0) sold in the U.S., often near marinas, and for that reason, refiners have said that the effective “blend wall” is 9.95% or lower.

That threshold was breached in 2016. In fact, the blend rate showed a consistent upward trend from 2012 to 2017 before retrenching in 2018—the first drop in the blend rate since 1996, a drought year. What happened in 2018? Massive exemptions from the RFS were doled out to small refineries by the EPA under Scott Pruitt (the administrator from February 2017 to July 2018), stocks of compliance credits (i.e., RINs) swelled, and RIN prices crashed. Once the granting of sizable exemptions was halted, the ethanol blend rate resumed its upward trend. Under new leadership, the EPA eventually changed its approach to small-refinery exemptions and denied almost all pending petitions, restoring integrity to the RFS.

If those who say ethanol usage above the effective “blend wall” would not occur absent the RFS are correct, this raises the question of how much of the more than 14 billion gallons of ethanol consumed annually in the U.S. is attributable to the RFS. This can be readily calculated by multiplying actual gasoline consumption by 9.95% and then subtracting the product from actual ethanol consumption.

Based on this approach, an additional 585 million gallons of ethanol were used in. In 2023, it is projected that 634 million gallons of ethanol will be used beyond the “blend wall,” given that the percentage increase in ethanol usage is expected to be greater than that of gasoline. Those are significant volumes, representing the equivalent of a 4-5% boost in total annual ethanol demand.

Conclusion
Under the RFS, ethanol approached and then soundly broke through the alleged “blend wall.” In 2005, when the original RFS was enacted, the blend rate was approximately 3%. By 2010, it was above 9%. This year it is expected to exceed 10.4%. Given that ethanol is cost-competitive with gasoline, enhances energy security, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 44-52% compared to gasoline, it’s clear that the RFS has been a resounding success.



British Pork Now California-Ready with NSF’s Bundled Prop 12 and Red Tractor Certification

NSF, the leading global public health and safety organisation, has become one of the first UK certification bodies to offer California’s Proposition 12 (Prop 12) certification for British pork producers. In addition to its unique position as the only Red Tractor Certification Body for pork in the UK, NSF continues to pioneer in industry certifications, offering British farmers a comprehensive solution for certifying their pork production.

Proposition 12 is a ground-breaking animal welfare law from California that sets higher standards for confining certain farm animals. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2024, making Prop 12 certification critical for British producers eyeing the lucrative US market, as it ensures their compliance with Californian animal welfare standards.

“NSF’s Prop 12 certification means British pork producers can now access the Californian market with greater confidence,” says Dale Newitt, Director of Supply Chain Food Safety, NSF. “This aligns perfectly with NSF’s mission to improve and protect human health, as healthier animals mean safer, higher quality meat for consumers. Despite accounting for nearly 15% of total US pork consumption, California only produces 1% of it, making it heavily dependent on interstate and international imports. In 2022, the total import of pork in the US exceeded £1.3 billion, making the Prop 12 certification a significant market opportunity for UK pork producers.”

NSF also offers the unique advantage of bundled auditing, allowing Prop 12 and Red Tractor audits to happen simultaneously, which reduces the audit burden on British farmers, making certification more efficient and cost-effective.

“Bundled auditing is a game-changer for British farmers,” adds Dale. “By conducting Prop 12 and Red Tractor audits at the same time, we can cut down on the time and expenses usually associated with gaining these important certifications.”

As a trusted name in the industry, NSF emphasises the importance of animal wellness as part of its broader commitment to public health. Its dual certification services underscore its commitment to supporting British farmers and the industry at large, offering them a streamlined approach to meet the increasingly rigorous standards of domestic and international markets.

Red Tractor CEO, Jim Moseley said: "Market access is a key goal for food chain assurance and Red Tractor has been working closely on this with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and NSF over recent months. I'm delighted that we can now offer UK pig farmers access to this important market for selling safe and traceable UK pork.

"We have explored all the different options for achieving this, including whether the CDFA could simply recognise the Red Tractor scheme directly. However, Californian legislation requires the independent assessment and certification body to be certified by CDFA.

"That's why news that NSF has now been certified by CDFA is so significant. It makes it very easy for pig farmers and their processors to access the California market from January next year. As part of their existing Red Tractor assessment, they will be able to simply add the Prop 12 checks, where required, and have access this important market for their pork.

"This is an important milestone for the pigs sector in this country. Hopefully it can be the start of a productive and ongoing new trading relationship. We're encouraging the CDFA to visit the UK so that they can see first-hand the high standards our Red Tractor farmers work to."