Wednesday October 9 Ag News

Ag Public Policy Presentation October 24

Dr. Brad Lubben, Public Policy Specialist with the Ag Economics Department at UNL, will be the program for the Thursday, October 24th meeting of the Agri-Business Committee of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

The meeting will be held at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce Building and will begin at 11:45 a.m.  Lunch will be available, for a small fee, for those that RSVP attendance, by calling the Chamber Office, 402-564-2769.

Dr. Lubben will be talking about a wide array of issues affecting Agriculture.  The original intent was to have him come to talk about the Farm Bill.  Since it has not passed Congress, he will shed light on the current progress of the Bill, and the probable provisions being discussed.  More importantly, he will also be looking at the bigger picture of Ag issues for the industry.  His program will last from 12:10 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.  Dr. Lubben will be available after the presentations for questions.

The Ag Committee invites anyone with interest in current Public Policy to attend. Dr. Lubben is asked to give these presentations regionally and nationally, so we are extremely pleased to have him accept our invitation to come to Columbus.

For more information or assistance, please contact Allan Vyhnalek, Extension Educator, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Extension in Platte County.  Phone: 402-563-4901 or e-mail avyhnalek2@unl.edu. 



Northeast Diversified Ag Club Elects Officers

Officers have been elected to represent the Northeast Community College Diversified Ag Club.  Courtnie Smith, Yutan, has been elected president for 2013-14. She is majoring in Agri-Business and Agronomy. Megan Dreyer, Wisner, is vice president. She is majoring in Agri-Business, Animal Science, and Agronomy. Rodger Haselhorst, Randolph, has been elected treasurer. He is majoring in Agronomy and Agri-Business. Dakota Cunningham, Wausa, will serve as secretary. He is majoring in Agri-Business.

The Northeast Community College Diversified Ag Club has 50 active members for the 2013-14 academic year. Club advisors are Chris Burbach, agriculture instructor; Mike Roeber, agriculture/livestock judging instructor; Bernie Thyen, agriculture/crop instructor, Mike Zierke, agricultural mechanical/welding instructor; and Hilary Maricle, associate dean of agriculture, math and science at Northeast.

The club takes part in several activities during the year including serving breakfast at the Angus Field Day in September, work the concession stand at the Northeast Community College Beef Show each November; the Northeast Community College Annual Tractor Pull in February, and sell butter-braids in February. All of these events help the club raise money for the NACTA (North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture) Judging Conference held each April.



CONTROL WINTER ANNUAL WEEDS NOW
Bruce Anderson, UNL Extension Forage Specialist

Pennycress, mustards, henbit, and downy brome may be getting started in your alfalfa.  Treat them now if you want to avoid heavy weed pressure next spring.

This has been a nice fall.  Pleasant weather has blessed many areas and much alfalfa still is green after a few overnight freezes.

I hate to spoil this pleasant scenario, but it also has been a great fall for winter annual weeds to get started in that green alfalfa.  Check your fields and you might find lots of small henbit plants or mustard rosettes or short grass seedlings of downy brome.  This robust start suggests heavy weed growth next spring.  If left uncontrolled they could grow rapidly, reducing alfalfa yield, thinning stands, and lowering forage quality.

To avoid next spring’s weed infestation, spray fields before soils freeze up.  Probably the three best herbicides to use right now are metribuzin, Sinbar, and Velpar.  All three do an excellent job of controlling pennycress, mustards, and downy brome.  Raptor might be a better choice, though, if henbit is your biggest problem.

Now you might be thinking – I can wait until early next spring to spend money on these herbicides to spray for these weeds.

And you’re right – you can wait and be successful with spring spraying.  The risk with this thinking, though, is that spring spraying must be done before alfalfa greens up or you will injure your alfalfa plants.  Usually, there are only a few days in spring where alfalfa is dormant, the weeds are actively growing, and it’s not too wet or windy.  Many times, fields don’t get sprayed at all or they get sprayed late and alfalfa suffers some setback.

Control weeds now in your alfalfa.  That way you won't be plagued by them next spring.



Reminder: Call Crop Insurance Agent if Impacted by Severe Weather

The Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship reminded farmers impacted by recent severe weather to contact their crop insurance agent to file a claim before harvesting or destroying any impacted crops.

In addition to filing a claim, taking photos of damaged crops and buildings can help farmers document the damage. It is import that farmers do not harvest, destroy or physically alter the damaged acres until crop insurance has adjusted the claim.

When USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices reopen following the federal shutdown, farmers should follow the usual damage-reporting process and contact their local FSA office for any disaster loans or debris removal assistance that may be available.



ISU Extension Revises Nutrient Management Recommendations
Advances in soil-testing research has led Iowa State University Extension and Outreach agronomists to revise recommendations for phosphorus, potassium and lime.

“Field research is conducted continuously to assure that nutrient management suggestions are up to date,” said Antonio Mallarino, an extension agronomist and professor of agronomy. “This research has indicated some recommendations should not be changed, but other recommendations needed significant change to optimize nutrient management in order to improve the profitability and sustainability of crop production.”

crop nutrient and limestone recommendations in IowaHe and John Sawyer, agronomy professor and extension agronomist, have updated the extension publication "A General Guide for Crop Nutrient and Limestone Recommendations in Iowa" (PM 1688). It is available to download at no charge from the Extension Online Store https://store.extension.iastate.edu/.

Mallarino said the most significant changes are:
-    Include interpretations for the new moist- and slurry-based test for potassium (K)
-    Changes to soil-test interpretations categories for K using dried soil samples
-    Adjustments to both crop nutrient concentrations and default crop yields needed to estimate nutrient removal for maintaining soil-test levels in the optimum category
-    Discontinued using the P and K subsoil categories for interpretations

He indicated recent research showed the moist- and slurry-test for K is more reliable at assessing K fertilization needs of crops than the commonly used test based on dried soil samples, even with the improved interpretations for the dry test.

The agronomists maintained many of the current recommendations farmers use to determine soil fertility, including:
-    The general concept of phosphorus (P) and K recommendations are for long-term profitability and reduced risk of yield loss, by emphasizing crop response-based applications for the very low and low soil test classes, and removal-based maintenance based on estimated crop removal with harvest for the optimum soil test class.
-    Interpretation categories for current tests, such as Bray-P1, the colorimetric version of the Mehlich-3 test, and the ICP (inductively-coupled plasma).
-    Amounts of P and K recommended for grain production in the very low and low soil test interpretation categories.
-    The soil pH considered sufficient for crops.
-    Interpretations for micronutrients, which currently include only recommendations for zinc (Zn) in corn or sorghum. Ongoing research studying several micronutrients for corn and soybean has not been completed.



Commodity Researchers Seeking Better Data

The National Corn Growers Association participated this week in an inter-commodity research meeting hosted at Cotton Incorporated in Cary, N.C. Along with corn, national research staff from soy, wheat, sorghum, and cotton associations met to exchange ideas and discuss potential collaborations among the groups.

"One common area of concern expressed by attendees was regarding the data utilized in lifecycle analysis," said Richard Vierling, NCGA Director of Research and New Uses. "The historical data applied to the lifecycle analysis models which policy is often derived from does not reflect current production practices or recent improved efficiencies."

This fall, NCGA is starting a project to gather production data that accurately describes current corn production practices. NCGA's Research and Business Development Action Team views this project as an ongoing effort that will collect multiple years of data and make this information available to researchers. Other commodity organizations expressed interest in joining with NCGA to gather relevant data for their specific crop production practices.



Involved in Milk Production? You Need this New Book!

Need to know the nation’s top 10 milk-producing states? How about Class III milk prices by month going back eight years? Or perhaps you need the top 10 export markets for U.S. dairy products in 2012.

All that and more is available in the latest addition of Dairy Data Highlights from the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF). The handy, pocket-size booklet includes 53 tables and 19 graphs filled with national and state milk and dairy production data from the mid-1970s through 2012.

Dairy Data Highlights has been published annually by NMPF for more than 60 years. A must for anyone involved in milk production, it is available to NMPF member cooperatives and associate members for $7.50 a copy, or $5 for orders of more than 10 copies. For nonmembers, the cost is $10 for single copies or $7.50 for bulk orders. An order form is available on the NMPF website.

All aspects of milk and dairy products production are covered, as well as producer, wholesale and retail milk and dairy product prices; federal milk marketing orders; sales and consumption data for milk and dairy products, and comparative information for U.S. dairy imports and exports. Specific tables include:
·         National milk production data going back to 1925;
·         Cow numbers, farms and herd size data going back to 1950;
·         Milk production and prices, production-per-cow, cow numbers and dairy farms by state, with comparative data from the 1980s and 1990s;
·         Class III, manufacturing grade and all-milk wholesale prices by year 965;
·         Annual wholesale prices for butter, cheddar cheese, and nonfat dry milk;
·         The ratio of feed prices to milk prices by month;
·         The share of commercial sales by product—including milk, butter, cheese, frozen products and nonfat dry milk;
·         Annual production and per-capital consumption of key cheese, butter and frozen products from 1975;
·         Annual exports of milk, butter, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and nonfat dry milk by region and country;
·         A short glossary of dairy industry terms and useful conversions factors for milk and dairy products.



World Dairy Expo Attendance Strong This Year

It was another good year for attendance at World Dairy Expo. Organizers of the dairy and tradeshow in Madison say over 70,900 people from 90 countries came through the gates during the five day event last week at the Alliant Energy Center. Visitors from Canada, Japan, Mexico, Germany and Brazil represented the top five nations with the most attendees.

In the dairy barns, 1,616 exhibitors from 36 states and seven Canadian provinces checked in 2,225 head of dairy cattle this year. The Supreme and Reserve Supreme Champion cows both came from Canada and were both Holsteins.

This year's dairy breed sales are also being called a success. The highest lot in the World Classic Holstein Sale went for $131,000. Over a million dollars in cattle were sold in the auction, with prices averaging over $26,000 per head.

Meanwhile, show coordinators say plans are already underway for next year's event, which is being held September 30 through October 4, 2014. The theme will be 'Designer Dairy.'



Weekly Ethanol Production for 10/04/2013

According to EIA data, ethanol production averaged 868,000 barrels per day (b/d) — or 36.46 million gallons daily. That is down 7,000 b/d from the week before. The four-week average for ethanol production stood at 853,000 b/d for an annualized rate of 13.08 billion gallons.

Stocks of ethanol stood at 15.4 million barrels. That is a 0.8% decrease from last week, and the lowest of the year.

Imports of ethanol were zero b/d, down from last week. Notably, imports one year ago this week set a record of 122,000 b/d. Imports continue to fall far behind the pace envisioned by EPA.

Gasoline demand for the week averaged 371.5 million gallons daily, up sharply from last week.

Expressed as a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production was 9.81%.

On the co-products side, ethanol producers were using 13.161 million bushels of corn to produce ethanol and 96,871 metric tons of livestock feed, 86,362 metric tons of which were distillers grains. The rest is comprised of corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal. Additionally, ethanol producers were providing 4.52 million pounds of corn oil daily.

Please note that ethanol export data for August is unavailable due to the government shutdown.



Brazil's Gov't Pegs 13/14 Soy, Corn Crop

Brazil's Agriculture Ministry released its first soybean and corn forecast for the 2013-14 season Wednesday.  Soybean output was pegged at 87.6 million to 89.7 million metric tons, up from 81.5 mmt last year.  The figure is at the top end of market estimates, which range from 86 mmt to 89 mmt.  Corn production is estimated at 78.4 mmt to 79.6 mmt, which sits in the middle of a market range from 72 mmt to 83 mmt.



American Farm Bureau Appeals Chesapeake Bay Ruling

The American Farm Bureau Federation took action Monday to appeal a recent court decision that upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s “pollution diet” for the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake Bay watershed.  AFBF filed a notice to appeal the Sept. 13 federal district court ruling, seeking reversal of a decision that gives EPA wide latitude to dictate local land-use and development decisions.

“This is a wrongly decided case that has dangerous implications for farmers and many others in the Chesapeake Bay area and nationwide,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “This case isn’t about whether or not to protect the Chesapeake Bay – we all share that goal. This case is about whether EPA can dictate where farming will be allowed, where homes can be built, and where businesses can be established. By taking over decisions like that, EPA has turned the whole concept of cooperative federalism out the barn door.”

AFBF seeks an appeal to preserve the primary role of states in setting land use policy and determining how to achieve water quality goals. According to AFBF, the Clean Water Act puts states in the drivers’ seat to determine how farmers, builders, homeowners and towns will share the responsibility of achieving clean water.  EPA’s framework puts EPA in control of those decisions.

“Win or lose on appeal, farmers and ranchers will continue their dedicated efforts on the farm to improve water quality and the natural environment,” said Stallman. “In the meantime, AFBF will continue to oppose what we see as a remarkable power grab.”



Cargill reports first-quarter fiscal 2014 earnings

Cargill today reported net earnings of $571 million in the fiscal 2014 first quarter, down 41 percent from last year’s record quarter of $975 million. First-quarter revenues of $33.8 billion matched the year-ago period.

“Cargill did an excellent job managing the remaining effects of last year’s severe drought and smaller crops,” said Greg Page, Cargill’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Our agricultural supply chain and food ingredient businesses were focused on helping customers and the company to successfully manage their raw material purchases and inventories during the market uncertainty that precedes the transition to new crops in the northern hemisphere.”

Page noted that Cargill’s performance was balanced, with nearly three-fourths of its business units recording profits.

Cargill adjusted its business segments to provide greater clarity. Among the four segments:

Earnings rose slightly in the Animal Nutrition & Protein segment in the first quarter. Global animal nutrition results exceeded last year’s profits, due in part to margin improvements. U.S. beef processing operations benefited from increased slaughter plant efficiencies.

Although results were down from last year, the Origination & Processing segment was the largest contributor to Cargill’s first-quarter results. Supported by strong global analytics, sourcing, logistics and risk management, the segment successfully navigated the uncertainty surrounding crop production in the northern hemisphere, including weather gyrations in North America. The segment’s South American-based supply chains performed well, utilizing the region’s big crops to serve strong export demand. Conversely, in North American farm services, the remaining impact of last year’s severe drought in the U.S. Midwest reduced grain handling opportunities in the first quarter.

Food Ingredients & Applications earnings decreased moderately from last year’s record first quarter. Segment businesses closely managed the purchase and delivery of raw materials to processing facilities, which decreased the supply chain risks presented by choppy markets and provided for assured supplies to customers. The segment was the second largest contributor to company earnings.

Results in Industrial & Financial Services were down significantly from last year’s strong first quarter. The segment’s energy businesses posted a weak performance due to the combined effects of mild weather, soft demand and low market volatility. Backed by strong analytics, results in steel and iron ore markets were solid, though somewhat below last year’s first quarter. Asset management results softened, largely due to rising economic pressures in emerging markets.