Monday August 13 Ag News

Ricketts Requests Federal Disaster Declaration

Today, Governor Pete Ricketts requested a Federal Disaster Declaration in the wake of severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, baseball-size hail, and flooding from June 17th to July 1st.

A Presidential Declaration would make federal dollars available to assist in funding recovery operations in 10 Nebraska counties: Cedar, Colfax, Cuming, Dakota, Dixon, Harlan, Logan, Thomas, Thurston, and Wayne.  The Governor is requesting Public Assistance funds as well as Hazard Mitigation for the entire state.

Governor Ricketts declared a state of emergency on June 28th for an incident period beginning June 1st and continuing.  Damages within the state include roads, bridges and culverts, electrical distribution infrastructure and facilities, and severe hail damage.  Preliminary damage assessments were completed in the affected counties and the state has exceeded its threshold to make the request.

Governor Ricketts’ request for a Federal Declaration has been submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Region VII Administrator Paul Taylor who will present it to President Donald J. Trump for consideration.  Declarations take several weeks for consideration by the federal government.



Scouting for Soybean Stem Borer Damage
Robert Wright - NE Extension Entomologist
Justin McMechan - NE Crop Protection and Cropping Systems Specialist

We are starting to see dead leaves caused by feeding of soybean stem borer larvae in southeastern and south central Nebraska soybeans. They continue to expand their range as a pest of soybeans in Nebraska and now can be found in several counties north of I-80. No control measures are appropriate at this time, but monitor fields and be aware that high populations of soybean stem borers may predispose the field to lodging and make harvest difficult. Fields with higher levels of injury by soybean stem borers should be harvested first to minimize lodging losses.

Soybean Stem Borer Description and Injury
Soybean stem borers are the immature stages of a long-horned beetle, Dectes texanus. The adults lay eggs in the upper leaf canopy, typically in the leaf petiole. Larvae feed by tunneling within the soybean plant. At this time of year larvae move from the leaf petiole into the main stem of the soybean plant, and at that time the leaf dies. These leaves are easily detached from the stem, and a circular tunnel can be seen where the leaf petiole was attached to the main stem.

As larvae grow larger, they continue to tunnel within the main stem, and by the end of the growing season they have tunneled to the base of the plant where they overwinter. In preparation for overwintering, they hollow out a cell at the base of the plant, which weakens the stem and makes it more susceptible to breakage.

For more information see the NebGuide, Soybean Stem Borers in Nebraska (G2082).



COVER AND FORAGE CROPS FOLLOWING EARLY BEAN AND CORN HARVESTS
Bruce Anderson, NE Extension Forage Specialist

Corn and beans harvested early can leave your ground bare for seven to nine months.  Instead, let’s plant some crops to grow and cover it until next season.

After silage harvest or combining corn or beans early, ground that lies bare has two things working against it.  One is exposure to wind and water erosion.  And two, it isn’t growing anything.  Cover crops might help you overcome both problems.

But what should you plant?  That depends on what you want to achieve with your cover crop.  For example, hairy vetch and winter peas are good cover crops if you want to improve your soil by planting a legume that will provide 30 to 40 pounds of nitrogen per acre for next year’s crop.  Or maybe use a deep-rooted radish to breakup some hardpans.

Are you still hoping for some feed this fall?  Then oats, spring barley, annual ryegrass, and turnips might be better choices.  These plants have the greatest forage yield potential in the fall.  Oats and barley will die over winter so they won’t interfere with next year’s crop.  But, dead residue from oats and barley is not very durable, so it provides less effective soil protection and for a shorter duration.

For better soil protection, winter rye is the best choice among the cereals.  And cereal rye can provide abundant grazable growth early next spring to get cows off of hay sooner.  Wheat and triticale also can be good cover crops.  Of course, wheat then can be harvested later for grain while triticale makes very good late spring forage.

What is becoming especially popular is planting a mixture of several types of plants to reap some of the benefits of each one.

Cover crops can preserve or even improve your soil, and can be useful forages as well.  Consider them following your early harvests.

ADDING GRASS TO THINNING ALFALFA
Thin alfalfa stands can be rejuvenated by interseeding grasses and converting them to pasture or haying a grass-alfalfa mixture.

Most alfalfa fields start to lose stand and production ability after cutting hay for several years.  As your stands begin to get thin, consider interseeding grasses into this thinning alfalfa.  Not only might you extend the useful life of your alfalfa field by several years, you also will develop excellent hay or grazing for your livestock.

Orchardgrass is the grass most commonly interseeded into alfalfa, but other grasses like endophyte-free tall fescue, meadow brome, festulolium, and wheatgrasses also can be used.  In fact, if the field will be used as pasture, a mixture of several grasses may be best since it adds diversity to your animals' diet.

Interseeding after a mid-August to early September hay harvest can be excellent timing if you have moisture to start the new seedlings.  Alfalfa regrows more slowly this time of year so it won’t compete as aggressively with your new grasses.  Still, if your alfalfa is relatively thick, you probably will need to take another cutting in about four weeks, or as soon as the alfalfa starts to form a full canopy.  This allows sunlight to continue to reach new seedlings below the alfalfa.

Next spring you will need to judge how well established your new grasses have become.  If they seem a little weak, cut hay real early to again open the canopy for better light penetration.  After that you should be able to hay or rotationally graze as you choose.

Interseeding grass into existing alfalfa takes timely haying and planting, but both land and livestock will improve with your efforts.



Conservation Learning Group Launched at Iowa State

Conservation Learning Group, a think tank dedicated to addressing conservation and environmental challenges, was established as a part of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach in July 2018. The group is a collaboration of researchers, educators and advocates having the goal to better understand issues and come up with creative, sustainable solutions that are repeatable at scale.

Representatives from bioengineering, social science, agronomy, crop science, soil science, wildlife management, water resource management and conservation are on the CLG team. Specialists from other areas of study will be welcomed to contribute to the group’s goals.

“The open format of CLG will facilitate sharing of experiences, viewpoints, ideas, successes and failures to engender creative problem-solving and innovative thinking as we all contribute to solving immediate problems facing Iowa,” said Jacqueline Comito, program director of Iowa Learning Farms and leadership team member with CLG. “I am eager to see how this group grows and what we are able to accomplish.”

The CLG umbrella includes three highly successful programs, Iowa Learning Farms, Conservation Learning Labs, and Water Rocks!, and will incorporate inputs and knowledge from a broader range of research studies and programs spanning multiple topics. CLG will work with other projects and organizations to help create better awareness of what is being learned in each project and make results more accessible to general audiences.

The group has received funding from a Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (NRCS) partnership grant and a research grant through North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program and is partnering with the University of Wisconsin in the development of conservation planning training.

Team members include Jacqueline Comito, anthropologist and program director, Iowa Learning Farms; Matthew Helmers, professor of agriculture and biosystems engineering; Mark Licht, assistant professor, Department of Agronomy and extension cropping systems specialist; Jamie Benning, extension water quality program manager; Adam Janke, assistant professor, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management; Emily Heaton, assistant professor, Department of Agronomy; Ann Staudt, assistant program manager, Iowa Learning Farms; and Elizabeth Juchems, conservation outreach specialist, Iowa Learning Farms.



Lots of Down-Side Risk Ahead
Stephen R. Koontz, Dept of Ag and Resource Economics - Colorado State University

Labor Day is upon us, at least from the perspective of retailers needing to secure beef volume for sales and featuring. The beef complex look ready to drift lower as, after this holiday, the seasonality in demand will wain and the seasonality in production will continue to escalate. Slaughter weights have continued their increases during the summer and will likely continue into the fall until the peak around October. The volume of cattle on feed over 90 and over 120 days continue to the high compared to last year and prior years. Fed cattle marketing were strong through June as revealed by the last month's Cattle on Feed report and appear to be strong through July - especially heifers - as revealed by July's weekly Livestock Slaughter reports. There does not appear to be an emerging problem with supplies but the steady seasonal increase in beef volume will continue. We have also seen strong volumes of beef cow slaughter through this summer in response to the drought in the southern plains. As a consequence, hamburger prices were very weak through the summer. Perhaps this slaughter will moderate during the fall calf run. But improvements in hamburger prices are unlikely with the prospective increases in beef trimming volumes.

Events in substitute meat markets and trade demand also appear unlikely to provide substantial relief for beef prices. Pork production will be up a solid 5% this coming fourth quarter with consumption up a likely 2.5%. Poultry production and consumption are forecasted to be up moderately but the main word to focus on is, "up" from the prior year. Beef exports have been solid through the summer and if they continue through the fall then this could result in about an additional 40 million pounds per month removed from the domestic markets this year compared to last. This is a little less than 2% of typical monthly production during fourth quarter months. Forecasts of beef production during the fourth quarter are to be up better than 3%.

In the end, there appears to be a lot of sources of downside risk and little potential for improved prices.



ACE pushes for E15 year-round while Acting EPA Administrator visits Iowa

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) is featuring an Iowa retailer to elevate the need for year-round approval of E15 with a paid print advertisement in the Des Moines Register (DMR) this week as Acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler pays a visit to the state. The ad serves as a reminder that “on a recent visit to Iowa, President Trump promised he’s “very close” to approving E15 year-round,” and the ad calls on EPA to “make good on the President’s promise and approve E15 fuel use year-round.”

As the owner of a gas station in Nevada, Iowa, and ASE-certified mechanic, Charlie Good exemplifies why EPA must act on the issue. Although Charlie was once tied to an oil company contract limiting the types of fuel he could sell, as soon as he broke free and began selling E15, it became one of his best sellers. Read excerpts from the ad below:

“‘My customers love E15,’ Charlie says. ‘There’s no way I’d ever go back to an oil company that ties my hands.’

“But now, EPA is restricting Charlie from selling what his customers want. During the busy summer driving season, Charlie and other retailers aren’t allowed to sell E15 because EPA refuses to update an obsolete emissions regulation.

“Charlie’s customers prefer E15 because it has fewer emissions and costs less than gasoline. It’s time to let Charlie sell what his customers want.”

“President Trump has promised to allow retailers like Charlie Good to sell E15 year-round,” said Brian Jennings, ACE CEO. “EPA needs to make good on his promises.”

ACE will be discussing this topic at its annual conference later this week in Minneapolis. The event will provide other retailers like Charlie with the opportunity to share successes and challenges in E15 and flex fuel retailing. 



Waters of the U.S. Regulation Must Be Permanently Repealed and Rewritten, NMPF Tells EPA

The 2015 version of the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule must be permanently rescinded, and the prior version of the regulation re-codified, to provide certainty for dairy farmers, the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) said today.

In comments submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) Monday, NMPF outlined its support for both agencies’ proposal to repeal the current definition of WOTUS and rewrite it to reflect common-sense approaches to protecting the environment. In addition, NMPF joined numerous farm and food organizations to submit an additional 22 pages of comments that provided an extensive legal and technical assessment of what the two agencies did wrong three years ago in an attempt to update the regulation.

“Dairy farmers undertake extensive efforts to manage the natural resources that are critical to their livelihoods,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “WOTUS must provide proper clarity on what falls under its jurisdiction so that farmers can better meet the industry’s shared commitment to clean water.”

In early 2017, the Trump Administration ordered a review of the WOTUS rule in response to concerns many farm groups had raised since the measure was finalized in 2015. Because the WOTUS regulation significantly expanded the EPA’s authority over waterways used by farmers for drainage and irrigation, the measure was challenged in a federal appeals court and ultimately put on hold.

“The 2015 Rule should be repealed and, for absolute clarity, done so permanently,” NMPF said. “We believe the 2015 rule failed to provide regulatory certainty and consistency and exceeded the Agencies’ legal authority under the [Clean Water Act].”  The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 gave the federal government jurisdiction over navigable waters but left the regulation of non-navigable waters to the states. However, over the years, the federal government has continually and wrongfully expanded its authority over these non-navigable waters, according to NMPF.

NMPF said the two agencies need to apply the definitions of the WOTUS rule in ways that are consistent with recent Supreme Court decisions and long-standing farming practices. Re-codifying the regulations that existed before the 2015 rule was developed will provide continuity and certainty for dairy farmers, other regulated entities, states governments, agency staff, and the public, the comments said.

The EPA and ACE should proceed with a notice-and-comment rulemaking process, in which two agencies re-evaluate the definition of WOTUS. NMPF said this must be done to correct the 2015 rule’s lack of clarity on key terms, such as “adjacent,” “floodplain,” and “significant nexus.” Dairy producers must be able to understand what constitutes federally-regulated waters of the United States, so they can better manage water quality on their farms.

With the repeal docket now closed, it is likely that the 2015 rule will be repealed permanently. NMPF will now focus on suggesting modifications to the pre-2015 rule and how it can be changed to provide the necessary clarity and certainty.



CDC Confirms H1N2 in Michigan Residents Exposed to Pigs

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is reporting that Influenza A (H1N2)v has been identified as the strain that sickened two attendees of the Fowlerville Family Fair following exposure to swine. Respiratory samples from ill individuals were sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for additional testing, after initially testing positive for Influenza A at the MDHHS Laboratory last week. This H1N2v strain is similar to the viruses currently circulating in swine.

These are among the first influenza A (H1N2)v virus infections identified in the U.S. in 2018. Two additional cases have been identified in California. None of the patients were hospitalized, and all are recovering from their illness. No human-to-human transmission has been identified to date. Investigation of additional ill fair attendees is ongoing.

Since reporting of novel influenza A viruses began nationally in 2005, only 17 human infections of influenza A (H1N2)v -- including these two Michigan cases -- have been reported to CDC.

Swine influenza is a respiratory disease in pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that regularly circulate among swine. Swine influenza viruses do not usually infect humans, but human infections have been reported. People cannot get swine influenza from eating properly prepared pork or handling pork products -- only from contact with an ill pig.

The fair took place July 23-28, and several pigs from the fair tested positive for swine influenza on July 27.

Symptoms of swine influenza in people are similar to the seasonal flu and can include fever, cough, runny nose, and sometimes body aches, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. On rare occasions, swine influenza in humans can lead to severe diseases, such as pneumonia or death.

Those at higher risk of developing complications if they get swine influenza include children younger than five years of age, people 65 years of age and older, pregnant women and people with certain chronic health issues, such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, weakened immune systems and neurological conditions.



CWT Assists with 2.4 Million Pounds of Cheese and Whole Milk Powder Export Sales

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted six offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture contracts to sell 341,717 pounds (155 metric tons) of Cheddar cheese, and 2.097 million pounds (951 metric tons) of whole milk powder. The product has been contracted for delivery in Asia, Central and South America for the period from August through December 2018.

CWT-assisted member cooperative 2018 export sales total 46 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 12.305 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat) and 31.744 million pounds of whole milk powder to 29 countries on five continents. These sales are the equivalent of 933.560 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.

This activity reflects CWT management beginning the process of implementing the strategic plan approved by the CWT Committee in March. The changes will enhance the effectiveness of the program and facilitate member export opportunities.



Farm Bureau and Farmers Union Call for Swift Farm Bill Passage

The two largest farming groups in the United States today called for swift passage of the farm bill by a congressional conference committee.

Faced with the lowest farm income in 12 years, the presidents of the American Farm Bureau Federation and National Farmers Union are asking Senate and House conferees to move quickly. Everything from commodity price supports to nutrition, soil and water conservation, trade promotion and more depend on swift passage.

“America’s farmers and ranchers persevere even in the toughest times, but the farm economy has gone from bad to worse,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said. “Tariffs and stagnant global demand for commodities have left the agriculture economy in the worst shape we have seen since the farm crisis of the 1980s. Lender surveys and our own experience tell us spring could bring a wave of farm closures unless there’s major improvement in the marketplace.

“Farmers and ranchers need the certainty that the farm bill provides to maintain the food security that all Americans want and need. It is more important than ever that Congress get the job done.”

“Family farmers and ranchers are in need of certainty right now,” said NFU President Roger Johnson. “Low farm prices due to international trade disruptions, commodity market oversupply, and domestic policy uncertainty is putting significant financial strain on farmers. If Congress is to provide real relief and certainty to those who feed, clothe and fuel our nation, as well as continue the important environmental sustainability work and diverse market promotion of past farm bills, they need to pass a strong farm bill before September 30.”

AFBF and NFU, together with more than 150 other organizations, also sent a letter to the Senate and House Agriculture committees asking the farm bill conference committee to pass an on time, five-year farm bill before the September 30 expiration of the 2014 farm bill.