Monday September 21 Ag News

 NEBRASKA CROP PROGRESS AND CONDITION

For the week ending September 20, 2020, there were 6.7 days suitable for fieldwork, according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Topsoil moisture supplies rated 16% very short, 36% short, 47% adequate, and 1% surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 21% very short, 35% short, 43% adequate, and 1% surplus.

Field Crops Report:
Corn condition rated 6% very poor, 9% poor, 21% fair, 44% good, and 20% excellent. Corn dented was 97%, ahead of 88% last year, and near 94% for the five-year average. Mature was 65%, well ahead of 32% last year, and ahead of 47% average. Harvested was 10%, ahead of 2% last year and 4% average.

Soybean condition rated 5% very poor, 8% poor, 21% fair, 49% good, and 17% excellent. Soybeans dropping leaves was 82%, well ahead of 46% last year and 62% average. Harvested was 10%, ahead of 4% average.

Winter wheat planted was 40%, near 42% last year and 43% average. Emerged was 4%, near 7% average.

Sorghum condition rated 4% very poor, 8% poor, 22% fair, 39% good, and 27% excellent. Sorghum coloring was 93%, near 90% last year and 94% average. Mature was 49%, well ahead of 17% last year, and ahead of 36% average. Harvested was 2%, near 3% average.

Dry edible bean condition rated 1% very poor, 2% poor, 9% fair, 70% good, and 18% excellent. Dry edible beans dropping leaves was 85%, ahead of 77% last year. Harvested was 62%, well ahead of 30% last year.

Pasture and Range Report:
Pasture and range conditions rated 11% very poor, 22% poor, 27% fair, 38% good, and 2% excellent.



IOWA CROP PROGRESS & CONDITION
 
A week without measurable rainfall allowed farmers 6.2 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending September 20, 2020, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Field activities included harvesting corn for silage, fall tillage, moving old crop grain stocks, and harvesting corn for grain and soybeans.

Topsoil moisture condition rated 12% very short, 29% short, 56% adequate and 3% surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 21% very short, 32% short, 46% adequate and 1% surplus.

Corn was 94% in or beyond dent stage, over 2 weeks ahead of the previous year and 4 days ahead of the 5-year average. Two-thirds of the crop has reached maturity, 3 weeks ahead of last year and over a week ahead of average. Corn harvest for grain reached 4% statewide, 17 days ahead of last year and 5 days ahead of average. Corn condition rated 42% good to excellent, unchanged from the previous week.

Soybeans coloring or beyond advanced to 90%. That is over 2 weeks ahead of last year and 1 week ahead of average. Two-thirds of the soybean crop was dropping leaves or beyond, also over 2 weeks ahead of last year and 1 week ahead of average. Soybean harvest was 7% complete, 17 days ahead of last year and 6 days ahead of average. Farmers in northwest and west central Iowa led the way with over 10% of their soybeans harvested. Soybean condition rated 48% good to excellent.

Alfalfa hay third cutting was 97% complete, a month ahead of last year and over 2 weeks ahead of the 5-year average.

Pasture condition rated 17% good to excellent. Livestock experienced little stress with cooler temperatures.



USDA - Corn 8% Harvested, Soybeans 6% Harvested

After starting out ahead of normal, the U.S. corn harvest fell slightly behind the five-year average by the end of last week, according to the USDA NASS weekly Crop Progress report released on Monday.

NASS estimated that, as of Sunday, Sept. 20, 8% of U.S. corn had been harvested, 2 percentage points behind the average pace of 10%. This was despite corn development continuing to run ahead of average with 95% of the crop dented, ahead of the average of 90%, and 59% of the crop mature, 10 percentage points ahead of the average of 49%.  NASS estimated that 61% of the corn crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday, up 1 percentage point from 60% the previous week.

In its first soybean harvest report of the season, NASS estimated that 6% of the crop was harvested as of Sunday, ahead of 2% last year and equal to the five-year average. Like corn, soybean development continued ahead of normal with 59% of the crop dropping leaves, 9 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 50%.  The condition of soybeans remained unchanged at 63% good-to-excellent.

Spring wheat harvest inched toward completion last week, moving ahead 4 percentage points to reach 96% complete as of Sunday, still equal to the five-year average.

Meanwhile, winter wheat planting continued to run slightly ahead of the normal pace, at 20% complete as of Sunday compared to the average of 19%. Three percent of winter wheat had emerged, 1 percentage point ahead of the five-year average of 2%.

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Nebraska Farm Bureau Releases Cattle Markets Task Force Report

The Nebraska Farm Bureau (NEFB) has released the findings and policy recommendations of its Cattle Markets Task Force. The task force was charged with examining current Farm Bureau policy, providing policy recommendations, and providing input on what NEFB’s role should be in addressing concerns regarding cattle markets.

“Nebraska’s cattle industry is the largest segment of Nebraska agriculture and it’s critical to the economic well-being of our state. Listening to the concerns of our cattle producers regarding the challenges in the beef industry, we felt it was vital that we put together a group to do a deep dive on the issues surrounding cattle markets and develop a resource to aid our members in developing our organizational policy,” said Steve Nelson, Nebraska Farm Bureau president.

Over the course of five months, the NEFB Cattle Markets Task Force met online and in person with agriculture economists, cattle organizations, auction barn owners, feedlot managers, restaurant owners, and consultants in order to gain a better understanding of the entire beef supply chain and to develop recommendations for consideration by members as part of Nebraska Farm Bureau’s policy development process.

The group ultimately centered its work around six topics, including fed cattle markets, the Livestock Market Reporting Act, small and medium-sized packing facilities, beef packer market power, risk management and value-added programs, and mandatory country of origin labeling.

“The Nebraska Farm Bureau Cattle Markets Task Force members are to be commended for their work in giving careful and thoughtful consideration to many challenging issues facing the beef industry. We look forward to the delegate discussions on these issues during our annual meeting in December and subsequently the American Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in January where our official organizational policies will be determined,” said Nelson.

The Nebraska Farm Bureau Cattle Markets Task Force report summarizing the group’s findings and recommendations is available on the Nebraska Farm Bureau website at www.nefb.org.  



THISTLE CONTROL
Megan Taylor, NE Extension Educator, Platte Co.

As October approaches and harvest starts, don’t forget about thistles plaguing your pastures.

Fall, specifically October and early November is a key time to chemically control thistles in pastures. More herbicides can be used and the small size of musk thistle seedlings and new growth of Canada thistle is key to effective chemical control. During the season you may have seen thistles in your pastures, if you scout those areas you will most likely find rosettes of musk thistle forming or new Canada thistle growth. While in the rosette stage thistles are more sensitive to herbicides and can be effectively controlled chemically.

There are many herbicides labeled for thistle control. Always read and follow all label directions. The use of tradenames is for educational purposes only and not an endorsement. When choosing your herbicide for spraying thistles, proper identification of the thistles can help make those decisions. Several products are effective across all thistles, but different herbicides have higher efficacies based on the type. For example, Cimaron MAX® is only 80-84% effective on Canada thistle compared to 90-95% effective on Scotch Thistle, so check an efficacy table and your fields before making herbicide choices.

Efficacy ratings show that ForeFront®, Milestone®, Chaparral®, Grazon P&D®, Stinger®, and Tordon 22K® consistently have an 85-95% control response across various thistles. When using Tordon 22K® or Grazon P&D® use extreme caution around other vegetation, especially trees. Both products will kill woody plants. Other products that have good efficacy are 2,4-D mixed with Banvel® or dicamba, but should be sprayed when temperatures are warmer for the highest efficacy. Also Cimaron MAX®, Distinct®, and Overdrive® all consistently have 80-90% control response across various thistles.

Bottom line: if you had thistles this summer and are relying on chemical control, spraying in the fall has more options for control.



Check Stalk Quality of Corn Going into Harvest
Melissa Bartels - NE Extension Educator

Corn fields are turning quickly. Patches of plants are dying early and/or becoming discolored. In some areas of the state, lodging has been reported. Corn plants prioritize making and filling grain. Consequently, plants will cannibalize their own stalk tissue if necessary in order to have the carbohydrates needed to fill grain.

What does this mean? When plants are stressed and leaf area is reduced by drought, disease, and/or mechanical damage such as that caused by hail or wind, the plant will begin taking resources from within itself. This year, over half of the state is in a drought and some fields have been hit hard by leaf diseases such as southern rust which damages the leaf’s ability to retain water as it causes rips in the leaf surface. The loss of leaf area reduces the plant’s photosynthetic machinery which produces carbohydrates. The plant will then begin to cannibalize carbohydrates from the stalk causing the stalk to weaken. Poor stalk quality can cause stalk lodging and breakage, leading to harvest difficulties. This could cause yield loss and create issues of volunteer corn for next year's crops due to ears lost from lodged corn.

It is critical to scout fields to determine which ones might need to be harvested first or earlier to avoid losses due to lodged corn, especially since conditions for stalk rot diseases have been favorable these past few weeks.

A push or pinch test can be used to determine the incidence of stalk rot/weakness within your own field. This can be done by walking through the field and randomly selecting a minimum of 100 plants, push the plant tops away from you approximately 30 degrees from vertical. Alternatively, you can use a pinch test where you pinch or squeeze the internodes of the lower stalk between your thumb and first finger. If the plants do not snap back to vertical when released or the stalk is crushed when pinched, the stalk may have been compromised by a stalk rot disease. If more than 10% of plants exhibit stalk rot symptoms, it is recommended to harvest affected fields first to reduce the chance of plants lodging prior to harvest. When an infected stalk is split horizontally it will appear discolored and hollow as the pith rots away, leaving the vascular bundles strands loose.

Stalk Rot
Almost every field in Nebraska has stalk rot diseases to some extent. The pathogens causing stalk rot diseases are considered to be opportunistic, meaning they primarily infect injured, stressed, or dead/dying plants. In Nebraska there are several fungi that can cause stalk rot diseases in stressed plants.

The first visible sign of a stalk rot disease is leaves may become discolored, turning brown or gray prior to senescence. When an infected stalk is split horizontally, the decay causes discoloration of the inner pith tissues. The pith or fleshy part of the inside of the stem will pull away from the stalk rind leaving a weakened hollow tube with loose vascular bundle strands.

Anthracnose stalk rot (Colletotrichum graminicola) causes shiny black splotchy lesions visible on the outer stalk in advanced stages of the disease. This pathogen can also cause a top dieback that occurs in nodes above the ear.

Fusarium stalk rot (Fusarium verticillioides) may cause brown streaking on the outside of stalks. It is common to see discoloration inside the stalk varying from white, salmon, to light pink. Crown rot can develop inside the lower stalk below the soil line.

Gibberella stalk rot (Fusarium graminearum) is one of the most common stalk rots in the Corn Belt and can cause dark streaks on the lower internodes of the stalks. Visible black reproductive structures can be scratched off. When the stalk is split this pathogen will cause dark pink to red discoloration inside the stalk.

Charcoal rot (Macrophomina phaseolina) is more common during drought conditions and therefore is more likely to affect corn in pivot corners or dryland fields. Copious amounts of tiny black, round structures are formed inside the stalk, giving it a gray to black appearance, like charcoal dust.

Physoderma brown spot (Physoderma maydis) does not cause a true stalk rot, fungal spores accumulate and infect at nodes. This weakens the nodes causing them to become brittle and snap when pushed. More commonly seen is the yellow to brown lesions on the leaf blades and black lesions on the midrib and leaf sheath. Infection usually occurs earlier in the season V3-V8. Severity of the disease on leaves and stalks are often unrelated. Hybrids vary in their sensitivity to both the leaf disease and node rot.

At this point in the season nothing can be done to stop stalk rot, the affected stalks will continue to degrade and weaken over time. By identifying which fields have the highest percent of stalk rot and adjusting harvesting plans you can work to minimize your losses. For fields with chronic stalk rot issues, it might be useful to visit with your seed company rep about their current hybrid ratings for stalk rot diseases.



DON’T TORCH YOUR COMBINE
Simple maintenance can greatly reduce your risk.

Fire in a combine is the last thing farmers want to encounter during harvest.
While fall fires can’t be totally eliminated, a few precautionary steps can greatly reduce the likelihood that fire will ignite inside in your combine or the field you’re harvesting.
“As a 38-year volunteer firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician, I know an uptick in fire calls occurs every fall,” John Wilson, retired University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Educator, says. “If you didn’t get your combine thoroughly cleaned out after last year’s harvest, make sure you clean it before going to the field this year. One of the main causes of combine fires is accumulated residue that ignites when a combine belt or pulley heats up due to friction with crop residue. It takes time to do a thorough cleaning but having a combine fire in the middle of harvest is about as bad as it gets.”
Depending on how much residue builds up in the combine during harvest, cleaning it periodically through harvest is also advisable.
Thorough maintenance should include adequate lubrication and greasing ALL grease zerks as it’s easy to miss one here and there. Inspecting wiring will help reveal any hazardous damage to wiring insulation that requires repair or replacement.
“Damaged wires can be an ignition source for dust or accumulated residue,” Wilson says. “Also, you don’t often see sparks coming from a combine exhaust. However, installing a spark arrestor on the combine exhaust system is an inexpensive step to prevent that hazard.”
Before it’s time to go to the field, it’s advisable to have two fire extinguishers in the combine. One should be in the cab. The other should be located in an area where it can be accessed from the ground. For extra fire insurance, carry a fire extinguisher in the semi cab or tractor cab used with the grain cart.
Before you need an extinguisher, inspect it to verify it’s been serviced and is ready to use. If your extinguisher needs servicing, it may be just as economical to replace it rather than service it.
Before fire breaks out, it’s also helpful to review the steps for using it to extinguish a flame.
“PASS is the acronym I learned when using an extinguisher,” Wilson says. “To use the extinguisher, pull the safety pin and aim it at the base of the fire. You don’t want to shoot over the top of the fire or in the middle of the flame. Aiming at the middle can cause flames to push outward and add to the flame rather than putting it out.”
After aiming the extinguisher at the base of the flame, squeeze the handle to discharge the contents. As it empties, sweep back and forth along the base of the fire. Pull, Aim, Squeeze and Sweep.
Fires that occur during refueling a combine are not common, but they do happen. Farmers shouldn’t hesitate to turn off the combine engine and give it about 15 minutes to cool before they start refilling it. This practice is easy to sidestep but doing so could result in great loss to equipment, crop and human life.
“Shutting off that engine is one of the key practices for avoiding a combine fire,” Wilson says. “Of course, if you smoke, don’t do it during refueling.”
An often-overlooked harvest precaution is the practice of having a tractor and disc nearby to help manage fire in a field.
“Many farmers may not recognize the value of having a tractor hooked up to a disc in a nearby field or in a grassy waterway in an adjacent field,” Wilson says. “However, if fire breaks out in the field during harvest, having the equipment close by allows for quickly creating a fire line and protecting a standing crop and harvest equipment.”
Wilson suggests that farmers consider start harvesting crop starting on the downwind side of a field. If a fire should occur, the wind will push the fire away from the standing crop.
“If the field is hilly, it’s helpful to start on top of the hill and work down because fire will race uphill much faster than it goes downhill,” Wilson says. “It’s helpful to do everything you can to protect standing crop.”
While virtually every farmer carries a cell phone, some fields may be in areas where reception is poor or not available. Because fire spreads so rapidly in a tinder-dry field, the few seconds required to call for help could make a great difference in the amount of damage or loss to crop and equipment.
“Before you go to the field, be sure you can provide specific location details to the 911 dispatcher if you need to call for help,” Wilson says. “It’s not uncommon to have difficulty to provide an address or specific directions to some fields. When an emergency occurs, the heat of the moment may make it difficult to come up with county road numbers or other important landmarks.”
Regardless of where a field is located, call 911 if fire breaks out. Even if the smell or sight of smoke is coming from a combine, calling for help, which may take time to arrive, is the first important step.
Keeping your distance from a smoking combine or one that’s on fire may be challenging but could save your life.
“If you smell or see smoke, you need to know where it’s coming from,” Wilson says. “If you see flame, you need to be within 15 or 20 feet of the fire to use a fire extinguisher.  That’s why it’s important to get fire trucks on the way. Often, firefighters with protective clothing and a large volume of water can do a much better job of preventing or putting out a combine fire.”
If the operator smells smoke or sees smoke coming from the combine, it’s helpful to take the machine out of the field or to a grassy waterway whenever possible to avoid setting residue or crop on fire. If that means driving the combine a half mile to reach the road, it may not be feasible or safe to do so.
“Always err on the side of caution,” Wilson says. “It’s better to lose equipment than to be injured or lose your life.”
Due to significant drought in 2020, many fields in the region are seriously dry, setting the stage for fires during harvest.
“This year, it’s possible that heat from a catalytic converter on a vehicle could set grass on fire,” Wilson says. “Sparks of any kind right now could result in a major fire. The first step is to do a thorough job of cleaning and maintaining your combine. That will greatly reduce the potential for problems down the road.”



2020 AFAN/WSA Annual Stakeholders Meeting Slated for Monday, Nov. 23

The Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska (AFAN) and We Support Agriculture (WSA) will hold their joint 2020 annual stakeholders meeting Monday, November 23 at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln.

The meeting will open at 8:30 a.m. with coffee and conversation time, followed at 9:00 a.m. by the formal meeting. All AFAN and WSA partners and stakeholders are invited. A luncheon will follow and is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.

A panel discussion at 10:30 a.m. will include young producers involved in the areas of the beef, poultry, dairy and pork production.

The AFAN/WSA meeting will include year-end reports by Steve Martin, executive director of AFAN and WSA and Rylee Stoltz, livestock program coordinator with AFAN. The reports will present the year’s accomplishments and provide a look into future opportunities for both organizations.

Also included in the meeting will be the presentation of the Sand County Foundation’s 2020 Nebraska Leopold Conservation Award to Ed and Leta Olson of Craig, Nebraska.

Anyone interested in attending the annual meeting to learn more about AFAN and WSA and the future of animal agriculture in Nebraska must RSVP to Mindy Rix by November 16 by calling (402) 421.4472 or by emailing mindyr@a-fan.org.



13th ANNUAL NEBRASKA WIND & SOLAR CONFERENCE POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19

The 13th Annual Nebraska Wind & Solar Conference scheduled for November 9-10, 2020, has been postponed due to COVID-19 based restrictions and health risks. The Planning Committee feels the face-to-face interaction and networking between participants and conference exhibitors and sponsors is an important component of the annual conference. “The safety of our participants and the need for our participants to freely visit with each other were the primary considerations,” said Conference Chair John Hansen.

The next annual Nebraska Wind & Solar Conference will be held on November 8-10, 2021, at the Lincoln Cornhusker Marriott.

The Planning Committee is also working to develop virtual outreach opportunities to share information about the issues and progress within the industry. “There are many exciting developments going on in both the wind and solar industries,” Conference Chairman John Hansen said.

The Planning Committee encourages everyone wanting more information on the wide range of issues facing wind and solar energy development to visit the Conference website at www.nebraskawsc.com. The website includes an extensive library of recent presentations from leading state and nationwide industry experts as well as past Conference presentations. Past expert presentations can be found under “Resources” and are organized by year and topic on the website. The Planning Committee urges you to take full advantage of the resources our website has to offer.

Details regarding virtual outreach and the 2021 Conference will be posted on the conference website as they develop. To sign-up for email updates, please visit the Conference website.

The Planning Committee thanks everyone for their past support and looks forward to seeing you next year.



Northeast and Midwest community college partners join forces with NRCS; sign national MOU

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) is partnering with Northeast Community College and eight Midwest community colleges to support hands-on student learning in the field, to develop future conservation-minded farmers and ranchers, and to cultivate more graduates interested in pursuing careers with the federal agency.

On Monday, representatives of the Community College Alliance for Agriculture Advancement (C2A3) and NRCS held a virtual ceremony to celebrate the formal signing of a national memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a cooperative framework to enhance and accelerate training and adoption of technologies and best practices for improved agricultural productivity and natural resources stewardship.

“Community colleges educate nearly half of all under-graduate students in this country and yet, our agriculture programs have been an underutilized resource within USDA,” said Dr. Tracy Kruse, C2A3 board chair and associate vice president of development and external affairs at Northeast. “A majority of our students are the producers in fields. They are technicians in our local co-ops and implement dealers; and they are our agronomy and seed sales professionals. Through these efforts, we hope more of them will also become the soil health specialists and conservationists for local NRCS offices.”

All C2A3 member institutions, including Northeast, have college farms and are able to utilize their land resources for the implementation of conservation practices on the ground to help educate and inform students and producers. The goal of the cooperative agreement between the entities is to not only accelerate the adoption of conservation practices through the education of current, two-year agriculture students, but to also disseminate information to the broader community through field days and other college events and partnerships.

In addition, the colleges are utilizing the network to share resources, knowledge and expertise. Collectively, they are working on a grant through USDA’s North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, which seeks to increase awareness, knowledge and skills related to soil health, cover crops and no till agriculture. The development of content such as videos and case studies for the classroom is a critical component to help illustrate concepts of profitability, sustainability and productivity. These assets will be shared across the network for the benefit of all member institutions.

Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, said during Monday’s event, ideas that come from partnerships like C2A3 and NRCS will assist he and his colleagues in Washington make decisions in a time of limited financial resources as they write the next Farm Bill.

“You’d be surprised how many members of the committee don’t have any real feedback from the rural world in terms of what we’re doing with these programs. And hopefully by doing things like this we can provide more of that to our committee members,” Peterson said. “I think we’re going to have to change things in agriculture going forward with concerns about climate change and water quality and all of these other issues are going to have to be addressed because our urban and suburban colleagues are demanding it. … I just want as much information as I can have as we’re making these decisions and what (C2A3 colleges) are doing is going to help us get them.”     

“Through this partnership, NRCS and the member institutions are also developing local plans to address regional and statewide challenges as well as support student internships and other training opportunities for college faculty, NRCS employees and producers,” said Dr. Leah Barrett, president of Northeast Community College. “This MOU provides the necessary framework to work together on common needs from a national perspective, while also providing the flexibility to address local concerns.”

The C2A3 collaboration was born out of a mutual desire to provide more ongoing education, training and demonstration projects to future farm producers and agricultural service providers with the goal of improving the health, and therefore the long-term productivity, resilience and sustainability of the soil.

Kevin Norton, acting chief of NRCS, said the partnership demonstrates the power of public and private partnerships. He said it brings together the federal government with community colleges that represent the geography, landscape and agriculture where they’re located.

“NRCS recognizes the unique niche that these colleges play across rural landscapes all over the country, particularly those colleges that have actual working farms.”

Over the course of the next five-years, NRCS will develop a conservation plan for each member college that has land and address their resource concerns. After the plans are developed, the agency will assist the colleges in installing conservation practices, in addition to hosting field days, which Norton said demonstrates to all ag producers how conservation works and how it can make a difference on the land.

“Today’s memorandum of understanding establishes a collaborative framework for cooperative activities intended to enhance and accelerate training, the adoption of new technologies that would improve agriculture production and the natural resource stewardship in the geography around your campus and the agriculture producers tied to that,” he said.” “Over the next five-years, we’re going to focus this collaboration with joint pursuits – things that work for both of us around soil health.”

That includes looking into new opportunities related to water quality, such as keeping nutrients that are applied on the field, reducing sediment delivery, and other strategies.

“We’re (also) going to expand opportunities with the state conservationists and college presidents – we’re going to expand with what they are already doing and take a look at new curriculum opportunities where we can work to better build a career for your students if they look to pursue a career within federal service and conservation,” he said. … “We can do more together than we can do individually.”   

In addition to Northeast Community College, C2A3 member institutions include Central Lakes College (Staples, Minn.), Clark State Community College (Springfield, Ohio), Illinois Central College (Peoria, Ill.), Ivy Tech Community College (Lafayette, Ind.), Northcentral Technical College (Wausau, Wis.), Northeast Iowa Community College (Calmar, Iowa), North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton, N.D.), and Richland Community College (Decatur, Ill.).

For more information on C2A3, visit the organization’s website at agalliance.net.



Digital Agriculture Team launches new "FarmBits" podcast

The digital agriculture revolution is constantly presenting growers with new technology offering improvements in efficiency, sustainability, or profit on the farm, but making sense of new technologies can be challenging. Producers need current and honest information about these technologies in order to best integrate them into resilient strategies. To meet this need, the Nebraska Extension Digital Agriculture group is launching a podcast titled "FarmBits" to discuss the new innovations, the trends, and the value in digital agriculture.

"FarmBits" will explore topics in digital agriculture through interviews with academic experts, farmers, and industry specialists. The podcast will seek to present information about digital agriculture in a way that is accessible to non-experts with a well-rounded perspective that takes the shine off of new technologies. The podcast will be hosted by Samantha Teten and Jackson Stansell, graduate students in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at UNL and members of the Nebraska Extension Digital Agriculture team.  

"While our research is in the field of precision agriculture, we arefar from experts in the vast majority of digital agriculture topics," said Teten. "Our goal is to learn alongside our listeners through interviews withthe digital ag experts that we will have on the show."

In the first podcast episode, listeners will be introduced to the podcast and oriented to the importance of understanding digital agriculture through an interview with Laura Thompson and Joe Luck. Laura Thompson, co-coordinator of the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network, was the champion behind the "FarmBits"podcast and is a trailblazer in digital agriculture, particularly how it can be applied to on-farm research.  

Dr. Joe Luck is an associate professor in the Biological Systems Engineering Department and the Extension precision agriculture specialist. Luck's research has touched topics ranging from multi-hybrid planting to sprayer optimization. "The future of the agriculture industry is digital agriculture," Thompson stated. "There is a benefit to getting involved and gaining some familiarity with which technologies are going to fit in your operation and how these might benefit you, which ones are going to be the right ones to adopt for your particular setting."  

After the first episode, "FarmBits" will dive into the topic of harvest through episodes discussing yield mapping and harvest logistics, yield data quality and calibration, and managing yield data.

The "FarmBits" podcast will be released weekly each Thursday beginning on October 1st. It can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and many other podcast providers. If you're interested in learning more about digital agriculture and need some entertainment in the cab this fall, you can subscribe to the podcast on any of the major podcast services so that you don't miss any new content that gets released. The "FarmBits" team can be reached on twitter @NEDigitalAg or over e-mail at NEDigitalAgTeam@365groups.unl.edu with any questions or new content suggestions.

 

ICA: CFAP 2 Payments exclude cows and bulls

On Friday, September 18, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2 (CFAP 2) for eligible farmers.

For beef cattle producers, the CFAP 2 payment will be $55/head on eligible cattle, which does not include bulls and cows. The calculation will be based on the producer’s highest one-day inventory of eligible cattle between April 16 and August 31, 2020.

In order to qualify, the farmer (or legal farm entity) must have had an average adjusted gross income (AGI) of less than $900,000 for tax years 2016-2018, or earn more than 75% of their AGI from farming, ranching or forestry-related activities if it exceeds $900,000. Farmers must also comply with conservation provisions and may not have a controlled substance violation. Additional restrictions apply to foreign-owned farms.

Historically, the cattle industry has not received direct payments because of financial losses, but the extraordinary drop in cattle prices in 2020 has left many farmers and ranchers economically vulnerable. CFAP 2 is a successor to CFAP, announced in April, which provided some assistance, but left many gaps for those affected by Covid-19 related market fluctuations and plant closures.

Many other Iowa commodities are eligible for payments under CFAP 2, including corn, soybeans, hogs, turkeys, broilers, eggs and dairy. Combined payments may not exceed $250,000 per farmer or $750,000 for farm entities that meet certain requirements.

“Many Iowa Cattlemen’s Association members will benefit from CFAP 2,” says Cora Fox, ICA’s Director of Government Relations. “However, the exclusion of breeding stock is disappointing. We understand USDA's rationale in targeting assistance for livestock producers who were more likely to suffer realized damages due to market disruptions. However, we recognize that the cow-calf sector may experience significant impacts related to COVID-19 in the near future and we must be prepared to provide them with support as needed. We will continue to advocate for additional support for our producers.”

Non-alfalfa hay and cover crops are also excluded from the program.

CFAP 2 applications will be accepted by USDA’s Farm Service Agency between September 21 and December 11, 2020.



Sign Up Today for Sept. 23rd Virtual Seminar for Land Professionals

The Iowa Chapter of American Society of Farm Manager and Rural Appraisers (ASFMRA) and the REALTORS® Land Institute (RLI) encourage all interested parties to sign up today for the Sept. 23rd virtual seminar from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT.

All parties interested in farmland are invited to join these two membership organizations for a six hour seminar packed with valuable information for land professionals. Topics discussed include Ag Law, Weather Outlook, Drone in Ag, 1031 Exchanges and the Iowa Farm Economy. The RLI Iowa Chapter September Land Trends and Values survey results will also be presented.

All who interested are invited to register today online at https://www.asfmra.org/iowa/events/recentcommunityeventsdashboard.  



DOT Extends Hours of Service Waivers for Livestock, Feed

The Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration extended its COVID-19 emergency declaration for Hours of Service waivers for the transportation of livestock and livestock feed through the end of the year.

HOS governs the amount of time commercial truckers can drive their loads and when they are required to rest between drives.

Farm groups praised the decision for ensuring the continuity of the U.S pork and other livestock supply chain as an essential element of the nation's food delivery infrastructure.



NMPF Offers Toolbox to Dairy Farmers as Latest CFAP Round Signup Starts Today

Following USDA’s announcement last week of a new round of disaster assistance to agricultural producers, with signup beginning today, the National Milk Producers Federation has created a resource guide to help farmers understand and apply for the program. The toolbox, part of NMPF’s ongoing service to the dairy community during the coronavirus crisis, includes a breakdown of what the latest Coronavirus Food Assistance Program includes for dairy, as well as a link to relevant application resources.

“Helping dairy farmers understand complex government programs to gain their full benefits is especially important during this challenging time,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “The best way to do that is to be there at the beginning, and we hope farmers will find these resources useful as they consider their options, starting today.”

Highlights of the so-called CFAP 2.0 include:
    A dairy payment amounting to $1.20-per-hundredweight on a farm’s production during the last nine months of 2020. Dairy payments will be based on actual milk production from April 1 to Aug. 31, 2020. Milk production for Sept. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020, will be estimated by FSA, using daily average production from the April-August base period of known production.
    100% of the payment will be made once a farm’s eligibility is determined, meaning there will be no 20% holdback as with earlier assistance.
    For dairy beef, producers are eligible for cattle inventory payment on bull calves and dairy steers, but not for breeding stock. The payment is $55-per-head on eligible cattle in inventory on a date between April and the end of August selected by the producer.
    Significantly, this round’s payment limitation provision has been expanded to include trusts and estates for both rounds of CFAP payments, meaning those who were disadvantaged by restrictive trust-related payment interpretations in the first round will have their situation resolved for that round as well as in the latest tranche of aid. The application of direct attribution is also modified so payment limits won’t be reduced based on ownership shares, providing more equitable support to dairy farmers of various ownership structures.

A full range of coronavirus-related materials to help guide dairy producers, processors and allied businesses is available at nmpf.org/coronavirus. NMPF also has set up a separate webpage dedicated to resources to help dairy farmers struggling through natural disasters. That’s at nmpf.org/disaster-resources.



Congress Must Leave Farmers and Ranchers Out of Political Fight

The continuing resolution scheduled to be voted on in the House of Representatives this week does not include a replenishment of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). The $30 billion CCC fund is used, in part, to provide assistance to farmers and ranchers in times of economic emergencies.

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall says:

“We’re disappointed that Congress has not reached an agreement on replenishing the Commodity Credit Corporation. For years, both parties have come together to ensure the CCC provides a safety net for America’s farmers and ranchers. A fully funded CCC is as important as ever as farmers are suffering through a pandemic, trade imbalances and severe weather.

“The impact of the CCC is far reaching. Without immediate CCC replenishment, programs laid out in the farm bill, including conservation and rural development, as well as supplemental funding for nutrition programs, are all at risk. We strongly encourage members of Congress to put their differences aside in order to address the needs of rural America.”