Undeniably Dairy Experience
Hannah Guenther, NE Extension Educator, Cuming County
Did you know that the only age group to get the recommended servings of dairy each day is 1-3 year olds? A study done in 2010 found that only 32% of adults get enough calcium. I bet if I were to go around town and ask adults how many servings of dairy they needed each day, most of them would be able to give the correct response of 3 cups. We have been constantly reminded that we need to get our 3 cups of dairy each day, but why aren’t we getting them? The dairy industry has been hit hard recently with the rise of milk alternatives and poor publicity. I partnered with Midwest Dairy to hopefully shed light on the positives of dairy including nutrition, sustainability, and debunking some circulating myths. I toured 3 dairies around Nebraska, purchased their dairy products, and then made recipes which were then shared on my Instagram page (@feedlotsofpeople). My grant came to a close last week and today I am going to share with you what I learned from my Undeniably Dairy Experience.
Sustainability
My first stop on my Dairy Grant was to Clear Creek Organics in Spalding, Nebraska. This family operated, diversified farm produces dairy products like cultured butter, cheeses, and ice cream. They also specialize in pork and vegetables. It was fascinating being at an organic farm and one thing I learned there was how dairies are so sustainable. Bob shared with me that when they make the cheese all the whey is served to their swine and he told me that “the best pork is fed whey”. He also uses raw milk to fertilize their vegetables and it must be working because they’ve grown multiple 3lb carrots! Dairies also maintain sustainability in their feed. A dairy in Lincoln collects byproducts from Lazlo’s brewery to feed their cows and many dairies with a nearby cereal producer will collect imperfect cereal flakes to feed their cows. They even eat the byproducts that are used to make almond milk. Dairy cows are one of the best examples of recycling!
Nutrition
My next stop on the grant was to Hartington, Nebraska to tour Burbach’s dairy. You may know this name because there are known for serving up their milk in glass bottles and their specialty flavors like caramel latte, candy corn, root beer and banana. As I toured their dairy, we stopped at the milk separator which is how they make the varying percentages of milk. The difference between 1%, fat free, 2%, and whole milk all comes down to the fat percentage. I learned that the nutrients of protein and vitamins stay the same within the varying percentages, the only thing that changes is the fat content of the milk! One cup of 1% milk has 110 calories, 9 grams of protein, 2.5 grams of fat, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 25% of your daily calcium, and 15% of your daily vitamin D. Talk about a nutritious beverage!
How Do You Milk An Almond?
My final stop on my undeniably dairy grant was to the R&D Dairy right outside of West Point! Andy and Cassie took me around the dairy and as we walked we talked about the rise in plant based milk alternatives. Cassie said that she believes a lot of it comes down to marketing. Almond and soymilks have contemporary labels and containers while milk has always stayed the same. They also tote the term “Plant based” in the name, but it is important to look beyond the label. There are only 3 ingredients in milk: milk, vitamin A and vitamin D. Soymilk has 10 total ingredients with the second being sugar! If you are looking for the most natural, affordable, nutritious beverage for you and your family it’s REAL MILK!
Whether its cheese, milk, or yogurt, make sure you are getting your 3 servings of dairy each day.
Farm Service Agency Announces Disaster Relief Payments for Loss of On-Farm Stored Commodities in Nebraska
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Nebraska announced payments now are available to eligible producers who lost stored commodities due to natural disaster in 2018 or 2019. The On-Farm Storage Loss Program (OFSLP) was authorized by the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019.
Administered by FSA, OFSLP provides payments to eligible producers in impacted counties who suffered uncompensated losses of harvested commodities including grains, oilseeds and hay stored in on-farm structures. For producers to receive payment, the losses must be directly related to an eligible disaster event such as floods, tornadoes, snowstorms and wildfires that occurred during 2018 and/or 2019.
“There are producers throughout the country who had their on-farm storage structures damaged or destroyed by natural disasters during 2018 and 2019,” said FSA State Executive Director Nancy Johner. “This disaster recovery program pays eligible producers who lost their on-farm stored commodities. We encourage producers who suffered a loss to contact their county FSA office for program information and application.”
To be eligible for OFSLP, the farm storage structure must be located on the farm, not used for commercial storage and would have, under normal circumstances, maintained the quality of the commodity. Commodities stored in warehouses are not eligible for OFSLP. Program payments are made for the loss of the stored commodity and not for the loss of the structure itself.
Commodities eligible for OFSLP include: barley, canola, chickpeas (large and small), corn, cotton, crambe, dry peas, flaxseed, grain sorghum, hay (alfalfa and all-hay), lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, rapeseed, rice, safflower seed, sesame seed, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat.
FSA uses a national payment rate per commodity, which is based on market or harvest prices. Payments will be calculated using a 75 percent factored FSA payment rate multiplied by the quantity lost while stored.
OFSLP has a payment limitation of $125,000 per entity. Adjusted Gross Income does not apply to OFSLP and an acreage report is not required for this program.
For specific commodity payment rates, to submit an application, or for additional program information, contact your local USDA Service Center.
Nebraska Ethanol Board offers fuel retailer training to install E15 blends and higher
The Nebraska Ethanol Board is urging Nebraska fuel retailers to join fellow Midwest states like Iowa and Minnesota in making E15 fuel more widely available to motorists. A move by the Trump Administration in May promised a surge in year-round sales, but consumers are asking for more availability in Nebraska.
To help fuel retailers learn more about the ease of selling E15, the Board is hosting a free E15 Workshop, including a keynote from Growth Energy’s Sara Brenden. The workshop will take place on Nov. 13 at the Divots Conference Center in Norfolk, Nebraska, from 1:30 to 5 p.m.
Some retailers have been reluctant to retrofit their pumps for E15 due to misconceptions about cost and installation.
“Many gas stations can begin to sell E15 with very little investment in their current infrastructure,” said Roger Berry, administrator for the Nebraska Ethanol Board. “That’s why we are holding this complimentary workshop to debunk the myths and allow retailers to hear firsthand from others who’ve gone through the process.”
Berry explains that the process depends on everyone’s unique circumstances, but it can be as simple as a quick switch.
“If a pre-blended E15 is available at the rack where the fuel retailer sources their fuel, they can often times replace one of their current choices, such as an 89-octane mid-grade that they generally sell very little of, with very little to no investment. The retailer does not have to install the more expensive blender pumps in order to sell E15.”
Additionally, some of cost burdens can be relieved through a grant program from the Nebraska Corn Board, who will award qualifying retailers money for equipment and infrastructure to offer higher blends of ethanol fuel. Jeff Wilkerson, director of market development for the Nebraska Corn Board, is one of several presenters who will highlight ways to make the process simple and affordable.
Brenden, manager of market development at Growth Energy, will begin the workshop with a keynote on Why E15. According to Growth Energy’s website, E15 offers retailers a competitive advantage and can generate more than 40 percent of total gasoline sales at retail. Growth says consumers have driven more than 10 billion miles on E15 and retailers have conducted millions of transactions.
To see the full agenda and to register, please visit the workshop informational page or www.ethanol.nebraska.gov.
This the second in a series of E15 workshops hosted by the Nebraska Ethanol Board. Previous participants have said:
“I found the Fuel Retailer’s E15 Workshop to be fascinating. It was very informative and I learned a lot about the ethanol industry. We already sell some E15, but this inspired me to work towards making the switch to E15 at more locations. I also learned some good ideas to better promote the product and grow our sales.”
“We have been pondering whether to take on E15. With what I learned and will be sharing with my team, I feel pretty strongly that we will be making the move. The E15 workshop was very educational and helpful.”
The workshop is free thanks to the event sponsors: Stanley Petroleum Maintenance, Inc., Nebraska Corn Board, Renewable Fuels Nebraska, Nebraska Fuel Retailers Association, and the Nebraska Ethanol Board. Light snacks and beverages will be provided throughout the day.
The increase in E15 sales will provide an additional value-added market for Nebraska farmers and ethanol plants who are experiencing many challenges this year. Weather, the strain of tariffs that have cut U.S. exports drastically, and the EPA’s indiscriminate approval of small refinery exemptions (SREs) are weighing heavily on the industry. Fuel retailers who offer E15 will not only be driving customers seeking lower costs and environmental change to their stores, they will have a real impact on Nebraska’s farmers and economy, Berry said.
2019 AFAN/WSA Annual Stakeholders Meeting Slated for Monday, Nov. 25
The Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska (AFAN) and We Support Agriculture (WSA) will hold their joint 2019 annual stakeholders meeting Monday, November 25 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 sponsored by the Nebraska Soybean Board is scheduled for noon.
Keynote speaker at the 9:45 a.m. session will be Jana McGuire from The Center for Food Integrity (CFI) whose topic is entitled “Gene Editing: Current Science and Public Viewpoint.” At the close of the luncheon meeting at 1:00 p.m., McGuire will present a bonus session entitled; “Gene Editing/Engage Training.”
The AFAN/WSA meeting will include year-end reports by Steve Martin, executive director of AFAN and WSA and Will Keech, livestock development director 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 2019 Nebraska Leopold Conservation Award to Ryan, Angela and Cheyenne Sundstrom, owners of the Broken Box Ranch in Merrifield.
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 Judy Stauffer by November 18 by calling (402)421.4472 or by emailing judys@a-fan.org.
ICON supports Senators efforts for honest beef labels
The Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska applaud Sen. Jon Tester’s Senate resolution, introduced on Oct. 30, calling on the rest of Congress to “reinstate County-of-Origin labeling for pork and beef to allow consumers to make an informed and free choice about where their food comes from.”
Also, South Dakota Sens. Mike Rounds and John Thune recently introduced the U.S. Beef Integrity Act, which would ensure that no beef that was born, raised or slaughtered in foreign countries could be labeled as a product of the U.S.A.
Currently, country of origin label regulations are required for perishable fruits and vegetables, chicken, lamb, goat, fish and most nuts, but not beef or pork.
Country of origin labels require retailers to let customers know where the commodities originated, giving shoppers more information and allowing producers to compete in a transparent marketplace.
ICON thanks Sens. Tester, Thune and Rounds for their efforts, and urges Nebraska Sens. Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse to insist on honest, country-of-origin labels on beef and pork. Ideally, country of origin labels should be part of the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
Beef and pork from other countries do not need to be labeled by origin and if they are processed or re-packaged in the U.S., the packages are stamped with a USDA symbol, falsely indicating it is a product of the United States.
Meat processors then offer cheaper-sourced beef to consumers as though it were produced by U.S. farmers and ranchers.
It’s a profitable deal for processors and retailers, but a sour deal for Nebraska cattle producers.
Tester is right in saying, "Our farmers and ranchers produce the best agricultural products in the world. Consumers want to buy those American-made products, and country-of-origin-labeling lets producers show their product was raised right here in the U.S., and ensures folks can make informed choices about the food they buy."
Perdue Leads USDA Trade Mission to Mexico
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will lead a trade mission to Mexico November 6-8 to forge new opportunities with U.S. agriculture’s largest bilateral trading partner and second-largest export market. The Secretary will be joined by Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney and more than 100 industry and government representatives.
Accompanying Secretary Perdue are the heads of six state departments of agriculture: Bryan Hurlburt of Connecticut, Celia Gould of Idaho, Joseph Bartenfelder of Maryland, Chris Chinn of Missouri, Doug Goehring of North Dakota, and Derek Sandison of Washington. Other participants include officials from the California, Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Wisconsin and Virginia departments of agriculture and representatives from the following companies and organizations:
Advanced Food Products, LLC, New Holland, PA
Agropur US, Appleton, WI
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, Juneau, AK
Alltech, Nicholasville, KY
Almond Board of California, Modesto, CA
Alvarado Commodities, Inc., San Antonio, TX
Bard Valley Date Growers, Yuma, AZ
Biotwo Corp, Chicago, IL
Blue Diamond Growers, Sacramento, CA
Bridgepathway, Jericho, NY
California Prune Growers Marketing Association, Yuba City, CA
Citation Wine, Issaquah, WA
Dairy Products Inc., Eden Prairie, MN
Food Export USA – Northeast, Philadelphia, PA
Freddie Lee’s Gourmet Sauces, St. Louis, MO
Health Garden USA, Spring Valley, NY
Idaho – Eastern Oregon Onion Committee, Parma, ID
Ikrumah Inc., Jonesboro, GA
Kronos, Glendale Heights, IL
Leprino Foods, Denver, CO
North American Bison, LLC, New Rockford, ND
Northwest Hazelnut Company, Hubbard, OR
Oregon Wine Board, Portland, OR
Panhandle Milling, Denver, CO
Pocas International Corp., Hackensack, NJ
Royal Ridge Fruits, Royal City, WA
Sagamore Spirit Distillery, Baltimore, MD
Southern Cross Growers, Ellijay, GA
Southwest Bison, Amarillo, TX
TAMA Corporation, Doral, FL
TRC Group, Inc, Roseville, CA
U.S. Grains Council, Washington, D.C.
US Rice Producers Association, Katy, TX
U.S. Soybean Export Council, Chesterfield, MO
US Wine Exports Company, Ltd., Ravenna, OH
USA Rice, Arlington, VA
Western United States Agricultural Trade Association, Vancouver, WA
Zafi Beverages & Technologies, Bensenville, IL
ZFS Creston, LLC, Creston, IA
Learn more about USDA trade missions by visiting https://www.fas.usda.gov/topics/trade-missions and following FAS on Twitter at @USDAForeignAg.
Cattlemen Applaud Congressional Request for Avian Predator Management Flexibility
Ethan Lane, National Cattlemen's Beef Association vice president of government affairs, today released the following statement in response to a congressional request for increased regulatory flexibility under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA):
“Whether it is black vultures, ravens, or cormorants, MBTA-protected avian predators pose a significant risk to newborn calves and livestock operations across the country. Despite populations of each species numbered in the millions, current regulations place arbitrary caps on permitted take and incur heavy restrictions on preventative measures necessary to protect farming and ranching operations. We appreciate the leadership of Sen. Boozman and Rep. Bishop and look forward to engaging with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to implement commonsense solutions to this problem.”
Background:
Yesterday, a letter signed by 15 U.S. Senators and 23 Members of Congress, was sent to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Acting Director Margaret Everson. The letter requested that the Service promulgate new rules to increase flexibility in the MBTA permitting process to empower livestock producers to protect their livelihoods. The bipartisan, bicameral letter was led by Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) and Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA-2).
Dairy Checkoff Helps McDonald's Launch New Chocolate Milk
Support from dairy checkoff food scientists has helped McDonald's USA produce a reduced-sugar, low-fat chocolate milk that will be unveiled nationwide in January. The new formulation has 25 percent less sugar than McDonald's previous chocolate milk and is no longer a fat-free product.
Dairy Management Inc., which manages the national dairy checkoff, has had a partnership with McDonald's since 2009. DMI provided on-site support from food scientists and other resources and worked closely with the McDonald's team to create the final product.
USDA Dairy Products September 2019 Production Highlights
Total cheese output (excluding cottage cheese) was 1.08 billion pounds, 2.1 percent above September 2018 but 3.7 percent below August 2019. Italian type cheese production totaled 469 million pounds, 4.0 percent above September 2018 and 0.4 percent above August 2019. American type cheese production totaled 418 million pounds, 1.4 percent below September 2018 and 9.0 percent below August 2019. Butter production was 137 million pounds, 1.2 percent above September 2018 but 0.5 percent below August 2019.
Dry milk products (comparisons in percentage with September 2018)
Nonfat dry milk, human - 123 million pounds, up 7.9 percent.
Skim milk powder - 48.8 million pounds, up 4.6 percent.
Whey products (comparisons in percentage with September 2018)
Dry whey, total - 92.0 million pounds, up 31.5 percent.
Lactose, human and animal - 96.2 million pounds, up 5.3 percent.
Whey protein concentrate, total - 38.9 million pounds, down 7.3 percent.
Frozen products (comparisons in percentage with September 2018)
Ice cream, regular (hard) - 59.3 million gallons, up 4.8 percent.
Ice cream, lowfat (total) - 33.9 million gallons, down 2.8 percent.
Sherbet (hard) - 2.60 million gallons, down 15.6 percent.
Frozen yogurt (total) - 3.78 million gallons, up 4.4 percent.
Rural Leaders Petition President Trump to Uphold Biofuel Promise
A broad coalition of biofuel and farm advocates have sent a letter to the White House this week calling on President Trump to fix a flawed proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which “fails in its mission to reinvigorate farm economies and reopen biofuel plants across America’s heartland.” The letter was signed by 60 organizations, including the American Soybean Association (ASA) and 17 state soybean affiliates. It notes that the EPA’s draft plan undermines the administration’s commitment to restore integrity to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and accurately account for biofuel demand destroyed by Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs).
“The flawed proposal swaps out a critical component of the SRE remedy sought by farmers and the biofuels industry,” wrote farm and biofuel leaders. “Instead of recovering the gallons exempted by EPA, it proposes to recover only those gallons previously recommended for exemption by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This one EPA modification converts a commitment to fully account for SREs into a bureaucratically uncertain path that recovers only one fraction of those gallons lost to SREs and could result in RFS backsliding in 2020. This lack of certainty sabotages efforts toward market recovery and will stop biorefineries from reopening.”
September Sales of U.S. Ethanol and DDGS Decline Yet Remain Robust
Ann Lewis, RFA Research Analyst
November 5, 2019 – U.S. ethanol exports relaxed in September, decreasing 18% to 100.3 million gallons (mg), according to data issued late today by the government and analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). Sales were mixed with exports pressing higher among most major markets.
Canada was the top destination for the fifth consecutive month, scaling 4% higher to 32.4 mg. Exports to Brazil climbed 3% to a three-month high of 17.6 mg. In a departure from recent norms, sales to these two markets alone accounted for half of U.S. ethanol exports in September. U.S. sales were also strong in South Korea (8.9 mg, +55%), Peru (8.1 mg, +37%), the Philippines (6.9 mg, +224%), the United Arab Emirates (6.7 mg, +165%), the Netherlands (6.1 mg, +65%), and Norway (3.2 mg, a 70-month high). Total year-to-date exports of U.S. ethanol stand at 1.10 billion gallons. This implies an annualized export volume of 1.47 billion gallons which, if realized, would be the second-largest volume on record.
September sales of U.S. denatured fuel ethanol rebounded from a drop in August, rising 17% to 58.3 mg. Canada remained the top customer, increasing its denatured imports by 4% to 30.8 mg (representing over half of September shipments). Other top importers included Peru (8.0 mg, +36% and the largest volume since Feb. 2012), the Philippines (6.9 mg, +224%), the United Arab Emirates (6.7 mg, +165%), and South Korea (4.1 mg, +3%).
Shipments of U.S. undenatured fuel ethanol tapered off in September, decreasing 35% to 40.0 mg. However, top customer Brazil expanded its imports by 3% to 17.6 mg (representing 44% of the global market). Other key destinations included the Netherlands (6.1 mg, +65%), South Korea (4.8 mg, +181%), Norway (3.2 mg), and Colombia (2.1 mg). Notably, Cyprus was a first-time buyer of American undenatured fuel ethanol, with 2.0 mg in sales.
Exports of U.S. ethanol for non-fuel, non-beverage purposes scaled back to 2.1 mg, the lowest volume since Dec. 2017. U.S. shippers exported 1.8 mg of undenatured product (down 3.1 mg from August, or -63%), with the bulk distributed between Canada (0.8 mg) and Saudi Arabia (0.6 mg). Most of the denatured ethanol for non-fuel, non-beverage purposes landed in Canada.
The U.S. imported ethanol from Brazil for the fourth consecutive month, with purchases of 58.3 mg. This marks the largest monthly volume of foreign ethanol to enter our borders in over six years (since Aug. 2013). Total year-to-date imports stand at 142.1 mg—quadruple the volume imported last year during the same period. Consequently, the U.S. is on pace to let in more foreign ethanol in 2019 than the last three years combined.
U.S. exports of dried distillers grains (DDGS)—the animal feed co-product generated by dry-mill ethanol plants—moderated from August’s rally, decreasing 6% to 1.05 million metric tons (mt). Shipments to Mexico fell 24% to a six-month low of 136,886 mt, yet the country remained the top destination for U.S. DDGS in September. Vietnam (125,257 mt, +12%), Turkey (94,981 mt, +546%), South Korea (93,283 mt, -17%), and Japan (89,264 mt, +249% and a new record high) round out the top five markets. Year-to-date exports of U.S. DDGS stand at 8.35 million mt. This implies an annualized export volume of 11.13 million mt.
Welcome to the KTIC Agriculture Information blog!!! Check back here for the latest in ag news and information, from local events to international happenings and government reports that affect your operation. Please email with suggestions! -Chad Moyer, Farm Director, KTIC Radio
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Monday, November 4, 2019
Monday November 4 Ag News
NEBRASKA CROP PROGRESS AND CONDITION
For the week ending November 3, 2019, there were 5.1 days suitable for fieldwork, according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Topsoil moisture supplies rated 1 percent very short, 11 short, 84 adequate, and 4 surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 1 percent very short, 9 short, 86 adequate, and 4 surplus.
Field Crops Report:
Corn condition rated 2 percent very poor, 6 poor, 19 fair, 56 good, and 17 excellent. Corn harvested was 60 percent, near 62 last year, and behind 69 for the five-year average.
Soybeans harvested was 94 percent, ahead of 88 last year, and equal to average.
Winter wheat condition rated 1 percent very poor, 5 poor, 22 fair, 53 good, and 19 excellent. Winter wheat emerged was 97 percent, ahead of 92 last year, and near 95 average.
Sorghum condition rated 2 percent very poor, 3 poor, 21 fair, 65 good, and 9 excellent. Sorghum harvested was 54 percent, behind 71 last year and 73 average.
Pasture and Range Report:
Pasture and range conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 4 poor, 16 fair, 60 good, and 19 excellent.
IOWA CROP PROGRESS & CONDITION REPORT
Iowa farmers continued to deal with challenging field conditions as the first accumulating snowfall of the year fell across parts of the State during the week ending November 3, 2019, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Statewide there were 4.4 days suitable for fieldwork. Fieldwork activities included harvesting soybeans and corn for grain, spreading manure, applying anhydrous, baling corn stalks, and fall tillage.
Topsoil moisture condition was rated 0 percent very short, 1 percent short, 81 percent adequate and 18percent surplus. Subsoil moisture condition was rated 0 percent very short, 2 percent short, 81 percent adequate and 17 percent surplus.
Forty-three percent of the corn crop has been harvested for grain, 8 days behind last year and 11 days behind the 5-year average. Producers in the north central district were able to harvest over one-quarter of their expected crop this past week. Moisture content of field corn being harvested for grain was at 21 percent. Corn condition rated 67 percent good to excellent.
Eighty percent of the soybean crop has been harvested, 3 days behind last year and 1 week behind average.
Areas in Iowa are still dealing with muddy feedlots, while others reported no livestock issues this past week.
Corn Harvest Hits Halfway Point; Still Second-Slowest Pace in Past 20 Years
The U.S. corn harvest finally hit the halfway point last week while the soybean harvest was about three-quarters complete as of Sunday, Nov. 3, according to USDA NASS' latest Crop Progress report released Monday.
Nationwide, corn harvest progressed another 11 percentage points last week to reach 52% as of Sunday, 23 percentage points behind the five-year average of 75%. That was further behind the average pace than the previous week when harvest was running 20 percentage points behind the five-year average.
Meanwhile, soybean harvest moved ahead 13 percentage points last week to reach 75% as of Sunday. That was 12 percentage points behind the five-year average of 87%, an improvement from last Monday's report, when harvest was running 16 percentage points behind average.
Winter wheat progress maintained a near-normal pace last week. As of Sunday, 89% of winter wheat was planted, slightly ahead of the five-year average of 88%. Winter wheat emerged was estimated at 71%, just slightly behind the five-year average of 74%. Winter wheat condition was estimated at 57% good to excellent, up 1 percentage point from 56% the previous week.
Sorghum harvested reached 78%, ahead of the five-year average of 72%. Cotton harvested was estimated at 53%, also ahead of the average pace of 51%.
Register today for the "Increasing Dairy Profitability" webinar series
Kim Clark, NE Dairy Extension Educator
We are hosting an “Increasing Profitability Webinar Series” the first three Tuesday’s at 12:00 noon CDT in November.
November 5: Lameness and Profitability by Dr. Jan Shearer
November 12: Maximizing Income over Feed Costs by Dr. Victor Cabrera
November 19: Spores and Milk Quality by Dr. Andreia Bianchini
Register for the webinars at https://go.unl.edu/profitabiltywebinar. After you register, you will receive an email to join the webinar. The link to join the webinar is the same for each week.
We will be recording and archiving each webinar on dairy.unl.edu.
Iowa Beef Center Offers Baleage Information as Winter Forage Option
Wet conditions have created significant challenges this year for cattle producers who want to put up hay for winter forage needs. Shorter days and cooler fall temperatures add to the challenge of putting up dry hay.
According to Iowa State University Extension and Outreach specialists, producers who still need to put up hay this fall may want to consider making baleage as an option for dealing with cold and wet weather conditions. Denise Schwab, extension beef specialist, Brian Dougherty, extension ag engineer, and Brian Lang, extension field agronomists, provide directions on making high quality baleage in an Iowa Beef Center article published Nov. 1.
Making baleage is a method of preserving forage where bales are made at a higher moisture content than dry hay and then sealed in plastic wrap for storage. The high moisture level and airtight environment causes the forage to ferment.
The time needed to cure forage for baleage is drastically reduced compared to production of dry hay, thus reducing the impacts of weather on harvest. This is a significant advantage when trying to harvest forages in conditions that are poor for making dry hay.
The specialists say that producers may be able to use existing equipment for the production and feeding of baleage. One question that often comes up is whether or not a conventional baler can be used for making baleage. The answer is that it depends on the baler. Some newer balers can achieve sufficient bale density for making quality baleage. It is best to consult with the equipment manufacturer if you have specific questions about using your baler for making baleage.
The next equipment decision a producer needs to make is how to wrap the bales in plastic. Bales can be wrapped individually on a bale wrapping table or they can be wrapped in-line with a ‘tube’ wrapper. A third option is to place the bales into individual bags that can be sealed by hand.
The entire article, Baleage Is an Option for Dealing with Wet Fall Harvest Conditions, includes details on making baleage, equipment needs and tips from the specialists for making high quality baleage and feeding considerations. It is posted on the Iowa Beef Center website... http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/news/WetHarvestBaleageOption2019.html. For additional information see the Iowa Beef Center publication "Making the Switch to Baleage."
Monthly Webinar Looks at Grazing Cover Crops Integrated into Row Crops
Iowa Learning Farms will host a webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 12 p.m. about the research being done at Iowa State University on grazing cover crops.
Cover crops provide many benefits ranging from reducing soil erosion and building soil organic matter to nutrient cycling and scavenging. Another additional benefit they offer is as an additional forage resource.
During the webinar ISU Extension and Outreach specialists Erika Lundy, extension beef specialist, and Rebecca Vittetoe, extension field agronomist, will share what they’ve learned from the ongoing Iowa State research looking at integrating cattle, crops and cover crops. Lundy’s current extension and research programs are focused on beef cattle nutrition and forage management to improve profitability on the farm level. Vittetoe focuses on the agronomic side with field and forage crop production and integrated pest management with a special emphasis on plant pathology.
Feed expenses continue to be half the cost of production of a beef cattle enterprise. With cover crops growing across the state to protect our soil and waters, then adding cattle to graze those green forage acres is another opportunity to capitalize on the benefits that cover crops can provide. Lundy said, “One of our primary goals with this research was to answer the question ‘if we graze cover crops, do we still have the soil health benefits that we know we get from incorporating cover crops into row crop acres?’ With the results we are generating from this research, we think the answer is, ‘Yes!’”
A Certified Crop Adviser board approved continuing education unit (1 CEU: Crop Management) is available for those who are able to watch the live webinar. Information for submitting your CCA/CPAg/CPSS/CPSC number to earn the credit will be provided at the end of the presentation.
To watch, go to www.iowalearningfarms.org/page/webinars and click the link to join the webinar shortly before 12 p.m. on Nov. 20, to download the Zoom software and log in option. The webinar will be recorded and archived on the ILF website for watching at any time at https://www.iowalearningfarms.org/page/webinars.
Rural Leaders Ask President Trump to Uphold Biofuel Promise
A broad coalition of biofuel and farm advocates today sent a letter to the White House calling on President Trump to fix a flawed proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency, which “fails in its mission to reinvigorate farm economies and reopen biofuel plants across America’s heartland.” The letter was signed by 60 organizations, including the Renewable Fuels Association. It notes that the EPA’s draft plan undermines the administration’s commitment to restore integrity to the Renewable Fuel Standard and accurately account for biofuel demand destroyed by small refinery exemptions (SREs).
“The flawed proposal swaps out a critical component of the SRE remedy sought by farmers and the biofuels industry,” wrote farm and biofuel leaders. “Instead of recovering the gallons exempted by EPA, it proposes to recover only those gallons previously recommended for exemption by the U.S. Department of Energy. This one EPA modification converts a commitment to fully account for SREs into a bureaucratically uncertain path that recovers only one fraction of those gallons lost to SREs and could result in RFS backsliding in 2020. This lack of certainty sabotages efforts toward market recovery and will stop biorefineries from reopening.”
Better Than Expected Fall
Stephen R. Koontz, Dept of Ag and Resource Economics, Colorado State University
Fed cattle, feeder cattle, and calf cash prices have all been stronger than expected through this fall. Live cattle and feeder cattle futures contract prices have also shaken off the pessimism of abundant supplies compounded by the unexpected closure of the Tyson beef plant in southwest Kansas. How did the market turn this corner?
There has been the standard discussion of timely marketing of fed cattle, slaughter weights being modestly behind last year's, packer's running substantial fed cattle slaughter on Saturdays, and other supply focused points. What is being discussed less in the strong retailer and, by definition, consumer effects? Packers margins have been very strong in August and September, and likely October, approaching $500 per head. These are the live-to-wholesale beef price spreads. This value is much higher than other months and much higher than prior year highs. This is, of course, due in part to the plant closure. But it is interesting that the Live-to-Retail price spread has moved little in these same two months. The live-to-retail spread is up only less than 2-3%. The retailer margin or the wholesale-to-retail spread has declined sharply. Again, the live-to-wholesale spread is up, the live-to-retail spread is even, so it is the retailer that has taken a chunk out of their margin.
Where did this go or what is the retailer paying more for? The boxed beef compositive value increased almost $30/cwt in a three-week period prior to Labor Day. The cut that was the biggest mover was loin price: increasing $200/cwt. The ribeye increased about $150/cwt and remains strong into the rib roast holiday season. Other primal cuts are both positive and negative, so it is the middle-meats and steak cuts that the retailer is driving. Finally, an interesting thing that has yet to be explained is the strength of the Choice-Select spread - the USDA Choice grade premium or the Select grade discount. The Choice-Select spread has normal seasonal strength in spring months and then as Choice supplies increase over summer then the premium normally fades. The Choice-Select spread has yet to show anything other than modest and temporary weakness this year. The spread is currently better than +$25/cwt and has been that way since June. A typical Choice-Select spread for this time of year is much closer to $10/cwt. Thus, it is clearly the retailer that has helped the cattle market turn the corner on any pessimism from summer supplies and slaughter disruption. And there does not appear to be any push-back from the consumer.
2019-20 National FFA Officer Team Elected at the 92nd National FFA Convention & Expo
Students from Montana, Virginia, Puerto Rico, New Mexico, Oregon and Ohio have been elected by delegates throughout the United States to serve on the 2019-20 National FFA Officer team.
Kolesen McCoy, an agribusiness and applied economics major at Ohio State, was elected national president.
Kourtney Lehman, an agricultural business management major at Oregon State University, was elected national secretary.
Lyle Logemann, an agricultural education major at Eastern New Mexico University, was elected western region vice president.
Tess Seibel, a nursing major at James Madison University, was elected eastern region vice president.
Mamie Hertel, a financial engineering major at Montana State University, was elected central region vice president.
Yomar Roman, an office administration major at Universidad de Puerto Rico, was elected southern region vice president.
Each year at the National FFA Convention & Expo, six students are elected by delegates to represent the organization as national officers. Delegates elect a president, secretary, and vice presidents representing the central, southern, eastern, and western regions of the country.
National officers commit to a year of service to the National FFA Organization. Each officer travels more than 100,000 national and international miles to interact with business and industry leaders; thousands of FFA members and teachers; corporate sponsors; government and education officials; state FFA leaders; the general public; and more. The team will lead personal growth and leadership training conferences for FFA members throughout the country and help set policies that will guide the future of FFA and promote agricultural literacy.
BASF’s xarvio announces new digital farming collaboration with WinField United
BASF and WinField® United, the crop inputs and insights business of Land O’Lakes, Inc., announced a new collaboration that will make it easier for growers and retailers to access digital farming solutions across multiple platforms.
The two companies will establish a single sign-on connection from WinField United’s ATLAS® platform to the BASF xarvio™ digital platforms, starting with xarvio SCOUTING, a mobile application that can quickly identify weeds and diseases with a click of a smartphone. Over time, growers and retailers will also have the ability to synchronize data between the xarvio and WinField United platforms, saving time with data entry while combining agronomic insights into one place.
“Given the tremendous workloads retailers and growers carry out, both groups will be pleased with the ease of use made possible through this collaboration,” said Paul Rea, Senior Vice President, BASF Agricultural Solutions North America. “WinField United customers will be able to utilize xarvio systems without having to create new credentials, enhancing their experience with both platforms.”
Leading in advanced analytics and agronomic artificial intelligence, xarvio products help growers optimize crop production efficiency and improve their bottom line, while providing growers with field-level and zone-based solutions. Farmers will be able to access this information through their retailer’s ATLAS portal. ATLAS, WinField United’s online retail portal, allows retailers to tailor data, insights and other pertinent information to their farmers through their branded website. Together, xarvio and ATLAS will enhance data standardization and synchronicity to increase the overall performance of the digital ag tools.
“As a farmer-owned co-op, we are always pushing the envelope to bring new solutions that offer distinct value and benefits to our members,” said Teddy Bekele, Chief Technology Officer, Land O’Lakes. “Interaction between these platforms can augment field activities by helping retail agronomists advise the community of growers they work with to help address growers’ most urgent needs.”
The two companies are planning to expand the agronomic data links between xarvio and WinField United platforms through application programming interface (API). This function would allow for the user’s xarvio SCOUTING data to consolidate into new insight offerings for ATLAS users, such as providing regional-level risk and heat maps to help growers stay on top of pest pressure in their area.
The single sign-on connection will be available to ATLAS users in time for the 2020 growing season.
For the week ending November 3, 2019, there were 5.1 days suitable for fieldwork, according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Topsoil moisture supplies rated 1 percent very short, 11 short, 84 adequate, and 4 surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 1 percent very short, 9 short, 86 adequate, and 4 surplus.
Field Crops Report:
Corn condition rated 2 percent very poor, 6 poor, 19 fair, 56 good, and 17 excellent. Corn harvested was 60 percent, near 62 last year, and behind 69 for the five-year average.
Soybeans harvested was 94 percent, ahead of 88 last year, and equal to average.
Winter wheat condition rated 1 percent very poor, 5 poor, 22 fair, 53 good, and 19 excellent. Winter wheat emerged was 97 percent, ahead of 92 last year, and near 95 average.
Sorghum condition rated 2 percent very poor, 3 poor, 21 fair, 65 good, and 9 excellent. Sorghum harvested was 54 percent, behind 71 last year and 73 average.
Pasture and Range Report:
Pasture and range conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 4 poor, 16 fair, 60 good, and 19 excellent.
IOWA CROP PROGRESS & CONDITION REPORT
Iowa farmers continued to deal with challenging field conditions as the first accumulating snowfall of the year fell across parts of the State during the week ending November 3, 2019, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Statewide there were 4.4 days suitable for fieldwork. Fieldwork activities included harvesting soybeans and corn for grain, spreading manure, applying anhydrous, baling corn stalks, and fall tillage.
Topsoil moisture condition was rated 0 percent very short, 1 percent short, 81 percent adequate and 18percent surplus. Subsoil moisture condition was rated 0 percent very short, 2 percent short, 81 percent adequate and 17 percent surplus.
Forty-three percent of the corn crop has been harvested for grain, 8 days behind last year and 11 days behind the 5-year average. Producers in the north central district were able to harvest over one-quarter of their expected crop this past week. Moisture content of field corn being harvested for grain was at 21 percent. Corn condition rated 67 percent good to excellent.
Eighty percent of the soybean crop has been harvested, 3 days behind last year and 1 week behind average.
Areas in Iowa are still dealing with muddy feedlots, while others reported no livestock issues this past week.
Corn Harvest Hits Halfway Point; Still Second-Slowest Pace in Past 20 Years
The U.S. corn harvest finally hit the halfway point last week while the soybean harvest was about three-quarters complete as of Sunday, Nov. 3, according to USDA NASS' latest Crop Progress report released Monday.
Nationwide, corn harvest progressed another 11 percentage points last week to reach 52% as of Sunday, 23 percentage points behind the five-year average of 75%. That was further behind the average pace than the previous week when harvest was running 20 percentage points behind the five-year average.
Meanwhile, soybean harvest moved ahead 13 percentage points last week to reach 75% as of Sunday. That was 12 percentage points behind the five-year average of 87%, an improvement from last Monday's report, when harvest was running 16 percentage points behind average.
Winter wheat progress maintained a near-normal pace last week. As of Sunday, 89% of winter wheat was planted, slightly ahead of the five-year average of 88%. Winter wheat emerged was estimated at 71%, just slightly behind the five-year average of 74%. Winter wheat condition was estimated at 57% good to excellent, up 1 percentage point from 56% the previous week.
Sorghum harvested reached 78%, ahead of the five-year average of 72%. Cotton harvested was estimated at 53%, also ahead of the average pace of 51%.
Register today for the "Increasing Dairy Profitability" webinar series
Kim Clark, NE Dairy Extension Educator
We are hosting an “Increasing Profitability Webinar Series” the first three Tuesday’s at 12:00 noon CDT in November.
November 5: Lameness and Profitability by Dr. Jan Shearer
November 12: Maximizing Income over Feed Costs by Dr. Victor Cabrera
November 19: Spores and Milk Quality by Dr. Andreia Bianchini
Register for the webinars at https://go.unl.edu/profitabiltywebinar. After you register, you will receive an email to join the webinar. The link to join the webinar is the same for each week.
We will be recording and archiving each webinar on dairy.unl.edu.
Iowa Beef Center Offers Baleage Information as Winter Forage Option
Wet conditions have created significant challenges this year for cattle producers who want to put up hay for winter forage needs. Shorter days and cooler fall temperatures add to the challenge of putting up dry hay.
According to Iowa State University Extension and Outreach specialists, producers who still need to put up hay this fall may want to consider making baleage as an option for dealing with cold and wet weather conditions. Denise Schwab, extension beef specialist, Brian Dougherty, extension ag engineer, and Brian Lang, extension field agronomists, provide directions on making high quality baleage in an Iowa Beef Center article published Nov. 1.
Making baleage is a method of preserving forage where bales are made at a higher moisture content than dry hay and then sealed in plastic wrap for storage. The high moisture level and airtight environment causes the forage to ferment.
The time needed to cure forage for baleage is drastically reduced compared to production of dry hay, thus reducing the impacts of weather on harvest. This is a significant advantage when trying to harvest forages in conditions that are poor for making dry hay.
The specialists say that producers may be able to use existing equipment for the production and feeding of baleage. One question that often comes up is whether or not a conventional baler can be used for making baleage. The answer is that it depends on the baler. Some newer balers can achieve sufficient bale density for making quality baleage. It is best to consult with the equipment manufacturer if you have specific questions about using your baler for making baleage.
The next equipment decision a producer needs to make is how to wrap the bales in plastic. Bales can be wrapped individually on a bale wrapping table or they can be wrapped in-line with a ‘tube’ wrapper. A third option is to place the bales into individual bags that can be sealed by hand.
The entire article, Baleage Is an Option for Dealing with Wet Fall Harvest Conditions, includes details on making baleage, equipment needs and tips from the specialists for making high quality baleage and feeding considerations. It is posted on the Iowa Beef Center website... http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/news/WetHarvestBaleageOption2019.html. For additional information see the Iowa Beef Center publication "Making the Switch to Baleage."
Monthly Webinar Looks at Grazing Cover Crops Integrated into Row Crops
Iowa Learning Farms will host a webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 12 p.m. about the research being done at Iowa State University on grazing cover crops.
Cover crops provide many benefits ranging from reducing soil erosion and building soil organic matter to nutrient cycling and scavenging. Another additional benefit they offer is as an additional forage resource.
During the webinar ISU Extension and Outreach specialists Erika Lundy, extension beef specialist, and Rebecca Vittetoe, extension field agronomist, will share what they’ve learned from the ongoing Iowa State research looking at integrating cattle, crops and cover crops. Lundy’s current extension and research programs are focused on beef cattle nutrition and forage management to improve profitability on the farm level. Vittetoe focuses on the agronomic side with field and forage crop production and integrated pest management with a special emphasis on plant pathology.
Feed expenses continue to be half the cost of production of a beef cattle enterprise. With cover crops growing across the state to protect our soil and waters, then adding cattle to graze those green forage acres is another opportunity to capitalize on the benefits that cover crops can provide. Lundy said, “One of our primary goals with this research was to answer the question ‘if we graze cover crops, do we still have the soil health benefits that we know we get from incorporating cover crops into row crop acres?’ With the results we are generating from this research, we think the answer is, ‘Yes!’”
A Certified Crop Adviser board approved continuing education unit (1 CEU: Crop Management) is available for those who are able to watch the live webinar. Information for submitting your CCA/CPAg/CPSS/CPSC number to earn the credit will be provided at the end of the presentation.
To watch, go to www.iowalearningfarms.org/page/webinars and click the link to join the webinar shortly before 12 p.m. on Nov. 20, to download the Zoom software and log in option. The webinar will be recorded and archived on the ILF website for watching at any time at https://www.iowalearningfarms.org/page/webinars.
Rural Leaders Ask President Trump to Uphold Biofuel Promise
A broad coalition of biofuel and farm advocates today sent a letter to the White House calling on President Trump to fix a flawed proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency, which “fails in its mission to reinvigorate farm economies and reopen biofuel plants across America’s heartland.” The letter was signed by 60 organizations, including the Renewable Fuels Association. It notes that the EPA’s draft plan undermines the administration’s commitment to restore integrity to the Renewable Fuel Standard and accurately account for biofuel demand destroyed by small refinery exemptions (SREs).
“The flawed proposal swaps out a critical component of the SRE remedy sought by farmers and the biofuels industry,” wrote farm and biofuel leaders. “Instead of recovering the gallons exempted by EPA, it proposes to recover only those gallons previously recommended for exemption by the U.S. Department of Energy. This one EPA modification converts a commitment to fully account for SREs into a bureaucratically uncertain path that recovers only one fraction of those gallons lost to SREs and could result in RFS backsliding in 2020. This lack of certainty sabotages efforts toward market recovery and will stop biorefineries from reopening.”
Better Than Expected Fall
Stephen R. Koontz, Dept of Ag and Resource Economics, Colorado State University
Fed cattle, feeder cattle, and calf cash prices have all been stronger than expected through this fall. Live cattle and feeder cattle futures contract prices have also shaken off the pessimism of abundant supplies compounded by the unexpected closure of the Tyson beef plant in southwest Kansas. How did the market turn this corner?
There has been the standard discussion of timely marketing of fed cattle, slaughter weights being modestly behind last year's, packer's running substantial fed cattle slaughter on Saturdays, and other supply focused points. What is being discussed less in the strong retailer and, by definition, consumer effects? Packers margins have been very strong in August and September, and likely October, approaching $500 per head. These are the live-to-wholesale beef price spreads. This value is much higher than other months and much higher than prior year highs. This is, of course, due in part to the plant closure. But it is interesting that the Live-to-Retail price spread has moved little in these same two months. The live-to-retail spread is up only less than 2-3%. The retailer margin or the wholesale-to-retail spread has declined sharply. Again, the live-to-wholesale spread is up, the live-to-retail spread is even, so it is the retailer that has taken a chunk out of their margin.
Where did this go or what is the retailer paying more for? The boxed beef compositive value increased almost $30/cwt in a three-week period prior to Labor Day. The cut that was the biggest mover was loin price: increasing $200/cwt. The ribeye increased about $150/cwt and remains strong into the rib roast holiday season. Other primal cuts are both positive and negative, so it is the middle-meats and steak cuts that the retailer is driving. Finally, an interesting thing that has yet to be explained is the strength of the Choice-Select spread - the USDA Choice grade premium or the Select grade discount. The Choice-Select spread has normal seasonal strength in spring months and then as Choice supplies increase over summer then the premium normally fades. The Choice-Select spread has yet to show anything other than modest and temporary weakness this year. The spread is currently better than +$25/cwt and has been that way since June. A typical Choice-Select spread for this time of year is much closer to $10/cwt. Thus, it is clearly the retailer that has helped the cattle market turn the corner on any pessimism from summer supplies and slaughter disruption. And there does not appear to be any push-back from the consumer.
2019-20 National FFA Officer Team Elected at the 92nd National FFA Convention & Expo
Students from Montana, Virginia, Puerto Rico, New Mexico, Oregon and Ohio have been elected by delegates throughout the United States to serve on the 2019-20 National FFA Officer team.
Kolesen McCoy, an agribusiness and applied economics major at Ohio State, was elected national president.
Kourtney Lehman, an agricultural business management major at Oregon State University, was elected national secretary.
Lyle Logemann, an agricultural education major at Eastern New Mexico University, was elected western region vice president.
Tess Seibel, a nursing major at James Madison University, was elected eastern region vice president.
Mamie Hertel, a financial engineering major at Montana State University, was elected central region vice president.
Yomar Roman, an office administration major at Universidad de Puerto Rico, was elected southern region vice president.
Each year at the National FFA Convention & Expo, six students are elected by delegates to represent the organization as national officers. Delegates elect a president, secretary, and vice presidents representing the central, southern, eastern, and western regions of the country.
National officers commit to a year of service to the National FFA Organization. Each officer travels more than 100,000 national and international miles to interact with business and industry leaders; thousands of FFA members and teachers; corporate sponsors; government and education officials; state FFA leaders; the general public; and more. The team will lead personal growth and leadership training conferences for FFA members throughout the country and help set policies that will guide the future of FFA and promote agricultural literacy.
BASF’s xarvio announces new digital farming collaboration with WinField United
BASF and WinField® United, the crop inputs and insights business of Land O’Lakes, Inc., announced a new collaboration that will make it easier for growers and retailers to access digital farming solutions across multiple platforms.
The two companies will establish a single sign-on connection from WinField United’s ATLAS® platform to the BASF xarvio™ digital platforms, starting with xarvio SCOUTING, a mobile application that can quickly identify weeds and diseases with a click of a smartphone. Over time, growers and retailers will also have the ability to synchronize data between the xarvio and WinField United platforms, saving time with data entry while combining agronomic insights into one place.
“Given the tremendous workloads retailers and growers carry out, both groups will be pleased with the ease of use made possible through this collaboration,” said Paul Rea, Senior Vice President, BASF Agricultural Solutions North America. “WinField United customers will be able to utilize xarvio systems without having to create new credentials, enhancing their experience with both platforms.”
Leading in advanced analytics and agronomic artificial intelligence, xarvio products help growers optimize crop production efficiency and improve their bottom line, while providing growers with field-level and zone-based solutions. Farmers will be able to access this information through their retailer’s ATLAS portal. ATLAS, WinField United’s online retail portal, allows retailers to tailor data, insights and other pertinent information to their farmers through their branded website. Together, xarvio and ATLAS will enhance data standardization and synchronicity to increase the overall performance of the digital ag tools.
“As a farmer-owned co-op, we are always pushing the envelope to bring new solutions that offer distinct value and benefits to our members,” said Teddy Bekele, Chief Technology Officer, Land O’Lakes. “Interaction between these platforms can augment field activities by helping retail agronomists advise the community of growers they work with to help address growers’ most urgent needs.”
The two companies are planning to expand the agronomic data links between xarvio and WinField United platforms through application programming interface (API). This function would allow for the user’s xarvio SCOUTING data to consolidate into new insight offerings for ATLAS users, such as providing regional-level risk and heat maps to help growers stay on top of pest pressure in their area.
The single sign-on connection will be available to ATLAS users in time for the 2020 growing season.
Friday, November 1, 2019
Friday November 1 Ag News
Helping Cows Cope with Cold Stress
Mary Drewnoski, NE Nebraska Extension Beef Systems Specialist
Cold stress increases a cow’s energy requirement and can pull down her body condition. We think many cow/calf producers experienced this last year. While we don’t know what mother nature has in store for us this year, it is good to think ahead and have a plan. A good start is to evaluate body condition score (BCS) now, and if cows are not at a 5 to 5.5 BCS, then taking steps to improve BCS before cold weather hits can help reduce the impacts of cold weather on the cows.
The threshold at which cattle have to start using energy to maintain their body temperature is called the lower critical temperature (LCT). Cows in good condition (BCS 5.0) that have a heavy winter coat that is dry do not need to use energy to maintain body temperature until the wind chill index is below 19°F.
Body condition is a risk management strategy and affects the LCT. A thin cow with a BCS 4 and a dry winter coat has a LCT of 27°F vs the 19°F of a cow in BCS 5. Getting cows into good condition early in the winter can be useful for managing risk of bad weather in that they have condition they can lose but also because cows with higher BCS will lose less than those with lower body condition. Additionally, a practical management strategy may be to consider putting thin cows in a group with your first calf heifers as both have higher energy requirement in the winter, which can allow for strategic supplementation.
It is also important to understand that a wet hair coat is a completely different ball game. A wet coat increases the LCT of a cow in good condition to 53°F. Thus, essentially anytime a cow’s coat is wet in the winter they will be using energy to maintain body temperature. Therefore, in winters with more precipitation, especially freezing rain, we often see greater decreases in BCS.
To figure out how much more energy a cow needs you would take the cow’s LCT minus the wind chill index and that would tell you the percent increase in energy requirement. For instance, if ambient temperature is 20°F and wind speed is 10 miles per hour, the wind chill index is 10°F. For a BCS 5 cow with a dry winter coat and a LCT of 19°F, then 19 LCT- 10 WCI = 9% increase in energy needs. A 1200 lb cow in late gestation has a 13 lb/d TDN requirement and the cold increased this an additional 1.2 lbs of TDN for a total of 14.2 lb/d.
Now, this brings up another point. By providing wind protection, you can decrease energy needs by removing wind as a factor. If cows have protection from wind, the ambient temperature can be used to determine energy needs. Providing wind protection in the winter can be huge for reducing supplementation needs due to cold in the winter.
It is not advisable to change rations daily, but for extended cold or wet periods, consider feeding more of the same ration, if cattle can eat more of the typical ration. If not, then providing a supplement is a good idea. When feeding lower quality hay, dormant range grazing or corn stalk grazing, additional feed will be needed. One option is to change to feeding a higher quality hay source, if available. Free choice high quality hay (58 to 60% TDN) can work down to temperatures of 34°F below the LCT of the cow ( -15°F for cows in good condition with dry hair or 19°F with wet hair). If cows are grazing, then supplementation with a high energy feed may be desirable. While corn can be used to provide more energy, it comes with risk. Feeding more than 2 to 3 lbs/hd/d can decrease forage digestion, especially if the forage is lower in protein. This means that one could make up the difference of about 15°F between the LCT of the cow and the wind chill index temperature. For a cow in BCS of 5 with a dry coat, corn supplementation would cover the increased energy requirement down to 5°F, or for a cow with a wet hair coat only to about 38°F.
Distillers grains are another option. Distillers is a good source of energy, it has more energy than corn, and because it is high in protein, it does not cause as much of a substitution effect (will not decrease intake of the forage much). In the example above where the cow needed an extra 1.2 lbs of TDN, feeding 1.2 lbs (as-fed) of dry distillers would provide the extra energy needed. In the case of distillers and gestating cows, the pounds of energy needed to account for energy used due to cold stress would be equal to the pounds of dry distillers that would need to be fed. Limitations on the amount of distillers that could be fed would be more based on budgetary concerns than digestive effects.
When wind chill temperatures are extremely cold or the cow has a wet hair coat, a lot of supplement would be needed to make up the greater energy needs and maintain body condition. For instance, if the wind chill was -10°F and the cows had a wet hair coat, 8.6 lbs of dry distillers would be needed to account for the increased energy requirement. However, feeding these levels is likely impractical. A better approach would be to provide a smaller amount of supplemental feed and to continue to feed the extra feed after the weather has moderated to allow cows to regain energy lost during the storm.
It is also important to remember that lactating cows have a much greater energy requirement than pregnant cows. Given this, the combination of cold stress and lactation can pull down BCS quickly. Thus, if lactating cows are also subjected to cold stress, increasing their energy intake prior to observing loss of condition is advisable.
Fall Sampling for SCN
John Wilson - NE Extension Educator, Burt County
The post-harvest period is an excellent time to sample for soybean cyst nematodes (SCN), the most yield-limiting pest in soybeans. Soybean cyst nematodes often go undetected but cause more yield loss in Nebraska and across the U.S. than all other soybean diseases combined.
Yield losses of over 30% have been documented in healthy looking soybean fields. SCN often goes undetected because the microscopic roundworm attacks the roots of soybean. Because feeding is underground, unless the SCN population is extremely high, it usually does not cause any aboveground symptoms such as stunting or yellowing.
The extent of yield reduction depends on the number of nematodes feeding on the root system. SCN remove nutrients as well as disrupting water and nutrient uptake in the roots, retarding root growth and reducing the number of nodules formed by the beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacteria that are necessary for optimum soybean growth.
If you can’t see soybean cyst nematodes, how do you know if they’re there? While they may not be visible, signs of their activity are. The most common sign is a field of soybeans, or even areas within a field that don’t yield as much as they should. If you have low-yielding fields or areas on your yield maps that you can’t explain because of soil type, weed or insect pressure, herbicide injury, flooding, compaction, or other yield-limiting factors, there’s a good chance SCN could be the culprit.
Another sign of SCN is when a field has patches of sudden death syndrome or brown stem rot. Both of these diseases live in the soil and enter soybean plants through the roots. Both of these can cause the disease on their own, but SCN hastens the development of symptoms and increases their severity, leading to greater yield losses.
Sampling for SCN
Late fall is a good time to sample for SCN. After harvest low-yielding field areas are fresh in your mind and hopefully things have slowed down a bit. The best way to know for sure if you have SCN in your field is by taking a soil sample. The really good news is the Nebraska Soybean Board continues to support a program that covers the cost of the SCN test, normally $20 per sample. To get sample bags to submit for a free SCN analysis, contact your nearest Nebraska Extension office.
Each sample should include at least 15 to 25 soil cores, 6 to 8 inches deep, from the area you are testing. Thoroughly mix the cores and submit a composite sample. If you are also sampling for next year’s fertilizer recommendations, submit half of the sample for fertility recommendations and the other half for SCN analysis. If you have a co-op or crop consultant pulling soil samples, ask them to split the sample for both tests.
If you had low-yielding areas in a field, pull one sample from a low-yielding area and another sample from a nearby area where yields were higher, then compare the SCN egg counts from both samples. It is not uncommon to have both samples test positive for SCN, but often the sample from the low-yielding area will have significantly higher egg counts.
Managing SCN
Management of SCN includes using resistant soybean varieties and rotating soybeans with a non-host crop. Sample fields about every six years to measure the effectiveness of your management practices. It is important to test at the same time of year and following the same crop as your original sample. If you sampled in the fall following soybeans six years ago, your sample six years later should be taken in the fall following soybeans. If the field is in corn six years later, wait a year so you sample following the same crop.
The SCN egg count should be lower after six years of rotation and resistant varieties. If egg counts are level or increasing, it could indicate the population of SCN in the field can reproduce on the most common source of resistance, PI 88788, which is found in over 98% of resistant soybean varieties.
If SCN egg counts in your fields are increasing in spite of following best management practices for SCN, it may be necessary to plant a soybean variety with a different source of resistance such as Peking (PI 548402). However, be aware that your variety choices will be much more limited.
For more information on identification and management of SCN, contact your local Nebraska Extension office.
Market Facilitation Funds for Alfalfa Growers
Bruce Anderson - NE Extension Forage Specialist
Thanks to the trade war, alfalfa growers may qualify for market facilitation payments. When China imposed retaliatory tariffs and non-tariff barriers on exports of agricultural goods from the United States, the federal government developed the Market Facilitation Program. It provides financial assistance to farmers with commodities impacted by tariffs.
Soybeans are the most well known and highest ranking among crops covered by the program; however, some other crops are also covered. Prior to the trade war, China was the number one importer of alfalfa hay from the United States. As a result, alfalfa hay also qualifies for Market Facilitation payments.
You don’t need to have been selling your hay for export. All alfalfa growers are eligible for payments, including growers who feed all their alfalfa on-farm to their own livestock. Payments are based solely on planted acres as long as conservation compliance requirements are met.
To receive payments, apply at your local Farm Service Agency office by December 6. In order for a field to qualify, it must contain at least 60% alfalfa. At this time it’s unclear how the amount of alfalfa in alfalfa-grass mixtures is going to be determined, but it probably will be done locally. If you do apply, make sure you report your acres as alfalfa. Do not report it as alfalfa-grass because mixtures are ineligible for payments.
Take advantage of Market Facilitation payments for alfalfa. They may not be particularly high, but something is better than nothing.
Farmers Encouraged to Keep the Stubble During No-Till November
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is once again encouraging Nebraska farmers to “keep the stubble” on their harvested crop fields and improve soil health during No-Till November.
First launched in 2017, the NRCS project is mirrored after the national cancer awareness No Shave November campaign that encourages people not to shave during the entire month. The NRCS campaign encourages farmers to keep crop stubble on their fields and keep tillage equipment in their machine sheds this fall. In the past two years, the campaign has reached more than 1 million people.
“No-till farming is a cornerstone soil health conservation practice, which also promotes water quality while saving farmers time and money,” said Nebraska NRCS State Conservationist Craig Derickson. “One of the first soil health principles is ‘do not disturb’. This campaign is a fun way to remind farmers about the important relationship between no till and soil health.”
Improving soil health increases soil biological activity, which provides erosion control, nutrient benefits, and can simulate tillage.
The campaign grew from an idea shared by NRCS Area Soil Scientist Neil Sass. “The impact has been much wider-reaching than I’d expected. I’ve seen #StubbleSelfie cutouts in Co-ops and ag services offices, but also in labs, schools and lots of fun media,” he said. “I think that this promotion has been a fun way to draw awareness to soil health, just like the No Shave November promotion has done for cancer awareness.”
For more information about soil health and the No-Till November campaign, please go to www.ne.nrcs.usda.gov.
NDA ANNOUNCES NEBRASKA AG YOUTH COUNCIL MEMBERS
The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) today announced its selection of the 2019-2020 Nebraska Agricultural Youth Council (NAYC). NAYC members are college students who promote Nebraska agriculture and teach young Nebraskans about agriculture and the many careers available in the ag industry. NDA sponsors NAYC and its activities throughout the year.
“NAYC is a great opportunity for student leaders to share their passion for agriculture and make a difference in the lives of young Nebraskans,” said NDA Director Steve Wellman. “It’s quite an honor and a responsibility to serve on NAYC. I look forward to working with these talented students and supporting them as they promote Nebraska agriculture to those who will follow in their footsteps.”
NAYC is entering its 49th year with the installation of this Council. Throughout the year, NAYC members coordinate and participate in a wide range of activities and events that focus on agriculture. Council members visit elementary schools to talk about where food comes from, take urban youth on farm tours to experience life on a farm, and visit with high school students about career opportunities in agriculture. The primary focus of NAYC is to coordinate the annual Nebraska Agricultural Youth Institute (NAYI), a five-day summer conference for high school juniors and seniors that is full of speakers, workshops and networking opportunities.
The 2019-2020 NAYC leadership includes:
Head Counselors: Felicia Knoerzer, Elwood, and Courtney Nelson, Monroe;
President: Cooper Grabenstein, Smithfield;
Secretary: Grant Dahlgren, Bertrand;
Vice President of Social Media/Communications and Promotions: Kelli Mashino, Spencer;
Vice President of Alumni Relationships: Colton Thompson, Eustis;
Vice President of NAYI Improvement: Kelsey Loseke, Blair.
Vice President of Youth Outreach: Wesley Wach, Hayes Center; and
Vice President of Sponsorship: Isaac Stallbaumer, Oconto.
Additional NAYC members include: Nick Birdsley, Omaha; Miles Eggleston, David City; Emily Hatterman, Wisner; Colin Ibach, Sumner; Cole Kalkowski, Omaha; Layne Miller, Oakland; Creighton Niemeyer, DeWitt; Tyler Perrin, Ogallala; Ralston Ripp, Kearney; Megan Schroeder, Wisner; Clayton Thomas, Bloomington, IL; and Josie Thompson, Wayne.
To learn more, visit NAYC’s website at nda.nebraska.gov/nayi/nayc.html or search for Nebraska Agricultural Youth Institute on Facebook.
12TH ANNUAL NEBRASKA WIND & SOLAR CONFERENCE: A SUCCESS ONCE AGAIN
The Nebraska Wind & Solar Conference & Exhibition recently concluded its 12th annual event on October 29-30, 2019 at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln, NE. This year’s conference attracted over 320 attendees, 28 exhibitors, and featured 60 speakers and moderators from the wind and solar industries. Individuals came from across the country to participate in 18 general sessions and workshop presentations that shared the latest information on wind and solar energy development. Those who attended represented a diverse set of stakeholders that included private sector developers, public officials, landowners, environmental interests, wildlife interests, public utilities, as well as the public at large attended.
Conference attendees were welcomed on Tuesday by Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy Director Jim Macy, who detailed the status and prospect of both wind and solar development in the state. Next, AWEA Senior Vice President of government and public affairs Amy Farrell provided the big-picture view of renewable energy development and Nebraska’s increasingly important role in both wind and solar development. She cited Facebook’s purchase of 200 megawatts of wind energy from the Rattlesnake Creek wind farm in Dixon County, and Hormel Foods’ plan to buy power from a wind farm near Milligan that will be opening next year. The conference continued with discussions on the growing impact of electric vehicles on the grid, and four representatives from Holt county detailed the extremely positive economic benefits that wind energy development has had in their county, including the school funding and additional income for landowners.
Noon luncheon speakers included executives from Nebraska’s three largest public utilities: Lincoln Electric System, Omaha Public Power District, and Nebraska Public Power District. Tuesday afternoon sessions featured planning and zoning for all sizes of solar development; renewable energy education and outreach; the growing role of renewables in the Southwest Power Pool; and how Nebraska renewable energy fits into the Southwest Power Pool. The first day concluded with a policy and legislative update from Nebraska State Senators Tom Brandt, Wendy DeBoer, Myron Dorn, Rick Kolowski, John McCollister, and Dan Quick.
Wednesday morning was kicked off by a session on the state of the national solar industry with HDR Renewable Energy Practice Lead Gretchen Dolson and GenPro Energy Solutions Vice President of Energy Production Molly Brown. Sessions that followed included panels on community-scale renewable energy; the changing economics of battery storage; FERC regulations; and Nebraska stakeholder and community support for wind projects.
The keynote luncheon featured Valmont Utility Group President Aaron Schapper, who discussed his Nebraska-based manufacturing company’s growing involvement in wind and solar energy and how it is an increasingly important component of the company’s revenue. The conference wrapped-up with discussions on repowering and decommissioning wind turbines and research regarding Nebraska’s renewable energy.
Conference Chair John Hansen, commented “Thanks to our “Nebraska Nice” collaborative approach and our “Can Do” attitude, Nebraska continues to make good progress in momentum in renewable energy development.”
Free Ag Law and Farm Finance Clinics this November
Free legal and financial clinics are being offered for farmers and ranchers at five sites across the state in October. The clinics are one-on-one meetings with an agricultural law attorney and an agricultural financial counselor. These are not group sessions, and they are confidential.
The attorney and financial advisor specialize in legal and financial issues related to farming and ranching, including financial and business planning, transition planning, farm loan programs, debtor/creditor law, debt structure and cash flow, agricultural disaster programs, and other relevant matters. Here is an opportunity to obtain an independent, outside perspective on issues that may be affecting your farm or ranch.
Clinic Sites and Dates
Norfolk — Thursday, November 7
North Platte — Thursday, November 14
Fairbury — Thursday, November 14
Grand Island — Wednesday, November 20
Norfolk — Monday, November 25
To sign up for a free clinic or to get more information, call the Nebraska Farm Hotline at 1-800-464-0258. Funding for this work is provided by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Legal Aid of Nebraska, North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center, and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
RURAL POLL SHOWS MIXED OPINIONS ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Rural Nebraskans are confident that higher education can lead to a good job, according to the 2019 Nebraska Rural Poll.
While 70% of respondents to the Rural Poll — the largest annual poll of rural Nebraskans' perceptions on quality of life and policy issues — agree that a high school diploma can lead to gainful employment, more agree that an associate degree (82%) or bachelor’s degree (77%) can lead to a good job.
In addition, most rural Nebraskans surveyed believe their education was worth the financial cost and that it taught them important skills. Sixty-two percent of respondents agree that their education was worth the cost and 74% agree that they learned skills that they use in their day-to-day life. In fact, those with the highest education levels were most likely to agree with those statements: 74% of persons with at least a four-year college degree agree that their education was worth the cost and 84% agree that they learned useful skills.
However, this year’s poll shows mixed results in how rural Nebraskans regard higher education, mirroring national trends. Those surveyed are less likely to see the importance of a college education today than they did four years ago.
Fifty-three percent of rural Nebraskans surveyed agreed in 2015 that increasing the number of people who get college degrees is necessary to build a strong economy. However, only 33% agree with that statement this year. The proportion agreeing that getting a college education today is more important than it was 10 years ago declined from 70% in 2015 to 44% this year. And those agreeing that to get ahead in life, it is necessary to get a college education decreased from 65% to 38%.
Current economic conditions may account for some of these differences, according to Brad Lubben, extension associate professor and policy specialist at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
“In a tight job market like we now have, employers may be happy just to have a good candidate, so the extra value of having a degree with higher skills or qualifications may not be rewarded or immediately noticeable,” Lubben said.
Rural Nebraskans also see value in apprenticeships. Ninety-four percent of those surveyed are confident that completing an apprenticeship program can lead to a good job and 84% agree that apprenticeships should be promoted as an alternative to higher education for getting a good job.
Some of the declines in the importance of higher education may be attributed to perceptions of the affordability of higher education and the value of college degrees, according to Becky Vogt, survey research manager for the Rural Poll. Seventy percent of respondents disagree that getting an education after high school is affordable for most people. While 42% agree that most people who enroll in higher education see a return on their investment, 27% disagree. Forty-seven percent agree that college degrees aren’t worth as much as they used to be and 26% disagree.
“We can’t say definitively what caused these shifts in opinions, especially since higher education leads to higher median incomes and most rural Nebraskans see the value of their own education,” said Jason Weigle, associate extension educator with Nebraska Extension. “Colleges and universities may need to engage with their alumni to learn more about the return on investment of their degrees, particularly their cost-benefit tipping point, and how this can be improved.”
This year’s Rural Poll was sent to 6,260 households in 86 Nebraska counties in March and April. Responses were received through June 10. Results are based on 1,776 responses, a response rate of 28%. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 2%. Complete results are available at http://ruralpoll.unl.edu.
The university's Department of Agricultural Economics conducts the poll with funding from Nebraska Extension and the Nebraska Rural Futures Institute.
Cereal Rye Cover Crop Seeding Date Extended to Dec. 1 Statewide
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig and Kurt Simon, State Conservationist with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), have extended cover crop seeding deadlines due to weather delays.
Farmers participating in state cost-share and most federal financial assistance programs now have until Dec. 1 to plant their winter hardy cereal rye cover crop and still qualify for assistance.
“Farmers have had an unusually tough year dealing with weather, which is creating significant harvest delays,” said Secretary Naig. “Even a later seeded cover crop can provide conservation benefits and this extension gives farmers the opportunity to seed cereal rye after harvest.”
Cereal rye should be planted immediately following the harvest of the principal crop for best results. The cover crop will be no-till drilled into the crop residue and the recommended seeding rate of cereal rye should be increased to 75 pounds per acre to account for reduced tillering.
Kevin McCall, State Resource Conservationist for NRCS in Iowa, says late seeded cereal rye can still be established this fall and provide key soil health and environmental benefits if allowed to grow to at least an 8-inch height in the spring.
This seeding extension does not apply to all programs. Contact your local NRCS office for additional information about federal or state funded assistance programs.
Cover crops play an important role in locking in nutrients and preventing soil erosion. It is one of many conservation practices that farmers can use to help the state advance towards the water quality goals outlined in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy.
USDA Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production
Total corn consumed for alcohol and other uses was 455 million bushels in September 2019. Total corn consumption was down 10 percent from August 2019 and down 9 percent from September 2018. September 2019 usage included 91.3 percent for alcohol and 8.7 percent for other purposes. Corn consumed for beverage alcohol totaled 3.30 million bushels, down 1 percent from August 2019 but up 18 percent from September 2018. Corn for fuel alcohol, at 407 million bushels, was down 11 percent from August 2019 and down 10 percent from September 2018. Corn consumed in September 2019 for dry milling fuel production and wet milling fuel production was 90.1 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively.
Oilseed Crushings, Production, Consumption and Stocks
Soybeans crushed for crude oil was 4.87 million tons (162 million bushels) in September 2019, compared with 5.32 million tons (177 million bushels) in August 2019 and 5.09 million tons (170 million bushels) in September 2018. Crude oil produced was 1.90 billion pounds down 7 percent from August 2019 and down 2 percent from September 2018. Soybean once refined oil production at 1.41 billion pounds during September 2019 decreased 7 percent from August 2019 and decreased 4 percent from September 2018.
USDA Flour Milling Products Highlights
All wheat ground for flour during the third quarter 2019 was 232 million bushels, up 3 percent from the second quarter 2019 grind of 225 million bushels but down slightly from the third quarter 2018 grind of 233 million bushels. Third quarter 2019 total flour production was 107 million hundredweight, up 3 percent from the second quarter 2019 but down 1 percent from the third quarter 2018. Whole wheat flour production at 4.92 million hundredweight during the third quarter 2019 accounted for 5 percent of the total flour production. Millfeed production from wheat in the
third quarter 2019 was 1.66 million tons. The daily 24-hour milling capacity of wheat flour during the third quarter 2019 was 1.67 million hundredweight.
USDA Announces Commodity Credit Corporation Lending Rates for November 2019
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation today announced interest rates for November 2019, which are effective November 1-November 30, 2019. The Commodity Credit Corporation borrowing rate-based charge for November is 1.625 percent, down from 1.750 percent in October.
The interest rate for crop year commodity loans less than one year disbursed during November is 2.625 percent, down from 2.750 percent in October. Interest rates for Farm Storage Facility Loans approved for November are as follows: 1.500 percent with three-year loan terms, same as in October; 1.500 percent with five-year loan terms, same as in October; 1.625 percent with seven-year loan terms, same as in October; 1.625 percent with 10-year loan terms, same as in October; and 1.750 percent with 12-year loan terms, same as in October.
Industry Cannot Compromise on Restoring Mandatory COOL
Speaking yesterday to the 128th Annual Convention and Trade Show of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard told the crowd that restoring mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for beef was one of four core principles that independent cattle producers cannot compromise.
"Every industry has certain core principles that cannot be compromised under any circumstance, and for our industry, restoring mandatory COOL is among the most important," Bullard said adding, "Non-core issues may be compromised when the outcome does not harm your opportunity to remain profitable, but restoring mandatory COOL is not on that list."
Bullard scorned a recent legislative proposal by South Dakota's U.S. Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds known as the U.S. Beef Integrity Act that makes changes to voluntary labeling, saying the proposal only addresses one of the numerous problems that have surfaced after Congress repealed the mandatory COOL law for beef in 2015.
"When a South Dakota rancher delivers calves to the auction yard or loads them in a truck for shipment to a buyer, he or she must have the assurance that the beef from those animals will be labeled as born, raised, and slaughtered in the United States.
"Only the full restoration of mandatory COOL for beef will provide that assurance and we must not accept anything less," he said.
Bullard said the Sens. Rounds and Thune proposal falls well short of this requirement and he urged the audience to instead support the resolution by Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) that was filed in Washington, D.C. the morning of the convention.
The Tester resolution calls on Congress to reinstate County-of-Origin labeling for pork and beef to allow consumers to make an informed and free choice about where their food comes from.
Bullard said mandatory COOL is the only tool that producers have to compete against the growing tide of cheaper, undifferentiated beef and cattle that are imported into the U.S. market.
This is what our industry needs, and our industry must direct all of its resources to accomplish the full reinstatement of mandatory COOL.
He also said that opponents of mandatory COOL are experts at placating the industry with minimalist legislation that does not address the core problem and that the Sens. Rounds and Thune legislation was such an example because it only tweaks the current and ineffective voluntary COOL program.
Bullard's message was somewhat ominous as he said if the cattle producers in the room did not dig their heals in the ground and fight until they win their core issues, then only a handful of the children of the ranchers in the room would have the opportunity to carry on the ranching legacy in South Dakota.
"This is serious, it can no longer be business as usual," Bullard concluded.
U.S. Farm Bankruptcies Spike in September
U.S. farm bankruptcies in September surged 24% to the highest since 2011 amid strains from President Donald Trump's trade war with China and a year of wild weather.
According to Bloomberg, growers are also becoming increasingly dependent on trade aid and other federal programs for income, figures showed in a report by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation's largest general farm organization.
The squeeze on farmers underscores the toll China's retaliatory tariffs have taken on a critical Trump constituency as the president enters a re-election campaign and a fight to stave off impeachment. The figures also highlight the importance of a "phase one" deal the administration is currently negotiating with Beijing to increase agriculture imports in return for a pause in escalating U.S. levies.
Almost 40% of projected farm profit this year will come from trade aid, disaster assistance, federal subsidies and insurance payments, according to the report, based on Department of Agriculture forecasts. That's $33 billion of a projected $88 billion in income.
The trade war and two straight years of adverse weather rattled farmers already facing commodity price slumps.
Chapter 12 bankruptcy filings in the 12 months ended September rose to 580 from a year earlier. That marked the highest since 676 cases in 2011 under the chapter of the bankruptcy code tailored for farms. The total "remains well below" historical highs in the 1980s, the federation said.
Nebraska had three more Chapter 12 bankruptcy filings in September, bringing the year-to-date total to 35. That's eight more than all of last year and more than in any full year since 2003, Bloomberg reports.
Recent bankruptcies were concentrated in the 13-state Midwestern region, a key battleground in the presidential election where grain, soybean, hog and dairy farms have been hit by trade disputes. More than 40%, or 255 filings, were in the region.
Mary Drewnoski, NE Nebraska Extension Beef Systems Specialist
Cold stress increases a cow’s energy requirement and can pull down her body condition. We think many cow/calf producers experienced this last year. While we don’t know what mother nature has in store for us this year, it is good to think ahead and have a plan. A good start is to evaluate body condition score (BCS) now, and if cows are not at a 5 to 5.5 BCS, then taking steps to improve BCS before cold weather hits can help reduce the impacts of cold weather on the cows.
The threshold at which cattle have to start using energy to maintain their body temperature is called the lower critical temperature (LCT). Cows in good condition (BCS 5.0) that have a heavy winter coat that is dry do not need to use energy to maintain body temperature until the wind chill index is below 19°F.
Body condition is a risk management strategy and affects the LCT. A thin cow with a BCS 4 and a dry winter coat has a LCT of 27°F vs the 19°F of a cow in BCS 5. Getting cows into good condition early in the winter can be useful for managing risk of bad weather in that they have condition they can lose but also because cows with higher BCS will lose less than those with lower body condition. Additionally, a practical management strategy may be to consider putting thin cows in a group with your first calf heifers as both have higher energy requirement in the winter, which can allow for strategic supplementation.
It is also important to understand that a wet hair coat is a completely different ball game. A wet coat increases the LCT of a cow in good condition to 53°F. Thus, essentially anytime a cow’s coat is wet in the winter they will be using energy to maintain body temperature. Therefore, in winters with more precipitation, especially freezing rain, we often see greater decreases in BCS.
To figure out how much more energy a cow needs you would take the cow’s LCT minus the wind chill index and that would tell you the percent increase in energy requirement. For instance, if ambient temperature is 20°F and wind speed is 10 miles per hour, the wind chill index is 10°F. For a BCS 5 cow with a dry winter coat and a LCT of 19°F, then 19 LCT- 10 WCI = 9% increase in energy needs. A 1200 lb cow in late gestation has a 13 lb/d TDN requirement and the cold increased this an additional 1.2 lbs of TDN for a total of 14.2 lb/d.
Now, this brings up another point. By providing wind protection, you can decrease energy needs by removing wind as a factor. If cows have protection from wind, the ambient temperature can be used to determine energy needs. Providing wind protection in the winter can be huge for reducing supplementation needs due to cold in the winter.
It is not advisable to change rations daily, but for extended cold or wet periods, consider feeding more of the same ration, if cattle can eat more of the typical ration. If not, then providing a supplement is a good idea. When feeding lower quality hay, dormant range grazing or corn stalk grazing, additional feed will be needed. One option is to change to feeding a higher quality hay source, if available. Free choice high quality hay (58 to 60% TDN) can work down to temperatures of 34°F below the LCT of the cow ( -15°F for cows in good condition with dry hair or 19°F with wet hair). If cows are grazing, then supplementation with a high energy feed may be desirable. While corn can be used to provide more energy, it comes with risk. Feeding more than 2 to 3 lbs/hd/d can decrease forage digestion, especially if the forage is lower in protein. This means that one could make up the difference of about 15°F between the LCT of the cow and the wind chill index temperature. For a cow in BCS of 5 with a dry coat, corn supplementation would cover the increased energy requirement down to 5°F, or for a cow with a wet hair coat only to about 38°F.
Distillers grains are another option. Distillers is a good source of energy, it has more energy than corn, and because it is high in protein, it does not cause as much of a substitution effect (will not decrease intake of the forage much). In the example above where the cow needed an extra 1.2 lbs of TDN, feeding 1.2 lbs (as-fed) of dry distillers would provide the extra energy needed. In the case of distillers and gestating cows, the pounds of energy needed to account for energy used due to cold stress would be equal to the pounds of dry distillers that would need to be fed. Limitations on the amount of distillers that could be fed would be more based on budgetary concerns than digestive effects.
When wind chill temperatures are extremely cold or the cow has a wet hair coat, a lot of supplement would be needed to make up the greater energy needs and maintain body condition. For instance, if the wind chill was -10°F and the cows had a wet hair coat, 8.6 lbs of dry distillers would be needed to account for the increased energy requirement. However, feeding these levels is likely impractical. A better approach would be to provide a smaller amount of supplemental feed and to continue to feed the extra feed after the weather has moderated to allow cows to regain energy lost during the storm.
It is also important to remember that lactating cows have a much greater energy requirement than pregnant cows. Given this, the combination of cold stress and lactation can pull down BCS quickly. Thus, if lactating cows are also subjected to cold stress, increasing their energy intake prior to observing loss of condition is advisable.
Fall Sampling for SCN
John Wilson - NE Extension Educator, Burt County
The post-harvest period is an excellent time to sample for soybean cyst nematodes (SCN), the most yield-limiting pest in soybeans. Soybean cyst nematodes often go undetected but cause more yield loss in Nebraska and across the U.S. than all other soybean diseases combined.
Yield losses of over 30% have been documented in healthy looking soybean fields. SCN often goes undetected because the microscopic roundworm attacks the roots of soybean. Because feeding is underground, unless the SCN population is extremely high, it usually does not cause any aboveground symptoms such as stunting or yellowing.
The extent of yield reduction depends on the number of nematodes feeding on the root system. SCN remove nutrients as well as disrupting water and nutrient uptake in the roots, retarding root growth and reducing the number of nodules formed by the beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacteria that are necessary for optimum soybean growth.
If you can’t see soybean cyst nematodes, how do you know if they’re there? While they may not be visible, signs of their activity are. The most common sign is a field of soybeans, or even areas within a field that don’t yield as much as they should. If you have low-yielding fields or areas on your yield maps that you can’t explain because of soil type, weed or insect pressure, herbicide injury, flooding, compaction, or other yield-limiting factors, there’s a good chance SCN could be the culprit.
Another sign of SCN is when a field has patches of sudden death syndrome or brown stem rot. Both of these diseases live in the soil and enter soybean plants through the roots. Both of these can cause the disease on their own, but SCN hastens the development of symptoms and increases their severity, leading to greater yield losses.
Sampling for SCN
Late fall is a good time to sample for SCN. After harvest low-yielding field areas are fresh in your mind and hopefully things have slowed down a bit. The best way to know for sure if you have SCN in your field is by taking a soil sample. The really good news is the Nebraska Soybean Board continues to support a program that covers the cost of the SCN test, normally $20 per sample. To get sample bags to submit for a free SCN analysis, contact your nearest Nebraska Extension office.
Each sample should include at least 15 to 25 soil cores, 6 to 8 inches deep, from the area you are testing. Thoroughly mix the cores and submit a composite sample. If you are also sampling for next year’s fertilizer recommendations, submit half of the sample for fertility recommendations and the other half for SCN analysis. If you have a co-op or crop consultant pulling soil samples, ask them to split the sample for both tests.
If you had low-yielding areas in a field, pull one sample from a low-yielding area and another sample from a nearby area where yields were higher, then compare the SCN egg counts from both samples. It is not uncommon to have both samples test positive for SCN, but often the sample from the low-yielding area will have significantly higher egg counts.
Managing SCN
Management of SCN includes using resistant soybean varieties and rotating soybeans with a non-host crop. Sample fields about every six years to measure the effectiveness of your management practices. It is important to test at the same time of year and following the same crop as your original sample. If you sampled in the fall following soybeans six years ago, your sample six years later should be taken in the fall following soybeans. If the field is in corn six years later, wait a year so you sample following the same crop.
The SCN egg count should be lower after six years of rotation and resistant varieties. If egg counts are level or increasing, it could indicate the population of SCN in the field can reproduce on the most common source of resistance, PI 88788, which is found in over 98% of resistant soybean varieties.
If SCN egg counts in your fields are increasing in spite of following best management practices for SCN, it may be necessary to plant a soybean variety with a different source of resistance such as Peking (PI 548402). However, be aware that your variety choices will be much more limited.
For more information on identification and management of SCN, contact your local Nebraska Extension office.
Market Facilitation Funds for Alfalfa Growers
Bruce Anderson - NE Extension Forage Specialist
Thanks to the trade war, alfalfa growers may qualify for market facilitation payments. When China imposed retaliatory tariffs and non-tariff barriers on exports of agricultural goods from the United States, the federal government developed the Market Facilitation Program. It provides financial assistance to farmers with commodities impacted by tariffs.
Soybeans are the most well known and highest ranking among crops covered by the program; however, some other crops are also covered. Prior to the trade war, China was the number one importer of alfalfa hay from the United States. As a result, alfalfa hay also qualifies for Market Facilitation payments.
You don’t need to have been selling your hay for export. All alfalfa growers are eligible for payments, including growers who feed all their alfalfa on-farm to their own livestock. Payments are based solely on planted acres as long as conservation compliance requirements are met.
To receive payments, apply at your local Farm Service Agency office by December 6. In order for a field to qualify, it must contain at least 60% alfalfa. At this time it’s unclear how the amount of alfalfa in alfalfa-grass mixtures is going to be determined, but it probably will be done locally. If you do apply, make sure you report your acres as alfalfa. Do not report it as alfalfa-grass because mixtures are ineligible for payments.
Take advantage of Market Facilitation payments for alfalfa. They may not be particularly high, but something is better than nothing.
Farmers Encouraged to Keep the Stubble During No-Till November
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is once again encouraging Nebraska farmers to “keep the stubble” on their harvested crop fields and improve soil health during No-Till November.
First launched in 2017, the NRCS project is mirrored after the national cancer awareness No Shave November campaign that encourages people not to shave during the entire month. The NRCS campaign encourages farmers to keep crop stubble on their fields and keep tillage equipment in their machine sheds this fall. In the past two years, the campaign has reached more than 1 million people.
“No-till farming is a cornerstone soil health conservation practice, which also promotes water quality while saving farmers time and money,” said Nebraska NRCS State Conservationist Craig Derickson. “One of the first soil health principles is ‘do not disturb’. This campaign is a fun way to remind farmers about the important relationship between no till and soil health.”
Improving soil health increases soil biological activity, which provides erosion control, nutrient benefits, and can simulate tillage.
The campaign grew from an idea shared by NRCS Area Soil Scientist Neil Sass. “The impact has been much wider-reaching than I’d expected. I’ve seen #StubbleSelfie cutouts in Co-ops and ag services offices, but also in labs, schools and lots of fun media,” he said. “I think that this promotion has been a fun way to draw awareness to soil health, just like the No Shave November promotion has done for cancer awareness.”
For more information about soil health and the No-Till November campaign, please go to www.ne.nrcs.usda.gov.
NDA ANNOUNCES NEBRASKA AG YOUTH COUNCIL MEMBERS
The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) today announced its selection of the 2019-2020 Nebraska Agricultural Youth Council (NAYC). NAYC members are college students who promote Nebraska agriculture and teach young Nebraskans about agriculture and the many careers available in the ag industry. NDA sponsors NAYC and its activities throughout the year.
“NAYC is a great opportunity for student leaders to share their passion for agriculture and make a difference in the lives of young Nebraskans,” said NDA Director Steve Wellman. “It’s quite an honor and a responsibility to serve on NAYC. I look forward to working with these talented students and supporting them as they promote Nebraska agriculture to those who will follow in their footsteps.”
NAYC is entering its 49th year with the installation of this Council. Throughout the year, NAYC members coordinate and participate in a wide range of activities and events that focus on agriculture. Council members visit elementary schools to talk about where food comes from, take urban youth on farm tours to experience life on a farm, and visit with high school students about career opportunities in agriculture. The primary focus of NAYC is to coordinate the annual Nebraska Agricultural Youth Institute (NAYI), a five-day summer conference for high school juniors and seniors that is full of speakers, workshops and networking opportunities.
The 2019-2020 NAYC leadership includes:
Head Counselors: Felicia Knoerzer, Elwood, and Courtney Nelson, Monroe;
President: Cooper Grabenstein, Smithfield;
Secretary: Grant Dahlgren, Bertrand;
Vice President of Social Media/Communications and Promotions: Kelli Mashino, Spencer;
Vice President of Alumni Relationships: Colton Thompson, Eustis;
Vice President of NAYI Improvement: Kelsey Loseke, Blair.
Vice President of Youth Outreach: Wesley Wach, Hayes Center; and
Vice President of Sponsorship: Isaac Stallbaumer, Oconto.
Additional NAYC members include: Nick Birdsley, Omaha; Miles Eggleston, David City; Emily Hatterman, Wisner; Colin Ibach, Sumner; Cole Kalkowski, Omaha; Layne Miller, Oakland; Creighton Niemeyer, DeWitt; Tyler Perrin, Ogallala; Ralston Ripp, Kearney; Megan Schroeder, Wisner; Clayton Thomas, Bloomington, IL; and Josie Thompson, Wayne.
To learn more, visit NAYC’s website at nda.nebraska.gov/nayi/nayc.html or search for Nebraska Agricultural Youth Institute on Facebook.
12TH ANNUAL NEBRASKA WIND & SOLAR CONFERENCE: A SUCCESS ONCE AGAIN
The Nebraska Wind & Solar Conference & Exhibition recently concluded its 12th annual event on October 29-30, 2019 at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln, NE. This year’s conference attracted over 320 attendees, 28 exhibitors, and featured 60 speakers and moderators from the wind and solar industries. Individuals came from across the country to participate in 18 general sessions and workshop presentations that shared the latest information on wind and solar energy development. Those who attended represented a diverse set of stakeholders that included private sector developers, public officials, landowners, environmental interests, wildlife interests, public utilities, as well as the public at large attended.
Conference attendees were welcomed on Tuesday by Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy Director Jim Macy, who detailed the status and prospect of both wind and solar development in the state. Next, AWEA Senior Vice President of government and public affairs Amy Farrell provided the big-picture view of renewable energy development and Nebraska’s increasingly important role in both wind and solar development. She cited Facebook’s purchase of 200 megawatts of wind energy from the Rattlesnake Creek wind farm in Dixon County, and Hormel Foods’ plan to buy power from a wind farm near Milligan that will be opening next year. The conference continued with discussions on the growing impact of electric vehicles on the grid, and four representatives from Holt county detailed the extremely positive economic benefits that wind energy development has had in their county, including the school funding and additional income for landowners.
Noon luncheon speakers included executives from Nebraska’s three largest public utilities: Lincoln Electric System, Omaha Public Power District, and Nebraska Public Power District. Tuesday afternoon sessions featured planning and zoning for all sizes of solar development; renewable energy education and outreach; the growing role of renewables in the Southwest Power Pool; and how Nebraska renewable energy fits into the Southwest Power Pool. The first day concluded with a policy and legislative update from Nebraska State Senators Tom Brandt, Wendy DeBoer, Myron Dorn, Rick Kolowski, John McCollister, and Dan Quick.
Wednesday morning was kicked off by a session on the state of the national solar industry with HDR Renewable Energy Practice Lead Gretchen Dolson and GenPro Energy Solutions Vice President of Energy Production Molly Brown. Sessions that followed included panels on community-scale renewable energy; the changing economics of battery storage; FERC regulations; and Nebraska stakeholder and community support for wind projects.
The keynote luncheon featured Valmont Utility Group President Aaron Schapper, who discussed his Nebraska-based manufacturing company’s growing involvement in wind and solar energy and how it is an increasingly important component of the company’s revenue. The conference wrapped-up with discussions on repowering and decommissioning wind turbines and research regarding Nebraska’s renewable energy.
Conference Chair John Hansen, commented “Thanks to our “Nebraska Nice” collaborative approach and our “Can Do” attitude, Nebraska continues to make good progress in momentum in renewable energy development.”
Free Ag Law and Farm Finance Clinics this November
Free legal and financial clinics are being offered for farmers and ranchers at five sites across the state in October. The clinics are one-on-one meetings with an agricultural law attorney and an agricultural financial counselor. These are not group sessions, and they are confidential.
The attorney and financial advisor specialize in legal and financial issues related to farming and ranching, including financial and business planning, transition planning, farm loan programs, debtor/creditor law, debt structure and cash flow, agricultural disaster programs, and other relevant matters. Here is an opportunity to obtain an independent, outside perspective on issues that may be affecting your farm or ranch.
Clinic Sites and Dates
Norfolk — Thursday, November 7
North Platte — Thursday, November 14
Fairbury — Thursday, November 14
Grand Island — Wednesday, November 20
Norfolk — Monday, November 25
To sign up for a free clinic or to get more information, call the Nebraska Farm Hotline at 1-800-464-0258. Funding for this work is provided by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Legal Aid of Nebraska, North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center, and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
RURAL POLL SHOWS MIXED OPINIONS ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Rural Nebraskans are confident that higher education can lead to a good job, according to the 2019 Nebraska Rural Poll.
While 70% of respondents to the Rural Poll — the largest annual poll of rural Nebraskans' perceptions on quality of life and policy issues — agree that a high school diploma can lead to gainful employment, more agree that an associate degree (82%) or bachelor’s degree (77%) can lead to a good job.
In addition, most rural Nebraskans surveyed believe their education was worth the financial cost and that it taught them important skills. Sixty-two percent of respondents agree that their education was worth the cost and 74% agree that they learned skills that they use in their day-to-day life. In fact, those with the highest education levels were most likely to agree with those statements: 74% of persons with at least a four-year college degree agree that their education was worth the cost and 84% agree that they learned useful skills.
However, this year’s poll shows mixed results in how rural Nebraskans regard higher education, mirroring national trends. Those surveyed are less likely to see the importance of a college education today than they did four years ago.
Fifty-three percent of rural Nebraskans surveyed agreed in 2015 that increasing the number of people who get college degrees is necessary to build a strong economy. However, only 33% agree with that statement this year. The proportion agreeing that getting a college education today is more important than it was 10 years ago declined from 70% in 2015 to 44% this year. And those agreeing that to get ahead in life, it is necessary to get a college education decreased from 65% to 38%.
Current economic conditions may account for some of these differences, according to Brad Lubben, extension associate professor and policy specialist at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
“In a tight job market like we now have, employers may be happy just to have a good candidate, so the extra value of having a degree with higher skills or qualifications may not be rewarded or immediately noticeable,” Lubben said.
Rural Nebraskans also see value in apprenticeships. Ninety-four percent of those surveyed are confident that completing an apprenticeship program can lead to a good job and 84% agree that apprenticeships should be promoted as an alternative to higher education for getting a good job.
Some of the declines in the importance of higher education may be attributed to perceptions of the affordability of higher education and the value of college degrees, according to Becky Vogt, survey research manager for the Rural Poll. Seventy percent of respondents disagree that getting an education after high school is affordable for most people. While 42% agree that most people who enroll in higher education see a return on their investment, 27% disagree. Forty-seven percent agree that college degrees aren’t worth as much as they used to be and 26% disagree.
“We can’t say definitively what caused these shifts in opinions, especially since higher education leads to higher median incomes and most rural Nebraskans see the value of their own education,” said Jason Weigle, associate extension educator with Nebraska Extension. “Colleges and universities may need to engage with their alumni to learn more about the return on investment of their degrees, particularly their cost-benefit tipping point, and how this can be improved.”
This year’s Rural Poll was sent to 6,260 households in 86 Nebraska counties in March and April. Responses were received through June 10. Results are based on 1,776 responses, a response rate of 28%. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 2%. Complete results are available at http://ruralpoll.unl.edu.
The university's Department of Agricultural Economics conducts the poll with funding from Nebraska Extension and the Nebraska Rural Futures Institute.
Cereal Rye Cover Crop Seeding Date Extended to Dec. 1 Statewide
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig and Kurt Simon, State Conservationist with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), have extended cover crop seeding deadlines due to weather delays.
Farmers participating in state cost-share and most federal financial assistance programs now have until Dec. 1 to plant their winter hardy cereal rye cover crop and still qualify for assistance.
“Farmers have had an unusually tough year dealing with weather, which is creating significant harvest delays,” said Secretary Naig. “Even a later seeded cover crop can provide conservation benefits and this extension gives farmers the opportunity to seed cereal rye after harvest.”
Cereal rye should be planted immediately following the harvest of the principal crop for best results. The cover crop will be no-till drilled into the crop residue and the recommended seeding rate of cereal rye should be increased to 75 pounds per acre to account for reduced tillering.
Kevin McCall, State Resource Conservationist for NRCS in Iowa, says late seeded cereal rye can still be established this fall and provide key soil health and environmental benefits if allowed to grow to at least an 8-inch height in the spring.
This seeding extension does not apply to all programs. Contact your local NRCS office for additional information about federal or state funded assistance programs.
Cover crops play an important role in locking in nutrients and preventing soil erosion. It is one of many conservation practices that farmers can use to help the state advance towards the water quality goals outlined in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy.
USDA Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production
Total corn consumed for alcohol and other uses was 455 million bushels in September 2019. Total corn consumption was down 10 percent from August 2019 and down 9 percent from September 2018. September 2019 usage included 91.3 percent for alcohol and 8.7 percent for other purposes. Corn consumed for beverage alcohol totaled 3.30 million bushels, down 1 percent from August 2019 but up 18 percent from September 2018. Corn for fuel alcohol, at 407 million bushels, was down 11 percent from August 2019 and down 10 percent from September 2018. Corn consumed in September 2019 for dry milling fuel production and wet milling fuel production was 90.1 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively.
Oilseed Crushings, Production, Consumption and Stocks
Soybeans crushed for crude oil was 4.87 million tons (162 million bushels) in September 2019, compared with 5.32 million tons (177 million bushels) in August 2019 and 5.09 million tons (170 million bushels) in September 2018. Crude oil produced was 1.90 billion pounds down 7 percent from August 2019 and down 2 percent from September 2018. Soybean once refined oil production at 1.41 billion pounds during September 2019 decreased 7 percent from August 2019 and decreased 4 percent from September 2018.
USDA Flour Milling Products Highlights
All wheat ground for flour during the third quarter 2019 was 232 million bushels, up 3 percent from the second quarter 2019 grind of 225 million bushels but down slightly from the third quarter 2018 grind of 233 million bushels. Third quarter 2019 total flour production was 107 million hundredweight, up 3 percent from the second quarter 2019 but down 1 percent from the third quarter 2018. Whole wheat flour production at 4.92 million hundredweight during the third quarter 2019 accounted for 5 percent of the total flour production. Millfeed production from wheat in the
third quarter 2019 was 1.66 million tons. The daily 24-hour milling capacity of wheat flour during the third quarter 2019 was 1.67 million hundredweight.
USDA Announces Commodity Credit Corporation Lending Rates for November 2019
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation today announced interest rates for November 2019, which are effective November 1-November 30, 2019. The Commodity Credit Corporation borrowing rate-based charge for November is 1.625 percent, down from 1.750 percent in October.
The interest rate for crop year commodity loans less than one year disbursed during November is 2.625 percent, down from 2.750 percent in October. Interest rates for Farm Storage Facility Loans approved for November are as follows: 1.500 percent with three-year loan terms, same as in October; 1.500 percent with five-year loan terms, same as in October; 1.625 percent with seven-year loan terms, same as in October; 1.625 percent with 10-year loan terms, same as in October; and 1.750 percent with 12-year loan terms, same as in October.
Industry Cannot Compromise on Restoring Mandatory COOL
Speaking yesterday to the 128th Annual Convention and Trade Show of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard told the crowd that restoring mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for beef was one of four core principles that independent cattle producers cannot compromise.
"Every industry has certain core principles that cannot be compromised under any circumstance, and for our industry, restoring mandatory COOL is among the most important," Bullard said adding, "Non-core issues may be compromised when the outcome does not harm your opportunity to remain profitable, but restoring mandatory COOL is not on that list."
Bullard scorned a recent legislative proposal by South Dakota's U.S. Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds known as the U.S. Beef Integrity Act that makes changes to voluntary labeling, saying the proposal only addresses one of the numerous problems that have surfaced after Congress repealed the mandatory COOL law for beef in 2015.
"When a South Dakota rancher delivers calves to the auction yard or loads them in a truck for shipment to a buyer, he or she must have the assurance that the beef from those animals will be labeled as born, raised, and slaughtered in the United States.
"Only the full restoration of mandatory COOL for beef will provide that assurance and we must not accept anything less," he said.
Bullard said the Sens. Rounds and Thune proposal falls well short of this requirement and he urged the audience to instead support the resolution by Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) that was filed in Washington, D.C. the morning of the convention.
The Tester resolution calls on Congress to reinstate County-of-Origin labeling for pork and beef to allow consumers to make an informed and free choice about where their food comes from.
Bullard said mandatory COOL is the only tool that producers have to compete against the growing tide of cheaper, undifferentiated beef and cattle that are imported into the U.S. market.
This is what our industry needs, and our industry must direct all of its resources to accomplish the full reinstatement of mandatory COOL.
He also said that opponents of mandatory COOL are experts at placating the industry with minimalist legislation that does not address the core problem and that the Sens. Rounds and Thune legislation was such an example because it only tweaks the current and ineffective voluntary COOL program.
Bullard's message was somewhat ominous as he said if the cattle producers in the room did not dig their heals in the ground and fight until they win their core issues, then only a handful of the children of the ranchers in the room would have the opportunity to carry on the ranching legacy in South Dakota.
"This is serious, it can no longer be business as usual," Bullard concluded.
U.S. Farm Bankruptcies Spike in September
U.S. farm bankruptcies in September surged 24% to the highest since 2011 amid strains from President Donald Trump's trade war with China and a year of wild weather.
According to Bloomberg, growers are also becoming increasingly dependent on trade aid and other federal programs for income, figures showed in a report by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation's largest general farm organization.
The squeeze on farmers underscores the toll China's retaliatory tariffs have taken on a critical Trump constituency as the president enters a re-election campaign and a fight to stave off impeachment. The figures also highlight the importance of a "phase one" deal the administration is currently negotiating with Beijing to increase agriculture imports in return for a pause in escalating U.S. levies.
Almost 40% of projected farm profit this year will come from trade aid, disaster assistance, federal subsidies and insurance payments, according to the report, based on Department of Agriculture forecasts. That's $33 billion of a projected $88 billion in income.
The trade war and two straight years of adverse weather rattled farmers already facing commodity price slumps.
Chapter 12 bankruptcy filings in the 12 months ended September rose to 580 from a year earlier. That marked the highest since 676 cases in 2011 under the chapter of the bankruptcy code tailored for farms. The total "remains well below" historical highs in the 1980s, the federation said.
Nebraska had three more Chapter 12 bankruptcy filings in September, bringing the year-to-date total to 35. That's eight more than all of last year and more than in any full year since 2003, Bloomberg reports.
Recent bankruptcies were concentrated in the 13-state Midwestern region, a key battleground in the presidential election where grain, soybean, hog and dairy farms have been hit by trade disputes. More than 40%, or 255 filings, were in the region.
Thursday October 31 Ag News
Researchers to tackle irrigation decision-making with help of USDA grant
A new grant that brings together researchers from Nebraska, Illinois and Princeton aims to bridge the gap between data-collection, modeling and decision-making so crop producers can more easily decide whether to irrigate. The project, funded by a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture program, could potentially save both financial and water resources.
The project includes three parts, the third in which Nebraska will serve as ground zero. Trenton Franz, Derek Heeren, and Daran Rudnick, all of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will work with partners and producers in the state to validate remotely-collected soil moisture and weather data and to inform the design of an end-product useful to producers’ decision-making.
Kaiyu Guan, remote-sensing specialist with the University of Illinois, is leading the project, with Franz and Ming Pan, associate research hydrologist at Princeton University, acting as institutional leads.
“We have remote-sensing, modeling, and in-field data, but we want to know how best to combine and use that data to make improved decisions about irrigation,” said Franz, an associate professor in the School of Natural Resources. “Right now the main problem is we don’t have great real-time irrigation data to help validate the remote sensing and modeling data to make it useful for decision making.”
Weather, soil, and irrigation data collected via unmanned aerial vehicles, airplanes or satellites have certain problems: inopportune cloud cover, time between Earth passes, the scale — hundreds or meters across rather than at the 10s of meters needed, all which hinder the ability to make an informed decision.
Farmers have their own set of barriers. As farms progressively get bigger — in some cases 50 to 60 miles across — it becomes impossible to check the entire farm for rainfall simultaneously. Factor in that it takes three to four days for a center pivot irrigation system to complete a cycle around the field, and the end result is farmers making decisions based on a five-day period of time with inaccurate or missing information.
“We’ve all driven by someone’s lawn or farm field and it’s raining, and we ask, ‘Why not just turn off the sprinkler or center pivot when it’s raining?’” Franz said. “The actual decision (for a farmer) is not very simple. The bottom line is if you turn off your sprinkler, and it didn’t rain and it’s the wrong time of year — that’s going to cost you a lot of money.” The crop won’t get enough moisture and yield will drop, resulting in lower income.
Farmers want to conserve water, he added, but unless a sound decision can be made quickly, they’ll make the safe decision and water the field.
The researchers will spend the next three years working to refine satellite-collected data so it can be incorporated into mathematical modeling to accurately represent daily weather, crop and irrigation information; and then validate those components through field-level monitoring.
The UNL team, members of SNR and the Biological Systems Engineering Department, will work with Nebraska stakeholders to install on-the-ground crop sensors measuring 40 variables, including rainfall, solar radiation and plant health. Those variables combined will provide a water and energy budget — the information the farmer needs to make a decision — and the researchers hope to develop that information into an app or other easily-accessible product.
“Once we disseminate that out through our networks, we hope to make it better with feedback from users and with more localized data,” Franz said, “because the project leaders can look at the app, but if it’s just us, it’s not useful.”
The Nature Conservancy, the Nebraska Water Balance Alliance, Nebraska Natural Resource Districts, and Nebraska Extension will partner on the project, with additional partners working with University of Illinois and Princeton University on data analysis and modeling methods.
The National Science Foundation, together with USDA-NIFA, is funding the research through the cyber-physical systems program.
Agricultural Land Management Quarterly Webinar Series
The Agricultural Land Management Quarterly webinar series will offer management advice and insight for Nebraska landowners, agricultural producers and others with an interest in agricultural land.
The first episode will examine recent trends in Nebraska cash rental rates and considerations for updating agricultural leases for 2019. Future episodes will address landlord-tenant communication, lease decision-making issues and seasonal lease considerations. The webinars will conclude with an “Ask the Experts” session where participants can get answers to their land or lease questions.
Fall Seminar
Monday November 18, 6:30 p.m. CT
Topics
- Closing out the lease and harvest season
- Fall and winter lease considerations
- Ask the experts
- Presenters: NE Extension Educators Jim Jansen and Allan Vyhnalek.
Sign up here: https://agecon.unl.edu/landmanagement.
Nebraska Cattlemen Traceability Forum
November 14, 2019
Holiday Inn, Kearney, NE
Loper Hall - 9am - 3pm
*Onsite Registration begins at 8:45am
We would like to invite you to learn more about what is happening with traceability at the federal and state level. Hear from technology manufacturers, marketing programs and traceability pilot projects.
Topics and Speakers include:
- The Federal Perspective, Dr. Sarah Tomlinson, Executive Director APHIS Veterinary Services, Technology and Analysis Services
- The Nebraska State Perspective, Ross Baker, Animal Disease Traceability Coordinator
- A State with Mandatory Identification Perspective, Dr. Dave Minier, Michigan State Veterinarian Department
- The Nebraska Brand Committee Perspective, Danna Schwenk, Nebraska Brand Committee Project Coordinator
- The Cattle Trace Pilot Project, Dr. Brandon Depenbusch
- Using Block Chain to Market Cattle, Rob Jennings
Register here: https://nebraskacattlemen.org/event/nebraska-cattlemen-traceability-forum/.
Iowa Farm Liquidity in Decline, Aside from Government Payments
Farm liquidity across Iowa has been in decline over the past several years, despite a slight increase in 2018.
A recent study of 214 mid-size Iowa farms, conducted by Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor and extension economist at Iowa State University, found that 44% of the farms could be classified as having “vulnerable liquidity” in December 2018, while that percentage was just 31.3% in December 2014.
These results and more analysis are featured in the October edition of the Ag Decision Newsletter, in an article called “Farm liquidity slightly up, but still subdued.”
According to Plastina, farm liquidity improved slightly in 2018, mostly due to the $646 million Iowans received from Market Facilitation Program payments. However, he said the long-term trend, since 2014, has been one of significant decline.
“While liquidity improved slightly in 2018 due mostly to the MFP payments, the cumulative loss in working capital since 2014 averaged $189 per acre across the farms in my study,” Plastina said.
And, given the difficult growing season of this year, he expects 2019 financial numbers to be poor, as well.
“A massive number of delayed and prevented planting acres, low crop prices, reduced demand from biofuel refineries, and trade uncertainties in 2019 present a challenging liquidity scenario for farmers in Iowa,” Plastina said. “A new round of MFP payments will certainly help mitigate liquidity gaps this year, but the question remains on the sustainability of these payments through time.”
Farm profitability will be a priority issue at farm management meetings this fall and into the winter season.
ISU Extension and Outreach has more than 50 farm bill meetings planned, and dates have also been set for the Pro-Ag Outlook and Management Seminars, as well as the Ag Chemical Dealer meetings.
Nelson Family from Woodbury County to receive the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig will present the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award to cattle producer Eric Nelson and family. Naig will present the award on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 11 a.m. at the Moville Community Center at 815 Main Street Moville, IA 51039.
“Leaders in agriculture are not only implementing best practices on their farms, they are active in their communities and serve many organizations,” said Secretary Naig. “The Nelsons are great examples of leaders who take pride in caring for their cattle, their land and their community. They are deserving recipients of the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award.”
Eric Nelson farms with his wife Carol, and children Mark, Matt, John, Paul and Sarah. The family has a cow-calf operation and feeds out cattle. The Nelsons have practiced continuous no-till since 1993 and know the importance of implementing conservation practices, including grass waterways and grass field borders where appropriate.
The Nelsons operate according to Beef Quality Assurance guidelines, knowing that a low-stress environment is best for raising cattle. They are also stewards of the land, using soil testing to determine nutrient needs and use this information to plan the timing and location of manure field applications.
Each member of the Nelson family is active in community organizations. Eric has served as the Woodbury Co. Farm Bureau president for the last three years, is an 11-year member of the Woodbury Central School Board and is currently Vice President of Siouxland Ag in the Classroom. Carol is a member of the Woodbury County Extension Council and board member of Moville Area Community Development Inc. Their children are also involved in numerous organizations. Mark is President of the Woodbury County Cattlemen and Treasurer of Woodbury County Farm Bureau. Mark’s wife, Melissa, is the Woodbury County Beef Team leader and a Siouxland Ag in the Classroom board member. John is a volunteer firefighter with the Moville Volunteer Fire Department. The family is involved with Immaculate Conception Church in Moville.
Seminars Educate Sonora Livestock Producers About Value Of U.S. DDGS
The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) is answering technical questions and sharing firsthand experience using U.S. dried distiller's grains with solubles (DDGS) with poultry, swine and beef producers in Sonora, Mexico. This work to encourage increased DDGS use is augmented by newly installed stingers that will make it easier for these producers to obtain DDGS from the United States.
Located south of the Arizona border, Sonora is a significant livestock production zone. It is the second-largest pork producing state in Mexico, including large-scale programs like breeding, fattening and processing. Overall, the state produces 229,600 metric tons of pork per year with 2 percent growth year-over-year. To do so, the pork producers union makes consolidated grain purchases for its members, using about 50,000 metric tons of feed grains monthly – 40 percent from the United States.
Sonora is also the third-largest egg-producing state in the country, with Sonora’s poultry association members using 20,000 metric tons of feed grains monthly to feed their 12 million layers. The region is also home to significant cattle production with 32,000 livestock producers grazing cattle and installed feedlot capacity for fattening 145,000 head per year.
“Sonora has strong demand potential for bulk DDGS,” Chavez said. “The economic and nutritional advantages of U.S. DDGS have sparked increased interest from all three of the major livestock production industries in the state.”
The combination of these industries and the state’s geographic proximity to the United States makes Sonora a prime destination for the Council’s market development work.
In the last year, the Council, the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council and the Regional Livestock Pork Producers Union of Sonora (Union) partnered to purchase hard car unloaders – known as “stingers” – for the Ciudad Obregon rail terminal in the state of Sonora, where U.S. DDGS will be stored and used. This new delivery option will also benefit the poultry and cattle industries in the region.
The Council is working to match the interest and new logistical advantages of the stinger installations with information and testimonials on DDGS use. A triad of seminars conducted in September answered questions for producers and promoted the advantages of using DDGS. Dr. Kevin Herrick, nutritionist and technical service director for Poet Nutrition, provided technical expertise, while Iowa farmer and swine producer Bob Hemesath also provided his firsthand perspective on feeding DDGS to his hogs and updated the groups on the current year’s corn crop.
The first seminar reinforced the benefits of DDGS to the poultry producers association. Approximately 70 percent of the association’s membership already uses DDGS, so this seminar answered more technical questions on usage and encouraged higher inclusion rates. The second seminar targeted swine producers, allowing Hemesath to make an even larger impact by discussing his use of DDGS at a 40 percent inclusion rate and feeding until slaughter.
“Dr. Herrick’s presentation was geared toward giving more confidence in using DDGS for swine and backing up Hemesath’s personal good experience feeding DDGS to his hogs,” Chavez said. “This was exactly the information the audience was waiting to hear.”
The third and final presentation was designed for members of the regional cattle feeders association. This seminar included robust discussion of costs, antibiotics use and how to push maximum inclusion levels.
The Council will continue to work with the poultry, swine and cattle livestock associations to answer further questions, especially as the new rail options for DDGS delivery come into active operation.
“It is imperative that these livestock associations have access to nutritional experts to help them in incorporating DDGS into their feed rations and troubleshoot any issues,” Chavez said. “The Council will remain active in this region as these three different industries all gain their own experience with the advantages of feeding DDGS to their animals.”
Women in Ag Survey Reveals Business Acumen and Leadership
Women are active advocates for agriculture and successful business owners interested in filling leadership roles, according to a new Farm Bureau survey. A majority of those surveyed, 91%, also believe there should be more women in leadership roles in the industry. More than 3,000 women completed the informal survey online, which was conducted to determine the goals and achievements of women in agriculture.
“Women play a vital role in modern farming and ranching,” said Sherry Saylor, an Arizona farmer and chair of the American Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee. “We hope to use the survey results to drive our program of work and also to give women their voice and help them make even more of an impact in their communities.”
More than 50% of women surveyed have started their own business that’s still in operation; 25% have not started a business but indicated they would like to do so in the future. Respondents cited prioritizing and finding time to accomplish tasks, acquiring financial support and marketing plan development as their top business challenges.
Respondents ranked communicating effectively, inspiring and motivating others, and managing conflict among the most important leadership skills for women in agriculture.
Another topline finding of the survey was that 75% of respondents are leaders at the local level, 50% are leaders at the state level and 26% are leaders at the national level.
All women who are farmers, ranchers, farm/ranch employees, employed in agricultural businesses, pursuing ag-related higher education or supportive of agriculture in other ways were invited to participate in the survey.
Full survey results, including comparisons to the initial “Women in Ag” survey (conducted in 2015), are available online at fb.org/women.
New Voluntary Performance Standards for Pork Plants
Meat processing has come a long way since the early 1900s, when packing plants were graphically depicted in Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle. Since that time, meat inspectors, safety precautions for workers, the use of better technology and higher food-safety standards have arguably made the U.S. food supply the safest in the world. However, there is always room for improvement, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) intends to propose new, voluntary performance standards for pork.
The final rule for the Modernized Hog Slaughter Plan was published October 1, and one of its goals is to align hog slaughter inspection with hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) principles. It will also allow market hog slaughter establishments to operation under the New Swine Inspection System (NSIS).
Under the plan, all swine slaughter establishments must develop written sanitary dressing plans and implement microbial sampling to monitor process control. Pork sampling will increase in FY2020 and inspectors will stop testing for STEC. However, FSIS will partner with Agricultural Research Service to study STEC in pork.
“Modernization moves inspection away from the traditional control and command approach,” said Captain Kis Robertson Hale, DVM, with the U.S. Public Health Service post at FSIS, during the 2019 annual meeting of the U.S. Animal Health Association this week. Hale explained that under the new rule, plant employees will do two points of sampling, one at the beginning and one at the end, giving plants the options for indicator product sampling.
The biggest thing that has been a source of question is the new swine inspection system.
NSIS requirements for sorting state that establishment personnel are responsible for sorting and removing unfit animals before ante mortem inspection, as well as for identifying and trimming defects on carcasses and parts before postmortem inspection. FSIS will continue to do all the inspections it has done in the past, but sorting will be the responsibility of establishment personnel.
“It shifts agency resources so we can do inspections more efficiently,” Hale said.
Establishment personal will be responsible for: Identifying with a unique tag, tattoo, or similar device animals or carcasses that have been sorted or removed for disposal prior to inspection, and; developing, implementing and maintaining written procedures in its HACCP system to ensure unfit animals or carcasses are properly disposed.
Plants will determine line speed
The new standard authorizes establishments to determine their own line speeds based on their ability to maintain process control. This area has received a lot of attention, Hale said, but the important point is the plant’s ability to maintain process control.
“There is still 100% carcass-by-carcass inspection so it isn’t practical to have excessively high speeds. However, inspectors are empowered to slow the lines,” Hale said.
“Back in the day, the speed was set on what food inspectors needed to conduct their tasks. Since then, advancements in science and technology have refined our understanding about line speed requirements. We are still very much focused on hazard reduction,” she added.
Under NSIS, inspectors will be able to conduct more verification tasks that are associated with better food-safety outcomes.
“Science has been the driving force of where we are with pork sampling and slaughter inspection. By increasing industry accountability for pathogen reduction, improvements to food safety are expected,” Hale said. “It’s amazing how many illnesses have been averted by going with a HAACP approach.”
Swine Fever Could Kill Quarter of Pigs
(AP) -- Around a quarter of the world's pigs are expected to die from African swine fever as authorities grapple with a complex disease spreading rapidly in the globalization era, the World Organization for Animal Health's president said Thursday.
A sharp reduction in the world's pig population would lead to possible food shortages and high pork prices, and it might also cause shortfalls in the many products made from pigs, such as the blood-thinner heparin that's used in people, said Dr. Mark Schipp, the organization's president.
The disease's spread in the past year to countries including China, which has half the world's pigs, had inflamed a worldwide crisis, Schipp told reporters at a briefing in Sydney.
"I don't think the species will be lost, but it's the biggest threat to the commercial raising of pigs we've ever seen," he said. "And it's the biggest threat to any commercial livestock of our generation."
African swine fever, fatal to hogs but no threat to humans, has wiped out pig herds in many Asian countries. Chinese authorities have destroyed about 1.2 million pigs in an effort to contain the disease there since August 2018.
The price of pork has nearly doubled from a year ago in China, which produces and consumes two-thirds of the world's pork. And China's efforts to buy pork abroad, as well as smaller outbreaks in other countries, are pushing up global prices.
"There are some shortages in some countries, and there's been some substitutions using other sources of protein, which is driving up the prices of other proteins," said Schipp.
Progress had been made toward a vaccine, but Schipp, who is also Australia's chief veterinary officer, said the work was challenging because the virus itself is large and has a complex structure. He said a big step forward was the announcement last week that scientists had unraveled the 3D structure of the virus.
African swine fever is spread by contact among pigs, through contaminated fodder and by ticks. It originated in South Africa and appeared in Europe in in the 1960s. A recent reappearance in western Europe came from wild pigs transferred into Belgian forests for hunting purposes.
Its capacity to spread rapidly is shown by its spread from China in the past year, Schipp said. Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asia and East Timor have had outbreaks as well.
He said the spread reflects the global movement of pork and of people but also the effect of tariffs and trade barriers, which sends those obtaining pork to seek out riskier sources. And Schipp said quality control was difficult for products such as skins for sausages, salamis and similar foods.
"Those casing products move through multiple countries," he said. "They're cleaned in one, graded in another, sorted in another, partially treated in another, and finally treated in a fourth of fifth country. They've very hard to trace, through so many countries."
An emerging issue in the crisis is a potential heparin shortage, Schipp said.
"Most of it is sourced from China, which has been badly hit. There are concerns that this will threaten the global supply of heparin," Schipp said.
He praised China's efforts to battle the disease and said the outbreaks would change the way pigs are raised.
"In China, previously they had a lot of backyard piggeries. They're seeing this as an opportunity to take a big step forward and move to large scale commercial piggeries," Schipp said. "The challenge will be to other countries without the infrastructure or capital reserves to scale up in those ways."
ADM Reports Third Quarter Earnings of $0.72 per Share, $0.77 per Share on an Adjusted Basis
Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2019.
“We delivered solid third quarter results, consistent with the perspectives we provided last quarter, despite a difficult external environment,” said Chairman and CEO Juan Luciano. “We maintained our focus on serving our customers and advancing our strategic goals, and continued to realize the benefits of the actions that we took earlier this year.
“We are excited about our strategic growth activities, and particularly our participation and leadership in major global trends such as flexitarian diets, nutrition for health, and sustainable materials. We have invested in assets, platforms and technological capabilities to serve and grow with our customers, who are embracing these market-changing trends.
“While external conditions for certain businesses may remain fluid and potentially challenging in the near term, our growing leadership position in major global trends, and our strength in innovation, efficiency, and customer service, position us well for stronger results in 2020 and beyond.”
Third Quarter 2019 Highlights
• Net earnings of $407 million
• Earnings per share: $0.72 ($0.94 last year)
Results of Operations
Ag Services & Oilseeds results were lower than the third quarter of 2018, which benefited from very strong crush margins.
- Ag Services results were in line with the prior-year quarter. In South America, results were up on improved origination margins in Brazil and increased export volumes from Argentina. In North America, improved merchandising results from favorable ownership positions helped offset a continued challenging volume and margin environment for U.S. exports.
- In Crushing, results were lower year over year. Crush margins globally were substantially below the record high levels seen in 2018, though still solid in North America and EMEA. In South America, margins were pressured by continued strong exports of soybeans to China. Global crush margins benefited from positive net timing effects of approximately $50 million during the third quarter.
- Refined Products and Other results were significantly higher than the third quarter of 2018, largely driven by significant improvements in Golden Peanut and Tree Nuts.
Carbohydrate Solutions results were substantially lower than the year-ago period.
- Starches and Sweeteners results were down versus the third quarter of 2018. Results in North America were affected by higher net corn costs partly offset by lower manufacturing costs, which included improvements at the Decatur corn complex. EMEA results were impacted by lower selling prices and continued pressure from Turkish sweetener quotas. In wheat milling, an increase in sales volumes was more than offset by lower margins due to limited opportunities in wheat procurement.
- Bioproducts results were significantly lower, driven by a continued unfavorable margin environment in the ethanol industry.
Nutrition results were substantially higher.
- WFSI results were significantly higher than the prior-year quarter, with growth across the portfolio. Higher sales and margins globally led to record quarterly results for WILD. In Specialty Ingredients, the protein business continued to expand amid the growing consumer market for alternative proteins. Continued contributions from growth investments in bioactives and fibers benefited the Health & Wellness business.
- Animal Nutrition results were up year over year, driven largely by contributions from Neovia. Improvements in vitamin additives also helped contribute to positive results. Lysine production improved, though pricing was negatively impacted by lower global demand.
NCBA Announces Finalists for National Anthem Contest
Four finalists have been announced for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s seventh annual National Anthem Singing Contest. The winner will receive a trip to the 2020 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show Feb. 5-7 to perform the Star Spangled Banner at the event’s Opening General Session Feb. 5 as well as the Friday Night NCBA PBR Invitational Event Feb. 7. The contest is sponsored by Norbrook.
The four finalists are:
Courtney Stefan, Hallettsville, Texas
Anna Kelsey, Tecumseh, Oklahoma
Sara Schlickau, Manhattan, Kansas
Lauren McCarthy, Reno, Nevada
Everyone will be able to vote for their favorite singer Nov. 1-15. One vote per day will be offered to each IP address. The winner will be announced Nov. 18, 2019.
The contest winner will receive a hotel room for four nights, free convention registration for two, a meet-and-greet hosted by Norbrook, plus a pair of boots, pair of jeans and a shirt from Roper or Stetson.
The videos of the top four finalists are available for voting on the convention website at https://convention.ncba.org. Voting is being counted by an independent firm and will be open from Nov. 1, 2019 to Nov. 15, 2019 (one vote per IP address per day).
Beef Quality Assurance Campaign Seeks Greater Understanding of Industry Efforts
About 85 percent of U.S. beef today comes from Beef Quality Assurance (BQA)-certified farmers or ranchers. But do American consumers know that? Just as important, do they know what BQA is – and what it stands for?
Those are the kinds of questions a new Beef Checkoff-funded campaign from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a Beef Checkoff contractor, is addressing. Its goal is to bridge the gap between what the industry is doing to produce high-quality beef in a humane, environmentally friendly way, and what consumers know about those efforts.
The new campaign, designed to meet the consumer’s desire to learn more about how beef is produced, kicked off in October with a series of videos from Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. that bring the BQA program to life by highlighting how cattle farmers and ranchers across the country raise cattle under BQA guidelines.
The videos and corresponding audio clips will be used to advertise on platforms including YouTube, Hulu, Pandora and Spotify and will also be made available on a new BQA section of BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com. Consumers will also learn more about BQA through interactive “BQ&A” Instagram stories that address common questions about how cattle are raised. The video, website and social activations provide consumers with an overview of the BQA program and the ongoing commitment of cattle farmers and ranchers to care for their animals and provide the safest and highest quality beef possible.
In addition to the digital marketing and social activations, media sources, such as Bloomberg, Reuters, USA Today and others will be introduced to BQA, and influencers and beef advocates will share BQA information with their audiences.
“The campaign expands the reach of a traditionally producer-facing program,” says Josh White, executive director of producer education at NCBA, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff. “Beef farmers and ranchers are committed to not only caring for their animals and the environment in which they do that, they are dedicated to delivering the safest and highest quality beef possible,” he says. “At the same time, research shows that consumers want to know more about how and where their food is raised. This new effort shares information about the program with consumers in a way that benefits both producers and those who enjoy their beef.”
Producer Support
U.S. beef producers who have embraced BQA are encouraged by this step to get the message to those who buy beef.
“I’m so excited about BQA becoming a consumer-facing program,” says Kim Brackett, a cow-calf producer whose operation sits on the Idaho/Oregon border. “The average consumer does not know what is happening in our industry. This is going to help reassure them as they’re making their purchasing decisions.”
Brackett and her husband, Ira, have four children who will be the sixth generation involved in cattle production. She got involved in BQA about 15 years ago and helped get it going in her area. A former chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, she is currently the vice chairman of NCBA’s BQA advisory group. Brackett says being open with consumers is key to industry success.
“We’re living in a transparent world,” she says. “Sometimes it’s hard to make the connections we need with our customers and BQA helps bridge that gap.”
Brandi Karisch, beef cattle extension specialist at Mississippi State University, says as a mother of two young children she sees the problem frequently.
“In talking with other moms, it’s kind of shocking some of the things they believe,” she says. “There’s just a lot of bad information out there. Now is an important time to correct that,” she says.
After completing her undergraduate work at LSU, Karisch went on to get her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University and is now the co-coordinator of the BQA program in Mississippi. Karisch grew up in Southern Louisiana on a small purebred cow-calf operation and says timing for the new campaign couldn’t be better.
“BQA is one of our shining moments as a beef industry. It’s really important for consumers to hear about it,” she says.
“The Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. brand provides a tremendous foundation for this effort,” says Alisa Harrison, NCBA senior vice president for global marketing. “For more than a quarter century, consumers have come to know and respect Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. and this is the next step in helping consumers understand how beef is produced.”
Harrison says the primary audience for the new campaign will be older millennial parents. To all consumers, however, the messages will be transparent and open, featuring the point that cattle are safely, humanely and sustainably raised.
“There’s so much negative media and noise out there, any reassurance we can provide, that only helps,” says Brackett. The fact that information is continually updated and kept fresh is also a positive, she says. “Producers themselves are in charge. It’s very attainable,” she says.
Karisch agrees. “Producers always have a voice in BQA, and that’s important,” she says.
A Bigger and Better Program
Participation in BQA by farmers and ranchers continues to grow as certifications, including dairy and youth facing programs, recently surpassed the 350,000 mark. Throughout the country producers are becoming BQA-certified through in-person and online training. Certified farmers and ranchers must be re-certified every three years.
Online BQA training provides 24/7 access to the program through a series of videos and animations in the areas of cow-calf, stocker/backgrounder and feedyard. In-person training is available through sessions conducted by hundreds of in-state BQA coordinators throughout the country. The certifications are also available in Spanish.
Doing the Right Thing
Bottom line, BQA encourages proper animal care, and consumers should feel good knowing there’s a national program in place that sets consistent animal welfare and care standards across the beef industry.
“BQA helps us be better stewards of animals and the land,” says Karisch. “That’s really the key.
“But there’s a lot of noise out there about animal welfare. That creates a lot of bad vibes for the cattle industry.”
Those are vibes the industry can’t afford, Karisch says. “I don’t want people thinking bad things about our industry,” she says. “Some of the finest people I know are in the cattle business. And we really are doing things right.”
A new grant that brings together researchers from Nebraska, Illinois and Princeton aims to bridge the gap between data-collection, modeling and decision-making so crop producers can more easily decide whether to irrigate. The project, funded by a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture program, could potentially save both financial and water resources.
The project includes three parts, the third in which Nebraska will serve as ground zero. Trenton Franz, Derek Heeren, and Daran Rudnick, all of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will work with partners and producers in the state to validate remotely-collected soil moisture and weather data and to inform the design of an end-product useful to producers’ decision-making.
Kaiyu Guan, remote-sensing specialist with the University of Illinois, is leading the project, with Franz and Ming Pan, associate research hydrologist at Princeton University, acting as institutional leads.
“We have remote-sensing, modeling, and in-field data, but we want to know how best to combine and use that data to make improved decisions about irrigation,” said Franz, an associate professor in the School of Natural Resources. “Right now the main problem is we don’t have great real-time irrigation data to help validate the remote sensing and modeling data to make it useful for decision making.”
Weather, soil, and irrigation data collected via unmanned aerial vehicles, airplanes or satellites have certain problems: inopportune cloud cover, time between Earth passes, the scale — hundreds or meters across rather than at the 10s of meters needed, all which hinder the ability to make an informed decision.
Farmers have their own set of barriers. As farms progressively get bigger — in some cases 50 to 60 miles across — it becomes impossible to check the entire farm for rainfall simultaneously. Factor in that it takes three to four days for a center pivot irrigation system to complete a cycle around the field, and the end result is farmers making decisions based on a five-day period of time with inaccurate or missing information.
“We’ve all driven by someone’s lawn or farm field and it’s raining, and we ask, ‘Why not just turn off the sprinkler or center pivot when it’s raining?’” Franz said. “The actual decision (for a farmer) is not very simple. The bottom line is if you turn off your sprinkler, and it didn’t rain and it’s the wrong time of year — that’s going to cost you a lot of money.” The crop won’t get enough moisture and yield will drop, resulting in lower income.
Farmers want to conserve water, he added, but unless a sound decision can be made quickly, they’ll make the safe decision and water the field.
The researchers will spend the next three years working to refine satellite-collected data so it can be incorporated into mathematical modeling to accurately represent daily weather, crop and irrigation information; and then validate those components through field-level monitoring.
The UNL team, members of SNR and the Biological Systems Engineering Department, will work with Nebraska stakeholders to install on-the-ground crop sensors measuring 40 variables, including rainfall, solar radiation and plant health. Those variables combined will provide a water and energy budget — the information the farmer needs to make a decision — and the researchers hope to develop that information into an app or other easily-accessible product.
“Once we disseminate that out through our networks, we hope to make it better with feedback from users and with more localized data,” Franz said, “because the project leaders can look at the app, but if it’s just us, it’s not useful.”
The Nature Conservancy, the Nebraska Water Balance Alliance, Nebraska Natural Resource Districts, and Nebraska Extension will partner on the project, with additional partners working with University of Illinois and Princeton University on data analysis and modeling methods.
The National Science Foundation, together with USDA-NIFA, is funding the research through the cyber-physical systems program.
Agricultural Land Management Quarterly Webinar Series
The Agricultural Land Management Quarterly webinar series will offer management advice and insight for Nebraska landowners, agricultural producers and others with an interest in agricultural land.
The first episode will examine recent trends in Nebraska cash rental rates and considerations for updating agricultural leases for 2019. Future episodes will address landlord-tenant communication, lease decision-making issues and seasonal lease considerations. The webinars will conclude with an “Ask the Experts” session where participants can get answers to their land or lease questions.
Fall Seminar
Monday November 18, 6:30 p.m. CT
Topics
- Closing out the lease and harvest season
- Fall and winter lease considerations
- Ask the experts
- Presenters: NE Extension Educators Jim Jansen and Allan Vyhnalek.
Sign up here: https://agecon.unl.edu/landmanagement.
Nebraska Cattlemen Traceability Forum
November 14, 2019
Holiday Inn, Kearney, NE
Loper Hall - 9am - 3pm
*Onsite Registration begins at 8:45am
We would like to invite you to learn more about what is happening with traceability at the federal and state level. Hear from technology manufacturers, marketing programs and traceability pilot projects.
Topics and Speakers include:
- The Federal Perspective, Dr. Sarah Tomlinson, Executive Director APHIS Veterinary Services, Technology and Analysis Services
- The Nebraska State Perspective, Ross Baker, Animal Disease Traceability Coordinator
- A State with Mandatory Identification Perspective, Dr. Dave Minier, Michigan State Veterinarian Department
- The Nebraska Brand Committee Perspective, Danna Schwenk, Nebraska Brand Committee Project Coordinator
- The Cattle Trace Pilot Project, Dr. Brandon Depenbusch
- Using Block Chain to Market Cattle, Rob Jennings
Register here: https://nebraskacattlemen.org/event/nebraska-cattlemen-traceability-forum/.
Iowa Farm Liquidity in Decline, Aside from Government Payments
Farm liquidity across Iowa has been in decline over the past several years, despite a slight increase in 2018.
A recent study of 214 mid-size Iowa farms, conducted by Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor and extension economist at Iowa State University, found that 44% of the farms could be classified as having “vulnerable liquidity” in December 2018, while that percentage was just 31.3% in December 2014.
These results and more analysis are featured in the October edition of the Ag Decision Newsletter, in an article called “Farm liquidity slightly up, but still subdued.”
According to Plastina, farm liquidity improved slightly in 2018, mostly due to the $646 million Iowans received from Market Facilitation Program payments. However, he said the long-term trend, since 2014, has been one of significant decline.
“While liquidity improved slightly in 2018 due mostly to the MFP payments, the cumulative loss in working capital since 2014 averaged $189 per acre across the farms in my study,” Plastina said.
And, given the difficult growing season of this year, he expects 2019 financial numbers to be poor, as well.
“A massive number of delayed and prevented planting acres, low crop prices, reduced demand from biofuel refineries, and trade uncertainties in 2019 present a challenging liquidity scenario for farmers in Iowa,” Plastina said. “A new round of MFP payments will certainly help mitigate liquidity gaps this year, but the question remains on the sustainability of these payments through time.”
Farm profitability will be a priority issue at farm management meetings this fall and into the winter season.
ISU Extension and Outreach has more than 50 farm bill meetings planned, and dates have also been set for the Pro-Ag Outlook and Management Seminars, as well as the Ag Chemical Dealer meetings.
Nelson Family from Woodbury County to receive the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig will present the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award to cattle producer Eric Nelson and family. Naig will present the award on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 11 a.m. at the Moville Community Center at 815 Main Street Moville, IA 51039.
“Leaders in agriculture are not only implementing best practices on their farms, they are active in their communities and serve many organizations,” said Secretary Naig. “The Nelsons are great examples of leaders who take pride in caring for their cattle, their land and their community. They are deserving recipients of the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award.”
Eric Nelson farms with his wife Carol, and children Mark, Matt, John, Paul and Sarah. The family has a cow-calf operation and feeds out cattle. The Nelsons have practiced continuous no-till since 1993 and know the importance of implementing conservation practices, including grass waterways and grass field borders where appropriate.
The Nelsons operate according to Beef Quality Assurance guidelines, knowing that a low-stress environment is best for raising cattle. They are also stewards of the land, using soil testing to determine nutrient needs and use this information to plan the timing and location of manure field applications.
Each member of the Nelson family is active in community organizations. Eric has served as the Woodbury Co. Farm Bureau president for the last three years, is an 11-year member of the Woodbury Central School Board and is currently Vice President of Siouxland Ag in the Classroom. Carol is a member of the Woodbury County Extension Council and board member of Moville Area Community Development Inc. Their children are also involved in numerous organizations. Mark is President of the Woodbury County Cattlemen and Treasurer of Woodbury County Farm Bureau. Mark’s wife, Melissa, is the Woodbury County Beef Team leader and a Siouxland Ag in the Classroom board member. John is a volunteer firefighter with the Moville Volunteer Fire Department. The family is involved with Immaculate Conception Church in Moville.
Seminars Educate Sonora Livestock Producers About Value Of U.S. DDGS
The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) is answering technical questions and sharing firsthand experience using U.S. dried distiller's grains with solubles (DDGS) with poultry, swine and beef producers in Sonora, Mexico. This work to encourage increased DDGS use is augmented by newly installed stingers that will make it easier for these producers to obtain DDGS from the United States.
Located south of the Arizona border, Sonora is a significant livestock production zone. It is the second-largest pork producing state in Mexico, including large-scale programs like breeding, fattening and processing. Overall, the state produces 229,600 metric tons of pork per year with 2 percent growth year-over-year. To do so, the pork producers union makes consolidated grain purchases for its members, using about 50,000 metric tons of feed grains monthly – 40 percent from the United States.
Sonora is also the third-largest egg-producing state in the country, with Sonora’s poultry association members using 20,000 metric tons of feed grains monthly to feed their 12 million layers. The region is also home to significant cattle production with 32,000 livestock producers grazing cattle and installed feedlot capacity for fattening 145,000 head per year.
“Sonora has strong demand potential for bulk DDGS,” Chavez said. “The economic and nutritional advantages of U.S. DDGS have sparked increased interest from all three of the major livestock production industries in the state.”
The combination of these industries and the state’s geographic proximity to the United States makes Sonora a prime destination for the Council’s market development work.
In the last year, the Council, the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council and the Regional Livestock Pork Producers Union of Sonora (Union) partnered to purchase hard car unloaders – known as “stingers” – for the Ciudad Obregon rail terminal in the state of Sonora, where U.S. DDGS will be stored and used. This new delivery option will also benefit the poultry and cattle industries in the region.
The Council is working to match the interest and new logistical advantages of the stinger installations with information and testimonials on DDGS use. A triad of seminars conducted in September answered questions for producers and promoted the advantages of using DDGS. Dr. Kevin Herrick, nutritionist and technical service director for Poet Nutrition, provided technical expertise, while Iowa farmer and swine producer Bob Hemesath also provided his firsthand perspective on feeding DDGS to his hogs and updated the groups on the current year’s corn crop.
The first seminar reinforced the benefits of DDGS to the poultry producers association. Approximately 70 percent of the association’s membership already uses DDGS, so this seminar answered more technical questions on usage and encouraged higher inclusion rates. The second seminar targeted swine producers, allowing Hemesath to make an even larger impact by discussing his use of DDGS at a 40 percent inclusion rate and feeding until slaughter.
“Dr. Herrick’s presentation was geared toward giving more confidence in using DDGS for swine and backing up Hemesath’s personal good experience feeding DDGS to his hogs,” Chavez said. “This was exactly the information the audience was waiting to hear.”
The third and final presentation was designed for members of the regional cattle feeders association. This seminar included robust discussion of costs, antibiotics use and how to push maximum inclusion levels.
The Council will continue to work with the poultry, swine and cattle livestock associations to answer further questions, especially as the new rail options for DDGS delivery come into active operation.
“It is imperative that these livestock associations have access to nutritional experts to help them in incorporating DDGS into their feed rations and troubleshoot any issues,” Chavez said. “The Council will remain active in this region as these three different industries all gain their own experience with the advantages of feeding DDGS to their animals.”
Women in Ag Survey Reveals Business Acumen and Leadership
Women are active advocates for agriculture and successful business owners interested in filling leadership roles, according to a new Farm Bureau survey. A majority of those surveyed, 91%, also believe there should be more women in leadership roles in the industry. More than 3,000 women completed the informal survey online, which was conducted to determine the goals and achievements of women in agriculture.
“Women play a vital role in modern farming and ranching,” said Sherry Saylor, an Arizona farmer and chair of the American Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee. “We hope to use the survey results to drive our program of work and also to give women their voice and help them make even more of an impact in their communities.”
More than 50% of women surveyed have started their own business that’s still in operation; 25% have not started a business but indicated they would like to do so in the future. Respondents cited prioritizing and finding time to accomplish tasks, acquiring financial support and marketing plan development as their top business challenges.
Respondents ranked communicating effectively, inspiring and motivating others, and managing conflict among the most important leadership skills for women in agriculture.
Another topline finding of the survey was that 75% of respondents are leaders at the local level, 50% are leaders at the state level and 26% are leaders at the national level.
All women who are farmers, ranchers, farm/ranch employees, employed in agricultural businesses, pursuing ag-related higher education or supportive of agriculture in other ways were invited to participate in the survey.
Full survey results, including comparisons to the initial “Women in Ag” survey (conducted in 2015), are available online at fb.org/women.
New Voluntary Performance Standards for Pork Plants
Meat processing has come a long way since the early 1900s, when packing plants were graphically depicted in Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle. Since that time, meat inspectors, safety precautions for workers, the use of better technology and higher food-safety standards have arguably made the U.S. food supply the safest in the world. However, there is always room for improvement, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) intends to propose new, voluntary performance standards for pork.
The final rule for the Modernized Hog Slaughter Plan was published October 1, and one of its goals is to align hog slaughter inspection with hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) principles. It will also allow market hog slaughter establishments to operation under the New Swine Inspection System (NSIS).
Under the plan, all swine slaughter establishments must develop written sanitary dressing plans and implement microbial sampling to monitor process control. Pork sampling will increase in FY2020 and inspectors will stop testing for STEC. However, FSIS will partner with Agricultural Research Service to study STEC in pork.
“Modernization moves inspection away from the traditional control and command approach,” said Captain Kis Robertson Hale, DVM, with the U.S. Public Health Service post at FSIS, during the 2019 annual meeting of the U.S. Animal Health Association this week. Hale explained that under the new rule, plant employees will do two points of sampling, one at the beginning and one at the end, giving plants the options for indicator product sampling.
The biggest thing that has been a source of question is the new swine inspection system.
NSIS requirements for sorting state that establishment personnel are responsible for sorting and removing unfit animals before ante mortem inspection, as well as for identifying and trimming defects on carcasses and parts before postmortem inspection. FSIS will continue to do all the inspections it has done in the past, but sorting will be the responsibility of establishment personnel.
“It shifts agency resources so we can do inspections more efficiently,” Hale said.
Establishment personal will be responsible for: Identifying with a unique tag, tattoo, or similar device animals or carcasses that have been sorted or removed for disposal prior to inspection, and; developing, implementing and maintaining written procedures in its HACCP system to ensure unfit animals or carcasses are properly disposed.
Plants will determine line speed
The new standard authorizes establishments to determine their own line speeds based on their ability to maintain process control. This area has received a lot of attention, Hale said, but the important point is the plant’s ability to maintain process control.
“There is still 100% carcass-by-carcass inspection so it isn’t practical to have excessively high speeds. However, inspectors are empowered to slow the lines,” Hale said.
“Back in the day, the speed was set on what food inspectors needed to conduct their tasks. Since then, advancements in science and technology have refined our understanding about line speed requirements. We are still very much focused on hazard reduction,” she added.
Under NSIS, inspectors will be able to conduct more verification tasks that are associated with better food-safety outcomes.
“Science has been the driving force of where we are with pork sampling and slaughter inspection. By increasing industry accountability for pathogen reduction, improvements to food safety are expected,” Hale said. “It’s amazing how many illnesses have been averted by going with a HAACP approach.”
Swine Fever Could Kill Quarter of Pigs
(AP) -- Around a quarter of the world's pigs are expected to die from African swine fever as authorities grapple with a complex disease spreading rapidly in the globalization era, the World Organization for Animal Health's president said Thursday.
A sharp reduction in the world's pig population would lead to possible food shortages and high pork prices, and it might also cause shortfalls in the many products made from pigs, such as the blood-thinner heparin that's used in people, said Dr. Mark Schipp, the organization's president.
The disease's spread in the past year to countries including China, which has half the world's pigs, had inflamed a worldwide crisis, Schipp told reporters at a briefing in Sydney.
"I don't think the species will be lost, but it's the biggest threat to the commercial raising of pigs we've ever seen," he said. "And it's the biggest threat to any commercial livestock of our generation."
African swine fever, fatal to hogs but no threat to humans, has wiped out pig herds in many Asian countries. Chinese authorities have destroyed about 1.2 million pigs in an effort to contain the disease there since August 2018.
The price of pork has nearly doubled from a year ago in China, which produces and consumes two-thirds of the world's pork. And China's efforts to buy pork abroad, as well as smaller outbreaks in other countries, are pushing up global prices.
"There are some shortages in some countries, and there's been some substitutions using other sources of protein, which is driving up the prices of other proteins," said Schipp.
Progress had been made toward a vaccine, but Schipp, who is also Australia's chief veterinary officer, said the work was challenging because the virus itself is large and has a complex structure. He said a big step forward was the announcement last week that scientists had unraveled the 3D structure of the virus.
African swine fever is spread by contact among pigs, through contaminated fodder and by ticks. It originated in South Africa and appeared in Europe in in the 1960s. A recent reappearance in western Europe came from wild pigs transferred into Belgian forests for hunting purposes.
Its capacity to spread rapidly is shown by its spread from China in the past year, Schipp said. Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asia and East Timor have had outbreaks as well.
He said the spread reflects the global movement of pork and of people but also the effect of tariffs and trade barriers, which sends those obtaining pork to seek out riskier sources. And Schipp said quality control was difficult for products such as skins for sausages, salamis and similar foods.
"Those casing products move through multiple countries," he said. "They're cleaned in one, graded in another, sorted in another, partially treated in another, and finally treated in a fourth of fifth country. They've very hard to trace, through so many countries."
An emerging issue in the crisis is a potential heparin shortage, Schipp said.
"Most of it is sourced from China, which has been badly hit. There are concerns that this will threaten the global supply of heparin," Schipp said.
He praised China's efforts to battle the disease and said the outbreaks would change the way pigs are raised.
"In China, previously they had a lot of backyard piggeries. They're seeing this as an opportunity to take a big step forward and move to large scale commercial piggeries," Schipp said. "The challenge will be to other countries without the infrastructure or capital reserves to scale up in those ways."
ADM Reports Third Quarter Earnings of $0.72 per Share, $0.77 per Share on an Adjusted Basis
Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2019.
“We delivered solid third quarter results, consistent with the perspectives we provided last quarter, despite a difficult external environment,” said Chairman and CEO Juan Luciano. “We maintained our focus on serving our customers and advancing our strategic goals, and continued to realize the benefits of the actions that we took earlier this year.
“We are excited about our strategic growth activities, and particularly our participation and leadership in major global trends such as flexitarian diets, nutrition for health, and sustainable materials. We have invested in assets, platforms and technological capabilities to serve and grow with our customers, who are embracing these market-changing trends.
“While external conditions for certain businesses may remain fluid and potentially challenging in the near term, our growing leadership position in major global trends, and our strength in innovation, efficiency, and customer service, position us well for stronger results in 2020 and beyond.”
Third Quarter 2019 Highlights
• Net earnings of $407 million
• Earnings per share: $0.72 ($0.94 last year)
Results of Operations
Ag Services & Oilseeds results were lower than the third quarter of 2018, which benefited from very strong crush margins.
- Ag Services results were in line with the prior-year quarter. In South America, results were up on improved origination margins in Brazil and increased export volumes from Argentina. In North America, improved merchandising results from favorable ownership positions helped offset a continued challenging volume and margin environment for U.S. exports.
- In Crushing, results were lower year over year. Crush margins globally were substantially below the record high levels seen in 2018, though still solid in North America and EMEA. In South America, margins were pressured by continued strong exports of soybeans to China. Global crush margins benefited from positive net timing effects of approximately $50 million during the third quarter.
- Refined Products and Other results were significantly higher than the third quarter of 2018, largely driven by significant improvements in Golden Peanut and Tree Nuts.
Carbohydrate Solutions results were substantially lower than the year-ago period.
- Starches and Sweeteners results were down versus the third quarter of 2018. Results in North America were affected by higher net corn costs partly offset by lower manufacturing costs, which included improvements at the Decatur corn complex. EMEA results were impacted by lower selling prices and continued pressure from Turkish sweetener quotas. In wheat milling, an increase in sales volumes was more than offset by lower margins due to limited opportunities in wheat procurement.
- Bioproducts results were significantly lower, driven by a continued unfavorable margin environment in the ethanol industry.
Nutrition results were substantially higher.
- WFSI results were significantly higher than the prior-year quarter, with growth across the portfolio. Higher sales and margins globally led to record quarterly results for WILD. In Specialty Ingredients, the protein business continued to expand amid the growing consumer market for alternative proteins. Continued contributions from growth investments in bioactives and fibers benefited the Health & Wellness business.
- Animal Nutrition results were up year over year, driven largely by contributions from Neovia. Improvements in vitamin additives also helped contribute to positive results. Lysine production improved, though pricing was negatively impacted by lower global demand.
NCBA Announces Finalists for National Anthem Contest
Four finalists have been announced for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s seventh annual National Anthem Singing Contest. The winner will receive a trip to the 2020 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show Feb. 5-7 to perform the Star Spangled Banner at the event’s Opening General Session Feb. 5 as well as the Friday Night NCBA PBR Invitational Event Feb. 7. The contest is sponsored by Norbrook.
The four finalists are:
Courtney Stefan, Hallettsville, Texas
Anna Kelsey, Tecumseh, Oklahoma
Sara Schlickau, Manhattan, Kansas
Lauren McCarthy, Reno, Nevada
Everyone will be able to vote for their favorite singer Nov. 1-15. One vote per day will be offered to each IP address. The winner will be announced Nov. 18, 2019.
The contest winner will receive a hotel room for four nights, free convention registration for two, a meet-and-greet hosted by Norbrook, plus a pair of boots, pair of jeans and a shirt from Roper or Stetson.
The videos of the top four finalists are available for voting on the convention website at https://convention.ncba.org. Voting is being counted by an independent firm and will be open from Nov. 1, 2019 to Nov. 15, 2019 (one vote per IP address per day).
Beef Quality Assurance Campaign Seeks Greater Understanding of Industry Efforts
About 85 percent of U.S. beef today comes from Beef Quality Assurance (BQA)-certified farmers or ranchers. But do American consumers know that? Just as important, do they know what BQA is – and what it stands for?
Those are the kinds of questions a new Beef Checkoff-funded campaign from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a Beef Checkoff contractor, is addressing. Its goal is to bridge the gap between what the industry is doing to produce high-quality beef in a humane, environmentally friendly way, and what consumers know about those efforts.
The new campaign, designed to meet the consumer’s desire to learn more about how beef is produced, kicked off in October with a series of videos from Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. that bring the BQA program to life by highlighting how cattle farmers and ranchers across the country raise cattle under BQA guidelines.
The videos and corresponding audio clips will be used to advertise on platforms including YouTube, Hulu, Pandora and Spotify and will also be made available on a new BQA section of BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com. Consumers will also learn more about BQA through interactive “BQ&A” Instagram stories that address common questions about how cattle are raised. The video, website and social activations provide consumers with an overview of the BQA program and the ongoing commitment of cattle farmers and ranchers to care for their animals and provide the safest and highest quality beef possible.
In addition to the digital marketing and social activations, media sources, such as Bloomberg, Reuters, USA Today and others will be introduced to BQA, and influencers and beef advocates will share BQA information with their audiences.
“The campaign expands the reach of a traditionally producer-facing program,” says Josh White, executive director of producer education at NCBA, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff. “Beef farmers and ranchers are committed to not only caring for their animals and the environment in which they do that, they are dedicated to delivering the safest and highest quality beef possible,” he says. “At the same time, research shows that consumers want to know more about how and where their food is raised. This new effort shares information about the program with consumers in a way that benefits both producers and those who enjoy their beef.”
Producer Support
U.S. beef producers who have embraced BQA are encouraged by this step to get the message to those who buy beef.
“I’m so excited about BQA becoming a consumer-facing program,” says Kim Brackett, a cow-calf producer whose operation sits on the Idaho/Oregon border. “The average consumer does not know what is happening in our industry. This is going to help reassure them as they’re making their purchasing decisions.”
Brackett and her husband, Ira, have four children who will be the sixth generation involved in cattle production. She got involved in BQA about 15 years ago and helped get it going in her area. A former chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, she is currently the vice chairman of NCBA’s BQA advisory group. Brackett says being open with consumers is key to industry success.
“We’re living in a transparent world,” she says. “Sometimes it’s hard to make the connections we need with our customers and BQA helps bridge that gap.”
Brandi Karisch, beef cattle extension specialist at Mississippi State University, says as a mother of two young children she sees the problem frequently.
“In talking with other moms, it’s kind of shocking some of the things they believe,” she says. “There’s just a lot of bad information out there. Now is an important time to correct that,” she says.
After completing her undergraduate work at LSU, Karisch went on to get her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University and is now the co-coordinator of the BQA program in Mississippi. Karisch grew up in Southern Louisiana on a small purebred cow-calf operation and says timing for the new campaign couldn’t be better.
“BQA is one of our shining moments as a beef industry. It’s really important for consumers to hear about it,” she says.
“The Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. brand provides a tremendous foundation for this effort,” says Alisa Harrison, NCBA senior vice president for global marketing. “For more than a quarter century, consumers have come to know and respect Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. and this is the next step in helping consumers understand how beef is produced.”
Harrison says the primary audience for the new campaign will be older millennial parents. To all consumers, however, the messages will be transparent and open, featuring the point that cattle are safely, humanely and sustainably raised.
“There’s so much negative media and noise out there, any reassurance we can provide, that only helps,” says Brackett. The fact that information is continually updated and kept fresh is also a positive, she says. “Producers themselves are in charge. It’s very attainable,” she says.
Karisch agrees. “Producers always have a voice in BQA, and that’s important,” she says.
A Bigger and Better Program
Participation in BQA by farmers and ranchers continues to grow as certifications, including dairy and youth facing programs, recently surpassed the 350,000 mark. Throughout the country producers are becoming BQA-certified through in-person and online training. Certified farmers and ranchers must be re-certified every three years.
Online BQA training provides 24/7 access to the program through a series of videos and animations in the areas of cow-calf, stocker/backgrounder and feedyard. In-person training is available through sessions conducted by hundreds of in-state BQA coordinators throughout the country. The certifications are also available in Spanish.
Doing the Right Thing
Bottom line, BQA encourages proper animal care, and consumers should feel good knowing there’s a national program in place that sets consistent animal welfare and care standards across the beef industry.
“BQA helps us be better stewards of animals and the land,” says Karisch. “That’s really the key.
“But there’s a lot of noise out there about animal welfare. That creates a lot of bad vibes for the cattle industry.”
Those are vibes the industry can’t afford, Karisch says. “I don’t want people thinking bad things about our industry,” she says. “Some of the finest people I know are in the cattle business. And we really are doing things right.”
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