Wired Magazine has crowned Kip Cullers the “King of Bionic Ag.”
The issue out last week featured the famous corn and soybean yield contest winner from Purdy, Missouri as an example of how farmers are using biotechnology and precision agriculture to feed the world.
Kip has become somewhat of a legend in the corn and soybean world, consistently producing top yields in national contests. While this year was a little challenging for him weather-wise, with drowning rains during the spring in his home turf of Southwest Missouri, Kip still managed to earn top honors in three categories for the 2008 National Corn Yield Contest – taking first in the AA No Till/Strip Till Non-Irrigated category with almost 321 bushels per acre.
I really don’t know why anyone would even ask this question, but Popular Science answered it: If You Dropped a Corn Kernel From Space, Would it Pop During Re-Entry?
The answer – if you care – is “it depends.” It’s all pretty technical – kind of rocket science, if you will – but here is the basic answer:
There’s a little bit of water inside each kernel of popcorn, and if you can heat the kernel above 212°F, that water should boil, turn into high-pressure steam, and pop the kernel. But in orbit, things aren’t so simple. First off, the cold vacuum of space would suck all the water out of the kernel before it could pop the corn. So any ordinary kernels would drop, not pop. But let’s say we figured out a way to keep the kernel watertight. In that case, it all depends.
Just a little trivia question for your New Year’s Eve party tonight!
With the end of the year at hand the obligatory lists of the top news stories of the year are starting to pop up and a weird year for corn and ethanol is making many of them, at least in the Midwest.
The Des Moines Register places ethanol problems at number three on the list and the effect of rising and falling corn prices on the farm economy at number six.
In Ohio, corn prices and the ethanol “bust” placed fifth and sixth for top agriculture stories. Grand Island, Nebraska ranked ag price volatility eighth and ethanol at number ten in overall news stories for the area. The Associated Press ranked VeraSun’s failure as the number 8 news story of the year for South Dakota. The number nine business story in the Twin Cities was agricultural prices.
And the number one story in Fergus Falls, MN – as judged by website readers – was the story of a Canadian motorcyclist who suffered minor injuries after wiping out on I-94 after hitting a pile of corn mash spilled by a truck that had just left the nearby ethanol plant. Why, you may ask. “Maybe it was because the story had a little bit of everything: spot news, hooks to draw in national motorcycle safety and ethanol groups, and enough oddness to get people talking.”
In a strong show of support, Missouri’s corn growers have voted to increase the state corn checkoff rate from one-half cent to one cent per bushel in a referendum conducted by the Missouri Department of Agriculture.
“It is more important than ever that we work hard to expand and protect our markets,” said Missouri Corn Merchandising Council chairman Keith Witt of Warrenton. “Constant attacks from corn and ethanol detractors and the struggling economy mean farmers have to fight harder than ever to stay competitive in today’s market.”
According to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, the checkoff increase passed with approximately 75 percent of corn farmers in favor, with over 65 percent of the registered voters weighing in. The new checkoff rate, which goes into effect July 1, 2009, will provide additional resources for research, education and continued market development of Missouri’s corn industry.
Put this under the category of “Christmas miracles.”
An Associated Press story from Christmas eve shows a miraculous epiphany on the part of the Grocery Manufacturers Association that more than just ethanol production was to blame for higher food prices this year.
…since the midsummer price highs, the din of the food-vs.-fuel debate has since receded to a murmur, and even the Grocers Manufacturers Association, one of the most vocal biofuel critics, seems to be backing off a bit. Ethanol production is just one in seven sources of commodity price inflation, Scott Faber of the Grocers Manufacturers Association said. The rise in global demand, energy prices, speculation, the weak dollar export restrictions and poor weather also contributed to the surge in corn prices over the past three years, he added.
Have yourself a corny little Christmas,
May your price be right
From now on,
Gas prices won’t be out of sight
Have yourself a corny little Christmas,
That’s what we can say,
From now on,
The weather will be good, we pray.
Remember back in the olden years
Fruitful golden ears of corn.
All our friends get John Deere for us.
Gather near to us once more.
Through the years
The harvest will be plenty,
If the Fates allow.
Hang a shining star as you prepare to plow.
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
AFBF senior economist Terry Francl says the wholesale fertilizer price drop began about two months ago, generally after the time farmers applied fall fertilizer to their crops – but retail prices have yet to fall.
Wholesale prices for anhydrous ammonia in the Corn Belt have declined from the $1,000 per–ton-plus range to the $500 range. Urea has dropped from the mid-$800 range to the mid-$300 range. Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) has declined from $1,100 to $600 per ton. The decline in potash prices has been less notable, dropping from a little over $900 per ton to slightly over $800.
Francl advises farmers to “hold off their spring purchases for as long as possible” as fertilizer dealers will likely have to “cost average their prices down” by averaging their current high priced inventories with lower-priced future inventories which should eventually mean lower retail prices.
Not only was the number of entries (6,725) higher than ever before, and double the number in 2006, but several entrants scored yields of more than double the estimated national average.
Even though there is no “official” overall winner in the contest due to the variety of growing climates and methods, Steven Albracht of Hart, Texas attained the highest overall yield of 368.27 bushels per acre in the national irrigated category. The national winners with the first, second and third highest yields in each of the eight production categories ranged from Albracht’s high to 284.5849 bushels per acre.
For more information about the winners – click here.
A new book on current energy issues includes a chapter on the future of corn ethanol written by National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Chief Executive Officer Rick Tolman.
“From Energy Crisis to Energy Security” is a collection of essays edited by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Clifford D. May for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which is “a nonpartisan policy institute dedicated exclusively to promoting pluralism, defending democratic values, and fighting the ideologies that threaten democracy,” according to their website.
Tolman’s chapter stresses the ability of farmers to meet all demands for corn – food, feed, fuel or fiber.
“The future for corn ethanol in the U.S. is bright,” Tolman writes. “The trends in cost of production, productivity, and sustainability are all moving in a positive direction. Corn ethanol is the bridge to second and third generation biofuels, but will continue to play a key role for the foreseeable future as we develop alternative sources for petrochemical stocks.”
The book includes a foreword by R. James Woolsey and other contributors include Robert McFarlane, Robert Zubrin, Bruce Dale, Roger S. Ballentine, Laura Chasen, George Philippidis, and Kenneth J. Nemeth.
Only $10.95 – might make someone a great Christmas gift!
The issue out last week featured the famous corn and soybean yield contest winner from Purdy, Missouri as an example of how farmers are using biotechnology and precision agriculture to feed the world. 
The answer – if you care – is “it depends.” It’s all pretty technical – kind of rocket science, if you will – but here is the basic answer:
The 
“It is more important than ever that we work hard to expand and protect our markets,” said 
An 
Have yourself a corny little Christmas,
After increasing for six consecutive years, U.S. fertilizer prices are finally beginning to fall at the wholesale level, according to 
Not only was the number of entries (6,725) higher than ever before, and double the number in 2006, but several entrants scored yields of more than double the estimated national average.
