Standing next to a front end loader filled with corn at an ethanol plant in Macon, Missouri on Wednesday, President Obama stressed his administration’s goal to more than triple America’s biofuels production in the next twelve years, and noted that “there shouldn’t be any doubt that renewable, homegrown fuels are a key part of our strategy for a clean energy future.”
Missouri Corn Growers Association CEO Gary Marshall was thrilled that the president visited a corn-based ethanol plant in his state. “It’s fantastic, primarily because it is the first time since he’s been sitting as president that he’s toured an ethanol plant, so I think it bodes very well for future of the corn-based ethanol industry in this country,” Gary said in an interview with Agwired’s Chuck Zimmerman. “This symbolic visit to a corn-based Midwest ethanol plant could really drive a lot of the issues we’re working on at the national level. Whether it’s re-doing the tax credits for ethanol, whether it’s E15 which we think we need to go to because we’re maxed out on the blend wall, or even moving corn-based ethanol forward as an advance biofuel. This just kind of kicks off that entire effort for us.”
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has just released its latest National Resources Inventory. The document is a report card of sorts that gives us a look at how we are doing in regard to managing and caring for non-public lands including farms and ranches.
According to farm leaders like Bob Stallman if you look at the NRI environmental report in conjunction with USDA’s productivity figures you get a compelling picture of an American success story. The shrinking environmental footprint of farmers who produce our food and fiber is remarkable, and even more so when you look at the accompanying increases in productivity.
The latest data basically gives farmer documentation for what we already knew…growers are doing more with less; Less land, less water, less crop inputs from pesticides to fertilizer, and all the while getting gonzo increases in productivity of crops like corn.
This was the very reason corn growers created the Corn Farmers Coalition (CFC) last year; to bridge the large gap between what consumers don’t know or think they know and the reality of modern, innovative farming. In the case of CFC the idea was to start small by educating decision leaders in Washington, DC because of the enormous impact Congress and other federal agencies can have on farmers either legislatively or through regulation.
It is sad how few people outside of farming understand this achievement. In fact some very vocal elitist minorities in our society want us to divert from the progress-lined path that has made U.S. agriculture such a marvel. The good news is the start made by CFC is now part of a larger fabric of educational efforts underway from Monsanto’s Thank a Farmer to The Hand That Feeds Us campaign.
Today’s farm families are making a difference in one of the most fundamental and important professions on the planet…growing crops to convert the sun’s energy to calories. Including calories for food to sustain our bodies, calories to feed livestock, calories like ethanol to drive our cars, and the list goes on.
Now NRCS gives us a well-deserved “A” on our environmental report card. This is a story worth telling, especially given the misleading information being spewed by some agenda driven groups. So, look for opportunities to speak up for your farm; Do it locally, tell your story online through social media, tell your elected officials. We all have a vested interest in getting this right.
“Salt is not good for you, hence, it is illegal.” Demolition Man
When Sylvester Stallone’s character in the movie “Demolition Man” is reanimated in the year 2032 after being in suspended animation for 36 years, he finds a world where anything “not good for you” is deemed “bad” and therefore illegal, including “alcohol, caffeine, contact sports, non-educational toys, meat, spicy and unhealthy food, table salt and tobacco.” We are definitely heading in that direction.
The National Salt Reduction Initiative has been making headlines this week as 16 companies pledged to cut salt in their products as part of the effort that started last year in New York City. The companies include major powerhouses like Heinz, Kraft and Starbucks. Even Mayor Bloomberg who started this campaign has admitted that he likes salt. “I put salt on my popcorn — as a matter of fact, popcorn without salt is not popcorn,” Bloomberg is quoted as saying. But, apparently that’s okay. It’s the salt that is used as a preservative or for leavening that is bad for you – still legal at the moment, but bad enough that we have to have a nationwide salt reduction initiative to combat it.
Does this mean that somewhere in our future there will be a Salt Czar to fight against sodium abuse? I think the head of the underground, anti-culture group in Demolition Man speaks for many of us who are against the nanny state deciding what is “bad” for us:
“I’m the enemy, ’cause I like to think; I like to read. I’m into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I’m the kind of guy who likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder, “Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?” I WANT high cholesterol. I wanna eat bacon and butter and BUCKETS of cheese, okay? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I want to run through the streets naked with green Jell-o all over my body reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel the need to, okay, pal? I’ve SEEN the future. Do you know what it is? It’s a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing “I’m an Oscar Meyer Wiener.”
Scary thought, isn’t it? But then, so is some guy running naked through the streets naked with green Jello all over his body. I can understand where that would probably be bad – and hence, illegal.
When Mother Nature cooperates, farmers can really make the dirt fly!
Corn planting hit record levels last week all over the country, reaching the half way point by Sunday – over twice the five year average for this time of year, according to USDA. Every single state, except Colorado, is well above average right now. Some notables – Illinois at 73 percent compared to 28 percent normal, Iowa at 68 percent compared to 23 percent, and Minnesota at 63 percent compared to 16 percent. Even North Dakota made incredible progress – planting 28 percent in a week!
The already planted corn is starting to pop up, just a little above normal at seven percent nationwide. Kelly Robertson of Illinois, who did the planting video we featured here last week, took this photo of the corn he planted on April 13 already emerging. Ten percent of the corn in Illinois is emerging, compared to six percent average and zero last year.
Things may slow down a bit this week after some pretty heavy rains around the corn belt in the last several days. It is cool and wet again, but the rain was needed and hopefully it will dry out and clear up so this record pace can continue.
Thanks to Guest Blogger Andy Vance. Farm Broadcaster Andy Vance owns and operates the Agri Broadcast Network (ABN Radio), Ohio’s Voice for Agriculture, and a small herd of Shorthorn cattle.
Sun-Tsu, the legendary military strategist so often co-opted into ‘80s business reading material, built his strategy around the basic premise that you must know your enemy to truly defeat him. For that reason, and to keep my blood pressure from ever dipping into the “normal” range, I read Wayne Pacelle’s blog. Wayne is the CEO/Chief Lobbyist/Spokesmodel for the Humane Society (in name only) of the United States. This $200 million activist lobbying group works to raise funds by working the long con that they are some how engaged in helping animals. In so doing, they raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually that they in turn spend on lobbying and political activities to force Americans into a radicalized vegan lifestyle devoid of any animal-derived proteins or products. While they typically deny this fanatical end-goal, if you read Wayne’s blog regularly, he frequently slips up and says what he actually means.
HSUS first ventured into the arena of ballot-initiative political campaigns in Florida in 2002. Their effort, to end the use of gestation stalls on hog farms, was for this “sophisticated political organization” (Wayne’s self-description of HSUS) sticking their toe in the shallow end of the pool. In a multi-state, multi-year strategy, the organization has worked to step-by-step, and state-by-state drive modern agriculture and farm families out of business to drive up the cost of meat, milk, and eggs in the hopes of lowering demand for those products.
But, don’t just take my word for it: “When voters approved it, it was the first restriction on a severe confinement practice in the U.S. Now, eight year later, it has achieved its principal purpose: it kept giant hog factory farms from colonizing Florida, as they did three decades ago in North Carolina.”
So, in Wayne’s own words, the purpose wasn’t to save the pigs. HSUS’ “principle purpose” was to keep hog farms out of Florida in the first place. (more…)
It’s Earth Day so it seems an apropos opportunity to discuss an often ignored environmental calamity resulting from our addiction to oil and petroleum products. And two words tell the story – Exxon Valdez. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was one of the most publicized and studied environmental tragedies in history, largely because it happened near the United States.
The Valdez incident in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989 is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur in history dumping nearly 11 million gallons of crude into the sea.
However, the public has a short memory and this disaster was quickly forgotten. Other spills continue around the world, many in remote places that don’t draw media attention. Most recently a Chinese freighter, the Shen Neng, crashed into Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The incident prompted a question from a friend who asked what if the vessel had been loaded with ethanol?
After the mandatory wise crack about drunken marine life things turned a little more serious.
If ship-load quantities of ethanol were to be spilled, there could be some immediate area effects because of high concentrations. There could be effects on aquatic life. However, this is easily remedied by something as simple as aeration.
Even better news is that ethanol will decrease in concentration rapidly because of the way it reacts with water and it is non-toxic. Equally important, ethanol biodegrades rapidly. A little research indicates the effect of the Valdez is still being felt today despite diligent efforts and millions spent on restoration.
So in short there will be no continued loss of aquatic life, or long term effects. This is contrasted by the clean-up process of a crude oil spill – The environmental damage done during the clean-up phase (bringing in equipment, vacuuming up the oil, etc.) is almost as bad as the original spill – the cleanup itself brings significant damage to the local environment.
Given the many environmental benefits of ethanol on the land too, ethanol and biofuels deserve some serious thought if you really care about the planet. Happy Earth Day.
For years supporters of river transportation have been working to get the needed support and funding to upgrade our nation’s inland waterway system. Often efforts to do this focus on the business advantages of moving goods by water and they are considerable. With Earth Day looming it seems a good time to also look at the environmental advantages.
The sheer efficiency of moving grain, steel, and things like construction materials on the water makes it a clear environmental winner. I could wax poetic and sling statistics on fuel savings and air pollution reductions resulting from barge use but the benefits are obvious to the naked eye.
Next time you are driving look at the ever increasing volume of semi-trucks on our highways. Each barge tow on the water takes more than 1,000 trucks off the nation’s roads. Our inland waterways carry the equivalent of 58 million trucks annually.
Recently, the Inland Waterways Users Board unanimously adopted a report from the Army Corps of Engineers and the waterway users that could go a long way towards improving the Upper Mississippi River system and assure rivers continue to do their part for the environment.
The consensus based report and recommendations are being sent to Congress and the Administration and if adopted, will better address the needs of the entire inland waterways navigation system and provide more dollars for greatly needed infrastructure improvements.
This proposal is supported by 150 industry stakeholders as the best way to fund the navigation system. The plan makes sense because it prioritizes projects; uses a 50/50 cost share formula using a fuel tax by river users and federal dollars; and puts a cost-share cap on all new lock construction projects that would preserve the Inland Waterways Trust Fund by preventing the industry from having to fund significant cost overruns.
Waterways Council. Inc. (WCI), the American Waterways Operators, and the National Waterways Conference and dozens of groups like the National Corn Growers Association support this plan which has been more than a year in development.
The proposed recommendations and report prioritize navigation projects across the entire system, improve the Corps of Engineers’ project management and processes to deliver projects on time and on budget, and recommend a funding mechanism that is affordable and meets the system’s needs.
More than 50 percent of U.S. locks and dams have aged beyond their life cycle and are crumbling. Many facilities are unable to accommodate today’s barges as they are twice as long as when the system was built in the 1930s. The country’s inland navigation system plays a critical role in the economy, moving more than a billion tons of domestic commerce valued at more than $300 billion per year.
So celebrate Earth Day by asking your Congressman and Senators to support river transportation upgrades to keep the system efficient, vital and making its green contributions.
Frank Sinatra once said “orange is the happiest color” – and Purdue University researchers are studying how making corn happier could make a better life for malnourished children with Vitamin A deficiencies.
The researchers have found that by manipulating a newly discovered gene in corn they can increase vitamin A content which could have significant implications for reducing childhood blindness and mortality rates. It also results in orange corn. The orange color comes from relatively higher levels of carotenoids, one of which is beta-carotene. Humans convert beta-carotene, which also is abundant in carrots, into vitamin A during digestion.
Purdue agronomy professor Torbert Rocheford found a variety of orange corn that likely originated in the Caribbean and is popular in some Asian and South American countries as well as in northern Italy. He is using simple visual selection for darker orange color combined with more advanced molecular natural diversity screening techniques to create better lines of the orange corn. “We’re sort of turbocharging corn with desirable natural variation to make it darker and more nutritious,” Rocheford said.
Between 250,000 and 500,000 children – mostly in Africa and Southeast Asia – go blind each year because of vitamin A deficiency, according to the World Health Organization. Half of those children will die within a year of going blind. Rocheford said increasing beta-carotene levels in cereal grains, such as corn, is an economical approach to addressing these deficiencies in developing countries.
There must be a lot of these 120 foot planters out in the fields – or farmers were just working their tails off last week in the perfect weather – because planting made phenomenal progress all over the corn belt. According to USDA, 19 percent of the crop was in the ground as of Sunday, twice the normal for this time of year, and 14 percent ahead of last year.
Of the 18 states top corn producing states, only two are behind normal now for this time of year – and most are WAY ahead of average. Illinois has 34 percent planted, compared to 12 percent for the five year average and just one percent this time last year. Indiana has more than four times the average in the ground at 17 percent – nothing was planted a year ago. Minnesota has 13 percent of the crop planted where the average is just one percent.
There are some very happy farmers out there right now, like Kelly Robertson of Benton, Ill., who shot this video last week in a multi-tasking mode – planting, talking on the cell phone and shooting video, all at the same time! This video was shot on April 13 and Kelly reports on his blog – “Ground worked like a dream and the corn planted like one also. This is the earliest I have ever planted corn. 10 days earlier than the “old record”.” This is so great to see farmers being creative and using social media like this. You go, plow boy!
The self-proclaimed “Supermarket Guru” Phil Lempert loves to attack corn sweetener. It can do nothing right in his eyes, compared to other forms of sugar, even though there is no real difference between the most popular caloric sweeteners, a fact admitted by other food gurus, such as Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle.
But read his bio, drafted in true messianic fashion, and you come across this interesting statement: “Phil is a spokesperson for ConAgra Foods and works with various ConAgra brands and their retail partners to help communicate strategies on saving money, healthier eating and food trend information to America’s shoppers.”
Well, he certainly earns his money, and television producers don’t seem to have caught on. Last week, he was on “The View,” espousing a whole new grocery cart full of HFCS-free food products, among which was Hunt’s Tomato Ketchup and Healthy Choice Tortellini Primavera Parmesan, both of which are ConAgra products.
Do the women of “The View” care whether he makes money to pitch specific products on their show?
Does ConAgra, which still has lots of great products made with corn and corn sweetener, care about the fact that one of their spokespersons bashes corn sweetener?
Standing next to a front end loader filled with corn at an ethanol plant in Macon, Missouri on Wednesday, President Obama stressed his administration’s goal to more than triple America’s biofuels production in the next twelve years, and noted that “there shouldn’t be any doubt that renewable, homegrown fuels are a key part of our strategy for a clean energy future.”
When Sylvester Stallone’s character in the movie 
The already planted corn is starting to pop up, just a little above normal at seven percent nationwide. 
The 
There must be a lot of these 120 foot planters out in the fields – or farmers were just working their tails off last week in the perfect weather – because planting made phenomenal progress all over the corn belt. 