The volunteer farm women involved in CommonGround state programs across the country are talking and, increasingly, the evidence shows that urban and suburban moms are joining in the conversation. With many states recently launching their programs or preparing to do so this spring, the buzz surrounding this open, honest approach to discussing food is spreading too.
Earlier this month, CommonGround Kansas launched its program with a full court press during the University of Kansas women’s basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.
The Lady Jayhawks may have fallen to Kansas State University’s Lady Wildcats, but the ladies of CommonGround stood tall as they explained how they grow food and the facts about modern agriculture. For a few hours on the cold January evening, volunteers shared in outstanding Kansas City barbeque and in conversations on subjects including the locavore movement, organic fruits and vegetables, sustainability and livestock production to a group of reporters, bloggers, government representatives and community influencers.
While bringing together farm women and the people who speak to urban and suburban moms on a large scale started a conversation, what truly matters is knowing that the dialogue opened that night made a difference. Judging by an article featuring volunteer LaVelle Winsor that ran in the Lawrence World Journal, the stories these women have to tell and understanding they offer about food scored with attendees.
In explaining the program’s goals and offering it as a resource, the article spread the word that there is another source of information for moms concerned about the foods they prepare for their family.
“We aren’t trying to tell anyone how to eat,” Winsor was quoted as saying in the article. “But we would like them to know what actually happens on our farm.”
Want to learn more? “Like” the CommonGround Facebook page and look to see if there are upcoming events in your area.
A syndicated kid’s show that explores the outdoors will feature the life of a corn kernel in an episode airing this week.
An episode of the Into the Outdoors series titled, “Big Things from Small Stuff” will be shown this weekend, January 21-22, on local channels in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.
Wisconsin Farmers Mark Schroeder and Bill Hoffman and Cambria-based Didion Milling are featured as the episode follows the life of a corn kernel from planting to harvest. Production of corn kernels into products is displayed in the balance of the episode, which features Didion Milling’s innovative fractionation process at its dry corn mill and the company’s line of HarvestGold Family of Corn Products. The episode also features Didion Ethanol and their co-product dried distillers grains.
USDA’s final crop summary for 2011 released last week surprised many by showing an increase the average corn yield by a half bushel per acre and slightly more harvested acres to come up with a final total of 12.4 billion bushels, up a little bit from the November forecast and not too much lower than the 2010 crop.
“Despite lost acres and a 2011 yield that’s 5.6 bushels below the 2010 average, the corn crop itself is only one percentage point below last year’s number,” said National Corn Growers Association President Garry Niemeyer of Illinois. In comparison, final soybean production for 2011 was down 8% from 2010, sorghum and cotton were both down 13%, and rice was down 24%.
The slightly higher corn production means increased U.S. feed grain supplies for 2011/12 slightly over the December estimate, according to the World Agricultural Supply Demand Report. Worldwide, coarse grain supplies for 2011/12 remained almost unchanged this month as higher corn production in the United States, Ukraine, EU-27, and Russia is mostly offset by lower expected corn production in Argentina and the lower sorghum production estimate for the United States.
On the use side of the equation, exports were increased by 50 million bushels reflecting the strong pace of sales to date and reduced prospects for Argentina. Ending stocks are projected 2 million bushels lower at 846 million bushels.
What this all meant for corn futures at the end of last week was a big drop, but most analysts expect the market to rebound quickly as demand remains strong.
2011 was a wild year for farm market prices and ag economists generally expect that to continue into 2012.
“We had a lot of things that came together and pushed prices up for a wide variety of products the last couple of years,” said Patrick Westhoff, Director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) during a visit at the St. Louis Agribusiness Club. “We expect a lot of volatility in the year ahead.”
One of the main reasons is an “ordinary garden variety one” – the weather. “People tend to forget that sometimes,” said Westhoff. On top of that, the biggest factors to consider are land markets and what Congress will decide to do with farm policy. No surprises there!
He notes that tight stocks will continue to keep corn prices particularly volatile. “Every little piece of news, either positive or negative, can make the market move around a lot,” Westhoff added.
Westhoff believes that the spending cuts presented to the “super committee” by the House and Senate agriculture leadership should help start the conversation for a new farm bill in 2012, “but it certainly won’t be the end of that conversation.”
There’s nothing indirect about the land use changes reported in the most recent summary from USDA, which shows that the only land use in the United States that is declining is cropland.
According to the report, “Major Uses of Land in the United States 2007,” the amount of land in the United States devoted to growing crops declined by 34 million acres – or nearly 8 percent – between 2002 and 2007. At 408 million acres, total cropland was at its lowest level since records were started in 1945.
Cropland accounted for 18 percent of the total land area in the country – the third largest land use behind forest (30%) and grassland (27%) – both of which increased over the same five-year period while cropland declined.
The smallest total use of land in the U.S. is urban, at 61 million or 3 percent. However, while urban land use accounts for the smallest percentage, the USDA report shows that it accounts for the biggest increase in land use, quadrupling between 1945 and 2007, increasing at about twice the rate of population growth over the period. Urban land use increased almost 2 percent from 2002 to 2007.
The report is significant because it shows with actual data that cropland acres declined at the same time ethanol production was increasing – which means no direct or indirect land use change as a result of corn being used for ethanol. Instead, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president Bob Dinneen said what the report does show is how farmers are producing more on less land, while urban land uses increase.
“It is ironic that the land use debate has fixated on biofuels, when the actual culprit of land conversion has clearly been urban and suburban sprawl,” Dinneen said. “Subdivisions full of mini-mansions, big box stores, shopping malls, and parking lots are encroaching on productive farmland across the country.”
According to USDA, global corn production for 2011/12 is projected at a new record high of 867.5 million tons, despite a smaller crop here in the U.S. Our crop was down 3.5 million tons compared to last year, but foreign corn production is expected to be 43.4 million tons higher, with China alone up 7.3 million tons this month based on the recently released government estimates.
The latest World Agricultural Supply Demand report also showed an increase in domestic corn ending stocks for 2011/12 of 5 million bushels to 848 million, thanks to an equal decrease in corn food, seed, and industrial use with early marketing-year corn use for sweeteners down slightly.
As farmers are starting to look ahead to the 2012 season, they will respond to the market signals like they always do. “I think you’re going to see the emphasis going to corn acres and I think the price is probably going to reflect that going into spring planting intentions,” said Jonah Ford of Ceres Hedge in Minneapolis in his evaluation of the report. USDA now forecasts the 2011/12 season-average farm price for corn to be about 30 cents lower than previously, but that is still a strong $5.90 to $6.90 per bushel.
As we head into 2012, one wild card in the corn demand situation is likely to be ethanol, with the expiration of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) at the end of this year. “That could potentially change how much ethanol is blended into gasoline,” said USDA chief economist Joe Glauber. “There are mandates in terms of overall production that has to be blended into gasoline, the issue is how much gets produced above and beyond the mandates.” However, industry analysts expect ethanol prices are expected to drop 30-40 cents per gallon at the wholesale level after the blenders tax credit expires, which should be incentive to blend more.
Ethanol production hit an all time high for the week ending December 2, according to the latest figures from the Energy Information Administration, averaging 954,000 barrels or over 40 million gallons daily, up about 2.5 percent from the previous record. Production this year could top 14 billion gallons, maybe a billion more than last year – but corn for ethanol production is actually down from last year at 5 billion bushels even. As a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production is nearing 12%. Meanwhile, U.S. ethanol exports have already doubled last year and are expected to hit 1 billion gallons this year.
All this is just a bunch of numbers, but the bottom line is that corn farmers, both here and abroad, are meeting increasing demand – and they will continue to do so. “We always hold that, no matter the challenge we face, the global marketplace will respond to make sure all needs are covered,” said National Corn Growers Association President Garry Niemeyer.
I’m reminded of a quote from the classic Saturday Night Live character Father Guido Sarducci in his bit about the “Five Minute University” where you learn what the average college graduate remembers after five years out of school. “Economics? Supply and Demand.” It’s really that simple.
Imagine how differently a day at the office might have been in 1961. A secretarial pool takes the place of word processing software. Googling a subject might take hours and physical labor sifting through back editions of the paper or encyclopedias and still yield limited results. Email communications require a phone call, paper memo or even a written letter sent through courier or mail without the Internet. Once out of the office, communication ceases unless a coworker dials a landline nearby.
While most people have capriciously wished for an end to modern technology following a particularly annoying late-night text from an employer, only the smallest minority actually advocates a return to the workplace technology of 50 years ago.
So, why do so many people outside of agriculture think that a return to equally antiquated technology would actually improve farming?
Recently, a column in Stock and Land magazine examined the impact of a large-scale return to the farming methods of our forefathers, a romantic notion with dismal consequences. Instead of growing a crop large enough to share with the world, U.S. farmers would produce only enough food to feed half of the country’s current population. Maintaining levels of dairy, meat and milk production would require two-thirds more land. Increased environmental degradation and social unrest further complicate this already hungry scenario.
Simply, removing technology and scientific advances from modern life seriously damages productivity and effectiveness whether done in corporate or agrarian America. Notably, the negative impact on farming creates a food shortage thus depriving an incredible number of those in towns and cities of the sustenance needed to survive.
Instead of buying into the soft-focus vision of farming that replaces knowledge and understanding with a vague sense of nostalgia, get the facts. Question the farmers and ranchers who produce food about how and why they use the technology and practices that they do. Look at the bounty of healthy options U.S. agriculture offers. Become part of national discussion about food that seeks a better tomorrow instead of a rose-tinted version of the past.
You can call them aerial applicators, or crop dusters, or ag aviators – or you can call them the unsung heroes of agriculture. They are the folks who sometimes risk their lives flying low to the ground to protect countless acres of our nation’s corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, cotton, sugar beets and pastures.
“Aerial application is vital to American agriculture,” says National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA) executive director Andrew Moore, noting that about 20 percent of all crop protection is applied by air and that is likely to continue to increase as farming operations get larger.
NAAA currently represents more than 1,500 members in 46 states, and just like the rest of agriculture, ag aviators are facing increasing regulations that threaten to ground them.
At the NAAA convention this week, one of the primary topics of discussion was the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program, which Moore says just went into effect on Halloween. “It’s kind of a scary regulation,” he said about the regulation which impacts pesticide application near water. “The problem is that it’s duplicative of everything that already exists to protect the environment in regard to pesticide regulation.”
Moore says the NPDES would require a great deal of paper work on the part of applicators. “FIFRA already regulates the safety of pesticides to water, so this is a completely unnecessary burdensome rule.” In addition, Andrew says they are very considered about lawsuits under the new regulation.
One thing that NAAA is urging its members to do is to contact their senators regarding pending legislation that would exempt pesticide applications over water for FIFRA approved pesticides. The measure has been passed by the House and has gone through the Senate Agriculture Committee. “We believe we have the votes in the Senate but it’s not being brought to the floor for a vote,” said Moore.
It’s important to note that this could impact all of agriculture, including both farmers and ranchers as well as the crop protection product companies, because if aerial applicators are grounded as a result of this regulation, it will hurt everyone. So, find out more and contact your Senator today.
There is a conversation going on about food. Entire television networks, radio programs and magazines have long sought to elevate the humble act of eating by transforming the tastes and textures of our meals. Now, consumers want to know more. They want to know how their food was produced, if it is safe and if it is the best option for their families.
Farmers must be part of this conversation. Logically, it makes sense. Farmers grow the food. They have the most intimate knowledge of how they do so and why they select particular methods. They understand consumer questions intimately because they too must answer them when they prepare meals for their own tables.
Programs such as CommonGround and the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance facilitate this discussion. Helping bridge the gap between the rural communities in which farms exist and the urban landscape in which most consumers reside, the volunteer farmers who speak out about their personal experiences lend a voice to the very small percentage of the population who grows food for a hungry world.
How effective are these efforts? Can one conversation really make a difference? While this evidence may be anecdotal, the impact of one conversation can radiate infinitely like ripples on a pond.
This summer, a group of women who volunteer to speak through the Missouri CommonGround program shared a lunch with Missouri Department of Agriculture Director Jon Hagler during the state fair. Through the course of their conversation, the women talked about their farms, their feelings about food and the importance of opening a positive, inclusive dialogue with the people who eat what they grow.
November 30, those messages hit a larger audience when Hagler appeared on the National Public Radio Program St. Louis On the Air. While Hagler certainly covered a variety of topics and in no way parroted the conversation, the tone of inclusive, positive, open conversation carried through.
Callers responded. Ordinary citizens from across the metropolitan area asked specific, direct questions about a wide variety of food-related topics. Whether their particular interest was in food safety, production practices, sustainability or in where to find answers, the move toward an intense public interest in agriculture was evident.
Did this one luncheon shape Hagler’s perception? While it certainly was not the entire basis for his viewpoint, the importance of a sustained conversation between farmers and the public is undeniable. Directly or through influential persons, farmers need to help address concerns and become a part of the conversation.
Make today count. Join the discussion on food. Farmers impact the world through what they grow. It is time to talk about it.
New research shows that Atrazine is more effective and important than ever for both farmers and the general public.
According to the study released this month by Syngenta, U.S. consumers and society benefit from atrazine and other triazine herbicides by up to $4.8 billion per year, due to increased yield as well as decreased producer costs and reduced soil erosion. In addition, the U.S. economy benefits from atrazine and other triazine herbicides by as much as $22 billion over a five-year period. Benefits to farmers and consumers from the triazine herbicides include increased corn, sorghum and sugar cane crop yields, lower weed-control costs, significantly reduced soil erosion and less carbon released into the atmosphere. Atrazine and the triazine herbicides account for as many as 48,000 American jobs in corn production alone.
The Environmental Protection Agency is currently considering a petition from the amphibian conservation group, Save the Frogs, requesting that the Agency ban the use and production of atrazine. Comments were due in to the EPA on the subject November 14 and this study was submitted as evidence of the importance and safety of the herbicide that has been used by growers for over 50 years.
Syngenta also looked at the issue of herbicide resistance, which was Iowa State University extension weed scientist Dr. Mike Owen’s part of the study. Dr. Owen says the changes in agriculture over the last 15 years has led to glyphosate resistance. “What has to happen is there needs to be diversity in weed management,” he noted. “Which gets us to the point of Atrazine.”
Dr. Owen says despite the fact that Atrazine is more than 50 years old and has been a mainstay of corn management for all those years, “we have made such strides in the environmental perspectives of Atrazine use that it really now is a key player in managing this increasing problem of glyphosate-resistant weeds.”
During the recent NAFB convention, AgriTalk recorded a panel discussion about the Atrazine research. You can watch the AgriTalk program with all the researchers, as they share highlights of the new data, documenting atrazine’s impact on weed management, crop yields and jobs.
The volunteer farm women involved in CommonGround state programs across the country are talking and, increasingly, the evidence shows that urban and suburban moms are joining in the conversation. With many states recently launching their programs or preparing to do so this spring, the buzz surrounding this open, honest approach to discussing food is spreading too.
A syndicated kid’s show that explores the outdoors will feature the life of a corn kernel in an episode airing this week.
Wisconsin Farmers Mark Schroeder and Bill Hoffman and Cambria-based 
“Despite lost acres and a 2011 yield that’s 5.6 bushels below the 2010 average, the corn crop itself is only one percentage point below last year’s number,” said National Corn Growers Association President Garry Niemeyer of Illinois. In comparison, final soybean production for 2011 was down 8% from 2010, sorghum and cotton were both down 13%, and rice was down 24%.
According to the report, 
The 
You can call them aerial applicators, or crop dusters, or ag aviators – or you can call them the unsung heroes of agriculture. They are the folks who sometimes risk their lives flying low to the ground to protect countless acres of our nation’s corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, cotton, sugar beets and pastures.
At the NAAA convention this week, one of the primary topics of discussion was the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program, which Moore says just went into effect on Halloween. “It’s kind of a scary regulation,” he said about the regulation which impacts pesticide application near water. “The problem is that it’s duplicative of everything that already exists to protect the environment in regard to pesticide regulation.”
