Farmers and ranchers need to get fed up and fired up by the attacks on modern agricultural production. Enough is getting to be more than enough when PETA is handing out “Unhappy Meals” to children portraying Ronald McDonald as a knife-wielding murderer.
Missouri farmer Blake Hurst wrote an excellent essay in the Journal for the American Enterprise Institute called the “Omnivore’s Delusion” that fights back against the “agri-intellectuals” like PETA and HSUS and Michael Pollan who criticize modern agricultural production. Blake writes:
I’m so tired of people who wouldn’t visit a doctor who used a stethoscope instead of an MRI demanding that farmers like me use 1930s technology to raise food. Farming has always been messy and painful, and bloody and dirty. It still is.
Blake talks about the realities of modern day livestock and poultry production compared to the realities of say, trying to raise free range turkey who get eaten by weasels and drown in the rain. Or piglets that get squished or eaten by their mommies if not in farrowing pens. Blake also takes on Michael Pollan’s “Omnivore’s Dilemma” and points out all of the modern agricultural techniques that farmers employ which have not only increased food production, but protected land and water resources as well.
Blake concludes his defense of modern agriculture saying, “We have to farm “industrially” to feed the world, and by using those “industrial” tools sensibly, we can accomplish that task and leave my grandchildren a prosperous and productive farm, while protecting the land, water, and air around us.”
Amen, hallelujah! Read Blake’s essay and pass it on to everyone, especially those omnivores you know who are not in agriculture.
Farmers are happy with their corn crop this year, according to analyst Peter Georgantones of the Minnesota-based Investment Trading Services.
“I have been doing this for 22 years now and I have never had a year like this one,” Peter said during a Minneapolis Grain Exchange conference call today with reporters. “My farmers love to complain about their crops and nobody is complaining this year. Everybody is very happy where they’re at.”
Peter thinks the 12.8 billion bushel corn crop forecast by USDA could get even bigger. “I actually think the corn yield is going to continue to grow unless we get an early frost,” he said. “I could see 2-3 bushels more put on this corn crop pretty easily.” USDA is predicting a yield of 159.5 bushels per acre, the second highest on record.
Meanwhile, USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand report estimates corn use for 2009/10 will be higher with U.S. corn supplies are projected at a record 14.5 billion bushels, up 134 million from the previous record in 2007/08. “Food, seed, and industrial use is raised 100 million bushels with higher expected use for ethanol supported by favorable ethanol producer returns and strong incentives for ethanol blending,” USDA predicts. They also added another 100 million bushels for feed and residual use and another 150 million in exports.
USDA is calling for five percent more corn to be produced in the United States this year, at almost 12.8 billion bushels – just two percent less than the record 2007 crop. A forecast yield of 159.5 bushels per acre would also be the second highest on record, behind 2004. The acreage survey that was redone for a number of states was left basically unchanged.
According to the crop report released this morning, forecasted yields are higher than last year across the central Great Plains and western Corn Belt where mild temperatures and adequate soil moisture supplies provided favorable growing conditions. Expected yields were also higher across much of the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and Atlantic Coast where beneficial moisture this year contrasted with exceptionally dry conditions last year. Yield prospects are lower in the central Corn Belt where excessive spring moisture delayed planting and below normal temperatures slowed corn emergence and development. Growers expect to harvest 80.0 million acres for grain, down 100,000 acres from June but up 2 percent from last year.
Soybean production is forecast at a record high 3.20 billion bushels, up 8 percent from last year, with an average yield of 41.7 bushels per acre, up 2.1 bushels from 2008. With the exception of Illinois, yields are forecast higher or unchanged from last year across the Corn Belt and Great Plains. The largest increase in yield is expected in Ohio, up 11 bushels from 2008. In contrast, yield prospects are forecast lower than last year in Alabama, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Area for harvest in the U.S. is forecast at 76.8 million acres, up slightly from June and up 3 percent from 2008.
Nearly 70 local business and community leaders around Marshall, Missouri learned more about the state’s corn industry during a Lunch and Learn program last week sponsored by most of the ag groups in the Show-Me state.
Missouri Corn Merchandising Council (MCMC) board member Billy Thiel hosted the educational luncheon to highlight agriculture’s important contribution to communities.
“Missouri’s farmers are working hard to produce feed, fuel and food for the world,” said Thiel. “Not only are producers meeting today’s global demands, but many don’t realize agriculture is helping sustain our local economies. Farmers and the agribusiness industry are putting dollars back into local businesses and contributing tax revenue to our schools, roads and communities.”
Following the informational luncheon, attendees were invited to tour Mid-Missouri Energy, a farmer-owned ethanol plant located three miles from Thiel Farms. While visiting the local biorefinery, participants were able to see firsthand the process that converts corn to ethanol and distillers grains. This additional market adds value to Missouri’s corn crop and generates a quality feedstock for livestock producers.
“Every 56-pound bushel of corn used in the ethanol process yields 18 pounds of distillers grains, a good source of energy and protein for livestock and poultry,” said Thiel. “Missouri’s farmer-owned ethanol plants depend on a strong livestock industry to utilize ethanol’s valuable co-product. Cattle, hogs and corn are intrinsically linked and programs like today’s Lunch and Learn work to convey that message.”
The Thiel luncheon was one of eight events scheduled this summer that take place on various agricultural operations around Missouri.
USDA is doing a double-check on the corn crop before issuing the next crop report.
In response to variable weather conditions in key crop-growing regions, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is collecting updated information on 2009 acres planted to corn and sorghum prior to the August Crop Production report.
The June 30 Acreage report included estimates of 2009 planted area for principal crops, based on data collected from producers in early June. To ensure that the August forecasts accurately reflect any changes in planted acreage since June, NASS will expand its routine data collection activities in late July and early August. The agency will ask growers to update their reported acres planted to corn in seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Growers in Illinois and Missouri will also be asked to update their reported acres planted to sorghum.
The forecast now is calling for the second biggest corn crop, but there are some in the industry who think we may well be on the way to a record breaker if the weather cooperates. We shall see. The August crop report will be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, August 12.
The USDA is pulling out all the stops to remind producers that the sign-up deadline for the new Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program is coming up August 14. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is strongly encouraging producers to visit their local FSA office and land grant university representatives to evaluate and consider whether ACRE is right for their particular situations.
Jim Wiesemeyer of Informa Economics had the same message for producers at the U.S. Grains Council‘s 49th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting in San Diego this week.
“Not all states, but in the ‘I’ states – many portions of Iowa, at least Northern Illinois, and portions of Nebraska and Minnesota – the spreadsheets that I’ve seen with the variables would tend to suggest a farmer participation in that program, especially for corn,” Jim told me during an interview. He encourages producers to seriously check it out. “I think once they do their homework, they will probably think they should be in there because that program may pay out enough in the first year to make the four year enrollment pay off.”
Can you actually hear corn grow? Don’t know if this has been tested scientifically, but it sure seems possible this year. Corn in some of the late planted fields seems to have gone from inches to feet in two weeks time.
Here is the best actual data that reflect the horticultural muscle of my favorite crop…maize.
Kentucky corn researchers put a tape measure on a corn plant beginning June 3 and ending July 4. It grew between 1.4 and 5.0 in. per day, and grew an average of 10% of its height each day during the V6 stage. Leaves grew 2.5 to 4.0 in. per day, which the researchers calculated to be at a speed of 2.5 to 3.8 millimeters per hour.
So what does this kind of prodigious growth capacity mean in real world impact? U.S.feed grain supplies for 2009/10 are projected higher this month in large part because of the estimated 12.3 billion bushels we will grow this summer, up 355 million from last month.
As we do most years, it seems very likely we will have enough corn for all purposes with extra as a safety cushion. Can I get a Hooray for corn farmers?
Senate Ag Committee Chair Tom Harkin has scheduled a hearing for later this month on “The Role of Agriculture and Forestry in Global Warming Legislation” that is expected to discuss greater safeguards for farming and biofuels in the Senate version of a climate change bill.
During an interview with Energy & Environment News this week, Harkin said he wants to force EPA to “get over their absolute rejection of ethanol” and would like the Senate version of the climate change bill to increase the blend rate of ethanol to 15 percent.
Harkin also says he wants to make sure the Senate bill includes all the provisions House Ag Chairman Collin Peterson secured for agriculture in the House bill and more, such as more open offsets for sequestration and the ability to use land enrolled in conservation programs for carbon offsets.
They do have a little bit more time to work on the legislation now. Senate leadership decided this week to delay the deadline for committees to finish work on the climate bill until September 28.
The Senate Ag Committee hearing is scheduled for July 22 at 2:30 pm. No witness list has been released yet.
Most of the corn numbers in USDA’s supply demand report released Friday morning are up, up and away. The only lower outlook numbers are food, seed and industrial use – and prices.
USDA is calling this year’s corn crop the second largest on record and the soybean crop the largest ever.
U.S. feed grain supplies for 2009/10 are projected higher this month with higher expected beginning stocks and production for corn. Corn production for 2009/10 is projected at 12.3 billion bushels, up 355 million from last month as higher estimated area from the June 30 Acreage report boosts production prospects. Corn supplies are projected at 14.1 million bushels, up 335 million bushels from 2008/09. Feed and residual use for 2009/10 is raised 50 million bushels as increased supplies and lower prices are expected to boost feeding demand. Food, seed, and industrial use is lowered 35 million bushels reflecting lower expected use for sweeteners and starch. Exports are raised 50 million bushels as lower prices increase the competitiveness of U.S. supplies in the world market. Ending stocks are projected at 1.6 million bushels, up 460 million from last month, but down 220 million from 2008/09. The 2009/10 marketing-year average farm price for corn is projected at $3.35 to $4.15 per bushel, down 55 cents on both ends of the range.
Analyst Brian Hoops with Midwest Market Solutions says probably the biggest surprise in the report was no increase in the yield estimate from last month for either corn (153.4 bu/ac) or soybeans (42.6 bu/ac). “I think some of us believe we will see in future reports that yield per acre being increased as we’ve had very good growing conditions, lot of moisture and crop condition ratings very high,” Hoops said in a conference call this morning for the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. “So we do look for this crop to grow in subsequent reports.”
Hoops says if we have very high ratings for corn during the pollination time, which is coming up in the next week or so, we can expect a “very large corn crop.”
The corn crop may be a little behind in progress, but it is looking mighty good out there.
According to USDA’s crop progress and condition report from Sunday, 71 percent of the corn remains in good to excellent condition nationwide, just a one percent drop from the previous week and almost 10 percent better than last year at this time.
Silking progress is behind normal for this time of year, at just eight percent compared to the 16 percent average, but it is ahead of last year and all indications are that it will catch up just fine, thank you very much. Reports from around the country are showing great progress. South Dakota’s corn crop grew an average of 9 inches last week, up to 25 inches, which is still behind normal but the weather is expected to continue being favorable for good growth. In Minnesota, the corn is averaging 42 inches, just an inch below normal.
All this points to possibly an even bigger corn crop than last year, according to some estimates. USDA will issue the latest official forecast Friday morning.
Missouri farmer Blake Hurst wrote an excellent essay in the Journal for the American Enterprise Institute called the “Omnivore’s Delusion” that fights back against the “agri-intellectuals” like PETA and HSUS and Michael Pollan who criticize modern agricultural production. Blake writes:
“I have been doing this for 22 years now and I have never had a year like this one,” Peter said during a 
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U.S. feed grain supplies for 2009/10 are projected higher this month with higher expected beginning stocks and production for corn. Corn production for 2009/10 is projected at 12.3 billion bushels, up 355 million from last month as higher estimated area from the June 30 Acreage report boosts production prospects. Corn supplies are projected at 14.1 million bushels, up 335 million bushels from 2008/09. Feed and residual use for 2009/10 is raised 50 million bushels as increased supplies and lower prices are expected to boost feeding demand. Food, seed, and industrial use is lowered 35 million bushels reflecting lower expected use for sweeteners and starch. Exports are raised 50 million bushels as lower prices increase the competitiveness of U.S. supplies in the world market. Ending stocks are projected at 1.6 million bushels, up 460 million from last month, but down 220 million from 2008/09. The 2009/10 marketing-year average farm price for corn is projected at $3.35 to $4.15 per bushel, down 55 cents on both ends of the range.
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