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Family farm upbringing builds strong work ethic

June 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Jacob Sutter is the younger son of Kenny and Leanne. Like other family members, he is actively involved in both crop and livestock production on the Sutter Family Farm near Pleasantville, Iowa.This former FFA member graduated from Ellsworth Community College with degrees in Swine Management and Farm Management.He thought about doing something else, but told me that nothing can beat farming. Living in the small, rural community and being a part of that is important to him. A member of the volunteer fire department, Jacob believes it is important to be involved in his community.

Jacob credits his upbringing on the family farm with building in him a strong work ethic.

The Sutter family exemplifies what it means to be “Doing it Right” on a family farm in Iowa. His was the second family farm we visited on the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers “Doing it Right” Farm Tour.

 AUDIO: Conversation with Jacob Sutter (4 min, mp3)

Filed Under: Doing it Right Farm Tour, Featured, Special Reports

Nebraska dairy opens doors to general public

June 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Prairieland Dairy, a 1500-cow dairy located about 20 south of Lincoln, Nebraska, will host its sixth annual Dairy Fun Day on Saturday, June 27. It’s an opportunity for the general public to spend a day on the farm-and a good chance to show them where their food comes from. Brownfield’s Ken Anderson visits with Prairieland’s Terry Landes.

AUDIO: Terry Landes, Prairieland Dairy (3:00 MP3)

Filed Under: Managing for Profit Tagged With: , ,

Missouri Ag Director tours Joplin Stockyards

June 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Missouri’s Agriculture Director John Hagler is touring a number of ag operations in the state this summer. “Our purpose is to highlight some of the great things that we’re doing in agriculture – some of the importance that it plays in our economy and our state and to go around and to bring attention to those things,” Hagler says.Hagler went to the Joplin Regional Stockyards on Monday. He says, “They do a fantastic job of staying at the forefront of innovation. It’s an excellent example of how USDA, the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the Extension cooperate in bringing those producers together, working with them to get a better product and a better price. And, that strengthens communities.”

Calling the Joplin Regional Stockyards a “showpiece” for Missouri, Hagler says it is the second largest stockyards in the United States. He says 2.5 Million head of cattle go through sale barns in Missouri, adding over one-billion dollars to the state’s economy.

On Monday, Hagler also visited Sundance Seed in Leeton and Show Me Energy Cooperative in Centerview.

Joplin Regional Stockyards

Filed Under: Livestock, News Tagged With: , ,

Ohio legislature moves on animal care standards

June 25, 2009 By 3 Comments

The Humane Society of the United States has made no secret Ohio is one of the next states targeted for their effort to ban the use of calf crates, sow crates and battery cages.

The Ohio State Legislature has made a move to head HSUS off, passing a proposed constitutional amendment which would create a 13-member Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board. That board would develop best-practice standards for the confinement of animals. The State Director of Agriculture would chair the group made up of the State Veterinarian, a college agricultural dean, a county humane society member, two consumer representatives, a food safety expert and farmers. The rules and standards would be enforced by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

The final version of the resolution, once approved, will put the measure on the November ballot.

Filed Under: Livestock, News Tagged With: , , , ,

Swift: “systemic breakdown” led to beef recall

June 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

JBS Swift says a “systems breakdown” at its Greeley, Colorado plant on April 21st might have led to possible E. coli contamination. Today, JBS is recalling over 41-thousand pounds of meat. Swift spokesman Chandler Keys tells Brownfield that a random USDA test at a retailer that ground up the sirloin product turned up the E. coli bacteria. Keys says through the investigation, it was discovered there had been a technical breakdown on the line that workers had NOT reported to higher-ups. Had supervisors known, he says the meat would have been “walled off.” Keys says, “Unfortunately it wasn’t – it was a systems breakdown on our part. So, we’ve moved to correct that.”The beef was shipped in late April and early May to distributors and retail outlets in 13 states, including: Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin and South Carolina. The other states are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah.

Keys says the product most likely has already been consumed and there are no reports of illness associated with it. He says Swift is continuing to cooperate with USDA.

 JBS Swift – “Fresh Approach to Beef Safety”

AUDIO: Chandler Keys, JBS Swift spokesman, (8:00 min., MP3)

Filed Under: Livestock, News, USDA/Government Tagged With: , ,

Nebraska corn producers launch consumer campaign

June 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

A new campaign to promote the positive aspects of farming today has been launched by the Nebraska Corn Board and Nebraska Corn Growers Association.

Nebraska Corn Board executive director Don Hutchens says the campaign is called “Sustaining Innovation”.

“Thanks to a lot of new innovations and farming practices-and seed-we know that we’re growing more corn on fewer acres with less erosion and with fewer inputs like fertilizer and fuel,” says Hutchens, “and it’s a good message-we need to just make sure that the general public knows.”

The campaign began this month and will run through the rest of the year.  Hutchens says it includes radio and print advertising in select media outlets, plus a new approach.  “We’ve got some trucks that are traveling throughout Lincoln-delivery trucks-that have some of those ‘Sustaining Innovation’ messages on the side of the trucks,” he says.

Hutchens says the trucks will help keep message visible to people visiting Lincoln for the state fair, Husker football and the Christmas shopping season.  The Nebraska Corn Board has also added a special “Sustaining Innovation” page to its web site.

Don Hutchens (4 min MP3)

Filed Under: Crops, Events/Organizations, News Tagged With: , ,

Corn and soybean planting estimates vary widely

June 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Ahead of the USDA’s planted area update June 30th, analysts are expecting smaller corn acreage and bigger soybean acreage following a wet spring for a number of critical growing areas.

The average of analysts’ estimates for corn acreage is 84.158 million acres, down less than a million from USDA’s March guess. However, the range of estimates varies widely from a 2.5 million acre cut on the low end to a more than 1 million acre increase on the high end.

Soybean planted area is pegged at 78.305 million acres, which would be up more than 2 million from the most recent USDA estimate. That said – the range of projections for soybeans is also pretty wide from a cut of less than a million acres to a more than 3.5 million acre increase.

Spring wheat acreage is expected to be around 13.102 million acres, down modestly from the March estimate.

Quarterly stocks estimates are out as well with analysts expecting smaller supplies of corn, soybeans and wheat. Corn’s estimated at 4.190 billion bushels, soybeans are pegged at 586 million bushels and wheat stocks are seen at 670 million bushels.

The numbers are out Tuesday, June 30 at 7:30 AM Central.

Filed Under: Markets, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

IA, MN ag officials ask USDA to help pork industry

June 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Calling the plight of pork producers “a financial crisis”, the top ag officials of Iowa and Minnesota are calling on the USDA for more assistance. 

In a joint letter to U.S. agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack, Iowa agriculture secretary Bill Northey and Minnesota agriculture commissioner Gene Hugoson urge Vilsack to use existing federal funds to purchase another 50 million dollars of pork products for use in federal food programs.  

Northey says it would give pork producers a much-needed boost at a time of great need.

“We’re at a year-and-a-half here of tough times-and then to add the H1N1 flu situation , where we not only lost some domestic demand for a little while, but are still struggling to regain some of that international demand back,” says Northey, “so it’s been a long run here and the industry could sure use some help to be able to buy a little bit of that meat off the market.” 

The Minnesota Pork Producers Association estimates that the H1N1 flu scare has cost that state’s pork producers more than 45 million dollars to date. 

Bill Northey (4 min MP3)

Filed Under: Livestock, News, Uncategorized, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , ,

Beans mixed, wheat and corn lower: June 25, 2009

June 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Soybeans were mixed with old crop/new crop spread trade and the mixed outside markets the big features of the session. Nearby contracts had continued support from the tight supply and good demand while deferreds were down on expectations for increased acreage. The tight supply is reflected in the basis levels, which have been firm this week as buyers bid up to get those supplies. Past that, there wasn’t much news one way or the other ahead of the USDA’s planted area and quarterly stocks update June 30. Soybean meal was mixed, pretty much mirroring beans, and bean oil was higher on spillover from crude oil. The U.S. Census Bureau’s May crush numbers came out smaller than expected at 146.1 million bushels. Taiwan’s Breakfast Soybean Procurement Association purchased 58,000 tons of U.S. soybeans at a $3.43 premium over the CBOT November futures contract.

Corn was lower on technical and fund selling, along with a lack of new buying interest. Outside of a solid weekly export sales report, there has not been much fresh news ahead of next week’s USDA planted area and quarterly stocks update. Near term weather conditions generally look good across the Midwest. Contracts stayed in a pretty narrow range due to that lack of new news as traders get ready for those upcoming USDA numbers. Ethanol contracts were mostly lower.

The wheat complex was lower on technical selling, harvest pressure and the firm dollar. Higher trade in the dollar makes U.S. goods more expensive on the export market and U.S. wheat is already at a premium to other origins. The fundamentals remain negative with a large available supply and weak demand. Hard and soft red winter harvest weather looks good with mostly hot and dry conditions in both regions. Chicago September hit its lowest price since late April and the July has lost well over $1.25 since the start of the month. European wheat was mixed with pressure from the fundamentals and support from a purchase of 60,000 tons of French wheat by Egypt. The International Grains Council has left its 2009/10 world wheat production estimate unchanged at 652 million tons.

Filed Under: Closing Futures & Livestock Briefs, Markets Tagged With: , , , ,

IA, NE producers team up for corn-fed beef trade mission

June 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

A delegation of cattle and corn producers from Iowa and Nebraska is in Japan and South Korea this week, promoting U.S. corn-fed beef.

Terri Carstensen, a feedlot operator and grain farmer from Odebolt, Iowa, says consumers in Japan seem very pleased to meet face-to-face with the people who produce U.S. beef.

“At one of the supermarkets that were in, we were standing at the (meat) case and we were visiting with some of the customers and saying that we were producing the beef that they were purchasing,” Carstensen says, “and they just lit up and said ‘you are the producer!’, and they filled that meat case, I think it was three times, while we were standing there in a very short time.”

Alan Tiemann , a corn and soybean farmer from Seward, Nebraska, says the 20-month age limit on U.S. beef exports to Japan prevents that market from reaching its full potential.

“When we visited the importers and the grocery stores and the meat buyers, they’re all in support of the 30-month age on livestock,” says Tiemann, “and they definitely could utilize more U.S. beef if we were able to do that.”

That trade mission is organized by the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Filed Under: Events/Organizations, Livestock, News, World Ag News/Trade Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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