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Anxiety levels increasing

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Tadd Nicholson, director of Government and Industry Affairs for the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association says farmers in Ohio are becoming more and more anxious, and with another round of storms on Wednesday, May 25, Nicholson anticipates conversations with Crop Insurance Agents will be taking place, as growers evaluate their options.

“June 5th is a date Crop Insurance agents will remind our guys about, and that is the date when they need to make some decisions on filing a claim or not,” said Nicholson. “As that date approaches I think everyone is trying to figure out what the best options are.”

Nicholson also says what’s going on across the Midwest, but especially in the Eastern Corn Belt, is a good reminder of the work that has been done in the past, advocating to have a safety net in place for situations like those facing Ohio farmers.

“I think if anyone ever wondered what a safety net is about when you talk about farm programs or the Farm Bill, this is a year to really get that explained,” Nicholson said. “The safety net is going to be in place when farmers need it and this could be one of those years when farmers need that.”

Audio: Tadd Nicholson, Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Assn (2:50 MP3)

Filed Under: Crops, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Wheat leads corn and soybeans higher

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Soybeans were higher on speculative and fund buying, along with spillover from the mostly lower dollar and higher wheat. Beans are watching the slow planting and emergence pace and while there is a chance for drier conditions late next week, the trade’s taking a wait and see attitude. Weekly export sales were towards the low end of estimates and shipments were solid, coming in above what’s needed weekly to meet USDA projections for the 2010/11 marketing year. Soybean meal and oil both followed beans higher. The Census Bureau’s April crush number showed the bean crush at 127.982 million bushels, down on the month and year following a big processor leaving the National Oilseed Producers Association earlier this year. Before the report, the average guess was 129.3 million bushels.

Corn was higher on fund and commercial buying, in addition to spillover from the dollar and wheat. Corn’s also watching the weather and taking a wait and see attitude towards those forecasts for better weather late next week. Mexico bought 168,000 tons of new crop U.S. corn and weekly export sales were good, including a sale to China switched over from unknown, but shipments continue to move out slowly. Ethanol futures were mostly firm. The International Grains Council projects global 2011/12 corn production at a record 848 million tons with total world trade seen at 93 million tons. Taiwan’s Maize Industry Procurement Association passed on a tender for 43,000 tons of corn, attributed to high prices.

The wheat complex was higher on commercial and speculative buying, along with the mostly lower dollar. There was some late profit taking which also trimmed gains in corn and beans. Minneapolis was the leader on talk of reduced spring wheat acreage both stateside and in Canada. Chicago and Kansas City pretty much followed the leader but both pits have weather concerns over their own. European wheat made a round of new contract highs on the weather woes in Western Europe. The CME Group announced it will launch a wheat futures market in Ukraine. Japan bought 156,917 tons of wheat (45,140 tons Canadian western red spring, 39,822 tons Australian standard white, 39,800 tons U.S. western white and 32,155 tons U.S. hard red winter).

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

Cattlemen Help Recovery

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Missouri’s cattlemen are among the volunteers offering help to those affected by the Joplin tornado tragedy.  Beef checkoff dollars are part of the recovery effort in the aftermath of Sunday’s devastating storm, according to John Kleiboeker, Executive Director of the Missouri Beef Industry Council .

“We’re providing resources so that hot food can be cooked and prepared for volunteers that are there in Joplin helping with the clean-up efforts and manning telephone banks and all those kinds of things,” says Kleiboeker, in comments provided by the Council.

The Council discovered the need to provide hot meals to volunteers assisting in the clean-up and manning telephones, Kleiboeker says.  Area cattlemen have been grilling hamburgers on the Missouri Southern State University campus to feed some of the volunteers.  Kleiboeker says the need for volunteers will continue.

“In two weeks and then even beyond possibly two months from now is when they’re going to really need help. That’s why it’s important to call the volunteer hotline so they can log your contact information, because this certainly isn’t going to be completed in a short period of time,” he says.

The Missouri Beef Council tells Brownfield that Cloud’s Meats in Carthage, Mo. is providing some of the hamburger.   County cattlemen’s groups are doing the grilling.

For those interested in helping the cattlemen’s organizations with the feeding, they should call leaders in county cattlemen’s groups.  The volunteer hot line to get information on helping with general storm recovery is 417-625-3545.

Filed Under: Human Interest, News, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , , , ,

Is it a subsidy or not?

May 26, 2011 By 1 Comment

Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has been praised for his “courage” in using part of a recent speech in Iowa to call for an end to ethanol subsidies. 

For example, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has called Pawlenty “gutsy” for his comments on ethanol. The Wall Street Journal praised Pawlenty for taking on what it calls “King Corn” in Iowa.

But the fact is, Pawlenty didn’t call for an abrupt end to the ethanol blenders tax credit. Instead, he called for a phase-out—a concept the most corn and ethanol groups had already embraced. 

Of more significance to ethanol supporters was Pawlenty’s promise to end all energy subsidies, including those received by the oil industry.  But John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute, balks at the phrase “oil subsidies.”

“We get tax treatment that is similar to every other industry, but it’s being spun in Washington as being something special to the oil industry. When in fact, it’s tax treatment that every business gets, but we’ve just been singled out, because they want to raise taxes on the industry, but they know that doesn’t work in Washington. So they have to call it subsidies,” says Felmy.

Responding to Felmy’s comments, Iowa secretary of agriculture Bill Northey says it’s “odd” to hear someone from the petroleum industry defending subsidies.

“To see some of the folks that have been so adamant in opposition to any kind of support for ethanol, to defend the subsidies for petroleum  products or imported oil, seems like an odd thing,” Northey says.

Jerry Behn, a farmer from Boone, Iowa who is also a state senator, says Iowa farmers believe all federal subsidies should be subject to the same scrutiny, not just the one for ethanol.

“I think farmers would be really frustrated as a block if that subsidy went away and all the other subsidies throughout the country stayed in place–and I think that’s really what everyone is looking at,” Behna says.

Legislation phasing out the ethanol blenders tax credit—and replacing it with programs to develop ethanol’s infrastructure—has been introduced in the U.S. Senate.  Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is one of the chief sponsors.

Radio Iowa contributed to this story.

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

Pork carcass value takes a sharp drop

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Scattered inquiry into the cattle was evident in parts of the North on Thursday afternoon. Private sources reported a few bids at 170.00 to 172.00 dressed in Iowa and Nebraska. For the most part cattle country was quiet, with business likely done for the week. Asking prices on the balance of the show lists are around 106.00 live and 173.00 plus on a dressed basis. The kill totaled 131,000 head, 1,000 more than last week, but even with a year ago.

Boxed beef cutout values were weak on light to moderate demand and moderate offerings. Choice boxed beef was down .59 at 178.44, and select was .79 lower at 172.39.

Live and feeder cattle contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange settled lower again on Thursday. The live pit was down 35 to 65 points on the expected weaker demand following the Memorial Day weekend. Meat orders are filled for the holiday and uncertainty surrounds demand going into the next holiday, the Fourth of July.  Feeder cattle followed the lead of the live pit and ended lower with only May slightly higher. Renewed support in the corn market also weighed on futures. May feeders settled .27 higher at 124.95, and August was down 1.50 at 123.02. June live cattle settled .52 lower at 104.02, and August was down .65 at 104.57.

Feeder cattle receipts at the Hub City Livestock Auction at Aberdeen, SD totaled 1700 head. Compared to last week, feeder steers and heifers weighing less than 650 pounds sold steady on a limited comparison. Feeder steers and heifers weighing more than 650 pounds sold 1.00 to 4.00 lower. It was an active market with good demand. Feeder steers medium and large 1 weighing 879 pounds traded at 121.57. 802 pound replacement heifers brought 134.25 per hundredweight.

[Read more...]

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

Nebraska Cattlemen unveil ‘Beef Lovers’ web site

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Nebraska Cattlemen’s organization has unveiled a new “Beef Lovers” web site.

The group’s director of producer education, Bonita Lederer of Pierce, says Beef Lovers is made up of individuals who would like to know more about where their beef comes from—sort of a “fan club” for Nebraska beef.

“We have lots of fans out there. There are a lot of people in Nebraska that love to eat beef. If it’s in their home or going out at a restaurant, people in Nebraska do love to eat beef,” says Lederer.

Visitors to the web site can sign up to receive a monthly electronic newsletter, which features a cattle rancher profile, restaurant review and beef recipe.  Everyone who registers for the free service is automatically entered in a monthly drawing for a free beef certificate.

Lederer says the new web site is just one more way to bring beef producers and consumers together.

“We just want them to see that we really do things right. We really do care for our animals. We are raising a wholesome product that we are very proud of as producers–that the consumer can feel really confident in eating,” she says.

The web site address is www.beeflovers.org.

AUDIO: Bonita Lederer (3 min MP3)

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

Closing Grain and Livestock Futures: May 26, 2011

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

July corn closed at $7.45 and 1/2, up 3 and 1/4 cents
July soybeans closed at $13.84 and 3/4, up 7 and 3/4 cents
July soybean meal closed at $360.30, up $2.00
July soybean oil closed at 58.70, up 74 points
July wheat closed at $8.14 and 1/2, up 18 cents
June live cattle closed at $104.02, down 52 cents
June lean hogs closed at $87.80, down 50 cents
July crude oil closed at $100.23, down $1.09
July cotton closed at 151.03, down 500 points
June Class III milk closed at $18.41, up 9 cents
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 12,402.76, up 8.10 points

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

Report: WTO panel to rule against U.S. COOL

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It appears that the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute panel considering the U.S. country of origin labeling (COOL) requirements is leaning heavily toward Canada and Mexico.   That’s according to a report on DTN’s Washington Insider, which cites a confidential interim report circulated to the parties in the dispute.

In particular, the panel agreed with the complainants that COOL requirements resulted in imported beef and pork from Canada and Mexico being treated less favorably than U.S.-origin meat, in violation of WTO rules.

While the ruling is only preliminary, trade experts say WTO panels rarely alter their interim conclusions in the final ruling.  The panel is expected to issue its final ruling to the parties by the middle of the year, with WTO making the ruling public sometime in September.  The U.S. will then have 60 days to decide whether to appeal the panel’s findings.

Trade experts expect the U.S. to appeal the ruling, once it becomes final, because COOL has relatively strong support from both the Congress and the administration.

Reaction to the report has been fairly predictable. 

R-CALF USA says it is “tremendously disappointed” in the decision, and urged Congress to reject the ruling from what R-CALF calls “an un-elected, foreign tribunal that is attempting to strike down our constitutionally passed law.”

Meanwhile, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says the preliminary ruling reinforces what the group has stated all along—“COOL was a bad idea from the beginning and the preliminary WTO ruling..is proof.”

Filed Under: Events/Organizations, Livestock, News, Top Stories, USDA/Government, World Ag News/Trade Tagged With: , , , ,

Will Wisconsin’s legislature repeal runoff rule?

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has voted to repeal the Department of Natural Resources new N.R.151 non-point run-off rules. NR 151 is designed to control runoff from farms, fields, construction sites and urban areas.

The DNR has been in the process of revamping the rules and conducted public hearings on the idea last year. As a result of those hearings, changes were made to tillage setbacks, the definition of a feedlot, wastewater containment and the phosphorus index for cropland.

Republicans charge the new rules exceed federal standards and create an unnecessary financial burden on businesses and communities. Environmental groups say repealing the rules would be a giant step backward. Both houses of the State Legislature would have to approve the measure.

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

USDA must complete gmo-sugarbeet EIS

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an order that the USDA must complete an Environmental Impact Statement on the planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets.

USDA deregulated the planting of the genetically modified sugar beets in 2005. A group led by the Center for Food Safety filed suit in January of 2008 challenging the deregulation charging the pollen could contaminate non-gmo varieties. The court ruled for the plaintiffs in 2010, voiding the USDA authorization and ordering an Environmental Impact Statement be completed. This was Monsanto’s appeal of that ruling. The Ag Department projects the EIS will be completed in mid-2012.

More than 90 percent of the sugar beets grown in North America in 2010 were Roundup-Ready. Citing a lack of non-gmo seed, USDA ruled to allow the planting of the Roundup-Ready beets in 2011 and 2012 with certain stipulations. A legal challenge to that ruling is pending in federal court in Washington D.C.

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