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Illinois Soybean says House bill lacks flexiblity

May 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Planting flexibility and market orientation fall short in the House Ag Farm bill, according to the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA).

ISA Chairman Bill Wykes, a soybean farmer in Yorkville, Illinois, says unlike the Senate’s Agricultural Risk Coverage, or ARC, program, the House wants to “recouple” target prices with much higher support levels. And that, he tells Brownfield, can distort the market.

“We need to continue to let the market tell us what we should be planting and not having the government, because of a support program they’ve laid out there, that you can’t plant this, that, or whatever.”

But to see the farm bill process get underway this past week, says Wykes, is very encouraging.

“There’s hope when you see movement {laughter}. So, we’ll go with that.”

Reference target prices under this House Ag farm bill’s Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program, are the same as last year’s proposed farm bill with soybeans at $8.40 per bushel. Farmers would have to make choice between Price Loss Coverage or Revenue Loss Coverage, RLC.

AUDIO: Bill Wykes (3:00 mp3)

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MO multi-issue ag bill heads to governor

May 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

A multi-issue agriculture bill has been passed by Missouri lawmakers and sent to the governor for his signature, on this last day of the legislative session.

Among other provisions, the omnibus ag bill protects the right of children under 16 to work on family farms.

It makes the theft of Missouri livestock a Class B felony.

It allows for additional civil penalties to be imposed for violations of the Missouri Livestock disease control law.

It creates farmer market tax exemptions for producers with annual sales of less than 25-thousand dollars.

It expands the definition of eggs for inspection to include not only chicken but turkey, duck, goose and guinea eggs that are intended for human consumption.

It allows for the creation of University of Missouri Extension councils.

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Illinois Winter Wheat Tour next Tuesday

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The  Southern Illinois Winter Wheat tour is Tuesday, May 21st where growers will have the opportunity to tour several wheat field sites. They will collect data at the sites and from that, determine wheat yield estimates.

Wheat variety information and field trial results will be shared. Wheat development and wheat diseases will also be discussed. The event will wrap up at the University of Illinois Brownstown Agronomy Research Center.

Southern Illinois Winter Wheat Tour

Illinois Wheat Association Events

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Cool, wet and record Missouri weather

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Cool, wet and record setting are the months of April and May in Missouri this year – far different from those two months last year.

University Extension ag climatologist Pat Guinan says several inches of snow in May has only happened a few times in the more than 100 years that records have been kept in Missouri.

He says March and April were the coolest since 1997 and all the rain in April “erased nearly all the drought in Missouri.” Far northwestern Missouri has had residual drought conditions but that may have been alleviated by rain over the last few weeks, he says.

Unprecedented were the high temperatures on May 3rd in Missouri, which never got beyond the 30s.

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Chemical use on ’12 soybean crops outlined

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The top monitoring practice for managing pests in U.S. soybean crops last year was scouting for weeds, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, NASS.  The agency’s Chemical Use Survey Data for soybeans and wheat was released Wednesday.

For soybeans, it found that 94 percent of planted acres were scouted in the 19 states surveyed for the 2012 crop year. 96% of the soybean acreage used chemicals. Phosphate and potash were the most widely used fertilizers, applied to 37 percent of planted acres. Nitrogen was applied to 27 percent of planted acres. The survey found that farmers applied herbicides to 98 percent of planted soybean acres…followed by 18 percent insecticides and 11 percent fungicides.

Eighty-percent of planted winter wheat acres had chemicals applied – in the 13 states surveyed for chemical use.

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Chemical use report on wheat crops in ’12

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Thirteen states were surveyed by the USDA for chemical use on 2012 wheat crops and 80-percent had chemicals applied on winter wheat acres (including Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Illinois and Ohio).

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) says 91 percent of spring wheat, excluding durum, had chemicals applied on four states surveyed.

Chemicals were applied on 88 percent of the durum wheat acres in two surveyed states.

Nitrogen was applied to nearly all durum and spring wheat excluding spring durum. Eight-five percent of winter wheat acres had nitrogen applied.

The report says herbicides were the most extensively used pesticide.

 

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Colombia/U.S. FTA’s first anniversary

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The US Embassy of Colombia in Washington says the US./Colombian Free Trade Agreement has generated 28-and-a-half Billion in trade for both countries in its first year, benefitting ag trade both ways.

The embassy reports that US ag exports to Colombia increased 68 percent – the main products being soybeans, soybean meal, rice and pork.

Colombian ag exports (excluding coffee) increased by 7 percent. Colombia is the 12th largest ag supplier for the U.S.

This is the one year anniversary of the implementation of the long-sought agreement.

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Crop development workshops

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Purdue University is offering two workshops this summer to help producers learn how to better scout their fields.  Corey Gerber, director of Purdue’s Crop Diagnostic Training and Research Center said the workshops are primarily geared towards producers and will include discussions about plant diseases and insect pests, as well as corn and soybean growth, development and stressors.

Continuing certification hours for commercial pesticide and fertilizer applicators and continuing education units for certified crop advisers will be available.

The early-season diagnostic workshop will be June 12 and the mid-season workshop is scheduled for July 24 and will be held at the Purdue Agronomy Center for Research and Education.  Each workshop is $110 per person. 

A link to registration information can be found HERE.

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Enlist Duo approved in Canada

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Dow AgroSciences announced earlier today that Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency has approved Enlist Duo herbicide with Colex-D Technology for use in Canada.  The approval makes Canada the first nation to authorize the herbicide and a milestone for the company’s Enlist Weed Control System which combines traits, herbicides, and stewardship.

Stan Howell, vice president, North America, Dow AgroSciences says, “The Enlist Duo herbicide approval in Canada validates the robust innovation we are bringing forward for our customers who tell us the need for new weed control tools becomes more urgent every season.”

The announcement comes just days after USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced it is extending its review of 2,4-D and Dicamba herbicide traits.  A move that industry sources say could delay the introduction of new products containing those herbicide-tolerant traits to the US market for an additional two to four years.

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House Ag Committee passes farm bill

May 15, 2013 By 1 Comment

The House Agriculture Committee worked late into the night Wednesday marking up its version of the farm bill.  The bill passed by a vote of 36 to 10.

As expected, the big issue was food stamps.  In the end, the committee voted to uphold an estimated 20.5 billion dollars in ten-year savings from nutrition programs.

The committee, after a lengthy discussion, defeated an attempt to change the Dairy Security Act in the farm bill. There were no changes to other commodity programs as proposed by House Ag Committee leadership.

Iowa Representative Steve King was successful in attaching his “Protect Interstate Commerce Act”, which would bar states from imposing their own animal-welfare standards on eggs, meat and other ag products brought in from other states.

The amendment is aimed at preventing farmers in other states from having to comply with measures such as California’s Prop 2 initiative that requires farms to provide more space to hens, hogs and other livestock.

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