Jul. corn closed at $6.35 and 1/2, up 10 and 1/2 cents
Jul. soybeans closed at $14.05, down 33 cents
Jul. soybean meal closed at $417.90, down $10.10
Jul. soybean oil closed at 50.32, down 40 points
Jul. wheat closed at $6.95 and 1/4, up 37 and 1/2 cents
Jun. live cattle closed at $119.52, up $1.60
Jun. lean hogs closed at $87.42, unchanged
Jun. crude oil closed at $91.48, down $1.08
Jul. cotton closed at 77.99, up 134 points
Jun. Class III milk closed at $15.39, up 12 cents
Jun. gold closed at $1,591.90, up $17.00
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 12,369.38, down 73.11 points
Closing Grain and Livestock Futures: May 18, 2012
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Five new Pork Board members named
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The five new appointees of the National Pork Board have been named. Ag Secretary Vilsack chose five of the eight pork producers nominated by the National Pork Producers Delegate Body in March.
Carl Link of Fort Recovery, Ohio is one of two new board members. Brad Greenway of Mitchell, South Dakota is one of three reappointed members.
Everett Forkner of Richards, Missouri is the president of the Pork Board. Conley Nelson of Algona, Iowa is vice president. Current members of the board include Derrick Sleezer of Cherokee, Iowa and Julie Maschhoff of Carlyle, Illinois.
The Pork Board oversees the distribution and spending of National Pork Checkoff dollars – all US pork producers invest 40 cents per $100 value of hogs sold. Importers of US pork products contribute a similar amount. A portion of the funds – used for research, education and promotion – go back to the states.
Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina and Minnesota are the top five pork producing states in the nation. There were just over 69-thousand pork producers in the U.S. in 2010, according to USDA, with about 64 million head of pigs at the start of 2011.
April cattle placements down 15% on year
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
USDA’s monthly cattle on feed update showed a much larger than expected drop in placements during April.
U.S. placements on to feed last month came out at 1.52 million head or 85% of a year ago, towards the low end of estimates and less than the average guess of 88.4%. That decline’s linked to the lower supply of feeders and is expected to lead to a tighter supply of market ready numbers and even higher beef prices later this year.
With packers slowing down meat production, marketings were pegged at 1.82 million head, up slightly on the year, 8,000 head, when most analysts were anticipating a decrease.
The total amount of cattle on feed in the U.S. as of May 1 was reported at 11.1 million head, down 1% from a year ago and below the range of pre-report expectations.
Other disappearances were up 30% from last year at 78,000 head.
April frost hurt Iowa’s apple orchards
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Apple orchard operators in Iowa are beginning to get a better handle on the impact that April’s freezing temperatures had on their crop.
Maury Wills with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship says apple orchards in roughly the middle third of Iowa were hit the hardest.
“Perhaps from about Highway 20 south to Highway 34,” Wills says. “and not 100-percent loss by any means, but orchards in that area had been pushed pretty far along by the warm temperatures in Iowa whereas orchards further north weren’t as far along and orchards further south didn’t have as chilling temperatures.”
Iowa produced 102,000 bushels or roughly 4.1 million pounds of apples last year. Wills says it’s highly unlikely that many apples will be available this year. But he notes the damage is sporadic across the state and even within each individual orchard.
Radio Iowa contributed to this story.
Monsanto’s Vistive Gold soybeans
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Northwest Ohio has been selected to help develop the next stage of Monsanto’s entry in the high oleic soybean market, Vistive Gold soybeans. Todd Pester, of the Oilseeds Technology Team at Monsanto tells Brownfield they’re working with Heritage Cooperative on a limited number of acres of the Vistive Gold soybeans.
“The grower base that Heritage works with, are very conscientious farmers, experienced at growing soybeans and they understand the intellectual property that’s involved and the identity preservation from these specialty commodity soybeans,” said Pester. “They are a great fit for us as well in terms of managing this product while it is still under stewardship.”
Pester was at the Heritage Co-op Branch at Arlington (Ohio) on Thursday, May 17, to see the facility where the Vistive Gold soybeans will be delivered this fall.
“This is my first visit to the site and I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen so far, in terms of the caliber of people that work here, the mindset they’re taking this very seriously, that it is a stewarded product,” Pester said. “We have to manage how it is received, how it is stored and then how will be eventually be shipped out for processing,”
3400 acres of Vistive Gold soybeans are being grown in Northwest Ohio this year.
Audio: Todd Pester, Monsanto, Oilseeds Technology (5:35 mp3)
Livestock judging team has strong finish
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Ohio State University livestock judging team had a very successful spring run, finishing as the top team overall at a contest hosted by Tennessee State University, the team from Ohio State also recorded 8 of the top 10 high individuals.
At a contest held at Purdue University, OSU was the top scoring senior college team and at the University of Illinois, which is one of the most in-depth contests, the team placed first in the pre-harvest evaluation, second in breeding selection and second overall in general evaluation.
Individual team members also performed well.
At the Tennessee State University contest, Kyle Nickles was first overall.
At Purdue, Jake Boyert was high individual, while teammate Trey Miller was ninth.
At the University of Illinois, Kyle Nickles won the entire contest, while Boyert was fifth and Bailey Harsh sixth high individuals.
In the pre-harvest evaluation, Harsh was the high individual for sheep, Nickles was second overall and Nick Wright was third in cattle.
In breeding selection, Nickles was high individual and second in beef. Boyert was second in swine.
In the standard general evaluation, Nickels was second high individual overall and in sheep, Boyert was fourth overall.
Other team members participating included Sean Robinson, Audrey Neal, Nate Benich, Nick Wells Lindsey Grimes, and Linsey Howell.
New U.S. electronic trade hours start Sunday
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
According to a statement from the CME Group, expanded trading hours at the Chicago Board of Trade will go into effect May 20.
The CBOT’s parent company received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday, allowing the new 21-hour session start Sunday.
The new hours for electronic futures and options trade in corn, soybean, wheat, soybean product, rough rice, oat, and ethanol contracts are 5 PM to 2 PM Central Sunday through Friday. Settlement times for open outcry and dairy contracts remain the same.
The Minneapolis Grain Exchange and Kansas City Board of Trade will also be going to a 21-hour electronic trading day starting Sunday, May 20. Wheat futures and options contract traded at the exchanges will run from 5 PM to 2 PM Central Sunday to Friday, with open outcry hours and contract settlement times unchanged.
Letter sent to Senate leadership
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A letter has been sent urging the Senate leadership to schedule floor time for the 2012 Farm Bill.
“We’re really pleased that 44 Senator’s sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to the Senate Leadership saying we need to bring this Farm Bill up soon, I think that’s a great showing,” said Mary Kay Thatcher with the American Farm Bureau Federation. “We have hopes when they come back from the Memorial Day recess we can indeed get some floor time and get this thing moving.”
Speaking at the AFBF Midwest Commodity Conference in Columbus, Ohio on Wednesday, May 16, Thatcher said there are also several possible amendments that need watching.
“Of course when you think about Title 1 we know there will be several environmental groups that will push for payment limitations on crop insurance premiums and also requiring conservation compliance for crop insurance,” Thatcher said.
The HSUS/UEP agreement and amendments that would scale back or eliminate checkoff programs are being monitored.
When it comes to writing the 2012 Farm Bill, those regional differences that have surfaced aren’t anything new, but Mary Kay Thatcher says in the end, it’s going to take a bipartisan effort to pass a Farm Bill this year.
“It’s a group effort, it’s bipartisan, it’s not just agriculture, it’s conservation and environmental groups, it’s nutrition groups, it takes the whole village to be able to move a bill like this,” the AFBF Sr. Director of Congressional Relations said.
Thatcher also tells Brownfield, she believes that extending the current Farm Bill will not be good for agriculture, saying that a price will have to be paid.
“Less money to have a valuable safety net next year is going to be much more difficult than it will be if we can get the bill done.” Thatcher said.
Audio: Mary Kay Thatcher, American Farm Bureau Federation (6:05 mp3)
Carroll Co. FSA now part-time service center
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director in Ohio, Steve Maurer has announced the Carroll County FSA office is now a part-time service center.
Between now and July 27 the Carroll County FSA office will be open Tuesday-Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Starting July 30, the Carroll County FSA office hours will be Tuesday and Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Maurer says the FSA decision does not impact the operating hours of other agencies that may be co-located in the USDA Service Center.
Field scouting recommended
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
From what’s he’s seeing, Alex Johnson, State Agronomist for LG Seeds in Ohio is encouraging farmers to be scouting fields at least twice weekly.
“Look at your fields for black cutworm damage, also in bean fields, look for marestail,” said Johnson. “I’ve seen many fields with four to six inch marestail which gets very hard to control as a post application, and lastly look for bean leaf beetle, feeding at 40 percent or more defoliation could mean a pesticide application is warranted.”
Johnson adds that other than those areas that received excessive rain, the corn crop in Ohio overall is looking good.
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