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Illinois legislature approves new nutrient council

May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The President of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association (IFCA) says they are pleased the state legislature has passed a bill and amendment to create a Nutrient Research and Education Council.

“That’s protected outside of state government for us to dedicate those funds for new nutrient efficiency and water quality programs — and really try to focus a lot on on-farm research where we can manage nutrients better to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous losses through tile drainage and runoff,” says Jean Payne, president of the IFCA.

She tells Brownfield the ag industry wanted to step up to the plate – so - a specified tonnage amount of fertilizer sold in Illinois will go to the protected fund established with the support of ag and environmental groups.

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

Grassley criticizes FCC, White House over LightSquared

May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Iowa Senator Charles Grassley has accused the White House and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of catering to the lobbyists of the now-bankrupt wireless company LightSquared and of stonewalling his investigation into the case.

In a recent speech on the Senate floor, Grassley noted that LightSquared hired dozens of lobbyists, including a former governor and nine former members of Congress, to push for approval of its planned high-speed wireless network.  But Grassley says while those lobbyists provided entry into the FCC and the White House, they couldn’t change the fact that LightSquared’s network couldn’t co-exist with GPS.

The FCC granted LightSquared a conditional waiver last year to develop the network, but later pulled the waiver and blocked the network after tests showed it would interfere with GPS devices. Many agricultural groups opposed the LightSquared plan, fearing it would interfere with farming GPS devices. 

Grassley says he still wants to know why the FCC granted LightSquared the conditional waiver in the first place.

“It seems strange that a project that was so obviously flawed was allowed to go so far, but LightSquared had help,” Grassley said, pointing to the influential lobbyists.

The FCC has denied giving LightSquared any special treatment.

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

Nat’l Ag Statistics to conduct June surveys

May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The USDA’s National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) will be conducting two major mid-year surveys during the first two weeks of June. Cheryl Turner, Deputy Director of the Ohio field office says they’ll be collecting data for both the June Agricultural Survey and the June Area Survey.

“Basically the June Area Survey, we select land areas and we’re picking up what they actually have planted in the field and what they intend to harvest and we’re picking up grain storage also,” said Turner. “The June Agricultural Survey is our quarterly crop survey that we do, we do them in March, June, September and December and again we’re picking up plantings, grain storage and capacity.”

For the agricultural survey, Turner says they’ll be collecting data electronically, by phone, or by mail from around 1500 farmers in Ohio, data for the area survey will include randomly selected tracts of land then interviews with operators on that land.

Audio: Cheryl Turner, Deputy Director, Ohio NASS (2:40 mp3)

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

Pork, beef stocks up on month, year

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

USDA reports month to month in-movement of pork and beef supplies in cold storage were larger than expected, with both also well above year ago levels, due to slow consumer demand and increased production levels.

Frozen beef came out at 517.528 million pounds, up 3% on the month when the average guess was for a less than 1% increase, and 17% more than this time last year. Boneless beef cuts made up most of the total at 446.062 million pounds.

Pork in cold storage was pegged at 659.532 million pounds, 8% above a month ago and 20% larger than a year ago. That’s just below the all-time end of April record of 663.4 million pounds set in 2008. The closely watched pork belly stocks were pegged at 74.780 million tons, an increase of 13% on the month and 41% on the year.

Chicken supplies were also larger than expected, despite improved export demand and slower production projections. The average pre-report estimate was 597.6 million pounds. Chicken totaled 606.583 million pounds, 6% more than last month but 18% less than last year, with all poultry at 1.048 billion pounds.

Poultry and livestock slaughter numbers are out Friday.

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

USDA announces more water quality projects

May 22, 2012 By 1 Comment

The USDA is pumping 32-million dollars into five Mississippi River Basin water quality and wetlands projects.

The five projects involve seven states—Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says that, when fully implemented, the projects will prevent sediments and nutrients from entering waterways, decrease flooding and improve bird and fish habitat.

NRCS estimates the funding will help restore 11,400 acres to wetland habitat.

In Iowa, the funding will help with the North Raccoon River Wetland Initiative.

“We look to see improvements on about 1,020 acres in the Prairie Potholes region of Iowa,” Vilsack says. “We believe this will ultimately improve water quality and wildlife habitat.  It should also assist flood-affected landowners by providing some flood relief opportunities in the Raccoon and Des Moines River watersheds.”

USDA is providing more than six-million dollars and will partner with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources on the project.

Missouri will be part of a six-state project to restore Lower Mississippi River Batture hardwood forest and wetlands.

“We hope to restore roughly 7,280 acres of bottomland hardwoods in 2012—and up to 30,000 acres when the project is fully completed,” says Vilsack.

USDA is providing more than 20-million dollars and will partner with the Mississippi River Trust on the project.

AUDIO: Excerpts from conference call with reporters–Tom Vilsack and NRCS conservationist Tom Christensen (12:47 MP3)

Link to USDA news release

 

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

Vilsack: Moving crop reports ‘complicated’

May 22, 2012 By 1 Comment

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the USDA is studying its procedures for releasing crop reports in response to new expanded trading hours implemented by the CME Group.

But Vilsack says changing report release times is not as simple as it sounds.

“A decision as to timing and information being accessible can potentially make the difference of millions of dollars, one way or the other, to those who are trading,” Vilsack says, “and now we have essentially two competing entities that have different hours that don’t necessarily align.”

Those competing entities are the CME Group and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which recently expanded its trading in grain futures. 

The Kansas City Board of Trade and MGEX, formerly the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, have followed suit and expanded their trading hours as well.

The challenge, Vilsack says, is to continue providing the information in a transparent and equitable way, “to do it in a very timely way, but not to distort the market or provide an undue advantage to someone or some entity as a result.”

USDA’s monthly crop reports are released at 7:30 a.m. Central time, when grain trading has traditionally been halted.

Vilsack made his comments during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.

AUDIO: Tom Vilsack (1:48 MP3)

 

Filed Under: Crops, Events/Organizations, Markets, News, Top Stories, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , ,

Report: Stabenow discussing deal with southern senators

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The farm bill approved by the Senate Ag Committee is headed for the Senate floor early next month.

According to committee chair Debbie Stabenow, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated he will bring up the bill the first week of June.

In preparation, Politico is reporting that Stabenow is reaching out to southern lawmakers in an effort to bridge the gap that split her committee last month and put her at odds with allies in the House. According to Politico, backroom talks are focused on putting a modest counter cyclical program together as a safety net for rice and peanuts.

In his weekly conference call with reporters, Senate Ag Committee member Chuck Grassley of Iowa had this reaction.

“I wouldn’t want to say that some changes couldn’t be made.  But if you’re talking about going back to target prices for cotton—or maybe more so for peanuts and rice—I think that’s a non-starter,” Grassley says. “If there’s some sort of slight changes—refinements that can be made to what we have—I wouldn’t rule that out.”

Pundits say a potential deal with southerners in the Senate must be considered as a bridge to a future House-Senate conference on the farm bill.

Lawmakers in the House are much more sympathetic to the southern concerns.

AUDIO: Excerpts from Grassley’s 5/22/12 conference call with reporters (5:33 MP)

 

Filed Under: Crops, Events/Organizations, News, Top Stories, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , , ,

Foreign investors must report holdings

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Foreign investors who buy, sell, or hold a direct or indirect interest in U.S. agricultural land must report holdings and transactions to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, or be subject to a penalty. Those from outside the U.S. who are buying and selling land must report those transactions within 90 days.

Foreign investors needing more information can contact and a local Farm Service Agency office. The AFIDA report form (FSA-153) must be returned to the FSA county office where the land or programs are administered.

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

Corn planting nearly complete in Ohio

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

While rain is needed in some parts of the state, last week’s weather provided farmers with the opportunity to push corn planting near completion. As of Sunday, May 20, corn planting was 94 percent complete, 84 points ahead of 2011 and 34 percent ahead of the 5-year average. 73 percent of the crop has emerged, 79 percent of the crop is in fair-to-good condition.

Nearly three-fourths of the intended soybean acres have been planted, well ahead of both last year’s 4 percent and the 37 percent average pace. 37 percent of the soybeans have emerged.

The latest weekly crop and weather report from the Ohio field office of the National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) has 94 percent of the wheat crop headed and one percent turning color. The condition of the wheat crop held steady from a week ago, with 75 percent of the crop rated fair-to-good.

As of Sunday, May 20, topsoil moisture in Ohio was rated 1 percent very short, 15 percent short, 75 percent adequate and 9 percent surplus.

Other crops in Ohio:

Oats, 93 percent emerged, nine percent of the crop is headed. 76 percent rated fair-to-good.

Alfalfa hay, first cutting was 39 percent complete.

Strawberry harvest was 21 percent complete.

Potatoes, 78 percent planted.

Processing tomatoes, 39 percent planted.

Apples, reported 60 percent in fair-to-good condition, a decline of one point from last week.

Peaches, were 48 percent fair-to-good, unchanged from last week.

 

 

 

 

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

FB listening session planned for NE Ohio

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, a member of the House Agriculture Committee will hold a Farm Bill listening session on Wednesday, May 23 near Burton, Ohio.

The District 11 Representative will meet with traditional and non-traditional farmers, providing agricultural stakeholders an opportunity to make recommendations.

The listening session will be held at the Hastings Dairy Farm located north of Burton. An optional tour of the dairy will begin at 11 a.m. with the field hearing scheduled to begin at noon.

The listening session is being hosted by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF), Farm Credit Council and the Cleveland Foodbank.

Hastings Dairy Farm is located at 13181 Claridon Troy Road, Burton, Ohio 44021.

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