Saunders County Livestock Outlook Mtg

The Annual Market Outlook meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 8, 2011 at the 4-H building at the Saunders County Fairgrounds in Wahoo. Social hour begins at 6 p.m. with dinner  and meeting to follow.  On the Panel that evening will be Walt Hackney, DTN Contributing Analyst; Doug Knobbe, Commodities Solutions Consultant; and Jeff Stolle, NC VP of Marketing.  The sponsor of the meal is the Nebraska Soybean Board and a representative will present an update. Social hour refreshments are sponsored by the affiliate.  Call Dan Benes for more information.   



Informa Cuts Corn, Soy Outlook

Private analytical firm Informa Economics on Tuesday made another cut to its outlook for the U.S. corn and soy harvests due to poor weather, according to traders.

Informa, a closely watched crop forecaster, lowered its estimate for the corn harvest to 12.711 billion bushels from 13.353 billion bushels in August and 13.759 billion bushels in July, traders said. The firm cut its yield estimate for the crop to 151 bushels an acre from 158 bushels an acre in August and 162.5 bushels an acre in July, they said.

Informa lowered its estimate for the soybean harvest to 3.061 billion bushels from 3.139 billion bushels in August and 3.203 billion bushels in July, traders said. It pegged the average yield at 41.5 bushels an acre, down from 42.5 bushels per acre in August and 43.1 bushels per acre in July.

Yet, the forecasts came in higher than recent estimates from other forecasters. Brokerage firm Allendale on Tuesday pegged the corn harvest at 12.466 billion bushels, with an average yield of 147.7 bushels an acre, while INTL FCStone last week projected farmers will harvest 12.35 billion bushels of corn, with an average yield of 146.3 bushels an acre.

In August, the USDA projected corn output at 12.914 billion bushels, with a yield of 153 bushels an acre, and soybean output at 3.056 billion bushels, with a yield of 41.4 bushels an acre. The government is slated to update its forecasts Monday.



Foundation for the Future Offers Affordable Risk Management Tools  to Dairy Farmers of All Sizes

Dairy farmers of all sizes will benefit from the risk management opportunities featured in the Foundation for the Future (FFTF) dairy policy program, designed by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), and drafted into legislative form by Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN).

In particular, the Dairy Margin Protection Program (DMPP) presents farmers with the opportunity to insure up to 90 percent of their milk production against catastrophically low margins, due either to low milk prices, high feed costs, or the combination. Because the financial stability of dairy operations increasingly depends on margins, rather than milk prices, giving farmers a way to protect their operation’s equity when margins are tight is a huge improvement over the status quo government safety net programs, which are solely focused on milk prices, according to NMPF.

“It’s always being said that farmers are price takers, not price makers, but under this new safety net, dairy producers will have the option of making a smart investment to prepare for the type of worst-case scenario like what we experienced in 2009,” said Doug Nuttelman, a dairy farmer from Stromsburg, NE, and a member of the NMPF task force that developed the DMPP.

Nuttelman explained that the DMPP offers a Basic level of margin insurance at no cost to producers; all they will have to do is sign up for it, once the Foundation for the Future program is implemented. Under the congressional draft, 75 percent of a farm’s milk production history will automatically be eligible for protection at $4 per hundredweight margin (defined as the gap between the all-milk price, and a national average of feed costs).

But the real opportunity for farmers comes under the Supplemental option of the DMPP, according to Nuttelman, because up to 90 percent of a farm’s production history can be insured in increments up to an additional $4/cwt. The cost of any optional, additional insurance will be shared between the USDA, and producers who elect for Supplemental coverage.

“This gives farms of all sizes the chance to indemnify themselves at a level up to eight dollars per hundredweight, meaning that if the milk price is $14, and feed costs are above $6 per hundred, the insurance program will pay them on all their production that particular month. Or, if milk prices are $20, and feed costs are above $12, they’ll get paid,” Nuttelman said. If producers don’t want that level of protection, the Supplemental program offers a sliding scale of options, in 50 cent per hundredweight increments.

And the real attractiveness of this program to smaller-scale operators is that “the margin insurance program allows for risk management regardless of whether you produce 100,000 pounds of milk per month, or one million,” he said. “Many other types of private risk management tools require a minimum volume of milk in order to enter into a contract. But the DMPP is open to everyone, large or small. This brings a new degree of protection to even the smallest dairies,” Nuttelman said.

He also noted that the DMPP is compatible with other risk management programs already in use, such as forward contracts. That type of program allows farmers to lock in a future price that may be attractive and profitable to them, whereas the DMPP allows producers to insure against an unattractive scenario where poor margins may bleed away their equity.

For Nuttelman, whose multigenerational Nebraska farm involves two sons, having insurance against equity loss “would make it easier for us to sit down with the banker, because if he sees that we are protected against the downside, both he and I can invest more confidently in the future of our farm.”



NCBA Urges President Obama to Include Trade Deals in Jobs Plan

Labor Day is a national holiday to celebrate the contributions of U.S. workers. A day after Labor Day and just two days before President Obama is expected to address the nation with a plan to jumpstart the U.S. economy and create jobs in the United States, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Bill Donald calls on the president to send the three pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea to Congress immediately.

“If the president is serious about creating jobs, we expect the three trade agreements to be sent to Congress this week. There is absolutely no conceivable reason to delay these job-generating trade pacts any longer,” said Donald. “Since President Obama took office, these trade agreements have been collecting dust on his desk. A lot of finger pointing is going on while our competitor’s capitalize on our inability to act on these trade deals.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for every $1 billion worth of agricultural goods exported, approximately 8,000 jobs are created. Donald said the three pending agreements would generate nearly $2.5 billion in additional exports and around 20,000 jobs. He said the trade agreements are a stimulus package that doesn’t place additional financial burdens on U.S. taxpayers.

“If the president is serious about creating jobs, there should be no doubt in his mind that these trade agreements must be sent to Congress immediately,” said Donald. “Those of us in rural America who depend on free and open trade are tired of bureaucratic speak and political games. It is time for the president to be a leader and send these trade agreements to Congress.”



Heat, Drought and Goss's Wilt Can Affect Iowa Corn Yields

Since its initial identification in United States corn fields more than 40 years ago, Goss's Wilt hasn't been a serious problem for most Iowa locations. In the past few years, however, the disease has become more common. This year the bacterial disease was identified in the state much earlier than in previous years, prompting some concern among those whose fields previously had not been affected.

Goss's Wilt is caused by the bacterium Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. nebraskensis (Cmn), which enters the plant through wounds that can be caused by rain, wind, hail or insect damage. Drought-stressed plants may be more susceptible to such wounds, and subsequent bacterial infection, but Steve Ensley, of Iowa State University's (ISU) Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine department, said drought stress presents a much bigger potential problem than Goss's Wilt for livestock producers.

"Nitrate concentration or cyanide concentration in drought-stressed corn can be a serious threat to livestock use," Ensley said. "Nitrate is converted to nitrite in the rumen, and nitrite converts blood hemoglobin to methemoglobin, which cannot transport oxygen to body tissues. Cyanide concentration, also known as prussic acid poisoning, works in a similar manner. In both cases, animals often die because of lack of oxygen."

ISU scientists and others said there are no reported issues with feeding Goss's-infected corn grain, stalks or silage to cattle, and there is no scientific evidence supporting harm to cattle caused by this bacterium.

Because the Goss's Wilt bacteria can overwinter in crop residue for several months, continuous corn acres and low- or no-till fields are at higher risk for developing Goss's Wilt. In a recent article for ISU's Integrated Crop Management newsletter, ISU plant pathologist Alison Robertson said there are steps farmers can take to reduce the survival rate of the responsible bacterium in future years.

"Research has shown that pure cultures of the bacterium survive less than two months in soil. However, bacteria found on surface crop residue can survive for at least 10 months," she said. "Some conservation tillage methods including partially burying infected residue should reduce the survival rates. However, soil conservation measures should always be considered. Also, heat, competition with other microbes and low pH reduce the survivability of the bacterium."



Russia Grain Crop Up on Year

Russia harvested 64.6 million tonnes of grain by bunker weight by Sept. 1, up from 43.3 million tonnes a year ago and 64.4 million tonnes by the same date in 2009, Agriculture Ministry data showed on Monday.

Grain has been harvested from 24.8 million hectares, or 56.3 percent of the harvesting area of 44.1 million hectare, the ministry said in a statement.

By the same date a year ago, when the country was hit by a severe drought, farmers harvested grains from 21.5 million hectares while in 2009 they reaped grain from 24.6 million hectares.

The statement said average grain yields were 2.60 tonnes per hectare compared with 2.02 tonnes a year ago and 2.61 tonnes in 2009.

The wheat crop by Sept. 1 this year was 40.3 million tonnes, up from 29.9 million a year ago and 40.6 million two years ago. Barley output was 14.0 million tonnes, up from 6.4 million a year ago and unchanged from the 14 million tonnes reaped by Sept.1 2009.

Bunker weight, used to measure the crop in the course of the harvesting, is normally 5-7 percent higher than the clean weight obtained after grain is cleaned and dried, but the difference may be less in hot and dry years.

The country officially expects to harvest 85-90 million tonnes of grain this year by clean weight, up from 61 million in 2010, but down from 97 million in 2009.

However, some analysts believe the crop may reach 92 million tonnes this year.

The ministry said Russia had harvested 3.2 million tonnes of sugar beets by Sept. 1 this year, up from 1.7 million tonnes a year ago and 525,000 tonnes by the same date in 2009.

Russia's Hydrometcentre weather forecasting service said on its web site meteoinfo.ru that in September the weather will be largely satisfactory for the harvesting and for the winter grain sowing both in European and Asian parts of Russia.



New Variety of Cotton Tested for Feed Use

Researchers at New Mexico State University are carrying out field and lab trials on a glandless variety of cotton whose seed meal has potential as a feed ingredient because of its low gossypol content.

What if cotton production was not all about the lint, the fibre we use so extensively for clothing and other products? What if the seeds, which form a significant part of the boll, could, like sunflower seeds, be used in human foods and in feed for a wide range of domesticated animals?

El Paso Times reports that, in such a world, cotton producers would make more money on their crop because more of the plant would be of value; livestock producers and aquaculturalists would have another, and perhaps less expensive, feed option for their animals; and consumers would have new food products. Think cottonseed oil for salads; baking and frying; cottonseed butter for individuals with peanut allergies; cottonseed granola bars; or cotton-based ice cream.

The main impediment to realising this scenario is the presence of high levels of gossypol in cottonseed. Gossypol is a natural toxin, found in most varieties of cotton that makes all of the plant's tissue, including the seeds, inedible by humans and most animals. It acts as a natural defence, helping to limit damage from chewing insects.

Currently, cottonseed by-products are used in some cattle feed, since ruminants, with their special digestive system, can tolerate limited amounts of gossypol. Using gossypol-laden cottonseed oil or meal in food for humans or in feed for poultry, hogs, shrimp or catfish is out of the question.

Gossypol is produced by small glands found throughout the above-ground tissue of most cotton plants, and therefore varieties without those glands, and which therefore do not produce the toxin, are referred to as 'glandless' cotton. Gossypol-producing varieties are frequently referred to as 'glanded' cotton.

Several New Mexico State University researchers are involved in field and lab trials of a glandless variety of cotton, Acala-GLS. The research trials, which include agronomic and insect resistance evaluation, are funded by Cotton Incorporated, a national organization that supports the cotton industry.