Crop News Weekly New: Football & Farming

It's hard to stay focused this week - no thanks to the upcoming Super Bowl this weekend. The playoffs were good, and the bowl games a couple of weeks back were fun as well. But this game - well, it's the big one. But if pressed to connect the game with something to do with agriculture, I suppose I might compare farmers this year to the Arizona Cardinals and their underdog status when they line up against the Steelers on Sunday. How's that, you might ask? For one, I suppose, farmers are moving into untested territory. The Cards have never made it to the Super Bowl. For farmers, this year they will face a new administration they have never faced before. And I could be wrong here, but just like the Cards are the underdogs, I can't feel like farmers are at a disadvantage as well. Just like the game, of course, no one knows how things are going to turn out until the final buzzer sounds. But - again like the Cards - at least farmers are in the game at this point. And if my hunch is right, just like Arizona on Sunday, there could be an upset win in the works.

That's as far as I can go in trying to tie the two together. Now let's get to the top issues of the week...

The renewable energy and energy efficiency industries represented more than 9 million jobs and $1,045 billion in U.S. revenue in 2007, according to a new report by The American Solar Energy Society and Management Information Services, Inc. The report also reported this number could grow to 37 million jobs by 2030 with action from policymakers.

While the U.S. figures look ambitious, other countries have far exceeded us. Germany, for example, has five times the wind sector jobs and four times the photovoltaic solar jobs than the U.S. Germany also produces one-half the wind rotors in the world, one-third the solar panels in the world and leads the world in biodiesel production.

The American Soybean Association has submitted a document outlining its 2009 policy priorities to the Obama administration.

“ASA looks forward to working closely with the Obama administration to achieve these policy priorities, which not only make sense for soybean farmers, but also benefit our entire country through reduced dependence on foreign oil, job creation, increased U.S. exports and a modernized infrastructure system,” said Johnny Dodson, ASA president and soybean producer from Halls, Tenn.

The U.S. and global economy will get better, perhaps as soon as the fourth quarter of 2009. But before the worm turns, it’s likely to eat further into employment numbers and the health of crucial industries such as housing, banking and auto manufacturing.

Bob Young, chief economist, American Farm Bureau Federation, speaking at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in San Antonio, said U.S. job losses likely will continue through the second and third quarter of 2009, as will a “soft economy.” Improvement could begin in late 2009 or early 2010, spurred by low interest rates and an expected economic stimulus package from Congress. - Ron Smith, Farm Press Editorial Staff

It’s not news to anyone in farming that crop production has become several orders of magnitude more efficient over the last quarter century, with a vastly reduced impact on the environment. It is news, though, when a diverse alliance of environmental organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy and major corporate entities such as Coca-Cola, Kellogg, and Mars agree.

A landmark study, “Field to Market,” conducted by the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture and released at the annual meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation, was backed by two dozen-plus organizations and corporations.

An economic stimulus bill up for consideration by lawmakers must include investment in programs that will strengthen American agriculture and rural life, the American Farm Bureau Federation said yesterday.

“America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities are vital to our nation’s economic future,” AFBF President Bob Stallman wrote in a letter to members of the Senate and House appropriations committees. “It is crucial to the future of rural communities that broadband deployment be approached in a manner that produces long-term economic growth,” Stallman said.

With input costs remaining high, farmers are looking for ways to make their money go further. Testing soil from fields now can prevent over-fertilizing in the spring and potentially save money on input costs, say soil specialists with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

"If you look at the economics of it, including input costs and commodity prices, it looks like it's going to be very difficult for farmers to make a profit this year," said Lloyd Murdock, UK Extension soil specialist. "To make a profit, farmers will need to use best management practices, which include using fertilizer as efficiently as possible." - Katie Pratt, University of Kentucky

You have identified 20 different ways to cut your operating costs to the bare bones. But have you factored in broken bones and other serious farm-related injuries? If you haven’t, you should, advises one expert.

Farming remains one of the riskiest occupations in the United States, according to Jesse LaPrade, coordinator of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System's farm safety training program. He cites data from the National Institute of Safety and Health, which reveal that some 20 percent of farms across the United States experience at least one injury each year that results in at least one lost work day and that also requires professional medical attention. - Jim Langcuster, Auburn University

Farming operations leasing federally-owned lands are being told their base acres will be terminated and they will not receive government payments for any crops grown on the land. Ted Serafini, congressional staffer for Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., confirmed that the government took advantage of a rule in the 2008 farm bill allowing owners of farmland to reduce their base acres. “The government took that rule and applied it to themselves.” - Elton Robinson, Farm Press Editorial Staff

In a letter this week, USA Rice Federation and 20 other agricultural and related organizations told President Obama of their willingness to work with him “to bring immediate and full change with regard to U.S. policy toward trade and economic relations with Cuba.”

USA Rice President and CEO Betsy Ward said the letter “promptly establishes U.S.-Cuba trade as an issue of the highest priority to USA Rice and many other commodity and export-related businesses, which we’ll pursue very aggressively with the president, his farm and trade officials, and the Congress.”

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