Crop News Weekly: More Ag Trade With Cuba?

While planting across the corn belt may not be completely finished, in some areas replanting is already underway. This is especially true for large parts of the eastern corn belt. None-the-less, summer is underway and the race is on as the prime growing season has arrived. Best of luck as you head into the long, warmer days of the high season.

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The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) and USA*Engage endorsed a bill introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus - the Promoting American Agricultural and Medical Exports to Cuba Act of 2009 (S.1089) - which would facilitate U.S. agricultural and medical exports to Cuba and lift the travel ban for U.S. citizens.

"The NFTC and USA*Engage applaud Senator Baucus and the bipartisan group of co-sponsors for their leadership in advocating for a new approach to U.S. Cuba policy," said NFTC President and USA*Engage Co-Chair Bill Reinsch. "The proposed provisions will not only benefit the American farmers and medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers who will enjoy the advantages of better market access, but also the people of Cuba who could reap the benefits of new humanitarian imports and the opportunity interact with Americans."The legislation would make a number of important changes to U.S. policy.

Ray Nabors Crop Markets Report
Soybeans have made six consecutive resistance price breakthroughs. China’s supply of soybeans, soy oil and soy meal are increasing. China has recently started exporting soy meal to other countries that traditionally buy soy meal from the United States and South America. This is negative for soybean prices.

The current market sentiment is supporting an uptrend in soybean pricing because the current carryover stocks have decreased to historically low levels. The new crop production prospects could set a world record. Market fundamentals of supply and demand are at play in current pricing.

The short-term trend is influenced by tightening supply. The long-term trend is influenced by the potential of ample supply. Near-term soybean contracts are biased to the long or buy side of the market. More buyers than sellers push prices upward. - Ray Nabors, Delta Farm Press

You just received some disturbing news. Plant bugs or soybean aphids or some other pest have been discovered in above-threshold numbers in a cotton, soybean or corn field bordering a lake or stream that meanders through your farm.

The news starts an agonizing mental process that could mean you spend $25,000 to $30,000 depending on which pesticide you use and how many acres must be treated. That’s a decision no farmer takes lightly.

But what if you had to consider another step: Filing a request for a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System or NPDES permit from the state Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture or other regulatory agency because the pesticide could drift into the lake or stream? - Forrest Laws, Farm Press Editorial Staff

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that J. Dudley Butler, an attorney and cattleman from Mississippi, will serve as administrator of USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration.

“Dudley Butler has a solid understanding of issues impacting the agriculture industry and brings a lifetime of experience to the USDA that will help keep our food supply safe,” Vilsack said. “He’s also demonstrated a commitment to helping rural America prosper.”

GIPSA facilitates the marketing of livestock, poultry, meat, cereals, oilseeds, and related agricultural products, and promotes fair and competitive trading practices for the overall benefit of consumers and American agriculture. The agency is part of USDA’s Marketing and Regulatory Programs mission area.

In a time when sustainability is on the minds of many, farmers are wondering if they will have enough water to care for their crops. So, researchers at New Mexico State University’s Agricultural Science Center at Tucumcari are working on an alfalfa project to see if an irrigation termination system will maximize yield at the end of the growing season – a tool to use only if water is scarce.

Alfalfa is New Mexico’s No. 1 cash crop, bringing in an estimated $238 million to farmers in 2008, but producers are still at the mercy of water availability, a crucial factor in a state known for drought.

About the time former presidential hopeful Al Gore was picking up his Nobel Peace Prize for scaring the bejeebers out of people about global warming, he was being criticized in Tennessee for the huge amounts of energy being consumed by his mansion in the exclusive Belle Meade subdivision of Nashville.

Seems his 10,000 square-foot home was about as energy efficient as an air-conditioned out house.

So Gore added a few solar panels on the roof, geothermal heating, caulked the windows and replaced light bulbs with energy-efficient ones. The U.S. Green Building Council subsequently sacrificed its reputation as a non-political organization by giving his new home its second highest rating for sustainable design. - Elton Robinson, Farm Press Editorial Staff

As he works with northeast Arkansas growers and their waterlogged crops, Roger Gipson is being asked many questions about lost yield potential. The Pioneer agronomist says there are many variables but some general rules.

So will waterlogged corn recover and yield normally?

“I don’t know about normal yields, but water-damaged corn will respond well to dry weather and fertilizer. Cultivation will also help aerate the soil. Early-season stresses can impact yields a couple of ways. If you get to V5 with an even, healthy, full population stand, yield loss is minimal — if any at all — assuming development isn’t delayed significantly.” - David Bennett, Farm Press Editorial Staff

Last fall’s reports of the near-collapse of the banking system notwithstanding, the nation’s farm banks increased their lending to farmers in 2008, according to the ABA Center for Agricultural & Rural Banking’s Farm Bank Performance Report.

In 2008, the report said, the U.S. banking industry held $123.5 billion in farm loans, an 8 percent increase over the $114.2 billion in 2007. The 2008 figure for farm banks represents more than 50 percent of the total farm credit outstanding in the United States, according to the American Bankers Association’s Center.

The total also included $69.1 billion in small farm loans, of which $26 billion was invested in “very small farm loans.” ABA Center officials said they consider a small farm loan as being one for $500,000 or less. A micro-small farm loan is $100,000 or less. The number of small farm loans in 2008 surpassed 1.2 million with the great majority — almost 1 million — under $100,000. - Forrest Laws, Farm Press Editorial Staff

Rabobank has purchased a $354 million portfolio of agricultural loans from the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac). The acquisition was conducted by two of Rabobank Group’s U.S. subsidiaries: Rabo AgriFinance, the U.S. agricultural finance arm, and Rabobank, N.A., the California community bank.

Despite the cutbacks in many federal and state agriculture programs, a number of incentive and cost-share programs are still available to farmers and other landowners for planting trees.

And, says George Byrd, outreach forester for the Mississippi Forestry Commission’s Grenada regional office, the new farm bill promises to be “more forestry-friendly” than the previous one. - Forrest Laws, Farm Press Editorial Staff

EDITOR'S NOTE

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