Crop News Weekly: Asian Rust Moves Into Tennesse

I'm not one to give numbers much more significance than what their numerical values indicate, but it's interesting to see today's date written out as 09/09/09. It's the one day of the year, of course, when the day, month and year are represented by the same number. We'll have to wait another year, a month and a day before we see it happen again (10/10/10). What this may or may not mean for agriculture - absolutely nothing I suppose. But it might be a great plot line for the next big science fiction movie thriller.

Once again we're loaded down with lots of news and issues, including our continued coverage of the spread of Asian soybean rust as it begins to move northward. Dig in - and thanks for reading.

Asian soybean rust has been confirmed in Tennessee according to University of Tennessee Extension experts. A significant agricultural disease, the rust was confirmed Sept. 4 in west Tennessee on soybean leaf samples collected in Shelby County soybean sentinel plots. The samples were collected two days earlier.

According to Melvin Newman, UT soybean plant pathologist, and Angela Thompson, UT soybean agronomist, the level of rust spores in the field are low right now. “If field conditions continue to be favorable for rust development (high humidity, cloudy and rainy), it may still take 30 days before we are at 1 percent severity in most fields,” Newman said.

Newman and Thompson say only west Tennessee growers need to consider spraying their soybeans — mainly those whose beans that are between the R1 and R5 growth stages that have not been sprayed with a fungicide recently. Otherwise, there should be no need for chemical control measures, nor do growers in middle or east Tennessee need to spray at this time. - University of Tennessee Extension Service

Bearish market factors include any increase in relative dollar values that limit export potential.

Favorable weather-induced production potential is price bearish. Bullish factors include increased ethanol demand, early frost concerns where unseasonably cool weather retards development possibly reducing yields; sign of damage to crops as harvest begins with lower than anticipated yields. USDA predicts farm income will drop 38 percent this year. USDA lending rates on farm storage facilities: 7 year 3.25 percent; 10 year 3.625 percent; 12 year 4 percent. - Ray Nabors, Heartland Ag Network

A recent Congressional Budget Office study projected that carbon offsets could be a $60 billion market in 2012, on a par with U.S. corn and wheat markets, and “as it grows beyond that, it will make forestry mitigation opportunities more important,” says Jeffrey O’Hara, senior economist, Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX).

O’Hara, who is also staff liaison to the exchange’s Forestry Committee, developing new products and business opportunities, told participants in a Climate Change Legislation Workshop at Mississippi State University, “We think carbon is going to be a big market.”

CCX is the world’s first and North America’s only carbon and environmental derivatives exchange. - Hembree Brandon, Farm Press Editorial Staff

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is requesting comments on a proposed rule that would establish the procedures and eligibility criteria for receiving assistance under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for Farmers Program.

"Helping American producers adjust to a changing and unpredictable economic environment is critical during these challenging times," said Vilsack. "The TAA for Farmers program can provide technical assistance and cash benefits to eligible producers who have been hurt by import competition."

Reauthorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the TAA for Farmers Program applies to producers of raw agricultural commodities and fishermen who must show a greater than 15 percent decrease in the national average price, the quantity of production, value of production, or cash receipts compared to the average of the three preceding marketing years.

Asian soybean rust continues to be a major concern for North American farmers, agri-business professionals and researchers, who came in record numbers to this year’s two-day Asian soybean rust short course in Quincy, Fla.

The workshop, held at the North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy, drew 103 participants from the 12 north central states, as well as several other soybean producing states across the United States.

Participants learned about subjects such as soybean rust identification, control strategies, how weather affects rust and progress towards rust-resistant genetics.

At least part of the half-million acres coming out of the Conservation Reserve Program in Texas this year will be highly erodible land that should never have been broken out.

But farmers will base decisions on how to manage that land on economics, says Dan Gohmert, Texas State Conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Temple.

“We would like to see highly erodible land stay in cover,” Gohmert says. “But producers without the income from CRP may try to farm it.” He says some may opt to leave it under cover and accept CCC payments permitted in the 2008 farm law. “They also have an opportunity to use Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) funds to improve the acreage with cross fencing and other options. “It could become part of a grazing management system,” he says. - Ron Smith, Farm Press Editorial Staff

The thorny issue of immigration reform may get pricklier before it gets better, and Congress may have a narrow window of opportunity to make meaningful changes in a system that has not worked well for years before the cycle of national elections makes passing any contentious issue even more difficult.

In the meantime, the produce industry, a labor intensive business, depends on immigrant labor for much of its harvesting, packing and processing chores and finding a reliable pool of legal immigrant workers is increasingly difficult.

Frank Gasperini, with the National Council of Ag Employers, Dan Brown, an attorney with Berry Appleman and Leiden LLP, and U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, discussed current immigration issues and potential for reform during the recent Texas Produce Convention in Austin. - Ron Smith, Farm Press Editorial Staff

Heat related illnesses, even though the summer is winding down, are still important factors affecting people who work outdoors.

In agriculture, even with the modern convenience of air conditioning in farm tractors, pickup trucks and truck tractors, workers are at risk for heat related illnesses when they are outside in extreme heat and humidity or in hot indoor environments such as a barn or shop. Some individuals are at greater risk for heat related illnesses including those who are over 65 years old, are overweight, have heart disease or high blood pressure or take medications that may be affected by extreme heat. - Vic Schoonover, NTOK Cotton

The United States produce industry, the entire food production system, in fact, can look for increased emphasis on food safety from the Food and Drug Administration and the USDA with a focus on handlers.

“Regulatory change is likely from FDA within two years,” said Robert Keeney, with USDA. “A food safety initiative will be in play in the Obama administration.”

Keeney, speaking on a Town Hall Meeting panel at the recent Texas Produce Association Conference in Austin, said mandatory regulations on leafy greens and other commodities will be coming and that USDA will work closely with FDA to develop the process. - Ron Smith, Farm Press Editorial Staff

The biggest threat from climate change has less to do with rising sea levels, shifting of agricultural regions, more hurricanes in the Gulf, or why the heck it rained so much during the dog days of summer.

It has more to do with the idea that a green revolution could very well beget another oppressive bureaucracy sticking its nose into the private lives of its citizens. To me, the most important issue our nation and the world faces today is not global warming. It’s how successful we are keeping the government out of the process of dealing with it.

In the July 10 issue of Delta Farm Press , I wrote a light-hearted column (Gassy cows and greenhouse government) about rules the government might have implemented to mitigate cow burps, a primary source of methane, a greenhouse gas. Thankfully, the issue died right around the time I was writing it. - Elton Robinson, Farm Press Editorial Staff

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