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Logan
Hawkes
01/09/08
Crop News Weekly
It's back to work as usual in the New Year and
2008 promises to be one of great challenge and, hopefully, great reward.
For the most part there seems to be a reasonable degree of optimism
among growers who are generally coming off a productive crop year. The
farm bill issue remains one of the unknowns as well as growing energy
costs. But with good weather and a little luck in the growing season,
most producers are hoping for a repeat of 2007 production numbers.
In this issue, experts are saying soybean growers may recover some lost
acres in the new year if soybean prices continue to hold steady or even
increase in the coming weeks. As of right now bean pices are running as
high as they have this decade. Also this week, some people see a glass
half empty; others, one half full. Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck
Conner, clearly a member of the former camp, thinks it's time for
Congress to seize on a glass full of high prices and "reform" farm
programs. Elsewhere in the news, many soybean producers across the U.S.
may be missing out on high yielding soybeans, according to Palle
Pedersen, Iowa State University (ISU) Extension soybean agronomist. He
says an emphasis on genetics and reduced funding for extension education
and applied science on a national level has led to a reduction in
applied research. And who can guess what will happen with pending farm
bill legislation? Kent Thiesse walks us through the latest update in
this issue.
You'll find these stories and more in this issue of Crop News
Weekly. Happy reading.
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New
lab test can detect SDS in soybean seedlings
A simple, cheap lab test developed at Southern
Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) can unerringly detect sudden death
syndrome (SDS), a costly fungal disease in soybean seedlings. Once
commercialized, its use will help breeders produce SDS-resistant soybean
varieties much faster than they can now. "You can do a reliable assay in
the greenhouse in a plastic cup and four weeks later you'll see the
result," says David A. Lightfoot, a biotechnologist in SIUC's College of
Agricultural Sciences who developed the procedure. - The Corn &
Soybean Digest
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Researchers
tackle waterhemp with practical solutions
Midwest farmers struggling with waterhemp issues have
a new resource for information thanks to the efforts of university weed
scientists Kevin Bradley with University of Missouri, Bob Hartzler with
Iowa State University and Dawn Nordby with University of Illinois. The
result of this collaboration is Biology and Management of Waterhemp, a
brochure created to help farmers minimize yield losses from waterhemp
and manage the development of herbicide resistance. - The Corn &
Soybean Digest
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Does
it feel like the 1970s?
The last half of 2007 and the beginning of 2008 have
drawn many to make comparisons with agricultural economy that existed in
the 1970s, with record grain prices, high farm profits and rapid
increases in land values. Here are some things to consider: July soybean
futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) traded at a record price of
$12.93/bu. on Jan. 3, breaking the old record price of $12.90/bu., which
was set in 1973. July corn futures have edged very close to $5/bu.,
which is approaching the record price that was set in 1996. - Kent
Thiesse, The Corn & Soybean Digest
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Market
calling for bigger soybean acreage
"Beans in the teens." Soybean futures aren't quite
there yet -- January was trading at $12.45 as this is being written
-- but the highest prices in decades could help soybeans recover nearly
10 percent of their acreage and perhaps push back above the
70-million-acre mark in 2008. Soybeans took it on the chin last spring
when corn prices fueled by rising ethanol demand drew more than 8
million acres from soybeans to corn, reducing the 2007 crop to 64
million acres and production to 2.6 billion bushels (from 74.6 million
acres and 3.2 billion bushels in 2006). - Forrest Laws, Farm Press
Editorial Staff
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Don't
let volunteer corn report for duty
Bt could stand for "big trouble" in the years ahead if
farmers aren't careful in their use of biotech corn, says Christian
Krupke, a Purdue University entomologist. Corn varieties containing
Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, genes to control corn rootworms and corn
borers, and genetically modified to withstand Roundup herbicide, could
become more susceptible to rootworms unless growers keep soybean fields
free of volunteer corn and continue planting refuge acres, says Krupke.
- The Corn & Soybean Digest
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resistant weeds like giant ragweed, waterhemp, Palmer pigweed and
marestail have proven you need more. The Syngenta Resistance
Fighter™ Solutions Module helps you find all the right products to
fight resistance in your fields. www.resistancefighter.com
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Schuermann
joins ASA as executive director
Stephen L. Censky, chief executive officer of the
American Soybean Association, announced that William S. (Bill)
Schuermann has joined the association's staff as executive director,
member and industry relations. "ASA is very pleased to welcome Bill to
the ASA senior management team," Censky said. "Bill has spent his career
in the agribusiness sector and comes to ASA with strong marketing and
management experience. His familiarity with agriculture, expertise in
sales and marketing, and knowing what kinds of programs are of interest
to both farmers and companies will serve him well in his new role with
ASA." Schuermann most recently served as group publisher for the Fruit
and Vegetable Group of Meister Media Worldwide in Willoughby, Ohio,
where he was responsible for three of the company's specialty ag
publications.
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Conner
says time is ripe for farm bill 'reforms'
Some people see a glass half empty; others, one half
full. Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner, clearly a member of the
former camp, thinks it's time for Congress to seize on a glass full of
high prices and "reform" farm programs.
With market prices are at or near record levels for most of the major
commodities, some economists are predicting net cash farm income could
exceed $85 billion in 2007, an increase of $18 billion over the previous
year, Conner notes. "This kind of success does give us an opportunity,
we believe, to enact some reforms that are necessary for us to maintain
the strength of the farm economy we are seeing today," Conner told the
Agribusiness Club of Washington, whose members include the Washington
lobbyists of the major commodity organizations. - Forrest Laws, Farm
Press Editorial Staff
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Some
help for Argentine crops
Rainfall last week boosted planting of the 2007-2008
soybean crop in areas of central Argentina, but dryness continued to
prevent planting and threaten yields in central Cordoba, southeast
Buenos Aires and elsewhere, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said in its
weekly crop report on Monday. The showers led the exchange to raise its
forecast for soybean planted area this season to a record 16.9 million
hectares (41.75 million acres), up from a previous estimate of 16.8
million. Farmers are seen abandoning corn that was badly damaged due to
lack of rain and November frosts. - Richard Brock, The Corn & Soybean
Digest
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National
effort to boost soybean yields
Many soybean producers across the U.S. may be missing
out on high yielding soybeans, according to Palle Pedersen, Iowa State
University (ISU) Extension soybean agronomist. He says an emphasis on
genetics and reduced funding for extension education and applied science
on a national level has led to a reduction in applied research. "The
mindset for a producer is often to buy the most expensive seed and then
believe that is enough to maximize yield," says Pedersen. "But genetics
is only one part of the equation. Most soybean producers are giving up
easy bushels." - The Corn & Soybean Digest
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Agriculture
in the age of turbulence
Road Warrior Dave Kohl writes: "2007 is going
down as a year of heavy turbulence from an economics perspective. Alan
Greenspan's book, The Age of Turbulence, develops a good subplot to the
agriculture industry's short- and long-term future. The following are
some of the interesting views from the road that encompassed my 230,000
air miles and 70,000 Hertz rental car miles on the back-roads of
agriculture this year..." - The Corn & Soybean Digest
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China
sets quota on flour exports
China's commerce ministry on Tuesday imposed export
quotas on flour made from wheat, corn and rice to help stabilize
domestic grain prices and guarantee the country's grain security. The
quota restriction was in addition to a 25% export tax on wheat flour
announced by the finance ministry a day earlier. It gave no grace
period. The ministry earlier removed a 13% tax rebate on exports of
grains and flour. - Richard Brock, The Corn & Soybean Digest
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Thiesse's
Thoughts: Farm Bill Update
The U.S. Senate finally passed their version of the
new farm bill on December 14, by a 79-14 margin. The U.S. House of
Representatives passed a new farm bill in late July 2007. The farm bill
now will go to a U.S. House and Senate Conference Committee, probably in
late January, to work out differences in the two versions of the new
farm bill. Then the compromise version of the new bill will again be
voted on by the entire U.S. House and Senate, and the new farm bill will
need to be signed by President Bush before it becomes law. The Bush
Administration has been very active in discussions related to a new farm
bill. - Kent Thiesse, The Corn & Soybean Digest
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Oil
hits $100 for first time ever
Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange
soared to $100 Wednesday, Jan. 2, and closed at a record $99.62,
underscoring the urgent need for cost-effective renewable fuels such as
ethanol. "Consumers were welcomed to the new year with crude oil prices
reaching a record $100/barrel for the first time ever, causing the price
tag for our nation's expensive addiction to foreign oil to soar to more
than $1 billion/day," says Brian Jennings, executive vice president of
the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE). "For the sake of the nation's
economic health, our new year's resolution must be to put the brakes on
this costly and risky reliance on oil and accelerate our use of
domestically produced ethanol." - The Corn & Soybean Digest
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