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Logan
Hawkes
02/27/08
Crop News Weekly
Looking at the calendar on the wall made me
think today, if we can insert an extra day into the calendar this year,
which is scheuled to happen this Friday because it is leap year, then
why can't we get Congress to act on an important piece of legislation
like the new farm bill, making it a historic date to remember for the ag
industry? I would suggest it, but I fear legislators might twist the
idea and act on the farm bill only once every four years. But seriously
speaking, have you noticed not a single presidential candidate has said
very much about a farm bill? The nation's food and grain supply is
taking a back seat to the war on terrorism and the economy, which
perhaps can be justified. But it's also taking a back seat to many other
issues like national health care, immigration, labor union issues,
energy and the environment. No one would argue there are many important
issues that require soultions and resolution. But it seems the quicker
they resolve the farm bill issue, which has long been on the plates of
U.S. lawmakers, the more time they will have to handle some of these
other problems. Let's be honest, if we can't collectively reason out our
differences over a piece of farm legislation, how can we hope to ever
conquer terrorism or address the broader problems of the national
economy. Will Rogers may have put it best when he said, "be thankful
we're not getting all the government we're paying for." Who can argue
with that?
On the news front this week, helping Congress write a farm bill the
president can sign remains the top priority, but the federal government
should be looking beyond the traditional safety net of farm programs to
make U.S. agriculture competitive, says Agriculture Secretary Ed
Schafer. Also this week, the rapid rise in corn and soybean commodity
prices in the past two years, and the resulting projected increase in
gross crop income per acre for the 2008 crop year, has caused many
landlords to consider sharp increases in cash rental rates on rented
farm land for 2008.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of all news for this week. Surf
through this issue and discover more. Happy reading.
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Schafer:
look beyond farm bill
Helping Congress write a farm bill the president can
sign remains the top priority, but the federal government should be
looking beyond the traditional safety net of farm programs to make U.S.
agriculture competitive, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said. At press
time, congressional leaders and administration officials were continuing
to try to find a way to pass a new farm bill by March 15, the date the
latest extension of the current law runs out. Reports differed about how
close the sides were to an agreement. Acknowledging he is a
"term-limited" secretary working for a president who has less than a
year left in office, Schafer said procrastination is not something the
administration will be able to indulge in on the farm bill or any of the
myriad issues confronting the country. - Forrest Laws, Farm Press
Editorial Staff
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No
change in flexible lease agreements and payments
The rapid rise in corn and soybean commodity prices in
the past two years, and the resulting projected increase in gross crop
income per acre for the 2008 crop year, has caused many landlords to
consider sharp increases in cash rental rates on rented farm land for
2008. Many producers are concerned that the favorable crop prices may
not last long term, and that the gross income per acre in future years
may not be high enough to justify the higher cash rental rates being
implemented for the 2008 crop year. In addition, crop input costs for
seed, fertilizer, chemicals and fuel are also considerably higher for
2008. As an alternative to the higher cash rental rates for 2008 and
2009, some producers and landlords are considering a flexible cash
rental leaseagreement, which allows the final cash rental rate to vary
as crop yields and market prices vary. - Kent Thiesse, The Corn &
Soybean Digest
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Vegetable
oil markets soar
World vegetable oil prices continue to rise to new
all-time highs amid ideas China will boost imports further as it tries
to control strong food-price inflation. Speculation about Chinese import
demand heightened on Tuesday after China's government statistics bureau
said the national inflation rate hit an 11-year high in January. The
bureau said its main inflation indicator rose at an annualized rate of
7.1% last month, pushed up primarily by an 18.2% spike in food prices.
- Richard Brock, The Corn & Soybean Digest
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Is
the Next Sub-Prime Lending Mess in Asia?
Road Warrior Dave Kohl writes: ""Money floats
around the world attempting to find a place to get lost." This was a
quote given to me by a Montana rancher back in the early 1980s. How
correct he was! Bubbles and booms occurred in the Middle East in the
1970s based on oil. Next, Japan experienced a housing and stock market
bubble in the 1980s due to the refinement of automotive and
manufacturing processes. The next to step up to the plate were the
Southeastern Asian Tigers, followed by the U.S. in the dot-com and real
estate bubbles. Now the boom is in commodities and Asian and global real
estate." - The Corn & Soybean Digest
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Corn
trend yields
A new study by University of Illinois agricultural
economists challenges the assumption that improved technology has
recently caused corn trend yields to increase at a faster rate. "There
has been considerable discussion in the agricultural community that
improved technology has caused corn trend yields to increase at an
increasing rate in recent years," says Scott Irwin, who prepared the
study with former graduate student Mike Tannura and Department of
Agricultural and Consumer Economics colleague Darrel Good. "There has
been a fairly widespread acceptance that a new and higher trend began in
the mid-1990s, and it should be used as a starting point for estimating
future yields." - The Corn & Soybean Digest
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information on Quadris fungicide, please visit www.quadrissoybeans.com.
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World
grain demand straining U.S. supply
Consumers usually reduce their purchases of goods and
services if prices become too high. Buyers of U.S. corn, soybeans and
wheat seem to be ignoring that economic principle, however, as the
nation's grain stocks reach critically low levels, says Chris Hurt, a
Purdue University agricultural economist. With global demand for grain
and oilseeds at record levels and a weak U.S. dollar, foreign buyers are
outbidding domestic buyers for American grain. While the higher
commodity prices are good for crop agriculture, there are disconcerting
downsides, Hurt says. - The Corn & Soybean Digest
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Conservation
Reserve Program
The debate surrounding the Conservation Reserve
Program (CRP) is an indication of the concern about production risk in
2008 and the implications for crop prices and the resulting impact on
livestock producers and, ultimately, on food prices, says University of
Illinois Extension Marketing Specialist Darrel Good. "This concern may
not subside until a clearer picture of 2008 U.S. and world production
prospects unfold," says Good. "While the current focus is on acreage,
prospective yield will become the focal point later in this spring. -
The Corn & Soybean Digest
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USDA
forecasts record $101 billion ag exports
U.S. agricultural exports are forecast to reach a
record $101 billion for fiscal 2008, up $10 billion from USDA's
November's forecast and an unprecedented $19 billion above 2007, said
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer at the department's Agricultural
Outlook Forum. This latest forecast builds off of unprecedented
consecutive year-to-year record exports since 2004. Higher wheat, coarse
grain, and soybean prices account for just over half of the revision
since November. "Based on current market conditions, bulk grains,
oilseeds, and cotton exports should rise $13.2 billion and account for
70 percent of the overall increase in export value for 2008. Higher
prices account for most of this increase, but export volumes are also
generally higher," Schafer said.
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Cheap's
getting more expensive as China copes
China's runaway economic boom of the past several
years may be hitting some speed bumps, meaning higher prices for toys,
clothing, furniture, and the thousands of other products that have been
outsourced by American companies taking advantage of cheap labor and lax
or nonexistent regulatory controls. A recent World Bank quarterly report
projects a 9.6 percent expansion of China's gross domestic product in
2008, down from its 10.8 percent projection last September, and the
lowest since 2002. - Hembree Brandon, Farm Press Editorial
Staff
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Spreading
joy on farm program payment means testing
If you report more than $200,000 on the adjusted gross
income line of your tax return, the Bush administration doesn't think
you should receive a commodity program payment. If you do, that puts you
in the wealthiest 2 percent of taxpayers, and you're too affluent to be
participating in commodity programs, said Agriculture Secretary Ed
Schafer, speaking at the National Cotton Council's annual meeting.
Schafer's comments started me thinking. President Bush and Vice
President Cheney receive more than $200,000 a year in salary and
benefits. Both probably continue to receive earnings from oil and gas
company investments. - Forrest Laws, Farm Press Editorial
Staff
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Market
analyst worries about high grain prices
A looming recession and vertigo-inducing commodity
prices are worrying grain analyst Jim Bower, with Bower Trading,
Lafayette, Ind. Speaking at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange
teleconference on USDA's Feb. 8 World Agricultural Supply and Demand
Estimates, Bower said a U.S. recession could ignite a world economic
slowdown. "A lot of people think that emerging markets can hold the
United States up (during a recession). I'm on the opposite side of that
coin. U.S. consumers spend four times more than the entire Chinese
economy annually, so if we do get into a recessionary environment, I can
see them pulling us down." - Elton Robinson, Farm Press Editorial
Staff
|
Republican
congressmen push for farm bill
More than 150 farmers attending a farm day forum sent
a message to Washington via Louisiana Congressmen Charles W. Boustany
Jr. and Charlie Melancon and Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Keenum:
they need a new farm bill and they need it now. Boustany, a Republican
who represents Louisiana's seventh congressional district, and Melancon,
a Democrat who represents the third district, co-hosted the farm day
forum in Jeanerette in south Louisiana on Wednesday (Feb. 20). "Today, I
heard from hundreds of farmers from southwest Louisiana who talked about
their need for a new farm bill," Boustany said. "Our farmers need a
responsible farm bill, and they need it now." - Forrest Laws, Farm
Press Editorial Staff
|
It's
all about China
We in the United States like to think the world
revolves around us. In the case of high corn and soybean prices, it
seems true. After listening to the media and other experts discuss food
and grain prices, it sounds as if ethanol's demand for corn has driven
up all grain prices globally. But if you listen to those who observe
world events, you'll learn the cause of high grain prices. It can be
summed up in one word -- China. - Karen McMahon, Editor, Farm
Industry News
|
Get
tough on trading partners, not farmers
The White House needs to get tough with our trading
partners, not our own farmers, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., told
members of the cotton industry gathered at the National Cotton Council's
2008 annual meeting in Memphis. SEN. BLANCHE Lincoln told members of the
cotton industry at the National Cotton Council's annual meeting that the
White House needs to get tough with trading partners, not on U.S.
farmers.
"The administration has pretty much sold us down the river in terms of
what they have offered in cuts for our support programs," Lincoln said
of the potential impact of those cuts on U.S. negotiating power in the
Doha Round. "They've done so with the idea that it would press our
trading partners to do the same. But our trading partners have said,
'No, you take the cuts in your support programs, we're going to keep
ours.' - Elton Robinson, Farm Press Editorial Staff
|
U.S. farms
getting bigger, but number falling
The number of farms in the United States continues to
fall, while the average size of farms continues to grow, according to a
report by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. The February
reports estimated 2.08 million farms operating in the United States in
2007, 0.6 percent fewer than in 2006. Total land in farms, at 930.9
million acres, decreased 1.5 million acres, or 0.16 percent, from 2006.
The average farm size was 449 acres during 2007, an increase of 3 acres
from the previous year. The decline in the number of farms and land in
farms reflects a continuing consolidation in farming operations and
diversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural uses. - Elton
Robinson, Farm Press Editorial Staff
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