InsideAg

Happy birthday to you

2010-05-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Agriculture.com guys break out the cake

We served ourselves sheet cake this week to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the launch Agriculture Online. In the fast-changing environment of digital media, we thought it worth pausing a bit to take stock of where we’ve been and where this whole A-train is headed.

One quick impression from the fifteen-year flashback: What goes around comes around.

The Internet world today feels a lot like it did in 1995—familiar in its uncertainty. Back in ’95 a lot of people were skeptical about whether many farmers would ever use the Web. We hear the same sort of questions today about farmers using new tools like social media or the iPad. We shall see.

A farmer friend told me when launched Agriculture.com that if we knew how this whole thing would pan out, we’d soon be sitting on the beach relaxing with a drink and watching the sunset.

We aren't sitting on the beach this week, but we did pause to reflect on a few things done that might be worth remembering. Our forums have helped people solve problems, like fixing a tough machinery repair or figuring out the farm bill. Folks have bought and sold millions of dollars worth of equipment in the classifieds. They’re received good advice from trusted markets and weather advisors. We’ve even helped a few marriages happen because of meetings on Agriculture.com.

Thanks to all of you for staying tuned to agriculture.com. We’ll keep working at it, and plan to be launching of number of new features soon that will kick off a new era for the website.

Oh, and for fun, here are a few of the trivia questions we posed at the staff party this week. Answers at the bottom. First one who gets them all right, well, I expect you’ll become about as rich and famous as we have. See you on the beach.

1. Who was Agriculture Online’s first marketing advisor?
a. Ray Grabanski
b. Roy Smith
c. Joe Victor
d. Mike McGinnis

2. On what browser was Agriculture Online first displayed?
a. Droid
b. Explorer
c. Netscape
d. Firefox

3. What country’s farm magazine publisher first partnered with Agriculture.com?
a. France
b. Russia
c. Mexico
d. Canada

4. What farm organization was first hosted on the Web by Agriculture Online?
a. FFA
b. National Pork Producer’s Association
c. Practical Farmers of Iowa
d. American Farm Bureau Federation

5. Who was Agriculture Online's first weather provider
a. AOL
b. DTN
c. Freese-Notis
d. Accu-Weather

Answers: 1, b. 2, c. 3, d. 4. a, 5. c

The magician of farm machinery

2010-05-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

Dave Mowitz (right) on video location at AG CONNECT Expo

Dave Mowitz has pulled another rabbit out of the hat. Yesterday, I got to preview his latest masterwork, a special television program on antique farm machinery, or Ageless Iron, as Dave calls the relics of farming's glorious past.

Dave has originated a treasure trove of new ideas for Successful Farming magazine over the years, including Edisons of Agriculture (about farmer inventors), Top Shops (tours of the country's best farm shops), and All-American Farm Team (awards program for farm-raised athletes and academics), and many more.

Ageless Iron is one of the most fun and popular projects he's ever created, and the fun new TV special on that topic reflects Dave's joy in working with the material. He takes viewers on a tour a big antique farm equipment show in Pennsylvania Dutch country, interviews the "professor of paint" on how to make your restoration project shine, takes a ride on a souped-up riding lawn mower, and escorts us into the historic tractor museum at the University of Nebraska. The show debuts on RFD-TV on May 27. (See the Agriculture.com Machinery Show section for more details on the program. And check out the listings for the regular airing of the show on Thursdays, Friday and Sunday every week. )

As a tribute to Dave's wizardry with all things Ageless Iron, I give you a top ten list detailing some of the hallmark machines he's encountered in his distinguished career. And no list about Dave would be complete without some of his own inimitable commentary:

1. First tractor driven: John Deere B

2. Favorite all-time tractor: Wow, there are so many tractors I am partial to. I always appreciated the John Deere 4430 and its Sound-Gard cab,which liberated me from having to suffer in the heat and suck in dust while riding in the old “coffin” cabs of the past. Then, too, I’ve always admired Case IH’s original Magnum series, as well as Caterpillar’s original Challenger line.

I used to drive a Ford 6000 in my teens, which had a Select-O-Speed tranny that actually worked. And when the Select-O-Speed worked it was a wondrous thing (it was the first true power shift transmission in agriculture). I can tell you a favorite tractor I would like to own some day. That would be an Allis-Chalmers G. It is a weird-looking little tractor designed for truck garden and tobacco farming.

3. Tractor with greatest historic significance: Certainly the Ferguson Type A, although the Fordson comes in a very, very close second.

4. Last tractor you restored: Cockshutt 20 Deluxe, although a friend of mine, Jeff Gravert from Central City, Nebraska, is working on painting my Grandfather’s John Deere B. Actually, Jeff has done all the restoration work on that tractor so I can’t really take credit for “restoring” the machine. I did, however, write the checks to get the tractor restored.

5. Favorite tractor you've written about: Well, now that is another tough nut as I’ve had a chance to write about so many great tractors, both old and new. But I’ll take a stab as narrowing it now to one . . .wait a minute, to two favorite tractors--one new, one old.

My favorite new tractor would have to be the Fendt 8000 series with the Vario CVT transmission. This German-built tractor (now owned by AGCO) was a wonder not only for its revolutionary transmission but also its numerous German refinements, including one of the best sound systems I’ve ever heard in a tractor. My favorite old tractor would have to be the Moline Universal. It is an ungainly anachronism, almost ugly in appearance. But the Universal was truly a technological marvel for its time (the late 1910s), introducing numerous engineering advances that would not be put to use until 30 to 40 years after its inception.

6. What equipment you would collect besides tractors: Well, I’ve got some hog oilers, some horse-drawn implements, an odds-and-ends assortment of old wrenches, several cast-iron planter box lids, some kerosene lanterns, some manually-operated corn planters, some...well, I got a lot of “some” old stuff. Oh, I also have an old-fashion wire-styled chicken catcher. I spent a great deal of time plying one of those devices in my youth.

7. Final four of "greatest tractors of all time”: Certainly the Ferguson Type A and the Fordson would top the list of my final four. Of those two, the Ferguson Type A would place number one as it introduced agriculture to hydraulically operated three-point technology and also birthed one of the most popular tractor series of all time which is the N-Series Fords (9N, 2N, 8N and NAA), as well as the hugely popular early Ferguson line of tractors.

The Fordson, on the other hand, was by no means technologically advanced, although it was one of the first production-line tractors to utilized “unit frame” construction. The Fordson gets tabbed as number two, as more of these tractors were built (nearly 850,000) than any other model in the world.

Now as for numbers three and four...hmmmm, that’s a tough one. For three, I would have to go with the IHC Farmall Regular, which earned the distinction for being first all-purpose tractor and father of the hugely popular Farmall line of tractors. And the fourth spot would be the John Deere D, which was the foundation of the Deere hugely popular two-cylinder line. It also earned the distinction of being the tractor model in production the longest (30 years).

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention other top contending tractors like the Allis-Chalmers WC, Best 60, Caterpillar Sixty Diesel, Cletrac W12-20, IHC Farmall H, J.I. Case CC, John Deere 4010, Minneapolis-Moline R, Moline Universal, Oliver 70...oh, and also The Ivel. I recently discovered that this later English-built tractor in 1906 was light years ahead of its time in technological advances.

8. Most interesting new technology: Telematic control of machinery. Similar to OnStar systems in cars but far more advanced in its capabilities, telematic technology will be utilized in farm machinery to not only provide remote monitoring on equipment in the field and wireless transfer of data (such as yield maps) but will also allow farmers to remotely control major functions on tractors, planters, combines, etc. Telematic control is now in widespread use on center pivot sprinklers.

9. Name of a hog oiler you own: Don’t have the exact name for it, but it is the oiler which looks like a watermelon (I believe hog oiler collectors even call it a “watermelon type”) and which also rotates horizontally to dip up oil to coat pigs' sides and underbellies.

10. Favorite color of tractor (yeah, right): I am devoutly non-denominational when it comes to tractor colors. Truly, I appreciate all colors, although I am partial to the brilliant red used by International Harvester in the 1950s and 1960s.

How to sell your stuff

2010-04-26T06:51:00.000-07:00

Successful Farming's marketing team lines up in Kansas City

While attending the annual meeting of agri-marketing professionals in Kansas City last week, I ran into a fellow, let’s say his name was Gordon, whom I thought I’d never see again. I knew Gordon in another life, back when he was a successful sales executive, but also knew him as someone who’d been fired a couple times and bounced around a bit in his profession.

My first thought upon shaking Gordon’s hand, was that, wow, how can he keep up that smile and firm handshake? And, he actually seems genuinely interested in talking with me. If he were selling me something, I might be buying.

Marketers must have something special to stay in a tough game, it dawned on me. So I started asking some of the marketing pros at this meeting, “What does it take to be a good marketer?”

After all, don’t most farmers have something to sell besides the commodities they produce? Maybe you sell seed, club calves, or custom field work. Or perhaps you’re selling yourself to landowners.

In about a half dozen interviews, here’s what I learned, mostly pretty basic stuff, but perhaps something to keep in mind next time you’re pitching your customers, banker, neighbor, or landlord.

Understand your customers. “This means listening, and asking why should they care,” said one marketer. I get this. One’s first impulse is what’s in this for me, rather than for the customer.

Be willing to change. “It’s easy to be offended if people don’t like your product or idea,” an advertising agency executive said. “You have to be adaptable.”

Be social and outgoing. Unless you’re a guy like Gordon for whom this comes naturally, you may have to really work at this one. But, unless you put yourself out there, how are you going get your message across? You wouldn’t believe how much networking goes on at an agri-marketing conference.

Be a quick communicator. Kristi Moss, Paulsen Marketing, gave me this thought: “You need to make your message clear and succinct.” Nobody wants a long, boring story about your product or service. Marketers have taught me you should be able to give your message in an “elevator speech”—something you can boil down and tell someone in the time it takes to go from one floor to another.

Use your intuition. Some people have an innate ability to figure out what’s really needed by their customers. “You need to link what is being sold with what is being sought,” said Paulsen’s Greg Guse. To me, this means trusting your basic instincts—what do you know best about machinery, livestock, land, and other farm matters?

I doubt Gordon thinks about all these things when he’s talking with a prospective customer. He listens to you, remembers your name, and tells a good story. He has that innate ability; selling comes naturally to him. Most of us have to work at it.

Mailing it in

2010-04-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy of U.S. Postal Service

What’s your snail mail like these days? Yesterday, I received four items that went something like this:

• My university alumni association is offering some sort of financial analysis for retirement. There was a small fee, I believe, and a bank involved.
• A cell phone data service is presenting an invoice for commodity marketing services that were initially offered for free. It’s entirely unclear whether I’m being billed for future or past services. The confusion seems intentional.
• A magazine is automatically renewing my subscription, which doesn’t expire until July. Unless I go to the effort of contacting the publisher, I will keep paying.
• A legal firm is offering to enroll me in a class action suit against several manufacturers of lawnmowers. The suit claims that the defendants overstated the power of the engine on the machine I bought last summer.

Is there not a common thread in all of these mailings?

The university is getting into a business outside of its mission. The data service is trying to confuse me as to whether I owe them or not. The magazine is making it inconvenient for me to end my subscription (even though that’s not my aim). And the class action group is trying to involve me in a frivolous legal action that could net me $35 some day.

I remember when waiting for the mail was pleasant part of the day's drama. But, that was back when everyone wrote cards and letters instead of e-mail.

A trip to the mailbox used to be one of the great joys of daily life. At the farm, a quarter-mile stroll to the main road was filled with anticipation, and gratification coming back, as we sorted through our new magazines and letters from family and friends. Even the junk mail seemed entertaining.

Of course, e-mail can be awful for its miasma of dirty deals, false advertising, and confounding wordiness. But, you better watch out for the U.S. mail.

The Masters as pasture

2010-04-05T18:51:00.000-07:00

Will Augusta National look as lovely as our Nebraska pasture?

My dad and I are getting set to pay a visit to the Masters golf tournament this week, an event that seems almost as well known for its setting as for the championship golf itself. For dad, who turns 85 this summer, this is a "bucket list" deal; we're looking forward to the drama of seeing the world's greatest golfers compete for the green jacket.

Of course, the Masters spotlight this year is shining on Tiger Woods. But, I'm as much interested in seeing what the ethereal grounds of Augusta National look like close up.

How can a place engineered to be so beautiful for golf and television be created from the same stuff as any old pasture—soil, water and grass?

The thousands of fans trampling the turf and golfers punching out divots must put the same sort of pressure on the resource as does a tightly packed beef herd mob grazing through paddocks, no?

I’ve had the same kind of question about how tennis at Wimbledon can be played on grass for two weeks steady, or how football games can be grinded out on on frozen turf in late autumn. And how do they keep those perfect patterns mowed on outfield grass in major league ball parks through the dog days of summer?

Augusta National is in a class of its own, though: The carefully tended dogwood, the azaleas, and pines frame perfectly coiffed fairways, shining white sand traps, vibrant greens and magical flows of water. Adding to the atmosphere are the legendary names of the natural features--the Eisenhower Tree, Rae's Creek, and Amen Corner....

Dad and I won’t be providing a lot of on-site coverage. Augusta’s environment is tightly controlled. Cameras and cell phones aren't allowed. You stay behind the ropes. There’s no running allowed.

A media contact in the golf course management trade press tells me that “everyone at Augusta is contractually prohibited from discussing anything connected with course maintenance or preparation of the course.” Steve Ethun, director of communications for the Masters, said this morning that "it's a tough week to line up an interview with the agronomics team." Understand. If Augusta were a farm, this would be harvest season with a winter storm rolling in.

So we don't expect to learn the secret formula of Augusta this week. But, Dad and I’ll be there taking in the sights Thursday and Friday, joining the crowd rambling around the ol' Georgia pasture. If you’re watching on TV, look for the two guys wearing Successful Farming caps.

Women in Ag get social

2010-03-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

Farm women met first on the Web

The idea of "Tweetups," the face-to-face meetings of Twitter users, has gotten a lot of media attention in this new era of social networking.

What I realized this week, though, is that farm women probably can be credited with the original social meet-ups based on Internet relationships.

About a decade ago, a couple dozen farm women from all over the country, all of whom met on the Women in Ag discussion group, decided to get together. Successful Farming and Agriculture.com hosted the event at Living History Farms in West Des Moines.

I remember what a good feeling everybody seemed to get from matching faces with Web site usernames and spending a good part of the day together. The face-to-face meeting seemed to confirm for people that they had a lot in common, maybe even more than with their next-door neighbors. Their new neighbors lived in the next state or another time zone.

Last weekend, a few members of the same forum gathered at a restaurant, the Iowa Machine Shed, in Davenport, Iowa. The meet-up must have grown out of that same basic impulse to put a face to a name.

The idea cropped up on the forum back in January, says Sue Bertelsen, an Illinois farmer. There was not a lot of structure proposed for the session--just a time to talk.

“We simply talked about our husbands, kids, our jobs. We brought pictures of our families, pets, farms and houses,” Sue said.

“Sundae,” who drove 5 1/2 hours to attend, writes:

round trip...670 miles
gas & lunch... $95
meeting my friends face to face...priceless!"

We shouldn’t be surprised that farm women are social media innovators, says Rachel Happe, a Boston-based social media consultant. “Farming communities were the original social networks, as everyone needed each other,” she says. “My grandmother was one of the hubs.”

The Machine Shed type meet-up won't be the last, Women in Ag members say. Looks like there are plans for another gathering this spring or summer.

It’s interesting to see that these new farming communities can be based on a digital connection and still ring so true. “It's great to visit with true friends who know your life style and your problems and still be comfortable with it,” said Linda/IL.

Skin cancer: better under the light than the knife

2010-03-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

I’ve just been instructed to stay inside the house for the next 48 hours to avoid any sunlight whatsoever. It seems only fitting, because it’s sunlight that's put me in this predicament. I’ve just come from a visit to a dermatologist, where I underwent my most recent form of treatment for skin cancer, actually in this case for potentially precancerous actinic keratoses.

The procedure, called photodynamic therapy, involved smearing my barnacle-encrusted head with an acid, then zapping it with a special blue light for 17 minutes. The process burned a little and made me a bit claustrophobic, but otherwise it was just another way to spend St. Paddy's Day. Side effects are skin redness, swelling and scaling, and can last up to four weeks.

During my time under the bright light this morning, the second of two treatments, I recalled the times I ran about the world uncovered by a hat or sunscreen. As kids, we used to think sunburn was some sort of red badge of honor. We swam, played ball, and rode horses with buzz cuts and bare chests. I just looked up a Successful Farming story on skin cancer and discovered that one blistering sunburn in childhood doubles your risk of contracting melanoma, the most lethal of skin cancers.

This isn’t the first time I’ve paid the price for having had too much sun in my history. I’ve had cancers, both basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, scraped, burned, excised and radiated from my head, arm, and shoulder.

One time, as I watched a scalpel slice out a lesion along my temple, I was surprised to hear the surgeon mutter something like “it’s a serious treatment for a serious problem.”

This latest deal, the photodynamic therapy, is a way one might avoid the serious stuff again. Better, though, that I had learned earlier in life the recommended protections against skin cancer: protective clothing, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Seeing a dermatologist when you spot something suspicious is critical, too, of course.

As you might expect, farmers are at increased risk for skin cancer. Some research suggests that while farmers are well aware of the risk of skin cancer in their work, they tend not to use preventative measures—for the variety of reasons you can imagine. However, farmers are more likely to take health advice, including about skin cancer prevention and treatment, if it comes from people they trust, this same research shows.

So if you have someone's ear, then skin cancer is something you should talk about. It's a serious subject.

More information:

Farmer says it isn't smart to take skin cancer lightly
Mayo Clinic Skin cancer information
Levulan® Photodynamic Therapy (Levulan PDT)

A 'death march' stop in Des Moines

2010-03-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

Brent Olson

Brent and Robin Olson stopped by my office this morning to say hi, and I think I about talked their heads off.

I guess I got carried away because it’s a pretty exciting thing to chat with someone you admire as much as I do Brent, and now Robin, too—having had a chance to meet her finally.

I did stop talking long enough to interview him about what’s been keeping his mind occupied these days. The video below captures some of that, I hope.

For more than a decade, Brent has been posting his Independently Speaking columns on Agriculture.com. I look forward to them every week, as do a whole bunch of farmers, and have been proud that we feature his stories of the lives and times of rural folks from his vantage point of a southern Minnesota farm.

Brent’s been staying busy—having just published a new book, Papa: Figuring out What Matters, and now working on a new one, The Hands of God in which he follows the route of local aid to Haiti and Liberia, tracing the effects donations have made on the misfortunate in those countries.

Brent’s stop in Des Moines today is part of what he calls a “death march of shameless self-promotion.” He’ll be reading from Papa and signing books at the Beaverdale Books this evening (7 p.m.), and I’m going. This time to listen.

'Classic farmers' are in high tech gear

2010-03-04T09:41:00.000-08:00

As the 2010 Commodity Classic gets underway in Anaheim, California, this week, one of the issues farmers fire up to talk about is the adoption of new technology—and in hearing them talk you wonder if we’re all strapped in tight enough for the changes occurring out on the land these days.

In discussions with about a dozen farmers from seven states and Ontario, Canada, you get the impression that the pace of change has about two gears these days—fast and faster.

Pretty much all these farmers are using auto-steer, for example. And almost everybody is planning to take some new tool to the field this spring.

In a recent poll here, more than two thirds of farmers said they were expanding their precision ag capabilities in 2010. Leading the way were autosteer and individual row or boom shutoff.

The new technology is not pegged to higher crop yields at this point. The payoff is coming mainly through increased efficiency, lower input costs, and in reduced fatigue. Several farmers here commented on the reduced stress of farming brought about by auto-steer. “At the end of the day, you feel like spending time with your family,” said one farmer.

Farmers on the vanguard of new technologies say it’s simply what they must do to compete. “I look at it as just a cost of doing business,” said Doug Martin, an Illinois grower.

If there’s a worm at the core of new technology on the precision ag front, it’s the perceived complexity of operating some of the new tools. With crop genetic traits, it’s the cost, and some deep-seated resentment in some cases, toward certain suppliers.

“User friendliness of precision ag technology is an issue,” said Mike Shuter, an Indiana farmer and leader in the corn industry. “But, I don’t see us backing off either.”

Shuter, for one, sees precision ag helping him manage the increasingly expensive inputs he must buy to compete. “We’re experimenting with cutting soybean seeding rates,” he said. “With this expensive seed, you have to make every seed count.”

What's your bidding style?

2010-02-25T08:23:00.001-08:00

The only thing I ever bought at auction was done over the phone and pretty much blind. I was bidding on a pivot irrigation unit that was sitting on our farm in Nebraska. (Long story.) I thought I knew what I wanted to pay for it, but the bidding shot by that ceiling pretty fast, and all of a sudden I felt like I was free falling with butterflies in my stomach. It wasn't a pleasant experience. I really didn't have enough information to make an intelligent decision.

Auctions can do that to you, I guess, if you're not prepared. Reading comments in an Agriculture Online discussion, What's your bidding style? makes me think that people tend to develop their own little techniques for coping with the experience. They look the auctioneer in the eye, they stand by big people, they bid quick, or they bid just before the gavel's about to fall.

One fellow may have hit it on the head, though: "The way I know I'm not overpaying is knowing what it's worth is before going to the auction...."

"Knowing what it's worth" is the mantra of Machinery Pete, Greg Peterson, who's built a business around the importance of knowing the real value of used machinery. In Greg's regular writings on Agriculture.com and Successful Farming, he provides detailed auction prices on all kinds of used machinery. And he gleans from those details the trends in equipment pricing.

His new book, Machinery Pete's 2010 Auction Price Guide is fresh off the press. It lists more than 18,000 sale prices from 2008-2009.

As Dave Mowitz, Successful Farming magazine machinery editor, says, "Take this book to auctions and bid with confidence. Take it to your banker to prove your net worth. This is the book you need if you own farm machinery."

Wish I'd had a copy of Pete's book the day I bought that pivot.

Here's where to get yours: Machinery Pete's 2010 Auction Price Guide.

Farming small plots: opportunities or obstacles?

2010-02-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

As I've driven down the back roads over the years, one thing that always seems to catch my eye is the sight of some big rig pulled into a tiny field. Might be a combine in a little corner of cropland stuck between some woods and a pond or a planter on a piece of ground between railroad tracks and a river.

Sometimes, the quality of the land appears to be pretty decent; other times, well, it looks hard scrabble, not worth farming at all. In any case, the equipment seems mismatched, and you just wonder what the economics are of taking on a patch of land like that.

But, these cropland fragments, a challenge to some, can be an opportunity for beginning farmers. A young farmer recently wrote in Farm Business Talk that he has a chance to rent a number of small plots of ten acres or less.

“I know a lot of guys don't like to mess with them, but to me they are a good opportunity to try out new technologies. Also,I feel that this is a way for me to get my foot in the door for bigger and better things.”

The question, though, is how much rent should he pay for these small parcels?
Experienced growers give a range of responses, including:

• Consider a crop share arrangement. “That way, the landowner would realize the lower yield from fields with excessive headlands and unfarmable corners.”
• Small fields take a lot of time and have lower yields. One grower says he offers only half the going rate. "Take it or leave it." Another says his rule of thumb is three-quarters the usual rent.
• A South Dakota farmer says that in his neighborhood the discounts are based on the features of the land: “Rule of thumb in my area is 5 acres or less with no trees or ponds to go around $50 per acre tops, 6 to 10 acres, $75 per acre. If there is a pond within 100' nobody will farm it.”
• Make sure you plan to do all the farming yourself, says one farmer. “If you are serious about farming those small patches of ground, you really need to do them yourself and not have custom spraying or combining done,” he says. “More than likely the custom applicators will charge more to do the work than they would for doing the same work in larger sections of ground.”

Craig Dobbins, a Purdue ag economist, says that the case of smaller, irregular-shaped fields is one of many factors that should be considered in figuring an appropriate rental rate. But it happens to be number sixteen, and last, on his list, which includes land quality, fertility, drainage, and facilities at the top.

What’s been your experience with farming smaller plots? Join the discussion in Farm Business Talk.

Mowing grass: The gender divide

2010-02-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

Men have a slim hold on this farm chore

Some versions of retirement, or even the afterlife, in agriculture might involve riding a nice new lawnmower over a gleaming yard of bluegrass stretching forever amid a well-tended farmstead.

On working farms, you would think that mowing grass would be seen as counterproductive. Clipping grass isn’t producing any grain or forage. And doesn’t it seem like drudgery to drive back and forth on three acres without harvesting anything?

But, after driving up and down country roads all these years I’ve gotten the impression that some folks’ idea of fun and relaxation is mounting the mower and going for a long ride.

And it’s the men who are having most of the fun, though it’s something of a competitive sport. In a recent Agriculture.com poll, 53% percent of respondents said that it was the male on the farm who mows the grass most of the time. Women are doing the mowing 34% of the time, and the job gets farmed out to the kids in 13% of cases.

A friend of mine, who grew up on a farm and owns one now, is a little surprised by the results, “The men in my family never touch a lawnmower,” she said.

That’s the case in another neck of the woods. “Around here it's the adult women that mow the grass and they know how to go FAST!,” one poll respondent commented.

For some women, mowing apparently is a welcomed escape. “It’s that time I put my iPod in my ears and forget everything,” said one farm woman. “I guess it sounds crazy, but mowing for me is like going to the spa. I love it.”

For others, tending this chore pivots on the quality of the machine. “I refuse to mow the lawn because I hate the mower that much,” one woman complained. (She’s lobbying for a certain popular brand and model.)

The lawn of the future, though, may be one that needs no one to mow, said an Indiana farmer in response to the poll.

“[Our] lawn is native grasses, forbs, clover, and timothy. No mower, no mower gas, no mower maintenance, no fertilizer, no herbicides, and no time spent cutting grass!”

Unending harvest: 'Double or nothing'

2010-02-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

What happens to a corn crop when you have some of the worst harvest weather in history? Instead of starting to set up their planters, a lot of farmers are still tweaking their combines to run in snow.

And the impact on the markets may still not be fully absorbed, and won’t be until the spring acreage battle is over, one analyst, Al Kluis, Kluis Commodities, says.

October ’09 did turn out to rank as the wettest, and third coldest, ever for the nation, going back 115 years, says Harvey Freese, Freese-Notis Weather.

After better November weather, December turned treacherous. “December was eleventh wettest such month on record for the nation,” Freese says. “Precipitation was among the ten wettest ever for South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, as well as several states in the Southeast.”

How much corn will be in the field come spring? Farmers report seeing a lot of it still standing this winter.

In an Agriculture Online poll, taken in mid-January, nearly two thirds of respondents reported seeing “a little” corn in the field in their areas. Nearly 20% said “a lot.”

A little and a lot adds up to a lot. Kluis says there will be some 500 million bushels in the field this spring, maybe more. "And, there will be twenty to thirty percent field loss," he says.

Roy Smith, a Nebraska farmer and marketing advisor, has been traveling eastern Nebraska for the last couple weeks giving presentations and has done his own windshield tour. "There are scattered fields standing everywhere I have been," Smith says. "I saw no huge acreages, but little bits add up when you put them all together. There will be substantial losses when harvested.”

You hear similar stories from farmers in other states. Conditions are such in Minnesota that standing corn won’t get touched until April or May, a grower from the southwestern part of the state told Agriculture.com.

An Illinois farmer reported in an Agriculture.com forum that several large fields of corn exist in his neighborhood and "most is mangled by the wind storms we had back in November and December.”

The situation sets up as a “double or nothing” deal on March and April weather for many farmers, says Kluis. “You can’t plant it if you can’t harvest it first,” he says.

Be careful out there

2010-01-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

Carolyn Sheridan, AgriSafe Network Clinical Director

In that old cop show, Hill Street Blues, the gruff old sergeant wraps up his morning briefing to the squad with a gentle reminder: “Be careful out there.”

The same caution should be given to farmers. Cheryl Tevis, farm issues editor for Successful Farming magazine has well documented the health and safety challenges in agriculture, including:

* The fatality rate in ag is more than ten times greater than that for all U.S. occupations.

* Fatal injuries for all U.S. workers has declined in recent years, but almost doubled for farmers.

* Farmers are high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries involving farm equipment and are prone to certain cancers and other occupational health risks, like hearing loss and chronic and back pain.

Carolyn Sheridan, a nurse and clinical director of the AgriSafe Network, recently visited with me to talk about her work in helping farmers address these pressing health and safety issues.

The aging farm population is part of the problem. Older farmers are twice as likely to be involved in a fatal injury than are younger ones. It's more hazardous for older farmers to twist around equipment, lift stuff, and crawl under machinery.

But young farmers, too, need to be aware of issues like hearing loss and respiratory problems, she said. AgriSafe clinics are finding surprisingly high incidences of these problems cropping up among young people.

Some of the health problems faced by farmers are brought on by stress. The late harvest last fall, for example, created health and safety issues for a lot of farmers (and their spouses), due to all the added tension, she pointed out.

Carolyn is featured in a new set of videos on Agriculture.com, in which she talks about key safety issues—eye protection, hearing protection and chemical safety. Check them out for ideas on products and practices that could save your hearing, eyesight, and indeed your life.

Be careful out there.

More information:

Agriculture.com Rural Health

Good Health And Safety Make $en$e

AgriSafe Network

Haiti help: What would Borlaug do?

2010-01-18T08:33:00.000-08:00

Norman Borlaug in Mexico

Much of the attention in Haiti has been on the devastation in the capital of Port-au-Prince. News reports indicate that rural Haiti, and its farmers, have been no less hard hit by the earthquakes.

One thought I have had in learning about the disaster and its aftermath is “What would Norman Borlaug do?”

Borlaug’s career, of course, was devoted to helping farmers in developing nations. He certainly would have found a way to become involved.

Borlaug was known for his commitment to being on the ground at farms and research sites. For 16 years, the Iowa farm boy worked in Mexico to improve wheat production and foster the Green Revolution.

Even after his death, a program in Borlaug’s name supports agriculture in Haiti and other countries.

The Borlaug Fellowship Program provides support for people working in agricultural research. Last year, the program gave assistance to 453 participants from 56 countries.

Most of us can’t be like Norman Borlaug, but we can join in the spirit of his career by contributing to assistance programs for farmers and other rural people in Haiti.

“I really admire the people who flock to help,” said an Illinois farmer in a forum posting here. "I don't have that option, but I hope I would hope I have the compassion. All I can do is give some dollars.”

USAID’s Web site outlines ways you can contribute, through volunteering, donating goods, and by making a financial contribution, including to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund:

http://www.usaid.gov/helphaiti/

The group InterAction has developed guidelines on the most appropriate ways to help those affected by the Haiti disaster. It includes a regularly updated list of agencies responding to the crisis and accepting donations:

http://www.interaction.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti

Ten questions for farmers in ’09: The results are in

2009-12-21T07:27:00.000-08:00

One of the most interesting parts of this job is helping develop and report on the AgPoll feature for Agriculture.com. The surveys this year show, I think, that farmers are as diversely opinionated as ever, and mostly have a deep-rooted optimism about their lives on the land.

Here’s a selection of some of the year’s highlights. The poll's are all still "live," so please feel free to chime in.

1. What do you most like about farming?

More than half of farmers said “independence.” Next highest response was “growing things.” Farmer comment on this poll showed the deep feelings people have for their profession. “To farm the same land that my father and grandfather have since 1890 is a privilege and honor,” said a Minnesota farmer. Another had these words: “My favorite time of year is the planting season. A few days after I plant I like to get on my hands and knees and look for the seeds. It is the satisfaction in watching that little seed grow.”

2. What word best describes your fiscal policy?

It’s not “liberal.” And, no, it’s not “cheap” or “frugal”, but rather “responsible," the choice of more than half of respondents to this poll. Some folks are quite emphatic about fiscal responsibility: “When it comes to maintenance, I spend whatever it takes to make things run without breakdowns,” said one farmer. “Sometimes I go overkill. When it comes to purchases, if it doesn't contribute to the balance sheet, I don't buy it.”

3. What most impresses you when you drive by a farm?

One farmer insisted this is a silly question, but the poll had a good response. It’s not the shiny, new stuff that gets the nod here. Two thirds of farmers opted for “neat, well-maintained buildings and fences.” One farmer says he tries to keep up a “park-like” appearance on his place. Another compares a farmstead to a “storefront,” saying we should take as much pride in appearances as any other business.

4. If your marketing was a corn field, what would it look like this year?

This whimsical poll was taken in September, just as the long and winding road of ’09 harvest was beginning. “A bit weedy and average yield” was the option with the most votes: 39%. “Clean of weeds and a bumper crop,” was next at 21%. Taking the metaphor to extremes, a farmer from New York State commented: “My corn field would look like a hurricane had hit, followed by floods, a fire, two tornadoes, and a herd of buffalo had simultaneously parked themselves on the field. But it wouldn't have made any difference, because no one remembered to put seed in the planter.”

5. What is the wettest corn you’ve combined this year?

This popular poll may have unearthed some numbers for the record books. Forty-two percent of farmers said they combined corn with more than 30% moisture this fall. Harvesting with 32% moisture looks like you’re “slinging water out the back of the combine,” commented one farmer.

6. Where are you in your farming career?

Nearly two thirds of farmers say they are starting farming (25%) or still building their operations(39%), compared with those who say they are slowing down a little (19%) or winding down (13%). Optimism is reflected in one farmer’s comment, a fellow beginning in agriculture after a Navy career: “Everyone says prices are too high and one should not be buying right now. I have a different perspective. I think you should buy when you can afford it and when it is in the right place. Family says I am crazy for buying, but I say in 10 years they will think it was a good deal!

7. Which new machinery feature is of most value to you?

Autosteer was the big winner of the items on this survey list, which included variable rate application, data recording and mapping, and sprayer boom controls. “GPS was good but IMHO autosteer is the best.....what a neck saver," said a North Dakota farmer. "It sure saves cash with no overlaps or skips on any operation whether its cultivating, spraying, seeding, or anything!”

8. In what part of your farm business do you think you can save the most money in the next year?

Nearly half (46%) said fertilizer. Machinery was a distant second. Of course, most of fertilizer cost savings fell from the sky this year. “For my farm the biggest expense is fertilizer so when the price drops in half that’s a lot of savings,” said one respondent.

9. Do you have an ag-related business besides your farm?

According to this poll, only one in five farmers does not have another business. These sidelines are all across the board. Seed sales/production (14%) leads the way, followed by custom farming (13%). But 27% said “other.” What are these other businesses? The discussion gives a few examples: direct marketing meat, crop adjusting, parting out combines, and my favorite, operating a mini-donut trailer.

10. What farm shop improvement will make next?

Most folks say they will be organizing and cleaning their shops, but one in five farmers taking this survey said they will erect a new farm shop next. It’s a top priority for some. “I have decided that a shop built right and built big enough for the future has to be a priority,” said one farmer. “I don't want to be 50 and building a shop for my kids to enjoy!”

Give Papa this Christmas

2009-12-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

I just received a signed copy of Brent Olson's new book, Papa: Figuring Out What Matters. Christmas has come early, because Brent is one of my favorite writers. He's a Minnesota farm boy who indeed has figured out a lot about what matters.

Although “Papa” Brent Olson compares himself to “Papa” Hemingway with tongue in cheek (having the beards in common), Olson is a man’s man in modern way.

Like Hemingway, Olson writes in direct sentences, but with the force that only a former farmer could summon up--when he unearths truths about small-town matters, big-city issues, and most of all daily life on the land in Minnesota.

Olson is a writer who’s not afraid to show his banged-up knuckles, his self-deprecating humor, and his soft heart for all the little live things in the world. He writes as strongly about farm cats as Hemingway did wild lions, as decisively about the futility of trying to be a tough guy as Hemingway did of its glory.

If you're looking for a last-minute Christmas present for a farmer, or other reader who cares about what matters, you could hardly find a better deal.

Buy the book direct from Brent: www.independentlyspeaking.com

It's also available from Amazon: Papa: Figuring out what matters

Seven lessons from a late harvest

2009-12-02T09:19:00.000-08:00

The late corn harvest has taught farmers, or at least reminded them, of a number of lessons, according to a recent Agriculture Online poll. As harvest has dragged into December for many, growers are citing a number of points in the poll discussion:

Patience. In the online survey, 39% of farmers agreed that good old patience was the biggest lesson learned this year. “In the last 10 days, corn has dropped from 28-30% to 21-23%. Best corn ever!” a Minnesota grower reported in mid-November.

You can’t wait ‘til it’s perfect. Patience can only take you so far, some said. “The only problem with patience is in the north country, we could have already been done for the winter,” said a poll respondent. “We've been lucky this month but Mother Nature can change fast.” Thirty-five percent of growers responding to the poll said their biggest lesson is that you can’t wait forever for optimal conditions.

New hybrids stand up. From the combine seat, the corn looked mighty resilient to one farmer: “I have learned that these new hybrids are surprisingly strong,” he said. “I have had some corn in the ground and still standing for well over 220 days, with very little wind damage.”

Grain drying is a big bottleneck. “We need a better grain drying system,” said a Nebraska grower. “Now I remember why I hate stirators and in-bin drying. We haven't needed to use them in about 12 years. Suppose if I upgrade we won't need it for another 12 years!”

Said another: “Need to get my Shivvers drying unit back in working order. Letting the corn dry down in the field has not worked well this year.”

Watch your marketing. “Be patient when deciding to sell your crop. I sold my crop in September, early October, and the price was 3.05 - 3.47,” said a North Carolinian. “That is without dockage. Corn is now is now near or better than four dollars a bushel. I wish I had it to do over again.”

Another added, “I've learned that selling for a good price is all well and good until it costs you $0.50 per bushel to dry it. The profit goes away quickly.”

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. A Kansan chimed in with this old expression; it worked on a number of fronts this year—yields, marketing, and next year’s plans, farmers said.

Mother Nature rules. Few respondents to the poll cited forces they could control--like drainage or equipment. “Every year is unique is the lesson here,” an Ontario farmer said. “We have been fortunate in the northeastern Corn Belt--soys excellent, corn excellent, same for wheat...doesn't happen often here.”

Bob Nielsen, Purdue University agronomist, agrees that this has been one of those years that teaches patience. "This season simply reminded us that a cool growing season results in late crop maturity and slow grain drydown," he said. "Nothing new, we simply have been spoiled the past couple of growing seasons."

Lessons learned? "It may be that some growers need improved grain drying capacities and other growers need to become more attentive to selecting hybrids with better disease resistance," he said.

The old milk bucket story

2009-11-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

photo: De Ann Paulsrud

There was my old classmate and farmer friend standing at the front of the church, fighting back tears, and pulling a small piece of paper from his pocket to read from. Next to him at the lectern he had placed a rusty old bucket.

He composed himself and told the “old milk bucket story,” a eulogy to his father, who had passed away three days ago. His dad, Fred Paulsrud, was a farmer who lived out his 85 years in good standing with the land, his family, neighbors and friends.

Ted recalled his dad milking cows many years ago with that old bucket, how many he could fill with his big strong hands, a cat or two coming by to lick up the frothy overflow. That rusty old bucket was once all shiny new, he said.

And, Fred, in ill health for a number of years before his death was once a hardy and innovative farmer. He was part of a generation of farmers who progressed from buckets and pitchforks to technologies like embryo transplants and global positioning systems.

I remembered interviewing him for a farm magazine story I wrote back in the early eighties. It was a little intimidating. We called him “Big Fred,” not so much for his size as for his gravity. He was a no-nonsense fellow who I figured could spot a wrong word a mile away, like a broadleaf weed in a bean field.

Ted spent the morning of the day of the funeral pondering what he was going to say in tribute to his father. While feeding cattle, fixing fence, and moving hay, he thought about his dad and what words would work to do him justice. They came a little at a time, like the years in a lifetime.

It all came down to that rusty bucket, once new, and a prayer he wrote for his dad while doing chores.

When we’re gone, it’s good to remembered for when we were young and strong—and with a prayer.

Putting a face on our food

2009-11-12T11:50:00.001-08:00

Daphne Holterman speaks out for agriculture

Can modern farmers make themselves heard in a world in which ag is increasingly defined by food activists, organic advocates, and back-to-the-land trekkers? Daphne Holterman, owner of Rosy-Lane Holsteins, Watertown, Wisconsin, believes we must try.

I introduced Holterman as part of a panel session at the Trends in Agriculture conference in Kansas City, Missouri this week. Holterman, whose operation includes an 850 milk cows, and 1,200 acres of crop, told the group that we must be willing to “put a face on our food,” to interact with consumers, students, activists and others. “People want to know where their food comes from,” she said.

In part as a reaction to Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, which was distributed to all freshmen at the University of Wisconsin and was chosen as the focus of a statewide reading program, she has hosted tours of her farm for various groups. She is working with local, state and national media to counter some of Pollan’s much-quoted criticisms of modern agriculture.

David Kohl, a retired Virginia Tech professor and keynote speaker on Tuesday, agrees that individual farmers must be proactive, saying “consumers want to hear directly from producers, not from trade associations.”

David Cleavinger, a Texas crop producer on our panel, is doing his share, even if as trade group member. For example, he was part of a wheat industry project that grew wheat in the middle of New York City and demonstrated to school kids how flour and bread are made. Next, they’re taking the show to Washington, D.C.

Cleavinger is optimistic about the prospects for polishing up the image of modern farmers. “Farmers are Mother Earth and cherry pie,” he said. “People look at farmers in a good light.”

Karen Ross, president of the California Association of Winegrape growers, and another member of the panel, says the image of the grower is central to her work, too. Ross has helped lead an effort to improve the sustainability of production practices used by growers and communicate that message to the public.

“I will retire when the grape grower [not the winery] is the ‘rock star,'"she said.

It was good to hear optimistic, authentic voices representing modern farming in the ongoing debate with its detractors. Holterman, Cleavinger and Ross are the kinds of people who can help change and improve the public perception of production agriculture.

A second job

2009-11-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

Custom farming is just one of many of the other enterprises farmers choose

A good majority of farmers have a second ag-related enterprise, and there’s little limit on the imagination people bring to these enterprises, according to a recent Agriculture Online poll. Only 21% of the nearly 300 farmers taking the survey said they don’t have another enterprise besides the farm.

The most popular selections were seed production and sales (15%) and custom farming (12%). Other enterprises on the list included trucking, machinery repair, land contracting, and farm management.

In farmer comments in the poll, the rainbow of ventures possible for people farming the land is seen to be even more diverse, ranging from parting out combines to selling crop insurance.

Many of these second jobs are highly entrepreneurial. A Michigan farmer has set up home-based, USDA inspected meat processing business (http://www.johnhenrys.net/). A Nebraskan has used his past experience in the financial management industry to develop a successful business specializing in agricultural software for farmers (http://www.agmis.com). A Maryland farmer is an hunting outfitter. “Pays better than crops per acre, but you have to deal with the public,” he writes.

Probably my favorite enterprise that turned up in the survey: Operating a mini donut trailer. "Feeding the world in more ways than one,” says the Minnesota farmer. Yum to that.

World's worst weeds

2009-10-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

Giant ragweed in soybean field (Purdue University photo)

I read a story recently about cogongrass, which is being compared to kudzu for its invasiveness and is called one of the ten worst weeds in the world. Alabama has created a Cogongrass Control Center to try to contain the weed in the state, but it will be a challenge to keep it from moving north, according to the project coordinator. "Left unchecked, 'it could spread all the way to Michigan,' " Ernest Lovett told The New York Times.

The piece reminded me of a 2001 Agriculture.com story in which Indiana farmers were surveyed to name their ten worst weeds. At that time, they were:

1. Giant ragweed
2. Canada thistle
3. Johnsongrass
4. Common lambsquarters
5. Shattercane
6. Hemp dogbane
7. Burcucumber
8. Velvetleaf
9. Common ragweed
10. Common cocklebur

Glen Nice, a Purdue University weed scientist, says that although the farmer survey has not been repeated since then, many of the weeds on that list would remain there today. "A few weeds come and go, but the big ones are always there," he says. An Extension joke in the state is that Indiana is the 'giant ragweed national forest,'" he added.

In recent years, while many of the grasses have disappeared from the "most-wanted" list, others, like the herbicide-resistant marestail, have cropped up due to take their place, Nice says.

Farmers discussing the issue of the toughest weeds in Agriculture.com Crop Talk agree. Said one: "Marestail or horseweed is getting to be a real problem in KS."

Other bad-boy weeds, according to farmers joining the discussion, are field bindweed, kochia, cheatgrass, fall panicum, tall waterhemp, and dandelion.

"The list of noxious and herbicide-resistant weeds gets longer every year," said one farmer.

Using all our tools

Controlling the world's worst weeds require the grower to take a long view, says Nice.

"These weeds can be controlled but it takes persistence and, unfortunately, inputs in the way of rotations and herbicides," he says. "Growers have wrangled giant ragweed and velvetleaf seed beds down to acceptable levels by gearing their weed control programs to controlling these pests over the long haul. The use of effective residuals and timely post applications can reduce populations over time."

Perennials like Canada thistle require a "more localized approach," Nice says. "In many cases spot treatments in the spring or fall are required. Applications in the heat of summer can inhibit flowering, but generally are not effective at controlling the underground roots," he says.

"Weeds have always been a problem from the days of conventional tillage, to the adoption of no-till and herbicide tolerant crops," Nice says. "We have to use all of the tools available to us and be able to adapt to the problem as it adapts to our strategies."

Norman Borlaug: sweet music of wheat

2009-09-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

Norman Borlaug
(Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

Word of Norman Borlaug’s death was a sad surprise. I was hoping that somehow the man would live forever. The world could have used that.

There is much yet to be written about the “father of the Green Revolution” and Nobel Prize winner. I just want to add my own little note of tribute, and that's to celebrate his ear for language.

No one in production agriculture spoke more straight about the need for new technology, which too seldom has had effective voices. I think Borlaug reminded a lot of us of our fathers and grandfathers, of our mothers and grandmothers, who tended the soil, were humble, and saw true purpose in their labor. When Borlaug and these men and women of the land spoke out, it really meant something.

One thing I guess I didn’t expect to find in Borlaug was an ear for poetic language. He had this to say to one of his biographers, the New York Times reported today: “When wheat is ripening properly, when the wind is blowing across the field, you can hear the beards of the wheat rubbing together. They sound like pine needles in a forest. It is a sweet whispering music that once you hear, you never forget.”

Norman Borlaug is someone we in agriculture likely will never forget either.

Here's a collection of YouTube videos that let you hear Dr. Borlaug in his own voice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nACAyq0WScY&feature=PlayList&p=93EA3145F56ADD86&index=0

And not a drop more

2009-09-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

Monitoring sump at demo farm gives view of drainage

If ever there were a place in need of drainage, it was the flat cropland on a southeast Iowa research farm last week. After about six inches of rain in 36 hours, you could get a sense of why Midwest farmers see drainage as an essential, high payback production practice.

All the moving water was also a reminder of why ag is in the spotlight for its contribution of “nutrient-enhanced” flows into streams, rivers and the Gulf of Mexico.

You had to jump over a ditch and wade through mud and ankle deep water in field borders to get a look at the experimental drainage structures presented at the demonstration.

Lifting the steel cap off a monitoring sump, Iowa State University ag engineer Matt Helmers explained how the new drainage technology can be used to reduce nitrate flows into waterways, manage cropland water tables, and potentially raise crop yields.

So far the conservation benefits are fairly clear in the Iowa work. If you retrofitted your fields with this equipment, you could be pretty sure to cut nitrate flows leaving your farm—by as much as 50 percent.

Managed properly, the control structures would enable you to drain the root zone for field work and planting in the spring and to conserve soil moisture for crop use in the summer.

The yield impacts are less vivid. In Illinois last year, one 160-acre field in a project produced a 20% increase in corn yield. Long-term studies in North Carolina show a 5% increase in a corn-wheat-soybean rotation, 9% in corn alone. But that’s North Carolina, not the Midwest, where the Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition is attempting to change drainage practices. “That doesn’t happen every time [in the Midwest],” said Leonard Binstock, the coalition’s executive director. “But we think the potential is there.”

Binstock presented a calculation, assuming a 5% yield boost, that showed a net payback of $21.95 per acre for installing a full conservation drainage system with new tile lines and control structures. Cost-sharing and low-interest loans are available for the practices, too, he pointed out.

The golden rule of drainage, Binstock says, is to drain only what’s necessary to get your equipment in the field and to produce a crop—and to drain "not a drop more.”

That “not a drop more” is a big drop--one that could have a major impact on how agriculture manages one its most fundamental practices.

View video: Matt Helmers discusses conservation drainage benefits

See slideshow: Testing out conservation drainage

A fair thing to do before you die

2009-08-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

The Iowa State Fair has been put on one of those lists of places you’re supposed to visit before you die. Having just returned from my umpteenth visit to the fair, I guess I can now pass away a happy man.

It was a fine time to be at the fair today, given the nice weather and a stroll with good friends. A few things of note:

* The biggest boar and world record big bull attracted a lot of attention. (But is this a good way to promote livestock production to the general public?)
* The sight of of kids sleeping among their livestock is always touching.
* You wonder who pays to visit the snake house exhibit.
* A mule can be the choice of ride by a livestock control agent. A real nice mule.
* The antique farm machinery doesn’t look as old anymore.
* Minor breeds of dairy cattle are prettier than Holsteins.
* The fair puts up with a fair number of vices: You can drink beer in the morning, people smoke, and you can eat just about anything without getting a lecture from anyone.
* There is a tasty treat to be had at the Iowa Cattlemen's restaurant, a hot beef sundae: beef and gravy over mashed potatoes with a cherry tomato on top.

Long live the Iowa State Fair. If you haven’t seen it, or been to a big fair like it, you ought to put it on your list.

Here's a little photo/video tour: A day at the fair

Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders look different than other people

2009-08-06T11:51:00.001-07:00

Cowboys cheerleaders strike a pose with Texas friends

I just returned from the Agricultural Media Summit in Fort Worth, Texas, which this year was combined with an international congress of ag journalists. Communicators from around the world took tours of Texas agriculture and attended professional improvement sessions, a trade show, and social events.

Here are a few random firings from my Texas-branded brain, which may give some little flavor of the event:

Agricultural journalism is still going strong

A number of attendees talked of their hardships brought about by the global recession. There was only one journalist from the Far East this year, a region that is usually well represented at the Congress. A friend from Ukraine said he could attend only because his trip was subsidized by an agribusiness; that nation’s currency has been severely devalued this year, and the business world there is plagued by corruption at all levels, he said. Despite the current economic crisis, the industry remains strong. The Congress attracted journalists from 28 countries. Revenue and membership for the organizing groups is still growing. And, because agriculture is more complex and specialized, “there are more opportunities than ever in agricultural communications,” said Dr. Jim Evans, at an event to announce an endowed chair in ag communications at the University of Illinois in his name.

Ag technology marches on

Whatever problems exist in the general economy, agriculture continues to evolve in terms of commercial innovation. The trade show attracted a record number of exhibitors, many of which showcased new products. The precision ag companies showed off some compelling innovations—video monitoring and wireless Internet in tractor cab displays, for example. A couple other tidbits: Vermeer has sold all its inventory of corn cob collectors. An Australian company is entering the U.S. market with a system for growing hydroponic livestock feed.

Finnish farmers are good foresters

It’s a great pleasure and learning experience to interact with ag journalists from around the world. Some of my best new friends are from Finland. (When I mentioned to an American acquaintance that I would like to visit there, he commented that, well, it just looks like northern Minnesota. Would that be a bad thing?)

Anyway, one farm writer from Finland was trying to explain to me in rough English (much better than my non-existent Finnish) how most farmers in his country have forests in their operations and that they have developed good practices for managing these lands in a cropping system. I bet we could learn something from the Finns about forestry. It’s my goal to write that story.

Ag needs to tell its story better

Several distinguished speakers at the closing ceremony spoke of the need for agriculture to communicate better with the public about how food is produced. Temple Grandin, the renowned livestock handling expert, said, “we have got to communicate out of our own sphere.” Max Rothschild, a swine geneticist who received a top honor at the event, talked of our “failure to explain science to the world.” Barry Nelson, a John Deere representative, told us: “If you don’t get our story right, who will?”

Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders look different than other people

Two of them were wandering the trade show floor and posing for photos with attendees. Our foreign visitors, as well as many Americans, seemed to enjoy the experience, along with other features of Texas tradition—rodeo, cattle ranching, country-western music and honky-tonks. If you think these American icons are devalued around the world, you would have gotten a different impression from our international visitors.

Our fate is still with the soil

For me, the most dramatic presentation was given by Jim Richardson, a photographer for National Geographic magazine who lives in Lindsborg, Kansas. Richardson’s sharp eye revealed the hidden life of the soil. (Did you know there are 200 billion bacteria in a cup of soil?) In one series of images, he photographed farmers from around the world posing with cut-away soil profiles on their farms. What a world of difference between the black soils and deep rooted crops of a well-managed Iowa farm compared with the rocky, eroded topography of subsistence farming in Syria.

“We can lose soils, soils can die,” Richardson said. “But soil is a living thing, and can be reborn,” he added.

In Richardson’s photography we see a farmer’s final measure of success—how well they have taken care of the land.

What is a hog coulter?

2009-07-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

Dave Kurns, inventor of the hog coulter

If you ever get any value from Agriculture Online, or farm Web sites like it, you owe a little something to Dave Kurns, who led the launch of the site nearly 15 years ago. Agriculture.com was our parent company’s first Web site, and it was the first site created by an ag media company.

From the outset, Dave, who worked for Meredith New Media, saw that this emerging medium was all about interactivity and community. He steered us in the direction of creating tools like discussion groups, online classified ads, and a feature called Homestead, where you could build your own home page on the Web before that was possible with other tools.

Despite having graduated from Iowa State University, the land grant college up the road, Dave was a city boy with a computer science degree. But he showed a great affinity for farmers, and enjoyed working in agriculture.

In the midst of all the excitement of building Agriculture Online, Dave also invented the hog coulter. One day, while explaining the Internet to a group of aggies he started to demonstrate keyword searches. Reaching for an example, he summoned up the term "hog coulter." I about fell on the floor laughing.

Every time that combination of words comes to mind, I chuckle to myself. And I have taken the occasion from time to time to kid Dave about his invention.

But, the joke’s on me, it turns out. There really is such a thing as a hog coulter.

However, as you can see in a new video that Dave presented me on my recent birthday, there are quite a number of definitions of "hog coulter." Editors, executives, meteorologists, marketing managers, Web designers, and farmers all have a different design in mind for the tool.

I invite you to check out Dave’s video, What is a hog coulter? and see if they've got it about right. Or maybe you've seen your own hog coulter?

Compete with your "cutthroat neighbors"

2009-07-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

There was plenty of competition for this field on our place

A hot discussion on our site, “Cut throat neighbors,” delves into a young farmer’s problem in fending off aggressive competition for land he’s renting: “Every year neighboring farmers contact my landlords and offer astronomical prices…to rent their land,” he says.

This must be common occurrence, given the big response this farmer gets. And some folks are not very sympathetic.

"You are naive to think you are entitled, deserve privilege, or for some reason think the market is closed because you rented a farm,” says one respondent.

Another says: “Farming, especially renting, is dog eat dog, always has been, always will be.”

About five years ago, the long-time operator of our Nebraska farm went bankrupt. Very soon after I got the news, the phone started ringing. A couple neighbors to our farm, as well as one of the area’s big operators, checked in with me about the availability of the land.

One of the farmers that contacted me was a younger fellow who had just lost some rented ground. He and his wife both worked off the farm, but he had a small parcel of his own and was hoping to stay in the game with a little more land. We set up a meeting to get acquainted. He brought his dad to the meeting, talked about people we both knew, and showed me pictures of his kids. We wound up signing some papers.

He’s kept up his end of the bargain, tending to the all the details—pushing paperwork, keeping up the fences, maintaining the irrigation equipment and CRP, and generally keeping an eye on things. He keeps in touch on a regular basis.

When commodity prices went through the roof a couple years ago, it was tempting to raise the rent. I decided against it, because the guy had gone beyond the call of duty a couple times, and we seemed to be about even.

I guess what I’m saying is that we could be getting more money for that farm, but when is enough enough? And aren't there other important pieces in a land-rent relationship?

According to the farmers participating in the “cut throat neighbors” discussion, here are some things you should consider as you rent land and deal with neighborhood land sharks:

• Out-hustle the competition. “We all have to prove ourselves, and even without other farmers calling your landowners, you are still in a silent competition with area farmers,” said one.

• Go on the offensive. One farmer says he recently threw a big barn party for his landlords and other neighbors, some of whom might be retiring soon.

• Take care of business. Says one landlord: “All my ground is irrigated so taking care of equipment is at the top of my list.” Others mention things like shoveling driveways and mowing ditches.

• Be a good communicator. Landowners like to hear about how the crops are doing and what you’re doing to improve the farm. One fellow takes his landowners on tours of the cropland, showing what improvements he’s made and how the crops are faring. A farm manager says he rents land to a smaller producer over a big shooter, because the little guy answers his phone calls and e-mails promptly.

• Build a good reputation. ”Dog eat dog to make a buck has ruined more young farmers than anything as they bid the profit away to be a BTO,” said one farmer. Says a landowner: “I value honesty and integrity far more than getting a few extra dollars.”

• Try for multi-year leases. One farmer has had good luck working with landlords to bargain extra years for additional improvements to the land. Another fellow, however, recommends one-year leases so that the owner thinks of you as hungry and hustling. “Humility, hard work, and honesty are all you need,” he says.

• Work with what you have. “I can make a very good living off my acres because sometimes intensifying is better than more and more acres,” says one farmer.

• Buy your own land. "My advice is save your money and invest in buying your own land, says a farmer. "Buy a little here and there, nothing more than you can afford."

A hike on the land before the plow

2009-07-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

Last week, on a lark, I drove over to the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, a native prairie restoration project on some 5,000 acres in central Iowa. The refuge claims to be is the largest re-creation of tallgrass prairie in the U.S., with more than 200 types of prairie plants

The well-designed learning center has some interesting displays, but the real drama is out on the land. You can take a couple trails through the prairie preserve, and on this day in early July nature stole the show. The prairie flowers were blooming, the birds were singing, and the bees were buzzing.

I spotted at least two birds I’d never seen before, a bobolink and another that looked to be some kind of grouse. I photographed a colorful plant or two, including this spectacular butterfly attractor (photo above).

I had never seen such a rich array of plant species in a prairie restoration and learned later that volunteers have been collecting native seeds from roadsides, cemeteries and railroad beds around the state to plant at the refuge.

Hiking though the prairie there and later driving through the bordering cropland made me think once again how much agriculture has changed the natural world. It seems worth remembering that from time to time.

We have a CRP field of prairie grass on our farm in Nebraska, an excellent stand that includes some native forbs, along with a mix of indiangrass, big bluestem and switchgrass. A walk though the place gives you a little feel for what the country looked like before the plow that broke the plains.

And that wasn’t so long ago. There’s a place down the road where you can still see the remnants of the sod house where my great grandparents lived for a time, and on a hill above there, buffalo wallows from the great herds that once roamed what is now Buffalo County, Nebraska.

The irrigated corn and beans across the road pay the taxes and insurance for the place, but there’s something healthy about being able to take a prairie hike, perhaps to remind one from whence we came.

Knee high by the Fourth of July--Not!

2009-07-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

Knee-high corn hard to find here

You’d have to look pretty hard in central Iowa to find some knee-high corn on the Fourth this year. This morning, though, I found some in sandy end rows of a field along the Des Moines River. The rest of the field was head high.

That tough little patch may symbolize the nation’s corn crop this year in a couple ways: There’s a lot of variability out there, and farmers had to work pretty hard to get a lot of this crop in the ground.

In early returns to an Agriculture Online poll, farmers say they’re finding corn measuring from their ankles to over their heads. There’s knee-high, waist-high, shoulder- and head-high corn in about equal parts, according to poll respondents.

“I will have to go with all the above,” commented one farmer who took the poll. “I have corn planted 4-23 that started to tassel on 6-30. And corn planted on 6-1 that is knee high and everything in between.”

Whatever the height of your corn, we do know there’s a lot of it. On Tuesday, USDA predicted the second largest corn acreage (next to ’07) planted since 1946.

And, as in many years, there was plenty of adversity to overcome this spring for farmers around the country to get the crop planted. So, while we’re checking the corn, the Fourth is a good time to recognize the perennial successes of the American farmer.

In a press release this week, the U.S Grains Council pointed out that corn and soybean growers “worked steadfastly” to plant a total of 164.5 million acres, an increase of nearly 3 percent over ’08.

That’s a good word for it: “steadfastly.”

“Time and time again, U.S. farmers are faced with adversity, but their commitment to providing an adequate supply of U.S. feed ingredients as well as their dedication to curbing global hunger perseveres," said USGC President and CEO Ken Hobbie.

Have a great holiday weekend, corn growers. Hope the fireworks are flying over some tall corn in your fields.

Celebrating Successful Farming

2009-06-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

Farmer and son are featured on four-story mural

Thinking such a day would never come, it did and has gone—my 25th service anniversary at Successful Farming. Well, the actual day isn’t until sometime in July, but I received a watch at a staff meeting yesterday and some very kind words from my boss, Loren Kruse, editor-in-chief.

I was surprised enough that I didn’t get all emotional about the deal, but today I do feel a need to reflect a bit. What first came to mind when Loren invited me to the front of the room last night was how everything I’ve been able to do in 25 years here has been because of the good name of Successful Farming. I thought how that brand has opened so many doors over the years, and how that's been possible because of the people who've worked here with me, and before me.

I can hear still hear a voice from a long time ago, a woman over the phone calling out across the farmyard to her husband, “there’s a fella from Successful Farming who wants to talk with you.” The farmer drops everything, rushes to the phone, and cheerfully welcomes me to visit their place. That kind of thing has happened a whole bunch of times in 25 years.

Coincidentally, last Friday, a new four-story mural celebrating Succcessful Farming was installed on the side of our headquarters building here in downtown Des Moines.

Successful Farming was the founding magazine of Meredith Corporation 107 years ago. The name has long been engraved in stone on the original headquarters building, and now across the street a new image of a farmer and his son, with our new logo, will mark our century and seven in the business of farm publishing.

I like to think that the mural, which will remain in place for three months, is a tribute to the American farmers who are our readers. Obviously, without their loyalty and subscriptions, there would be no Successful Farming at 1716 Locust Street.

So here’s to you, my predecessors, my colleages, and all our readers. Thanks for keeping Successful Farming viable into its second century. And thanks for the 25 years.

Here's a little slideshow of the mural, and of the Successful Farming staff who gathered this morning for a photograph: Celebrating Successful Farming.

[Watch a video of the installation]

Thinking of the people downstream

2009-06-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

Last week, I attended a demonstration of a new conservation practice and learned a new word—bioreactor.

On the drive over to the event, watching the young corn rows flicker past in bright green, I thought once again how the productivity of these deep, rich Midwestern soils is based on the ability to drain them. And it’s this water leaving the land, often laden with nitrates, that is increasingly the focus of conservation programs in farm states like Iowa.

A tile line bioreactor consists of a trench filled with a carbon source, in this case wood chips. As tile line water flows through the bioreactor, microorganisms break down the nitrate and expel the substance as a gas.

The project sponsors, which included the Iowa Soybean Association, Sand County Foundation, and Agriculture’s Alliance for Clean Water, were enthusiastic about the early results for the technology. The first bioreactor in the state, installed in Greene County last August has cut nitrate concentrations by 60% to 70%, said Keegan Kult, an environmental specialist for the soybean growers group.

What’s the future for bioreactors? There are issues in designing and managing the structures. USDA is studying the funding eligibility for the practice.

The 12x100-foot bioreactor we watched being built will cost about $7,000 -- for the control structures, wood chips, fabric, and contracting work. It will treat water from a 40-acre tile pattern.

A bioreactor is a field-level practice, which can be relatively expensive compared to watershed-wide practice. A small wetlands restoration, for example, can receive drainage from a couple thousand acres, filter the water, and provide other conservation benefits.

The farmer hosting the demo project I saw is clearly conservation-minded. He’s been willing to pay for practices that are proven to benefit soil and water. His strip-till beans were covered in protective corn residue. The creek taking the water from the bioreactor demo was flanked by a 130-foot wide buffer strip.

Conservation practices can provide direct benefits, even if long term, to a farmer. But a bioreactor?

"This is a pretty progressive step for a farmer to take," Kult told me. “The bioreactor is helping the people downstream."

Driving home I followed the creek from the demo farm down to the Boone River, which shortly drains into the Des Moines River--the water supply for the city of Des Moines. Soon that demo farm’s 40 acres of drainage becomes just a drop in the bucket of an agriculturally intense watershed. There are about 9.5 million acres in the Des Moines River basin.

Bioreactors are just beginning to be put to the test, but you hope that farmers and the people downstream will find in them a new conservation tool.

Video: Bioreactor tour

Gone fishin'

2009-06-03T18:22:00.001-07:00

Beautiful June days, with a full strawberry moon on the rise, makes me think that we should go fishing. I think of my brother-in-law, Art, this time of year. He died five years ago from brain cancer, on a night with a full moon rising, the same time of year we had always met somewhere to go fishing. My sister, Pam, and nieces, Cori and Lindsey, gathered this week in his memory and sent me some pictures from their trip to the ocean, including the funny sign here.

Think I'll post a little piece I wrote on the first anniversary of Art's passing, as a way to celebrate his life, and also as a little reminder that it's about time to pick up a pole and head to some water.... How about you? Are you going fishin' this summer?

A part of this tale Art and I came to call "The Last Cast." We never realized how it was truly the final chapter. This was two years ago, under the first full moon in June. We were canoeing the Flambeau River in northern Wisconsin on the last day of what would be our last fishing trip together.

We had two vehicles and had spaced them out for about a half day's trip from one to the other. It's a beautiful stretch of river, and the thought was to catch a few smallmouth bass. But mainly, as always, the idea was just to be on the water.

Art was always very focused in these deals--juggling gear and tackle, piloting the canoe, and figuring out how to catch a fish in a new stretch of water--all in a fast-moving channel. After a couple hours, Artie got the knack for how to catch a fish in these waters. Had to do with a certain lure lobbed almost on to the shore. The smallies were right up against the bank, and you had time for one quick cast in each promising pool. I think I was stubborn and stuck mostly to my own unsuccessful techniques, until a couple of football-sized bass of Art's won me over.

Now let me stop time and roll us back up the river. It was a place where we had stopped to have lunch. We had come to a section where the rapid flow widened into an area braided with sandbars and islands, and then divided in to two main channels. A long rocky sandbar above the fork presented itself as an easy spot to beach the boat. We stopped for lunch, to stretch, and cast a little.

I remember that after awhile we started picking up rocks and telling little stories about the life forms that were ensconced in that river. The narratives took us back a couple of ice ages ago. I don't remember the stories, and I'm not sure we brought home any of those rocks. (I'm going out to check my tackle box this evening.) But I know that for a few minutes we transcended time and felt in touch with something eternal.

Stories told, we pushed the boat back in the river and continued downstream, with the same pattern in place. Art catching fish. Me not. A couple hours later, we came around a bend and saw a few hundred yards away the towel that we'd tied around a tree to identify where we'd parked my truck. It would a matter of careful timing to get the canoe back across the river. We had to hurry. I still hadn't caught a fish, so I joked that I wanted to make one last cast. Art stuck an oar in the water and battled the current to give me time. Yes, indeed, I really did catch a beautiful football of a fish on The Last Cast. We laughed and laughed, high-fiving, then doggedly paddled across the river to shore.

Today, I think of that fork in the river, where we had lunch. How a year later, Art went one way and I went the other. I've learned that the water flows in both channels. It's just that I can't see him over there on the other side now. But I know that the river comes together again.

6,000 slices of farm life

2009-05-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

Members of the Farmers for the Future social network have uploaded some 6,000 images through the Web site’s photo sharing tool, and it’s been a pleasant surprise to see how well this feature has resonated with people.

Surfing through the pictures gives you a good feel for what most interests the nation’s young and beginning farmers. If you look at a very large selection of the photos, you’ll see what subjects are most on their minds—primarily family and the animals and crops they tend. Machinery is also a popular subject—no wonder, inasmuch as they live so much of their lives in tractor, combine and pickup cabs.

Jennifer Dammann, who farms with her husband in southwest Iowa, is one of the photographers featured in a new slideshow highlighting a few of the latest images from the network.

What motivates her photography is that "it’s a way to capture what we do in ag,” Jennifer says.

“I feel that we need to show what we do. Many people do not know what a planter looks like, what a beef cow looks like, etc., so I feel that if I can take some pictures it will help educate the non-farm community," she says.

One of the things that strikes me about this big collection of pictures is how everyone has their own approach to photography--and how every farm is so very different. Jennifer brings her farm to life by including her husband and daughter in many of the images.

“For example, the "Heading to the planter" photo shows something that happens almost every night that we are planting. It is our farm life and we are proud to be farmers and we just want to share that with others," she says.

Sometimes the photographs bring revelations. Shane Newbrough, a Missouri farmer, reflects on a photo of his dad out in the field. "My father tells me stories about working ground with a team of horses," Shane writes. "And to see him standing next to a 185-hp tractor and a 31-row planter....just in his lifetime. It makes me wonder what I will be standing next to one day when my son takes a picture of me."

Take a quick tour to see just a few of these outstanding pictures of spring field work, family life, and farmstead action.

The 'lone ranger' of ridge tillage

2009-05-13T06:29:00.000-07:00

Craig Fleishman

This week, I visited a couple farmers who are participating in Iowa Learning Farm, a conservation demonstration project sponsored by Iowa State University Extension and other agencies.

Craig Fleishman, one of the program's farmer-spokespersons, is a rare ridge tiller in central Iowa. The tillage system has long been known for its soil and water conservation benefits, so it was a pleasure to see Fleishman in the field with his 15-year-old, 12-row planter.

“I’m the lone ranger,” he said. "Ridge tillage has fallen out of favor."

You couldn't ask for a more enthusiastic representative for conservation, even if his tillage system appears to be disappearing from the landscape.

On Monday, Fleishman's planter was smoothly shaving off the top of corn ridges and planting soybeans into a perfect seedbed.

"With ridge till, I always wind up planting in a moist, mellow, firm seed bed," he said. "With the controlled traffic, you never plant in wheel tracks or anhydrous tracks. The seed bed is always the same. And you're always pushing the weed seed off the row."

And, all that crop residue left behind by the system is great for the soil and water.

Reduced chemical use is another well-known benefit of ridging, of course. This year, Fleishman sprayed corn herbicide on ten-inch bands at one third the broadcast rate. He’ll spot spray with glyphosate, then come with the cultivator, sidedressing nitrogen the first time, building ridges the second go-round.

Other conservation practices on the Fleishman farm include buffer strips, strip cropping, contouring, and grass waterways.

Clearly, Fleishman, a fifth-generation farmer, is trying to care of the land--a value you think would put him in the mainstream. So you wonder how he has become a "lone ranger" in the neighborhood when it comes to tillage.

"Sometimes we get caught up in the efficiency of our equipment, and we do more what's convenient for us, rather than what's good for the soil," he said. Modern machinery is moving faster, and is moving more soil, he says. Chisel plowing is nearly like moldboard plowing these days.

He fears that the trending interest in strip tillage will meet the same fate as ridging one day, relegated to minor status by big iron and ever-larger farms.

"With some of this big equipment, how can you take care of the waterways?" he asks.

Fleishman hopes that new programs like The Learning Farm eventually will help "create a new culture," and make conservation "the right thing to do," he said.

"Conservation should be the normal thing to do. We need to make it more mainstream."

Video: Fleishman's ridge-till planter & system

Getting stuck on "dry ground"

2009-05-04T18:46:00.001-07:00

Kelley Kokemiller takes a break to talk planting progress

Sunday afternoon, as USDA would be wrapping up its weekly Crop Progress report, I took a windshield tour of my own backyard—about a 50-mile stretch of country roads north of Des Moines. I’ve always thought this area to be a good example of Iowa’s best cropland--mostly gently rolling, well-drained, black soils. Syngenta, Pioneer, and Monsanto produce seed in the area; the farmers here usually have a good jump on planting, it seems.

Last time I drove this route was early June ‘08, when farmers were still waiting to get back in the field and finish up planting after a long rain delay, just as the watershed was about ready to send the full force of its waters down river to flood Des Moines.

This year so far, a different story is emerging. While it’s been cool and wet, there's been enough of a window for farmers to plant corn in a timely fashion.

In half an hour of driving on Sunday, though, I didn't see a wheel turning, other than guys riding their lawnmowers.

Finally, I stopped at a farm to check in with a grower I’d visited before. The family was getting ready to spray beans in a river bottom area nearby.

I drove over to a field where Kelley Kokemiller was about to make his last round with the sprayer, ahead of the first soybeans to be planted. The bottomland field’s sandy soils had dried out enough to plant, but most ground in the area was still too wet to go, even though it looked dry on top

“This field is dry but everything else around here is too wet to plant. My brother was just in another field and said he nearly got the pickup stuck,” Kelley said.

“We had four inches of rain recently,” he said. “It looks good from the road, but when you get out in the field you’ll find a lot of wet spots out there.”

Kelley said the family has planted all its corn (“for the first time anyway.”) Most farmers in the area have most, if not all, of their corn planted, and a few beans are in the ground, too, he said.

But, as planting season continues, with rain in the forecast and wet soils below the surface, the “game is still on the table” in central Iowa.

Hope planting's progressing well in your part of the country.

Calling all farmers: Your smart phone is ringing

2009-04-30T08:29:00.001-07:00

Last summer, an enthusiastic fellow from the East Coast was trying to show me some of the new features on his iPhone. Problem was he couldn’t get a signal from the carrier, AT&T--right here in the middle of Des Moines, Iowa.

It was pretty plain that your phone is only as smart as its connectivity. Issues like pricing and customer service are key, too, but meaningless if you’re sitting it a dead spot.

Farmers and ranchers know about dead spots in broadband coverage. There has been a long-standing digital divide between urban and rural America.

The recent good news is that companies like Apple and Verizon are moving to boost coverage and features that will make smart phones more available and useful in the country.

In early April, Verizon Wireless announced it will launch a new 4G wireless broadband network that eventually will extend across rural America.

And, this week Verizon Wireless and Apple were reported to be in discussions about a partnership to sell a new iPhone, one that would work on the Verizon network, and thus offer expanded connectivity out in the country.

If the deal is realized and the network pans out, it could be a big step for agriculture, says Michael Lewis, a central Iowa farmer and computer systems operator.

Lewis sees smart phones as the wave of the future for farm communications, with potential for housing a wide range of ag applications, including GPS, real time soil sampling and mapping, instant fertilizer analysis, chemical and seed quick conversions, weed identification, a farmer knowledge base, and more.

Currently, he uses his phone to access weather, news, sports, maps, weather, stock reports and special farm-related applications.

For the time being, if Verizon is your best carrier, a Blackberry is your best choice of smart phone, he says. He points out, too, that Windows embedded has "a huge presence in agriculture equipment and devices, so a Windows Mobile phone might seem like a logical choice because of familiarity."

But a Verizon-iPhone deal could be a game changer.

“For sure the iPhone is the best smart phone out there,” he says. “If you have AT&T service in your area then it would be the one for you [now].”

Lewis prefers the the iPhone for its user interface, ease of application development, and application delivery through the Apple store. Apple claims that more than 25,000 apps now exist for the iPhone 3G.

"As more applications are developed for the the iphone, I see an increase in the amount of accessories and interfaces between Windows embedded devices and smart phones like the iPhone," he says.

Beyond the connectivity questions, the biggest issue with smart phones is their durability for farm use, Lewis says. He recommends a product called Invisible Shield.

“It really protects the device well and is very affordable. The material is the same that is used on helicopter blades.”

Giving the troops a hand

2009-04-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

Beef stick donations hitch a ride to Middle East on KC-135 tanker.

It’s a common sight in air travel these days to see U.S. military personnel traveling on commercial planes. In a trip I made from Atlanta to Milwaukee last week, there were about a half dozen young soldiers on the flight. Dressed in their battle uniforms, they were conspicuously mixed in with another group—college students returning from a conference in Atlanta. The college kids were having fun. The soldiers were quiet.

As the plane touched down in Milwaukee, the flight attendant invited a round of applause for the soldiers. There was a loud, long response from the civilians—an unrehearsed patriotic moment.

I recalled that in the same week two aggie acquaintances had talked with me about projects they were involved with to support the troops.

Den Gardner, director of the American Agricultural Editors Association, has helped spearhead a program called Project EverGreen, which provides free lawn and landscape service to military families with members serving overseas. The effort has helped 7,700 military families through a national network of 2,100 volunteers, Den says.

A new phase of the program will fund scholarships for military family members. Gardner's group is making a push to raise contributions from now until Armed Forces Day on May 16. If you’re interested in donating to the program, check out this link for more info:

http://www.projectevergreen.com/gcft/buckitup.html

In another effort, a farm couple from western Iowa, Ted and Dee Ann Paulsrud, have been managing a program to send beef sticks to the troops serving in the Middle East. The Iowa Beef Sticks for the Troops has gathered enough donations to send some 60,000 of the treats overseas.

About half of the cost of the effort is in transportation, Ted says. But, that cost is being defrayed through cooperation of a statewide grocery chain and the 185th Air Refueling Wing of the Iowa Air National Guard in Sioux City, Iowa. Once the Paulsruds collect enough money to buy a pickup load of beef sticks, they have them hauled by the grocery to the Air Guard unit to be loaded on a tanker headed to the Middle East.

If you’re interesting in contributing to the beef stick campaign, contact: Ted and Dee Ann Paulsrud, 4980 320th St., Danbury, Iowa 51019, or phone (712) 883-2249.

Both of these programs have gotten a good response from their beneficiaries, their organizers say. The Paulsruds recently received a U.S. flag and note of thanks from the Air Force officers attached to the 185th.

Lawn care, scholarships, and beef sticks may not win a battle or bring peace to the Middle East, but these are heart-felt efforts to support the troops and families at a grassroots level.

Contributing a little something to them seems like another way to give our soldiers a rousing round of applause.

In your face: What ag ads do you like?

2009-04-15T06:35:00.000-07:00

This week, I’m attending the annual conference of the National Agricultural Marketing Association (NAMA) in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the premier meeting of the professionals who buy and create advertising for your farm and ranch communications.

NAMA features panel discussions, a trade show, and a college student marketing competition. An awards program tonight will recognize the most creative, effective advertising campaigns for all media--print, television, direct mail, the Web, etc.

One of the new challenges for marketers is creating messages that work well in new media—websites, e-mail newsletters, and mobile devices. Social media—Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and our own Farmers for the Future social network—present another kind of challenge to advertisers: how to compete for your attention amid all the new user-generated content.

One way advertisers are using to get their messages across is to push them into the editorial space. “Expandable” units intrude into the editorial when you roll over them with your computer mouse. Some others simply pop up over your content when the page loads. You have to close the ad to view your editorial material.

I hope advertisers continue to rely on their creativity, rather than intrusiveness, in new media. It will be interesting to see what trends are showcased at this year’s NAMA awards program.

For me, the most effective campaigns use compelling visuals and language to invite your attention, as demonstrated in some recent Successful Farming magazine ads:

• Product comparisons--fuel efficiency test results from the Nebraska Tractor Test Lab. (John Deere)
• A useful bit of new research on the efficacy of soybean seed treatment. (Acceleron Seed Treatment System)
• Clear statement of value—durability, safety, warranty, etc. (Featherlite trailers)
• Words that work: “Measuring this harvest in bushels is like measuring a swimming pool in tablespoons.” (Syngenta Quilt)
• Dynamic visuals--closeup photo of work boot and soil. (AGCO Challenger)

On the Web, here are a few examples of ads currently on Agriculture Online that I think that provide compelling and useful information for farmers--without getting in your face.

Cruiser Maxx Beans
Cargill “fitter fry”
Case Magnum
Dow Powerflex

What kinds of agricultural advertisements do you like best? Least?

Taos snapshots: art and agriculture

2009-04-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

(Photograph used with permission from Chuck Henningsen)

While taking a brief family vacation in Taos, New Mexico, this week, I couldn’t help but think about agriculture, even though the economy there is clearly centered on tourism—outdoor sports, fine art, and Native American culture.

But agriculture certainly exists in Taos, if you look around a little. Some of my first impressions of it:

• A guy selling pinion nuts out of the back of his pickup.
• A small herd of scraggly cows grazing bone-dry range.
• A pickup load of red chili peppers parked in front of a grocery store.
• A truck pulling a flatbed of big square bales on Route 68 along the Rio Grande.

The agrarian roots of Taos are found at the Pueblo, the longest continuously inhabited community in the United States, and presumably birthplace to our oldest agriculture. The adobe homes we visited there were built between 1000 and 1450 A.D.

No obvious signs of extensive farming exist today. On the road through the reservation, I saw a few ranchettes that kept some horses. Like Taos itself, the industry at the Pueblo is in selling art to tourists. But, the tribe still celebrates a harvest festival every September. And local farmers bring their produce to a weekly farmers market in town.

We stayed in an old adobe cottage near the center of Taos, a place that turned out to make us neighbors to an artist from Iowa. Chuck Henningsen’s gallery was a short walk along an ancient irrigation ditch, up a lane flanking his aquatic gardens.

Henningsen graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in industrial engineering. He took his first job with Hewlett-Packard in the Bay Area and later started his own own company in Silicon Valley. Success in that business paved his way to the Southwest and to a long, successful career as a fine art photographer.

While touring his gallery, I discovered Henningsen's Midwest roots in a photograph of a corn crib he took in northeast Iowa.

On Monday, we sat in the middle of his gallery and talked about art and agriculture, in which time he told me about the recent hard times in Taos. Taos has had as many as 2,200 working artists, but the art world has shrunk to a fraction of what it was a year ago, he said.

The number of galleries likely will decline from about a hundred to less than half that this year. Art is "ethereal," he said. And, as such the arts have been the first to suffer in this depressed economy.

Seeing the connection of the old traditions of the Taos Pueblo, which gives the region its soul and authenticity, to the town's modern art and culture, one thinks of the Daniel Webster quote:

"When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization."

One hopes that the "other arts" of Taos will continue to flourish--along with the time-tested Pueblos.

Japanese make precision ag pitch

2009-03-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

Noriko Yamagata unveils HitachiSoft's ag software

On Monday in Los Angles, the Japanese baseball team capped its run in the World Baseball Classic, edging South Korea in extra innings to win the championship. On Sunday, they had thumped the U.S. pros 9-4 in the semi-finals.

On Tuesday, another Japanese team, a group of engineers and marketers from Hitachi Software Engineering Co, Ltd. landed in the U.S. to begin a tour of American agriculture, in hopes of making their own mark on American soil.

Their stop at our office in Des Moines was the first on a tour in which they hope to learn more about American agriculture and possibly develop U.S. partners for development of their products.

HitachiSoft owns 90% of the precision ag software market in Japan, according to Marc Vanacht, a U.S. consultant traveling with the company representatives.

Noriko Yamagata, whom Vanacht described as HitachiSoft’s “genius software programmer,” gave Successful Farming Editor Rich Fee and me a tour of the company’s ag applications.

HitachiSoft, based in Tokyo, has about 5,000 employees, 4,000 of them software engineers. Twenty of them are devoted to ag.

Their applications are being used by 35 cooperatives in Japan, each of which is composed of 200 to 10,000 farmers. The biggest of these use HitachiSoft’s GeoMation Farm software to track up to 100,000 fields at a time.

In the demonstration we saw, the crops included soybeans, sugar beets, wheat, rice, vegetables, and forages. Yamagata showed us how farmers were able to quickly track basic data like soil types, fertilizer applications, tillage systems, rotations, and chemical use.

A harvest GPS system shows you the real-time location of equipment on a field map. Satellite imagery is used to show the growth stage and lodging of wheat, the protein content of rice, and the quality of forage crops. A cool-looking 3D display of a field lets you better visualize slopes and highlight erodible areas.

HitachiSoft has a different approach to ag, one it has borrowed from its service to other industries. Its program for the Japanese national electrical system, for example, includes 100 million “objects” in a GIS.

According to Vanacht the company’s “big engine” of a GIS is one of its main points of difference with other systems for ag.

HitachiSoft starts with a big picture that includes a ton of data and then works down to the field level, rather than starting at the field level and working up. This will make it easer for farmers to create maps that are easy to understand and use, Vanacht says.

"We believe our GIS is more powerful than existing U.S. [systems], said Osamu Nishiguchi, Agriculture Project Manager. "We also believe we have some existing agricultural applications that will interest U.S. farmers."

Rich and I came away impressed with HitachiSoft's people and products. You can’t help but wonder if the Japanese won’t do as well in farm fields as they have on the baseball diamond lately.

'This is stupid stuff'

2009-03-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

There’s an old poem I was made to study in college, “Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff,” by A.E. Housman. The title refers to a man’s opinion about the value of poetry (he'd rather drink beer), with the poet arguing that there is actually practical value to verse—to prepare one for the rough and tumble of life.

I've just finished reading the last poems of John Updike, my favorite writer, and I can only echo Housman, and say, this is not stupid stuff.

Updike died in January at age 76 after having written hundreds of literary works. He achieved the rare feat of producing best sellers that also garnered all the great literary awards, including Pulitzer Prizes for two of his “Rabbit” novels.

In 1986, I wrote Updike a letter inviting him to speak at our company about an idea he had written about—how to achieve a “sense of useful work.” (This is something more of a concern for artists and writers than for farmers.)

He declined the offer, but in a warm, personal note conveyed that he was pleased to correspond with me. I have liked to think that it was in part because he viewed agricultural journalism as “useful work.”

Updike’s last poems, which were published this week in The New Yorker are the “stupid stuff” that Housman talked about—they prepare you for what’s in store for all of us.

The poems are written during a brief period between when he was diagnosed with lung cancer and the last stages of treatment for his illness. They look back on life without remorse and ahead to his last days with a brave face.

One of the poems pays tribute to his "dear friends of childhood, classmates" for providing him material for his life-long profession. Everything he needed for a life of writing was right there in his home town of Shillington, Pennsylvania, he wrote--with its “little factories, cornfields and trees, leaf fires, snowflakes, pumpkins, valentines.”

This appreciation of the details of daily life is something that all of us work for, I suspect. It's just that John Updike got it all down on paper.

Farm until I'm 80

2009-03-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

A farmer friend of mine, who just turned 65, told me recently that he was going to farm until he was 80. In fact, he had just decided to buy a new planter, a used 8-row machine, and was in the market for a combine, an item he hadn't owned for a while.

I was getting a tour of his farm shop where he was overhauling the planter--replacing fertilizer coulters, roller chains, disk openers, and seed tube protectors, while adding new spiked closing wheels. Whew, it looked like a job for a man half his age. Next to the planter was a chore tractor that he was getting ready to drop a new engine into.

The man is in good health, it would seem, and he's still supporting at least one of his daughters. Still, the news surprised me. He has a couple part-time jobs, knows how to entertain himself off the farm, and otherwise seems pretty well set to cruise comfortably into his twilight years, at least as much as anyone can these days.

It strikes me that there are three intriguing demographic trends in agriculture right now: the full-blown emergence of young and beginning farmers, the rise in the number of female farmers since the last ag census, and now this growing set of retirement age farmers--who appear ready to bop until they drop.

A recent discussion on senior farmers in Agriculture Online's Farm Business Talk, garnered a huge response--some 140 postings.

The idea of farming forever is not without controversy. The topic elicted an outpouring of emotion, including a fair amount of grumpy argument. How do I get to farm if dad (or mom) keeps going? How do we change with the times if the old folks stay on the place? Is it safe for old-timers to be running that equipment? Is it fair to the spouse to stay trapped on the farm for another decade?

One of the enablers of old-age farming, of course, is modern technology.

One respondent makes the point that the "continued advance of technology in farm equipment has been a principal driver in allowing farmers to continue their chosen profession well into their advanced age." He believes machinery manufacturers and others serving ag will have to look at elderly farmers as a new trend.

'Soybeangate’ gets polite treatment at Classic

2009-03-03T19:05:00.000-08:00

The long-standing rift in the soybean industry between the American Soybean Association (ASA) and the United Soybean Board (USB) widened to a canyon in December, when ASA charged USB with misconduct in managing the National Soybean Checkoff. ASA requested a USDA investigation of eight different allegations.

Given the seriousness of the charges, you had to wonder if there wouldn’t be some fireworks at the Commodity Classic last week in Grapevine, Texas.

ASA and USB held press conferences, both of which were well attended by the media, though clearly this was not the kind of press corps that hounded Richard Nixon into a corner. Questions from the press were polite.

Leaders from both groups stuck to a script in which the “soybeangate” topic was kept in the background. Johnny Dodson, ASA president, talked about the group’s successes with the farm bill, biotech development, and exports promotions, among other things. He touted the groups 16% growth in new members this year.

Dodson eventually was questioned about the new American Soybean Federation created by a break-away groups in Minnesota and Missouri. “The federation will just flutter away,” he said. (In a January news release, he was more blunt, calling the action "radical and ill-conceived.”)

Next, John Hoffman, ASA chairman, responding to a question, defended ASA’s actions, saying that “at the end of the day it will be a good thing to restore accountability and transparency” to the checkoff."

At their press conference the next day, USB representatives put the spotlight on their support for new research and other checkoff initiatives. Chuck Myers, USB president and a Nebraska farmer, addressed the controversy indirectly, pointing out that a new producer survey shows 87% support for the checkoff among ASA members.

In a video interview, Myers told me that farmers attending the classic had given him “a lot of feedback, all very supportive."

Asked by another reporter about any tensions felt at the Classic, Myers said, “Everything I have observed has been very cordial.” He described ASA as a host of the annual conference, and USB as a guest at the event.

Soybeangate has been a divisive issue among growers, but for this time and place, people were determined to be polite in public, and maybe that's a start to bridging the big chasm between the two organizations.

What do farm women want?

2009-02-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

Tiffany Nichols knows what she wants in life

The famous question, “What does a woman want?” was asked and left unanswered by Sigmund Freud, and it’s one I can’t pretend to solve either.

But the question matters more than ever to ag journalists, agri-marketers and farmer advisers—all of us who need to communicate with female farmers.

One of the big surprises in the 2007 Census of Agriculture was the growth in the number of farm women. Women classified as "principal operators" increased by almost one third since the ’02 census. There were 306,209 female principal operators counted in 2007, up from 237,819 in 2002. And we know that beyond these primary operators, farm women have significant roles in the management of most of the nation’s farms and ranches.

When it comes to what they want in ag information, farm women appear to be all business, according to a recent Successful Farming magazine survey.

In the survey, farm women ranked 66 topics in the order of their interest. The five most popular topics were:

* Farm tax strategies and estate planning.
* Government farm programs and policy
* Home-based business for farm families
* Farm business management
* Making farms safer for kids/adults.

At face value, this list seems to suggest that women are hungry for information that will make their farms more secure, safe, and prosperous.

A female colleague of mine, a young woman who grew up on a farm, tells me she suspects that these women might be telling us what they think they ought to be reading, that is, that it’s their role to focus on financial security and safety. She points out that the women surveyed say their favorite Successful Farming feature is All Around the Farm, a collection of practical tips from farmers--the same page that is top-rated by all readers.

In the social media space, such as Agriculture Online’s Women in Agriculture forum, you get a little different picture. If you look at the list of discussion group topics there, you’ll see that business issues aren’t entirely ignored. But, recent hot topics include household management tips, food recipes, and personal and family issues.

Looking at the new social network for young and beginning farmers, Farmers for the Future, young women have staked out a lot digital turf on the site, and many of their interests parallel those of the men.

Today, in the network, for example, I found female farmers and ranchers commenting on topics like calving ease, finding land, and shopping for machinery online. Not much on things like recipes and housekeeping.

One young farm woman, Tiffany Nichols, writes in her profile page:

“I am in the process of taking over parts of the farm from my father. My younger brother and I plan to fully take over and grow the operation.”

What do farm women want? For Tiffany, it's the same thing her brother wants: to farm.

'Liquoring up the goat' in Chicago

2009-02-12T08:09:00.000-08:00

Dave Lehman, CME Group research and new product director, talks with farmers at CBOT

A group of about 30 farmers held a get-together in Chicago this week, the third such gathering of Agriculture Online Marketing Talk discussion group members. The farmers called their first social media meet-up two years ago in Des Moines, and held another one there last fall. This was the first trip to Chicago, and featured a visit to the Chicago Board of Trade.

Mike McGinnis, Ag Online’s Chicago bureau chief, organized a floor tour, speakers, and a round table discussion at the commodity exchange.

Most of the farmers had never been to the CBOT, and had been eagerly looking forward to the floor tour in particular. Some brought their spouses, and made the trip a mini-vacation.

Despite the monumental presence of the famous trading floor--the largest financial room in the world--some 80 or 90 percent of futures trading is done electronically these days. You can trade at home, at your office, or even while on vacation. A big question then is whether there will continue to be a bricks-and-mortar exchange where trading is conducted with the traditional open outcry method. The short answer is “yes.” For now.

Some of the farmers commented that the floor wasn’t as noisy as they expected. While a fair number of traders were using small computers in the pits, many were still scratching numbers on cards with a pencil. Parts of the floor did seem relatively quiet, with people staring into computer screens around the edges, rather than shouting orders across a pit. Action in some areas, like the S&P and soybean options pits, seems loud and intense, however.

If there is sometimes a fair amount distrust among farmers toward commodity traders, it wasn’t much in evidence on Monday.

“I even got a new perspective on traders, they have a job to do, and that is important to us farmers,” said an Indiana farmer.

And, basically we were treated like royalty. The CME Group, which now owns the CBOT, allowed us to tour the floor right after the opening bell. They gave us enough time to poke around in groups of ten and get a feel for how trading is done these days. We were afforded use of their boardroom, cafeteria, and afterwards a trader’s club nearby.

While I don’t think farmers and traders will ever quite live on the same planet, it was interesting to see commonalities between the two professions.

Farmers and traders both work in high-pressure, risk-taking environments. They both appear to love their work. Traders seem to have a deep respect for the farming life, and many of them in fact come from the farm, and maintain farming interests.

Finally, there’s the mutual love of earthy language. One farmer wrote in the discussion group about the floor tour: "I heard one trader yelling to his buddy across the pit 'call home and tell them to liquor up the goat.' I think that is slang for 'I just made a bad trade.' "

Farmers know what it’s like to make a bad trade.

‘Fish don’t fart’ and other hot news

2009-02-03T12:39:00.000-08:00

Are these Pennsylvania cows giving off too much gas?

Some days, the world of agricultural news just organizes itself for you.

Today is a good example. The three headlines below all came in the same e-mail document from a service, PR Newswire for Journalists.

What’s curious about the language of press releases sometimes is how certain words and phrases stick in your mind, and I give you these examples:

Revolutionary New Invention Receives World-Wide Attention - Portable Farms

Portable Farms is an invention that will "solve world hunger and poverty" if a lot of people would use it to grow their own tilapia fish and organic vegetables in backyards and basements. The company’s "light-hearted" motto, "Fish don’t fart," makes the point that the technology is designed "to save the world from gas emissions from cattle." It's a big idea, saving the world from hunger with these fish tanks, but I confess that it's the motto that got my attention. Fart is a word you don’t see much in the farm press, even though a fair amount of it takes place in the countryside.

New Farm Odor Management Regulations to Take Effect

Because farm animals do fart, and otherwise behave biologically, the state of Pennsylvania is enacting new regulations for livestock facilities that will "help minimize the potential for conflicts between neighbors." The program involves an "odor site index."

But, here's the part that caught my eye: The new regs "help minimize conflict between those not accustomed to farm odors and the agricultural producers working to meet our increasing world food needs." This index may be all we have these days to keep agriculture part of the busy countryside. No longer are good fences enough to make good neighbors. But I’m also getting a picture in my mind of some fellow in tassel-loafers tip-toeing around a feedlot sniffing the wind, trying to fashion his odor site index, which may smell a lot different than, well, your and my idea of smell.

The EntreTech Forum Presents... Greening Of America - The Conversion of Bio-Agriculture, Bio-Energy, and Bio-Products to Eco-Sustainable Businesses

I’ve read this headline several times, and am still finding it a little hard to digest. It's explained in the release that this "Triple Bio" play of bio-agriculture, bio-energy, and bio-products is leading us to a Bio-Economy, in our "national quest for energy independence and sustainability." Maybe it’s just all the high-fiber hyphenated words that make this language hard to chew. Bio-agriculture, we learn, is "a suite of concepts, practices and technologies which capitalize on biological processes to maximize resource conservation and resource-use." That's a mouthful, too.

And now it would seem we have come full circle....

Ridin' along with the young folks

2009-01-29T06:47:00.000-08:00

Brady and Melissa Smith are hoping to farm full-time

I tell you what, it’s a weird feeling sometimes to realize that you're about the same age as the average for U.S. farmers—58.

What makes me feel about 25 again is spending some time in the new social network, Farmers for the Future.

Agriculture Online started this group last fall, but the network stems from a long-standing Successful Farming magazine feature on young and beginning farmers, as well as a micro website and an e-mail newsletter.

The mix of farmers in the network demonstrates the diversity of agriculture in this country. You can find young families taking over good-sized operations from their parents. There are back-to-the-land people who are exploring new niches, like organic crops and free-range livestock. And there are aspiring aggies who are working in town and scraping together some kind of stake in the land.

If you ever wonder about the resiliency of American agriculture, just take a look at even a small selection of their photo galleries. It's fascinating to see how some folks favor their machinery, others their kids, the livestock, crops, beautiful country scenery, and, yes, just a snapshot of you takin' off on a motorcyle with your baby on the back.

Topics in the forums and blogs today give you a flavor of what’s on tap in the “electronic coffeeshop:" marketing, input costs, family matters, fixing equipment, getting started, government programs, and, of course, the future.

One of my favorite features is a new blog by Brady Smith, who writes on farm life and his work in town. His journal reminds you that the drama on the farm is not always in the big debates and issues of the day, but in the chores and routines of daily life.

'Serious' gardening in tough times

2009-01-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

People have tomatoes in mind this winter

Jim Snyder, a Michigan farmer, may have captured an emerging trend of our times in his recent Farmers for the Future blog post, where he wrote: "Seed catalogs have been pouring in and we are busy planning this year’s gardens. Gardening has taken on a more serious nature due to the economy."

Doug Jimerson, gardening editor for our big sister site, Better Homes and Gardens , tells me that this new seriousness about gardening is real.

"Actually we do predict a big uptick in gardening, in particular, food gardening," he says. "We've been also hearing from many seed suppliers that sales of veggie seeds are on a big upswing."

Our company research indicates not only that vegetable gardening is one of the big trends this year, Jimerson says, but also that the number one appliance being sold is freezers.

In early returns from an Agriculture Online poll on the topic, half of respondents say they will be growing a bigger garden this year.

"With this economy, you can bet on more and bigger gardens," one farmer wrote in response to the poll. "We finally tilled up a spot near the house and planted our first garden here last year. Wondered why we didn't do it sooner!"

If it's a little hard to imagine Americans actually relying on their gardens in tough economic times, well, the idea takes me back to the farms and small town of my childhood, where it seemed everyone grew a big backyard garden and many folks canned and froze food. Back then, people were still mindful of war-time shortages and their rural roots.

Another example I’ve seen of hard times sending people to the garden was in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In visiting a number of Russian farms where reliable input suppliers and markets had dried up, I saw cellars full of beautiful home-grown produce, enough to feed the farms through about three long Russian winters it seemed. Nobody was looking to Moscow for help.

This January, people must already be thinking spring. The top-clicked page in Edible Gardening on our big-sister site is Tips for Starting Tomatoes.

I think tomatoes are my favorite garden vegetable. I’m going to grow more of them this year.

Ten 'blink' predictions for '09

2009-01-06T05:58:00.000-08:00

Ted and Melissa Miller of Pennsylvania are a good news story for agriculture.

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book, Blink, says that our best thinking can arise in an instant--"the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye." I thought I'd give it a try for this exercise, while dialing in the optimistic side of my mind.

So, here goes, my blink predictions for 2009:

1. The economy will get better. And it will happen faster than people now believe. Why? People are tiring of gloom and doom. Our institutions are designed to work, not to shut down, just like farmers plant crops every year no matter what.

2. The weather will be better this spring than last. How could it be any worse?

3. The commodity markets will pull off some pleasant surprises. It's all part of this new era of volatility. But if anyone really knew when the rallies would occur, they'd be at a beach now.

4. USDA will be more farmer friendly. Don't be surprised to see the big bureau offer new initiatives for helping farmers start new enterprises, generate energy, and find new markets.

5. More opportunities for young and beginning farmers. This is the year when the big generational transfer will hit full stride. At winter farm shows, you'll see more people pushing baby strollers than holding canes and leaning on walkers. Check out the Farmers for the Future social network for a sense of this direction.

6. A new communications era will take shape. Mobile devices and online social networking will continue to redefine how we communicate with each other. Your friends' friends will become your friends.

7. Farmers will get greener. New crop production technologies, such as auto guidance and RTK networks, are entering the mainstream and are helping farmers conserve inputs, reduce field operations, and improve yields.

8. Bigger niche opportunities will grow in livestock. Demand for speciality production will expand, as consumers continue to shop for, and pay more for, meats grown under specific requirements--organic, grass-fed, free-range, breed specific, etc. The Miller family story is a good example here.

9. Global understanding will improve. U.S. farmers will learn more about their counterparts in South America, Europe, and Asia, as idea exchanges grow out of new communications technologies and international exhibitions, like the new AG CONNECT Expo in Orlando.

10. The future will stay in the future. For all the agonizing that's occured over the last months about the state of the global economy, we'll all continue to live in the eternal present, and generally avoid all the nasty predictions offered up by gloomy economists and pundits.

Ten top ideas of '08

2008-12-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

Kent Hubbert shows filtration system for subsurface drip irrigation

In my job at Successful Farming and Agriculture Online I have the privilege of being exposed to a lot of ideas from farmers, companies and colleagues. From my travels and desktop hopping, here are ten ideas that struck me as important this year. Please feel free to add your own ideas.

1. Tech clothes for farmers
I started wearing "active moisture management technology" t-shirts for exercise last summer, and found I stayed a lot drier and cooler. This type of clothing is made from material that draws sweat away from the skin and spreads it out over your body to evaporate better and keep you cooler. Same technology exists for socks, jackets and other work clothes for farmers.

http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1210799599376.xml

2. Auto shutoff on planter
It’s just one example of the new auto-everything technology for the field, but I visited a several farms this summer where farmers made a bit of a point telling me how much they liked these systems for shutting off the planter at the end rows.

http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1203976615298.xml&bcpid=1430551123&bclid=1432781673&bctid=1849009648

3. Subsurface drip irrigation
Irrigation tape is buried in field on 60 widths, 14 to 16 inches deep in the soil. A Nebraska farmer told me that he was figuring a five-to-seven year payback on the techonology and was seeing 60 percent fuel and water savings with the system.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1430551123/bclid1432781673/bctid1589586911

4. Shift up and throttle back
This is probably old hat to most farmers, but it was good reinforcement to see this practice demonstrated at the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory this summer, using the newest, biggest tractors and testing equipment. PTO and drawbar tests on tractors proved again that by shifting up and throttling back, you can maintain your power output and save fuel in the process, according to Dave Morgan, assistant director of the lab.

http://www.agriculture.com/AGOL-TV/?cid=507869917&lid=1387524744&tid=1589625225

5. Top Shops
Farmer ideas for designing and improving their farm shops are some of the most popular features on Agriculture Online. Results from a new Top Shops contest are being featured on the site currently. And, the Top Shops TV segment on the Machinery Show, hosted by Dave Mowitz, is the linchpin of the RFD cable network program.

http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1226510126138.xml

6. Ag Connect Expo
A new global farm machinery expo was announced this summer that could change the playing field in farm shows. The first show, slated for January 10-12 in Orlando, promises new, high-tech ways for farmers to connect with companies at the event. And, Ag Connect will appeal to the whole family. Sponsored by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the expo has a target of 700 exhibitors, 20,000 visitors in 250,000 square feet of space.

http://insideag.blogspot.com/2008/08/stealing-show.html

7. Cover crops on the rise
Cover crops, such as annual ryegrass, are making a comeback in the Corn Belt, according to Dan Towery, Ag Conservation Solutions, Lafayette, Indiana. At a visit to an Indiana farm using cover crops this summer, Towery told me that annual ryegrass is being grown on more than 400,000 acres in the Midwest. No-tillers are reporting increased corn yields from 20 to 50 bushels per acre, even in dry years, he said. Other cover crops demonstrating good potential include hairy vetch, crimson clover and red clover, according to Penn State research.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1430551123/bclid1432781673/bctid1849009648

8. Harvesting corn cobs
The ethanol maker, POET, announced in November it was gearing up to generate 25 million gallons of ethanol from corn cobs, starting in 2011. The Sioux Falls-based company wants to start contracting with farmers to harvest cobs as early as 2009 and expects it to be able to pay farmers between $30 and $60 per ton for the by-product. At a recent Iowa event, about a dozen farm equipment companies demonstrated the latest technology for harvesting corn cobs.

http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1226090131944.xml

9. Social networking
Social media sites like Facebook and MySpace are overhauling the Internet, as people continue to replace e-mail, TV, and portal Web sites with these networking experiences. The Farmers for the Future social network, launched only a couple months ago, already has more than 500 members who are doing a great job of sharing ideas, video, photos and friendship.

http://www.farmersforthefuture.com

10. Twitpic
People sometimes kind of snicker when I mention that I like to use the microblogging tool, Twitter. Twitpic is an application that enables you to post photos and text to Twitter. I used the app last summer to update my blog and Web site, needing only my cell phone’s camera and a phone call to Twitpic. Pretty cool to do that straight from a combine cab while talking to a farmer.

http://www.twitpic.com/f7it

Returning to the earth

2008-11-16T08:05:00.001-08:00

Lane to the old Betke place

The wheel tracks captured in Linda Welsch’s painting once led to a busy farmstead in Buffalo County, Nebraska. What Linda painted this fall looks a lot more like the land before farmers plowed the plains, maybe a little like the wagon wheel tracks of the Oregon trail near here. (Click to see larger.)

At the height of its farm history, the Betke place featured a sturdy two-story farm house, a big red barn, a fleet of machinery, a large garden, and a thriving generation of German-stock farmers. The Betkes grew corn, milo, wheat and alfalfa. They kept a cow herd, pigs, poultry, and a small beef feedlot. The farmstead had a chicken house, a wash house, a duck house, a feed bin, a granary, a machine shop, a windmill, cattle pens, and a cow shed—all those fixtures of the mixed grain and livestock farm in the twentieth century.

A tornado about twenty years ago took most of buildings. The grinding of time changed the farm’s future. At one time, an Extension agent advised me to drill a well in the middle of this quarter section and irrigate it with a pivot. Another adviser, from the soil conservation agency, told me I should install better terraces.

Those two clumps of trees you see in the painting are about all that remains of my grandparents’ farm. The one on the left flanked the farmstead, the other is a windbreak they planted after the Dust Bowl.

Today, much of the quarter is enrolled in CRP, the rest is native pasture and dryland corn and beans. A young farmer from up the road keeps an eye on the place, plants the crops, and tends the cows.

As I look at how Linda saw the farm in this painting, it settles my heart. I miss the old folks and that bustling farm. But I also see more clearly what underlies our daily lives in agriculture: the land, the sky, and the path home.

About Linda Hotovy Welsch: Linda has been a friend to Successful Farming for years. We have long admired her paintings portraying the people and landscapes of the rural Midwest. She lives on a farm in central Nebraska with Roger Welsch, the acclaimed writer, folklorist, tractor collector and Native American expert. Linda issues an occasional e-mail newsletter, “field notes” to a few friends. I’ve assembled a few of her most recent works, along with some of her informal comments on the paintings, in a Flickr photo gallery, Linda's paintings. You can view a wider selection of her paintings on a Successful Farming Web page, Linda's Art Page.

The young lions of ag

2008-11-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

Dustin Marolf

One of the things I noticed in several cross-country farm tours this year is that the generational transfer of the family farm is really starting to take hold. In a number of cases, you could see that the older farmer in the operation was stepping into the background and letting the younger member take the limelight. This was a little bit the case on the Marolf farm in eastern Iowa, for example. Jerry, the father, seemed plenty content to let Dustin give me a tour of their operation. Obviously, they were both plenty capable and articulate. But young Dustin did the talkin'.

I was at a Kansas farm in June to shoot video for our cable TV show of one of the winners of our All Around the Farm Idea of the Month. Cody Zabel, who had just graduated from high school (as valedictorian), was the winning inventor, and his mom and dad had just left the whole business for him to deal with. Earlier that day, he'd been putting up hay. When we arrived at the farm, he was tearing into a truck motor. Clearly, Cody was already stepping into some big shoes on this top-notch operation.

If you look at the new Farmers for the Future social network, you get a feel for the new faces that are emerging out on the land. They give off a kaleidoscope of impressions. The photography section shows scenes of farm work, favorite farm machinery, favored farm animals, young children, goofy scenes of guys doing guy things, and beautiful farmscapes. Check out the slideshow view, and I think you'll see what I mean. The sense I get is one of a strong, young people ready to take the reins of agriculture.

Who can't but welcome these young folks into the world's most important industry? And it's good to see the older folks letting them have at it.

In praise of barn cats

2008-10-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

I started thinking about farm cats recently when our middle-aged house cat, Tuffy, was diagnosed with diabetes. Jeepers, where did that come from? Of course, we're going to try to take care of him, but there was a part of me that questioned whether I was going too far in intervening in nature. I wondered what would happen if old Tuff were a barn cat?

Well, he might get a little extra feed and water. But how likely is it that he would get insulin shots twice a day?

I don't know how this thing with our cat will pan out, but I have to admit that darn cat is part of the family, and we aren't going to stand by and do nothing.

The incident started me thinking about the place of farm cats on the farmstead totem pole. In a recent Agriculture Online poll, dogs were the run-away winner in the farmer's vote for most useful animal.

Seems like cats earn their keep, don't they? They patrol rodent populations, they bring a certain dignity to the place with their calm demeanor, and they can pretty much fend for themselves. What's a dog do to earn its elevated status? Bark at the moon and chase cars? Yet dogs get to ride in the pickup, appear in seed corn commercials, and maybe even pose in the family Christmas card photo.

By the way, check out that farm animal poll, and you'll see there are some other nominations for our appreciation. There's the horse, of course. But anybody keeping mules? Says one farmer, "If it weren't for the mules we wouldn't be farmin'." Or what about guineas? Great for tick control, as well as eggs, one farmer says.

What animal do you think is most useful around the farm?

The real hard times

2008-10-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

My grandparents, Otto and Alma Betke

In a new Agriculture Online poll, farmers express major concern about the ag economy. Uncertain times it is out on the land as well as on Wall Street and Main Street.

The financial meltdown we've all been living through, drawing comparisons to the Great Depression and other worst-ever scenarios, has had me thinking about personal roots and old stories of hard times.

My greatest heroes are my grandparents, Otto and Alma Betke, who farmed through the Depression and the Dust Bowl in Buffalo County, Nebraska. Grandpa once told me what it was like during the Dust Bowl days, one year to have the entire wheat harvest be two sacks of grain. "That's all we took to town," he said, shaking his head.

In the picture above, taken in another tough year, Otto and Alma were pretty proud of their wagon load of corn. Their faces are wind burned, and they look dog tired, but they took the time to pose with an artistic touch, getting their German shepherd to hold an ear of corn in his mouth. Picking corn by hand was always one of the toughest jobs on the farm, I'm told. Here is what the real hard times look like, and the folks took some passing pleasure in their humble harvest.

I don't think the Betkes ever looked to town for a financial bailout. They planted windbreaks, tilled a bigger garden, and expanded their eggs-and-butter business. They faithfully planted their crops until the good times returned.

So when I start worrying about the current financial crisis, I try to remember to take a look over at this picture in my office and remind myself what real hard times look like. The Betkes got through it, and lived long, happy lives. So will we, I suspect.

Eternal search for land and cattle

2008-09-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

Starting out in this business many years ago by writing for a purebred cattle magazine, I discovered early on how many cattle operations are based on outside money or inherited capital. Lots of the leading breeders were from other industries. I wrote stories about engineers, airplane pilots, and doctors who were raising cattle as a sideline, tax writeoff, or hobby. Prosperous farmers had purebred cattle, too.

So, now when I hear the questions from young and beginning farmers and ranchers about how to get more land, and get started in cattle, you think, well, maybe you just as well ask how do you get rich. Or what is the meaning of life?

Two discussion threads in Agriculture Online this week explore the knotty questions of how you rent more land and how you make money in cattle.

On the land question, well, the tips include:

* Marry a woman who owns 1,500 acres.
* Put an ad in the paper.

There is also this bit of advice:

"Other than offering more money for cash rent, there are some in our areas trying a base cash rent with a share in any excess bushels for the landlord when the yield per acre is above a set trigger number. Some of the local landowners in our area are renting for your choice of $375/A paid up front or 75 bushels of dry corn delivered to the elevator of the landlord's choice."

Add your two cents in Farm Business Talk

On the cattle question, "Is there money in cattle," a would-be cattleman is given a good range of advice:

* Base the operation of direct marketing to consumer.

* Take it slow while you learn the cattle business and figure out where your energy level is. The energy you have determines a lot about the size and type of your operation unless you're rich and can hire everything done.

* Watch your costs closely and feed byproducts when possible to cut those costs.

* Find someone who will let you work with them to learn cattle. You should find out real fast it that is the animal for you. Then if you're still interested, look into using rotational grazing for your operation.

* Start small. But be big enough to get your feet wet. Just don't be so big that if you screw up it will break you.

* Don't skimp on the quality of the cattle. Work with a reputable dealer or go to an auction where you can buy a straight load or half a load of good quality cattle from one owner. This will save you a lot of the headaches of health problems.

* Buy yearling cattle, not fresh weaned calves, again because of the health.

* Small operations need to lock in profitability via futures or option hedges. Otherwise, you are just playing chicken with the market, given the wide swings in prices from week to week.

Have anything to add? Join the discussion: Is there money in cattle?

Where pretty comes with a payoff

2008-09-18T08:46:00.001-07:00

What's to learn from small farms in Austria and Slovenia, pretty as picture post cards, but seemingly not much more productive than a typical hobby farm in North America?

As a visitor to the Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, which concluded in Portoroz, Slovenia, this week, I came away with several main impressions of Europe's smaller-scale agriculture. Take a tour and see if you agree.

* Farmers as "park rangers." Several top farms we visited were receiving at least half their revenue, one 70%, from government subsidies--mainly for taking care of the countryside. Europe wants its farms to remain picturesque and has put stewardship of the countryside on par with food production.

* Dual purpose cattle still rule the mountains. The dual purpose, meat and milk Simmental breed make up 80% of Austria's beef herd. Farms I visited demonstrated the demand for locally branded meat, sometimes with an organic label. An alpine farm we toured is getting 2,000 Euros for a 10- 12-month-old Simmental beefer sold direct to consumers. Exchange rate that day: 1.6 dollars. Do the math.

* Decoupling is liberating. In getting payments that aren't tied to a certain commodities, Euro farmers appear to be much more free than their U.S. counterparts to explore new crops and enterprises. Some are cashing in on the appeal of their farms for tourism and premium-priced products.

* Agritourism is a growing gold mine. In the tiny country of Slovenia alone, there are some 500 tourist farms. The ones we visited looked highly prosperous, propped up by subsidies and a growing desire by city folk to experience the authenticity of farm life. People are looking for "slow food" and a relaxing life, said one Slovenian.

* Authenticity is in high demand. Central Europeans appear to want their agriculture to weave the past with the present, the practical with the traditional. They want red-and-white cows, traditional fences, heritage fruits and vegetables, and unspoiled agricultural vistas. And, they're willing to pay for it through premium prices and federal funding.

* Small is beautiful. European Union ag leaders don't seem to see globalization as a get-big-or-get-out trend. Franz Fischler, former EU Commissioner for Agriculture, told me that "we don't all have to do everything the same under globalization. Small farms and environmental stewardship are desirable, too. We can have all kinds of farms in the world."

Farmers: The original social network

2008-08-28T07:01:00.001-07:00

Frank Lechtenberg, Nebraska farmer, founder of Marketing Talk Meeting

The most fascinating corner of communications technology these days is social media --Web 2.0 community applications like Facebook, MySpace, Ning, and Twitter. These sites share the goal of enabling people to network on the Web through user profiles, friends lists, private messaging, discussion groups, photo/video sharing and other tools.

Farmers have been Web 2.0 guys since the plow broke the plains, though. Being far flung in their businesses, they've always found venues of interaction--threshing bees, barn dances, church socials, going to town on Saturday night and just talking across the fence.

Rachel Happe, an analyst with Mzinga, a Boston-based builder of Web comunities, told me on Twitter recently that she admires the way farmers always have developed social networks. "Farm communities were the original social networks and my grandmother [Elizabeth Koester, Batesville, Indiana] was one of the hubs. Although she doesn't know Twitter, it's a dynamic she would understand. Farming communities were the original social networks as everyone needed each other."

A twist on Web networking is the tie-in of an actual face-to-face meeting. That's what farmers on Agriculture Online did a year ago, when they called a meeting of folks who participate in the Marketing Talk discussion group. It was quite a deal to watch farmers from seven or eight states get together face to face who had only known each other through the Web. Agriculture Online hosted the meeting, but basically stood aside and let the farmers/marketers carry the agenda.

Marketing Talk members will be meeting again next week in Des Moines, after another farmer, Chris Weydert, an Iowan, raised the idea of a reunion last month.

Last year, you got the sense that these guys learned about as much from each other as they could have from all the marketing experts in the country. There's nothing like networking with one's peers to get a bigger picture of the world.

We're looking forward to Marketing Talk II next week, Wednesday, September 3.

Here's where you can get more details about the event. Marketing Talk Meeting. If you're interested, there's still room for a few more folks.

Farmers' close calls: A split second gone bad

2008-08-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

SMV signs mean slow down

A farmer started a discussion thread in Machinery Talk last week that needs some attention--some bold attention, like flashing lights and an ambulance siren.

I found it downright scary to read some of the "war stories" these guys tell, but do go ahead and read them for yourself: Machinery Talk.

Maybe these messages will save your life, or at least a few fingers. There are stories of near-death experiences, broken bones, smashed fingers, crushed feet, etc. And remember, these are from the guys who have lived to tell their stories--and who can still type.

Here's one example:

"The first year I was making large square bales of corn fodder the pickup plugged and I got off the tractor with the PTO running and pushed the stalks with my foot. In a split second my foot was grabbed by the stalks and I was pulled towards the stuffer fingers. I remember thinking so this is how I am going to die...."

Note the phrase, "in a split second." That's how it always seems to be in these stories, things go bad in an instant.

Here's another one to show you how it goes:

"I left [the big round baler] running when I got out of the tractor to check the strings on the previously made bale. As I was walking back, I noticed that there was a small wad of hay clinging to the frame, and I sort of unconsciously/reflexively swatted at it with my hand, to knock it off. Next thing I knew, my hand was sucked into the belt...."

Again, all in the blink of an eye.

Here's some of what's dangerous on the farm, according to gleanings from the Machinery Talk discussion:

* Getting high off the ground.

* Putting your hands around unprotected moving parts.

* Any piece of equipment that isn't working right.

* Servicing/fixing grain storage facilities--beware dryers and silos.

* Livestock behaving badly.

* Trying to do stuff with brute force.

It seems that one thing we need to learn to do before performing just about any chore on the farm is to pause, take a deep breath, and just spend a moment considering what we're about to do.

Harvest season is one of the most dangerous times of the year, safety experts say. Vow not to let that "split second" get you.

Windshield tour: No bin buster here

2008-08-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Soybeans in central Iowa, 8/14

Back in June, there was concern that the world would face food shortages because of flood damage to Midwest crops. But, this week, USDA reported that farmers now are on track to harvest the second largest corn crop and fourth largest soybean crop in history. What a turn-around--from food shortages to bin buster in less than two months. Yes, weather has been ideal, crop experts and meteorologists say. But is there more to the story than the USDA numbers?

USDA's reporting system, routinely criticized by some farmers, seems about as scientific as such a process can be--it's based primarily on phone interviews of 29,500 producers. In June, USDA agents even went back to 8,910 tracts in the Midwest to document the impacts of flooding on planted acreage and harvest intentions.

Windshield tours are a kind of sport for farmers. You really can't tell all that much from the road. But what does it mean when a whole bunch of farmers are starting to see the same thing?
My picture here was taken of a field I've been watching since the heavy rains inundated the ground last spring. It's about a mile east of the Des Moines River, and a mile north of I-80, pretty much smack dab in the middle of Iowa and the Corn Belt. It shows an area of late soybeans that were planted in a drowned-out corner of a corn field. As you can see, the planting got doused a second time. In central Iowa, you can find a lot of areas that look like this--late planted crops racing to get under the frost finish line. (Here are some other views from my tour this morning; it ain't pretty: August 14 tour.)

According to farmers in Marketing Talk, windshield tours from around the country are revealing a host of problems for Midwest corn and soybeans: spotty stands, heavy weed and insect pressure, disease, and so on. Others are reporting a crop that has shown great resiliency: "Cool wet start, and this crop sure looks like it's trying to finish out like normal," said one farmer in the discussion.

We all know these road tours are just a kind of talk show before the big game involving combines this fall. Maybe, though, the discussion helps us better understand the drama we've seen this year. And one thing seems sure: "Rough ride when combines start rolling no matter who is right," as one farmer put it.

Twice you're good

2008-08-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

Sarah Lacy

Last weekend, Sarah Lacy, author of the new book Once You're lucky, Twice You're Good (The rebirth of Silicon Valley and the rise of Web 2.0), came to Des Moines to talk about her book and the lastest goings-on in Silicon Valley. Her book focuses on the entrepreneurs who built the Web (1.0) and those who are now creating Web 2.0, the technologies that are spawning all the new tools of social networking--products like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

I haven't read the book yet, but Sarah offered a number of thoughts that have stuck in my mind:

* The big wheels in Silicon Valley are mostly from the Midwest, have hard-core work ethics, and are still on the move. For example, Marc Andreessen, born in Iowa and raised in Wisconsin, co-developed the first big Web browser, and recently co-founded Ning, a platform for social networking.

* Many of the new entrepreneurs are not computer language coders, like the guys who built Microsoft and Netscape. They are creative people with a big idea.

* Web 2.0 is spawning a new work culture in which many more people are self-employed, using tools like Facebook and Twitter to make contacts and drive business.

* Social networking gives us the capability to stay in touch with everyone we know, or at least want to stay in touch with, starting for kids in kindergarten.

* Venture capitalists, who funded so much of Web 1.0, are often getting cut out of the 2.0 action.

* Web 2.0 means as much to people in places like Des Moines and Omaha as it does to San Franciscans. There's no reason that the next big thing can't be invented right down the street here, Sarah says.

* The smart guys in Silicon Valley still draw out ideas on napkins.

* Web 3.0 is still totally unimaginable. Will it have something to do with new ways of connecting people? Mobile maybe? (Mobile still has fundamental software problems, Sarah believes.)

What does Web 2.0 have to do with agriculture? This year, with all the new bubbling up of social media, reminds me a lot of 1995, when many of us took to the Web on Marc Andreessen's first Mosaic browser. How much did the Web change farming? As much as paved roads and the telephone? The next couple years, I believe, will bring similar, dramatic changes in how we communicate, conduct business, and enjoy life.

Stealing the show

2008-08-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Bob Schnell, Farm Equipment Manufacturing Association, announces new farm show

The announcement of the new Ag Connect Expo stole the show at the Ag Media Summit this week in Tampa, Florida. A big banner touting its sponsoring organization, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), hung over the entrance to the Summit's InfoExpo, a trade show for the annual meeting of the nation's agricultural journalists.

Ag Connect had the prime booth space and attracted journalists from all the top farm media organizations. From all appearances, the Expo folks hit it out of the park with their big announcement. A long line of interviewers heard about the show's features: a goal of attracting 20,000 producers and 700 plus exhibitors covering 250,000 square feet of space "displaying the latest in equipment, technology and services." The show will debut in Orlando in January 2010.
But why another big farm show? We already have Louisville, Tulare, the Sun Belt, Farm Progress and others.

The U.S. needs a show with an international focus, and farmers can be better served with new farm show technology, including a card system that will enable data and info exchanges between farmer and manufacturer, organizers said. Orlando no doubt would double as a family vacation for both U.S. and international visitors. And, what else? Will AEM be a better organizer of a farm show than its competitors? Will they provide better services to manufacturers and the show goers? Their success in the construction industry says this group is well equipped to run equipment shows.

A new poll on Agriculture Online, however, suggests some early ambivalence about the need for a new show. "January is pretty full on the show schedule right now up north," said one comment to the poll. "Then there is the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville every February, which seems to get bigger each year. Who is the target market for this new show?"

Based on the impressive media performance, there is going to be a lot of firepower behind this show. It will be interesting to see how big it gets to be come January 2010.

Give us our cheaper bread

2008-07-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

December corn futures fall off the table

In his new Agriculture Online column this week, Market Analyst Ray Grabanski points out that corn prices have fallen by more than $2 in recent weeks, before hitting bottom this week.

Even the crude oil market now appears that it finally formed its high, having dropped from $145 to $124/barrel, Grabanski says. "It's possible we have formed not only our yearly highs, but perhaps even decade highs in crude oil, wheat, and corn in the past few months," he writes.

Wow, think about that--decade highs. And now if commodity prices are coming back to earth, where is the point where prices break for a loaf of bread or a tank of gas?

Farmers, who have been battered by consumers, the media, environmentalists and other activists for participating in these prices, are skeptical. In a Marketing Talk discussion, Great for the country," one farmer comments: " And you can just feel the relief all across America now that corn has fallen 25% and stores everywhere will be marking down the price on nearly all items. As corn was going up, it was rising corn prices that were the root evil cause of nearly every rising cost in the news. Even popcorn at the theatres can come back down now. Woohoo!"

Country rockers & city salsa

2008-07-16T11:49:00.001-07:00

Remember that ad a while back for some kind of salsa? A Texas cowboy jumps up in horror to find out that his jar came from New York City. "NEW YORK CITY!" all the cowboys around the camp fire shout in alarm.

Hey, we're kind of feeling like those cowboys that the Farm Aid benefit concert this fall is going to be held out East again, this time in a Boston suburb. Last year the event was held in NEW YORK CITY, and the year before in Camden, New Jersey.

Yeah, the good people of NYC and Boston should be enlisted to support family farms. But, jeepers, most farmers left the poor rocky soils of New England a couple hundred years ago and headed west to homestead.

If Farm Aid wants to keep in touch with most of the nation's mainstream farmers, how about getting back out west of the Hudson River again sometime soon? And the foodie rhetoric is starting to seem like city salsa to me. Tone it down a little at least--we can have a safe, healthy food supply without every portion being organic and boutiquey, can't we?

In announcing the date yesterday, co-founder John Mellancamp said, "New England was built on the strength of independent family farmers. We can honor that independent spirit by joining Farm Aid to grow the movement that is changing the way all of America eats." Changing the way all of America eats? So again, a hot dog will be hard to find at Farm Aid. Corporate sponsors are Silk Soymilk and Horizon Organics.

Mellencamp, Neil, Willie and the boys: When you're done in Boston, come out west and get some mud on your boots again.

Help us figure out the farm bill

2008-07-11T13:57:00.001-07:00

This week a group of agricultural economists met in Kansas City to discuss how they were going to explain the farm bill. Does that sound a little ominous?

In his news story about the meeting, Agriculture Online Business Editor Dan Looker referred to the new bill as one that "may be the most complicated farm program yet."

It has some familiar features, he says, including the old safety net of loan deficiency payments, counter-cyclical payments and direct payments.

But there are some new acronyms in the thing, including ACRE, (average crop revenue election) which you can sign up for next year. There is also SURE (supplemental revenue assistance payments) which becomes the new permanent disaster program for farmers. And there is EQIP, and CSP, and so on.

This week USDA said it will allow producers who would otherwise be ineligible for the new disaster assistance programs to become eligible by paying a fee, so that's another new wrinkle. Earlier, we learned that some deadlines are out of synch with SURE, so that a special signup will be necessary.

Head starting to hurt? There's lots of talkage to process through the grinder of clear understanding.

A new poll and discussion gives you the chance to tell us what you most want to know about the new farm bill. Chip in with your vote and comments here: What part of the farm bill would you most like to learn more about?

'Can't get adjusted to these prices'

2008-07-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

Smaller equipment getting closer look?

There's a good story in the Agriculture Online Farm Business forum this week:

"Many, many years ago a good friend of mine bought some ear corn from an old farmer. After loading it we went to a local mill to weigh it and pay the old farmer. After getting it weighed the mill employee told the old farmer 'That will be $0.50 for weighing the truck.' The old farmer stood there a minute and grudgingly dug down in his pocket for the money. While doing this and shaking his head he said the words I will never forget: 'I just can't get adjusted to these prices.' My friend and I have laughed about this for many years. Sad to say I now know how the old farmer felt. Prices have changed so much for what we sell and buy that it is almost impossible to feel confident in the decisions you make. "

Funny, sad story, but true, eh? Crop producers are taking it on the chin with input prices, and livestock farmers with feed costs. And, everyone is getting hammered by high fuel prices.

In another discussion group thread, farmers list ways they're cutting back on fuel and other energy costs. The thing that struck me the most about this conversation is how much farmers are changing vehicles--using smaller cars and pickups, motor scooters, and even golf carts to replace bigger rigs for chores and local transportation.

Check out the whole list of tips: Farm Business Talk.

Old tractors as fine art

2008-07-02T06:25:00.000-07:00

When I see a well-restored antique tractor it makes me think of a work of art. The farmers and other folks who tend to this avocation of tractor restoration are like artists in many ways--dedicated, visionary, and talented in an almost unearthly way. It boggles my mind to see a before picture of a rusty old hulk of iron drug out of a windbreak somewhere, then restored to a shining beauty of a machine that looks like it just rolled out of the factory.

For example, check out this one, a sweet John Deere A, which I spotted on the Larry Zimbelmann farm, near Milford, Nebraska last month.

Paintings of antique tractors, though, well, I wasn't so sure.... until Linda Welsch, a Nebraska artist, e-mailed me a photo of a piece she's been working on for a friend. That's it above, an Allis-Chalmers, 1940s vintage.

Linda worked from photos provided by the owner, a Nebraska AGCO dealer. "I drew it freehand from the photo in oil paint, let it dry and each night brought it in the house for Rog [that would be Roger, her famous husband] to look at and tell me if all the parts were in the right place, since I didn't know a carburetor from a gas tank. I was only drawing the shapes I saw."

I think you got the shapes right, Linda. Indeed. Thanks for sharing.

Oh, and what does Ol' Rog think? "Tractors aren't so much art, having been manufactured after all, but they ARE artifacts. Linda's painting has turned this one into art."

Some of Linda's earlier works can be seen here: Linda Welsch's art page.

Also, I'm enjoying one of her recent pieces: Loup River.

Open up CRP?

2008-06-24T11:40:00.001-07:00

CRP land on my family farm in Nebraska

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley recently proposed opening up the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) as a way to replace some of the cropland capacity lost from flooding in Iowa and elsewhere in the Midwest. A good idea? Not, say the majority of farmers taking an Agriculture Online poll.

In comments to the poll, you'll find a diverse set of opinions. Said one farmer: "There will be little benefit to crop production this year by opening it up so it wouldn't serve much purpose." Others are opposed for another reason: "All that land is HEL [highly erodible land] and probably needs to stay in CRP."

In a news story this week, Agriculture Online reported that Ag Secretary Ed Schafer is mulling over a decision on what to do with CRP land in the 2009 crop year. One hopes that he will carefully consider the long-term impacts of such a decision, and realize that people out on the land may see this differently than Washington politicians, including Grassley. The CRP certainly is not the answer to all of our soil and water conservation problems, and it is not the answer to what ails us now on cropland.

Answer is blowin' in the wind

2008-06-10T11:57:00.001-07:00

Grain bins, and former grain bins, Buffalo County, NE

We had just spent a week on the road, starting from Des Moines, Iowa, zig-zagging across western Iowa, northwest Missouri, half of Nebraska, northern Kansas and back home again--a route like a lariat trying to catch the wind. The Crop Tech Tour is a free-wheeling, season-long look at how newer production technologies are performing in-season, and in real time, so to speak.

We saw farmers using an array of practices--plant genetics, precision ag, energy and labor savings inventions, and so on. The inventiveness of the American farmer is a boundless topic, one that deserves a year-round tour bus, with a tag-team of journalists. On this trip, it was just my brother and me, wielding video and photo equipment, hoping to capture some bits of what it's like to be farming in this challenging year.

The weather trumped the technology last week. At just about every farm where we stopped, somebody had a story about the tough conditions this spring--hail, high winds, heavy rains, flooding, you name it. Despite all the planning, equipment, and skill used by farmers, it is the weather that has the last word. We all know that. But, every spring is a reminder.

By Kearney, Nebraska, we had endured several big storms and seen pivot irrigation units and grain bins twisted up and pitched across fields like discarded farm toys. Our rental car was pock-marked by hail.

But the worst was yet to come.

On Thursday, we stopped at a Kansas farm that had just been destroyed by a tornado. There, Maureen Pfizenmaier described to us in a video interview how she felt seeing her farm in shambles. All of a sudden, through her amazing composure, it was as if we were seeing through to some larger truth. Some days, we can simply only witness the larger forces at work on the land.

A few hours later, in Manhattan, Kansas, the tour about finished, I walked into a public facility and heard the old Bob Dylan song playing over the PA system--"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind...."

Indeed that's the theme for the Crop Tech Tour so far this year, at least from my worm's eye view of it. Blowin' in the wind.

Ethanol disinformation and dirty tricks

2008-05-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

An article in the The New Yorker magazine, The Dirty Trickster, portrays the life of Roger Stone, a political operative who takes credit for roles in Watergate, the Florida recount, and the fall of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. And that's not even the half of it. If Stone's story can be believed, there's certainly a lesson about how you get ahead in Washington: play dirty.

A few folks from the farmer side of the ethanol debate are finding political life to be rough and tumble these days. A recent story in Agriculture Online reported Iowa Senator Charles Grassley's claim that a lobbying group funded by the Grocery Manufacturers Association engineered a "smear campaign" against the ethanol industry.

The anti-ethanol forces have blamed the alternative fuel for everything from high gas prices and global food shortages to global warming and deforestation. A beltway public relations firm hired by the Grocery Manufacturers Association was responsible for the campaign, Grassley (R-IA) said on the Senate floor last week.

Industry defenders, like Charlie Martin, an ethanol plant grain buyer, point out that a "dollar rise in the cost of a gallon of gasoline has up to three times the impact on food prices as a dollar rise in the price of a bushel of corn." Higher commodity prices are to blame for only about 20% of the cost of a rise in food prices, corn growers say.

Looking in from press row here, it appears that the "disinformation campaign" has made a big impact on the public perception of ethanol. What a switch from the time not so long ago when corn was viewed as green for its contribution to renewable energy.

One of Roger Stone's rules is "Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack." Don't be surprised if the war of words continues....

Weather folklore 'simply dangerous'

2008-05-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

A new discussion thread in Agriculture Online centers on the question of whether farmers pay any attention to the phase of the moon anymore. Some farmers do apparently, or at least they remember that their fathers and grandfathers had their eye on the zodiac when they performed chores like planting crops or handling livestock.

The discussion made me think too about the weather proverbs that you hear from time to time. Things like, "Red sky at morning: Sailor take warning. Red sky at night, sailor's delight."

Digging around on Agriculture Online, I found a story from a few years back, Weather folklore 'simply dangerous. ' The story debunks a number of myths about tornados, one being that you can outrun a twister with your vehicle. Oh, and you better not believe the old saw that lightning never strikes the same place twice, Kansas State University experts tell us.

I'm getting ready to head through the tornado alleys of Nebraska and Kansas in the next couple weeks, so guess I'll take this warning to heart.

Why many farmers would veto farm bill

2008-05-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

Would farmers really veto the farm bill? You wouldn't think so, given how all the critics believe the thing is a big fat handout for everybody. John McCain is the latest to condemn the plan. A wire story outlining his dissent, which appeared in the Washington Post today, included mention of the Agriculture Online poll that shows farmers in favor of a presidental veto.
Dan Looker, Successful Farming business editor who covers the farm bill for Agriculture Online, gives these reasons for farmer disfavor for the legislation:
* They agree with President Bush and Senator Grassley that more reform is needed by lowering the adjusted gross income to $200,000.
* They might believe it spends too much on food stamps (a sure bet before the current food price inflation but I’m not so sure now).
* The safety net of marketing loans and countercyclical payments in the farm bill is irrelevant in today’s market.
* Continued direct payments are irrelevant in today’s market.
* Continuing the conservation reserve program makes no sense in today’s market.
What's your theory? Take the poll and add your own comments.

Farmers would veto farm bill?

2008-05-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

The farm bill has been called a lot of things by a lot of people--mostly by people whose business it is to make policy and talk policy, and mostly by people inside the Beltway. Out in the country there is not near as much talk about the thing, it seems. One wonders what the working farmer thinks of the much-debated, much-maligned legislation, now that it seems destined for passage.

Is it a little bit of a shock to look at the early returns from the new Agriculture Online poll: Would you veto the farm bill?

In one comment on the poll, a North Carolina farmer worries about the public perception that farmers are ripping off the public: "All we can hope for is a national consciousness that realizes that feeding ourselves is a genuine national security issue. Maybe then they'll be willing to keep us around on the payroll for a while longer."

Take the poll, add your own comments....

Planting proverbs

2008-05-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

John Pfaffinger

Hang around farmers long enough and you hear these kinds of expressions:

"Rain makes grain."

"Plant in the dust, bins bust."

"Plant in the dust, crop's a bust."

One of these old saws kicks off an Agriculture Online blog entry by Minnesota farmer John Pfaffinger:

"Plant in the mud, your crop is a dud. Well, the farmers here are going to test out the theory. Saw many going today in terrible soil conditions. I saw 2 stuck planters and 1 stuck digger. Several leaving mud holes as well. So it is late going in cold wet soils and today it was 25 degrees below normal....48 degrees when I was working outside late this afternoon."

Farmers across the nation are concerned about the status of planting, and of crop emergence. And a big majority wonder if the markets are adequately reflecting the impact of the weather, according to a new Agriculture Online poll. Take the poll and add your own comments.

A SURE thing in the farm bill

2008-05-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

One of the new provisions in the farm bill, if the thing ever gets passed, is an add-on to the disaster payment program, called SURE (SUpplemental REvenue Assistance Payments).

"This is the permanent disaster program that generated a lot of debate during the writing of the Farm Bill," Agriculture Online Business Editor wrote in a new story on the topic.

"At times it pitted Corn Belt members of the agriculture committees against those from the Great Plains, where crop insurance and other safety net programs haven’t always worked well for wheat farmers facing multiple years of drought," Looker wrote.

One change with this approach to disaster assistance is that it would be directed only to producers who can actually show a loss, rather than just live in a county or an adjacent county that has suffered a loss."

And you must buy at least low-value, catastrophic coverage to get disaster payments.

Dan's story details how the program works and what the numbers look like in different situations.

Facts we can stomach

2008-05-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

An opinion piece in the Sunday New York Times, titled Change we can stomach, contends that chefs and consumers can change how farmers farm by buying "delicious" food. The author, Dan Barber, is the chef and co-owner of a New York restaurant and apparently is regarded in some circles as a leading food writer. In Barber's mind, delicious means only locally produced, organic food.

There is much to be said for this movement in agriculture, including the opportunities it provides for young and beginning farmers. Barber, though, sounds false notes on several fronts. This line rings flat, for example: "Until now, food production has been controlled by Big Agriculture, with its macho fixation on 'average tonnage' and 'record harvests.'"

Until now? You mean ever since we were hunting and gathering, we've been Big Agriculture? If we're not helping serve $100 meals in NYC, are we then, all the rest of us, big bad Big Agriculture? And,by the way, has anyone in ag journalism ever used the phrase "average tonnage"?

Later in his piece Barber claims that "organic fruits and vegetables contain 40 percent more nutrients than their chemical-fed counterparts." What?

Here's what the Organic Farming Research Foundation says on the topic of the nutrient superiority of organics versus conventional: "The definitive study has not been done, mainly because of the multitude of variables involved in making a fair comparison between organically grown and conventionally grown food."

On Barber's Web site, he talks about working with the Kellogg Foundation and other organizations to "minimize the political and intellectual rhetoric around agricultural issues…." Dude.

Farm bill plan pleases Pelosi at least

2008-05-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

One farm state politician recently compared the farm bill funding process to passing a kidney stone. The bill's main critics seem to put it in the same league as the articles establishing the Soviet Union, and farmers themselves, I think, are mostly uninterested at this point, given the marathon pace the whole thing has taken.

And when it's finally done you'll likely hear faint praise all around, with a bit of nose-holding, as is the case with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In a statement Friday, she cited the bill's potential to "ease the strain of rising food prices," and for its conservation provisions, and "commitment" to nutrition, fruits and veggies.

In the nose-holding part she says she "would have preferred more commodity reform," and she she notes the reduction in the tax credit for corn-based ethanol.

But, any back slapping in the halls of Congress may be premature, according to a new story by Agriculture Online Business Editor Dan Looker.

Ag Secretary Ed Schafer told reporters Thursday that President Bush will veto the farm bill. In response, Senate Ag Committee Chairman Tom Harkin said the plan isn't perfect but that deserves the President's signature.

"Inexplicably, the White House seems intent on destroying the harvest just as the seeds are being planted," Harkin said.

Bashing biofuels

2008-05-08T06:59:00.000-07:00

With the growing public concern about the impact of biofuels on global food supplies, farm groups and farm state politicians are stepping up their case in the debate. New stories on Agriculture Online make the case that ethanol and other biofuels are a relatively small contributor to higher food prices and actually are helping temper skyrocketing fuel prices.

Yesterday, Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) defended the ethanol industry by urging EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson not to roll back the Renewable Fuel Standard, which was part of last year's federal energy bill.

"At a time when a barrel of crude oil costs nearly $120 and gasoline prices are approaching $4 a gallon, the fuel produced by the U.S. ethanol industry is helping to extend our fuel supply and keep prices lower," the senators said.

Riffing on Farm Aid

2007-09-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

Willie and the boys will be holding the 22nd Farm Aid concert tomorrow in New York City. New York City? Farm Aid was first held in Champaign, Illinois, in 1985, back during the farm crisis years. There seemed then to have been a clear mission for the concert--helping farmers who were losing their land. Now the talk is a lot about the "Good Food Movement" and such.

There won't be any "factory-farmed junk food" sold at the Randalls Island concert tomorrow, according to a story in the New York Times on Friday.

What a slate of performers for this concert. Besides Willie Nelson, there's Neil Young, Merle Haggard, Gregg Allman, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Derek Trucks, for example. You certainly can't fault Farm Aid for its music. You have to admire that the founders of the show have stuck by their guitars on this mission for the past 22 years.

But, is there something a bit elitist now about Farm Aid? The theme of local food production is fine. But food in the wider world in which most of us live requires mechanization, transportation, and new technology. Forty acres and a mule might be a cool name for a band, but it's a myth for feeding the masses, isn't it?

"For the first time, concert concessions will feature all fresh, local, organic and family farmed food," a Farm Aid press release says. No hot dogs at this show.

Farm Aid claims to have raised $30 million for farmers, or at least for "programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the current system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms."

I do wish I could go hear the music. And it would be interesting to see how many farmers are there rockin' the day away.

By the way, a video replay of the concert will be available on the Web on Thursday through September 19 at farmaid.org.

Meeting Frank--face to face

2007-08-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

Frank Lechtenberg (left), a Butte, Nebraska, farmer is a regular visitor to Agriculture Online's Marketing Talk discussion group, finding it a good source of information on the grain markets, and maybe even a source of entertainment from time to time.

In early July, Frank had the idea that it would be good to meet some of the folks who particpate in the discussion group, and posted a message proposing a meeting --somewhere, sometime. "I think everyone of you have something to share, and it would be a little marketing meeting and discussion," he wrote.

More than sixty messages later, the first-ever Marketing Talk Meeting was established.

Frank (frankne) is in Des Moines, Iowa, today talking with folks that he has only known by an online handle--hihowrya, P.O'd Farmer, Captron, Don N Mo, etc.

"I just thought it would be fun to put a face on these names," he said.

Frank's not one of most active posters on the site (and he sure doesn't like his picture taken), but he says he learns a lot by reading what farmers from around the country are saying about crop conditions and marketing strategies.

"I use the site on a daily basis," he says. "It will be good to meet of few of these folks."

It's been good meeting you, Frank. Thanks for the good idea.

Don't kick the cows

2007-08-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

Befriending a Simmental cow

A friend of mine, a dairy farmer, was telling me recently about an incident on his place that was still bothering him. He had fired his hired hand (and rehired him later), after he saw the man kicking one his Holsteins. "Don't kick the cows!" he shouted loudly and slowly, ensuring his English would be clearly understood. His employee spoke Spanish and was a good worker and family man, but the moment had gotten away from him, and he was caught in the act of abusing a farm animal.

Telling the story, my friend repeated the line with even greater emphasis: "Don't kick the cows." He sure made me take notice. I know he struggled with his reaction to the whole thing, trying to balance his concern for the cattle with the practical aspects of milking a hundred cows. Anyway, my farmer friend is the kind of man that people should see caring for cattle.

It can be a rough and tumble world on livestock farms, as people in the business know. Handling animals--whether it's for milking, dehorning, birthing, or medicating, takes patience. And sometimes the animals get the best of things. My dairy farmer friend has been gored by a bull and kicked in the knee, among other things, resulting in major injuries. But, if you're involved in animal agriculture, you also expect that producers will shepherd the animals in their care with grace and compassion. I believe most of them do.

A story on Agriculture Online this week, Activists Slowly Shifting US Animal Agriculture Practices, describes how animal rights activists are making headway in influencing public policy on livestock care. In some cases, large meat production companies are responding with changes in their practices, as Smithfield Foods did recently in announcing a phase-out of individual sow gestation crates.

In the story, Temple Grandin, an animal behavior specialist at Colorado State University and expert on humane treatment of farm animals, is quoted as saying that agriculture needs to clean up its own house such that it could showcase its practices to the general public.

"There is no excuse for rotten apples, and the industry needs to speak out against them," Grandin said.

Wheat to fight for acres

2007-08-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

Wheat harvest in Ukraine

(Photo courtesy Ukrainian Analytical Agency UkrAgroConsult.)

If your roots are in someplace like central Nebraska, like mine are, you might have a sense of what it's like to think about putting wheat back in a crop rotation mix. In places where wheat hasn't been seen much for many years, the crop could be making a comeback, stepping in the middle of the corn vs. soybean fight.

There's been lots of good news for wheat prices lately. Last week, for example, Agriculture Online correspondent Louise Gartner reported on a "huge export sales number," 2.1 MMT, double the trade estimate, and the largest week's worth of sales since 1996. The sale was a "whopper," she said, and signals that buyers are "desperate for immediate needs."

Global conditions for wheat harvest were documented in a photo gallery we put together last week, World wheat snapshots. The images provide some further perspective on why wheat prices are on the rise now and why the crop is expected to compete next season for acres that were once surely destined for corn or soybeans.

Beans in the high teens?

2007-07-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

A rather rare soybean field in Buffalo County, Nebraska

On Monday, I was driving from Des Moines to visit my family's farm in Nebraska. I jumped off I-80 just west of Grand Island and took the backroads northwest through the Platte River valley and then into the hills of Buffalo County.

At one point, buzzing down a gravel road, I had a strange feeling. I realized I had been driving through wall-to-wall corn on both sides of the road for a long stretch. I looked down at the odometer and started to measure. Went about six miles before I spotted something besides corn--a smallish bean field, like a punctuation mark, then back to corn.

On our little plot in Buffalo County, we planted all beans this year, though. That's them in the photo above, looking pretty good on a 98-degree day. When I walked up the hill there to look at the pivot, all you could see was corn, except for our dryland patch of beans across the road.

I realize Nebraska farmers grow a lot of continous corn, but they know how to grow beans, too. Go big red, the state has the second highest average soybean yield in the U.S, tied with Indiana, a half bushel behind Iowa. So, man, where have all the soybeans gone, long time passing?

USDA reported this month that farmers planted the fewest acres of beans this spring since 1994. Nationally, soybean production declined 15%, versus a 19% jump for corn. Soybean acres fell by more than a million acres from last year in Indiana, Minnesota, and Nebraska, USDA said.

Anyway, this image of a corn-covered landscape stuck in my head for the whole trip back and forth to Nebraska. And, every day I keep thinking this volatile grain market wants to say more and more about soybean prices.

Okay, so I'll just get to the point. Our markets editor, Mike McGinnis, dropped by the office today, leaned in the doorway, and shot me a sly grin. A little birdie, who prefers to go unnamed, told him that beans could go to $18 at some point in the next sometime, Mike said. The little birdie is a well-known markets analyst.

I'll not go into all the bean numbers here. A lot smarter people than me do that every day 0n our Web site markets pages. But, you can just see the drama with your own eyes in one certain part of Nebraska. Beans ain't competing this year.

Ron and Susan Mortensen in their Agriculture Online column last week, on a much more conservative note than our little birdie, put it this way: "The basic fact for soybeans is that they must do much better in 2008 in the fight for acres.... Price must do a better job of attracting soybean acres...."

Would $18 get the job done?

Search for your health's sake

2007-07-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

Farmers have special health issues, which is why rural health long has had frontline coverage in Successful Farming magazine and on Agriculture Online. And it's one reason why our editors were pleased to learn that Meredith Corporation, the owner of SF and AGOL (and a passel of other media products) has acquired Healia (www.healia.com), a health information search engine.

Healia is a new tool designed to help consumers and health professionals find the "highest quality and most personally relevant search results," Meredith said in a statement about the acquisition.

Healia differs from Google and other general search engines. It uses what it calls a Quality Index Score, which helps glean the best health information from the Web. Healia enables you to personalize findings with "personal search" filters. These can include your gender, age, and race. The engine uses "advanced semantic technology" to improve the effectiveness of the search.

In some experimenting with the site, I searched for info on use of a newer medication for high blood pressure. One of the features allowed me to sort the findings by "dosage," "uses," and "side effects." Each Healia listing included a description of the "attributes" of the source, including whether it's basic or advanced reading, whether it's professional information, and if it is from an HONCode Site.

Comparing Healia and Google searches on the same keyword for the blood pressure medication, I saw some differences. Google turned up about 409,000 results, while Healia with its more focused search gleaned 923 listings. The top three listings on Google were from the manufacturer of the drug; on Healia it was a Federal Drug Administration source, WebMD, and a drug information database called Druglib.com. Two others of Google's top ten listings were from the same source, Drugs.com, and two were from FDA. Healia's top sources were more varied, and included a drug encyclopedia, the Mayo Clinic, and a pharmacists' organization.

The result of my little experiment is that I know a great deal more about treating high blood pressure with this particular drug. Both Google and Healia led me to a mix of credible sources. But in the end, I felt that Healia worked harder, sorting and labelling information in a more creative way.

Anyway, next time you need to research a health issue, check out Healia and the Rural Health section of Agriculture Online.

Farming with an iPhone

2007-07-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Reviews of Apple's new iPhone have been mixed, and the devices are pretty pricey, but I still want one. Its integration of a phone, iPod, Web browser, e-mail, camera, photo organizer and everything else reminds me of the same kind of innovation that accompanied the invention of the graphical Web browser, and we know what that's meant to the world of agriculture.

If you're wanting to window shop, the "guided tour" of the device on the Apple Web site shows off a device that appears to be intuitive and fun to use. I can see farmers having a smart new tool here for keeping in touch with the world, and entertaining themselves, while out in the field and barn.

After the bugs are worked out of the thing, I have a sense that comparing iPhone type of technology to what came before is going to be like tractors to horses.

Cost is an issue for many consumers, according to a poll on News.com, in which nearly 20% of respondents say they will wait to buy one when the devices drop to under $200. $200?

A farmer posting on Agriculture Online agrees on the price issue: "600 bucks is a lot of benjamins to be dropping in the manure or oil bucket," he says.

Yeah, the iPhone is a bit expensive. But, for a farm tool that's a Swiss Army knife of communication? Anyway, I still want one.

Women on the map

2007-06-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

One of the more lively discussion groups on Agriculture Online over the years has been its Women in Ag section. There you'll find people talking topics from livestock care and farm management to peanut butter cookies and the Sopranos finale. It's a friendly, intelligent kind of place on the Web.

About ten years ago, the discussion group inspired a face-to-face meeting of the contributors. Women came from all over the country to get together for a couple days at Living History Farms in Des Moines. It was one of the first times I started to fathom the power this new medium held for uniting people in positive ways.

A recent poster on the WIA board asked people where they are from, prompting one of our staff to create a Women in Agriculture map for the group. Check out this cool application, a beta product from a new company, Frappr.

It's not the same as meeting in Des Moines, but this new tool shows a nice little snapshot of where we all live in the world--when we're not on the Web.

The farm bill: Yogurt and sausage

2007-06-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Yogurt carton: In the time it takes to eat this yogurt, ten acres of U.S. farmland will be lost to development.

Ag journalists these days are hearing from all corners of society on what policies should gain fashion in the new farm bill. Just about every day I hear from one advocacy group or another.

Last week, I got a note from Stonyfield Farm, a maker of organic yogurt, which is touting farmland protection on the top of its yogurt carton. Stonyfield is partnering with Environmental Defense in lobbying Congress and the media about farm bill policies that "help preserve open spaces and provide a healthier environment."

In another e-mail, I learn that Environmental Defense Farm Policy Campaign Director Scott Faber has launched a blog called "The Ruminant" to criticize the current farm bill direction.

Other messages in my e-mail box this week:

* The Cato Institute is launching a new "web resource," advocating the downsizing of USDA, which it says is beholden to "large agribusiness firms," and draining the federal budget.

* Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, says that Congress is ignoring "a golden opportunity to update our farm policies," citing "outdated, wasteful programs."

* The American Farmland Trust claims that the House Agriculture Committee is "failing miserably in the farm bill debate."

* John Bianchi and Maria Corredor of Goodman Media International, Inc., argue on behalf of "forty consumer, environmental, farmer and animal welfare groups" who are critical of a farm bill provision that "wipes out critical state and local authority to protect food safety, the environment, and humane animal treatment."

This is just one week's slice of the sausage making that is the farm bill debate.

And, things are just getting started, according to a recent Agriculture Online story, House subcommittee approves commodity title extension.

But, reading this story don't you get the feeling that the established forces in agriculture are still quite comfortably holding sway in Washington? It will be interesting to see if the new faces from outside of ag will gain much of anything from all their lobbying efforts.

Having followed these policy debates a few times already, something tells me it's going to be business as usual once the digital ink stops flowing and the sausage is in its skin.

The winds sure do blow

2007-06-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

Has it been a windy year where you live? It's been blowing hard here in central Iowa for a couple days now, but this whole late winter and spring has been breezy, punctuated by high winds and storms. I lived in central Kansas for a few years way back when, and this year Iowa seems a lot like the land of Oz, wind blowing for days on end and all through the night.

In Kansas and elsewhere in the plains states this week, very strong winds halted wheat harvesting. Farmers tell me that they've had trouble with spraying operations because of the constant blowing.

I asked Harvey Freese, Freese-Notis Weather, this morning about whether we've been experiencing an unusually windy year.

"Yes, it seems like we have experienced a number of powerful storms this spring," he said. "The blizzard in early March comes to mind right away. Heavy snows fell across western Iowa, the blizzard blew for days with wind gusts at or near 50 mph. Traffic statewide came to a standstill as the Interstates were closed due to the heavy snow and unrelenting wind."

"The next storm that comes to memory occurred in early April, strong cold winds blew across the Midwest bringing very cold subfreezing air into the midwest, which did much damage to budding fruit trees and otherwise hardy spring flowers such as daffodills in Iowa. Seems like the cold windy weather blew continuously for a number of days in the Deep South.

"The wind-driven cold was so unusual there were numerous just-planted fields of corn in parts of southern Missouri and Illionis where considerable freeze damage was occurred. Some say as much as 7% of the early planted crops were affected. In Kansas, jointing wheat was severely damaged in central Kansas because of the late cold snap, driven south by strong northerly winds.

"And now again, in early June, another very strong wind has been associated with an intense storm moving across the Dakotas. Overnight temperatures remained in the 70s and early this morning winds were gusting up to the mid 30s in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

"Makes we wish I had a shares in a wind farm," Harvey concluded.

7,000 years of farming

2007-05-29T12:46:00.001-07:00

Field of clean-cultivated winter wheat in Washington State brought two hundred tons soil loss per acre. Photo by F.A. Mark

I took a drive into the hills of western Iowa this weekend, and saw some of the worst soil erosion I've seen in a long time. Heavy rains on exposed soils have really taken a toll on some fields, especially those that appear to have just been brought into crop production this spring. I saw several fields that looked to be CRP ground or pasture that had been planted to row crops. Given the slope and the gulleys, it's hard to believe you could even drive a tractor safely on fields like that.

Farmers on Agriculture Online report similar sightings. Even with conservation practices in place, major damage has occured on sloping soils. In Crop Talk, one Iowa farmer said, "I have some of the worst erosion we have ever had. It starts at the base of the terraces and is anywhere from 10 to 15 feet wide all the way to the bottom and 3 inches deep."

A couple weeks ago, Agriculture Online Correspondent Roy Smith wrote a piece, 7,000 years of farming, based on his reading of the pamphlet, "Conquest of the Land Through 7000 Years."

Roy wrote, "The reason that my attention was drawn again to this publication is that eastern Nebraska has suffered severe erosion from two very hard rain storms in the last month. I can look out my office window and see evidence of permanent damage done to the soil from these two rains of four inches each in less than two weeks. Such rains are common in this area, coming at least once in five years. As I look at the fields in my neighborhood, I wonder if some day they will look like the pictures of fields in the Middle East and North Africa shown in the pamphlet."

Roy, a seasoned Nebraska farmer, goes on to bemoan the way that "conservation has fallen by the wayside" in our modern era of agriculture.

I hear ya, Roy....

Now who's knocking ethanol?

2007-05-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

Clayton Rye, Iowa farmer and ethanol investor

A front-page story in The New York Times yesterday cited oil industry executives as claiming that ethanol is “seen as [a]deterrent to expanding refineries.” The oil people are reported to have told Congress that as a result of increased ethanol production, oil refinery expansion plans have been put on the back burner, and that as a result current high prices for gas could become a long-term problem.

Ethanol, for all its promise as an alternative fuel source, seems to attract plenty of detractors these days--big oil, environmentalists, and assorted academics among them. Out here in Iowa, a lot of this controversy can seem pretty baffling. We thought we were maybe doing the world some good.

So, on same day as the Times story, it was good to hear from one of our Agriculture Online correspondents, Clayton Rye. Clayton farms near Hanlontown, Iowa, which he likes to point out is midway between Minneapolis and Des Moines, as well as home of Sundown Day on June 21.

In Clayton's piece, Ethanol detractors, he certainly admits his biases:

"Yes, I am a corn grower and yes, not only am I an ethanol investor, I also have an ethanol plant across the road from me that has been producing ethanol since 2004. The almost nonstop sound of the corn grinders is part of my everyday life."

Clayton's not real happy with the 30,000-foot view that too many folks take of the issues surrounding ethanol production:

"I would say to any writer who wants to tell all the facts on the impact and future of ethanol, especially to those writers on the East and West Coasts, that if you are going to write about corn production in Iowa...come out here and get your hands dirty with the rest of us. It means you will also have to get out of your car."

Clayton believes a lot of the criticism of ethanol is based on "threadbare, hackneyed arguments that are circulated like so much old gossip."

I invite you to come on over to Agriculture Online, get out of your car, and roll the cob with Clayton Rye for a while. I'm sure he'd be glad to talk with you about ethanol.

Corn high? Just watch....

2007-05-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

There's some law in physics that says that matter observed is matter changed. If you watch some photon, it behaves differently.

In the same vein, when I was a kid I used to think that by listening to radio broadcasts of my beloved Cleveland Indians I could help them win. (Actually, deep down I still think that.) Is it possible to believe the markets work the same way--that when we watch them and cheer for them to go up, well, they just might.

Or maybe it takes people working both sides of the fence? That's the case with a new poll on Agriculture Online: What will be the highest 2007 corn price? It takes two to make a market; there are both optimists and pessimists:

Commenting on the poll, an Iowa farmer writes: "Corn plantings will soon be completed and the anticipated bumper crop will become a reality to the gurus at USDA. BTW the soybean futures may benefit from the over-planting of corn. However, that may well be a temporary phenomenon as the bean price may well collapse in sympathy with the declining corn market. In the end, we will produce too much of everything."

On the optimistic side of things, a Minnesota farmer chimes in: "My 'Ouija Board' says we are going to have a hot, dry July....so $5.50. The Stars say great weather from here out so $3.50. It is obviously up to the weather. But next winter we will have round two of the "Battle for the acres," so don't expect any 2 in the front number for the price of corn or 6 in the front number for the price of beans. This is an unprecedented demand market. So expect ups and downs, but don't expect low prices for several years minimum."

What's your guess? Take the poll, and see if you can help change the matter.

Switching to switchgrass

2007-05-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Leaders of the Chariton Valley Biomass Project, which is developing technologies for harvesting and processing switchgrass for energy.
In an Agriculture Online story yesterday, Business Editor Dan Looker reported that Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is making the case for switching some federal farm program funds to support production of crops for cellulosic ethanol. Harkin is looking at a plan that would give direct payments to farmers for crops like switchgrass, a native tallgrass prairie species that has been planted on a lot of Conservation Reserve Program acres.

We planted switchgrass on our Nebraska farm some 20 years ago, and aside from some encroachment by cedar trees, maintaining the stand has mainly meant letting nature take its course. Still I've wondered what will happen to the stand when our CRP contract comes to an end. Would I really want to return those highly erodible acres to row crops? Wouldn't it be logical to find a commercial use for the grasses, which are perfectly suited to the soils and climate of Buffalo County, Nebraska.

Harkin's proposal notwithstanding, cellulosic ethanol has at least one big hurdle to clear--the farm-level technology for harvesting, storing and and handling bulky plant materials like switchgrass.

It's encouraging, though, that there is work already underway to make the dream of cellulosic biofuels practical at the grassroots.

Check out this slideshow by Successful Farming Managing Editor, Gene Johnston:

A look at the future of growing biofuel crops

Take a look at that equipment. Switching to switchgrass is more than a policy maker's pipe dream.

Sinking and swimming in soybean oil

2007-05-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

Central Iowa Energy's new 30-million gallon biodiesel facility near Newton, Iowa (photo by Dan Looker).

Dan Looker, who in my view covers biofuels issues as well as anyone in the business, walked into my office last Thursday with a just bit of an attitude, and some self-deprecating humor. We had been less than prompt in posting his new story on the opening of a new biodiesel plant in Iowa. The $20 million facility near Newton is "one of the largest and most efficient biodiesel plants in the nation," Dan wrote. But a big question mark hangs over the facility and the whole industry, in fact.

Anyway, Dan clearly had enjoyed working on the story and was eager to see it online. It had been filed late in the afternoon, but wasn't posted until early evening. We should have had it live in ten minutes. If you follow this industry at all--as a farmer, investor, or consumer of biofuels, it's certainly a must-read story.

Dan captures the central issue of the day in this fledgling business: "The soybean oil that can make up to about 80% of a typical plant's production costs is approaching record prices, at a time when the soybean crushing industry is almost swimming in a record supply of oil."

The law of supply and demand has taken an odd twist here, one that Dan follows with the clear eye of a great reporter.

Check it out on Agriculture Online: Will biodiesel flounder in a sea of soybean oil?

Soybean rust wakes up early

2007-05-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

USDA Observation Map 5/11/2007

This morning, several editors here were planning the next issue of the High Yield Team newsletter. That project aims to help soybean growers get good information on improving yields. Soybean rust seems to have had little play in the farm press so far this spring, after a couple years of intense coverage. One of our group piped up and asked what we might say about rust, if anything, in the newsletter. I have to confess that the rest of us all just sort of shrugged our shoulders.

A couple hours later, we're breaking a significant rust story on our affiliated Web site, stopsoybeanrust.com.

The story reports on the first Asian soybean rust finding of 2007 in Louisiana. There have been 20 other findings of soybean rust in four other states so far this year. The significance of today's report, though, is that the finding is 53 days ahead of last year's first find in the state, and that Louisiana proved to be a source of rust for the Mid-South and Midwest last year, according to Clayton A. Hollier of Louisiana State University.

Hollier said the same sort of northward movement could occur this year, "especially if the weather is wetter than last year’s."

In the meantime, recent rains and predicted showers likely will produce more development of soybean rust in Louisiana, Hollier said.

Stay tuned. We're writing about rust early.

Farmers on a higher wire

2007-05-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

From a journalist's perspective, since last fall it's been easy to sense a whole new optimism in agriculture. The biofuels boom has a lot to do with it, of course.

Cash corn prices in my home town hit $4.00 this winter, compared to a three-year average of about $2.00. Farmers and agribusiness people I met at the Commodity Classic meeting in February (corn, soy and wheat growers) all were talking about new technology and expansion. Only a year ago the talk was all cost-cutting and status quo.

But this new era, if that's what it is, also has raised the balancing act of farming to a higher wire. Some farmers view this year as a once-in-lifetime opportunity to make some real money. Costs for fuel, land rents, and other inputs are rising. And, the weather this spring isn't cooperating in a lot of places.

Along with the higher expectations, there's more tension in the air this spring. According to a new poll in Agriculture Online, more than half of farmers rate this year as a more stressful than normal.

Stress can come in a variety of forms--weather and other Acts of God, red tape, family matters, you name it. Writing in response to the poll, an Indiana farmer said:

"Seed all burnt up with barn fire last week, but didn't lose equipment and no injuries. Hope to start planting Sat., which would put us at normal pace. Insurance forms are a real treat. Dad wants brother and me to buy 160 ac at 1/2 price so he can start a non-ag business, but still $160/ac for 30 yrs. Neither of us own ground to spread cost over, so what to do. Town job is stressful. So I just go to the woods and look for mushrooms, but that isn't going well either."

Oh, the eternal verities of agriculture....

Weather forecasting: Every molecule in its place

2007-05-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

If I had been planting corn in central Iowa this weekend, the forecast on Saturday held hope that I'd be back in the field by Sunday--only a 29 percent chance of rain. It rained off and on all day.

Of course, it's something of a national past-time to second guess the weather man. But farmers can make better decisions themselves if they know a more about what goes into making a forecast, one ag meteorologist told Agriculture Online.

"One thing I feel that the National Weather Service does not convey well to the public is that different forecasts have differing levels of confidence," says Brad Rippey, a meteorologist with the USDA Joint Agricultural Weather Facility. "When a weather pattern is 'locked in,' forecasts out to a couple of weeks can be quite accurate. Other times, when the atmosphere is in transition, forecasts beyond a few days are fraught with error."

Farmers can look at computer models to determine whether a forecast is high or low confidence, Rippey says. A popular Web site to view a model output:

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis

All the new technology notwithstanding, consider the challenge of a weather forecast. Rippey puts it this way: "...the purpose of a short-range forecast it to try to determine the exact position of every molecule of air and water vapor in our atmosphere. After a few days, chaos (such as the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings) undermines those efforts."

Weather worries: Farmers wait to plant and replant

2007-05-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

On Sunday afternoon, north of Des Moines, Iowa, farmers might have been scratching their heads over the weather forecast. On Saturday, at least one weather service called for only a 29% chance of rain on Sunday, and with the wind blowing all day Saturday, the weekend weather seemed ready to let farmers back in the field.

Instead, on Sunday, planters were tucked away in machine sheds and farm yards, and some rigs, like the one pictured here north of Ankeny, were stranded in the field, as more rain fell into the late afternoon.

Lingering rains had rigs like this one north of Des Moines, Iowa, going nowhere on Sunday.

In a poll on Agriculture Online, about one third of farmers say they have less than 25% of their corn planted. Today's Crop Progress report will pinpoint the delays further, but estimates last Monday showed corn planting at 24% completed, almost half the 42% five-year average.

It was a soaking weekend in general for the western Corn Belt -- eight and a half inches of rain in Aberdeen, South Dakota, six inches in Omaha. On Monday morning, widespread, locally heavy rain was still falling in eastern Kansas and western Missouri.

"We were close to being done [planting corn] in northeast South Dakota, but with 10 inches in a couple of days everything around here is flooded and looks terrible," one farmer told Agriculture Online. "At our farm I have never seen that much water floating around."

Even for those farmers with corn planted, the wet weather has brought a new concern: replanting. "Here in southeast Nebraska, we had gully washers last night with more to come today and tomorrow," a farmer reported in Agriculture Online Crop Talk. "Doesn't look good for the approximately 50% planted."

The National Weather Service six- to 10-day outlook for May 12-16 calls for above-normal temperatures and below-normal rainfall nearly nationwide, USDA reported Monday.

But, the window of opportunity for drying fields may be limited in some areas, says Freese-Notis Weather.

"Whatever corn acreage is shown as unplanted in this afternoon's Crop Progress report for Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, one really wonders when a lot of that acreage will have a chance to dry out enough for such planting to get done," said Craig Solberg in his Agriculture Online weather report Monday.