Farm debt levels are piling up and it’s getting scarier. Here’s a friendly reminder that the period available for working through some debt challenges has been extended.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is reminding Minnesota farmers and agricultural lending institutions that the state legislature extended the length of mediation available for farmers in the Farmer-Lender Mediation Program from 90 to 150 days. Minnesota farmers that are in debt can renegotiate, restructure, or resolve farm debt through mandatory Farmer-Lender Mediation. Mandatory mediation means that creditors cannot start a proceeding to collect a farm debt against agricultural property until an offer of mediation has been extended and, if the farmer so chooses, completed.
“I want to make sure that farmers and their ag lending institutions know that the mediation period was extended by 60 days to 150 days,” said Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen. “This is a critical program for farmers – especially now when COVID-19 has caused the closing of agricultural markets. Having sixty more days to renegotiate or restructure debt will be a huge help in many cases.”
Here’s another chadsmithmedia podcast, this time with Houston and Fillmore County Extension Educator Michael Cruse, talking harvest progress in southeast Minnesota.
Harvest season. Never a dull moment in farm country. It’s never an easy season for anyone, regardless of what the growing season was like. This year’s ridiculously wet growing season is going to make things even more challenging, which is not exactly a state secret.
The harvest season is officially underway in southeast Minnesota. A few days of drier and windier weather last week allowed some crops to come out of fields across the area. Houston and Fillmore County Extension Educator Michael Cruse said timing appears to be everything when it comes to fall harvesting in 2019.
“I’m glad you called me later last week, rather than on
Monday,” Cruse said. “I would have been much more down on the situation earlier
last week. However, a couple of windy days helped some farmers take some corn
and beans out of their fields. In spite of that, we’re still behind and we’ll
still be scrambling to make sure everything gets done before the ground
freezes. At least we’re starting to make some progress.”
The excess rainfall this year means the crops will come out of the fields much wetter than normal. He said the recent windy days seem to have put soybeans into pretty good shape. But, the corn is still going to require some time in the dryer, which isn’t a big surprise this harvest season.
Harvest season is underway in southeast Minnesota, all be it slowly, according to Michael Cruse of the University of Minnesota Extension Service. There’s still a long way to go in very we conditions. (Photo from UMN.Extension.Edu)
“The beans are actually drying down to the point that it
looks like they’ll be okay,” Cruse said. “Just be patient with them. Obviously,
the last thing you want is to get a big snowfall on top of them, but they seem
to be coming along. However, the hard truth is that the majority of our corn
crop will come out of the field too wet.
“No matter how long we wait this fall, we just won’t have
the drying conditions to get that corn down to optimal moisture,” he added.
“That’s probably why we see a lot of farmers working corn right now. They know
there’s going to be a bottleneck while the corn has to sit in their dryers and
it’s going to take some time. Get a head start because it’s going to take a
while.”
Wild parsnip is back in southeast Minnesota and that’s not a good thing for man nor beast. According to the website www.invasivespecies.com, wild parsnip is also known as poisonous parsnip. When the sap from wild parsnip comes in contact with human skin that’s exposed to direct sunlight, the chemicals cause intense burns, rashes, or blisters. Take it from someone who knows.
This is what wild parsnip looks like. Keep your kids and animals away from it as the sap can be poisonous to human and animal skin. (Photo from minnesotawildflowers.info)
James Colbenson, who once lived in the Chisholm Valley area
between Rushford and Houston, had a run-in with wild parsnip back in his
mid-teens. “I was looking to make money back then and the neighbors hired me to
whack some of their weeds,” the now-34-year-old recalled. “I was wearing a
cutoff shirt while I was working that day, so I got some of the sap on my arms,
which were then sunburned too.
“I first remember it starting to sting,” he recalled. “When
I got done working, I remember jumping in the pool and it burned everywhere. I
had one small blister the next day, but over the next two days, my arms and my
neck were just covered with inch-high blisters.”
Houston and Fillmore County Extension Agent Michael Cruse
says the chemicals in the plants are in the seeds and especially in the stem.
Once the chemicals get on to human skin and that person gets out into the
sunlight, that’s when things begin to deteriorate.
“That’s when you start to see those blisters and burns,” Cruse said. “You really want to be vigilant and keep kids away from this stuff. If you are going out to clear this stuff off your property by hand, make sure you wear gloves, long sleeves, hats, and pants. Make sure you take care of those clothes because they’re going to have the chemical all over them.”
Wild parsnip burns look like this. Yes, they are as painful as they look. Keep away from wild parsnip as the sap can burn the skin of animals and humans when that sap comes in contact with sunlight. (photo from nyis.info)
Southeast Minnesota sees the largest amount of wild parsnip
in the state; however, the noxious weed is found in every county in Minnesota. Cruse
says wild parsnip was a big topic of conversation a couple of years ago, and
it’s a conversation-starter in county-level extension offices again. “Probably
two years ago, we had the big flush of wild parsnip that led to a bunch of
conversations at the county level,” he recalled.
“Last year, the populations seemed to drop off a bit,” Cruse
said, “and I think a lot of that had to do with some aggressive spraying in the
fall. The state roads saw a lot of mowing too. This is a good bounce-back year for
the biennial weed because of the recent run of hot weather.”
Colbenson said it took a while before his family figured out
that it was wild parsnip that caused the blisters on his arm and neck. “I felt
a stinging/burning sensation when the sunburn really started to kick in,” he
recalled. “The stinging and burning lessened as more and more blisters showed
up. The blisters didn’t hurt as much but they were big and puffy.
“We tried a bunch of different ointments and anti-itch
creams,” he said. “I know we also put a lot of Neosporin on them. I remember
the blisters lasting about a week-and-a-half. They slowly went away after that,
but they did leave some small scars on my arms.”
Colbenson lives in Rochester these days and travels back
home to the Rushford area periodically. He says the weed has “taken over
everywhere.” Colbenson says you can see the weed’s explosive growth in
virtually every ditch near the road, as well as near rivers and streams.
It’s not just humans that need to worry about wild parsnip.
Cruse says it’s important for livestock farmers to make sure their animals
don’t ingest it either.
“If animals ingest the plant, the material will enter their
bloodstream,” he said. “When it gets into the capillaries that run along the
outer edge of the skin, the chemicals can react to the sunlight and cause some
injuries there as well.”
Cruse said the burn can be extremely severe for both humans
and livestock, depending on the level of contact with the skin and sunlight
interaction. If it gets bad enough, this will be a “go to the doctor” type of
event. What does wild parsnip look like?
“The first thing people will notice while they’re out
driving is the yellow flower,” Cruse said. “But remember, not every yellow
flower will be wild parsnip, either. The yellow flower on wild parsnip actually
expands out and has a shape like an umbrella. The plant itself is typically
four-to-five feet tall.
“It’s a biennial plant,” he added, “so it has a rosette. If
you were to walk one of our local ditches in the fall, you’ll notice that
virtually everything will be dead. However, there will be some green rosettes
in the ditch too. There’s a better than decent chance at least some of that is
going to be wild parsnip. It stays green later in the year, which is why that’s
a good time to target it with some
spraying.”
Dicamba is an important tool for farmers when it comes to controlling weeds. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) wants to remind pesticide applicators of the state-specific dicamba cutoff for the 2019 growing season. Product application cannot take place in Minnesota after June 20.
The 2019 Minnesota dicamba cutoff is in addition to those established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The affected formulations are XtendiMax by Monsanto, Engenia by BASF, FeXapan by DuPont, and Tavium by Syngenta.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is reminding farmers and pesticide applicators that the dicamba cutoff date is set for June 20th. (photo from agweb.com)
“We understand that late planting this season has caused concern for growers who want to use this crop management tool,” said Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen. “However, delaying applications in an attempt to control later emerging weeds can result in poor control and presents other risks. If you are one of the growers that has invested in dicamba technology, now is the time to use it for the dicamba cutoff date. The University of Minnesota Extension says late planting combined with pre-plant tillage can offer advantages for weed control.”
The June 20, 2019, the dicamba cutoff date is based on the MDA’s ongoing investigations and informal surveys into reports of crop damage from alleged dicamba off-target movement over the past two growing seasons. In 2017, the MDA received 253 reports of alleged dicamba drift; 55 of those were formal complaints requesting investigations. Those reports impacted an estimated 265,000 acres. After state restrictions were put in place for the 2018 growing season, the number of complaints dropped dramatically to 53 reports, of which 29 were formal complaints. Just over 1,800 acres were impacted in 2018.
This year’s dicamba cutoff date was first announced on December 10, 2018. Over the winter, approximately 5,800 pesticide applicators attended trainings across the state as required by the product labels.
Dicamba is most effective early in the growing season. Product labels recommend application on small broadleaf weeds that are up to 4 inches tall.
To manage weeds after June 20, growers can use herbicides from Group 9 (Glyphosate), Group 2 (Pursuit, Classic, FirstRate), and Group 14 (Flexstar, Cobra, Cadet, Ultra Blazer). If you have herbicide resistant weeds such as water hemp, follow University of Minnesota Extension recommendations on layering of residual herbicides such as Dual, Outlook, Warrant, and Valor.
In Minnesota, the XtendiMax, Engenia, FeXapan, and Tavium formulations of dicamba are “Restricted Use Pesticides” for retail sale to, and for use only by, certified applicators.
Grecian foxglove (Digitalis lanata) is a beautiful but toxic invasive plant. It was brought to North America from its native Europe as an ornamental plant. Grecian foxglove thrives in sunny to partially shaded areas and has been found in Washington County, Minnesota. All plant parts are toxic, alive or dried, necessitating careful handling with protective clothing and equipment. This is a threat to humans and other animals. Additionally, Grecian foxglove overtakes and unbalances the ecosystems it takes root in.Grecian foxglove is a perennial plant that forms a rosette then sends up a flowering stem its second and subsequent years. The flowering stems are 2-5 feet tall. Its leaves are oblong-shaped with pointed tips and are simple and alternately placed on the stem. Flower color ranges from white to faint yellow with brownish-purple venation inside. Some of the ways Grecian foxglove can be distinguished from its look alike, common or garden foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), is that Grecian Foxglove has woolly hairs located on the stems and sepals, green petals that surround and protect the flower bud, and garden foxglove’s flowers display a much wider color spectrum.
Grecian foxglove (Digitalis lanata) is a beautiful but toxic invasive plant. It was brought to North America from its native Europe as an ornamental plant. The noxious weed thrives in sunny to partially-shaded areas and has been found in Washington County, Minnesota. All plant parts are toxic, whether it’s alive and thriving or dead and dried out, which means you have to take precautions. Careful handling with protective clothing and equipment is vital to your safety. This is a threat to humans and animals. Additionally, the weed overtakes and unbalances the ecosystems it takes root in, squeezing out other non-invasive plants.
Grecian foxglove synthesizes toxic compounds that impact cardiovascular, neurological and gastrointestinal systems. The poison effects can come after either accidental ingestion or absorption through the skin. Poison symptoms include headache, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, abdominal pain, strange dreams, arrhythmias, and changes in vision.
Grecian Foxglove is highly toxic, either through ingestion or it can be absorbed through the skin. (Contributed photo)
Please take this seriously. If you suspect foxglove poisoning, call Minnesota Poison Control System at 1-800-222-1222. Obviously, if someone needs immediate help, call 911 if immediate help is needed.
These toxic compounds can be deadly, but when extracted and used properly, they can also be used as a medicine. They can be highly beneficial in treating cardiac arrhythmia, a condition that causes the heart to beat irregularly.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), Washington Conservation District, along with the Conservation Corps of Minnesota (CCM), University of Minnesota-Extension, Belwin Conservancy, and private landowners and contractors are all working together to find and eliminate foxglove in Minnesota.
These groups and their efforts are supported by Environment and Natural Resources Trust Funds, as recommended by the Legislative-Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources. Grecian foxglove is a prohibited and eradicate weed on the Minnesota Noxious Weed List. If you suspect that you have found Grecian Foxglove, please take pictures of the plant, note the exact location, and report to Arrest the Pest at arrest.the.pest@state.mn.us.
