Blog | Field 2 Field

January 16, 2020January 16, 2020

Wild hockey trying to break out of a funk

Wild hockey, or any hockey, for that matter. You can hear the passion for the sport in the voice of Kevin Gorg, a hockey analyst for Fox Sports North. He was a recent guest on the Minnesota Sports Weekly podcast, a voice we hadn’t heard in a while. Gorg wished he could be talking about the Wild under better circumstances.

“Unfortunately, the season is not going the way we want for the Minnesota Wild,” he admitted ruefully. “There is still time to get it turned around. Things were very promising from November through December of last year, but January has not been kind so far.”

Struggling in the new year

Minnesota was one of the highest-scoring teams in the National Hockey League from November through December when they didn’t lose a lot. What happened? First of all, Gorg said no one close to the team saw a stretch of hockey like that coming from a team built from the defensive zone on out.

“It’s not a case of the team not being able to score goals,” he said. “Those of us who cover the team thought if they were to make the playoffs, it would be with solid goaltending and good defense. The firepower up front doesn’t match up with some of the elite teams in the NHL. We thought they could defend, we’ve loved their blue line, and the goaltending’s been good for years.

“That’s what caught us by surprise,” he said. “They were outscoring teams. If you look at who the Minnesota Wild really is, that wasn’t a sustainable way of doing things. Now, goal-scoring has run dry and the team is having to play from behind, which makes things worse. You saw that the other night during a (7-2) loss at Pittsburgh.”

It’s difficult in the NHL, the highest level of professional hockey, to always be down a goal or two and playing from behind. Compounding that during the recent game at Pittsburgh was the fact that the Penguins were welcoming back their team captain and top goal scorer, Sidney Crosby. Could the timing have been any more unfortunate for the Wild?

“He’d been out for nine weeks,” Gorg said. I could almost see him shaking his head even though Gorg was on the phone. “For anyone that knows hockey, he’s a hero in that town. The crowd was amped up, the team was amped up, and Crosby got going. You thought there’d be a little rust there, but no, he put up four points in that game.”

Here’s a few high, er, lowlights from the Wild hockey game at Pittsburgh.

Back to Basics

Teams that hit a losing skid tend to try to do too much to get off the slide. Players will try to overcompensate and their desire to play outside of their roles can make things even worse. Gorg, a lifelong hockey fan and one-time coach, talked about how the Wild get out of their current run of non-winning hockey.

“They just need to get back to basics,” he said right away. “They’re not going to outscore people. Maybe that run of high-scoring hockey late last year got in their heads a bit. They’ve got to be a lot more responsible in their defensive zone, a better back-checking team, they’ve got to take fewer penalties, and be much better on the penalty kill.”

Starting goaltender Devan Dubnyk has been carrying quite a load this year. He missed a month of the season because of his wife’s serious health problems and recently came back to take his place between the pipes. Gorg says the Wild’s top goalie is hanging in there through his family challenges.

“He’s got to be a rock back there, along with (backup goalie) Alex Stalock,” Gorg said. “If you look at the defensemen in front of them, this core is as good as any you’ll find in the NHL, especially when you talk about the top four. However, they haven’t played that way.

“The forwards have to be better in the offensive zone,” he added. “This team has to win games 3-2, rather than 5-4. Score early and play good defense. We don’t have pure scorers like Crosby on the roster. We do have Zach Parise (16 goals, 28 points), who’s on pace for 30 goals, Jason Zucker (12 goals despite just coming back from a broken leg), who should score 25-30 goals, and a guy like Eric Staal (16 goals, 33 points), who’s on pace to score 25-30 goals.”

Young players

That core of young players is what will likely put the Wild into the playoffs if they can raise their level of play. Guys like Kevin Fiala, Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Ryan Donato all have to elevate their games. So far, it’s just been Fiala (9 goals, 17 assists) that’s taken that step, with Gorg calling him a potential “25-30-goal scorer.”

The guy many hockey fans are most curious (and maybe concerned) about is Jordan Greenway (5 goals, 11 assists). The one-time U.S. Olympian has been a bit of an enigma. Six-foot-six inches tall off his skates, the big left-winger can look like a freight train on skates, but many times simply disappears in long stretches.

“Last year was his first full season of professional hockey,” Gorg recalled. Between Iowa and the Wild, he played over 100 games last year. You’d think that foundation would have him set up for bigger and better things this year. We’ve seen the flashes. For a guy his size, he’s got really good hands and offensive instincts. He just can’t stretch it out four or five games. But, you don’t give up on a guy that size.”

Buyers or Sellers?

One interesting topic is the trade deadline, which is coming up on Feb. 24. Will the Wild be buyers or sellers? As of right now, it’s not looking like they’ll be buying under new General Manager Bill Guerin.

“Eight points out of a playoff spot in the standings, I think that’s still to be determined,” Gorg said. “I’m impressed with Guerin’s patience. That may be because he’s already got four Stanley Cups in his pocket, two coming as a player.”

Jesus Christ Changed A Hockey Life

January 7, 2020January 7, 2020

College football recruiting for a second time

College football recruiting is quite a process, both for players and coaching staffs. A Spring Grove, Minnesota, high school standout had played his first year of college ball for the University of Minnesota-Crookston and very unexpectedly found himself going through the process a second time. Here’s what it looked like when the news first broke late last year.

Spring Grove native Alex Folz enjoyed a successful first season of college football at the University of Minnesota-Crookston in 2019. After getting significant playing time as a freshman for the NCAA Division 2 level Golden Eagles, Folz was into offseason workouts and studies when he got the news that no college athlete expects. He wouldn’t be playing football for Crookston again.

The school had decided to ax its football program due to “budget concerns.” Folz was left without a team to play for, decided to open himself up to the college football recruiting process once again, and found a new team to play for. This time around, it’s going to be a much-bigger road trip from Spring Grove to his new home. The Spring Grove high school standout is now a member of the Eastern New Mexico State University Greyhounds football team. Why decide to join the team in Portales, New Mexico?

“The first few days of looking for colleges generated some interest from NAIA schools, NCAA Division 3 schools, but nothing that big,” Folz recalled. “I had a couple of offers from NCAA Division 2 schools in southern states like West Virginia. I sent some film out to Eastern New Mexico and by the fourth day of my college football recruiting process, the head coach (Kelley Lee) sent me an email saying he loved my film and thought I’d be a good fit there.

Spring Grove native Alex Folz, shown here as a freshman playing for the University of Minnesota-Crookston, found himself going through college football recruiting for a second time after Crookston decided to cut it’s football program after the 2019 season. (Contributed photo)

“Coach said they might even have opportunities for me to do more things than just offense, which I loved doing at Spring Grove and did at Crookston,” he added. “The recruiting coordinator called to talk to me, and they eventually gave me a pretty nice scholarship.”

He began to look into the team and program, including their facilities and liked what he saw. Folz said the multiple coaches he talked to “seemed nice.” Appropriately enough for the social media age, Folz followed several of the Greyhounds’ players on Twitter, who all seemed to enjoy what they were doing down in New Mexico.

“I thought to myself ‘is this what I really want?’,” he recalled with a laugh. “Minnesota is great, and I have family here, but it’s got to be nice to live in warmer weather and get out to explore the U.S. a little bit.”

Folz admits that the whole “re-recruiting” process ended a little quicker than he thought it would.

The highly decorated high school player had a successful first year with the Crookston program, more so on a personal level than in terms of team success (0-11). He felt the team had something building as a member of a large recruiting class for the Northern Sun Conference school. The team was doing offseason conditioning work when they got notified of an “emergency team meeting” out of the blue.

“I’d just finished class and was sitting with one of my roommates when he got a phone call saying a friend had heard the football team was getting cut,” Folz said. “The friend on the phone knew someone at St. Cloud State that had a meeting at the same time and their program also got cut. We initially thought it was just rumors and nothing like that would happen.”

However, after scrolling through social media reports and other online articles, Folz and his teammates slowly started to think there might well be bad news coming. A lot of his teammates had no idea what they were going to do if it was true because this was the only place they could play while going to school.

“Our coaches came into the meeting room and sat at the back, which is not something they normally do,” he recalled. “The Chancellor (Mary Holz-Clause) stepped up to the microphone and told us she was sorry we had to find out the way we did because they wanted to news to come straight from the administration. She also said, ‘as of today, we’re cutting the football program.’

“You could see it in the faces of every guy in the room,” Folz added. “The look in their eyes said, ‘are you kidding me?’”

What Folz didn’t appreciate was the fact that Holz-Clause told the team they’ve been trying to cut the football team for the previous 18 months. “That’s what got me,” he said emphatically. “Our coaches found out just ten minutes before she told us (on Dec. 10). Why couldn’t they have told us as soon as the season ended (Nov. 16)?”

That meant more than 60 players had to find new colleges by spring. That’s when coaches typically want their new players enrolled so they can get to know the team and practice in the spring. That left them less than a month to find a new home.

And, the school wasn’t prepared to offer a lot of extra help to the students. Folz said athletes who had questions could ask and they’d try to assist them. However, the former Golden Eagle football players were on their own in the college football recruiting process.

From a personal perspective, Folz was disappointed because he had a successful freshman season.

Spring Grove, Minnesota, native Alex Folz is shown here carrying the ball for the University of Minnesota-Crookston football team. Crookston decided to cut its program after the 2019 season, forcing Folz to undergo college football recruiting a second time. (Contributed photo)

“I started the season playing on all four of the special teams’ units,” he said. “I was also a running back. As the season went on, I took over the punting job, returned kicks, and was on the punt return and kickoff teams. Halfway through the season, I moved from running back to slot receiver just because their numbers were low at the position.”

The former high school quarterback also took snaps as the backup quarterback in practice, just in case of an emergency.

The biggest adjustment to college sports came in the classroom. He said Friday and Saturday were his busiest days for football. “That meant you couldn’t be as much of a typical college kid the rest of the week,” he said. “You really have to take your time to study and get your homework done. When all that’s done, you still have to pay attention to the game of football. It’s a big time-balancing exercise.”

Folz is heading out for New Mexico on Jan. 8, will move into his apartment, and then have a couple of days to adjust to the new surroundings. School starts on Jan. 13. Folz is leaving familiar surroundings and heading almost 1,150 miles from home. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when he thinks about the distance?

“I’m really excited,” he said after some thought. “I’ve always wanted to get out and see the country. The only thing I’m nervous about is meeting new teammates. We had a close brotherhood at Crookston. I felt as though I could have gone to any of the players or coaches with anything. I’m hoping all those guys down there will be the same way and I’m sure they will.

“We all just want to play football,” he said with a laugh.

December 28, 2019December 28, 2019

SEC Showcase in Rochester a Success

SEC Showcase. Just a cool name for a great day of watching high school basketball. The first-ever Southeast Conference Showcase in Rochester, Minnesota, featured a full slate of basketball games featuring every team in the league. I went down to Rochester from the Twin Cities to specifically take in the Kingsland vs. Mabel-Canton boys’ and girls basketball games.

Kingsland won the girls’ game 53-43. The Kingsland boys made it a sweep, beating the M-C boys 53-49.

Here’s a few video highlights from both games, with the articles and pictures down below.

SEC Showcase Girls’ Game

The Knights came out firing early in the game and ran off 11-straight points to start the game before Mabel-Canton would score their first points. All-SEC standout Payton Danielson gave the Cougars their first two baskets of the game, the first coming with 13:38 left in the first half.

The Kingsland and Mabel-Conference game featured a couple of solid guards. All-conference guard Payton Danielson of Mabel-Canton (in blue) brings the ball up the floor, where Alyssa Link of Kingsland awaits to play defense. (Photo by Chad Smith)

The Cougars would knock that Kingsland lead down to 15-11 with 9:18 left in the period. M-C stretched its scoring run to 15-8 with five minutes to go in the half. The Knights kept their lead around four points over the final minutes of the first half, leading 21-17 with four minutes to go.

Kingsland would head into the halftime locker room with a 26-22 lead. However, most of the half belonged to Mabel-Canton, who outscored the Knights 22-15 after being down 11-0 early in the game.

The Kingsland girls came out firing in the second half, going on a 10-4 run to take a 36-26 lead six minutes into the second half. The Knights stretched their scoring run to 15-6. Leading by double-digits at 41-30 with 10 minutes on the clock. But Mabel-Canton still wouldn’t go away.

Lauren Wyffels of Mabel-Canton looks to inbound the basketball during their matchup with Kingsland at the SEC Showcase in Rochester. The Knights won the game 53-43. (Photo by Chad Smith)

The Cougars whittled the Kingsland lead down to four points (42-38) with 4:35 left. It was 42-40 Kingsland when MaKenzie Kelly of Mabel-Canton hit a free throw to tie the game at 42-all with 3:34 left. However, Alyssa Link of Kingsland answered with a big three-point basket.

It was 46-42 Knights with 2:15 to go. Link hit a couple of big free throws late to make it a 50-42 Knights’ lead with 25 seconds left. Anika Reiland hit free throws to stretch the Kingsland lead to 53-42 with five seconds left. A Danielson free throw for M-C made it a 53-43 final.

Link, who looks completely healthy and is playing without a brace after recovering from a serious knee injury last season, led the team with a double-double, getting a team-best 15 points and pulling down 11 boards. She had three big three-pointers and went three of four at the free-throw line in the second half, coming up with big points in clutch time. But she had help on the perimeter as well.

Sam Wernimont finished with 13 points, hitting three shots from outside the arc in the first half. Meredith Farlinger provided scoring in the paint, finishing with another double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Free throws were huge for Kingsland in the second half, when they made 12 of their 16 attempts (75%). It was a marked improvement from the first half when the Knights were just three of 10 at the stripe.

On the defensive end of the floor, Kingsland finished with six steals (Wernimont 2, Audrey Webster 2) and nine blocked shots (Farlinger 4).

SEC Boys’ Game

The SEC Showcase game tipped off in the Mayo Civic Center and points were slow in coming for both teams. The Knights trailed just 4-3 with five-and-a-half minutes off the first-half clock. Just over two minutes later, Brayden Gjere of Mabel-Canton grabbed an offensive rebound and landed a put-back shot to give the Cougars an 8-7 lead with 12:16 to go in the first half.

The Knights trailed 10-9 when Luke Howard drained a three-pointer to make it a 12-10 Knights’ lead with 7:23 left in the half. However, the Cougars’ Reid Crawford answered with a trey of his own to give MC the lead back at 15-14 with six minutes on the clock.

Both teams were settling into the neutral court and were finding the range more consistently on their jump shots. As the tempo picked up, another Luke Howard trey made it 22-15 Kingsland at 3:44 to go in the half. He attempted another three as the first half buzzer sounded and was fouled. He dropped in one of three free throws to make it a 25-19 Kingsland lead at the half.

Mabel-Canton came out swinging in the second half with a 7-0 scoring run to take a one-point lead (26-25) with 16 minutes left in the game. An offensive rebound and made basket by Reed Merkel broke the streak and gave the lead back to the Knights, 27-26 with 15 minutes left.

The lead would go back and forth for the rest of the game. Kaden Rath hit a jumper to tie the game at 37 with just over eight minutes left. Another Howard three-pointer and a steal and layup from Nick Eickhoff made it 42-39 Kingsland with 7:15 on the clock.

As the game wound down, Kingsland started showing a full-court press. The Knights had shown a half-court trap before that and had some success forcing Mabel-Canton mistakes with the basketball.

Walker Erdman nailed one of two free throws to tie the game at 44. The teams traded baskets and tied the game at 46 all, when Howard hit the biggest three of the game off a Mabel-Canton turnover and Kingsland was back on top, 49-46 with 1:21 to go.

The Cougars’ Reid Crawford line up a three-point try that rolled all the way around the rim and fell away. The Knights grabbed the rebound and Erdman hit two free throws to make it a two-possession game at 51-46. However, Crawford came back the other way and drained a three to cut the Kingsland lead to just two points, 51-49 with only 4.7 seconds left.

Mabel-Canton tried hard to swipe the inbound pass and was forced to foul. Two free throws from Howard sealed the game and a Knights’ win, 53-49.

Howard and Erdman tied for the team lead in scoring, each finishing with 14 points. Howard was two rebounds from a double-double, grabbing eight missed shots and finishing with two steals. Erdman also grabbed eight rebounds and hit three of five free throws. Eickhoff chipped in 12 points on five of 11 shooting.

The team hit 19 of its 53 shots (35%) from the field. They were most effective down under the basket, making 13 of 27 shots (48%) from two-point range. The Knights did make enough free throws to win the game, but they could have given themselves a little more breathing room late. Kingsland was just nine of 18 from the stripe.

They finished with 32 rebounds, 12 offensive.

Defensively, the Knights came up with seven steals and four blocked shots.

December 19, 2019December 19, 2019

Running helps Nebraska Rancher beat the odds

Running and track are helping Nebraska rancher Kevan Hueftle of Eustice to live the kind of story that few people get to tell. He rose from the depths of a 2005 hunting accident that cost him his foot, as well as the resulting depression and subsequent battle with alcohol to become a champion Paralympic runner after recently competing.

“I was shot in the left foot during a hunting accident,” he recalled. “Six months later, I decided to amputate it right above the ankle. I was only 20 years old at the time. I was a successful track athlete and actually tried to go and run again at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. However, I hadn’t finished healing yet.”

In his words, Hueftle said he was “taking pills to get through the day” and “drinking more and more” at that time. He transferred out of UNK and went to Southeast Community College in Beatrice to get his Ag Degree in 2009. Between 2007 and 2015, Hueftle called himself a “full-blown alcoholic.” On August 7, 2015, he took control of his life and gave up alcohol. “I hit my four-year sobriety mark on August 7 of this year,” he said proudly.

In January of 2017, he started looking back at his track career, remembering how fast he could run in his prime. “I started taking a look at some of the Paralympic times,” he recalled. “I went to a prosthetic maker in Kearney and switched the old prosthetic leg over to a new one. Then, I started running again.

“My times were pretty crappy back then,” Hueftle said. “They were good when you remember I had just started running for the first time in fifteen years. As I got further into training, I went to a prosthetist in Washington that put me on a brand-new leg. I was training every single day and my times kept getting faster. Two-and-a-half years of training led to me getting a bid to the Para Pan-American Games in Peru, which were held only a month ago.”

He said it was a very emotional experience when he finally received his Team USA gear and became a part of the organization. While traveling to Peru he didn’t carry a lot of expectations with him. After all, Hueftle had never traveled internationally before. He was also running while being a full-time rancher with a couple of “side-businesses.” Plus, Hueftle was a 34-year-old runner competing against kids in their 20s.

“I think the cards were stacked against me,” he recalled. “However, I ended up placing second in the 200-Meter Dash and won the 100-Meter Dash. That was a great feeling. I was actually pretty mad at myself after the 200 because I thought I should have won it. I just didn’t quite run my best 200 of the year though.

“I wasn’t a 100 or 200 runner in college during my track days,” Hueftle said. “I was more of a 400 and 800M runner, which is a completely different style of running than the sprints. I had to learn some new running techniques and (starting) blockwork.”

Hueftle has a running coach who lives in Florida. His coach came to watch him run in Peru and it was actually the first time the two had been face-to-face. “I had five days on the track with him, which was amazing,” he said. “And having the national anthem played because you won a race was even more amazing. It was all Team USA members on the podium in first, second, and third, in both events.”

Hueftle met his coach during a trip to Arizona for competition. He does his training through videos and workouts that are sent from Florida. “My coach also works with Team USA,” he said. “He sought me out after the meet in Arizona and told me I had the skills and the mindset to do well in the competitions. I just didn’t quite have the running technique yet.”

With his win at the Para Pan-American Games in Peru, Hueftle is off to Dubai and running in the World Championship Meet at the end of the month. He leaves on October 31 for 17 days in Dubai. He has a lot of training to do between now and then, but Hueftle’s workouts can be difficult to fit into his hectic personal and professional schedule.

“I usually try to work out at 5 am,” he said, “but if that doesn’t work out, I usually head up to the high school in the evenings with my kids to do my running. I can also leave Eustice to drive to Cozad and use their track but that takes 1.5 hours or longer. If that doesn’t work out, I’ve trained in cornfields or ran on highways. With the caliber of athletes I’m trying to compete against, I can’t skip workouts. The ones that have faster times than I do are sponsored athletes, so training is their full-time job.”

He’s looking forward to being able to reflect on his accomplishments when his athletic career comes to a close. “Peru was nothing but a business trip for me,” he said. “The best thing about it was Peru is on central time, so I got to keep myself on a routine. When I’m done running, I think I’ll have more time to enjoy it.”

December 19, 2019December 19, 2019

Canine Officer from Minnesota wins national contest

Canine Officer Lieutenant Trace Erickson of the Houston County Sheriff’s Department recently took first place in a national police canine competition earlier this month. The National Field Trials and Certification event is put on by the United States Police Canine Association and takes place in Florida. Erickson said it’s a chance to compete with the “best-of-the-best” canine officers from across the country.

“You have to qualify with a high-enough score at a regional competition to be invited to the national contest,” Erickson said. “We qualified with a high-enough score and got to go up against the best canine officers from across the country. We went down representing a small law enforcement agency and won the whole thing.”

One reason police departments from all over the country send canine officers to these contests is for national certification, something that’s very important to their canine programs.

“It shows that our dogs are under control,” he said. “They’re fully functioning, above board, and they meet high standards. The U.S. Police Canine Association sets the highest standards in police certification because it’s been around 49 years and is accepted in all courts as the highest certification.”

The dogs are put through five different tests in these competitions. “There’s obedience, which dogs are scored on,” he said. “Then there’s agility, which is the dog’s ability to move around and over obstacles.

“There’s also scent work,” Erickson said. “That includes a suspect search, as well as an article search, in which someone holds two articles for 45 seconds, throws them into a 30-foot by 30-foot pad, and the dogs have to go retrieve them in a timed event.

“There’s also an apprehension part of the test,” he added. “The dog has to show proficiency, in that as a decoy takes off running, the dog doesn’t move until it’s told to. There’s a recall part of the test, in that the dog takes off after a decoy and is then called back after about 18 yards. It shows that canines are the only use of force police have that we can call back. Once you fire a gun or taser, that’s it.

“After that is the actual apprehension test, where the decoy is chased and bitten (while wearing protective padding),” Erickson said. “When the handler tells the dog to let go, the canine has to immediately let go.”

The last part of the apprehension testing takes place under gunfire. Erickson said that shows the stability of the dog in a loud environment. “While blanks are fired in the background, the dog is sent after the decoy, releases at the handler’s command, and the decoy is searched,” he described. “During the search, the suspect ‘assaults’ the handler, the dog engages again, and then has to let go immediately when told to.”

There are 700 total points available in the competitions. Erickson and his canine “Roman” scored an amazing 692.8 to win the contest.

As a veteran canine officer, he spends a lot of his time training with the dogs he’s had over the years. It takes a lot of time to make sure the dog is 100 percent competent in the job, noting that “obedience and control” are the biggest keys to a successful canine. “We do something every day to keep Roman sharp,” he said.

“I didn’t start out intending to be a canine officer,” Erickson recalled. “That came a few years later. I’ve worked with several dogs for the Houston County Sherriff’s Office. We’ve received several awards for street work and certification. We’ve been very fortunate in Houston County in terms of the canines we’ve had over the years.”

Roman is a 3.5-year-old Dutch Shepherd and the fourth police canine that Erickson has worked with during his career. “This dog has been on the street a little over a year, and to win a national title like that is unbelievable,” he said. “He also does drug detection, and we use him to search vehicles and execute search warrants at different locations in the county.

“He can also do things like tracking, including searching for missing children,” Erickson added. “He can also help us track suspects and find lost hunters. Of course, he’ll also do protection work if someone attacked me. He can help us clear buildings. If someone breaks into a building, he can go in and search the building, keeping officers out of harm’s way.”

The Houston County Sheriff’s Office Canine Program received both regional and national certification with the team’s wins. “We do these contests because we want people to know our canine program is proficient and above board,” he said. “We also won a national championship trophy too.”

December 18, 2019December 18, 2019

Holiday Scams Hit Rural Residents, too

Holiday scams. I really hate that this is something we need to think about, even in rural America. The holidays are a prime time for scammers to do their business. Be vigilant. If someone is asking for your private information, such as a social security number, and you didn’t initiate the call, do NOT give out any information. Period.

I got a call last summer from the “Social Security Administration,” who said someone had used my social security number for “nefarious purposes.” Well, guess what? As a long-time member of the media, I’ve done multiple stories on scams and knew better than to answer when he wanted me to confirm my social security number. At that point, I was already running a tape of the call and as soon as they found out, it was CLICK. End of phone call.

Online purchasing makes holiday shopping easier for rural residents, but it doesn’t make shopping more secure. Cyber holiday scams are rampant during this time of year. Sean Voskuhl, AARP State Director for Oklahoma, says you should stay vigilant when shopping online during the holidays, and throughout the year.

When ordering holiday items online, Voskuhl says, make sure the website you are purchasing from is reputable, and take proper precautions when purchasing gift cards to avoid holiday scams.

Finally, with many in the mood to give back this holiday season, he says make sure your donations are going to a worthy cause.

AARP offers year-round tips on this topic, and others of interest to rural America. Learn more holiday scam tips online by visiting the Fraud Watch Network at aarp.org or watch Thursday night at 9 pm Central Time on RFD-TV.

December 18, 2019December 18, 2019

Dairy Assistance Program Enrollment Reopened

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is reopening enrollment in its Dairy Assistance, Investment, and Relief Initiative (DAIRI) program for eligible milk producers through the end of the year.

Producers who have locked in five years of coverage through the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program and who have not already successfully enrolled in the Dairy Assistance program can apply.

The MDA has already issued $3.4 million to about 1,800 producers representing more than 1,550 farms in Minnesota through the program in its first round of payments.

Producers not yet successfully enrolled will not receive the first round of payment, but may receive a check for the second round of dairy assistance, which will be determined after all new enrollments have been received.

In order to qualify, farmers must have produced less than 160,000 cwt (hundredweight) of milk in 2018. They will be paid based on production levels, up to 50,000 cwt of milk produced in 2018.

An application form, an IRS Form W-9, a copy of their DMC enrollment form, and a statement from their processor(s) detailing the amount of milk produced in 2018 are required to complete an application. All materials must be postmarked by December 31, 2019.

Producers who are already successfully enrolled and have received their first check do not need to take any action. They will automatically receive a second payment. However, producers who submitted incomplete applications and have not received a check must return any requested information by December 31, 2019, to be eligible for the second payment.

For additional information and the application form, visit the DAIRI program page of the MDA website.

November 14, 2019November 14, 2019

Dairy Industry is “Optimistic” at #NAFB19

Dairy industry officials know firsthand that the industry has struggled in recent years, and there’s no question about it. Former Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, who spoke to broadcasters during the National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s annual convention in Kansas City. Vilsack, is the current President and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. He says in spite of some tough years for the American dairy industry, there are reasons for optimism.

News broke this week that Dean Foods, America’s largest milk producing company in the dairy industry, filed for bankruptcy. I had a chance for some one-on-one comments with the former Ag Secretary, who preferred to talk more about the positive signs ahead in the dairy industry than the bad news about Dean Foods.

He took a lot of questions from farm broadcasters on a variety of topics in the dairy industry. One of the biggest topics in recent months is the growing market for plant-based “milks.” He and the rest of the dairy industry aren’t happy with these companies referring to themselves as “milk.” The question came from Orien Samuelson, the dean of farm broadcasters and a good friend of Vilsack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbopKYObCAs&feature=youtu.be

He says the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement making its way through the House of Representatives, all be it slowly because of Democratic concerns, is another reason to be optimistic. He’s confident that the agreement will get done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCURYBZ6IIo&feature=youtu.be

It’s hard to believe that folks in Washington, D.C. are already talking about the next Farm Bill. The reason for that is House Ag Committee Chair Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat, isn’t sure yet if he’ll be running for re-election in 2020. He’s said publicly that decision will be coming in either January or February. Vilsack said even if Peterson doesn’t run again, the next farm bill will get done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHU9-7w_CVU&feature=youtu.be

Lastly, as President of the Dairy Export Council, he pays close attention to the country’s export situation, which hasn’t been great at all thanks to trade disputes. In spite of that, with agreements pending in Japan, as well as in North America, exports are another reason to be optimistic.

October 22, 2019October 22, 2019

Renewable Fuels Debate Continues Unabated

Here’s the complete podcast with Scott Irwin of the University of Minnesota, talking about his solution to the squabble between ethanol and the oil industry over the Renewable Fuels Standard. You can download and listen to it later or play it here.

Renewable Fuels seem like such a good idea to me. After all, fossil fuels are a finite resource, right? We grow lots of corn and other biofuel feedstocks. Why can’t we use some of them to stretch our fuel supply even further into the future? That’s rhetorical, of course. Big Oil has lots of money. One University of Illinois Professor says that money has put Big Oil squarely in the driver’s seat with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The clash between the ethanol and oil industries over the Renewable Fuels Standard is continuing with no end in sight. Scott Irwin of the Agricultural and Consumer Economics Department at the University of Illinois says there may not be a “win-win” deal in a debate like this.

Irwin wrote an article on the University of Illinois’ farm doc daily website called “Clearing the Logjam on the RFS and SREs: A Simple Proposal.” His idea would divide the refiners into large and small operations, while the ethanol proponents are treated as one group.

By doing it that way, the Environmental Protection Agency won’t be waiving any future volumes of ethanol. He realizes that the large refiners won’t be happy with his proposal, which Irwin says restores what the RFS was originally designed to do.

Irwin says his solution would satisfy two-thirds of the people and groups involved in the debate, which might be the best we can do. By way of comparison, the current situation is a mess.

Again, Scott Irwin is with the University of Illinois. Follow the link here if you’d like to read his full report on the Farm Doc Daily website.

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October 22, 2019October 22, 2019

Harvest season in MN requiring extra patience

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.”