Nate Kaufman of the Omaha branch of the Kansas City Fed. (Photo from kansascityfed.org)
Ag economic conditions are still quite strong in 2022, but how long will that last? Nate Kaufman, vice president and Omaha bank executive for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, spoke during the recent Agricultural Outlook Forum in Kansas City. He told the audience during a presentation that incomes are still in good shape.
“Economic conditions in agriculture are remarkably strong. And I want to start here because this is not something I would have said probably two-and-a-half years ago. And I think it is an important place to start just because of how significantly different conditions are today relative to what we might have said back then. Incomes are incredibly high. We’ve seen commodity prices pick up, and yes, there are very high input costs that are leading to some concerns, but generally speaking, economic conditions in agriculture, with some caveats, are quite strong.”
Land values are a good example of the strength of the ag economic conditions.
Farmland values are a good example of the recent strength in the U.S. agricultural economy (photo from agriculture.com)
“Land values, for example, are about 25 to 30 percent higher than what we might have seen before the pandemic. That was a time that land values had been declining the first couple of months of the pandemic, and it was maybe thought that we would see further declines, but here we are a couple of years later and seeing that conditions are much stronger. Before the pandemic, we worried about gradual increases in loan defaults. We looked at bankruptcy rates, we looked at other things that we thought there was going to be more financial stress and not less going forward. And the reality is that loan delinquencies are at one of their all-time lows, working capital levels are very high, and producers are generally in a strong position. And so, we’re seeing again from a financial picture things are rather strong there too.”
Despite the current strength of the ag economy, analysts expect slower economic growth next year.
‘Six percent growth in 2021 and 2022, that number is expected to be less than one percent, and there are concerns about economic growth in 2023. The second one is inflationary pressure. For those 10 years that we spent in the longest economic expansion on record after the financial crisis, inflation was generally less than two percent. And the Federal Reserve, as many of you may know, has a goal for inflation at two percent. We’re at eight percent, and that’s significantly higher than two. There are concerns about what inflationary pressures might do concerning some of the costs that have been mentioned.”
The other significant headwind is the interest rate.
The last one that I’ll mention then is interest rates. At the end of 2020. If you were to look at some of the projections that Federal Reserve officials would have suggested would be appropriate interest rate policy for 2022, many would have indicated that rates were likely to still be approximately zero by the end of this year. Instead, we’re in a different environment. And this is in large part because of inflation, where we’re now seeing interest rates closer to four to four-and-a-half percent by the end of this year.”
The Ag Outlook Forum was sponsored by the Ag Business Council of Kansas City and Agri-Pulse.
Port slowdowns are still clogging up the nation’s supply chains, and it’s a big problem to solve. Ray Bowman is Director of the Small Business Development Center of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in Southern California. He’s also the program chair for the District Export Council of Southern California. The business veteran and trade consultant said things have improved a bit but only on one side of the import-export equation.
America’s port slowdowns are showing minimal signs of improvement but only on the export side. (Photo from splash247.com)
“Many things are going on to help with the port slowdowns,” he said on the phone from his office in Camarillo, California. “Most of us have seen the news footage of ships backed up and waiting to unload their cargo. A big part of the backup is the unprecedented buying demand we saw during COVID-19.”
He says the Biden administration moved to get the nation’s ports operating on a 24-hour basis or, at least, get that framework in place to help relieve congestion. Bowman says it’s helped somewhat on the import side of the business, where he says things are about 30 percent better than before.
“Unfortunately, I don’t see that it’s improved on the export side,” Bowman says. “So that’s been tough on American shippers who need to move their goods overseas.
“We knew there would be a significant increase in buying during COVID-19,” he said. “Up until recently, we haven’t seen much of a slowdown in purchasing. Companies are likely still trying to fill orders backlogged for months.”
Ray Bowman is an international trade consultant from southern California with over 30 years of experience. (Photo from edcollaborative.com)
With so much demand for containers on the import side, it’s very difficult for shippers to simply find export containers to load their goods in. Companies started focusing more and more on the import side because they were making so much more money.
When it comes to export containers, fewer goods are leaving the country, so it tends to be cheaper to purchase export containers. They aren’t worth as much to the steamship lines as the larger volume of goods coming into the country. “Because of the demand for imports, steamship companies put all their space availability on the import side,” he said. “They didn’t pay as much attention to the export side, making containers much harder to find.
“The price of those containers is another limiting factor,” Bowman said. “As demand increased, the price shot higher at an unprecedented rate. We knew the price would increase because those costs have gotten suppressed in recent years, but we didn’t expect it to climb by ridiculously huge amounts.”
Limited amounts of containers and exorbitantly high prices hit the small and medium-sized companies harder than the larger businesses. He said the larger companies have economies of scale built into their business structures. Many typically have contracts for consistent shipping availability and trucking services regularly available.
“Small and medium companies buy their services primarily off the spot market,” Bowman said. “So, those higher prices hit those companies even harder than their larger competitors. These things like container shortages haven’t come out of the blue. This has been going on for some time, but when buying spikes as we’ve seen recently, there’s a point at which a system can’t efficiently handle the excess demand. That’s when we get significant port slowdowns.”
Port slowdowns are still ongoing as shippers try to process orders for goods made up to 90 days ago, so it will take some time to work through the backlog. (Photo from theguardian.com)
In addition to the small pool of available containers, Bowman said warehousing space for unloaded goods is almost maxed out. American warehousing only has roughly three percent of its total space available, which is not a good thing. He says the West Coast ports have less than two percent of space available.
“That only makes the container shortage worse because you have to be able to empty containers to make them available,” he said.
Many truckers who deliver to ports run into something called a “dual transaction” requirement. Bowman said that means if a trucker has a container to drop off, they’d better have another one to pick up. If a driver has a container to pick up, they’d better have another one to drop off. It’s efficient on paper, but if a driver doesn’t have that second part of the dual transaction, they’ll have to go find one.
“Another big challenge at the ports is something called the ‘Box Rule,’” he said. “When a trucker drops off a container to a particular shipping company, you have to have a chassis. Those are the wheels on the bottom that you load the container on.
“These steamship companies have contracts with different chassis makers,” Bowman said. “A steamship line will say, ‘if you’re going to tender one of our containers, you also have the chassis of the company we’ve contracted with.’ If you don’t have the right chassis to go with the right container, you’ll find yourself with cargo, the booking, and nowhere to unload it.”
Bowman, a business veteran with over 30 years of experience, says there is a lot of conversation about not having a Box Rule at the country’s ports. Shippers don’t want to worry about where the chassis comes from. Instead, they want the companies to bill whoever needs to get billed to use a chassis.
The Box Rule is a big problem in the nation’s ports. (photo from joc.com)
“Because of rules like this, roughly 30 percent of truck drivers miss their appointments,” Bowman said. “if you aren’t there on time for whatever reason, such as looking for a chassis, there’s no recourse. You’ve missed your appointment. It’s not unusual, at all, for a trucker to get there hours early and miss their appointment because they’re stuck in a queue.”
Another big reason that things get bogged down is a backlog. A lot of the shipments coming in right now got booked 90 days ago, if not longer.
While shippers, port officials, and government officials are looking at how to rectify these different challenges, Bowman says one of the biggest challenges is a lack of adequate infrastructure at the ports. Most of America’s ports were built when ships were typically much smaller than they are today.
“When I started in the shipping industry, a large ship was around a 4,000-container capacity,” he recalled. “In the 1980s, that was a big ship. Now, we have ships that can hold between 10,000 and 20,000 containers.
“Not only are they bigger, but these ships also just aren’t one carrier like they used to be,” Bowman added. “It used to be one carrier, one ship. You now have what are called ‘Shipping Alliances.’ In fact, there are three big ones in the U.S. As many as four or more steamship lines can be sharing space on one ship.”
Bowman said one of his biggest personal concerns is agricultural goods. If a shipment of consumer electronics takes a long time to get where it needs to go, the products aren’t in any danger of spoiling. Agricultural shipments contain perishable products that won’t wait long for a container and ship.
“A lot of attention needs to get paid to that,” he said. “Those are some of our best exports, and we need to protect that part of the supply chain.”
Bowman is an internationally-respected business consultant who says he’s never seen anything like this before. “There have been port slowdowns in the past, but this is truly unprecedented,” he said.
Chicken wings and the Super Bowl go together like Abbot and Costello, socks and shoes, and w(h)ine and cheese (that last one is mostly for Packer fans – but I digress). The National Chicken Council says when Americans get together to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, February 7, a lot of us will chow down on chicken wings. The good news is there will be plenty of wings available for everyone.
Tom Super is the Senior Vice President of Communications for the NCC, a 16-year-veteran of the position. He says America’s obsession with chicken wings and the Super Bowl has grown a lot in recent years. They are projecting Americans will scarf down a record 1.42 billion chicken wings to celebrate this year’s Big Game.
We love our chicken wings and the Super Bowl. Americans really seem to love them at the same time and will eat a lot of them on Super Bowl Sunday. (photo from narcity.com)
“That’s up two percent from last year,” he says, “and that’s despite the complications brought on by COVID-19. When we put together our recent chicken wing report for the Super Bowl, I thought for sure we’d see a decline in the number of wings Americans will eat.
“COVID has been very hard on restaurants,” Super said. “When talking to folks in the industry, when looking at the demand numbers, and when looking at the price of wings and all the other factors involved in consumption, they’ve never been a hotter product.”
Chicken wings had an advantage over a lot of other foods served at your local restaurants. Super points out that restaurants like wing joints and pizza places were built around takeout and delivery. When indoor dining was limited or shut down, those places didn’t have to change their business model as much as other establishments. They kept right on going with carryout and delivery orders while other restaurants completely shut down.
“Wings travel well, and they hold up during delivery conditions,” he said. “They also align with consumer desires for comfort food during COVID-19.”
Chicken farmers did a great job maintaining their production through 2020, and Super says there wasn’t much of a production drop-off compared to the previous year. There should be an adequate supply level to accommodate Super Bowl fans across the country.
So, let’s put some perspective on how many chicken wings make up that estimated 1.42 billion wings that we’ll eat on Super Bowl Sunday. In simple terms, that’s a lot of chicken.
“If you were to line them up end-to-end, it would circle the entire circumference of the Earth three times,” Super says. “If you laid them end-to-end from Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, they’d stretch back-and-forth 19 times.
The Super Bowl and chicken wings go together like Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes will on Sunday, February 7, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (Photo from washingtonpost.com)
“Let’s look at it another way,” he added. “Let’s assume that Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid could eat three wings in a minute – and yes, the actual number is probably higher – but if he ate three every minute, it would take him more than 900 years to eat 1.42 billion chicken wings.”
Some Americans are bone-in chicken wing eaters, while others prefer the boneless wings. What type of wings do the majority of football fans prefer?
America’s favorite sauce for our wings might not be what you think it is.
“We should let people know that there will not be a shortage of wings this year,” Super said. “Restaurants, food service, and retailers started pulling wings out of cold storage as far back as November to prepare for the big day.”
If there is a rush on chicken wings in the days and hours before Super Bowl Sunday, Super has this bit of advice: “Don’t wait till the last second,” he says. “That’s my advice.”
“Fish all Fifty.” It might be an understatement to say that’s a rather big goal, sort of like trying to actually shoot the moon.
Two 18-year-old Virginia men have embarked on the mother of all road trips. With their secondary education plans sidetracked by COVID-19, Luke Konson and Daniel Balserak of Virginia hit the road with the lofty goal of catching the state fish of every state in America. Instead of sitting in front of computer screens, they’re staring through the windshield of a “commandeered” family minivan as the miles go by on their “Fish All Fifty” trip.
The buddies graduated high school in June, and they were planning to enroll this fall at Clemson University in South Carolina. However, because the year started with all online education, they didn’t want to spend any more time sitting in front of computer screens. Because they’d taken the last couple months of their senior year online, Luke Konson said, “We didn’t love it.”
Luke Kolson is pictured here after catching a walleye, the state fish in Minnesota, as a part of his “Fish all Fifty” trip with fellow Virginian Daniel Balserak. (Contributed Photo)
“We both decided to defer our admissions to the fall of 2021,” Konson said on the phone from Mississippi. “We were trying to decide what to do in the meantime and didn’t want to sit at home for a year. Travelling was a little more difficult because of COVID-19 restrictions.
“While we were trying to make that decision, I happened to be fishing with my family in North Carolina,” he recalled. “So, fishing was on our minds at the time. The idea hit us to travel to all 50 states and, because we love to fish, we wanted to catch every state fish. As far as we can tell, no one has ever accomplished that task.”
Their most recent conquest was catching the Mississippi state fish, a largemouth bass, and the duo was halfway to accomplishing their mission. He says several of the state fish they’ve caught so far were challenging.
“We had to catch a muskie in Wisconsin,” Konson said. “That’s a seriously cool fish, and it’s hard to catch. One of the things we do is if we’re in a state trying to catch a fish that we aren’t familiar with, I’ll go into Facebook groups to tell people what we’re doing and get some advice. The interesting thing is we often get people reaching out to us and offering to take us fishing.”
Daniel Balserak of Virginia is pictured here after catching his own walleye on the Minnesota River near Belle Plaine. (Contributed photo)
The variety of fish has been an especially-interesting part of the trip. The boys caught Atlantic Salmon on a road trip to Maine. Several states feature Brook Trout as their state fish. Konson says anytime they’ve gotten to catch a fish they aren’t familiar with was a “really cool experience.” They each caught a Guadalupe Bass, a fish found only in Texas.
They’ve been fishing in the Midwest as well. Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas all named Channel Catfish as their state fish. It’s one fish the duo knows a lot about as they go after catfish in Virginia. They caught walleye on the Minnesota River near Belle Plaine, Minnesota, and Channel Catfish on the Racoon River in Iowa.
“Our first road trip was a loop through the Northeastern states,” he said, “including Maine. We wanted to grab an American Shad in Connecticut, but it was out of season, so we’ll head back there to get one of those. We also hit New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.”
Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa were next on the list, through the Midwest states, and then into Texas. While on the phone for this interview, Luke and Daniel were traveling through the Southeastern States.
Balserak, pictured here with his channel catfish caught on the Raccoon River in Iowa. He and Luke Konson are busy with their “Fish all Fifty” road trip around the country. They’re trying to catch the state fish in all fifty states. (Contributed Photo)
While they don’t usually do the “tourist things” on their trips, one of the best parts of the “Fish All Fifty” road trip is the places they fish in are some of the most scenic areas in the country. “For example, we went fishing for Brook Trout in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and it’s beautiful up there,” Konson said. “Fishing for salmon in the wilderness of Maine was amazing.”
They do intend to do a little more sightseeing when the pair heads west. Konson mentioned seeing Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, as well as the Grand Canyon.
While the price of gas might be as low as it’s been in years in many states, it still adds up quickly when road tripping through every state in the Union. Combine that with food and other incidental costs, the price tag adds up quickly. The next logical question is how they’re financing an adventure like this. While they had a little money saved up for college they didn’t want to burn through, the boys turned to the generosity of others.
“We set up a GoFundMe page, which is where most of our funding is coming from,” he said. “People have been supporting us on GoFundMe, which has been super helpful for us. A lot of those people on GoFundMe, as well as the people we meet face-to-face, tell us the trip is a great idea, and they wish they’d done it themselves.”
Virgina natives Luke Konson and Daniel Balserak are holding their channel catfish caught in Iowa. It’s a part of their “Fish all Fifty” road trip before they begin school at Clemson in the fall of 2021. (Contributed photo)
With a laugh, Luke said, “I think a lot of people are living out the trip they wanted to take through us.”
The biggest surprise of the road trip so far? “I don’t think we were quite ready for the cold when we headed north,” Konson said. “Six inches of snow fell on our first day in Minnesota. That’s not something we deal with an awful lot where we live.”
Two 18-year-olds likely don’t set a big goal like this without support from their families and friends. However, that doesn’t mean family members weren’t a little skeptical of the idea when they first brought it up.
“It took a little convincing at first,” he said with a laugh, “but we got it done. I think they’re happy for us because we’re getting some good life experiences and learning a lot of things through our travels. We’re seeing a lot of things and meeting a lot of people we likely wouldn’t get to know while sitting in a dorm room watching online classes.”
Their tentative plan is to be home a couple of weeks over the Christmas holiday. They may squeeze in a quick trip to the Carolinas and Georgia, which aren’t too far from home.
Here’s the link to their Go Fund Me page if you want to chip in for gas to help the boys complete what really is a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
CFAP continues to expand its assistance to American farmers and ranchers.
Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that his agency is making more commodities eligible for assistance under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The USDA is also extending the application deadline for the program to September 11. After the agency looked through over 1,700 public comments and other data, the move means more farmers and ranchers will get the assistance they need to help keep their operations afloat through tough times.
USDA announced that the list of eligible commodities for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program is expanding. (Photo from USDA.gov)
“We are standing with America’s farmers and ranchers to ensure they get through this pandemic and continue to produce enough food and fiber to feed America and the world,” Perdue says. “That is why he authorized this $16 billion worth of direct support in the CFAP program and today we are pleased to add additional commodities eligible to receive much needed assistance. CFAP is just one of the many ways USDA is helping producers weather the impacts of the pandemic. USDA is leveraging many tools to help producers, including deferring payments on loans and adding flexibilities to crop insurance and reporting deadlines
Background:
USDA collected comments and supporting data for consideration of additional commodities through June 22, 2020. The following additional commodities are now eligible for CFAP:
· Specialty Crops – Aloe leaves, bananas, batatas, bok choy, carambola (star fruit), cherimoya, chervil (French parsley), citron, curry leaves, daikon, dates, dill, donqua (winter melon), dragon fruit (red pitaya), endive, escarole, filberts, frisee, horseradish, kohlrabi, kumquats, leeks, mamey sapote, maple sap (for maple syrup), mesculin mix, microgreens, nectarines, parsley, persimmons, plantains, pomegranates, pummelos, pumpkins, rutabagas, shallots, tangelos, turnips/celeriac, turmeric, upland/winter cress, water cress, yautia/malanga, and yuca/cassava.
· Non-Specialty Crops and Livestock – Liquid eggs, frozen eggs, and all sheep. Only lambs and yearlings (sheep less than two years old) were previously eligible.
· Aquaculture – catfish, crawfish, largemouth bass and carp sold live as food fish, hybrid striped bass, red drum, salmon, sturgeon, tilapia, trout, ornamental/tropical fish, and recreational sportfish.
· Nursery Crops and Flowers – nursery crops and cut flowers.
Other changes to CFAP include:
· Seven commodities – onions (green), pistachios, peppermint, spearmint, walnuts and watermelons – are now eligible for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stability (CARES) Act funding for sales losses. Originally, these commodities were only eligible for payments on marketing adjustments.
· Correcting payment rates for onions (green), pistachios, peppermint, spearmint, walnuts, and watermelons.
To ensure availability of funding, producers with approved applications initially received 80 percent of their payments. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) will automatically issue the remaining 20 percent of the calculated payment to eligible producers. Going forward, producers who apply for CFAP will receive 100 percent of their total payment, not to exceed the payment limit, when their applications are approved.
Applying for CFAP:
Producers, especially those who have not worked with FSA previously, can call 877-508-8364 to begin the application process. An FSA staff member will help producers start their application during the phone call.
On farmers.gov/cfap, producers can:
Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that his agency is making more commodities eligible for assistance under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The USDA is also extending the application deadline for the program to September 11. After the agency looked through over 1,700 public comments and other data, the move means more farmers and ranchers will get the assistance they need to help keep their operations afloat through tough times.
“We are standing with America’s farmers and ranchers to ensure they get through this pandemic and continue to produce enough food and fiber to feed America and the world,” Perdue says. “That is why he authorized this $16 billion worth of direct support in the CFAP program and today we are pleased to add additional commodities eligible to receive much needed assistance. CFAP is just one of the many ways USDA is helping producers weather the impacts of the pandemic. USDA is leveraging many tools to help producers, including deferring payments on loans and adding flexibilities to crop insurance and reporting deadlines.”
Background:
USDA collected comments and supporting data for consideration of additional commodities through June 22, 2020. The following additional commodities are now eligible for CFAP:
· Specialty Crops – aloe leaves, bananas, batatas, bok choy, carambola (star fruit), cherimoya, chervil (French parsley), citron, curry leaves, daikon, dates, dill, donqua (winter melon), dragon fruit (red pitaya), endive, escarole, filberts, frisee, horseradish, kohlrabi, kumquats, leeks, mamey sapote, maple sap (for maple syrup), mesculin mix, microgreens, nectarines, parsley, persimmons, plantains, pomegranates, pummelos, pumpkins, rutabagas, shallots, tangelos, turnips/celeriac, turmeric, upland/winter cress, water cress, yautia/malanga, and yuca/cassava.
· Non-Specialty Crops and Livestock – liquid eggs, frozen eggs, and all sheep. Only lambs and yearlings (sheep less than two years old) were previously eligible.
· Aquaculture – catfish, crawfish, largemouth bass and carp sold live as food fish, hybrid striped bass, red drum, salmon, sturgeon, tilapia, trout, ornamental/tropical fish, and recreational sportfish.
· Nursery Crops and Flowers – nursery crops and cut flowers.
Other changes to CFAP include:
· Seven commodities – onions (green), pistachios, peppermint, spearmint, walnuts and watermelons – are now eligible for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stability (CARES) Act funding for sales losses. Originally, these commodities were only eligible for payments on marketing adjustments.
· Correcting payment rates for onions (green), pistachios, peppermint, spearmint, walnuts, and watermelons.
To ensure availability of funding, producers with approved applications initially received 80 percent of their payments. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) will automatically issue the remaining 20 percent of the calculated payment to eligible producers. Going forward, producers who apply for CFAP will receive 100 percent of their total payment, not to exceed the payment limit, when their applications are approved.
Applying for CFAP:
Producers, especially those who have not worked with FSA previously, can call 877-508-8364 to begin the application process. An FSA staff member will help producers start their application during the phone call.
On farmers.gov/cfap, producers can:
· Download the AD-3114 application form and manually complete the form to submit to their local USDA Service Center by mail, electronically or by hand delivery to their local office or office drop box.
· Complete the application form using the CFAP Application Generator and Payment Calculator. This Excel workbook allows customers to input information specific to their operation to determine estimated payments and populate the application form, which can be printed, then signed and submitted to their local USDA Service Center.
· If producers have login credentials known as eAuthentication, they can use the online CFAP Application Portal to certify eligible commodities online, digitally sign applications and submit directly to the local USDA Service Center.
All other eligibility forms, such as those related to adjusted gross income and payment information, can be downloaded from farmers.gov/cfap. For existing FSA customers, these documents are likely already on file.
All USDA Service Centers are open for business, including some that are open to visitors to conduct business in person by appointment only. All Service Center visitors wishing to conduct business with FSA, Natural Resources Conservation Service or any other Service Center agency should call ahead and schedule an appointment. Service Centers that are open for appointments will pre-screen visitors based on health concerns or recent travel, and visitors must adhere to social distancing guidelines. Visitors are also required to wear a face covering during their appointment. Our program delivery staff will be in the office, and they will be working with our producers in the office, by phone and using online tools. More information can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus.
· Download the AD-3114 application form and manually complete the form to submit to their local USDA Service Center by mail, electronically or by hand delivery to their local office or office drop box.
· Complete the application form using the CFAP Application Generator and Payment Calculator. This Excel workbook allows customers to input information specific to their operation to determine estimated payments and populate the application form, which can be printed, then signed and submitted to their local USDA Service Center.
· If producers have login credentials known as eAuthentication, they can use the online CFAP Application Portal to certify eligible commodities online, digitally sign applications and submit directly to the local USDA Service Center.
All other eligibility forms, such as those related to adjusted gross income and payment information, can be downloaded from farmers.gov/cfap. For existing FSA customers, these documents are likely already on file.
Minnesota sweet corn is one of our biggest summer traditions, right up there with grilling, baseball, and back-to-school commercials.
The freshest Minnesota sweet corn is now available from local growers around the state. The recent heat has led to a great crop of sweet corn and many growers say harvest is going to be fantastic.
Here’s a way to combine a couple big Midwest summer traditions, both sweet corn and grilling.
“Our sweet corn looks fantastic!” said Brian Schiltgen, of Schiltgen Farms in Afton, Minnesota.
The sweet corn is ready and waiting at Schiltgen Farms of Afton, Minnesota, as well as other farms across the state. (Photo from Facebook.com)
The season starts in late July and continues through early September. Veteran farmers often plant in stages so they can offer fresh corn throughout the second half of summer.
Eating this summertime favorite just after it has been picked ensures the best flavor. As time passes after harvest, the sugars in the corn convert to starch and the sweet flavor diminishes.
You’ll find the freshest sweet corn in the state when you buy directly from a Minnesota farmer. Locally grown corn is often available at farmers’ markets, farm stands, and as well as at retailers who feature local produce.
The Minnesota Grown director is a great place to find sweet corn, farmers markets, and everything in between. (Photo from minnesotagrown.com)
Be sure to call ahead or look up a farm or farmers’ market online to confirm any adjustments due to COVID-19. Best practices include wearing a mask, social distancing, and washing hands frequently when you visit a farm or farmers’ market.
The Minnesota Grown Directory is available in print and online, and is a great resource for finding local farmers or farmers’ markets. The 2020 Directory includes 91 sweet corn growers and 195 farmers’ markets. Free, printed copies of the Directory may be ordered online or by calling 1-651-201-6469.
The Minnesota State FFA Convention went virtual this year, but was no less exciting for a large number of students wearing blue jackets from all over the state. (Photo from KEYC.com)
The Minnesota state FFA Association’s convention is a culminating event for thousands of FFA members, agricultural education teachers, and supporters each spring. The virtual convention was filled with moments of celebrating student and chapter successes, gaining education and leadership experiences, and thanking partners and supporters.
“The goals of our convention never changed; the delivery changed,” said Lavyne Rada, Minnesota state FFA regional director. “We are proud to have celebrated the accomplishments of our students and teachers this year.”
The association’s 91st convention highlighted the importance of agriculture education across nearly 200 Minnesota schools where 270 teachers provide students with classroom instruction surrounding agriculture, food, and natural resources. Those courses allow these same students to take on work-based learning projects known as Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) projects as research, entrepreneurial or placement efforts and earn awards and degrees through membership in FFA. FFA and SAE are integral components of school-based agricultural education.
Next year’s Minnesota state FFA leadership team. (Photo from morningagclips.com)
“When it became clear our convention would be virtual this year, our team of state officers and leaders rose to the challenge,” said Juleah Tolosky, Minnesota FFA executive director. “The result surpassed our expectations both from a participation perspective and from the way the convention components came together.”Tolosky said the success of FFA’s leadership component was very clear during the adjustments made by student leaders to adjust convention activities due to COVID-19.
“I can not say enough about the six individuals on our Minnesota state FFA State Officer team and the maturity with which they accepted their disappointment in not celebrating their year in person, and the creativity they brought to bear in designing the virtual event,” said Tolosky.
Educational Experiences
Forty interactive virtual workshops, panels, and tours provided more than 500 students and 100 supporters an opportunity to engage as they learned about agriculture, leadership, college and careers. Opportunities were further expanded through viewership of online award ceremonies and keynotes highlighting the achievements of the Minnesota FFA’s top members.
Agricultural education is a foundational component of FFA. That is why the convention also included recognition of 24 high school seniors who plan to pursue agricultural education at colleges next fall, with the intent to enter the classroom. These students were part of a workshop called “Tagged to Teach Ag.” A signing event identifying the students and featuring Minnesota Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker can be viewed on YouTube.
“Those commitments are key to the future education of students,” said Paul Aarsvold, president of the Minnesota Association of Agriculture Educators (MAAE) and an agriculture teacher/FFA advisor at Plainview-Elgin-Millville.
“Demand for these teachers is higher than what we have been able to fulfill in the past few years,” said Aarsvold. “The wide area of subjects taught in agricultural education makes this curriculum highly valuable to future success in the workforce.”The FFA State Convention was supported by contributions from more than 100 companies, organizations and individuals who invest in the future through agricultural education. Those funds, made through the Minnesota FFA Foundation, assist with award programs as well as operations related to putting on the event.The virtual Minnesota FFA Convention is archived on YouTube.com/MinnesotaFFA, on mnffa.org and on the Minnesota FFA Association social media platforms.
About Minnesota FFA
FFA is a national organization developing students’ potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education with more than 700,000 members in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Minnesota FFA Association represents nearly 11,000 members and 200 high school chapters across the state. Agricultural education engages students through hands-on learning in the classroom, work-based learning opportunities known as Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) projects, and FFA activities.
You can learn more about the experiences of FFA members and supporters by visitingwww.mnffa.org andwww.ffa.org.
Minnesota FFA will be recognizing 91 years of success in school-based agricultural education as the organization will hold its annual Minnesota FFA convention virtually May 19-21. Organization leaders will use a virtual format to conduct a portion of the activities which normally take place during the State FFA Convention held in late April at the University of Minnesota.
“We are proud to provide an experience that can be accessed in real time, along with an opportunity for all students to take part in interactive workshops and panels, while recognizing student involvement and leadership,” said Juleah Tolosky, Minnesota FFA executive director.
The FFA Career and Leadership Development events which are an important part of a typical Minnesota FFA State Convention will not be held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the virtual format will include award ceremonies honoring individual success in Supervised Agricultural Experiences (i.e. Work-based Learning) within Agriscience projects, as well as Proficiency Awards, State FFA Degrees and State FFA Stars.
The FFA will also celebrate excellence in community service, agricultural literacy efforts and overall FFA chapter program excellence. Significant contributions of supporters will be honored through the Minnesota FFA Alumni Hall of Fame and Minnesota FFA Foundation recognition programs.
The convention, with Illuminate as its theme, will feature keynote speeches from FFA state and national officers, as well as the announcement of the 2020-2021 Minnesota FFA officer team. Convention content will be available on the Minnesota FFA YouTube Channel and will be shared on the organization’s Facebook and Instagram pages. “Changing the format of the event allows us to recognize students before the end of the school year and to eliminate financial or regulatory barriers that may have prevented students or entire programs from being able to participate,” said Tolosky.
Here’s a little throwback to last year’s opening session of the State FFA Convention.
“The current pandemic and its associated challenges also provided an opportunity for the current student officers on FFA chapter, region and state levels to take part in executive-level decision-making and practice servant leadership,” said Tolosky.
The FFA State Convention begins at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, May 19. The Minnesota FFA Convention app, which supplies links to convention events, will be available beginning Friday, May 15 and can be downloaded at https://crowd.cc/mnffa2020 or https://crowd.cc/s/3M8i0. Additional details and the convention schedule can also be found at mnffa.org.
About Minnesota FFAFFA is a national organization developing students’ potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education with more than 700,000 members in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Minnesota FFA Association represents nearly 11,000 members and nearly 200 high school chapters across the state. Agricultural education engages students through hands-on learning in the classroom, work-based learning opportunities known as Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) projects and FFA activities. You can learn more about the experiences of FFA members and supporters by visitingwww.mnffa.org and www.ffa.org.
Farmer optimism is in the dumper and there is no nice way to say it. COVID-19 and its economic impact, low commodity prices, trade wars, and weather have made life even more challenging. DTN found out that farmer optimism is at a record low. They’ve been doing a tri-annual survey of farmers for several years and this spring’s Agricultural Confidence Index hit an all-time low mark.
DTN Editor-in-Chief Greg Horstmeier says farmers optimism hit an all-time low in their triannual Agriculture Confidence Index. (Photo from rushvillerepublican.com)
The baseline for their survey is 100. Everything below 100 is pessimistic, and any number above 100 is considered optimistic.
“We do our survey in the spring, just before planting,” said DTN Editor-In-Chief Greg Horstmeier. “We also do one at harvest, and then our final survey is in December, which is basically farm tax time. The drop in the index from the last time we did this in December is not a surprise, given everything that’s going on.
“It was a record-sized drop down to an index reading of 67,” he added. “That’s a 97-point drop, which is even more remarkable because we’re hearing that agriculture is moving on as normal. Everyone is either getting ready to or heading out into the field, so that big of a damper on the survey results is surprising.”
Horstmeier said spring is typically the most optimistic time of the year for farmers. New crops are going into the ground, which automatically means a fresh start, especially if the year before was as tough as 2019. Low optimism in the spring isn’t unusual. What’s unusual about this survey is how pessimistic farmers are about the future outlook.
The future outlook is typically very optimistic during the spring survey. “This year, that index reading was 73, which means it dove hard into negative territory,” Horstmeier said. “That was the big takeaway for me. Not only does the current situation have farmers in a pessimistic state of mind, but they don’t have a lot of promise for the foreseeable future.”
Another thing that really stood out was just how prevalent the pessimism is in different sectors of agriculture. It didn’t matter what farmers grew or how big their operations were, either. Even in down years, there’s typically difference worth noting.
“We typically see at least some differences between, for example, livestock and crop producers,” Horstmeier said. “We’ve also seen regional differences, such as the Midwest may be less optimistic than farmers in the Southeast. The pessimism was across the board, regardless of location, income level, the crops they grew, and what kind of enterprises they had.”
Speaking of Midwest farmers, in this year’s survey they showed the most pessimism currently, yet they also had the most optimism for the future. Southeastern farmers were more optimistic about their current conditions (89) but felt less optimism for their future (56).
DTN also conducts a similar survey of agribusinesses. The index level came in at a just-above-neutral 104. Agribusinesses rated their current conditions at a slightly pessimistic 85. However, they were above neutral when looking at the future, coming in at 118.
COVID-19 has put a serious crimp in the U.S. economy and nowhere is that more evident than in agriculture. More specifically, American hog farmers are struggling to stay on farms because they’re having trouble getting their hogs to market. Big trouble, in fact. Hogs are so far backed up on the farm that producers may have a tough decision to make in the not-too-distant future.
Those of us in the agricultural media don’t often hear the word “euthanize” in press conferences. Unfortunately, it came up multiple times during a press conference hosted by the National Pork Producers Council. As prices for hogs have plummeted, Howard ‘A.V.’ Roth, NPPC President, says things are as bad as they’ve ever been after several years of a depressed farm economy.
Hog farmers are hurting and the “other white meat industry” could be in trouble. COVID-19 has only accelerated a price decline that began almost two years ago during the U.S.-China trade war. Pork farmers are reaching out and asking for help. (Photo from the duluthnewstribune.com)
“We are now an ag sector in dire crisis,” Roth said to reporters. “Farmers are already exiting the business and the damage will only intensify without direct intervention from the federal government.”
Speaking as a hog producer himself, Roth says the pork industry has a list of several things it needs in order to help keep as many farmers in operation as possible. The first item on their wish list would clear out a tremendous amount of stored pork supplies as quickly as possible, plus it would get food into the hands of people who need it.
“Over $1 billion in pork purchases by USDA to clear out a backed-up meat supply, while supplementing food bank programs around the country facing increased demand for food as unemployment continues to rise,” Roth said. “These purchases should come from packaged pork that was intended for restaurants and other segments of the foodservice market.”
In all the years I’ve covered agriculture, I can tell you from firsthand experience that farmers want to make their living from the markets, not government handouts. How desperate are pork farmers to stay in business?
“We need direct payments to producers without eligibility restrictions,” Roth says.
They’re also hoping to see China remove retaliatory tariffs on U.S. pork that are still in place despite the Phase One trade agreement between the two countries. Roth points out that it’s no secret China needs a reliable source of affordable pork after their herds were decimated by the African Swine Fever virus.
“Removing those damaging tariffs would get us back on a level playing field with our international competitors,” Roth says. “Dr. Dermot Hayes, an economist with Iowa State University, says removing those tariffs would allow U.S. exports to China to more than double their current volume.”
How badly does China need pork, one of the most preferred proteins in the Asian diet? Let’s just say that Chinese pork producers, who can’t ever hope to meet their country’s domestic demand, are enjoying some pretty high prices for their products right now.
“While Chinese producers are enjoying record pork values, U.S. producers are facing a dire decision on our farms,” Roth said. “Sadly, it’s true. Without significant assistance, euthanizing is a question that’s going to begin coming up on our farms.
“Let me be the first to say, as a pork producer, we care about our animals,” he added. “The last thing we ever want to do is euthanize even one animal. We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Producers may be able to at least push that decision back somewhat, thanks to a recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency. Michael Formica, Assistant Vice President of Domestic Affairs and Counsel at NPPC, says hog housing restrictions have been temporarily relaxed.
“We reached out to EPA to ensure that if we were ever in a situation like the one we face now, producers would have an option to hold animals on their farm,” Formica said. “All of the farms are permitted to hold a certain number of animals. If they exceed those numbers, they have to go through new permitting.
“We asked EPA for a temporary waiver of the thresholds during the crisis we’re facing,” Formica said, “and thankfully, they granted that request a couple of weeks ago. That’s a tool that many farmers can use to hold animals on their farms while additional animals come through the pipeline.”
He says it’s important to point out that’s an advantage for farmers only if they have adequate additional space. If the backup continues indefinitely, they will run out of space and that’s when they have to start culling otherwise healthy animals from their herds, simply because there won’t be enough space to take care of them.
Why is it all piling up on hog farmers so quickly? Nick Giordano, Vice President of Global Government Affairs and Counsel for NPPC, says hog producers were the first to be hit hard by the trade war with China.
“Hog farmers were there at the tip of the Chinese retaliation spear,” he said. “Trade retaliation from two key markets, Mexico and China, in 2018 and 2019, took $20 off the prices that producers received for every hog.
‘Unlike a lot of the other segments in our economy that came into the COVID-19 outbreak with record profits and a full head of steam, our producers were already hurting. This has made a bad financial situation infinitely worse.”
How far have things fallen across the industry? Iowa State’s Dr. Hayes says in just one month, from March 10 to April 10, the pork industry has lost $5 billion in value. Something has to change.
