Food Police Strike Again!

Hembree Brandon from Delta Farm Press recently wrote an article about the issues with food and dietary issues in America.

We all chuckle at the Chick-fil-A TV commercials in which cows stare balefully at hamburger-consuming humans and wear crudely-lettered signs saying “Eat Mor Chikin.”

And we snicker at the anti-animal agriculture folks who lambaste cows as culprits in global warming because of the methane they produce from belching/flatulence (anywhere from 25 gallons to 50-plus gallons per cow per day they contend).

For years, they've advocated less meat in our diets (even “meatless Mondays”) and more plant-based foods, such as beans, lentils, nuts, and grains (and one wonders, doesn't this kind of diet swap animal gases for human gases?).

There’s little doubt millions of Americans, and particularly we southerners, eat too much of less-than-healthy foods — one has only to check the stats on obesity and all the ills that engenders, chief among them diabetes, which has become rampant in many areas of the country.

The alarming trend of obesity in school age kids, along with high blood pressure and pre-diabetes, has led to the banishment of snack/soft drink machines in many school systems and the USDA has decreed that schools should serve healthier, more nutritious foods in their meal programs.

Now, though, the food police are reported taking a new tack on forthcoming guidelines. A draft proposal to the USDA by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, is said to recommend diets lower in meat-based foods and higher in plant-based foods as not only better for humans — but healthier for the environment.

Wait just a minute, say ag organizations, it’s one thing to advocate for healthier diets, but adding an environmental component goes too far. A cattleman’s organization terms it “absurd,” and members of Congress from agricultural states are jumping into the fray — in the massive $1.1 trillion government spending bill approved last month, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was enjoined to include only nutrition/dietary recommendations, not “extraneous factors” in the final guidelines.

Current USDA dietary “food pyramid” guidelines — which are updated every five years — suggest that people should eat lean meats, but reports are that the advisory panel has considered whether that language should be continued. The panel’s December draft recommendations noted that a healthy diet should include fewer red meats and processed meats than currently consumed by Americans.

In its work over the past year, the panel is reported to have debated the possibility of including sustainability as a dietary goal with “lesser environmental impact.”

North American Meat Institute President and CEO Barry Carpenter, says the change, “made behind closed doors during a lunch break” isn't ‘rooted in science” and doesn't “ make good public policy.”  He terms the action “arbitrary and capricious” and says the committee “fails to recognize the nutritional value lean meat offers and is ignoring the scientific evidence supporting its inclusion in the American diet.”

Wheat Producers Should Pay Attention

Who would have predicted that gasoline prices would be below $2 per gallon (down from $3.50 in June 2014), that oil prices would be below $50 per barrel (down from $110 in August 2014), and that Perryton, Texas, corn prices would bottom out below $3.40 (down from a peak of $8.90 in August 2012)?  South West Farm Press reported that wheat producers should learn from these price declines.

Wheat prices have declined. In July 2014, wheat prices were near $8.50. By June 2014, cash wheat prices were near $7.50. By the end of September 2014, wheat prices had fallen to $5.30, which is not nearly as low as wheat prices could go.

What current oil, gasoline, and corn prices show is that if U.S. wheat ending stocks go above 850 million bushels and world wheat ending stocks go above 7.5 billion bushels, Oklahoma and Texas cash wheat prices could go below $4. In June 2010, Oklahoma and Texas cash wheat prices were near $3.50.

The good news is that relatively tight hard red winter wheat stocks and cold temperatures, with little to no snow cover, are supporting wheat prices. Oklahoma and Texas wheat prices have increased from the $5.30 September low to near $6. At this writing, wheat may be contracted for 2015 harvest delivery for about $6.05 in central Oklahoma and about $5.90 in the Texas Panhandle.

At this writing, U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat 2014/15 marketing year ending stocks are projected to be 227 million bushels compared to a five-year average of 333 million bushels. The HRW wheat stocks-to-use ratio is 30 percent compared to a five-year average of 37 percent. Relatively low HRW wheat stocks, the number of planted acres and current wheat conditions lower the odds of 2015/16 HRW wheat ending stocks going above 333 billion bushels and wheat prices going below $4.50.

A negative price factor is the value of the U.S. dollar compared to other major currencies. Since early July 2014, the index measuring the value of the U.S. dollar to other major currencies has increased from 80 to near 92.

A 15 percent (80 points to 92 points) increase in the value of the dollar effectively increases the cost of exported wheat by 15 percent. Assume that the HRW, 12 percent protein wheat price at the Texas Gulf (FOB) is $7.50. If the index of the dollar was 80 rather than the current 92, the effective price would be $6.52. The increased value of the dollar has effectively made the cost of U.S. wheat about $1 higher to foreign buyers.

Producers could believe that $7.50, as compared to $6.50, implies a higher farm level price. The fact is that this $1 has no direct impact on producer prices. A direct impact is that the higher value of the dollar increases the cost of U.S. wheat, export demand is less and producer prices are lower.

Producers ask what the petroleum industry’s reaction will be to extremely low prices. High-cost oil wells will be shut down; fewer oil wells will be drilled; and the least efficient distilleries will be closed, resulting in decreased supplies and higher prices.

Evidence exists that for the most part, the petroleum industry has prepared for lower prices. Extremely low prices happen. Smart managers prepare for extremely low prices by building cash reserves. Then when prices go back up, they will be in business to take advantage of profitable prices.

Wheat producers need to do the same thing. That is, know that $4 wheat is a possibility and that staying in business requires being prepared with cash reserves and having a plan for extremely low prices.

2001: A Farm Oddessy

In the classic science-fiction film Star Wars, the character Han Solo turns to Luke Skywalker during a heated space travel scene and says "Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy!"

Well, Han Solo may be wrong.

Agriculture.com recently covered a story about  SpaceX.  A company that is one of a handful of companies in the world whose scientists and engineers are producing rockets and spacecrafts that company leaders including CEO Elon Musk hope will one day lead to a completely privatized space travel industry with an ultimate goal of "making humanity a multi-planet species." The company is based in Hawthorne, California, but has facilities and employees in Florida, Washington, D.C., and Texas.

What's this got to do with agriculture? SpaceX officials recently announced a farmer in Texas will soon become one of the company's 3,000 employees.

Responsibilities of the job include planning and executing budgets, operating and maintaining machinery, nailing down crop inputs and maintaining the ability to "understand the implications of the weather and make contingency plans," according to a SpaceX report. The job takes at least 10 years of "row crop farming experience" in central Texas and "which shall include a working knowledge of every process required for crop production in the region," according to SpaceX. "Experience in repair and preventative maintenance of John Deere agricultural equipment."

So, is SpaceX sending a farmer to space? Though company officials have been tight-lipped about why they're hiring a farmer, there's speculation that the position has as much to do with the company's operating budget as it does coming up with ways to grow food in space. Agricultural use nets tax-exempt status for not just land, but the tools, equipment and inputs used for growing crops or raising livestock in Texas.

Though SpaceX's ultimate goals in hiring a farmer have yet to be specifically outlined, it's clear company leaders intend for the position's occupant to both continue farm work and have at least some role in the company's operations.

"This position will be required to work around test schedules as necessary to ensure the successful crop production does not interfere with testing progress," according to a statement from SpaceX's website.

Market Confusion!

This week the soybean market is fulfilling one of Murphy’s Laws: “The market will do whatever is necessary to fool the majority.” According to a report by Agriculture.com, cash soybean bids broke above the $1.00 rally level on October 29. Strength at that time led many to believe there were large gains still ahead. Since then, action has leveled off, and prices have become much less volatile. Bets that prices could go straight up were tempered by two days, November 4 and November 19, when they broke below the dollar level. Both times there was a quick rebound back above that “magic“ level.

Scanning the charts of cash bids and March futures gives the impression that the high was on October 31 with the price of $9.69. However, the ability of the market to rebound every time the support level is broken makes me think that the bids could hold in this area or higher for a long time.

In addition to chart action that is somewhat bullish is the fact that basis has finally started to improve. I admit that the move is small and not consistent across all price levels. It is at least better than having the basis deteriorate as the record soybean crop finally comes to town. Hope that the end of the year will see much better basis and gradually improving cash bids.

Meanwhile, corn bids continue to plug along, pennies up and pennies down. The net result has been a gradually improving cash bid. That is better than having violent large moves up and down but not going anywhere. At least the price today is such that market analysts have stopped taking about cash corn prices below $3.00. With the size of the 2014 crop, it may take until spring for corn to be above production cost if indeed it ever gets there for most of us.

All cash bids quoted in this column are from Midwest Farmers Co-op in southeast Nebraska.

The Crops and the Bees

Delta Farm Press reported on the EPA release was news to farmers who have been producing significantly higher soybean yields in the Mid-South.

“EPA finds neonicotinoid seed treatments of little or no benefit to U.S. soybean production,” the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention said in the release. “There is no increase in soybean yield using most neonicotinoid seed treatments compared to no pest control at all.”

The study, which comes as EPA is under pressure from environmental activist groups to withdraw the registrations of neonicotinoid insecticides because they claim they are a threat to bees, caused quite a bit of consternation in the farm chemical industry.

“On the 15^th of October, we got an October surprise from EPA when they issued this very cursory report saying they had done a benefits analysis and found there are little to no benefits for the use of seed treatments of neonicotinoids on soybeans,” said Jay Vroom, CEO of CropLife America, the organization representing  crop protection chemical manufacturers.

“That is a great reminder to me that part of the truth is way more harmful and damaging than an outright lie, and, unfortunately, our friends at EPA know that a lot better than we do.”

Vroom, speaking at the Southern Crop Production Association annual meeting in New Orleans, said the industry was determined not to let the claims go unchallenged and began responding almost immediately after the EPA press release hit the streets.

“Fortunately, the neonicotinoid registrants already have massive benefits analysis underway. That was being used that Wednesday afternoon just hours after we met with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and the team from the Office of Pesticides, and we voiced our frustrations and dismay that they kept this analysis of benefits a state secret and blindsided us with it.”

“I think we’re on top of this now, and in my subsequent conversations with EPA leadership, I’m beginning to hear that they may be thinking about doing a little bit more course correction on some of the follow-on label change actions that they were contemplating at EPA,” Vroom said.

Most Americans have only a cursory knowledge of honeybees, he noted. Some may have heard of the threat the Varroa mite poses to bees, but they have no idea what the mite is or what it does to pollinators.

Vroom displayed a photo taken at the Bayer CropScience Bee Center in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. Center personnel use a visual that is about the size of a sofa pillow to show visitors the impact one Varroa mite can have on a honey bee.

The primary weapon for combatting the Varroa mite is a miticide or a pesticide that will eliminate the pest without endangering the honeybee.

“It’s a great reminder in a visual way to those who have concerns about the health of pollinators that there are a lot of factors associated with pollinator health that go well beyond inadvertent exposure to pesticides that may diminish honey bee health,” he noted.

“And, in fact, the answer to the mite problem is miticides, which are pesticides. That’s an eye opener for a lot of folks in the public that don’t know anything about these issues.”

The bee health issue has now gone all the way to the top, he said, with President Obama creating a federal government pollinator task force last June. He made USDA and EPA the co-chairs of the task force.”

“We were pleased with that and commended the president for that move,” said Vroom. “But we’ve been disappointed that USDA has not kept pace with the leadership from EPA around driving the bus on the pollinator task force for the president."        `

Since the EPA's release, the neonicotinoid registrants - Bayer CropScience, Syngenta and Valent USA Corp. - have issued a number of reports about the efficacy and benefits of the compounds in seed treatments on a number of crops, including soybeans. To see those reports, visit www.GrowingMatters.org.

11 Ways to Cut Grain Drying

Recently Agriculture.com looked at the best ways to cut into grain drying.  Here is what they came up with.

Drying grain can be one of the most energy-intensive operations on the farm. When you burn fuel to produce that energy, you also burn money. 

There isn’t an easy solution to cut costs. “No two farms are the same,” says Gary Woodruff, GSI. “There isn’t one best way to dry grain.” 

This list will help you identify energy-saving tips for the size of your operation and your grain-drying infrastructure.

1 Run in all-heat mode
“One thing that’s been around for a long time but is still cost effective is running a portable dryer in the all-heat mode,” says Woodruff. 

In all-heat mode, you heat the grain in the dryer and cool it in the bin. “The advantage is you can come out of the dryer at a higher moisture content, and then you lose one, two, or three points of moisture in the cooling process,” explains Kerry Hartwig, Sukup Manufacturing Co. “Drying those last points takes the most energy.”

That can save you 20% to 30% of your operating costs, says Woodruff. Running in all-heat mode also increases your efficiency, because grain flows through the dryer more quickly. Plus, you end up with better quality grain, because cooling grain rapidly can increase stress cracks on corn kernels. 

There are limitations to running in all-heat mode. This drying system won’t work on most bins larger than 50,000 bushels. That’s because you need to run between 1∕3 and ½ cfm of air through each bushel when the bin is full. For bins 50,000 bushels or smaller, you will need to have larger aeration fans and increase the number of roof vents. It will also require more management. 

“There are better drying systems on the market that don’t require the extra management that all-heat mode requires,” says Woodruff, “but this is one of the least expensive ways to improve how you process grain on your farm.”

2 Buy an all-heat dryer 
If your present dryer can’t run in all-heat mode, consider upgrading. “A new all-heat dryer gives the most capacity, efficiency, and quality for the dollar, even with the bin aeration upgrades required,” says Woodruff.

3 Upgrade to vacuum cooling or heat recovery
“For larger operations, it will be more efficient for grain to come out of the dryer cool,” says Hartwig. “That’s where vacuum cooling or heat recovery can make a big difference.”

In vacuum cooling, heat that is given off by the cooling grain is cycled back into the drying process. By doing this, less fuel is required to raise the drying air temperature.
Vacuum cooling is offered on tower dryers, centrifugal dryers, and centrifugal stack dryers. 

“With vacuum cooling, you can dry grain with even better efficiency than you can with all-heat drying,” says Woodruff. “You will spend more money up front, and you’re going to need a pretty good size grain dryer to get that newer technology.”

4 Dry grain evenly
“If a dryer dries grain faster in some areas and slower in others, the dryer will overdry grain to make up for the underdried grain,” says Hartwig. “This adds drying cost in extra fuel used and lower grain test weights from overdrying.”

There are different systems available to help you dry grain more evenly. Sukup’s single-module and stacked dryers use a quad-metering roll system that pulls dryer grain near the inside of the grain column out of the dryer faster, while leaving wetter grain near the outside of the column in the dryer longer. Stacked dryers also use a grain cross-over system that takes grain from one side of the dryer on the top module to the other side of the dryer on the bottom module. This inverts the grain for more even drying. Sukup tower dryers use a grain exchanger system halfway down the heat chamber.

Another option is to use a system like GSI’s grain inverters. The inverters move all grain, except the outer 2 inches within the column, to eliminate overdried grain and to maximize drying efficiency. The inverters redirect the warmest grain from the inside of the column next to the wettest grain at the outside of the column. The wet grain is dried by the captured heat, which recovers up to 15% of the heat that would have been lost.

5 Run at a higher plenum temperature
“One thing you might not be aware of is that the higher you run your plenum temperature, the more efficiently you dry grain,” says Woodruff. “At the end of the season, farmers will say they are only removing three to four moisture points, so they lowered their plenum temperature to save some fuel. Exactly the opposite happens.”

Running at a higher temperature reduces the drying time and, therefore, saves you fuel. However, higher temperatures can potentially do more damage, so you need to find a good balance. “Each dryer’s airflow and column management is different, so you have to balance efficiency with quality,” says Woodruff. “There will be a maximum best temperature for each type of dryer.”

6 Do preseason maintenance
Before you start drying grain, make sure there are no obstructions in the columns and that the burner is ready to go. During harvest, empty, clean, and restart the dryer once a week to make sure the dryer is performing optimally. 

“Like any other piece of equipment, if you don’t take the time to clean it and keep it in operating mode, you are probably going to reduce your efficiency,” says Woodruff.

7 Avoid overdrying
Grain needs to be dried to a safe moisture level so it can be stored. This can range from 13% to 15%, depending on how long you will store the grain. However, you want to avoid overdrying. Grain takes more energy per point of moisture removed. So drying beyond the desired moisture level will eat up extra energy.

8 Use a remote monitoring system
One way to keep from overdrying is to use a remote monitoring system. These systems differ for each manufacturer, but most will allow you to monitor all dryer controls just like you would at the dryer from a smartphone, tablet, or other device. 

“Farmers want to be able to monitor their dryers in the combine, at home, wherever they are,” says Hartwig. 

With some systems, like Sukup’s remote monitoring and GSI’s WatchDog, you can also make adjustments remotely. 

“The only thing you can’t do is start the dryer without being there, because that would be dangerous,” says Woodruff. “You can adjust things like the plenum temperature, moisture control setting, and unload limits.”

Beyond avoiding over-drying, remote controls will also ensure that the dryer is running efficiently and hasn’t stopped for some reason. 

“The average dryer puts 2,500 bushels through an hour,” says Woodruff. “In 10 hours, that’s 25,000 bushels. If your dryer isn’t running for that long, that can make a huge difference.”

9 Manage dryability for different hybrids
“There is a lot of variation in the way different corn varieties dry,” says Hartwig. “Even with the same hybrid, there can be drying differences in different years.”

Woodruff says this has become more of an issue in the past five years. His recommendation is to closely monitor your dryer when you change fields or when you’ve changed varieties to make sure the dryer is running where you think it should be.

10 Check moisture controls
To make sure your dryer is running properly, pull samples, check the moisture control, and make sure the dryer is where it is supposed to be. 

“Moisture sensors are temperamental. It only takes one little stock of grain hanging up in the wrong place to throw their values off,” says Hartwig. “You should pull samples two to three times a day.”

11 Get an energy audit
“Sometimes you need someone who is willing to look at your entire operation to make sure that you are operating in the best way you can for your system,” says Woodruff. 

One way to do this is to get an energy audit. Your local NRCS office should have a list of businesses that conduct professional energy audits. 

A USDA REAP grant is available to help you upgrade your system if you can increase your efficiency by 25%.

“If you pursue a grant, work with a grant writer,” advises Woodruff. Learn more about the grant at Rurdev.usda.gov/energy.