The Purdue Ag Economics Department has scheduled a webinar, "Ag Outlook 2012" for Tuesday, September 13 beginning at 8:30 a.m. I will be showing this at the Extension Office so if you have a slow internet connection, or would just prefer viewing it here, feel free to stop by. But do me a favor and call or e-mail me first to let me know you're coming. The room I've scheduled has about 20 chairs in it so if I'd like to know in advance if I need to move furniture.
They didn't put an end time on it but I'd think it would be finished by 10:30 or so. We will be having our Ag Outlook Breakfast this fall. This is not 100% confirmed but I expect it will be Friday, December 16 at the Clinton County Fairgrounds.
The complete program announcement from Purdue follows:
"Purdue Extension Service will present a program titled “Agricultural Outlook 2012” at 8:30 am ET/ 7:30 am CT on Tuesday September 13. For those interested, the link is: https://gomeet.itap.purdue.edu/tuesdays/ The program is free to the public and is designed to help farmers, land owners, input suppliers, and those interested in agriculture make better business decisions in the coming year. The program will be presented by Corinne Alexander an Agricultural Economist.
U.S. farmers are facing disappointing corn and soybean yields this fall as late planting was followed by extreme July heat and dryness. Demand remains strong for grains, soybeans, and food around the world with limited supplies. This means prices will be high. The program will help answer “How high?”
The volume of corn used for ethanol is expected to set new records in 2012, however, some believe there won’t be enough corn this fall to meet all the demands and that EPA should consider reducing government ethanol mandates. In addition, China continues to excite the corn market with purchases for a second year with prospects for longer-term buying relationships with the U.S.
Increasing attention is being given to the general economy with growing fears of a double-dip recession. This program will outline the reasons why the economy is growing slowly and make predictions for future growth, interest rates, and inflation. A short discussion of the Federal government debt situation will also be featured.
The livestock sector faces another year of extremely high feed costs. Yet some animal product prices have also risen sharply over the past year. Some of the animal species can afford these record feed prices, others may face losses in 2012. Regardless, consumers are experiencing the highest costs ever to feed their families.
Crop prices are up, but so are input costs for 2012. This program will outline which inputs are headed higher and how that may affect margins for 2012 and 2013. The battle for acres is underway this fall as producers consider seeding winter wheat. The program will demonstrate the economic implications of that battle by showing which crops are currently bidding most aggressively for the limited acres.
Land values and rents are expected to move higher again in 2012, but by how much and how high can land values and rents rise before they are too high? What are the driving factors to be watching? These and other topics will be covered."
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Indiana Farmland Values and Cash Rents on the Rise
The 2011 Purdue Farmland Values and Cash Rent Survey results are in. Land values and rents are both up significantly over 2010 survey numbers. You can read the survey results in the August, 2011 Purdue Agricultural Economics Report. You will need Adobe Reader for this document.
Keep in mind that Clinton County is considered part of the Central District in Indiana. Tables 1 and 2 are what people are generally most interested in but there's a fair amount of information if you have a chance to read the entire report.
Keep in mind that Clinton County is considered part of the Central District in Indiana. Tables 1 and 2 are what people are generally most interested in but there's a fair amount of information if you have a chance to read the entire report.
Viptera Corn Issue
If you haven't already heard, there's a potentially significant issue with Syngenta's Agrisure Viptera corn. Primarily, China has indicated that they will not accept Viptera corn with the MIR162 insecticidal trait. This creates obvious problems with the possibility of buyers rejecting corn.
There are some sdditional details in this article by Rich Keller which Bob Nielsen posted on his Chat 'n Chew Cafe.
The National Corn Growers Association has put up a Viptera page discussing this issue. Syngenta has also put up a Viptera export information page.
At this point, producers should mainly stay current on this issue and aware of developments. If you've planted this corn you may want to contact your buyer and make sure you won't run into any problems. Hopefully additional information will be forthcoming soon.
There are some sdditional details in this article by Rich Keller which Bob Nielsen posted on his Chat 'n Chew Cafe.
The National Corn Growers Association has put up a Viptera page discussing this issue. Syngenta has also put up a Viptera export information page.
At this point, producers should mainly stay current on this issue and aware of developments. If you've planted this corn you may want to contact your buyer and make sure you won't run into any problems. Hopefully additional information will be forthcoming soon.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Weather Impacts on Corn
Everybody who grows corn knows that the recent hot, dry weather during pollination isn't ideal. The question then becomes how to assess what the impact has been.
The most accurate way is to simply go out and do yield checks by counting ears and kernels. Rather than spell this out here, I'll refer people to Bob Nielsen's article from last October, Estimating Corn Grain Yield Prior to Harvest. In talking to people who've done this already, the general response I'm getting is, "It's not as bad as I was afraid it might be." I know that's not terribly specific but it appears that the corn has been weathering this surprisingly well.
From "drive-by windshielding" there has been remarkably little visible signs of stress in corn, in particular leaf rolling. This has recently started to change a bit in areas of the county which have not received much rain. If you're wondering how leaf rolling equates to yield loss, I'll refer you to an article from July 15 by Roger Elmore and Elwynn Taylor from Iowa State, Corn and “a Big Long Heat Wave on the Way”. In particular, these passages in the final section are interesting:
"By rule-of-thumb, the yield is diminished by 1 percent for every 12 hours of leaf rolling - except during the week of silking when the yield is cut 1 percent per 4 hours of leaf rolling."
and
"The second impact is less obvious initially. When soil moisture is sufficient, as it is for the most part this July, the crop does not have a measurable yield response to one day of temperatures between 93F to 98 F. However, the fourth consecutive day with a maximum temperature of 93 F or above results in a 1 percent yield loss in addition to that computed from the leaf rolling. The fifth day there is an additional 2 percent loss; the sixth day an additional 4 percent loss. Data are not sufficient to make generalizations for a heat wave of more than six days, however firing of leaves then becomes likely and very large yield losses are incurred."
Unfortunately, just in the past few days there has been some lower-leaf firing in corn. As a caution, this goes back to my "drive-by windshielding" sampling method which tends to include quite a bit of end-rows which are generally more compacted and will show more of this.
The most accurate way is to simply go out and do yield checks by counting ears and kernels. Rather than spell this out here, I'll refer people to Bob Nielsen's article from last October, Estimating Corn Grain Yield Prior to Harvest. In talking to people who've done this already, the general response I'm getting is, "It's not as bad as I was afraid it might be." I know that's not terribly specific but it appears that the corn has been weathering this surprisingly well.
From "drive-by windshielding" there has been remarkably little visible signs of stress in corn, in particular leaf rolling. This has recently started to change a bit in areas of the county which have not received much rain. If you're wondering how leaf rolling equates to yield loss, I'll refer you to an article from July 15 by Roger Elmore and Elwynn Taylor from Iowa State, Corn and “a Big Long Heat Wave on the Way”. In particular, these passages in the final section are interesting:
"By rule-of-thumb, the yield is diminished by 1 percent for every 12 hours of leaf rolling - except during the week of silking when the yield is cut 1 percent per 4 hours of leaf rolling."
and
"The second impact is less obvious initially. When soil moisture is sufficient, as it is for the most part this July, the crop does not have a measurable yield response to one day of temperatures between 93F to 98 F. However, the fourth consecutive day with a maximum temperature of 93 F or above results in a 1 percent yield loss in addition to that computed from the leaf rolling. The fifth day there is an additional 2 percent loss; the sixth day an additional 4 percent loss. Data are not sufficient to make generalizations for a heat wave of more than six days, however firing of leaves then becomes likely and very large yield losses are incurred."
Unfortunately, just in the past few days there has been some lower-leaf firing in corn. As a caution, this goes back to my "drive-by windshielding" sampling method which tends to include quite a bit of end-rows which are generally more compacted and will show more of this.
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