Purdue University is hosting a webinar, "Managing Your Agricultural Business in 2014" on Thursday, December 19, 2:00 p.m. Purdue Economists Chris Hurt, Mike Boehlje, Michael Langemeier and Jim Mintert will lead the webinar and address the following questions. What’s the crop and livestock outlook for 2014? What are the expected returns for corn and soybeans in 2014 and what are the implications for cash rental rates and farmland values? Are there key strategies farm and agribusiness managers should focus on in the year ahead? There is no cost for this program.
For additional information and to register, follow this link: Managing Your Agricultural Business in 2014
Also, for those of you who haven't heard, my last day working in the Clinton County Extension Office will be Friday, December 13. Beginning on Monday, December 16 I will start my new position as Extension Educator for Agriculture and Natural Resources and County Extension Director in the Boone County Extension Office in Lebanon.
I've very much enjoyed my last 21 years working in Clinton County and am looking forward to new challenges and opportunities in Boone County. I'd say I'll miss working with Clinton County farmers but Boone County isn't too far away so hopefully I'll still see some of you from time to time.
This blog will continue but with a different title. I expect the content will be similar though with a focus on Boone instead of Clinton County.
Showing posts with label Educational Programs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Educational Programs. Show all posts
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
Sheep and Goat Webinar
The Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service will be offering a two-part webinar program, "Forages and Health for Sheep and Goats." The program will be held on Tuesday evenings, December 3 and 10 from 7-9 p.m. at various locations in Indiana. A link to a program flyer with additional information, including how to register, is included below.
Featured speakers include:
Sheep and Goat Program Flyer
Featured speakers include:
- Terry Hutchens, University of Kentucky Goat Specialist
- Greg Brann, Tennessee NRCS Grazing and Soil health Specialist
- Patty Scharko, Clemson University Veterinarian
- David Notter, Virginia Tech University Professor
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Clinton County Locally Grown Foods Tour Summary
On Saturday, August 10 we held the first Clinton County Locally Grown Foods Tour. This program was developed to promote locally grown foods operations in Clinton County (Indiana) and to inform participants about locally grown foods options. We had four host sites for the tour; McWhirt Family Produce, Rule's Golden Honey, This Old Farm and The Farming Engineers.
For this program, participants had the option of either riding a bus which went to each site or driving themselves. Somehow we managed to stay on time. Having good weather that day didn't hurt. I'll mention one item before I get to the tour; Each of the host farms discussed locally grown foods by promoting their operation, what they do, sell, and why they do it rather than trying to talk down or criticize traditional agriculture. For myself, I don't have a lot of patience with people who try to build themselves up by tearing others down. I expected this approach from our host farms so it certainly wasn't a surprise. Unfortunately it contrasts with approaches I've seen elsewhere.
The first stop was near Michigantown at McWhirt Family Produce. McWhirt's started selling produce they raised on very limited acreage at a Tipton County roadside stand in 2001. Within a few years they had outgrown their space and purchased more acreage in Clinton County where they developed their produce business. McWhirt's sell all sorts of vegetables throughout the growing season ranging from early season crops such as lettuce and cabbage to fall crops such as pumkins. They sell produce from their home by appointment and have been selling at the Frankfort Farmers Market since it opened. For the past couple of years Rick has been the Market Manager of the Market in Frankfort.
We received a nice tour of their garden areas and afterwards everyone enjoyed looking at the Boer goats the McWhirt children raise for 4-H projects. For their garden they do not control weeds chemically but rely on tillage and hand-pulling of weeds.
Stop number two was just a couple of miles up the road at Rule's Golden Honey. Mike and Cathy Rule have raised bees for quite some time and began selling honey about 6 years ago once it became large enough that they couldn't just give all the honey to their neighbors. They have also been selling at the Frankfort Farmers Market since 2007. In addition to honey they sell produce and home baked goods. We received a nice tour of the farm including where Mike keeps his bees and afterwards he explained how he does his processing.
From Rule's we travelled to Colfax and This Old Farm, owned by Erick and Jessica Smith. We were served an excellent lunch consisting entirely of local foods. Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Gina Sheets spoke to the group, as did Erick. Afterwards Jessica gave us a tour of their processing plant.
This Old Farm is the largest local foods operation we visited with 23 people employed in various aspects of the operation. The Smith's raise produce and pastured pork from their own farm. They also operate a federally inspected meat processing plant which they use to do custom processing as well as to process products which they sell from their store and online. As one of only two certified organic meat processors in Indiana they are very busy. They also operate a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). In addition, they have established a farm alliance which allows them to work with over 50 Indiana producers to help promote and market their food products.
The final stop for the day involved a long bus ride to the other side of the county, near Pickard, to visit The Farming Engineers, Lisa and Matt Burke. The Burke's raise produce, grown outdoors in a garden as well as in a hoop house. They also raise pastured poultry and sell eggs. While they do sell products on farm, The Farming Engineers' primary business focus is their CSA where you can sign up for weekly delivery of produce and/or eggs.
Lisa took us through various aspects of their operation. As they raise everything to organic standards and the price of organic feed for the chickens is quite high, they are currently studying the effectiveness of raising sprouts as a substitute feed whith the help of a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant. This stop involved the most walking as the pastured poultry are truly out on pasture but it was fun.
This was a fun, enjoyable tour. The four tour hosts deserve special thanks for agreeing to allow us to visit their farms. I was unaware until recently that Clinton County has as many local foods producers as we do though once I started thinking about it, we border some communities which provide a good client base for this type of operation. As one of the top agricultural counties in the state, it's not surprising that we would have a strong presence with these types of farms.
If you would like additional information on local foods, I've put up a page on our Extension Office site. We also have a Clinton County Local Foods Producers Directory.
Clinton County Extension Locally Grown Foods Page
Local Foods Directory
For this program, participants had the option of either riding a bus which went to each site or driving themselves. Somehow we managed to stay on time. Having good weather that day didn't hurt. I'll mention one item before I get to the tour; Each of the host farms discussed locally grown foods by promoting their operation, what they do, sell, and why they do it rather than trying to talk down or criticize traditional agriculture. For myself, I don't have a lot of patience with people who try to build themselves up by tearing others down. I expected this approach from our host farms so it certainly wasn't a surprise. Unfortunately it contrasts with approaches I've seen elsewhere.
 |
| Tour participants at McWhirt Family Produce |
We received a nice tour of their garden areas and afterwards everyone enjoyed looking at the Boer goats the McWhirt children raise for 4-H projects. For their garden they do not control weeds chemically but rely on tillage and hand-pulling of weeds.
 |
| Mike Rule demonstrating some of his honey processing equipment |
From Rule's we travelled to Colfax and This Old Farm, owned by Erick and Jessica Smith. We were served an excellent lunch consisting entirely of local foods. Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Gina Sheets spoke to the group, as did Erick. Afterwards Jessica gave us a tour of their processing plant.
 |
| Jessica Smith talking about This Old Farm's meat processing facility |
 |
| A few of the residents of The Farming Engineers operation. |
Lisa took us through various aspects of their operation. As they raise everything to organic standards and the price of organic feed for the chickens is quite high, they are currently studying the effectiveness of raising sprouts as a substitute feed whith the help of a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant. This stop involved the most walking as the pastured poultry are truly out on pasture but it was fun.
This was a fun, enjoyable tour. The four tour hosts deserve special thanks for agreeing to allow us to visit their farms. I was unaware until recently that Clinton County has as many local foods producers as we do though once I started thinking about it, we border some communities which provide a good client base for this type of operation. As one of the top agricultural counties in the state, it's not surprising that we would have a strong presence with these types of farms.
If you would like additional information on local foods, I've put up a page on our Extension Office site. We also have a Clinton County Local Foods Producers Directory.
Local Foods Directory
Friday, July 12, 2013
August Clinton County Extension Ag Programs
I have three programs in the first half of August I'll provide a quick post about with a link to the flyers, for the first two anyway. I'll be making longer posts on these in the near future, either during a slow moment during the fair or afterwards.
Farm Drainage Program
On Thursday, August 8 we'll be having a Farm Drainage program, officially titled, Farm Drainage for the Environment and for Profit. We have some great speakers lined up for this program, which will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The program is sponsored by the Clinton County Farm Bureau, Clinton County Soil and Water Conservation District and of course the Clinton County Extension Service. There is no cost to attend and lunch will be provided. Because we're serving a meal I need to have pre-registrations in by August 1. This program has been approved for Private Pesticide Recertification (PARP) credit. The following link is to the program flyer which includes additional information:
Farm Drainage for the Environment and for Profit
I will be sending letters out to all Private Applicators who need classes for recertification before their license expires.
Locally Grown Foods Tour
We're offering an exciting new program on Saturday, August 10. This will be the first Clinton County Locally Grown Foods Tour. During the day we will be visiting four sites in Clinton County which grow, raise and sell food products for the public. We have some pretty good variety with producers of produce, honey, meat products including pastured pork, and poultry and eggs. I will have much more information on this and am planning to put a website together in the near future. You can either participate in this by riding a bus through the day or driving yourself to as many sites as you like. Registration is $10 if you will be eating lunch and $20 if you will be eating lunch and riding the bus. A link to the program flyer which includes additional information is here:
Locally Grown Foods Tour
I should mention that two of the tour host sites have their own web sites, This Old Farm and The Farming Engineers.
Adult PQA Plus
The final program will be an Adult PQA Plus program on Tuesday, July 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the Extension Office, 1111 South Jackson Street in Frankfort. I will be offering both PQA Plus and Site Self-Assessment Training. There's no cost for this program. Some of you may have heard of changes to the PQA Plus program which includes a "test-out" opportunity. This is true but they've also revised the curriculum so you're only eligible for the online testing option once you've taken the new course in person.
I'll have more information on the first two of these in the near future. Don't forget that the Clinton County and 4-H Fair will be held July 14-20.
On Thursday, August 8 we'll be having a Farm Drainage program, officially titled, Farm Drainage for the Environment and for Profit. We have some great speakers lined up for this program, which will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The program is sponsored by the Clinton County Farm Bureau, Clinton County Soil and Water Conservation District and of course the Clinton County Extension Service. There is no cost to attend and lunch will be provided. Because we're serving a meal I need to have pre-registrations in by August 1. This program has been approved for Private Pesticide Recertification (PARP) credit. The following link is to the program flyer which includes additional information:
Farm Drainage for the Environment and for Profit
I will be sending letters out to all Private Applicators who need classes for recertification before their license expires.
We're offering an exciting new program on Saturday, August 10. This will be the first Clinton County Locally Grown Foods Tour. During the day we will be visiting four sites in Clinton County which grow, raise and sell food products for the public. We have some pretty good variety with producers of produce, honey, meat products including pastured pork, and poultry and eggs. I will have much more information on this and am planning to put a website together in the near future. You can either participate in this by riding a bus through the day or driving yourself to as many sites as you like. Registration is $10 if you will be eating lunch and $20 if you will be eating lunch and riding the bus. A link to the program flyer which includes additional information is here:
Locally Grown Foods Tour
I should mention that two of the tour host sites have their own web sites, This Old Farm and The Farming Engineers.
The final program will be an Adult PQA Plus program on Tuesday, July 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the Extension Office, 1111 South Jackson Street in Frankfort. I will be offering both PQA Plus and Site Self-Assessment Training. There's no cost for this program. Some of you may have heard of changes to the PQA Plus program which includes a "test-out" opportunity. This is true but they've also revised the curriculum so you're only eligible for the online testing option once you've taken the new course in person.
I'll have more information on the first two of these in the near future. Don't forget that the Clinton County and 4-H Fair will be held July 14-20.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Indiana Farm Management Tour Summary
We had what I think was an excellent Indiana Farm Management Tour June 26 and 27. Of course I've never put one on before so I don't have much of a basis for comparison but all of the comments I've received have been positive (though I imagine people who hated it decided to keep their thoughts to themselves). We managed to keep things pretty much on time, the weather cooperated and most importantly, I think we had five very good host farms who had a fair level of diversity in how they go about their business and were able to communicate some of what they do and why they do it to the audience. Plus the food was very good.
As a quick review for those not familiar with the tour, each year the Purdue Ag Economics Department puts on an Indiana Farm Management Tour. This year was the 81st annual tour. The tour rotates around regions of the state and is hosted in one or two counties, with Clinton County hosting this year. Four or five farms are selected and two days are spent traveling to these farms. At each host farm Purdue Ag Economics Staff conduct a general interview with the farmer and his/her family and following this the audience breaks up into smaller groups and rotates around to what are called mini-tours which are short (15 minute or so) sessions where an aspect of that farming operation is discussed.
I'm about to set out to summarize this year's tour. As a qualifier, as host my number one job was making sure the tour ran, not that I could hear all of the presentations. I heard some and on some farms I was scrambling around taking care of something. I also want to mention that I had a ton of help. The Clinton County Pork Producers helped out a lot with sponsoring a lunch and moving tables and chairs around. Clinton County 4-H Junior Leaders served as the tour "crew" hauling a bunch of stuff around, helping with parking, handing out water, etc. And I had a lot of my fellow Extension Educators from other counties who helped with parking, as tour guides, and doing whatever needed to be done. The Purdue Ag Economics staff was great, in particular Alan Miller who was the overall Tour Director. 1 And of course the biggest thanks goes to our host farmers. This isn't the kind of thing you just agree to do. Facilities need to be cleaned up and prepped, presentations prepared, and there's a fair amount of media attention ahead of the event. Host farmers, their families and staff put a lot into this.
I could have found another 10 Clinton County Farms which would have made very good host sites. What I was looking for were operations where I knew the farmers had given some thought to how and why they made decisions and took their farms in the direction they had, and that they would be able to articulate this to an audience. I hoped - and I think succeeded - that there would be differences in the farms and how they went about doing things. It wouldn't be a very good tour with five farms where everyone had identical management systems, goals and objectives, decision-making processes, etc. And when selecting them, it obviously helped if it was someone I'd worked with before and that I was at least somewhat familiar with their operation. As we are a major pork producing county, I thought it was important to make sure this was included as well.
With all of the preambles out of the way, let's get on with the summary. And even though it's a summary, this will be a pretty long post.
We opened the proceedings at Noon on Wednesday, June 26 at Hawley Farms with Jay and Sue Hawley. They operate a side business, Grandpa Jay's Pork and we were able to feature this with a pork picnic co-sponsored by the Clinton County Pork Producers and Indiana Pork. The main menu item was Grandpa Jay's porkburgers. I don't have an exact count but we had 240 chairs set up and some people were standing so I'd call it 250.
Hawley farms consists of 720 acres of cropland, mostly in corn and soybeans with a little bit of wheat. They also sell feeder pigs from 250 sows and raise some food grade corn and seed soybeans. A major component of the operation is Grandpa Jay's Pork. Jay and Sue process their cull sows and gilts to produce whole hog pork products. These products are for sale in some retail stores, they visit farmers markets and have a health department approved grill so they can serve porkburgers at various events, farmers markets, street vendor opportunities, etc. Jay can also be found traveling around with coolers delivering pork to customers when he can spare the time from the rest of the operation.
I didn't get to hear much of the interview or mini-tours. As might be expected at the first tour stop, I was scrambling around a bit trying to make sure things were set for the next two days. I know one of the mini-tours was a discussion of adding value to farm products and locally grown foods. Another was Josh Trenary from Indiana Pork and Jay discussing the importance of farmer involvement in public policy and taking local leadership roles. This is a topic that's near and dear to my heart and I was happy to see it included as part of the tour.
The second stop of the day was at Windy Lane Farms, operated by Ty and Hal Brown. Windy Lane Farms is a bit of a contrast to the day's first stop as they farm nearly 5300 acres in a corn and soybean rotation. Their soybeans are all grown as seed beans and 100% of their corn is non-GMO. They use conservation tillage on virtually all of their acreage and in 2013 expect to plant cover crops on about 4300 acres. In addition to the farm enterprise they are a Drago corn head dealership and are exploring becoming a dealer in tillage equipment.
The farm is intensively managed with a high emphasis on keeping track of costs and returns. They own and operate their own excavator to do land improvements with and have a great deal of grain storage and drying capacity. The mini-tours at this farm included; Ty talking about risk management, Hal discussing cover crops, a walking tour of an old hog barn they converted to a shop and their containment facility, and a tour of their office facilities.
Again, I didn't attend many of the mini-tours but I did listen to Hal Brown talk about cover crops. I've heard him speak several times. He does an excellent job and every time I learn something new. The Brown's have been working with cover crops for several years, experimenting with different mixes and have several which they use. Hal gave an excellent demonstration of how cover crops help reduce soil erosion and he gave a very interesting demonstration I hadn't seen before showing why they prefer 28% over Anhydrous Ammonia as Anhydrous has a tendency to remove carbon from the soil.
I didn't stay for the Master Farmer Banquet sponsored by Prairie Farmer and the Purdue School of Agriculture which was held in Brown's shop that night. The next morning we opened the tour at Neal farms, owned and operated by Gary and Larry Neal. Neal's farm approximately 6,000 acres in a corn-soybean rotation annually with about twice as much acreage in corn as in beans annually. Neal's have been early adopters of quite a few different practices and technologies. Two areas that stand out are in grain handling, drying and storage, and in upgrading their equipment. Their grain system can be controlled remotely through the farm's network and they are continually modifying equipment so one person can operate large machinery. They are also one of the few Clinton County farms to have an irrigation system on some of their acreage.
Mini-tours at Neal's included a discussion of their grain system by Gary, their irrigation system by Larry, and a tour of their shop, including some of the modifications they've made to their equipment by Brandon Neal.
Stop number four was at Need Farms, owned and operated by Jeff and Kent Need. Actually they are the two primary owners but the entire family participates in the farming enterprise. 2 The Needs farm about 1500 acres in a corn-soybean rotation. The vast majority of their acres are farmed with continuous no-till and they have been experimenting with tillage radishes as a cover crop for several years. They use quite a bit of technology with their operation including GPS and auto-steer, an automatic scale on their grain auger cart and Jeff has started using an app with an iPad during planting.
The mini-tours here included; Brandy Daggett and Susannah Hinds from NRCS giving a soil health demonstration, Dave Need and Josh McCarty discussing cover crops, Kent Need talking about their automated grain auger cart, and Jeff gave a presentation on the technology used on the farm. Once again, I only heard all of the cover crops program though I was able to catch part of the soil health mini-tour.
The final tour stop was at Meadowlane Farms, operated by Mike and David Beard and Chris Pearson. We opened with lunch and hopefully everyone was OK with us serving pork at both meal stops, considering this is the main livestock enterprise in the county (though we do have a couple of large poultry operations as well). This operation consists of about 1900 acres of cropland in a corn-soybean rotation, with about twice as much corn planted as beans. They also contract finish about 33,000 hogs annually and David and Chris operate a commercial manure application business, Waste Application Services. The name of this is actually a bit of a misnomer as they manage their manure as a resource, not as a waste product, and try to help their clients do the same. They have adopted a risk management through diversification strategy with three enterprises and income sources; field crops, hogs and the manure application business. Most of their soybeans grown are seed beans, a common theme with this tour.
I've always appreciated Mike's involvement in the community and his dedication to educating others about agriculture. I've often taken local officials or high school students to his operation to help them learn the real story, or truth, about agriculture. Apparently Mike addressed this during the program. I'm sorry I missed that part of it.
The Meadowlane farms mini-tours included; Mike discussing diversification strategies, David talking about the economics of manure application, Chris presenting on their manure application systems and equipment, and a discussion of their seed soybean production. I managed to hear both Chris and David. I didn't take a lot of notes but their application systems are designed to inject manure with minimum tillage and a figure David mentioned is that the nutrient value of their manure is five cents per gallon which got everyone's attention.
That's my 2013 Indiana Farm Management Tour Wrap-up. We had a good two days, visited some great farm operations and the weather, while warm, was cooperative. I don't have numbers for the tour but we think we fed about 250 at Hawley's and 262 at Beard's (the caterers count better than us). I didn't know it at the time but after the tour, in addition to trying to find operations which had thought about why they do what they do and how they do it, two other themes became dominant. One was value-added. Most of the farms tried to add value to what they were doing, from growing crops for seed or as non-GMO's, to feeding grain to hogs. The other is diversification. Again, not universally but several of the farms had branched into multiple businesses ranging from selling food products to applying manure commercially to selling farm equipment. As margins tighten (does anyone think the last 3-4 years can continue indefinitely?) this is an option which farm families will likely explore even more. I apologize for not providing more details about the mini-tours. I didn't realize how few of these I attended until I was putting this post together.
In my opening to this post I mentioned that I had a lot of volunteer help in putting this on. I'll repeat that my greatest debt of gratitude goes to the host farmers. They helped make this an excellent tour and I hope they feel they got something beneficial from it too. I also want to thank those who provided financial support. The easiest way to do this is by posting one final picture. 3
1 I found out when I opened the 2013 Indiana Farm Management Profiles book that my official title was, "Host Extension Educator & Local Arrangements Director." I've always had a theory, developed in college when being an "Assistant Animal Technician" meant I spent most of my time in a barn with a shovel, that the longer your title, the less important you actually are. ;)
2 I think it's important to note that all five of the farms on this tour are family farms. All five of the farms on this tour are also corporations. For those less familiar with ag who may come across this page, you sometimes hear people criticizing agriculture with terms like, "the vast majority of all farms are corporations." They're technically correct but this is because incorporating is important for tax purposes and insurance and liability reasons. This doesn't make them any less of a family farm. The vast majority of farms in Clinton County (and I'm pretty sure in Indiana and the US) are both family farms and corporations.
3 If you want to see more tour pictures, I've posted some on my Facebook page. I think this is set so the public can see them.
As a quick review for those not familiar with the tour, each year the Purdue Ag Economics Department puts on an Indiana Farm Management Tour. This year was the 81st annual tour. The tour rotates around regions of the state and is hosted in one or two counties, with Clinton County hosting this year. Four or five farms are selected and two days are spent traveling to these farms. At each host farm Purdue Ag Economics Staff conduct a general interview with the farmer and his/her family and following this the audience breaks up into smaller groups and rotates around to what are called mini-tours which are short (15 minute or so) sessions where an aspect of that farming operation is discussed.
I'm about to set out to summarize this year's tour. As a qualifier, as host my number one job was making sure the tour ran, not that I could hear all of the presentations. I heard some and on some farms I was scrambling around taking care of something. I also want to mention that I had a ton of help. The Clinton County Pork Producers helped out a lot with sponsoring a lunch and moving tables and chairs around. Clinton County 4-H Junior Leaders served as the tour "crew" hauling a bunch of stuff around, helping with parking, handing out water, etc. And I had a lot of my fellow Extension Educators from other counties who helped with parking, as tour guides, and doing whatever needed to be done. The Purdue Ag Economics staff was great, in particular Alan Miller who was the overall Tour Director. 1 And of course the biggest thanks goes to our host farmers. This isn't the kind of thing you just agree to do. Facilities need to be cleaned up and prepped, presentations prepared, and there's a fair amount of media attention ahead of the event. Host farmers, their families and staff put a lot into this.
I could have found another 10 Clinton County Farms which would have made very good host sites. What I was looking for were operations where I knew the farmers had given some thought to how and why they made decisions and took their farms in the direction they had, and that they would be able to articulate this to an audience. I hoped - and I think succeeded - that there would be differences in the farms and how they went about doing things. It wouldn't be a very good tour with five farms where everyone had identical management systems, goals and objectives, decision-making processes, etc. And when selecting them, it obviously helped if it was someone I'd worked with before and that I was at least somewhat familiar with their operation. As we are a major pork producing county, I thought it was important to make sure this was included as well.
 |
| This year's Farm Tour Sites |
With all of the preambles out of the way, let's get on with the summary. And even though it's a summary, this will be a pretty long post.
We opened the proceedings at Noon on Wednesday, June 26 at Hawley Farms with Jay and Sue Hawley. They operate a side business, Grandpa Jay's Pork and we were able to feature this with a pork picnic co-sponsored by the Clinton County Pork Producers and Indiana Pork. The main menu item was Grandpa Jay's porkburgers. I don't have an exact count but we had 240 chairs set up and some people were standing so I'd call it 250.
 |
| The lunch crowd at Hawley Farms |
Hawley farms consists of 720 acres of cropland, mostly in corn and soybeans with a little bit of wheat. They also sell feeder pigs from 250 sows and raise some food grade corn and seed soybeans. A major component of the operation is Grandpa Jay's Pork. Jay and Sue process their cull sows and gilts to produce whole hog pork products. These products are for sale in some retail stores, they visit farmers markets and have a health department approved grill so they can serve porkburgers at various events, farmers markets, street vendor opportunities, etc. Jay can also be found traveling around with coolers delivering pork to customers when he can spare the time from the rest of the operation.
 |
| Jay and Sue Hawley with Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt |
I didn't get to hear much of the interview or mini-tours. As might be expected at the first tour stop, I was scrambling around a bit trying to make sure things were set for the next two days. I know one of the mini-tours was a discussion of adding value to farm products and locally grown foods. Another was Josh Trenary from Indiana Pork and Jay discussing the importance of farmer involvement in public policy and taking local leadership roles. This is a topic that's near and dear to my heart and I was happy to see it included as part of the tour.
The second stop of the day was at Windy Lane Farms, operated by Ty and Hal Brown. Windy Lane Farms is a bit of a contrast to the day's first stop as they farm nearly 5300 acres in a corn and soybean rotation. Their soybeans are all grown as seed beans and 100% of their corn is non-GMO. They use conservation tillage on virtually all of their acreage and in 2013 expect to plant cover crops on about 4300 acres. In addition to the farm enterprise they are a Drago corn head dealership and are exploring becoming a dealer in tillage equipment.
The farm is intensively managed with a high emphasis on keeping track of costs and returns. They own and operate their own excavator to do land improvements with and have a great deal of grain storage and drying capacity. The mini-tours at this farm included; Ty talking about risk management, Hal discussing cover crops, a walking tour of an old hog barn they converted to a shop and their containment facility, and a tour of their office facilities.
Again, I didn't attend many of the mini-tours but I did listen to Hal Brown talk about cover crops. I've heard him speak several times. He does an excellent job and every time I learn something new. The Brown's have been working with cover crops for several years, experimenting with different mixes and have several which they use. Hal gave an excellent demonstration of how cover crops help reduce soil erosion and he gave a very interesting demonstration I hadn't seen before showing why they prefer 28% over Anhydrous Ammonia as Anhydrous has a tendency to remove carbon from the soil.
 |
| Hal Brown during his cover crops presentation |
I didn't stay for the Master Farmer Banquet sponsored by Prairie Farmer and the Purdue School of Agriculture which was held in Brown's shop that night. The next morning we opened the tour at Neal farms, owned and operated by Gary and Larry Neal. Neal's farm approximately 6,000 acres in a corn-soybean rotation annually with about twice as much acreage in corn as in beans annually. Neal's have been early adopters of quite a few different practices and technologies. Two areas that stand out are in grain handling, drying and storage, and in upgrading their equipment. Their grain system can be controlled remotely through the farm's network and they are continually modifying equipment so one person can operate large machinery. They are also one of the few Clinton County farms to have an irrigation system on some of their acreage.
 |
| Gary and Larry Neal with Purdue Ag Economist Craig Dobbins during the general interview |
Mini-tours at Neal's included a discussion of their grain system by Gary, their irrigation system by Larry, and a tour of their shop, including some of the modifications they've made to their equipment by Brandon Neal.
 |
| Brandon Neal (barely visible in the background) discussing Neal Farms' shop and equipment during a mini-tour |
Stop number four was at Need Farms, owned and operated by Jeff and Kent Need. Actually they are the two primary owners but the entire family participates in the farming enterprise. 2 The Needs farm about 1500 acres in a corn-soybean rotation. The vast majority of their acres are farmed with continuous no-till and they have been experimenting with tillage radishes as a cover crop for several years. They use quite a bit of technology with their operation including GPS and auto-steer, an automatic scale on their grain auger cart and Jeff has started using an app with an iPad during planting.
 |
| Jeff Need discussing some of the technology used on the farm |
The mini-tours here included; Brandy Daggett and Susannah Hinds from NRCS giving a soil health demonstration, Dave Need and Josh McCarty discussing cover crops, Kent Need talking about their automated grain auger cart, and Jeff gave a presentation on the technology used on the farm. Once again, I only heard all of the cover crops program though I was able to catch part of the soil health mini-tour.
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| Kent Need giving a mini-tour presentation on the farm's automated grain auger cart |
The final tour stop was at Meadowlane Farms, operated by Mike and David Beard and Chris Pearson. We opened with lunch and hopefully everyone was OK with us serving pork at both meal stops, considering this is the main livestock enterprise in the county (though we do have a couple of large poultry operations as well). This operation consists of about 1900 acres of cropland in a corn-soybean rotation, with about twice as much corn planted as beans. They also contract finish about 33,000 hogs annually and David and Chris operate a commercial manure application business, Waste Application Services. The name of this is actually a bit of a misnomer as they manage their manure as a resource, not as a waste product, and try to help their clients do the same. They have adopted a risk management through diversification strategy with three enterprises and income sources; field crops, hogs and the manure application business. Most of their soybeans grown are seed beans, a common theme with this tour.
I've always appreciated Mike's involvement in the community and his dedication to educating others about agriculture. I've often taken local officials or high school students to his operation to help them learn the real story, or truth, about agriculture. Apparently Mike addressed this during the program. I'm sorry I missed that part of it.
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| Mike Beard discussing diversification strategies with Purdue Ag Economist Elizabeth Yeager |
The Meadowlane farms mini-tours included; Mike discussing diversification strategies, David talking about the economics of manure application, Chris presenting on their manure application systems and equipment, and a discussion of their seed soybean production. I managed to hear both Chris and David. I didn't take a lot of notes but their application systems are designed to inject manure with minimum tillage and a figure David mentioned is that the nutrient value of their manure is five cents per gallon which got everyone's attention.
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| I haven't posted many audience shots but thought I would throw in this one of the people listening to Chris's presentation as you can see some of the equipment he talked about in the background. You can see about half of Chris on the left |
That's my 2013 Indiana Farm Management Tour Wrap-up. We had a good two days, visited some great farm operations and the weather, while warm, was cooperative. I don't have numbers for the tour but we think we fed about 250 at Hawley's and 262 at Beard's (the caterers count better than us). I didn't know it at the time but after the tour, in addition to trying to find operations which had thought about why they do what they do and how they do it, two other themes became dominant. One was value-added. Most of the farms tried to add value to what they were doing, from growing crops for seed or as non-GMO's, to feeding grain to hogs. The other is diversification. Again, not universally but several of the farms had branched into multiple businesses ranging from selling food products to applying manure commercially to selling farm equipment. As margins tighten (does anyone think the last 3-4 years can continue indefinitely?) this is an option which farm families will likely explore even more. I apologize for not providing more details about the mini-tours. I didn't realize how few of these I attended until I was putting this post together.
In my opening to this post I mentioned that I had a lot of volunteer help in putting this on. I'll repeat that my greatest debt of gratitude goes to the host farmers. They helped make this an excellent tour and I hope they feel they got something beneficial from it too. I also want to thank those who provided financial support. The easiest way to do this is by posting one final picture. 3
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| Thank you to all of the 2013 Indiana Farm Management Tour Sponsors. I suppose I should add the standard disclaimer that this does not imply Purdue University's or Purdue Extension's endorsement of any of the products or services provided. However I very much appreciate their support |
1 I found out when I opened the 2013 Indiana Farm Management Profiles book that my official title was, "Host Extension Educator & Local Arrangements Director." I've always had a theory, developed in college when being an "Assistant Animal Technician" meant I spent most of my time in a barn with a shovel, that the longer your title, the less important you actually are. ;)
2 I think it's important to note that all five of the farms on this tour are family farms. All five of the farms on this tour are also corporations. For those less familiar with ag who may come across this page, you sometimes hear people criticizing agriculture with terms like, "the vast majority of all farms are corporations." They're technically correct but this is because incorporating is important for tax purposes and insurance and liability reasons. This doesn't make them any less of a family farm. The vast majority of farms in Clinton County (and I'm pretty sure in Indiana and the US) are both family farms and corporations.
3 If you want to see more tour pictures, I've posted some on my Facebook page. I think this is set so the public can see them.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
2013 Indiana Farm Management Tour
I apologize for not adding anything new in some time. I'm hoping to get back to more regular posting in the near future.
For those who aren't aware, Clinton County is hosting the 2013 Indiana Farm Management Tour. We have five excellent host farms. These represent a wide variety of Clinton County Agriculture. There is no cost to attend however you need to register so we have a meal count. For additional information on the tour and to register go to: The Purdue Ag Economics Department's Farm Tour Page.
For those who aren't aware, Clinton County is hosting the 2013 Indiana Farm Management Tour. We have five excellent host farms. These represent a wide variety of Clinton County Agriculture. There is no cost to attend however you need to register so we have a meal count. For additional information on the tour and to register go to: The Purdue Ag Economics Department's Farm Tour Page.
Friday, February 22, 2013
2013 Central Indiana Pork Conference Report
I want to throw in a brief report about the 2013 Central Indiana Pork Conference held February 6. As I was the site host I did have to bounce around a bit from time to time, particularly in the morning, but I'll provide as much of a summary as I can. Also, pdf's of most of the presentations are up on the Clinton County Extension Office website.
Paul Clouser from Indiana Packers was the first presenter and this is the one I missed the most of. However I did catch a few items which caught my attention. First, they wanted to congratulate producers for helping them by providing higher quality animals to their plant. Since DDGS have become a substantial portion of swine rations Iodine Values and carcass quality have been a big industry issue and they had far less of a problem with this recently than they did a year or two ago.
He wanted to caution farmers on several aspects of production. One, which I intend to use in my PQA programs from now on, is that if you have a broken needle in an animal, euthanize it. My suggestion, so long as it meets all withdrawal standards, would be either to process it for your own use at home or send it to a processor and donate the meat to a food bank. However they don't want these animals at the plant. He also wanted farmers to be aware that as much of their business involves overseas markets, they should be aware of and follow IPC's corporate residue limits which in some cases are more stringent than US standards.
The Industry Outlook provided by Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt focused, unsurprisingly, on feed prices. He made the "official" prediction that US corn prices will experience the largest drop in history, $2.50 by next summer. Of course prices will still be above $5.00. He considers this to be a "sweet spot" where both grain farmers and pork producers should be able to turn a profit. Current stocks are short so this will be very weather-driven but he sees a good possibility of a long, slow decline with, if it looks like the crop is good, a rapid price drop in early July. With decent weather the next few years he thinks a long-term price outlook is for corn in the $5 range and soybeans around $11. With bad weather it's hard to tell where things might go. Another drought could drive corn over $10 and soybeans to $20. Ultimately, he believes that if the weather cooperates, the industry should see a return to profitability by the second quarter of 2013.
Brian Martin and Wes Lack from MP3 farms discussed a new sow unit they recently installed which uses an automated electronic feeding system and houses sows in groups rather than using gestation stalls. They provided a great deal of information on how the system works, how they train farm employees as well as gilts to use the system and other aspects which I won't detail here. They also operate an older sow unit which uses gestation stalls so they were able to provide some interesting comparative date over production in the two systems. Very briefly, while sow mortality is slightly higher with this system, overall performance of animals in the two systems has been very comparable when looking at areas such as pigs/sow/year and lbs/sow/year. One area which doesn't show up in the numbers is that they said the sows in this system are very easy to handle and work; very calm and easygoing.
I'll use their talk as a jumping-off point to editorialize a little. I've been at several programs recently including those sponsored by the National Pork Board and animal handling and housing is a prominent theme. Despite research which shows that sows get along fine in gestation stalls and other similar production-related issues, we live in a new age. At one time in this country, people were primarily worried about having enough to eat. They progressed from that to a concern over the quality of what they eat. Today many people are concerned with how animals are raised. In any business where you're producing a product for consumers, consumer preferences is a driver. Animal handling standards, housing systems, etc., should definitely be considered in animal operations. It's a basis for the Pork Quality Assurance (PQA Plus) program which almost all Pork Producers receive certification through. If I'm talking to a farmer who's considering building a new breeding/gestation/production unit, I would urge him or her to strongly consider a group housing system for sows. At this point I wouldn't advise spending a lot of money to convert an existing facility but for new construction I think farmers need to give it serious thought. The industry has been heading in this direction for some time now and I see no indication that this trend will stop.
Aflatoxin was a serious problem in corn this year and farmers know that this was a big issue in feeding hogs. Brian Richert from the Purdue Animal Sciences Department discussed issues related to this. A portion of this was related to levels at which hogs can tolerate Aflatoxin, strategies and methods of maintaining feed quality and preventing toxin development. I was more interested when he started talking about how some approved flowables - products added to grain to prevent clumping due to moisture - also can substantially mitigate the impacts of Aflatoxin in feed by serving as binders. In this area most farmers were able to blend feed enough to keep Aflatoxin levels down to acceptable levels but if you want to plan for a year where this may be next to impossible, Brian's presentation would be a very good starting point to start looking into these binders as another option.
This was a very good program. I was disappointed that numbers were down this year and will be looking at ways to bring this back up next year. For those who attended, thanks for coming and a big thank you goes out to the Rossville FFA Chapter who provided lunch.
Paul Clouser from Indiana Packers was the first presenter and this is the one I missed the most of. However I did catch a few items which caught my attention. First, they wanted to congratulate producers for helping them by providing higher quality animals to their plant. Since DDGS have become a substantial portion of swine rations Iodine Values and carcass quality have been a big industry issue and they had far less of a problem with this recently than they did a year or two ago.
He wanted to caution farmers on several aspects of production. One, which I intend to use in my PQA programs from now on, is that if you have a broken needle in an animal, euthanize it. My suggestion, so long as it meets all withdrawal standards, would be either to process it for your own use at home or send it to a processor and donate the meat to a food bank. However they don't want these animals at the plant. He also wanted farmers to be aware that as much of their business involves overseas markets, they should be aware of and follow IPC's corporate residue limits which in some cases are more stringent than US standards.
The Industry Outlook provided by Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt focused, unsurprisingly, on feed prices. He made the "official" prediction that US corn prices will experience the largest drop in history, $2.50 by next summer. Of course prices will still be above $5.00. He considers this to be a "sweet spot" where both grain farmers and pork producers should be able to turn a profit. Current stocks are short so this will be very weather-driven but he sees a good possibility of a long, slow decline with, if it looks like the crop is good, a rapid price drop in early July. With decent weather the next few years he thinks a long-term price outlook is for corn in the $5 range and soybeans around $11. With bad weather it's hard to tell where things might go. Another drought could drive corn over $10 and soybeans to $20. Ultimately, he believes that if the weather cooperates, the industry should see a return to profitability by the second quarter of 2013.
Brian Martin and Wes Lack from MP3 farms discussed a new sow unit they recently installed which uses an automated electronic feeding system and houses sows in groups rather than using gestation stalls. They provided a great deal of information on how the system works, how they train farm employees as well as gilts to use the system and other aspects which I won't detail here. They also operate an older sow unit which uses gestation stalls so they were able to provide some interesting comparative date over production in the two systems. Very briefly, while sow mortality is slightly higher with this system, overall performance of animals in the two systems has been very comparable when looking at areas such as pigs/sow/year and lbs/sow/year. One area which doesn't show up in the numbers is that they said the sows in this system are very easy to handle and work; very calm and easygoing.
I'll use their talk as a jumping-off point to editorialize a little. I've been at several programs recently including those sponsored by the National Pork Board and animal handling and housing is a prominent theme. Despite research which shows that sows get along fine in gestation stalls and other similar production-related issues, we live in a new age. At one time in this country, people were primarily worried about having enough to eat. They progressed from that to a concern over the quality of what they eat. Today many people are concerned with how animals are raised. In any business where you're producing a product for consumers, consumer preferences is a driver. Animal handling standards, housing systems, etc., should definitely be considered in animal operations. It's a basis for the Pork Quality Assurance (PQA Plus) program which almost all Pork Producers receive certification through. If I'm talking to a farmer who's considering building a new breeding/gestation/production unit, I would urge him or her to strongly consider a group housing system for sows. At this point I wouldn't advise spending a lot of money to convert an existing facility but for new construction I think farmers need to give it serious thought. The industry has been heading in this direction for some time now and I see no indication that this trend will stop.
Aflatoxin was a serious problem in corn this year and farmers know that this was a big issue in feeding hogs. Brian Richert from the Purdue Animal Sciences Department discussed issues related to this. A portion of this was related to levels at which hogs can tolerate Aflatoxin, strategies and methods of maintaining feed quality and preventing toxin development. I was more interested when he started talking about how some approved flowables - products added to grain to prevent clumping due to moisture - also can substantially mitigate the impacts of Aflatoxin in feed by serving as binders. In this area most farmers were able to blend feed enough to keep Aflatoxin levels down to acceptable levels but if you want to plan for a year where this may be next to impossible, Brian's presentation would be a very good starting point to start looking into these binders as another option.
This was a very good program. I was disappointed that numbers were down this year and will be looking at ways to bring this back up next year. For those who attended, thanks for coming and a big thank you goes out to the Rossville FFA Chapter who provided lunch.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Pesticide Applicator Recertification Program March 1
This is an update to something I posted a few weeks ago. The Clinton County Extension Office will be hosting a Pesticide Applicator Recertification Program on Friday, March 1 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Clinton County Fairgrounds, 1701 South Jackson Street, in Frankfort.
The program schedule is as follows:
I do not need pre-registration for this program, just for the Ag Outlook Breakfast if you're planning to attend that earlier in the day.
Clinton County Private Applicators will be receiving notification of this program in the mail within the next few days. The exception to this is if you have already completed your recertification requirements or if there's no way you can complete them; if you've taken no classes so far and your license expires at the end of 2013(you can only take 2 classes in a given year). To check your recertification status, go to the Purdue Private Applicator Page. On the menu bar to the left select, "Private Applicator Records" and enter the appropriate information into the search.
You do not need to be a pesticide applicator to attend this program. Anyone who has an interest in the topics is welcome to attend. In particular, if you have questions about the new Indiana Fertilizer Rule, I'd encourage you to make the last session.
The program schedule is as follows:
- 10:00 a.m. - Bill Johnson, Purdue Botany and Plant Pathology, "Weed Control Update"
- 10:45 a.m. - Christian Krupke, Purdue Entomology, "Insect Control Update"
- 11:30 a.m. - Curt Emanuel, Clinton County Extension Service, "Fertilizer Application Regulations"
- 12:30 p.m. - Registration and adjourn.
I do not need pre-registration for this program, just for the Ag Outlook Breakfast if you're planning to attend that earlier in the day.
Clinton County Private Applicators will be receiving notification of this program in the mail within the next few days. The exception to this is if you have already completed your recertification requirements or if there's no way you can complete them; if you've taken no classes so far and your license expires at the end of 2013(you can only take 2 classes in a given year). To check your recertification status, go to the Purdue Private Applicator Page. On the menu bar to the left select, "Private Applicator Records" and enter the appropriate information into the search.
You do not need to be a pesticide applicator to attend this program. Anyone who has an interest in the topics is welcome to attend. In particular, if you have questions about the new Indiana Fertilizer Rule, I'd encourage you to make the last session.
March 1 Ag Outlook Breakfast and Meeting
The Clinton County Extension Service will be hosting an Ag Outlook Breakfast on Friday, March 1 at 7:30 a.m. at the Clinton County Extension Office, 1701 South Jackson Street, in Frankfort. Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt will be presenting his Outlook for 2013 including crop and livestock prices, the overall US Economy and farm business management strategies.
A breakfast, sponsored by The Farmers Bank and Regions Bank, will be provided. Please contact the Clinton County Extension Office at 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or e-mail me at cemanuel@purdue.edu by February 26 if you plan to attend. There is no cost for this program.
A breakfast, sponsored by The Farmers Bank and Regions Bank, will be provided. Please contact the Clinton County Extension Office at 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or e-mail me at cemanuel@purdue.edu by February 26 if you plan to attend. There is no cost for this program.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Irrigation Workshop Report
I want to give at least a little bit of information from the January 22 Irrigation Workshop. First I'll point out that one of my duties was to serve as host of the program so I was able to devote my full attention to no more than half of it, at best, as I had to spend some time distributing handouts, loading presentations onto the computer and just chatting with others involved.
But I was able to pick up a few things. The first thing is to direct people to Lyndon Kelley's page of irrigation resources. Seriously, if you're interested in this, go there now. I'll wait.
A few items of note besides this. First, if you're getting started in irrigation, once you've analyzed the economics, the next step is to determine if you have water. Mark Basch from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources talked about this and said that in Central Indiana, we have sufficient groundwater. By and large, by installing irrigation you don't need to be worried about somehow causing a community-wide drought. Now you may negatively impact wells of some neighbors, particularly those with shallow wells, but the fears about this are greater than the reality. In many cases when someone's well goes dry and they blame a large capacity water user, investigators will look five miles away and find that similar sorts of wells are going dry when there isn't any irrigation going on nearby. In essence, in many of these cases people's wells go dry during a drought because of the drought, not nearby irrigation. This doesn't mean that irrigation never has an impact, just that this doesn't take place nearly as often as rumor would have you believe.
However, even though we have pretty good groundwater supplies in Central Indiana, this does not mean that you'll be able to find sufficent water to irrigate with just anywhere. Mike Chapman from Peerless-Midwest discussed how he investigates to determine if a well will be able to deliver the 300 gallons per minute necessary to irrigate with. While there are some geographic guidelines which will suggest where are good places to look, only by boring a test well can you be sure. One of the issues is that in Clinton County there just aren't that many large capacity wells in use. In some areas there may be a well every mile and you can be pretty sure nearby areas have sufficient water but that isn't the case here. IDNR's Water Well Record Database is a good place to start checking. Select the "Enhanced Water Well Viewer" link for an online map.
Screenshot of Large Capacity Wells in Clinton County from the DNR Water Well Viewer
I'll add one other personal note. From an efficiency perspective, once you've drilled a large capacity well, installed pumping equipment and provided power to the site, it makes sense to irrigate as much ground as possible. While we have some large fields in Clinton County of 160 acres or more under one owner, this has become the exception rather than the rule. Give some thought to partnering with a neighboring farmer to share costs and operate more efficiently, at least initially, if you're going to be irrigating smaller parcels.
I have heard less discussion about irrigation over the winter than I did last summer and fall however if you're interested you should look at Lyndon's web page. There is another Irrigation Program scheduled for February 12 in Vincennes. I don't have any additional information on it but you can contact the Knox County Extension Office to find out more about it.
But I was able to pick up a few things. The first thing is to direct people to Lyndon Kelley's page of irrigation resources. Seriously, if you're interested in this, go there now. I'll wait.
A few items of note besides this. First, if you're getting started in irrigation, once you've analyzed the economics, the next step is to determine if you have water. Mark Basch from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources talked about this and said that in Central Indiana, we have sufficient groundwater. By and large, by installing irrigation you don't need to be worried about somehow causing a community-wide drought. Now you may negatively impact wells of some neighbors, particularly those with shallow wells, but the fears about this are greater than the reality. In many cases when someone's well goes dry and they blame a large capacity water user, investigators will look five miles away and find that similar sorts of wells are going dry when there isn't any irrigation going on nearby. In essence, in many of these cases people's wells go dry during a drought because of the drought, not nearby irrigation. This doesn't mean that irrigation never has an impact, just that this doesn't take place nearly as often as rumor would have you believe.
However, even though we have pretty good groundwater supplies in Central Indiana, this does not mean that you'll be able to find sufficent water to irrigate with just anywhere. Mike Chapman from Peerless-Midwest discussed how he investigates to determine if a well will be able to deliver the 300 gallons per minute necessary to irrigate with. While there are some geographic guidelines which will suggest where are good places to look, only by boring a test well can you be sure. One of the issues is that in Clinton County there just aren't that many large capacity wells in use. In some areas there may be a well every mile and you can be pretty sure nearby areas have sufficient water but that isn't the case here. IDNR's Water Well Record Database is a good place to start checking. Select the "Enhanced Water Well Viewer" link for an online map.
I'll add one other personal note. From an efficiency perspective, once you've drilled a large capacity well, installed pumping equipment and provided power to the site, it makes sense to irrigate as much ground as possible. While we have some large fields in Clinton County of 160 acres or more under one owner, this has become the exception rather than the rule. Give some thought to partnering with a neighboring farmer to share costs and operate more efficiently, at least initially, if you're going to be irrigating smaller parcels.
I have heard less discussion about irrigation over the winter than I did last summer and fall however if you're interested you should look at Lyndon's web page. There is another Irrigation Program scheduled for February 12 in Vincennes. I don't have any additional information on it but you can contact the Knox County Extension Office to find out more about it.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Ag Outlook Breakfast & Pesticide Applicator Training
This will be along the lines of a "save the date" post however I want to mention that we've scheduled the Ag Outlook Breakfast for Friday, March 1, 7:30 a.m. at the Clinton County Fairgrounds 4-H Building in Frankfort. Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt will be on hand to provide his Outlook for 2013. The program is free and designed to help farmers, land owners, input suppliers, and those interested in agriculture make better business decisions in the coming year.
The breakfast and program are sponsored by The Farmers Bank and Regions Bank. Now there's a lot of time between now and the program but because we are serving a meal and need to know attendance numbers, pre-registration for the program is required. Please either call the office at 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or e-mail me at cemanuel@purdue.edu if you are planning to attend. The registration deadline is 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26. And don't worry, I'll have additional information as we get closer.
Later that same morning, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. we'll have a Private Applicator Recertification Program(PARP), also at the Fairgrounds. Christian Krupke from Purdue Entomology will present an Insect Control Update and Bill Johnson from Purdue Botany and Plant Pathology will provide a Weed Control Update. The regulatory topic will be on Indiana’s New Fertilizer Rule. The cost for this program will be $10. All Clinton County Private Applicators will be mailed additional information as we get closer. I also intend to request CCH's for commercial applicators.
The breakfast and program are sponsored by The Farmers Bank and Regions Bank. Now there's a lot of time between now and the program but because we are serving a meal and need to know attendance numbers, pre-registration for the program is required. Please either call the office at 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or e-mail me at cemanuel@purdue.edu if you are planning to attend. The registration deadline is 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26. And don't worry, I'll have additional information as we get closer.
Later that same morning, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. we'll have a Private Applicator Recertification Program(PARP), also at the Fairgrounds. Christian Krupke from Purdue Entomology will present an Insect Control Update and Bill Johnson from Purdue Botany and Plant Pathology will provide a Weed Control Update. The regulatory topic will be on Indiana’s New Fertilizer Rule. The cost for this program will be $10. All Clinton County Private Applicators will be mailed additional information as we get closer. I also intend to request CCH's for commercial applicators.
Central Indiana Pork Conference
The Seventh Annual Central Indiana Pork Conference (CIPC) will be held on Wednesday, February 6 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m at Rossville High School. The cost of the program will be $20 per person and will include lunch.
There will be a variety of topics covered including state and federal legislative and regulatory changes, including the new fertilizer rule. This has been a highly successful, well attended program in past years. I have a web page for this program with additional information, including a flyer and registration form.
There will be a variety of topics covered including state and federal legislative and regulatory changes, including the new fertilizer rule. This has been a highly successful, well attended program in past years. I have a web page for this program with additional information, including a flyer and registration form.
Upcoming Irrigation Workshop
I apologize for not posting lately. With my covering 4-H in Clinton County it seems like this blog has been the main casualty of these extra duties. However I have several activities which I want to mention.
I've set up an Irrigation Workshop on Tuesday, January 22 at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds in Lafayette. This will be an all-day program primarily featuring Lyndon Kelley, Extension Irrigation Specialist. We will be covering a variety of topics that day and I encourage you to attend if you’ve given any thought to installing irrigation on your operation.
Lyndon has done a lot of irrigation work in Northern Indiana and I've been told he puts on an excellent program. Click this link for the program flyer and registration information.
I've set up an Irrigation Workshop on Tuesday, January 22 at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds in Lafayette. This will be an all-day program primarily featuring Lyndon Kelley, Extension Irrigation Specialist. We will be covering a variety of topics that day and I encourage you to attend if you’ve given any thought to installing irrigation on your operation.
Lyndon has done a lot of irrigation work in Northern Indiana and I've been told he puts on an excellent program. Click this link for the program flyer and registration information.
Friday, August 10, 2012
August 29 Pesticide Applicator Training
The Clinton County Extension Service will be hosting a Private Pesticide Applicator Recertification Program (PARP) on Wednesday, August 29 from 1-3:30 p.m. at the Clinton County Fairgrounds, 1701 South Jackson Street in Frankfort. In addition, CCH's have been approved for Commercial Applicators.
Fred Whitford from Purdue Pesticide Programs will be giving two presentations, “Make Liquids and Dry Products Measure Up” and “Watch for Setbacks for Fertilizers.”
This program will directly follow the Farmland Rental Program that morning. The cost for the Pesticide program will be $10 for Private Applicators. There is no cost for Commercial Applicators. You should remember to bring your license with you for registration purposes.
As we're not feeding you, I don't need pre-registration if you're attending just the Pesticide program that afternoon (I do need you to register for the morning program if you're attending it). If you have any questions, please contact the Extension Office at 765-659-6380 or 296-3511. You may also e-mail me.
Fred Whitford from Purdue Pesticide Programs will be giving two presentations, “Make Liquids and Dry Products Measure Up” and “Watch for Setbacks for Fertilizers.”
This program will directly follow the Farmland Rental Program that morning. The cost for the Pesticide program will be $10 for Private Applicators. There is no cost for Commercial Applicators. You should remember to bring your license with you for registration purposes.
As we're not feeding you, I don't need pre-registration if you're attending just the Pesticide program that afternoon (I do need you to register for the morning program if you're attending it). If you have any questions, please contact the Extension Office at 765-659-6380 or 296-3511. You may also e-mail me.
August 29 Farmland Rental Program
The Clinton County Extension Service will be hosting a Farmland Rental Program on Wednesday, August 29 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at the Clinton County Fairgrounds, 1701 South Jackson Street in Frankfort.
Purdue Ag Economist Craig Dobbins will be on hand to discuss the recently released 2012 Indiana Land Values and Cash Rent Survey Results. He will consider the results of this survey, implications for rental rates in 2013 and discuss various aspects of rents such as negotiating contracts and flexible cash rents.
This looks to be a very good, useful program, particularly considering how this abnormal crop year may influence land decisions, particularly rental contracts.
A lunch, sponsored by The Farmers Bank, will be provided. Pre-registration is required if you intend to eat with us. Please register by August 22 by calling the Clinton County Extension Office at 765-659-6380 or 296-3511 or you may e-mail me at cemanuel@purdue.edu. If you don't pre-register you may still attend but lunch is not guaranteed.
For additional information and a registration form you may download the program flyer from the link below:
Farmland Rental Program Flyer.
Purdue Ag Economist Craig Dobbins will be on hand to discuss the recently released 2012 Indiana Land Values and Cash Rent Survey Results. He will consider the results of this survey, implications for rental rates in 2013 and discuss various aspects of rents such as negotiating contracts and flexible cash rents.
This looks to be a very good, useful program, particularly considering how this abnormal crop year may influence land decisions, particularly rental contracts.
A lunch, sponsored by The Farmers Bank, will be provided. Pre-registration is required if you intend to eat with us. Please register by August 22 by calling the Clinton County Extension Office at 765-659-6380 or 296-3511 or you may e-mail me at cemanuel@purdue.edu. If you don't pre-register you may still attend but lunch is not guaranteed.
For additional information and a registration form you may download the program flyer from the link below:
Farmland Rental Program Flyer.
August 23 Pond Management Workshop
On Thursday, August 23 the Clinton County Extension Service and the Clinton County SWCD will be hosting a Pond Management Workshop. The program will be held at Dorsey Farms, 1880 West CR 400 N, Frankfort.
Topics and speakers will include:
We would appreciate pre-registration so we have an idea how many are coming. To register please contact me at cemanuel@purdue.edu or Leah Harden from the SWCD at leah.harden@in.nacdnet.net. For additional information you may download the program flyer by clicking on the following link:
Pond Management Flyer
Topics and speakers will include:
- Fish Management - Rod Edgell, IDNR Aquatic Biologist
- Wildlife Management - Rick Pearcy, Wildlife Biologist
- Aquatic Plant Management - Patrick Whitson, Bilogist from Aquatic Control
We would appreciate pre-registration so we have an idea how many are coming. To register please contact me at cemanuel@purdue.edu or Leah Harden from the SWCD at leah.harden@in.nacdnet.net. For additional information you may download the program flyer by clicking on the following link:
Pond Management Flyer
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Review of July 13 Drought Program
I'm currently in South Carolina at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents Annual Meeting but I would like to get out a summary of the Drought Program, "Making Decisions in a Difficult Crop Year," held last Friday at the Clinton County Fair before too much time passes by.
Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt discussed economics and I don't think he had any big surprises - as yield projections drop, prices will be rising. He showed a chart demonstrating that in many poor crop years producers more than make up the revenue lost by reduced production through higher prices. I'm looking at the December futures which stands at $7.84 compared with it being just a tick above $5.00 in May. That's already an increase of over 50% and Chris believes that $10 corn and $20 beans are both possible this year - his exact words were, "It's not crazy to talk about these prices." For Clinton County, even now it looks like we'll have some sort of crop so we should be able to capture the price change (if you haven't sold it yet). That's better than a lot of fields in southern Indiana and Illinois.
One of the differences from past short crop years is how tight stocks are. In the past there was often an early, rapid increase in price followed by a leveling off or even a decline shortly afterwards.. Chris doesn't think this is very likely given the scarcity of corn in storage.
Brittany Shepherd from the Clinton County Farm Service Agency talked about forms of assistance available from USDA. It's important to note that as I type this, Clinton County is not yet a declared disaster area. If we reach D3 on the US Drought Monitor we will automatically become an Ag Disaster County (I think there's a very good chance we get there tomorrow). We are contiguous to Howard County which makes us eligible for some forms of relief. Clinton County farmers are eligible to apply for emergency loans whaich have an interest rate of 2.25%. You cannot hay or graze CRP acres at this time though this may change soon. However even if CRP is released, certain kinds of ground will not be eligible for haying/grazing and you would need to wait until after August 1.
The key in this is that before you do anything with CRP, contact the Farm Service Agency and make sure it's OK.
Matt Weaver from Crop Insurance Specialists discussed some insurance aspects. There are two key points I want to repeat. First, before doing anything beyond normal farming practices with insured acres, contact your insurance agent. Second, all valid crop insurance claims will be paid. Crop insurance is a federally backed program. This doesn't mean they pay for all losses - those are the responsibbility of the insurance company. However if an insurance company can't make the payments, then the federal government steps in. In 2008 a large insurance company went under and the government made sure payments were made.
Rod Miller from Crop Fertility Specialists talked about conditions he's been seeing and implications for future inputs. Spider mites are becoming a serious issue and it's important for farmers to be scouting their bean fields. In this kind of year, spider mites can devastate a crop. Fungicide applications are less certain. As dry as it is, there really isn't much disease out there. There have been applications made to both corn and soybeans to improve overall crop performance, plant health, photosynthesis, etc. I'll offer my obligatory note that Purdue has not found a consistent enough yield response to recommend this practice.
Setting that aside, right now you have beans that are almost in a holding pattern biologically and corn which has its leaves tightly rolled by noon many days. In each of these cases, the plant will not be absorbing the applications very well, or utilizing it in the plant. In particular, if someone sprays when corn leaves are rolled up, the spray doesn't get onto the surface of the leaf. Rod said you absolutely shouldn't be spraying on corn which is rolling like this so any applications that are made should be done in the morning.
I offered just a couple of notes which I'll repeat here. Purdue Soybean Specialist Shaun Casteel compared a couple of previous drought years and came up with an interesting finding. In 1988 corn yields were down over 40% from trend yields and beans were down about 30% in Indiana. In 1991 corn was down 29% but beans were only down 2%. Shaun looked at the weather for those two years and found it was very similar with one exception. In 1988 early August had temperatures from 100-105 degrees and no rain. In 1991 temperatures were in the lower 90's and there was some water. There is still time for soybeans to respond significantly to some rains. Unlike corn where rain will mainly keep things from getting worse, beans can still improve their yield potential.
While we don't have many livestock producers in Clinton County who feed forage we do have some. In southern Indiana some farmers have started to abandon corn and are mowing it either for silage or hay. There is an issue with nitrate levels, particularly in the lower section of the corn stalks. Before purchasing silage or hay from corn, make sure you have it nitrate tested. Also, keep in mind that when we're talking about silage from a failed corn crop, you have corn with no ears. It will not have the same feed value as corn silage normally would. This is important both from a pricing perspective and in calculating rations. The "book values" for corn silage in rations won't work so again, make sure you have it tested so you know what you're feeding.
I haven't yet seen a field in Clinton County which I think, as of now, won't make some sort of crop, however if we do get to that point and you decide to chop/mow your corn for forage, the same holds true for you as a forage producer; test your corn, both for nitrate levels and for its nutritional value.
Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt discussed economics and I don't think he had any big surprises - as yield projections drop, prices will be rising. He showed a chart demonstrating that in many poor crop years producers more than make up the revenue lost by reduced production through higher prices. I'm looking at the December futures which stands at $7.84 compared with it being just a tick above $5.00 in May. That's already an increase of over 50% and Chris believes that $10 corn and $20 beans are both possible this year - his exact words were, "It's not crazy to talk about these prices." For Clinton County, even now it looks like we'll have some sort of crop so we should be able to capture the price change (if you haven't sold it yet). That's better than a lot of fields in southern Indiana and Illinois.
One of the differences from past short crop years is how tight stocks are. In the past there was often an early, rapid increase in price followed by a leveling off or even a decline shortly afterwards.. Chris doesn't think this is very likely given the scarcity of corn in storage.
Brittany Shepherd from the Clinton County Farm Service Agency talked about forms of assistance available from USDA. It's important to note that as I type this, Clinton County is not yet a declared disaster area. If we reach D3 on the US Drought Monitor we will automatically become an Ag Disaster County (I think there's a very good chance we get there tomorrow). We are contiguous to Howard County which makes us eligible for some forms of relief. Clinton County farmers are eligible to apply for emergency loans whaich have an interest rate of 2.25%. You cannot hay or graze CRP acres at this time though this may change soon. However even if CRP is released, certain kinds of ground will not be eligible for haying/grazing and you would need to wait until after August 1.
The key in this is that before you do anything with CRP, contact the Farm Service Agency and make sure it's OK.
Matt Weaver from Crop Insurance Specialists discussed some insurance aspects. There are two key points I want to repeat. First, before doing anything beyond normal farming practices with insured acres, contact your insurance agent. Second, all valid crop insurance claims will be paid. Crop insurance is a federally backed program. This doesn't mean they pay for all losses - those are the responsibbility of the insurance company. However if an insurance company can't make the payments, then the federal government steps in. In 2008 a large insurance company went under and the government made sure payments were made.
Rod Miller from Crop Fertility Specialists talked about conditions he's been seeing and implications for future inputs. Spider mites are becoming a serious issue and it's important for farmers to be scouting their bean fields. In this kind of year, spider mites can devastate a crop. Fungicide applications are less certain. As dry as it is, there really isn't much disease out there. There have been applications made to both corn and soybeans to improve overall crop performance, plant health, photosynthesis, etc. I'll offer my obligatory note that Purdue has not found a consistent enough yield response to recommend this practice.
Setting that aside, right now you have beans that are almost in a holding pattern biologically and corn which has its leaves tightly rolled by noon many days. In each of these cases, the plant will not be absorbing the applications very well, or utilizing it in the plant. In particular, if someone sprays when corn leaves are rolled up, the spray doesn't get onto the surface of the leaf. Rod said you absolutely shouldn't be spraying on corn which is rolling like this so any applications that are made should be done in the morning.
I offered just a couple of notes which I'll repeat here. Purdue Soybean Specialist Shaun Casteel compared a couple of previous drought years and came up with an interesting finding. In 1988 corn yields were down over 40% from trend yields and beans were down about 30% in Indiana. In 1991 corn was down 29% but beans were only down 2%. Shaun looked at the weather for those two years and found it was very similar with one exception. In 1988 early August had temperatures from 100-105 degrees and no rain. In 1991 temperatures were in the lower 90's and there was some water. There is still time for soybeans to respond significantly to some rains. Unlike corn where rain will mainly keep things from getting worse, beans can still improve their yield potential.
While we don't have many livestock producers in Clinton County who feed forage we do have some. In southern Indiana some farmers have started to abandon corn and are mowing it either for silage or hay. There is an issue with nitrate levels, particularly in the lower section of the corn stalks. Before purchasing silage or hay from corn, make sure you have it nitrate tested. Also, keep in mind that when we're talking about silage from a failed corn crop, you have corn with no ears. It will not have the same feed value as corn silage normally would. This is important both from a pricing perspective and in calculating rations. The "book values" for corn silage in rations won't work so again, make sure you have it tested so you know what you're feeding.
I haven't yet seen a field in Clinton County which I think, as of now, won't make some sort of crop, however if we do get to that point and you decide to chop/mow your corn for forage, the same holds true for you as a forage producer; test your corn, both for nitrate levels and for its nutritional value.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Meeting on Changes to IDEM Confined Feeding Rules
Indiana Farm Bureau, Indiana Ag Commodity groups and Purdue Extension are organizing a series of meetings to update producers on the changes to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's (IDEM) Confined Feeding Rule. The programs will be held on June 19 in Decatur County, June 26 in Wells County and June 28 at the Southern Indiana Purdue Ag Center (SIPAC) in Dubois County.
I will be hosting a live videoconference of the Tuesday, June 26 meeting from 1-4 p.m. at the Clinton County Extension Office, 1111 South Jackson Street in Frankfort. I don't have a lot of details at this time however I'm sure I'll have copies of program materials to hand out so I'd appreciate you letting me know if you're planning to attend. You can call our office at 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or you can e-mail me.
The complete program agenda is listed below:
Welcome – Greg Slipher
I will be hosting a live videoconference of the Tuesday, June 26 meeting from 1-4 p.m. at the Clinton County Extension Office, 1111 South Jackson Street in Frankfort. I don't have a lot of details at this time however I'm sure I'll have copies of program materials to hand out so I'd appreciate you letting me know if you're planning to attend. You can call our office at 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or you can e-mail me.
The complete program agenda is listed below:
CFO and CAFO NPDES Compliance
Education Meetings
Fact sheets
& Comparison document
Rule Development Process – Andy Tauer
·
Timeline
·
Ag
workgroup, member input, submission of comments
·
Negotiated
compromise where possible but some issues unable to change
o
Groundwater
monitoring requirements
o
Phosphorus
soil test limits
o
Restrictions
on application to frozen or snow covered ground
CAFO NPDES Rule Requirements – Josh Trenary
·
Only
actual discharges require an NPDES permit
o
Ongoing
discharges, such as non-contact cooling water from dairies
o
Operations
with a history of accidental discharges may also be required to maintain their
NPDES permit if they can’t show that the cause of the discharge has been
remedied
·
Transition
to CFO
·
General
permits going away
·
Nutrient
Management Plans requirements
o
Public
notice and comment
o
Substantial
changes
·
No
application to frozen or snow covered ground unless allowed under permit
·
Steps
must be taken to prevent contamination to stormwater
·
Digesters,
etc
CFO Rule Requirements – Justin Schneider
·
Alternative
design or compliance approach
·
Manure
application will be based upon both phosphorus and nitrogen limits
o
Applications
to fields over 200 ppm of P is prohibited for most large CAFOs and all newly
constructed operations
o
Existing
CFOs and large CAFOs constructed prior to February 13, 2003 have seven years to
phase-in application restrictions to 200 ppm of P
o
Some
allowances made for nitrogen loss estimates
·
Application
to frozen or snow covered ground is restricted
o
Large
CAFOs may not apply to frozen or snow covered ground
o
Emergency
applications with prior approval allowed for CFOs
o
CFOs
with one-hundred twenty days or less approved storage can seek approval to
apply
·
Ground
water monitoring may be required
·
Storm
water management must be implemented – Josh
Trenary
·
A
professional engineer must certify the construction of all liquid manure
storage structures – Mike Dunn
·
Construction
standards and technical resources – Mike
Dunn
·
How
to use forms – Record keeping – Tamilee
Nennich/Mike Dunn
Lawsuit Related Issues – Justin
Schneider
·
Permit
appeals
·
Nuisance
suits
Outreach prior to decision to
construct or expand – Greg Slipher
Q & A - Presenters
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
August Dates to Save
I have a couple of programs I've scheduled for August so I'll throw these in here as a "save the date" message. More details will follow as we get closer.
On Tuesday, August 14 I'll have a Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Plus and Site Self-Assessment Training program. This will be held at the Clinton County Extension Office, 1111 South Jackson Street in Frankfort from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The first hour will cover PQA Plus, the second hour will be for the site self-assessment training and test. Keep in mind if you know of someone who will be going to college to work in a swine unit or if you have a youth member age 14 or older who markets 10 or more pigs, they will probably need PQA Plus certification.
I've scheduled two programs for Wednesday, August 29 at the Clinton County Fairgrounds. In the morning from 10:30 to Noon, Craig Dobbins from the Purdue Ag Economics Department will be on hand to discuss Indiana Land Values and Cash Rents, including information based on the 2012 Indiana Land Values and Cash Rents Survey results, which should be available by this meeting. From 1-3 p.m. we'll have a Private Applicator Recertification Program (PARP). I don't know the precise topic for this but Fred Whitford from Purdue Pesticide Programs will be the main presenter so I'm sure it will be good.I'm working on finding a lunch sponsor for this day so hopefully we'll have a meal for attendees. EDIT: Just received a call from The Farmers Bank and they will be sponsoring lunch for the day.
On Tuesday, August 14 I'll have a Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Plus and Site Self-Assessment Training program. This will be held at the Clinton County Extension Office, 1111 South Jackson Street in Frankfort from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The first hour will cover PQA Plus, the second hour will be for the site self-assessment training and test. Keep in mind if you know of someone who will be going to college to work in a swine unit or if you have a youth member age 14 or older who markets 10 or more pigs, they will probably need PQA Plus certification.
I've scheduled two programs for Wednesday, August 29 at the Clinton County Fairgrounds. In the morning from 10:30 to Noon, Craig Dobbins from the Purdue Ag Economics Department will be on hand to discuss Indiana Land Values and Cash Rents, including information based on the 2012 Indiana Land Values and Cash Rents Survey results, which should be available by this meeting. From 1-3 p.m. we'll have a Private Applicator Recertification Program (PARP). I don't know the precise topic for this but Fred Whitford from Purdue Pesticide Programs will be the main presenter so I'm sure it will be good.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Soil Health Workshop
The Greater Wabash River RC&D will be sponsoring a Soil Health Workshop on Thursday, March 1. The workshop will be held at the Beck Center at the Purdue Agronomy Center for Research and Education on US 52 in West Lafayette. The two main areas of focus for the day will be on cover crops and drainage, including field tile.
This Workshop is being held immediately following a meeting of the Midwest Cover Crops Council on February 28 and 29. For a detailed agenda and registration information, go to the MWCC web page. A brochure and registration form is on that page. There is also a detailed agenda. You can register for the entire three days or plan on just attending for one. The registration deadline is February 14.
This Workshop is being held immediately following a meeting of the Midwest Cover Crops Council on February 28 and 29. For a detailed agenda and registration information, go to the MWCC web page. A brochure and registration form is on that page. There is also a detailed agenda. You can register for the entire three days or plan on just attending for one. The registration deadline is February 14.
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