Hat Chat

Keynote speakers were Dr. Phil Nelson and Dr. Gebisa Ejeta, the 2007 and 2009 winners of the World Food Prize respectively.

Winter storm left many empty seats at Fish fry.

For the second consecutive year Indiana raised yellow perch was served along with Indiana produced pork. The fish were raised on Indians soybean meal at Bell Aquaculture in Albany, IN, and was donated to the event by the Indiana Soybean Alliance. Indiana Packers Corporation of Logansport provided the pork.

10 alumni received Certificates of Distinction.

Indiana

The grain futures market showed some unusual strength in the face of massive outside pressure yesterday. Corn, soybean and wheat futures prices at the Chicago Board of Trade all went higher even though crude oil, the stock market and metals markets all dropped significantly, and the U.S. dollar was much higher.

Jim Bower of Bower Trading in Lafayette said it made for a very unique day. He told HAT, “Over all these years of trading I’ve been taught and educated by the market itself that when you see a market that is very divergent away from the other core markets, it tells me the market has come down to a level where at least it wants to hesitate. It wants to make sure it’s doing the right thing trying to press the market lower. This market Thursday did flash divergence and that’s very unusual in the way these markets have been trading since the first of the year.”

Weakness in the market since the USDA crop production report last month is attributable to a number of factors according to Bower. One factor is the dollar continuing to strengthen, and another is the South American crop. “So far anyway it has proven to be quite a good yielding year for both the Brazilian and Argentine producer,” Bower said.

As 2010 unfolds Bower expects to see plenty of volatility in the market. And what producer strategy is working the very best right now? Bower offers his thoughts.

Listen here:

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The cattle industry’s annual convention is at the end of January in San Antonio, Texas, and that’s when Steve Foglesong from Astoria in west central Illinois will assume the presidency of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Recently Hoosier Ag Today had a chance to cover a number of topics with Steve.

It will be an important year for the association as it works on key issues facing farmers and ranchers. One issue is the death tax. Foglesong says they would like to see meaningful reform in that area. The death tax, or estate tax, expired on January 1st, but it’s just a one-year layoff. It is scheduled to return in 2011 at a 55% rate, and the exemption reduced to $1 million. That compares to the 2009 rate of 45% and exemptions of $3.5 million for an individual and $7 million for a couple.

NCBA is also concerned about possible regulatory moves, including EPA changing current dust standards. That could significantly impact farmers and even a former TV superhero.

Agriculture continues to look for ways to convey positive messages to consumers. Foglesong told HAT that will always be a top issue, but it’s even more challenging because of the media.

Hear what Foglesong has to say:

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2010 will be the “Year of the Pigs” at the Indiana State Fair. Fair spokesman Andy Klotz told HAT they are partnering with Indiana Pork Producers to promote pigs and pork. Klotz said one of the reasons Pork was chosen was because of the desperate economic conditions many Hoosier pork producers find themselves in, “We want to do what we can to help turn this economic crises around.” “Indiana’s pork farmers recognize this unique opportunity to directly connect with consumers at the State Fair, and are excited about sharing with them the truly impressive story of producing pork in our state,” Mike Platt, executive director for the Indiana Pork Producers, said. “It’s a story of innovation, ingenuity, strong family values, commitment to quality, and dedication in the service of our fellow Hoosiers.”

Over the past 3 years, the fair has featured trees, tomatoes, and corn, but this August pigs will take center stage at the fair. Klotz says they are busy coming up with all kinds of creative ideas to promote pigs and pork, “We will have the Racing Pigs back, which were a big hit last year; and that is just the beginning of the many informational and educational programs we plan to have.”

Of course the special featured food at the fair will be built around pork, “There are all kinds of new food items that can be created; this may be our best year ever for the Signature Food Contest.”

The purpose of the program is to educate Hoosier consumers about some of Indiana’s major farm products. The Year of the Pig will focus on promoting pigs and pork. “This is very exciting. This will put pork in Indiana into the limelight and show many people that our industry plays a large economic role in Indiana,” said Mark York. He and his wife, Chris, run Riverbend Farms in Roann, IN, where they produce about 25,000 hogs each year.

The promotion will be a twofold event: promoting pigs and pork. Klotz said there will be plenty of live pigs and cooked pork around the fairground. The Gazebo, at the center of the fairgrounds, will reflect the theme as well, perhaps as giant Piggy bank reflecting the economic impact the pork industry has on the state of Indiana. Indiana pork producers contribute more than $4 billion annually to the state’s economy. The 2010 State Fair kicks off on Aug 6.

Listen to the complete interview with Andy Klotz

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For the farmer who likes to make a new year’s resolution to save money on electricity use around the operation, there may be help finding out if savings are possible, and it won’t cost anything to check into it. Dairy farms, hog farms, sod farms, and hay and grain operations are among those that have found cost savings through an energy audit by Discovery Energy.

Kelly Curtis is their Director of Operations. He explained, “The state of Indiana will let us go back 36 months and we will audit the utility bills for the company. We look for a variety of different overcharges and mistakes the utility companies are making. When we find those mistakes we go back to the utility companies and sometimes the state of Indiana to get those fixed and implement the changes. Sometimes we are able to go back in time and obtain a refund for the client. Sometimes they won’t let us do that, depending on the regulation, and they are just errors that we can fix to lower the bill going forward.”

Learn more about why utility company charges are often incorrect by listening to the full interview with Curtis. And go to the HAT website story for contact information for the Discovery Energy Indiana representative.

Listen here:

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Indiana Master Farmer honorees in 2009 included Rodney Hager, Chris Mann, R.D. Wolheter, and honorary winner from Purdue, Bruce McKenzie. Maurice Robeson of Camden is also on the list this year. HAT interviewed Robeson at the luncheon earlier this year to find out more about the Carroll County winner.

Robeson started farming with his father in 1960 and grows corn, soybeans, and wheat. They raised hogs up until 1997.

Robeson has some very definite advice for the future generation of farmers: always know your financial position every single week. “When I had hogs I knew exactly how many hogs I had every week, the value of the hogs, and I continually knew my financial position. In agriculture you can get under water so fast that in six months you can lose everything you had if you don’t realize what’s going on. Your cost of production is extremely important because our margins are so small. When I was involved in eggs, if we made a cent a dozen we were making good money, so margins can really be tight. So I think that’s one area that you really need to watch.”

Hear the entire HAT interview:

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The mold problem in corn is getting worse. Producers, elevator operators, and livestock feeders are all scrambling to try to find a solution to the problem. Mold is showing up in record amounts in the corn crop from parts of Indiana. Caused by the wet growing conditions, the extent of the problem is still not well known. Purdue Extension Ag Economist Dr. Chris Hurt says elevator operators are worried whether they have mold in their stored grain and how much, “The problem is confined mainly to east central and northeast Indiana, but many elevator operators I have talked with are very worried because they did not start testing for mold until they already had a lot of corn in storage.” Hurt told HAT corn stored on farm is also at risk, “There was not enough monitoring, so a lot of moldy corn got co-mingled with good corn.”

Speaking at the Indiana/Illinois Farm Equipment Show, Hurt said the mold problem is becoming a market factor, “We are seeing very weak basis levels in the affected area.” This is because farmers and elevator operators are not sure what corn they have is moldy, and processors and livestock feeders are docking some shipments as much as a dollar a bushel.

A problem being faced by some producers is having moldy corn under contract. Hurt said there are a lot of people with grain under contract for delivery in January, “What happens when you have a contract for 10,000 bushels of corn, you haul it to the elevator and they reject your load because the mold content is too high?” Another problem is corn that is in the government loan program that is found to have higher than acceptable mold contamination.

Hurt said, right now, there remain more questions than answers. One of the big questions is: what can be done with this contaminated corn? Dr. Hurt was the featured speaker at the HAT seminar that occurred Wednesday at the farm show in Indianapolis. A standing room only crowd attended the presentation which also covered an economic and market outlook for 2010.

Listen to Dr. Hurt discuss the corn mold problem and look ahead to market conditions in 2010

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A Hoosier farmer has been elected First Vice President of the American Soybean Association. Alan Kemper of Lafayette effectively becomes the president-elect of the group representing America’s soybean growers. “I was pleased and yet humbled to have the directors from around the nation recognize you as leadership,” Kemper said. “It’s really a thrill to be able to represent the soybean farmers across the country.”

A past president of the Indiana Soybean Alliance, Kemper attended Purdue University, and is a graduate of Harvard’s Senior Management Agribusiness Course, and a Texas A&M Executive Management Agriculture Course. He is the recipient of the Indiana Prairie Farmer Master Farmer award, the Indiana and U.S. Jaycees Outstanding Young Farmer of America. He also served as President of the National Corn Growers Association (1989-1990), and as Delegate/Director for the U.S. Grains Council (2001-present).

Kemper told HAT the ASA agenda will be full in the coming year and he outlined three top priorities. Listen to the full interview here:

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What to get “the farmer” for Christmas is an annual questions asked by wives, children and others with farmers on the list. Most chainsaws are too big to fit in a stocking, artificial insemination equipment does not go over well when opened at family gatherings, and somehow a new pair of work gloves just seems a bit ordinary. Let me suggest a new Smartphone. More than just a cell phones, these devises are information and communication workhorses. What is more they are portable and will work just about everywhere. For someone who is on the go yet needs to stay in touch, more and more farmers are using Smartphone more and more often.

A recent research study conducted by the National Association of Farm Broadcasters revealed that farmers rely on wireless devices for e-mail, internet, text messages and even phone calls. More and more farm information sources are now available on wireless devices. For example Hoosier Ag Today Mobile provides, markets, news, and weather free on any internet capable wireless device. But what phone to get.

For the past several months I have been testing several models with agricultural applications in mind. The first decision is what carrier the farmer has or should have. I regularly travel across Indiana and in my opinion Verizon has the best coverage. Even in very remote and rural areas of the Hoosier state I have had good coverage with Verizon. At Hoosier Ag Today we use Verizon for many of remote broadcasts. Consumer Reports just rated Verizon the best in service and quality if a bit pricey.

The newest phone in the Verizon line up is the Droid. A collaboration of Verizon, Google and Motorola, this phone is being seen as the first serious challenge to the runaway iPhone success. In many ways the Droid offers the look, feel, and functionality of the iPhone but is based on a totally new operating system, the Android system developed by Google. This is likely to be the future of cell phones. It offers a number of advantages’ over the current industry standard Windows Mobile. Why this is important to us regular folks is that future applications are going to use this system.

The droid has a very larage, very clear, and very bright screen. Text is very readable and the touch screen is very responsive and smooth to operate. The speed of the Droid is impressive. Programs, and applications launch very quickly.

The real fun begins when you start looking at the applications for the Droid. There are something like 10,000 “aps” with more coming every day. They range from the extremely useful to the extremely stupid. Many are free while others have very small price tags. An “aps” are simply small programs that do a specific task. They can find and automatically provide you with specific information you want or keep you informed on certain items or conditions. The phone is tied with with the Google database, the largest sum of human knowledge on the planet. Thus with a simple voice command you can find out just about anything.

There are under development special applications for agricultural use. With the droid you may soon be able to find the location of the nearest part you need, instantly alert you to a new market high, or tell you where your hired help has been for the last 3 hours. Hoosier Ag Today may soon have an app that delivers the news you want directly to your Droid. The Driud also has audio and video capability, works well with social media like Twiter and Facebook and has a removable and up gradable storage chip for data and music. The phone also has a metal case that allows it to handle life in a truck or combine cab.

The droid does have some drawback including a lackluster battery. Best buy a car charger with the phone. Also some reviews have panned the 5 mega pixel camera that comes standard. The slide out qwerty keyboard adds real functionality to the phone but the keyboard is a bit small and cramped and not the easiest to use.

If you are not ready to take a leap to a new system and want to stay with a Windows based phone, I have also worked with the HTC Touch Pro 2 and found it to be a very good phone. The Storm 2, also from Verizon is a good choice if you like the Blackberry system and are comfortable with an all touch phone.

No matter what phone or carrier you chose, a Smartphone is a gift the farmer will enjoy and use all year long.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced six Indiana watersheds will be part of a new initiative to improve water quality and the overall health of the Mississippi River Basin. The Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) covering 12 states will provide approximately $320 million in USDA financial assistance over the next four years. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) manages the Initiative.

The watersheds that include land in Indiana are the highest priority Indiana watersheds for reducing nutrient loading. They are Vermillion (Upper Mississippi River sub-basin), Eel, Upper East Fork White, Wildcat, Upper Wabash, and Upper Great Miami. The 41 watersheds in 12 states exceed 42 million acres. Indiana’s six watersheds total 2,758,919 acres.

Indiana State Conservationist Jane Hardisty said the initiative stems from Vilsack’s concerns over hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, in the Gulf of Mexico. “And so quite a few states have worked together the past year to put together this initiative,” Hardisty told HAT.

Next is the selection process of smaller watershed projects within those six Indiana watershed areas.

In the Hoosier Ag Today interview Hardisty talks more about where those watersheds are located and the selection process:

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