“The Bear is Dead”
One of the hottest and driest Augusts on record has taken its toll on Midwestern corn yields, and the market is reacting accordingly. On Friday, December new crop corn finished above 4.60 a bushel which may just be the beginning of a very bullish market, says Bob Utterback with Utterback marketing in New Richmond, IN. Utterback, known for his bearish outlook on the markets, told HAT that “The bear has gone into his cave for a long winter’s nap.” He predicts the hot dry weather will result in corn yields lower than the USDA forecast in its August crop report, “I think the September report will show a trend and the October report will confirm that yields are going to be reduced.” He said this will reduce carryover to close to 1.1 billion bushels and “will put pressure on the corn market to move to the $5 arena.”
He also sees soybeans remaining strong as yields also decline due to the August weather, “I think you have to assume the bean yield has to come down.” But he says the market is very nervous about what that yield number will be.
He warns, however, this will be a very dangerous time, “The funds are long, the public is long, and the farmer is bullish and will likely store most of this year’s harvest waiting for the price to go up.” He cautions producers about getting too bullish. Utterback says we could be setting up the kind of situation that occurred in 2008 when high corn prices spurred a dramatic rise in input costs and cash rents. He worried that, by 2011 and 2012, production costs and interest rates will rise as inflation returns to the economy.
But, for the next few months, he sees some very good profit opportunities for growers, “Don’t get too bullish and kill the goose the laid the golden egg.”
Listen to the complete interview with Bob Utterback
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The Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa has been hit with some heavy rains, but the show continues today and good crowds have turned out the first two days. Among the news coming from the show is a Roundup price cut announced by Monsanto. Jason Hoag is a DEKALB corn marketing manager. He told HAT, “When we look at the necessity to have a complete herbicide system, we’ve listened to farmer customers who want to make sure they’ve got the residual option, but they also want to make sure they’re in a place where they feel good about what they’re paying for Roundup. If you look at PowerMAX and WeatherMAX in terms of the performance they’ll deliver vs. some of the generic products in the marketplace, superior control, superior crop safety and some additional overall benefits, and then we wanted to complement that with providing a good total herbicide system for them and their Roundup Ready crops.”
many that are stressed from adversity and weather extremes. The senior agronomist at Beck’s Hybrids says the stresses will amount to yields this year falling short of top end performance.
Paul Brennan is the Executive Vice President of the Indiana State Poultry Association. He told HAT, “There have been eggs shipped from these concerned flocks in Iowa to Indiana, very few, and as I understand it they’ve all been withdrawn. So people should feel confident that the eggs in Indiana are safe. None of the eggs in question came from Indiana producers, either in state or out of state.”
agriculture at the state fair many years ago when the ag population was higher. But the Indiana Farm Bureau president says now the fair is even more important for farmers. “Today when consumers are really disconnected from modern day agriculture, they don’t understand us. They don’t understand what it takes to feed this growing world population that we have, that farmers really, truly care about their farms, about their soil, about their water, about the air, and about how we take care of our animals. We truly are champions of animal care, and the state fair is a great place to showcase that to our urban friends and neighbors.”
Director at Indiana Pork says the theme has been a tremendous draw for the fair. “We’re getting comments from people all over the state that they’ve gotten a lot of good feedback locally about Year of Pigs,” Platt told HAT. “They’re coming here to see all the fun activities and different interactive exhibits, and absolutely to eat the good food. Garbage Burgers are flying off the shelf. We’re delighted with that as a menu item and it’s kind of fun to have that as the signature dish of the year.”
The chance to be the signature commodity of the Indiana State Fair, and benefit from all the great PR, was a very timely opportunity for the state’s pork producers. Mark York of Wabash County is the group’s president.
On Farmers Day Wednesday at the Indiana State Fair Lt. Governor Becky Skillman presented the 2010 AgriVision Award to JoAnn Brouillette of Demeter LP in Fowler. The award is presented to a Hoosier demonstrating exemplary leadership to maximize the potential of Indiana Agriculture.
“I’m just so happy with this,” Hegel told HAT. “I thought as I was accepting it I was accepting it for all the many, many farm women in our state who are advocates for agriculture every day.”
Beaman is on the executive committee of the National Council forAgriculture Research, Extension and Teaching, known as CARET. That position has made her quite familiar with Washington DC.
Indiana has joined the billion bushel corn production club. For the first time in history, the Hoosier State is set to harvest over 1 billion bushels of corn. In the August crop report which was released Thursday by USDA, Indiana corn production was pegged at 1.03BB, an 11% jump from 2009. This was made possible by a 5 bushel per acre yield increase to 171 bpa. Purdue Ag Economist Dr. Chris Hurt said this is good news for agriculture and good news for Indiana farmers, “When you are a producer, you want to produce; and, if you like to eat and drive your car, this is also good news.” Corn production nationally was put at 13.4BB, a 2% increase over last year. Other major corn producing states including IL, OH and NE also set new yield records. “We’re going to have a lot of corn out there,” said Greg Preston, director of the National Agricultural Statistics Service office in Indiana. 
For the 5th consecutive year, Indiana dairy farmers have brought cheese artist Sarah Kauffmann to the State Fair to create a masterpiece in cheese. Kauffmann, who has been sculpting cheese since 1995, said this year’s sculpture was a challenging one, “It took me 89 hours and two all nighters. but it is finally finished.” She told HAT this is a happy sculpture with everyone smiling. Depicted in the 1500 pounds of cheese is a cow and a pig playing football. On the sidelines are cheerleaders, spectators, and the Indianapolis Colts’ mascot. 
Deb Osza, with Milk Promotion Services of Indiana, says the sculpture is a subtle way to educate consumers about dairy products and dairy farmers, “The medium of cheese represents the hard work of Indiana dairy farm families who provide the milk to make cheese every single day.”
Located in the Our Land Pavilion, the sculpture will remain on display until the end of the Fair and then it will be processed into pet foods.