Winter Wheat Planting Begins- Kansas Reports 1% Planted in This Week’s Crop Progress

Bouts of extreme heat in much of the Corn Belt are starting to have a bigger influence on crop condition ratings, USDA-NASS stated in its weekly Crop Progress report. The percentage of corn and soybean crops rated good to excellent dropped 3 points for corn and 5 points for soybeans in Tuesday’s report, which covered blistering hot days before the Labor Day holiday.

The US Cotton crop also headed further south- off 2 points versus a week ago at 31% good to excellent.

For the U.S, winter wheat planted reached 1 percent, down 2 percentage points from the previous year and the average. Here in the southern plains- Kansas has the only planted number at one percent.

OKLAHOMA:



Corn mature reached 25 percent, down 1 point from the previous year. Corn harvested for grain reached 15 percent. Corn conditions rated 75 percent good to excellent, 17 percent fair and 8 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 69 percent good to excellent, 22 percent fair and 9 percent poor to very poor.

Soybeans setting pods reached 67 percent, up 5 points from the previous year and up 4 points from normal. Soybeans dropping leaves reached 5 percent, up 1 point from the previous year and normal. Soybean conditions rated 57 percent good to excellent, 33 percent fair and 10 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 54 percent good to excellent, 39 percent fair and 7 percent poor to very poor.

Cotton bolls opening reached 16 percent, unchanged from the previous year but down 3 points from normal. Cotton conditions rated 11 percent good to excellent, 10 percent fair and 79 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 14 percent good to excellent, 11 percent fair and 75 percent poor to very poor.

Pasture and range conditions rated 33 percent good to excellent, 33 percent fair and 34 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 45 percent good to excellent, 30 percent fair and 25 percent poor to very poor.



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At Oklahoma Ag Mediation, we have been helping people in agriculture resolve conflicts since 1987. We know firsthand about working together to resolve conflicts, so you don’t have to go through the court systems. Let our professional mediators help you. Mediation is allowed for lease issues, farmer/neighbor disputes, family farm transitions, and more. These services are available at no cost for Oklahoma farmers and ranchers in all 77 counties. For more information, you can go to ok.gov/mediation, or give us a call at 800 248 5465.



Terrain’s Don Close Sees Great Potential in Cattle Contracts Library Pilot Project

In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am talking with Terrain’s Chief Research and Analytics Officer, Don Close. Among other things, Close has previously worked as a senior animal protein analyst at Rabobank, and as a market director for the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.

Terrain is an exclusive offering of American Ag Credit, Farm Credit Services of America, and Frontier Farm Credit. Close and I talk about one of the projects Terrain has been working on involving looking into the Cattle Contracts Library Pilot Project.

“We have tracked a lot of data, and we have stacked a lot of data between the existing Mandatory Price Reporting reports and the premium and discounts schedule that is under the contract library,” Close said. “Bottom line, what we have found is with a few exceptions, but most of those premium and discount characteristics track very well with the actual market data that is reported under mandatory price reporting with the premiums and discounts that are recorded under the contract library that is only looking at the contracts. It is not looking at actual cattle traded.”

Looking into that data, Close said it has been found that producers can take what they are being offered for a contract by characteristic and match it with the LMR premium discount/contract library discount, and between the three, they can be in the loop before they sign.

Hylio Precision Crop Spraying Drones Increase Efficiency for Ag Producers

Associate Farm Editor, Reagan Calk, had the chance to talk with the CEO and Co-Founder at Hylio, Arthur Erickson, about how precision crop spraying drones can help increase sustainability and tackle labor challenges.

While the ongoing worker shortage depends on location, Erickson said a common trend seen in the agriculture industry is that the younger generation is not showing interest in working in the fields.

“It is hard work; the pay isn’t competitive in a lot of cases versus tech jobs in the city, or admin or sales jobs in the city,” Erickson said. “You see a lot of young people who are not being incentivized for a number of reasons to go out and work in the fields.”

With fewer people willing to work out in the field, Erickson said farmers are left with a lot of crops to treat and harvest, and not enough hands to do so.

“Where the drones come in is they are a force multiplier,” Erickson said. “The drones still need human operators to utilize, except the fact is that you could have one human controlling four or five or six drones.”

CME Purdue Ag Economy Barometer Shows Significant Drop in Producer Sentiment

Producer sentiment was notably lower in August, as the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer index dipped 8 points to a reading of 115. This month’s decline was fueled by producers’ weaker perception of current conditions both on their farms and in U.S. agriculture. The Current Conditions Index fell 13 points to a reading of 108. The Future Expectations Index also declined, down 5 points in August to a reading of 119. This month’s Ag Economy Barometer survey was conducted from August 14-18, 2023.

“Rising interest rates and concerns about high input prices continue to put downward pressure on producer sentiment,” said James Mintert, the barometer’s principal investigator and director of Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture. “This month over half (60%) of the producers we surveyed said they expect interest rates to rise in the upcoming year.”



When asked about their top concerns for their farming operations in the next 12 months, producers continue to point to higher input prices (34% of respondents) and rising interest rates (24% of respondents). Even though crop prices weakened significantly this summer, only one in five producers (20% of respondents) chose declining commodity prices as one of their top concerns.

In an average year, buyers in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan import 20% of the U.S. wheat crop. It is an impressive statistic that speakers referenced more than a few times during the recent U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) North Asia Marketing Conference. 

The two-day gathering that drew wheat buyers from all three countries to Bali, Indonesia, served as an example of USW’s ability to showcase U.S. wheat quality and key components of the industry’s efficient and effective supply chain efficiently. Among the farmer leaders who welcomed the buyers was the chairman of US Wheat- Michael Peters of Okarche, Oklahoma.

Including, of course, the people who grow U.S. wheat. 

“As a wheat farmer and a new wheat commissioner, this is my first trip overseas, and it didn’t take long to see the bonds U.S. wheat has built in these three markets,” said David Brewer, an Oregon wheat farmer who recently joined the Oregon Wheat Commission.  

Speakers Covered All Bases:

Conference participants also included USW staff from all three countries, USDA officials, and state wheat commission staff. The speakers selected by USW shared updates on crop production, crop quality outlooks, new technologies, financial forecasts, transportation issues and insights into the global wheat market. 

Cruz and Boozman Tour Texas, Told to Return Profitability to Agriculture

“The world is totally different now than it was two years ago,” Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) said, addressing the group at a round table for him and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Aug. 30, 2023. “We can no longer operate on prices that were set in 2012. It’s not just fertilizer and fuel that has gone up. It’s everything.”

Roughly 22 commodity and agriculture industry organizations were represented at the Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. John Boozman Roundtable held at the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock. The Senators listened as industry representatives discussed challenges experienced in their segments. All have been hurt by production costs stemming from higher interest rates and record inflation.

That afternoon, following the roundtable, Sen. Cruz visited the USDA-AMS Lubbock Cotton Classification Complex, the most advanced cotton classification facility in the world. Processing up to 50,000 samples per day, Lubbock supervisor Danny Martinez, showed Cruz the automated climate control laboratory and explained classing process and procedures.

Cruz and his team wrapped up the afternoon by traveling to Brandon Patschke’s farm to learn more about cotton farming operations.

Speakers Confirmed for U.S. Grains Council’s Global Ethanol Summit in October

The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) has confirmed Bruce Rastetter and Jeff Broin as keynote speakers for Global Ethanol Summit (GES), held Oct. 16-18 in Reston, VA. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has also been invited to give opening remarks.

GES seeks to elevate bioethanol’s international visibility and ongoing successful initiatives as a viable decarbonization solution within the transportation sector. More than 450 ministerial-level officials and industry leaders, ethanol producers and refiners from more than 40 countries have been invited to attend with the goal of engaging a diverse group of international ethanol leaders about the benefits of expanding global use.

Rastetter is the founder and Executive Chairman of Summit Agricultural Group, a leading agribusiness and renewable energy firm with operations in North and South America. Rastetter’s hands-on experience in global agricultural and renewable energy sectors, matched with his strong focus on strategic business development, has been key to building successful companies and advising government leaders on policy matters.

Broin is the founder and CEO of POET, the world’s largest biofuel producer, and founding chairman of Growth Energy. For more than 35 years, Broin has worked to advance the role of renewable biofuels and bioproducts in addressing national and global issues surrounding agriculture, human health and climate change.