Durbin Chides OMB Over RFS Numbers

BLOOMINGTON – Illinois Corn extended a figurative “hat tip” to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) for speaking up for the state’s corn farmers in his recent letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Durbin chided the OMB for their handling of the Renewable Fuel Standard’s (RFS) recommended volume obligations (RVOs) for ethanol.

“The Administration’s proposed change to the (RFS) seriously missed the mark. As written, it would not only undermine our nation’s progress toward domestic energy independence, it would also threaten the thousands of jobs supported by our biofuels industry– including 5,400 in Illinois,” Durbin stated in the letter, the entire text of which can be accessed through www.ilcorn.org.

Illinois Corn maintains that markets for corn may be hard to find if USDA’s forecast of record crop yields holds true. Reinstating the Congessionally-derived RVO numbers in the RFS will greatly enhance market opportunities for corn, according to Ill. Corn. (Ill. Corn Daily Update)

Harvests Delayed; Big Yields Still Expected

PEORIA – With harvest still anywhere from a few days to a few weeks away based on your operation’s location, talk has turned to the possible adverse effects of an elongated, late-season period of chilly temperatures and wet conditions that have prevailed over parts of the state. Peoria County Farm Bureau Manager Patrick Kirchhofer said that area farmers’ harvests will likely have to wait at least a couple of more weeks due to rains and cool weather.

“Maturity of the the crops has been on a slow pace, (though) corn yields are expected to be at record or near-record levels,” Kirchhofer predicted. “There are some fields that have areas where soil saturation earlier in the year will limit the corn plants’ full yield potential.”

Across the Illinois River from Kirchhofer in eastern Marshall County, Bob Fecht farms several properties in the Toluca area. Fecht said his corn crop is looking well overall, but is not without issues. “Some of the corn had some tip-back, but with the rain we’ve received, kernels have been filling in nicely. We’ve recently had some disease starting in corn plants. Some root tippage from late-June wind and rains now shows stalk rot. Standability has been an issue, and yields will be varied depending on hybrids used and location,” said Fecht, who serves as president of the Marshall-Putnam County Farm Bureau.

“The soybean harvest will be excellent with record or near-record yields,” Kirchhofer said. “With that said, SDS (sudden death syndrome) has surfaced in some soybean fields in the past couple of weeks which will nip the full yield potential of infected fields.”

Is Ownership of Crops Cheapest Storage Option?

URBANA – With the anticipation of record crop yields comes low crop prices received by farmers. Resultingly, many farmers are indicating they will elect to own some of their production after harvest. A recent article by University of Illinois agricultural economists Darrel Good and Scott Irwin explored the expected cost of retaining ownership in various forms. The pair found that the cost of owning corn and soybeans beyond harvest in east-central Illinois will not be inexpensive regardless of the form taken.

“The results of the analysis indicate that the lowest cost will be for on-farm storage in both the short-term and longer term for corn and for soybeans in the short-term. These results are not surprising,” Good and Irwin wrote in a summary of their analysis. “However, for longer-term ownership of soybeans, replacing cash sales at harvest with futures ownership appears to be the lowest cost of ownership. This result is likely to be surprising to many producers.

“While ownership ‘on paper’ in the futures markets is widely considered to be a highly speculative strategy, if a producer has already decided to own soybeans beyond the end of 2014 it is actually a reasonable alternative. Note that our results cannot be generalized to all areas and all farms, but the analysis does provide a framework for identifying the lowest cost of ownership.”

The full study by Good and Irwin can be found at www.farmdocdaily.illinois.edu.

Farney Recognized for WISHH Contributions

BLOOMINGTON – Morton farmer Dan Farney was recognized by American Soybean Association (ASA) President Ray Gaesser for his service with the ASA’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH), including his recent stint on the WISHH Program Committee. In addition, Gasser announced that three Illinois Soybean Association farmer-directors– Gary Berg of St. Elmo, Daryl Cates of Columbia and Jeff Lynn of Oakford– are among 16 soybean farmers from 11 states elected to leadership roles with WISHH.

“We thank these visionary soybean growers who lead WISHH to trailblaze new global markets for U.S. soy protein,” Gaesser said in a prepared statement. “Russia’s recent import sanctions are yet another reminder that U.S. farmers need a diverse customer base. WISHH has succeeded in cultivating U.S. soy trade in developing countries in Africa, Central America and other areas where the economies are growing faster than the developed world.”

WISHH, a trade development organization founded by U.S. soybean farmers in 2000, has worked in 24 countries to develop long-term markets for U.S. soybeans. The WISHH program is managed from the ASA’s world headquarters in St. Louis. For more information, visit www.wishh.org. (ISA news release)

Harvest Photos Sought For MultiMedia Posting

BLOOMINGTON – Illinois Corn’s Tricia Braid points out that there is a lot going on in state and national politics that is related to the upcoming corn harvest, such as the Renewable Fuel Standard controversy over EPA’s recommended ethanol volume level for 2014. To make the point that Illinois corn farmers are doing their part in raising a record crop, she’s asking producers to submit their best harvest-related photos and updates.

Braid said those familiar with hashtags can use the #ILharvest14 tag. You may also email your photos and updates to tbraid@ilcorn.org, post your photos to the Ill. Corn Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ILCorn), tweet using the @ilcorn twitter handle and #ILharvest14 hasthag, tag Ill. Corn on Instagram with the @ilcorn username, or text your photos and harvest update to Braid at (300 830-3393.

I suppose you could just run them out to the Ill. Corn office and give them to her as well, though that option isn’t mentioned in their media update:)

Illinois Farm Fact:

“With 14 plants in Illinois, the ethanol industry supports more than 5,400 jobs and payroll exceeding $250 million annually.” (U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin)

(Tim Alexander is a freelance reporter who writes agriculture, news and feature articles for the News Bulletin, Farm World and many other publications.)