News Update
May 31, 2011

Auxiliary Heifer Auction to Benefit Youth

The American Angus Auxiliary will be auctioning off a heifer at the All-American Angus Breeders' Futurity June 19 in Louisville, Ky. Proceeds from the heifer will benefit the Auxiliary's youth scholarship fund.

The heifer, O'Neill's Eraline 259 (reg. no. 16717542), is donated by Jim and Ardyce O'Neill of O'Neill Angus Farm, Logan, Iowa. She is sired by SAV Final Answer 0035. The O'Neill family is donating the heifer in memory of their daughter, Debra Ellen O'Neill, a former Auxiliary scholarship recipient and showman who passed away in 2003.

For more information about the heifer, contact O'Neill Angus Farm at 712-644-2062 or at onlangus@longlines.com, or click here to watch a video featuring O'Neill's Eraline 259.

First Lady and Ag Secretary Vilsack to Launch New Food Icon

This Thursday, June 2, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will unveil a new food icon that will serve as a reminder to help consumers make healthier food choices.

The 2010 White House Child Obesity Task Force called for simple, actionable advice to equip consumers with information to help them make healthy food choices. As a result, USDA will be introducing the new food icon to replace the MyPyramid image as the government's primary food group symbol. It will be an easy-to-understand visual cue to help consumers adopt healthy eating habits consistent with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. MyPyramid will remain available to interested health professionals and nutrition educators in a special section of the new website.

The new food icon will be part of a comprehensive nutrition communication initiative that provides consumers with easy-to-understand recommendations, a new website with expanded information, and other tools and resources.

— Release by USDA.

'Home Grown' Initiative Raises More Than $100,000 for FFA Chapters

After successfully raising more than $100,000 in the first year of a new grassroots campaign that provided funds to local FFA chapters throughout the country, the nation's leading fence manufacturer has announced its decision to make this campaign an annual event.

Early last year, Peoria, Ill.-based Keystone Steel and Wire Co., maker of Red Brand fence, launched its "Home Grown" initiative, a program to benefit FFA through its Red Brand agricultural fencing sales division. For every roll of Red Brand agricultural fencing purchased by a participating retailer, $1 is donated to a designated local FFA chapter or chapters of their choice.

In the first year, more than $100,000 was donated by Red Brand and distributed by dealers to 704 FFA chapters. On average, local FFA chapters received $400. An FFA chapter in Platte, S.D., was awarded more than $4,000.

"Red Brand's financial support of FFA is critically important to growing and developing stronger FFA experiences for students at the local level of our organization," said National FFA Foundation Executive Director Rob Cooper. "More than 500 Red Brand retailers are participating in this initiative. The initial year of Home Grown was certainly a success, and we thank Red Brand for their continued commitment of FFA in 2011."

The 2011 Home Grown program is currently under way. By stocking Red Brand agricultural fence products and supporting FFA with a $750 donation, gold-level Red Brand retailers are eligible to offer rebates of up to $200 per household on product purchases; gold-level retailers also receive an array of no-cost marketing tools they can utilize to spread the word about how the Home Grown initiative benefits FFA. Blue-level retailers participating in the program receive a host of no-cost marketing materials to promote Home Grown.

"Red Brand is continuing the tradition of excellence that our partnership with FFA has built over the past 64 years," said Doug Wright, vice president of sales and marketing at Keystone Steel & Wire. "Home Grown presents an opportunity to be involved at the local level and connect the community with FFA in a meaningful and lasting way."

— Release by National FFA Organization.

NCBA Takes Beef With EPA to Social Media

It is no secret that the nation's oldest and largest organization representing the cattle industry has been on a quest to curtail the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) slew of regulations that many refer to as burdensome, costly and scientifically unfounded. In order to elevate the importance of protecting farmers and ranchers from unnecessary regulation, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) is turning to social media. The video, themed "Over Regulation All Across the Nation," was launched today on NCBA's You Tube channel featuring EPA's potential regulation of coarse particulate matter, more commonly called dust.

NCBA Chief Environmental Counsel Tamara Thies said the EPA's "regulatory rampage" is getting a lot of attention, but not enough.

"We need people to recognize what EPA is doing and work to stop this agency that is out of control," said Thies. "Farmers and ranchers could go out of business if EPA continues regulating them out of options. This is a food security issue. Depopulating rural America is not good for anyone — including our struggling economy and consumers around the world who depend on U.S. farmers and ranchers for safe, nutritious and affordable food."

This issue has encouraged members of Congress to introduce legislation to prevent EPA from moving forward with regulating dust in rural America. U.S. Representative Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) introduced, with bipartisan support, the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011 (H.R. 1633) that would block dust regulation by EPA in rural areas where state dust laws are in effect. Thies encourages individuals to contact their respective members of Congress and ask them to stand firm for family farmers and ranchers by supporting this legislation. NCBA Director of Communications Mike Deering said social media is an effective and efficient way to take an issue to the next level.

"Transforming a very important issue into a fun, creative visual that entertains viewers while educating them about a particular subject matter can be done easily using YouTube and other social media tools. Social media allows you to reach a whole lot of people who are likely not familiar with the war EPA has declared on farm and ranch families throughout the United States," said Deering. "We need to solidify our support within agriculture, but also rally the troops outside of our industry. This is bigger than just the cattle industry."

Click here to view the video featuring EPA's potential dust regulation.

— Release by NCBA.

Switch From Corn to Soybeans? Not So Fast!

With a wet spring and delayed planting, many farmers are thinking of switching from corn to soybeans due to potential yield losses in corn as planting is delayed. Farmers should consider potential net revenue along with potential yield loss before making this decision.

Supply and demand drive this analysis. Much of the U.S. Corn Belt is suffering from poor planting conditions this year, so total corn production will likely decline. Markets will react by pushing corn prices up. If more farmers switch to soybeans, total soybean production may increase, pushing soybean prices down.

University of Minnesota Extension has studied last year's costs of production from the Center for Farm Financial Management's FINBIN database of Minnesota farmers' actual expenses, their three-year average yields, projected harvest prices and estimated government payments. Based on this data, we forecast estimated net revenue of $443 per acre for corn and $195 for soybeans. These estimates indicate a tremendous advantage for corn over soybeans and the need for a large decrease in corn yield before soybeans will be more profitable than corn. To view data tables for this information as well as data related to the examples below, read a more detailed version of this column at www.extension.umn.edu/go/1065.

Suppose a farmer was able to plant corn and soybeans in a timely manner and did not suffer a yield loss. Suppose also that many farmers across the Corn Belt switched to soybean and markets pushed the corn price up by 5% and the soybean price down by 5%. The estimates show an increase in net revenue for corn to $496 per acre for this farmer and a decrease for soybeans to $168 per acre.

In another scenario, a farmer had corn planting delayed and suffered a 10% yield loss for corn but no yield loss for soybeans. Again, suppose many farmers switched to soybeans so prices increased 5% for corn and decreased 5% for soybeans. In this situation, corn still has higher net revenue ($385 per acre) than soybeans ($168 per acre).

In one last scenario, suppose a farmer has to plant corn very late and suffers a 25% decrease in corn yield, but the soybean yield does not change and forecast prices do not change. In this situation, the estimated net revenue for corn ($181 per acre) drops slightly below the estimated net revenue for soybeans ($195 per acre). This situation with no price changes is unlikely to happen this year since planting is being delayed across most of the Corn Belt and prices of both corn and soybeans are being affected.

Farmers may be well-served to keep their cropping plan unchanged for a little longer, even though corn yields may be lower. When planting occurs between May 25 and May 30, growers should consider hybrids that are five to seven days earlier in relative maturity when compared to full-season hybrids. When planting is delayed until June 1 to June 10, consider hybrids that are eight to 15 days earlier. The latest recommended planting dates for corn grain are around June 5 in central and northern Minnesota, and June 15 in southern Minnesota.

Farmers, lenders and others can estimate net revenue to analyze their own situations under different price and yield conditions. A management tool (in Microsoft Excel) developed by Extension economist Bill Lazarus is available at http://z.umn.edu/3lk.

— Release by Kent Olson and Jeff Coulter, University of Minnesota Extension.

— Compiled by Katie Gazda, editorial intern, Angus Productions Inc.