News Update
September 13, 2011
Hot, Dry Weather Shrinks Nation’s Corn Crop
Due to a hot, dry summer over much of the Corn Belt, farmers were expecting the Agriculture Department to show a big drop in its estimate for the nation’s corn crop in its September Crop Production report, and that’s just what happened.
In its latest forecast, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pegged the U.S. corn crop at just shy of 12.5 billion bushels (bu.), down 3% from its August estimate. USDA is estimating yields to average 148.1 bu. per acre, down 4.9 bu. from its August projection. If realized, this would be the lowest average yield in the United States since 2005.
“Due to excessive heat during pollination for most of the nation’s corn crop, everyone was expecting USDA to reduce its average corn yield in the September crop report from its August estimate,” explained Todd Davis, crops economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation. “The average yield of 148.1 bushels per acre is pretty much what analysts were expecting. The theme of this marketing-year hasn’t changed. We still have a very tight corn crop this year.”
While USDA is forecasting a drop in supply, it is also projecting a drop in demand for exports, ethanol use and feed use. Still, Davis cautions that supplies are very tight and demand remains strong.
“If we have any more weather difficulties, this crop might get even smaller. We still need every bushel we can harvest this year,” Davis said. “USDA’s October crop will also be important because that’s when adjustments to harvested acreage will be made. We could see a drop in harvested acres, which would make an already tight supply situation even tighter.”
Davis said higher prices are having the expected impact of lowering demand. In its September report, USDA reduced corn exports by 100 million bu. from August, cut feed and residual demand by 200 million bu. and slashed ethanol demand by 100 million bu.
“The drop in ethanol demand is not surprising. Demand for gasoline is down now that the busy summer driving season is coming to an end,” Davis said. “Because of high corn prices and lower demand for ethanol, profit margins for ethanol producers will be very tight.”
USDA, FDA Working to Provide Aid for Farmers with
Flood-Damaged Crops
The USDA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday that assistance will be available to farmers whose crops were damaged by severe flooding from Tropical Storms Irene and Lee. USDA and FDA are working closely together to ensure that farmers with flood-damaged crops that cannot be marketed are compensated for their losses.
FDA considers ready-to-eat crops whose edible portion has been in contact with floodwaters to be adulterated due to potential exposure to sewage, animal waste, heavy metals, pathogenic microorganisms, or other contaminants. Therefore, these crops should not enter the food or animal feed supply. Crops insured by federal crop insurance or by the Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) are covered when floodwaters have rendered them valueless.
“We are working closely with FDA to protect people and livestock from damaged crops, while not penalizing the farmer whose crops are affected,” said Michael Scuse, acting under secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services. “I want to assure insured farmers that they are covered under the federal crop insurance program for crops not harvested due to flood damage. America’s farmers and rural communities are vitally important to our nation’s economy, producing the food, feed, fiber and fuel that continue to help us grow and outcompete the rest of the world.”
“We empathize with the farmers who are dealing with the loss of crops due to recent flooding,” said FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael Taylor. “We all share the goal of protecting the food supply. We are working directly with USDA on damage response and will consult with them on assistance for farmers following our guidance to keep damaged crops out of the food supply.”
Additionally, disposition of crops in proximity to, or exposed to a lesser degree of flooding, where the edible portion of the crop has not come in contact with floodwaters, may need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. FDA experts are available for these through local FDA district offices.
USDA encourages all farmers and ranchers to contact their crop insurance companies and local USDA Farm Service Agency Service Centers, as applicable, to report damages to crops or livestock loss. More information about federal crop insurance may be found at www.rma.usda.gov. Additional resources to help farmers and ranchers deal with flooding may be found at http://www.usda.gov/disaster.
USDA Scientists Use Commercial Enzyme to Improve Grain Ethanol Production
A commercial enzyme could reduce overall costs linked with producing ethanol from grain, and also reduce associated emissions of greenhouse gases, according to a study by USDA scientists and colleagues.
The researchers found that the enzyme helps extract water from an ethanol byproduct used to make dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS), which can be used as feed supplements for cattle, swine and poultry. This could significantly reduce the amount of electricity, natural gas, energy and water needed for production of grain ethanol and its marketable byproducts. Results from this study were published in the scientific journal Industrial Biotechnology.
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists David Johnston and Andrew McAloon at the agency’s Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, Pa., helped lead the study. ARS is USDA’s chief intramural scientific research agency, and these findings support the USDA priority of developing new sources of bioenergy. Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) professor Milorad Dudukovic and graduate student Ana Beatriz Henriques in the WUSTL Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering also were members of the research team.
“The production of grain ethanol is a key component in our nation’s efforts to increase the supply of transportation fuels derived from renewable plant resources,” said ARS Administrator Edward Knipling. “The results from this investigation give us new tools for increasing the efficiency of grain ethanol production and for protecting our natural resource base.”
The study was conducted at Center Ethanol Co. in Sauget, Ill., a commercial facility that produces 54 million gallons of ethanol and 172,000 tons of DDGS every year from corn. In the study, the scientists added one pound of an experimental dewatering enzyme for each 1,000 pounds of corn. The enzyme was supplied by Genencor, a major developer and manufacturer of industrial enzymes that is now part of DuPont Industrial Biosciences. After the grain had been fermented into ethanol, the researchers transferred the leftover slurry of corn solids and water, called “stillage,” into a centrifuge, where much of the water was extracted.
The stillage was transferred first to an evaporator and then to a dryer powered by natural gas for another round of moisture reduction. The scientists found that the amount of natural gas needed by the dryer to reduce stillage moisture content to levels suitable for DDGS production dropped 14% because water extraction in the centrifuge had been boosted by the enzymes.
Data from these trials were used to calibrate an existing economic model of ethanol production. The resulting estimates indicated that using the enzymes to dewater the stillage would reduce overall facility water use by 10%, reduce electricity consumption by 2.4% and reduce natural gas consumption by 12%. The model indicated that these reductions would, in turn, reduce the emission of greenhouse gases equivalent to approximately 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year from a mid-sized ethanol facility producing around 50 million gallons of grain ethanol annually.
Iowa Learning Farms’ September Webinar Covers Farmland Ownership and Leases
The Iowa Learning Farms’ (ILF) September webinar, scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 21, at noon, will feature Ed Cox, who will share his work with the Sustainable Agricultural Land Stewardship (SALT) project. The webinar is part of a series, hosted by ILF, hosted on the third Wednesday of each month.
Cox will discuss the recent two-year study that focused on Iowa farmland ownership and lease agreements. The study compiled resources for landowners about how farm leases can be used to encourage soil conservation. As farmland changes hands at an increasing rate, some new owners have little or no agricultural experience and may not live in the same county or state where the farm is located. While these landowners won’t be farming the land themselves, they may well have concerns about the land and how it is farmed.
Outcomes from the project include a website that contains resources to assist landowners in gaining the knowledge and confidence needed to sit down with their tenant farmers and discuss how they can work together to have a productive and profitable farm operation and ensure the long-term stewardship of the land. Visit the website for more information: www.SustainableFarmLease.org.
Ed Cox is a fellow at the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University in Des Moines. He is one of the principal researchers on the Sustainable Agricultural Land Tenure Initiative, a project supported by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. The initiative focuses on how land tenure policy and, in particular, farm lease contracts can help ensure sustainable and resilient farm operations in the face of increased demands on natural resources and rapidly changing landowner demographics.
The webinar will take place during the noon hour through Adobe Connect. All that is needed to participate is a computer with Internet access. To connect to the webinar, go to: https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/ilf/. Cox will be able to answer questions from webinar “attendees” via the Adobe Connect chat box. The ILF website homepage contains links for archived webinars from previous months: www.extension.iastate.edu/ilf.
Consider Benefits of Tourism ‘On the Farm’
This fall, farmers will be diligently harvesting their crops: corn, soybeans, sugarbeets and ... tourists.
Tourists? Yes. Families, motor coach tour groups, couples out for a weekend drive, and grandparents with grandchildren will be discovering a variety of new experiences on the farm.
According to the 2009 Census of Agriculture, 367 Minnesota farms were involved in “agritourism and recreational services.” Those farms generated approximately $8 million in income from their tourism efforts.
A 2009 survey of farmers conducted by the University of Minnesota Tourism Center found that 30% already have some type of agritourism business. Funded by the Carlson Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Chair, the survey also found that another 30% of farmers are planning for an agritourism operation as part of their farm business by 2014.
While producers view their agritourism operations as a way to supplement their farm incomes, they also see it as a means of educating the public about the importance of agriculture and as a way to build relationships between rural and urban communities.
Agritourism encompasses a variety of activities such as farm stays, bird watching, farm festivals, pumpkin patches, school tours, corn mazes and wine trails. While many agritourism enterprises are associated with smaller operations, learning tours of larger farm operations and agricultural processing plants can also be included.
One area of agritourism that has gained recognition in Minnesota during the last few years is wine-related tourism. The development of four different cold hardy grape varieties by the University of Minnesota has led to increasing numbers of vineyards and wineries in the state, with 35 licensed wineries at last count.
Concentrated in the central and southern areas of the state, Minnesota wineries are becoming known for their quality. In 2008, grape production, wine production, and wine tourism accounted for a total economic impact of $36 million. Besides tastings and product sales, wineries offer a variety of music, art, vineyard tours and special events that provide opportunities for other sectors of the local tourism industry to build upon, such as lodging, restaurants and attractions.
Minnesota agritourism operators provide a variety of experiences that will inform and entertain visitors while providing income for their farms.
The University of Minnesota Tourism Center is a collaboration of University of Minnesota Extension and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.
For more research and educational resources on strengthening local tourism opportunities, visit www.tourism.umn.edu. Learn about other Extension programs in community economics at www.extension.umn.edu/community.
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