Poor livestock prices, mold, ethanol were topics in 2009
Janet Kubat Willette
Date Modified: 01/14/2010 12:25 PM
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By Janet Kubat Willette Agri News staff writer
Reflecting upon the year 2009, the weather comes to mind.
Good spring conditions allowed farmers to plant small grains in early to mid April. A good percentage of the corn was planted by early May with soybeans following close behind in southern Minnesota.
In the northern part of the state, planting was delayed by spring flooding along the Red River of the North and its tributaries. Other farmers were delayed because they didn't have crops harvested from 2008.
Even with the good start in the southern half of the state, some of the corn crop never matured because of a lack of growing degree units. The summer was mild, with cool nights. It kept air conditioners off, but it didn't give corn the warmth it needed.
Drought also played a role in the growing season, with some areas of the state getting timely rainfall and others missing out. Frost also nipped some crops.
Soybeans took a beating, with yields running about average. Sudden death syndrome, white mold and brown stem rot all appeared in soybean fields. For the first time in many years, farmers were forced to dry soybeans for storage.
The harvest got off to a good start, but was stalled through much of October as rains and snow kept combines parked.
About 30 percent of the sugar beet crop in in the Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative growing area in west central Minnesota went unharvested due to muddy fields.
November brought a welcome reprieve, with many farmers able to almost finish corn and soybean harvest by the end of the month. Tillage also took place.
Still, a share of the corn crop remains to be harvested as several inches of snow in December brought harvest to a halt.
When farmers got into the fields in November they discovered an unwelcome visitor: Mold. Molds were found in most corn fields across Minnesota, and farmers are urged to use caution in feeding moldy corn.
Test weights were generally less than the desired 54 pounds and moisture was high. Some farmers combined corn with moisture content higher than 30 percent. The corn just ran out of time to dry down naturally with shorter days in November and all the moisture in October.
Yields, however, were a pleasant surprise for most, with corn yields ranging from 155 to 215 bushels per acre across southern Minnesota.
A December snowstorm dumped the biggest one-day snowfall since March 2005 and a Christmas week blizzard kept farmers busy moving snow. Below-zero temperatures ushered in the new year.
Low commodity prices were the subject of many stories during 2009. Pork producers suffered through another year of red ink and dairy farmers bled equity as milk prices failed to keep up with cost of production. Bob Lefebvre, executive director of Minnesota Milk Producers Association, shared on LinkedIn that 2009 was the worst dairy year on record.
"Thankfully we are starting to come out of it, but we have a long way to go," Lefebvre said. "It will take many months, if not years, for Minnesota dairy farmers to recover lost equity."
Different ideas to help dairy farmers were floated, including a Dairy Price Stabilization plan offered by Holstein Association USA. NFO encouraged farmers to work together to market their milk at a March meeting in Utica. Reps. John Kline, R-Lakeville, and Tim Walz, D-Mankato, weighed in on the debate. Walz met with dairy farmers at a MMPA picnic on the Daley farm near Lewiston and Kline gathered with his agriculture cabinet in Faribault.
National Farmers Union president Roger Johnson said dairy policy will likely be debated in 2010 as hearings begin on the new farm bill.
Pork producers tried a Producer Retirement Program, but it didn't work because funds couldn't be found to finance a buyout of breeding stock -- check.
Pork prices were looking up before the H1N1 outbreak occurred in April. National Pork Producers Council chief executive officer Neil Dierks said H1N1 cost producers $1.3 billion.
The turkey industry didn't have a banner year, either, said Minnesota Turkey Growers executive director Steve Olson in November. It was a less than break-even year for turkey growers and production was cutback in 2009 spurred by higher input costs and competition from other protein on the market. Export demand remained fairly strong, thanks in part to the weak dollar.
Last year was also a year of activity for checkoffs and commodity organizations. Wheat producers defeated an increase in their referendum in December 2008, and wheat producers will vote again this month on a checkoff increase.
Minnesota's corn growers voted to increase their checkoff from a half cent per bushel to a cent per bushel on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9. The measure passed 215 to 203. The new rate took effect July 1.
The Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and the Missouri Soybean Association formed the U.S. Soybean Federation in January. In March, the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association was accused of violating their affiliation requirements with the American Soybean Association.
In late January, the Cattlemen's Beef Board approved a report recommending the checkoff rate increase to $2 per head. The recommendation requires approval from Congress, the president and producers to go into effect.
Ethanol stayed in the news with the sale of the former VeraSun plants and their openings. Also, cellulosic ethanol research continued with Rural Advantage hosting biomass harvesting field days showcasing Canadian equipment that can chew through trees. POET hosting a field day at its plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa.
POET's pilot-scale plant in Scotland, S.D., is already producing 20,000 gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol using corn cobs as feed stock.
"We're making cellulosic ethanol today, and we're making it in a manner that is going to be profitable," said POET CEO Jeff Broin. "Two years ago, I would have told you that making cellulosic ethanol was a long shot, but today we've made enough progress that this process is a reality."
Tom Buis left the presidency of National Farmers Union to be chief executive officer of Growth Energy, a new group promoting ethanol and renewable fuels as a way to grow American jobs. Gen. Wesley Clark, a former presidential candidate, is the co-chairman.
In December, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was putting its decision on 15 percent ethanol on hold.
This was a milestone year for FFA as it celebrated the 40th anniversary of allowing girls to join. Pioneers were often the only girls in agricultural education classes and not all were welcomed warmly by their classmates. Minnesota FFA executive secretary Jim Ertl said the FFA program would not be as strong as it is today without women.
"It (the 1969 vote) was fantastic and maybe long overdue at the time," Ertl said.
Nationally, 40 percent of FFA members are female, and women hold more than 50 percent of state leadership positions.
Agriculture lost two well-known leaders in 2009. Elton Redalen of rural Fountain died in July. He was 83. Redalen served as Minnesota's agriculture commissioner during Gov. Arne Carlson's tenure. Redalen was a dairy farmer for 50 years and he also raised hogs, beef cattle and crops.
"In the five years he was ag commissioner, he truly promoted ag in Minnesota," said Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston. "There were lots of competing interests, but he was always on top of it. He made sure ag was the state's No. 1 business." Norman Borlaug, an Iowa farm boy educated at the University of Minnesota, died in September. He was 95.
Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize and was known as the father of the Green Revolution, which helped to more than double world food production between 1960 and 1990.
"Let it be said that he saved more lives than any other person who ever lived," said Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation.
Agri News staff writer Carol Stender and senior staff writer Jean Caspers-Simmet contributed to this article.