In Farm Bureau ArFB scholarship winners The Arkansas Farm Bureau Scholarship Foundation Committee recently met to determine the 11 recipients of the $2,500 Farm Bureau Foundation scholarship for the 2012-2013 school year. Scholarship recipients are Arkansas residents, members of a Farm Bureau family and enrolled as juniors or seniors in a state-accredited university. They also must be in pursuit of an agriculture-related degree. “Arkansas Farm Bureau has always been an advocate of higher education,” said ArFB President Randy Veach of Manila. “The future of Arkansas agriculture is dependent on the young adults who are pursuing agricultural careers, and supporting them is a priority.” The scholarship recipients are: • Mollie Dykes of Hot Springs (Garland Co.), an agricultural communications major with an agricul-
Randy Veach of Manila gave his President’s Address to a packed house at the 64th Annual Officers and Leaders Conference in Springdale on July 23. The theme of this year’s conference was “Leading by Learning.” The insert in this issue features highlights from this important meeting. tural education minor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. • Crystal Nicole Foster of Russellville (Pope Co.), an agricultural education major at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. • Cody Rhyne Gallagher of Foreman (Little River Co.), an agricultural education and poultry science double major with an agricultural business minor at UofA. • Austin White Henderson of McGehee (Desha Co.), an agriculFriday the 13th was a lucky day for Ernestina Rogers of Alexander (left) when she won the Saline County Rice Contest sponsored by the Saline Co. Extension Service and Farm Bureau. Her winning dish was Albondigas, or Mexican Meatballs, a recipe passed down from her mother.
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tural business and plant and soil science double major at UofA-Monticello. • Jacob Irwin of Ola (Yell Co.), an agricultural business/pre-veterinary medicine major with a chemistry minor at ATU. • Mark Everett Lambert of Stuttgart (Arkansas Co.), an agricultural business graduate student at UofA. • Robert Hunter Lipsey of DeQueen (Sevier Co.), an agricultural
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A Publication of Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation
August 3, 2012 • Vol. 15, No. 14
Heath Long: Farmer of Year Heath Long of Tichnor (Arkansas Co.), a fourth-generation farmer, developed a successful and extensive crop farming business in only 17 years of farming. In addition, he works parttime at a fun job during winter months as a Long guide for duck hunters. As a result of his success in growing rice, soybeans and wheat, Long
Farmers attending the Crops Field Day July 19 at University of Arkansas’ Rowher Research Station in Desha County crowded onto tractor-pulled wagons for morning tours of cotton, soybean, rice and corn research plots.
Kelsey Wynn, a 2012 graduate of Rector High School, received this year’s $1,000 Clay Co. FB scholarship from county President Terry Pollard. Kelsey is the daughter of Jill and Freddie Wynn. She plans to major in biology at ASU in Jonesboro.
has been selected as the Arkansas winner of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award. Long now joins nine other state winners from the Southeast as finalists for the award. The overall winner will be announced Oct. 16 at the Sunbelt Ag Expo farm show in Moultrie, Ga. Heath and his wife Betsy were ArFB’s 2011 Arkansas Farm Family of the Year. Last year, they farmed 2,243 acres, with 1,137 acres dedicated to soybeans, 869 acres of rice and 198 acres of wheat. They have two daughters, nine-year-old Shelby and fouryear-old Sydney. As Arkansas’ winner, Long will receive a $2,500 cash award and an
expense-paid trip to the Sunbelt Expo from Swisher International of Jacksonville, Fla., a $500 gift certificate from the Southern States cooperative and the choice of either $1,000 in PhytoGen cottonseed or a $500 donation to a designated charity on behalf of new sponsor, Dow Agrosciences. He is now eligible for the $15,000 that will go to the overall winner.
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In Arkansas
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sity in Magnolia. • Christen Odom of Cabot (Lonoke Co.), an agricultural business major at ATU. • Danielle Smith of Fayetteville (Washington Co.), an agricultural communications major at UofA. • Meghan Sommers of Morrilton (Conway Co.), an animal science/preveterinary medicine major at UofA. • Sarah Wright of Fayetteville (Washington Co.), an agricultural education major with minors in agricultural communications and poultry science at UofA.
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business major at Southern Arkansas Univer-
On July 17, ArFB leaders gathered at 11 locations statewide to discuss policy development. State board member Terry Dabbs (standing, right) and ArFB economist Matt King led discussions with this group at the Drew Co. FB office in Monticello.
These volunteers from Miller Co. FB were on hand to assist during the 15th annual 4-H Back to Nature Youth Program at the Nash/Turner family farm near Texarkana on July 17. One hundred eighty children ages 8 to 19 attended the event.
Troutt part of catfish campaign An Arkansas farmer is featured in a new national ad campaign intended to bolster the nation’s struggling catfish industry. Bill Troutt of Lake Village, Catfish Farmers of America’s 2012 Arkansas Catfish Farmer of the Year, along with award winners from Alabama and Mississippi, appears in the industry’s “Made in America” campaign that features the nation’s top farm producers and favorite recipes. Troutt and the other farmers traveled to Boston earlier this year to attend that city’s seafood show, and they have been featured in a number of national publications, including the Delta Airlines magazine and Cooking with Paula Deen. “We are working to provide a sense of place in the nation’s food supply by connecting the catfish fillets people know and love back to our hundreds of family farms that dot the southern U.S.,” said Roger Barlow, president of the Catfish Institute. Troutt, a member of the Arkansas Catfish Promotion Board, manages
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Animal science professor honored Paul Beck, professor of animal science with UofA’s Division of Agriculture, received the 2012 American Society of Animal Science Early Career Achievement Award at the society’s annual meeting in Phoenix. The award is given to young scholars who are working to discover, share and apply animal science. Beck’s research at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope focuses Beck on cattle nutrition and management, with the goal of improving the economic and environmental sustainability of cattle production. His studies of grains, grasses and co-products in cattle diets have improved the production of growing and gestating beef cattle. Today, farmers can use Beck’s research to choose the most suitable cattle feed and stay profitable. Beck is currently researching the production of nutritious forages for growing and gestating beef cattle. Seminar coming up On Aug. 9, UofA’s Center for Food Animal Well-Being will stage its second annual symposium at the Poultry Center of Excellence building on the Fayetteville campus. Topics that will be presented include Undercover Videos – It Can’t Happen to Us; A New Look at Feed Withdrawal; Communicating from TV to Pinterest; New AVMA Euthanasia Guidelines; Dairy Welfare and Milk; Factors Impacting Public Perceptions of Animal Welfare and Rights; Enforcing Animal Welfare Standards; and Why Science Isn’t Enough – What Consumers Need to Trust Today’s Animal Agriculture. There is no registration fee. Reservations can be made online at www.arkansasalumni.org/CFAWSymposium2012.
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Alice-Sidney Farms in Chicot County, a 7,000-acre operation with about 600 acres of catfish ponds.
Judges for the Ark. Farm Family of the Year program visited district winners’ farms July 9-12, including the Watkins family poultry farm in Bradley County. Shown, from left, front row, are judges Patrick Breeding, Scott McKennon and Amanda Williams; Colleen, Perry and Alex Watkins, Rachel Church; back row, county committee members Tommy Burrow and John Gavin. The Farm Family of the Year will be announced Dec. 6.
Elsewhere Safety Coloring Contest According to the Progressive Agriculture Foundation, an estimated 15,000 children who visit, live or work on farms or ranches are injured each year, and more than 100 children die of agriculture-related injuries in the U.S. The good folks at Kubota believe these statistics are too high and have launched a Family Safety Coloring Contest to help families make sure summer memories are as safe and happy as possible. Here’s how families can get involved: • Now through Oct. 1, visit the Safety tab on Kubota.com to download Kubota’s Ten Commandments of Tractor Safety coloring book. • Each child 12 and under can select one page to color as his or her contest entry. • Scan and email the child’s entry, along with the parent’s name, child’s name, address and phone number to KubotaSafety@fleishman.com. Or mail the entry with the same information on a 3x5 card to 500 Capitol Mall, Suite 1850, Sacramento, CA 95814. • Entries will be judged on coloring skill in each of three age groups: 5 and under, ages 6 to 8, and ages 9 to 12. • In each category, one grandprize winner will be selected to win
a $100 gift card and Kubota merchandise gift pack. Additionally, one first-prize winner in each category will receive a Kubota merchandise gift pack. • The first 100 entries will receive a Kubota “Safety First Sheriff” badge. For more information, download contest rules at Kubota.com. Looking for leaders The Rice Foundation is looking for rice producers and industry professionals between ages 25 and 45 for its 2013 Leadership Development Program. The program provides a comprehensive understanding of the rice industry, emphasizing personal development and communication skills. Class members will attend four one-week sessions over two years to strengthen their leadership skills. Five rice producers and two industry-related professionals will be chosen by a committee of agribusiness leaders who will evaluate applications of all candidates, review letters of recommendation and conduct personal interviews with the finalists. The application deadline is Oct. 6. For additional information, go to www.usarice.com and click on the 2013 Rice Leadership Development Program icon. Editor Keith Sutton keith.sutton@arfb.com
In the Market As of July 31, 2012:
SOYBEAN crop ratings continue declining with 35 percent in the poor to very poor category. In Illinois, only 9 percent of the crop is rated good, and none is rated excellent. The discussion now is how much rain would help if received by the middle of August. Yield projections are in the upper 30s and sliding every day. The crop is less than 3 billion bushels. Use will have to be pared from the July USDA estimate of 3.1 billion bushels. Demand from China still appears firm as futures hit record levels above $17.00. A close above $16.91 would signal another leg up, perhaps to those lofty projections of $20.00. A more attainable goal is the gap objective at $17.25. CORN futures are at record levels as crop conditions continue to swoon. At this point, knowing 48 percent of the crop is rated poor to very poor is almost a non-issue. Rain will offer little help as current yield projections are generally 130 bushels or less. Harvested acreage is also declining as abandoned acreage and/or crop that is chopped for silage increases. Typically, harvested acreage is in the 90-92 percent range, but drought years are 86-88 percent. That probably puts harvested year around 84 million acres or a current crop projection just under 11 billion bushels. That’s almost 2 billion bushels under the July estimate of 12.97 billion bushels. There are challenges ahead to balance supply and demand. Corn is being imported from Brazil, and there are calls for the U.S. to drop the ethanol mandate. Price will play its part with futures having surged above $8.00. December broke resistance at $8.00 yesterday and has a gap objective around $8.55. Higher is possible. Be smart, not greedy; take advantage of this marketing opportunity. WHEAT has followed corn and beans higher but is showing signs of topping. Old crop September has
resistance at the recent high of $9.47, while July 2013 found resistance at $8.50. Wheat fundamentals don’t support a substantial move to the upside, but if corn goes higher, wheat will likely follow. RICE has received a boost from corn and wheat and remains in a shallow uptrend. Yesterday, September futures closed at the highest level since mid-May. Large world stocks and slow exports are down almost 50 percent from a year ago as they struggle with huge intervention stocks. India remains a factor in the market despite a slow monsoon season in the northwest rice region. Stocks are sufficient to keep them from banning exports. In the U.S., the crop rated 70 percent good to excellent. The question is whether temperatures have impacted quality. September futures have resistance at $16.20. COTTON remains an outcast as far as the market is concerned. The $2 plus levels of 2010-11 remain a distant visage, one that lost market share to man-made fibers and called forth increased worldwide production. Coupled with poor world economic activity, it presents a mountain that cotton is finding hard to conquer. World stocks are projected to be 72 million bales and would have been more except for two years of major drought in Texas. Currently 44 percent of the U.S. crop is rated good to excellent; in Arkansas 61 percent is good to excellent. Crops in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama are indicating problems. December futures have traded in a 2 cents range, 73.5 to 71.5 cents, since late June. A close to either side of this range will suggest further movement in the direction of the breakout. CATTLE. Meat demand continues to disappoint, but now traders are looking ahead to fall grilling/tailgating season to improve the outlook for meat prices. October live cattle futures have established a mostly sideways pattern between support at $119 and resistance at $127. The resistance at that May high must be broken to suggest
additional upside. October already holds a wide premium to cash prices, however, and that could limit upside potential. October feeders are trying now to stabilize after taking about $24 off the market since the June peak. Skyrocketing feed costs and droughtdevastated pastures have many looking to liquidate cattle without replacing them. Support for October is between $138 and $139. HOGS. October hogs have bounced back from recent lows. Sow prices continue declining as more farmers liquidate their breeding herd, and traders are worried packers won’t be able to handle the onslaught of sows coming to market. On the plus side, average weights declined 5 pounds last week and likely will continue declining until temperatures moderate. Despite bearish fundamentals, the market looks to have upside potential to $84-$85 as soon as they reach slaughter weight. The corn crop in the Midwest is in abysmal shape, and soaring prices have cut deeply into prospects of profit for hog farmers. At the same time, meat demand is suffering from heat and economic uncertainty, forcing packer margins into negative territory. The recent recovery in the October contract was short-lived, and further weakness is likely. DAIRY. No one ever imagined the milk-feed ratio going this low. This week, the USDA announced a preliminary milk-feed ratio of 1.29 for July. That was down significantly from June’s ratio of 1.38. None of the milk-feed ratios on record, going back to 1985, has been this low. The lowest ratio, recorded in 2009, was 1.45. July’s number reflects escalating corn and soybean prices. Alfalfa hay dropped $3 per ton to $198. The all-milk price used by the USDA in calculating the ratio increased from $16.20 per hundredweight in June to $16.60 in July. The milk-feed ratio represents the pounds of 16-percent mixed dairy feed equal in value to 1 pound of whole milk. Therefore, with a 1.29 ratio in July, a dairy producer could buy 1.29 pounds of feed for every 1 pound of milk sold.
2012 O&L CONFERENCE
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rkansas Farm Bureau’s 64th annual Officers and Leaders Conference drew 466 members to Springdale’s Holiday Inn and Northwest Arkansas Convention Center July 23-24. Six workshops focusing on issues important to farm and ranch leaders combined with key speakers and area tours to produce a highly successful midsummer leaders’ gathering. Highlights included the President’s Address by Randy Veach, the keynote speech by Pfizer Animal Health nutritionist Dr. Gary Sides and presentations by UofA’s Vice President for Agriculture, Dr. Mark Cochran, and Chevrolet regional marketing manager Steve Flynn. • photos by CHRIS WILSON, MOLLIE DYKES & STEVE EDDINGTON •
The Lindsay Kate Band entertained Farm Bureau members with some country music as the conference opened.
Above: Special guest speaker Jeff Long (center), vice chancellor and director of athletics at UofA, “called the hogs” with ArFB Vice President Rich Hillman (left) and President Randy Veach. Above right: Dr. Mark Cochran, vice president for agriculture with UofA’s Division of Agriculture, spoke about land grant universities and how they help the agriculture industry. Right: State Senator-elect Uvalde Lindsey spoke about the upcoming legislative session at the Ballot & Legislative Concerns workshop. Right: Keynote speaker Dr. Gary Sides, a nutritionist with Pfizer Animal Health, provided a thoughtprovoking speech about common misconceptions in agriculture. Bottom right: Bob Staton of Bellville, a Yell Co. FB board member, attended the O&L Conference with his wife Rose.
Above: Seventeen representatives from Washington County showed up for county photos, the largest county group in attendance.
Far left: John Philpot of Pulaski Co. FB points out some of the Razorback Stadium additions to Carolyn Harp of Boone Co. FB. Left: Jackie Riddlesperger, Carolyn Harp and Sarah Watkins of Boone Co. FB admired the statue in the lobby of the Center for Excellence of Poultry Science.
2012 O&L
CONFERENCE
Left: Duff Wallace addressed leaders about the restructuring of ArFB’s insurance companies. Wallace is vice president and general manager of Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. of Arkansas, Inc. Above: Farm Bureau leaders toured some of the experimental livestock facilities at UofA, including the Leland E. Tollett Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Left: Farm Bureau economist Matt King unveiled ArFB’s new Market Reports app in a special technology workshop.
Above: Lona Robertson, an associate dean with the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, spoke about UofA’s various agricultural degree programs.