Farm bill survey While it seems the 2014 Farm Bill was just written, leaders on both the House and Senate Agriculture committees have indicated they plan to begin working on the 2018 Farm Bill early next year. It’s probably difficult to answer questions about what’s working and what isn’t in the current bill as farmers will only receive their second commodity title payment this month. Yet, Farm Bureau members need to be ready to answer a few basic questions if members are going to continue to try and shape farm policy to meet risk management needs for the future. To help, the American Farm Bureau Federation asks that you take a few minutes to complete a survey about your thoughts and priorities for the 2018 Farm Bill. The questions are designed to help AFBF prioritize different options to improve the federal program, while also recognizing the likely budgetary challenges we face. The survey is for informational purposes only and does not replace AFBF’s
regular policy development process. To access the survey, go to www. surveymonkey.com/r/ARFB_18FarmBill. Members who complete the survey before Oct. 19 and leave their email address will be entered to win the grand prize of an Orca cooler or one of five Orca cups. Teachers to pilot new program Amy Dawson of Paragould and Christy Reynolds of Camden are among four
Gov. Asa Hutchinson was the speaker at Prairie Co. FB’s Sept. 27 annual meeting in Tollville. He updated some 100 attendees on state issues, particularly his opposition to the two medical marijuana proposals that will be on the general election ballot. ArFB has joined the state Chamber of Commerce and others in urging Arkansans to vote against the proposals.
educators selected to pilot new resources for “Bringing Biotechnology to Life,” a free educational resource that aims to facilitate learning about agricultural biotechnology and its role in food production. This educational resource was originally launched by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture and the International Food Information Council Foundation at the World Food Prize 2015 Borlaug Dialogue international symposium.
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In Farm Bureau
On Sept. 29 in Little Rock, rice industry leaders came together to donate 118,000 pounds of rice to the Arkansas Foodbank. Rhonda Sanders, CEO of the Arkansas Foodbank, said the gift, given in recognition of National Rice Month in September, will provide more than 1 million servings of food to help feed hungry families throughout the state.
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A Publication of Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation
October 14, 2016 • Vol. 19, No. 20
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Dawson and Reynolds, along with Ginger Reimer of Claremore, Oklahoma, and Melissa Smith of Alpena, Michigan, will pilot the new resources this year. They each also will receive a $100 credit to the Foundation’s resource store at www.agfoundation.org. “Our goal is to help consumers understand the impact biotechnology makes on agriculture and our lives through this fact- and research-based resource that has been reviewed by an array of scientists,” said Julie Tesch, executive director of the foundation. “This science-based classroom resource includes applicable lessons to provide students with the tools they need to make informed decisions about the practical uses of biotechnology.” The Bringing Biotechnology to Life Version 1.0 learning kit is available for download at no cost at www.foodinsight. org/biotech-curricula. Watch for Version 2.0 in early 2017.
The Michael and Beverly Gadberry family of Hattieville was recognized as Conway County’s Farm Family of the Year at the Sept. 20 county annual meeting in Morrilton. The Gadberries raise chickens and Angus cattle on 127 acres near the Lanty community. Conway Co. FB board member Tommy Thompson (right) presented the family their plaque. down $4.40 or 8 percent compared to a survey conducted a year ago. Of the 16 items surveyed, 13 decreased and three increased in average price. Egg prices dropped significantly due to production recovering well from the 2014 avian influenza outbreak, according to John Newton, AFBF director of market intelligence. Milk prices are down substantially from prior years, particularly compared to record highs in 2014, due to the current global dairy surplus. “For all commodities in agriculture
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Food prices down Lower retail prices for several foods, including eggs, whole milk, cheddar cheese, chicken breast, sirloin tip roast and ground chuck, resulted in a decrease in American Farm Bureau Federation’s Fall Harvest Marketbasket Survey. The informal survey shows the total cost of 16 food items that can be used to prepare one or more meals was $49.70,
State Sen. Larry Teague (left) visited with (left to right) Hempstead Co. FB board member Ned Ray Purtle, ArFB state board member Troy Buck, State Rep. Brent Talley, ArFB state board member Caleb Plyler and Hempstead Co. FB president Mark Lloyd before the county’s annual meeting in Hope Sept. 22. More than 300 Farm Bureau members attended the event.
Arkansas Farm Bureau President Randy Veach of Manila was guest speaker at Baxter Co. FB’s annual meeting Sept. 27 in Mountain Home. Veach thanked county and state Farm Bureau leaders for their efforts on behalf of agriculture, and reiterated his message that farmers and ranchers must be profitable if they are to feed, clothe and shelter a hungry world.
Polk Co. FB President Allen Stewart (second from right) recognized the Joe and Jill Brinkley family at the county’s annual meeting in Mena. The Brinkleys are the county’s Farm Family of the Year and are among eight district finalists for Arkansas Farm Family of the Year. They raise broilers, cattle and hay on 645 acres near Grannis. there is a lot of product on hand and prices are depressed,” Newton explained.
In Arkansas Hall of Fame seeks nominations The Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame is seeking nominations from the public for its class of 2016. The nomination deadline is Nov. 4. The Agriculture Hall of Fame recognizes Arkansans who are or have contributed significantly to the state’s largest industry, while spotlighting their contributions to the state’s economic development. Since its first class was selected in 1987, 153 men and women have been inducted. Butch Calhoun, chairman of the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame, says anyone can nominate a person believed worthy of the honor. “Arkansas agriculture is a wonderful reflection of the resourcefulness and ingenuity of business in our state,” said Calhoun, Arkansas’ former Secretary of Agriculture. “Agriculture has a profound effect on every county and community in our state. The role of the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame is to honor the worthy individuals who made an impact on Arkansas agriculture.” The Farm Bureau Center in Little Rock houses the Agriculture Hall of Fame, which is sponsored by the Arkansas State
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4-H Fall Festival A little family fun at the Oct. 29 4-H Fall Festival can go a long way toward supporting educational activities for Arkansas youth. The 4-H Fall Festival will be held at the C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center in Ferndale, about 18 miles from downtown Little Rock. The event runs from 10 a.m-2 p.m. Admission is free, and the festival features plenty of no-cost, family-friendly events, such as pumpkin decorating, canoeing and even a chance to whip up a smoothie using a bicycle. There also will be a chili luncheon, archery and trap shoot events, and a silent auction providing fundraising opportunities to support the program. “It’s hard to believe that in our nearly 40-year history, we’ve never had an open house at the C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center,” said Ewell Welch, executive director of the Arkansas 4-H Center. “The 4-H Fall Festival will be that open house, and we want to invite all to see what we do and provide one more opportunity to celebrate National 4-H Month.” Proceeds from the event will benefit the
On Oct. 3, Danny Dalmut, vice president of Sebastian Co. FB, held “Back at the Ranch” for Ft. Smith elementary students at his ranch near Mansfield. The children learned about horses, hay equipment, cattle, poultry and other topics related to ranching in Sebastian County. Representatives from Poultry Integrator OK Feeds and the Dalmut family assisted with the event.
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Chamber of Commerce and Arkansas Farm Bureau. Additional information and online nomination forms are available at www.arkansasaghalloffame.org. Forms also can be requested by calling Cindra Bell at 501-228-1609. The induction ceremony for the next class will be March 3, 2017, in Little Rock.
Key leaders in the rice industry were on hand Sept. 29 at the State Capitol where Gov. Asa Hutchinson proclaimed September as Rice Month in Arkansas. Hutchinson told attendees he sees new opportunities for increased trade with China and will promote rice and other products on a trade mission to the Asian nation planned for the near future.
Arkansas 4-H Foundation. The foundation is a nonprofit group that funds the 4-H Center, the education programs offered at the center, as well as the more than $70,000 in scholarships offered every year to Arkansas 4-H members. To learn more about the foundation, visit www. arkansas4hfoundation.com. Beekeeping class If you’d like to learn how to raise your own honeybees, join UA’s extension apiculturist Jon Zawislak for three onceweekly classes on beginner beekeeping. The classes are scheduled for 6-9 p.m. on Oct. 10, 17 and 24 at Ozarka College, 64 College Drive in Ash Flat. There’s no cost to attend, but participants must register in advance to ensure enough materials for class members. To register, contact the Sharp County Extension Office at 870-994-7363.
Elsewhere Rice and ducks at Bass Pro Visitors to Bass Pro Shops at the Memphis Pyramid now can learn more about U.S. grown rice and its importance to waterfowl. The Ducks Unlimited Waterfowling Heritage Center has unveiled a new display section focused on the importance of rice production to wintering waterfowl across the country.
“The Waterfowling Heritage Center plays a large part in honoring our hunting and conservation heritage, while also educating Bass Pro Shops guests about DU’s vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever,” said Ducks Unlimited CEO Dale Hall. “With this new section of the exhibit, about 400,000 visitors each year will also learn about the importance of rice agriculture to waterfowl, people and other wildlife.” Key features of the rice-and-ducks display include a video, educational panels, a model rice farm and information about the USA Rice-Ducks Unlimited Rice Stewardship Partnership. Rice Stewardship efforts have produced tremendous returns on investment for rice producers and conservation partners, especially through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Regional Conservation Partnership Project. “The annual USA Rice Outlook Conference will bring nearly 900 members of the U.S. rice industry to Memphis in December,” said USA Rice CEO Betsy Ward. “We welcome and encourage all of our attendees to see the Waterfowling Heritage Center while they’re here to better appreciate the intrinsic link between waterfowl and working rice lands and see the great work Ducks Unlimited is doing with our industry.” Editor Keith Sutton
keith.sutton@arfb.com
In the Market As of Oct. 13, 2016 Bean imports exceed outlooks China imported 7.19 MMT of soybeans during September, which is down just marginally from the 7.26 MMT it brought in a year ago for that month, according to customs data. This is well above trade expectations for the country to have imported just 6 MMT of the oilseed. For the first nine months of the year, China has purchased 61 MMT of soybeans, up slightly from 59.65 MMT imported last year at this point. Overall Chinese trade data was disappointing for September, however, with China’s exports down 5.6 percent from yearago and imports up 2.2 percent in yuan-denominated terms. Its trade surplus for the first nine months of the year stands at $385.8 billion. Hurricane slams NC poultry Hurricane Matthew may have killed up to 5 million chickens and turkeys in North Carolina, most of which are chickens, according to Donald van der Vaart, secretary of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. North Carolina’s ag department has confirmed the death of 1.8 million birds, but that number is expected to rise. Last year, the state produced around 823 million chickens for meat. Sub-$100 cash cattle trade Cash cattle trade picked up in Kansas at $98 and in Nebraska at $99 on Oct. 12, down $2 to $4 from the bulk of trade last week. Futures initially moved higher in response, but this eventually gave way to renewed selling. October live cattle have notched new contract lows and are trading at more than a $1 discount to the low end of this week’s
cash trade. While this, along with the technically oversold condition of the market, signal some corrective trade is due, momentum clearly favors market bears. Brazil may need U.S. corn Poultry producers in northeast Brazil say they are not planning any short-term U.S. corn buys, despite the government’s decision to allow shipments of some genetically modified corn from the United States. Freight costs to ship corn from the U.S. Gulf are lower than those from Argentina for producers in this area, but many already had deals in place for shipments of Argentine corn. Marden Vasconcelos, vice president of the poultry association in Ceara, says poultry farms there have signed deals to import six cargos of Argentine corn, three of which will arrive between November and January. However, Vasconcelos did not rule out purchases of corn from the U.S., noting that Argentine suppliers also have the capacity to ship corn from the United States. There is also some talk that Argentina will only be able to supply Brazil until February, notes Josimario Florencio Gomes, the vice president of Pernambuco’s poultry association. That state has 15 ships scheduled from Argentina, but he says another 12 corn shipments may be needed before Brazil begins harvesting its winter crop. WHO recommends drink tax The World Health Organization has recommended governments tax sugary drinks as part of an effort to battle global epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Specifically, WHO said that a 20-percent tax increase could lower consumption of such drinks by a like proportion. The soft drinks industry quickly condemned the recommendations as “discriminatory” and said claims that such taxation would improve public health are unproven.
Rain hampers Ukraine wheat Heavy rains that followed severe drought could hamper Ukraine’s winter grain planting, according to Tetyana Adamenko, the head of the ag department for the state weather center. “The already sown area is only 64 percent of the planned acreage ... and there is a high probability that 15 percent to 20 percent could not be sown. It could be 500,000 hectares, mostly wheat,” she said. Ukraine’s ag ministry has estimated that around 7.4 million hectares will be planted to winter grains this season, including 6.2 million hectares of winter wheat. Other traders and analysts are also more optimistic about plantings, with UkrAgroConsult saying on Oct. 13 it expects farmers to plant 6.35 million hectares to winter wheat. The consultancy projected Ukraine’s total wheat exports for 2016-17 at 14.3 MMT, a 1.3 MMT (8.3 percent) drop from the year prior. China may auction reserve cotton China may attempt to sell another 2.5 MMT of reserve cotton in 2017, which would match the amount it sold in auctions over the summer amid strong milling demand, according to cncotton. com, a government-backed trade website. The nation has been sitting on more than half of the world’s cotton inventory, and it is now working to sell off those stocks for financial reasons and due to a change in its cotton policy. This year, China is expected to produce a 4.9 MMT cotton crop, but consumption is estimated at around 7.7 MMT for the 2016-17 marketing year.
CONTACT • Matt King 501-228-1297, matt.king@arfb.com.