Farm Bureau Press | February 3

Farm Bureau Press

2023 ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU FARMERS DAY AT THE CAPITOL

The 2023 Farmers Day at the Capitol event is an opportunity to bring agriculture’s collective voice to the Arkansas State Capitol. The purpose will be to share the obstacles and opportunities for the state’s farmers and ranchers while earning a better understanding of the legislative process.

We are asking everyone who plans to attend to join us for dinner and a short informational session Tuesday evening, Feb. 28, at the Embassy Suites in Little Rock. On the morning of March 1, our group will board buses and head to the Capitol for a full day of engagement with elected officials, including a lunch fish-fry catered by King Kat of Carlisle. Events will include House & Senate Committee Meetings and House and Senate sessions for Farmers Day recognition.

All county presidents and legislative chairmen are encouraged to attend, however, any interested Farm Bureau leader is welcome. Hotel arrangements, meals and mileage will be covered by Arkansas Farm Bureau. Attendees may register through their local member service representative, by contacting your ArFB district director or County President.

A r FB 2023 WINTER COMMODITY DIVISION MEETINGS RESCHEDULED

Due to the threat of widespread inclement weather, the Winter Commodity Division Meetings were rescheduled to Feb. 22. Meetings begin at 9:30 a.m at the Wyndham Riverfront in North Little Rock.

The Aquaculture Division meeting is scheduled for Feb. 9 and will be held on Zoom.

A PEEK INSIDE

LEAD Program Announces President's award Question, Page 2

Photo courtesy of Whit's Adventures Photography

‘Most Crop Per Drop’ contest rewards Arkansas producers for water efficiency, Page 3

A r FB EXPANDS MARKETING DEPARTMENT

As Arkansas Farm Bureau continues to focus efforts on membership growth and retention, additional organizational focus is being adding to marketing efforts by moving Jenny Higgs and Autumn Wood to focus on promoting Farm Bureau to existing members and developing a strategy to attract new members. They have worked independently on marketing efforts, and this decision will combine their efforts under a unified work group with organization-wide responsibility.

Higgs and Wood will utilize a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that enables a level of membership engagement and outreach to strengthen our connection with our members. Higgs will serve as Marketing Director and Wood will serve as Membership Marketing Specialist.

The new team will utilize existing resources and capabilities that exist in different departments to ensure an organization-wide focus on data and messaging that includes the Federation and the Insurance Companies.

LEAD PROGRAM ANNOUNCES PRESIDENT'S AWARD QUESTION LEAD AW ARDS

Beginning this year, the LEAD Program President’s Award question will be based on the president’s keynote speech at the previous year’s annual convention. Notification will be given in January of the question for the upcoming year. Based on the theme “Make it Matter” and Mr. Hillman’s speech, the 2023 President’s Award question will be:

“What is your county Farm Bureau doing to make it matter in your community?”

Please refer to the LEAD Awards booklets to review the prerequisites for the Excellence and President’s Awards questions. There can be multiple Excellence Awards winners in each LEAD category and membership group. There will be only one President’s Award winner overall. To be eligible for an Excellence Award a county must have achieved the membership minimum acquisition and retention level or reach quota. To be eligible for the President’s Award a county must achieve membership quota for the year.

Final membership totals will not be available until the conclusion of the membership year on Oct. 31st. If your county wishes to compete for one of the Excellence Awards or the President’s Award we ask that you go ahead and fill out the question and submit all supporting material by the Sept. 15 deadline. Counties that submit questions and documentation will be judged and membership requirements will be verified at the appropriate time.

All counties that choose to fill out the questions may not qualify or may not be selected as an Excellence or President’s Award winner. Please use this as an opportunity to strive toward your membership goal for the year and give your county every opportunity to qualify for one of these prestigious awards.

The online platform is currently under construction, and we will notify you as soon as this becomes available. Please continue to use the LEAD booklets to check the boxes of activities your county has completed for your records. All guidelines and information are in the booklets.

If you need additional booklets or have questions, contact your District Director.

Classroom Fish Visit | ArFB Vice President Mike Freeze recently visited second graders at the England Elementary School to share about the process and jobs they do at Keo Fish Farms.

‘MOST CROP PER DROP’ CONTEST REWARDS ARKANSAS PRODUCERS FOR WATER EFFICIENCY

The annual University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture program's “Most Crop per Drop” program promotes the use of irrigation management practices and rewards growers who demonstrate the highest water use efficiency in growing corn, rice and soybean.

Winners of the contest were announced Jan. 25 during the 34th annual Arkansas Water and Soil Education Conference in Jonesboro. This year, the top three finishers in each crop category received more than $20,000 in cash and prizes from industry sponsors.

Corn Winners

1st place: James Wray, 12.43 bushels/inch, Poinsett Co.

2nd place: Heath Donner, 7.23 bushels/inch, Mississippi Co.

3rd place: Terry Smith, 6.11 bushels/inch, Greene Co.

Soybean winners

1st place: Cody Fincher, 4.25 bushels/inch, Mississippi Co.

2nd place: Rieves Wallace and John Wallace, 3.65 bushels/inch, Crittenden Co.

3rd place — Karl Garner, 3.57 bushels/inch, Cross Co.

Flooded Rice Winners

1st place: Karl Garner, 7.66 bushels/inch, Cross Co.

2nd place: Mark Felker, 6.56 bushels/inch, Crittenden Co.

3rd place: Rieves Wallace and John Wallace, 4.57 bushels/inch, Crittenden Co.

Furrow Rice Winners

1st place: Chad Render, 7.94 bushels/inch, Jefferson Co.

2nd place: Rieves and John Wallace, 6.38 bushels/inch, Crittenden Co.

3rd place: Matt Morris, 6.22 bushels/inch, Lonoke Co.

The first-place winners in corn and soybean received $8,000 each; second-place winners, $3,000; and thirdplace winners, $1,000. The overall rice winner received $2,000 and a Ricetec seed credit worth $11,000.

For information about irrigation and how to get involved with the 2023 Most Crop per Drop contest, visit https:// uaex.uada.edu/irrigation.

Columbia Co. Meeting | The Columbia County Farm Bureau board hosted their quarterly meeting Jan. 24 to discuss plans for the year and hear a legislative and Federation update from ArFB District Director Austin Lester. Newly elected city officials were guests for the evening. Columbia County Judge Doug Fields, Sheriff Leroy Martin, and Assessor Shannon Hair joined the board to share the challenges they face in their positions and goals for 2023.

Benton Co. Ag Student of the Month | Benton Co. Farm Bureau celebrated Rogers Heritage High School student Shelby Dean for being chosen as the January Outstanding Ag Student of the Month! Assistant Principal Stephanie Shriner helped organize a surprise award presentation which included Shelby’s family and fellow FFA members.

Craighead Co. Meeting | Craighead Co. Farm Bureau Board members and Women’s Leadership Committee (WLC) members recently met with Craighead Co. legislators for a breakfast. The WLC committee provided a variety of casseroles that featured dairy, wheat and feed grain, specialty crop and poultry commodities.

MARKET NEWS

as of Feb. , 2023

Contact Brandy Carroll 501-228-1268 brandy.carroll@arfb.com

Cotton

Despite a bearish annual production report, cotton futures continue to trend higher. The nearby March contract continues to be locked in a trading range between support at 80¢ and resistance at 90¢, but new-crop December set a new five-month high last week. In the report, harvested acres were cut to 7.44 million acres, down from 7.88 million in the previous report. The average yield, however, was raised to 947 lbs/ acre, up from 868 lbs/ acre in the previous report. That yield increase more than offset the cut in acreage, so the net result of the report was 438,000 bale increase in the production estimate. The crop is now pegged at 14.68 million bales. In Arkansas, farmers harvested an average of 1,196 lbs/acre on 630,000 acres for a total production of 1.570 million bales. In the WASDE, exports were cut 250,000 bales and are now pegged at 12 million bales. U.S. ending stocks were up 700,000 bales to 4.2 million bales, or 30% of use. The upland season-average on-farm price was down 2¢ from last month to 83¢ per pound. Our first look at the 2023 crop will come later this month in the form of the National Cotton Council’s annual survey of growers followed by USDA’s first estimates released at the Annual Outlook Forum. The continued drought in west Texas could again impact planted acres.

Rice

Rice futures are trending higher but need to see better demand.

Last week’s report showed net cancellations. In the annual production report, the biggest changes came from long grain production, which was pegged at 128.15 million cwt. That’s down 3.5 million cwt from the previous report. In Arkansas, farmers produced an average of 7,410 lbs/acre on 1.084 million acres. The cut in production more than offset a two million cwt cut in exports in the WASDE report, resulting in an all-rice ending stocks estimate of 32.1 million cwt. That’s down 6 million cwt from last month. The projected long grain on-farm price was pegged at $16.70, and medium-grain was pegged at $17.60. March futures have failed to challenge the high of $18.53 and are building resistance below $18.40.

Corn

There hasn’t been much news for the corn market to react to other than the annual production report. USDA cut 200 million bushels from the corn crop estimate. U.S. farmers harvested an average of 173.3 bushels per acre from 79.2 million acres for total production of 13.73 billion bushels. In Arkansas, farmers harvested 173 bu/acre from 695,000 acres. The average on-farm price was pegged at $6.70/bu. In reaction to the report, December charted a bullish key reversal and established support at $5.83¾. The market will soon begin to focus on the prospects for the 2023 crop.

Soybeans

Old-crop March soybeans are in position to challenge the recent high of $15.48½ after gapping lower last week before staging a rally. New-crop November fell to four-month lows last week before turning around. In the annual production report, the soybean production estimate was cut more than expected. USDA says that U.S. farmers harvested an average of 49.5 bu/acre from 86.3 million acres, for total production

of 4.28 billion bushels. In Arkansas, farmers harvested an average of 52 bu/acre from 3.15 million acres. In the WASDE, projected exports were cut by 55 million bushels to 1.99 billion bushels, down 7% from the previous market year. Ending stocks were down 10 million bushels from the previous report to 210 million bushels. The average on-farm price is estimated at $14.20, up 20¢ from the previous report.

Cattle

The biannual USDA Cattle Inventory Report was released this week. The report pegged the total beef cattle inventory at 28.9 million head on Jan. 1, down 3.6% from the previous year. That is a significant liquidation of cattle — it’s the smallest herd size for that date in 61 years according to USDA data. The total number of cattle and calves fell 3% from a year ago, to 89.3 million head. That’s the lowest total since 2015. June futures gapped higher and set a new contract high in reaction to the report. That high of $159.75 could become resistance. Feeders have had some carryover strength from live futures, but strength in corn futures has limited the upside potential of the market.

Hogs

Lean hog futures continue to be under pressure from weakness in cash hog and wholesale pork prices. Last week’s Cold Storage report showed Dec. 31 frozen pork stocks to be at a 3-year high of 458.1 million pounds. That is up 15.6% from the previous year, despite a drop in production. Strong weekly export sales did result in a bullish reversal in summer contracts last week, but the upside potential of the market remains unclear.

EDITOR

Ashley Wallace ashley.wallace@arfb.com