SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 18
Farm Bureau Press A PEEK INSIDE
JUSTICE RETIRES AFTER LONGEST ArFB TENURE The longest-tenured employee in Arkansas Farm Bureau history, Travis Justice, retired last week after 46 years. Through the years he’s had many roles and responsibilities within Arkansas Farm Bureau. On his last day, he wore four hats: Arkansas Farm Bureau chief economist, Beef Division director and Equine Division director as well as administrator of the Arkansas Beef Council.
Spann to Lead Arkansas Beef Council, page 2
Justice spent the entirety of his 46 years in the Beef Division, 30 years at the head of the Arkansas Beef Council, 40 years as a volunteer treasurer of the Arkansas Forage and Grasslands Council and 44 years a volunteer with the Arkansas State Fair, where he helped organize the Sale of Champions that closes the annual Livestock Show. To sum up a career that has covered nearly half a century, Travis Justice said, “My career has gone full-circle. They hired me in a crisis and I’m going out Continued on page 2
Voluntary Smoke Management for Row Crop Burning, page 4
FOLLOW US ONLINE Happy Trails | Travis Justice, Commodities, Arkansas Farm Bureau’s longest tenured employee “hung it up” Sept. 4 after 46 years with the company. The commodities team commemorated his departure by adding Justice’s photo to a department “Wall of Fame”, beside Gene Martin and W. E. Wright.
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JUSTICE RETIRES
SPANN TO LEAD ARKANSAS BEEF Donette Spann has been named administrator of the Arkansas Beef Council, the farmer-funded promotion agency that oversees and administers the Beef Checkoff Program in Arkansas. She replaces the recently retired Travis Justice.
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in the middle of a crisis.” The crises being the cattle market crash of ’74 and COVID-19 in 2020. Justice was born and raised in southwest Oklahoma, where he grew up showing animals at the fair and involved in FFA, and where he eventually married his wife Emma. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University. He started at ArFB as he was finishing his master’s degree and worked under the guidance of W.F. Wright. A reception was held Sept. 3 for friends, family, colleagues and industry leaders to celebrate his retirement.
Spann has worked since 2001 as promotions director for the Arkansas Beef Council, where she led consumer education efforts, including outreach efforts concerning the purchase, preparation, cooking and food safety for beef products. A native of Niangua, Mo., Spann holds
VOLUNTARY SMOKE MANAGEMEN Arkansas farmers are being encouraged to use the Voluntary Smoke Management Guidelines for row crop burning. These measures for have been developed to provide guidance for safe, efficient prescribed burning that causes as little inconvenience to the public as possible. The Arkansas Agriculture Department’s (AAD) Dispatch Center coordinates prescribed fire activities, reports fire weather and assists with voluntary smoke management. Farmers should notify the AAD Dispatch Center on the morning of the prescribed fire by calling 1-800-830-8015. Prescribed fires reported to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture Dispatch Center are listed to keep residents informed about possible smoke in the area for short periods. Recommended weather conditions to keep smoke away from populated areas and general safety tips are provided for all
CONGRESS APPROVES RURAL ME The House and Senate recently passed a Farm Bureausupported measure designed to help farmers respond to stress and decrease the stigma associated with mental health care in rural communities. The Seeding Rural Resilience Act was included in each chamber’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act. Safety Seats | Recently Lafayette County Farm Bureau partnered with the Stamps Rotary Club to purchase eight child safety seats for The Call in Columbia and Lafayette counties. These car seats were presented to Krista Hamlin, The Call County Coordinator, at the Stamps Rotary Club weekly meeting. The seats will specifically benefit local children currently in foster care. Pictured are Lafayette County Farm Bureau MSRs Linda Goodner and Ashley Allen. 2
Passage of the bill is part of Farm Bureau’s efforts to reduce the stigma surrounding the topic of mental health in rural communities and to provide relevant information to farm families on this important topic. The Seeding Rural Resilience Act would create three initiatives to promote mental wellness and mental health awareness in rural America: • A farmer-facing employee training program that requires
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F COUNCIL a degree in animal science from Missouri State University. She is a board member for Arkansas Women in Agriculture, and a past volunteer for Riverfest. “Donette is well known to Arkansas cattle producers,” said Caleb Plyler of Hope, chairman of the Arkansas Beef Council. “She has been a very visible part of the efforts of the Arkansas Beef Council for the past two decades, and we are excited about the energy and vision she will bring to this role. “With more than 18 years as its promotions director, Donnette knows the Arkansas Beef Council better than anyone. This is a well-deserved promotion for her, and we know she will do a great job for the Arkansas beef industry,” said Evan Teague, vice president of commodity and regulatory affairs for ArFB.
NT FOR ROW CROP BURNING Arkansans who use prescribed fire as a management tool. Farmers should also complete the short Safe Burning Checklist as part of their crop management plan and before starting a prescribed fire. This checklist includes: • Taking extra precautions for smoke sensitive areas and ensuring they are not threatened (highways, residents, communities, etc.) • Making official notifications to the AAD Dispatch Center • Checking to be sure relative humidity is above 20% • Checking to make sure wind speed is less than 15 mph • Following appropriate Smoke Category Day guidelines
Backpack Program | The Lonoke County Farm Bureau recently made four $1,500 donations to local schools for the Backpack Program. The money will aid in efforts to provide students participating in the program with a backpack filled with nutritious food for the weekends. Pictured are Lonoke County Farm Bureau President Hal Hillman and Emily Shaw of Carlisle Schools.
Voluntary Smoke Management Guidelines, resources and additional information are available at www.agriculture.arkansas. gov/forestry/arkansas-voluntary-smoke-management-guidelines.
ENTAL HEALTH BILL USDA to provide voluntary stress–management training to employees at the Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency and National Resources Conservation Service. • A partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services and USDA to create a $3 million PSA to increase public awareness of farm and ranch stress and destigmatize mental health care in rural communities. • Collaboration among state, local and non-governmental stakeholders, led by the secretary of agriculture, to determine best practices for responding to farm and ranch mental stress. The House and Senate must negotiate a single national defense authorization bill before it goes to the president for his signature.
County Fair | Searcy County Farm Bureau helped promote and sponsor the Searcy County. Instead of a fair booth, Searcy County Farm Bureau this year made a $500 donation to the premium sale jackpot. Randy Clark is shown presenting the check to Fair Board President Rita Yarbrough.
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MARKET NEWS as of September, 2020 Contact Brandy Carroll 501-228-1268 brandy.carroll@arfb.com
Deadline for Updating Yields for Safety-Net Programs Nears The USDA Farm Service Agency is reminding farmers of their opportunity to update Price Loss Coverage and Agriculture Risk Coverage yields before Sep. 30. This is the first opportunity farmers have had to update their yields since 2014. The updated yield will be equal to 90% of the average yield per planted acre in crop years 20132017, excluding any year where the applicable covered commodity was not planted and is subject to the ratio obtained by dividing the 2008-2012 average national yield by the 20132017 average yield for the covered yield for the covered commodity. For more information, reference resources and decision tools, visit farmers.gov/arc-plc. Contact your local FSA office for assistance. Rice USDA released its September Crop Production and Supply/Demand reports on Friday. Beginning stocks for 2020-21 have been cut by 2 million cwt. Imports were raised by 800,000 cwt. The 2020 crop estimate was raised by 6.9 million cwt to 225 million on increased harvested area. The average yield was down 71 lbs. per acre to 7,529 pounds. Long grain production was raised 9.8 million cwt to 168.9 million, while medium and short grain production was cut 3 million cwt to 56 million. All rice ending stocks for 2020-21 were increased to 45.9 million cwt. As a result of those changes to the supply/demand balance sheet, USDA cut the projected season-average price by 10 cents per cwt. to $12.60. 4
The November chart is showing signs of topping, but the uptrend remains intact for now. The recent high of $12.67 could prove to be tough resistance on additional strength. Corn USDA re-surveyed farmers in Iowa after a derecho resulted in a wide swath of damaged and destroyed crops across the state on Aug. 10. As a result, the corn harvested for grain estimate was lowered by 550,000 acres. Yields are still expected to set a record of 178.5 bushels per acre. That’s down 3.3 bushels from the August report, but up 11.1 bushels from 2019. Harvested acres are now pegged at 83.5 million acres, and total production is pegged at 14.9 billion bushels. The supply/demand report reflected the reduced production, and also a lower corn for ethanol estimate and increased exports. The net result was the ending stocks estimate lowered 253 million bushels from the August report. The projected average on-farm price was raised 40 cents to $3.50/ bushel. December futures continue to trend higher with the next level of resistance at $3.70. Soybeans Drought and damaging weather resulted in the USDA cutting their projected yield, but maybe not as much as analysts were expecting. The new estimate is 51.9 bushels per acre, down from 53.3 bushels in August. That would still set a new record, but does reflect a 112 million bushel cut in total production, pegging the crop at 4.3 billion bushels. More active exports in recent weeks have resulted in a decrease in the 2020-21 beginning stocks estimate, and crush and exports were unchanged from the previous report. The net result of the report are ending stocks of 460 million bushels, down 150 million from last month, and a 90–cent increase in the projected on-farm price, which is now pegged at $9.25 per bushel. Cotton Cotton production was lowered by 1 million bales to 17.1 million bales. That is down 6% from the August report and 14% from 2019. Yields
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are still projected to set a record high of 910 pounds per harvested acre. That is down 28 lbs. from the August projection but up 87 lbs. from 2019. The mill use projection for 2020-21 was also lower, but still expected to increase 16% from the dismal numbers in 2019-20 as COVID decimated demand. Exports and ending stocks were decreased 400,000 bales, reflecting reduced U.S. supply and stronger foreign competition. Ending stocks for 2020-21 are currently pegged at 42% of use at 7.2 million bales. The projected season-average price was pegged at 59 cents per pound, unchanged from the August report. The December contract has developed tough resistance in the form of a potential double-top at 66.45 cents. Livestock, Poultry, and Dairy The forecast for 2020 total red meat and poultry production was lowered from last month as lower pork and broiler production more than offset higher beef and turkey production. For 2021, the total red meet and poultry forecast is reduced from the previous month on lower expected beef, pork, and broiler production. Beef production was reduced on lower expected slaughter and lighter carcass weights. Pork production was also reduced on lighter expected carcass weights. Broiler production is projected to be reduced on slower growth as the industry adjusts to higher feed costs. The milk production forecast for 2020 was raised from the previous month on higher growth in milk per cow. The all milk price forecast was lowered to $17.75/cwt. For 2021, the milk production forecast was increased, again on stronger anticipated growth in milk per cow. The all milk price forecast was lowered to $17/cwt for 2021.
EDITOR Ashley Wallace ashley.wallace@arfb.com