Autumn Ag

Monday, August 31, 2015

Ag society starts fair foundation

Funding available for filter strips

Fairgrounds gets a new foundation Funds will be used for fair, events, grandstand and more

By Trey Mewes

trey.mewes@austindailyherald.com

The Mower County Agricultural Society is investing in the future of the county fairgrounds.

The Mower County Fair Board, the board of directors elected from the agricultural society, has created a foundation for the fairgrounds, in essence a trust the society can one day use for the fair, events at the fairground and more.

“The concept is good,” said John Mueller, president of this year’s fair board.

Ag society members created the foundation in June through the Austin Area Foundation, which will oversee the foundation’s fund rather than the board, which elects new members every year.

“By having the Austin Area Foundation oversee the fund, we felt like we have stability,” Muel-

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ler said.

Though the fund was created with $5,000 to start, more money has poured in from the Mower County Farm Bureau and other area agriculture-related organizations. The Mower County Farm Bureau gave $1,000 to the foundation during this year’s fair.

Though the foundation is starting small, Mueller hopes more area residents will contribute to the fund through estate planning, land grants or direct gifts to the foundation over the next few years. The ag society will only be able to use a small percentage of the fund each year, so ag society members expect to grow the foundation for a few years before they use its money.

“It’s obviously going to be beneficial to not just the current fairgrounds, but to future generations also,” he said.

Eli Connor-Olson, 3, feeds a goat a carrot at the Mower County Fair Wednesday afternoon. Herald file photo

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Funding available for set aside program Filter strips help keep nutrients, sediments from waterways

By Michelle Jensen

FSA CRP Program Technician, For the Herald

The Mower County Farm Service Agency wants farmers and landowners to know the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has once again become a viable tool for conservation planning on their farm.

This federal program pays an annual rental payment to set aside cropped farmland for a 10- to 15-year contract. Michelle Janssen, CRP program technician said producers are encouraged to consider enrolling in one of the nationally available Continuous practices which includes buffers. Continuous practices are available year round and are not competitive against any

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Conservation Reserve Program funds are available for filter strips between farmland and waterways. Herald file photo ranking or points system.

The majority of CRP practices require that cropland have a minimum four years of crop history. Popular practices under the CRP umbrella in Mower County include: Filter Strips are seeded to native grasses; planted 30 feet

to 120 feet immediately adjacent to perennial creeks or streams.

Filter Strips help filter nutrients and sediments before they enter above ground water sources.

Grassed Waterways are shaped and designed grassed areas up to 100’ wide; they are used to convey

field runoff and decrease soil erosion in cropped fields. The final types of popular CRP practices in Mower County are wetland restorations and pheasant habitats.

These practices typically enroll small blocks up to entire fields of cropland. They are seeded to multiple species of native grasses and forbs that help provide beneficial wildlife habitat and feed sources for nesting birds, as well as offer a filtering area for water to pass through on its way underground.

These practices, can be used as an effort to keep rivers and streams clean in Mower County and surrounding areas, as well as provide critical habitat for wildlife and sometimes slow the speed at which water travels through the county to reduce downstream flooding events.

This past June, CRP rental rates increased for these environmentally sensitive areas. CRP currently pays $240 to $447 per acre per year — depending on soil types — with the average contract paying about $300

/ acre. Landowners arrange to have required native grasses and forbs planted on their contract acres.

Some areas may qualify for up to 90 percent cost share assistance towards the practice establishment, and many also offer a $100 / acre signing bonus.

Although CRP isn’t meant to be competitive with grain prices or cash rent on farmland, it is considered an important tool when applied adjacent to ditches and stream banks to keep unwanted runoff from entering waterways.

Mower County has more than 1,000 contracts in CRP covering roughly 6,700 acres, but perhaps the greatest benefit is peace of mind. CRP land can be filled with flowers and draws in deer, turkeys, pheasants, insects, several species of song birds as well as many other wildlife animals.

Anyone looking to enroll in the CRP program can contact the Mower County Farm Service Agency and ask for Michelle at 507-433-2343. ext 114.

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Reps tour biodiesel plant near Albert Lea

By Sam Wilmes Albert Lea Tribune

ALBERT LEA — Two Minnesota House agriculture committees got a first-hand look into the biodiesel industry in Southern Minnesota last week.

Members of the Minnesota House Agriculture Finance Committee and the Minnesota House Agriculture Policy Committee, including Rep. Peggy Bennett, R-Albert Lea, toured the Renewable Energy Group biodiesel refinery south of Albert Lea Tuesday afternoon.

Bennett said the tour was a vital part of her job.

“It’s important to see how the things we are doing in St. Paul are connecting to what people are doing throughout the state,” Bennett said. “This is really interesting.”

She said it balances the relationship between lawmakers and constituents.

“So often people down here have to come to us,” she said. “It’s good that we can come down here. It’s good for communication.”

Bennett said she is seeking to eliminate discord between the state and local residents with regulations and rules.

Scott Hedderich, director of corporate affairs at REG, presented a slideshow describing the plant’s operations and biodiesel industry.

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the inner workings of the industry. The lawmakers were then taken on a tour of the facility and were given a detailed description of the physical workings inside the plant.

The two committees are on a two-day state tour. Prior to coming to Albert Lea Tuesday, lawmakers were in Faribault and Austin.

“This gives them the first-hand opportunity of seeing what biodiesel does for southern Minnesota,” said Mike Youngerberg, senior director of field services at Minnesota Soybean Growers Association.

Rep. Nels Pierson, R-Rochester, was pleased with the tour.

“This was great,” Pierson said. “I’ve had quite a tour in southeastern Minnesota today.

It’s been interesting to see all the automation and ergonomic improvements plants have made in the last 20 years.”

REG Albert Lea is a commercial-scale biodiesel production facility. The multi-feedstock refinery manufactures approximately 30 million gallons of high-quality biodiesel a year, according to the District 27A Rep. Peggy Bennett, R-Albert Lea, sits in on a presentation on the REG biodiesel refinery near Albert company .

Lea last week. Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune The biodiesel plant be gan benefits.

Hedderich said biodiesel adds ities at the company’s plants. production in April 2005. REG He said REG generates value Hedderich fielded questions acquired the facility in 2011 and value to a bushel of soybeans, steers and hogs. He described in many ways, including ener- from lawmakers and profession- completed multi-feedstock techtechnology and upgrade capabil- gy security and environmental als in the biodiesel business about nology upgrades in 2013.

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Farm profits to fall second consecutive year Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa — It will be a less profitable year for farmers as low grain, milk and hog prices cut into income, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials say.

The abundance of grain leftover from last year’s crop and 2015’s anticipated harvest of the third-largest corn crop and second-largest soybean crop on record have kept prices below the cost of production, while the cost of seed, fertilizer and land has dropped only slightly.

Net farm income is expected to decline 36 percent to $58.3 billion, the USDA said in a report released Tuesday. That’s down from last year’s $91.1 billion and the lowest in nine years.

Just two years ago, net farm income was the highest ever, $123.7 billion. Last year, sliding grain prices

cent. Expenses, however, won’t drop very far — less than 1 percent.

The pinch will translate into many farmers having to dip into savings or increase borrowing.

“A lot of the cash reserves that we’ve built up over the past few years, that’s what we’re burning through right now to offset this lost income,” said Chad Hart, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University.

Farm debt is forecast to increase by 5.8 percent, the report said, but that “financial risk ratios remain in acceptable ranges for now.”

Those who rent land have operated without profit for six years as rental prices soared with higher land values, according to Jerry Main, who plants corn and soybeans on about 500 acres were offset in part by re- year, both are down; crop 6.2 percent and livestock re- of his own land and some cord livestock prices. This receipts are expected to fall ceipts will be down 9.1 per- rented in southeast Iowa.

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Farmers who own land fare better but low prices are having a financial impact, he said.

“My banker told me last spring that the year 2014 showed a lot of red ink for farmers and for 2015 at today’s cor n and soybean prices it’s even worse,” Main said.

Agriculture-dependent businesses are showing signs of stress, too.

Deere & Co., the world’s biggest far m equipment manufacturer, laid off more than 1,000 workers in Iowa and Illinois factories this year. And Tyson Foods will end beef production at an Iowa plant, a move that affected 400 people.

Government payments including crop insurance, price support programs and disaster relief to farmers are projected to rise 16 percent to $11. 4 billion this year.

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Farmers’ extra produce goes to hungry families — and less is wasted

By Maja Beckstrom St. Paul Pioneer Press

ST. PAUL — The four white tents in the parking lot at West 7th Community Center in St. Paul looked just like a small farmers’ market. Tables were piled with bagged potatoes, watermelon, cabbages the size of bowling balls, mounds of green peppers and crates of sweet corn.

And all of it was free.

“Produce is so expensive these days. I go to the store and get five or six items and it’s like $50! This is a huge help,” said Miranda Lozano, one of dozens of people who braved the rain on Wednesday to fill her bags with produce. The single mother said she quit her job as a janitorial supervisor after she was cut to seven hours a week and is trying to make ends meet until she starts a new job as a school cafeteria worker in September. Her monthly food assistance payments get her through only the first half of each month.

“By the end of the month we barely have anything left,” she said. “Maybe a

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couple cans, and I try to keep milk and bread in the house.” Last week, however, she and her kids feasted on grilled sweet corn.

The pop-up morning market is a new program of Keystone Community Services and part of a larger effort by food bank Second Harvest Heartland to get surplus produce grown by Minnesota farmers onto the tables of low-income Minnesota families. Farm fields are the next big source of food for the hungry, according to Second Harvest, the giant food bank that stocks 1,000 food shelves in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. It piloted a program to collect unharvested crops for several years with private funding. Last year, it dramatically ramped up with a $2 million state grant spread over three years to reimburse growers for the costs of harvesting and delivering produce that would otherwise go to waste.

From July 2014, when the program started, through Julyof this year, the food bank collected 7 million pounds of everything

from cantaloupe to kohlrabi. The influx of fresh produce has challenged food shelves to come up with new ways to push perishable food quickly out into the community before it spoils. But it’s a good problem to have, said chief executive Rob Zeaske.

The farmers

Farmers love the program and say it gives them an outlet for perfectly good food that they can’t sell. Last year, more than 50 farmers were reimbursed $750,000 for the cost of harvesting and transporting produce. Second Harvest received nearly $82,500 for the cost of running the program.

Some farmers would have donated to food shelves without the reimbursement, including Elk River potato grower Tom Wingard. He usually has russets at the end of the season that no one will buy because they are misshaped or the wrong size.

Since the potatoes are already out of the ground, he incurs little additional cost in giving them away.

“We would go to a food shelf one way or another,” he said. “But in a year when you don’t make a lot of money, it helps,” he said about the few cents a pound he got last year.

“It’s an avenue for moving potatoes that we had trouble moving.”

Most surplus produce in the state, however, was previously going to waste.

Sweet corn growers like Mark and Pam Chmielewski in Foley, Minn., plant successive fields in the spring so the corn ripens in waves starting in mid-July. But weather can throw off the timing. In past years when they were stuck with excess ripe corn that the stores wouldn’t buy, their only options were to plow it back into the soil or chop it up for animal feed. Three years ago the Chmielewskis started selling the surplus to Second Harvest.

“This works out great for us,” said Mark Chmielewski. “Now they’re able to give us 13 cents a pound and it covers the labor costs, at least.”

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From Page 6

“I had a crying breakdown yesterday.

The cost of food alone is unbelievable.”

Gary Pahl, who farms 1,000 acres in Dakota and Scott counties, has sent Second Harvest crooked cucumbers, cabbage nearing the end of its shelf life, excess sweet corn and other vegetables.

“Last year, one of the most touching things was when one of my employees said, ‘Just think, someone is going to get at an apartment complex in Highland to eat tonight because of this.’ “ Pahl said. Park and at two elementary schools. The nonprofit organization distributed 280,000 pounds of produce last year at the events.

The distribution system “That’s a huge jump in the amount of These tons of fresh produce have prefresh vegetables,” said food support mansented a challenge to the food shelves.

“Our partner agencies need to be ready ager Christine Miller. It’s an amount she to handle much more perishable food, and never could have handled inside the Neighfaster,” said Second Harvest CEO Zeaske. borhood House food shelves.

Second Harvest has also helped several “And throughout the system we’re trying nonprofit food shelves start distribution to figure out how to do this.”

To handle the produce, food shelves have events, including Christian Cupboard at added more refrigeration to keep produce Transfiguration Catholic Church in Oakcool, expanded hours and picked up food or dale and Merrick Community Services, which will hold nine free markets this seahad it delivered more frequently.

But by far the most common response son in the parking lot of Woodland Hills Church at the edge of St. Paul and Maplehas been the one-time outdoor market.

Neighborhood House will hold 28 pro- wood.

Keystone is trying to be creative about duce distributions in St. Paul this summer and fall. The twice-monthly event in how to get veggies to people, pushing the parking lot at the Wellstone Center on produce at its three food shelves on Rice the West Side draws a couple of hundred Street, in the Midway neighborhood and people. Smaller crowds line up for veggies in Roseville, and through a new mobile once a month outside satellite programs, food truck. It also started what it is calling

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—Ronnie Sprigler “free farmers’ markets” monthly at two sites and inviting anyone with an income that is less than twice the federal poverty threshold, which is slightly under $50,000 for a family of four.

The people

People who lined up for the market Wednesday at West 7th Community Center were grateful for the produce.

“This is like trick-or-treating,” one woman said cheerfully to her 6-year-old grandson as he held out a bag and a volunteer dropped in a big cabbage. Her daughter and grandkids had moved in with her after a divorce, and the food helped them all out.

Hayden Kilkenny, a mother of four who lives just blocks away, was there the second month in a row because her husband is starting his own construction business and money is tight.

Ronnie Sprigler came because of a glitch in her son’s benefits.

“Things have been rough,” said Sprigler as she pulled a red wagon loaded with produce to her truck while keeping one eye on her son Joey, 21, who has autism and is prone to bolt into traffic.

“Joey stand by mommy,” she said as she crossed the street. Sprigler works as a special education assistant for St. Paul Public Schools and took the summer off to help Joey practice basic living skills. She has been without income for three weeks because the county paperwork that would allow her to be paid for caring for her son was not processed properly.

“I had a crying breakdown yesterday,” she said. “The cost of food alone is unbelievable.”

On this day, Sprigler seemed upbeat and determined as she ushered Joey into the pickup cab and jumped into the bed of the truck in flip-flops to reposition a couple of crates of sweet corn.

She planned to spend the day boiling and freezing corn, making mounds of coleslaw and cooking cabbage meatballs.

By the end of the morning, the eight volunteers and four staff had given out about 6,000 pounds to 81 households. “I’d say we did very well, considering the weather,” said Christine Pulver, Keystone’s director of basic needs.

This was the last free market of the season, but next year she plans to offer more.

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The living soil

Cover crops will promote healthy microorganisms

By Steve Lawler,

Resource Specialist, Mower SWCD

Living microorganisms are so small that you need a microscope to see them all. However, without microorganisms the soil would be nothing but a massive block of sand, silt and clay. To thrive, microorganisms need actively growing roots for energy. Adding cover crops to your management will promote a thriving population and diversity of living microorganisms.

Cover crops can often be planted after late harvested crops with success. Planting cover crops after early harvested canning crops and corn silage is very successful.

What is a cover crop, you may ask? Cover crops are the plants that are grown to build organic matter (including microorgan-

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isms), improve soil infiltration, reduce erosion and suppress weeds, diseases and pests. Cover crops can also be used as a feed source for livestock producers. These benefits don’t stop when field crops stop growing. Cover crop root systems will feed soil microorganisms beyond the normal growing season.

In return, the landowner is the recipient of the benefits above as well as a better crop the following growing season.

The soils on your farm cannot be taken for granted. Erosion causes irreplaceable soil loss that neither human effort nor nature can replace. Poor soil health causes crop and environmental damage. Cover crops provide the tool for farmers to address both. By keeping the soil covered with plants beyond the nor-

mal growing season, the resource is protected from the elements that Mother Nature sends us. At the same time, the quality of the soil resource will improve as well. This practice can dramatically improve the condition of our soils within our lifetime, but the true benefactor will be the next generation. As Hugh Bennett said “If we are bold in our thinking, courageous in accepting new ideas, and willing to work with instead of against our land, we shall find in conservation farming an avenue to the greatest food production the world has ever known — not only for the war, but for the peace that is to follow.”

If you any questions, contact Steve Lawler at 507-434-2603 or steve.lawler@mowerswcd.org

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Soybean farmers eye new markets to the east

By Tim Krohn Mankato Free Press

MANKATO — A product unfamiliar to most in the Midwest could be a major market for soybean growers.

“A fuel grown here has a home out East,” said Paul Nazzaro, president of Nazzaro Group.

For years, soybean oil has been blended with diesel to create biodiesel, offering a renewable and cleaner-burning fuel for semi trucks and other diesel engines.

But since the early 2000s, soybean oil has been blended with heating oil to warm homes and businesses across the eastern and northeastern United States.

“Biodiesel has reinvented the heating oil industry,” said Nazzaro on Wednesday during a Biodiesel & Bioheat Forum, sponsored by the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council.

Soy biodiesel is mixed at a 5 percent blend with heating oil and the next goal is to increase the blend to 20 percent and more.

Speakers at the forum said the pluses include meeting ever tougher renewable fuel standards, economic benefits, less dependence on foreign oil and environmen-

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“A fuel grown here has a home in the East.”

— Paul Nazzaro, president of Nazzaro Group

tal benefits.

John Huber, president of the National Oilheat Research Alliance, said they have proven that even high-blend biofuels are safe in heating-oil systems and said they can help meet ambitious renewable fuel standards being set in many states.

“The states we operate in — all the heating-oil states — are progressive states worried about global warming.”

The speakers said the keys to success for

increased use of biofuels is to maintain tax credits that help defray the higher cost of biofuels until they become more equal in cost to fossil fuels and to challenge the lobbying and marketing power of oil, natural gas and large utility companies.

“Natural gas is the Achille’s heel of the biofuel industry,” Nazzaro said. “They have a lot more money for marketing.”

As natural gas prices are relatively low, the industry is moving to cut into the heat-

ing oil business in the northeast.

Huber said biofuel heating oil lines up as good or better environmentally to natural gas.

The oilheat industry distributes about 7 billion gallons of fuel oil each year, meaning a 5 percent biodiesel blend in all oilheat would translate to 350 million gallons of biodiesel a year.

Tom Slunecka, CEO of the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council, said the heating oil market ties in perfectly with the demands for biodiesel.

“The Midwest use of biodiesel is lower in the winter while the East Coast use of heating oil is much higher. Minnesota has an opportunity to grow our supply and better serve both markets.”

As for tax credit for biodiesel, the outlook is uncertain in Congress.

The Senate Finance Committee recently passed a bill that would extend incentives for biodiesel and renewable diesel for two years, through 2016. It is part of a package of incentives for renewable energy from wind to solar and fuels.

But its chances in the full Senate remain unclear.

—Distributed by the Associated Press

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Fast facts about Minnesota’s water quality buffer initiative

The new Minnesota buffer initiative was signed into law earlier this year, designating an estimated 110,000 acres of land for water quality buffer strips statewide. The law establishes new perennial vegetation buffers of up to 50 feet along rivers, streams, and ditches that will help filter out phosphorus, nitrogen and sediment. The new law provides flexibility and financial support for landowners to install and maintain buffers, and boost compliance with buffer laws. Here are some fast facts on the initiative from the Minnesota Department of Natural Reseources.

• Lead agencies —Effort is being lead by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, DNR, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

•Studies by the Pollution Control Agency show that buffer are critical to protecting and restoring water quality and healthy aquatic life, natural stream functions and aquatic habitat due to its immediate proximity to the water.

However, buffers will not solve every water-quality problem.

• Buffers will be required on public waters and public drainage systems. The DNR will establish and maintain a map of each county that shows the waters that are subject to the buffer requirements. Additionally, other waters may be subject to local requirements established by Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

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• Local Implementation — SWCDs will implement the buffer requirement, including planning, technical assistance to landowners, approval of alternative practices, and tracking and reporting progress.

• Help with Compliance — If a landowner is out of compliance with the requirement, the county or watershed district will provide a correction letter and work with the landowner on a reasonable timetable for completion.

• Penalties for Noncompliance — Counties and watershed districts, with assistance from the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), may issue an order requiring violations be corrected and administratively assess monetary penalties for violations.

• State Level Enforcement — The state may withhold funds from a local government for failure to

implement buffer requirements.

• Additional Enforcement Authority — If the local government chooses not to take action, BWSR can use its Administrative Penalty Order authority and issue a penalty and fine.

Funding

• Funds for Landowners — Landowners can use federal Farm Bill resources, such as CRP, to get buffers installed. Other state program conservation dollars, such as Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) easements are also available. Landowners may also be eligible to be reimbursed by the drainage authority.

• Additional Federal Funds — Governor Dayton is committed to working with the federal government to provide funds through the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). This allows landowners to

take their land out of production in exchange for payments.

He has proposed $20 million in bonding to match the $18 million appropriated through the 2016-17 Legacy Amendment bill.

• Funds for Local Agencies — The initiative provides $5 million from the Clean Water Fund for SWCDs to work directly with landowners in order to find the best solution for their property.

SWCDs are also receiving $22 million from the Clean Water Fund to boost local capacity. It is anticipated that this funding will be transferred to the General Fund in the next biennium.

What’s required?

• 110,000 Acres of Vegetation — The bill will establish perennial vegetation buffers of up to 50 feet along lakes, rivers, streams and ditches.

•The buffer width will be an average of 50 feet on public

waters.

•The buffer width will be a minimum of 16.5 feet on public ditches • Buffer widths on other waters will be determined by soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs) • Landowners retain use of the buffer, as long as perennial vegetation is maintained.

• Landowners may choose to adopt other practices aimed at protecting water if those practices provide the same level of protection as a buffer.

• There are exceptions for areas covered by a road, buildings or other structures; areas enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP); public or private water access or recreational use areas; and municipalities in compliance with federal and state storm water requirements.

—Source: Minnesota DNR.

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How will the DNR map areas that will now require buffers?

•Buffer protection map — The DNR will create a buffer protection map that will include the public waters subject to the statewide 50’ average width buffer requirement and the Public Drainage System ditches that are subject to the statewide 16.5 minimum width buffer requirement. The DNR is receiving $650,000 from the Clean Water Fund in order to complete the maps.

Key dates the buffer bill will take effect

When will that happen?

The DNR anticipates completing the buffer protection map by about July 2016.

How will public water be defined under the law?

The buffer protection map will depict public waters, as defined in Minnesota Statute 103G.005, subdivision 15, that are subject to the requirements of the new buffer law. The buffer protection map does not otherwise update the Public Waters Inventory as it relates to any other requirements.

—Source: Minnesota DNR.

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• July 2017 — Local water resources riparian protection requirements will be developed by July 1, 2017 • November 2017 — Buffers on public waters will be in place by November 1, 2017 • November 2018 — Buffers on public drainage systems will be in place by Nov. 1, 2018

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Ample rain, warmth fuels bumper sweet corn crop

By Nancy Madsen Mankato Free Press

MANKATO — Sweet corn enthusiasts may argue about the best way to cook sweet corn, but they can agree this year’s crop has been a bumper one.

Brad Sasse, owner of Sasse Farms in Le Sueur County, said “It’s just been awesome.

I think the quality and quantity has been good and sales are doing really well.”

His family’s sweet corn growing started 15 years ago as method for his sons to raise money for a fishing trip to Canada. Now, the family grows 17 acres of sweet corn, primarily at the Le Sueur Farmers Market.

“One variety froze in early May,” Sasse said. “Other than that, everything’s been great.”

A key ingredient for corn is rain.

“We’ve had ample rain and that’s probably the main thing,” he said.

Judy Anderson, owner of Anderson Truck Farm, Lake Crystal, said her crop has been about normal. A hot spell in recent weeks pushed a bunch of corn plantings together.

“They are kind of ripening all at the same time,” she said. “When we get the hot weather, it pushes the sweet corn fields together.”

Mary Meyer, a University of Minnesota professor and extension horticulturist, said many garden crops have done well this summer.

“It has been a great year for lots of garden crops or vegetable crops,” she said. “We’ve had an almost perfect growing season. We never had a summer drought this summer and we didn’t have the hottest weather, but we did have warm weather.”

Some gardeners and sweet corn growers may have been hurt by a recent hail storm, like she was.

With early warmth this year, growers got an early start to the season, Meyer said.

From here, longer nights and cooler days mean corn doesn’t need much more rain.

“We don’t want frost and, hopefully, through September, we won’t have to worry about a frost,” she said. “That’s really the main thing.”

—Distributed by Tribune Content Agency

Agritourism growth sparks concerns over safety, liability Associated Press

SOUTH HERO, Vt. — As more farms open themselves up to visitors for apple picking, hay rides and some extra income, experts are advising owners to take steps to prevent accidents — be they small or fatal.

Farming is one of the more dangerous occupations in the U.S. mostly due to the machinery and equipment, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But a growing interest in local food has led to agritourism becoming a big business, with the number of U.S. farms reporting incomefrom such activities rising 42 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to the latest Census of Agriculture.

Adding urbanites, who may not be familiar with hazards such as irrigation ponds or farm equipment that could pique a child’s interest, can be a recipe for accidents. So, experts say farmers have to purchase the proper insurance, know where the hazards are and keep tourists away from those areas. Doing so can prevent injuries, lawsuits and notoriety and keep farms in business.

It isn’t known how many agritourism-related injuries have occurred in the

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U.S., said Marsha Salzwedel, an agritourism safety specialist with the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Two people were killed last year: A teenager who, along with other riders, was thrown off a hayride trailer into trees in Maine and a 2-year-old girl who was pinned when a van shuttling passengers from a New Jersey farm’s harvest festival rolled into another van.

But, Salzwedel said, “the majority of these incidents if not all of them are pretty much preventable.”

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