TWO MAJOR BILLS — concealed car r y and a proposal to force consolidation of local units of government — are voted down in the state legislature. .................3
THIS ISSUE MARKS the end of the reports from Brazil for the 2010-11 season. Harvest there is wrapping up as many farmers here hope to get started planting. ..........7
A WHEAT TOUR is scheduled later this month in Southern Illinois. Concerns about wheat scab are surfacing because of all the wet weather. ..............................9
Monday, May 9, 2011
Two sections Volume 39, No. 19
Planting creeps along; cold temps slow development BY DANIEL GRANT FarmWeek
Planters finally started to roll in some areas of the state last week, but planting progress still is well behind the average pace. Illinois farmers planted just 10 percent of the corn crop in April, compared to the five-year average of 46 percent. Last year, 85 percent of the state’s corn crop was in the ground as of May 1. “Saturated fields and flooding have been a problem at some locations, especially along the Illinois, Mississippi, (and Ohio) Rivers,” the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Illinois field office reported. In Cairo, the Ohio River last Monday (May 2) crested at a record 61.72 feet. The town as of Friday still was being protected by levees and, after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blasted a levee on the Missouri side, the river at Cairo was pro-
jected to drop below 59.5 feet over the weekend. The controversial decision to blast the Birds Point levee flooded about 200 square miles of Missouri farmland. The Missouri Farm Bureau estimated damage from the flood may exceed $100 million. Rainfall in Illinois for the month of April averaged a recordhigh 7.45 inches while the temperature averaged a halfdegree below normal at 52.6 degrees, according to the Illinois State Water Survey. Topsoil moisture the first of last week was rated 68 percent surplus and 32 percent adequate. Darrel Good, University of Illinois Extension economist, believes there still is time for farmers to plant corn despite the late start. USDA in March projected Illinois farmers will plant 12.8 million acres of corn, up 2 percent from a year ago.
“Most of the intended corn frost to some portions of the growing vigorously, so that will crop likely will get planted,” state. help protect them (from freezing Good said. “So, the most “It did some damage,” Emer- temperatures),” Nafziger said. important factor will become son Nafziger, University of IlliCorn that was planted before summer weather.” nois Extension crop systems April 15 that has not emerged Planting progress in the state specialist, said of temperatures by this week, though, could be actually was further behind in that dipped into the high-20s. lost. 2009 when just 5 percent of “Corn on the edges of some “Some reports say corn corn was in the ground as of fields browned up.” seedlings are showing the twistMay 1. But the corn yield in However, Nafziger noted very ed growth and root proliferation 2009 still averaged 174 bushels little of the corn crop (3 percent) that we associate with chilling per acre in the state compared was emerged as of last week so injury,” Nafziger noted. “Such to just 157 bushels last year frost damage should be minimal. seedlings often fail to emerge when much of the corn was “Corn plants haven’t been and may require replanting.” planted by May 1. “In 2009, extremely favorable summer weather extended the growing season and more than compensated for planting delays,” said Good, who noted the uniformly favorable conditions of the summer of 2009 are rare. The latest setback to Brian Schaumburg, Chenoa, standing on planter, and his cousin, Steve McWhorter, Colfax, planting and crop develop- last week were filling Schaumburg’s planter with corn. Schaumburg was planting a 160ment last week acre field south of Weston in McLean County. He resumed planting last week after getting was a front that just 60 acres of corn planted a few weeks ago. Schaumburg, a FarmWeek Cropwatcher, brought more said he likes to be done planting corn by April 25 and soybeans by May 5. During this very wet year, he obviously did not achieve either goal. (Photo by Ken Kashian) showers and
Senate battle over ethanol credit intensifies Periodicals: Time Valued
D.C. scrutinizing oil subsidies BY MARTIN ROSS FarmWeek
With pump prices topping $4 nationwide and petroleum profits continuing to ride high, the White House and key congressional leaders are taking aim at oil subsidies. It remained questionable, however, whether a shift in focus toward soaring oil company profits would offer policymakers and biofuels interests a respite from what advocacy group Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis termed efforts by “senators from the Oil Patch”
to target ethanol incentives. In his April 30 weekly address, President Obama called on Congress to “stop subsidizing the oil and gas industries.” “Instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, we should invest in tomorrow’s,” he said. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Tom Baucus (DMont.) seeks to halt billions in tax breaks for multinational oil companies and invest more in domestic energy. Exxon and Shell posted major gains in first-quarter 2011 profits, and Buis believes the Baucus plan “would begin to level the playing field and allow renewable, affordable ethanol to
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compete in the open market.” However, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) merely intensified his push to repeal the 45-cent-pergallon federal ethanol tax credit last week, joined by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Feinstein called ethanol incentives “fiscally irresponsible (and) environmentally unwise” (see page 5). Sen. Chuck Grassley (RIowa) responded with a proposal to trim the credit to 20 cents in 2012 and 15 cents in 2013. Under a new “variable rate” plan, the credit could rise to 30 cents for 2014-2016 if oil prices dropped below $50 a barrel, but would fall to 6 cents with $80 oil and disappear at $90.
The variable rate subsidy, which kicks in when refiners are less economically motivated to blend biofuels, would end after 2016. Buis argued “oil tax credits and coal tax credits and nuclear tax credits should be on the table as well.” “Our industry has stepped up: We will support a dramatic reform of our tax incentive program,” Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen told FarmWeek last week. “We recognize that this is not the ethanol industry of 20 years ago. A re-evaluation of the tax policies that have See Ethanol, page 5
Illinois Farm Bureau®on the web: www.ilfb.org