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FOREST CITY SUMMIT

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017 |

March 22, 2017

A look at

agriculture 2017

A supplement to the

D1

D2 | Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Forest City Summit

FILE PHOTO

Equipment is used to prepare a field for planting near Duncan in 2016.

Promoting an appreciation for ag ALLISON ULLMANN

2017 Look at Agriculture‌

‌BRITT — Agriculture is about more than what’s produced in area fields.

“Ag is a big umbrella. You can’t touch much in Britt that doesn’t have something to do with ag,” said Doug Thompson, a Hancock County Farm Bureau member. Thompson farms east of Kanawha.

Mike Hejlik, who farms near Britt, said the Hancock County Farm Bureau’s annual Ag Day Breakfast is a way to promote ag and its relationship with local businesses.

“We have an abundance of ag. The effect it has, it filters all the way through to Main Street,” fellow Britt farmer Quentin Stortenbecker said.

The Ag Day Breakfast was held on March 21 during National Ag Day. The day is part of National Ag Week.

The week, Thompson said, is all about appreciating agriculture. And promoting it to a future generation.

West Hancock and Garner-Hayfield-Ventura students were invited to this

Hejlik

Thompson

Ag year’s Day Breakfast.

“It opens their eyes to all of the businesses that promote FILE PHOTO‌ ag and that Stortenbecker deal with An area soybean field in 2016. ag,” Hejlik said. “There are a lot of opportunities locally.” consumer that our food food grown right here,” HeStortenbecker said the sources are safe. We want jlik said. breakfast also offers those students a chance to connect with local producers.

“If they have questions about ag, they have a contact to ask,” he said.

Hejlik hopes some of the students will consider a fuCHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE: www.nccoop.com ture in agriculture.

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Wednesday, March 22, 2017 | D3

Forest City Summit

First ground

measure As field preparation begins, farmers gauge soil conditions

form stands and mostly importantly, uniform emergence that can lead to maximizing yields.”

Due to flooding and excessive rainfall in several COURTNEY FIORINI areas through North Iowa 2017 Look at Agriculture‌ last fall, conditions may ‌Local farmers are looking not have been ideal when to the weather for planting farmers harvested. in North Iowa.

“This may have left ruts, “Concerns for timely planting are always forefront,” Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist Angie Rieck-Hinz said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast for March through May shows 33 to 40 percent chance of above average temperatures for most of Iowa as well as a 33 to 40 percent chance for above average precipitation for the northern third of Iowa.

“Given this forecast I would anticipate we will have normal to possibly warmer soil temperatures at planting, but soil moisture conditions might hamper planting.” RieckHinz said. “We will just have to wait and see.”

The one concern is the possibility of a wet spring that could cause delays.

Farmers are beginning to prep equipment and assess conditions before planting.

“It will be crucial to assess soil conditions prior to planting each field as conditions change from field to field,” Rieck-Hinz said.

“This will help ensure uniform planting depth, uni-

large clods and areas with standing water that won’t drain due to compaction,” Rieck-Hinz said. “Consequently, these areas may require greater attention to planting this spring or may delay planting.”

Warmer conditions in FILE PHOTO‌ Please see SPRING SEASON, Page

A farmer plants east of Britt in 2016

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D4 | Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Forest City Summit

Ag Day facts ‌What is Ag Day? It’s a day to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. Every year, producers, agricultural associations, corporations, universities, government agencies and countless others across America join together to recognize the contributions of agriculture.

Family farms continue to be strong in the U.S. Those farms supply much of the soybeans grown each year.

Corn groups: Families own, operate most farms I‌ owa has roughly 88,000 farms and 129,000 farm operators, according to data by the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

More than 97 percent of Iowa farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2012 Census of Agriculture, are owned by families.

“I believe it’s important for consumers to understand that the vast majority of farms in the United States like mine are family owned and operated,” said Iowa Corn Promotion Board President Larry Klever, a farmer from Audubon.

Of the 2.1 million farms in the United States recorded in 2012 U.S. Census of Agriculture, 97 percent were family-owned operations with the average farm size of 434 acres. And the size of the farm doesn’t dictate ownership: 88 percent of all U.S. farms are small family farms, with less than $350,000 in gross cash farm income. Nearly 9 percent are midsize or large family farms.

The average American farm feeds about 168 people worldwide, and 1 in 5

Iowans go to work because of agriculture. Iowa agriculture and ag-related industries supported 418,777 jobs

in 2012, accounting for 21 percent of total jobs in Iowa and 17 percent of household income.

When is Ag Day? Ag Day is celebrated on March 21. National Ag Day falls during National Ag Week, March 19-25.

Who hosts Ag Day? The Agriculture Council of America hosts the campaign on a national level. However, the awareness efforts in communities across America are as influential—if not more—than the broad-scale effort.

What is Ag Day all about?

Ag Day is about recognizing—and celebrating—the contribution of agriculture in our everyday lives. The National Ag Day program

encourages every American to:

Understand how food and fiber prod-

ucts are produced.

Value the essential role of agriculture

in maintaining a strong economy.

Appreciate the role agriculture plays in

providing safe, abundant and affordable products.

Why celebrate agriculture?

Agriculture provides almost everything we eat, use and wear on a daily basis. But too few people truly understand this contribution. This is particularly the case in our schools, where students may only be exposed to agriculture if they enroll in related vocational training. By building awareness, the Agriculture Council of America is encouraging young people to consider career opportunities in agriculture.

Each American farmer feeds more than 144 people ... a dramatic increase from 25 people in the 1960s. Quite simply, American agriculture is doing more—and doing it better. As the world population soars, there is an even greater demand for the food and fiber produced in the United States.

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Wednesday, March 22, 2017 | D5

Forest City Summit

New video series addresses small grains ‌To address the knowledge gap about how to grow small grains, Practical Farmers of Iowa has launched a new video series, “Rotationally Raised,” to help farmers learn key production skills.

A new full-length episode (up to 30

To help you plant & harvest for a better tomorrow

minutes) airs Fridays at 4:30 p.m. on Practical Farmers’ YouTube channel, youtube.com/pfivideos. Each episode features farmers sharing their experiences with growing small grains.

The videos include interviews with

farmers – young and old, organic and conventional, and from every corner of Iowa. Also included throughout the series are conversations with scientists at Iowa State University who study diversified rotations and small grains.

2017 PLANTER PERFORMANCE CLINIC

FILE PHOTO‌

Corn in a North Iowa field in 2016.

Spring season From D3

February and early March have caused decent growth for spring cover crops, such as cereal rye.

Rieck-Hinz said that farmers with a cereal rye cover crop may need to rethink termination since cereal rye may have more growth, more biomass to terminate prior to corn or bean planting.

Warmer temperatures this spring may bring an early arrival of insects from southern states, such as black cutworm and armyworm. Armyworms are attracted to green cover such cover crops. They may feed until the cover crop is terminated before moving to corn, Rieck-Hinz said.

“This will be a spring to scout for insect activity,” Rieck-Hinz said.

Russ Euken, an ISU Extension field specialist focusing on livestock, said that there are always concerns with each season between weather, disease, markets and more.

“It is hard to know whether anything will develop,” Euken said. “Risk management is important.”

Lower and more stable

corn prices are effecting feed costs in the industry.

“Corn is a major feed ingredient for most livestock, so feed costs increase or decrease as the price of corn goes up and down,” Euken said. “Market prices for livestock in general have been lower as well, but with lower feed costs, there are opportunities to be profitable.”

There is some concern within the industry surrounding Mexico, as some officials have threatened to no longer buy U.S. corn in response to comments made

by President Donald Trump.

Iowa State Extension Farm and Ag Business Management Specialist Kelvin Leibold said Mexico is an important trading partner, buying dried distiller grains from the ethanol industry.

A tariff would impact Iowa corn farmers, but it is still speculation, he said.

The Iowa Corn Growers and other agriculture organizations are sending letters to the Trump administration and continuing to promote U.S. Corn in Mexico.

The letters ask to continue open and duty-free access on corn, beans, pork, beef, ethanol, and dried distiller grains with Canada and Mexico.

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D6 | Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Forest City Summit

Growers seek tools to fight weeds BILL TIEDJE

Iowa Farmer Today‌

SAN ANTONIO, Texas ‌ — Farmers are considering new corn and soybean herbicides as well as proactive management strategies to fight the growing costs of herbicide resistance.

Adrian Percy, head of Bayer Crop Science’s Research and Development division, said his message to growers around the world dealing with tough weeds is “we’re working on it.”

“We’re seeing some interesting starting points,” Percy said.

He said this effort to develop new herbicides includes a new research facility in Australia as well as the company’s ongoing research in Frankfurt, Germany.

But for the next few years, wise use of available products will be important, he said.

At the Commodity Classic Mar. 2-4, effective herbicide strategies were among the topics discussed as farmers from around the country got the chance to hear about the newest products available and talk face to face with product managers.

James Mintert, director of the Center for Commercial Agriculture at Purdue University, said pesticide costs have held relatively steady since 2007, but Purdue projects pesticide costs will increase slightly in 2017.

“We’re probably looking at an environment where we are starting to see the cost of those crop production chemicals, our pesticide budget, increasing — largely a reflection of the fact that we, in many places around the country, are now battling resistant weeds and

we’ve had to go to more expensive formulations,” he said. “And even on a perbushel basis, that’s raising our cost of production.”

Willowood USA has seen rapid growth for their generic pesticides, according to Joseph Middione Jr., Willowood USA chief operating officer. Like pharmaceuticals, generic formulations for herbicides, fungicides and insecticides offer “identical” active ingredients to meet label requirements, he said.

New dicamba formulations from Monsanto, DuPont and BASF for use with Monsanto’s Xtend dicamba-tolerant soybean technology were discussed at many Classic events.

Dow’s Enlist herbicide system is “ready to launch” but awaiting Chinese import approval.

“Watch us in cotton (this year),” said John Chase, Enlist commercial leader. “We are killing waterhemp.”

MS Technologies’ Balance Bean herbicide still awaits EPA approval, but has Chinese and European Union import approval.

In corn, Dow AgroSciences’ Resicore herbicide is a new combination of three modes of action (Group 17, 27 and 4). Intended as their “top tier” product

for residual control, Dow zles and two cameras. With nizes weeds from crops and lowing for non-selective Product Manager Lyndsie pinpoint accuracy, it recog- sprays just the weeds — al- herbicide use.

Kaehler said Resicore has more “power and versatility” compared to their leading SureStart residual herbicide.

At a press conference, Syngenta said Acuron and Acuron Flexi corn herbicides with Halex GT (post) are proving to be a “good way to get ahead of resistant weeds.”

Nick Hustedde, FMC Technical Services, said there is now more of a focus on managing the soil seed bank — working to minimize the number of weed seeds available.

He said their Authority preemergence herbicides are keeping soybean fields clean early, and they recommend overlapping residuals to control weeds until canopy.

But other management techniques, like narrower rows, higher seeding or tillage, may also be needed to reduce the amount of weed seeds, he said.

Other new tools include precision spraying equipment and computer programs that model field conditions.

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Wednesday, March 22, 2017 | D7

Forest City Summit

Advocates ponder effect of consolidation NAT WILLIAMS

Iowa Farmer Today‌

Big Ag is getting big‌ ger. Is that good or bad for farmers?

No one knows for certain. And for those who work the land, opinions vary whether recent mega mergers will benefit them, thin their profits or have no effect at all.

Steve Censky, chief executive officer of the American Soybean Association, is hopeful. But he has some reservations.

“You don’t want farmer choice or competition to be significantly impacted,” Censky said. “You still want to have robust offerings in the marketplace. We wouldn’t want to see concentration occur to such an extent that companies could price gouge. That’s the concern.”

Among big-dollar deals pending regulatory approval are Bayer’s $66 billion purchase of Monsanto; the merger of Dow and DuPont; and ChemChina’s $43 billion bid for Syngenta. Also on the radar of ag watchdogs is the marriage of Canadian fertilizer giants Potash Corp. and Agrium.

If all this sounds vaguely familiar, that may be because it was not long ago that St. Louis-based Monsanto attempted to buy Syngenta. The Swiss company’s board rejected the offer and fought off an attempted hostile takeover.

ASA has been examining the Bayer-Monsanto and Dow-DuPont deals at length. It has joined forces with other ag groups, including the National Corn Growers Association.

“We are taking a look at these individually,” Censky said. “We’ve partnered with the corn growers to

take a look at the Dow-DuPont merger and joined with wheat, rice and corn to conduct an independent analysis of the implications of the Bayer-Monsanto acquisition.

“We understand some of the factors that are driving these mergers, but we want to see if it could end up with market concentration.”

For example, he said in the case of Dow-DuPont, a lot of their offerings are complementary. Dow might be stronger on some of the herbicides. Pioneer and DuPont are strong on traits and seed on the germplasm side, Censky said.

“This didn’t raise any concerns for us from the soy side,” he said.

The deal between Monsanto and the German chemical company Bayer is getting the most scrutiny. Censky is cautiously optimistic.

“We’re still digesting that,” he said. “Those are

largely complementary, The ChemChina-Syn- foreign company purchas- ists have scant input into with Bayer strong in the genta deal isn’t getting ing another foreign com- that proposal. herbicides and fungicides such a close examination. pany, each with similar area, and Monsanto on Censky passed it off as one product lines. U.S. lobby- Please see CONSOLIDATION, Page D8 seeds and traits. Having those two together to offer farmers a complete package seems to hold some appeal for a company. But I think it could offer opportunities to farmers as well.”

Farm groups are taking a close look at the deal, which would bring under one roof Bayer’s Libis proud to offer top quality service & products ertyLink and Monsanto’s Roundup Ready cropping systems.

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“We’re looking at having Nutraboss Side Dress Application both of those under one Herbicide, Insecticide, & Fungicide company,” Censky said.

“What would that mean — Application non-selective herbicides Variable Rate Prescriptions and herbicide-tolerant trait platforms? Are there conVariable Rate Dry Fertilizer cerns, and if so, what is the Cover Crop Seeding remedy?”

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D8 | Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Forest City Summit

Consolidation

Make the Right Choice for Your Farming Operation!

From D7

The merger spree is a touchy subject for many involved in agriculture.

Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter, who also serves as president of the state’s Board of Regents and is the founder of Summit Agricultural Group, posted on his website, “It’s clear that the motivation behind the mergers is to increase prices and production costs for producers.”

He said that the mergers “will limit competition, stifle innovative research and stunt job growth — and will eventually lead to increased costs for farmers.”

Kyle Brase, who farms near Edwardsville, Ill., in Madison County, sees both sides.

“I really am neutral,” he said. “I know that companies are forced to become more efficient, and volume helps build some of those efficiencies. And working together in partnership will build some strengths.

“I still have a little concern in the back of my mind, as a farmer, whether we are eliminating competition because I also feel

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Among big-dollar deals pending regulatory approval are Bayer’s $66 billion purchase of Monsanto; the merger of Dow and DuPont; and ChemChina’s $43 billion bid for Syngenta.

Major ag equipment manufacturers have also consolidated to just three full-line tractor companies. like competition makes us better. If three companies control all of the traits and control and all the technologies, will they be able to set prices and monopolize the market?”

Other ag professionals who have regular dealings with one or more of the target companies prefer to let the chips fall where they may.

ASA’s Censky isn’t telescoping any conclusions, but he and other farm advocates have necessarily considered the next step,

in the event one or more merger proposal doesn’t pass the smell test.

“How do you address those problem areas?” he said. “It is through divestiture, other terms agreed to by companies, or disapproval of the merger. Those are the three options.”

In the end, it may all come down to which way the political winds are blowing. Congress has the final say on the domestic deals. Farmers will learn soon enough if the deals are good for them.

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