Modern Farmer 10/24/20 Jacksonville Journal-Courier by Hearst Midwest

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Trade, regulations and taxes on farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s minds ... page 2 A special section of the Journal-Courier | Sunday, October 25, 2020 | $1

2 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

Trade, regulations and taxes on farmers’ minds this election year

MODERN FARMER October 25, 2020

By Marco Cartolano

marco.cartolano@myjournalcourier.com

Farmers are monitoring the political climate to see if a changing dynamic could shift key issues for them such as trade, taxes and environmental regulations. As trade relations with China remain in an uncertain place, farmers and farm advocates ask elected officials to recognize how crucial trade relationships are for their bottom line. Dale Hadden, a rural Jacksonville farmer said that trade policy directly impacts market demands for his products such as grain. Agreements such as the U.S. Mexico Trade Agreement influence pricing when Hadden ships his products to Mexico to sell. Hadden said he is keeping an eye if trade deals can be reached with Japan, the United Kingdom and China. “Those markets are integral to my price,” “Hadden said “In this particular area we’re very blessed that we have the river terminals and those markets go into export markets.” China has become a large buyer of U.S. corn and soy beans over the past couple of months, Hadden said. He

On the cover:

Farmer Dale Hadden stands on top of his combine.

Corn, soybean yields looking strong

Conservation initiative expanding

State’s largest pumpkin

Fungus thwarts soybean pest

Amazon bans sale of foreign seeds

Craft marijuana growers seek licenses

10 Rural Jacksonville farmer Dale Hadden works on his combine.

hopes that the U.S. will continue to implement phase one of trade negotiations with China to continue access to Chinese markets. Adam Nielsen, director of national legislation and policy development at the Illinois Farm Bureau, said that

Marco Cartolano | Journal-Courier

farmers were on “pins and needles” over whether China follow through on their phase one commitments . However, he said China has been making promising corn and soy bean purchase so far. “Even though they got off to a late start, there have been a number of recent purchases,” Nielsen said. Nielsen hopes that these recent developments can end a period of “ad hoc” trade with China and usher in a stable agreement. The trade war between China and the U.S. that started in 2018 was a rough period for Illinois farmers who exported corn and soybeans to the country, Nielsen said. On the other hand, Jonathan W Coppess, director of the Bock Agriculture Law and Policy Program at University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign, said that the Trump Administration properly diagnosed China’s issues as a trade partner, but their approach to China has been problematic and harmful to

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soy bean farmers especially. “If he’s re-elected you can probably expect more of the same,” Coppess said, “Which is a disorienting approach and I don’t see a plan out of him.” Coppess said the Trump Administration cycles through phases of tough tariff-based policies to China to being friendlier with the country. He also said the first phase of negotiations lacked a strong enforcement mechanism to keep China compliant. A Joe Biden presidency might bring a more strategic approach to China to leverage the difficult trade environment to come to a better place with China, Coppess said. He also believes a Biden Administration would pursue trade negotiations similar to the Trans Pacific Partnership in order to work with other partners in putting a check on China. Hadden also hopes the U.S. can try to re-enter the Trans Pacific Partnership after President Donald Trump pulled out of the partnership in 2017 so that dutyfree trading can be facilitated between the member countries. Nielsen said the Trump Administration is making the right decision in looking to other countries for trade agreements as well. He pointed to attempts to make deals with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. “We can’t have all our eggs in one basket with China,” Nielsen said, “It’s an important market but there are many

Farmer Dale Hadden.

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 3

other mouths to feed out there.” Another issue for Hadden is how the candidates view Environmental Protection Agency rulings on U.S. water handling. Parameters on how farmer cans use land near U.S. waters can limit what programs or crops can be used, Hadden said. Corn farmers also keep track of how politicians rule on Renewable Fuel Standards — policies requiring transportation fuel to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels. Hadden said that the blending requirements can hurt demand for ethanol and hurt corn farmers whose produce is used in the manufacturing of ethanol. Coppess believes Illinois farmers have an opportunity to recapture markets by being more attentive to sustainability and climate issues from buyer concerned about the climate-damaging methods of countries such as Brazil, and he can see that becoming an approach adopted during a Biden presidency. “If we work towards the areas where we have competitive than it would benefit Illinois farmers,” Coppess said, “We’re already undertaking voluntary efforts for conservation practices that might give Illinois farmers a competitive edge.” The Illinois Farm Bureau is also opposing the graduated tax amendment on that would amend the Illinois Constitution to change the state’s tax structure. Nielsen said the Farm Bureau believes the amendment would be the green light

For farmers like Dale Hadden of rural Jacksonville, trade policies with China and Illinois’ tax structure are issues that could impact his bottom line.

for legislatures to raise tax rates and hurt farmers. Hadden agreed that the amendment would give state legislatures the ability to change tax policy in a way that would hurt farmers’ bottom line. “The proposed fair tax amendment would directly effect us down the road, maybe not immediately, but down the road, ” Hadden said, “It would have a direct effect on our bottom line “ The farm economy has been in a downward spiral for the past couple of years as prices and demand get lower, Hadden said. The COVID-19 pandemic has also disrupted supply in the livestock industry. He said policies that could

affect commodity prices or supply and demand would drive producers out of business. “Those leaders that are in charge really need to understand how fragile the balance is about trying to keep the family farm operating with the amount of working capital that we had to use up just to sustain us through these lower income times,” Hadden said. Hadden said that he hopes elected officials understand how big of a trade partner China was for U.S. producers and how damaging it would be to lose it as a partner and how difficult rebuilding a relationship that took over 30 years to develop could be.

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4 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

Corn, soybean yields looking strong By Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree

smcdaniel@myjournalcourier.com

As unpredictable as the year has been with things changing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the unpredictability of corn and soybean yields is just another unknown for farmers as they work in their fields to bring in their crops. September through October sees tractors and plows taking down the finished products of a spring and summer’s growth, and farmers wondering how their crop will fair when they are done. “We raised a fair

amount of corn and soybeans,” said Marty Marr, a farmer with fields in Morgan and Sangamon counties. “The yields have been pretty good — not as stellar as past years.” Marr has seen between 60 to 70 bushels of soybeans per acre, and about 225 to 258 bushels of corn. That seems to be about the average for the year, Marr said. “We’re at about the same range as I’ve been hearing about from other farmers,” Marr said. “The yields are respectable, just a little lower than the overall averages we had for last year.”

Last year, Morgan County produced an average of 205.8 bushels of corn per acres, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Cass County had an average of 205.6 bushels of corn per acre, Greene County had 191.7, Jersey had 183.5 and Jersey County had 183.5. The average for the state was 181 bushels per acre. Soybeans yields were an average of 54 bushels per acre for the state. Morgan County saw an average of 64.1 bushels, Jersey County saw 60.1, Greene County saw 60.7

and Brown saw 56.2. For Mark Stiltz, yields have been good, better than last year where weather conditions changed how he planted and applied his chemicals. “It was very wet and we had trouble getting everything in last year,” Stiltz said. “We didn’t get all of our anhydrous on and we used a different nitrogen source.” Some of the fields did better than other depending on the chemicals and locations, he said. Stiltz said he is averaging between 230 and 250 bushels of corn and 70 to

75 bushels of soybeans per acre. “This year, we were able to get everything done that we wanted to in the fall,” Stiltz said. “We were able to get all the nitrogen and anhydrous on.” The weather has played a fair part in the decent yields this year, Marr said. “We’ve been blessed with exceptional harvest weather,” he said. Though there were some days Marr said he was a little worried. In April, cold temperatures had Marr a little worried for the crops

that were planted early. “I had to wonder how it would affect the final yields,” Marr said. “We had some heavy rains, so we had some spots that had to be replanted, but the stands have been very good, very even. We always wonder how the weather is going to affect our crops. We were blessed and any damage was minimal.” Stiltz said the soybeans planted later have done better than those planted earlier in the spring. “I’d say weather is 70%, good decisions is 20% and it’s 10% luck,” Stiltz said.

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Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree | Journal-Courier

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 5

Conservation initiative expanding in state Journal-Courier

Nick Longbucco has been named coordinator of the Saving Tomorrow’s Agriculture Resources initiative. He will be working with conservation districts in Illinois and other partners to grow the program and support farmers in their conservation journey. A strong proponent of soil health and nutrient management practices, Longbucco has experience collaborating with farmers, government agencies and agriculture service providers to better understand the challenges and opportunities of adopting these practices. Longbucco is a graduate of Michigan State University and holds a master’s degree in environmental resource management from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He spent the past five years

with a non-profit group in Iowa working on watershed level water resource issues, which included managing a wetland restoration program and working with watershed and supply-chain partners to secure support for conservation on agricultural working lands. With a strong appreciation for the soil and water resources of the Midwest, Longbucco said he is passionate about finding solutions that benefit farming communities and protects and improves valuable resources. “I am thrilled to be working on such an innovative conservation tool. The early success of the initiative can be attributed to the dedication of the diverse steering committee and partners,” he said. “We’ll be having many conversations with folks See CONSERVATION | page 30

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6 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

State’s largest pumpkin a whopping 1,673 pounds Associated Press

An Illinois man has grown the state’s largest pumpkin and has brought it to display at pumpkin patches across the state’s central area. The pumpkin is officially this year’s largest, weighing at 1,673 pounds. Henry Bartimus of DeWitt was established as the new Illinois State Giant Pumpkin Grand Champion for the pumpkin that took 105 days to grow. It is fifth-largest pumpkin ever to be grown in Illinois. It sits on a trailer, but a forklift and a specially created crane are needed for transport. The Illinois record for the largest pumpkin is 2,145 pounds. The world record is 2,624 pounds grown from a seed from Illinois. Bartimus has been attempting to grow the state’s biggest pumpkin every year since 2013 on his property in DeWitt, a small farming town of about 200 residents between Clinton and Farmer City in DeWitt County. Along with the Illinois State Giant Pumpkin Grand Champion title, Bartimus also won $1,000 and gets his name on a traveling belt that rivals any WWE championship strap. “I get to hold onto that for one year,” he said proudly. Henry Bartimus stands next to his 1,673-pound pumpkin at Gail’s Pumpkin Patch in Beason.

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Henry Bartimus of DeWitt shows off the championship belt he keeps for a year for growing the biggest pumpkin in the state.

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 7

Fungus thwarts major soybean pest, study finds By Diana Yates

University of Illinois News

The soybean cyst nematode sucks the nutrients out of soybean roots, causing more than $1 billion in soybean yield losses in the U.S. each year. A new study finds that one type of fungi can cut the nematodes’ reproductive success by more than half. The researchers report their findings in the journal Plant Disease. “Soybean cyst nematodes survive in the soil as eggs in cysts,” said Glen Hartman, a researcher for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service in the department of crop sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Hartman led the study with

postdoctoral researcher Michelle Pawlowski. “The eggs hatch at the start of the growing season, and the juveniles penetrate root tissue and migrate into the plant’s vascular system. The females find a feeding site and stay there for the rest of their lives. They take nutrients away from the soybean plant, which reduces plant productivity.” Previous studies have found that fungi in the soil that form mutually beneficial relationships with soybeans and other plants can influence the success of plant parasitic nematodes, including soybean cyst nematode. But the effectiveness of using these “arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi” to thwart plant parasitic fungi varies from study to study, making growers

reluctant to embrace this as a method of control, Hartman said. “In this study, we focused on five different species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to see if they differed in their ability to protect soybeans against SCN,” Pawlowski said. The researchers inoculated young soybean plants with fungi and soybean cyst nematode in greenhouse experiments. By the end of the experiment, all five fungal species had reduced the number of cysts in the roots. The lowest number of cysts occurred on plants inoculated with the fungus Funneliformis mosseae. These averaged 10 cysts per plant. Soybean plants that were not inoculated with fungi accumulated 75 or more cysts per plant.

“Each cyst may contain hundreds of nematode eggs,” Hartman said. Further experiments with F. mosseae revealed that exposure to the fungus reduced the number of juvenile nematodes on the plants by more than half. “We found that as early as seven days after inoculation, roots that were inoculated with F. mosseae were colonized with significantly fewer nematode juveniles,” Pawlowski said. “To see if this interaction and suppression might occur even earlier, we incubated SCN eggs in sterile water alone, with fungal spores or with exudates of the fungal spores. These exudates are microbes and molecules secreted by the spores,” she said. This experiment revealed that the fungal

USDA

The soybean cyst nematode is a major pathogen of soybeans. A juvenile nematode is pictured here with an egg.

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spores and their exudates undermine nematode egg hatching, she said. “If we can find out what function or compound from the fungi is sup-

pressing egg hatching, that could potentially be a useful nematicide,” Pawlowski said. The USDA-ARS supports this research.

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8 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

Amazon bans sale of foreign seeds By Allyson Waller New York Times

Amazon has banned the sale of foreign seeds to its customers in the United States, a move that comes after thousands of U.S. residents received unsolicited packages of seeds over the summer, most of them postmarked from China. The company updated its policy this month, advising its foreign sellers that it “would no longer allow the import into the U.S. of plant or seed products.” Amazon prohibits the sale of products the U.S. Department of Agriculture labels “noxious” and those that are subject to government quarantine or can be fatal when touched or consumed. “Moving forward, we are only permitting the sale of seeds by sellers who are based in the U.S.,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement. Sellers who do not follow the guidelines risk the loss of their accounts, the company said. The company did not say how long sellers not based in the United States had been allowed to sell plant and seed products on its platform.

The update to Amazon’s policy, which was reported by The Wall Street Journal, came a little over a month after mysterious seed packets bearing Chinese characters started arriving in mailboxes across the United States in July, prompting all 50 states to issue safety warnings. The U.S. Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service disclosed an uptick in reports of unsolicited packages of seeds starting in late July. “USDA is also working with e-commerce companies to remove online sellers that are illegally importing or facilitating the illegal import of propagative materials, including seeds,” the agency said in a statement on its website. “We have also intensified our engagement with e-commerce companies to ensure they and the sellers who use their platforms are complying with USDA regulations.” The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said the unsolicited packages appeared to be a part of a “brushing scam,” in which an online seller ships an inexpensive product to an unwitting receiver and then submits positive reviews on the recipient’s behalf with a goal of boosting the seller’s

ratings and visibility online. The agency said there was no reason to suspect agroterrorism, in which biological agents are used to harm the nation’s food supply. As of the end of August, the inspection service had collected more than 8,500 packages of seeds and had examined more than 2,400 individual seed packets. It said it had identified more than 300 seed species, including cabbage, hibiscus, lavender, mint, morning glory, mustard, rose, rosemary and sage. The seeds pose no known health risks, the inspection service said. The main concern is that the seeds could negatively affect U.S. agriculture by introducing seed-borne viruses and other diseases. Many of the seed packets came in white or yellow envelopes that were labeled to indicate they contained jewelry. State agriculture officials released photographs of white pouches bearing the words “China Post” and Chinese characters noting the contents as “ring.” The inspection service asked those who received unsolicited packages of seeds to fill out an online form and mail in the seeds or contact their state plant health director for no-contact pickup.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

A photo provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows unsolicited shipments of seeds from China. Amazon has banned the sale of foreign seeds to its customers in the United States, a move that comes after thousands of U.S. residents received unsolicited packages of seeds over the summer, most of them postmarked from China.

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Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 9

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Gleaner® is a brand of AGCO Corporati how they can maximizeFendt® your return. Stop in today and find out why farmers are loving Fendt 900 Vario tractors are here at AC McCartney Equipment, and we’re ready show you grower licenses, 40 infuser licenses from crop to crop speed and ease and that weighs thousands of tractors are here atwith AC McCartney Equipment, and we’re ready totocombine show you FarmingFarming is notis going get easier. Planting and harvesting will get shorter. Costs will go higher and Fendt® 900 VarioFendt® tractors are900 herewindows atVario AC McCartney Equipment, and we’re ready to show you -and why you might, too. construction costs. Fendt 900 Mailer.indd 1Farming not goingto to get easier. Planting harvesting windows willwon’t get shorter. 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Stop in today and find out why farmers are loving Fendt Fendt® 900 Vario tractors are here at AC McCartney Equipment, and we’re ready to show you fuel and effort with a unique, simple and proven design. A combine that can go Durand, IL Fendt 900 Mailer.indd 1 217-357-2167 the farmer in mind. Farming is not going to get easier.they Planting and maximize harvesting windows willwon’t get shorter. Costs will go higher and 815-248-2161 309-375-6661 www.acmccartney.com Farming get easier, but you can be ready with the combine that’s built with Durand, IL Wataga, IL Carthage, IL how can your return. Stop in today and find out why farmers are loving Fendt Mt Sterling, IL Fulton, IL Gleaner performance for yourself. A.C. McCARTNEY -- and why you might, A.C. McCARTNEY A combine that iscrop in the field stays longer. Atoo. combine that saves grain, Phone |and Address from crop speed andearlier and and that thousands of pounds lessmoment. why you might, too. who lose properties, employees or Durand, ILinSterling, ILWeb Carthage, IL Fendt Mt. ILWataga, Fulton, IL margins will gettonarrower. You need aease combine thatweighs isa uphow to every task and every required towith specifically identify Durand, IL Wataga, IL Carthage, they can maximize your return. Stop today and find -out why farmers are loving Mt. Sterling, Fulton, ILCarthage, the farmer inwhy mind. Fendt 900 Mailer.indd 1309-375-6661 Durand, IL IL Wataga, IL815-248-2161 IL IL I Serving Customers Since --1950! and you might, too. you can put the horsepower where it matters. 815-248-2161 217-357-2167 815-248-2161 309-375-6661 217-357-2167 You need asoGleaner® Durand, IL Wataga, IL your Carthage, 217-773-3339 Serving Customers Since 1950! 815-589-2913 fuel and effort with a unique, simple and proven design. A combine that can go Visit gleanercombines.com to learn more, then visit dealer to see 217-773-3339 815-589-2913 A.C. McCARTNEY other aspects of their plans due to the 217-773-3339 Dealer Address City State Zip 815-248-2161 309-375-6661 217-357-2167 815-589-2913 -- and whyVisit you might, too. You need a Gleaner® suitable and properly zoned location, 815-248-2161 309-375-6661 217-357-2167 Mt. Sterling, IL Fulton, IL gleanercombines.com to learn more, then visit your dealer to see -and why you might, too. Farming won’t get easier, but you can be ready with the combine that’s with McCARTNEYA.C. McCARTNEY IL 815-248-2161 309-375-6661 217-357-216 A.C. Dealer Address City State ZipDurand, Serving Customers Sincebuilt 1950! www.acmccartney.com Durand, ILSterling, Wataga, IL Carthage, fromA crop to crop with speed and ease and that weighs thousands of pounds less Dealer Name/Imprint 217-773-3339 Gleaner performance for yourself. 815-589-2913 Durand, IL Wataga, IL Carthage, IL Mt Sterling, IL Fulton, IL Gleaner performance for yourself. delay. A combine that is in the field earlier and stays longer. A combine that saves grain, Mt. IL Fulton, IL the farmer in mind. www.acmccartney.com combine that is in the field earlier and stays longer. A combine that saves grain, Mt. Ste A.C.Name/Imprint McCARTNEY though that could be changed if necesPhone |Sterling, Web Address Dealer Durand, IL Wataga,Durand, IL Carthage, IL Mt ILAddress Fulton, IL Carthage, IL Wataga, IL www.acmccartney.com Durand Phone | Web Mt. 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McCARTNEY 217-7 815-248-2161 309-375-6661 217from Gleaner crop to performance and ease and that weighsMEET thousands of pounds less for yourself. Durand, IL Wataga, IL Carthage, IL Mt. IL Fulton, IL A.C. McCARTNEY Mt. Sterling, IL Fulton, IL 815-248 ©2019 AGCO Corporation. Gleaner® is a brand of AGCO Corporation. • GL19P007ST Mt. Sterling, IL Fulton, IL A.C. McCARTNEY A.C. McCARTNEY suit and the status of licenses,from PritzFendt® Vario are here atit ease AC McCartney Equipment, and ready to show you Durand, IL Wataga, Carthage, crop to crop with and and that weighs thousands of pounds less Serving Customers Since Fendt® 900 Vario tractors are here atwe’re AC McCartney Equipment, and we’re ready to show you Farming won’t get easier, but you can be ready with the1950! combine that’s built with www.acmccartney.com www.acmccartney.com Because ofspeed these requirements, so900 you can put tractors the horsepower where matters. Durand, IL Wataga, IL Fulton, IL 815-248-2161 309-375-6661 217-357-2167 Mt. Sterling, ILIL IL Carthage, Fulton, IL S 217-773-3339 Serving Customers Since 1950! Mt. Sterling, IL Dea 815-589-2913 Serving Customers Since 1950! Mt. AGCO • 4205 River GreenA.C. Parkway, Duluth, GA 30096 • gleanercombines.com McCARTNEY 217-773-3339 217-773-3339 Serving Customers Since 1950! 815-589-2913 815-589-2913 Duran Serving Customers Since 1950! 815-248-2161 309-375-6661 217-357-21 they can maximize your return. Stop in today and find out why farmers are loving Fendt Mt. Sterling, Fulton, IL 217-773-3339 ker spokeswoman Charity Greene 815-589-2913 so you can put the horsepower where it matters. themay farmer inmaximize mind. 815-248-2161 309-375-6661 217-357-2167 ©2019 AGCO Corporation. Fendt is IL a worldwide of AGCO Corporation. AGCO and Fendt Address are trademarks ofCity AGCO.815-589-2913 AllState rights reserved. FT19DM002NA Magelli estimated the startup costs for Farming won’t get easier, you can be ready with thehow combine that’s built with 217-773-3339 AGCO at any time, and from time your tobut time, for technical orDurand, other necessary reasons, modify any of theServing data, specifications or warranty of brand the products described herein. Some equipCustomers Since 1950! Dealer Zip Serving Customers Since 1950! IL Wataga, IL Carthage, IL Durand, IL Wataga, IL Carthage, IL how they can return. Stop in today and find out why farmers are loving Fendt 217-773-3339 815-589-2913 McCARTNEY 217-M -- and why you might,shields too.A.C. ©2019or AGCO Corporation. a worldwide brand of AGCO Corporation. AGCO and are trademarks of AGCO. All rights reserved. FT19DM002NA ment shown be optional. Attention: Photographs in this publication may show protective or guards open removed forFendt the ispurposes of illustration. certain allFendt shields and themay farmer in mind. issued this statement: “The COVID-19 Dealer Name/Imprint Fendt 900 Mailer.indd 1309-375-6661 Mt Sterling, ILAddress Fulton, IL IL Mt.BeSterling, IL| Web Fulton, IL 815-24 815-248-2161 217-357-2167 guards are inyour place during operation. Durand, IL Wataga, IL Carthage, Phone Farming won’t get easier, but you can be ready with the combine that’s built with VisitVisit gleanercombines.com to learn more, then visit dealer to see Dealer Address City State Zip ©2019 AGCO Corporation. Fendt is a worldwide brand of AGCO Corporation. AG De Customers Since 1950! then visit your dealer to see MEET ©2019 Corporation. Fendt is aisworldwide brand of AGCO Corporation. AGCO and Fendt are trademarks of AGCO. 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FENDT TRACTOR FENDT TRACTOR Come experienCe COME EXPERIENCE A FENDT TRACTOR FENDT TRACTOR FOR YOURSE FOR YOURSELF. COME EXPERIENCE A FENDT TRACTOR FENDT TRACTOR aFOR fendt tractor YOURSELF. YOUR NEW PARTNER IN FOR YOURSELF FORMEETYOURSELF. FOR YOURSELF. FOR YOURSELF FENDT TRACTOR FOR YOURSELF. for yourself FOR YOURSELF.

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10 â&#x20AC;˘ Sunday, October 25, 2020 â&#x20AC;˘ Modern Farmer

Combating global food insecurity during pandemic By Diana Yates

University of Illinois News

The World Food Programme recently warned that the COVID-19 pandemic could double the number of people facing extreme food shortages, bringing the number of those in crisis to about 265 million worldwide. Esther Ngumbi, a professor of entomology and of African American studies at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign who writes and speaks about global food security, spoke with University of Illinois News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Photo courtesy of Esther Ngumbi Yates about the practices Esther Ngumbi, a University of Illinois professor of entomology and of African American studies, speaks that can help reduce the and writes about global food security.

problem of global food insecurity. What events signal that food insecurity is worsening around the world? In Chile, Kenya and South Africa, we have seen citizens clashing with police and lawmakers as they demand food. At the same time, organizations like the United Nations World Food Programme and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization have released reports signaling a rise in food insecurity. In the U.S., we continue to see long lines outside food banks, which report recordbreaking numbers of people in need of food aid. Where is the problem most dire? Developing countries and countries that do not have safety net programs and food banks in place are experiencing the worst food insecurity. Many affected people live on less than two dollars a day. Most of them must work to survive, and with the mandatory stay-at-home orders in place, they can no longer earn an income. This pushes them further into food insecurity. Then there is the ongoing locust invasion that began prior to COVID-19. A new wave of locusts is expected, and this will only exacerbate food insecurity. What other factors influence food security?

The extreme temperatures, droughts and floods associated with climate change continue to bring new challenges to farmers every day. Economic instability, conflict and poverty also worsen the problem. Farms and household gardens suffer from degraded and unhealthy soils and limited access to irrigation technologies, fertilizers or other agricultural inputs. Many people lack basic knowledge about how to improve their production. And agricultural pests cause losses in the field and when crops are harvested and in storage. What approaches can help societies manage hunger? There are many tools that can be used, beginning with accurate realtime data to know where the need is and to find immediate ways to distribute food from regions of excess to the people who need it most. The U.S. and other developed countries have existing safety nets like food banks, which have really come in handy to help manage hunger. Developing countries like Kenya need to find ways to distribute food to their hungry citizens. If no food banks are available, they can send cash or food vouchers to families. Other creative approaches, like ricedispensing machines in Vietnam, can help. Governments and stakeholders engaged in See INSECURITY |â&#x20AC;&#x2C6;page 30

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 11

Harvest ‘goodbye’ a bittersweet time By Charles Mills

Effingham Daily News (TNS)

A combine followed by a large cloud of dust moved through an extra dry soybean field northwest of Farina on Saturday afternoon. Todd Dial sat high above the field in what he considers his office during the harvest season — the cab of a Case IH 8230 combine. “Sometimes it gets hectic in here,” Dial said as he drove down the soybean field. “But most of the time it’s pretty enjoyable. I love my job.” Dial and his wife, Tasha Ragel-Dial, have been married 28 years. Todd Dial starting working on the Ragel farm for Tasha’s father, Alan Ragel, 28 years ago. He worked on the farm 20 years while working as a manager at SherwinWilliams in Effingham. “He would farm right after he got off of work,” Tasha Ragel-Dial said. Alan Ragel passed eight years ago. That’s when Tasha and her husband were offered the opportunity of a lifetime. “When he passed away, he gave us the opportunity to take over the farm,” she said. “We were very grateful and feel very blessed.” While Tasha comes from a multi-generational farming family, Todd’s family didn’t farm. “But he loves it and he is so good at it. I’m so proud of him,” she said. Today the family farming operation is named Ragel-

Dial Farms. They farm for 23 landlords in addition to their own family farmland. “We are farming right around 3,000 acres,” Todd said. “We harvest the land owned by our landlords before ending the season on our own ground,” Tasha said. “We have anywhere from three to seven people helping out during our harvest season.” Their harvest season consists of 31 working days. As Todd operated the combine Saturday afternoon, he turned around to make another approach at the soybean field. Catching up to him on his side was Glenn Summann on a tractor towing a grain wagon. As the combine and tractor coasted down the field side by side, Todd directed his combine auger over the wagon, dumping the soybeans he collected over the last few passes into the grain wagon. Todd said dumping the beans into the grain wagon while both tractors are moving down field saves time. While Todd worked the field, Tasha kept track of the farm finances and made sure workers during the harvest season, including her husband, got an evening meal. After preparing meals, she boxed them up and loaded them in a laundry basket. She then put them in the family SUV and took them to the field. “I’ve taken up to seven meals at one time before,” Tasha said. “It just depends

upon what we are working on and who is working for us that day. We have names for all of our fields so we know where we’re going.” Tasha said cutting beans is slower than cutting corn so not as many people were working that afternoon. They have three large semitractor grain haulers available to take their corn grain to ADM in Farina. “When we cut beans, that means not as many trips to the elevator,” Tasha said. “So, we’re not using all three trucks.” Looking over the steering wheel of the com-

Getty Images

An Illinois farmer captured the growing season in a book titled “Goodbye, Corn Harvesting from Beginning to End” in memory of her father.

bine, Todd watched as the combine head rotated in front of him, collecting soybeans as he made his way down a field.

“It is quite amazing what this machine can do,” Dial said about his combine. “It’s really come a long way.”

Todd said his combine is equipped with a GPS and computer technology See GOODBYE | page 31

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12 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

LEFT: During what would normally be primetime for Midwest apple-picking, orchards are running out of apples early this season. RIGHT: Apples hang from a tree.

Photos by Casey Smith | AP

Late freeze shortens apple season for many orchards By Casey Smith

Associated Press | Report for America

A late spring freeze obliterated much of the Midwest apple crop.

During what would normally be primetime for Midwest apple-picking, some orchards are running out of apples early this season following a late spring freeze that obliterated much of the crop. Temperature drops in

late April and early May wreaked havoc on the budding, flowering apple trees unable to withstand the cold. The sub-freezing snaps — which led to severe fruit damage and significant crop loss — impacted roughly 70% of the apple crop, said Peter Hirst, a tree fruit specialist at Purdue University. “It’s the worst we’ve

seen in quite some time, in decades,” Hirst said. “This is really rare for us to have damage as severe as what we’ve seen this year.” Damage was widespread across Indiana’s orchards, but growers say cold-related damage in neighboring Michigan — the country’s thirdlargest apple-producing

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state — was likely limited to crops in the southwest, with Red Delicious and Jonagold apples affected most. Spring frosts in New York and parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia are also expected to reduce the bloom on several apple varieties this year, although the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates the nation’s 2020 apple crop to be just 3% less than in 2019 and 2% less than the five-year average. It means orchards “have to get very creative, still offering that family experience, even though they may not have as many apples on the trees,” Hirst said. At Jacobs’ Family Orchard, more than 90% of the crop was lost at the 35-acre farm, said coowner Stephanie Jacobs. To make up for the low yields, apples are being outsourced so orchard

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 13

staff can continue to make cider, caramel apples and other seasonal goods. “Our apple numbers are way lower than normal — we had almost none,” she said. “We prepare for this kind of thing, but we’re really having to improvise right now.” Tuttle Orchards saw a similar shortage, with only 5% of the farm’s crop salvageable after the freeze. Apples were picked off the trees by mid-September, leading the orchard to end its pick-your-own-apple season more than a month earlier than usual and shift focus to its pumpkin patch. In the days after the May 9 freeze, hundreds of apples shriveled up, browned and began falling off trees, said Erin Sterling, co-owner of Anderson Orchard. Originally estimating they’d lost nearly all of their apple crop, Sterling said the hilly terrain — which keeps some trees higher-elevated and less-affected by cold temperatures — might be why a quarter of their fruit survived. “It was prime time when

Apples ripen on a tree.

the freeze hit. We were in bloom, we had lots of little apples that just weren’t hearty and they just weren’t ready for those temperatures. I cried and cried,” she said, “We still lost most of the crop, but we have some, and some is better than none.” Anderson’s self-picking season usually lasts through mid- to late-October, Sterling continued. But fewer apples, combined with large crowds at the orchard shortly after Labor Day, left many of the trees picked over by mid-September. “We ran out fast this year,” Sterling said. “We’re just grateful so many people have been coming out.” Engelbrecht Orchard has also recorded waves of visitors, despite concerns that COVID-19 would keep families from the orchard, said co-owner Kristi Schulz. “We really are having a pretty good apple season — we’ve been very fortunate this year with actually having crops,” Schulz said, noting nearly normal crop yields and minimal frost rings on some of the fruit.

“We somehow dodged a big weather bullet for whatever reason. We’re very, very thankful.” Apple sales, too, have increased. Schulz said the orchard has seen an influx of families coming earlier in the season to pick apples, and many take home more than in previous years. “Most people will come out and pick up a couple of pounds — maybe 20 tops, which is a lot for most families,” she said. “But this year, we just have people picking multiple bushels, like 50 to 60 pounds. The virus hasn’t stopped them from picking fruit — in fact, it might have made them want even more.” While COVID-19 has had a minimal impact on orchard visitation, the pandemic has exacerbated labor and farmhand issues for commercial apple orchards across the country, said Jim Bair, president of the U.S. Apple Association. With many schools not serving lunches and sandwich and deli shops closed due to the virus, too, uncertainties also remain about futures

Photos by Casey Smith | AP

Apples are bagged at an orchard.

on apple sales. “Spring freezes are a reminder that Mother Nature isn’t always nice, and it seems like every year, apple growers in dif-

ferent parts of the country are having to deal with them,” Bair said. “But there’s no question that the coronavirus is going to have some long-term

impacts in the apple industry. It’s been a few months of turmoil and chaos, but we’re all doing our best to work through the challenges.”

14 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

EPA rejects own findings on pesticide dangers By Lisa Friedman New York Times

Max Whittaker | New York Times

Protesters march outside an Environmental Protection Agency office after a public hearing on increasing restrictions on the use of the agricultural pesticide chlorpyrifos in 2018. The EPA’s new assessment directly contradicts federal scientists’ conclusions five years ago that chlorpyrifos can stunt brain development in young children.

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The Trump administration has rejected scientific evidence linking the pesticide chlorpyrifos to serious health problems, directly contradicting federal scientists’ conclusions five years ago that it can stunt brain development in children. The Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment of the pesticide, which is widely used on soybeans, almonds, grapes and other crops, is a fresh victory for chemicalmakers and the agricultural industry, as well as the latest in a long list of Trump administration regulatory rollbacks. In announcing its decision, the EPA said that “despite several years of study, the science addressing neurodevelopmental effects remains unresolved.” However, in making its finding, the agency excluded several epidemiological studies, most prominently one conducted at Columbia University, that found a correlation between prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos and developmental disorders in toddlers. As a result, the assessment may be the first major test of the Trump administration’s intention, often referred to as its “secret science” proposal, to bar or give less weight to scientific studies that can’t or don’t publicly release their underlying data. This controversial policy would eliminate many studies that track the effects of exposure to substances on people’s health over long periods of time, because the data often includes confidential medical records of the subjects, scientists have said. The EPA repeatedly cited a lack of access to raw data in the studies it rejected, and came to the conclusion that the findings — though they have been backed up by other peer-reviewed studies — were inconclusive. The EPA has not finalized the regulation that would officially restrict using such studies in decision-making, but the chlorpyrifos assessment suggests it has moved forward in applying it. “This shows that EPA has completely abandoned any commitment to protecting children from this extremely toxic chemical when their own scientists recommended twice to ban it. The science is

being overridden by politics,” said Erik D. Olson, senior director for health at the Natural Resources Defense Council. The environmental group Earthjustice accused the Trump administration of “fudging the data” to reach its conclusion. James Hewitt, a spokesman for the EPA, said in a statement that the agency “remains unable to verify the reported findings” of the Columbia study. Hewitt said the agency plans to issue an interim decision next month on how or whether to regulate chlorpyrifos that will include additional changes “that may be necessary to address human health and ecological risks.” Environmental activists said the conclusion announced Tuesday signals the Trump administration is not likely to impose strict regulations on the pesticide in next month’s interim ruling on the issue. The chlorpyrifos assessment comes on the heels of other EPA moves to weaken restrictions on toxic chemicals. The agency recently pulled back on regulating perchlorate, a water contaminant tied to fetal brain damage, and last year opted not to ban asbestos over the objections of agency scientists. The debate over banning chlorpyrifos goes back more than 13 years. In 2015 the Obama administration said it would ban the pesticide after scientific studies produced by the EPA showed it had the potential to make farmworkers sick and damage brain development in children. That ban had not yet come into force when, in 2017, Scott Pruitt, then the administrator of the EPA, reversed that decision, setting off a wave of legal challenges. Ultimately a federal appeals court ordered the EPA to issue a final ruling on whether to ban chlorpyrifos by July 2019. That month, the EPA under Wheeler rejected a petition by environmental and public health groups to ban the pesticide, writing that “critical questions remained regarding the significance of the data” around neurological damage in young children. The agency criticized the Obama See PESTICIDE | page 30

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 15

Shipping containers become soil-less farms Associated Press

After a career making shipping containers that transport freight around the world, Arthur Lee has stayed with them in retirement, using them to raise crops and fish. Operating on a rented patch of wasteland, Lee’s MoVertical Farm uses about 30 decommissioned containers, some decades old, to raise red watercress and other local vegetables hydroponically, eliminating the need for soil. A few are also used as ponds for freshwater fish. The bounty is sold to supermarkets. Lee uses the latest technology to monitor his crops. The controlled environment inside the boxes uses a hydroponic drip system to deliver nutrients, eliminate the need for herbicides and pesticides, and reduce risks from pests, small animals and bad weather. Temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels, nutrient mixtures and light can all be monitored and adjusted. And if Lee loses his lease, he can load his container farm onto trucks and move it elsewhere with minimal disruption. Shipping container farms have taken off in countries around the world with wildly varying climates, from freezing to tropical, and on scales ranging from single containers to dozens. Many are located in urban areas where fresh

Arthur Lee, owner of MoVertical Farm, walks beside his shipping containers.

Photos by Kin Cheung | AP

Arthur Lee controls the water coming out of the pipes watering the roots of vegetables planted in the pillars. Lee’s MoVertical Farm uses about 30 decommissioned containers to raise red water cress and other local vegetables hydroponically, which eliminates the need for soil.

produce can easily be delivered to stores or directly to consumers. While vegetables, fruits such as strawberries and freshwater fish are among the most popular, some growers have turned to raising high-protein insects as a food supplement. Controlled environment agriculture

is just one use for shipping containers, both new and old. In poorer nations, they are often used as shops with the added advantage of locking up tightly at closing time. In more affluent nations, they have been turned into tiny homes, painting studios, coffee shops, backyard sheds for hobbyists and even swimming pools. Online, containers can be bought for around $4,000, with basic home conA monitor shows the interior of containers at the versions going for $30,000 or more. MoVertical Farm.

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16 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

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Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 17

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18 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

Study: Crop modeling required to assess climate change By Lois Yoksoulian

University of Illinois News

Crop modeling is essential for understanding how to secure the food supply as the planet adapts to climate change. Many current crop models focus on simulating crop growth and yield at the field scale, but lack genetic and physiological data, which may hamper accurate production and environmental impact assessment at larger scales. In a paper published in the journal Nature Plants, researchers identify a series of multiscale and multidisciplinary components – from crop genetics up to global factors – that are critical for finding environmentally sustainable solutions to food security. Many crop models focus on understanding how plant characteristics such as leaf size play into

Illustration by Fred Zwicky

Professors Bin Peng (left) and Kaiyu Guan have joined forces to assess the efficiency of current climate modeling techniques and their ability to guide improved agricultural production strategies on a global scale under varying climate conditions.

the crop yield at the field scale, the researchers said. “Modeling at this scale is critical, but we would like to incorporate information from gene-to-cell and

regional-to-global scale data into our modeling framework,” said Bin Peng, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign postdoctoral researcher and

co-lead author. The study identifies components that could help generate a more informative modeling framework. “Multiscale model-

ing is the key to linking the design of climate change adaptation strategies for crop and field management with a large-scale assessment of adaptation impact on crop production, environment, climate and economy,” Peng said. The study calls for a better representation of the physiological responses of crops to climate and environmental stressors – like drought, extreme rainfall and ozone damage. “Many physiological processes would be important to simulate the crop growth under stressed conditions accurately,” Peng said. Examples include water moving from soil to plant to atmosphere driven by canopy energy balance, he said. “We should also include a better representation of crop management,” Peng said. “That would be extremely important for assessing both crop production and environmental sustainability, as well as their tradeoffs.” The researchers said there are opportunities to close a variety of data gaps, as well. “Integration of remote-sensing data, such as the work performed in our lab, will be extremely valuable for reducing data gaps and uncertainties,” said natural resources and environmental sciences professor and project investigator Kaiyu Guan. “One of the advantages of remote sensing is its vast spatial coverage – we can use remote sensing to constrain crop models over every field on the planet.” The authors also propose a model-data integration pathway forward.

“Doing the right simulation of crop responses to climate change factors is critically important,” Guan said. “The most challenging part is whether crop models can capture those emergent relationships, which can be derived from empirical observations.” “No single scientist or research lab can produce these models on their own,” said study co-author and plant biology professor Amy Marshall-Colón. “This type of effort will require patience and collaboration across many disciplines.” Peng, Guan and Marshall-Colón also are affiliated with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the U. of I. Marshall-Colón also is affiliated with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. The National Science Foundation, NASA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and the National Center for Atmospheric Research supported this study. Also contributing to this study were researchers from the U. of I.; the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; the University of Florida; the University of Queensland; the University of Chicago; the University of Bonn; the Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research; the University of Alberta; the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; the Center for Atmospheric Research; Beijing Normal University; Corteva AgriScience; the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and Wageningen University and Research.

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 19

College lead two artificial intelligence institutes By Diana Yates

University of Illinois News

Photos by L. Brian Stauffer

Left: Huimin Zhao, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of chemistry, will lead the new Molecule Maker Lab Institute at Illinois. Right: Computer science professor Vikram Adve will lead the AI Institute for Future Agricultural Resilience, Management and Sustainability at the University of Illinois.

preservation of soil health. The institute will feature “a novel autonomous farm of the future, new education and outreach pathways for diversifying the workforce in agriculture and technology, and a global clearinghouse to foster collaboration in AI-driven agricultural research,” Adve said. The Molecule Maker Lab Institute will focus on the development of new AI-enabled tools to accelerate automated chemical synthesis “to advance the discovery and manufacture of novel materials and bioactive compounds,” the NSF reports. The institute also will train a new generation of scientists with combined expertise in AI, chemistry and bioengineering. The goal of the institute is to establish “an open ecosystem of disruptive thinking, education and community engagement powered by state-of-the-art molecular design, synthesis and spectroscopic characterization technologies – all interfaced with AI and a modern cyberinfrastructure,”

Zhao said. “The National Science Foundation and USDANIFA recognize the breadth and depth of Illinois expertise in artificial intelligence, agricultural systems and molecular innovation,” UI Chancellor Robert Jones said. “It is no surprise to me that two of seven new national AI institutes will be led by our campus. I look forward to seeing the results of these new investments in improving agricultural outcomes and innovations in basic and applied research.” Adve is a co-director of the UI Center for Digital Agriculture with crop sciences bioinformatics professor Matthew Hudson. AIFARMS will be under

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20 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

Farmers store crops, hoping for better market By Maggie Dressler Associated Press

When the height of the coronavirus pandemic first took hold last spring, forcing a nationwide shutdown, seed potato farmer Steve Streich gave away 70,000 pounds of potatoes. As bars, restaurants, schools and cafeterias closed, frozen french fries began stacking up in freezers and loading docks. Unable to sell to their customers who

were not operating, french fry processors immediately called their local potato growers to tell them to pump the brakes. Once potato farmers slowed down, they only needed a fraction of the seed potatoes they were purchasing from Streich’s 300-acre operation. Since nearly all of Streich’s potatoes are later to become fries in restaurants and cafeterias after they are processed, Streich had

Hunter D’Antuono | AP

Potato farmer Steve Streich stands on a mound of potatoes 20 feet deep inside one of his climate controlled warehouses, which are designed to keep millions of pounds of product fresh and cool. Streich is storing this year’s seed potato crop hoping that his clients will see the demand for potatoes increase so the demand for seed potatoes increases.

nowhere to send his seed potatoes once everything shut down. “With the pandemic, we had a pretty large shakeup with potatoes in general,” Streich said. “People quit eating in restaurants and food services and schools were shut down.” But while larger scale production took a hit from the pandemic, other aspects of agriculture thrived. With a higher demand for local food, farmer Mandy Gerth said she’s seen higher sales this season. While Gerth had some higher costs this season, she says direct sales will likely cover those costs. The farm didn’t have

anything left to sell to restaurants at wholesale this year, so she was able to sell at retail prices directly to customers instead of wholesale to restaurants. “I think that this year showed us that … there is a lot of demand for local produce,” Gerth said. But as a large-scale operation, Streich’s potato farm is experiencing the negative impacts of the broken supply chain. In the meantime, potato farmers are waiting for market prices and Streich intends to plant, grow and harvest seed potatoes at the same capacity as he did before the pandemic halted sales. He’s currently sitting on 10 million pounds of

potatoes that he planted in May, which he will store until next spring when they are normally sold. “We couldn’t be more in the dark,” Streich said. “We are kind of winging it; I think most of the farmers … are. We still don’t know if there’s a home for these potatoes.” This winter, fry processors and potato farmers will theoretically figure out their needs for the spring and Streich will know if he can sell his seed potatoes. “We can’t take another shutdown,” Streich added. “People have to be willing to go back and eat at restaurants for the economy to turn around.”

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 21

‘Wonder weed’ research called a ‘game changer’ By Lenore Sobota The Pantagraph (TNS)

Illinois State University researchers, administrators and elected officials lauded pennycress, once considered to be just a “weed,” as an economic and environmental gamechanger. Pennycress is similar to canola and can be planted as an off-season cover crop between corn and soybeans. ISU President Larry Dietz called it “the wonder weed.” John Sedbrook, professor of genetics, said, “It’s a team effort” that enables the university to involve students in “cutting-edge research” that helps the economy and creates jobs. ISU is working in partnership with several other universities and CoverCress Inc. on the pennycress project. The goal is to develop pennycress as a cover crop that not only prevents topsoil loss and nutrient runoff but also provides a money-making source for fuel and animal feed. Several state and federal lawmakers were at the farm recently to receive an update on that project and other research at the farm. The project has received a five-year, $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a $13 million grant from the Department of Energy. There also has been $14 million in private investment. Pennycress is a summer or winter annual plant also known as stinkweed, fanweed, frenchweed

or mithridate mustard originating in Eurasia and could have been introduced into the United States as early as the 1700s; now it is found in almost every state, from Florida and Texas to as far north as Alaska. “When you look at the potential for this, it’s really phenomenal,” said U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican from Dunlap. Noting his district is the eighth largest agriculture district in terms of corn and soybean production, LaHood compared pennycress to where the ethanol industry was in its infancy but noted it is making great strides. The first commercial planting will take place next year on about 2,000 acres, said Chris Handel of CoverCress. The following year, they expect 50,000 acres to be planted with pennycress, she said. State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, called pennycress “a game changer” that would help both the agricultural economy and the environment. Michaela McGinn of CoverCress said planting cover crops is a good practice for the environment, but it costs money, including wear and tear on machinery. The advantage of pennycress, as it is being developed, is that not only does its growing season fit well between corn and soybeans but it provides nutrients for animal feed as well as oil for biofuels, she said. U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, a Republican from

Taylorville, said, “We’re looking ahead to the future,” adding that the research will “benefit the country, not just Illinois.” Pennycress is not the only biofuels-related research being done at ISU. David Kopsell, professor of horticulture, and LC Yang, assistant professor of environmental health, recently received a two-year, nearly $150,000 grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to continue their work on anaerobic digestion of plant wastes in small to medium-sized conventional and organic farming composting operations.

Dennis Anderson | Star Tribune (Getty Images)

Pennycress has considerable potential as a winter annual oil seed crop. Pennycress is planted in the fall and provides winter cover, before greening up and growing early in spring. Soybeans can be planted directly into it, and the pennycress harvested later. Or the beans can be planted after the pennycress has been harvested.

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22 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

‘Kitchen farming’ sows seeds of a new world

By Amelia Nierenberg New York Times

When the pandemic shuttered restaurants worldwide, out-of-work chefs planted vegetable patches known as kitchen gardens. Some had always wanted to but never found the time. As they approach the harvest, these chefs have a better understanding of the sweat and time that goes into each vegetable, and its role in the food system. More than 3,600 people have signed on to the Kitchen Farming Project, following a loose garden “recipe” developed by the chef Dan Barber and Jack Algiere, the farm director of Stone Barns Center. A famous farm-to-table advocate, Barber sees the project as a way to get chefs, who often work with farmers, to become farmers themselves, at least for a season. The basic recipe for each garden is simple: a 12-by-15-foot plot, broken into six produce families — tomatoes and peppers together in one section, iron-rich greens in another. In emails during the

growing season, Algiere offers general advice about crop spacing and irrigation. One participant compared the guidelines to a mother sauce, a basic formula that can take many different forms. The old guard of the farm-to-table movement focused on local food. Many of these new kitchen gardeners are growing the foods of their culture, using traditional techniques that work in their particular environment. Here are five gardens that play with those possibilities. Selassie Atadika Accra, Ghana In Ghana, colonialism and the introduction of cash crops interrupted a stable food system. Today, many big farms tend to plant commercial seeds, and imported products line the shelves of chain grocery stores. Although some smaller farms sell indigenous crops for Ghanaian consumers, many cater to expatriates, homesick for European and

Abbie Grueskin and Emma Meigneux | New York Times

An example of a garden “recipe” plan from the Kitchen Farming Project, developed by the chef Dan Barber and Jack Algiere, farm director of Stone Barns Center.

Rafael Ruiz | New York Times

Crystal Díaz, who grows food at her bed-and-breakfast and also finds ingredients from other local farms, looks at bananas in Cayey, Puerto Rico. Sidelined by the pandemic, cooks around the world are planting and expanding their own gardens.

American tastes. The kale and mint may be organic, but they aren’t staples of West African cuisine. Selassie Atadika struggled to find organic, local seeds — okra was surprisingly hard to track down — but her garden is finally growing. She planted on her property, near Midunu House, a culinary event space where she hosts meals. For chiles, she turned to local markets, drying the seeds in the sun. For wild and Ghanaian foods, she has saved seeds and foraged outside the city with friends and family. “I just went to some of the aunties,” she said. The greens took just a few weeks to grow. But she also planted trees, including black tamarind, coconut, cashew and two types of guava. In five years, maybe 10, she’ll serve their fruits. “I’ve taken the opportunity to invest in the garden,” she said. Naoyuki Arai Sakado, Japan Well before the pandemic, Naoyuki Arai worked closely with an organic farm in the Tokyo area, Ome Farm, to stock his restaurant. With its help, he has planted a large garden at his family’s home outside Tokyo. Farmers have cultivated satoimo, a Japanese taro (similar to a potato), for at least 2,000 years, he said, and he is as

well. Sweet potatoes are popular in the area. “Growing vegetables from seed has allowed me to observe everything about the process,” he said. “I can prepare dishes based on the various stages of ripeness.” Many of his plantings are staples of Japanese cuisine. Sayama, a green tea, is a local specialty. “I used to buy vegetables based on my schedule, and I realized that my schedule is not what’s important,” Arai said. “It’s the vegetables and the soil whose schedule should be respected.”

Sara Levi Rome Sara Levi had always wanted to start a garden but couldn’t find the time. The strict lockdown at the start of this year’s planting season gave her an unexpected opportunity to try. Her garden includes salad greens, wild fennel and mint, zucchini and zucchini blossoms, and nasturtium flowers. “Now that I have my own garden, I just can’t bear to waste anything or throw anything away,” she said. “You are so painfully aware of all the work that went into growing that vegetable.” As the sous-chef of the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American

Academy in Rome, she is used to cooking from a garden. She is trying to capture those same flavors and scents in the meals she serves her family. “You are not just cooking to the end of cooking, but also because you’re teaching all these values,” Levi said. “I love the fact that my kids are growing up and seeing this, seeing me in the garden, and then eating the food and enjoying it.” Amber Tamm Brooklyn, New York When Amber Tamm, an urban farmer and foodjustice advocate, first heard about the Kitchen Farming Project, she was frustrated that it didn’t involve much input from urban farmers of color. “It was like: ‘I understand that your chefs are out of commission, and this is a way for them to heal,’ ” she said. “‘But this is an opportunity to appoint urban ag leaders that are here to teach them, and talk about what it’s been like for us to farm in this landscape.’” With two apprentices, she is using urban farming techniques to grow vegetable and flower seedlings donated by Stone Barns in plots at the Red Shed Community Garden, in East Williamsburg. Crystal Díaz Cayey, Puerto Rico At her bed-and-breakfast, El Pretexto, Crystal Díaz grows food on the grounds, below, and brings in ingredients from other local farms. In the pandemic, with fewer guests, Díaz has more time to farm. She has planted pineapples, and is tending to dozens of fruit trees. She also grows yams, sweet pota-

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 23

Andrew Faulk | New York Times

Chef Naoyuki Arai, who worked closely with an organic farm to stock his restaurant, and then with the farm’s help planted a large garden, seen here, at his family’s home in Sakado, Japan.

toes, broccoli, tomatoes and herbs. As she prunes and weeds, she thinks even more about her place in Puerto Rico’s food sovereignty movement. “Every day, I worry more about what I put on my plate, how many miles have traveled to get to

my plate, and what that means,” she said. When tropical storms stripped passion fruit from her vines, she made jams to preserve them. She is using an abundance of bananas in cakes, ice cream and pancakes. “For me,” she said, “it’s

Amber Tamm is an urban farmer and food-justice advocate.

also a sense of belonging, that there are so many other people doing this.” The Kitchen Farming Project gardeners could be stewards of a new phase

of the farm-to-table movement, one shaped by the pandemic and global protests for racial justice. When chefs become the farmers, they grow the

Sara Naomi Lewkowicz | New York Times

ingredients they know and love. Now, as they start serving what they’ve harvested, their culinary heritage is on the table, too.

24 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

Amish cheesemaker preserves tradition online By Craig Laban Associated Press

A ride through the rolling country roads of lush green farmland can feel about as far from the urban bustle as one can get. And that was especially true as we climbed the gravel drive past the barns and farmhouse fringed with laundry lines fluttering in the fall breeze and

we pulled up to the cheese house at Goot Essa. This Amish farmstead cheesemaker, (the name means “good eating”), is owned by the family of John and AnnaMary Esh, who strive to follow their community’s religious traditions and assure it is as self-sustainable as possible. “This is an evolving process for us, but the goal is to be off the electrical

Photos by Craig LaBan | Philadelphia Inquirer (AP)

An array cheeses from Goot Essa, an Amish farmstead cheesemaker, include Der Edel Bleu Kase (clockwise); Der Alpen Kase, a cow’s milk Alpine-style cheese; Der Mutterschaf Kase, a semi-soft sheep’s milk Pecorino-style; Butta Schaf Kase, hard sheep’s milk Pecorino-style, Felsa Yeh, a firm sheep’s milk Manchego-style; Emanuel Vom Tal Kase, a bloomy rind sheep cheese; Der Weichen Gehl, a cow’s milk Camembert; and Marn Vom Berge Kase, an ash-ripened goat cheese.

grid,” says John, 54, who warmly welcomed us for a tour. Solar panels power the pasteurizers that heat milk from the farm’s 70 Holsteins before it is hand-paddled, separated, and shaped. Propane illuminates lanterns in the tasting room where orders are wrapped with ribbons and packed for gift box shipping. A diesel engine chills the three aging rooms that are carved into the limestone hill below, where a 65-foot-long subterranean cave holds up to 10,000 pounds of aging dairy treasures like Felsa Yehr, a masterful Manchego-style wheel whose name means “rock aged cheese.” The COVID-19 catastrophe, however, has provided yet another reminder of how intricately our food systems are linked, where even some of the seemingly isolated artisan producers are vulnerable to the ripple effects of a still reeling restaurant industry. “This (crisis) has been a big deal for us,” said Esh, who is notable among Amish cheesemakers for

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The spruce wood shelves are stocked with wheels of Butta Schaf Kase, a Pecorino-style sheep’s milk cheese made and aged in the underground cave at Goot Essa.

his strong presence on cheeseboards in fine dining restaurants. That was a plus in pre-pandemic times. But Goot Essa instantly lost 50% of its business as orders went from an average of 100 a week to 15 after restaurants shut down in March. “Most restaurants are not back, or if they are back, (at) much lower volume,” says Goot Essa office manager Carolyn Steffen. It’s not for lack of enthusiasm. Nicholas Elmi, one of several chefs who has featured Goot Essa’s cheese, says that Felsa Yehr, which is made with sheep’s milk and aged for a year, “is close to if not better than most Manchegos that we’ve had. It’s very bright and floral with a lot of nuance, with an acidity like lemon rind and a kind of coriander smell.” Elmi gushes that Goot Essa’s cow’s milk Gruyèrestyle, Der Alpen Kase, “basically tastes like brown

butter and hazelnuts. And although it’s a harder alpine cheese, it smooths out quickly once you bite, then coats your lips, and encompasses your palate.” Laurel finally reopened for limited indoor and outdoor dining earlier this month but the usual cheese course got axed for COVIDera tasting menu brevity: “We’re trying to keep everyone here at or under two hours,” Elmi says. Goot Essa is hardly alone in its struggles, says Kerry Kaylegian, an associate professor at Penn State University who sits on the board of the American Cheese Society. “We’re seeing a lot of people struggling and smaller (cheesemakers) going under,” she said. “If you’re a small business without a big buffer and losing half your business overnight, it’s hard to recover.” This is not the first time the Esh family has faced

an existential challenge to its farm. In fact, that’s the reason they began making cheese nearly 20 years ago, as the economies of scale began to threaten small family dairies. “We were looking to position ourselves in a way to stay on this farm and support our family,” said Esh, who began there as a dairy in 1991, then began making cheese as a value-added product for their milk in 2001. They now have nine children and six grandkids, many of whom still work on the farm. “We’ve been blessed.” Goot Essa’s operation has grown to an annual production of up to 40,000 pounds of cheese and employs eight non-family employees. It also supports five other Amish farms that provide sheep and goat milk for some of the 19 varieties that cheesemakers Fannie Mae Glick and Lydia Stoltzfus make by hand. Their version of Pecorino called Butta Schaf Kase is extraordinary after 16 months of age, with intensely buttery, nutty flavors, a fissure-like crumble when sliced, and a bite of cellar age on the finish that recalls its sheep’s milk tang. That sprawling cellar, built in 2014, is one of three aging rooms at Goot Essa. It has been a key to elevating the farm’s cheeses to the next level of complexity, which only time racked on a spruce wood shelf in a 55-degree room with high humidity can achieve. Stepping down into its dank, vaulted space is a multi-sensory experience: The lactic tang and cellar must tickle See CHEESE | page 29

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 25

Water demand of farms priority for new office By Ellen Knickmeyer Associated Press

President Donald Trump has created what he called a “subcabinet” for federal water issues, with a mandate that includes water-use changes sought by corporate farm interests and oil and gas. An executive order from Trump put Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler in charge of the interagency water body. Establishment of a water subcabinet “will streamline decisionmaking processes” across federal agencies, the EPA

said in a statement. The first priority set out by the executive order is increasing dam storage and other water storage, long a demand of farmers and farm interests in the West in particular. That includes California’s Westlands Water District, the nation’s largest agricultural water district. Westlands was one of Bernhardt’s main lobbying and legal clients before his appointment to the Interior Department under Trump. Asked about whether the move would benefit his old client or represent a conflict for Bernhardt, Interior Department spokesman Nicholas Goodwin said, “The

A center pivot sprinkler system waters a cornfield.

secretary is resolute in upholding his legal and ethical responsibilities.” The Interior Department has said previously Bernhardt follows ethics rules and the law in federal government actions involving the water district and other past clients. Environmental groups say the amount of water sought by corporate farming would leave habitats and wildlife without enough water to survive. Another of the many directives for the new interagency is implementing a water reuse plan. Oil and gas companies have supported one aspect of the plan that could allow them to

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26 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

Restoring farmland could fight climate change: study By Catrin Einhorn New York Times

The twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are intertwined: Storms and wildfires are worsening while as many as 1 million species are at risk of extinction. The solutions are not small or easy, but they exist, scientists say. A global road map, published in Nature, identifies a path to soaking up almost half the carbon dioxide that has built up since the Industrial Revolution and averting more than 70% of the predicted animal and plant extinctions on land. The key? Returning a strategic 30% of the world’s farmlands to nature. It could be done, the researchers found, while preserving an abundant food supply for people and while also staying within the time scale to keep global temperatures from rising past 2 degrees Celsius, the upper target of the Paris Agreement. “It’s one of the most costeffective ways of combating climate change,” said Bernardo B.N. Strassburg, one of the study’s authors and an environmental scientist

with Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and the International Institute for Sustainability. “And it’s one of the most important ways of avoiding global extinctions.” The researchers used a map from the European Space Agency that breaks down the surface of the planet into a grid of parcels classified by ecosystem: forests, wetlands, shrub lands, grasslands and arid regions. Using an algorithm they developed, the scientists evaluated which swaths, if returned to their natural states, would yield the highest returns for mitigating climate change and biodiversity loss at the lowest cost. It was not enough simply to lay one result on top of the other. “If you really want to optimize for all three things at the same time,” Strassburg said, “that leads to a different map.” A similar and complementary tool, The Global Safety Net, was released this year. It identifies the most strategic 50% of the planet to protect, filtering for rare species, high biodiversity, large mammal landscapes, intact wilderness

and climate stabilization. A growing number of campaigns seek to address the world’s environmental emergency by conserving or restoring vast swaths of the planet. The Bonn Challenge aims to restore 350 million hectares by 2030. The Campaign for Nature is pushing leaders to protect 30% of the planet by 2030. In the latest study, the scientists found that benefits rise and fall depending on how much land is restored. Relinquishing 15% of strategic farmlands, for example, could spare 60% of extinctions and sequester about 30% of the built-up carbon in the atmosphere. The authors estimate that at the global level, 55% of farmland could be returned to nature while maintaining current levels of food production by using existing agricultural land more effectively and sustainably. “It’s really impressive,” said J. Leighton Reid, a specialist in ecological restoration at Virginia Tech who was not involved in the study. “The authors do a good job of acknowledging some of the limitations of the work at the same

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A growing number of campaigns seek to address the world’s environmental emergency by conserving or restoring vast swaths of the planet.

time as they’re proposing this big vision.” The biggest challenges appear to be political will and finding the money to pay farmers to restore so much land to nature. But the authors point to the hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars per year that subsidize fossil fuels and unsustainable farming practices. “There’s a lot of money available for investment,” said Robin Chazdon, a longtime biologist with the University of Connecticut and one of the study’s authors. “The world is invested in destruction.” The study was requested by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, a global treaty that aims to preserve biodiversity. One of the authors, David Cooper, is its deputy executive secretary. A recent report by the convention showed that

world leaders had failed to meet their last round of targets. The United States is the only state in the world, with the exception of the Vatican, that has not signed the treaty. The study will be used to help inform global commitments at the United Nations biodiversity and climate conventions next year. But because the new study highlights nature’s disregard for national borders, it presents a diplomatic challenge. “This lays out the much

higher benefits overall if you ignore the country boundaries and just look at where these priorities are,” said Chazdon. The most strategic places are distributed very unevenly; tropical forests and wetlands, for example, hold outsized potential for carbon storage and biodiversity protection. “Do we say, ‘We’re just going to forego all those benefits and be provincial about this?’” she asked. “Or are there ways to cooperate internationally?” The authors note that the conservation of existing wilderness remains the most important way to protect biodiversity, and see their proposed restoration as a critical addition. Other essential steps Strassburg listed: stopping the use of fossil fuels; reducing food, energy and plastic waste; and making sustainable choices when buying things like food, cars and clothes. “Once consumers start changing their patterns,” he said, “companies react really quickly.”

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A global road map says a key to averting plant and animal extinctions involves returning a strategic 30% of the world’s farmlands to

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 27

Aromatherapy in apiary what bees need By Matt Kaplan New York Times

To fill your homes with blueberries, sunflowers and almonds, farmers rent honeybees. When all goes well, the bees pollinate the flowers, resulting in ample yields. But sometimes the rental bees buzz off and pollinate wildflowers instead. The problem is a matter of timing. For a hive to pollinate crops well, it needs to be settled and happy in its environment. That means it should be placed on a farm before the crop blooms. But when crops flower later than farmers expect them to, rental bees may develop a predilection for nectar from wildflowers near the fields — and ignore the crops. Walter M. Farina, a biologist at the University of Buenos Aires, and his colleagues have figured out a solution to this problem involving scent, which they reported in the journal Current Biology. Farina knew from previous work that hives remember the scents of food collected in the past. Most importantly, he knew that these memories could bias where bees forage. “This led us to wonder if we could guide bees to specific crops by inserting an odor of that crop into a hive and giving them a memory of food they never had,” Farina said. Over the course of six years, Farina and his colleagues placed scented sugar water into hives that had been placed next to Argentine sunflower

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For a hive to pollinate crops well, it needs to be settled and happy in its environment.

farms. In some cases, the hives were given water laced with sunflower fragrance. As a control, some hives were given water laced with jasmine. To keep track of which bees were being exposed to the different solutions, the researchers put colored powders at the entrance to the hives such that bees exposed to sunflower scent were stained blue and those exposed to jasmine were pink. To monitor the response of the insects, the team installed transparent walls in hives and recorded the bees dancing. Known as the waggle dance, bees dance to tell hivemates where they have found food. The researchers studied these dances to determine where the bees were foraging. To further study how the bees were responding, Farina and his colleagues placed pollen traps inside the hives that collected pollen grains off bees returning from foraging activities that were later brought to the lab for identification. The researchers also went out into the sunflower fields, captured bees foraging

there and took note of whether they were pink or blue. The results could not have been clearer, with a variety of measurements suggesting that the sunflower scent had increased crop pollination. When the farmers reported their yields, this was confirmed: Fields adjacent to hives given the sunflower solution produced between 37% and 61% more sunflower seeds than did fields next to the jasmine hives. The work was lauded by other entomologists. “This is real work being done in real fields rather than just the lab,” said Martin Giurfa, who studies bee behavior at CNRS Toulouse in France. “These are incredibly encouraging findings.”

Bee apiaries are set up among Eucalyptus Grandis plantations annually during the strong nectar flow, which provides vast amounts of honey for beekeepers. Smoke is used to calm bees when maintaining the colony and when harvesting the honey.

The study may be good news for more than just farmers. Wild pollinators like bumblebees, carpenter bees and mason bees often struggle when exposed to competition from rental bees. “Our scent technique might help better focus the rental bees on crops and relieve pressure on native pollinators,” Farina said. Giurfa agreed this is possible but added, “we need field studies on these other pollinators to know for sure.”

In some cases, hives were given water laced with sunflower fragrance. As a control, some hives were given water laced with jasmine.

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28 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 29

Cheese From page 24

the nose, and hundreds of cheese wheels cast concentric shadows across the brightly lit room in either direction. This is where Goot Essa’s old-school magic happens. Goot Essa produces a broad selection of wellmade cheeses. There are bloomy rind softies in three kinds of milk (cow, sheep, and goat; all of which could benefit from more ripening), a funky and pungent blue (Der Edel Bleu Kase, perfect on burgers), excellent cheddars and a tangy Old German made off-site by Amish dairyman Israel Kinsinger of Oak Shade Cheese (then aged further at Goot Essa). John Esh built the business, in part, by his willingness to hire people to do the modern tasks he

was uncomfortable doing himself. He typically travels by horse and buggy, he said, as the phone rang and rang somewhere behind us (“It goes to voicemail!” he shrugged). But hiring a driver to take him on sales calls to restaurants and wineries in New York and Pennsylvania was a major step in gaining both exposure and inspiration for some of the European cheese styles that he’s refined with the help of consultant Bob Patton. “We get cold-calls from random people every week, but we’ve never had any Amish cheesemakers coming through,” says Laurel’s Elmi, recalling his first encounter with Esh about five years ago. “I remember thinking, ‘I don’t want to do this right now.’ But he was so nice. And then he started feeding me, Eddie Konrad (then-chef de cuisine) and two line cooks, and we were were like, ‘Let’s take a

coffee break!” Now the creamery must find ways to compensate for the loss of its restaurant base, and Esh has turned to another staple of modern commerce to help his cause: the internet. “Hiring a website manager for online sales has been important,” says Esh, who does not use computers. The timing couldn’t have been better. The website they launched last winter is now responsible for 50% of their retail business, says Steffen, throwing a small lifeline until the boost of the holiday season arrives when gift basket business — which also offer Amish honeys, preserves, mustards, and fudge — typically requires them to double staff. “We have seen increased retail traffic, but not An underground cave below the cheesemaking facility. enough to replace the restaurants,” says Steffen. “Having the site has been better than not having one.”

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A sign directs customers to the cheesemaking facility and store at Goot Essa.

30 • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • Modern Farmer

Pesticide From page 14

administration’s decision to ban the product as based on epidemiological studies rather than direct tests on animals. A dozen environmental and labor groups are suing the EPA to try to force an immediate ban. In a hearing in July before a threejudge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court

Conservation From page 5

on opportunities to grow STAR and how to better promote and encourage progress on the farm.” Consumer demand for sustainably produced food and fiber products is increasing and so is the need to better integrate conservation in agriculture. Grain and food companies are looking to achieve better environmental outcomes from their supply-chain partners. The Saving Tomorrow’s Agriculture Resources initiative is a free tool that provides Illinois farm operators and landowners a

of Appeals, the EPA argued that the agency does not dispute that chlorpyrifos can cause neurodevelopmental effects. But, an agency attorney argued, there is dispute over what level of exposure is dangerous. The agency said not being able to see Columbia University’s raw data was problematic and prevented the EPA from independently assessing the findings. Attorneys supporting a ban on chlorpyrifos said the Columbia University researchers were willing to show their data to agency officials in a secure

location, but have not released the information publicly because of privacy concerns. Several states, including California, New York and Hawaii, already have enacted bans of varying strictness. Corteva, the world’s largest manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, has said it will stop producing the chemical by the end of this year. Gregg Schmidt, a company spokesman, said Corteva has already stopped production but said “we stand by the safety of the product and its value for the grower community.”

means to evaluate, measure and increase their use of conservation practices based on local soil and water resource concerns. The initiative was formed in 2017 by the Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District and has been recognized nationally by the National Association of Conservation Districts. “We created STAR to show farmers how easy it can be to prevent runoff, protect our water supplies, and promote soil health. And every year, we see more participants eager to invest in a stronger future by using the free STAR tool,” said Bruce Henrikson, an early developer of the initiative. In three years, the initiative has

expanded to 71 Illinois counties and two Indiana counties, evaluating more than 83,000 acres. It has also expanded to Iowa and Missouri, with the states’ respective conservation district associations adopting the program. The harvest season will soon be over, and it will be time for farmers and landowners to reflect on 2020 and start planning for the next cropping year. The program can help farmers evaluate current nutrient and soil management practices and identify needed improvements. Open enrollment for the 2020 crop year is ongoing through January. Information is available at starfreetool.com or by contacting the local county Soil and Water Conservation District.

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Marijuana From page 9

a craft grower at $5 million to $10 million, as opposed to $500,000 to $1.5 million for a dispensary. He said he knows one applicant who was paying $10,000 a month to reserve their site for a business they can’t open. “They’re just bleeding money,” he said. “This is not a path to social equity.” As for state regulators, Magelli said, “I think the Department of Agriculture is sympathetic, they want a fair and equitable process, but I think they’re

Insecurity From page 10

food-security initiatives need to really get creative to address their local problems. What policies could help ameliorate hunger during the pandemic? The world needs policies to ensure that food-distribution channels stay open. This includes maintaining international imports and exports. We need to find ways to ensure that food retailers do not engage in price gouging. Farmers must continue to receive seeds and other agricultural inputs needed to keep crops growing during the pandemic. We also need to incentivize farmers to find creative ways to distribute their crops rather than throwing them away. Are there any other new approaches would you like to see? I’d like to see crowdsourcing solutions for dealing with hunger and food insecurity during the pandemic. We know this is going to be a problem in the near future, so why not look for creative solutions and have those solutions implemented quickly? I also hope more research goes into finding creative ways for families/households to grow their own food during pandemics.

struggling with how to do that on timely basis.” Last year, the previously existing medical marijuana growers in the state, now numbering 18, got new licenses to also begin growing marijuana for recreational sales. They are allowed up to 210,000 square feet of growing space, compared with the maximum 10,000 square feet for new craft growers. The existing companies — many of them large multistate operators — have continued to rack up record sales almost every month since legal sales began New Year’s Day. One bright spot is that the craft licenses may avoid the fate of the dis-

pensary licenses, in which the only winning applicants had perfect scores, including points for majority veteran ownership, according to Rose Ashby, a former field director for state Sen. Heather Steans, who helped lawmakers draft the legalization law, and who like Magelli, said she advised some applicants without fee. Because the scoring is based more on qualitative differences and less on yes or no categories, Ashby expects there to be a wider variety in the top scores. But she warned, some social equity applicants who invested their life savings may be forced out by further delays.

Modern Farmer • Sunday, October 25, 2020 • 31

Goodbye From page 11 that knows exactly where the tractor is located on the field and tells him what he is producing as he goes through the field. It can also guide the tractor for him, knowing exactly what angle to place the head of the combine where he left off as he goes back down the field for another pass. Dial said the dry weather has had an impact on the soybean crop this harvest season. “Our later beans are not producing as well as our early beans did mainly because we didn’t get any August or September rains,” Todd said. “I am really happy with our early beans. They really overproduced.” He said they basically plant two crops every year — soybeans and corn. Todd said each year they rotate the two crops. However, this year they planted a few more soybeans than normal. When it was time to move to another field, a pickup truck with a trailer attached waited to take the head attached

to the front of the combine to its next field to harvest. The length of the head in front of the combine is so wide the combine would have problems traveling down the road to get to their next field. “We keep things moving until all of the crops are in. When it’s over, it’s really an emotional time for our family,” Todd said. Tasha said when her father was young he always said two special words he would say at the end of harvest that was passed down to his children and grandchildren. “He would be sad when they cut the corn down, and he would always say, ‘goodbye, corn’ when his dad would cut the last few stocks,” she said. Tasha used those words in her book titled “Goodbye, Corn Harvesting from Beginning to End” in memory of her father. The book features several family farm photos. The cover of the book, published by The Peppertree Press, is a photo of her father’s hand behind the wheel of a combine harvesting a corn field. After 31 days of harvest for Ragel-Dial Farms this year, the family will once again carry on the family tradition by repeating the words of Alan Ragel, “Goodbye, Corn.”

Farm show canceled for 2021 By Robert Connelly Rock Island Argus (TNS)

The annual Quad Cities Farm Equipment Show, normally scheduled for mid-January at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island, has been canceled. Dick Sherman, who runs the event hosted in the Quad-Cities for nearly 30 years, cited several factors. The QCCA Expo Center can’t host large events due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts in Illinois and only about half of the usual exhibitors had showed interest in August and early September, Sherman said. “With the building still closed, and COVID continuing unabated, with warnings from scientists that fall and winter will possibly be worse than now, I do not anticipate a pickup in exhibitor demand for space,” Sherman wrote in a Sept. 13 letter to the QCCA Expo Center. Hundreds normally attend the multi-day farm equipment show that lets farmers and customers interact with exhibitors and

observe new products, such as large ag machinery. That also doubles as a way to introduce children to the world of farming. The Quad-Cities is not alone in losing its annual farm show; Sherman said Indianapolis, normally slated for December, recently canceled its farm show and Peoria has rescheduled its event from December to March 2021. Sherman said the decision to cancel was made before any money was collected from exhibitors. Sherman said the event will be back in January 2022. What’s lost this year is revenue for the QCCA Expo Center and exhibitors. “Too many negatives and too many risks, and, frankly, I’m cautious and I very much did not want to be responsible for running an event that gets people sick or die just to run an event that makes me money,” Sherman said Monday. “It’s been a highly successful show and I think in the future it will remain highly successful and I think losing a year does no damage to the event.”

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