Country Life Wednesday, January 13, 2021 • lyndentribune.com • ferndalerecord.com
IN BLOOM
MIELKE MARKET
Learning from my 2020 Class III milk price dives; stability ahead? gardening mistakes I love gardening, and chances are if you’re reading this column you do too. Among many hobbies gardening is unique in its accessibility — just about anyone of any age with any amount of skill living in any sort of home can exercise their green thumb and discover the joy of growing something. However, along with successes come challenges, and I’m not immune to the failures we all experience in the garden. I am writing in the hope that you might benefit from my missteps of last year — and with encouragement to examine your own. So here are a few New Year’s resolutions I’m making to improve upon in my garden this year. First, moss control. It’s not killing it I struggle with. After all, I’m quick to recommend and use ferrous sulfate and lime! Rather, it’s the follow-up reseeding that I did too late last summer. If done right, it would have filled in the bare spots left after the moss was gone. One spot on the north side of my house sees direct sun for only about two months a year, and I didn’t reseed the bare spots until August, too late to benefit from any more direct sun. Of course, shade-tolerant grass will survive in such conditions, but it would have filled in much more quickly had I seeded in June when the sun was high in the sky.
By David Vos Second, slugs. If garden center sales of slug and snail killer are any indication, 2020 was a banner year for these pesky mollusks. June’s wet, dreary conditions were ideal for the spring’s crop of slug and snail hatchlings to thrive — and thrive they did! While I was successful in keeping slugs out of my vegetable garden all year, I should have reapplied slug bait to my hostas a second time in early summer, after my typical March application. Thankfully, hostas continue to put out new leaves throughout summer, so I was able to clip off the most damaged leaves and spread some extra Sluggo around the worst-damaged plants. This year, I’ll remember to watch my hostas more closely and reapply slug bait as needed. Third, one common mistake gardeners make is cramming too many plants into their vegetable garden space, and I’m as guilty of
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this as anyone. Even after growing my own garden for years, I struggle to give plants the proper space they need. Maybe it’s greed — a desire to get the absolute most out of my garden — or maybe it’s thinking the innocent-looking sugar snap pea sprouts surely won’t get seven feet tall and then flop over and smother the lettuce, or maybe it’s the fading memories of last year’s garden being too crammed to navigate. Whatever, it’s important to remember to give plants the room they need to grow. Not only will plants that have enough room be easier to harvest, but they’ll produce more abundantly when they’re not competing for space. Finally, I can’t stress enough the importance of keeping a gardening journal. I’m not suggesting anything as mundane as recording every watering or weeding, but rather the important things. When did you fertilize, or get your first cool-season vegetable crops in the ground, or treat your roses for aphids? All these things can be useful to know not only for when you might need to feed, harvest or spray for bugs again in the current year. They’re also useful to know for the coming year so you can plan your garden better. If you choose to wing it, no problem. Gardens tend to be forgiving and you don’t need to make the hobby into work simply for work’s sake. But you might find that a few simple notes jotted down through the season actually make for less work and more enjoyment in the end. With a new year upon us and gardening just around the corner, I think we can all look forward to getting our hands in the dirt once again! David Vos is manager of Vander Giessen Nursery Inc. of Lynden.
The U.S. Federal Order benchmark Class III milk price ended 2020 sharply lower and well below a year earlier. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the December Class III price at $15.72 per hundredweight (cwt.), down $7.62 from November, $3.65 below a year ago and the lowest Class III price since May. The 2020 Class III average price ended up at $18.16, up from $16.96 in 2019 and $14.61 in 2018. New Year’s Eve Class III futures settlements had the January contract at $15.80, February at $17.49, March $17.51, April $17.37, May $17.39, June $17.25, July $17.33, August $17.35, September $17.54, October $17.30, November $17.18 and December at $17.15. All in all, not much movement. That would portend a $17.22 average in 2021. The USDA’s latest prediction for 2021 was for a $15.60 average. The Class III price saw a low of $12.14 in May and a high of $24.54 in July. The December Class IV price is $13.36, up 6 cents from November, $3.34 below a year ago and the lowest December Class IV price since 2008. The 2020 average was $13.49, down from $16.30 in 2019 and $14.23 in 2018. USDA is projecting a 2021 Class IV average of $13.60. The low is $10.67 in May and a high of $16.65 in January. Cash dairy prices ended 2020 below where they were a year ago, but what a roller-coaster ride it was! The 40-pound cheddar block cheese saw a COVIDpandemic-driven bottom of $1.00 per pound on April 15, then soared to a $3.00 peak on July 13, and closed New Year’s Eve at $1.65, up 5.25 cents on the holiday-shortened week but 24 cents below a year ago. The 500-pound cheddar
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By Lee Mielke averaged $21.30 per hundredweight, up $1.10 from October and 20 cents above November 2019. The national average corn price averaged $3.79 per bushel, up 18 cents per bushel from October, which follows a 21-cent rise in October and is 11 cents per bushel above November 2019. Soybeans averaged $10.30 per bushel, up 67 cents from October, following a 39-cent rise in October, and is $1.71 per bushel above a year ago. Alfalfa hay averaged $167 per ton, down $4.00 from October and $2.00 per ton below a year ago. The November cull price for beef and dairy combined averaged $59.30 per cwt., down 70 cents from October, $1.60 above November 2019, but $12.30 below the 2011 base average of $71.60 per cwt. The Northwest Dairy Association makes these price projections for the Class III price and Pacific Northwest blend price: Month Class PNW III Blend Dec. $15.72 $15.45 (current) Jan. $16.26 $14.96 Feb. $18.75 $16.17 March $18.59 $16.69 April $17.97 $16.40 May $17.60 $16.80 June $17.61 $16.76 July $17.60 $16.84 Aug. $17.68 $16.96 Lee Mielke, of Lynden, is editor of the Mielke Market Weekly. Whatcom County has about 70 dairy farms.
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barrels bottomed out April 9 at $1.00 per pound, peaked at $2.53 on Oct. 30 and closed Dec. 31 at $1.5425, up 7.75 cents on the week, 10 cents below a year ago and 10.75 cents below the blocks. Dairy Market News says the markets have begun to show some stability, at least in the near term. Ample milk flows are keeping Western cheese plants busy and most are running at capacity. Retail demand is steady and strong while food service demand has been weak, though there are exceptions. Pizza cheese and processed cheese for fast-food burgers are stronger than the rest of food service items. Western butter makers also have plenty of cream for the churns. Retail demand slowed going into the winter holidays and food service accounts continue to struggle, said DMN. Restaurant sales were starting to show signs of life a few weeks ago, but tighter restrictions to combat COVID-19 have curtailed further gains. Grade A nonfat dry milk saw its peak at $1.2975 per pound on Jan. 22, 2020, but saw a low point of 79.25 cents per pound on May 1. Powder finished the year at $1.1425 per pound, down a half-cent on the week and 9 cents below a year ago. CME dry whey saw its 2020 low at 28.75 cents per pound on July 7. It peaked at 47 cents on Dec. 10, and closed the year at 46.25 cents per pound, 14.75 cents above a year ago. Another jump in the U.S. All Milk Price offset sharply higher corn and soybean prices to push the November milk-feed price ratio higher. The USDA’s latest Ag Prices Report shows the ratio at 2.58, up from 2.50 in October and the highest since July, but down from 2.65 in November 2019. The US All-Milk Price
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