Farm Indiana October 2012

October 2012 | Section A

Learning to

lead FFA prepares members for success in agriculture and other fields

By Brenda Showalter

M photos by Andrew Laker

Top: Chase Ballard runs through the mud pit at the Columbus FFA Messy Olympics. Above: Patrick Spears, left, and Elijah Lowe cross a slippery obstacle covered in dish soap and spaghetti. Left: Hannah Milan washes off after running through the mud pit.

any of today’s FFA students live on family farms and look forward to careers in agriculture. But a growing number of teens involved in the organization make their homes in the city and are planning for jobs in such areas as business, law, medicine or communications.

Although FFA teaches many of the same agricultural lessons students learned when it was founded in 1928, members also learn about leadership, community service, public speaking and other skills that build self-confidence and knowledge to help them prepare for a range of careers.

Called Future Farmers of America until 1988, FFA has become the largest youth organization in the world with more than 540,000 members. The national convention, from Oct. 24 to 27 in Indianapolis, is expected to draw more than 50,000 students and advisers.

State FFA President Cameron Sue Mann of Putnam County said Indiana has about 9,600 members, and leaders hope the total tops 10,000 within the next few years.

In the area that includes Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings and Johnson counties, more than 700 were FFA members last year. Enrollment currently is under way for this year.

“It’s just such a great organization to be involved with,” said Mann, a 2012 Cloverdale High School graduate. “And it’s not just about agriculture anymore. It’s more of a leadership organization.”

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

FFA

editor's note I’d like to welcome any first-time readers to Farm Indiana, a monthly publication of Home News Enterprises offering a local view on agriculture in southern Indiana.

You’ll find us on the last Wednesday of every month as an insert in the Brown County Democrat and The Tribune (Seymour) and in certain delivery routes for the Daily Journal (Johnson County) and The Republic (Columbus).

This is Farm Indiana’s third issue, and already the page count has grown by 50 percent since our debut issue just two months ago. I hope this means we’re doing something right.

Our coverage area is Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings and Johnson counties. As always, we welcome your input and contributions. Have a topic you’d like to see us cover? Let me know. Know a farm family worthy of a profile? Let me know. I can’t promise we’ll get to all of them, but we will give all suggestions serious consideration.

We’re also looking for your contributions whether they be 4-H club news, FFA news, calendar items, whatever. If we feel it’s a good fit for Farm Indiana, we’ll include it in our next issue.

continued from page A1 sessions, compete in contests, learn about career options and take part is networking opportunities.

Brad Briggs, FFA adviser in Jennings County, will take about 24 of his more than 100 FFA members to the national event.

“We’ve been growing the past five years at Jennings County, and last year was our biggest year,” Briggs said, explaining that he works to get the message out that FFA is for all students, not just those who live on a farm. “That’s one of the biggest misconceptions.”

Little bit of everything

FFA is considered an “intercurricular” program by schools, meaning students take courses during their regular school day and also participate in after-school meetings and weekend activities.

Classes begin with “Fundamentals of Agriculture,” but branch out to many other subjects, including livestock, forestry, horticulture, landscaping, agronomy and greenhouse management.

Competitions, called Career Development Events, give students a chance to show judges what they have learned about a particular topic. In soils judging, for example, they go to a site and explain the composition of the soil and its suitability for crops or even home construction.

Students also give demonstrations to practice their public speaking skills while showcasing their knowledge on specific topics. Two recent demonstrations for Jennings County students were about rebuilding a carburetor and putting together a terrarium.

FFA FOUNDED: 1928. Called Future Farmers of America until 1988.

MEMBERSHIP: 540,379, ages 12 to 21, in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Indiana membership is 9,600.

AREA MEMBERSHIP: For Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings and Johnson counties is about 700.

NATIONAL CONVENTION: Oct. 24 to 27 in Indianapolis.

While some students go into agriculture careers, others use the leadership skills they learned in FFA to pursue different careers. Mikaela Shatto, a junior at Jennings County High School, wants to study nursing and specialize in care provided in neonatal care units and on medical flights.

“My freshman year I was very shy,” Shatto said.

“Now I can get up in front of a group of people to talk.”

Shatto’s classmate Katie Vogel, a senior, also wants to be a nurse. This is her fourth year in FFA, and she highly recommends the organization to other students.

“You get to meet a lot of people, and when you go to the convention, you meet people from all over the country,” Vogel said.

Mann, who plans to go to Purdue University to

Send your contributions, thoughts, suggestions, etc., to me at farmindiana@hnenewspapers.com, or call me at 812-3795625 or visit us on Facebook at Facebook.com/farmindiana.

doug showalter

Comments should be sent to Doug Showalter, The Republic, 333 Second St., Columbus, IN 47201 or call 812-379-5625 or farmindiana@hnenewspapers.com. Advertising information: Call 812-379-5690. ©2012

by Home News Enterprises All rights reserved. Reproduction of stories, photographs and advertisements without permission is prohibited.

photo by Jeff Green

Jennings County High School seniors Jordan Kent, Quintin Strope and Shane Lakins, from left, put down mulch near the FFA plant greenhouse.

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

study agriculture communications, said FFA students are well-rounded individuals.

“They usually are involved in lots of activities along with FFA. I was in student council and 4-H,” Mann said.

Leslie Fairchild, FFA adviser for Columbus East and Columbus North high schools in Bartholomew County, said her students typically are involved with many other activities, including sports and other school groups, but they enjoy the social and learning activities that come with FFA. “They’re learning life skills, growing personally, learning leadership skills — and having fun while they’re doing it,” she said.

Fairchild thinks the public speaking skills gained in class and through FFA competitions are some of the most important lessons for the students. They are able to translate those skills to other situations, including job interviews and career settings, she said.

Community service

Linda Maxie, FFA adviser at Crothersville Jr.-Sr. High School in Jackson County, also believes in teaching students the importance of giving back to their communities.

About 70 of Crothersville’s 300 students are involved in the FFA program, and the biggest project each year is the annual toy and food give-away in December for the community’s families in need.

Money for the project is raised through an annual craft show in November and through other community donations.

“We just have lots of support here. People know it’s going to the annual toy and food drive,” said Maxie, adding proudly that the project has earned the small school the No. 4 spot in the state for FFA community service efforts.

Maxie, in her 24th year as FFA adviser, said her main message is that all students can be part of FFA. She believes all students have a talent they can share, whether they are shy or outgoing and live on a farm or in the city.

“We can accommodate everybody,” Maxie said.

“And you’re learning while you’re giving back to your community.”

Crothersville FFA member Dustin McCleery’s family raises turkeys, but he likes the idea of being involved with the group doing something good for area residents. After graduation, he’d like to go to Purdue University and study to become a paramedic.

At Franklin Community High School in Johnson County, 80 students so far have signed up to be FFA members and 250 students take FFA and agriculture classes.

Franklin had to add a second FFA teacher this year to keep up with the growth in the program, and FFA adviser Bill McIntire hopes within three years a third teacher will be needed.

McIntire sees how FFA helps students develop new skills through competitions and class projects and how the leadership training prepares them for their future.

“It will set them apart with so many things they do in life,” McIntire said. “Even though many of my stu-

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see more ffa photos on A4 dents are not bashful, this helps polish them.”

MaryEllen O’Connor, a senior at Franklin, said FFA has taught her valuable lessons that apply in all areas of her life.

“I’ve learned to work hard,” O’Connor said, “to be honest and to work to the best of my ability.”

Much more to offer

Morgan Tomson, president of the South Decatur Jr.-Sr. High School FFA, plans to go the more traditional FFA career route. She wants to study animal science at Purdue University and return to her family farm after graduation, but she also spreads the message that FFA has much more to offer.

“I live on a farm so I’ve always been around that and enjoy that,” Tomson said, “but FFA is also about learning different things and meeting different people.”

Tomson’s FFA adviser, Don Hudson, explains to his 70-plus FFA members that only a small percentage of the U.S. population is made up of farmers, but many jobs are tied to agriculture, including seed production and sales; farm equipment design, manufacturing and repair; commodity sales and distribution; and food production.

FFA programs have always been popular among students at North Decatur Jr.-Sr. High School, where more than one-third of the school’s about 600 students are FFA members.

Adviser Scott Johnson, in his 21st year in the role, said only about 40 percent of his students live on farms, even in the mostly rural Decatur County, and he believes that demonstrates how FFA has changed over the years.

“Leadership is really our calling card now,” Johnson said. “We still have a focus on agriculture, but we’ve expanded to do so much more.”

FFA students also find they have a full slate of activities to help them learn and prepare for their futures.

“Let’s just say we stay busy,” Johnson said.

Top: Katelyn Ray, Elizabeth Leonard and Bret Bradley transplant petunias for the Jennings County FFA annual plant sale held each spring. Middle: Andrew Wiley and Jameson Banning help with the activities at the Hayden Harvest Past Days.

Bottom: Danny Gerringer and Janaye Day make a presentation about dairy farming at the annual Ag Day held each spring at the Jennings County Fairgrounds for Jennings County fourth-graders.

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

Clockwise from top left: Andrew Wiley and Zach Graham at the District XII Leadership Contests in March with their Ag Mechanics demonstration on how to rebuild a carburetor. Mikaela Shatto and Bret Bradley at District XII Leadership Contests with the Jennings County FFA exhibit. Sarah Morris practicing at the District XII Leadership Contests for the Talent competition in March. Amy Burbrink preparing for the Ag Sales presentation at the Indiana FFA Convention in June.

photos by Andrew Laker

Top left: Allison Roberts, center, plays in the mud with friends at the Messy Olympics. Left: Jonah Brewer and Kelsey Pearson step through tire obstacles during a relay at the Messy Olympics. Above: Hadlee Swope, left, and Emmy Frederick jump into a nearby pond to wash the mud off following the Messy Olympics.

Farm Indiana | October 2012

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State to market produce as ‘Indiana Grown’ Staff Reports

Indiana Grown is a cooperative effort among farmers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, restaurants and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to brand and promote Indiana produce and production.

The new certification program encompasses products ranging from produce and field crops to dairy, meat and poultry, to horticulture. The goal is for consumers to easily identify, find and buy Indiana grown products.

“This program will provide the visual recognition long needed to better showcase the wide variety of fresh, high quality foods and products our Hoosier growers have to offer,” said Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, secretary of agriculture and rural development.

“Our goal is to help families from not only here in our state but around the globe easily identify and buy Indianagrown products.”

Membership into the Indiana Grown program is via an application and acceptance by ISDA. All farm producers, specialty food producers and others engaged in the production of agricultural products in Indiana are eligible to apply. l Fees due for application process: $100 for first time applicant; $50 for renewal l Terms: The Indiana Grown logo shall only be used on products identified in an application that is kept on file with ISDA. Use of the logo is for one year and then a renewal application must be made. Only first-quality products, grown in Indiana, that meet the U.S. No. 1 Quality Grade Standard, or higher U.S. Grade Standards, whichever is the accepted USDA industry grade standard for that commodity, will be accepted.

severe Drought increases danger of fire in hay bales Staff Reports

The Indiana State Department of Agriculture, associated agencies and industry partners want to remind farmers and all citizens of the risks and dangers of hay bale fires and other agricultural-related fires resulting from severely dry conditions.

Forestry and fire officials have responded to a number of hay bale fires across the state during this drought period. Whether started by a wild land or structure fire, lightning, electrical source, spontaneous combustion or other means, hay bale fires are difficult to suppress and can be detrimental to farming operations.

Here are a few recommendations to help reduce the risk to people and property alike: l Break hay stacks into smaller lots and spread them into more spaces around or away from farms, allowing heat and moisture to escape. l Leave hay stacked in fencerows and haul at a later date to avoid excessive heat build-up in barns and other storage facilities. l Keep bales/stacks away from wire fences or trees (which may attract lightning). l Keep bales/stacks away from roads where cigarettes are often discarded. l Cover bales with tarps (which will also help protect hay from weather-related losses like mold, rot and shrink).

Other agricultural actions can also fuel fires, especially with dry crops standing in the field. Heightened awareness is appropriate when farmers engage in activities involving those crops and when operating equipment at harvest time.

Farmers are encouraged to: l Conduct routine maintenance of all machinery, with special attention to bearings, chains and other moving parts that create heat and can lead to fire. l Have fire extinguishers fully charged and on hand. l Keep farm tanks filled with water in order to respond quickly in the case of an emergency. l Review emergency procedures with family members, employees and other appropriate personnel.

Program categories

l Produce, Field Crops, Forestry. l Dairy (BOAH permits must be submitted to ISDA). l Eggs (must submit egg permit license from Purdue University, Indiana Egg Board). l Livestock and Livestock Products (processed meat and poultry products, beef cattle). l Fish and Seafood. l Ornamental Horticulture (greenhouse nursery, floriculture and turf grass).

This program encompasses growers from a big farming operation to a small roadside stand.

Information: in.gov/isda/2513.htm.

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

homesteads

Legacy of land Duke family has farmed in Johnson County since 1890s

By Ryan Trares

T

he long white porch that wraps around the house has been at the center of the Duke family for more than 100 years.

Discussions about acreage and crop yield have unfolded among five generations of fathers and sons. The porch has been the site of family reunions, Fourth of July picnics and weddings.

On a late summer afternoon, Norman Duke and his family relaxed on rocking chairs and swings, as they had countless times before. But with changes in agriculture and how it’s viewed in society, Norman wonders how much longer the homestead and his family farm will stay intact.

The Dukes have operated their Bargersville-area farm and adjoining land since 1894.

Crops of soybeans and corn, as well as beef cattle, have unified them, giving a central axis around which the family has rotated.

Duke and his sons, Mike and Steve, live within a half-mile of each other. The farm has been registered as a Hoosier Homestead, recognizing agricultural lands that have remained in the same family for more than a century.

The family takes great pride in its agricultural roots, which is why Norman and his wife, Pam, have worked their entire lives to

carry on the farming tradition.

“My goal in life is just to be able to pass on and accumulate something for the next generation. It’s up to them to figure it out from there,” he said.

Norman could see the difficulty of keeping a family farm together even as his own operation was growing. Much of the farmland he’s purchased over the past 35 years has come from longtime farmers who have died.

When their farms went to estate, the siblings couldn’t afford the taxes and upkeep, deciding instead to sell.

Size is also a concern. As farms are passed down over generations, the parcels get split into smaller and smaller pieces. Norman estimates it takes at least 1,000 acres to warrant the equipment costs and make a profit. Fewer family farms have that kind of land.

“As time has gone on, less and less farms have been passed on, and it’s only going to get worse. I can visualize a time in my lifetime maybe when most farms are going to be part of large corporations,” he said.

Norman’s tradition stretches back nearly to the first settlers of what would become Johnson County. One of his great-great-greatgrandfathers, John Duke, came to the Bargersville area in the 1830s to farm after fighting in the Revolutionary War. He is buried in the old Shiloh Cemetery, south of the family’s land.

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Norman and Pam Duke, in chairs. In back, from left, Marcia and Mike Duke, Steve and Libby Duke.

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

Duke Family Farm Location: Bargersville Crops: Corn, soybeans and occasionally wheat; alfalfa for hay; beef cattle Acres: More than 2,000 Norman Duke Age: 69 Family: Wife, Pam Sons: Steve Duke Age: 48 Family: Wife, Libby; children, Colt, Logan and Lane Mike Duke Age: 44 Family: Wife, Marcia; children, Jake, Zachary, Isaac and Hannah

Another great-great-great-grandfather, Gottlieb Beck, bought farmland in the Johnson County area and in what would become downtown Indianapolis. The Dukes still work on some of the acreage that Beck purchased.

The Duke farms have been passed down from father to son since then.

For Norman, farming has been in his blood. He had worked on the farm from an early age, helping with the planting, harvesting and running the tractors. He learned how to plant in straight rows, to fertilize without damaging the land and to fix machinery himself when it broke down in the field.

But as a young adult, he went to business college and was hired by a lumber company.

For the next 36 years, he worked as the chief financial officer. On top of his regular job, he helped his father, Ivan, with the farm responsibilities. He would run the combine during harvest time and help drive the trucks to and from the grain elevators.

He also bought additional land for the family to farm in the Bargersville area. Currently they have more than 2,000 acres for row crops.

“I helped my father farm to keep things together. I wanted to give my kids an opportunity to farm if they wanted to,” Norman said.

“Then they got old enough and helped hold things together.”

Despite the family heritage, farming hasn’t been a requirement for any member of the Duke family.

Norman’s focus was to impress on his sons the importance of agriculture, of hard work and of seeing a project through to comple-

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tion. They were responsible for helping with farm chores as children — cleaning cattle stalls, baling hay and tending to the animals.

If they decided to go into the agriculture business as adults, that was up to them.

“That evolved on its own. I think they saw how important agriculture was and how good it is for the family to be raised on the farm, the work ethic that it helps families establish,” he said.

“But I didn’t encourage them. My dad didn’t encourage me, and I didn’t encourage them.”

Growing up on a farm, Mike and Steve were fascinated by the oversized machinery and physical work needed to bring crops in. They fixed tractors and threshers with their grandfather. They learned how to fix a snapped belt or repair an axle on the fly.

“We grew up right here. Grandpa lived right across the road, and it’s where we were, what we knew. We loved it,” Mike said.

Steve now handles operation of the farm, working with his father to keep it running.

Lanny Duke, Norman’s brother, also lives nearby and helps with the farm work when he can. Through he didn’t go into agriculture himself, Lanny has been instrumental in helping the farm succeed in times when the family needed an extra hand, Norman said.

In the fall, as the harvest is coming in, the

Dukes will be up before 6 a.m. to inspect the machinery, change spark plugs, fuel tractors and combines and plot which fields will be worked that day.

Those are long days of cutting the crop, threshing the grain and unloading it into semi-trailers to be taken to the grain elevator. Sometimes, he won’t get home until after 10 p.m.

“It makes it hard on my wife and for the children,” Steve said. “But they appreciate the

Norman and Steve Duke inspect roots of plants in a soybean field.

farm atmosphere, and they understand.”

Mike has started his own business building homes, and Duke Homes is now one of the top residential building companies in central Indiana.

Though he doesn’t have time for the day-to-day operation of the farm, he still helps during the busy seasons when he can. And he’s made sure his children were introduced to farm work at an early age.

Involving their children in 4-H was a priority, simply to introduce them to the importance of agriculture, Mike said.

“As I’ve been so busy on the building side, it’s important to me and Marcia that the kids be involved in that.

They’ve had a good time and met some great farm kids, so it’s been good for them,” he said.

Both Steve’s wife, Libby, and Mike’s wife, Marcia, come from farm families themselves.

They were member of 4-H and raised their own cattle, pigs and goats.

All of Mike and Marcia Duke’s four kids have been 10-year members of 4-H, and Steve and Libby Duke’s children are currently involved with the organization. They show beef cattle every year at the fair and are involved in agricultural projects with the club, Bargersville Blue Ribbons.

But already they can tell who has an interest in the farm and who does not.

“My oldest son doesn’t have near the interest in the farm that I did at his age. And it’s something that I haven’t pushed. He does have responsibilities on the farm, but he doesn’t have the interest and learning in becoming a farmer. I can see that,” Steve said.

“If he changes that in time, that would be great, and hopefully someday he would.”

The family is active in Center Grove schools and athletics. Norman served on the school board at one time. Norman and Pam attend church at Bluff Creek Christian Church, about three miles from their home.

Still, the family is slowly spreading out beyond central Indiana.

Two grandchildren live in Texas. Others are in college and might not return home.

Norman doesn’t know how the farmland would be passed down once Steve is too old to do the work anymore.

“I was lucky to have two boys who lived here and were interested in maintaining the land. With each generation it becomes tougher,” he said.

But Norman is content to just let future chapters of his family’s story unfold.

“It’s something that just has to evolve, like it was for my dad and my grandfather before me,” he said.

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There’s an agriculture app for that

Farm Indiana | October 2012

photos by Sevil Mahfoozi

Brett Glick uses farming applications such as Planimeter to get information about other farms in his area.

Inset: He uses a CME Group smartphone application to check wheat prices from his farm.

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

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Farmers find wealth of information available to them online

By Barney Quick

T

here’s hardly an occupation at which people work today that doesn’t require real-time information. In fact, they usually depend on information about a wide variety of matters. That’s certainly the case regarding agriculture.

The field or the cab of a combine isn’t conducive to setting up much office equipment.

Fortunately, the modern smartphone makes a treasure trove of up-to-the-minute data and insights about everything from grain prices to weather to fuel mixtures and more available for a few presses of the fingertip.

AgWeb, a site powered by Farm Journal, is available as an app for iPhones and Androids.

It’s a comprehensive source of information about pretty much all aspects of farming life.

The front page is a feed of news stories one can sort by category: livestock, crop, business and breaking news. Latest market information for crops, livestock, finance, energy and metals is constantly updated.

For those with busy hands who would rather listen than read, AgWeb Radio offers podcasts that provide the numbers as well as market analysis.

“There’s also CME Group, from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange,” says Brett Glick of L&M Glick Seed, “but AgWeb is quicker.”

For asking specific questions or networking with farmers who have similar concerns and interests, there’s Ag Talk, which is composed of discussion forums on subject areas including machinery, crops, livestock and markets. One forum called Kitchen Table is devoted to aspects of family life.

Glick prefers Weather Bug.com, a product of Earth Networks, to the Weather Channel app. “Weather Channel is usually a bit more optimistic,” he notes, “which can be heartbreaking for farmers looking for relief from a drought.” He points out that knowing within a matter of minutes when a squall will arrive can determine if a farmer can get in a few more rows or not before heading to the barn.

Chemical analysis

There are a number of apps for calculating the proper ratios and mixing sequences of pesticides, fertilizers, nutrition formulas and

A computer in his combine keeps Glick up-to-date even in the field.

other chemicals. Mix Tank from Precision Laboratories, Mobile Ag Tank Mix Calculator

by Marrone Bio Innovation, DuPont’s Tank Mix and Tank Mix Calculator from TapLogic are a few of the popular sites.

They generally function by providing their data based on inputs such as products specified, weather conditions and type of spray nozzle. Some keep spray logs for the user and even data for locations within a field based on GPS coordinates.

Nathan Lykins is a big fan of Optimizer 2.0 from Advanced Ag Solutions. “You have to check it out to see everything it can do,” he says. Its operations include yield projecting, crop-treatment planning, rainfall recordkeeping and matching seed profiles to particular soils.

“You put in data for your soil fertility, and it will tell you the current stage of a given crop,” he says. The information it provides guides the farmer in adjusting nitrogen rates and fungicide application, among other aids in decision-making.

He also likes NPK’s Fertilizer Cost Calculator. Again, based on inputs such as soil test readings and whether a starter fertilizer was used, it compares the costs of various brands of equivalent products one could use on a particular field.

Soil science

Glick makes frequent use of Soil Web by CA Resource Lab. “It brings up a satellite map. You can drop pins around a field, and it will bring up a soil map for you and tell you where you have sandy loam, clay loam, and so forth. It gives you a yield estimate for each type,” he explains. “It’s useful for researching land you’re considering renting or buying.”

He’s also an enthusiast of Growing Degree Days by Farm Progress. “It measures energy given to corn plants by the sun,” he says.

“They have it mapped out to minute detail for determining how long it will take a plant in a certain location to mature.”

Sometimes parts in farm machines can be tricky to describe to an equipment dealer. The Messick’s Part Catalogue takes the uncertainty out of the process. The first step is to select the manufacturer, then the model number, then the area of the machine, the particular component, and so on until the part in question is determined.

“Farmers are generally their own mechanics, so this is an extremely valuable app,” says Glick.

Overall management apps are certainly popular. Simple Farm keeps records for a number of areas, such as crop management, field management, bin management, harvest-

ing and spraying. Glick finds it useful but also relies on Farm Works Software for his computer.

“The functions are similar to Simple Farm, but you can also put your financial records into it,” he says. “You can determine the cost of planting a field, load in a 3-D map derived from GPS, set parameters for laying drainage tile, and keep track of moving livestock to particular pastures, as well as weaning, shots and breeding.”

Glick speaks highly of the NPIPM Guide for insects and other pests and pathogens.

“By answering four or five questions, such as whether the insect is in the larval or adult stage, whether wings are evident, and the shape of the caterpillar, you can identify what you’re most likely dealing with. You can determine when and where to scout, and you’ll also have a good idea how much damage it has already done.”

The list of apps that aid farmers in various ways would be hard to exhaust. Their ongoing evolution continues to streamline efficiency.

A farmer can now simultaneously be a manager and a laborer.

“I always have my Android with me and often my iPad as well,” says Lykins.

Glick asserts that he uses “one of these apps at least once a day.”

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

homesteads

Hives of activity Beekeeper David Wagner has year-round honey-do list

By Marcia Walker

D

avid Wagner strides across his backyard, headed to two beehives tucked into a corner near a soybean field. As he walks, he points to watermelon and butternut squash vines sprawled across the ground like the arms of an octopus.

The watermelon plants, he says, are an experiment; he doesn’t know if the plants will produce any melons since he planted them so late in the season. But the butternut squash plants are doing well, producing large, yellow blossoms, a magnet for bees, assurance that Wagner will be harvesting squash sometime this fall.

Wagner is a beekeeper, a passion that takes up most of his time. The grass is laden with dew, the sun not yet high enough to send it away. But while the day is still early, Wagner has already put in an hour or two in his extracting room, the place where honey is separated from the combs. He is taking a break only long enough to clean up and talk with a visitor.

Wagner, a retired project manager, is 68; he has been keeping bees since he was 14. He remembers the day when he discovered what would become a lifelong interest. The year was 1959; Wagner’s family lived on a farm near Walesboro.

“I was mushroom hunting,” Wagner recalls. “I found a swarm of bees in a blackberry patch. I went home and talked to mom and dad about getting the swarm. Until that day, I had never had anything to do with bees in my life.”

With his parents’ permission and armed with a scarf, gloves and a 5-gallon wooden keg, Wagner recovered the bees. The keg served as a makeshift hive; Wagner popped the lid off, ushered in the bees, replaced the lid and drilled an entrance hole in the side.

“And that’s how I got started,” he says.

There are dozens of publications about bees these days, but when Wagner started out, there was just one book, 687 pages.

“I memorized it that winter,” Wagner says.

“The next year, I sold sweet corn and got some money together and bought a hive.”

Better housing

The keg didn’t work very well, since it was difficult to remove the combs. But the hive had 10 removable frames, more luxurious accommodations for the bees and was much easier to work with, since the

photos by Marcia Walker

David Wagner, owner of Honeytown Farms near Brownstown, checks one of his hives. Wagner and his wife, Sally, have 20 bee yards in Jackson and surrounding counties.

frames could be slipped out.

These days, Wagner and his wife, Sally, live on her homeplace in an area just over the East Fork White River from Brownstown in Jackson County. They call their operation Honeytown Farms, using the nickname for that part of the county, the Honeytown Bottoms. It’s where Sally’s family has lived for generations.

According to local lore, she explains, the area earned its nickname not because of beekeepers but because of a family with a large number of daughters. The father referred to his brood as “his little honeys,” and as the young ladies grew up, the family farm became a popular destination for young men from Brownstown, who frequently crossed the river to come calling.

In the world of beekeeping, Wagner is classified as a sideliner, someone who has between 100 to 250 hives. He maintains somewhere between 100 to 230 hives that each produce an average of 25 to 30 pounds of honey a year.

Most beekeepers in Indiana are considered hobbyists, with fewer than 100 hives. At the head of the pack are those with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hives, classified as commercial beekeepers.

“There are six commercial beekeepers in the state,” Wagner says.

“We do have a commercial beekeeper in the county, Paul Hill.”

Wagner says that Hill’s bees are trucked to states such as Louisiana and California, where they are needed to pollinate crops. Wagner sticks closer to home; he has 20 bee yards (a yard is one hive or more) in surrounding counties.

Key contributors

Richard Beckort, Purdue Extension agent for Jackson County, says that honeybees play a crucial role in agriculture, particularly the area of horticulture.

“Bees are very important for pollination,” Beckort says. “The wild population is low or nonexistent as far as pollinators. Most male and female flowers, without pollination, aren’t going to produce fruits, aren’t going to produce vegetables.”

Location, location, location is a common phrase when it comes to real estate, and the same is true when determining where to place a bee yard. There must be at least two acres where bees can gather nectar, and there has to be a water source nearby. At two of Wagner’s bee yards, there is no water source, so he has set up washtubs.

One of the yards, in Bartholomew County, is close to a melon crop. The melons did not fare well this year; Wagner says the property owner is hoping to offset that somewhat with a good pumpkin crop.

Another yard is near Uniontown, for a man who raises blackberries. Wagner says that man’s experience is a testimony to the benefits of having bees as pollinators.

“It doubled the man’s production,” he says.

Wagner is a member of the Indiana Beekeepers Association. The organization has about 750 to 800 members, but he suspects the number of people keeping bees in the state is about double that since he deals with a number of hobbyists who don’t belong to the association.

“I go to all meetings of the association, and I learn something at every meeting,” he says.

Familiar subject

Indeed, Wagner is sort of a walking encyclopedia about all the different aspects of bee-

Honeytown Farms Who: David and Sally Wagner Where: 4340 N. County Road 25E, Brownstown.

What: The Wagners produce honey; their 20 bee yards are located in Jackson and surrounding counties.

The honey is raw, natural and cold filtered. The Wagners also sell “nucs,” sort of a start-up kit for newcomers.

Fast Facts Honey is a source of antioxidants and contains a variety of phytochemicals, organic acids, vitamins and enzymes.

One teaspoon of honey in any baking recipe will keep the product moist Honey is anti-bacterial.

Honey contains microscopic pollen and is used by allergy sufferers to assist in building up immunities to local pollens.

There are seven different species of honeybees, according to information included in the American Bee Journal.

Indiana Beekeepers Association The Indiana Beekeepers Association offers an annual “bee school,” a fall conference and a Young Beekeeper program. For information, visit indianabeekeeper.com.

see honey on page A11

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

A11

Beekeepers often face long odds

By Marcia Walker

Last year, 17 beekeepers sold their honey at the Indiana Beekeepers Association’s booth at the Indiana State Fair. This year, there were 38, according to Debbie Seib, webmaster and treasurer for the IBA. Seib said that’s because production is up and beekeepers turned to the fair as another avenue to sell their crop.

And the reason production is up? Ironically, Seib said one reason is the drought.

“During the first year of a drought, flowers and trees put off more seeds to keep from dying,” she explained. “Bees are able to get more nectar and pollen.”

Seib cautioned that next year, the story could be different as a result of this year’s dry weather.

“We don’t know what kind of flowers we’ll get next year,” she said. “This fall, we are still getting a lot of honey.”

Production this summer was down for one Jackson County beekeeper. David Wagner said he hopes that fall flowers will flourish, making up for that.

“There was very little summer honey,” Wagner said. “There was a little alfalfa in the spring. I’m hoping fall flowers will help.

They are working goldenrod (now) and working the fall weeds. There may be some alfalfa blooms this fall with some nectar.”

Wagner said farming practices have had an impact on bees. In Jackson County, he said, fewer cattle are being raised and farmers are not planting as much alfalfa or clover, both favorites of honeybees.

Also, Wagner mentioned that fence rows, places where wildflowers grow, are being cleared. He said his hives produce 25 to 30 pounds annually, below the national average of 35 pounds per hive.

“This area is not real good for honey,” Wagner said. “Fence rows have disappeared, so plants have disappeared for bees. You don’t see as much cattle, no clover, no alfalfa.”

One might think last year’s mild winter would benefit bees, and Seib said sometimes, that’s true. But she also said that during cold weather, bees huddle together in a bundle; the temperature inside the hive is maintained at about 90 to 92 degrees. During mild winters, the bees become more active.

“They expend more energy and eat their food source up quicker,” she said.

And while an article in the American Bee Journal cites a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that found the amount of honey produced in the United States over the past several years has been dropping (148 million pounds last year), Seib said a number of factors enter into that.

One is the number of new beekeepers, who may lose their hives due to inexperience.

Seib said the number of hives in Indiana has dropped from 10,000 to 9,000 while membership in the association has increased from 500 to 1,125.

She also mentioned that some beekeepers purchase “nucs” — sort of a start-up kit — from other areas of the country, such as Georgia or California. Queens and bees from

those places may not adapt well to conditions in Indiana, another reason hives may fail.

Diseases, mites, Mother Nature … there are numerous reasons why hives may fail.

Rick Wade, a beekeeper who lives near Elizabethtown, said he lost two hives to colony collapse disorder last year, something that has been garnering much publicity over the past several years.

“They don’t really know what’s causing it; there some speculation that it’s pesticide use,” Wade said. “Somehow, the bees become disoriented and can’t make it back to their hives after foraging for nectar. I had two hives that disappeared completely last year.”

Wade, who has had as many as 25 hives but now maintains three, has been keeping bees for 12 years. Of more concern to him is a new bug that showed up in Indiana recently.

“The small hive beetle is a big deal right now,” he said. “It was found in Indiana for the first time last year; it’s primarily found in the southern states.”

Both Wagner and Seib recognize the negative impact of imported honey, some brought in illegally. An article in the American Bee Journal reported that three individuals were arrested in Florida last year after shipping in 123 containers (5 million pounds) from China that were labeled as fructose syrup. Once inside the United States, the shipping labels were stripped and replaced with new labels: “Amber Honey,” intended for sale to purchasers in this country.

“If they sell for $2 and we can’t drop our

Information: http://indianabeekeeper.com.

ECP sign-up announced

honey

continued from page A10 keeping. He talks of the history, explaining how black German bees were introduced into this country at Jamestown. He talks of the uses of honey, of how it was used to treat wounds during the Civil War and how a teaspoon a day, taken over a period of time, can help allergy sufferers build up immunity to local pollens.

Wagner knows the different strains of bees, their characteristics, which types are difficult to work with, which ones better tolerate interaction with humans. And he talks of the challenges in today’s market, including competition from China, from where honey is imported in bulk and then packaged for sale in this country.

Besides producing honey, Wagner breeds bees and sells nukes, short for nucleus, sort of a start-up kit for people just getting into beekeeping.

The honey Wagner sells is pure; no man-made chemicals are used in the hives. The honey is removed in an extraction room, where it is filtered through three filters down to 400 microns.

“It’s all natural, all local, no chemicals, and it’s not heated,” he says.

Spring and fall are Wagner’s busy seasons. In spring, bees are becoming active, and the season is getting under way. During late summer and fall, he is busy extracting honey, going to festivals and preparing hives for winter.

With beekeeping, whatever the season, there is always something to do.

“There are no lazy beekeepers,” he says. “It’s a year-round job. It’s very specialized.”

Wagner markets his honey two ways — from a self-service stand at his home and from sales at fall festivals.

prices below $5, we can’t compete,” Seib said.

Blueberries, watermelon, squash, pumpkins, apples … Seib, a 26-year veteran of beekeeping, said one-third of the food we eat depends on bees. There are about 4,000 species of bees in the United States.

Seib and her husband, Mike, who has been keeping bees for 43 years, give programs to school groups. They try to convey the importance of bees to the food we eat.

Wagner and Seib are proponents of the benefits of honey. They said that people with allergies may benefit from eating honey over a period of time, building up immunities.

“Honey is the only food that doesn’t spoil,” Seib said. “Bacteria doesn’t grow in it. It’s used in medicine and used with burn patients.”

They also promote buying raw honey from local beekeepers. Seib said honey on supermarket shelves isn’t necessarily 100 percent honey, that a product can be labeled 100 percent honey even if it contains as little as 10 percent honey.

“If the rest isn’t honey, what is it?” she said.

Both Wagner and Seib acknowledge beekeeping is hard work.

But even after 54 years of keeping bees — Wagner is 68 and started when he was just 14 — he is still enthusiastic and loves what he does. “It’s an interesting business,” he said.

“It’s always changing.”

Seib said people don’t get into beekeeping to make money, they get into it because they love working with bees.

Wagner scrapes the honeycomb off a flat taken from one of his hives.

Some of the places you might find him later this year are Seymour’s Oktoberfest, Old Court Days in Madison and an apple butter festival in Spencer.

Between the competition from overseas markets, new diseases that develop, the threat from different species of mites that can decimate a

hive, new techniques for managing bees and the new strains of bees being developed, beekeeping is always evolving.

That is probably a reason Wagner enjoys it so much; he likes a challenge.

“It’s interesting,” he says. “It’s always changing.”

A lack of moisture over an extended period of time has caused producers in Johnson and Marion counties to suffer from the effects of severe drought conditions.

Farms experiencing severe drought conditions may be eligible for cost-share assistance under ECP. This disaster program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, which provides cost-share assistance if the damage is so severe that water available for livestock or orchards and vineyards has been reduced below normal to the extent that neither can survive without additional water.

A producer qualifying for ECP assistance may receive cost shares not to exceed 75 percent of the cost of installing eligible temporary measures. Cost sharing for permanent measures is based on 50 percent of the total eligible cost. Cost-share assistance is limited to $200,000 per person or legal entity per natural disaster.

Approved practices and measures may include: l Installing pipelines or other facilities for livestock water or existing irrigation systems for orchards and vineyards. l Constructing and deepening wells for livestock water. l Developing springs or seeps for livestock water.

Producers who have experienced severe drought conditions requiring outside assistance to provide supplemental emergency livestock water may contact the Johnson/Marion County FSA office. Requests for assistance will be accepted at the office through Sept.

28.

Cost-share is not authorized for purchasing water or use of personal vehicle/tanks to haul water. Total costs must exceed $1,000 for cost share consideration.

To be eligible for cost shares, practices shall not be started until a request has first been filed at the FSA county office and an onsite inspection of the problem area has been made by the FSA County Committee (COC) or its representative. COC will review the inspection findings when considering the request for cost shares.

Information: Brian E. Catt, 317-736-6822.

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October 2012 | Section B

Agriculture

career

forecast: Sunny with potential for job growth Photos by Brenda Showalter

Top: Phil Newton, who co-owns Richards Elevators with his son, Jason Newton, stands in front of one of the bins. The Taylorsville business has the capacity to store more than 1 million bushels of corn, soybeans and winter wheat that farmers haul to the elevator to sell. Phil, who used to work in the injection molding business, bought the elevator in 1999 and built new, larger grain bins in 2009.

Center: Kris Medic of Columbus, right, whose business, Groundsmith Consulting LLC, provides arborist and landscape sustainability expertise for public and institutional properties, and Carrie Tauscher of Indianapolis, a certified arborist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, inspect one of 24 newly planted black gum trees at Columbus Signature Academy Lincoln Campus.

Bottom: During a visit to Hope Premier Ag, Toni Whiteside of Columbus, at left, area sales manager for Amvac Chemical, demonstrates a delivery system to Premier Ag’s operations manager, Glen Shireman, center, and crop adviser, Steven Bush. Whiteside earned a bachelor of science degree in agriculture sales and marketing from Purdue University.

By Dick Isenhour

A

t the end of every movie and TV show roll the credits. From best boy to boom operator, choreographer to costumer, gaffer to grip, it’s a seemingly endless list of people with entertainment-related jobs whose efforts contribute to the overall success of any production.

A similar list exists in agriculture. From environmental engineer to extension educator, agronomist to agroscientist, quality control counselor to co-op accountant, it’s a seemingly endless — and important — list of people with agriculture-related jobs. Their efforts contribute not only to the success of a farm’s production, but to the overall improvement of life in the communities where we live and work.

In Indiana, agriculture-related jobs are the driving force in most of Indiana’s rural counties, says Jeannie Keating, manager of media relations for the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.

“More than 16 percent of Indiana’s workforce is connected directly or indirectly to agriculture,” she notes.

Nationally, it’s estimated that as many as one in five people work in agriculture-related jobs. And that figure is likely to grow. Despite a high unemployment rate and shaky economy, agriculture-related careers offer stability,

healthy salaries, opportunities for advancement and the chance to make a difference.

“In today’s climate, any time a student graduates from college with a job it’s a bonus,” notes Lori Pence Barber, assistant director of academic programs for Purdue University’s College of Agriculture. “Our students are finding, though, that agriculture-related jobs prove to be a good career path with a lot of growth potential.”

Good news for graduates

May 2011 graduates of the College of Agriculture, for example, experienced great success in the job market, Pence Barber adds.

About 86 percent of the more than 400 graduates had already gained employment or were continuing their education.

“An agriculture-related job is a good way to ride out the highs and lows of a recession,” she says. Her contemporaries agree.

“The outlook for agriculture-related jobs is very strong,” notes Marco Fernandez, associate dean and director of academic programs for Purdue University’s College of Agriculture.

“Agricultural commodity prices are strong, as are Indiana and American agriculture. The world continues to become increasingly interconnected and interdependent. We live in a global, fast-paced and competitive business and scientific climate.

“The world continues to grow — both in population as well as in its demand for food, water and other renewable natural resources, such as wood,” Fernandez says. “But with a set amount of available natural resources (land, water, energy), it is our human resources, our workforce — our students who are adequately prepared for the challenges before them — that will help lead us forward.

“It is these agriculturally trained students and graduates that employers seek and demand if they are to remain players in meeting the current and growing food and fiber needs, locally and abroad.

“Many of our industry partners share with us that the job forecast will remain exceptionally promising for our current and upcoming students,” Fernandez says. “Some agricultural-related companies are in the midst of expansion, and they share with us that they are a bit eager about whether or not they will have enough qualified individuals to hire; this is particularly true in the plant sciences.”

Variety of careers

The more popular, high-placement jobs, Fernandez says, include careers in food science, agricultural engineering, agribusiness and sales, agronomics and crop services, molecular and plant genetics, animal feed and pharmaceutical sales, and agricultural syssee career on page B9

B2

Farm Indiana | October 2012

Wagler Farms Who: The farm was established in 1950 by Henry and Frances Wagler. Henry is still living but no longer involved with the daily operation. The farm is operated by sons, Ken and Lloyd, and their wives, Lesa and Crystal, along with grandson, Justin, and his wife, Sarah.

What: Dairy farm; 450 milk cows; 2,500 acres of crops, some of which are used for silage, a food source for the cows.

Where: 7085 Homestead Road, Morgantown Employees: 20 Fast facts In 2012, Indiana’s 174,000 dairy cows produced 3.4 billion pounds of milk.

The Hoosier state is home to more than 1,500 dairy farms with an average of 104 cows, and all six major dairy breeds are represented.

Indiana ranks second in the nation in low-fat and regular ice cream production.

In 2009, the dairy industry contributed $450 million to the Hoosier economy.

homesteads

Where cows outnumber tourists Wagler family operates modern dairy in rustic Brown County

By Marcia Walker

L

og cabins, artists, rolling hills — these are what come to mind when one hears the name Brown County. But Brown County has something else hidden back in its hills: a state-of-the-art dairy farm that has been in the same family for three generations.

You have to know the right back roads to find Wagler Farms, located a few miles north of Bean Blossom. This is where Henry and Frances Wagler, both of whom grew up Amish, moved as a young couple in 1950.

“They had a couple of cows, a couple of pigs and a whole lot of kids,” said Sarah Wagler, who is married to Justin, a grand-

son of Henry and Frances.

Originally from Daviess County, the couple did have a lot of kids, eight in fact, six boys, two girls. Lorene Wagler Link, the oldest, was just 3 when her parents, who split from the Amish, moved to Brown County.

“Dad and Mom came here because of the church in Bean Blossom,” Lorene said, explaining her parents were asked to move to Brown County to help start a Mennonite church. “He said, ‘If you find me a farm, I will come.’”

That farm started out with 167 acres; today it includes 2,000 to 2,500 acres of crop land devoted to corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa, along with 450 milk cows. The farm is operated by two of the eight offspring, Ken and his wife, Lesa, and Lloyd and his wife, Crystal, along with Justin and Sarah.

Justin is the only one of the 21 grandchildren to carry on the family tradition; the family has also added 22 great-grandchildren.

Although her parents wanted a farm, Lorene said they initially had a difficult time deciding what to raise.

“Mom and Dad struggled to figure out what to do,” she said.

Photos by Marcia Walker

Top: Visitors tour one of the barns at the Wagler Dairy Farm.

Above: The youngest Wagler, Emma, 9 months, is held by her dad, Justin.

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

Pedal tractors were one of the highlights for children attending an ice cream social at the Wagler Dairy Farm.

“They tried chickens one year, they tried pigs one year. They were going to raise meat cows; that lasted a year, too. He went back to milking and has been milking ever since.”

With six brothers, Lorene didn’t have to lend a hand as far as chores associated with the herd. She was relegated to the kitchen and household duties, figuring that through the years, she has washed way more than her fair share of dishes. Days began early when Lorene was growing up; the boys headed out to do the chores while Lorene assisted with meals.

“I had to help get breakfast on,” she recalled. “And Dad drove a school bus. That was added income.”

The family was close, sharing meals, music and faith.

“We always ate every meal around the table together,” Lorene said. “We had morning devotionals at the table before we ate.”

Lorene, 66, became a teacher, encouraged by her mother to further her education. She is a music teacher in the Brown County school system; that love of music stems from her heritage.

“My dad and mother were both musical,” she said. “That was something that pulled us together as a family.”

Things have changed

Six of the eight siblings, including Lorene, still live in the area. But life on the farm today is a far cry from when Lorene was growing up.

“It has changed dramatically,” she said.

Cows are housed in modern, well-ventilated barns; fans and a misting system are used to keep the animals cool. They are bedded in sand, also cool, clean and comfortable.

The animals wear ear tags, for identification purposes, and “ankle bracelets,” sort of like a pedometer, recording information for computerized records of each animal.

A nutritionist visits once a month, determining what formula to use when mixing feed; the animals’ hooves are trimmed twice a year, and a vet visits once a month. The cows are milked three times a day; the milking parlor is cleaned after every milking.

“These cows are treated better than a lot of people,” Sarah said.

B3

The third generation of the Wagler family is now involved with operating the farm.

was raised on a hog farm near Hope. Although relatively new to the world of dairy farming, she has embraced it wholeheartedly. Not only did she marry into a dairy family, she works for Dairy Farms of America, a members cooperative.

The goals include promoting the industry and educating the public about the dairy business.

Social networking

Lloyd Wagler talks with a visitor during the ice cream social.

The milk house, where milk is stored in huge, stainless steel tanks, is spotless; milk is stored at 35 degrees and is agitated every 15 minutes, so no cold pockets or hot pockets develop. It is trucked to a facility in London, Ky., every day.

“When you work with milk, cleanliness is the number one priority,” Sarah said while giving a tour. “When you work with the cows, cleanliness and the cow’s comfort rank up there as number one priorities.”

The farm is inspected several times a year by the state to be sure it is up to code, and the milk is sampled regularly to be sure it meets standards.

“Milk is a very highly regulated, watched product. If it doesn’t meet standards, it is dumped,” Sarah said.

The drought has had an impact. Dry weather hurt the crops; some are used for silage, and the drought hurt both quantity and quality. It also created problems as far as water; each cow drinks about the equivalent of a bath tub full of water a day.

“Water is key and critical,” Sarah said. “The last couple of dry years, we’ve had to build extra ponds, and we’re creating another pond to help the cows out in the pasture.”

Sarah, who has degrees in animal science and education,

One way the Waglers help meet those goals is to host an ice cream social, an annual event that actually began as a brunch, before someone decided ice cream was easier to serve.

The event is free, but those attending are asked to bring a nonperishable food donation for Mother’s Cupboard food pantry.

Last year, 40 gallons of ice cream were dished up, and 400 pounds of food were collected for the pantry.

Besides tours of the farm, there are activities for children and gospel music; local organizations set up informational booths. Members of the Mennonite church are there painting faces.

“It is tied to agricultural promotion, but we are also very family friendly,” Sarah said. “We have a lot of educational displays.”

Linda Hobbs, with the Tobacco Free Partnership, was distributing information about the detrimental effects of smoking.

A Brown County native, Hobbs said she has known of the Wagler family for years. This was her first year to attend the social. She said her granddaughter, Delaney, loved the event and was talking nonstop about what she had learned.

“She’s having a blast,” Hobbs said. “She is just in awe. She got to feed a calf; she got to see how they milk a cow.”

Several hundred people attended the social, many either family or friends of the Waglers. There were many positive comments about the family. One of those comments came from Hobbs.

“I think it’s a wonderful turnout,” she said, observing the crowd, listening to music and chowing down on ice cream. “I figured it would be. The Waglers are just really good people.

They are very community oriented.”

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

Will the drought spoil Christmas?

Area growers taking steps to overcome loss of younger trees

By Jeff Tryon

A

lthough this summer’s drought has taken a toll on Christmas tree farmers around the area, this winter’s holiday should still be a green one.

But beware the ghost of Christmas trees yet to come — the drought could affect the yuletide market years from now.

That’s because extreme heat and lack of water have mainly hurt newly planted trees that were in the pipeline for Christmases five to 15 years down the road, according to area Christmas tree farmers.

Steve DeHart of Trees from DeHart near Franklin in Johnson County estimates that he has lost 85 to 90 percent of new trees.

“Any trees planted this year really took a beating unless the growers had irrigation,” DeHart said. “I planted about 2,000 new trees this year, and I’ve got about 1,800 to replant. It’s pretty bad.”

DeHart said he did better with around 14,000 established trees, losing about 200 of those, which were a couple of years away from being marketable.

“So, not terrible, but not great, that’s for sure,” he said.

DeHart said that if fall rains produce enough water, he’ll try to replant, but otherwise, “I’ve basically lost a whole year.”

The average growing time for a Christmas tree is about seven years, but it can take as many as 15 years to grow a 6- to 7-foot tree, or as little as four years for smaller trees.

And any future yuletide greenery gap caused by this year’s weather will be emphasized because of dry conditions in the previous two growing seasons.

“I probably lost about 500 newly planted trees the last two summers,” DeHart said. “So it’s eventually going to catch up with me.”

But he will have plenty of trees this Christmas season and said he doesn’t expect to increase prices.

“Trees are just like grass; basically, they just go dormant,” he said. “If the drought doesn’t kill them, they’re saleable. If the tree survives the drought, they’re good to go. They just go dormant like they do in the winter time.”

Bridging the gap

Ed Tower, who is raising about 5,000 Christmas trees on the Tower Family Christmas Tree Farm near Columbus, said he will try to make up for the “gap” in next spring’s transplanting.

“We will probably replant next spring with a larger transplant than normal,” Tower said. “Larger in two ways: larger in the number of trees that we’ll plant, and we’ll try to buy larger, older seedlings too, to try to fill in the gap.

“We always lose a few of the big trees, but we’ve probably

photo by Joe Harpring

Green and brown. A few scant feet. The difference between life and death for a Christmas tree. Ed Tower is weathering this year's drought that killed a number of the 5,000 trees planted over five acres of hilly land around his home in western Bartholomew County.

lost 5 or 10 percent more than normal,” he said. “But probably more than 50 percent of the seedlings we planted this year won’t make it. So that’s the big problem.”

As for any eventual effects on tree supplies, Tower said it will probably be six to eight years before “we hit a low spot” in the Christmas tree stock.

“For the Indiana trees, I don’t think it will impact too much because people usually have more than enough,” he said. “This year, people should have a great selection still.”

The Towers always bring in pre-cut trees from other farms, in particular from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. “We may have to bring in a few more pre-cuts than normal, but we’ll still have a good selection this year,” he said.

Mike Bohman, who has about 40,000 trees at Bohman Tree Farms east of Greensburg, said he has been watering trees from farm ponds to help mitigate the effects of the dry weather.

“We lost just about everything we planted this spring,” he said, “probably 80 to 90 percent. And we lost a few from last year.”

He said they will recover by planting more trees next spring, or even this fall if the weather cooperates.

“I would plant up until the middle of October if we get some rain,” Bohman said.

He said it takes about eight years to get Scotch and the white pines to market, while the bigger trees, especially the firs, can take longer.

“We’ve got them from little up to 15 feet tall, so we’re working on a rotation of anywhere up to 12 or 14 years,” he said.

“Last year we planted about 6,000. The year before, we planted maybe 4,000.”

Bohman said the impact on Christmas celebrations should be small.

“I don’t feel we’re going to have any shortage of trees this year,” he said. “The big trees, we’ve been watering, and we lost some, but I think we’ll still have a good supply. I think we’ll be all right.

“I would say down the road, maybe about three or four years, our tree supply will be a little shorter because of the drought,” he said. “Really it will blend in.”

Still undecided

Roger Hackman of Hackman Christmas Trees has between 5 and 10 acres of trees in western Bartholomew County with no accessibility to water for irrigation. He said the impact of the drought on area Christmas tree farmers has depended upon just how much rain they received.

“For just about two months, we didn’t get any rain,” he said.

“It’s hard to tell what the total effect will be, but new growth trees, stuff that’s been planted two years or less, it was drastic.”

Hackman said younger trees have less developed root balls and so, less ability to draw moisture from the soil, making them more vulnerable to drought conditions.

“I’m still trying to decide what I’m going to do,” he said.

“Whether I’m just going to accept that I have a two-year gap in there, or whether I try to buy seedlings that are a year or two older and try and fill the gap by setting some older trees.

“The unfortunate part of that is the older trees cost a lot more money, so you’re taking a lot bigger risk financially at that point,” he said. “I haven’t really decided how I’m going to proceed.”

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

B5

Aflatoxin potential Lugar honored threat in corn crop for ag leadership

By Mike Ferree

At the time of this writing, Purdue Extension specialists were advising producers about the potential for aflatoxin in the 2012 corn crop. Aflatoxin has been detected as far north as the Michigan border. It is a bit more prevalent in early planted corn so far.

It’s important to remember that this is a manageable problem, but farmers need to know about the presence of aflatoxin prior to harvest. Corn with relatively high levels of aflatoxin can be fed to livestock if it’s managed properly, but it’s very important to test first so it can be managed correctly.

Aflatoxin must be scouted prior to harvest to qualify for any crop insurance indemnity.

Windshield scouting for aflatoxin will not suffice. Kiersten Wise recommends that you examine at least 100 ears per field and pull the husks to examine the entire ear, not just the tip.

Producers need to remember that crop insurance does provide some coverage for the presence of aflatoxin, but claims will require that a lab test be conducted on every load coming out of the field. Scouting before harvest will be key to identifying whether or not aflatoxin is a potential problem that warrants further testing.

Corn put up for silage can have problems

AG NEWS

with aflatoxin. Ron Lemenager points out that corn silage that is not properly ensiled, such as putting corn silage in piles, is more likely to present a problem. If aflatoxin was present in the corn, even silage should be tested in the lab to ensure producers don’t have a problem when feeding to cattle.

Distiller’s grain will have issues as well if the corn had a problem, and expect ethanol plants to test for presence of toxins. Industry is going to use black lights, following up with lab tests to confirm and quantify any potential problems.

There are reliable quick tests for mycotoxins such as CHARM, NEOGEN and ENVIROLOGIC that are approved by FDA. Producers should be encouraged not to use tests that are not FDA approved. There is more information on this in Extension Bulletin BP-83W, available at http://www.extension. purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/BP-83-W.pdf.

People who have lung issues or have an immune system problem should take special cautions even when there are other molds present. Masks that are rated for molds can help significantly.

Mike Ferree is the Purdue Extension educator–agriculture and natural resources, in Bartholomew County. He can be reached at 812-379-1665 or ferreel@purdue.edu.

Staff Reports

In Washington, three U.S. agricultural groups recently honored U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., for his leadership in American agriculture.

Lugar met with members of the Indiana Farm Bureau and was presented with the Friend of Farm Bureau Award for outstanding service during the 112th Congress.

Lugar discussed the 2012 Farm Bill with the Farm Bureau members and extended his sympathies related to the drought conditions that have affected farmers across the country. The Hoosier Farm Bureau members were in town to attend the Farm Bill Now Rally in the nation’s capital.

The National Farmers Union presented Lugar with the 2012 Golden Triangle Award in recognition of “outstanding support and dedication to family farm agriculture.� The Golden Triangle Award, the highest award given by the NFU, is presented to select members of Congress or the administration in recognition of outstanding leadership on issues affecting rural America. This is Lugar’s 12th Golden Triangle Award.

He also received the 2012 Fueling Growth Award from members of Growth Energy for his support of ethanol as a home-grown, renewable fuel. This is the highest honor presented to congressional leaders who support ethanol.

Growth Energy represents the producers and supporters of ethanol who “feed the world and fuel America in ways that achieve energy independence, improve economic well-being and create a healthier environment for all Americans.�

Lugar has been a member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee throughout the entirety of his 36-year career, including stints as committee chairman and ranking member. Lugar also manages his family’s 604-acre corn, soybean and tree farm.

Poinsettia sale

Looking for extra cash?

Johnson County 4-H Junior Leaders are selling poinsettias.

Orders will be accepted through Oct. 8 at the Extension Office on the Johnson County Fairgrounds, 484 N. Morton St., Franklin.

Each poinsettia will be a 14- to 16-inch plant in a 6-inch pot.

The plants are $6.50 each and come in red, pink, white or marbled blooms.

Never have enough money? Is it difficult to pay your bills on time? If you answered yes, maybe you should attend the “Where Does Your Money Go?� program from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 2 at the Purdue Extension Brown County office, located on the Brown County Fairgrounds, 802 Memorial Drive, Nashville.

To register: 812-988-5495 or email robertae@purdue.edu.

Diabetic cooking

Make plans to enter the Tree City Fall Festival baking contest to be held Sept. 29 at Somethin’s Perkin’, 108 E. Washington St., Greensburg. Enter items from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Winners will be announced at 6 p.m. Categories are cookies, bread/muffins, pies, cakes, farmers market and kids cook.

Information: Kathy at 812-663-3000 or treecityfallfestival.com.

Love to cook?

Purdue Extension Brown County is sponsoring a program targeted to people with type 2 diabetes. The program will help you create a healthy meal plan that works for you and provide information and motivation to help you adopt positive lifestyle changes.

Learn to cook with sweeteners, cook with less fat and sodium and cook dishes with fruits and vegetables.

Dates are Oct. 4, 11 and 25 and Nov. 1 at the Brown County Fairgrounds, Nashville. Cost is $30/person or $35/couple (includes food and one notebook). To register or for more information: 812-988-5495 or email robertae@purdue.edu. Registration due by Sept. 28.

4-H Fund started The Jennings County Extension Homemakers have started a Community Foundation Fund for the Jennings County 4-H Program. The fund is starting out with $2,500. Currently the Jennings County Community Foundation is doing a 4-to-1 match up to $1,000. All donated dollars will always be there to help 4-H

M135GX

grow. As with all funds through the foundation, 4-H will receive the interest each year. Donations are tax deductible.

Information: 812-352-3033; www.jenningsfoundation.net.

Gardening class Beginning Oct. 22, Purdue Extension Jackson County will offer the Master Gardener training series for residents of Jackson County and surrounding areas.

The class is a volunteer training program that offers an extensive course in horticulture in exchange for a donation of volunteer hours to help teach others what you have learned, according to Richard Beckort of Purdue Extension Jackson County.

Training will be from 9 a.m. to noon Mondays and Wednesdays beginning Oct. 22 and run for 12 sessions. The classes will be in the Jackson County Extension Office in Brownstown. A $100 supply fee will be charged to cover items such as reference manual, handouts, mailings and name badges. These materials all become part of the Master Gardener’s personal collection.

Participants will be exposed to a variety of topics, including soil and plant science, diagnosis of plant problems, pesticide safety, composting and culture of vegetable, flower, landscape and fruit plants. If you’d like an application to join the volunteers or have questions about the program, call Beckort at 812-358-6101.

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B6

Farm Indiana | October 2012

homesteads

Hopeful attitudes

Clouse family believes in farming lifestyle

By Brenda Showalter

E

van Clouse grew up in a farming family near Hope in northern Bartholomew County, where raising crops and livestock was always a part of his life.

He’s the fifth generation in his family to operate the farm business from the homestead on County Road 700E. He and wife Janet raised three daughters — Jodi, Jackie and Jennifer — in the house, built in 1898, where the previous four generations of Evan’s family lived and where his father was born and raised.

“I just always wanted to do this,” said Evan, 46. “I was brought up around it, and it was all I’ve ever known.”

Today, the Clouses own 450 acres of farmland in the Hope area and rent another 900 to plant corn, soybeans, wheat and hay. They also raise about 20 beef cattle as a small diversification in their farming business. And, Janet said, they just like having the cows around.

Evan and Janet, 49, do most of the work themselves with some help in the busy season from Janet’s father, Stanley Embry, and Bob Nolting, from whom they rent farmland.

The Clouse farm WHO: Evan and Janet Clouse WHAT: The family raises corn, soybeans, wheat and hay plus about 20 beef cattle.

WHERE: They live on County Road 700E near County Road 450S near Hope, where they own 120 acres.

They also own another 330 acres and rent 900 acres in the Hope area to plant crops.

FAMILY: Daughters, Jodi, 20; Jennifer, 18; and Jackie, 18. Evan’s mother, Marie Clouse, lives next door. Evan’s father, Charles, died in 1996. Janet’s parents, Stanley and Louise Embry, live in Hope. Evan’s grandfather’s twin brother, Inman Clouse, started Clouse’s IGA in Hope, which operated for many years on the town square.

Photos by Mark Freeland

From left, Jodi, Jennifer, Jackie, Janet and Evan Clouse on their farm near Hope, with family dogs, Midge, left, and Jenks.

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

B7

Evan buys the seed, fertilizer and other supplies, tills the land and plants the crops.

Janet takes care of the bookkeeping and manages the household, but also drives the tractors, combine and semi trailer or works in the field when needed.

“We work together, and we discuss pretty much everything,” Janet said about their business partnership that goes hand in hand with their 23-year marriage.

Family bonds

The Clouses instilled their love for life on a farm and the importance of family in their daughters, who helped feed farm animals, participated in 4-H and worked in the garden when they were growing up.

“I just have really great memories of being out in the barn with my dad, feeding the cows, Mom driving the combine and Dad driving the tractor,” said Jennifer. “I think it made us all closer.”

The household is a little quieter this fall since Evan and Janet’s 18-year-old twins left for college. Jackie is at Butler University with plans to study pharmacy, and Jennifer is at Purdue University considering careers in agribusiness or animal science. Jodi, 20, a cosmetologist at Creative Hair Design in Columbus, still lives at home.

Family has always been important to the Clouses, and as much as they would like one of their daughters to continue the family’s farming tradition, they understand it’s their decision to make.

“My parents have always been really good at saying they just wanted us to be happy,” said Jennifer, who wants to return to the farm, but not because she feels obligated.

“I’ve just always been extremely proud of my family, and I want my children to experience that lifestyle. There’s no other place I’d want them to grow up.”

Evan’s mother, 87-year-old Marie Clouse, a former teacher who lives next door to Evan and Janet, spent 35 years as a farm wife with her husband, Charles, before he died in 1996.

Marie drove the tractors, worked in the fields, helped with aging parents and raised Evan and his sister, Nena. She also grew a large garden every year, canning and freezing the bounty to enjoy later. She gave up her garden only about three years ago, but still mows her yard and reads three to four novels a week.

“I always enjoyed being on the farm. It’s is a good place to raise a family,” said Marie, who knew from the time Evan was a young boy that he would continue in the family business.

“Evan was always close to his father. He always wanted to be a farmer,” Marie said. “I think he was driving a tractor when he was 8 or 9.”

Janet and Evan both graduated from Haussee clouse on page B8

Above: Jennifer drives the family’s John Deere 8330. She is interested in farming as a career.

Below: Jennifer and her dad head out to the fields.

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

clouse

continued from page B7 er High School, where many of their friends were part of farming families. Janet didn’t grow up on a farm, although she learned about the lifestyle from her grandfather, who was a farmer, and she was happy to take on the role of farmer’s wife when she married into the Clouse family.

Now, Janet said, she can’t imagine ever moving away from her farmhouse, with all of its old-time character, or not being able to walk outside to see views of farm fields and woods.

Rolling with the challenges

One of the reasons Evan likes farming is why others might look for a more predictable career or one less dependent on Mother Nature.

“Every year is different,” he said. “You plant the crop and you don’t know until October or so what you’re going to get. We might get a lot of rain or no rain or storms. You just don’t know what the yields are going to be.”

Even this year, with a drought the worst in decades, Evan still loves farming and will find a way to weather the poor corn crop and hope for a better harvest in the fall of the soybeans.

Crop insurance helps get them through the bad years, but they prefer to not rely on insurance unless it’s necessary.

“That’s one of the drawbacks,” Janet said.

“The only thing you’re in charge of is putting it in the ground good. You do the best job of putting it in, and everything else is out of our control.”

One of the biggest challenges for farmers today is financial, the Clouses said. They have to watch the grain markets, where the prices constantly change, and make their best guess when to sell their crops.

“It’s a lot more volatile than it used to be,” Evan said. “You get such big swings in prices where you feel like it can either make you or break you what you decide to do.”

“What we think it’s going to do, it does the opposite,” Janet said with a good-natured laugh.

“Mother nature decides,” Evan added.

No matter what the weather brings, Evan likes that he and Janet are their own bosses and make the decisions for themselves. “We don’t have anyone else to answer to or to blame,” he said.

But even with the challenges, the Clouses like the day-to-day farming routines that take them to the fields in the early-morning hours in the spring to the late evening hours of autumn. Animals also must be fed and watered every day.

They don’t punch a time clock, but still put in more than a full week. During the height of the busy season a work day might run from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Top: Evan loads shelled corn into a semi trailer.

Bottom: Janet lets the family’s herd of Angus cattle into the feeding ring.

“We don’t look at the clock,” said Janet, adding that it’s funny to them to hear talk about daylight saving time being for the farmers.

Although it would seem the time immediately after harvest would be the slowest of the year, Evan said, that time period also is very busy.

“We’re putting the grain in the bins and hauling it out, selling it to the elevators, starting to plan for the next year and doing main-

tenance on equipment for next year,” he said.

The Clouses feel fortunate that they belong to a longtime farming family. With today’s high prices for equipment and land, they said it’s almost impossible for someone to go into farming unless they come from a farm family or have a financial backer.

They still see a place for small families to keep farming, but believe it will take more acres to make a living.

“You have to get bigger or get out, but I still

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think there’s a bright future for agriculture,” Evan said.

“It’s what feeds the world,” Janet said.

Jennifer, who is excited about studying agribusiness at Purdue, hopes there continues to be a place for small family farms and that big corporations do not take over the farming industry.

“I hope we don’t lose those values and can give families that experience,” Jennifer said.

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

Growers anxious About proposed farm bill

career

continued from page B1 tems management.

For further proof of the growth in agriculture-related careers, Pence Barber, Fernandez and others who study the industry, point to the research.

A study conducted by AgCareers.com, for example, shows that while unemployment rates in the United States hovered around 9 percent in 2011, the number of jobs posted on AgCareers.com experienced a significant increase. Positions are plentiful in agriculture, food, biotechnology and natural resources, according to the online job board’s 2011 Agribusiness Job Report. Among its findings: The total number of job postings in the United States and Canada were more than 43,000, an 18 percent increase from the number posted in 2010. Most of those — more than 26,000 — were for jobs in the Midwest.

Though a wide range of education levels were required for the jobs posted, 66 percent called for a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Almost half of the job seekers who accessed the site had more than five years experience.

With almost 2,000 jobs posted in 2011, Indiana ranked fifth among the top 10 job-posting states.

“There are quite a few ag-related occupations in our area,” says Mike Ferree of Purdue’s Bartholomew County Extension Office in Columbus. “They include feed sales consultants, seed sales agronomists, ag lenders, farm implement sales and service, grain storage and marketing, fertilizer sales and services, tax and accounting services, livestock health products, crop protection services.

“The ag economy has gone well the past two to three years, and when that happens more money is spent by the industry and job opportunities develop.”

By Barney Quick

T

he versions of the current federal farm bill that have made their way through the House Agriculture Committee and the Senate differ in particular ways but have much in common.

Whatever the final product looks like, it’s fairly certain it will encompass a wide array of concerns: crop insurance subsidies, funding for the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program, commonly known as the food stamp program, and ethanol mandates.

In general, it will be a rather marked departure from past direct-payment models of support for agriculture, toward an arrangement in which payments are tied to current prices and production levels.

The major factor catalyzing this shift is the overall federal deficit. Lawmakers in both houses are keen to appear fiscally responsible, while also appearing responsive to the agricultural sector’s circumstances.

Historical perspective sheds some light on the current juncture in farm-bill wrangling. Since the enactment of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration during the indisputably hard times of 1933, Congress has re-examined what has been needed in the way of comprehensive legislation approximately every five years.

“Prior to 1996, the way the safety-net concept worked was that compensation would be triggered by low prices,“ says Otto Doering, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. “In the late 1970s, Hubert Humphrey was the main force behind a bill that would compensate farmers for weather-induced disasters. The 1996 Freedom to Farm Act changed that to direct payments irrespective of prices. Farmers were happy as clams.”

Alas, according to Doering, “it did not last. There was a big drop in prices in the late ’90s. The 2002 farm bill put the old safety net back in, with low prices triggering direct payments. Farm bills are seldom forward-looking.”

The 2008 farm bill represented a significant shift in thinking about government support for agriculture. A new feature, the Average Crop Revenue Election, was introduced to provide an alternative to direct and countercyclical payments.

“That system [direct payments] had come in for a great deal of criticism,” says Doering. “The public’s perception was that it wasn’t fair.”

Different approaches

Both versions of the current bill eliminate direct and counter-cyclical payments, according to the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute’s report titled “Impacts of Selected Provisions of the House Agricultural Committee and Senate Farm Bills.”

The Senate version would establish programs such as Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC), the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) and Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO).

The House version establishes features such as Price Loss Coverage and Revenue Loss Coverage, as well as slightly different versions of STAX and SCO. The Senate version contains disaster benefits; the House version does not. The House version includes more support for producers of certain commodities, such as wheat, barley, rice and peanuts.

The gist of both versions is that, instead of direct payments, new programs’ payments would be tied to current prices or production levels.

Chris Hendricks, president of the Johnson County Farm Bureau, says that “when we have market conditions as good as those we have now, we don’t need direct payments.”

He says that the farming community is generally aware that it “must change its expectations in this age of record federal deficits. We need to realize that support for our priorities comes out of the same pool of revenue as any

Photo courtesy Bartholomew County SWCD

other governmental program. We’re a very small part of the budget, but we are willing to take our cuts along the way, just so there is still some support in the form of crop insurance subsidies.”

He says the national-level Farm Bureau organization’s position is that “more crops need to be covered. The U.S. raises more than corn and soybeans.”

Bartholomew County farmer Garry Barker has some observations on the matter of direct payments: “They have been construed to mean that farmers have received a large amount of money. They basically come out to be about $20 an acre, and that’s been directly passed on to the landowner.”

Looking for employees

Though Ferree doesn’t know exactly how many ag-related jobs there are in the Bartholomew County area, he does know they outnumber the number of farmers.

“Agriculture — farming — requires a lot of inputs and provides ample opportunities for ag-related careers.”

In Brown County, where there aren’t a significant number of farms, ag-related occupations can still be found.

“Brown County is not considered an agricultural county,” notes Cathy Paradise, manager of the Brown County Soil and Water Conservation District. “We have one very large dairy farm and a few smaller crop farms.

Land owners who have purchased a few acres like to have a horse or two, or raise goats or other livestock for fun and profit.”

Paradise adds that although Brown County does not sport a lot a farms, there are people involved in one discipline that definitely is ag-related: eco-tourism, the use of tourism to educate travelers to pristine areas about the importance of saving the environment.

“Eco-tourism — or ag-tourism — is starting to jump in Brown County,” Paradise explains. “It’s especially popular here due to the large influx of tourists each fall and other times of the year. Pumpkin patches, produce farms, zip lines, greenhouses and other chances to get out in the country and on the farm are more popular for families now than ever.”

Graduates of recognized educational programs in agriculture, says Fernandez, are highly sought after by employers and post-graduate programs. “(Purdue) offers 31 undergraduate majors that lead to a bachelor of science degree in an ag-related discipline,” Fernandez notes.

“We believe the key to our success is designing and offering relevant and rigorous majors along with providing scores of professional- and personal-development opportunities for our students through designed co-curricular activities.

“Indeed, from day one, our students sense there is a level of expectation here that involves success in the classroom, labs and fields (resulting in a sound, technically competent graduate) combined with the continual development of their leadership, communication, interpersonal skills and work ethic.”

Times have changed

Regarding the current bill’s new programs, he says, “I think Congress needs to do something that will support farmers if they can’t cover costs or meet demands. Crop insurance is very important, not necessarily to pay us in good times, but for times like this summer’s drought.”

He acknowledges that government support has become “almost an entitlement, and I don’t think that’s the way it should be.”

Doering’s view is that, no matter what is agreed upon for this round, the longer fiscal view will need to be addressed in a more pronounced way: “In some ways, we’re back to what I’d call the safety net. It’s not sound from an actuary standpoint.”

He also is concerned that money may not be available for the long-term consequences of the drought. Pastures and hay lands were scorched, reducing feed for livestock.

“The bill doesn’t solve livestock producers’ problems,” he says. Furthermore, the late summer rains after the drought brought about soil erosion, and the bill’s other priorities have squeezed out funding for conservation programs. This will be exacerbated by the understandably rational economic behavior of farmers: “Particularly when prices are high, they’ll be motivated to work the land as much as possible.”

Politics may be a factor on whether a bill is passed this year. According to Doering, “It’s probably a flip of a coin whether it’s finalized before the election. It would have to go to conference. Certainly farm groups want to see it off the table, but that may not occur this year.”

While the two versions have their champions and detractors, there is widespread recognition of the overall scenario and its parameters. For 80 years, Congress has acknowledged the risks inherent in the nation’s foodproducing industry by providing support in one form or another.

In an age of unprecedented red ink, however, it is likely to take a different form than what farmers have been accustomed to.

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B10

Farm Indiana | October 2012

even when

the rain comes …

Drought ripples will have long-lasting effects

By Jeff Tryon

T

he immediate effects of this summer’s drought conditions are apparent everywhere: stunted corn, dried up creeks and wetlands, low reservoirs.

But the long-term effects in areas such as food, fuel, timber and trade could become worse than any of the more immediate problems.

Last year’s smaller-than-expected corn crop had already caused the USDA to estimate food costs would rise between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent this year, and Chris Hurt, Purdue Extension coordinator for agricultural economics, estimates prices will rise “in that 2.5 to 3.5 percent range again next year as well.”

He said the drought’s most immediate effect will be on crops such as soybeans, corn and wheat.

Cooking oils and margarine, breakfast cereals made of corn and wheat and anything with high-fructose corn syrup “will see the higher costs reflected fairly quickly,” Hurt said, although the increase is not likely to be enormous.

But when it comes to livestock and meat commoditie, such as beef, chicken and pork, Hurt said, the problem will be multiplied.

“Those animals eat the grain that should be growing right now. A shortage means that those costs also will go up, trickling back to people at the grocery store in 2013,” he said.

Hog producers concerned with not having enough feed or the money to buy it are already opting not to breed their sows or are sending their sows to market to reduce their present herds, according to Mike Platt, executive director of Indiana Pork.

That could lead to less production and higher prices in the long term.

The largest increases in food prices might not come for six months, because most food processors have contracts with prices already locked in. So the biggest impact on processed foods and related products won’t be felt until next spring.

Almost three-quarters of grocery store products contain corn. Books have cornstarch in their bindings, and ink contains corn oil. Even some fabrics use cornstarch in their manufacturing. All of these products will be impacted in the long term.

The drought likely will accelerate wholesale food price inflation, and since about a third of a restaurant’s sales go toward food purchases, prices at restaurants could be going up.

photo by Scott Roberson

Drought conditions are forcing many farmers to make the decision to scrap the current crops and try other methods to make money. Indy Family Farms decided to chop down its corn and grind it into silage.

Standard to help livestock producers forced to buy high-priced corn and soybeans due to the drought.

Meat producers believe a waiver would reduce the demand for corn and therefore, corn prices, for livestock producers and other non-ethanol corn buyers. But temporarily suspending the federal corn ethanol mandate would not necessarily lower corn prices, according to an August Purdue University report.

Wally Tyner, an energy policy specialist and the report’s lead author, said that, for technical reasons, even if the waiver is enacted, refiners may continue to use about the same amount of ethanol.

Even if the RFS waiver did lead to reduced ethanol use, it would only redirect who bears the brunt of the drought-related corn losses, Tyner said.

“The total amount of harm from the drought is in the tens of billions of dollars,” he said. “The EPA cannot change the loss. It can only potentially redistribute it among the affected parties: ethanol producers, livestock producers, corn growers, and domestic and foreign consumers.”

Food or fuel

Out of every 10 ears of corn produced by farmers, only two are eaten by consumers.

The rest are divided between ethanol fuel and livestock feed, and the U.S. now uses more corn for ethanol than for livestock.

About 40 percent of corn produced in the U.S. goes to the manufacture of ethanol, and a number of ethanol plants in Midwestern states, including Indiana, have been either closing or cutting back on production because of higher prices or reduced supplies of corn.

Geoff Cooper, a vice president of research and analysis for the Renewable Fuels Association, says most of the industry is breaking even or losing money.

However, the Valero Renewables ethanol plant in Linden, which was closed at the end of June due to high corn prices, is set to reopen, and none of the plant’s 60 employees lost their jobs due to the shutdown.

Biofuel producers and livestock producers are competing for the same corn in the marketplace. Indiana Pork joined other statewide and national meat groups recently in requesting a waiver from the EPA Renewable Fuel

What happens next?

The severity of drought moving forward adds another layer of complexity to the issue, the Purdue economists said.

At the beginning of this crop season, U.S. corn production was projected at 14.7 billion bushels at a U.S. farm price of $5.34 per bushel. The USDA now estimates U.S. corn production will reach only 10.8 billion bushels this year, at $8.20 a bushel.

Should the drought strengthen and the EPA stick to the mandated 13.8 billion gallons of ethanol in 2013, a corn crop of 10.5 billion bushels could push corn prices to $8.57 per bushel, according to the Purdue report.

If drought conditions abate and corn production reaches 11.5 billion bushels, corn prices could fall to $7.02 a bushel under a full RFS ethanol mandate.

That market price affects international

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However, the unfortunate fact is that international sales of U.S. corn and other farm output have been lackluster in general due to tight economic conditions around the world, according to one Indiana-based economist.

Reduced rainfall and lack of water limit new growth in hardwood trees, affect the root systems and increase their vulnerability to insects. It might not begin to show up for a year to 18 months, but the impact could be felt for years after the drought, according to DNR forestry experts.

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Historic low water levels along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers are restricting the billion-dollar-a-year transportation industry.

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Farm Indiana | October 2012

B11

Farm Fest

photo By Jeff Tryon

Last chance for one-horse sorghum mill in Gnaw Bone

By Jeff Tryon

Y

ou can get a close-up look at the way things used to be this fall in Brown County — but it might be your last chance for a glimpse of history.

It looks like this might be the last year for the traditional horse-powered sorghum mill operated each October at the Kelp’s Greenhouse Farm Fest, according to Emmit Smith Jr., who operates the mill.

“We’ve been doing it for about 15 years, but I think this is probably going to be the last year we do it,” Smith said. “We always run it the first full weekend of October, and then we try to run it for a few weekends after that, weather permitting. We run it all day Saturday and all day Sunday.”

The mill is one horse power, in that a single horse, attached to the mill by a pole, walks around and around, turning the gears that move the big rollers that crush the sorghum stalks,

squeezing out the sap — the juice — which is collected in a bucket. The resulting juice is then boiled down into molasses, the only sweetener most pioneer families ever knew.

“I don’t make very much,” Smith said. “It’s just more of a hobby than anything else.”

About 15 years ago, he came upon the antique contraption in an old barn near Nashville, and he knew immediately what it was.

The mill was made by the John Deere Plow Co. of St. Louis.

“It’s probably from the late 1800s, I’d say,” Smith said.

“They’re pretty scarce, but you can still buy them if you go down to that sale down in Oden, Indiana. They still have them down there.”

That’s because of the Amish in the area, who still do things pretty much as they did back when Smith’s mill was bright and new. They do almost everything by horse power.

Finding the old mill made Smith decide to see if he could

If you’re planning to make the journey to Gnaw Bone to see the horse-powered sorghum mill and you have children, you might want to go Oct. 6 and 7 and catch all the activities of Kelp’s Pumpkin Patch annual Farm Fest.

Besides tons of pumpkins in every size, activities at the free event will include games, hay rides, face painting and other fun things for children to do.

There also will be an old-fashioned ham and bean dinner both days, with $2.50 bowls of beans and free cornbread. Plenty of desserts also will be available.

Farm-fresh items such as pumpkins, squash, mums and gourds are for sale.

The food and fun should get into full swing around noon each day.

Kelp’s Pumpkin Patch is located seven miles east of Nashville on State Road 46, east of Gnaw Bone.

put it back into service.

“I didn’t make any sorghum for several years there, and then I found that mill, so we just decided to set it up out there and make some so that people could see how it was done,” he said.

He knows how it’s done because he grew up on a farm at a time when sorghum molasses was still very much in use, and he remembers it well.

“When I was young, during the Depression, and then the war, too, they didn’t have a lot of sugar,” Smith said. “You couldn’t get sugar. You could only get like five pounds a month, or something like that.

“So they used sorghum molasses to bake with and for all your sweetening purposes.”

Not many people use sorghum molasses any more, except maybe in the occasional cookie recipe. But according to the U.S. Grains Council, it is the third most important cereal crop grown in the United States.

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