A4 Friday, February 14, 2020
| INDIANA AGRINEWS | www.agrinews-pubs.com
Relearning curve Unpredictable 2019 revisited old lessons, offered new variability By Jeannine Otto
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — What did farmers and those involved in crop agriculture in the Midwest learn from 2019? Nothing new. “I think we simply relearned a lot of stuff. I don’t think we learned anything absolutely new,” said Bob Nielsen, Purdue Extension corn specialist. N ie l s e n of f e r e d some t houg ht s on the 2019 corn growing year in Indiana and the Corn Belt, as well as ideas of how farmers can prepare for similar years Nielsen ahead. Some of the primary lessons learned from 2019, according to Nielsen:
PROVIDED PHOTO
President Donald Trump, for the third year in a row, addresses farm and ranch families at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 101st annual convention in Austin, Texas.
TRUMP FROM PAGE ONE
He also addressed criticism that the largest farms were the primary recipients of the payments. “We’re getting that money, Sonny, to the small farmers, also. There were some statements, big farmers, no, we get them to the small farmers, we get them to everybody, big farmers, small farmers,” said Trump, referencing Sonny Perdue, U.S. secretary of agriculture, who traveled with Trump and a handful of Republican federal and state lawmakers to the Farm Bureau convention. Trump gained a laugh from the audience when he discussed the MFP payment formula. “We have a formula that, I think, Sonny, has been working very well. If it’s not, call me directly, and I’ll call Sonny and give him hell, OK?” Trump said to laughter from the audience. The Environmental Protection Agency has been under fire from the U.S. ethanol industry for its handling of small refinery exemptions or SREs, which allow small oil refineries to not blend ethanol into gasoline due to economic hardship. The Trump EPA has granted over 80 SREs since 2017. “We are proudly promoting American ethanol. I recently approved E15 to be used all year round instead of eight months, and that’s a big thing for the American farmer. We’re providing unprecedented support to ethanol, support like you’ve never had before,” Trump said. He also didn’t miss a chance, in a presidential election year, to criticize his Democratic opponents.
“The far left, they want to massively raise your taxes, crush your businesses with regulations, take away your health care and send bureaucrats in to interfere with your property and second guess every decision you make,” he said. Trump gave some indication of his confidence in the 2020 presidential race as he made a promise to the audience. “This is my third time in a row, and I promise I’ll be here next year, too. We’ll be here next year,” the president said with a smile. Trump showed why he remains popular among a majority of U.S. farmers and ranchers as he echoed their sentiments to continued and sustained applause and cheers from the Farm Bureau audience. “There are no better stewards of our precious natural resources than the American farmers who depend on the land and the environment for their very livelihood. You love your land. You’re going to take care of your land. You don’t need some bureaucrat in Washington telling everybody what the hell to do with your land, you love your land. When it comes to the environment, I will always trust a farmer over a Washington bureaucrat or a leftwing extremist,” Trump said. He also celebrated victories on two of the AFBF’s major issues — the federal estate tax and the Waters of the U.S. rule. In the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that the president signed in December 2017, the federal estate tax exemption doubled, from $5.5 million to $11 million for single filers and from $11 million to $22 million for married couples. That exemption is in effect until 2025. In September 2019, Trump an-
nounced the repeal of the 2015 rule that expanded the definition of “Waters of the United States” as part of the Clean Water Act. “I terminated one of the most ridiculous regulations of all, the last administration’s disastrous Waters of the United States rule,” said Trump to loud and sustained applause. Trump echoed some of the AFBF’s concerns over the reach of the expanded WOTUS definition. “This rule gave bureaucrats virtually unlimited authority to regulate stock tanks, drainage ditches and isolated ponds as navigable waterways and navigable water. Sometimes you’d have a puddle, a little puddle and they considered that a lake,” Trump said. As he has done twice before at the AFBF annual meeting, Trump finished by celebrating U.S. farmers and ranchers. “Farmers have always been the keepers of our great American values. You champion the love of family, the dignity of work, and the glory of God. You teach your children to celebrate our nation, defend our freedom, honor our values and to always respect and cherish our great American flag,” said Trump as loud chants of “USA! USA! USA!” broke out along with applause. “I want to thank everybody. This has been such an incredible turnout, and I appreciate everybody for being here. Thank you all very much, this is a great honor and I’m glad we’ve been successful. We got those deals done,” the president said. Jeannine Otto can be reached at 815-223-2558, ext. 211, or jotto@agrinews-pubs.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Otto.
AFBF convention mourns passing of Bonnie Duvall By Jeannine Otto
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
AUSTIN, Texas — The annual meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation was tinged with sadness as members and leaders of the AFBF mourned the passing of Bonnie Duvall, the wife of AFBF President Zippy Duvall. Bonnie Duvall died at home on Jan. 18 after a battle with ovarian cancer. “Our hearts are heavy for our good friend and for your president, Zippy Duvall, in losing Bonnie. You know what a pair they were and just fighters to the end,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue in his address to introduce President Donald Trump. The president also expressed his sympathy to the Duvall family. “I want to take a moment to send our love and support to the president of the American Farm Bureau, a great guy, Zippy Duvall. Sadly, Zippy’s wife, a tremendous woman, married for 40 years, Bonnie, passed away last night,” said the president, who spoke to the AFBF members on Jan. 20. “We want Zippy and his entire family to know that we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers. It was a very spe-
PROVIDED PHOTO
Bonnie and Zippy Duvall. The wife of the American Farm Bureau Federation president lost her courageous battle with cancer on Jan. 18. cial relationship, and I just want to wish the family well. Zippy, we are with you 100%,” Trump said. Scott VanderWal, AFBF vice president, chaired the annual meeting and expressed the AFBF’s sympathies. “Zippy and Bonnie were partners in every respect for all of their 40 years together. She put her business degree to work keeping the books on their Georgia farm, enabling Zippy to turn his attention to serving his fellow farmers at the county, state and national levels,”
VanderWal. said. “At moments like this our faith consoles us, knowing her soul is at peace, having gone on to our heavenly Father. We will forever be inspired by her sense of humor, love of farming and optimism in the face of adversity. She taught us all what it means to make every moment count,” he said. Bonnie Duvall is survived by her husband; their children, Lt. Col. Vincent (Erin) Duvall, Cora (Jared) Terry, Zeb (Katie) Duvall and Zellie Duvall; and five grandchildren.
1
Late planting does not guarantee low yields. “I’ve been saying this for years. Late planting, by itself, does not guarantee an absolute bad yield. It certainly increases the risk of low yields, but it doesn’t guarantee disaster,” Nielsen said.
2
Modern hybrids are more resilient and capable of handling stress. “There’s no question that the improvements in genetics over the years is what is allowing these crops to handle years like this like they do. It just continues to blow me away at how we can get out of years like this with pretty good yields,” Nielsen said.
3
Soil compaction sticks around. “Soil compaction is the gift that keeps on giving. We had an undoubtedly wet spring, a lot of wet tillage, a lot of soil compaction created with that and we all planted because we were trying to get this crop in the field. We planted on the wet side. It’s a gift that keeps on giving because when that dry spell set in, the fields that began to show drought symptoms first were, indeed, the fields that had the worst degree of soil compaction and that is the curse of soil compaction,” Nielsen said.
4
Moisture during grainfill is important. “Here at the farm and much of this area of the state, even that
OPIOIDS
lack of rainfall in August and September, that really took a toll on yield,” Nielsen said.
5
Late-maturing corn is slow to dry down. “We don’t expect a lot of drydown in mid to late October any year. We had so much of our crop maturing in early to mid October, and it seemed to take forever and a year. We were surprised by it for some reason, but we never dry very fast in October, let alone in November,” Nielsen said. THE NEW NORMAL Speaking to an audience at the Purdue Top Farmer Conference at the Beck Agricultural Center, Nielsen said farmers need to adjust to a new normal of unpredictability. “Normal weather today can be defined as an unpredictable number of unpredictable extreme weather events each occurring unpredictably with unpredictable severity,” said Nielsen, adding that those events range from torrential and sudden rains to latent drought to sudden and sustained cold spells. “How do we stress proof crops to avoid things we can’t predict?” Nielsen said. Nielsen said some answers include the continuation of seed companies to improve resiliency of hybrids along with yield potential. It also means that farmers may need to delve deeper into the details of their hybrid selection. “It also reinforces the importance for us to do an even better job of choosing hybrids that we want to grow by not just focusing on yield, but really asking hard questions of a seed dealer. Prove to me that this hybrid is stress tolerant,” Nielsen said. With no control over the weather, farmers can focus on everything they can control and determining those factors field by field. “It’s even more crucial that any agronomic decision you have control over, you make the best choice you can make, the best decision you can make. Sort of related to that is the importance of identifying and taking care of yield limiting factors on a field-by-field basis,” Nielsen said.
Niswander emphasized anyone can become addicted to opioids that are prescribed leFROM PAGE ONE gally for a legitimate injury. It only takes three days to become “So, a patient comes in the addicted and for your body to emergency room, we check crave the euphoria that opioids their blood pressure, heart rate, produce, he said. oxygen, temperature, respirations. Now, we’ve got to add WHAT DO WE DO NOW? pain to that. If you suspect opioid abuse, “Well, if you come in with try to have an honest converhigh blood pressure, I’m going sation with that person, even to see that. I’m obligated to though it can be uncomforttreat your high blood pres- able, Niswander advised. sure. If you come in with low Do not get angry, or offended. oxygen or fast respirations, Be calm and clear about what I’m obligated to treat that as you ask and say, know when to a medical professional mor- stop the conversation and talk ally and ethically. You come in about it later and make sure the now with the pain scale, you’ve person knows you love them no got a cough and your say, ‘I’m matter what. hurting like a 10.’ I’ve got to do Niswander also recommendsomething for that, right? Now, ed having Narcan medication I’ve got this first-line treatment on hand. Narcan, “the antagoof OxyContin that’s supposed nist for opioids,” is the reversal to be non-addictive anyway, medication for someone who so why not just give him this has overdosed on opioids and OxyContin?” is very easy to administer by As patients became addicted, nasal spray, he said. they quickly learned how to In Indiana, it can be obabuse the system, Niswander tained for free by attending a said. one-hour training session at “These people figured this the county health department. game out really quick,” he said. Forty-nine Hoosier counties “They come in, ‘Hey, I stubbed have already utilized the promy toe. Boy, it’s like a 10.” Well, gram, giving out 13,721 kits, it ain’t broken. You know, it’s Niswander said. not even red. I don’t even see American Farm Bureau Fedwhere you hit it. ‘It’s killing me. eration and National Farmers It’s killing me.’ So, we’ve got Union joined forces to launch to do something about it. We the “Farm Town Strong” camfix people. Medical profession- paign to raise awareness of the als fix people, and if there’s a opioid crisis’ impact on farming resource to fix it, we give it to communities. them.” A website — FarmTownStrong. A lot of towns and small org — provides easy access to communities, where farmers information and resources that get hurt, lack mental health re- can help struggling farm famisources, Niswander lamented. lies and rural communities. “Let’s face it, farming is hard. Niswander also successfully Economically, financially, it’s lobbied for a resolution at the tough,” he said. “You can get recent AFBF Convention to sudepressed. You can get anx- pport a national prescription ious about it. And if somebody drug database, allowing physidoesn’t have a good support sys- cians to track narcotic prescriptem, or already has some men- tions, even across state lines, tal health issues underlying, and combat drug misuse and opioids give you that euphoric unintentional overdose. feeling. ‘I just lost $100,000, but I feel pretty good, though, let’s James Henry can be reached keep trucking. That cow just at 815-223-2558, ext. 190, or ran me over, but I feel pretty jhenry@agrinews-pubs.com. good.’ That’s really what they Follow him on Twitter at: do.” @AgNews.
