April 24, 2016 - Journal Courier

Transcription

MODERN
FARMER
Sunday, April 24, 2016
2 Sunday, April 24, 2016
MODERN FARMER
Jacksonville Journal-Courier
INSIDE:
Money available for specialty crop projects
The Illinois Department of Agriculture is
accepting proposals for federal specialty crop
grants.
The state will receive more than $520,000, and
has been instructed to begin the proposal selection process.
The money will come from the Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program in the Farm Bill. It is available for projects beginning in 2017 and is intended to expand the availability of fresh, locally
grown produce to strengthen the competitiveness
of the specialty crop industry.
“This year the USDA is encouraging projects
that benefit under-served communities and
veterans, improving producer capacity with the
requirements of the Food Safety Modernization
Act, developing adaptation and mitigation strategies for farmers in drought-stricken regions,
increasing opportunities for new and beginning
farmers, developing strong local and regional
food systems, protecting pollinator habitats, and
improving pollinator health, to name a few,” said
Raymond Poe, acting director.
“These funds may lead to projects that help
feed communities, encourage more participation
in agriculture, or increase a farmer’s profitability
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and productivity.”
Projects that benefit a particular commercial
product or provide a profit to a single organization, institution or individual are ineligible.
Farmers markets, roadside stands, and community-sponsored agriculture programs can consider
submitting proposals to the USDA’s Farmers
Market and Local Food Promotion Program.
The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service
defines specialty crops as fruits, vegetables, tree
nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery
crops, including floriculture.
According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture,
more than 106,000 acres of Illinois farmland are
devoted to growing specialty crops on more than
3,200 farms.
Illinois is the nation’s leading producer of
pumpkins and horseradish, and ranks in the top
10 in acreage of cantaloupes, green peas, lima
beans, and sweet corn. It also is home to a grape
and wine market, with 450 growers utilizing
1,197 acres of farmland to support the more than
100 wineries in the state.
Sales of all specialty crops, including nursery
and greenhouse sales, totaled about $470 million
in 2012.
Go to agr.state.il.us to submit a proposal. The
deadline is 4 p.m. May 13.
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■ Money available for
specialty crop projects ........................................ 2
■ The changing face
of hog farming .....................................................3
■ Big apple chill: Cold snap
could nip some fruit in bud.................................. 7
■ Facility blazes path
in beef cattle research .........................................8
■ Planting season calls
for caution on the roads .................................... 10
■ Group provides a voice
between farms and Congress ............................11
■ Honeysuckle a
growing menace in region ................................. 14
■ Cover crop benefits
extend beyond the field ..................................... 16
■ Workshop teaches skills
for farm self-sufficiency .................................... 18
■ USDA proposes stricter
animal welfare rules for organic meat............... 19
■ Program connects
retiring, beginning farmers................................20
■ EPA launches methane
program to reduce emissions ...........................22
■ Survey projects more
corn, fewer soybeans .........................................23
■ Malcott joins
Angus association .............................................23
■ Petitions available for
corn board positions..........................................24
■ Pollinator garden can
bring many benefits...........................................24
■ Man grows toy tractor
collection with love of farming ..........................25
■ Solar farm developers
target farms with lease offers ...........................26
■ FDA proposes limit for
arsenic in baby rice cereal ................................. 27
■ Farm Bureau chief
cites need for national GMO rules .....................28
■ Dairy farms going
high-tech with robots ........................................30
MODERN FARMER
3
The changing face of hog farming
Producers say being a good neighbor
an important part of business
By David Blanchette
For the Journal-Courier
At Six Farms LLC in western
Morgan County, they don’t
worry about the pigs getting
dirty – it’s the people coming in who might need a little
cleaning up.
“You can bring disease in on
tires that you picked up off a
road. I know of neighbors who
have gotten a disease by going
into a convenience store and
getting something on their
boots,” said Genny Six, who
with her husband, Ben, is part
of the family hog-raising operation that bears their name.
“When people come to our
hog barns we change our
boots, we change our clothes,
we shower in, we shower
out. We have a buffer where
if you’ve been to a sick farm,
we make you wait at least
four days before you can come
into our barn,” she said. “The
less disease you have the less
money you’re spending on
medicine, and less medicine
makes healthier hogs.”
The Six farm is part of the
new face of the pork industry,
which is moving away from
the old practice of raising hogs
outdoors in often muddy lots
and toward all-indoor, limited
access, climate-controlled —
and hopefully neighbor-friendly
— environments.
“It’s important to us to be
a good neighbor,” Genny Six
said. “The reason we picked
this site is that it’s really far off
the road, and we have a great
tree buffer that helps absorb
the odor. There are no houses
within the area around the
barn. It really comes down to
the Golden Rule, and we want
to be that kind of a neighbor.”
Six Farms co-owner Brian
Six added: “We use cover
crops to help absorb some of
the manure that we place in
our fields. The barn is selfcontained. The manure goes
into a concrete pit underneath
the barn. There’s no runoff or
leaching of any nature.”
The Six family operation has
an average hog population of
7,400, and they are production
growers for The Maschhoffs of
Carlyle, one of the nation’s largest hog producers. John Six is a
co-owner of Six Farms and the
father of the other partners. He
said hog farming has changed a
David Blanchette | Journal-Courier
Mark Williams stands inside the High Ridge Pork facility near Bethel.
lot since he started in 1973.
“When I first started everything was outside. You had
no buildings, you had nothing,” John Six said. “Now you
don’t have to worry about cold
weather, water pipes freezing.
The hogs are better taken care
of inside a building today than
they were back when we were
outside.”
“I never dreamed 40 years
ago that I’d be part owner of a
facility like this,” John Six said.
“I wasn’t a forward enough
thinker back them to think we
could do all of this.”
That doesn’t mean these
new facilities don’t have their
detractors. In recent years,
there has occasionally been
heated opposition in the Mid-
west when plans have been
announced to construct largescale hog operations. Many
have objected to the odor
caused by raising thousands of
animals. Others have claimed
that raising animals indoors
in close proximity amounts to
cruelty.
See HOG | 4
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MODERN FARMER
Hog
From page 3
Gail Eisnitz is the chief investigator for the Humane Farming Association and the author
of “Slaughterhouse.” She said
confining thousands of animals
indoors causes them to suffer
and to display the same destructive behaviors as humans with
severe psychiatric disorders.
“And it’s not only the pigs
who suffer. Family farmers, consumers, and our environment
are big losers in the factory farm
game,” Eisnitz said. “In recent
decades, hundreds of thousands
of family farmers raising pigs
have been displaced by industrial farms.”
Roughly 70 percent of the
antibiotic supply in the United
States is being administered to
farm animals to prevent disease
and to promote growth, Eisnitz
said.
“But this overuse of antibiotics contributes to the emergence and spread of antibioticresistant bacteria,” Eisnitz said.
Regarding the practice of taking
manure from hog operations
to use as fertilizer, she said
“in many cases, the amount of
waste sprayed on the land is far
greater than the soil’s ability to
assimilate it.”
“The animal welfare people,
you’re not going to convince
them,” John Six said. “The
pens are big enough, there’s
enough movement, you’re in
there checking on the pigs and
The Six family inside their hog farm operation near Meredosia: Betty Six (from left), Joseph Six, Brandon Six, Anna Six, Genny Six, Ben Six holding Lucas Six, Jackson Six,
Katelin Six, Henry Six, Brian Six and John Six.
moving them around. There is
enough exercise room.”
“If you lose a pig that’s money
out of your pocket, so it’s in
our best interest to take care of
them as good as we can,” John
Six said. “If you find a sick pig
you can treat it a lot easier.
When they were outside, if a pig
was running in a three to five
acre pen, it was very difficult
to get them caught and treated.
Now we just treat the ones that
need it when they need it.”
“It’s in our best interests to
take good care of these hogs.
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These are our bread and butter, literally,” Genny Six said.
“We take classes about how to
handle animals appropriately.
We have the safest food supply
in the world, and it’s not just
haphazardly done. There’s a lot
of research done about that, and
that research is implemented in
barns like ours.”
Mark Williams, 24, is a
fourth-generation farmer and
is part of High Ridge Pork, a
group of four farm families who
have joined forces to raise their
own hogs for market. Williams
said at the barn he operates in
rural Bethel it makes economic
sense to use as little antibiotics
and other medicines as possible
when raising hogs.
“If we can avoid using
medication we will. We per-
form daily check-ups on them,
we walk through the buildings
and see if there are any signs
of disease or injury,” Williams
said. “If there are any signs, we
address them. We use antibiotics or medication as little as
possible. If things get bad we
have to give them a shot but we
try to avoid that because it’s not
fun for them or for me. ”
He also tries to be a good
neighbor.
“We have really good neighbors around here, they understand that there is some odor
and that is part of living out
here in the country,” Williams
said. “All of our manure application is knifed in to incorporate
it into the ground, we don’t
See HOG | 6
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MODERN FARMER
Hog
From page 4
spray any on top. So that does
a really good job of keeping the
odor down.”
Williams’ uncle, John Williams, said High Ridge Pork
has five locations where they
raise an estimated 6,000 hogs,
and they even rent a feed mill
to make their own food for the
pigs. He said there are other
safeguards in place at their
operation that help keep the
pigs healthy while maintaining
good neighbor relations.
“We have a generator system
that will run the hog buildings,
so in case of a power outage
we can still maintain water and
water pressure, the air flow and
ventilation systems, still run
the feed systems and the heating systems,” John Williams
said. “So everything will remain
stable during a power outage.”
“The hog business is seven
days a week. So when the time
comes when someone has to be
gone, we have other members
of the LLC we can call on to
Hogs inside the Six Farms operation near Meredosia.
help with whatever may need to
be done,” John Williams said.
“We hire part time workers so
we provide jobs, we use a local
trucking company to haul all of
our hogs, so we provide additional incomes to the families
that are involved with it.”
According to the most recent
Illinois EPA annual inspection
reports, less than 1 percent of
all Illinois hog farms had any
odor complaints or water pollution violations. Illinois Pork
Producers Executive Director
Jennifer Tirey said the Six
Farms and High Ridge Pork are
examples of an industry that is
changing for the better.
“The whole industry has
transitioned to raising our animals indoors. There are a lot of
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reasons why we do that now,”
Tirey said. “In Illinois we can
have very brutal winters and hot
summers. We now have climate
controlled buildings usually kept
around 70 degrees, which is the
temperature the pigs like.”
“Within the past 50 years we
have also reduced our carbon
footprint. We are using 78 percent less land and 41 percent
less water, and a lot of that is by
moving those animals indoors
and maximizing their care and
feeding,” Tirey said.
“We are regulated by the state
to have a nutrient management
plan before we are even able to
construct a new building. This
means the manure that is created by these animals, we have
to have a plan for where we are
going to put it,” Tirey said. “So
we work well and communicate
with other farmers and our
neighbors. Before you build a
barn you have to have those
good neighbor relations with
the non-farming community as
well.”
Ironically, one of the problems with the modern pork
industry is that out of sight
doesn’t always mean it’s out of
mind.
“Because people can’t see the
pigs outside, they really don’t
know what’s happening,” Tirey
said. “Because of biosecurity,
there are so many diseases that
we want to make sure we don’t
bring into our animals, so we
just can’t allow anyone to come
onto the farm. That’s something we as an industry are trying to be more proactive about,
to educate our neighbors and
the public about what we are
doing.”
Tirey added that pork producers are one of the largest
consumers of corn and soybeans, using an estimated 155
million bushels of corn and 32
million bushels of soybeans
per year. She said the industry
contributes $1.8 billion to the
state’s economy, generating
more than $170 million in
taxes and providing more than
10,500 jobs.
Meanwhile, back on the Six
Farm, the current generation
is proud to use the latest good
stewardship practices and they
hope this sustainable focus will
be picked up by the next generation.
“We don’t ever want to put
pressure on the kids and make
them think they have to come
back to the farm, but it would
be a dream come true if they
ever would want to come back
and farm for us,” Genny Six
said.
“If it’s any indication by
watching how much the kids
enjoy running around the livestock and tractors, we have a
next generation here on our
farm,” Brian Six said. “It will
be exciting to see what these
boys will want to do one day.”
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David Blanchette is a freelance writer from
Big apple chill
MODERN FARMER
7
Cold snap could nip some fruit in bud
By Michael Hill
Associated Press
Apple farmers worry the
late-season Arctic blast could
take a big bite from their budding crops.
“It definitely was cold
enough so that there could
be some catastrophic damage
to the majority of the apple
crop,” said Jake Samascott,
whose family grows about 100
acres of apples on their farm.
The unseasonably cold air
moved in after a warm spell
sped up bud growth on apple
trees. Buds become more sensitive to cold as they mature,
making the cold snap especially troubling in big appleproducing states. Farmers are
starting to assess the damage.
“We have at least one
more cold night by the end
of the weekend, early next
week, if forecasts hold, to get
through,” said Ben Wenk.
“And of course there’s not a
whole lot we can do about it.”
Samascott said his orchard
could lose 90 percent of its
apple crop because of temperatures that dipped to 10
degrees and below. Three
Springs could lose half its
early varieties like Honeycrisp
and Gala. Wenk also is worried about his peaches, blueberries and strawberries.
Some apple farmers try to
mitigate damage by employing windmill-like machines to
direct warmer air at the trees,
but they are still left playing a
waiting game.
“It’s almost too early to tell,
but I still feel we have a crop,”
said Dwight Baugher of
Baugher’s Orchards & Farm.
He said his apple crop “got
Kenny Bowman holds an apple tree bud.
Unseasonably cold air after a warm
spell sped up bud growth on apple trees.
smacked pretty good” with
overnight temperatures in the
mid to low 20s this week.
Damage will vary from farm
to farm depending on varieties, how low temperatures
dropped and how far along the
buds were. Losses can even
vary around a single farm, with
trees in colder valleys affected
while trees on a hillside escape
harm. Some orchards are
expected to escape large-scale
damage because of their later
growing season.
“Individual farms, some will
skate through and they’ll be
fine and there are others that
probably won’t have a crop,
and economically it will be
pretty tough,” said Jim Eve.
Cindy Schultz | The Albany Times Union (AP)
Kenny Bowman walks down a row of apple trees. Some growers worry a late-season Arctic blast could take a big bite from their
budding crops.
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MODERN FARMER
Facility blazes path in beef cattle research
By Greg Olson
[email protected]
PERRY — Finding alternative
feed for beef cattle is among the
work being done at a research
center in the rolling hills of Pike
County.
Among the things staff at the
University of Illinois Extension’s
Orr Beef Research Center are
doing is looking at how to better use crop residue, especially
cornstalks, as a food supplement
for beef cattle.
“Our goal is to conduct
research into ways that can be
applicable to Illinois farmers,”
said Travis Meteer, beef educator at the Orr Beef Research
Center.
“We maintain a herd like any
other beef cattle farmer in Illinois,” Meteer said. “What we
do differently is apply unbiased
research treatments, such as
different feeds, different management strategies and different
herd health protocols.”
Recently, Meteer said, University of Illinois researchers
looked at supplementing feed
to grazing cows during the
spring breeding season. That
supplemental feed consisted of
a soybean hulls mix that was fed
to cows at 4 pounds a head per
day. “Results showed a 15 percent improvement in first-service conception rate when cows
were supplemented,” Meteer
said. “This can be a viable
strategy for farmers wanting to
tighten their calving season and
get more cows bred quickly.”
Researchers are also studying
how to lower feed costs.
“Feed costs represent about
60 percent of the total costs
for beef producers,” Meteer
Greg Olson | Journal-Courier
Travis Meteer, beef educator at the University of Illinois Extension’s Orr Beef Research Center near Perry, holds some of the
mixed feed fed to the research center’s herd of beef cattle.
said. “Our goal is to research
feed costs and how to reduce
them. For over 15 years, the Orr
Center has been looking at different ways to best utilize crop
residues.”
Meteer said the Orr Beef
Research Center’s main focus on
crop residue is to match it with
corn and soybean byproduct
feeds, such as ground cornstalks
with corn distillers’ grains.
“When grass goes dormant in
the winter, cows become recyclers, and they eat leftover cornstalks in the field and distillers’
grains that are byproducts of
ethanol production,” Meteer
said. “Our ultimate goal is to
help farmers be more profitable.”’
The Orr Beef Research Center
also has investigated calf weaning strategies and creep feeding,
which is offering feed to calves
while they are still nursing the
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“Results from these trials show that creep feeding
increases weaning weights and
helps calves transition away
from their mother’s milk,”
Meteer said. “Creep feeding is
not new, but what we’re doing
is looking at feeding corn and
soybean byproducts to those
calves. These byproducts are
lower cost.”
Disseminating its research
results to Illinois farmers is
another aspect of the Orr Beef
Research Center’s mission.
Meteer’s responsibilities
include hosting a field day at
the research center in early
September, conducting meetings with beef cattle farmers
across the state and providing
reference materials so farmers
can make profitable decisions.
Greg Olson can be reached at 217-245-6121,
ext. 1224, or on Twitter @JCNews_Greg.
MODERN FARMER
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9
MODERN FARMER
Planting season calls for caution on the roads
Journal-Courier staff
As the spring planting season gets under way, farmers
and drivers may need to be
reminded of the hazards that
exist in fields and on roads.
Both will need to adjust to
having large, slow-moving
agricultural equipment on
rural highways and county
roads once more.
During planting season,
farmers work long hours.
While some farmers may have
already started planting, others whose crops are insured
under the Federal Crop Insurance Program follow specific
deadlines for getting corn and
soybeans into the ground. The
dates are provided by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s
“Farmers are anxious to get back into their fields and
get the job done. They’re working on tight deadlines,
but they need to remember to take care of themselves
and others in the process.”
— Eric Vanasdale
Risk Management Agency and
vary by state and county.
In Illinois, initial planting
dates for most crops were earlier this month. Final planting
dates for corn are May 31 and
June 5 and final planting dates
for soybeans are June 15 and
June 20
“Farmers are anxious to get
back into their fields and get
the job done. They’re working
on tight deadlines, but they
need to remember to take
care of themselves and oth-
ers in the process,” said Eric
Vanasdale, senior loss control
representative for Country
Financial. “Accidents happen
when you’re tired, distracted
and rushed. Farmers need to
be on alert all hours of the day
in order to keep themselves
and other drivers safe.”
Six considerations for farmers
• Get plenty of rest and take
frequent breaks. Drink plenty
of fluids and have healthy
snacks on hand. Accidents
are more likely to occur once
fatigue sets in.
• Be familiar with how prescriptions and over the counter medications affect reaction
time. Some medications and
RAISE YOUR GROWTH
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machinery do not mix. Consult
your doctor if your medications impair your ability to
safely operate your equipment.
• Tell family and helping
hands where you will be working and when. Also, have a cell
phone available at all times in
case of emergencies or accidents.
• Avoid driving machinery
on roads at dawn and dusk.
Vision is most challenged and
most accidents happen during
these times of day. They’re
also peak commuting times for
drivers heading to and from
work.
• Maintain equipment. Most
farm accidents and deaths
involve machinery. Make sure
your equipment is maintained
according to the manufacturers’ recommendations.
• Know limitations. Don’t
push your mind and body past
safe and healthy limits.
“Because most farm equipment has been sitting since last
fall, farmers may also want to
review equipment manuals and
inspect their equipment lights
to make sure turn signals, flashers and lights work properly,”
said Vanasdale. “Safety reflective tape and slow-moving
vehicle emblems should also be
cleaned so they’re more visible
to drivers.”
Recommendations for drivers
• Drivers should remember
to decrease their speed and
approach farm equipment with
care. They should obey the
Rules of the Road. It is illegal
and dangerous to pass farm
equipment in a no passing
zone.
• Farm equipment may be
wider than what is visible from
behind and it may be difficult
to see if traffic is approaching
in the opposite direction. The
key to safety when sharing
the road with farm equipment
is to take caution and have
patience.
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11
Group provides a voice between farms and Congress
By Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree
[email protected]
With agriculture an important
part of west-central Illinois,
Congressman Darin LaHood
said he wanted to establish a
committee to represent the
voice of that large segment of
his district.
The agriculture advisory committee was established at the
end of 2015 by the LaHood as a
way to stay connected with the
agriculture community.
Committee co-chairman Steve
Turner, president of the Cass/
Morgan Farm Bureau, said the
committee has met once since
it was created, and more than
40 farmers attended to discuss
policies that would affect their
businesses.
The committee consists of
representatives of corn and
soybean producers and livestock
farmers from each county in the
18th Congressional District,
which includes Morgan and
most surrounding counties.
“He reached out to the different community organizations
and he put together this committee of people from every
facets of the ag community,”
Turner said.
LaHood said he has the
eighth-largest district in terms
of corn and soybean production,
so it is important he knows how
policies will impact the agriculture sector.
Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree | Journal-Courier
Chandlerville resident Steve Turner is a member of Rep. Darin LaHood’s Agriculture Advisory Committee.
One of the biggest issues
being talked about is the TransPacific Partnership, which is a
trade agreement with several
countries.
Turner said this will have a
big affect on farmers, which is
why several have made their
opinions known to the committee.
“We need to make sure that
we keep the markets open for
products we sell,” Turner said.
“We need a fair marketing level
without major trade barriers.”
LaHood said that with Beardstown being a major connector
to the Illinois River and on
to the Mississippi River, it is
important to make sure there
are policies that will focus on
the improvement of ports.
Turner joined the committee
because he wanted to be able to
help represent the agricultural
committee.
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“We’re making sure the ag
committee is heard from and
represented well,” Turner said.
While LaHood said he will not
act on just the word of the committee, he said its information
will be weighted in his decision.
“This doesn’t mean I’ll put on
blinders and do whatever they
say, but they’ll be that strong
vocal advocate and can be
extremely helpful,” he said.
Turner said he hopes he continues to ask the committee for
its opinion on different topics,
such as trade, transportation
and environmental regulations.
“He has a core group of ag
people that he can turn to and
ask questions about ag policy
that he’ll deal with in his position,” Turner said. “When he
votes on certain bills he had that
centralized voice and I hope he
continues using this group.”
LaHood said his goal is for
the committee to meet at least
four times a year, although said
he will call committee members
as the need arise.
“We can talk about any issue
and I can take it back and when
we discuss bills, I will have the
first hand knowledge,” LaHood
said. “No pun intended, but
they’re out there in the trenches,
out in the field. They know how
these things affect them.”
Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be
reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on
Twitter @JCNews_samantha.
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MODERN FARMER
Honeysuckle a growing menace in region
By Nick Draper
[email protected]
Driving along any wooded
area in the region there’s a
good chance that what looks
like lively undergrowth can
be seen lining the edges of
the woods.
However, what might
seem like natural growth is
most likely bush honeysuckle, an invasive species that
is choking out native plants
and preventing new trees
from growing.
“If you look under here
it’s basically a desert,” said
Illinois Tree Farm Forestry
board member Ed Anderson
as he pulled back a thick
Nick Draper | Journal-Courier
At the Western Illinois Youth Camp, Kori Daniels, camp director, pulls a bush honeysuckle plant out bush honeysuckle branch.
“You’ve got a dead leaf bed
of the ground with easy to demonstrate the size of the plant and how shallow its roots are.
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and nothing else. No flowers. No sprouts. Nothing.”
Bush honeysuckle can
grow very large and thrives
on sunlight. Before native
plants can take root and
begin growing, the honeysuckle has already grown
and is covered in large
leaves that block the light
for other plants.
Anderson explained that
the impact on the local
flora can be seen easily, but
added that the plants are
also a nuisance to the local
fauna as well.
“You won’t see any nests
in these, birds don’t nest
in them,” Anderson said.
“They grow berries but
they’re kind of ‘junk food’
for animals. They have
plenty of carbohydrates,
but they don’t have the fats
of other berries that they
need.”
At the Western Illinois
Youth Camp, the effects of
the honeysuckle can easily
be seen. Anderson pointed
at two wooded areas, one
side that was treated for
the honeysuckle and one
that was not. The side that
was not treated was overrun with honeysuckle. The
ground underneath the
plants simply dirt and piles
of dead leaves.
The treated side, free of
the large bushes, was covered in different types of
flowers and tree sprouts.
See HONEYSUCKLE | 15
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MODERN FARMER
Honeysuckle
From page 14
Kori Daniels, camp director, demonstrated how easily
the plants can be removed by
simply pulling one from the
ground with ease. Anderson
explained that the plants are
shallow rooted, so they can
quickly be pulled and a brush
pile can be made to help wildlife.
Chemically, the plants are
treated with RoundUp typically
after other plants have gone
dormant for the winter — bush
honeysuckle stays alive longer
than native plants — or in the
spring before other plants have
started to grow. Leaf spraying in the fall has been proven
effective against the plants,
Anderson said.
The Illinois Tree Farm Forestry will hold a field day at 9
a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April
30, where those interested in
forestry and wildlife can come
to learn more about lumber,
tree felling, and woodworking.
Anderson said the field day
will also be an opportunity for
people to see with their own
eyes the damage that bush honeysuckle is causing and ways to
control the spread of the plant.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources district forester
Matt Peterson detailed the
importance of actively conserving forests in a letter entitled
“This is not your grandparents’
timber.”
“The passive was, and still
is, that timber just takes care
of itself,” Peterson wrote. “The
passive approach of owning
timber needs to become a
thing of the past. More than
ever, active forest management is required to maintain
a healthy timber that also provides quality wildlife habitat.
Landowners need to think
beyond food and plots if they
want to reap the full benefits
their property has to offer.”
“Bush-honeysuckle was
introduced as an ornamental
but has now invaded the timber in epidemic proportions
across Illinois,” he wrote.
“Once established, these exotic
species change the vegetative
components of the timber by
out-competing the native species of trees, shrubs and wildflowers, for the available growing space, sunlight, water and
nutrients. The exotics prevent
regeneration of the more desirable native species by literally
choking them out.”
Though it may seem like the
forest will take care of itself if
left alone, Anderson stressed
that without active management of species like bush honeysuckle there will be nothing
left of the woods we now know
for our children to enjoy.
15
A bush honeysuckle plant can be identified by its hollow stems.
“Once established, these exotic species change the
vegetative components of the timber by out-competing
the native species of trees, shrubs and wildflowers, for the
available growing space, sunlight, water and nutrients.”
Nick Draper can be reached at 217-2456121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper.
— Matt Peterson
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MODERN FARMER
Cover crop benefits extend beyond the field
By Kathleen Clark
For the Journal-Courier
An increasingly popular topic
among farmers is the benefits
of cover crops.
Issues such as erosion, nutrient content and compaction
can all be helped by keeping
fields in growth.
In Illinois, cover crops are
often noncommodity plants
grown during the late fall and
winter. They can also be in the
form of winter wheat or forage
for livestock.
“The traditional use of cover
crops is to cover the soil and
reduce soil erosion. But there
are many other benefits that
cover crops bring,” explains
Eileen Kadivko, an agronomy
professor at Purdue University.
“Just having roots growing at a
time of year when there hasn’t
been anything growing provides many benefits.”
A leading authority on cover
crops are soil and water conservation districts.
Morgan County Soil and
Water Conservation District
Soil Conservationist Joe Cebuhar says the benefits of using
cover crops are endless.
“You get better yields from
commodity crops, protect the
soil and give it the ability to
keep the nutrients you pay for
during the winter, making it
ready for spring planting. The
number one reason cover crops
are bought is for improving soil
health quality, they add organic
material. Second is to have
cover through the dormant season and protect the fields from
soil erosion,” he said. “Cover
crops are helpful with nutrient
uptake and secure nutrients
outside the typical growing
season.”
The most common purposefor which Clint Turner, who
farms near Franklin and sells
Pro Harvest Seed, sells cover
Kathleen Clark | Journal-Courier
Radishes emerge in a Greene County soybean field. Their extensive root system helps aerate and secure nitrogen for commodity crop use in the spring.
seed is to save the soil. Specifically, preventing erosion and
sequestering nutrients for traditional corn and soybean commodity crops to use.
The recent heavy rains during December, Turner noticed
a distinct difference in fields
that were bare versus those
with a cover crop.
“Water coming out of cover
crop fields was clear. Those
without were muddy; farmers
were losing soil in the uncovered fields,” he said.
Lost soil means lost nutrients and organic matter; the
building blocks needed for a
high yield in the coming grow-
ing season for profit crops.
The practice of keeping
growth on a growing surface
even during the non-growing
season for traditional commodity crops is not new.
All through agricultural
history cover crops, such as
legumes during the Roman
Empire, have been used to
improve and maintain soil quality.
The USDA reports that
“cover crops were an integral
part of the American farmer’s
crop rotation through the
1950s.”
So why did the practice stop
being mainstream? The same
report says with the availability
and convenience of synthetic
fertilizer has since reduced the
use of cover crops and significantly altered how cropland is
managed.
To manage a high yield field,
recent conventional practices of
soil management include adding nitrogen and fertilizers to
the soil. These are often in liquid form and can be easily lost
as runoff into the surrounding
environment. Additionally, this
form of application does little
to increase organic material or
the health of the soil itself; just
the crops for the current growing season.
Science and research continues to grow and support that a
rotation of cover crops are typically more cost effective, less
environmentally intrusive and
better for the overall health of
the land than use of synthetic
products. Instead of leaving
a field bare during harsh winters — full of wind, precipitation and void of the nutrients
recently taken from the land by
commodity crops – a lush field
of cover crops can increase the
value and health of the land.
Cover crops have been
proven to reduce fertilizer,
See COVER CROP | 17
MODERN FARMER
Cover Crop
From page 17
herbicide and pesticide use,
enhance soil heath, prevent
soil erosion by both wind and
water as well as conserve moisture. They also protect water
quality, increase organic matter
content, capture and add nutrients. They can even minimize
and reduce soil compaction
caused by heavy rains and large
equipment. Pest and weed control is a final benefit of keeping
a field covered with growth.
An example of cover crop
benefits is explained by University of Maryland professor of soil science Ray Weil.
Working with farmers who use
a combination of no-till and
cover crops, spring commodity
crop emergence can be vastly
improved. Cover crop roots
minimize sidewall compaction
created during planting. Also,
when compared with uncovered fields, farmers often can
get in to plant sooner and in
wetter fields by planting into
fields that still had the remains
of the winter’s cover crop.
Another specific example
Weil shares is the ability to pull
nitrogen from the subsoil, rather than the topsoil, with a managed cover crop. The deeper
roots pulling out the nutrient
during the cover crop’s growing season and subsequent die
back allow a field to keep its’
nutrients in house.
“Termination of the cover
crop is definitely the biggest
ders
Provi as,
of G &
Fuel nts
ca
Lubri
challenge,” says Cebuhar. Common termination practices
include spraying or plowing
under the cover crops. In order
to avoid the extra labor and
cost of physical termination, he
suggests using plants that die
in the winter, such as winterkill crops.
Turner has implemented
cover crops into his yearly rotation and notes, “It does require
some management, you don’t
just want to plant it and walk
away. You have to have a good
management plan.”
Even at that, “I’m in my fifth
year and have nothing but
good to say. My yields are up,”
he said.
Turner points out that an
answer to a lot of concerns
about cover crops is found in
the sky. One farmer became
frustrated with the seed application process.
“A local farmer always drilled
in his cover crops and was
ready to give up. He finally
flew it in this past year and
now has the best-looking cover
crops. Aerial planting seems
key.”
By flying in the seed, a farmer can interseed with standing
commodity crops during a late
harvest or in a field that may
be difficult to access. “There
are several mixes that can be
applied by air for about twenty
to thirty dollars an acre. Prices
were higher, but have leveled
off recently,” Turner said.
There are a wide variety of
plants commonly used as cover
crops. Many farmers have
found a mix works best. A mix
Cover crops can be seeded by air in many cases.
allows a field to gain the best
benefits from each cover crop.
The Soil and Water Conservation District staff can assist
farmers in using the Midwest
Cover Crops Council Cover
Crop Decision Tool. It is also
available on their website. An
example of a recommendation includes: With the goal of
reducing erosion, adding nitrogen and providing forage, the
tool recommends a standard
Morgan County field could
benefit from a mix of legumes,
such as alfalfa, clover and cowpeas to accomplish those goals.
The tool also provides additional information on standard
mixes of the non-commodity
crops, as well as planting and
termination date guidelines.
The main categories of cover
crops include non-legumes
(oats, wheat and rye), legumes
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(alfalfa, clover, and peas) and
brassicas (radish, mustard and
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Want to give cover crops a
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17
“First, talk to a neighbor,
someone trying it out, and
to us,” Cebuhar suggests to
those interested in starting
cover crop rotations. “It’s not
something you want to jump
into without doing research on
first. Every field is a candidate
for cover crops, and every field
would benefit.” Seed is easy to
come by now too, “Most major
ag dealers have begun to carry
the seed.”
Field days sponsored by a
variety of farm related agencies are also an option when
looking for first-hand information on the logistics of cover
crops.
Finally, Cebuhar said, farmers who “… familiarize themselves with these practices
now, they show they are good
stewards and protecting the
environment.”
Kathleen Clark is a freelance writer from
Scottville.
T
MODERN FARMER
Workshop teaches skills for farm self-sufficiency
By Tony Reid
Herald & Review (TNS)
Joe Toenjes was born in
1967 and his little Ford farm
tractor was born in 1963.
Toenjes is still running just
fine but his Ford isn’t since it
wouldn’t start this year. So he
hopped in his car and drove
more than 2½ hours from his
home in Frankford, Missouri,
to Decatur’s Richland Community College, which hosted
a primer on how to maintain
and operate tractors.
The course, “Small Engines
and Tractors Workshop,” was
put on by a Champaign-based
nonprofit organization called
The Land Connection. Its mission is to teach students the
art and science behind smallscale farming with a syllabus
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nance.
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is a growing hunger for the
technician in the telecommu20
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MODERN FARMER
19
USDA proposes stricter animal welfare rules for organic meat
By Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press
The Agriculture Department
has proposed stricter animal
welfare standards for organic
chicken and meat in a multibillion-dollar market that is rapidly expanding each year.
The rules would ensure that
all livestock, including poultry,
have enough space to lie down,
turn around, stand up and
fully stretch their limbs. Beaks
couldn’t be removed and tails
couldn’t be cut. Poultry houses
would have to have fresh air
and ventilation.
“This will support the continued growth in the organic livestock and poultry sectors, and
ensure consumer confidence in
the organic label,” said Miles
McEvoy, the head of USDA’s
organic program.
The retail market for organic
products is valued at almost
$40 billion in the United States.
USDA said the number of
certified organic operations
in the United States increased
by almost 12 percent between
2014 and 2015, the highest
growth rate since 2008 and an
increase of nearly 300 percent
since the department began
counting operations in 2002.
The broadest changes proposed by USDA would cover
outdoor access for poultry,
suggesting standards for how
densely poultry can be stocked
as well as minimum indoor and
outdoor space requirements.
The rules would require poultry
have access to areas that are
at least 50 percent covered in
soil. Hen houses would not be
allowed to only have a porch;
producers would have to provide additional outdoor space.
In addition to clean water
and direct access to sun and
shade, the rules would require
producers to design facilities
to encourage all birds to go
outside on a daily basis. The
Cage-free
chickens stand in
a fenced pasture.
The Agriculture
Department has
proposed stricter
animal welfare
standards for organic
chicken and meat
as the multi-billion
dollar organic market
grows each year. The
rules would ensure
that all livestock,
including poultry,
have enough space to
lie down, turn around,
stand up and fully
stretch their limbs.
“This will support the
continued growth in the
organic livestock and
poultry sectors, and ensure
consumer confidence in
the organic label.”
— Miles McEvoy
outdoor areas would have to
have “suitable enrichment” to
entice birds to go outside, McEvoy said.
The amount of outside access
for poultry has been a subject
of debate, as some food safety
advocates have expressed concerns that more outdoor access
may increase the chances of
salmonella contamination. The
Food and Drug Administration
issued guidance in 2013 to try
to help organic egg producers
better prevent salmonella, a
bacteria that can cause diarrhea, fever, and abdominal
cramps and can be deadly
without prompt antibiotic treatment.
The Organic Trade Association, which represents many of
the nation’s largest companies
that sell organic products, did
not comment on specifics of the
proposal. But the group’s president, Laura Batcha, said she
was pleased USDA is moving
forward with the rule.
“Ensuring that the high
expectations consumers have
for organic foods are met
preserves the organic seal’s
reputation as the gold standard
for agricultural production practices,” Batcha said.
Other producers expressed
concerns.
Jim Byrum, president of the
Michigan Agri-Business Association, said the rules could slow
business for egg producers,
which could in turn reduce the
demand for organic corn and
soybeans that the chickens eat.
Charlie Neibergall | AP
“Eliminating porches that
already allow organic hens to
be outside would render tens
of millions of dollars of investment by many organic egg
producers obsolete,” Bynum
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said. “The proposal also makes
deeply unrealistic assumptions
about food safety, requiring
direct exposure of hens to the
outdoors.”
McEvoy said USDA under-
stands the rules would mean
additional investment for some
businesses. But he said the rules
would “assure consumers that
organically produced products
meet a consistent standard.”
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MODERN FARMER
Program connects retiring, beginning farmers
Associated Press
A new program by some agricultural officials seeks to build
connections between farmers
who are ready to get out of the
business and those who want to
get in.
They offer a place where
farmers who are ready to retire
can connect with beginning
farmers who may need help getting past the high capital costs
of getting started, Jim Ostlie
said.
“Our goal is to connect farmers looking to retire that have
no heirs, desire to keep their
farm in production and are willing to give an opportunity to
the right person with a beginning farmer that doesn’t have a
farm to inherit or take over, nor
has the financing to outright
buy in or purchase,” he said.
Beginning farmer Hannah
Brotherton said financial barriers and the learning curve for
starting up a farm factored into
her decision to sign up for the
state program.
“I think it’s great that (this
project is) pairing people up,”
she said. “It opens up doors
to help people who can’t get a
farm.”
But signing up for the program simply creates opportunities, because there aren’t any
obligations involved until both
sides are comfortable.
“It takes quite a while for
something to come to fruition,”
Ostlie said. “You want to make
sure both parties are secure in
what they want to do.”
Ostlie estimates that the
process of transferring farm
ownership takes five to 15
years. Many beginning farmers
start out as the retiring farmer’s
employee so they can gradually
learn the ropes through training
and mentoring, and purchase
assets.
Art Thicke, a farmer who’s
in his 60s, started looking for
a younger farmer who can take
over his farm before the program existed.
Andrew Link | The Winona Daily News (AP)
Art Thicke and his wife, Jean, are among the many area farmers nearing retirement who have to consider options for
transitioning their farm. A new program seeks to build connections between farmers who are ready to get out of the business
and those who want to get in.
Thicke and his wife, Jean,
recommend starting early and
moving slowly. The couple said
a years-long transition is impor-
tant, because it allows time
for both sides to consider the
change, especially if something
goes wrong.
“You need to start ahead
of time,” Jean Thicke said,
“because it might be a trial-anderror situation.”
To learn more contact:
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Fax: 989-224-3940
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3089 Austif Rd.
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MODERN FARMER
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21
MODERN FARMER
EPA launches methane program to reduce emissions
The Environmental Protection Agency is launching a
voluntary partnership program
with 41 founding partner
companies in the oil and gas
sector.
The Natural Gas Star Methane Challenge Program builds
upon the Natural Gas Star
Program, a flexible, voluntary
partnership between EPA
and the U.S. oil and natural
gas industry that focuses
on achieving cost-effective
methane emission reductions
from natural gas operations.
Methane is upward of 25 times
more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the planet,
according to EPA statistics.
“To protect public health
and combat climate change,
today, we are expanding our
voluntary partnerships to
reduce methane emissions
from the oil and gas sector
through our new Methane
Challenge program, which is
a platform for companies to
transparently report actions
to reduce methane emissions
and to be publicly recognized
as leaders in reducing methane emissions in the United
States,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “The
voluntary Methane Challenge
program is one important part
of our overarching strategy
to reduce methane emissions,
and complements regulatory efforts that will help the
United States meet the Obama
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“The voluntary Methane Challenge program is one
important part of our overarching strategy to reduce
methane emissions, and complements regulatory
efforts that will help the United States meet the
Obama administration’s goal of reducing methane
emissions by 40 to 45 percent by 2025.”
— Gina McCarthy
administration’s goal of reducing methane emissions by 40
to 45 percent by 2025.”
The new program was
announced at the Global
Methane Forum, hosted by
the Global Methane Initiative
and the Climate and Clean
Air Coalition, which brought
together hundreds of policymakers and industry experts
from more than 50 countries
to discuss strategies to reduce
global methane emissions.
The Methane Challenge
Program will provide partner
companies with a platform to
make company-wide commitments to cut emissions from
sources within their operations by implementing a suite
of best management practices
within five years. Transparency
is a fundamental part of the
program, and partner achievements will be tracked by submitting annual data directly
to EPA. Partner companies
have committed to replacing
or rehabilitating cast iron and
unprotected steel distribution
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mains, and to reducing methane emissions from pipeline
blowdowns, among other
activities.
The Obama administration’s 2014 Methane Strategy
set out regulatory and voluntary approaches for reducing
methane emissions by 40 to
45 percent below 2012 levels
by 2025. The EPA expects
program participation to
grow over time and is working to expand the options for
participation by finalizing an
additional Emissions Intensity Commitment option
through the One Future
Coalition. One Future is a
coalition of natural gas companies focused on increasing
efficiency across the natural
gas supply chain.
Another key outcome of the
Global Methane Forum is the
re-chartering of the Global
Methane Initiative for the
next five years.
The GMI is a partnership
of 43 countries, including
the United States, aimed
at achieving cost-effective
methane reductions across
five sectors: municipal solid
waste, wastewater, agriculture, coal, and the oil and
gas sector. Together, GMI’s
43 partner countries account
for approximately 70 percent
of global methane emissions
from targeted sources. Since
2004, partner countries
avoided nearly 350 MMTCO2e in methane emissions
from these sources.
MODERN FARMER
23
Survey projects more corn, fewer soybeans
Malcott joins Angus association
Profit margins full of red ink
could force growers to cut back
crop acreage by almost 2 percent this year, according to the
latest survey by Farm Futures,
Penton Agriculture’s ag business resource.
Only corn and cotton could
see gains among five major row
crops and even those increases
would keep seedings below
levels from just two years ago,
according to the the survey.
Farm Futures sees corn plantings at 90 million, up 2.3 percent from 2015, when adverse
weather kept farmers from
planting some 2.6 million acres.
Some of the biggest gains could
come in Illinois and Indiana,
where yields suffered last year,
while growers in the northwest
Midwest, who enjoyed record
yields, could also post increases.
Farmers appear ready to cut
back on soybeans, following
back-to-back record crops and
yields. Farm Futures sees acreage of the oilseed falling to 82.2
million, down about 0.5 of a
percent from 2015.
Seedings of another popular
crop in 2015 also look ready
to fall. Sorghum, a feed grain
planted primarily on the central and southern Plains, saw
acreage surge last year after
Chinese buying took prices to
record premiums over corn. But
with a surplus hanging over the
market this year, prices are back
John Malcott of Concord
is a new member of the
American Angus Association,
according to Allen Moczygemba, CEO of the national
breed organization headquartered in Saint Joseph, Missouri.
The American Angus
Association, with more than
to their traditional discount.
Growers said they plan to cut
acreage by almost 13 percent, to
7.4 million.
Further north on the Plains,
spring wheat seedings could
also be lower. The survey found
farmers cutting acreage of the
high protein grain by around 5
percent, to 12.6 million. That
could bring all wheat seedings
to 51.6 million, 5.5 percent
lower than 2015.
Farmers in the South appear
ready to boost cotton seedings
almost 11 percent to 9.5 million,
after cutting back dramatically
due to low prices and adverse
weather a year ago.
“Cotton prices aren’t profitable either, but growers don’t
have many alternatives that
look good in 2016,” said Bryce
Knorr, Farm Futures grain market analyst, who conducted the
survey. “That’s why overall acre-
age could continue to fall among
major crops again this spring.”
“Corn appears to be gaining
ground by default, because farmers are a little more optimistic
about rallies during the growing
season, thanks to a lot of talk
about potential for the El Nino
to end soon. Our research shows
that would increase potential for
at least modest gains.”
Growers put their average
price target for 2016 corn at a
futures price of $4.12. By contrast the average futures price
target for soybeans was only
$9.27, a dollar or more below
break-even levels.
“Farmers are banking on rallies because they still have a lot
of 2015 production unpriced,”
says Knorr. “Growers told us
they have more than 40 percent
of last year’s corn still in storage, with 30% of the soybean
crop still unpriced.”
25,000 active adult and junior
members, is the largest beef
breed association. Its records
include detailed information
on more than 18 million registered Angus.
The association records
ancestral information and
keeps production records and
genomic data on individual
animals to develop selection
tools for its members.
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MODERN FARMER
Petitions available for corn board positions
Farmers who would like to
run for a three-year term on
the Illinois Corn Marketing
Board can now start circulating nominating petitions.
Petitions are available at
county Extension offices and
the Illinois Department of
Agriculture. To have their
name placed on the ballot,
candidates must submit a
completed petition to the
director of agriculture by
the filing deadline of May
15. Petitions should contain
the signatures of 200 (or 5
percent, whichever is less)
of producers residing in the
counties in the district in
which the board member is
to be elected.
Interested corn farmers
must be at least 18 years old,
have produced and marketed
corn, live in the district to be
represented and have submitted a valid petition by the
filing deadline to be eligible
for election.
Elections will be held July
7.
For the Illinois Corn Marketing Board, the following
districts and their representative counties are open for
election:
District 3 — Henderson,
Henry, Knox, Mercer, Rock
Island and Warren.
District 6 — Champaign,
Ford, Iroquois and Vermilion.
District 9 — Adams,
Brown, Hancock,
McDonough, Pike and
Schuyler.
District 12 — Clark, Coles,
Crawford, Cumberland,
Douglas, Edgar and Jasper.
District 15 — Franklin,
Gallatin, Hamilton, Jackson,
Johnson, Massac, Perry,
Pope-Hardin, Pulaski-Alexander, Randolph, Saline, Union,
White and Williamson.
Those elected will serve
a three-year term beginning
Aug. 1.
For more information or
to request a petition, call
the Illinois Department of
Agriculture at 217-524-9130
or write to Illinois Department of Agriculture, Bureau
of Marketing and Promotion, P.O. Box 19281, State
Fairgrounds, Springfield, IL
62792-9281. Information is
available online at www.agr.
state.il.us.
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Pollinator
garden can bring
many benefits
By Melinda Myers
Whether planting a garden,
enjoying the beauty of your
landscape or sitting down to a
delicious meal, you have bees,
butterflies and other pollinators to thank. These essential
members of our ecosystem are
responsible for much of the food
and beauty we enjoy each day.
Unfortunately pesticides and
habitat loss are threatening
their existence. There is something you can do to help. Turn
your garden, backyard or balcony into a pollinator’s habitat.
Plant a variety of flowering
plants that provide nectar and
pollen throughout the season.
Planting masses of natives,
herbs and other pollinator
favorites like sedum, zinnias,
alyssum, cosmos, and columbine will attract these beauties
to your landscape. Include a
variety of day and night blooming flowers in a variety of
colors and shapes to support
the widest range of pollinators.
But don’t let a lack of space dissuade you; even a window box
of flowers can help.
Keep your plants healthy
and blooming with proper
care. Match the plants to the
growing conditions, provide
needed water and fertilize with
an organic nitrogen fertilizer
when needed. You’ll promote
slow steady plant growth that is
less susceptible to drought and
pests. Plus the slow release low
nitrogen won’t interfere with
flowering which is essential to
the health and well being of our
pollinators.
Supplement pollinators’ diets
with a bit of rotten fruit. And
be sure to provide trees, shrubs,
parsley, dill and other plants
that caterpillars, grubs and the
immature stage of other pollinators prefer to feed upon. Put
away the pesticides and tolerate
a few holes in the leaves of their
favorite plants. With a diversity
of plants you can easily overlook the temporary leaf damage.
Plus, this is a small price to pay
for all the benefits they bring to
the garden.
Provide pollinators with
shelter from predators and the
weather. Include a variety of
trees, shrubs and perennials.
Leave patches of open soil for
ground nesting bees and some
leaf litter to shelter some butterflies, bumblebees and other
pollinating insects. Supplement
natural shelter with commercial
or homemade nesting boxes.
You’ll find do-it-yourself plans
on the internet from various
educational sources.
Puddles, fountains, birdbaths
and even a damp sponge can
provide needed water. Include
water features with sloping
sides or add a few stones to
create easier access. Or sink a
shallow container of sand in the
ground. Keep it damp and add a
pinch of sea salt for the butterflies and bees.
Maximize your efforts by
teaming up with your neighbors. Together you can create a
larger more diverse habitat that
provides pollinators with the
resources they need to thrive.
Your efforts will be rewarded
with greater harvests, beautiful
flowers and colorful birds and
butterflies visiting your garden.
Gardening expert, TV/radio host, author and
columnist Melinda Myers has more than 30
years of horticulture experience and has
written more than 20 gardening books.
MODERN FARMER
25
Man grows toy tractor collection with love of farming
By Nick Hytrek
Associated Press
Anyone who grew up on a farm or farmed for
any length of time can identify with Lowell Johnson.
There’s a connection to the land that often
remains inside someone, long after they may have
moved off the farm.
Along with that connection is a certain fondness for the machines used to work the land.
There’s a loyalty to green, red, orange — colors
synonymous with the manufacturer of the brand
of tractors and farm implements a farmer may
have used for a lifetime.
That’s why Johnson’s home isn’t just an ode
to the orange hue of Allis-Chalmers tractors and
farm implements (plus some red for International,
too), but to a life spent involved in agriculture.
“You can take a man out of farming, but you
can’t take him clear out. There’s always a little bit
inside you,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s dad used both Allis-Chalmers and
International tractors. Johnson used the same
brands on the farm he worked from 1971 to 1993.
Along the way, he wanted to keep the special
feelings he had for the machines he used.
Walk into his house and it’s overwhelmingly
orange. Display cases, bookshelves, his entertainment center — most are filled with toy AllisChalmers tractors and farm implements.
“It’s kind of a sickness,” Johnson said, chuckling in reference to his collection, which he
guesses numbers more than 200 pieces. “I haven’t
counted them in a while.”
You’ll find plenty of International tractors in
his collection, too. As farm toy collecting has gotten more popular, toy companies have come out
with new “old” toys, highly accurate re-creations
of older tractors and farm implements, complete
with moving parts, such as the International H
tractor with a mounted two-row planter in John-
son’s collection.
A lot of his purchases are made for the purpose
of preserving memories. These are models of
the tractors his father used, the tractors he used.
They spent hundreds of hours on these trusted
machines.
“My grandpa had John Deeres. One of these
days I’ll pick up the models of what he had,” Johnson said.
Johnson started collecting in the 1970s, “kind
of when my kids quit playing with them.”
Johnson prefers the heavy cast-iron toys made
years ago to the modern toys that contain a lot
of plastic. But he’s not going to be too picky if he
finds something that fills a hole in his collection,
which contains a model of just about every tractor
Allis-Chalmers ever made.
“Every once in a while I find something I’ve
never seen before,” he said.
That collection stretches into real tractors, too.
In a brand-new building next to his house are
six antique tractors in various stages of restoration. Among them are a couple near to his heart.
There’s the 1945 Farmall H, which he grew up on
and kept when he got out of farming.
Nearby is the one tractor he wished he’d kept
from his farming days, an Allis-Chalmers 190XT.
After years of looking for another one, he successfully bid for this one at a farm auction.
Johnson has four or five toy models of this particular tractor. Now he’s got the real thing.
“I always said I wanted one again before I
died,” he said.
Collection complete in that regard, but there
will be more toys, maybe a few more antiques.
Collecting, much like farming, flows through
Johnson’s blood.
“It’s kind of the memory of what you grew up
with,” he said.
Those memories, much like a well-cared-for
tractor, can keep a farmer, or former farmer,
going for life.
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Tim Hynds
| Sioux City
Journal (AP)
MODERN FARMER
Solar farm developers target farms with lease offers
By Mary Esch
Associated Press
Less than a year after some
states banned fracking, dashing
the hopes of farmers who had
hoped to reap royalties from
natural gas leases, the commercial solar industry is courting
landowners for energy production.
Solar companies in recent
months have blanketed rural
areas with mailings seeking
leases on farmland for solar
arrays spanning 20 acres or
more. While some farmers
welcome the opportunity to
earn up to $2,000 an acre annually for the next 20 years or
so, some agricultural advisers,
community leaders and lawyers
are urging caution.
“These are complex business
transactions masquerading as
lottery tickets,” said Chris Denton, a lawyer who helps landowner groups negotiate oil and
gas leases. “There are unexamined risks and environmental
impacts. That’s why landowners
are banding together again to
formulate leases that will protect their interests.”
Manna Jo Greene, an environmental advocate, said the
developing solar boom is welcome but only if it’s done right.
While a solar development is a
beneficial use for a former landfill, it might not be appropriate
for prime farmland, she said.
And there are many questions
Cypress Creek Renewables (AP)
An aerial photo provided by Cypress Creek Renewables shows a commercial solar farm built on farmland by Cypress Creek
Renewables. The commercial solar industry is courting some landowners for energy production.
concerning zoning, agricultural
tax benefits, effects on farm
operations, and the eventual
decommissioning and disposal
of the solar components.
“A lease promising $20,000
or $40,000 a year is tempting
to farmers who are struggling,”
said Greene. “But we’re trying
to get the word out to be cautious and not let a developer
strip them of their property
rights.”
One company, Santa Monica,
California-based Cypress Creek
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lease offers to hundreds of
upstate New York landowners.
“We expect to have operational projects in every utility
load distribution zone in New
York by the end of 2017,” said
Cypress Creek spokesman Jeff
McKay. The company already
has operational sites in North
and South Carolina, Texas,
Indiana, Missouri, Minnesota,
Oregon and Georgia, he said.
“New York’s solar industry
is growing at unprecedented
levels,” said Department of
Public Service spokesman Jon
Sorensen. He said that the state
doesn’t have figures on solar
leasing activity but that energy
and agriculture agencies are
developing information to help
farmers make leasing decisions.
“It’s happening so fast, it’s
caught people off-guard,” said
Elizabeth Higgins.
Several towns have enacted
moratoriums on new solar
farms to allow officials to consider any zoning changes that
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might be necessary.
A similar solar boom has
been going on in North Carolina for about four years, driven
by state-mandated rules for
utility power purchases that
favor solar developers. At least
200 commercial solar farms
have been established in North
Carolina, mostly around 5
megawatts but ranging to up
to 80 megawatts, said Tommy
Cleveland of North Carolina
State University’s Clean Energy
Technology Center.
Objections have been similar
in many states.
“There has been concern
about taking prime land out
of farm production,” he said.
“In the last two years, we’ve
installed more than any state
other than California, and it’s
still only a tenth of a percent of
our farmland.”
For some farmers, the leases
could mean salvation. Marginal
land could become productive,
and prime cropland could produce income without labor and
other costs during a 20-year
lease, with the potential to one
day return to crop production.
“I’ve been looking for anything and everything to get
some other income for my
farm,” said Mike Athanas, a
retired electronics technician
who has a 184-acre farm. “The
taxes are killing me. My vegetable business doesn’t have
much profit margin. And some
of the soil isn’t the best for
planting.”
Athanas recently signed an
option to lease two 20-acre parcels where he used to grow hay.
He hopes to get at least $2,000
per acre annually after the
solar panels go up this summer.
“I’ve always wanted to have a
vineyard,” Athanas said. “This
may give me the extra capital
I need to while away my hours
growing grapes for local wineries.”
MODERN FARMER
27
FDA proposes limit for arsenic in baby rice cereal
By Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press
The Food and Drug Administration is urging the food industry to reduce the already tiny
amount of arsenic found in baby
rice cereals.
The agency proposed a new
voluntary limit for the amount
of inorganic arsenic — the type
found in some pesticides and
insecticides — in infant rice
cereals to 100 parts per billion,
similar to recommendations
already in place in Europe. It’s
a small amount, and about half
of infant rice cereals the FDA
sampled from retail stores in
2014 are already in compliance.
But the FDA says rice cereal
is a leading source of arsenic
exposure in infants and high
doses could be dangerous.
“The proposed limit is a pru-
dent and achievable step,” said
Susan Mayne of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied
Nutrition.
The FDA said parents don’t
need to stop feeding their
infants rice cereal, but officials
said they should vary rice with
other things like baby oatmeal,
barley and multigrain cereals
that are also iron-fortified. The
agency said rice intake is about
three times greater for infants
than adults relative to body
weight, primarily due to infant
rice cereal.
Gerber, the nation’s largest
manufacturer of baby rice cereal, says it’s already in compliance with the FDA’s proposed
arsenic levels.
“We have worked closely
with our trusted rice supplier
and their growers as well as
researchers from agricultural
universities to achieve some of
the lowest levels of this element
in U.S. grown rice,” Gerber said
in a release issued shortly after
the agency’s announcement.
Arsenic is naturally present in
water, air, food and soil in two
forms: organic and inorganic.
Organic arsenic passes through
the body quickly and is less
toxic. But inorganic arsenic may
pose a cancer risk if consumed
at high levels or over a long
period of time. Rice is thought
to have arsenic in higher levels
than most other foods because
it is grown in water on the
ground, optimal conditions for
the contaminant to be absorbed.
To get an idea of the FDA’s
proposed limit, 100 parts per
billion equals about one grain
of rice in more than 344 pounds
of long-grain white rice. But
the agency said it’s not just the
amount that’s important, but
the exposure and the toxicity.
The FDA said its data show
that about 47 percent of infant
cereals sampled met the standard, and 78 percent were at or
below 110 parts per billion.
The rice industry has worked
in recent years to find ways to
reduce arsenic in its product.
But that has often proved difficult, since rice growers don’t
tend to use arsenical pesticides
and they aren’t always sure how
to get it out of their soil. Levels
of inorganic arsenic may be left
over from crops that were previously farmed on the same fields,
or come from drift or runoff.
The advocacy group Consumers Union has been pushing the
FDA for several years to set
standards for arsenic in certain
foods. Urvashi Rangan of Consumers Union says the group
is happy with the FDA’s move,
but more needs to be done. The
group is particularly concerned
about levels of arsenic in ricebased cereals and rice beverages consumed by older children.
“It’s important that FDA has
acknowledged the risk today,
but we think it needs to apply
a much broader population,”
Rangan said.
The American Academy
of Pediatrics also praised the
proposed guidelines, and noted
that parents don’t have to give
rice cereal to babies as their
first food, as some have traditionally thought.
“Rice cereal fortified with
iron is a good source of nutrients, but it shouldn’t be the
only source, and does not need
to be the first source,” said
Dr. Benard Dreyer, the group’s
president.
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MODERN FARMER
Farm Bureau chief cites need for national GMO rules
By Lenore Sobota
The Pantagraph (TNS)
A voluntary national standard for labeling food products
containing genetically modified
organisms is needed to avoid
chaos that would result from
letting states set requirements,
one Illinois agricultural leader
and congressman say.
A bill to do that has passed
in the U.S. House of Representatives but a companion measure has stalled in the Senate.
Meanwhile, a law on mandatory
GMO labeling is set to take
effect in Vermont on July 1.
Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert said
allowing each state to set its
own label laws “would be just
basically utter chaos, confusion
and a logistical nightmare for
the manufacturers and food
industry.”
Arguing that science has
shown foods modified via biotechnology are safe, U.S. Rep.
Rodney Davis, a Republican
from Taylorville, said, “This is
a marketing issue. It is not a
safety issue.”
The legislation would amend
the Agricultural Marketing Act
of 1946 to require creation of
a national voluntary labeling
standard for bioengineered
foods. Similar to what already
has been done for organic food
labeling, it would create a process for the U.S. Department
of Agriculture to develop regulations on what constitutes a
“non-GMO” product.
The bill fell 12 votes short
The Farm Bureau and other
opponents of mandatory labeling say such requirements
should be limited to products
— Richard Guebert with health or safety risk, which
Illinois Farm Bureau President they argue is not the case with
GMO products.
Davis called the measure
proposed by Sen. Pat Roberts,
Davis said of Durbin and othR-Kansas, a “commonsense”
ers who blocked the bill: “They
law.
have chosen to side with activ“We have the same goal.
ists who have admitted their
Families want to know what’s in
goal is to stigmatize” bioengitheir food,” Davis said.
neered products.
Because companies potenGuebert said bioengineering
allows farmers to use less herbi- tially would have to create difcides and pesticides, have better ferent packaging for food sold
in different states, Davis said
yields and limit soil erosion.
state-by-state rules would raise
“If we are going to feed 9 billion people by 2050, we need to the cost of food.
“It’s going to add cost to that
use all the production resources
box of macaroni and cheese,”
and technology we have,” Guehe said.
bert said.
“If we are going to feed 9 billion people by 2050, we
need to use all the production resources and technology
we have.”
of the 60 needed to end debate
and move the bill forward.
Among those opposing the bill
was U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a
Democrat from Springfield.
Durbin spokeswoman Maria
McElwain said Durbin supports
a national GMO standard to
avoid a patchwork approach.
However, she said Durbin
joined Democratic colleagues in
the procedural vote against the
bill because he believes the bill
does not have adequate transparency and disclosure.
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MODERN FARMER
Dairy farms going high-tech with robots
By Vicki Ikeogu
Associated Press
A lot has changed in the 70
years Janski Farms has been
operational. Everything but one
building has been expanded,
converted, newly constructed
or upgraded to keep up with
the times. And that includes the
milking process.
Rich and Marlys Janski, thirdgeneration farmers, were able
to create a sustainable milking
operation of 220 cows with the
assistance of hired help. But
when their long-term employees
decided to retire in 2013, Rich
Janski said he having a difficult
time recruiting milkers.
“My vote was to quit dairying,” he said.
Janski said dairying for him
came second, following his 4,000
acres of crop farming. Without
hired help, it would be virtually
impossible for him or his family
to keep up the operation.
But giving up the cows did
not sit well with his sons Thomas, now 24, and Daniel, now 22.
For Daniel especially, working
with cows had always been a
passion.
“Thomas loves crops. I love
cows,” Daniel Janski said.
Thomas and Daniel had been
exploring the future of the farming industry for years as they
prepared to become the fourth
generation of Janski farmers.
And that future included robotics.
“The technology is always
evolving into something new,”
Daniel Janski said.
After much discussion, the
Janskis decided in August 2013
to invest $1.5 million to convert
their barn into a parlor capable
of housing four Lely Astronaut
Photos by Kimm Anderson | The St. Cloud Times (AP)
Rich Janski talks about the Lely robotic milking system they use at Janski Farms
as a cow is milked on the other side of the machine. When the farm’s long-term
employees decided to retire in 2013 and the owners had a difficult time recruiting
milkers, they decided to invest $1.5 million to convert their barn into a parlor
capable of housing four Lely Astronaut A4 robotic milkers.
A4 robotic milkers. Rich Janski
said the family also invested
$10,000 in technology prior to
debuting their new milking process on Jan. 6, 2014.
The family has not looked
back.
At traditional dairy operations, farmers milk their cows
twice a day — once in the
morning and once in the evening. But with a robotic system,
cows can be milked at all hours
of the day, regardless of whether
the farmer is present.
When it is time for a cow to
be milked, she enters a chutetype device and steps on a scale.
Her collar is scanned and data
is relayed to a computer system.
“The collar does three
things,” said Don Brower,
equipment sales manager for
livestock specialty company
Leedstone.
Leedstone is a distributor for
Lely products.
“One, it identifies the cow
to the robot. Two, it’s keeping
track of how active the cow
is during the day. And three,
it’s monitoring her rumination
minutes,” Brower said. Those
rumination minutes show how
often she is chewing her cud, an
indication of how often she is
eating.
As the gate closes behind her,
a bucket with a pre-measured
amount of sweet pellet treats
pops out in front of her so she
can eat while being milked.
“It’s the sweet pellets that
brings the cows to the robots,”
Rich Janski said.
While the cow is eating, a
robotic arm with a mini scrub
brush gently cleans each teat.
Lasers read where the teats
are located on the cow so the
robotic arm can properly hook
up the teat cups and begin the
milking process. While the cow
is being milked, data is constantly being transmitted back
to a computer system telling the
farmer how much milk each teat
is producing, the temperature of
the teats, the weight of the cow,
the time between her last milkSee DAIRY | 31
MODERN FARMER
Dairy
From page 30
ing and whether there are signs
of illnesses such as mastitis.
After the cow has been
milked, the bucket of feed is
removed and the cow can walk
back out into the barn.
Each robot can milk about 60
cows every 24 hours.
With the robotic monitoring,
cows that try and sneak back
in to be milked early will be
rejected. Cows that refuse to
move out of the system when
they are done receive a small
electrical shock to prod them on
their way.
“It really is a cow-friendly
environment,” Brower said.
For the Janskis, robotic dairying is a fairly new investment.
But Brower said Leedstone
has been selling Lely robotic
systems for the past eight and a
half years.
“I think it’s going to be a big
part of the future,” he said.
“There has been more and more
interest in it.”
Leedstone has helped 42
farmers incorporate robotics into their dairy operation.
Brower estimates about 110
Lely robots have been installed
in Leedstone’s service area.
Brower said each Lely Astronaut A4 can cost between
$190,000 and $210,000 per
robot.
Not surprisingly, Brower
said more young farmers have
expressed interest in the technology.
“They don’t want to be tied
down to the schedules (of morning and afternoon milking),”
Brower said. “But the younger
generation doesn’t have the
equity to invest.”
So more often than not,
robotics are incorporated into
established dairies where farmers are not ready to give up
the cows, but physically can no
longer handle the stress on their
bodies.
In addition, Brower said
Leedstone’s robotic dairying
customers tend to be smaller
dairy operations.
“The larger farms are somewhat hesitant to make that large
of an investment up front,”
Brower said.
However, as the Janskis have
noticed, the large upfront cost
to incorporate robots into their
dairy has been paying off.
“The way I look at it is that in
three years we have gone up in
production and can track things
a lot better,” Daniel Janski said.
After a rough 2014 getting both farmers and cows
acquainted with the technology,
Rich Janski reported seeing a
“phenomenal” 2015.
“We got to where we wanted
to with milk pounds per day,”
he said.
That goal was 15 milk pounds
— or 2 gallons — more per cow
a day.
And that’s where many
farmers who have switched to
robotics are seeing a return on
investment.
“Generally farmers can
anticipate 5 to 6 extra milk
pounds per day,” Brower said.
“It depends on the situation.
But that (amount can correlate
to) tens of thousands of dollars
more farmers are making each
year.”
If a farmer’s herd produces an
average of 5 milk pounds more
per day, Brower said, it would
take about seven to 10 years to
see a return on investment.
In the two years since the
initial conversion, Janski Farms
has gone all out with automation. In addition to the A4 milkers, the Janskis have invested
in automatic calf feeders and
an automated feeder for their
cows.
“We’re at the size where
robots work for us,” Marlys Janski said.
As the 70-year old farm transitions to the next generation,
Daniel and his brother Thomas
are committed to keeping up
with the changing face of agricultural technology.
“It’s exciting to see,” he said.
31
A Junio robotic feed handling system pushes feed closer as cows at Janski Farms poke their heads out to eat. A lot has
changed in the 70 years Janski Farms has been operational. Everything but one building has been expanded, converted, newly
constructed or upgraded to keep up with the times.
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MODERN FARMER
Trustees of the Passavant Area Hospital Foundation
are grateful to visionary donors whose generous
gifts of farmland and provisions through trusts
enable Passavant Area Hospital to provide
quality healthcare.
1928
1928
1959
1972
1973
1981
1982
1982
1982
1985
1999
1999
2014
Charles A. Rowe
Thomas Tissington
Nellie Rice
Robert Shekelton
Frances W. Corrington
Frank C. Dinwiddie
Mildred J. Dinwiddie
Emma Lucille Hembrough
Edward P. Hostman
Irma Fox Barsnes
William and Oley Beilschmidt
Lloyd Gordon
Howard and Vera Million
To discuss your desire to establish a family legacy,
please contact:
Pam Martin, Executive Director
217-479-5575 | [email protected]
PassavantHospital.com
312-0019 02/08/16
Advancing Health
WITH EVERY GIFT

April 24, 2016 - Journal Courier

Transcription

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