May 22, 2013

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Deere expects small drop in sales linked to weather planting delays

May 15, 2013 By

Deere logoDeere and Company’s profit and income are up, but the company is predicting slower growth.

The Moline, Illinois-based manufacturer of farm and construction equipment says its quarterly net profit went up 2.7 percent, thanks mainly to continued growth in farm equipment sales.

Second-quarter net income rose 3 percent to $1.08 billion, or $2.76 per share. But Deere says sales will rise only 5 percent during the current fiscal year, down from the 6 percent it predicted earlier. You can blame the weather for that.

Cool, wet weather delayed the planting of crops, slowed construction work and reduced demand for lawn-care equipment. Deere is Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer.

By Phil Roberts, Davenport

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, News, Weather Tagged With:

ISU expert says slow start to corn planting may be a good thing

May 14, 2013 By

This week’s U.S.D.A. crop report shows this is the slowest start to corn planting in Iowa in 20 years. Only 15-percent of Iowa’s corn acreage is in the ground compared with 86-percent at this time last year.

Iowa State University Extension corn agronomist Roger Elmore says it’s not necessarily bad news. “This may be the year where late planting is just as good as early planting,” Elmore says.

“In fact, I would say that the corn planted early may not be as productive as the corn planted here this week.” After several days of rain and a few inches of snow, farmers were able to spend just a day and a half in the field last week. On the positive side, most of Iowa is showing improvement in soil moisture as the state recovers from last summer’s drought.

Elmore says some of the corn planted in early May is likely to struggle. “The crop that’s planted this week will probably come up in 7 to 10 days, whereas the crop that’s already in the ground has already been there two to three weeks. That makes a difference in viability,” Elmore says.

Many farmers like to have all their corn planted by May 10, but Elmore says he’s not worried. He says new hybrids and a streak of warm and dry weather can turn things around in a hurry.

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Harkin says proposed farm bill mirrors one passed last year

May 9, 2013 By

Work is set to begin on a new farm bill in both chambers of Congress next week. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, says they’ll take up the legislation on Tuesday.

Harkin, a Democrat, got his first copy of the committee bill last night and has looked it over. “It’s basically the same kind of bill that we passed in the Senate last year,” Harkin says.

“We passed it with a strong bipartisan vote, so it’s basically the same bill that we had last fall.” Farm and food bills have typically been renewed by Congress every five years and the last one passed in 2008.

“I’m very happy about the conservation provisions in it, the conservation compliance provisions, the fresh fruit and vegetable program that we have in there, so I think our bill looks pretty good,” Harkin says. “I hope we can get it through.”

The full Senate passed its version of the farm bill last year and another version passed the House Ag Committee, but it never went before the full House. Congress chose to extend the current farm bill into September of this year. Harkin is not highly optimistic about a resolution, given that Republican Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is still chair of the House Budget Committee.

“The Ryan budget in the House that’s going to be controlling over (their version of the farm bill),” Harkin says, chuckling, “It would just be abysmal for agriculture. I’ll have more to say about that later.”

One sticking point last year was the House version of the farm bill cut the food stamp program by billions more dollars than the Senate version.

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Farmer liability bill pending in House Government Oversight Committee

May 9, 2013 By
Kevin Koester

Kevin Koester

A newly drafted bill on the fast track in the Iowa House would provide new liability protection to Iowa farmers.

It’s in response to a February Iowa Supreme Court ruling that said a woman injured during a northeast Iowa farm tour had the right to sue the farm host.

Representative Kevin Koester, a Republican from Ankeny, says farmers are now reluctant to allow anyone on their property for any activity.

“Something should happen in the legislature this month on that so that we relieve the concern that many folks who hunt, fish and do other recreational purposes have access to private land without it being a liability headache for the landowner,” Koester says.

A state law passed in 1967 granted private property owners liability protection if they allowed recreational activities like hunting and fishing.

“There’s concern about whether or not it’s safe regarding the liability of allowing people to do what they’ve always done,” Koester says.

The bill will be considered in the House Government Oversight Committee next week and is the result of discussions among legislative leaders. Koester is co-chair of that committee.

A bid to address this farmer liability issue was rejected by Senate Democrats in late April. Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids who is a lawyer, told his colleagues not to “buy into the hysteria” about the recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling.

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Iowa continues to be the leader in egg production

May 9, 2013 By

Most folks know Iowa is tops in the country in hogs, corn and soybeans, but the Hawkeye State is also the nation’s leader in eggs. Lois White, spokeswoman for the Iowa Egg Council, says the state has about 60-million laying hens.

“We are number-one in the nation,” White says. “We lead the nation in egg production, producing close to 15-billion eggs a year. That’s almost one out of every five eggs produced in the United States.” The egg industry generates nearly 20-million dollars a year in state tax revenue, White says, a figure that’s been rising the past several years as the industry grows.

“Part of the reason our production has increased is we have a competitive advantage here, being in Iowa, due to low feed costs,” White says. “The feed costs represent about 67% of the cost to produce a dozen eggs.” She says a big part of the reason feed costs are so much lower here is that transportation costs are cheaper.

May is National Egg Month, which White says is a time to pay tribute to the industry’s dedicated farmers. “The egg industry generates about 8,000 jobs statewide,” White says. “That includes people indirectly that help our industry like the suppliers of feed grains, feed supplements, the veterinarians and utility services.”

She says that figure has risen by some 360 jobs in the past five years, thanks to continued growth. The Iowa Egg Council plans to give away 100,000 hard boiled eggs — on sticks — at this summer’s Iowa State Fair.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Agriculture, News

Soil tests show recharging of moisture in many areas

May 8, 2013 By

The area of Iowa where last year’s drought was most severe has gotten welcome moisture in recent weeks. Iowa State University’s spring survey in northwest Iowa found subsoil moisture levels rose five inches since tests last fall.

ISU extension agronomist Joel De Jong says some parts of the region are almost fully recharged. They “actually had numbers in the 8.5 to 9.5, almost 10-inch range in several of those counties,” De Jong says.

“Got up close to Minnesota and it was only a little over 6. A lot of those sites are actually getting pretty full.” April rains contributed greatly to rebuilding those levels, and Iowa set a new record high for precipitation on average statewide during the month.

De Jong says going further west, the levels drop a bit but are still show a fairly good recharge. The “lowest site was northwest, Plymouth County, not too far from the Big Sioux River, that was only at about 4.8 inches, so we could use some recharge there yet,” De Jong says. “Western Sioux County was under seven, Lyon County’s site was just a shade over seven.”

De Jong says at full capacity at the top five feet, between 10 to 11 inches of moisture is needed. He says even though planting has been delayed, there’s still plenty of time to get the corn in with May 20 being the target date.

By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton

Filed Under: Agriculture, News, Weather

Later planting means a shorter sweet corn season

May 7, 2013 By

sweet corn july 08 005Monday’s U.S.D.A. crop report showed only eight-percent of the corn crop has been planted in Iowa, the slowest start to the planting season since 1995. The wet, cold weather has not only impacted the state’s major crop, but it is also hitting farmers who plant one of the state’s summer favorites — sweet corn.

Dean Rebal grows sweet corn on a farm in eastern Iowa between Solon and Iowa City. He says he just got his sweet corn into the ground, while last year he had it planted on the 28th of March.

Rebal likes to stagger the planting so he has sweet corn maturing throughout the season. The slow planting is causing trouble with the schedule.

“Usually I plant in every week to week and a half intervals…so I am gonna be cut a little short, I probably won’t get quite as many acres in as I normally do,” Rebal says. Last year’s early planting resulted in a longer season and more corn to sell.

“Last year we were right at 9,000 here, right on Highway one,” Rebal says. He is not expecting the sweet corn season to last as long this year.

“We’re going to be cut on this sweet corn season by, I would says two to three weeks,” according to Rebal. The means sweet corn lovers will have less time to enjoy the golden ears compared to last year.

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