Ag Credit Will Get Tighter

Amanda Nolz

Pasture-Overlooking Looking at the dollars and cents of the agriculture industry today can be tough at times. With sky-rocketing input costs and low-profit margins, producing food has become an even more challenging “game” than ever before. Because of the struggling economy and decreased consumer spending, there are less dollars to go around, and that means ag lenders are having to tighten their pocketbooks, as well.

According to Ag Weekly Online, Ag Credit Will get Tighter. Cindy Snyder, Ag Weekly correspondent writes, Nationally farm income topped $87 billion in 2008, but it is projected to fall to $54 billion this year. If farm income stays below $60 billion in 2010, farmers will find credit more difficult to arrange. If farm income drops below $50 billion, the situation will become markedly more difficult, he said.

A drop in land values of 10 percent would be manageable and not affect ag credit much, Klinefelter said. With a 20 percent devaluation some stress will be felt, but a drop of 30 percent will cause major problems because nearly all real estate loans are secured by real estate.

Agribusiness

Book – Review Our Choice

Joanna Schroeder

OurChoice“Producing first generation ethanol from corn is a mistake,” writes Al Gore in his new book, “Our Choice A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.” The book details the issues surrounding global warming, and presents various options to curb the issue. As a writer in the agricultural industry, I paid extra attention to the chapter regarding biofuels. It came as no surprise that corn ethanol was not presented favorably.

Gore writes, “The production of ethanol in first generation biorefineries has been a disappointment. However, it has had the benefit of increasing income for farmers and has led to the emergence of an infrastructure that will prove highly valuable when second generation technologies are available to produce ethanol from nonfood crops.” He goes on to discuss his personal disappointment with his early support of corn-based ethanol and then continues to lay out the case for second and third generation fuels including cellulosic ethanol.

The industry hasn’t taken the criticism lying down. Bob Dinneen, the president of the Renewable Fuels Association sent a letter to Al Gore stating, “Given your attention to science and the facts, I am disappointed by the treatment of ethanol and other biofuels in your new book, Our Choice. Many of your characterizations of today’s American ethanol industry are out of date or simply wrong.”

Biofuels aside, throughout the book, Gore uses a combination of words, graphics and pictures to demonstrate the climate change debate, detail many of the solutions and offer policy recommendations. There is one area where I think Gore did a great job, and that is explaining what the six categories of global warming pollution are: carbon dioxide, methane, black carbon, sulfur hexaflouride, tetrafluoroethane, carbon monoxide, butane and nitrous oxide. To date, the biggest focus has been on carbon dioxide and Gore’s focus throughout the book is no different.

No matter what side you are on in the global warming debate, Our Choice will give you a platform for futher disucssions on how best to create programs and policies to address global warming.

Corn, Ethanol

Shopping For That Cowboy In Your Life

Amanda Nolz

Tyler-on-wheeler Everyone has that farmer or rancher in their life to shop for this Christmas, and boy, can it get tough to select the perfect gift for this category. Every year, I think my dad counts on getting Coveralls and pliers from Santa, and I’ll admit, we struggle trying to shop for him. If you are like me, you spend many painful hours trying to navigate the aisles of Sears, Menards or Cabelas in the hunt for the best present, only to purchase the same things year after year.

However, this year is going to be different. Thanks to Agriculture Online, buying the perfect gift for that special farmer in your life is as easy as 1-2-3! In their article, Gift-giving guide for farm folks, there are several handy ideas to choose from including: coats, cookbooks, charitable donations, folding chairs, cutting tools, toolboxes, heaters, etc.

You can’t go wrong this Christmas with this handy, dandy gift-giving guide. Check it out! What are you getting your farmer this year?

Farming

Feeding DDGS To Water Buffalo

Chuck Zimmerman

Corn MissionThe Chairman of the Egyptian Buffalo Producer’s Association is Dr. Saad Alhayani (pictured left). He also owns and operates a very new open water buffalo feedlot and dairy. The U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team toured there this afternoon. I’ve got lots of photos in the photo album. These cute, sweet, little creatures are very different than your average bovine.

Dr. Alhayani says he imports frozen semen to assist in breeding better quality animals which is something relatively new to the country. He’s raising thousands of buffalo and feeding them corn and ddgs as well as other ingredients. We saw lots of bags of ddgs at his feedlot. That looked very positive for American corn growers! He says sometimes they blend as much as 25% ddgs in the feed.

His goal is to produce a few thousand pregnant heifers for local producers and maybe even to export. He appreciates the assistance he’s received from the USGC.

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Alhayani’s below and watch a video clip of him showing us his operation as well:

USGC Corn Mission In Egypt Photo Album

Audio, Beef, Corn, International, USGC

Improving Beef and Dairy Herds In Egypt

Chuck Zimmerman

Corn MissionPresenting information at Cairo University on the Cattle Information Center was Dr. Samy Abou-Bakr.

He describes that there are two different water buffalo dairy and feedlot systems. One is old and one is new. In the older model, the herd size is small, handled with lots of labor and very little if any records are kept. In the new, the herds are larger commercial operations of over 50 head of animals. Records are being kept and animals are being bred for desirable characteristics.

What this all means for American grain growers is that as the beef and dairy sector grows in Egypt it continues to become a growth market for our products.

You can listen to Dr. Abou-Bakr’s remarks below:

USGC Corn Mission In Egypt Photo Album

Audio, Beef, Corn, Dairy, International, University, USGC

Cairo University Ag School

Chuck Zimmerman

Corn MissionThe first stop for the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team today was Cairo University and specifically the ag school. Our first presenter was Dr. Rabie Ragab Sadek who gave us an overview of the Center Information Systems Center of Egypt. The project was created to develop a cattle information system that would provide statistically representative, adequate data for cattle breeding research and for the future development of a national breeding program. The goal to create genetic improvement of both milk and meat producing cattle and buffalo.

He introduces our other presenters who would speak about specifics about the accomplishments of the University’s dairy herd improvement unit.

You can listen to Dr. Sadek’s remarks below:

USGC Corn Mission In Egypt Photo Album

Audio, Corn, Education, International, University, USGC

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Farm Journal Media has announced that Greg Vincent is promoted to editor of AgWeb, and Jeanne Bernick is promoted to editor of Top Producer.
  • The deadline for submitting nominations for the Agribusiness Leader and NAMA Marketer of the Year awards is Jan. 15, 2010. Fill out the nomination form on-line now.
  • Agribusiness professionals can build their management skill set at one of the Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business’s 2010 seminars, delivered on Purdue’s campus in West Lafayette, Ind. A list of seminars and registration is available online.
  • USDA’s Economic Research Service has released a study Meeting Total Fat Requirements for School Lunches, which finds that many school policies and practices are associated with the fat content of meals they serve through the National School Lunch Program.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Ag Outlook 2010

    Amanda Nolz

    sdsa This week, I’m planning to attend Ag Outlook 2010 in Sioux Falls, S.D. at the Ramkota Exhibit Hall. The theme for this year’s conference and trade show is, “Meeting the demands of the future,” and I’m excited to listen to the great lineup of speakers that the conference has to offer.

    Speakers include: Matt Utterback, an ag commodity market analyst; Don Reynolds, futurist and real world economist; and Al Ambrose, VP of Risk Management for Oil Processing, a division of CHS, Inc. These three will be discussing the state of the economy, where its headed and how producers can develop a strategy to survive in the upcoming years.

    This convention is hosted by the South Dakota Soybean Association, and there are over 600 people already planning to attend. I hope you’re one of them, and that I’ll run into you while I’m there. Are you going to Ag Outlook 2010?

    Ag Groups, Education, Soybean

    Fluidigm System Work Flow

    Chuck Zimmerman

    In this latest edition of the stories about Fluidigm Corporation you’ll get to meet Amy Hamilton, Technical Support Specialist. Amy works in the lab at Fluidigm headquarters. She walks us through a workflow of the Fluidigm System.


    As you’ll see in the video, the size and scale of equipment needed for the Fluidigm System to conduct many different simultaneous samples in a project is much smaller than you would normally find in a research lab today. This is why the company would like to talk to ag bio researchers since the system is more efficient and can produce big savings in the long run.

    Agribusiness, Biotech, Research

    PRRS Control Progress

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Boehringer Ingelheim PRRSLast year when we interviewed Dr. Bob Morrison with the University of Minnesota at the first PRRS control seminar sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) he said they were “just at the beginning of this process to create area and regional PRRS control.”

    At the second seminar held last week, Morrison said, “We’re one year further ahead, one year more experience. Really it’s like a snowball moving down a hill in terms of momentum and knowledge.” Morrison reviewed the progress made in trying to control PRRS (porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome) since 2002 when the concept was first introduced.

    Listen to or download my interview with Bob Morrison here:

    Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Swine