Wichita Eagle: Agriculture

Ranchers: Rebuild of herds months away

Dan Voorhis — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:47 CDT

The Flint Hills looked startlingly green last week. Many of the ponds were full. Black cattle wandered the range, grazing peacefully.

All was well.

But that is a pretty hard-fought condition, said rancher Dallas Korte as he looked over his herd among the rolling hills of southeast Butler County.

Balers made in Hesston are part of changes in world’s food production

Dan Voorhis — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:09 CDT

A baler is a large piece of farm machinery that doesn’t move that fast on the road, but it is leading Agco’s Hesston plant to strong growth.

On Thursday, the plant, which has been making square balers since 1978, marked the production of its 25,000th square baler with a celebration.

A square baler can cut, gather, compress, bind and drop 1-ton square blocks of plant material every few seconds.

Drought, freezes expected to cut Kansas wheat crop 22 percent

Dan Voorhis — Tue, 14 May 2013 06:45 CDT

The Kansas wheat crop will fall 22 percent, to 299.7 million bushels, from last year’s 382.2 million bushel harvest, according to a forecast as of May 1 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

If the forecast holds, the number of acres producing wheat will be down 11 percent, mostly because drought has stunted so many fields in western Kansas. Yields statewide are forecast to average 37 bushels per acre, down 5 bushels from 2012.

In south-central Kansas, the state’s most productive wheat growing region, the crop is projected to be down 19 percent, to 75.5 million bushels.

High court rules for Monsanto in patent case

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:18 CDT

The Supreme Court has sustained Monsanto Co.’s claim that an Indiana farmer violated the company’s patents on soybean seeds that are resistant to its weed-killer.

The justices, in a unanimous vote Monday, rejected the farmer’s argument that cheap soybeans he bought from a grain elevator are not covered by the Monsanto patents, even though most of them also were genetically modified to resist the company’s Roundup herbicide.

Justice Elena Kagan says a farmer who buys patented seeds must have the patent holder’s permission. More than 90 percent of American soybean farms use Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” seeds, which first came on the market in 1996.

Wheat crop looks pretty good in eastern Kansas, tour participants say

Dan Voorhis — Thu, 02 May 2013 07:31 CDT

There’s no substitute for seeing for yourself.

That’s the idea behind the annual Kansas Wheat Tour, an arduous three-day, many-hundred-mile trip to see first-hand how good or bad the wheat crop is.

After two days, the verdict was not unexpected: far western Kansas’ wheat crop is suffering from a crippling drought compounded by several bitter freezes, while areas farther east are in better shape.

Area wheat farmers waiting to see what recent cold spell may have done to crop

Dan Voorhis — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:58 CDT

After temperatures dipped to 25 degrees Wednesday morning, area wheat farmers were waiting and worrying.

Farmers will have to wait several days before the condition of the wheat crop becomes evident.

Until this week, central and eastern Kansas appeared to have escaped the significant freeze damage that had blanketed much of the western third of the state. In fact, the rain, ice, sleet and snow all brought welcome moisture.

Brownback to promote ‘From the Land of Kansas’ slogan for agricultural products

BRENT D. WISTROM — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:32 CDT

Gov. Sam Brownback is headed to a Wichita brewery this weekend to promote a rebranding of the state’s agricultural trademark.

He’ll also make stops at a food store in Kansas City and at the Capitol in Topeka as he helps promote a new slogan for made-in-Kansas products.

The move follows more than a year of work on a new trademark program for the state. The Department of Agriculture is switching from the “Simply Kansas” slogan it uses to brand its agricultural goods to “From the Land of Kansas.”

Precision agriculture helps farmers save time, money, the land

Mark Vierthaler — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:09 CDT

The popular image of agriculture is the farmer standing out in his field with his bib overalls, straw hat, a rusty old tractor and a piece of wheat straw popped in his mouth at a rakish angle.

Modern agriculture, however, is more “Star Wars” than “Grapes of Wrath.”

Just like all other areas of modern culture that have fallen sway to the inexorable march of technology, so too agriculture has kept pace with cutting-edge applications that have helped boost productivity and efficacy – while allowing producers to become better stewards of the environment while saving themselves money.

Vilsack defends cuts to meat and poultry inspections as part of sequester

Dan Voorhis — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 07:20 CST

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack reached out to local media around the country on Thursday to defend plans to furlough meat and poultry inspectors for 11 days spread through July and August as part of the federal sequester.

He was grilled by the U.S. House Agriculture Committee this week, mostly by farm state Republicans, over whether there were less disruptive ways to cut the USDA budget.

The beef, pork and poultry industries could sustain an estimated loss of $10 billion from lost production, while plant workers could see lost wages of $400 million, according to the USDA.

Horizon, ConAgra milling ventures to merge

Dan Voorhis — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:28 CST

Horizon Milling, which has two flour mills and a sales office in the Wichita area and is the nation’s No. 1 grain miller, is merging with ConAgra Mills to form a giant new milling venture.

The two companies announced the formation of the new company, Ardent Mills, on Tuesday. It will have 44 flour mills, three bakery mix facilities and a specialty bakery. It will have facilities in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

Horizon Milling, based in the Minneapolis area, is itself a joint venture of Cargill and CHS. Horizon Milling has 204 employees at a mill and sales office at 715 E. 13th St. in Wichita. It also operates a mill at 300 E. Broadway in Newton and a sales office in Kansas City, Kan.

Farmland prices expected to keep rising in 2013

Dan Voorhis — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:07 CST

Kansas farmland, like agricultural ground across the nation, is expected to continue to rise in value in 2013, according to a new report by farmland brokerage and land management firm Farmers National Co.

Even as residential property markets faltered, prices paid for farmland have continued to rise, driven at least in part by high grain and livestock prices, as well as low interest rates and relatively poor returns on alternative investments.

In looking back at 2012, the company said there also was more land for sale this past year because worries about rising capital gains taxes spurred landowners to complete sales before the end of the year.

Cargill to idle beef plant in Texas

Shruti Date Singh — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:08 CST

Cargill Inc., the largest U.S. beef processor, will idle a Texas processing plant, citing the decline in the nation’s cattle herd.

The Plainview plant will stop operations at the close of business on Feb. 1 to reduce the strain on the company’s beef business, John Keating, president of Cargill Beef, said Thursday in a statement. The plant employs 2,000 people and those affected by the closing will get help finding jobs elsewhere, Minneapolis-based Cargill said in the statement.

“Given the overcapacity that exists with four major beef plants in the Texas Panhandle and a dwindling supply of cattle in the region, idling Plainview will allow Cargill to operate its other beef plants in Texas, Colorado and Dodge City, Kan., more consistently on a five-day-per-week basis,” Keating said.

Kansas corn, grain sorghum, soybean harvest estimates falling

Dan Voorhis — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:31 CST

Kansas’s 2012 corn harvest is now projected at 379.2 million bushels, down slightly from earlier estimates and down 16 percent from the 2011 crop, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It was the lowest Kansas corn harvest since 2006.

The drought cut corn yields to an average of 96 bushels per acre, the lowest since 1983.

Final report on 2012 crops shows big losses from drought

DAVID PITT — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:31 CST

DES MOINES – The federal government released its final crop report for 2012 on Friday, detailing heavy losses caused by the worst drought the U.S. has experienced since the 1950s.

Much of the attention focused on corn, which is used in foods and fuel and as feed for livestock.

Farmers produced less than three-fourths of the corn the U.S. Department of Agriculture anticipated when planting was done in the spring.

Old farm bill extended as special interests worry anew about future

Erika Bolstad — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 22:56 CST

As part of the fiscal cliff package that passed last week, Congress and the White House cobbled together an extension of the nation’s massive farm bill that keeps many – but not all – of the country’s agricultural and food programs sputtering along until September.

But just about everyone hates it. That includes farmers, produce trade organizations, groups that address hunger, dairy farmers, fiscal hawks and environmentalists – all have concerns with the way the bill was shoved awkwardly into the overall fiscal cliff compromise.

The Center for Rural Affairs, based in Nebraska, called it "a disaster." The extension "slashes investment in the future of small rural communities and family farmers and ranching," warned Chuck Hassebrook, the center’s executive director.

Pat Roberts bumped from leadership post on Senate Ag Committee

Dan Voorhis — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 07:03 CST

Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts was bumped from his place as ranking member of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee on Thursday.

As part of committee assignments announced Thursday, Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who had timed out as ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, asserted his right to become the ranking Republican on the agriculture committee.

The ranking member leads the minority party members on a committee and negotiates with the committee chairman.

Corn, soybean prices may stay high; herd numbers will likely fall

DAN VOORHIS — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:59 CST

Kansas farmers were optimistic that a wet winter and rainy spring meant that the 2011’s drought was over. But the rain largely stopped falling after early May, allowing a good wheat harvest for much of the state, but dooming the corn and soybean crops.

Faced with higher prices for corn and other feed, many livestock farmers thinned their cattle herds in the last half of 2012.

Coming up

Beef analyst: 2013 to see more high costs, price volatility, shrinkage in the herd

Dan Voorhis — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 08:09 CST

The drought has driven up costs – as well as prices – for livestock, making the lives of those in the cattle industry financially precarious, Randy Blach, CEO of Cattle-Fax, told the audience at the 100th annual Kansas Livestock Association meeting Friday.

Even if rains become more plentiful, 2013 holds more of the same: further declines in the numbers of cattle even as cow-calf producers start to rebuild their herds, and the likely closings of feed yards or even a slaughter plant. Blach said dramatic volatility in prices could sink producers who aren’t adequately hedged.

Roughly 70 percent of the nation’s cattle herd has been affected by drought this year, he said.

Farm & Ranch Show to be Nov. 6-8 at Kansas Pavilions

Dan Voorhis — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:05 CDT

The Wichita Farm & Ranch Show will be held Nov. 6-8 at the Kansas Pavilions at the former Kansas Coliseum complex.

The show will feature a variety of farm and ranch equipment displays, demonstrations and clinics. There will also be daily talks by experts on commodity markets, future farming techniques and weather forecasting.

Parking and admission for the show is free.

Drought takes toll on Kansas cattle industry

Dan Voorhis — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:10 CDT

The drought may have damaged the state’s corn and soybean crops most directly, but the bigger blow to the state economy comes against the much larger cattle industry.

Last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that the number of cattle headed to feedlots in Kansas in September was down 25 percent from September 2011, the lowest for that month on record.

The USDA also reported that the number of cattle sold by feedlots to packers in Kansas was down 17 percent from a year ago, and tied for the worst month ever.