Dry year, profitable year

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Jonathan Knutson

I was talking recently with an area agriculturalist who brought up the subject of farm profitability. He’s not a farmer or an economist, but he knows farmers and has a good handle on the farm scene.

His basic point: Yeah, the drought has been stressful. But some (definitely not all) farmers in the Upper Midwest will make a lot of money this year, thanks to the combination of average yields and terrific corn and soybean prices.

For all the stress and pain that drought has brought (especially to livestock producers), this year is a keeper for many Upper Midwest farmers.

There will come fall rains?

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Jonathan Knutson

There’s a poem, which a lot of people have read in high school or college, that begins with the line, “There will come soft rains.” (The poem, despite its placid opening line, alludes to the extinction of humanity.)

For some reason, I always think of that line when farmers talk about fall rains. In a year like this, when the Upper Midwest is battling drought, agriculturalists in the region would love fall rains. Farmers and others in ag all say say fall moisture would do wonders in improving the outlook for the 2013 growing season.

There’s still time for fall rains. But they need to come quickly.

Better than finding a four-leaf clover

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Jonathan Knutson

I’ve spent a fair bit of time in my life looking at soybean fields. I’ve seen countless soybean pods that each contain two or three beans. I’m seeing more pods with four beans, too. But an Alvarado, Minn., man recently found a soybean pod that contains five beans.

Read the story (and see the photo) in the Sept. 24 issue of Agweek.

Battling those blasted blackbirds

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Jonathan Knutson

If you’ve ever raised sunflowers in this part of the world, you’ve probably muttered (or more likely shouted) a few choice words about blackbirds. The birds can do an amazing amount of damage to sunflower fields, especially those near the birds’ water source. Through the years I’ve talked with several farmers who said they quit raising ‘flowers, in part, because of blackbird damage.

So it’s encouraging to read that a U.S. Department of Agriculture study of controlling the birds chemically found “very good results,” according to the latest electronic newsletter from the National Sunflower Association in Mandan, N.D.

The chemical product (Avian Control) already is labeled for sunflower and various fruits, but no research had been done into its efficacy for sunflowers, NSA says.

A drought memory, a drought article

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Jonathan Knutson

If you’re involved with agriculture on the Northern Plains, you almost certainly have some vivid memories of drought.

Here’s one of mine:

In 1988 drought ravaged much of the Upper Midwest, including my family farm in North Dakota. That summer, I returned home one weekend from my journalism job and helped my father and younger brother move cattle.

During the move, I walked across a low-lying patch of pasture next to a creek. In the past, no matter how hot and dry the summer, that small patch always had remained green. Often gnawed down by cattle, yes, but green nonetheless.

Not on this Saturday morning in 1988. The patch was as brown, wilted and ugly as the rest of the pasture. I stood there in dismay. Not even this patch was safe.

My brother, who was on the farm full time, came over and asked what was wrong.

I pointed to the grass. “Just look at it!”

My brother, a no-nonsense guy who wanted to move the cattle with a minimum of fuss, couldn’t hide his exasperation. “What did you expect?”

Well, I had expected the puny crops and withered pastures. I was prepared for that. But I had assumed this small patch of pasture would still be green. Sometimes it’s the little, unexpected things that sneak past our defenses.

In all the years that followed, I never again took that patch for granted.

My Sept. 17 cover article in Agweek compares this year’s drought with notorious droughts of the past, including the one in 1988.

Soybeans, harvest and “Casablanca”

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Jonathan Knutson

On a gloomy day in November 2009, I drove through Clay County in west-central Minnesota and saw field after field of unharvested soybeans. If memory serves, only 5 or 10 percent of soybeans in the county were harvested at a time when farmers should have been finishing up their beans. The soybeans themselves had been ready for weeks, but fields were just too wet for equipment to get in.

Farmers in the area were polite but clearly stressed by their long wait. I remember thinking of an opening line from the great movie “Casablanca.” The narrator, drawing out the second half of the sentence, says: “But the others wait in Casablanca, and wait and wait and wait.”

This year is vastly different. A few area farmers already have begun soybean harvest, several weeks ahead of normal, and I’m told the pace will pick up sharply next week, weather permitting.

It will be interesting to see how area soybeans fared in this drought-stricken year; smart people have given me differing predictions of what to expect. But I’m sure of one thing: starting early on soybeans is less stressful than being forced to wait until November.

Season of stress

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Jonathan Knutson

Harvest is the most exciting time in farming. Nothing else measures up to bringing in the crops that were planted and nurtured so carefully. But harvest is stressful, too, especially when the weather doesn’t cooperate.

This harvest is bringing both more and less stress than usual. For some producers, this harvest season has gone unusually smoothly. For others, the season is challenging, both emotionally and financially.

Read my story in the Sept. 10 issue of Agweek.

Sunny prices

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Jonathan Knutson

If you follow the ag commodity markets closely, you’ve noticed that U.S. sunflower prices have shot higher recently. That’s important in North Dakota, traditionally the nation’s leading sunflower producer.

The Mandan, N.D.-based National Sunflower Association’s latest electronic newsletter says problems with the sunflower crops in Eastern Europe, Russia and Ukraine have helped to push up U.S. prices. Rising prices for soybean oil, which heavily influences sunflower oil prices, are a factor, too.

Many farmers on the Northern Plains have turned away from sunflowers in recent years in favor of other crops. Will a combination of higher prices and drought (sunflowers fare relatively well in dry conditions) boosts interest in ‘flowers?

ag right

Monthly Archives: September 2012