North Carolina Extension Agent Makes A Case For Twitter

In eastern North Carolina, cotton agent and Martin County Extension Director J.B. Coltrain uses Twitter to reach a small group of farmers interested in highly localized information: when to plant cotton and when moth counts reach a level that makes it advisable to use insecticides.

I cited Coltrain as a quick example this winter during a couple of ag conferences where I was asked to review new communications technology and how it applies to agriculture. Time was short, and I tend to talk too long, anyway, so I only briefly mentioned the fact that a North Carolina agent was using Twitter to file field reports but didn't go into further detail.

He actually does more with Twitter than just send out insect and crop reports. In the off-season, Coltrain uses the Twitter feed to announce production meetings and share information about such topics as cotton variety characteristics.

Even though Twitter is quick, easy and free, Coltrain hasn't dropped older methods of communication, like the recorded telephone messages he’s used to reach growers for years.

“I wish I could tell you that all Martin County farmers use this wonderful service, but they don’t. In spite of the fact that they have to do nothing once they set it up, that setting up part is the killer,” he says. “The dozen or so farmers who follow my tweets were basically set up by me.”

Monsanto Breaks Ground For Mississippi Corn Research Center. More Bad News For The Delta.

This week, Monsanto broke ground on its fourth research facility in Mississippi. Significantly, this one – unlike those in Leland, Scott and Winterville – won’t be in the Delta. This new 300-acre corn research center will be sited at Flora in Madison County, just up U.S. 49 from Jackson.

The county has been one of the state’s growth areas in the last 20 years. It already was a thriving, expanding bedroom community for Jackson. But when Nissan started building a car plant there early in the last decade, developers couldn’t push down pine trees fast enough. More subdivisions, more schools, more four-lane roads. An upscale mall and high-rise hotels and office complexes sprang up.

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With More Cotton, Will Used Picker Prices Increase?

We keep hearing - as everyone else does - about more farmers returning to cotton this year after a prolonged flirtation with corn.

The question for many is: "How am I going to harvest it?"

In many instances - who knows how many? - farmers got out of cotton in a serious way, selling pickers, module builders and boll buggies.

Howard "The Dirt Doctor" Small, a crop consultant in southeast Georgia, told us last week that at least two growers in his area are now looking for used pickers after dumping their cotton equipment before the 2009 season. They replaced the pickers wiht combines to bring in the corn.

"At least cotton pickers are cheap now," Howard said.

Dale Deshane, who operates a consulting business in the southern San Joaquin Valley, said last week that a couple of growers would be back in cotton this year, having sold off their cotton pickers and related equipment before making a commitment to cotton.

"They probably won't buy equipment at this point," Deshane said, "and will turn over harvest to custom pickers."

Will all this mean a strengthening in used cotton picker prices?

Fewer pickers may be available than you might expect, especially the clean, how-hour selections. One equipment salesman in the Delta told me in late 2008 that out-of-state buyers were actively trolling for specific models with no more than a certain number of hours on them. The buyers were paying a set price for a qualifying picker, take it or leave it. It was suspected that they were building an inventory of pickers to export to other countries.

So, in theory, fewer pickers are now available because they're picking cotton in a whole other country. Again, nobody can say how many might have been funneled overseas. Whatever pickers left were likely better machines.

- Owen Taylor

Corn Planting Starts In Louisiana - Ready Or Not

At least a small amount of corn planting started in Louisiana over the weekend.

Here's a link to a report at NewAgTalk.Com, an independent (meaning no ads, quick-loading on dialup) farm forum.

In his weekend Ag Report, consultant Roger Carter said that a small amount of corn planting had started in his area in the last couple of days. Carter said that soil temperatures were still too cold at that point for him to be comfortable with putting seed in the ground.

Carter noted: "One farmer commented that if we put corn in the ground now it will eventually come up. Well, remember last year. We had very similar weather and the corn did not come up. Rainy and cold. Over 70% of the early-planted corn was replanted in our area last year. It is still not too late to have a good corn crop if we use good agronomic practices and plant when ground temps are right. Air temps can be cold as long as ground temps are 55 or above - corn can survive. Of course, 60 is better."

Mississippi Farm Bureau Launches TV Campaign To Shine Positive Light On Ag

Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation last month launched the Farm Families of Mississippi (FFM) ag media campaign. Farm Bureau organized a group of agricultural interests to fund the campaign. The goal: reinforce a positive perception of ag among Mississippi consumers. So far, 475 spots have been purchased on two Jackson metro TV stations. Radio ads are in the works, and billboards are going up, too. Here's a link to the first spot.

"We are in the process of bringing in more partners to the effort for our plans in 2011," said Donald Gant, FFM chairman and a rice and grain farmer in Bolivar and Sunflower Counties. "It has been well received by all supporters so far.”

- Owen Taylor

No 4-H In Georgia? As budgets shrivel, that's on the table.

The University of Georgia, facing a budget crisis that's all-too-familiar in other states right now, will have to cut $300 million from its next fiscal year, and ag programs will take a hit if initial proposals take effect.

The most incendiary proposal, so far: eliminate 4-H, which is administered by the university's extension service.

Other proposals include closing half the state's county extension offices and shuttering 3 experiment stations and the state's botanical gardens. Students would see a $1,000 annual tuition hike. Every other janitorial position would be cut from the university system, and non-tenured instructors could find their positions eliminated.

Josh White, executive vice president of the Georgia Cattlemen's Association (GCA), said this week that ag is taking a "disproportionate" share of the cuts. GCA and other farm groups are rallying to keep 4-H intact and minimize other reductions.

Some state legislators say that UGa administrators floated the idea of dumping 4-H, in fact, as a ploy to fire up emotions and rally constituents to press the lawmakers for more funding.

The proposed cuts come a week after Mississippi State University brought out proposals to eliminate a number of ag degrees and merge several departments.

- Owen Taylor

Is The World Market Ready To Pay $1.50 A Pound For Pima Cotton?

Our contacts in California keep hearing projections that shortages in extra long-staple (ELS) cotton could push the price for the state's Pima cotton to $1.50 a pound this year. The state's ELS acreage would dramatically increase in that case, provided enough irrigation water is available to support the acres. That point is still in question, though. A couple of our contacts -- mainly professional crop advisers (PCAs) -- have said their cotton acreage could likely go up by 40% to 60%.

But running in the background is an argument that we're moving into a low-demand period for ELS fiber, notes Robert Antoshak, President of FCStone Fibers & Textiles.

In an article posted on his blog, Antoshak notes:

"Some may say this shift in favor of LS varieties is due to a lowering of cotton standards around the world, as textile companies look for alternative sources of supply that are offered at a cheaper price to ELS cotton. Yet others say that in reality overall quality of average crops has improved thanks to the expansion of LS cotton at the expense of traditional upland cotton and despite declines noted in ELS varieties around the world."

In his blog, Antoshak recently reported on a study about ELS demand, looking at acreage trends and the attitudes of buyers, millers and companies that use cotton in their products.

Here's a link to his posting.

- Owen Taylor