Corn Growers See Positive Points In President's Address

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) said that President Obama's state of the union address last night was generally positive on points that affect its membership, including potential to expand trade agreements and continued support for corn-based ethanol. The following points are from a press release issued by NCGA today:

• Trade: Specifically, NCGA Chairman Darrin Ihnen cited President Obama’s mention of three free trade agreements important to the organization: South Korea, Panama and Colombia. “We need quick action on these three agreements, which have been languishing in Washington for years,” Ihnen said. “These agreements will help our country’s economy by increasing exports and creating sorely-needed jobs.
  
• Biofuels: President Obama mentioned biofuels as part of a plan to “break” dependence on oil, and called for more research and incentives. “The success of all biofuels hinges on the success of ethanol from corn – on the growth of an ethanol industry that is leading the way, sustainably increasing in economic, environmental and energy efficiency,” Ihnen said.

Pigweed Management Plan From Georgia

R.J. Byrne, Extension Agent in Thomas County, Georgia, has produced a short video (see below) about Georgia's approach for controlling Roundup-resistant Palmer pigweed in cotton. In the video, Byrne interviews Stanley Culpepper, Georgia Extension Weed Scientist.

Here's a supplemental handout that goes into more detail about herbicides, rates and other factors touched on during the video.

http://agfax.com/updates/ga/2011/thomas/palmer-cotton-handout-01162011.pdf

Culpepper makes recommendations relating to control of both moderate and severe infestations.

Here is the video:

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Cotton Pencils Out Nicely In This Example

How is cotton penciling out for farmers in the Southeast?

Eddie McGriff, Extension Agent in Coffee County, Georgia, said today that he ran the numbers for irrigated cotton for one of his growers and found that – at least with the grower’s yields – cotton was the best choice.

Here’s how McGriff made his calculations:

“December 2011 cotton futures were at $1.13 and March 2011 was at $1.61. I put $1.09 per pound for cotton in his budget when trying to decide if he should plant more cotton or other crops (peanuts, corn or soybeans). I used his irrigated crop yields of 1,100 lbs/acre for cotton, 3,500 lbs/acre for peanuts, 160 bu/acre for corn and 40 bu/acre for soybeans.”

To beat the potential return on cotton at $1.09 a pound, he said, the farmer would need:

• $750.00 per ton peanut contract.
• $9.98 per bushel for corn.
• $26.00 per bushel for soybeans.

Individual farmers’ yields will vary, McGriff pointed out, but it is possible to make a strong argument in favor of irrigated cotton.

Later in the morning, McGriff added, the cotton market moved 1.5 cents higher.

Students Learn How To Communicate Agriculture's Story Through Video

A mobile classroom operated by the University of Arkansas is providing hands-on communications training to high school ag students and teachers. It's a great way to provide social networking tools to the future leaders of farming. Here's a link to a full report:


http://agfax.com/Content/arkansas-video-traiking-01182011.aspx

Record Number of Acres Expected in 2011

Keith Good's Farm Policy reports that several sources, including a Wall Street Journal analyst, predict a record number of acres will be planted this year. The reports are all singing the same song, shorter global food supplies due to major weather calamities will increase U.S. acreage.

It's also worth reading further to see an interesting item in Good's report by Dennis T. Avery. A senior fellow for the think tank, Hudson Institute. Avery offers a different take on the food supply shortage related to the need for increased yields, "The public must get over its chemo phobia, and license its farmers to use the pest controls that work best, whether they be chemical or biotechnological." He specifically mentions DDT and Dursban.

Organic Cotton Mostly Remains A Third-World Enterprise

Organic cotton production remains a mostly small-scale enterprise carried out in countries with an abundance of cheap labor.

That’s the take-home from a press release issued this week by the Textile Exchange, formerly known as the Organic Exchange. The report was based on 2009-2010 production.

According to the release, global organic cotton production amounted to 1.1 million bales produced by 274,000 farmers. That works out to just over 4 bales per farmer. Most of the 22 countries covered in the organic cotton report were decidedly Third World and developing nations.

The United States placed fifth in terms of the amount of organic cotton produced, just behind China at fourth. India ranked first for the third year, followed by Syria and Turkey.

The release noted that worldwide organic cotton production has grown significantly in the last five years. But it still accounts for only about 1.1% of global production.

The release did not indicate the average yield per acre or hectare.

Here's a more detailed report.

War On Boll Weevil Runs Headlong Into The War On Drugs

What do drug violence and the boll weevil have in common?  Quite a bit if you're a cotton grower in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, writes Rod Santa Ana with Texas A&M University.

It will be a hot topic at the Cotton Pre-Plant Seminar and annual meeting of the Cotton and Grain Producers on Wednesday, January 19, at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco, Santa Ana reported this morning.

Here's his report:

http://agfax.com/Content/texas-boll-weevil-eradication-hampered-by-mexico-drug-violence-01142011.aspx

Matagorda, Texas, Peninsula Cattle Swim: A Bit Of The Old West Lingers

Here's a great video of the 101st Matagorda (Texas) Peninsula cattle swim.

Also, here's a full article.