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Scouts saw a very large corn yield average in Illinois, but expressed disappointment that the averages weren't the rumored 250 bushels per acre.


Scouts on the eastern leg of the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour reported an average yield of 196.96 bushels per acre, up 15.5% from 170.5 bpa last year. The three-year average, which includes 2012, is 149.4 bpa. The 196 bushels per acre is significantly above the USDA August Crop Report prediction for Illinois of 188 bushels per acre. 

Meanwhile, Scouts on the western leg of the tour released the yield data for three western Iowa counties. They traveled from Nebraska City, Neb., to Spencer, Iowa, on Wednesday. The full Iowa and Minnesota yields will be released Thursday evening.

Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Associate Farm Director Leslie Smith continues on the western leg of the tour- and talked Wednesday evening with Chip Flory of Pro Farmer about Day Three and what the scouts are seeing for both the corn and soybean crops. You can hear her conversation with Flory here.  

National Farmers Union Quits Beef Checkoff Working Group- Wants USDA to Make Wholesale Changes to Checkoff 

The National Farmers Union has withdrawn from the working group attempting to reach a consensus on changes to the beef checkoff program.  The legislative committee for NFU announced the organization has left the board due to what was called an unlikelihood of necessary reform.  An adopted resolution by NFU's legislative committee said "It is time for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to react to beef producers' demand to reform this system."

 

Further, the resolution said "It is our recommendation that USDA consider rewriting the beef checkoff program under the 1996 generic research and promotion act."  The reforms deemed necessary by NFU include giving the Cattlemen's Beef Board the authority to carry out its own checkoff projects and be allowed to enter checkoff contracts to prevent policy-driven organizations from using checkoff dollars to fund overhead for political activity,  making the beef checkoff completely refundable and holding a referendum vote on continuing the beef checkoff every five years.

It had been signaled at the Summer Cattle Industry Conference that the working group was very close to a working agreement that was to be spelled out by a MOU- a Memorandum of Understanding.

Arizona Study Shows Alarming Rate of Brush Invasion on Grasslands in US

Half of the Earth's land mass is made up of rangelands, which include grasslands and savannas, yet they are being transformed at an alarming rate. Woody plants, such as trees and shrubs, are moving in and taking over, leading to a loss of critical habitat and causing a drastic change in the ability of ecosystems to produce food - specifically meat.


Researchers with Arizona State University's School of Life Sciences led an investigation that quantified this loss in both the United States and Argentina. The study's results are published in this week's online issue of the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


"While the phenomenon of woody plant invasion has been occurring for decades, for the first time, we have quantified the losses in ecosystem services," said Osvaldo Sala, Julie A. Wrigley Chair and Foundation Professor with ASU's School of Life Sciences and School of Sustainability. "We found that an increase in tree and shrub cover of 1 percent leads to a 2 percent loss in livestock production." And, woody-plant cover in North America increases at a rate between 0.5 and 2 percent per year. 

The study claims that the US has spent millions of dollars to control brush without much success.  Click or tap here to read more about the problem and what needs to be done to turn the invasion back.

Structural Change in US Cattle Industry Poses Problems for Nation's Largest Cattle Industry Organization

The cattle industry has always had its share of challenges- and over the last couple of years, Structural Change and Regulatory Overload are right at the top of the list. On today's Beef Buzz, Forrest Roberts of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association talks with us about how the drought has and is bringing about structural change to the beef cattle pipeline. The two million head reduction in the US Beef Cow herd has resulted in a much smaller US cattle herd, reducing the need for as many feedlots and packing plants. As a result, the last couple of years has seen the closing of several beef processing plants with the total US beef herd at one of it's lowest levels in decades.


Roberts says that despite the structural changes- NCBA is growing at a double digit pace when it comes to membership. 

Go here to hear our visit with Roberts about both of these issues and how NCBA has been working to deal with them. 

Controlling Gophers Takes Dose of Persistence and Wise Counsel from OSU Extension

Gophers are useful, but they can be destructive- and that means many landowners make the decision to actively control gophers on their property.

"Gophers populations can be reduced over a considerable area with persistent control efforts," said Dwayne Elmore, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension wildlife specialist. "Control is best conducted when gophers are most active near the surface, usually in the spring or fall."
 
Gopher activity is evident through the mounds of soil left on the surface. The two most effective gopher management techniques are poisoning and trapping. For larger areas, with more gophers doing more damage, Elmore suggests contacting wildlife services who will know what is currently legal and may even conduct the control if it is impacting agricultural production.

To learn more about how to deal with these critters on your land, click or tap here.

USDA Announces International Food Aid Projects in Seven Countries Under Food for Progress Program

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service announced funding yesterday for seven international projects through the 2014 Food for Progress Program. In total, more than 1.6 million people will directly benefit from the program this year.

The Food for Progress Program is an important tool in the effort to support sustainable agricultural production in developing nations and promote agricultural trade. The program helps countries increase the value and output of their agricultural economy and build agricultural trade capacity. U.S. agricultural commodities donated to recipient countries through Food for Progress are sold on the local market and the proceeds are used to support agricultural, economic or infrastructure development programs.

Projects funded in fiscal year 2014 will address a wide range of issues, including: the mitigation of crop disease, capacity building to develop national agricultural extension programs and farmer cooperatives, improvement of seed varieties and crop diversification. Commodities USDA is providing this year include dehydrated potato flakes, corn, soybean oil, soybean meal, vegetable oil and wheat.

We have examples of this year's projects and more- click here for our webstory on these efforts to push back hunger in several key countries.

Noble Foundation Releases Mobile Beef Recordkeeping App 

With continuous technology advancements, production agriculture is more efficient and mobile than ever before. And with many other aspects of life, producing beef falls under the category of "there's an App for that."
 

As part of The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation's focus on advancing agriculture, the organization has released a mobile recordkeeping app as part of its Junior Beef Excellence Program. The app will provide FFA and 4-H students with the ability to capture key pieces of information from the field as they raise steers for competition. While the app is designed for students, it can be used by any producer.
   

The app is titled Noble Jr. Beef Journal and is available for free download on iTunes and Google Play for androids. The app can also be used on a computer, not just a smartphone.

To learn more about what this App can do for your beef cattle operation, click here.