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Kansas Corn Leader 1-15-10
MEETING REMINDERS:
Kansas Commodity Classic will be Wednesday, February 3 in Topeka
We are looking forward to seeing you at the Kansas Commodity Classic in
Topeka on Wednesday, February 3 at the Topeka Ramada Inn.
Find out what is brewing at the state capitol, how policies like climate
change legislation can affect your farm, and gain a better understanding of
the roles of state agencies in agriculture at the Kansas Commodity Classic
in Topeka on Wednesday, February 3 at the Topeka Ramada Inn. This annual
convention will bring together Kansas grain sorghum, corn and wheat growers
for a high powered general session and luncheon. It all starts at 9:30 a.m.
on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at the Topeka Ramada Inn, 420 SE 6th Avenue, Topeka.
The program and lunch are free to growers.
Kansas Senate President Steve Morris of Hugoton will open the event with
welcoming comments at 9:30 a.m. Bill Hudson, founder of ProExporter Network
will be the keynote speaker focusing on national policy issues, especially
climate issues that will affect agriculture.
A state agency panel will follow featuring top staff from the Kansas
Department of Agriculture, Kansas Conservation Commission and Kansas Water
Office.
Acting Secretary of Agriculture Josh Svaty will speak at the Commodity
Classic Luncheon. The lunch will wrap up the day’s events. In the afternoon,
growers are encouraged to visit their state legislators.
KCGA Annual Meeting Will Be Tuesday, Feb. 2 in Topeka
Kansas Corn Growers Association Annual Meeting will be at 5:00 p.m.,
Tuesday, Feb. 2 at the Topeka Ramada Inn. A joint KCGA/KCC meeting is
scheduled from 1-4 p.m. The annual Corn Dinner will begin at 6:30, following
the annual meeting. Bob Timmons will speak at the dinner about the US Grains
Council Corn Mission to Morocco, Egypt and Jordan, and Robert White of the
Renewable Fuels Association will give an ethanol update.
SENT OUT TODAY:
Over 50 Ag Groups Call on EPA to Continue to Use Science, Not Politics in
Atrazine Review
Jan. 15, 2010--Agricultural groups from Kansas and across the nation
signed onto a letter to EPA clarifying growers’ support for atrazine. The
letter was sent to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson today. Earlier this month,
environmental activist groups submitted a letter to EPA saying growers
oppose the use of atrazine.
“It is truly disheartening when political agendas attempt to overturn
scientific process,” the letter states. “Such is the case in the January 5th
letter submitted to the EPA by a handful of special interest groups
misrepresenting themselves as the voice of the agriculture community in an
attempt to negate the overwhelming support and confidence in the herbicide
atrazine and to gain media attention for themselves.”
Jere White, executive director of the Kansas corn and grain sorghum growers
associations said farmers have been involved in EPA’s reviews of atrazine
since the mid-1990s. The groups that signed the letter in support of
atrazine represent a very large number of farmers and agricultural
producers.
“Over 50 national, state, and local grower and agricultural groups signed on
to this letter which reaffirms their support of the use of atrazine. These
groups represent hundreds of thousands of farmers from Hawaii to
Pennsylvania,” White said. “Many of these grower groups have been involved
in the EPA’s repeated studies and reviews of atrazine for more than 15
years. I don’t think the environmental activist groups understand that there
are trade-offs. For example, removing atrazine would actually hinder many of
our row crop farmers’ efforts to use conservation no-till and reduced-till
practices. Without atrazine, many would have to return to tilling their
land, increasing the risk of erosion and runoff.”
The groups signing the letter asked EPA to understand that the majority of
farmers support the use of atrazine and asked EPA to use science, not
politics, to arrive at a decision on the safety of atrazine.
The letter states: “Our growers have actively participated in the process
and supported the safety and scientific approval of atrazine by the EPA over
the last fifteen years and three White House Administrations. Mainstream
agriculture has participated in every Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP)
concerning atrazine since the beginning of the Special Review in 1994. As
stated clearly to the November 3, 2009 SAP, we strongly believe the
scientific weight of evidence, based on EPA's own analysis for decades,
shows atrazine to be both safe and effective and that it is the best kind of
tool that farmers can have.
We are troubled by the activist forces that seem to be guiding the very
intensive and urgent re-evaluation (actually a re-re-evaluation) of atrazine
despite its recently completed re-registration, which provided for its
continued safe use.
. . . The benefits of atrazine use to agriculture are well documented and
part of existing EPA record. Recent efforts to downplay these benefits in
the media are simply the wishes of activists who suggest they have better
insight on producing abundant food, fuel and fiber from their comfortable
desk than the farmer who has been doing it all his life. It should be noted
that our farmers consider themselves the ultimate conservationists, for
without the careful cultivation of their land...their own livelihoods are at
risk.”
December 31, 2009 -- Corn Leader Update
Happy New Year! We wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year. The office
will be closed on Friday, Jan. 1.
Reminder: Kansas Commodity Classic will be Wednesday, February 3 in Topeka
We are looking forward to the Kansas Commodity Classic in Topeka on
Wednesday, February 3 at the Topeka Ramada Inn. This is the annual
convention of the Kansas corn, grain sorghum and wheat growers. A complete
schedule will be released soon. After the 2008 Classic, we decided to take a
new approach and hold the Classic in Topeka during the Kansas legislative
session. The new date was an especially good choice this year because of the
late harvest! Watch for more information on the program to be released soon!
Annual Meeting Will Be Tuesday, Feb. 2 in Topeka
Because of the late fall harvest, we postponed plans to hold a KCGA Annual
meeting before the end of the year. We are in the process of finalizing our
plans to have the annual meeting at 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 2 at the Topeka
Ramada Inn. The meeting will be held prior to the Kansas Corn Dinner held in
conjunction with the Kansas Commodity Classic.
Facebook, Twitter, Social Media, What’s It
All About???? Are we too old to Tweet?
Social media—yes, your kids or grandkids do it. They are Facebooking on
Facebook. They are Tweeting on Twitter. But they might be shocked to know
that old geezers like us have Facebook and Twitter pages too! There is a
very large and growing number of farmers who are using social media sites
like Facebook and Twitter not only to communicate with each other but also
to help consumers gain a better understanding of agriculture. So why not hop
on line and give it a try? Direct links to the Kansas Corn Facebook and
Twitter pages can be found at www.ksgrains.com . You’ll need to create free
accounts on both Facebook and Twitter to use the sites, but it is very easy.
We already have several Kansas growers using social media. One that comes to
mind is Tom Tibbits, the son of KCGA board member John Tibbits. Tom does a
great job posting information about what is going on at their Kansas farm.
He even posted some photos of harvesting milo in the snow earlier this
month. It’s fun for people like us to read Tom’s Twitter and blog entries,
but it becomes very powerful when a consumer who has never visited a farm
gets to see what is happening on a farm in Kansas. Anti-agriculture
activists and special interest groups are masterful in their use of social
media sites to spread misinformation about agriculture. It is important that
our growers fight back by using social media to share factual information
with the public. Blogs are also becoming more important. Blog, short for Web
Log, is an informal website where you can post your thoughts. Here is a
great blog featured on the Kansas Beef Council website from Kansas farmers
Mark and Kim Harms: http://www.kansasbeef.org/ranchfamilyblog.aspx
NCGA Corn Image and Activism Campaign
The National Corn Growers Association and its state affiliates including
Kansas, are embarking on a major corn image and activism campaign. This is
under the leadership of NCGA”s Grower Services Action Teamwhihc discussed
priorities for 2010 during the December 2009 Action Team meetings held in
St. Louis, Mo. Action Team Chairman Tim Dolan reports that the team will
focus on the farmer image and activism campaign and will remain mindful of
the overall goal of gaining public support on issues critical to farmers
such as cap and trade legislation and ethanol issues. “I see this as our
most important campaign in that we take a careful look at how we present
ourselves to the public,” said Dolan. “It also provides us with a chance to
gauge how effectively we mobilize our grassroots support. Through their
efforts, we are able to keep issues important to growers front and center.”
Specifically, the team wants to use the activism campaign to show the public
that family farmers they already trust are still out there and do continue
the proud tradition of American agriculture. The team hopes that these
efforts will help the public develop informed, fact-based views on hot
button environmental issues that will impact farming. “As NCGA grower
leaders, we work tirelessly to ensure that the interests of corn growers
nationwide are represented in Washington,” said Dolan. “Right now, we must
work to demonstrate to the public that farmers are environmentally friendly
stewards of the land. In doing so, we will weather the current storm and
guarantee the future of our industry.”
Usual Suspects, Usual Wrongheaded Spin
NCGA Corn Commentary post:
The Grocery Manufacturers Association and its anti-ethanol cadre have
developed yet another attack Web site, with the usual misinformation about
corn and ethanol production. Just consider these statements from their home
page:
Myth: “Producing more corn ethanol could threaten air quality in many
communities, destroy millions of acres of forests around the world, and
increase emissions of greenhouse gases. In particular, plowing up forests to
grow more corn could increase farmland runoff, expanding low-oxygen dead
zones that hurt commercial fishermen.”
Fact: We don’t need to destroy forests around the world because we’re
growing more corn per acre. That’s a big part of the push for higher ethanol
blends in the first place — we have more corn for all needs, not less. Check
out NCGA’s strategic plan for information on expanding corn production
without absorbing more acres.
Myth: “Diluting gasoline with more corn ethanol could divert more than half
of America’s corn crop from food and feed to fuel, increasing the cost of
feeding livestock and poultry and the cost of making food. Higher food
prices disproportionately impact low-income Americans.”
Fact: According to our strategic plan, by the year 2020, we expect to be
able to produce 17 billion bushels of corn, of which only 4.75 billion will
be used for ethanol. That will only be 25 percent of the total corn supply
(18.8 billion bushels) that year.
Myth: “Thousands of jobs and farms were lost when feed prices more than
doubled in 2008. Adding more corn ethanol to our gasoline will increase feed
prices again.”
Fact: There is general agreement among those who know these things that
ethanol demand had little to do with the 2008 increase in the price of corn.
Corn now costs less than in 2007, but more corn is going into ethanol
production. Many other factors conspired to run up the cost of corn.
National Corn Growers Yield Contest Results:
Kansas Corn Growers Produce Outstanding Yields
Kansas growers may have not received national honors in the 2009
National Corn Yield Contest, but they have much to be proud of. In the
contest, sponsored by the National Corn Growers Association, Kansas produced
record yields compared to past years. Kansas beat the yield of 296, set in
2008, with a whopping 315 bushels per acre.
The combined average yield of the Kansas winners was 271 bushels per acre
compared to 261 bushels in 2008. The highest irrigated yield from Kansas
belonged to Merl Rexford of Meade, who had a yield of 315.4 bushels per acre
in the irrigated division. The highest non-irrigated yield was from Hugh C.
Kinsey of Troy who had a yield of 282.2 bushels per acre in the
non-irrigated division.
The national and state contest winners will be honored at the 2010 Commodity
Classic to be held in Anaheim, California, March 4-6. The Kansas winners of
the National Corn Yield Contest are listed below.
Non-Irrigated
1. Hugh C. Kinsey of Troy planted Pioneer 33D49 for 282.2 bushels per acre
2. Corey Franken of Troy planted Pioneer 33D49 for 278.0 bushels per acre
3. Dean Sudbeck of Seneca planted DEKALB DKC63-42 for 257.9 bushels per acre
No Till/Strip Till Non-Irrigated
1. Jeff Koelzer of Onaga planted DEKALB DKC63-42 for 279.7 bushels per acre
2. Justin Urban of Clay Center planted Pioneer 33D49 for 278.1 bushels per
acre
* Hugh C Kinsey of Troy planted Pioneer 33D49 for 276.2 bushels per acre
(awarded in the Non-Irrigated category)
3. Joe Elias of Atchison planted DEKALB DKC63-42 for 266.9 bushels per acre
No Till/Strip Till Irrigated
1. Brett Oelke of Hoxie planted Pioneer 35K03 for 288.7 bushels per acre
2. Danny Koehn of Montezuma planted Pioneer 33P84 for 288.3 bushels per acre
3. Todd M. Cyr of Clyde planted Pioneer 32B34 for 285.7 bushels per acre
Ridge Till Non-Irrigated
1. Jimmy R. Elder of Linwood planted Pioneer 33K44 for 206.6 bushels per
acre
2. LeRoy R. Elder of Linwood planted Pioneer 33D49 for 200.3 bushels per
acre
Ridge Till Irrigated
1. Faye Cyr of Clyde planted Pioneer 32B34 for 287.8 bushels per acre
2. Ron Jacobson of Concordia planted Pioneer 32B34 for 276.9 bushels per
acre
3. Roger Johnson of Hoxie planted Pioneer 33D47 for 268.9 bushels per acre
Irrigated
1. Merl Rexford of Meade planted Pioneer 33D47 for 315.4 bushels per acre
2. Damion Cyr of Clyde planted Pioneer 32B34 for 279.1 bushels per acre
3. DML Farms LLC in Belle Plaine planted DEKALB DKC64-79 for 267.1 bushels
per acre.
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