This week on AgweekTV, planting season is off to a rough start in some areas. We'll take a look at planting conditions across the region. Do E15 and higher blends of ethanol have a place at the pump? We'll find out. The maple sap is starting to flow in central Minnesota, but not nearly as quickly as some producers would like. And a South Dakota bison rancher combats crazy weather conditions this calving season.
WELCOME TO AGWEEKTV, I'M EMILY BEAL.
Fieldwork is picking up around the country. But weather across the Midwest has made for some interesting conditions as we get into this year's planting season. WE TAKE A LOOK IN THIS WEEK'S AGWEEK COVER STORY.
Planters are finally in the field at Jorgensen Land and Cattle in Ideal, South Dakota, just a week after blizzard conditions.
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Well, it really just got started for us, it's been a really tough winter. I mean you couldn't believe it I guess, but a week ago it was blizzarding here and now I am planting in dust. So we are very grateful right now for what we can do now that we can do it. But, this year, planting is very far behind.
It's actually about, I would say, about a month late. Normally we like to be seeding this time March, you know, middle of March or so and actually in last year, in 2022, we started seeding on Valentine's Day, February 14th. But because of the long winter that we had, we are quite behind.
After a long wait, they are happy to have the planters running in the field again.
It's awesome to finally get out and get some seed in the ground, you know, you never know spring grains in this part of the world it's kind of a fine line, if you're not out by April 1st usually the yield potential drops, so hopefully we can get this grain up and out of the ground and going. It's really nice to be back in the field, in the tractor, makes me smile.
But, to the east in northern Minnesota, planting was still a ways off in mid-April. A string of days with night-time and daytime temperatures above freezing melted much of the snow cover in northwest Minnesota, causing ponds of water in fields, but not filling the ditches. It looks like a lot of that water might be going into the ground, which is a great thing.
Ideally, farmers who raise crops near Crookston, Minnesota, would like to be in the field in mid-to late April, but wet conditions have delayed that time for the past few years. But, planting start dates aren't as critical as they used to be.
The equipment that is available today allows the grower to have a little more flexibility and a little bit of ability to recover from a late planting date. But in Southern Minnesota, this year's moisture has set producers up for success.
A lot of that snowfall fell on ground that hardly had any frost, and it became available soil moisture, so the bank account was low on soil moisture -- we had room to put some of this moisture that we've had this spring, so I think we're in good shape.
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However, a weekend snowstorm has caused some planting delays and concerns for producers. Those wet, soaking wet conditions where it's cloudy all day and drizzly and the soil never even gets a little bit dry, then I really get concerned about it.
You can read much more in the next Agweek magazine or at Agweek.com
A FEDERAL JUDGE IN NORTH DAKOTA HAS STOPPED THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S DEFINITION OF "WATERS OF THE U.S." IN CERTAIN STATES. U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE DANIEL HOVLAND GRANTED A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION HALTING THE EPA AND U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS FROM ENFORCING THE NEW WOTUS RULE IN NORTH DAKOTA, SOUTH DAKOTA AND TWENTY-TWO ADDITIONAL STATES. AMERICAN FARM BUREAU PRESIDENT, ZIPPY DUVALL, IS CALLING IT "A WIN" FOR FARMERS. NATIONAL CATTLEMAN'S BEEF ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT AND SOUTH DAKOTA CATTLE RANCHER, TODD WILKINSON, SAYS HE'S PLEASED WITH THE NEWS. HE SAYS"ONCE AGAIN, THE COURTS HAVE AFFIRMED THAT THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
WOTUS RULE IS OVERREACHING AND HARMFUL TO AMERICA'S BEEF FARMERS AND RANCHERS" DEFINING WATERS OF THE U.S. HAS BEEN AN ONGOING ISSUE SINCE THE FEDERAL CLEAN WATER ACT OF 1972 AND REMAINS THE SUBJECT OF SEVERAL LAWSUITS AND A CASE AWAITING A DECISION BEFORE THE U.S. SUPREME COURT.
THIS MONTH OUR AGWEEK SPECIALREPORT IS THE FUTURE OF BIOFUELS. WITH GAS PRICES CONTINUING TO SURGE, PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR ALTERNATIVES TO FILL THEIR TANKS. COULD E15 OR HIGHER BLENDS OF ETHANOL HAVE A PERMANENT PLACE AT THE PUMP AND BE THE SOLUTION? I TALKED WITH SOME INDUSTRY EXPERTS TO FIND OUT.
Top of mind for drivers is low cost, affordable fuel. Fortunately, the more ethanol you use, the more you're going to save at the pump and the better for the environment.
EMILY SKOR IS THE CEO OF GROWTH ENERGY. SHE BELIEVES E15 AND HIGHER ETHANOL BLENDS HAVE A STRONG FUTURE AT THE PUMP AND ARE SOUGHT AFTER PRODUCT. WHILE THE EPA BANS THE SALE E15 DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS BECAUSE OF CONCERNS THAT IT CONTRIBUTES TO SMOG IN HOT WEATHER, SHE HOPES TO SEE E15 SOLD ALL-YEAR ROUND THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.
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It's a high value product that I think consumers are anxious to be able to access. We just have to make sure that the policy environment isn't backwards and allows consumers to access this twelve months out of the year.
We keep increasing the blend rate nationally and especially in Minnesota. Minnesota does lead the nation in blend rate around 12.6% around all gas sold is ethanol.
RICHARD SYVERSON FARMS NEAR BENSON MINNESOTA AND IS PRESIDENT OF THE MINNESOTA CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION. HE HAS SEEN THE DEMAND FIRST HAND IN HIS STATE FOR E15. ACCORDING TO SYVERSON, E15 IS APPROVED FOR ALL VEHICLES MADE SINCE 2001, WHICH IS 95-97 PERCENT OF ALL VEHICLES IN MINNESOTA.
Just for example last year in Minnesota we sold 105 million gallons of E15, the average savings per gallon for the consumer was 17 cents. Now if you do the math on that, that's a lot of real dollars that stayed in some family's pocket simply by choosing the E15 hose.
BESIDES HELPING CONSUMERS SAVE MONEY, E15 BEING WIDELY AVAILABLE WOULD REALLY HELP RURAL AREAS.
If we as a nation were to drive on a 15% ethanol blend, right now we're driving on a 10% blend. If you move to a 15% blend, that's an increase in about 7 billion gallons of demand for ethanol. That's 2 to 2 and a half billion bushels of corn grind, so that's the increase in demand for the rural economy. I'm a true believer. It's been the best thing that's happened in our area, to our ag markets in my farming career.
EIGHT GOVERNORS IN MAJOR CORN-PRODUCING STATES, INCLUDING MINNESOTA SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR, WANT E15 TO BE AVAILABLE THIS SUMMER AND HAVE ASKED THE EPA TO LIFT RESTRICTIONS.
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UP NEXT ON AGWEEK TV...A SOUTH DAKOTA BISON RANCHER KICKS OFF CALVING SEASON
Bison calving season has begun for many season has begun for many Bison producer across the country. At Kremer Buffalo Ranch in Custer, South Dakota, there have been newborn bison being welcomed into the world almost every day. These young bison are exploring the world for the first time. Here at Kremer Buffalo Ranch, calving season is pretty hands-off.
Chad Kremer With calving season, it's pretty much just monitoring every few days to make sure there isn't any problems.
They are for the most part self-sufficient, they do take care of themselves. It's one of those selection properties that mother nature has already implemented a long long time ago and has been implementing that for a long long time, so they are really successful at doing it on their own and they will likely continue to be very successful at doing it on their own.
Chad Kremer has been working with Bison for 30 years, managing different herds across the country and now his own as well, as the bison in Custer State Park.
Somewhere in 20 some thousand head that have calved over the 30 years that I've been in it, I mean we have only had difficulties with probably 10 to 12 head in that time so when you look at the number and percentage wise it's pretty low.
In South Dakota, the weather this past week has been extreme, going from blizzard conditions to temperatures in the 80's and 90's, which can affect the bison as they calve. The biggest thing it can do is it can kind of either trigger them to calf a little early or hold it and wait.
Welcoming new bison into the world, in not ideal conditions.
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You know, we had 15 to 30 inches of snow right here in the area a week ago and now most all of its gone and we are 80 degrees today, so it actually is probably a little bit more of a stresser on the bison because they still have their winter coat on them right now so these warm days like this are actually a little harder on them then those colder days.
Kramer saw his first bison calve at the beginning of April and hopes to finish calving season around the middle of May. He expects to have 85 new calves this year.
THE PAST FIVE YEARS HAVE BEEN ROUGH ON DAIRY FARMERS AND MANY ARE FEELING THE BRUNT OF INPUT COSTS. THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND FEDERAL MILK PRICE REGULATIONS CHANGING ARE SOME OF THE MAIN ISSUES IMPACTING DAIRIES FINANCIALLY. DANNY MUNCH, AN AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION ECONOMIST, SAYS DAIRY PRODUCERS ARE HAVING A HARD TIME JUST BREAKING EVEN.
So the ERS--economic research statistics show that on average, dairy farmers are losing over $6 per hundredweight. Putting in about $27 a hundred weight and only coming back with $21 a hundredweight on average. For small farms under 50 cows, that jumps up to a loss of over $20 a hundred weight.
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION DAIRY SPECIALIST BRAD HEINS HAS SEEN DAIRIES DIVERSIFY TO TRY TO IMPROVE THEIR PROFITABILITY AND COMBAT FINANCIAL STRUGGLES. SUCH AS ADDING DAIRY BEEF PRODUCTION TO THEIR OPERATION OR ON-FARM PROCESSING.
We've been seeing increased feed prices year over year, whether it's corn, commodities, alfalfa, and that's really affecting the bottom lines of the dairy farms. Milk prices increased in some parts of the last five years. But it's kind of softening now again, so it's kind of that feed milk balance really on a daily farm trying to make it work economically.
AFBF IS WORKING TO HELP DAIRY FARMERS WITH FEDERAL MILK PRICING REFORM.
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Ramen noodles are rolling off the conveyors at Albany Farms in Belle Foosh, South Dakota and on to grocery store shelves across the United States and Canada. Their Twisted Noodles are a wheat-based ramen noodle. Right now, the company sources all their wheat out of Kansas and their vegetables and spices are imported, but their goal is to be able to manufacture a domestically made ramen noodle and source their wheat directly from South Dakota producers.
We would like to have the wheat producers in South Dakota sell their wheat to us to make our own flour and make our own ramen from there.
The first ramen was produced in the plant in August of 2022 and since then the company has seen a great response from consumers. Twisted Noodles can be purchase at 305 Target locations across the United States, HEB and Walmart in Canada. They plan to expand their retailers within the next few months.
UP NEXT ON AGWEEK TV...SOUTH DAKOTA FFA MEMBERS GATHER FOR THEIR STATE CONVENTION
AGWEEK WEATHER IS SPONSORED BY BREMER BANK. CONNECT WITH A BANKER TODAY AT BREMER DOT COM
ARE THESE WARMER DAYS HERE TO STAY? HERE'S JOHN WITH OUR AGRI-WEATHER OUTLOOK.
From the winter that wouldn't quit in the far northern plains. It's now the spring that's really having trouble warming up. But it looks like the cool weather pattern in the northern plains and many areas of the Great Lakes will persist on into May with some variation. As the sun climbs higher. You do get warmer in warmer weather, but no real appreciable warming pattern. There is going to be a little bit of a shift in the pattern, though. I do look for the wet weather that has been rather persistent in some parts of the northern plains and upper Midwest to begin to shift more southward in this pattern. And I do look for a general drying trend to take place over much of the United States as the rain will be focused down in the southern part of the country with the north and the west looking mostly dry. Let's go to the weather pattern. Here we go, jet stream pattern as we begin this year on the weekend. Fairly cool weather into the Great Lakes, northern plains. Not really frigid weather. That's, of course, retreated this time of year. But the jet stream still kind of coming out of the northwest. And we've just had some rain and snow. So temperatures still struggling to cool down. The dark blue, the cold is mostly near or below freezing highs and that is mostly in Canada and in the Rocky Mountains. But a lot of forties and fifties in this light blue area, deep South Florida, south Texas, the southwest have some pretty hot weather. A lot of those spots in the eighties and nineties. But the rest of the nation not really particularly warm, largely because of this deep, low pressure trough. Jet stream staying pretty far south. If this were wintertime, this would be an arctic air outbreak. But as it is getting on toward the end of April and the start of May, it's just cool weather. But as you can see, cool. It will remain from North Dakota to western New York and as far south as Illinois and Indiana and Ohio. Meanwhile, as we go forward, this ridge of high pressure out west will pull warm weather northward. All that snowpack in the Sierras going to start melting as we get into May. And if the pattern remains warm, I am concerned that flooding will be a real problem in some areas out west, like the Central Valley, as those snows melt. Meanwhile, in the northern plains, this is not a pattern that is likely to bring a lot of heavy precipitation. In fact, the only place that really looks wet and I'll show you this in just a minute is down here where the jet stream is delivering cool temperatures into the mid-south. That area will likely stay fairly wet over the next couple of weeks. Now, we're into the first full week of May. Jet still looking fairly cool, but maybe beginning to show some signs of retreat. Precipitation, not a lot. I do look for some Colorado snow this week and rain and thunderstorms across the southern plains and the southeastern states. So going into early May, not saying this entire area will be bone dry, but it does not look particularly wet. The showers and thunderstorms looks like they'll continue down across the south and up the eastern seaboard. And at least as the snow melts in California, they won't be getting rain.
More than 2500 South Dakota More than 2500 South Dakota FFA members gathered for the 95th State FFA convention in Brookings this week. Students competed in contests, heard speakers, attended the career fair and did community service events, all while meeting other members from across the state. The sea of blue corduroy jackets returned to the South Dakota State University campus as students from around the state gathered for the state FFA convention.
Seeing everybody in the blue jacket is a great experience, you know, it has a lot of meaning behind it and just knowing everybody is here for the right reasons.
During convention, students had the chance to give back to the community by packing 50,000 meals for Meals of Hope, which will be donated to Feeding South Dakota and distributed to families in need within the state.
It's pretty great, it's kind of fun getting to know other people and knowing that you can work together as a whole group.
It's a good thing to do just to get to have fun, talk to others and do something good to help.
Members Emily Robbins and Amara Roland are hoping to continue their FFA experiences by becoming state officers this year.
It would be important to me because I would be able to give back to all the members and be able to provide a lot of opportunities that I have received and spread the word about them to all sorts of people.
Becoming a state officer would mean giving back to community that has given so much to me.
Coming together to celebrate all that FFA has accomplished this year and looking ahead to the future of the organization.
There's a very big social aspect to it, you get to meet a lot of new people and make a lot of connections.
South Dakota FFA has 5,500 members in109 FFA chapters across the state.
OUR SNOWY WINTER AND LATE SPRING ARE WINTER AND LATE OUR SNOWY WINTER AND LATE SPRING ARE TAKING A TOLL ON THE MAPLE SYRUP BUSINESS IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA. BUT JIM HEINZE, WHO OWNS THE BROKEN HEART SUGAR COMPANY ISN'T LOSING HEART. HE SAYS ALTHOUGH THE COLD WEATHER HAS SLOWED THE SAP RUN, HE STILL HOPES TO SALVAGE THE SEASON. HEINZE STARTED THE COMPANY ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO. HE STARTED TAPPING TREES ON MARCH 17TH, AND BY EARLY APRIL HAD HARVESTED JUST 225 GALLONS OF SAP. THAT'S FAR BELOW HIS USUAL AMOUNT. IT TAKES FORTY GALLONS OF SAP TO MAKE ONE GALLON OF MAPLE SYRUP.
IS THIS SEASON GOING TO BE GREAT? NO, I DON'T EXPECT IT TO BE AT ALL. BUT YOU KNOW, WE HOPEFULLY CAN MAKE FIFTY OR SEVENTY FIVE GALLONS OF SYRUP I HAD EXPECTATIONS OF AT LEAST A COUPLE HUNDRED, BUT I DON'T THINK THAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN.
HEINZE SELLS HIS SYRUP AT BUSINESSES IN WADENA AND OTTER TAIL COUNTIES. AND GIVES SOME OF IT AWAY TO FRIENDS.
STORIES YOU'LL ONLY SEE ON AGWEEK.COM AND IN AGWEEK MAGAZINE THIS WEEK.
A renewable aviation fuel could be a new market in South Dakota's corn industry. The new precision ag director at Lake Region State College looks to the future of agriculture.
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