NY Farmers To Receive Assistance for Crop Price Losses

From the USDA Farm Service Agency

The U.S. Department of Agriculture New York State Farm Service Agency Executive Director James Barber says a majority of New York farms that enrolled in safety-net programs established by the 2014 Farm Bill will receive financial assistance for the 2015 crop year. 

The programs, known as Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage, are designed to protect against unexpected drops in crop prices or revenues due to market downturns.

“These safety-net programs provide help when price and revenues fall below normal, unlike the previous direct payments program that provided funds even in good years,” said Barber. “These payments will help provide reassurance to New York farm families, who are standing strong against low commodity prices compounded by unfavorable growing conditions. 

"For example, 55 counties in New York state harvest corn, and 51 have experienced a drop in price below the benchmark price established by the Agriculture Risk Coverage program. Payments will also be made in most counties to producers of oats, soybeans and wheat,” Barber said.

“Payments by county can vary because average county yields will differ,” he said.  

Statewide, 17,577 farms participated in Agriculture Risk Coverage and 931 farms participated in Price Loss Coverage.  

More details on the price and yield information used to calculate the financing assistance from the safety-net programs is available on the FSA website at www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc and
www.fsa.usda.gov/ny.

It's National Cereal Day

Today is National Cereal Day!

Here's to all those farmers who raise the corn, wheat, oats, rice and other grains that go into our favorite breakfast cereals. Without them, we wouldn't have anything to put in our bowls in the morning.

USDA Researchers Come Up With Handy Innovations

I found this to be really cool. I hope you do too.

The USDA has issued a new report scientific breakthroughs discovered by USDA researchers that led to new patents and inventions with the potential for commercial application and potential economic growth. 

Innovations included in the report range from flour made out of chardonnay grape seeds that prevents weight gain to antimicrobial packets that keep food from spoiling, efforts to protect U.S. troops in Iraq from diseases carried by sand flies, new processes for turning grass clippings and raked leaves into bioenergy, and many more.

"Studies have shown that every dollar invested in agricultural research returns $20 to the economy. We have accelerated commercialization of federal research and government researchers are working closely with the private sector to develop new technology and transfer it to the marketplace," said Ag Secretary Thomas Vilsack. "USDA has a proven track record of performing research that benefits the public."

USDA reports receiving 51 patents, filing 147 patent applications, and disclosing 180 new inventions in the last fiscal year, which are detailed in the Department's 2013 Annual Report on Technology Transfer released last week.

Helping drive these innovations, USDA has 259 active Cooperative Research and Development Agreements with outside investigators, which includes Universities and other organizations, including 117 with small businesses. The USDA's technology transfer program is administered by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.

Discoveries from USDA's 2013 Technology Transfer Report include:

• A new kind of flour made from chardonnay grape seeds that can prevent increases in cholesterol and weight-gain (the Mayo Clinic is currently conducting human clinical trials on the product);
• New ways to turn lawn clippings and tree leaves from cities into bioenergy;
• An enzyme compound that can be used to develop insecticides to combat sand flies, a disease spreading insect that poses a major problem for U.S. military in Iraq and is responsible for hundreds of thousands of childhood deaths in Africa;
• A computer-based model of the fluid milk process to lower greenhouse gas emissions (the model has been distributed to more than 100 processors in the United States and should help the dairy industry realize its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent per gallon of milk by 2020);
• Oat concentrates, a digestible, functional food from oats licensed for the production of Calorie-Trim and Nutrim;
• A new process for turning old tires into zinc fertilizer;
• A handheld device that uses gold nanoparticles to detect West Nile virus (and potentially other diseases) in blood samples;
• Window cleaners that use a biodegradable solution of nanoparticles that prevent water-beading that are superior to current cleaners;
• A small packet that when inserted in small fruit containers releases an antimicrobial vapor that helps keep fresh fruit from rotting on the shelf.

Over the years, USDA innovations have created all sorts of products Americans use every days, from cosmetics, to insect controls, leathers, shampoos, and of course food products. Here are just a few examples of things USDA research is responsible for:

• Frozen orange juice concentrate;
• "Permanent press" cotton clothing;
• Mass production of penicillin in World War II;
• Almost all breeds of blueberries and cranberries currently in production, and 80% of all varieties of citrus fruits grown in the U.S.;
• "Tifsport", a turf used on NFL, collegiate, and other sports fields across the country, specifically designed to withstand the stress and demands of major team sports. Tifsport is also used on PGA and other golf course fairways, while its sister turf, "Tifeagle", specially designed to be mowed to one-tenth of an inch daily, is used on PGA putting greens.

The 2014 Farm Bill will help to build on these accomplishments by establishing a new Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research that leverages $200 million in public funding and another $200 million from the private sector to support groundbreaking agricultural research.

What is Next on Chobani's Plate?

From the Associated Press:

Check out http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/18/chobani-new-products_n_5173441.html this story about what's coming next to Chobani.

NY Crop Prospects Up This Year Compared to 2012

News from the USDA:

Crop production prospects in 2013 for New York are mostly higher compared with a year earlier, according to Blair Smith, state statistician of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office. 

All forecasts in this release are based on conditions as of Aug. 1 and assume normal growing conditions throughout the remainder of the season.

Forecasts for corn for grain, soybeans, hay, oats and winter wheat are expected to be higher. Production of dry beans are expected to be lower than 2012.

New York grain corn production is forecast at 113 million bushels, up 23 percent from last year. Area for harvest is expected to total 750 thousand acres, 10 percent above a year ago. Yield is forecast at 150 bushels per acre, up 16 bushels from last year and equal to the record high set in 2010. 

Nationally, grain corn production is forecast at a record high 13.8 billion bushels, up 28 percent from 2012. Based on conditions as of Aug. 1, yields are expected to average 154.4 bushels per acre, up 31.0 bushels from 2012. Area harvested for grain is forecast at 89.1 million acres, unchanged from the June forecast but up 2 percent from 2012.

Soybean production in the Empire State is estimated at a record high 15.5 million bushels, up 8 percent from last year’s 14.4 million bushels. Acreage for harvest increased 2 percent from 312 thousand a year earlier to a record high 317,000 acres. Yields are expected to average a record high 49 bushels per acre, up 3 bushels from last year.

U.S. soybean production is forecast at 3.26 billion bushels, up 8 percent from last year. Based on Aug. 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 42.6 bushels per acre, up 3 bushels from last year and the fifth highest on record.

New York production of alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures, at 1.13 million tons, is 25 percent above 2012. Other dry hay production is expected to total 2.53 million tons, up 47 percent from a year ago.   A sharp increase in alfalfa and other hay expected yields offset lower harvested acreage and resulted in higher production for all dry hay (alfalfa plus other hay).

Dry bean production in New York is forecast at a record low 129 thousand hundredweight (cwt), down 29 percent from the 182 thousand cwt produced last year.  Harvested acreage is expected to total a record low 7,800 acres, down 1,700 acres from 2012.  Yields are expected to average 1,650 pounds per acre, down 14 percent from last year’s 1,920 pounds. 

U.S. dry edible bean production is forecast at 24.6 million cwt for 2013, down 23 percent from last year.

New York oat production, expected to total 3.30 million bushels, is 2 percent above a year ago. Acreage for grain harvest is estimated at 55 thousand acres, up 10 percent from last year. Yields are forecast at 60 bushels per acre, down 5 bushels from 2012. 

U.S. oat production is forecast at 75.2 million bushels, 1 percent above the July 1 forecast and up 17 percent from 2012. If realized, this will be the third lowest production on record.

Winter wheat production for New York is estimated at 7.48 million bushels, up 40 percent from the 2012 crop of 5.36 million bushels. Acreage for harvest is up 29 percent to 110 thousand acres. Yields are expected to average a record high 68 bushels per acre, 5 bushels more than a year earlier.

U.S. production of all wheat is forecast at 2.11 billion bushels, up slightly from last month but down 7 percent from 2012.

Farmers Delight in Recent Dry Weather

This photo was submitted by Ann Oliver, of Oliver Farms LLC in Marcellus. She said Rob Oliver, owner/partner, was able to get out in the dry weather this weekend and bale hay for the dairy farm. Oliver Farms is a dairy farm and the operation also raises corn, wheat, oats, hay and soybeans.  Rob Oliver is the third generation for this farm, which was started in the early 1900s.