Doug Rich is a senior field editor from Lawrence, Kan., and has been with the Journal since 1978. He can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304, or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com.
“Part of the problem is that we have bankers telling farmers not to plant alfalfa and the reason for that is alfalfa does not have a safety net like the program crops,” Beth Nelson, president of the National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance, said. “Now as they move away from the recoupled Title 1 payment to a program crop and alfalfa not being a program crop, it is a pretty significant disadvantage for not having a safety net,” Nelson said. Lack of a good crop insurance program for the alfalfa and...
Two executives applauded a decision May 13 by the U.S. Supreme Court’s that said an Indiana farmer violated Monsanto Co.’s patents on soybean seeds resistant to its weed-killer by growing the beans without buying new seeds from the corporation. According to the AP, in the case decided by the court, Bowman bought expensive, patented Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” seeds for his main crop of soybeans, but decided to look for something cheaper for a risky, late-season soybean planting. “Bowman ... [Read More]
Doug Rich’s story “Crop insurance a viable, economical risk-management tool,” which ran on page 10B of High Plains Journal on May 13, needs some clarification. According to the Risk Management Association, in 2012 Kansas farmers invested more than $12 million in premiums for more than 6,600 crop insurance policies. Nationally, farmers paid $4.1 billion in premiums for 1.1 million policies, according to National Crop Insurance. [Read More]
Jordy Nelson was introduced as the new spokesman for the “From the Land of Kansas” agricultural trademark program at stops across Kansas on April 27. Nelson, a former K-State football star and now a member of the Green Bay Packers, said his passion for agriculture and for promoting Kansas led him to this program. The Kansas agricultural trademark program began 25 years ago when Brownback was Kansas Secretary of Agriculture. The final stop was at the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka ... [Read More]
Crop insurance continued to change with the addition of Market Value Protection in 1991, and Crop Revenue Coverage/Revenue Protection in 1996. The Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act of 1994 was passed, making participation in the crop insurance program mandatory for farmers to be eligible for deficiency payments under price support program, certain loans, and other benefits. Barnaby pointed out that ad hoc disaster aid, Supplemental Revenue Election, and Agriculture Risk Coverage are just ... [Read More]
Hunt was president and chief executive office of U.S. Premium Beef for 17 years. Hunt said these challenges included integrated and efficient pork and poultry industries, a broken beef marketing system, limited information transfer from beef packers back to beef producers, distrust amongst sectors in the beef industry, and diminishing beef quality and consistency. From the beef quality audit in 1991 to the beef quality of audit in 1995, the industry had done little to address these ... [Read More]
The Oklahoma Crop Report said the storm front brought rainfall, ice and below freezing temperatures across central and western Oklahoma. “All of central and western Oklahoma dropped below freezing, with a hard freeze over most of northwestern Oklahoma,” according to the report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Shroyer and Martin both cautioned wheat farmers to be patient in evaluating any freeze damage. [Read More]
Order buyers like Margaret Ann Smith with Southlex Cattle Company in Lexington, Va., connect stocker cattle buyers in the High Plains and sellers in the southeast. Smith, her business partner, and the buyers that work for them attend weekly livestock auctions in Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina, putting together loads of cattle that will end up on grass or in feedlots in the High Plains. As long as there is value in these cattle for both parties, cattle will continue to make the ... [Read More]
"Everything flowed from there, changes in the politics, changes in the regulatory environment, you name it changed," Varney said. Varney traced this explosion of red ink back to the panic and the changes in politics and policy in this country. "There is not a single European country with replacement level fertility," Varney said. [Read More]
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