Corn 2012

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Nebraska farmers aren’t just grow-ing record amounts of corn. They aredoing so on fewer acres — using lesswater, less energy and less fertilizerand chemicals.

In fact, the average yield for the 2011corn harvest was 160 bushels per acre— a 32-bushel increase from just nineyears earlier. How can that happen? It’sa combination of new ideas, innova-tion and just plain working smarter.

One way to work smarter is conser-vation tillage. “You don’t see manyfarmers using plows any more,” saidAlan Tiemann, a farmer from Sewardand chairman of the Nebraska CornBoard. “New tillage practices focus ondisturbing the soil as little as possible.That cuts back on the number of tripsacross the field — saving fuel and re-ducing soil compaction.”

It also leaves residue, such as corn-stalks, in the field to conserve soilmoisture, reduce soil erosion, providenutrients and reduce irrigation andfertilizer requirements.

New hybrids and genetic advance-ments have also led to corn seeds thatsimply grow better under a wide vari-ety of conditions. By continually com-bining the best of the best, seed geneti-cists are increasing the yield potentialof the seeds. Additionally, these seedscarry traits that resist pests and dis-ease—and that not only leads to in-creased yields, but also helps farmerscut back on the amount of chemicalsthey use.

Tiemann also noted that farmers aremore efficient then ever when it comesto water usage. “Corn sweats, which isknown as transpiration, and Nebraskafarmers are working with Universityof Nebraska researchers to measurejust how much moisture a corn croploses during a hot spell,” he said.

Soil moisture monitoring also helpsfarmers understand the true amountof moisture available to their crops. By

knowing more, some farmers have cutback on the water they use without se-riously affecting yield. That saves bothwater and fuel.

A modern tractor cab is a technolog-ical marvel. GPS systems keep tractorson line to eliminate overlaps in plant-ing and fertilizer application whilesatellite mapping ensures farmers ap-ply just the right amount of fertilizersand chemicals in just the right place.

“This allows farmers to vary plant-ing rates and fertilizer applicationrates based on soil maps, yield mapsand other data that streams into on-board computers,” Tiemann said. “It’sjust another way we can grow morecorn more efficiently.”

CORN 2012D2 SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012 THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH

Farmers growing more with lessCan Nebraska cornfarmers continue the upward trend?

File photo

Nebraska farmers aren’t just growing record amounts of corn. They are doing so on fewer acres—using less water, less energy andless fertilizer and chemicals.

Nebraska Corn By the Numbers

3 Nebraska’s national ranking in annual corn production.

1.52 Billion bushels of corn expected from the 2011 Nebraska harvest, making it the second-largest

crop in state history.

9Million acres of corn harvested in Nebraska annually.

26,000 The approximate number ofcorn farmers in Nebraska.

$2.6Billion was invested by Nebraska corn farmers lastspring just to get the crop in the ground and off to a good start.

By ROBERT POREWorld-Herald News Service

Corn and soybeans con-tinue to dominate Nebras-ka’s agricultural land-scape, pushing aside othertraditional small graincrops, such as wheat andsorghum.

The USDA’s NationalAgricultural StatisticsService, Nebraska FieldOffice reports that cornfor grain production inNebraska, based on year-end surveys, is estimatedat 1.54 billion bushels, up 5percent from 2010 and thesecond largest productionof record.

The report said the yield

averaged 160 bushels peracre, 6 bushels below lastyear, due to weather prob-lems during the plantingand growing season.Farmers harvested 9.6 mil-lion acres of corn forgrain, up 8 percent from2010 and the largest since1933.

According to the report,soybean production for2011 totaled 258 millionbushels, down 3 percentfrom 2010, but still thethird largest of record.Yield, at 53.5 bushels peracre, is up 1 bushel from ayear earlier and secondhighest of record. Area forharvest, at 4.83 millionacres, is down 5 percent

from 2010.The USDA reported that

last year producers plant-ed 19.281 million acres toprincipal crops in Nebras-ka and harvested 18.923million acres. On thoseharvested acres, corn andsoybeans represented14.43 million acres or 76percent of all principalcrop land planted in Ne-braska.

In contrast, other crops,such as sorghum, hay andwinter wheat, have seentheir planted acres dimin-ished to record lows.

For example, the USDAreported that sorghum for

Corn, soybeans continueto dominate ag landscape

Please see AAGG, Page D3

CORN 2012 SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012 D3THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH

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Research initiative yields know-how quickly


A three-year initiativethat created a beef cattleadvisory committee tooversee a research part-nership between the Ne-braska Corn Board andUniversity of Nebraskaresulted in a number ofimportant break-throughs when it comesto feeding distillersgrains to cattle.

Ethanol plants onlyuse the corn portion ofthe kernel to produceethanol. The other com-ponents, including pro-tein and fiber, are re-turned as distillersgrains, a livestock feed.

The research initia-tive, which wrapped upin 2011, allowed an advi-sory committee to workwith university re-searchers to more quick-ly identify research proj-ects that would benefitcattle producers. The Ne-braska Corn Board thenprovided funding for theprojects. This reducedthe lag time between re-

search projects and dou-bled the amount of re-search conducted duringthe initiative.

“We were pleased withhow everything came to-gether, as it allowed thecorn checkoff to fundkey research and morequickly advance the un-derstanding of feedingdistillers grains to cat-tle,” said Kelly Brunk-horst, director of re-search for the NebraskaCorn Board.

“While the initiativeended, the NebraskaCorn Board continues tofund research and fur-ther expand our knowl-edge and understandingof feeding distillersgrains to cattle,” he said.“We believe distillersgrains give Nebraskacattle producers atremendous advantagein the marketplace, sothe more we know thebetter.”

While many importantstrides were made overthe last three years, theNebraska Corn Board

recognizes that addition-al research needs remainwhen it comes to dis-tillers grains.

“Ethanol productiontechnology continues to

advance,” Brunkhorstsaid.

For example, someethanol plants are ex-tracting corn oil for oth-er uses and that changes

the distillers grains. “We need to under-

stand that and devote re-sources to additional re-search,” Brunkhorstsaid, “but we have limi-

tations simply becauseour budget is limited bywhat is available via thecorn checkoff, which isthe lowest of all leadingcorn states.”

File photo

Initiative provides moreinformation on how touse ethanol byproducts

The research initiative, which wrapped up in 2011, allowed an advisory committee to work with university researchersto more quickly identify research projects that would benefit cattle producers.


A three-year initiative between the Nebraska CornBoard and University of Nebraska that wrapped up in2011 resulted in several breakthroughs involving feed-ing distillers grains to cattle in feedlots and on forage.

“Distillers grains give Nebraska cattle producers anadvantage in the marketplace, and helps draw cattlefrom other states to Nebraska,” said Kelly Brunkhorst,director of research for the Nebraska Corn Board.“The more we know about feeding distillers grains,which come from ethanol plants, the better off we’llbe.”

Some of the key results for feedlot cattle include:n Drying distillers grains increases production cost,

greenhouse gas emissions and does not have as posi-tive an impact on cattle performance compared to us-ing wet distillers grains. Modified distillers grains,meanwhile, is intermediate to wet and dry distillers

grains. Understanding this has huge implications forNebraska as Nebraska cattle producers can utilize wetdistillers grains due to the proximity of corn, cattleand ethanol plants.

“The research provided excellent results on compar-ing these types of distillers grains,” said Galen Erick-son, a beef feedlot specialist with the University of Ne-braska.

n A rumen degradable sulfur concept was estab-lished and better explains hydrogen sulfide produc-tion, which can cause the polio observed with high sul-fur diets from distillers grains feeding.

“Based on metabolism work on sulfur fundedthrough the research initiative, we have degradabili-ties for different distillers grains, and hydrogen sulfideproduction in different feedlot diets containing dis-tillers,” said Erickson. “Likewise, we have recommen-dations on polio incidence as dietary sulfur and rumen

degradable sulfur increase in feedlot diets.”Some of the key results for cattle on forage include:n The energy value of distillers grains in forage

based-diets was relatively unknown and a major needby the industry.

“Thanks to research conducted through the initia-tive, this is now known and is well established,” saidAaron Stalker, a beef range specialist with the univer-sity. The comparison was also made to other major en-ergy supplements in forage diets, such as corn.

n Research also found that replacing nitrogen fertil-izer by supplementing distillers grains to grazing cat-tle will have major implications and has been effectivein intensely grazed pastures.

“Plus, supplemented cattle have greater removal ofnitrogen, from supplement compared to fertilizer, andperform better,” Terry Klopfenstein, professor of ani-mal science added.

Research yields breakthroughs on cattle feed

grain production in 2011 isestimated at 6.6 millionbushels, down 3 percentfrom 2010. Yield, at 94bushels per acre, is up 4bushels from a year earlier.Area harvested for grain is70,000 acres, down 5,000acres from a year ago andthe lowest sorghum forgrain acreage since 1937.

Hay production, accord-ing to the USDA, totaled5.62 million tons in 2011,down 11 percent from ayear earlier. Area harvest-ed is 2.48 million acres,down 8 percent from 2010.The average yield, at 2.27tons per acre, is down .09ton per acre from 2010. Al-falfa production is down 13percent from a year earlierand all other hay produc-tion is down 9 percent.

And that trend is contin-uing in the 2012 crop year,as the USDA reported thatNebraska’s winter wheatseedings for the 2012 cropare expected to total 1.4million acres. Seedings aredown 8 percent, or 120,000acres, from last year andthe smallest winter wheatplanted acreage sincerecords began in 1909.

The USDA reported thatthe state’s winter wheatcrop is doing well as top-soil moisture supplieswere mostly adequate inwestern counties as theplanting period began. Asof Jan. 1, the report said,winter wheat crop condi-tions rated 74 percent goodand excellent, compared to42 percent good and excel-lent a year ago.

High prices for corn andsoybeans are propellingthe increase in plantingacres. That, in turn, ispushing up land prices, ac-cording to the Farmers Na-tional Co., which reportsthat farmland pricesreached a two-year high.

“What surprises us isthe rate of increase overthe last 12 months,” saidLee Vermeer, vice presi-dent of real estate opera-tions at Farmers NationalCo. “Values are up 20 to 25percent, compared to risesof 5 to 10 percent in 2010.We are looking for 2012 tobe another profitable yearfor those selling land.”

Farmers National Co.has seen record auction ac-tivity during the last sixmonths as more propertiesare being sold at auction tomaximize profits. Tightsupply of quality land hasalso prompted buyers tolook at less productive landthat can be upgraded, ac-cording to Vermeer.

He said strong grainprices are boosting profitsfor farmers, promptingthem to pursue land in or-der to expand operations.In addition, cash rents intop production areas haveincreased 25 to 40 percentduring 2011.

“Farmers make up 75percent of the buyers inthe market, despite contin-ued strong interest frominvestors,” said Vermeer.“Land continues to be atangible investment thathas performed well, thusthe demand.”

He said the upcomingyear looks positive.

“However, poor perform-ance in the commoditymarket over the next yearcould bring downwardpressure on land values,”he said. “Good weatherworldwide could result in acrop surplus, droppingprices. In addition, infla-tion would boost interestrates, negatively affectingland values.”

The USDA also reportedThursday that Nebraskacorn stocks in all positionson Dec. 1, 2011, totaled 1.16billion bushels, down 3 per-cent from a year earlier. Ofthe total stocks, 730 millionbushels are stored on

farms, down 1 percentfrom 2010. Off-farm stocks,at 433 million bushels, aredown 5 percent from 2010but still the third higheston record.

Soybeans stored in allpositions on Dec. 1, 2011,totaled 200 million bushels,up 18 percent from the pre-vious year. On-farm stocksat 63 million bushels wereup 17 percent from a yearearlier. Off-farm stocks at137 million bushels wereup 19 percent from 2010and the highest on record.

Wheat stored in all posi-tions on Dec. 1, 2011, to-taled 47.7 million bushels,down 37 percent from ayear ago. On-farm stocks,at 3.7 million bushels, weredown 46 percent from 2010.Off-farm stocks, at 44 mil-lion bushels, were down 36percent from a year earlier.

Sorghum stored in allpositions on Dec. 1, 2011,totaled 8.3 million bushels,down 2 percent from 2010and the lowest since 1956.On-farm stocks, at 1.7 mil-lion bushels, were un-changed from a year earli-er and equal to the lowestsince 1952. Off-farm stocks,at 6.6 million bushels, weredown 3 percent from theprevious year and the low-est since 1956.

Hay stocks on Nebraskafarms totaled 4.3 milliontons on Dec. 1, 2011, down 9percent from a year earlier.

AGfrom Page D2

Corn and soy-beans continue todominate Nebras-ka’s agriculturallandscape, push-ing aside othertraditional smallgrain crops, suchas wheat andsorghum.

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Ethanol sparks Nebraska’s economy


Our nation’s dangerous and expen-sive dependence on imported oil is atthe root of many challenges such asnational security, economic distressand environmental concerns, saidDavid Nielsen, a farmer from Lincolnand member of the Nebraska CornBoard.

“On top of that, America spendsmore than $1 billion each and everyday on imported oil,” Nielsen said.“That’s money headed out of thiscountry that could be invested righthere at home. We need a solution, andethanol is playing an important role.”

Ethanol provides a domestic, renew-able source of clean-burning fuel thatprovides a market for Nebraska corn,creates local jobs and generates mil-lions in tax revenues.

Of course, ethanol plants aren’t us-ing corn niblets to make ethanol. Morethan 99 percent of the corn grown inthe U.S. is field corn, not the sweet

corn humans eat. Field corn is typical-ly fed to livestock or transformed intoethanol and its co-products such as an-imal feed and food ingredients. “We’renot turning food into fuel,” Nielsensaid. “We’re actually turning corninto fuel, feed and food.”

He explained that ethanol produc-tion uses only the starch in the cornkernel. The rest of the kernel, includ-ing fiber and protein, then becomes ahigh value livestock feed called dis-tillers grains, which is widely used inlivestock production.

Corn used to be fed in its raw formto livestock, and it still is in many cas-es. Over time, however, livestock pro-ducers have increased the ratio of dis-tillers grains in rations with signifi-cant positive results. “Distillers grainshave become a preferred feed acrossthe U.S.,” Nielsen said. “It helps createdelicious red meat, poultry and dairyproducts enjoyed all over the world.”


NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace always puts the pedal to the metal during a race — andhe promotes American ethanol with the same full-speed enthusiasm. In 2011, NASCARbegan using E15, a 15 percent ethanol blend, as its fuel of choice. Here Wallace isshown with Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman during Husker Harvest Days when thegovernor proclaimed September as Renewable Fuels Awareness Month in Nebraska.Nebraska corn checkoff dollars have supported the NASCAR ethanol sponsorship.

Ethanol production provides domestic, renewable source of clean-burning fuel

Ethanol – By Ethanol – By the Numbersthe Numbers2525 Number of ethanol production

plants in Nebraska.

1313 The number of gallons of ethanol produced for each gallon of petroleum-based fuel used in the

entire corn to ethanol lifecycle.

565565 Million bushels of corn consumed by Nebraska ethanol plants annually.

Net after distillers grains.

$56,158$56,158 Average annual pay in Nebraska’s ethanol industry, compared to a

statewide pay average of $37,319.

1,300 1,300 Number of jobs created directly by theethanolindustry in Nebraska. Another 3,000 indirect

jobs have been created, many of them in rural areas ofthe state.

$30$30 million in local and state tax revenue createdby Nebraska’s ethanol industry.

World-Herald News Service

More than $20 million inemergency assistance fromthe U.S. Department of Agri-culture is bound for Iowaand Nebraska to help localsrecover from the MissouriRiver floods and other recentdisasters.

The question is, will it beenough?

Cliff Morrow, of ruralTekamah, said he knows ofone farm alone that has whathe estimates as $3 million indamage. So the $10.9 millionin aid bound for Nebraskamight not amount to much.

“I would think that thedamage in Burt Countymight have been that high,”said Morrow, who also chairsthe Burt County Board ofSupervisors. “But there [are]a lot of counties to share thatmoney.”

The Nebraska- and Iowa-bound funds are part of a$308 million package beingpushed to 33 states and Puer-to Rico announced Wednes-day by former Iowa governorand U.S. Agriculture Secre-

tary Tom Vilsack.Vilsack noted that natural

disasters wreaked wide-spread but varying havoc in2011.

“There have been yearsthat have had more intensivedamage in a particular geo-graphic area, but what’sunique about last year is thatvirtually every part of thecountry was affected,” Vil-sack said. “We’ve not seentornadoes as devastating aslast spring. Flooding on theMissouri River, because ofthe long-standing nature ofthe flooding, not a two- orthree-week situation, wasunique. Fires in the south-west part of the countrywere historic in magnitude.It’s been a tough year.”

The emergency funds arepart of USDA’s annual budg-et and money allocated fromthem will be used to repairand stabilize agriculture andpublic safety infrastructure.

Most of the money beingdistributed in Nebraska andIowa are funds from theEmergency ConservationProgram, which will help

farmers defray the costs forexpenses such as grading,shaping, moving silt andsand and repairing scourholes. Nebraska is getting$9.3 million in those funds,all for flood recovery.

Iowa is getting $10.8 mil-lion in Emergency Conserva-tion funds, most for MissouriRiver flooding and for flood-ing in Dubuque County onthe east side of the state.About $360,000 of that is go-ing toward recovery effortsfrom severe wind damage inTama and Benton Countiesthis past summer, said BethGrabau, spokeswoman forIowa Farm Service Agencyoffice.

“What it means is thatwe’ll be able to [help] thosepeople that have applied,”Grabau said. “We’ll be ableto provide assistance withthe cost of restoring theland.”

Many landowners eligiblefor these funds have alreadyapplied, officials in Nebras-ka and Iowa said. The dam-age is first reported to acounty’s Farm Service office,and the office inspects thedamage. After that, repairscan be made.

Thousands of farm acreswere damaged by ’11 floodMore than $20M in emergencyaid bound for Nebraska, Iowa

Please see FFLLOOOODD, Page D4


Corn farmers knowthat livestock produc-tion is their bread andbutter. That’s becauselivestock is the top cus-tomer for Nebraskacorn farmers, eitherthrough corn itself orthe distillers grains feedthat come from ethanolplants.

That’s why Nebraskafamily corn farmers dotheir part to ensure ahealthy and vibrantlivestock sector in Ne-braska.

Through corn check-off support of the U.S.Meat Export Federa-tion, Nebraska cornfarmers help promoteNebraska beef and porkaround the world.“Every pound of export-ed beef equates to 5.7pounds of corn re-quired to raise that ani-mal,” said Mark Jagels,a farmer from Daven-port and member of theNebraska Corn Board.“As the economy ofemerging nations im-proves, their appetitefor protein increasesand we want to makesure that Nebraska cornfed beef, pork and poul-try is on dinner plates

around the world.”More than 20 percent

of commercial beef pro-cessing in the U.S. takesplace in Nebraska. Thatmeans more than one infive hamburgers beginsin Nebraska. “Beef pro-duction and processingadds value, creates jobsand generates revenueright here by feedingNebraska corn and dis-tillers grains to Nebras-ka cattle,” Jagels said.

Some people forgethow important livestockproduction is to theethanol industry, headded. “Nebraska’s live-stock industry is a pri-mary reason ourethanol industry hasgrown across the state,”Jagels said.

That’s becauseethanol producers de-pend on a nearby mar-ket for the distillersgrains feed producedwhen making ethanol.“If we lose livestock pro-duction, we stand agreat risk of losing ourethanol industry aswell,” he said.

The immediate avail-ability of the distillersgrains produced in Ne-braska’s ethanol plantsis one reason many cat-tle producers from other

states ship their animalsto Nebraska feedlots.Distillers grains havebecome a feed of choiceand our abundant sup-ply attracts cattle fromMontana to Texas to befed and finished in Ne-braska.

In addition to support-ing research on feeding

distillers grains andmeat exports throughUSMEF, corn checkoffdollars support effortsto educate the publicand policy makers aboutthe importance and val-ue of agriculture andlivestock.

One way the Nebras-ka Corn Board does

this is by supportingthe Alliance for the Fu-ture of Agriculture inNebraska, or A-FAN.Others groups such asCommonGround andthe Corn FarmersCoalition put real fami-ly farmers in front ofconsumers to tell thetruth about today’s

farming and ranching. “It’s a story of envi-

ronmental stewardship,the highest level of ani-mal care and welfareand a commitment tosustainability,” Jagelssaid. “Today’s farmersand ranchers are greatand getting better everyday.”


Ag drives Neb. � corn is the fuel


Olympic bobsledding champion and Shelby native Curt Tomasevicz serves as a spokesperson for Nebraska’s cornfarmers. As part of his duties, Tomasevicz joined a trade team to Japan in July 2011 as part of a U.S. Meat Export Fed-eration mission to promote Nebraska beef, funded in part with Nebraska corn checkoff dollars. He’s shown here with agirls’ soccer team in Japan.

Through corn checkoff Neb.corn farmers help promoteNebraska beef and pork

Check out the Telegraph website at www.nptelegraph.com

“A lot of this work is al-ready done,” said DanSteinkruger, director ofthe Farm Service office forNebraska. “We got farmore done this fall andwinter than maybe wewould have done in a nor-mal [colder] year.”

Landowners can still filea late application for Envi-ronmental Conservationfunds.

Generally, 75 percent ofthe work is reimbursed.But this funding might notgo that far.

“Sometimes, if we don’treceive enough funding,we cost-share at a lowerlevel,” Steinkruger said.

Nebraska also is getting$1.57 million in Emer-gency Watershed Protec-tion Program funds. Theseare distributed to sponsorslike local governments orNatural Resource Districts

for public projects thatneed fixing, like cleaningup debris in a stream.

However, that money inNebraska is going to proj-ects from a previous year,many of them alreadycompleted. Iowa did not re-ceive any Watershed Pro-tection funds this timearound.

Flood- and tornado-rav-aged Missouri receivedmore than $50 million inagricultural disaster aid.

In addition to flooding,2011 was a big year for tor-nadoes, including recordoutbreaks in the South anda monster storm that lev-eled a large portion ofJoplin, Mo. All the Emer-gency Conservation fundsfor Texas went to wildfirerecovery.

Vilsack said the emer-gency money is being usedto help agricultural inter-ests beyond what is cov-ered by crop insurance. Hesaid the USDA paid out $8.6

billion in crop insuranceclaims last year, and $17.2billion over the past threeyears.

Percival, Iowa, farmerChris Boyd said he wasglad to hear about theneeded relief. Everythinghelps, he said. With thebudget problems in Wash-ington, he had figurednone might be available.

He and his brother Curtfarm about 1,200 acres inthe Missouri River valley.Almost all was inundated,and around 250 acres nowhas significant sand cover-ing it.

“The sand, it’s still in thefields and we’re going to bedealing with it for a longtime,” he said. “Nobodyknows for sure how thingswill work, because, for themost part, nobody hasdealt with a problem likethis.”

This report contains ma-terial from the AssociatedPress.

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Bill would allow higherpermit fee onfood sellers LINCOLN (AP) — A

bill that would raisethe ceiling on permitfees for restaurants,grocers and pushcartvendors is critical tomaintain food safety inNebraska, an industrylobbyist said Friday.

The measure, whichwould apply to busi-nesses that sell orprocess food, financesthe state inspectionprogram that ensuresfood is properly storedand prepared, saidKathy Siefken, a lobby-ist for the NebraskaGrocery Industry As-sociation.

Siefken said the bill— which, over time,would lead to higherfees for her group’sown members — is theassociation’s top prior-ity this legislative ses-sion. The bill is set fora hearing Tuesday be-fore the Legislature’sAgriculture Commit-tee.

“If this bill doesn’tpass, there won’t beenough funding (forthe inspections) pro-vided through the costof licenses,” Siefkensaid. “They would haveto cut staff. It’s ouropinion that food safe-ty is one of the mostimportant issues inthis state, and we donot want to see thoseinspections decreaseor become shorter. It’simportant that thoseinspectors are in ourstores.”

The measure by Sen.Tom Carlson of Hol-drege would not raisefees directly, but wouldestablish a new ceiling.

The Nebraska De-partment of Agricul-ture adjusts the feesannually to keep pacewith inflation andmaintain a small cashreserve, but the maxi-mum they can chargeis set in state law. Thedepartment askedCarlson to introducethe bill to keep the pro-gram’s revenue andcost balanced, said as-sistant director BobbieKriz-Wickham.

The bill, LB771, is de-signed to keep the con-tributions from permitfees in line with the taxdollar contribution fromthe state’s general fund.

The maximum ini-tial permit fee for mostfood services wouldrise to about $86, upfrom about $74. Thehighest annual inspec-tion fee would climb toabout $43, from $37.

Roughly half of theinspections are paidthrough the state’s gen-eral fund, while theother half is coveredthrough permittingfees paid by restau-rants, grocers, conven-ience stores and ven-dors. The cities of Om-aha, Lincoln andGrand Island collecttheir own fees and con-duct their own inspec-tions, but are requiredto follow the staterules.

“We didn’t want theindustry to be entirelydependent on the in-dustry for funding,”said Rick Leonard, anaide to the AgricultureCommittee. “We’vemade the argumentthat the consumer pub-lic benefits with confi-dence [in the food safe-ty], and the industrybenefits as well.”

Nebraska has 14 re-gional food inspectionoffices.

Siefken said themeasure will increasefunding for state agri-culture departmentfood inspectors whohave seen their num-bers shrink in recentyears as the budgettightens.

“There’s nothing leftto tighten,” she said.“I’ve been on inspec-tions with these peo-ple. There’s no fat leftto remove. The only an-swer to no fee increas-es this year would be toreduce the number ofinspectors that are outthere.”

The food code is up-dated every four yearsbased on scientific evi-dence of foodborne ill-nesses and safety. Thebill would update Ne-braska’s law to adoptthe 2009 food code,Leonard said.

The measure wouldalso double the permit-ting fee if restaurants,grocers and other foodvendors miss their pay-ment date by morethan a month.

Question: Is protectingthe safety net for farmers apriority for you, specifical-ly concerning farmers whohave lost part or all oftheir crops due to naturaldisasters?

Grassley: A safe and sta-ble food supply is the cor-nerstone of a cohesive so-ciety. The farm safety netensures that the Americanpeople have an affordable,consistent supply of foodto eat. Direct payments area thing of the past, but it’simperative that otherforms of the safety net re-main in some form to en-sure farmers can getthrough the ups and downsassociated with farming.

Question: Because thesuper committee did notact, are you concernedabout the input urban law-makers may have on the2012 farm bill?

Grassley: As long as thefood stamp program is apart of the farm bill, wewon’t have a situationwhere we don’t have a farmbill after September 30.This one will either berewritten or extended foranother year.

The bottom line is thatwe aren’t going to let thefood stamp program ex-pire, as long as they’re heldtogether (food stamp pro-gram and farm bill), and Idon’t see anything happen-ing to change that.

Question: Will any ac-tion be taken on the farmbill in 2012 because it’s anelection year? That is, willthe farm bill be considereda topic too hot to handleduring an election year?

Grassley: There ofcourse is a possibility thatelection-year politics canderail the 2012 farm bill. Ifthat happens, the currentfarm bill will be extendedand we’ll take it up in 2013.


With the current farmbill set to expire this year,much speculation hasbeen offered about whatthe 2012 farm bill will in-clude or will not include,as cuts are anticipated tocorrespond with an effortto reduce the federaldeficit.

Last year the Joint Se-lect Committee on DeficitReduction, also called the“super committee,” met tocut about $1.5 trillion fromthe federal deficit but didnot come to an agreementin November.

The law stated that if anagreement couldn’t bereached by the super com-mittee, spending cutsequal to $1.5 trillion wouldautomatically be takenfrom defense and domesticspending, said U.S. Sena-tor Charles Grassley (R-IA).

He continued that de-fense spending would takehalf the reduction and do-mestic spending, includ-ing agriculture, wouldtake half.

Grassley stated his un-derstanding is that agri-culture would take a $14 to$16 billion cut.

“If, as some are predict-ing, the law would bechanged to keep the De-fense Department fromtaking too deep of cuts,while maintaining the $1.5trillion spending cut, agri-culture may have to takean even greater reduc-tion,” Grassley wrote inan email in response toquestions from the Deni-son Bulletin and Review,“That number should notexceed the figure of $23billion (over 10 years) that

was determined by theagriculture committeesduring the super commit-tee negotiations.”

Staff of the Senate Agri-culture Committee has al-ready begun initial discus-sions on the 2012 farm bill,according Grassley.

Asked if he would havepreferred the super com-mittee to make the cuts inNovember as opposed tothe legislative process thisyear, Grassley responded,“A risk is associated withtaking either road. Thedeficit reduction commit-tee could have put togeth-er a bill that would haveleft the experts in agricul-ture — the ag committees— out of the picture.That’s why it was so im-portant that the commit-tees attempt to put togeth-er a farm bill that mayhave not been perfect butmight have avoided therisk of even greater cuts tothe safety net that couldoccur as the bill is devel-oped this year.”

Grassley said direct pay-ments would have beeneliminated in the proposalthat would have been sub-mitted to the deficit reduc-tion committee.

He hopes the 2012 farmbill will fit into the budgetwindow with the $23 bil-lion in cuts but continued,“It’s hard to know at thispoint.”

Grassley stated that thefarm safety net, crop in-surance and SNAP (foodstamps — SupplementalNutrition Assistance Pro-gram) will likely be at thecenter of the farm bill de-bate this year.

Grassley also respondedto the following questions:

Question: How deep to

you expect the farm billfunding cuts to be?

Grassley: Nobodyknows at this point. The fi-nal farm bill, though, willbe quite different thanwhat was developed forthe deficit reduction com-mittee. I want to makesure that crop insuranceisn’t comprised so muchthat it’s ineffective. Thispublic-private partnershiphas already been cut by ap-proximately $12 billionover the last few years,and it’s pretty clear therewill be no direct paymentsin this bill.

Question: Will anyparts of the 2012 Farm Billbe considered hands-off,regarding cuts?

Grassley: In any negoti-ation, everything has to beon the table, but certainlywe must maintain somesort of safety net for farm-ers.

Legislative workset to begin on the 2012 farm bill

Farms and other agricultural operations around the coun-try will be affected by the 2012 Farm Bill, currently underdevelopment in Washington.

File photo


Frey Pivot Service, Inc.Kent, Eric & Shirley Frey

STAPLETON, NE 69163308-636-2327 (Business)

Kent: 308-636-8349 (Cellular)Eric: 308-636-8133 (Cellular)

By RILEY JOHNSONWorld-Herald News Service

LINCOLN — Two Uni-versity of Nebraska-Lin-coln researchers say theymay have found a nature-friendly answer to howbest to feed a growingworld: irrigated corn.

UNL agronomists Patri-cio Grassini and Ken Cass-man found that irrigation’shigher yields and more-ef-ficient-than-recognized useof water and fertilizermore than offset themethod’s environmentalcosts in terms of green-house gas emissions.

Bushel to bushel, an acreof irrigated corn produced30 percent less emissionsthan an acre of rain-fedcorn, Grassini said. (Thatsame irrigated acre ofcorn, in the end, talliedless emissions than a quar-ter of one year’s emissionsfrom a U.S. car.)

The findings could helpproponents of well-man-aged irrigation fight therap of being labeled envi-ronmental burdens andlead to an industrywideboost in corn productionas the world population ap-proaches a projected 9 bil-lion by 2050, said Grassini,the report’s lead author.

“For so many years, wehave been hearing peopletell us high-yield agricul-ture cannot feed the worldbecause of its assumed en-vironmental impact,” hesaid.

This study’s findings,Grassini said, change theconversation.

In their peer-reviewedstudy whose results werepublished in November,Grassini and Cassman an-alyzed three years of yielddata from 777 irrigatedfarms in the Nebraskacounties of Gosper, Kear-ney and Phelps, in collabo-ration with the Tri-BasinNatural Resources Districtin Holdrege.

“If we’re going to feedthe world, we can’t counton rain,” said Dennis Gen-genbach, an irrigator and astudy participant.

The 62-year-old Smith-field resident said the fu-ture of corn productionlies in center-pivot-irrigat-ed fields, and word of irri-gation’s low emissions ex-cited him.

The difficulties of re-placing groundwater usedfor irrigation — and notgreenhouse gas emissions— concern one Iowa agron-omist familiar with thestudy.

“I am not sure that ex-tracting water from areservoir that’s not beingrefilled [as fast] is a favor-able environmental impactwhen that water’s beingused to produce feed and aproduct that will be used toproduce energy (ethanol),”said Rick Cruse, an agron-omist at Iowa State Univer-sity.

It’s almost as if the au-thors assumed that the wa-ter pulled from the aquiferwas renewable, Cruse said,despite its dependenceupon rainfall for replenish-ment — raising questionsabout long-term sustain-ability.

Cassman is quick topoint out that not everyfarmer can or should irri-gate and that irrigation re-quires additional watermanagement strategies.

But overall, the UNL

UNL agronomists Patricio Grassini and Ken Cassman found that ir-rigation’s higher yields and more-efficient-than-recognized use of wa-ter and fertilizer more than offset the method’s environmental costs interms of greenhouse gas emissions.

File photo

agronomists say the studyshows a “best path for-ward” as farmers world-wide try to maximizeyields with minimal harmto the environment on lim-ited acres.

“If your goal is to reducegreenhouse gases or pro-duce the highest-energy-ef-ficiency crops, you woulddo that by producing cropswithout inputs or stopfarming,” Cassman said.“And you can’t do that.”

A switch from irrigatedfields to dryland farmingwould come at too steep aprice, Grassini said.

Swapping irrigation fora rain-fed system in the re-gion studied would de-crease greenhouse gasemissions, but corn yieldswould fall by an estimated50 percent and require308,000 more acres of landto make up for the losses,Grassini said.

“It’s when you managethe water reservoir proper-ly and don’t overproducethat irrigation agricultureis a critical component ofglobal food security,” Cass-man said.

Study findsgreen in irrigatingcornfields

YOUR SOURCE since 1881w w w . n p t e l e g r a p h . c o m

Time & Temp532-6007

LINCOLN (AP) — The 2011 corn cropwas Nebraska’s second-biggest on recordand its soybean crop was the state’s third-largest ever, according to U.S. AgricultureDepartment figures.

The USDA also reported Thursday thatsorghum harvested for grain productionin Nebraska was down 3 percent last yearcompared with 2010 figures. The state’shay production dropped 11 percent fromthe 2010 total.

Nebraska farmers harvested an esti-mated 1.54 billion bushels of corn forgrain production in 2011. The USDA saidthe estimate came from year-end surveysand was 5 percent higher than the 2010harvest.

The state’s corn production record of1.58 billion bushels was set in 2009.

The average yield of 160 bushels anacre was unchanged from the Novemberforecast and was 6 bushels below the 2010figure.

The USDA’s grain stocks report issuedFriday said as of Dec. 1, 1.16 billionbushels of corn was stored in Nebraska,which is 3 percent less than stored a yearearlier.

Nebraska’s soybean farmers also had anear-record harvest in 2011.

Soybean production totaled 258 millionbushels, the USDA said. That’s 3 percentless than the 2010 harvest but still thethird-highest on record.

Soybean yield averaged 53.5 bushels anacre, a bushel higher than 2010 and thesecond-highest on record.

As of Dec. 1, 200 million bushels of soy-beans was being stored in Nebraska,which is 18 percent more than a year ago.

Corn crop estimated at second largest ever

THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPHD8 SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012 CORN 2012

BY ROBERT POREWorld-Herald News Service

A proposed change infederal child labor lawswould have a negative im-pact on Nebraska’s seedcorn industry and otheragricultural jobs employ-ing children under age 18.

On Sept. 2, the U.S. De-partment of Labor pro-posed a rule that wouldupdate regulations foryouth employed in agri-culture. According to thedepartment, the changeswould bring regulationsfor agricultural jobs intoline with those in non-agricultural sectors.

The rule would prohibitworkers under age 16 fromoperating nearly all pow-er-driven equipment. Itwould also prohibit any-one under age 18 from be-ing employed at grain ele-vators, bins, silos, feedlots,stockyards, livestock ex-changes and livestock auc-tions.

U.S. Sens. Ben Nelson,D-Neb., and Mike Jo-hanns, R-Neb., are among32 senators who sent a let-ter to Labor Secretary Hil-da Solis, requesting a 60-day extension of the com-ment period for the pro-posed changes. But the De-partment of Labor grant-ed a 30-day extension,which will end on Thurs-day.

The senators objected tothe announcement of theproposed change comingduring harvest season,which is the busiest timeof year for many farmers.

“Not only would thisregulation, as currentlydrafted, have far-reachingeffects on youth agricul-tural education programs,farms, ranches and otheragricultural businesses,”the senators told Solis, “itwould greatly impact thestructure of family farmsand rural communities.”

Johanns said the rule“doesn’t make sense whenyou consider how familyfarms operate.”

“While I believe agricul-tural workers and theiremployers need to takeproper precautions to en-courage workplace safety,this proposed rule raisesserious questions aboutthe administration’s un-derstanding of the agri-cultural economy,” Jo-hanns said.

For example, Johannssaid the proposal exempts

children who work ontheir family’s farm, but itremoves this exemption ifthe family farm is organ-ized as a corporation.

“However, many farmoperators incorporate thefamily farm to spreadrisk, provide liability pro-tection and distribute ben-efits among family mem-bers or other partners,” hesaid. “This legal statusdoes not make the farmany less of a family farmor have any impact on thesafety of the work envi-ronment.”

One of the bigger areaemployers of child laborin agriculture is S&J De-tasseling in Hastings. Oneof the owners, JulieBohlen, has been in the de-tasseling business fornearly 40 years.

Bohlen said S&J Detas-seling employs as many as2,000 people each summerand does about 50 percentof the detasseling in thearea. She said the pro-posed Department of La-bor rules would impactnearly 72 percent of hercompany’s work force,which is under age 16.

While the detasselingseason last summer wasdown because of weather,Bohlen said, her companywas responsible for a $2million boost to the areaeconomy. The economicripple effect could amplifythat amount to between $8million and $10 million.

Throughout the areaduring the summer,Bohlen said, her companyand others can employ asmany as 5,000 youth for athree-week period. Detas-seling is time-sensitive,and disruption in thework force can make orbreak a detasseling sea-son.

During those threeweeks, Bohlen said, the av-erage youth can earnaround $700. The kidspump much of that moneyback into the local econo-my.

Bohlen said the safety ofthe children is given theupmost attention includ-ing proper rest breaks, wa-ter, protection from thesun and safety equipment,such as eye goggles. Thekids also ride on what arecalled “crew carriers”when the corn is tall. Shesaid the business is audit-ed daily by outside agen-cies making sure condi-tions are safe for the kids.

Bohlen said machinesgo through the field priorto the kids to take most ofthe tassels out. The kidsfollow that up, makingsure the machines havecompleted their work.

“The kids are not reallystressed physically,” shesaid. “We need their eyesto get the tassels that themachines have missed. Wehave a lot of safety rulesbecause they are beingcarried through the fieldon machines.”

With those rigid safetyconditions, Bohlen said,they have less than 1 per-cent injury in any givenyear.

“We even count whenthey are scratched up be-cause that could end upwith an infection,” shesaid.

If youth can’t be em-ployed as detasselers,Bohlen said, detasselingcompanies would have tobecome more dependenton migratory workers.

She said many majorseed companies and detas-selers already hire manymigrant workers becausethere are not enough localworkers available.

“There is not enough ofa labor force in our area to

cover all the detasselingthat needs to be done,”Bohlen said. “If this [theproposed rule] goes intoplace, they would have nochoice.”

With the U.S. govern-ment cracking down onundocumented workers,getting enough migrantworkers during detassel-ing season could be a seri-ous challenge.

Bohlen said many corncompanies could turn to

outsourcing seed corn pro-duction outside the U.S.,which would cost a lot ofjobs and the economicbenefits to localeconomies.

“If it becomes so costprohibitive and labor pro-hibitive, what are they go-ing to do?” she asked.

Bohlen urged the publicto call Nelson or Johannsor share their commentswith the Department ofLabor. Comments can be

mailed to Wage and HourDivision, U.S. Departmentof Labor, Room S-3502, 200Constitution Avenue,N.W., Washington, DC20210. Comments can alsobe submitted through theFederal e-RulemakingPortal at www.regula-tions.gov.

Nelson’s Washington of-fice can be contacted at(202) 224-6551 and Jo-hanns’ Washington officeat (202) 224-4224.

Could change in labor law hurt farms?Strengthening of child labor law could limitsummer jobs like corndetassling, advocates say

Farm and ranching advocates say proposed changes to child labor rules could limit teenagers’ role in such tradition-al jobs as corn detassling, worrying many in the agricultural community.

File photo


Although winter weather appears to bejust beginning, in a few months springwill arrive, and with spring comes theplanting season with its production in-puts.

Prices for fertilizer, seed corn, pesticideand even land are at all-time highs but re-main necessary when managing a farm.The root of high costs, according Dr.Michael Duffy, farm economist at IowaState University, is fuel. A farm simplycannot run without fuel.

Duffy said it is a fact that productioncosts for corn and soybeans are up 10 and15 percent respectively from last year butcautioned farmers to remain responsibledespite high prices.

“Use good judgment,” Duffy said.“Even though costs are high, now is notthe time to abandon good management.”

Duffy said a way to manage high costsis to be efficient. He encouraged farmersto use the appropriate seed type; be awareof the planting depth; maintain good,sound pest management; and to not makeunnecessary trips across the field.

“It’s always important that farmers

carefully evaluate what they’re doing,”he said.

Even with high production costs, Duffysaid the projected cost of corn per bushelshows farmers can still make a profit but,again, only if they continue to watchprices and manage with the best judg-ment.

After evaluating production costs for2012, Duffy also said he did not noticemany dramatic price increases in pesti-cide, seed corn and fertilizer mainly be-cause the price of fuel has stayed steadyrecently.

However, land rent has jumped nearly20 percent compared to last year due tothe spike in land costs. Landlords mightcharge more to tenants to meet the cost oftheir land; Duffy said rent will be highereverywhere. A farmer on rented landneeds to be aware of costs before signinga lease.

“It’s important to not forget businesspractices and to evaluate all purchases,”Duffy said. “The bottom line is that peo-ple need to be very careful about theirrents and avoid paying more than theycan afford.”

“The bottom line” for farmers, as Duffymentioned several times, is to settle downand use good judgment. Farmers have tobe aware of every cost and purchase andthe weather because good decision mak-ing may be the difference between profitand failure.

“Don’t expect an extraordinary yield,”he stated. “Plan for average and if we canget above average, then we did great.”

Looking ahead to2012 spring plantingEconomist urges efficiency to managecosts in lean times

Corn 2012

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