January 8, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Valley, this is aglife. My name is Bob Quinn.
With you for the next hour. We're talking about agricultural
production here in the valley and all across the country.
And speaking of all across the country, twenty twenty four
had many weather stories that impacted agriculture all across the country.
Rod Bain starts us off this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
In several cases, say goodbye to twenty twenty four's weather
and its impacts. Couldn't come fast enough. USDA burologist Brad
Rippey says in an eventful year of weather and climatic events,
he emits difficulty in paring down to create a top
ten weather stories list of twenty twenty four. Yet it

(00:41):
is compiled and in no particular order. The list starts
with four hurricanes that reached the US Gulf Coast.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
What Helen will always be remembered for is the flooding
in the southern Appalachians, including Asheville, North Carolina, likely the
most costly US hurricane in the nation's history. Hurricane Milton
was five hurricane at one time in its existence, one
of the top ten in the all time realm of
Atlantic basin storms for both wind speeds and lowest pressure

(01:09):
damage ESTEM is still being tabulated, but it too could
be one hundred billion dollar storm.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Two early season hurricanes joined Helena Milton on the Top
ten weather stories list. Barrel caused significant damages at Houston
and East Texas, as well as a Tordanic outbreak that'd
be the following month caused damages to Florida's Big Bend,
also qualifying among Brad Rippy's Top ten weather stories.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Wildfires the wildfires that tore across the North Texas and
western Oklahoma landscape right at the tail end of meteorological
winter February twenty sixth we saw the origin of many
of the fires that eventually burned well over a million
acres the western wildfire season of the summer and autumn,
and we certainly saw quite a few old fires in
the Northwest and in California. In twenty twenty four. Overall,

(01:56):
and this does include the acreage from the Southern Plains fires,
we saw that eight and a half million acres of
vegetation scorched across the country due to wildfires, somewhat below
the all time record, which is just a shade above
ten million acres, but certainly a consequential wildfire season.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Route coverage is also considered top TED weather story for
twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Eleven point eight percent of the country in drought on
June eleventh was the lowest coverage in four years, but
just a little over four months later we had more
than half of the country in drought fifty four percent
by late October, and that was the highest drought coverage
in about two years.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
As were two series of tornadic outbreaks.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
At late April outbreak resulted in seven fatalities from six
individual tornadoes and caused almost two billion dollars worth in damages.
The outbreak of late May, we saw extremely active weather,
seven deadly tornadoes resulting in twenty one fatalities and a
price tag of more than eight billion dollars in damages.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
With over arching warmth rounding out the top TED weather
stories of the.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Year, highlighted by the warmest winter on record, and then
we finished off with our warmest autumn on record. January
through November turned out to be the warmest first eleven
months of the calendar year on record.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Broad Bain reporting for the US Department of Agriculture in Washington,
d C.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Per capita butter consumption on the rise. We'll talk about that.
Also a story on a new Idaho dairy processing facility.
You're listening to Aglife Bob Quinn. Here were some farm
news this morning, friends. Butter consumption in the US at
an all time high. Wisconsin one of the country's biggest
dairy producers, and butter is a big part of that production.

(03:37):
Wisconsin's Allison Dairyland Award winner Hailey Heinzel talks about Wisconsin's
butter production.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
Butter is made from simple ingredients, just cream and salt,
and if you're buying on salted butter, it is just
one hundred percent Wisconsin dairy. Our dairy cows make sure
we have plenty of cream available to keep Wisconsin's thirteen
butter processing plants busy, making Wisconsin one of the top
two butter producing states. All this butter finds its way
to the grocery store shelves around the country, with the

(04:04):
average American consuming six and a half pounds of butter
each year.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Butter demand has it been this high in decades.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
Fun fact, we are on a fifty year high of
butter consumption in the United States. Butter contributes to Wisconsin's
fifty two point eight billion dollar dairy industry and supports
Wisconsin's dairy farmers and their families, of which ninety nine
percent of dairy farms are family owned.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Heidie Heinzel, Wisconsin's Allison Dairyland talking butter with us today,
Well friends. Early in twenty twenty four, unique milk processing
facility opened its doors east of Twin Falls, Idaho. Suntato
is a one hundred ninety thousand square foot state of
the art facility that will initially process between eight hundred
thousand and one million pounds of milk per day. When

(04:47):
completely online, it's expected to process up to three million
pounds per day. Rick Naerabaut, CEO of the Idaho Dairyman's Association,
says this project is very exciting, not just for the
southern part of the state, for all of Idaho.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
This is Daariman reinvesting in the community and vertically integrating
their business. So you've got that reinvestment into the rural
community there in Burley, and you've got dairyman, you know,
taking that next step in their business growth and vertically integrating.
So there's just a lot of great pieces to that project.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Sun Tata will process Class one and Class two milk.
With over six hundred and fifty thousand dairy cows across
the state, Idaho currently ranks number three in the nation
in total milk production. Well friends, the cattle market had
a great twenty twenty four, but Scott Verelek of KKV
Trading out in the Midwest says January typically isn't the

(05:40):
best month to market cattle.

Speaker 6 (05:42):
That's always my least favorite month to sell cattle. It
feels like we usually advertise some packer kill cuts, they
do some of their cooler clean outs or some maintenance,
so we usually see those seasonally happen. So when that
starts to be talked about by packers, it's not a surprise,
and they like to really overplay that and stand up
on a mountain and preach it. But I would expect

(06:02):
some of that to come based on our tighter supply
and it's a way to back up cattle for them,
and we just get past our big demand season and
some of that excellent shelf business that we get there,
So I would expect that we kind of lull just
a little bit because we always feel like, hey, spring's coming,
let's get that spring demand kind of kicking in and
it's just too early yet.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
He says cash markets were particularly strong in December.

Speaker 6 (06:25):
High cash prices have been what's leading us here and
let us out of the gut or this last break
that we had. And you know, even on Saturday, they
were out looking for cattle. There was some one ninety
seven trading, some one ninety seven fifty to some regionals
and some guys were even able to pass that bid
because we're current enough. And it just feels different if
you look back for years, producers have not had this
kind of leverage in a long time, and we have it.

(06:48):
We've got all packers bidding, we're able to pass, We're
able to take bids and choose where we're going. We've
got people getting live bids that never get live bids
in some of those remote areas. So it feels like
we have the upper hand on the live cattle cash
site like.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Thinks that leverage will stay on the producer's side into
early twenty twenty five.

Speaker 6 (07:05):
I see a lot of confidence, especially in this cash
feeder market. I mean these prices really there was about
a five or six week stretch that they just went
straight up. I feel like we saw maybe some Hefferts
getting held back earlier in this fall, and then as
we've just climbed real fast, it's getting tougher to tougher
to think are we going to be able to rebuild
this cowport or not? Just with the sheer cost that

(07:25):
it is. I mean it's a two thousand dollars Heffer
caf and it's going to cost. You know, my cowboy
mouth says about one thousand dollars per year on that animal.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
Scott Verreleach talking cattle with us this morning. Farm us,
you're listening to ag Life.

Speaker 7 (07:38):
It's another agnews update. Whenever we talk about waterways and infrastructure,
it's important to know who pays.

Speaker 8 (07:48):
Cattle CON's headed to San Antonio.

Speaker 9 (07:50):
Got youwhere? Fourth through six, twenty twenty five, where farmers
and ranchers gather to shape our industry's features.

Speaker 8 (07:56):
Remember, if you.

Speaker 9 (07:56):
Ain't at the table, you might just be on Maybe
check out the latest ranching at the Texas sized NCBA
Trade Show network, learn and grow your operation. Don't miss
this chance to steer the Cattle bis in San Antonio,
where the Atimo spirit lives on. Is it conventioned dot
NCBA dot org to get registered Shattle Con twenty twenty
five where the beef industry meets.

Speaker 7 (08:18):
Paul Roady is with the Waterways Counsel.

Speaker 10 (08:21):
You know, we are a great example of user pay
users say, the industry pays a diesel tax of twenty
nine cents a gallon on commercial use of our inland
waterway system. They're the only industry that pays any private
money into the lock and dam capital improvements. And they're
also the most heavily taxed industry as far as surface

(08:43):
transportation goes. All that said, it was not too long
ago that the industry came together and unanimously and voluntarily
told Congress, look, we've got to get after this backlog
of construction and repairs for locks and dams, so we
want to actually raise our tax by forty five percent.
And that raised quite a few eyebrows in Washington, DC.

(09:04):
They don't get a lot of people saying, hey, raise
our taxes for us. And that had to go through
an authorization process, a legislative process. It just doesn't happen magically,
so it's got to go through the functions of legislation
on Capitol Hill. But we're successful, and that brought more
money into what's called the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, and
that trust fund is paired with the Annual Appropriations process

(09:28):
to fund construction and major rehabilitations of our lockadem infrastructure.

Speaker 7 (09:34):
It's another agnews update.

Speaker 11 (09:37):
Here's farmer and businessman James Wood.

Speaker 12 (09:39):
We farm about thirty five hundred acres. There's pipelines everywhere.
The contractor working on my property did not have the
lines located before he began work and it resulted on
a strake on a natural Gays pipeline. Fortunately no one
was hurt, but it could have been much worse.

Speaker 11 (09:55):
Never assumed the location or depth of underground lines. Always
call eight one one or visit click before you diig
dot com before you start work. A message from the
Pipeline Operators for AG Safety Campaign.

Speaker 7 (10:06):
American Cattle News. As a new Congress prepares to be seated,
expect challenges to check offs more after.

Speaker 9 (10:16):
This cattle CON's headed to San Antonio. Have youwhere fourth
through six, twenty twenty five, where farmers and ranchers gather
to shape our industry's future. Remember, if you ain't at
the table, you might just be on the men. Check
out the latest in ranching at the Texas sized NCBA
trade show network, learn and grow your operation. Don't miss
this chance to stare the cattle bis in San Antonio,

(10:37):
where the Alimo spirit lives on visit you mentioned dot
NCBA dot org to get registered. Cattle Con twenty twenty
five where the beef industry meets.

Speaker 7 (10:46):
Steve Dittmer is executive vice president of the Ag Freedom Foundation.

Speaker 13 (10:52):
The checkoff is beef promotion, research and education. They can't
get involved in legislation. NCBA had to spend hundreds of
thousands of dollars with lawyers fighting these court battles in
order to prove the checkoff was doing what was supposed
to do. We also had a referendum or a petition
for a referendum a couple of years ago, and it

(11:15):
never gone anywhere near enough signatures to bring a referendum.
And I think one of the things that people miss
about the Beef Checkoff, this isn't a government program that
was handed down to us or mandated or anything like that.
Cattlemen across the country went into their offices and voted

(11:35):
this checkof in in nineteen eighty five or eighty six,
I forget exactly which year, but it was something they
voluntarily decided they wanted to do to promote their industry,
to provide the nutrition research, the health research, to fight
the don't need animal products movement that started in the
seventies with Senator McGovern. They wanted to be able to

(11:58):
do this themselves, to do national advertising, to do educational work.
And it's been immensely successful. And if you look at
the money that the check Off has put into the
US meet exp operation, we're approaching five hundred dollars ahead
for the fed animal of value from beef exports Alan.

(12:21):
Besides the boost and domestic beef demand and those kind
of things are critically important.

Speaker 7 (12:26):
You can expect another push in the next Congress to
end Chekhov's American Cattle News.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
This is Dairy Radio Now with Bill Baker.

Speaker 14 (12:42):
We have discussed stress on the farm before, but how
stressed are your animals? Our guest today is doctor Nicole Sanchez,
a research animal scientist with the USDA Livestock Issues Research Unit,
and she discusses stress on the farm, but not from
the farmer's point of view, from our animals.

Speaker 15 (12:59):
Well, stress is all around us and we may not
experience stress every day, but our animals can, and they're
hidden can be hidden stressors such as sickness. Sickness is
a stressor to animals. We have heat stress, and then
natural disasters can significantly influence our stress responses and what
our cattle and human sysm all experience. The stress is

(13:19):
an important aspect, especially in cattle, and so it's the
body's reaction trying to get us back to our baseline,
to our normal after being thrown off by some kind
of stressor. And stress consists of three different things. The
first is the stressor itself. It's the stimulus. It can
be a barking dog that may be a psychological stressor
for our cattle, and so the animal takes these signals

(13:41):
in initiates a stress response, and this is mediated by
different stress hormones within the body that have.

Speaker 16 (13:47):
Different physiological effects on.

Speaker 15 (13:49):
The body such as increased respiration, changes in heart rate
and blood flow, and subsequent effects on different body systems
from digestion to reproduction and immunity. We have social stressors.
This can include the mixing of unfamiliar animals. This can
happen with transportation or when we're having to readjust different groups.
There are very psychological stressors, so some examples include new surroundings,

(14:12):
and so for transporting or moving animal to a different
part of the farm and to a different farm in general.
There are also nutritional stressors a large diet or too
little diet, or whether we're having contamination or poor quality
of feed. These can affect and be a stressor on
the animal. And then of course there's physical stressors injuries
that an animal and experience. Extreme weather, moving cattle, processing, cattle, castration,

(14:36):
or branding can.

Speaker 16 (14:37):
Be physical stressors for our cattle.

Speaker 15 (14:39):
And stress is important because it can disrupt many different
maintenance behaviors, usually behaviors, whether that's increased respiration, agitation. Stress
can affect virtually all body systems, and so our whole
body is responsive to stress.

Speaker 14 (14:52):
So now that we know that stress is coming from
all these different locations, what's the solution.

Speaker 16 (14:57):
So for the stress response, the first step is perception stress.

Speaker 15 (15:00):
So if we're talking, for example, a caf seeing a
predator such as a dog or a coyote, it's going
to sense that stress and it's going to elicit a
reaction within the body, and so the higher brain centers
are going to perceive the stress and these hormones then
send a signal through the blood to the adrenal plan
that sits on top of our kidneys and this results
in the production of the stress hormone Cortisol results probably

(15:22):
one of the most well known stress hormones.

Speaker 16 (15:23):
It's one that's stability discussed, and depending.

Speaker 15 (15:26):
On various factors such as breed and gender or sex,
we can see different effects. Stress can be alleviated in
many different ways. The first management looking at our different
processes are handling of our cattle and making sure that
we're using calm animal handling a movement, and if there's
any other factors that we can do that may alleviate

(15:47):
even psychological stressors such as shadows and things like that.
So cattle do adapt to environments, they adapt to stressors,
and so if you're handling cattle daily or weekly, they're
going to get accustomed to that and you're going to
see decreases in that stres response. Usually temperamental cattle may
not calm down as much, but we do see calming
and so gradual introduction, gradual changes are better than things

(16:09):
that have to change quickly, and sometimes that's out of
our control with sudden changes, but it's doing our best
to alleviate that stress or to minimize us stress. A
lot of times with these stressors, we're not able to
completely eliminate them, but if we can reduce the effects,
you're going to have a significant potential positive impact on
that animal and the way they respond. So many different

(16:29):
factors can influence those response to stress, and the whole
body can be influenced by stress from.

Speaker 16 (16:34):
Growth, reproduction health.

Speaker 15 (16:37):
But through proper planning and changes in management and abtation
and management and some of these tools that producers can
use may be some of these nutritional supplements to reduce
the negative effects that we see on a stress response
as well as improved immunity in our calves and our cows.

Speaker 14 (16:51):
Comments from doctor Nicole Bernick Sanchez, USDA research animal scientists
with the Livestock Issues Research Unit here on Dairy Radio.

Speaker 13 (16:59):
Now.

Speaker 17 (16:59):
When is the best time to talk to your family
about staying in touch during a disaster amid the chaos?
Where's the best time? Perhaps today? Go to Ready dot gov,
slash communicate and make your emergency plan today. Don't wait.
Communicate Brought to you by FEMA and the AD Council.

Speaker 18 (17:14):
Your blood pressure numbers could change your life. Talk to
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Start taking the right steps and manage your VP dot
org brought you by the American Heart Association American Medical Association.

Speaker 19 (17:28):
In the ad Council, Almond prices remain low, but growers
are still keeping at it. I'm Patrick Cavanaugh with the
California Tree Nut Report, part of the vast ag Information Network.
Steve Zeiders is a pescatol advisor with Agri Valley Consulting,
looking after about fourteen thousand acres of almonds, walnuts, and

(17:49):
pistachios in Mercet and Madeira counties. He comments here about
the almond growers he consults with.

Speaker 20 (17:55):
Growers are still going at it of what they can
do and be cost effective and cost a wear, and
they're diversifying. They're also dealing with a lot of regulations,
so they're having to change things up, whether it's putting
in cover crops in the centers, pollination, dealing with bees
whether there's a shortage, or keeping their bees safe. I mean,

(18:16):
there was a bee convention just recently talking about bee
theft and how a lot of that was down in
the Fresno South Madera area and south.

Speaker 19 (18:24):
It's been an ongoing problem thieves are stealing colonies out
of the orchards.

Speaker 20 (18:29):
Yes, stealing colonies in the state of California values the
colonies at three hundred and fifty dollars.

Speaker 19 (18:35):
And Zeider says that those thieves are.

Speaker 20 (18:37):
Caught, compensation on that can be up to three times
the value of the colony. And that's for each colony
plus any effort the beekeeper or the growers have put
in to try and find them and get them back.

Speaker 19 (18:48):
That's s thieves. Eiders, a long time pest control advisor
with Agri Valley Consulting work in that central Valley on
all men's wallnuts and pistachios.

Speaker 21 (18:57):
You've probably been told that to reach a mileni you
have to go digital hmm, Facebook, Vimeo, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest,
LinkedIn and online publication or maybe a podcast hmm, but
which one? Oh, and how receptive is this age group
to your sales pitch during non work social time. Maybe

(19:18):
the best place to reach a farmer with a farming
solution message is when they are well, quite frankly farming.
You know, it's easy for us to find them during
the day, as most farmers are behind the wheel of
a pickup truck or farm equipment with the radio on
listening to this station for the AG Information Network of
the West News. If you'd like to deliver information about

(19:41):
your terrific product or service, give us a call and
we'll connect you directly with our community of loyal farmer listeners.
Reach real farmers right here, right now as they listen
to what is important to their farm operation. They trust us,
They'll trust you.

Speaker 19 (19:57):
With the AG Information Network, PA Cavanaugh.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
The last US drought monitor covering twenty twenty four indicated.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
Some improvement in the overall drought situation during the month
of December.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
USDA Meeorologist Brad Ripe says for the drought monitor for
the period ending December thirty first.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
Drought coverage across the lower forty eight states just to
shade over thirty eight percent of the country at the
end of twenty twenty four. That is down from almost
forty four percent at the beginning of December. And that's
also down from our autumn peak and also our twenty
twenty four peak of just over fifty four percent of
the country back on October twenty ninth.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
Add over five and a half percent decrease in overall
drought coverage month over month add sixty percent decrease since
the October peak. Drier conditions in the Southwest were offset
by drought reductions and eradications in much of the eastern
US rippy ad. Seventeen states reported extreme and or exceptional
drought to end the year.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
I did want to take a quick look back at
the calendar year twenty twenty four for drought. It was
bit of a roller coaster ride in terms of drought
coverage during the year of twenty twenty four. We hit
a four year low in drought coverage back in June,
with under twelve percent of the country in drought on
the eleventh of June, and then just four and a
half months later in late October, we reached our annual

(21:17):
high greater than fifty four percent of the lower forty
eight states in drought on October twenty ninth, So quite
a swing from that four year low to a two
year high in drought coverage from twelve to fifty four
percent between mid June and late October. As we take
a look at some of our individual state numbers, always
like to focus on our two worst drought categories, extreme

(21:40):
to exceptional drought because those higher end droughts can have
much more impactful effects on agriculture and other sectors of
the economy. We saw parts of seventeen states experiencing extreme
and or exceptional drought, and a lot of that was
focused across the Northern Plains and northern Rockies, parts of
the Southwest, and then just a few lingering potts in
the Eastern United States. In the West, parts of eight

(22:03):
of our eleven Western states experiencing extreme or exceptional drought
at the end of twenty twenty four, lead by Wyoming
coming in at twenty six percent. Now, as we moved
to the Great Plains, it's really western and south central
Texas primarily, and then several pockets across the northern Plains
dealing with extreme to exceptional drought. In the East, we
do have a couple of small areas of extreme drought

(22:24):
continuing mainly in Tennessee and the northern mid Atlantic. New
Jersey actually leads the nation in drout coverage for extreme
or exceptional drought thirty four percent. Looking at our agriculture
commodities and crops in drought for the end of twenty
twenty four, a quick look at winter wheat one quarter
of the US winter wheat production area in drought at
the end of December. That is down from twenty nine

(22:45):
percent at the beginning of December and way down from
the autumn peak of sixty two percent on October twenty ninth.
We see a similar pattern unfolding for our hay production
area in drought and our cattle inventory in drought. US
hay production in drought thirty six percent at the end
of December, down from forty eight percent on December third,
and sixty three percent in late October. Then finally, US

(23:07):
cattle inventory and drought just over a third thirty four
percent on December thirty first, down from forty percent at
the beginning of December and down from sixty two percent
in late October. So, for the most part, heading the
right direction, but we continue to watch some of that
drought area stretching from the southwest to the south central
United States, and also continuing to watch ongoing drought issues

(23:29):
across the northern Great Plains.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
I'm rod Bane, reporting for the US Department of Agriculture
in Washington, d C.

Speaker 22 (23:38):
Well.

Speaker 23 (23:38):
So many labor challenged Jo's face and agriculture finding antwers
to labor reform is critical for the industry. Representative Dan Newhouse,
a new member of the House Ag Committee, says he'll
keep pushing his Farm Workforce Modernization Act that he's been
working on for a few years.

Speaker 24 (23:57):
Absolutely, and in fact some people are pushed and to
get it past this Congress. Yet time's running out on that.
But that's still a very high on my priority list,
and we will continue pushing that.

Speaker 23 (24:09):
He says, more and more of those colleagues are jumping
on board.

Speaker 24 (24:13):
I'm gaining support for that all the time. People recognize
the importance of a legal workforce and recognize how important
immigrants are to the agricultural.

Speaker 23 (24:24):
Industry, and farmers are doing their part to spread the
male siege.

Speaker 24 (24:28):
The good thing is farmers all over the country are
communicating with their members of Congress and telling them how
big of a problem this is. And so you know
that's going to drive and drive getting this done. So
I'm continue to be optimistic, understand the challenge and the
work ahead to get it through. But if we can
clean up our border, we'll be able to get a lot.

Speaker 23 (24:48):
Of things done again. At as a Representative Dan Newhouse,
a new member of the House Sag Committee.

Speaker 25 (24:57):
It's time for California age today when the AGA Information
Network I am Hailey's ship looking deeper into the food system.
Here in the Golden State is Governor Gavin Newsom. Specifically,
Governor Newsom has issued an executive order directing state agencies
to address the health risks associated with ultra processed foods

(25:18):
and synthetic food dice. The order calls for further investigation
into the adverse health effects of synthetic food dice, directs
efforts to reduce the consumption of soda, candy, and other
ultra processed foods, and explorers ways to improve access to fresh,
healthy foods, particularly in underserved communities. Along with this is

(25:40):
the requirement of agencies to provide recommendations for limiting the
use of harmful ingredients in food products. Part of the
order includes examining the feasibility of using medical and hospital
funds to support local access to healthier food options and
address issues like food deserts. The order also looks into
setting higher standards for healthy school meals the National Guidelines.

(26:04):
Governor Newsom's executive order comes in responds to growing concerns
about health conditions such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes,
which are linked to poor diet. The order is part
of ongoing efforts to address nutrition and public health here
in the state of California.

Speaker 21 (26:20):
You've probably been told that to reach a millennial farmer
you have to go digital hmm, Facebook, Vimeo, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest,
LinkedIn and online publication or maybe a podcast hmm, but
which one?

Speaker 13 (26:35):
Oh?

Speaker 21 (26:35):
And how receptive is this age group to your sales
pitch during non work social time. Maybe the best place
to reach a farmer with a farming solution message is
when they are well, quite frankly farming. You know, it's
easy for us to find them during the day, as
most farmers are behind the wheel of a pickup truck
or farm equipment with the radio on. Listening to this

(26:58):
station featuring the AGG Information Network News. If you'd like
to deliver information about your terrific product or service, give
us a call and we'll connect you directly with our
community of loyal farmer listeners. Reach real farmers right here,
right now, as they listen to what is important to
their farm operation. They trust us, They'll trust you.

Speaker 25 (27:19):
With California AGG Today on the AG Information Network. I
am Haley's ship.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Bob Quhen. Here were some farm Us This Morning, Friends.
Butter consumption in the US at an all time high.
Wisconsin one of the country's biggest dairy producers, and butter
is a big part of that production. Wisconsin's Allison Dairyland
Award winner Hailey Heinzel talks about Wisconsin's butter production.

Speaker 4 (27:41):
Butter is made from simple ingredients, just cream and salt,
and if you're buying on salted butter, it is just
one hundred percent Wisconsin dairy. Our dairy cows make sure
we have plenty of cream available to keep Wisconsin's thirteen
butter processing plants busy, making Wisconsin one of the top
two butter producing states. All this butter finds its way
to the orcy store shelves around the country, with the

(28:02):
average American consuming six and a half pounds of butter
each year.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Heidie Heinzel, Wisconsin's Allison Dairyland, talking butter with Us Today,
Well Friends. Early in twenty twenty four, unique milk processing
facility opened its doors east of Twin Falls, Idaho. Suntato
is a one hundred and ninety thousand square foot state
of the art facility that will initially process between eight
hundred thousand and one million pounds of milk per day.

(28:28):
When completely online, it's expected to process up to three
million pounds per day. Rick Naabout, CEO of the Idaho
Dairyman's Association, says this project is very exciting, not just
for the southern part of the state, but for all
of Idaho.

Speaker 5 (28:41):
This is dairyman reinvesting in the community and vertically integrating
their business. So you've got that reinvestment into the rural
community there in Burley, and you've got dairymen, you know,
taking that next step in their business growth and vertically integrating.
So there's just a lot of a lot of great
pieces to that.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Sun Tata will process Class one and Class two milk
with over six hundred and fifty thousand dairy cows across
the state. Idaho currently ranks number three in the nation
in total milk production. Weekly exports started twenty twenty five
on a low note. Riley Smith as our story.

Speaker 26 (29:18):
In the first report for twenty twenty five. This week's
export sales were disappointing compared to expectations. Allendale commodity brokeer
Greg McBride gave an update on the latest US export
sales report.

Speaker 22 (29:30):
Came in at seven hundred and seventy seven thousand tons
for corn and six hundred and nine thousand tons for soybeans.
The estimated range for corn was somewhere between eight hundred
and one point four million tons. The beans were five
hundred thousand to one point three million. So the effect

(29:51):
that we were at the lower end or even eclipsed
the lower end of those estimates is going to look disappointing.
The caveat to this whole thing is those numbers that
we got, that seven seventy seven, the six hundred and
nine thousand for beans, those are right in line with
the five year average. So the idea that we've had

(30:12):
such good demand that propped up those numbers is a
is a little bit misleading here, But overall, we're still
doing fine on the on the corner corn and Meantale.

Speaker 26 (30:23):
Mc bride said, the exports usually see a seasonal decline
at the beginning of a new calendar year.

Speaker 22 (30:28):
Yeah, we start to get into a little bit of
a seasonal decline right about now. On the soybean side
of things. It's a it's a little more pronounced than
the corn side, but this is about the time where
you really start to lock in that that bean crop
in South America, whether it's Brazil or Argentina, and you
start to get a better feel for just how their

(30:50):
production is going. And that's when they you'll start to
see some of those scales start to switch over to
Brazil and you'll start to see our numbers start dwindle
a little bit. Well, that's kind of what we saw
this week. Now, whether or not that's just because it's
the holiday week or this is the normal seasonal remains
to be seen. We'll have to get a little more

(31:10):
information next week and maybe the week after.

Speaker 26 (31:13):
Even though this report was disappointing, McBride said he doesn't
expect any changes to the major categories on the January
was the report.

Speaker 22 (31:21):
So we are we are in line or just slightly
behind on so I mean exports, So I wouldn't expect
to see any major changes on the corn sales. They
just made a huge change in December of one hundred
and fifty one hundred and fifty million bushels on the
corn side of things, so they shouldn't be looking to

(31:43):
make any changes. We've also seen the corn sales back
off just enough to say, okay, we might actually be
a little bit behind where the usba's new goal is.
But there shouldn't be any changes to this to this
report that the exports have been just fine, So I
wouldn't be looking to say, oh, it's disappointing, we need
the lower I also wouldn't say it's been gangbusters that

(32:04):
we need to raise it again.

Speaker 26 (32:05):
How Laver McBride said, there are still some things to
keep an eye on once that report is released next Friday.

Speaker 22 (32:11):
You might see some changes to some of the other
usage categories like crush for soybeans or even ethanol for
the corn, for ethanol for the corn side of things.
And then the other thing to watch on that report
will be the US production. Do we see some decreases
to yield or even maybe maybe decreases to overall harvested

(32:33):
acres that could adjust and change our overall production numbers
here in the US. Obviously, we've got a lot of
information coming out next Friday, so it'll be a very
important to stay tuned.

Speaker 26 (32:43):
That again, was Allendale commodity broker Greg McBride. I'm Riley Smith, reporting.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
Farm US this morning. You're listening to AG Live.

Speaker 27 (32:52):
From the Egg Information Network. This is your agribusiness update
following Congressional boats on your end legislation. National corn Rowers
Ssociation President Ken Hartman says growers are disappointed about no
year round access to E fifteen. He says we thought
it would be in the end of year legislation, adding
this no cost provision would have provided a market driven

(33:12):
solution to farmers experiencing low corn prices. The NCGA is
calling on legislators to address this as quickly as possible
in the new Congress and fix it once and for all.
Fifty six percent of agricultural economists in the latest monthly
monitor say US agg ended twenty twenty four in a recession.
The newest monthly monitor ask economists what they'll be watching

(33:33):
for in the new year. One of the biggest is
the potential of a prospective terrafor which they say is
being downplayed despite published research measuring the expected damage. They're
also looking at farmer attitudes towards non traditional land uses
to help boost incomes, the prospect of new tariff disputes
when Donald Trump returns to the White House. As the
global economy in an uncertain position, farm Policy News says

(33:56):
the outcome of the twenty twenty four election cycle promises
to bring a significant change to the federal government's approach
to everything, including international trade, immigration, energy exploration, and rural
economic development. The high level of policy uncertainty is adding
to headwinds rural America already faces.

Speaker 21 (34:14):
For over forty years, the ag Information Network has been
providing news and information for the most important industry in
the world, agriculture. The Egg Information Network gives you worldwide
updates from local producers to regional organizations, from major crops
like wheat and corn, to animal agriculture to specialty crops
like apples, almonds, and cherries. We report on stories that

(34:35):
mean the most to you online at aginfo dot net.
The AG Information Network trusted and transparent journalism lasting for
the next generation. The best place to reach a farmer
with a farming solution message is when they're well farming.
It's easy to find them during the day, as most
farmers are behind the wheel of the pickup truck or
farm equipment with the radio on listening to this station

(34:57):
for the ag Information Network of the West New So
reach real farmers right here, right now as they listen
to what's important to their farm operation. Give us a
call and we'll connect you with our local farming community.
They trust us, so they'll trust you.

Speaker 8 (35:13):
From the egg Information Network, I'm Bob Larson with today's
agribusiness update.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
Bob Quent back to wrap up ag life for today friends.
The relationship between weeds and yields is a clear one,
Chad Smith as our final report.

Speaker 8 (35:26):
Aaron Crowman and agronomy service representative for Syngentis, says achieving
early season control is important for managing yield robbing weeds
and soybean fields.

Speaker 28 (35:37):
Weeds pull nutrients and they pull water and then they
compete for sunlight. Our goal is to make sure we
get ahead of these early season weeds. Apply effective rates
of herbicides with residuals. Try to control the weeds as
they germinate, rather than post emerge when they're up and
out of the ground.

Speaker 8 (35:55):
Growers can face challenges when tackling broadlaf weeds and annual
grass is in the early growth stages.

Speaker 28 (36:02):
Any weed that is emerged out of the ground is
very difficult to control. Our options on the chemistry portfolio
is reduced. We need to look at weather conditions, tank
mixed partners. We need to look at application best practices
to make sure that we get effective weed controlled. And
as that weed gets bigger and bigger and bigger, our
effectiveness goes less and less and less. And so what

(36:24):
we need to do is apply premerged heerbyside early. The
other big challenge that grower space is that there's a
wide spectrum or a wide timeline for weed emergence, and
so you go from planting time all the way through
a majority of the growing season, and these big problem
weads are going to be water hemp, palmer amrand for
our lead season weeds, and so we need to get

(36:45):
ahead of these early and lay down effective herbicides to
control them season long and not ever get behind the
eight ball or we're trying to control weeds that are emerged.

Speaker 8 (36:54):
Crowman talks about his recommended herbicide to control weeds and
boost yield potential.

Speaker 28 (36:59):
First and foremost, let's make sure we're identifying the weeds
that we need to target and know which ones we
have in our field. And a really good option from
our portfolio is going to be Tendovo saving herbicide. It
contains three active ingredients of smetallicore, metric using, and clorensulam.
So with those three combined, we have really good activity
on large seeded broad leaves, small seeded broad leaves, and grasses,

(37:22):
and so we're going to be able to target our
problem weads of waterhamp palmer amorant, giant ragweed, common rag weed,
velvet leaf, and then many of the grass species as well.
With this broad spectrum herbicide, we're able to get a
really solid footing for a long season weed control and
also allow us to get better prepared and set up
for a post to merge herbicide application.

Speaker 8 (37:43):
Talk to your local Syngenta retailer or sales rep to
learn more, or visit syngentaus dot com, forward slash tendovo.
Chad Smith reporting with that.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
Friends, out of time for today, thanks for joining us
back tomorrow morning with another edition of Bagline