Holiday-season travel took me through a good portion of the Midwest and, as always, it was interesting to make roadside observations of America’s agriculture.
Note was made of the regular scenes of dairy cattle, barns, beef animals and even a few exotic critters along the way. But, as always, it was the soil to which my attention was turned.
That beloved soil, so rich in color, depth and giving, shined where it peeked from beneath northern snow and glistened in its blackened beauty through the Midwest’s breadbasket.
The travels showed me some corn still standing, some fields that were never planted this season, and many fields that had been harvested and tilled in preparation for planting in the 2020 season.
Whatever its degree of harvest and wetness this year, that soil still boldly exuded hope for the coming year.
Those people involved in farming certainly reflect that hope.
In today’s news update:
Milk production forecasts for 2019 and 2020 are unchanged from last month. The December U.S Department of Agriculture milk report reduces the cheese and butter prices, but the nonfat dry milk price is increased. The whey price is unchanged. The butter price for 2020 is reduced on continued demand softness, but cheese prices are forecast to be slightly higher based on stronger demands. Nonfat dry milk and whey prices also are raised for 2020. The 2020 forecast of class III and class IV are increased. The report had the 2019 all-milk price at $18.60 per hundredweight and the 2020 all-milk price at $19.40 per hundredweight.
Hemp growers have become eligible for crop insurance coverage just as other crops are insured. Representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency said last week that the insurance will become available under a pilot program in 21 states where hemp is legally grown. The multi-peril crop insurance is for hemp grown for fiber, grain or CBD oil in the 2020 crop year. That coverage is an addition to whole-farm revenue protection coverage made available to hemp growers this year. The insurance is available through private crop-insurance agents.
The yield of oats grown in the region varied widely in 2019, according to the USDA’s estimates. Burnett County producers had one of the area’s highest yields, at 58.7 bushels per acre, with Clark County on the low end at 37.9 bushels per acre. The state’s highest average yields were in Langlade County, at 71.1 bushels per acre.
Registration has opened for the Wisconsin Farmers Union convention Jan. 31- Feb. 2 at the Central Wisconsin Convention and Expo Center at Rothschild. The organization’s annual policy package will be developed during the convention, along with workshops including one focusing on building rural strength and resiliency through racial justice. General and registration information is available through the Wisconsin Farmers Union’s state office in Chippewa Falls.
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