Kansas.com: Agriculture

Community harvests crops after farmer's death

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:42 CDT

Todd Graham knew the corn that grew under this section of the southwest Kansas sky was promising.

He would take his wife, Becky, and their 5-year-old son, Kendall, out onto the land they had purchased a year earlier -- a field that stretches for a mile and their first big purchase as a young farm family. He'd give his trademark grin as he shucked a few ears amid the 420-acre field, his nod of approval.

"We spent a lot of afternoons out here pulling ears," Becky Graham said as she watched nine combines cut swaths through the field Wednesday. "He was excited about this year's crop."

Yet, while the combines filled with kernels on this 80-degree day, the 32-year-old Graham wasn't there to harvest it.

Graham, of Lakin, died Sept. 22 from injuries sustained in an accident that occurred while he was hauling corn to an area feedlot.

State's agriculture outlook promising

RICK PLUMLEE — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:41 CDT

A familiar rural scene in America in the 1980s -- often in the Midwest -- was another family farm being sold because of financial troubles.

A number of factors went into the farm crisis during those years, but heavy debt was one of the most significant causes.

At one point in the early 1980s, U.S. farmers' debt was more than 100 percent of their capacity to pay that debt off.

"That was a recipe for disaster," Jason Henderson told an audience of more than 500 attending Tuesday's 29th annual Wichita Area Economic Outlook Conference at the Hyatt Regency Wichita.

Henderson, an economist and a branch executive for the Federal Reserve Bank in Omaha, showed 18 graphics in discussing the state of the agricultural economy.

ICM lays off 73 more of its employees

RICK PLUMLEE — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:38 CDT

ICM's work force took another hit Friday when the nation's leading designer of ethanol plants announced it has laid off 73 employees effective immediately.

That follows the 105 employees the Colwich-based company laid off in April.

Dave Vander Griend, ICM's president and chief executive, blamed the poor conditions of the nation's economy for hindering the opportunity for new investments in the construction of plants.

"We are a people and relationship-oriented company," Vander Griend said in a news release, "so this was a very painful decision to make.

"I have been up front with our employees regarding the uncertain economy and the manufacturing challenges ahead."

Wall Street woes not affecting farm loans

ROXANA HEGEMAN — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:38 CDT

The economic turmoil on Wall Street has not reached the dusty country roads in the nation's heartland, where a rural economic boom has meant farmers are not having much trouble getting loans to plant crops, buy land and replace equipment.

"The fundamentals of agriculture right now, in terms of income and opportunities, is good. There are profits to be made, so I think that is underpinning the willingness to lend to that sector," said Jason Henderson, a branch executive with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

The 10th Federal Reserve District -- which encompasses Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming and parts of New Mexico and Missouri -- surveys banks each quarter for its agricultural credit conditions report.

Henderson, the Omaha branch executive who writes that quarterly snapshot, said that although the official third-quarter report will not be available until later this year, he has found anecdotally in talking to bankers that Wall Street's financial troubles have not affected rural banks' funding sources or changed their farm lending practices much.

"Their funding comes more from depositors, and that hasn't been impacted, and so they have funds available," Henderson said.

Cool, wet 'summer that wasn't' helps corn yields

RICK PLUMLEE — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:38 CDT

'08 HARVEST DOUBLES '07

A cool and wet summer has most of the state's corn growers expecting their fall yields to more than double from 2007. Add the fact that prices are up and you have plenty of smiling farmers.

"Guys are saying this is the summer that wasn't," said Ken McCauley, chairman of the National Corn Growers Association who grows cornin White Cloud, in northeastern Kansas. "We've had the perfect summer for most of the state."

While those in the drought-bound southwest corner of Kansas would disagree, the state's other growers are reaping benefits from a mild summer.

Harvesting of dryland corn -- or non-irrigated corn -- is nearly complete in south-central Kansas.

EPA needs data to regulate feedlots

RICK PLUMLEE — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:48 CDT

The Environmental Protection Agency doesn't have the information it needs to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations.

That was the conclusion drawn by a report issued this week by the Government Accountability Office.

The EPA is responsible for regulating the feedlots. But the report noted that no federal agency collects consistent and reliable data, so the EPA isn't able to carry out its responsibility.

The EPA is currently working with the states to establish a new national data system.

Large feeding operations can produce more than 1.6 million tons of manure in a year, the report said.

Farmland workshop slated for October

RICK PLUMLEE — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:07 CDT

A workshop for non-operator owners of farmland will be held Oct. 9 in Wichita.

Topics will include biofuel's influence, changes to the government farm program and updates to the tax code.

The workshop, which is sponsored by the Farmers National Co., will run from 9 a.m. to 3:50 p.m. at the Wichita Airport Hilton.

The cost is $15 for advance registration and $20 at the door. For more information or to register call 800-346-2650 or go to www.farmersnational.com/Landowner-Workshops.

Cargill's senior execs to shuffle

DAN VOORHIS — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:40 CDT

Bill Rupp has been at the top long enough to see that there might be other places he'd like to go.

Rupp, 47, is leaving as president of Wichita-based Cargill Meat Solutions and unit head of Cargill Beef, effective Feb. 1.

"One of the risks of leadership is that it gets stale," he said. "It wasn't stale here, but I didn't want to wait until that happened."

His departure will cause a shuffling of senior executives at Cargill.

Taking over as head of Cargill Beef will be John Keating, who is business unit leader for the Case Ready Beef and Cargill Regional Beef businesses. Cargill Beef is Cargill Meat Solutions' biggest business unit.

KSU offers tips for winter planting

RICK PLUMLEE — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 07:00 CDT

With wheat farmers gearing up for the planting season, a Kansas State University agronomist has drawn up a list of tips to help ensure good yields from their winter crop.

"Often, problems with plant growth and development later in the year can be traced back to poor emergence or inadequate root growth and tiller development in the fall and early winter," crop production specialist Jim Shroyer said.

He described important steps producers can take to improve their chances of getting a good stand of wheat:

• It's best to keep the tractor speed between 5 and 6 mph when drilling wheat.

• The ideal planting depth in most cases is 1 ½ inches.

Genetic link to mad cow found

RICK PLUMLEE — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:55 CDT

Researchers have discovered that genetic mutation may sometimes cause mad cow disease, raising hopes that breeders will be able to use the information to eliminate one avenue for the disease.

The findings were announced Friday by Kansas State University, where one of the researchers, Juergen Richt, joined its veterinary medicine faculty this summer.

"We now know (mad cow disease is) also in the genes of cattle," Richt said. "Genetic BSE we can combat."

Until several years ago, Richt said it was thought that mad cow disease -- bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE -- was strictly a foodborne disease. But the new findings show the disease is also caused by a genetic mutation within the prion protein gene.

"Our findings that there is a genetic component to BSE are significant," Richt said, "because they tell you we can have this disease everywhere in the world, even in so-called BSE-free countries."