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[AUG. 5, 2002]  URBANA — Landowners whose property is abundant with wildlife may be able to take advantage of the situation and turn it into a money-making venture. It’s called fee hunting, and it’s the topic of the next sustainable agriculture field trip, scheduled for 9:30 to noon on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at Spring View Acres in Pike County.

Mike Rahe, sustainable agriculture representative with the Illinois Department of Agriculture will present information on fee hunting enterprises such as whitetail deer and turkey and "put and take" pheasant and quail hunting.

Much like stocking a lake with trout for fishermen, "put and take" refers to stocking an area of land with birds like pheasant and quail for hunting. The birds are removed from a holding pen and released, or "put," into a hunting area. Then the hunters go to that area to hunt the birds, or "take" them, the same day.

Those who attend the field trip will learn the management techniques used to establish and maintain a successful fee hunting enterprise. Information on harvest strategies, habitat development, economics and marketing will be included. Farmers, farm managers, hunters and private consultants will pick up some pointers on everything from stand placement and food plot usage to deer densities and altering deer movement.

How is fee hunting related to sustainable agriculture? "It provides another alternative income source from an often underutilized resource found on a farm, namely wildlife," said Rahe. "It also adds value to the farm operation and the community through agri-tourism opportunities."

The field trip is free and registration is not required. For more information, contact Mike Rahe at (217) 785-5594; mrahe@agr.state.il.us.

To find Spring View Acres, from Pittsfield go east on Route 106 approximately 5 miles to Newburg Corner and turn left (north) on gravel road 3450 E. Continue 1 mile on gravel and turn left (west) onto 1600 N at mailbox that reads "Tripod Farms." Go past the house to the bottom of the hill, which dead-ends at the cabins.

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The fee hunting field trip is part of the 2002 Sustainable Agriculture Tours, sponsored by the Agroecology/Sustainable Agriculture Program at the University of Illinois, the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Professional Development Program and the Illinois Small Farm Task Force.

"The tours will give people a chance to see a variety of sustainable agriculture operations in action," said Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, research specialist at the University of Illinois in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

"Then, in November, we’ll be offering two identical workshops, on the 13th in Effingham and on the 14th in Peoria, that will look at the big picture and try to assimilate the practices presented on the summer tours. But each of the tours and the workshops stand alone, so people can attend one or all of them."

Cavanaugh-Grant said that the last field trip in the series, on agri-tourism, will be Oct. 11 at Apple Basket Farms in Barry.

Visit http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/asap/ for more information or contact Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant at (217) 968-5512; e-mail: cvnghgrn@uiuc.edu.

[U of I news release]

[AUG. 1, 2002]  URBANA — An investment in basic research into improving the photosynthetic process could be priceless to the future of agriculture. Genetically altering photosynthesis, or chlorophyll formation during the greening process, could lead to an eightfold increase in crop productivity, according to Constantin A. Rebeiz, professor of plant physiology at the University of Illinois.

Theoretically, the maximum food conversion capability, or the amount of sunlight converted to food for a plant, is 27 percent. However, under the best conditions in the Midwest, a corn plant at noon converts less than 1 percent of the sunlight it receives into food.

"Essentially, to make a very long story short, we are saying that basic research has not benefited agriculture so much. Crop productivity is still very low compared to a plant’s theoretical maximum photosynthetic efficiency."

Two types of chlorophyll in plants are responsible for solar energy capture and conversion into chemical energy. Antennae chlorophyll gathers light, and reaction center chlorophyll converts the captured solar energy to chemical energy that can be used in the formation of food. In nature, the ratio of antennae chlorophyll to reaction center chlorophyll, called the photosynthetic unit size, is so large that optimal efficiency is not possible. Mother Nature is responsible for the relationship, Rebeiz said.

In the 1970s, researchers attempted to modify the greening process to decrease the photosynthetic unit size but did not succeed because of limited knowledge of the process. The required knowledge exists today.

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"They did not succeed because changing the photosynthetic unit size requires a deep understanding of the chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway and other facets of the greening process," he said. "In 1975, that knowledge was not available. Now, 27 years later, we have garnered a considerable body of knowledge of how chlorophyll and other components of the greening process are made, and we feel the time is right to start systematically investigating how the photosynthetic unit size can be changed."

Rebeiz said modifying the photosynthetic unit size will require a multidisciplinary approach and calls for information about chlorophyll, protein, lipid, carotenoids and guinone biosynthesis. While maximum efficiency can be obtained only in model systems, he believes that achieving 10 percent efficiency in modified plants in the field is possible.

"If the ratio is decreased from 200-to-1 to 25-to-1, the efficiency increases eight times. In other words, a grower could produce on 1 acre what they were producing on 8 acres," he said.

[U of I news release]

[JULY 30, 2002]  URBANA — It now appears that improving weather conditions will result in some near-term price declines, said a University of Illinois Extension marketing specialist.

"The prospects for declining U.S. and world stocks of grain and oilseeds should keep prices supported above the extremely low levels of the past four years," said Darrel Good. "Small U.S. crops would provide an opportunity to test the strength of demand for corn and soybeans."

Good’s comments came as he reviewed corn and soybean prices, which have been extremely volatile over the past few weeks. September corn futures have traded in a range of nearly 30 cents, while August soybean futures have seen a 70-cent trading range. The wide trading range reflects uncertainty about crop size and the relatively tight supplies of old crop soybeans.

"The recent price behavior has been similar to that of a year ago, when September corn futures traded in a 40-cent range and August soybean futures had a range of 75 cents," said Good. "The major difference is that prices have been at a higher level this year.

"The debate about likely size of the U.S. corn and soybean crops continues, and opinions apparently vary significantly. The USDA’s weekly crop condition report shows that crop ratings are the lowest since 1988, suggesting that significant yield potential has already been lost. Others argue that crop ratings are not a good predictor of crop yields and that recently improved weather conditions in some areas point to the potential for decent average yields in 2002."

The USDA will release the first projection of 2002 yield potential on Aug. 12. The market will view this as an important benchmark for judging actual crop size. The report will reflect changes, if any, in planted acreage since the June survey was conducted, a forecast of harvested acreage and yield projections.

"It is always interesting to examine how the August forecast has compared to the estimate released in January after harvest," said Good. "Last year, when there were similar, although lesser, weather and crop concerns, the August soybean production forecast was only 24 million bushels — 0.8 percent smaller than the January estimate.

"The August corn projection was 241 million bushels — 8.3 percent smaller than the January estimate. In the 20 years from 1982 through 2001, the August soybean production forecast was above the January estimate nine times and below the January estimate 11 times. The August projection was below the January estimate for five consecutive years from 1988 through 1992. Since then there has been an alternating pattern of above and below."

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For corn, Good noted, the pattern has been similar to that of soybeans. The August forecast was above the January estimate in eight of the last 20 years and below the January estimate 12 times. The August projection was also below the January estimate during the five-year-period from 1988 through 1992.

"While the historical relationship between the August forecast and January estimate of crop size is interesting, it does not provide much insight for predicting the relationship this year," said Good. "The change in the production projection from August forward depends on weather conditions during the final stages of growth. The market will use the August projection as a starting point but will closely monitor weather conditions and crop condition reports in order to ‘second-guess’ the projections."

Potential crop size will continue to be the primary price factor over the next several weeks, said Good. Once the market settles on yield and production expectations, more attention will shift to expectations about market size during the 2002-03 marketing year.

For corn, the USDA sees the potential for an increase in exports and domestic processing use during the year ahead. A small decline in domestic feed and residual use is expected.

"The critical question is whether the crop is large enough to accommodate an increase in consumption or if higher prices will be required to limit consumption," said Good. "The last time that consumption had to be limited was 1995-96. In that year, demand was strong enough to require extremely high prices to force such a reduction."

For soybeans, the USDA had projected a small increase in the domestic crush during the year ahead but a significant decline in U.S. exports. The decline in exports reflects the expectation of increased exports from South America. At this early state, the USDA sees a 4 percent increase in soybean area in Brazil, a 6 percent increase in Argentina and a 2 percent increase in Paraguay.

"That increased acreage is expected to result in a record 2003 harvest of 2.965 billion bushels — 100 million bushels larger than the current projection of the 2002 U.S. harvest," said Good. "Even with a decline in U.S. exports, the 2002 crop may be small enough to keep year-ending stocks at an extremely low level."

[U of I news release]

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