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Features
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Farmers could see a
break in
seasonal use vehicle registration
[MARCH
17, 2003]
Farmers could save hundreds
of dollars each year under legislation sponsored by Sen. Bill Brady,
44th District, that allows special vehicle registration plates for
farm trucks and trailers strictly for the months those vehicles are
used for planting and harvest.
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Approved by the
Senate Agriculture and Conservation Committee March 11, Senate Bill
1471 allows the owners of farm trucks and trailers to purchase
registration stickers for four-month periods -- July through
October, November through February and March through June. For each
four-month period, the owners would only pay one-third the usual
12-month registration fee.
Former Gov. George
Ryan's Illinois FIRST Program increased all truck and trailer
registration fees by 25 percent. Many farm vehicles are only used
seasonally -- for planting or harvest -- so their owners should not
be required to pay the 12-month registration fee. With a tough
economy and so many farmers struggling, this legislation makes
sense.
Under current law,
the registration fees and taxes imposed on farm trucks and farm
trailers cannot be reduced or prorated.
[to top of second column in
this article]
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A farm truck is any
truck used exclusively for the owner's own agriculture,
horticultural or livestock raising operations, or any truck used
only in the transportation of seasonal, fresh, perishable fruit or
vegetables from farm to the point of first processing. These
vehicles may be registered by paying a $10 registration fee and a
highway use tax based on truck and load weight. The amounts can
range from $150 to nearly $1,500 per year.
A farm trailer
(determined by guidelines similar to those defining a farm truck)
may be registered by paying a $10 registration fee and a highway use
tax based on trailer and load weight. The amounts can range from $60
to $650 per year.
What is suggested is
that a farm truck or trailer may, at the owner's option, be
registered for a period of four months at a time, at a cost of
one-third of the applicable yearly registration fee. The secretary
of state would provide a distinctive decal for each four-month
period, and the vehicle owner would simply affix the decal to the
vehicle's license plate.
Senate Bill 1471 now moves to the full
Senate for further consideration.
[News release]
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Weekly
outlook on markets
[MARCH
13, 2003]
URBANA -- Compared with a
typical year, there are a few more uncertainties about the demand
for old crop corn and soybeans this marketing year, said a
University of Illinois Extension marketing specialist.
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"Still, the focus
will be largely on 2003 production prospects," said Darrel Good.
Good's comments came as he completed a midyear assessment of the
corn and soybean markets.
"March 1 marks the
midpoint of the corn and soybean marketing year. It has been a bit
of a tradition to review the progress of corn and soybean
consumption at this time of transition from old crop to new crop
focus."
Good noted that the
export picture for both corn and soybeans is somewhat confused due
to the large difference in export estimates among the various
reports.
"In the case of corn,
the USDA export inspections report shows a 13.4 percent decline in
shipments from the first half of the 2001-02 marketing year to the
first half of the 2002-03 marketing year, September through
February," he said. "The USDA's export sales report shows an 8.3
percent decline for the same time period.
"The Census Bureau
export estimates through December showed a decline of 4.8 percent,
while USDA reports through December showed declines of 9.5 percent
and 5.7 percent."
For soybeans, the
USDA export inspection report shows a 2.2 percent decline in
shipments during the first half of the current marketing year, and
the USDA export sales report is consistent, showing a 2.1 percent
decline.
"However, the Census
Bureau estimates through December showed a decline of 13.8 percent,
while USDA estimates for the same period indicated declines of 8.6
percent and 8 percent," Good said. "It appears that Census Bureau
estimates, which became the official estimates, have overstated corn
exports and understated soybean exports. The discrepancies suggest
some errors in reporting to the Census Bureau. If the discrepancies
continue, the USDA will report a very large residual use of soybeans
in the supply-demand balance sheet and will understate feed and
residual use of corn."
Typically, the rate
of soybean exports declines sharply beginning in March or April due
to the availability of South American soybeans. The extremely large
crop currently being harvested in South America suggests that the
rate of U.S. soybean exports will drop more than the normal amount
this year.
However, USDA
estimates show that as of Feb. 27, 148 million bushels of U.S.
soybeans had been sold for export, but not yet shipped.
"That is only 2
percent less than unshipped sales of a year ago," Good noted.
"Export shipments plus sales account for 96.3 percent of projected
exports for the year, with 26 weeks remaining in the marketing year.
China accounts for 25 percent of the unshipped sales. Unless all of
the sales to China are canceled, it appears that exports of U.S.
soybeans will exceed the current USDA projection."
[to top of second column in
this article]
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U.S. corn exports
show less of a seasonal pattern than U.S. soybean exports. In three
of the past four years, shipments have been slow in the December
through February period but recovered in the last half of the
marketing year. Some hope for a late recovery in corn exports this
year was generated by very large sales during the week that ended
Feb. 27. Even so, unshipped sales as of Feb. 27 totaled only 215
million bushels, 25 percent less than on the same date last year.
Unless sales continue to be large for several weeks, shipments for
the year may fall short of the current USDA projection.
Good noted that the
domestic soybean crush has also slowed recently. For the first five
months of the marketing year, the crush totaled 710.4 million
bushels, 3.5 percent less than the total during the same period last
year. For the entire 2002-03 marketing year, the USDA has projected
a 2.6 percent decline in the domestic crush. A sharp reduction in
soybean meal exports accounts for the slower pace of crush.
"The USDA reports
meal shipments through Feb. 27 at 3.04 million tons, 16 percent less
than the total of a year ago," said Good. "Unshipped sales as of
Feb. 27 totaled only 1.4 million tons, 32 percent less than on the
same date last year. A shortfall in the domestic crush may partly
offset the impact of larger-than-expected exports."
Domestic corn
consumption reveals two different trends. Processing use of corn is
up sharply, driven by increased use of corn for ethanol production.
Use for all food and industrial purposes during the 2002-03
marketing year may exceed the USDA projection of 2.265 billion
bushels. Feed and residual use of corn during the first quarter of
the marketing year was estimated to be 7.6 percent less than during
the same quarter last year.
"Part of the reason
for the large decline was the Census Bureau estimate of exports
during the quarter," said Good. "Using the USDA's estimate of
exports, feed and residual use during the quarter was down 6.2
percent. The March 1 “Grain Stocks” report, to be released on March
31, will provide an estimate of feed and residual use of corn during
the second quarter of the marketing year.
"The rate of decline compared to last
year is expected to be smaller than during the first quarter. For
the year, the USDA projects a 4.7 percent decline in feed and
residual use of corn."
[University
of Illinois news release]
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Conservation program should
focus on sloping lands
[MARCH
11, 2003]
URBANA -- A federal-state
program to remove environmentally sensitive cropland from production
in Illinois would operate more efficiently if it focused more on
sloping lands near rivers and streams, according to a University of
Illinois study. While the study finds that the Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Program has been effective in the watersheds examined in
Illinois, the costs have been greater than necessary.
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"We wanted to examine ways to improve
the targeting of land retirement programs to achieve environmental
benefits at least cost, and we focused on the Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Program, a federal-state partnership program to retire
environmentally sensitive cropland in the Illinois River watershed,"
said Madhu Khanna, an associate professor of environmental economics
in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics.
Co-authoring the study were Rick
Farnsworth and Hayri Onal, both faculty members in the department,
and Wanhong Yang, a recent doctoral degree graduate.
Funding for the study came from the
Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research.
The CREP initiative seeks to retire
232,000 acres in the watershed for periods of 15 to 35 years or
permanently at a projected cost of $500 million. Landowners receive
yearly payments for enrolling eligible cropland in the program.
Payments vary according to the soil type in each enrolled parcel,
sign-up bonuses and other one-time payments for applying specific
conservation practices and protecting the land beyond the minimum 15
years.
Researchers focused on the lower
Sangamon River watershed. Its 129,000 acres includes 58 percent in
cropland. They evaluated the extent to which actual Conservation
Reserve Enhancement Program enrollments in the area are achieving
the sediment abatement goals. They also compared actual acres
enrolled, program costs and sediment abated to the least cost
results from a simulation model. The economic-hydrologic simulation
model uses detailed spatial data about actual cropland
characteristics and location in the region to identify the least
cost combination of cropland parcels that achieved the program's
sediment reduction goal at least cost. Payments to landowners
equaled or exceeded expected returns to grain production.
"The model indicated a parcel of land
should be retired if the value of the environmental benefits from
retiring it was greater than the foregone profits from using it for
cropping," Khanna said. "We should retire parcels that generate a
large amount of sediment that gets into the river, and that would
help to capture sediment before it enters the river and where the
foregone profits would be low.
"We found that about 6,600 acres in
this watershed had been successfully enrolled and would reduce
sedimentation by 24 percent but at a higher cost than could have
been achieved. It was costing about $1 million in terms of lost
profits, and the same sediment abatement goal could have been
achieved for about $600,000."
[to top of second column in
this article]
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The difference in actual and estimated
costs can be attributed largely to the substitution of relatively
flat, highly productive flood plain land with sloping, less
productive, less costly land adjacent to streams.
"Ninety-six percent of the reduction in
sediment loadings in the Illinois River basin could be achieved by
focusing more on the 65 percent of the land that is within 900 feet
of rivers, streams and waterways," said Khanna.
She believes that CREP can be made even
more successful by continually adapting the program as new
information becomes available. Three minor changes could
substantially decrease costs and possibly contribute to the
establishment of long stretches of continuous buffers along many of
the streams in the Illinois River watershed.
She suggests the following: "First, the
eligible zone should be restricted to a buffer area that is 300-900
feet wide and narrower than the typical flood plain along the main
tributaries of the Illinois River. Second, the eligibility
requirements should be modified to allow the enrollment of sloping,
less productive cropland adjacent to streams.
"The requirement for enrolling 85
percent of cropland from riparian areas and only 15 percent from
highly erodible areas adjacent to riparian areas works against the
enrollment of sloping land," she notes.
Finally,
Khanna recommends program payments tied more directly to
environmental benefits. Currently, the program's payments are tied
to each parcel's inherent agricultural productivity. Payments should
also be tied to the environmental benefits (e.g., sediment
reduction) each parcel generates. Under this scenario, sloping, less
productive cropland adjacent to streams would likely receive higher
payments than relatively flat, flood plain land that does not
contribute much to sediment loadings in the river. The decision by
landowners remains the same: Produce crops or provide an
environmental service, whichever is more profitable.
[University
of Illinois news release]
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Deadlines for farmers loom
[MARCH
10, 2003]
With all the other concerns
farmers have in their day-to-day operations this time of year, a
couple of important dates loom large. The first target date is the
Federal Crop Insurance deadline of March 15 for sign-up or changes.
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There is an excellent set of materials
on the Farm.doc website for you to use in selecting products and
finding out about coverage options and cost. Go to:
http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/
cropins/evaluator/index_2003_IL.asp.
Federal Crop Insurance should be viewed
as a tool to manage risk. It is especially important when we look at
the increasing frequency and amounts of cash rent in our area.
The next deadline is for farm program
sign-up at the FSA office, if you wish to prove yields. That
deadline is April 1. Essentially everyone will need to prove soybean
yields for the new program. If you haven't been in or made an
appointment, you should do so immediately since there is only a
limited amount of time left.
When you are considering options for
the farm program, check out the calculator on Farm.doc to assist
you. The URL is
http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/
manage/FarmBill/decisiontool.html.
[to top of second column in
this article]
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Extension Week
The West Central Region has designated
April 7-12 as Extension Week. Logan County has had Extension since
February of 1918. It began with a farm adviser named Elmer Ebersol,
who sold memberships in the combined Extension and Farm Bureau
system that remained in place until the 1950s.
The 4-H program began about 1920, with
the first 4-H clubs focusing on specific projects of swine and corn.
In 1923 a push began for clubs based on home economics, and the push
was on to identify volunteer leaders.
Home economics was added to Extension a
few years later with the first "home advisor." Focuses were on
running a household and home food preservation.
Logan County added an aggressive
Community Resource Development program in the late 1970s. This
program was responsible for many of the communitywide surveys done
in the early '80s. These surveys even led to removal of Lincoln's
parking meters around the square and municipal parking lots.
Extension continues to evolve as needs
of residents change. Major thrusts have begun in horticultural
programming, family nutrition programs and non-traditional youth
programs.
Continuing
media releases throughout the next month will highlight some of
Extension's offerings.
[John
Fulton]
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Honors
& Awards
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Hartem
FFA has three district winners
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[MARCH
17, 2003]
Three
Hartsburg-Emden FFA members were named District 3 winners at the
district interviews for their record-keeping project areas. Winners
were Krista Ubbenga, Natalie Coers and Matthew Wrage. These FFA
members now advance to Champaign on April 5 to determine the state
winner.
Other Hartem
FFA members who did not advance past district were Shane Westen
(came in second), Nic Alberts, Kory Leesman and Kyle Hoerbert.
[Hartsburg-Emden FFA news
release] |
[courtesy of Hartem FFA]
Hartem FFA members (left to right) Kyle Hoerbert, Krista Ubbenga,
Shane Westen, Matt Wrage, Natalie Coers, Kory Leesman and Nic
Alberts |
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