Article by Matt Hopkins in Crop Life

Our recent survey of more than 200 ag retailers on their tablet usage has unveiled several key findings (look for an article on tablet use trends soon). But perhaps what everyone wants to know is which apps are the most popular among these ag professionals. Well, you’re in luck. We asked participants to name the one app that is most indispensable for their work. While the responses varied widely, these 10 apps were most commonly listed as “can’t live without” by our survey respondents: 

1. Weather. There are number of weather-related apps available for mobile devices, but perhaps the most popular is the one from The Weather Channel. This app combines interactive imagery with Weather Channel expertise. With more than 200 meteorologists and the ultra-local TruPoint forecasting technology, The Weather Channel app helps ag retailers plan their work day.

2. E-mail. According to our survey, “checking e-mail” (94%) was the number one way respondents are using their tablets for work. So not surprisingly, it ranks toward the top of our “most indispensable” list. With dozens of options available, choose the application that benefits you the most and simplifies your e-mail usage.

3. Dropbox. Dropbox lets you bring all your photos, docs and videos anywhere and share them easily. Access any file you save to your Dropbox from all your computers, iPhone, iPad and even the Dropbox Website.

4. Weed ID. The BASF Weed ID App brings weed identification right up to date, forgoing the need to take books into the field to identify potential weed species. Whatever crop you are growing, it is an essential part of good agricultural practice to know the weed species you need to control to use the most appropriate herbicide. There’s also the ID Weeds app, which was developed by the University of Missouri Extension. This app allows you to search for weeds by their common or Latin name, view a list of weeds or identify weeds based upon a number of different characteristics.

5. Agrian Mobile. This app enables access to Agrian’s label database anywhere, any time. Search by product name, registered states, pest controlled and specific product use rates. Features include more than 250 participating manufacturers, instant access to 5,800 crop protection products, labels and MSDS documents, organic search options and more.

6. Documents To Go. The extremely popular office app (over 25 million downloads) allows you to view native Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and attachments.

7. QuickBooks Mobile. This easy-to-use app syncs with QuickBooks to let you manage customers, invoices, sales receipts, and estimates. It allows busy retailers to stay productive, whether in the office or on-the-go.

8. iBooks. More of a personal “must-have,” this app includes the iBookstore, where you can download the latest books (or agriculture-related publications).

9. Connected Farm. Trimble’s Connected Farm app uses your mobile device’s GPS for mapping field boundaries, locating irrigation pivots, marking flags and entering scouting information for points, lines and polygon areas. Scouting attributes include an extensive list of weeds, insects and diseases, and allows you to log the severity of a problem, crop conditions and more.

10. Evernote. Evernote helps you stay organized and on track. The app lets you take notes and create to-do lists, as well as capture photos and record voice reminders. The redesigned iPad version saves time with the ability to create notes with a click via the new Quick Note button and a Recent Notes list for easier multi-tasking.

To view the article in its original format, visit: http://www.croplife.com/article/34026/top-10-most-indispensable-apps-used-by-ag-retailers?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CL%20eNews%20May%201%202013%20(1)&utm_content=

Article by Troy Marshall from beefmagazine.com:

It’s shaping up to be another year of too much for some folks and too little for others. Now it appears the question is this: will it be too much, too soon for corn farmers and too little, too late for cattlemen?

The talk all winter and early spring was the lack of moisture and the persistent drought, with some areas going into year three of exceptionally dry conditions. Then, for parts of the country at least, the moisture conditions improved significantly. In fact, the concern now through parts of the Midwest is delayed corn planting because of too much moisture.

But the wacky weather has done more than just delay corn planting. It has caused the widest price spreads for feedstuffs and cows ever recorded, with similar bred cows selling for as much as $800 different between drought areas and areas with moisture. The price spreads seem exorbitant even with today’s trucking costs, but one of the things that the recent bouts of forced liquidation has taught producers is that the environmental impact on moving cows is tremendous.

Shipping cows from South to North, East to West or vice versa, is more difficult than anticipated. The acclimation factor is significant, and the length of time it takes for a cow to adjust to her new surroundings is time and money lost. As a result, producers are pretty committed to buying replacement females from similar geographic and management systems. The result is a more pronounced trend of regionalization in the female market.

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Article by Troy Marshall from Beef Magazine

Normal moisture is exceedingly critical to the beef industry’s fortunes in 2013, but significant cowherd expansion won’t happen unless profitability is addressed.

USDA’s most recent Cattle On Feed (COF) report showedplacements and COF numbers at levels that are unprecedented since the data series began in 1996. Everyone continues to be focused on the weather situation, which has precluded any chance of expansion thus far, and may actually cause 2013 to be yet another year of liquidation.

Without a doubt, moisture is the key in the short term. With moisture, we’ll see a decrease in input costs; and we should see a double-plus situation where margins are increasing from both an increase in prices received and a decrease in prices paid for inputs.

Still, it’s a valid question to ask how much expansion will occur when moisture conditions improve. There’s little doubt that prices and rain will result in a rebuilding of numbers, but it’s also probably true that the industry will never see the type of numbers we once had. Our genetics are improving at a phenomenal rate, which means we’ll never need the cow numbers we once did to meet demand.

The forced liquidation of our cowherd over the last few years has also translated into one of the most effective culling periods in our history. The poorer-end cows have been liquidated, and the average genetic value of today’s cowherd is significantly higher than just a few years ago. Not only are we seeing improvement in genetic trends from aseedstock industry perspective, but we effectively ratcheted up to unprecedented levels the selection pressure in the cow-calf sector. We simply need fewer cows today to produce thesame amount of beef.

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Article by Burt Rutherford from Beef Magazine

If there’s any advice that succinctly addresses the currentweather situation facing many cattlemen, it’s this: “Cinch up. The ride ain’t near over yet.”

That, in cowboy lingo, is one of the conclusions you can draw after listening to Ted McCollum, Texas AgriLife Extension beef specialist in Amarillo, walk through some historic weather pattern data. Just be warned – it’s no trip through the tulips.

Weather in the interior U.S. – specifically defined as if it rains or not – is largely influenced by water temperatures in both the Pacific and North Atlantic, he says. Looking at data provided by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, he points out that in the 1950s, we had a very cool Pacific Ocean and a very warm Atlantic.

He says the current data suggests we again have a very cool Pacific Ocean and a very warm Atlantic Ocean. “The conditions we have right now with the Atlantic and Pacific are the same conditions we had in the 1950s as far as temperatures go. And the conditions that don’t bode well for North America are when we have a warm Atlantic and a cool Pacific.”

Looking at the charts, he says it takes about 30-35 years for Atlantic seawater temperatures to complete a cycle. “About 1928-29, it warmed up and stayed warm for 30 years. Then it cooled off from about 1958 or ’59 until 1996.”

So, if the Atlantic began warming in 1996, that means we’re about 17 years into the cycle. “So we may have a few more years before the Atlantic cools down,” he says.

The Pacific began to cool in the mid 1940s and stayed cool until about the mid-’70s.”It stayed relatively warm from 1975 up until about 2006. Looking at 1945 to ’75, that’s about 30 years; ’75 to 2006 is about 30 years. So we are about 6-7 years into possibly a 30-year time period that the Pacific Ocean may be cooler than normal,” he says.

And those seawater temperatures drive rainfall patterns in the U.S. With a warm Atlantic and cool Pacific, the general tendencies are for the East Coast and Northwest to have ample moisture; for the interior U.S., drought is likely.

Given the timing of the cycles, we’ll someday move to a cool Atlantic and a cool Pacific, which will provide some relief, he says. Eventually, the cycle will turn to a warm Pacific and cool Atlantic, and cattlemen will enjoy rainfall patterns similar to the 1970s and ’80s. But for the present, the chances of the interior U.S. having abundant rainfall are a lot lower than they were a few decades ago, McCollum says.

Cattlemen facing their second and even third year of severe drought are likely looking for any indication that things will get better. “If we go back and look at the 1950s, from ’52 to ’58, was it dry every year?” McCollum asks. “No. I think there was at least one year of normal rainfall. But that one year was bracketed by a couple of pretty severe years on either side. So I don’t want us to think we’re moving out of the drought. I don’t think we are yet,” he says.

“When we talk about recovery and rebuilding the cowherd, we need to keep that in mind,” he adds. “This may not be over with.”

Cinch up.

To view the article in its original format, visit http://beefmagazine.com/business/long-term-weather-outlook-cinch.

Article by Jim Langcuster, Alabama, Cooperative Extension System published by Southeast Farm Press

For centuries, farmers have operated largely at the mercy of nature’s fickle temperament, whether this was expressed as a late freeze, a prolonged drought or a scorching temperature spike.

Now, a growing number of them are pushing back, thanks to what climate researchers have learned about El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), recurrent and normal temperature variations in a large swath of the eastern Pacific Ocean that influence climate conditions in the U.S. Southeast.

Jesse Scott of Malvern, Ala., is among the growing number of producers pushing back against nature using climate forecasts based on what scientists have learned about ENSO.

“I usually plant around 100 acres of dryland corn every year,” Scott says, “but from 2006 to 2011, we had really bad rain-fed corn yields.”

This hard reality prompted Scott to reduce his dryland corn acreage from about 100 to 20 acres. But after learning about climate forecasting a couple of years ago at a meeting sponsored by the Southeast Climate Consortium and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Scott changed his mind.

Based on 2012 climate forecasts, Scott planted 95 acres of corn — a decision he has never regretted. His 2012 yields averaged 90 bushels an acre. His crop also happened to fetch a high price, making the decision even better, he recalls.

Brandon Dillard, a regional agronomy agent with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, compares the progress made in climate forecasting to what happened with fertilizer adoption during the last century. A few early forerunners like Scott bought into it, posted significant gains and, in the process, inspired other producers to embrace forecasting.

Also, much like fertilizer adoption, the more farmers buy into it and the more scientists study and build on what they learn, the more refined and useful climate forecasting becomes, says Dillard, one of several Extension educators at the forefront of efforts to help farmers benefit from these new insights.

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Article from University of Illinois farmdocDaily

Yield losses from the 2012 drought caused large crop insurance payments. In this post, 2012 loss ratios are shown for U.S. counties, thereby allowing areas of high loss experience to be identified. Higher loss ratios occurred in eastern Kansas, Missouri, central and southern Illinois, western Indiana, and western Kentucky. This area corresponds to the area where corn yield losses were most pronounced (see Locating the 2012 Drought Using State Corn Yields and Projected 2012 Crop Reporting District Yields Relative to Trend-line Yields). The areas of high losses in 2012 bear little relationship to typical losses across the United States.

Loss Ratios in 2012

Figure 1 shows 2012 county loss ratios calculated using Summary of Business data available through the Risk Management Agency’s website. Data were included for all products except the Group products (Group Risk Plan and Group Risk Income Plan), as payments for these Group products have not been reported in the Summary of Business. Inclusion of data from Group products likely will not influence loss ratios significantly. Data were downloaded on March 18, 2013. Not all payments have been included in the Summary of Business; hence, loss ratios shown in 2013 could increase as more of the premiums are processed. However, loss ratios shown in Figure 1 likely are close to final and generally represent the loss experience across the United States.

A loss ratio equals insurance payments divided by total premium. A ratio less than 1 indicates that payments are less than premium, with lower loss ratios indicate fewer claims. Generally, counties with loss ratios less than 0.40 – darker green counties in Figure 1 – had few claims. A loss ratio greater than 1 indicates payments are greater than total premium. In 2012, higher loss ratios generally reflected poorer yields. Loss ratios above 3.00 – dark orange and red in Figure 1 – had much larger payments than total premium. Many of these areas had low corn yields in 2012.

As can be seen, many counties in eastern Kansas, Missouri, central and southern Illinois, western Indiana and western Kentucky had loss ratios above 4.0. Hot, dry weather during the summer caused these areas to have large yield losses. This appears to be the center of the drought impacting the Midwest. Other areas that had loss ratios above 4.00 include:

• An area centered around northeast Nebraska and southeast South Dakota
• Parts of southern and southwest Iowa
• Parts of southern Wisconsin, northwest Illinois, and east-central Iowa

There also were areas that had less severe losses, as judged by loss ratios between 1.20 and 4.00. These areas include western Texas, southern Kansas, eastern Colorado, western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming and Montana.

There were areas were loss ratios were low. Minnesota, North Dakota and northern South Dakota had loss ratios that were below 0.4, indicating low loss experience. In addition, many southern states had low loss ratios.

Loss Ratios in 2012 Compared to Historical Loss Ratios

The 2012 loss ratio experience differed from typical loss ratio experiences. Loss ratios from 1995 through 2011 are shown in Figure 2. As can be seen in Figure 2, much of Illinois and Iowa had loss ratio below 0.8, with a significant number of counties having loss ratios below 0.4. These areas, particularly Illinois, had large losses in 2012. In addition, some areas typically have higher losses that did not have large losses in 2012. These areas include the North Dakota and the southern states.

Summary

In terms of loss experience, the 2012 drought was most severe in eastern Kansas, Missouri, southern and central Illinois, western Indiana, and southern Kentucky. The loss ratios in these areas were high in 2012, untypical for these regions. Other regions had low loss ratios in 2012 while those areas have typically higher loss ratios.

To read the article in its original format, visit http://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2013/03/drought-crop-insurance-loss-2012.html.

Article by Fae Holin from Hay & Forage Grower

Low soil moisture levels could dampen alfalfa and other forage growth in parts of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, according to specialists from those states.

“We do have a dry soil, generally, across the state at this point. That is going to hurt first cutting if we don’t have some moisture before spring,” said Dan Undersander, University of Wisconsin Extension forage specialist.

He reported Wisconsin’s forage situation at the recent March Industry Extension Forage Advisory Council meeting in La Crosse, WI.

Stephen Barnhart, Iowa State University Extension agronomist, and Krishona Martinson, University of Minnesota equine specialist, also discussed forage conditions in their states.

“Our western part of our state is in worse shape than the eastern part,” said Iowa State’s Barnhart. He added that there has been little rain for nine months and erratic snow cover there. “What we will get this year is probably first cutting and maybe (hay) into early June, but that’s about all unless we get some significant moisture before the growing season. And that goes for pastures. Our pastures were really beat up last year because of the extended drought.”

Martinson reported snowfall levels as “pretty good” in Minnesota but admitted that some areas of the state were very cold without snow cover from late December through early January. “I make no predictions, but isn’t there potential for winter injury every year? We’ll just wait and see,” she said.

Undersander and Barnhart suggested that growers assess alfalfa stands carefully. (See theAssessing Alfalfa Stand Condition In The Spring fact sheet authored by Undersander.)

“We were dry going into fall and probably didn’t get the root reserves, so if we have a green-up and freeze back, we’re going to be in some level of hurt,” Undersander added.

Growers with thin alfalfa stands seeded last spring or fall – and there are a number of fields in that shape, he said – should disk them and reseed rather than interseed. An interseeded crop would compete too much with what’s left of the stand, the Wisconsin expert said.

If a stand is winter-injured, he recommended not delaying harvest to give plants time to recover.

“It probably would be the safe thing to do and help the stand. But we need the forage in most parts of the state and we need dairy-quality forage. If we wait, we’re not going to have that, especially with high grain prices. My approach is to sacrifice the stand if necessary for high-quality forage at this point.”

To view the article in its original format, visit http://hayandforage.com/alfalfa/will-low-midwestern-moisture-levels-hurt-first-cut-hay#node-15561 ?NL=HFG-02&Issue=HFG-02_20130319_HFG-02_406&YM_RID=palmer@myrainreport.com&YM_MID=1380202&sfvc4enews=42

Article from Hay and Forage Grower

Snowpack is 70% of normal in much of the state

Lower-than-normal mountain snow levels have irrigated hay growers in Wyoming concerned about the upcoming growing season, reports Donn Randall, crop and forage program manager for the Wyoming Business Council’s Agribusiness Division.

As of early last week, snowpack in many parts of the state was about 70% of normal. “A lot of people are pretty nervous,” says Randall. “If we have a normal year, we can still get a lot of snow in March and on into April. But these days, I’m not sure if anybody knows what a normal year is.”

Adding to the uneasiness, the long-range weather forecast is calling for drought in the state to continue through spring and into early summer.

“The cow-calf guys are really concerned about what they’re going to have available when they go to turn their cattle out on pasture. If we don’t get the moisture, we could see more herd liquidations.”

Hay supplies remain extremely tight throughout the state. Alfalfa is all but gone. “You do see a few stacks sitting here and there. But most of that has already been sold and is just waiting to be moved.”

Beef producers have been bringing in supplies from as far away as central Alberta. “From what I’ve heard, a lot of it is of very marginal quality,” says Randall. “The selling price is around $90/ton. But once you put the freight on it, the price goes to $240. You really have to wonder about the economics.”

To see the article in its original format, visit http://hayandforage.com/marketing/wyoming-hay-growers-nervously-await-mountain-snows.

A new U.S. Ag Department report on climate change says there are likely climate change risks coming that farmers will have to manage.

Bill Hohenstein directs the USDA Climate Change office.  He says,“Agriculture, within the U.S., is highly adaptive. Our farmers have a variety of technologies and practices out there that can help them manage risk and those technologies and practices can also help them manage for climate change.”

Hohenstein says in the early part of this century, through about 2040, they expect a mixed bag of effects on specific commodities, animal agriculture and various regions. The second half of the century sees potentially more negative effects.

“Particularly for regions of the country that are already climate stressed, the areas in the Southwest and Southeast, where high temperatures are likely to dominate the effects. And,” he adds, “The other critical issue that we’ll need to be concerned about is the effects on water and water availability.”

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the USDA has plans it will unfold in the coming months that involve more climate research, best use of technologies, best practices and better use of existing land resources, especially water.

Among their proposed solutions:  Multi-cropping, double cropping, cover crops, integrated operations and agro-forestry.

By Julie Harker: http://brownfieldagnews.com/2013/02/07/new-usda-climate-change-report/

Article by Suzanne Goldenberg from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/10/drought-damaged-states-poor-outlook

Farmer Matt Johnson pauses while in a dead area of his popcorn crop fields on his family's farm in Indiana. Photograph: Brent Smith/Reuters

A persistent drought held its grip on America’s bread basket on Thursday, with no sign of relief for the four main wheat-growing states.

The poor outlook for winter wheat, which accounts for about 70% of the US crop, has raised fears about further food prices shocks, after widespread failure of last year’s corn and soybean crops.

Conditions in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas, which produce about a third of the country’s wheat crop, remained unchanged – virtually the worst on record, according to the US Drought Monitor.

The Obama administration declared large areas of all four states a natural disaster area on Wednesday, because of the persistent drought.

In Kansas, the biggest wheat producer, the entire state is in severe drought. Oklahoma, over the last 60 days, has seen only a small fraction of its typical rainfall.

“Oklahoma has really been just bone dry,” said David Simeral, a scientist at the Western Regional Climate Center who wrote this week’s drought report.

Last year’s temperatures smashed through 118 years of temperature records, registering a full degree Fahrenheit hotter than the previous record.

By mid-July about 62% of the country was stuck in a dry spell, which devastated the corn and soybean crop and threatened to bring shipping on the Mississippi, the country’s busiest waterway, to a halt.

Prices for corn, soybean and wheat rose to record levels.

Six months later, nearly 61% of the country remains stuck in that dry spell.
Government climate scientists, in a conference call with reporters this week, warned the drought was expected to continue, especially across the mid-west and high plains states that produce much of America’s grain, because of climate change.

It is still too early to predict the outcome of this year’s crop. Wheat planted in the autumn goes dormant during the winter. But grain dealers were already warning of severe damage.

“This is the worst that I have ever seen it and I have worked at the co-op for 43 years,” said Rosie Meier, a grain dealer in Great Bend, Kansas. The last time central Kansas saw a good dowsing was in April last year. “If things don’t turn around we would probably only get 20% of the crop,” Meier said.

But rain could still resuscitate the crop. “It is too dang early,” Meier said. “I wouldn’t kiss it goodbye yet.”

To view the article in its original format, visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/10/drought-damaged-states-poor-outlook