BAM_02-23-2015

Spring 2014

AG MagNorthCentral Illinois

High StakesThe new farm bill provides two new

options for revenue safety nets. Which is better for you?

BULL MARKET: Cattle farming surges as meat prices climb

GREAT DEBATE: Have corn yields reached a plateau?

POWER STRUGGLE: Energy project meeting opposition

A Publication of Shaw Media Spring 2015

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2 Spring 2015

Jake Waddingham/Southwest Iowa Ag MagDan Hanrahan, 38, is president of the Madison County Cattlemen Association and farms about 120 head of cattle with his parents near Cumming, Iowa. While current cattle prices have been a boon to farmers like Hanrahan, he said they also are forcing them to look at the long-term value of an expensive heifer. “The value of that replacement heifer is so high,” he said, “by expanding now, you are expanding with a really high-priced female.”

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AG Mag 3

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4 Spring 2015

Jake Waddingham/Southwest Iowa Ag Mag Dan Hanrahan, 38, is president of the Madison County Cattlemen Association and farms about 120 head of cattle with his parents near Cumming, Iowa. While current cattle prices have been a boon to farmers like Hanrahan, he said they also are forcing them to look at the long-term value of an expensive heifer. “The value of that replacement heifer is so high,” he said, “by expanding now, you are expanding with a really high-priced female.”

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Articles and advertisements are the property of Bureau County Republican. No portion of the NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Ad content is not the responsibility of Bureau County Republican. The information in this magazine is believed to be accurate; however, Bureau County Republican cannot and does not guarantee its accuracy. Bureau County Republican cannot and will not be held liable for the quality or performance of goods and services provided by advertisers listed in any portion of this magazine.

PublisherSam R Fisher

Advertising Sales Development Director

Pam Pratt

EditorTerri Simon

Magazine EditorsLarry Lough, Jeff Rogers

Reporters & PhotographersSarah Brown, Kath Clark, Goldie Currie, Pam Eggemeier, Dave Fox, Lyle Ganther,

Zita Henneberry, Earleen Hinton, Matt Mencarini, Mike Mendenhall, Ken Schroeder, Shannon Serpette,

Angel Sierra, Terri Simon, and Jake Waddingham

Published byBureau County Republican

800 Ace RoadPrinceton, IL 61356

815-875-4461

AG NorthCentral IllinoisMag Index

16COVER STORY

Decision to make NorthCentral Illinois farmers weigh their options

for revenue safety nets in the 2014 farm bill.

Beefing upFarmers in the cow-calf business have seen a dramatic increase in

prices. Will the good times continue?

10

AG Mag 5

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IndexMr. Fix-itDave Kepner of Walnut has found a way to make vintage tractors run pretty much like “a new pickup truck.”

Going against the wind

The Rock Island Clean Line project has an approved

path in Illinois, but opponents haven’t given up.

24CENTERPIECE STORY

Yield signs Corn yields continue to increase. A look at the driving factors, and whether they will continue.

Teaching ag to massesBureau Valley teacher Willard Mott aims to have every student take an agriculture class.

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AG Mag 7

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Index

GMO debate in SpringfieldMatters of the mandatory labeling of food containing GMOs have not yet been resolved in the capitol.

Farming? There’s an app for thatEmerging applications for tablets and smartphones enhance a producer’s ability to track and adjust to problems.

35YOUTH SPOTLIGHT

Taking the reinsJunior high student Nicole Carlone

has had an impressive start to training her first horse, Savannah.

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AG Mag 9

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WHERE’S THE BEEF... AND HOW

MUCH DOES IT

COST?

Cattle farmers riding high in cyclical industry

CONTINUED ON 11�

Cattle farmers have seen historic profits in recent years. In 2010, the average hundred-weight price for cattle in the

U.S. was $97.18. In November 2014, it was $169.

( Jake Waddingham/NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag )

BY MATT MENCARINI, KEN SCHROEDER AND GOLDIE CURRIEFor NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag

The economic conditions for the cow-calf industry in the Midwest can be chalked up to simple supply and demand; maybe to the cyclical nature of all commodities; or even the perfect storm of condi-tions that started in 2011. Or perhaps all three.

But the end result is the same: Historic profits.Q�Q�Q

In 2013, the average hundredweight price for cattle in the U.S. was $126.83, up from$97.18 in 2010. But the highest month in 2013 – $132 – is dwarfed by the prices once the calender turned over into 2014.

By March 2014, the average hundredweight price for cat-tle in the U.S. was $150. It kept climbing, reaching $159 in August and $169 in November.

W. Travis Meteer. beef extension educator with the Uni-versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the cow-calf business is traditionally a break-even business. But that changed last year.

AG Mag 11

“We’ve seen it increase dramatically,” he said. “It depends on what econo-mist you use, but profits have been as high as $700 a cow. That’s a huge, huge increase from what cow-calf producers are used to seeing.”

Supply and demandAnd it all started with a

drought-stricken southern U.S. in 2011.Once cattle producers in the South

lose water, they can’t maintain the ani-mals, Meteer said. They can bring in hay, but water is the issue. A huge liqui-dation of cow herd occurred in 2011 in the southwest, he said.

The drought returned in 2012, again during the grazing season, but this time it affected a larger portion of the coun-try, including much of the Midwest.

When cattle operations don’t have water, cows get sold, Meteer said, and the industry went through 2 years of massive liquidation.

Mike Thacker of Walnut in Bureau County, who is president of the Bureau County Cattlemen’s Association, agreed that the most relevant factor is likely the drought.

With herd numbers down, the demand for beef grew, which in turn caused a rise in beef prices. Feeder cat-tle farmers who bought cattle in 2013 and sold them off in 2014 made a lot of money, Thacker said.

“I’ve heard of some pretty high numbers – hundreds of dollars a head,” he said.

“But you have to remember, those guys lost hundreds of dollars before. So every-one thinks they’re getting gravy right now; but the guys that feed the cattle are having to pay a fortune, and that’s really risky.”

The simple law of supply and demand was abetted by some misfortune in the pork industry, said Phil Reemtsma, president of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Asso-ciation. The spread of the porcine epi-

demic diarrhea virus, or PEDV, killed off much of the pig supply.

“We had sort of perfect storm there of a shortage of animal protein,” he said.

Weighing optionsThat perfect storm resulted to record

beef profits. And what cattlemen are doing with those profits can set them up for future success.

Some operators are building new facil-ities. In Iowa, many are building indoor facilities that will not only reduce costs, but reduce the chance of run-off mak-ing its way into rivers and streams.

“From a big picture standpoint, it’s a great time to be in the cattle business,” Reemtsma said “There is going to be some up and down. But people investing in those operations … I think it’s going to be a good investment long term.”

But Bureau County cattleman Thack-er said his operation of about 80 cat-tle hadn’t been affected much by the surge – if at all. He also has no plans to expand.

“The problem in this area is we don’t have an abundance of pasture, and you can’t really expand unless you take crop ground out and put it into pasture,” he said. “And it doesn’t usually make sense to do that.”

Ken Schroeder/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagAustin (from left), Denton and Darren Walter stand with one of their feeder cattle at their beef operation in Grand Ridge in LaSalle County. Darren also owns a com-pany that provides steaks to high-end, Chicago-area restaurants.

Goldie Currie/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagMike Thacker, of rural Walnut in Bureau County and president of the Bureau County Cattlemen’s Association, checks out his herd on a snowy winter morning. He said when herd numbers are down, the demand for beef grows, which in turn causes a rise in beef prices.

��CONTINUED FROM 10

Phil Reemtsma

CONTINUED ON 12�

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While some beef cattle farmers were able to expand, that wasn’t the case for Darren Walter in LaSalle County. The Grand Ridge farmer said the bad part of high demand for beef is the high cost of raising cattle.

“While feed might have been cheaper, feeder costs were higher,” Walter said. “Feeder prices are up about 50 percent higher this year than they were before.”

Walter has a beef cattle operation he runs with his father and uncle, raising about 350 head of cattle a year. For him, buying feeder cattle is a necessity.

“Margins were tighter because feed-er cattle prices were higher,” Walter said. “In 1994 when I got out of college and started farming, you could get a 500-pound steer for around a dollar a pound. Today, that same steer is around $3 a pound.”

Walter compared the situation with the corn boom of a couple of seasons ago.

“When corn was $7, it was hard to find outside markets for grain, and that lower demand brought prices back down,” he said. “Today, that housewife on a budget has to think about it; chick-en and pork start to look pretty good.

“Fortunately, I don’t think Americans will ever turn their back on steak. The people that go to a white tablecloth restaurant and pay $45 for a steak din-

ner, they’ll pay $52. It’s the housewives on a budget that have the problem.”

Unforgiving businessCattlemen looking to reinvest their

profits from 2014 should consider all their options and evaluate whether they’re already maxed out, in which case the reinvestment might be best used to secure wealth against future loses or to make small changes to improve efficiency.

While starting up a new livestock operation might be too expensive to take advantage of the current con-ditions, U of I educator Meteer said, diversified farms with livestock and row crops may have an advantage to straight row crops.

“It just needs to be approached with common sense and awareness,” he said. “It is a little bit of an unforgiving business.”

Lee Schulz, assistant professor of eco-

nomics at Iowa State University who specializes in livestock, said production agriculture, and livestock in general, is notoriously cyclical. There was already a tight supply in the cattle industry before the liquidation happened, he explained, and that’s what triggered the high prices.

“If we look at the markets, the funda-mentals of both supply and demand are really supporting record profits in the livestock industry,” he said.

And 2015, Schulz said, looks like it could be on par with 2014.

But just as the weather in other parts of the country contributed to the rise in prices for cattle in the Midwest, it can also contribute to its fall.

What might seem like uncertainty to some, Meteer said, is just another year in the cow-cattle business.

“If you ever want a humbling experi-ence in life, own cattle,” he said. “There are a lot of factors that can come into play.”


’’‘‘ We’ve seen [the cow-calf business] increase dramatically. It depends on what economist

you use, but profi ts have been as high as $700 a cow. That’s a huge, huge increase from what

cow-calf producers are used to seeing.W. Travis Meeter, beef extension educator

AG Mag 13

Bringing the past into the present

BY GOLDIE CURRIEFor NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag

Dave Kepner of Walnut in Bureau County has always had a knack for all things mechanical.

He admits to being called a “gear head” when he was in school.

“I was that kid who would rather tear his bike apart than ride the dang thing,” he said.

Kepner started his career in mechan-ics in 1959, right after high school, when he went to work at the John Deere Dealership in Walnut.

Dave Kepner of Walnut stands near his latest mechanics project. Kepner found a way to put an electronic fuel injection system on his 1965 John Deere 4020 gas-powered engine. The new system now allows his old tractor to start just like a brand new pickup truck.

( Goldie Currie/NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag ) CONTINUED ON 14�

14 Spring 2015


With 56 years of experience under his belt, he’s developed a reputation as being a “go-to” guy when a piece of equipment isn’t running properly.

Often times, Kepner can be found in his machine shed tinkering around with tools and old tractors, but lately that time spent tinkering has produced a unique project that’s completely mod-ernized his 1965 John Deere 4020 tractor.

Kepner has transformed his tractor’s gas-powered engine into an electronic fuel injection system that runs on mod-ern unleaded gasoline.

The modern technology touch to his vintage tractor allows it to run pretty much like “a new pickup truck,” he said.

It’s an idea that has yet to really make it into the agricultural scene, according to Kepner.

“I’ve never heard of anyone who has done this yet,” he said. “But the need is out there to use these old tractors.”

With this conversion, he added, farm-ers can transform their old gas-powered tractors into a better product.

With a mechanical background, Kepner had the idea for the conversion. He said the automobile industry had found a way to convert old vehicles to EFI systems, and he wanted to incorpo-rate the same idea for his tractor.

His first step in coming up with the

method was calling a company in Memphis, Tennessee., who works on conversions for old vehicles. Kepner was able to get in touch with a com-pany engineer who was willing to give direction, via the phone, with the EFI retrofit system hookup. The engineer happened to be a farmer from Mis-sissippi and had a good idea of what Kepner was trying to accomplish.

Kepner said once he was able to get

direction from the engineer, the project didn’t take much time to complete. A tad bit of remodeling to parts on the tractor had to be done to incorporate the new system, but the modern touch has barely touched the vintage look of the John Deere 4020 model.

“It’s just awesome what it does [to the tractor],” Kepner said, referring to the conversion. “It doesn’t smoke. It starts easily, and it’s really like driving a new pickup truck.”

Kepner said the new twist gives his tractor 10 percent more horsepower than when it left the dealership, while using 20 percent less fuel.

“It’s just correcting a lot of mistakes made when they were first built,” he said.

When Kepner took his project to a corn pickers show this past fall, he received a lot attention from fellow farmers interested in his conversion.

Today, he keeps busy doing the same conversion to four tractors people have asked him to complete.

Kepner said he is more than willing to share his idea. He said he doesn’t care who does it; he just thinks it needs to be known that it can be done so farmers can utilize the late model gas-powered tractors.

“The country is just full of them, and they’re just sitting around not being used,” he said, adding there is still a good market for the small tractor that’s capable of doing those little projects around the farm.


Goldie Currie/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagKepner explains his work and technique in hooking up an electronic fuel injection system on his old gas-powered engine tractor. According to Kepner, this is an idea that has yet to make it into the agri-cultural scene, but the demand is out there, as many farmers have kept their old gas-powered engine tractors but have yet to find use for them.

AG Mag 15

16 Spring 2015


Caught in new safety net

Photo submitted to NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagDrew Weyers works in a field at his farm south of Monroe, Iowa. Weyers said he was leaning toward going with Agricultural Risk Coverage as his revenue safety net but wanted to learn more about both options before making a final decision.

AG Mag 17

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BY PAM EGGEMEIER,LYLE GANTHER

AND SHANNON SERPETTEFor NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag

Direct payments disap-peared in the new farm bill, and farmers have until March 31 to choose between two new safety net programs.

One of the programs mod-ifies the previous farm bill’s target price program. The Agricultural Act of 2014 replaced the Counter-Cyclical Payment program with the Price Loss Coverage program.

The other option, with two variations, changes the reve-nue safety nets. Agricultural Risk Coverage replaces Aver-age Crop Revenue Election with ARC County and ARC Individual Farm.

Those who don’t make a decision will automatically be enrolled in PLC; they will be paid for 2015, but not 2014 because CCP payments

were based on the previous marketing year averages.

But before farmers make that choice, a more pressing information-gathering dead-line is coming. Farmers have until Feb. 27 to update their base acreage reallocation and yield history informa-tion.

Uncertainty stillDennis Verbeck of rural

Atkinson, president of the Henry County Farm Bureau, isn’t sure what program he will choose.

“It just depends on your crystal ball,” he said in Jan-uary. “Agricultural Risk Cov-erage is revenue based, but the individual component doesn’t fit most people with its moving average for a five-year time frame.

Deadlines loom for options under farm bill

CONTINUED ON 18�

18 Spring 2015


The recent high revenues the last five years might be the way to go. If you are a pessimist on prices, Price Loss Cover-age five years down the road might be the program.”

Verbeck, who farms with his brother in western Bureau County and eastern Henry County, said farmers could also split their acreage between the two pro-grams.

Bob Fecht, a Toluca farmer who is president of Marshall-Putnam Farm Bureau, said he has been educating himself about the new farm bill by attending meetings and utilizing the online resources available, such as an online calculator.

In mid-January, he had not decided which program to choose. He wants to do more research and number crunch-ing first.

“Once you choose this, it stays with that farm for five years, even if the farm property is sold,” Fecht said.

Such an important decision shouldn’t be entered into lightly and should be thoroughly researched, he said. At the meetings he has attended, all of the professionals have urged farmers to give themselves plenty of time to weigh their options instead of scrambling at the last minute to learn about them.


Lyle Ganther/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagDennis Verbeck, of rural Atkinson in Henry County, said he wasn’t sure which program to sign up his acreage for in the new farm bill. He said each farmer will have to decide whether to place acreage in the Agricultural Risk Coverage or the Price Loss Coverage programs for the next five years.CONTINUED ON 19�

AG Mag 19

With ARC, the county option has a higher trig-ger at 85 percent, but the benchmark yield is based off the entire county’s aver-age. It also calculates corn and soybean yields sepa-rately.

The individual farm option has a lower trigger at 65 per-cent and considers only the yield harvest from the farm-er’s field, but it averages corn and soybeans together.

Weighing optionsWhile ARC County seems

to be the popular choice in northern Illinois, many farmers are still weighing the risk in their decisions.

Some farm organizations in northern Illinois are pointing producers in the direction of the ARC County safety net option because they believe it favors Mid-west grain producers. It uses a collective benchmark yield, for example, $1.70 for Lee County.

An important difference

between ARC and PLC is that ARC is a revenue program. PLC uses target and loan prices with a $1.75 spread. It covers only loss and doesn’t protect revenue.

ARC Individual doesn’t receive much attention in Illinois because it is believed to be a better choice for farmers who have smaller farms where climate, soil types, and yield can vary greatly throughout a county.

The only part of the safety net process that crop insur-ers are directly dealing with is the Supplemental Crop Option, which is available only as an add-on with PLC.

The PLC option would seem to be better suited for farmers in the south-ern states, where crops like cotton and rice are king. Because PLC offers a deeper net, it might also be a better choice for new farmers who are just getting established.

It’s important to note that neither program is intend-ed to replace crop insur-ance.


CONTINUED ON 20�

20 Spring 2015


Gary Schnitkey, an agri-culture economist at the University of Illinois,

breaks down the decision process into three parts: Which has the highest expected pay-ments? How concerned are you about low

prices? What is the avail-ability of the supplemental coverage?

“ARC County probably has the highest expect-ed payments for corn,” Schnitkey said. “This is best if you believe prices will be above $3.30 over 5 years, but you’d better be in PLC if you’re concerned corn will come in below $3.30.”

Current corn prices have been in the $4 range.

Schnitkey said the avail-ability of SCO isn’t likely to be a big factor because it adds only about 1 percent to the mix.

Assess debt, riskIn Iowa, Dave Miller is a

go-to guy on the safety net options. He is the director of research for commodity ser-vices at Iowa Farm Bureau.

Because of the complex-ity of the programs, even an expert like Miller has changed his mind on some of the finer points.

“A few months ago, I said ARC County is probably best

for most people in Iowa, but now I believe PLC competes pretty well in southern Iowa,” Miller said.

Miller believes efforts to educate farmers are starting to cut through the initial confusion. The hesitancy has backed up the process, adding to deadline stress at the FSA offices.

“We had very good atten-dance at our state meet-ings,” Miller said, “and many people had gone to several meetings before they said they were finally getting it because it’s complex and difficult.”

Miller still believes ARC County is best for soybeans in Illinois and Iowa, based on his calculations showing only about a 5 percent to 10 percent chance of getting PLC payments for soybeans in any of the 5 years.

For corn, the decision is not so simple. Farmers are urged to remember that the safety net options will cover five crop years – a period from 2014 through 2018.


Shannon Serpette/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagBob Fecht, a Toluca farmer, discusses the intricacies of the new farm bill in a meeting room at the Marshall-Putnam Farm Bureau office in Henry. He had not yet decided which program to choose. He wanted to study the matter a while longer before reaching his decision.

Gary Schnitkey

CONTINUED ON 21�

AG Mag 21

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ARC County is likely to pro-vide a bigger payout in the first 2 years, but not much protection on the back end of the contract.

“With PLC, if corn hangs around $4.25, farmers might get only one pay-ment, but it would provide much deeper protection if prices were to drop off the table into the $3 range. PLC also seems to be a bet-ter choice in areas where yields are steadier.

Miller said much of the decision should be about assessing debt load and risk tolerance.

“If $3 corn could put you out of business, you should look at PLC,” he advised, “but others should get the max now with less protec-tion in the back end. It’s kind of like sitting down at a poker game, and with ARC, you’re assured of winning your first two hands.”

Some global issues at play are cause for concern when betting on corn prices. Weather is always the big-

gest wild card, and farmers have been blessed with a longer up cycle with prices than usual in such a cyclical busi-ness. Another record produc-

tion year in 2014, nationally and in Illinois, could stoke worries about oversupply.

“It’s not a big concern at the moment – we went from $3 corn in August to near $4 now – but if we have another good year in 2015, it could get back to $3 in a hurry,” U of I economist Schnitkey said.

Ethanol is another piece of the supply puzzle. Plunging oil prices and a trend toward reduced gas consumption present a potentially dan-gerous mix for the ethanol industry.

“Oil’s effect on the markets will definitely be something to watch moving forward,” Iowa Farm Bureau’s Miller said. “It could put a great deal of pressure on the etha-nol industry.”


Dave Miller

22 Spring 2015

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BY SHARI VOGELFor NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag

Y ou never know where the jour-ney will take you when you offer to volunteer.

About a year and one-half ago, Jill Frueh, manager of Bureau County Farm Bureau, placed an arti-cle in the paper asking for volunteers to help with the 100-year anniversary celebration of the Bureau County Farm Bureau. I have been a member of Farm Bureau for years and am ashamed to say know very little about this 100-year-old organization. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to learn more about Farm Bureau, its members and why it is still going strong 100 years later. I wasn’t sure what skills, knowl-edge or talents I had to contribute; there had to be something I could help with, possibly stuff envelopes?

After going to several meetings I learned more and more about the rich history of Bureau County Farm Bureau and about the men and women who gave of their

time and talents to make Farm Bureau what it is today. They told stories of their fathers and grandfathers, stories of back in the day, stories of how Farm Bureau helped them. One can easily see they are just as dedicated to this organization and its members as were their forefathers, working together to improve their farms and their community.

Through the decades, as needs were identified Farm Bureau would answer those needs. Some programs have passed with time when the need was no longer there; others still are going strong today.

And so my journey took me back to the early 1900s. At that time, farming was changing, and the needs of the farm-er were more complex. Farmers were getting together to discuss common problems. They recognized the need for a farmers’ organization. The local orga-nization became known as the Bureau County Agricultural Improvement Asso-ciation. Later it would be changed to Bureau County Farm Bureau.

Early on as more and more farmers traded their horse and plow to tractors, the need for a reliable and economical source of petroleum products was met by the development of Farm Supply Co. Today that farmers’ co-op which provides seed, fertilizer, fuel and other production inputs is known as GROW-MARK.

Country Companies was formed from a critical need for insurance. The com-pany first offered fire, hail and light-ning. Later on came auto, life, theft, liability and property damage. Today the company is known as COUNTRY Financial.

Farm Bureau Farm Management was established to help farmers know how well his farming practices are compared with other area farms and where his strong points and weak points are, as well as the importance of good records as a management tool. Today it is known as Farm Business Farm Management.

Bureau County Farm Bureau: Celebrating 100 years

CONTINUED ON 23�

AG Mag 23

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Farm Bureau has always considered education a priority. Through the years many programs and services have been offered educat-ing their members on new farming techniques, help-ing young farmers become established and profitable. Educating the community has also been important. Farm Bureau offers such pro-grams as Adopt A Classroom, Ag In The Classroom, and Ag Fair for fourth-graders.

There have been countless programs, co-ops and ser-vices that have grown out of Farm Bureau as the organi-zation would strive to meet the needs of its members. For all these 100 years the goals of Bureau County Farm Bureau have not changed: To be a voice for the farmer and to protect their interests. Currently on a national level, Farm Bureau is the voice of the farmer on the Waters of the United States issue. As it stands now, the proposed rule will expand the jurisdiction of the EPA in an unprecedent-

ed manner and could make farming more difficult and unnecessarily complicated.

Drones are another area Farm Bureau is working at a state level. The use of drones in agriculture is almost unlimited. Farm Bureau is working on new unmanned

aircraft systems policies.Big Data which is all the

data collected from sensors on combines and tractors and other farm equipment that gather information on how much fertilizer is need-ed where, weed control, pest infestation, crop yields, soil

conditions and other perti-nent variables. The concern lies with Big Data ownership and third party access and use of farm information. Farm Bureau is playing a big part in navigating this issue.

Looking forward 100 years, I wonder what issues Farm Bureau will be facing. Will we be farming on the moon or Mars? I do know the goals of Farm Bureau will be the same.

The following quote found in the foreword of the Bureau County Farm Bureau 75th Anniversary Book was fit-ting in 1914, in 1989, and is most fitting today. “It is our hope that the history in this book will serve as a reminder to future leaders that great things are accomplished when we all work together for the betterment of mankind.”

I have enjoyed my journey of discovering of this grass-roots organization. It has a proud tradition of working quickly, efficiently and eco-nomically for its members.

I urge young farmers to become members and mem-bers to become active mem-bers. The rewards are limitless.


Photo submitted to NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag Pictured is a display Shari Vogel assembled, at last sum-mer’s Bureau County Fair, to help celebrate the 100th anni-versary of the Bureau County Farm Bureau. Vogel serves on the 100th year celebration committee and has put together many displays around the community to raise awareness of the organization’s centennial celebration.

24 Spring 2015


BY DAVE FOX,ZITA HENNEBERRY

AND KEN SCHROEDERFor NorthCentral Illinois AgMag

Sometimes, the only certainty in farming is uncertainty.

Take corn, for instance.Both yields and prices in corn

markets have seen record highs in recent years. Yields continue to fluctuate, ever upward, while prices seem to have cor-rected themselves – downward – after the golden grain hit an all-time high in recent years.

Many different factors can impact yields of corn – and other grain – from one year to the next, and yields have a definite impact on prices.

Gilbert Hostetler, president of Deer Grove, Illinois-based Prairie Hybrids, said that good quality seed, good genetics, a good fertility program, and a good supply of organic matter in the soil are all vital to getting the highest possible yields.

Even under ideal conditions in those four factors, Mother Nature has a lot of say in the end product.

Q�Q�Q

Ted Koster, with Tettens Grain based in Galt, Illinois, is a firm believer in good weather producing good crops.

“A lot of what happens in the end depends on the weather during the growing season, for sure,” Koster said.

“Last year was a fairly good year in northern Illinois for corn because of the good summer growing season,” he said. “A lot of it depends on heat days, rainfall and so forth.”

HOW MANY YOU REALLY

AG Mag 25

Farmers harvested a record 14.2 billion bushels of corn, 3 percent more than the 2013 crop, the U.S. Department of Agriculture report-ed. The record crop came even though farmers harvested about 5 percent fewer acres than in 2013. Record yields were estimated in 21 states, including Illi-nois and Nebraska.

Matt Tracy, a corn and soybean farmer from Toulon in Stark County, had high hopes for this past year’s corn produc-tion, and he wasn’t disappointed.

“I thought it was going to be a good crop,” he said.

“I mean, it was one of the best crops, I think the best crop I have ever harvest-ed.”

Actual corn yields have more than doubled since 1975, according to the USDA.

“I do agree that yields have been going up.” Tracy said.

Still, he will not plant more corn this year. Instead, he said, he will plant about 60 to 70 acres of soy-beans in what was previously corn-fields. This change is not a signifi-cant one, Tracy said. It will account for less than 10 percent of his overall acreage.

Tracy is a grain farmer, raising corn, soybeans, and occasionally, a few acres of wheat.

Two counties east in Putnam County, Magnolia’s Laurie Glenn had her best year as well.

CONTINUED ON 26�

Dave Fox/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagCorn is moved from one step to the next in the seed corn processing plant at Prai-rie Hybrids in Deer Grove, Illinois. In Iowa, farmers produced 181.81 bushels of corn per acre in 2014, much higher than the national average.

BUSHELS CAN GROW? Local farmers

skeptical about limits to corn production

Ted Koster Says good

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“I had the best corn I ever raised last,” Glenn said. “Over 1,300 acres last year, I averaged 223 bushel dry, and I’ve got plots – one has sand; another has clay; and I’ve got some good topsoil. My best area was 114 acres, and I got 247 bushel dry.”

Even though she had a record year last year, Glenn said she will not change her usual crop rotation, which consists of two-thirds corn, one-third soybeans each year.

Market correctionAfter record yields and high prices, the

market has worked to correct itself.There is somewhat of a downward

trend on the number of corn acres being planted, according to USDA’s World Agri-cultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, which was released on Jan. 12.

According to that report, an estimated 97.3 million acres of corn were planted in the U.S. in 2012-13, with that num-ber dropping to 95.4 million acres the next season. The agency estimates a drastically lower 90.6 million acres of corn being planted in the U.S. in the coming growing season.

Of course, the actual yield per acre will largely depend on the type of seed plant-ed, according to Prairie Hybrid’s Hostetler.

“GMO [genetically modified seed]

tends to produce slightly lower yields per acre than non-GMO,” he said.

“Non-GMO corn generally produces about 15 bushels more per acre than GMO varieties,” he said. “Some of our

non-GMO seed averages 200 to 225 bushels per acre, and we have had some go as high as 300.”

Ken Schroeder/NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag Putnam County’s Laurie Glenn doesn’t think there’s a corn cap in the future. She also doesn’t see an end to the continuing rise in crop yields, believing better genetics is the biggest reason behind better yields.


CONTINUED ON 27�

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Hostetler attributes much of that to the fact that non-GMO plants break down into organic matter in the soil much more effectively after the harvest. That, in turn, leads to higher plant pro-ductivity.

Another impact on yield increases, particularly with GMO corn, is insuf-ficient levels of oxygen in the soil, he noted.

Farmers who use no-till or low-till methods “just aren’t getting enough oxygen back into the soil,” he said, “and that has slowed the per-acre yields of GMO corn somewhat. One of our customers said he gained 20 bushels per acre simply by cultivat-ing.”

Supply and demand obviously play a huge part in prices at the end of the season.

Koster, with Tettens Grain, noted high spikes in pricing recently, but said that the market always corrects itself.

“During the past five years, corn hit a high of $8.30 per bushel,” Koster said.

“That was in 2012,” he noted. “This year, there was such a high yield that the price hit a low of $3.30, but the mar-ket is coming back up off the bottom side, and we’re at about $4 now,” he said last month.

“Prices are generally lower due to an

excess supply of corn,” he explained, “and they were at record highs before because we’d had two bad years in a row.”

Many factorsWorld events, governmental policies,

and other global factors also impact grain prices here and abroad as well.

“Many different factors will impact the corn prices,” Koster said. “Ethanol pro-duction, demand in China, and world weather patterns all have an impact. Corn and beans are really a global mar-ket.”

Overall, supply and demand tend to have the biggest impact on how much is planted and what will go to the bank at harvest time.

Pioneer Seed’s Steven Long, based in Sterling, Illinois, said that will likely cause more beans and less corn to be planted this coming season, at least in the Midwest, as a step toward correct-ing the market.

“It’s a little more economical to put out beans,” he noted. “It’s a crop that costs less to produce than corn.”

Once existing corn supplies begin to shrink, it’s possible prices could go back up somewhat and more could be planted.

Not so this year, in all likelihood.“We’ve got enough supply of corn on

hand right now,” Long said, “Planting more beans probably won’t drive corn prices back up, but it will give existing supplies of corn a chance to be used.


Dave Fox/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagGrain trucks load up with corn at Tettens Grain in Galt, Illinois.

CONTINUED ON 47�

28 Spring 2015


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AG Mag 29

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It could be the Hatfields and the McCoys of Illinois.

While the Hatfield and McCoy folklore was in West Virginia, the legendary feud between the two families is synonymous with justice, the honor of one’s family, and in some cases ... a bit of revenge.

Enter Rock Island Clean Line – an energy transmission project that conceptually begins in North Central O’Brien County in Iowa, and ends at a ComEd substation in Grundy County, Illinois. In Illinois, the projected path of the line begins in Rock Island County at the Mississippi River south of Cordo-va, and then runs through Whiteside, Henry, Bureau and LaSalle counties before ending in Grundy County.

But not so fast, RICL.Enter Block RICL – a grassroots orga-

nization growing in numbers, which doesn’t want any part of RICL. It’s more than just a “not in my backyard” type of group, rather one of people who are eager to preserve the generations of farmland they own, while bitterly refus-ing any suggestion of eminent domain.

They are also a group of people who

are not afraid to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to legal recourse; many have joined efforts to prevent the transmission project. To date, Block RICL spokespersons said, tens of thousands of people have joined similar efforts in Illinois and across the country, including Iowa, Indiana, Mis-souri, South Dakota, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee and more.

Illinois approvalIn late November 2014 the Illinois

Commerce Commission granted RICL a certificate of public convenience and necessity, which allows it to build and operate the 121-mile Illinois portion of the new 500-mile direct current electric power line. RICL, a subsidiary of Clean Line Energy of Houston, Texas, had submitted its application to the ICC in October 2012.

The application proposed two routes, a preferred and alternative route; the pre-ferred route was approved by the ICC.

On Jan. 14, the ICC denied a request for a new hearing that was filed by enti-ties: ComEd, the Illinois Agriculture Association (aka Illinois Farm Bureau), and the Illinois Landowners Alliance.

Members of Block RICL say they will continue to oppose the project, despite ICC’s decision not to rehear the case.

RICL recently filed for the same per-mission in Iowa as it did in Illinois and must go through a similar regulatory process, which took two years in Illinois. Officials hope to have that Iowa approval yet this year; begin construction as early as 2016; and begin transmission as early as 2018. That time line could change based on regulatory approvals.

The Iowa portion of the project is also being met with many opponents and landowner opposition.

If the line is approved, it will deliver a projected 3,500 megawatts of wind power from the greater northwest Iowa area to Illinois. The lines could carry electrici-ty produced from wind farms in South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa though Illinois and eastward, though the majority would be from Iowa.

“The ICC approval is a great step for-ward for the Rock Island Clean Line project and brings Illinois one step clos-er to creating a cleaner energy future,” Michael Skelly, president of Clean Line Energy, said in the release in late 2014.

Rock Island Clean Line, Block RICL still in dispute

CONTINUED ON 30�

30 Spring 2015


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According to the company, RICL would decrease the annual cost of wholesale electricity used to serve Illinois customers by an estimated $320 million in its first year of operation alone. In addition, it would bring a direct investment of about $600 million in the state, and create hundreds of construc-tion jobs and job support in the manufacturing sector for the wind turbines that will provide power for the line.


CONTINUED ON 31�

This map shows the entire RICL project, which begins in northwest Iowa and ends in Grundy County, Illinois. The Illinois route has been approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission, while the Iowa portion of the route is still under consideration by the Iowa Utilities Board.

AG Mag 31

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RICL has said it will use local vendors, such as construction materials suppli-ers, and will buy its wire from South-wire Inc.’s Flora factory in Illinois. The project is expected to generate millions of dollars in local government revenues each year for counties, schools, fire districts, and other community services where the line and converter station are located.

But Block RICL has many, many objections to the project, debunking

many of RICL’s claims and promises.Perhaps the most pressing issue,

according to spokespersons for the organization, is that RICL is a private company seeking authority of emi-nent domain without proving a need for such a project. The group takes exception with RICL telling the ICC the company needed eminent domain to attract investors for a private, specula-tive project.

Another huge issue for Block RICL is the concept that this ruling will set a precedent for case law.

And Block RICL has considerable con-cerns on the environmental impact of the project, as well as medical studies that could prove to be a concern.

A Block RICL spokesperson, Mary Mauch, originally from Meriden in LaSalle County, said the average age of landowners along the proposed RICL line are well into their 70s. She urges people not to sign any documents with-out legal counsel.

“It is about protecting our private property rights, first and foremost,” Mauch said, “and second, about pro-tecting our income and investments, and the health concerns of families liv-ing close and working around the mas-sive structures in the fields. ...

“People on the outside, who don’t know the value of farmland, think it’s a big sum of money [that RICL will pay for putting towers on the land]. They don’t understand,” Mauch said. “Right now, things are really going in our favor, but it just takes a lot of time. This is our family legacy – four and five genera-tions – and we’re just trying to protect it for the next generation.”

Meanwhile the feud continues ... RICL vs. Block RICL – one a large company that wants to build an energy transmis-sion line across Illinois, the other an organized group of farmers, landown-ers and their supporters who want to stop them.

Artwork contributed by RICL This is a close-up map of the proposed RICL transmission line across Illinois, which begins in Rock Island County, and travels through Whiteside, Henry, Bureau and LaSalle counties before ending at the Commonwealth Edison plant in Grundy County. The proposed line is 121 miles long.


32 Spring 2015


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BY GOLDIE CURRIEFor NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag

In his 10 years of teaching at Bureau Valley High School, Willard Mott has worked hard to provide the best agri-cultural educational experience for his students.

He’s watched his classes and FFA pro-gram expand as he has encouraged stu-dents from all backgrounds to study at least one aspect of agriculture.

With agriculture being the No. 1 indus-try in this area and U.S., Mott feels the education is important for all students.

Nearly all students have ag class at Bureau Valley

CONTINUED ON 34�

Willard Mott teaches agri-culture classes and is the

FFA sponsor at Bureau Valley High School. “I

think every student needs a basic understanding of where their food and fuel come from,” Mott said.

( Goldie Currie/NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag )

AG Mag 33

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34 Spring 2015


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“I think every student needs a basic understanding of where their food and fuel come from,” he said. “Ultimately, everyone is a consumer, and consumers need to know where their products are coming from and what goes into their production.”

Mott counts himself among those students who didn’t come from an agricultural background but learned to respect everything it had to offer.

It wasn’t until he took a summer job on a small farm as a child in Lake City, Minnesota, that he was introduced to the lifestyle. That job eventually led him to milking cows on a nearby dairy farm. From there, he decided to take an ag class at school and joined the local FFA chapter.

Mott said his first trip to the Minneso-ta State FFA Convention really opened his eyes to what the ag industry had to offer.

“That really got me interested in ag, and it really encouraged me to be more involved in FFA,” he said.

After high school, Mott was set on furthering his studies at the University of Illinois but didn’t have a plan for the rest of his life. With so much diversity in the ag industry, he found it difficult to

pinpoint one subject to stick with for an entire career.

“Through all my experiences, I decid-ed teaching was probably the best fit for me,” Mott said. “Agricultural education was broad enough where I could do a lot of things in really any aspect of agri-culture.”

Today, Mott has his hands in many different ag subjects. He teaches a wide array of ag courses, including animal science, welding, horticulture, ag busi-ness, and ag science.

He believes the constant changing and evolution of the industry, due to tech-nology, presents the greatest challenge of teaching agriculture.

“You have to keep up with the indus-try,” he said, “because you cannot teach students outdated information and release them into the industry and have them be off-pace or whatever you told them not be true.”

At Bureau Valley High School, which

includes the towns of Walnut, Man-lius, Wyanet, Buda and Sheffield in Bureau County as well as some stu-dents from Bradford in Stark County, about 90 to 100 students are taking at least one ag class each year. The FFA enrollment is around 75 to 80 stu-dents.

“We almost have 100 percent of stu-dents in an ag class here at Bureau Valley,” he said. “Every year we try to recruit more students. I’d love to see it expand and grow.”

Mott said the more students who come from non-ag backgrounds, the more important ag education will be in schools.

“It’s a historical fact that there are fewer and fewer farmers every year,” he said. “So with fewer farmers, there are fewer students who come from an ag background. And that just means we need to educate more people.”


’’‘‘ You have to keep up with the industry, because you cannot teach students outdated information and release

them into the industry and have them be off-pace or whatever you told them not be true.

Willard Mott, teacher at Bureau Valley High School

AG Mag 35

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BY ZITA HENNEBERRYFor NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag

In the frigid night air, as Nicole Car-lone and her horse, Savannah, looped the riding arena, it was plain to see these two were a team.

Carlone rode her spirited horse with a natural grace, confident in every movement, turn, jump and lead change. Here they worked together in flawless synchronicity, at peace with the world.

Nicole, of rural Princeton in Bureau County, bought Savannah as a $100, 7-year-old horse with no prior training.

Nicole Carlone finds fun, comfort aboard her horse

Zita Henneberry/NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag Princeton teenager Nicole Carlone adjusts her horse’s bridle inside her family’s horse barn. CONTINUED ON 36�

Jumping for joy

36 Spring 2015


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However, after training the horse herself, Nicole managed to transform Savannah into a prize-winning 4-foot jumper.

Nicole believes working with horses is not just a hobby, but a lifestyle. Their beauty and power captivate the young rider who lives and breathes them as much as she can.

“When she gets in a really bad mood or really bummed out about something, it’s her therapy,” reflected Nicole’s mother, Diane. “She goes down there and spends time with her horses, and she’s fine.”

With horses acting as a release from stress, Nicole and her family have mold-ed the hobby of horseback riding into an essential component of their lives.

“Everybody rides in the family; you can’t be a Carlone and not ride,” Diane said with slightly raised eyebrows.

As the family sat together, it was clear, while each family member was a strong individual, they functioned as a unit, united in their common love for horses.

As you drive up to the Carlone home, you admire its beauty, but you leave the home truly admiring the depth of communal equestrian passion housed within.

The Carlones have seven beautiful hors-es right outside their back door. Nicole, who has been riding since she was 2, said

she tries to ride at least once a day.Her passion was evident as she head-

ed to the barn; that’s where she really came to life. Sitting in the dining room, Nicole had given mostly one-word

answers to questions, but the closer she got to the barn, the more relaxed and natural she became.


Zita Henneberry/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagNicole Carlone loves to spend time with her horse, Savannah. The two enjoy jumping and running in the family’s outdoor arena in rural Princeton. Savannah was 7 years old and had no training when Nicole bought the horse. Nicole has managed to transform Savannah into a prize-winning 4-foot jumper.

CONTINUED ON 37�

AG Mag 37

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“No, I was like fearless,” referring to when she first began to ride – even after she’d fallen and gotten her foot stuck in the stirrup as a 2-year-old.

Caught by one foot, she dangled off the side of her horse and bounced her head off the fencing. While it ter-rified her parents, it hadn’t scared her.

She admitted she is more wary of getting kicked these days. The idea didn’t seem to frighten the young rider as it would many others, but there was an experienced unease in her present concern.

A girl without fear, there-fore, needs a horse with enough spirit to match her own. Nicole prefers the spir-ited and hot-headed horses because, she explained, espe-cially for jumping, she likes the horse who has the extra spirit to get the job done.

Savannah is just that. Nicole held up the first-place purple sash she had won with her horse at the Fox Valley Saddle Association.

“The girl she was jumping against, her mom owns a farm, and they had 12 other students at the barn,” Diane said. “So you know they have a lot of money invested, but [Nicole] beat her ... and she had her $100 horse that she trained herself.”

Nicole has been jumping horses for about five years. While her favorite is Hunter Jumping style, Nicole is not limited to one specialty. She

likes to ride without tack (no saddle or bridle) like her for-mer teacher Alycia Burton.

Nicole once had a lesson with Burton, the internation-al free rider who has made a name for herself by jumping her horse with no hands. Nicole smiled and expressed her dream to follow in Bur-ton’s footsteps one day.

And she is well on her way. Nicole’s highest jump so far is slightly over 4 feet, and there’s plenty of time to improve for the 13-year-old. One day, Nicole said, she hopes to jump in the Olym-pics.

Wherever she goes in life, Nicole said she will always love horses.

“Till the day I die,” she added with complete confi-dence.


Photos by Zita Henneberry/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagNicole Carlone, a junior high student in Princeton, feels com-pletely at ease aboard her 7-year-old horse.

Nicole Carlone holds a first-place ribbon she won in a recent jumping competition. She rode against several

38 Spring 2015


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Emerging applications for smart-phones and tablets don’t just make a farmer’s field work a little easier.

They also enhance the producer’s abil-ity to track and adjust to problems, and make sense of critical farm data on-the-fly, area experts say.

Adam Henkle, 35, is a seventh-gener-ation Lee County farmer who helps on 1,600 acres of a homestead near Sub-lette that dates back to 1843.

And as an independent contractor for DuPont Pioneer, Henkle specializes in transitioning farmers to equipment and software that can seamlessly integrate and they measure, monitor, and extract vital information.

Mobilizing ag resourcesOn smartphones and tablets, farming apps

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Submitted to NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagIn this screen shot from a promotional video online, a farming app is displayed that shows a few of the options available to farmers and service providers. CONTINUED ON 39�

AG Mag 39

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The technology is a wel-come, helping hand, Henkle said, because a lot of the work that once required manual adjustments, such as variable-rate changes on the field, have become automat-ed, and guidance systems and monitors, which previ-ously were only available on combines, now are connect-ed to almost every machine.

Today’s farmers are highly educated and apt to using the technology on the mar-ket, said Danelle Burrs, 29, manager of the Lee County Farm Bureau. Tablets such as iPads have made their way into the cabs of tractors working rows on the ground.

A NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag online search for farming apps listed several top-tier agriculture com-panies that produce com-panion programs for mobile and tablet use. While most of those share similarities in function and goal, the wide spectrum available spans simple calculators to fea-ture-rich suites.

Encirca, a division of DuPont Pioneer, pushed last year to bring field and crop scouting information to the hands of farmers and service providers, an indicator by the Des Moines, Iowa-based leader that shows real-time management of field data is a positive trend.

Under the Encirca umbrella are two powerful apps: Encir-ca View, which provides mar-ket data, crop conditions and weather forecasts, and Encir-ca Yield, which analyses seed irrigation and Nitrogen levels, according to its website.

“It’s an amazing tool, [and] I’ve had a very positive reception,” Henkle said, adding that mobile apps like Encirca have become the go-to for farm management, increasing efficiency. “We’re only using what we need, when we need it.”

Farmers now can precisely record downforce or diseased crop locations with pinpoint accuracy, all with the help global positioning. Some apps are even cloud-based, and can securely back up data off-site for ease of mind.

“Field360 Tools” by Pioneer offers precipitation and growth stage estimators, and “Field360 Plantability” is a seed/planting calculator.

Precision Planting, a com-pany purchased by Mon-santo in 2012 and one of Encirca’s primary competi-tors, produces a tablet-only service called “FieldView” and “FieldView Plus.”

The apps are similar to other high-end programs in that they provide detailed scouting reports and high-light deficiencies, but also display color-coded terrain in high-definition, and offer remote management and collaboration, a popular add-on with the premium service.

Mobile Farm Manager by John Deere is another that sprouted in 2012. The app is free to download from the App Store, but appears to have weaker support as a stand-alone program and requires an activation code and sync from Deere’s propri-etary software that the cus-tomer might have installed on his home computer.

A subscription might be required to use the variety of apps available, but some have free or basic versions after an account is established.

Burrs has seen a transition in her seven years with Farm Bureau, to a point where farmers now have mountains of information and data about their fields, and some businesses exist simply to make sense of it all, helping growers identify deficient or underperforming crops.

“GPS allows them to be more precise, [and] through soil sampling and tests on their fields, they can apply fertilizer to just that specific part of the field,” Burrs said. Targeting swaths or sections never was an option before the technology came along; it certainly involved approxi-mation, and not accuracy, as is now available on the mar-ket, she said.

Mobile farming apps for smartphones and tablets “are a game-changer,” Burrs said, because the more informa-tion a farmer has about his farm, the better he can grow his crop and become a better steward of the land.


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BY SHANNON SERPETTEFor NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag

Food and family have played import-ant roles in Randie Kocher’s life. Randie, who lived in both Michigan and Illinois while growing up, learned to cook by watching and helping her family. She now lives in rural Henry in Marshall County.

“We’d all have baking days,” she said.Those baking days paid off. In high

school, she earned extra cash by selling her homemade pies.

When she married in 2007, after being proposed to at a cattle show, she received a gift from her husband’s family that perfectly suited her love of cooking and family – a family cook-book.

Cooking up a legacy Rural Henry woman’s wedding gift combines

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Randie Kocher of rural Henry in Marshall County looks at a cookbook she

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recipes, photos of family members and information about the family members.

(Shannon Serpette/NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag)

CONTINUED ON 42�

AG Mag 41

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Recipes from Randie

42 Spring 2015


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The pages feature more than recipes – they also contain pictures of her husband’s family members and brief handwritten tidbits about them. The cookbook ensures her 5-year-old son, Lane, when he’s grown, will know details about his long-gone relatives, and he will be able to re-create some of the favorite dishes from his childhood.

“It’s a neat legacy,” Randie’s husband, Jay, said.The meatloaf recipe Randie uses is from the

well-worn pages of that book, and it is popular with Lane, who can sometimes be a picky eater. When she made it recently, he asked for sec-onds, she said.

The biggest challenge for the rural Henry woman is finding time to cook these days. She has a graphic design business and a make-up business. When she factors in an active pre-schooler, carving out cooking time isn’t easy.

Randie is more likely to make stick-to-your-rib recipes than anything fancy, and the fewer ingredients, the better, as far as she’s con-cerned.

“I’m a steak-and-potatoes kind of girl,” she said.

Although her husband isn’t big on eating sweets, she does have several desserts she likes to make.

The Robert Redford dessert she makes, in particular, is always a crowd pleaser at family functions.

“It’s one of my Dad’s favorites,” she said.


Shannon Serpette/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagPhotos, recipes and tidbits of information about family members fill a cookbook that Randie Kocher received as a gift from her husband’s fami-ly when she was married.

AG Mag 43

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Matt Tracy Robin Nowlan Kyle Cantwell Matt McGarvey Chris McMillen

Farmers ForumWITH ZITA HENNEBERRY/NORTHCENTRAL ILLINOIS AG MAG

Toulon grain farmer Matt Tracy said he uses both the NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Association) and the website of Rumbold and Kuhn local elevator. The local grain elevator has DTN weather by Telev-ent, Tracy said.

Robin Nowlan, a corn-and-bean farmer out of the Toulon area, utiliz-es DTN weather. “We’ve been using DTN for a lot of years,” said Nowlan. This year, however, he has been using Encirca. Powered by Pioneer, the Encirca website helps with more than just the weather, Nowlan said. The website assists growers in assur-ing the correct usage of nitrogen.

Kyle Cantwell, a Toulon cattle farmer, said he has about 54 acres of corn, beans and hay. For his weather information, he likes to use the Inter-net, radio and farmer friends. “I just have a little bit of everything,” Cantwell said. When listening to the radio for a weather update, Cantwell said, he listens to Quad Cities radio. Online, however, he checks his local elevator, Rumbold and Kuhn’s website.

Matt McGarvey said, “I get all my weather off my smartphone any-more.” McGarvey grows corn, soy-beans and hay. “That’s when I get the most nervous about the weather, is when I’ve got hay down.” McGarvey

likes to use The Weather Channel app and wunderground.com to check the radar. Occasionally, he said, he will use wqad.com. “It’s all either an app or off the Internet. The good thing about the apps are you’re always up to date.”

Toulon grain farmer Chris McMillen said he gets his weather information off the computer. He likes to check two different websites for his up-to-date weather information, one of which is NOAA. “I didn’t grow up with the computers; I grew up with the slide rule,” McMillen said, “I feel fortunate I can do that, and that to me is the best source.”

When it comes to farming and the production of your crops, who do you trust for your weather information?

44 Spring 2015


Our family protecting your family.

The United States Department of Agriculture has released its report of the 2014 crop harvest figures for Illinois.

For corn, the planted area at 11.9 mil-lion acres is down 1 percent from 2013. Corn for grain was harvested on 11.75 million acres, down 50,000 acres from the previous year. The corn yield is esti-mated at a record 200 bushels per acre, up 22 bushels from 2013. Production is estimated at a record 2.35 billion bush-els, topping the previous record of 2.28 billion bushels in 2007.

Soybeans were planted area over 9.80 million acres, up 3 percent from 2013. Harvested area at 9.78 million acres is up 3 percent from the previous year. The soybean yield is estimated at a record high 56 bushels per acre, up six bushels from 2013. Production is estimated at 548 million bushels, also a record high.

For sorghum, the planted area, at 23,000 acres, is unchanged from last year. Har-vested area for grain at 21,000 acres is up 5 percent from 2013. The sorghum yield is estimated at 106 bushels per acre, up 12 bushels from last year. Production is estimated at 2.23 million bushels, 18 per-cent above the previous year.

Winter wheat harvested area in 2014 is estimated at 670,000 acres, down 20 per-

cent from the previous year. The winter wheat yield is estimated at 67 bushels per acre, unchanged from 2013. Produc-tion is estimated at 44.9 million bushels, 20 percent below the previous year.

The harvested area for oats in 2014 at 25,000 acres is unchanged from the pre-vious year. The oat yield is estimated at 80 bushels per acre, up 11 bushels from 2013. Production is estimated at 2.00 million bushels, 16 percent above the previous year.

All hay across the state was a harvested

area at 520,000 acres, down 21 percent from 2013. The all hay yield is estimated at 3.38 tons per acre, up 0.31 tons from the previous year. Production is estimated at 1.76 million tons, 13 percent below 2013.

The planted area for summer potatoes was 6,500 acres, down 4 percent from 2013. Harvested area at 6,400 acres is down 4 percent from the previous year. The summer potato yield is estimated at 415 cwt per acre, up 45 cwt from 2013. Pro-duction is estimated at 2.66 million cwt, 7 percent higher than the previous year.

USDA: Record year for corn, soybeans

Earleen Hinton/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagIn fields throughout Northern Illinois like this one in Mount Morris in Ogle County, farmers were busy in the fall picking a record corn crop.

AG Mag 45

Sarah Brown/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagIn response to consumer demand, General Mills announced its original Cheerios cereal is now made without the use of genetically modified ingredients. While there are no GMO oats, which is the primary ingredient in Cheerios, General Mills now uses only corn starch derived from non-GMO corn and non-GMO pure cane sugar.

BY MATT MENCARINIFor NorthCentral Illinois Ag Mag

When the state’s 98th General Assem-bly came to a close in December, it left two bills unresolved.

Those pieces of legislation, one in the House and one in the Senate, call for mandatory labeling of food products

containing genetically modified organ-isms – GMOs.

GMO in relation to food is also referred to as biotechnology – or genet-ic engineering.

Proponents of the bills say the labeling provides consumers with information about the foods they’re eating – infor-mation they have a right to know. The critics say it puts GMO in a negative light and adds an economic burden to businesses in Illinois.

State Sen. David Koehler, D-Peo-

ria, who represents the 46th District, which includes parts of Peoria, Fulton, and Tazewell counties, introduced his bill in February 2013. That year he held three public hearings on the issue – in Chicago, Bloomington and Carbon-dale.

The House bill was introduced by Rep. Deborah Mell, D-Chicago, who is no longer a member of General Assem-bly.

GMO label debate likely to resume in 2015

Two bills failed in last General Assembly

CONTINUED ON 46�

46 Spring 2015


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In a video from the June 2013 hear-ing, Koehler said there’s some thought that GMO labeling law should come

down from the federal level, which is something he can’t control. But as a member of the Illinois General Assembly, he said, he and state government can do what they think is best for their constituents.

“I think the strongest case is that, as a consumer, let me decide,” he said in

2013. “And that’s really what this legisla-tion is all about – is giving consumers a choice.”

Mandatory vs. voluntaryThe Illinois Farm Bureau supports vol-

untary labeling of GMO or non-GMO food products. It also supports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s policy of “science-based” labeling.

The organization is opposed to man-datory labeling, which the Illinois bills called for.

Those bills would put GMO, or bio-technology, in a negative light, said Kevin Semlow, director of state legisla-tion for the Illinois Farm Bureau.

The Farm Bureau isn’t against consum-

ers knowing what’s in the food products they buy, he said, but the GMO labels are biased to portray them as negative

Scientific research, he said, has proved GMO’s to be safe.

Semlow also said the labeling would create an unfair business environment in the state, where food producers would need to make sure all products going to Illinois for sale have labels.

Movement spreadsAccording to the Center for Food Safe-

ty, a national non-profit public interest and environmental advocacy organiza-tion, three states have passed labeling legislation. In 2013 and 2014, 26 states, including all that boarder Illinois, had labeling laws introduced in their state governments.

A September 2014 report by the Ore-gon-based consulting company ECONor-thwest for Consumer Union, the policy and action division of Consumer Reports,

found “the median cost of labeling in the studies that provided relevant models was $2.30 per person per year.”

The cost estimates in the studies reviewed ranged from 32 cents to $15.01 a year for each person.

But Semlow said even pennies can make a difference.

“When you talk about pennies, and you look at a box of mac and cheese, that’s a big deal,” he said. “Pennies is the mar-gin of error to the food industry. It’s just another burden on the food industry.”

Consumer Union favors the labels. A survey the group conducted found that 92 percent of Americans want genet-ically modified foods to be labeled. Consumer Union takes the stance that labels should also say whether food is genetically engineered.

While neither of the bills in Illinois was brought to a vote during the 98th Gen-eral Assembly, Semlow said he expects them to be revisited in the 99th General Assembly, which convened in January.


State Sen. Dave Koehler

’’‘‘ When you talk about pennies, and you look at a box of mac and cheese, that’s a big deal.

Pennies is the margin of error to the food industry. It’s just another burden

on the food industry.Kevin Semlow, Illinois Farm Bureau

AG Mag 47

“Farmers have a lot of corn just lying around in storage bins right now. We need to use some of it up, to create more of a demand for corn again before the prices will go back up,” he said.

“As there’s an abundant supply of corn, and less demand, the price will always go down,” he said. “Low prices cure low prices.”

And while GMO corn may not be keeping up with non-GMO in yields, it does lend itself to other advantages.

“There tend to be less insects and other things,” Koster said, “because GMO corn has traits built in that make it insect and fungus-re-sistant.

Will corn be capped?Glenn of Putnam County

doesn’t see a plateau in corn production in the future.

“We’ve got to feed the world,” she said. “We’ve got to continue to grow more.”

She also doesn’t see an end to the continuing rise in crop yields.

“Better genetics, I think, is the biggest reason,” Glenn said. “The GMOs have just given so much more to the industry. The technology has

changed. When I first start-ed, I had several farmers tell me I’d be lucky if I got 120 bushel in some areas. That’s changed.”

Pioneer’s Long agreed.“Yields will likely keep

going higher in the years to come. We’ve got the tech-nology now to get higher yields, and we’ll keep seeing improvements.”

Once corn production reaches certain levels, or continues to hit record highs in both yields and prices, what are the chances that the government will impose caps?

“I don’t think the govern-ment would ever be able to pull it off,” Hostetler said. “They’re just too big and clumsy to do something like that.”

Production caps aren’t needed because the market always corrects itself, accord-ing to Koster of Tettens Grain.

“I would obviously think there would be less corn planted after these past few years,” he said, “because demand isn’t keeping up with supply. It will balance out after a while, though.

“There’s no need for govern-ment caps because of that,” Koster added. “Agriculture tends to be a self-regulating kind of thing in that regard.”

Dave Fox/NorthCentral Illinois Ag MagCleaning chaff from seed corn is one of many steps in the overall process of getting corn ready for sales and planting in the spring.


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