Farmers mull 2011 tobacco crop
By
David Dugan-
I talked to a tobacco farmer this past weekend at the retirement reception for longtime OSU Extension secretary Sherry Rogers.
Sherry worked in the Brown County Extension Office for 21 years. She will be missed by all of us at the Extension Office and the many who come into the office on a regular basis.
While talking to the tobacco farmer about the last few months, he said something that I had not heard yet about raising tobacco in 2011. He was talking about his intentions for 2011.
He indicated that he was not sure how much he might grow in 2011. I stated that I had talked to other producers who had told me back in December that they were done. Not going to grow it again. A few weeks later, it was “I am thinking I am going to grow a few acres.”
Then in the past week or two, “maybe I will grow about half as much as I did this year.” Then the thought of a contract for 2011 comes into the picture. “How much will you grow if you are offered a contract?”
The statement that was made to me on Sunday that stuck with me was this, “I did not have a great year, but in the end I was able to get a decent price for it. If I had quit every time I had a bad year, I would not be growing anything.”
That is pretty much true with farming, as I see it. There are good years and bad years when you depend on the weather, tobacco is no different in much of this. The only difference is the fact that the demand has been in a decline for several years. I guess we will just have to wait and see what contracts are offered.
Cover crop information
This information just came to me recently. I have simply included the information that was sent out concerning how cash crops and cover crops can be insured.
The USDA Risk Management Agency is responsible for administering the crop insurance program. RMA has in the past, considered growing a cover crop prior to growing an insured cash crop (such as corn, soybeans and wheat) a practice that reduces the yield of the cash crop and therefore the RMA would not insure the cash crop. This was due mainly to the fact that they feel that cover crops deplete soil moisture and therefore reduce yields.
I have assured them that in Ohio we have the opposite problem, that the soils are generally saturated at planting time. I have been working with them over the last couple of years, sending data from test plots in Ohio as well as field size producer plots. Last year, the Secretary of Agriculture allocated $1 million for promoting cover crops in the Grand Lake St Mary areas, and Terry Cosby has been working on this issue from that aspect as well.
As a result, the RMA is open to allowing cover crops in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan as long as they follow the policy contained in the attached fact sheet and waiver form. Producers who sign waiver forms will need to keep yield records coming off fields with cover crops, separate from other fields. And if after a couple of years, it is proven that cover crops do not lower yield, then the RMA will drop future requirements to complete waivers.
Below are important summary items that you as well as the producers growing cover crops need to know.
• This is effective for CY11 (this year).
• The crop insurance policy allows a producer to plant a crop, such as corn or soybeans, after a cover crop if the cover crop growth is terminated before it reaches the headed or budded stage and is not harvested. However, if in the same calendar year as the corn/soybeans are planted, the cover crop growth is not terminated before reaching that stage and/or the cover crop is harvested, the producer must have a Written Agreement to insure the subsequent crop.
• If a producer who planted cover crops this past fall cannot guarantee they will terminate the cover crop prior to bud/head (May 15th), producers should complete and submit the Written Agreement. Refer to the “Effects on Federal Crop Insurance” section on the Fact Sheet.
• The Written Agreement requires the cover crop to be terminated by May 15th of the current crop year, (buried down under “Written Agreement Offer”) or the subsequent spring seeded crop can’t be insured.
• And while the Written Agreement must be completed and submitted this CY prior to July 15, they recommended not waiting until the last minute.
• Using cover crops and asking for the Written Agreement will not result in an increase in insurance rates.
Pesticide testing
There will be a testing opportunity for both private and commercial applicators for Ohio Department of Agriculture for pesticide licensing.
We will offer testing on Feb. 23 in Hillsboro at the Hi-TEC Center located on U.S. 62 north. There will be a review session beginning at 10:30 a.m. then break for lunch on your own. The review session is not required. Testing will be available from 1-4:30 p.m. You can register and view all testing locations at http://pested.osu.edu.[[In-content Ad]]
Sherry worked in the Brown County Extension Office for 21 years. She will be missed by all of us at the Extension Office and the many who come into the office on a regular basis.
While talking to the tobacco farmer about the last few months, he said something that I had not heard yet about raising tobacco in 2011. He was talking about his intentions for 2011.
He indicated that he was not sure how much he might grow in 2011. I stated that I had talked to other producers who had told me back in December that they were done. Not going to grow it again. A few weeks later, it was “I am thinking I am going to grow a few acres.”
Then in the past week or two, “maybe I will grow about half as much as I did this year.” Then the thought of a contract for 2011 comes into the picture. “How much will you grow if you are offered a contract?”
The statement that was made to me on Sunday that stuck with me was this, “I did not have a great year, but in the end I was able to get a decent price for it. If I had quit every time I had a bad year, I would not be growing anything.”
That is pretty much true with farming, as I see it. There are good years and bad years when you depend on the weather, tobacco is no different in much of this. The only difference is the fact that the demand has been in a decline for several years. I guess we will just have to wait and see what contracts are offered.
Cover crop information
This information just came to me recently. I have simply included the information that was sent out concerning how cash crops and cover crops can be insured.
The USDA Risk Management Agency is responsible for administering the crop insurance program. RMA has in the past, considered growing a cover crop prior to growing an insured cash crop (such as corn, soybeans and wheat) a practice that reduces the yield of the cash crop and therefore the RMA would not insure the cash crop. This was due mainly to the fact that they feel that cover crops deplete soil moisture and therefore reduce yields.
I have assured them that in Ohio we have the opposite problem, that the soils are generally saturated at planting time. I have been working with them over the last couple of years, sending data from test plots in Ohio as well as field size producer plots. Last year, the Secretary of Agriculture allocated $1 million for promoting cover crops in the Grand Lake St Mary areas, and Terry Cosby has been working on this issue from that aspect as well.
As a result, the RMA is open to allowing cover crops in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan as long as they follow the policy contained in the attached fact sheet and waiver form. Producers who sign waiver forms will need to keep yield records coming off fields with cover crops, separate from other fields. And if after a couple of years, it is proven that cover crops do not lower yield, then the RMA will drop future requirements to complete waivers.
Below are important summary items that you as well as the producers growing cover crops need to know.
• This is effective for CY11 (this year).
• The crop insurance policy allows a producer to plant a crop, such as corn or soybeans, after a cover crop if the cover crop growth is terminated before it reaches the headed or budded stage and is not harvested. However, if in the same calendar year as the corn/soybeans are planted, the cover crop growth is not terminated before reaching that stage and/or the cover crop is harvested, the producer must have a Written Agreement to insure the subsequent crop.
• If a producer who planted cover crops this past fall cannot guarantee they will terminate the cover crop prior to bud/head (May 15th), producers should complete and submit the Written Agreement. Refer to the “Effects on Federal Crop Insurance” section on the Fact Sheet.
• The Written Agreement requires the cover crop to be terminated by May 15th of the current crop year, (buried down under “Written Agreement Offer”) or the subsequent spring seeded crop can’t be insured.
• And while the Written Agreement must be completed and submitted this CY prior to July 15, they recommended not waiting until the last minute.
• Using cover crops and asking for the Written Agreement will not result in an increase in insurance rates.
Pesticide testing
There will be a testing opportunity for both private and commercial applicators for Ohio Department of Agriculture for pesticide licensing.
We will offer testing on Feb. 23 in Hillsboro at the Hi-TEC Center located on U.S. 62 north. There will be a review session beginning at 10:30 a.m. then break for lunch on your own. The review session is not required. Testing will be available from 1-4:30 p.m. You can register and view all testing locations at http://pested.osu.edu.[[In-content Ad]]