Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
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Partners and friends,
We are coming out of a long cold spell which has set some records for low temps for this time of year; temperature last Saturday morning was around 28. We had very little crop emerging (due to cold soil) so it was hard to judge the effect on the growing crop. We have replanted some corn on our bottom ground that was flooded for a day and did not survive. Corn planting the first time was complete Wednesday. We have lost very few growing degree days with the cold temps . Some neighboring corn that has been in the ground for more than 3 weeks is still coming through. Soybean planting is up to date but we are still waiting for one variety of seed beans that had winter production in Chile. Apparently, there are weather issues with harvest there. Around the farm we have been occupied with repairs of equipment, tearing out old unused fences, tile repairs, washout repairs, grain hauling, mushroom hunting and landscaping. We are preparing to enter another intense few weeks with corn to side dress with NH3, all fields to be sprayed for last pass, hay making, roadside mowing and weed maintenance, fencerow spraying, building upkeep, bin repair and other misc jobs. We will not run out of work and are keeping our high schools and college staff busy.
The pandemic has certainly caused a lot of black swans to appear for agriculture. The oil debacle has turned the ethanol market totally on its head with so much in storage and several plants shut down and not even posting bids. The equity markets are trying to figure out what the real interest rate is and now there is talk of negative interest! Kind of like crude oil going negative. Fertilizer prices are totally flat as producers decide how little money to spend. Livestock is in a real quandary as packing plants shut down and finished cattle and hogs and chickens pile up on tightly scheduled slaughter schedules. And the cold weather is keeping us all inside more instead of being able to get out and enjoy spring nature and its beauty.
Family is doing well but cabin fever is growing. I haven't held our youngest grandchild since the night she was born--January 17. I'm not sure which region of IL we are in or what phase of coming out we are experiencing. Hoping we can salvage county fairs and 4-H shows this summer and find some normalcy with sports schedules. One of our college employees had a virtual college graduation last week. Now that Alison is completing virtual college I wonder if we can go ahead with that and change education for the future. We are certainly changing the world as we know it and this event has just sped up the change!
Fall prices
Corn--3.03
SB--8.33
Keep in touch and share pics of your face masks!
Steve
