Carbon
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Partners & Friends,
Winter is supposed to be a slow time on the farm, but it seems urgency still abounds. End of year accounting, seed ordering, chemical procuring, landowner contacts, crop productions, and marketing meetings are all consuming our days. Throw in a milking parlor remodel when extra help is available, and now we have full-time employment. This week another wrench was put into the mix with the informational meeting for the proposed Heartland Greenway Carbon Pipeline. The meeting held in Macomb was very well attended. The crowd was full of questions but none were answered publicly. We were supposed to be able to view the land tracts affected, but somehow ours wouldn't download. The route they proposed cuts through 6 tracts of ground we farm—most of them patterned tiled. Upon further investigation, it seems to me that this is another example of global corporations investing dollars to install infrastructure on our property so they can collect federal tax credit dollars to line their pockets with some nice returns. I am not convinced that pumping carbon into a cavern for 30 years with the hope that we find answers to our carbon production globally is a very wise use of infrastructure. If this was moving oil or natural gas for the public good, we might feel more positive about the project. Locally, there seems to be growing objection to the line. All this while we personally will have difficulty collecting carbon credit dollars because we are already no-tilling and using reduced tillage to preserve carbon on our farm. What a paradox!
We are keeping busy in the office, still cleaning equipment, servicing equipment, converting our milking parlor to a usable work area, and preparing to put more tile in the ground if weather allows.
Winter meeting season is upon us as we evaluate what practices gave us returns this past year and plan for equipment and field treatment modifications.
Cash grain markets are staying very strong—basis levels are historically high for this time of year. Fertilizer prices are not easing yet. We have made some modifications to our chemical programs due to product shortages or extreme price increases. The whole China/Russia situation is getting to be a tense one—I look for some happenings after the Olympics are over.
Family is doing great. We hope to get together this next weekend for some birthday/Christmas celebrating. UChicago delayed the start of classes one week and is now online for 2 weeks before returning to campus. Phyllis' eye is healing nicely. The cold weather this month is balancing out the warm December we experienced.
Fall Prices:
Corn 5.43
Soybeans 12.83
Steve
