Franklin County Farm Bureau

Story by Kay Shipman, Illinois Farm Bureau

Illinois drivers with commercial drivers licenses (CDLs) last week received mailed notices from the Illinois secretary of state about a new program aimed at enforcing the medical card requirement. This is the first time the medical card will be linked to the CDL, according to Kevin Rund, Illinois Farm Bureau senior director of local government.

For the second year in a row the Franklin County Farm Bureau Young Leaders Committee was awarded one of five Top Harvest for All Awards in the state.  Along with the recognition of receiving this award the Young Leaders will also receive a check for $125.

This award was presented to the top five Young Leaders/Young Farmer Groups in the state for recognition of their help for raising money, purchasing food, presenting food to area food pantries and spending many man hours on this project. The Franklin County Young Leaders were instrumental in helping to purchase and distribute over $12,000 worth of food during the past year.

The Franklin County Farm Bureau Young Leaders Committee has been working very hard to help with all projects and to bring up new projects for the year. If you are over 18 years old and would like to become part of the Franklin County Farm Bureau Young Leaders Committee please feel free to call us at (618) 435-3616 of email fcfb028@frontier.com.

The Annual meeting of the Franklin County Farm Bureau will be held on Monday November 28^th at the Benton Civic Center on Hudelson Street.

A meal will be served at 6:15 p.m.  There will be entertainment immediately following the business section of the meeting.  Entertainment will be provided by the local acapella group Blend.

The Ag In The Classroom Program will also be sponsoring a Silent Auction again this year.  We will have lots of items for everyone to bid on so come early and get a look at everything.  Last year we raised $1,000 and we are hoping that we will be able to top that amount this year.

We will also have a short business meeting to elect Board Members.

Reservations for the annual meeting are important. Members are asked to RSVP to the Franklin County Farm Bureau office at (618) 435-3616 no later than Monday November 21, 2011.

The Franklin County Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom (AITC) has had another successful year at the annual Sesser Oktoberfest.  This year Franklin County AITC has added its own simulated dairy cow to its program.

Eloise, the dairy cow, was “milked” by many elementary, junior high and high school students.  Parents even tried to demonstrate their milking skills with their children.    The coordinator, Melissa Lamczyk, uses Eloise to demonstrate how people milked a cow before technology brought machines along.

A corn bin was also simulated by using a sand box.  The corn bin had shelled corn and dried field corn for the kids to play with.  Corn could be shelled off the cob right into the corn bin.  There were also buckets, cups, toy farm animals, trucks and tractors for the kids to play with inside the bin.

AITC also had sign up or reenrollment forms for anyone interested in 4-H.  Cindy Bauman, 4-H Youth Leader for Franklin County Extension, was unable to attend but she supplied forms.  Mrs. Bauman and Mrs. Lamczyk are both interested in keeping agriculture and 4-H experiences readily available in our communities.  They work on several programs together throughout the year.

Eloise was a project that was made by Melissa Lamczyk and her family for the purpose of teaching others about how to milk cows.

Rainfall amounts varied greatly over the county on Wednesday as much as .5 to 1.75 inches of rain. This will put harvest on hold for at least 24 hours but progress is being made at a good rate. I estimate that we are at least 50% complete on the fall harvest and weather looks good into next week.

The beautiful weather we are experiencing is making for some great harvest conditions.

The countryside is a buzz with combines harvesting corn and soybeans and farmers preparing ground for the planting of wheat. Fertilizer rigs are busy applying fertilizer for wheat and spring crops. All of this means that the roads will have large equipment moving, so please be patient!

Yield reports are all over the board but soybeans apparently have taken the biggest hit on yield reduction. Some of the southern portions of the county received some rain during August but it seems the northern area had little or no rain in August causing later planted beans to be sharply reduced in yields. Corn so far has been variable but not as severe as soybeans.

This week has allowed me, or required me, to experience long hours in the cab of the combine. It makes no difference how nice the cab of the combine is or how good the radio is 10 hours is a long time to sit in one position. At this point, I have listened to every talk radio show, know the news at the top of the hour by heart, listened to some good preachers and bad, heard all of the old country songs and listened to gospel music. With auto-steer you can talk on the cell phone with ease but man it makes for a very tired old man at the end of the day.

When I was younger, I would go home after running the combine and spread fertilizer, disk or repair equipment into the late night and start all over again the next morning. Now when I get out of the combine, I am so tired, I decide an early start in the morning is all I can think about.

I now have a theory that has caused this phenomenon and is not because I am 61 years old. It is the issue of monotony – the brain kicks into the shut-down mode and the body responses accordingly. The same thing happens on a long trip in a car. I am sure that most of you could agree with this logic. It beats the idea being age is the problem.

Ameren Corp. said Tuesday it will close two power plants in Illinois by the end of the year, blaming the cost of complying with new EPA pollution rules. The firm will shut down coal-fired plants in Meredosia and Hutsonville. The plants produce about 4% of Ameren’s electrical generating capacity.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

  Well, the dry weather is history as any where from 3-6 inches of rain covered the county over the weekend. All of the rain has kept combines in the sheds until Wednesday as soybean harvest begins in earnest. Yields of soybeans are an issue of how much or little of rain was received in August. Surprisingly ground conditions are good considering all of the recent rain.

Grain markets continue their downhill slide as soybeans have lost over a $1 per bushel and corn about 75 cents. The outside markets and a strong dollar have contributed to this change. Uncertainty in the European economic picture is causing the dollar to strengthen making U. S. commodities weaker in price.

All signs point to a very slow U.S. economy and the politicians cannot agree on when to eat lunch let along come up with some kind of a plan. One of the biggest drags on the economy is energy costs and it seems that every President in the last 30 years says that we need an energy plan but none of them have put forth anything at all.

Let me see? The problem is using oil and it costs too much. Now, here are a few facts to consider in solving the problem.

U.S. dependence on imported oil has dramatically declined since peaking in 2005. This trend is the result of a variety of factors including a decline in consumption and shifts in supply patterns. The economic downturn after the financial crisis of 2008, improvements in efficiency, changes in consumer behavior and patterns of economic growth, all contributed to the decline in petroleum consumption. At the same time, increased use of domestic biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel), and strong gains in domestic production of crude oil and natural gas plant liquids expanded domestic supplies and reduced the need for imports. More efficient use of energy will have an affect on usage and we need to explore those possibilities (more green).

The other side of the equation is supply. In the last few months reports are coming about oil reserves that have been discovered in the Dakotas, Pennsylvania and Alaska. Natural gas does exist in abundance on our continental shores. With the size of these reserves, why are we not making an effort to tap into these sources. Would jobs be created by this effort? How about the transfer of wealth from this country to purchase crude oil from other countries?

President Obama recently said that new production in Brazil would be welcomed and purchased by the U.S., then why not develop reserves in this country. These countries have poor environmental histories and we here in the United States would have a better environmental history.

The main problem is the oil companies would make money on this type of program and liberals think that is an unpardonable sin to let happen and we must protect every animal at great cost to our way of life. There can and must be a balance on these issues.

Production of oil reserves in this country could be are next greatest economic upturn.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

Does the rain we received on Wednesday make any difference? YES! Most of the crops are mature but late planted soybeans that are still green will benefit greatly from this rain sent from heaven. I received 2.3 inches and it came in perfect fashion. Pastures will have time for re-growth and perhaps delay the necessity of feeding hay to a much latter date. Yards and everyone’s general disposition will improve with this rain.

A new study indicates that a large segment of consumers do not believe U.S. farmers should be responsible for addressing global hunger. In its latest analysis of consumer trust in the food system, the Center for Food Integrity found that 40 percent of those surveyed strongly disagreed with the statement, “The United States has a responsibility to provide food for the rest of the world.” The study also shows that more than half the survey participants strongly agreed with the statement, “It is more important for the U.S. to teach developing nations how to feed themselves than to export food to them.”

A member asked me a question about something he heard in the coffee shop.  He was told by a farmer who was told by an Illinois State Police officer that a driver with a Class A license, not a CDL, was required to have a health card.

  While the officer is generally correct about the medical card, it has nothing to do with the driver’s license.  The class “A” license might be used by some officers as a “rule of thumb” for determining a farmer’s need for a medical card, but it’s not accurate throughout the spectrum of potential vehicle combinations.

There are two different weight thresholds involved here—10,001 pounds and 26,001 pounds.  That complicates the issue.

Farmers driving a straight truck (single-unit vehicle) – regardless of weight – are generally exempt from having to carry the “medical card” if they operate within certain limitations.  However, the farmer exemption from the medical card does not extend to combination vehicles; it applies only to straight trucks.  So, any farmer driving a semi or a truck-trailer combination (over 10,000 pounds) will have to get the bi-annual DOT physical and carry a medical card—whether or not he/she has a CDL.

But remember, not all truck-trailer combinations require a Class “A” license; the smaller ones (combined weights of 26,000 pounds or less) can be driven with a “B” license.  But still, that “B”-licensed driver (including farmers) would be required to have a medical card because the unit exceeds 10,000 pounds.

The Farmers Markets in Benton and West Frankfort continue to have great turnouts for their market day and most customers are those that use the market on a regular basis. Benton’s Market continues thru October from 3-6 Pm on Thursdays and on Tuesday’s at West Frankfort.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

This week’s weather is the type I could get use to and work to my heart’s content doing about anything I want. Rain has been elusive and soybeans yields will be affected negatively. This may be the lowest yields in soybeans in recent years. Soybeans planted in wheat straw will be as short as I have seen unless rain comes soon.

Corn harvest is progressing but most farmers are waiting until next week to get serious about getting into fields. Most soybeans are at least 2 weeks away from maturity.

I attended the Ewing Field Day this week and corn looks fairly good but soybeans will be very poor.

One of the hot topics at the field day was that farmers will be dealing with now and in years to come is resistant weeds that are here to stay and could changes our farming practices to control them. The chemicals that we have used in the past have been excellent, mainly Round-up, but soybeans fields have water hemp growing and all but impossible to control at this point.

A new weed to watch is Palmer amaranth. This weed is prolific and is glyphosate resistant and makes Darwin’s Theory of natural selection somewhat true. Weeds find a way to build resistance to herbicides which is part of the curse from Adam.

Farmer questions regarding increased environmental regulations to President Obama during his visit to Illinois captured media attention, including a reference in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. Apparently, Congressman Peter Roskam noticed these concerns as well. Congressman Roskam has invited Henry County farmer Rock Katschnig to be his guest at President Obama’s speech on job creation Thursday night in Washington, D.C. In addition to sitting in on the President’s speech, Rock will conduct a number of media interviews during his time in the capitol.

It would truly be awesome to be able to talk with the President about issues that affect farmers and get specific about how he wants to deal with environmental issues. I would like to ask him how the issue of curbing the deduction of corporate jets would affect farmers by eliminating deprecation on machinery. These issues have far reaching consequences and we need to be informed how the corporate jet deduction (depreciation) affects businesses and farmers.

The tax code needs to be reform but cannot be done in a matter of hours as most legislation is created today. There needs to be debate and time given to reform.

That is not what has happened in the last few years with major legislation that is not a thoughtful process.

I remember the Civil Rights Act in 1965 that was passed after much debate and had a generally positive affect on society. Health reform and budgets are passed under deadlines that do not allow for good legislation.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.