Retail - General

Iowa Farmer Battles Today's Pests While Eyeing Tomorrow's 'Mean Sixteen' Threats

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:31:41 GMT

For Worth County, Iowa, farmer Sarah Tweeten, the list of high-priority agronomic threats isn’t a political abstract — it’s a harsh reality she deals with every season.

Farming with her parents, Brian and Julie, and her uncle Roger, Tweeten has been steering the partnership toward more resilient cropping practices since joining the operation in 2021. This includes shifting from conventional tillage to strip tillage and splitting nitrogen applications.

The changes are part of a broader mindset: Protecting yields today from weeds, disease and insects while aggressively preparing for the next generation of agronomic threats. This forward-thinking approach is what led Tweeten to Washington, D.C., earlier this week as a Farm Journal Foundation farmer ambassador to help introduce a new report: “ The Mean Sixteen: Major Biosecurity Threats Facing U.S. Agriculture and How Policy Solutions Can Help. ”

Today’s Battles and Tomorrow’s Warnings
Researched and developed by Stephanie Mercier, PhD, the report takes an in-depth look at 16 significant pest issues U.S. farmers face now or could realistically in the future.

Tweeten is already battling a couple of the problems that underpin the urgency behind the research. For example, Palmer amaranth (pigweed) is gaining ground in her fields and across Iowa. The pervasive broadleaf weed can drastically reduce yields, with studies showing corn yield reductions between 11% and 91% and soybean yield reductions of 17% to 68%.

“We’ve struggled with pigweed as it continues to establish more resistance to our herbicides in our toolkit,” Tweeten says.

Two additional agronomic issues the report details include:

1. Asian Soybean Rust. First detected in the U.S. in Louisiana in 2004, this fungal disease has spread to southern states like Georgia and Mississippi. Scientists warn that warming winters could enable its migration to the Midwest, adding to existing disease pressures.

2. Corn Ear Rot. It can lead to aflatoxin production, making corn unmarketable and posing risks to humans and livestock. Aflatoxin is an issue Pickens County, Ala., farmer Annie Dee says is an ongoing problem for corn growers in her area.

“If we have aflatoxin, it can be impossible to sell the corn,” says Dee, also a Farm Journal Foundation Farmer ambassador.

A more recent threat she references is the impact of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (bird flu) on local poultry farms.

Since January 2022, HPAI has been confirmed in a commercial or backyard poultry flock in all 50 states.

(USDA)

“An important market for us is poultry feed meal, so that’s a constant worry. The trickle-down effect is if we can’t move our corn then we can’t meet our financial obligations,” Dee adds.

Despite agricultural R&D offering a high ROI — $20 in benefits for every $1 spent — the Farm Journal Foundation report notes public funding for ag research has been declining over the past two decades.

“Farmers urgently need sustained support for aflatoxin research and prevention because these risks threaten our yields, our markets and the trust consumers place in American agriculture,” Dee says.

U.S. public spending on ag research and development has been falling for two decades.

(USDA-ERS)

African Swine Fever Has ‘Devastating Potential’
Looking to the future, Tweeten says she is concerned about African swine fever (ASF) and its potential to impact crop farmers as well as hog producers. The highly contagious swine disease hasn’t been detected in the U.S. mainland, but it isn’t far away. ASF has been confirmed in the Caribbean countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, roughly 700 miles from Miami, Fla.

“Being a farmer from Iowa, where we have probably eight times the amount of pigs as we do people, an outbreak of ASF would be just devastating to our state,” Tweeten says.

Hogs are among the biggest customers for the corn and soybeans Tweeten and her family grow. If African swine fever were to shut down hog production or exports, it wouldn’t just be a blow to livestock producers – it would hurt the entire agricultural community, she contends.

Read about 5 livestock diseases that could impact U.S. food security and economic stability.

Food Security Is National Security
When it comes to justifying funding for ag research, Tweeten knows there’s competition for every federal dollar. But she believes agriculture deserves a front-row seat — not only because of its economic weight and impact on farmers, but because of its role in national security.

“There’s that argument that food security is national security,” she says. “If there’s one thing COVID made us aware of, it’s that a disruption to our food chain can be terrifying, quite frankly.”

The pandemic made consumers and policymakers more aware of supply chain vulnerability. In 2020, the shock to the supply chain came from a human disease and logistical bottlenecks.

(Sarah Williams Photography)

Next time, Tweeten says, the disruption could just as easily come from animal or plant disease — whether African swine fever in hogs, Asian soybean rust or some other pathogen in crops. She worries about scenarios where farmers could face a fast-moving disease or crop pest while critical tools are still hung up in regulatory delays.

Her message: Farmers need a full toolbox, not one that’s half-built by the time a threat arrives.

“Ag needs to be in a good position when these sorts of emerging diseases and pests come into the country,” she says, “to have the tools in our toolbox ready for farmers to pull out.”

About the Farm Journal Foundation
The Farm Journal Foundation is a farmer-centered, non-profit, nonpartisan organization established in 2010. It works to advance agricultural innovation, food and nutrition security, conservation, and rural economic development.

As Grocery Prices Rise, Shoppers Change Their Habits

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 21:54:36 GMT

Consumers are changing how they shop as grocery prices continue to climb. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food-at-home prices rose 2.7% in 2025 compared to last year, with beef up nearly 14%, pork up about 1% and fresh produce increasing nearly 3% in late summer.

Amid that pressure, new data from Algolia’s consumer survey shows 73% of U.S. shoppers are stressed about grocery bills this year, and it’s influencing what lands in their carts. Nearly 40% have tried private-label products for the first time, seeking lower prices and better value.

“We’re seeing a huge lift in store brand customers,” says Nate Barad, vice president of product marketing for Algolia. “Customers may have been hesitant before, but both the quality of the store brands and the deals have come up. It’s become a win-win situation.”

Algolia’s survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, both in-store and online shoppers, found that 60% participate in grocery loyalty programs, and 70% enjoy using grocery app games or ‘adventures’ that offer discounts or new product trials. Nearly half (46%) said they want personalized deal recommendations based on their carts or past purchases.

Barad says these findings align with what Algolia sees from retailers using its AI-powered search and personalization tools.

How Fresh Fits Into the New Grocery Equation

While some analysts suggest shoppers are trading fresh for frozen, Barad says Algolia’s data shows something different: Consumers are rethinking how they plan meals and use ingredients, not necessarily abandoning fresh food.

“We haven’t seen a spike in frozen versus fresh,” he says. “What we’re seeing is how people come about it. They’re looking to use the same ingredients multiple times — like making chicken Parmesan pasta one day and a chicken Caesar salad the next. It’s about meal planning and stretching ingredients.”

This shift toward intentional meal planning means fresh produce remains a key component of shoppers’ baskets, but AI and search tools are changing how consumers discover what’s available and affordable.

“In produce, inventory is now part of the search,” Barad says. “Retailers are using product freshness, shelf life and inventory data to influence what shows up first when consumers search for items like tomatoes or romaine. The AI can prioritize produce that needs to move now, which helps reduce waste and improve margins while still meeting consumer demand.”

The ability to surface nearby, in-stock and discounted produce options also helps grocers manage tight margins while keeping “fresh” accessible to price-conscious customers, Barad says.

Tech-Driven Grocery Shopping

According to the Algolia survey, shoppers view AI as a means to assist them in their grocery hauls and inspire them to create healthy meals. Specifically, consumers are eager to leverage AI agents for the following use cases:

Real-time alerts about restocked items (58%).
Suggest foods/meals based on dietary needs (56%).
Organizing meal prep (51%).

Algolia’s AI-driven “virtual shelving” feature, which builds a personalized shelf view from a shopper’s list, has been especially popular, Barad says. Shoppers can upload a handwritten or voice-generated grocery list, and the AI populates comparable items by price, availability and brand.

“You can see all the romaine, all the pasta, all the chicken and all the cheeses,” Barad says. “From there, you decide if you want the organic chicken or the store-brand version. The AI helps you do more with less, finding the best cost on the products you actually want.”

He notes that while many consumers are cautious about AI (with 50% of survey respondents saying they don’t fully trust AI agents to shop for them), most see its potential for convenience and savings. Nearly 60% believe AI will make grocery shopping easier, and 56% are interested in AI tools that suggest foods or meals based on dietary needs.

Fresh Meat, Dairy and Repeat Buys

Although the survey didn’t break down results by protein or dairy category, Barad says Algolia’s retail data shows repeatable staples, such as milk, ground beef, lettuce and cheese, are key drivers of online cart growth.

According to the Algolia survey, nearly half of consumers (46%) want grocery retailers to offer deal recommendations tailored to their current cart or past purchases. This number rises to 51% for millennials and 52% for Gen X.

“When those essentials are automated, when shoppers don’t have to manually add things like hamburger or milk each week, we see up to a 50% lift in average order value,” Barad says.

He adds that for many retailers, securing those repeat fresh-item purchases is the key to building long-term loyalty.

Consumers’ growing comfort with AI-assisted shopping, combined with their stress over grocery bills, is accelerating a new kind of grocery economy: one where affordability, personalization and freshness converge.

Grocery / Fresh Price Trend Data, 2025

Overall groceries (food at home)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports the food at home index (grocery store purchases) rose 2.7% over the 12 months ending August 2025.
More broadly, food (all food including home + away) increased ~3.2% year over year as of the same period.

Produce (fruits & vegetables / fresh produce)

The BLS index for fruits and vegetables rose 1.3% year over year in September 2025.
Earlier, for the 12 months ending August 2025, the fruits and vegetables index rose 1.9%.
On the retail side, the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) reported that in the first six months of 2025, retail prices for fresh vegetables fell about 2% compared to a year earlier.

Meat (beef, overall meats and poultry)

For the broader category “meats, poultry, fish, and eggs,” the BLS reports a +5.2% year-over-year increase in September 2025.
Beef and veal retail prices rose 2.7% from July 2025 to August 2025, and were 13.9% higher in August 2025 than in August 2024.
Also, herd supply remains tight, which contributed to upward pressure on cattle/beef supply.

Dairy

The BLS reports dairy and related products’ prices at grocery stores were up 0.7% year over year in September 2025.
In August 2025, the dairy and related products index rose about 1.3% over the prior 12-month period.

Iowa Secretary of Ag Weighs In on The H5N1 Battle, Vaccine Potential And Trade Sensitivities

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 13:53:38 GMT

Eggs continue to be a hot topic in the news as supplies are down, prices are up – and expected to go even higher – and consumers are understandably concerned.

At the center of the issue, fanning the on-going problem for poultry and dairy producers as well, is the Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza A virus (HPAI H5N1).

AgriTalk Host Chip Flory broached the topic with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig on Tuesday.

At the heart of their conversation was a two-part question – how does the U.S. address the virus and, in the process, prevent any potential negative ramifications on trade?

Naig says the federal government is taking what he described as a three-legged stool approach to addressing the problem in both industries.

He described the three legs of the stool as being USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), individual state animal health officials and industry.

“We work very closely with APHIS on this, meaning that they’re the ones that are providing the indemnity payments to producers. They are providing the disposal and cleanup assistance, but they must work in close collaboration with the states and state animal health officials,” Naig says. “And then, of course, you’ve got to have the third leg, which is industry.”

Biosecurity Measures
Naig noted that while the virus hit the poultry industry hard in 2015, it struck even harder in 2024.

“It’s not just in the Midwest or West, it’s been really all across the country now, affecting the egg laying industry, broilers and turkey production,” Naig says.

A significant positive, Naig says, is that biosecurity measures in the poultry industry appear to be preventing farm-to-farm spread. “The industry continues to get high marks for that, which wasn’t the case in 2015, which was so devastating because we didn’t have those strategies in place.”

“I believe, and our experience has been, that our USDA partners in this regard have been very strong,” he adds.

As Naig addressed the three-legged stool approach the U.S. is taking to addressing the virus in dairy, he says the three partners have more work to do.

“Frankly, there’s been a lot of criticism to share around the three legs, if you will, on how states have reacted, or how strongly USDA should have reacted, and what the industry is doing to try to contain that virus. So, I would say on the dairy side of things, it’s a different story (than in poultry). There’s a lot more work that’s yet to be done to even understand how that virus is impacting those (dairy) herds.”

What Is The Role For Vaccines?
Flory asked Sec. Nagy whether he believes a vaccine could be part of the solution to the virus or whether that would set up too many trade barriers. Flory also asked whether the virus is stable enough for a long enough period of time for a vaccine to be developed that would work effectively.

Both are questions the U.S. is grappling with as it tries to get ahead of the virus in dairy and poultry.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported the U.S. will rebuild a stockpile of avian influenza vaccines for poultry that match the strain of the virus circulating in commercial flocks and wild birds, citing the Department of Agriculture.

Naig told Flory that he believes a vaccine could be developed, with regard to poultry specifically, and its use negotiated into trade agreements.

“Those are challenges, and yet those are things that can be worked on and can be done, but it’s not easily done. I would want to put a flag there,” Naig says.

“I’m supportive of developing … we should try to figure out whether this can be an effective tool. If you’re in the broiler business or if you’re in the turkey meat business or if you’re in the egg business or maybe you’re in the genetics business, those are very different in terms of how you view that vaccine.”

Naig explains part of the different viewpoints on vaccine use have to do with the difference between poultry business segments.

“We need to recognize that those sectors are different in how they’ll view and potentially use a vaccine,” Naig says.

“Don’t treat them all the same. It’ll make way more sense for some than others.”

Naig did not weigh in on vaccine development for the dairy industry specifically.

The full conversation between Naig and Flory on AgriTalk is available below.

Your next read: Think Egg Prices Are Already Too High? USDA Says Retail Egg Prices Could Jump Another 20% in 2025

The Pork Industry Responds to EPA’s Rodenticide Strategy

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 18:03:43 GMT

Many people in agriculture fear rodenticides will become even more difficult to access and more expensive to use after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s release of the final biological evaluation, and associated response to comments, for 11 rodenticide active ingredients.

From feral hogs and Norway rats to house mice and ground squirrels, the amount of damage caused by these pests in agricultural and non-agricultural settings alike is astounding. Not only do they cause significant damage to property, crops and food supplies, but these pests also spread disease and pose a serious risk to public health.

EPA says the mitigation measures described in this final biological evaluation will serve as the agency’s Rodenticide Strategy as outlined in EPA’s Endangered Species Act Work plan.

“The Devil will be in the detail, and will vary state by state,” says Michael Formica, chief legal strategist at the National Pork Producers Council. “This strategy is going to undermine use of these important rodenticide tools. Producers will need to be licensed by their states to get them, and we’ll have fewer options at a higher price available.”

Formica says this is just another in the “thousands of over-reaching ill-considered regulations that lead to food price inflation.”

Final Biological Evaluation
The 11 rodenticides evaluated in the biological evaluation include: chlorophacinone; diphacinone and its sodium salt; warfarin and its sodium salt; brodifacoum; bromadiolone; difenacoum; difethialone; bromethalin; cholecalciferol; strychnine; and zinc phosphide.

“These rodenticides are intended to control target animals using different biochemical mechanisms (e.g., neurotoxicity, reduced blood clotting). They also have different properties that affect the types of species that may be impacted,” EPA wrote. “For example, some rodenticides may remain in target animals long enough such that predator or scavenger animals that consume the target animals may be affected. The assessment accounts for these different properties across the 11 rodenticides evaluated in the biological evaluation.”

EPA says the final biological evaluation finds that the currently labeled uses of the 11 rodenticides evaluated remained the same as those in the draft biological evaluation, and:

• Will have no effect on 88% of species and 95% percent of critical habitats
• Are not likely to adversely affect 4-11% of species and 1% of critical habitats
• Are likely to adversely affect 1-8% of listed species and 4% of critical habitat
• Have a likelihood of future Jeopardy/Adverse Modification (J/AM) of less than 5% of listed species and less than 1% of critical habitats

“The final Rodenticide Strategy does not itself impose any requirements or restrictions on pesticide use,” EPA says. “Any mitigation measures needed to address potential likelihood of future J/AM for listed species will only apply in geographically specific areas where listed species with J/AM predictions are located, using EPA’s Bulletins Live! Two system, as part of label language, or in the Terms and Conditions of registration.”

Not all of these measures will be necessary for all uses or products containing these pesticide ingredients, EPA explains in the release. These are measures from which EPA expects to choose when reducing exposure to listed species and their critical habitats, as necessary, for a specific active ingredient, use site, and application method. During formal consultation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will use EPA’s effects determinations to inform their biological opinion(s).

Formica says, “This is an overly-broad regulation that imposes unnecessary costs and an additional burden on producers because of concerns by activists and their allies at EPA over alleged misuses that have nothing to do with ag (their concern is urban and suburban consumers putting too much out indiscriminately).”

Rodenticide Access
Over 10 years ago, there was a previous attempt to ban rodenticide use, Formica recalls. Opponents feared people would see a mouse, run to a local retailer and then throw out a lot of rat poison, potentially impacting other animals.

“Then rodenticides were relabeled for ag use only. They created a minimum size you had to buy so you couldn’t buy a small 1 lb package at a suburban big box hardware store, you had to buy 20 lbs from an ag supplier.,” Formica says.

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is the Federal statute that governs the registration, distribution, sale, and use of pesticides in the United States, according to EPA’s website. Generally, before a pesticide may be sold or distributed in the U.S., it must be registered with the EPA. Before EPA may register a pesticide under FIFRA, the applicant must show, among other things, that using the pesticide according to specifications “will not generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.”

“What they want to do is remove it from store shelves entirely, restrict its access unless you are licensed to apply it,” Formica says. “If you are a grain farmer, you’re probably going to have a FIFRA applicator’s license anyway, but not every hog farmer is a grain farmer and not every cattle rancher is a grain farmer, so they’re going to have to go out and get their FIFRA applicator certification, which is done at the state level,” Formica explains.

In addition, losing the retail market for these rodenticides will make them more difficult to buy for those who need them, he explains.

“It won’t be impossible to buy but you are going to have much fewer choices and you will have to buy larger quantities,” Formica says. “The price goes up as well.”

The final biological evaluation is available in the docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2023-0567 on www.regulations.gov.

Your Next Read: Why You Need to Pay Attention Now to EPA’s Proposed Rodenticide Mitigation Measures

Warren Buffett’s 4 Best Tips for Business Leaders

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 14:59:01 GMT

At 90 years old, Warren Buffett has a net worth of over $100.6 billion, making him the world’s seventh-wealthiest person. As an investor, philanthropist and the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, he is considered one of the most impressive investors in the world.

On May 1, Buffett and Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway hosted the 2021 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Los Angeles. The pair of business tycoons shot from the hip and discussed everything from markets, bitcoin, investment mistakes and more.

Buffett has been the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970. He is routinely asked for his advice by students and others in the business. Here are a few tips he shared over the weekend.

1. Always study a business’ model.

Whenever Buffett and Munger look at investing in or buying a business, they study its strengths, weaknesses, management and its price.

“You have to have the attitude that you’re buying part of a business, not something that wiggles around on a chart,” Buffett says. “If you buy intelligently into a business, you can make money.”

2. Find joy in your work.

Sure, many people have to take a job that just pays the bills, but once you have the opportunity, Buffett suggests finding a role that brings you satisfaction, purpose and joy.

“You want to look forward to working with the people you work with,” he says. “Do something you would do even if you didn’t need the money.”

3. Be patient with your investments.

Buffett is often quoted as saying: “If you aren’t thinking about owning a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.” Buy-and-hold is an investment strategy Buffett swears by for long-term financial growth.

“Productive assets such as farms, real estate and, yes, business ownership produce wealth — lots of it,” Buffett shared in his 2020 shareholder’s letter . “Most owners of such properties will be rewarded. All that’s required is the passage of time, an inner calm, ample diversification and a minimization of transactions and fees.”

4. Invest in yourself.

Buffett says the best investment you can make is in yourself. His top tip is to improve your communication skills.

“If you just learn to communicate better, both in writing and in person, they increase their value by at least 50%,” he says. “If you can’t communicate, it’s like winking at a girl in the dark — nothing happens. You have to be able to put forward your ideas.”

Buffett says he honed his communication skills through a Dale Carnegie course. “Some people wish I would have taken a shorter course,” he jokes.

Watch the livestream and clips from the 2021 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting (Yahoo! finance)

Read Warren Buffett’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders

Here are just a few of Buffet’s top quotes:

“I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.” “When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.” “Keep things simple and don’t swing for the fences. When promised quick profits, respond with a quick ‘no.’” “You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.” “Long ago, Ben Graham taught me that ‘Price is what you pay; value is what you get.’ Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.” To [Buffett] the perfect amount to leave children is “enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.” “In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.”

Virginia Farmer Was Stranded After His Tractor Ran Over Him; What Happened Next Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 22:17:14 GMT

Winding across a hilly, gravel road in Crockett, Virginia, is where you’ll find Allen Dix every day of the week except Sunday.

“This is part of my 75-mile mail route that I travel six days a week,” he says.

As a USPS rural mail carrier, it’s a route he knows by memory, and one he traveled just like any other mail day in early March.

Part of his daily routine as a mail carrier, it’s that same road where John Moody is also a regular.

“Well, I’ve lived here on this farm almost my whole life. This was my grandparents’ farm,” says Moody, who raises cattle in the remote area of Virginia.

For 31 years, John worked for the county USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), even serving as the county executive director, but now retired, owning cattle for more than 40 years means John never slowed down. And on March 4th, the day just after John had turned 70 years old, his day started as it normally would as he loaded up to feed his cattle.

“I had a hay bale here on the front, and I had a hay bale on the back,” John remembers.

With bales in tow, John stopped to open the gate to feed his cows, the same way he’s done for decades.

“I just pulled off the side road and pulled off in the ditch and let it idle over there, and then I go across the road, open the gate and come back and get on tractor,” says John. “Well, I did that, and I wasn’t paying any attention, but when I turned around and started back toward the tractor, I looked up, and here came the tractor.”

The Accident

His first instinct was to try to jump on to the tractor to stop it, but as he did, John slipped off.

“My right leg got caught under the back tire, and it just pulled me under,” he remembers.

(Farm Journal)

The tractor, with the two hay bales still in tow, ran straight over John, crushing his lower body.

“Luckily, when it ran over me, when it got to my hips, it just turned to the side and went on off into the fence,” John says.

After the tractor charged across him and landed in the fence, John couldn’t move. And John says just seconds after it happened, he was in shock.

“I thought I was paralyzed,” says John. “I couldn’t move either one of my legs.”

But hearing a steady stream of hooves heading straight for the gate still wide open, still unable to walk, in true farmer fashion, it was more than survival on John’s mind.

“So, I crawled over and got the gate shut,” says John. “And I thought, ‘Well, maybe I can pull myself up and get on the tractor.’ So, I pulled myself up on the gate. But I couldn’t take a step or nothing. So, I just laid back down.”

The Rural Route Rescue

By that time it was mid-morning, when the rural road isn’t traveled much. So John knew the best chance of someone rescuing him was to lie in the ditch.

“I kept thinking well, sooner or later the mailman would come, and I laid there about an hour,” he remembers.

And sure enough, Dix, who travels the road daily, pulled up right on time.

“But as I got closer, I noticed the tractor was across the road and it was into the fence, and the tractor was still running,” remembers Dix.

The route and frequent stops are ones Dix knows by heart. And as he pulled off to the side of the road, he quickly realized something wasn’t right.

“I actually found John in the ditch right here along the edge of the road,” he says. “I was kind of approaching him rather cautiously. And, I said, ‘John, are you okay?’ And he said, ‘No, actually, the tractor ran over me.’”

And that’s when Dix immediately called 911.

“911, do you have an emergency,” asked the 911 operator.

“Yes, I’m on Zion Church Road,” you can hear Dix say on the call.

“Is he out of the roadway,” the operator then asked.

“Yes. I’m a mail carrier and I want to stay here with him until someone gets here,” answered Dix.

But after he hung up, John had a call he needed to make.

“John doesn’t have cell phone. He’s old school. So, I gave him my cell phone,” says Dix.

“He called the rescue squad, and I called my wife,” John remembers with tears in his eyes.

“The first thing he said was, ‘What are you doing?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m working.’ And he said, ‘Could you meet me at the hospital?’ And then I had to sit down,” remembers Debbie Moody, John’s wife. “And I said, ‘What’s happened?’ He said, ‘Well, my tractor ran over me.’ And then I really started to panic.”

She says Dix then took the phone back and explained what had happened as Debbie says she was still in shock.

“When John told me his tractor ran over him, of course. I imagined the worst,” she says.

With Dix still there, the ambulance arrived and rushed John to a local hospital, but it was there the staff realized John’s injuries were too severe.

“They sent me to Wake Forest Baptist in North Carolina, and they flew me down there by a helicopter and they took me to the trauma center, and then they operated the next day on my leg,” he says.

Repairing a hole where gravel had burrowed into his skin, John also had three pins placed where the tractor fractured his pelvis. And it was during surgery the severeness of John’s accident also sunk in.

“The surgeon said, ‘You know, he shouldn’t be alive,’” Debbie remembers. “And I cried. I knew it was bad. But when she put it in those words, I cried and said a little prayer.”

John spent a total of 15 days at the hospital with rehab continuing when he got home. Debbie was a natural at being a nurse, but she was also John’s biggest cheerleader as he worked to walk again.

“It was hard on him because he would be tired and sometimes frustrated,” she says. “But he did very well and pushed hard and did what he had to do.”

Steady Stream of Support

As the recovery process was just starting, it was when the Moody’s returned home they saw support and help from family and friends.

“When we came home one of my neighbors they’d built a ramp for me,” says John. “Another one had brought a hospital bed for me, and I was in that hospital bed for about three months that we set up in the living room.”

And the generosity didn’t stop, as the kindness seemed to keep pouring in.

“I had one neighbor that came and fed my cattle for the rest of the winter, and then I had another one come in vaccinate all my calves,” John remembers.

But it wasn’t just those neighbors who continued to check on John. You see, Dix didn’t just rescue John on March 4th. Right after Dix found John in the ditch, he jumped right in to mend what needed fixed on the farm, as he waited with John for help to arrive.

“I was able to move the tractor off of the fence, get it back to the barn was able to mend the fence,” says Dix.”

Even then, Dix says his job still wasn’t finished.

“And he needed some personal things from the house. I went to his house and got those. After all that was finished, I finished my mail route.”

And for Dix, that’s just what you do.

“We take care of each other out here. We look after each other,” he says.

Rural Route Hero

But from finding John and calling 911, to then repairing the fence and gathering items John needed for his hospital stay, what Dix did on March 4, 2021 extended far beyond his day job, something for which he was recognized recently.

“They actually surprised me with the presentation at the post office. I had absolutely no idea that it was going on,” says Dix.

That surprise and presentation wasn’t just for any award, but the USPS’ Hero Award.

“I’m a little uncomfortable with the ‘hero’ title, because, John and Debbie are the heroes for surviving the accident, her giving him care through this whole thing. And it’s been an emotional six months for them, and for me, too.”

(Farm Journal)

A Humble Hero

With his name now engraved at the USPS headquarters in Washington, D.C., Dix still doesn’t like being called a hero. But to John and Debbie, a hero is exactly what he is.

“Allen is truly a hero. He will always be a hero to the Moody family, because of his quick thinking,” says Debbie. “In this area, people do take care of each other and look after each other, and that was just second nature to him.”

“He saved me from a lot of suffering getting there when he did, or I don’t know when somebody would have got there that day,” says John.

While Dix typically delivers mail, that day, Allen Dix proved to be a rural route hero by delivering an unforgettable rescue. As John and Allen share a new bond, it’s one of which John will be forever thankful.

(Farm Journal)

A New Chapter

As for John, his recovery has been a year in the making.

“I had been thinking about cutting back on my cattle; a third this year, a third next year, and then a third next year and going out of the cow-calf operation and then buying calves in the spring and selling them in the fall,” explains John. “Well, while laid there I thought well, this might be a good time just sell all them. So that’s what I did once I got better.”

However, the accident wasn’t the end of John’s story, as John recently started a new chapter. Nearly a year after John survived the tractor accident and sold off all his cattle knowing he couldn’t care for them at the time, he just purchased 19 head of cattle to graze again. As the cattle returned to the farm in March 2022, it’s affirmation that when you have enough heart and passion, it’s a way of life that not even tragedy can take away.

Down on the Farm: Halloween Costumes You Won't Forget

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 14:41:04 GMT

Halloween: an opportunity for parents to squish their adorable children into itchy, feathery, sequin-filled works of art in an attempt to capture that perfect moment and share it on their social media feeds. Oh, the joy of deciding exactly what to wear for this momentous annual occasion! Maybe it’s because I’m a farm kid at heart, but I think the best costume ideas come straight from the farm. And from the looks of pictures sent in by our readers, you do, too.

Just in case you are still looking for that perfect costume for Halloween (or just enjoy cute kids on Halloween), here are some farm-friendly ideas shared by our readers.

Go check out the rest of the “herd” of cute costumes on the next page!

Photos provided by:

Cindy Anderson
Gretchen Pein Baloun
Michelle Caldwell
Anna Dilger
Kelly Estes
Barbie Ford
Alissa Fosdick
Kate Goodson
Lenzi Holmes
Katrina Huffstutler
Katie Humphreys
Aimee Inskeep
Katelyn Jones Hamlow
Krista Kuipers
Jessica Patzwith
Ashley Pendley
Lynsee Pullen
Gary Rodgers
Jennifer Smith
Emily Spray
Traci Stierwalt
Nicole Strand
Emily Thomas
Kimberly Wolter

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

6 Spooktacular Beef, Pork and Dairy Treats for Halloween

Dan Murphy: Pumpkin Phobia

Trump Administration’s 5G Plans Move Ahead, Boosting Rural Internet

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 04:19:45 GMT

The Trump Administration and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are moving forward with plans that would help rural America with Internet connectivity, potentially boosting commerce for agriculture.

During an announcement at the White House on April 12 , President Donald Trump and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai laid out the vision for the “race to 5G,” along with a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund plan.

President Trump said during his comments that moving from the current 4G cellular network to 5G will help farmers be more productive, make manufactures be more competitive, while creating a better healthcare system.

“It will transform the way our citizens work, learn, communicate and travel,” Trump said.

FCC plans to hold its third 5G spectrum auction on December 10, 2019. The auction would sell 3,400 megahertz in three different spectrum bands at one time. It would be the largest auction of 5G spectrum with two prior auctions only making 1,550 megahertz of spectrum commercially available.

“For those of you who are not wireless experts, that is a lot of spectrum,” Pai said.

Currently, FCC has been moving forward with the Facilitate America’s Superiority in 5G Technology plan, which includes three components:

Pushing more spectrum—the airwaves that enable communications—into the marketplace
Promoting 5G wireless infrastructure
Modernizing outdated regulations

As Pai and Trump noted there is a race to 5G, with much of the competition coming from China. Cisco projects that within three years the amount of 5G connections in North America will be twice the projected rate in Asia. Currently, the U.S. is the global leader in commercial 5G deployments, according to CTIA, a trade organization representing the U.S. wireless communications industry.

“The race to 5G is a race America must win, and it’s a race, frankly, that our great companies are now involved in. We’ve given them the incentive they need. It’s a race that we will win,” Trump added.

In addition to the 5G developments , FCC is also going to invest $20.4 billion into high-speed broadband networks across rural America during a 10 year period. The money would come from a yet to be created Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. Funding would go to a reverse auction to service providers that will deploy infrastructure providing up to gigabit-speed broadband in areas of the country most in need of connectivity.

“This money will extend high-speed broadband to up to 4 million homes and small businesses in rural America. These next-generation networks will bring greater economic opportunity to America’s heartland, including some of the great jobs building infrastructure, and they will help support future 5G technologies,” Pai said.

During the White House announcement Marty Smith, president elect of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, voiced his pleasure with seeing the investment in infrastructure.

“We really appreciate the fact that you have put this emphasis on rural America,” Smith said.

In a press release following the announcement the Rural & Agriculture Council of America (RACA) also expressed that the moves would benefit underserved areas of the country.

“These efforts demonstrate that private sector competition, not government nationalization of networks, is the best path forward to stimulating local economies and bridging the digital divide in rural communities across America,” said RACA Vice President Chris Skorupa.

To view the whole White House announcement watch the following video:

Trump, Xi Unlikely To Meet Prior To March Trade Deadline

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 02:56:59 GMT

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were scheduled to meet later this month. However, CNBC reports the two leaders meeting before the March 2 trade deal deadline is “highly unlikely.”

According to a senior administration official, the presidents are still planning to meet but there’s “too much work to do” in too short of a time period to flesh out a deal with China. The leaders set their March 2 deadline when they met in Argentina. While negotiators are making progress, officials said there’s still much work to be done.

Kudlow in a follow-up to Fox Business Network said, President Trump “does expect to meet with Xi but when is totally up in the air. At some point they will meet, but that is off in the distance at the moment.”

Currently, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is pressing Beijing to make structural changes that would end policies that force U.S. companies to hand over technology or intellectual property to do business there, according to Pro Farmer’s Jim Wiesemeyer.

“The administration has argued that such policies are a direct attack on U.S. innovation and represent an organized campaign by Beijing to dominate high-tech sectors,” he said.

As expected, the soybean markets crashed on the news of the delayed meeting between Trump and Xi.

Biden Says He Will Not Immediately Remove Phase 1 Trade Deal With China

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 02:56:41 GMT

(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has said that he will not immediately act to remove the Phase 1 trade agreement, which President Donald Trump inked with China, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

In an interview with a Times columnist, Biden said that the United States needed to get leverage back to use in negotiations with China.

“I’m not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs,” Biden said. “I’m not going to prejudice my options.”

“In my view, we don’t have (leverage) yet,” he added.

The United States needs to develop a bipartisan consensus and increase government-led investments in research and development, infrastructure and education to better compete with China, according to the president-elect.

“I want to make sure we’re going to fight like hell by investing in America first,” Biden said.

Under the Phase 1 agreement signed earlier in the year, China agreed to increase purchases of American products and services by at least $200 billion over 2020 and 2021.

The deal also leaves in place 25% tariffs on a $250-billion array of Chinese industrial goods and components used by U.S. manufacturers, and China’s retaliatory tariffs on over $100 billion in U.S. goods.

Biden’s team will pursue policies targeted at China’s “abusive practices,” including “stealing intellectual property, dumping products, illegal subsidies to corporations” and forcing “tech transfers” from U.S. companies to their Chinese counterparts, according to the interview.

On Iran, Biden said he stood by his views that his administration would lift sanctions if Tehran returned to “strict compliance with the nuclear deal.”

Last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had said Iran would fully implement its 2015 nuclear deal if Biden lifts sanctions, which Zarif said could be done swiftly through “three executive orders”.

“In consultation with our allies and partners, we’re going to engage in negotiations and follow-on agreements to tighten and lengthen Iran’s nuclear constraints, as well as address the missile program,” Biden added.

(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Sam Holmes and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Farm Journal Announces 365-Day Extension of Farm Journal Field Days

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:57:31 GMT

The success of Farm Journal’s inaugural Farm Journal Field Days TM has led to a 365-day expansion of the event, giving agricultural suppliers and service providers timely access to target audiences while also providing farmers, ranchers and growers with the critical information they need for upcoming seasons.

“When we looked back at the opportunities we were able to create for both Farm Journal Field Days attendees and industry partners who engaged with the event, the direction we needed to go was clear — we needed to expand it,” said Andy Weber, CEO of Farm Journal.

In a post-event survey, more than 87 percent of farmers, ranchers and growers that attended said the event met or exceeded their expectations, and 85 percent planned to participate in another Farm Journal online event.

“At the same time, we provided higher quality leads at a fraction of the cost of other farm shows to exhibitors, and we will continue to deliver valuable leads to those that continue to engage in this 365-day approach,” said Weber. “Bringing these groups together in the Farm Journal Field Days platform is a win-win for the industry.”

The 365-day approach will include seasonal “special edition” events delivering what farmers, ranchers and growers need to know right now, including a Harvest Edition kicking off October 19, followed by an Equipment Edition starting in December and going through February 2021. In March, a Planting Edition will launch followed by a Hay, Forage & Cattle Handling Edition in June. Then in August, the 2021 Pro Farmer Crop Tour TM, Farm Journal Field Days Summer Showcase and another #FarmONTM Benefit Concert will round out the summer. Each edition will feature live and on-demand content, networking, new pavilions and featured products and resources in exhibitor booths as well as in-person events and programming.

(Farm Journal)

Farm Journal Field Days Harvest Edition will kick off with new stories, videos and other resources being added to the platform every day while pavilion hosts and exhibitors will be updating content around harvest topics. A new Harvest Pavilion will feature content relevant to farmers during the harvest season, and new exhibitors are expected to join as well. The search for farm locations to host in-person events is ongoing through Farm Journal’s Top Producer Network with plans to cover multiple geographies across the country.

“The landscape of agriculture events is changing, and Farm Journal is excited to offer a marketing alternative that allows our industry partners to get in front of their key accounts and prospects,” said Charlene Finck, president of Farm Journal. “We have built a successful platform, and farmer response is positive, as they see the value of online education and ag industry networking. Farm Journal Field Days is a celebration of learning and entertainment for all of agriculture, and we are proud to be leading the industry in these efforts.”

Farm Journal launched the New American Farm ShowTM experience in August with the 2020 Pro Farmer Crop Tour, the launch of Farm Journal Field Days and its first #FarmON Benefit Concert. All content from these events is still available for on-demand viewing, plus Farm Journal editors are continually pushing new content to the platform. All pavilions are still open as well as exhibitor booths and the networking lounge.

Registration for Farm Journal Field Days is free. To learn more or register, go to www.farmjournalfielddays.com .

COVID-19 Surge Slices U.S. Demand for Big Thanksgiving Turkeys

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:57:13 GMT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - All summer, Greg Gunthorp slaughtered and froze 15- to 24-pound turkeys on his northeastern Indiana farm for Thanksgiving sales to retailers, restaurants and families across the Midwest.

But as surging COVID-19 cases prompted U.S. cities and states to urge Americans to stay home just weeks before the holiday, customers swapped out orders for whole birds for smaller turkey breasts.

As a last-minute shift toward small-scale celebrations upends demand for the star of Thanksgiving tables, turkey producers and retailers are scrambling to fill orders for lightweight birds and partial cuts.

“It was very stressful,” Gunthorp said. “It cut our numbers on being able to fill customer sizes that they wanted for turkeys - way too short.”

Gunthorp raised and sold nearly 7,000 pasture-raised turkeys this year, up 75% from a year ago. Restaurants and meat shops in major Midwestern cities, his primary clients, cut orders by 10% to 20%, but Gunthorp has made up the difference by partnering with online retailers, shipping turkeys as far away as Los Angeles.

Suppliers need to be nimble as about half of Americans plan to alter or skip traditional festivities due to local health advisories against big gatherings, according to market research firm Nielson. About 70% are planning a Thanksgiving with fewer than six people, compared with 48% last year.

Demand for smaller birds will trim turkey production to 1.445 billion pounds in the last quarter, down five million pounds from previous expectations, according to a Nov. 17 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We have seen our supply chain adjust to market disruptions and shifting consumer needs,” said Beth Breeding, spokeswoman for the industry group National Turkey Federation. “Like the rest of the country, it has been a challenging year for turkey production.”

While best known for beef, Nebraska-based Omaha Steaks this year offered 3-pound turkey breasts for the first time to cater to smaller Thanksgiving gatherings, said Nate Rempe, president and chief operating officer. The pre-cooked product sold out online, as some consumers are avoiding grocery stores.

Omaha Steaks also sold out of 10-pound turkeys earlier than usual, Rempe said.

“The number of individual Thanksgiving meals being prepared ... is going to be much higher because of the separation of gatherings,” he said.

Butterball, the largest U.S. producer of turkey products, shipped 1,900 truckloads of whole turkeys to grocers in the past two weeks, said Al Jansen, executive vice president of marketing and sales. Many major chains booked orders in the first quarter before the coronavirus outbreak, he added.

Retailers have slashed whole-turkey prices by about 7% to an average of $1.21 per pound, the lowest since 2010, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. That cuts the average cost of a Thanksgiving meal for 10 people by 4% to $46.90, Farm Bureau said.

The decline is welcome news for the nearly 24 million households facing empty cupboards due to COVID-19-related job losses. Food insecurity has nearly tripled since the pandemic began, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

“Thanksgiving will not be a holiday that all Americans can enjoy this year,” said Joseph Llobrera, research director at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “Alarming levels of food hardship will last through the holidays and beyond unless policymakers immediately provide robust COVID relief.”

Some Americans who had relied on others to cook on Thanksgiving are ordering part or all of their meals from restaurants for the first time. Others simply do not want the hassle of preparing a feast for just a few guests.

“Thanksgiving is going to look very different this year, and we know there’s a lot of cooking fatigue out there right now,” said Tracy Hostetler, a vice president for Perdue Farms. The company launched turkey “ThanksNuggets” as an alternative to traditional turkey dinners.

In Houston, independent marketing consultant Anh Nguyen, 50, will dine with about 10 relatives on a smoked turkey from a local restaurant. Normally, three times as many of her family members gather to gobble up two 20-pound turkeys cooked at home.

“It’s a little weird,” said Nguyen. “Thanksgiving has been historically just one of the holidays where everybody is together.”

(Reporting by Christopher Walljasper and Tom Polansek; Editing by Richard Chang)

Smithfield Foods Prepares for COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution to U.S. Employees

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:56:53 GMT

Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork processor, said on Wednesday it has medical capabilities at U.S. facilities and is actively preparing for COVID-19 vaccine distribution to employees.

Meatpacking workers were among the groups hit hardest by the new coronavirus last year, as U.S. slaughterhouses became hot spots for outbreaks in the spring, helping spread the virus around rural America.

More Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday than at any time since the pandemic began, as the historic public vaccination effort lagged.

Smithfield, owned by China’s WH Group, declined to provide details of its vaccination plans and said they vary from state to state. The company said all of its employees will be eligible to receive vaccines.

A day earlier, the governor of the U.S. state of Nebraska said undocumented immigrants who work in meat plants would likely not get vaccinated due to immigration status.

The Washington-based Migration Policy Institute estimates that 10% of meatpacking workers nationwide are unauthorized immigrants. Smithfield said it does not employ undocumented immigrants.

The company last month offered to help U.S. health officials distribute COVID-19 vaccines and store them in ultra-cold freezers that are in high demand to support the public vaccination campaign.

The U.S. Labor Department and a state workplace safety regulator in California separately cited Smithfield last year for failing to protect employees from COVID-19 and other violations during the pandemic. The company has contested the findings.

Smithfield and other meatpackers also came under fire last year as U.S. pork exports to China soared while U.S. processors warned of domestic meat shortages due to COVID-19 outbreaks at slaughterhouses.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek Editing by Chris Reese and Nick Zieminski)

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Worker Absenteeism in Packing Plants is No Surprise

Trouble Shipping Grain And Feed Via Rail Far From Over, Concerns Now Growing About Possible Worker Strike At Harvest

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 20:00:15 GMT

Rail retains a vital role in the transportation of goods across the U.S., but this year, the 140,000- miles worth of railroad tracks across the country haven’t been immune to the supply chain chaos plaguing U.S. transportation sectors.

Now, a potential stoppage on the nation’s railways this fall is spurring concern, even after President Joe Biden signed an executive order Sunday to keep the nation’s rail traffic on track.

“What I’m hearing from our members is fewer equipment issues,” says Mike Seyfert, president and CEO of the National Feed and Grain Association (NFGA) . “The equipment and engines don’t seem to be breaking down, but the amount of time it’s taken to get the trains and the reliability of receiving them have.”

With more than 1,000 members today, NFGA represents everything from grain buyers and handlers to transportation companies who ship the grain.

“It seems to be most severe right now in the West, or for those who are trying to ship west on those lines that are going into the western part of the country,” says Seyfert. “Either for feed purposes, processing purposes, or export purposes to the western side.”

What’s Driving the Issues Shipping Via Rail?

Today’s rail issue centers around labor and the amount of time it’s taking to receive shipments via rail.

“The velocity to deliver trains is getting more and more difficult. You’re having challenges with having enough locomotives in different locations,” says Ken Erikson, senior vice president at S&P Global Fuels, Chemicals and Resource Solutions Group . “You have challenges with crews who may have been hit by weather, who may be hit by diversions, some of the rail crews timeout or they don’t have enough locomotive engineers in the right position.”

Eric Wilkey of Arizona Grain, Inc . is seeing the issue firsthand. Area farmers were in the middle of harvest, and Wilkey still hadn’t received the rail cars he needed.

“We’ve got a whole harvest that’s basically been received, and we haven’t been able to ship anything,” Wilkey told U.S. Farm Report at the end of June.

Wilkey says rail cars that were supposed to arrive in early May started to finally trickle in during the first part of July, but that was two months behind schedule.

“We never stopped the farmers from harvesting, so we have created some really large inventories and that has significant cash-flow impacts on us,” adds Wilkey.

Hearing Hints at Complexity of Issue

In April, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) stepped in, holding a hearing to get to the root of the rail issues. The hearing was full of differing opinions and pointed questions.

Just prior to the hearing, Landus Coop, which represents 7,000 farmer-owners in Iowa, submitted testimony saying rail issues meant they were only able to load half the number of shipments necessary, and the backlog meant farmers trying to haul grain to the coop were being turned away. The letter stated:

Landus is only able to load half the rate of shipments necessary today. With 450,000 bushels loaded in each train, this impact multiplies daily.
Farmers trying to haul grain to us today are getting turned away because we cannot make the inventory space for them. This is an important and optimal window of time when farmers must haul remaining old-crop inventory in preparation for harvest.
Disruption to inventory flow has led to increased handling costs and reduced customer service throughout Landus. We are experiencing lost business daily due to the disruption.
Grain bushels are getting “trapped” in pockets of surplus supply, while shipping destinations are experiencing a growing deficit in access to supply.
Our soy processing facility has experienced a 10% decrease in production over the past six months due to rail performance alone. This is in turn further impacting profitability and our ability to access markets where soybean meal is in highest demand.
Trucking is not a viable alternative transportation mode today due to labor shortages.

The letter went on to say “If this situation is not resolved quickly, we risk the potential for livestock producers in California and other states potentially running out of feed.”

Concerns About Labor Issues Growing Worse at Harvest

Rail carriers and unions are in the middle of labor negotiations right now. The collective bargaining process made headlines last week, as Biden had until Sunday, July 17, to create a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB). The move was an essential step in keeping the collective bargaining process on track, as well as keeping the nation’s railways operating.

“We are pleased that President Biden has taken an important step by creating a PEB to help all parties find a reasonable path forward,” says Association of American Railroads (AAR) president and CEO Ian Jefferies. “An agreement that allows both our hardworking employees and the industry to thrive into the future remains possible.”

AAR points out the Railway Labor Act governs collective bargaining for the rail industry, which aims to help parties reach an agreement without work stoppages or disruptions to U.S. freight rail movements.

While a crisis was averted with the president’s executive order, the collective bargaining process is far from over. Now, there are fresh concerns the ongoing labor dispute could come to a head just as harvest arrives in the Midwest this fall.

“Once we get into mid-September, there’s also a risk of some labor issues, even labor stoppage on some of the rail lines,” says Seyfert. “And so getting these things addressed now, and all of us working together before we get particularly into that fall harvest timeframe is essential. We’ve really never been in a situation where a reliable and resilient rail service is more important than it is now.”

Tense Labor Negotiations?

The April hearing in front of the STB gave a hint to just how tense those labor negotiations could continue to be. Rail carriers pointed out just how severely impacted they’ve been from what’s been dubbed the “Great Resignation,” and the issues getting labor back up to speed. Certain rail carriers also outlined the plans in place to get labor back to necessary levels to operate efficiently and smoothly.

However, rail workers place blame on the railroads, saying there’s more to the story. Mark Wallace, locomotive engineer, and vice president of Brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), which is North America’s oldest rail labor union, testified during the STB hearing in April.

“Since 1984, 40 railroads have been reduced to seven class one carriers, now largely controlled by speculators and hedge fund investors,” he stated. “This culture of profits over safety, customer service and the lives of railroad workers is now exposed as this industry is network fails on a daily basis.”

“Now, they signaled to us in meetings publicly and otherwise they are having some success in hiring again and getting crews successfully through training,” says Wilkey. “For the Midwest, there’s a little bit of time, but for us, there’s no time. We’re in harvest right now. And I don’t have time to wait another three months for crews to be trained.”

It’s not just the hearing that hinted toward prolonged trouble with train transportation. Grain handlers like Wilkey says current rail bids point to problems persisting into fall.

“These car values would be somewhere north of $1,000 per car this fall,” says Wilkey. “And so that’s the market sending signals that there’s going to be tightness, there’s going to be concerns.”

Typically, Wilkey says those bids would be around $100 per car.

Congress Urges STB to Take Action

In late June, 51 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter and sent to the STB regarding issues with the rail system in the U.S.. The letter asked STB to continue to work through the current rail issues with all stakeholders in order to address short-term challenges and find a resolution.

“On behalf of our constituents and farmers around the country, we write regarding poor rail service, which has limited fertilizer shipments, among other essential agricultural inputs and commodities, including grain and feed,” the letter stated.

“At a time when global fertilizer supplies and global crop production are highly disrupted, imposing shipping curtailments on fertilizer inputs and grain, as recently proposed by Union Pacific, will cause major supply chain disruptions, hurt American farmers, and exacerbate the food crisis considerably. We must ensure critical commodities reach essential industries and workers, such as America’s farmers, who are essential to feeding our nation and the world. Food is a national security issue, and we must treat it as such,” the 51 members wrote in the letter.

The Senate sent a similar letter to the STB in May.

Wait Times Cause Economic Pain

As the labor battle plays out, the short-term issues are causing grain handlers economic pain.

“There have been significant economic impacts,” says Wikley. “I would estimate since the first of the year, today, there’s been in the order of $100 million paid out by the industry to solve this logistics problem that’s developed. And that’s just outside of the bounds of normal.”

The battle over labor seems to have a long tail, as those in the grain industry try to work together to make sure this major shipping vein doesn’t buckle.

The Farm Economy Explained in 3 Charts

Fri, 20 May 2022 20:17:25 GMT

Even with high input costs, agricultural condition ratings are showing strength. The latest round of agricultural credit condition surveys from the Federal Reserve banks show high farm real estate values are supporting farm finances.

This strength is exhibited in several key metrics, write Nathan Kauffman, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City vice president, economist and Omaha branch executive, and Ty Kreitman, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City assistant economist.

“The outlook for agricultural credit conditions remained optimistic alongside persistently strong commodity prices,” the two write. “However, many lenders expected conditions to soften in coming months alongside the pressures to profit margins from higher input costs and harsh drought conditions in large portions of the country. Farm real estate markets also remained strong, but reduced profit margins or higher interest rates could limit gains in land values in the year ahead.”

1. High Farm Real Estate Values

Growth in farm real estate values remained high and accelerated in some regions. Similar to the previous quarter, the value of non-irrigated cropland rose by more than 20% from a year ago in Federal Reserve Districts with a large agricultural concentration (Chart 1).

(Farm Journal)

The annual pace of growth increased from the previous quarter in the Dallas and Chicago districts. The value of non-irrigated cropland increased by more than 20% in the majority of states represented in the participating Districts during the first quarter (map). The increase was particularly sharp in Iowa, Kansas and the Mountain States where values were about 30% higher than a year ago.

(Farm Journal)

2. Interest Rates on the Rise

The average fixed rate charged on farm loans increased in all districts following an increase in the federal funds rate in mid-March (Chart 2). Fixed rates increased by an average of 20 basis points from the previous quarter across all regions, with a slightly faster rise in the Chicago District.

(Farm Journal)

3. Farm Loan Repayment Rates Also the Rise

Farm loan repayment rates increased at a pace similar to recent quarters in most regions and rose at a slightly faster pace in the Chicago and Minneapolis Districts (Chart 3). It marked the fifth consecutive quarter of higher rates of repayment in nearly all regions.

(Farm Journal)

Read More

4 Trends Shaping the Rural Economy

Inflation Nation: The Long Road Ahead

How to Calculate Your Personal Inflation Rate

12 Reasons Why We Need FFA More Than Ever

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 20:50:37 GMT

High school registration is a nightmare if you have a teenager who wants to do everything. My daughter’s list is longer than the hours in her day. (But who am I kidding? Mine is too and I suspect yours is as well.) We’ve had a lot of long talks lately about her “stop list.” What can she stop doing to make time for what she loves most?

Part of her challenge is fitting in an agriculture class so she can be part of FFA. Admittedly, she’ll have to put in extra effort to make it work and most likely stop some things, but I know it will be time well spent. I suspect if other young people knew what FFA really is and what it isn’t – they’d go to extra lengths, too.

You can’t fit FFA in a box.

It’s not just farming or welding or raising livestock or public speaking or growing vegetables. It’s a nearly limitless opportunity for young people to figure out who they are and what they want to do in life. It’s cutting-edge, innovative, empowering and most importantly, fun.

In a world where more and more young people are glued to electronic devices and missing out on community, FFA offers connection, hands-on learning and adult mentors to invest in their lives.

If I haven’t convinced you yet that young people need FFA more than ever, here are 12 lessons FFA taught my friends and I at Farm Journal that we still use every day.

12. Everything always works out how it’s supposed to.

11. There’s value in a good handshake and eye contact.

10. Be confident in your own abilities, and also those around you, to achieve your goals.

9. Find someone to look up to and listen to what they have to say.

8. Read the instructions and don’t forget to sign your name.

7. Find a career you’re not only good at, but passionate about, too.

6. You really can do just about anything you put your mind to.

5. It’s ok to shake in your boots a bit.

4. Influence isn’t about position, it’s about heart.

3. Keep trying new things until you find your “sweet spot.”

2. Failure stings, but it makes us better in the end.

1. To be the best, it takes top-tier effort. A little bit of preparation will yield good results, but a lot of preparation and study will always yield better results.

In honor of FFA week, we want to know what the most valuable lesson learned, memory made or life-changing experiences you had with FFA. Share your memories for a chance to be featured in an upcoming article.

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It Takes All of Us

A Little Peace in the Struggle

Is Surging Inflation the Shock That Will Slash Consumers' Record Appetite for Meat?

Fri, 12 Nov 2021 19:29:18 GMT

Inflation levels are now at levels the U.S. hasn’t seen in decades. The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed a 6.2% spike over the past 12 months, the biggest increase in nearly 30 years.

The CPI shows it’s not just food items costing consumers more. From fuel to new vehicles, prices are surging with the year-to-date totals meaning U.S. shoppers haven’t experienced a price surge like this since 1990.

(Farm Journal)

The latest CPI this week revealed the following price increases:

Gas up 49%
Fuel oil up 59%
Used cars and trucks up 26%, the largest jump ever
Retail pork prices up 14%
Retail chicken up almost 9%
Retail beef up 20%

“Meatflation”

The dramatic rise in meat prices was dubbed as “meatflation” by Bloomberg this week. And while consumers are seeing spiking prices, livestock producers aren’t benefiting from the price increase. In fact, pork producers have seen hog prices plummet as input prices have spiked.

Experts say the rising prices for consumers are all thanks to a mix of rampant demand, raw material shortages from processors and choke points along global supply chains.

Cutting into Consumers Record Demand?

So, what could the price pain at the store mean for consumers’ appetite of meat? So far this year, domestic demand has reached record levels. One Ohio State University agricultural economist doesn’t expect the prices to be a major hit on that overall demand picture yet.

“It might change some consumer demand in the long term, but overall, as people get adjusted, they try something they haven’t tried before, like curbside pickup and online grocery shopping, it has changed how shoppers are buying. But meat continues to be very popular product. So i mean, i don’t think that we’re going to see huge swings in that,” says Zoë Plakius, Agricultural and Food Systems economist, The Ohio State University.

Others aren’t sold on the fact higher prices won’t change consumers taste. In fact, if meat prices continue to climb, some think consumers may be forced to change their eating habits.

“What that means is that people are not going to be eating as well. They’re certainly not going to be eating out as much. They’re not going to be buying expensive items in the grocery. And you know, food, fuel, rental prices: these are what most people spend most of their money on,” says Rana Roroohar, Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor, Financial Times.

Outlook

Some economic analysts say relief could come if the pandemic eases significantly and more people get back to working in stores and offices.

As for the high prices and shortages of cars, experts say that will probably take longer to solve due to the computer chips used to make them are so specialized, and there’s just not enough of them getting to the U.S.

COVID-19: First Protein Processing Employee Deaths

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 19:37:54 GMT

COVID-19 has claimed the lives of at least three employees of America’s protein processing industries.

A longtime employee of JBS USA’s Greeley, Colo., beef plant died Tuesday night, the company has confirmed. Two workers at the Tyson Foods chicken plant in Camilla, Georgia, recently died after contracting the disease, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Saul Sanchez, 78, had worked for JBS in Greeley for more than 30 years. In a statement, the company said, “JBS USA confirmed today that a team member has died from complications associated with COVID-19. The individual worked at the JBS production facility in Greeley, Colo., providing more than 30 years of dedicated service. We are deeply saddened by the loss of our team member. We are offering support to the family and our team members during this time. Our sympathies are with our fallen friend, the family and all those impacted by COVID-19.”

Denver’s CBS4 reporter Rick Sallinger said another employee at the Greeley plant is now sick from coronavirus and on a ventilator.

JBS USA has stopped operations at its beef plant in Souderton, Pennsylvania with plans to reopen April 16, after two weeks. All other JBS USA’s plants are still open.

In Georgia, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced the deaths of the Tyson employees in a post criticizing the poultry industry’s “delayed COVID-19 response.” The union said the two workers died from the virus and “many are sick or in quarantine.” RWDSU represents 2,000 members at the Camilla facility.

In a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Tyson spokesman Worth Sparkman said: “We continue working diligently to protect our team members at Camilla and elsewhere against what many industries around the world have learned is a challenging and ever-changing situation ... We’ve been in frequent contact with the RWDSU and the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers union) about the measures we’ve taken to protect our team members.”

The statement said workers’ temperatures are being taken before they enter Tyson facilities and that they have access to protective face covering.

Related stories:

COVID-19: Cargill Closes Pennsylvania Plant

Smithfield’s Pork Plant Shuts Down For 3 Days Due To COVID-19

Officials Concerned About COVID-19 At Two JBS Plants

Phase 1 China Deal Signed Clearing Way for $80 Billion in Ag Purchases

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 19:30:02 GMT

A phase one trade deal with China is official, clearing the way for America’s chief trade competitor to purchase $80 billion worth of U.S. agricultural goods over the next two years.

President Donald Trump was surrounded by leaders from agriculture and other impacted industries as he and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed the agreement after 18 months of rancorous negotiations and tit-for-tat tariffs.

“Our efforts have yielded a transformative deal that will bring tremendous benefits to both countries,” Trump noted at the signing ceremony. “We have a great relationship with China. We have a great relationship with the leadership of China, and China fully understands that there has to be certain reciprocity.”

That sentiment was echoed by Vice Premier Liu.

“China and the United States, with the larger picture in mind, have taken a serious approach to our differences and worked to manage them appropriately, reaching the phase one trade agreement,” Liu said. “It is good for China, for the United States and for the world.”

According to the chief agriculture negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, Gregg Doud, the agreement calls on China to hit the $80 billion in ag purchases over a two year period with the amount projected to be slightly under $40 billion in 2020 and slightly over that mark in 2021. Those ag purchases are part of a larger agreement for China to purchase a total of $200 billion in U.S. goods.

While the mix of the planned ag commodity purchases is not clear, past purchases do provide a bit of a roadmap.

“We speculate it will be upwards of maybe 35 million metric tons of soybeans, a couple million tons of cotton, maybe 5 million tons of corn, two to four million metric tons of wheat, maybe 5 million tons of DDGs (distillers dried grains) and 2 million tons of ethanol,” speculated Dan Basse, president of AgResource Company. “Now that will only encompass about $30 billion, slightly less than that. Other goods will come into there, but that’s pet food, it’s lumber products, it’s all of that. But the heart of it, we believe, will be soybeans, pork, meats and, of course, some dairy.”

While the phase one agreement has plenty of good news for agriculture, there is still a tremendous amount of unfinished business between the two nations that could stall further talks. Most notably, the agreement does not roll back most of the tariffs put in place by both countries.

“The upside is we’ve stopped escalation of the trade war, but we haven’t gotten to rolling back the tariffs, that’s what’s missing,” explained Ian Sheldon, the Anderson Chair of Agricultural Marketing Trade and Policy at Iowa State University. “In no place does the deal mention Chinese industrial policies and subsidies, particularly towards their state-owned enterprises, and this was one of the most fundamental issues that started the trade war in the first place.”

The U.S. and China have not yet set a date to begin negotiations for phase two of the trade talks. President Trump said the phase one deal does settle significant trade sticking points such as intellectual property protections and forced technology transfer, though details of those protections will not be known until the full text is released.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) noted the work remaining in the subsequent trade talks with China.

“Farmers have borne the brunt of retaliation throughout this trade war. At the White House today, I was thinking of my neighbors in Iowa and all the other farmers across the country who have stood strong throughout this process,” Grassley said. “I hope this proves to be a turning point in our economic relationship with China, but I’ve seen enough history to be clear-eyed. Not only must China follow through with its commitments in this Phase One deal, but also work toward a comprehensive agreement that ends forced technology transfers, intellectual property theft and unfair restrictions on U.S. goods, including agriculture. Only then will we know if China can be a reliable economic partner in the 21st century.”

Grizzly Hell: USDA Worker Survives Epic Bear Attack

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 20:13:33 GMT

At the nauseating, audible crunch of bones breaking, 42 teeth of a grizzly bear’s jaws ground into Todd Orr’s body at 1,000 psi—enough pressure to crack a bowling ball. Pinned to the forest floor by 400 lb. of raw power and layered muscle, Orr felt scorching waves of pain surge through his nerves, shoot up his spinal column, and roar into his brain as the bear tore through flesh. Resisting the primal urge in every fiber of his being to scream and flail, Orr blanketed the agony with a phenomenal will to survive, and remained passive, listening to the macabre sounds of what should have been death.

Legendary. In the annals of survival history, Todd Orr’s account is incredible and magnified by a deuce: He skirted death in two separate grizzly bear attacks separated by mere minutes. Despite infinitesimally lean odds of emerging alive from multiple encounters, Orr staggered from the woods one hour after the attacks and recorded a surreal real-time video, and then drove an hour to a hospital to present his mangled body and half-scalped head to a bewildered medical crew. His chilling tale defies chance or coincidence, and touches a primitive chord. How deep will a man dig in order to stay alive, and how much pain will he endure? On Oct. 1, 2016, Orr answered the questions in harrowing detail.

Into the Woods

In the early hours of a fall Saturday in Bozeman, Mont., Orr , 50, arose from his bed at 4 a.m., bound for the wild, the same trip he’d made thousands of times across a lifetime spent outdoors. There was no moment of premonition; no odd itch of concern; and no portent to miss. He suited up in drab Carhartt pants and dark leather Alico hiking boots, donned a worn, navy blue baseball cap, grabbed a banana off the kitchen counter for breakfast, and exited his house—handgun in tow. Clockwork.

Waiting in the driver’s seat of a Toyota Tundra was an Osprey backpack lightly loaded with requisite gear: flashlight, duct tape, camera, GPS, lighter, Carson binoculars, Skyblade knife, fleece pullover and a Marmot rain jacket. An hour’s drive later, and still an hour before daylight, Orr pulled up to an empty trailhead parking lot, holstered a 10mm pistol, strapped a canister of UDAP bear spray to his chest, and began walking northeast with a dimmed headlamp to illuminate a dark trail, surrounded by some of the most breathtakingly beautiful terrain on the planet. He had no inkling of the hell to come.

Adrenaline Junkie

Born to the woods, Orr grew up on a fish hatchery outside Ennis, Mont., at the foot of the Gravely Mountains, roughly an hour from Yellowstone National Park, and spent a childhood beside the Madison River—dirt-biking, fly fishing, hunting and roaming the woods. Orr trailed his father’s steps on countless backcountry elk hunts, soaking in the nuances of scouting and exploration, and by age 12, had a bull elk under his harvest belt. A classic adrenaline junkie, Orr began bow hunting big game at 14, but less than a decade later, a snowboarding accident left him with two dislocated shoulders and permanently ended his ability to effectively draw a bow. Frustrated, but hungry for a challenge above a traditional rifle, he took up pistol hunting in 1987, buying a Ruger Super Redhawk .44 magnum. (As of 2020, Orr has harvested almost 30 bull elk, a moose, and numerous whitetail deer and antelope with the Ruger.)

(Farm Journal)

In 1990, following completion of a degree in fish and wildlife management at Montana State University, Orr began working with USDA-US Forest Service in the ecology group, marking timber sales. Since 2005, he has served as a trail construction engineer—designing, locating and surveying new trails in the Custer Gallatin National Forest. Orr is in his element at every opportunity, weather permitting, working alone outdoors 12-15 hours each day for eight months of the year. An outdoorsman’s version of a polymath, Orr is renowned for meticulous artisanship in knife making as the bi-vocational owner and craftsman of Skyblade Knives , and carries a heavy interest in wildlife photography, frequently stalking game with a camera lens. All said, his outdoor work schedule and personal time spent hunting and exploring in the woods are a ready-made recipe to jack up the odds of an encounter with Ursus arctos horribilis—the grizzly bear.

Wrecking Ball

Darkness lifting and temperature warming to roughly 60 F, Orr stuck to the trail, with silent steps on moist, minimal foliage, further masked by the gurgle of a 1’-deep stream running a stone’s throw to his right. Orr’s intention was to cover as much ground as possible by daylight, and then climb up toward the timberline. At 5’8” and 170 lb., with a lifetime of hiking and exercise, Orr would be 5 miles deep and 9,000’ high in quick time.

Orr was on a scouting expedition for elk in the middle of bow season, several weeks prior to general rifle season, and hiking up Bear Creek in the majestic Madison Range—an 80-mile section of the Rockies running between West Yellowstone and Bozeman, shouldered west to east by the Madison and Gallatin rivers.

The rocky peaks of the area reach over 10,000’ in elevation and the lower hills are covered with dense forests of fir and pine hiding green, aspen meadows and crystal-clear springs. It’s a hiker’s, hunter’s or photographer’s dream world, but the beauty hides the mercurial side of Mother Nature, and fortune can change on a dime.

All things considered, Orr’s best chance to spot an elk would be just after sunrise, and if all went according to plan, he would finish the day with 20 miles on his boots, and possibly a camera full of photos. In addition, elk scat, tracks and rubs would reveal whether there was a strong number of bull elk in the area, and worthy of a hunt a few weeks later.

Continuing on the path, Orr frequently paused to offer vocal warnings: “I hollered out regularly to let any bears ahead know I was coming up the trail, giving them time to fade into the brush and avoid an encounter,” he explains.

An hour into the trek, just after daylight, the faint trail opened onto a long and narrow grassy meadow beside the stream, tucked between a low, brushy ridge to Orr’s left and the rise of a steep, timbered mountain on the far side of the stream. The post-dawn air was crisp and cool, moving up the valley on a slight breeze behind Orr and carrying his scent across the meadow.

Eighty yards ahead, at the far end of the meadow, a large sow grizzly bear was walking just in front of two cubs, moving down the faint trail toward Orr. Sows typically become pregnant once every three years, and cubs stay with sows for roughly two to three years after birth. Orr had chanced upon a mature female, likely close to 400 lb., with a potential lifespan of 20-plus years. In a suspended moment of time, the hump-shouldered sow and Orr spotted one another in the same instant, as both bear and man froze in motion. The sow turned west and ran over the low ridge—cubs on her heels.

(Farm Journal)

“I watched and waited a minute or two,” Orr recalls, “before deciding she was long gone over the ridge, and I headed up the trail to the east, opposite of her direction. I assumed she was not fond of human contact and I would not see her again.”

Within two-dozen more steps on the trail, he heard a soft rustle of foliage and the slight snap of a branch over his left shoulder, and turned to see the sow. She had left her cubs and circled Orr, caught his wind, and was coming off the ridge, barreling through brush, grass and scattered trees at full speed, ears back and body low to the ground. In a blur, Orr was 40 yards away from an apex predator capable of covering roughly 15 yards per second—a 400 lb. wrecking ball of heavy bone and inordinate layers of muscle charging at 30 miles per hour.

Freight Trains and Water Balloons

Prior to 2016, Orr had seen hundreds of bears while hunting or working in the woods, and encountered several in close proximity on multiple occasions. At first blush, he assumed the charging sow would check up: “Most bears are usually just curious, and charges or attacks are very rare. In all the years I’ve spent in the woods, I’ve only had two bears that bluffed a charge, and none had attacked until 2016.”

Tucked into a chest holster on his left side, Orr carried a Rock Island Armory 10mm 1911 pistol, kitted with a Burris 2-7x32mm scope on a self-designed mount. The pistol was not Orr’s standard hunting choice, and he’d brought it on the off-chance an opportunity to harvest a wolf developed during the scout. The 10mm was relatively bulky with a 6” barrel, secured by a snap strap, and not conducive to quick-draw, lightweight bear protection.

With less than three seconds to spare, Orr instinctively reached for the 9 oz. can of bear spray strapped to the right side of his chest. “For the last 25 years, I only had the protection of bear spray while working at the Forest Service. I was not allowed to carry a firearm, so all my training, practice and thoughts were of bear spray and proper use.”

Still expecting a bluff charge, Orr removed the safety clip and raised the canister as the sow closed the gap. “I had practiced dozens of times for this moment, and hundreds of times in my head,” he says. Orr gave the sow a full blast of spray, turned his body sideways and went to ground for protection as the bear slammed into his body. Freight train through a water balloon.

Face in the dirt, hands clasped around the back of his head and forearms draped over his face and neck, legs drawn underneath, he was a toy in the possession of a capricious beast packing astounding physical prowess from head to tail: curved claws up to 5” in length, massive front paws sometimes 9”-plus wide and hind paws often over 1’ in length, a superb sense of smell far surpassing even bloodhounds, eyesight equivalent to humans, and a bite packing 1,000 psi, all wrapped in a physical package of outrageous core strength.

“As I hit the ground, she was immediately standing upon me with her front paws, and repeatedly bit my right arm and shoulder a half dozen times, before coughing and wheezing from the bear spray, and disappearing just as quickly,” Orr says.

(Farm Journal)

In a blink, the sow was gone, and Orr rolled over to scan an empty meadow cloaked in bizarre serenity. All still. In a few, short seconds, the sow had delivered five to six quick bites along his right arm, and then sank 42 teeth deep into the top of his right shoulder. Orr was bleeding heavily, but had sustained a series of puncture wounds with no arterial or organ damage. At this point, Orr’s survival was a given—provided he could get out of the woods.

Rising to his feet, Orr hit the trail at a fast pace, bear spray in hand, heading for the safety of the truck. Adrenaline pumping, nerves frayed, he cast his eyes in wide sweeps, unable to hear much beyond his immediate surroundings due to the flowing creek. At that precise point in time, Orr believed he was heading toward his truck and safety, but what he didn’t know, and couldn’t know, was suited for fiction. After the initial attack, the sow hit the ridge and exited downward, while Orr hopped the trail to reverse course. Translation: Bear and man were set to cross paths again at the tip of a rough “V” pattern.

The lower 48 states house a total population of just 1,800 grizzly bears, according to US Fish & Wildlife. Incredibly, and against all probability, Orr was set to encounter the same bear twice in the span of minutes. Already in extreme need of medical attention and stitching, Orr was about to bounce from fryer to fire. Comparatively stated, the first attack was a scrape; the second attack was hell.

Razor’s Edge

In 1823, Hugh Glass endured the most famous grizzly bear attack in U.S. history, after stumbling upon a sow and two cubs in North Dakota. After a savage attack in which the mountain man was “tore nearly all to peases,” Glass survived a prolonged encounter, only to be abandoned by his comrades under the assumption of his impending death. A living corpse, Glass traveled 350 solo miles to safety to punctuate an astounding survival tale. His story was given silver screen treatment in 2015, and the trapper-mountain man was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant, a 2015 movie featuring the most stirring portrayal of a grizzly bear attack ever set to film.

Maybe Orr was born 200 years late. Whether planned, or random, as Orr believes, the second sow attack echoed elements of the primal rage displayed in the Glass account. With almost five minutes elapsed since the first attack, Orr made 800 yards of edgy progress on the downward path when he heard the clear crack of a branch over the din of running creek water. Peering over his left shoulder, he caught the blur of the sow in full stride 15’ to his flank, and felt a near-instant blow across his back that sent him sprawling 10’ forward; no time for spray, pistol or flight.

In physical form, it was the same sow from the first attack, but in demeanor she carried an entirely ramped up state of ferocity. Hovering atop Orr, she bit down on his left forearm, tearing away two tendons, ripping muscle and breaking the ulna. Orr groaned and instinctively drew his arm in, but his movement further enraged and excited the sow. “I remember the pain from her first bite into my left arm, and the sound of the bone breaking,” he describes. “I pulled my arm away and made an audible sound, which triggered the bear into a frenzied attack, biting, clawing, shaking and tossing me.”

Essentially, the bear was rag-dolling Orr, and he immediately recognized cruel necessity: Eat pain until the fury ebbs. “She would bite into me, pick me up with her mouth, and shake me back and forth until I was flung to the side into the dirt. The adrenaline and the will to survive took over and I blocked out all the pain after the first bite, and focused on staying quiet and still, while she continued to chew on me.”

At all times a single bite or swipe from death, Orr was stomped, picked up, thrown, dragged, clawed, and bitten by the sow over several minutes, yet he maintained his faculties and clung to a sole shred of hope: Take the punishment, emit no sound, show no resistance, and stay as close to the fetal position as possible.

After enduring body slams and inordinate shaking, along with 30 bites across his back, sides and arms, Orr went partially blind, his eyes filling with blood from a deep 5” claw gash above his right ear that split open his scalp. “There was no chance of fighting back against a beast like this. A grizzly can kill an elk or bison, and one wrong bite or swipe of her claws could crush my neck or skull, or rip me open to bleed out. A bear’s claws are very sharp when they emerge from the den in the spring. They are dulled, roughed and chipped over the summer and fall as they dig for food, but with the immense power behind them, the claws are still plenty sharp to rip most any animal to pieces.”

(Farm Journal)

As the assault unfolded, an ironic fate was a razor’s edge from fruition: A man fortunate enough to survive one grizzly bear attack was fated to die minutes later from another, at the teeth and claws of the same bear. It was a dark, cruel humor, but Orr was having no part. His mind was hyper-focused on a single all-consuming target: life. “I don’t believe I ever felt fear or thought of death or family. I was too focused on survival and not moving or making a sound. Each time she would toss or roll me, I would instantly roll back to the face-down position to protect my vitals.”

Standing over Orr, probably convinced he was dead or dying, the sow’s fury subsided and she ceased the extremes of the attack, biting into Orr’s side and releasing, inadvertently turning his body closer to hers, allowing Orr, at the edge of his peripheral, bloodied vision, to have a surreal moment of near eyeball-to-eyeball contact with one of the most fearsome predators in all of nature.

The sow then dug into Orr’s lower back with her front claws, and again, sensing no movement or reaction, delivered the most hair-raising chill of Orr’s life, lowering her head to his back and breathing onto his neck, taking deep inhalations of his skin. Alternating between quick bites to his shoulder and more breaths to his neck for roughly 30 seconds, she stopped cold, and Orr waited for the coup de grâce that never came. After an eternity of minutes, Orr was alone and the woods were still one more time, save the gurgle of the adjacent creek.

Lazarus

Uncertain whether the sow had truly departed, Orr stayed in a fetal ball for 30-40 seconds and then unfurled his limbs, wiped the blood from eyes, and surveyed the scene. His gear was tossed about, including the pistol, which had been ripped off his side and thrown 15’. He immediately grabbed the gun from the holster, pulled the hammer back, and collected his backpack and bear spray. With the pistol tucked into the crook of his damaged left arm, and the spray at the ready in this right hand, Orr took a last look around—and spotted the worn baseball cap, crumpled on the forest floor. He reached down, grabbed the favored hat, and began what he knew was at least an hour walk even without blood loss and trauma. Move. Move. Distance. Distance. He could afford no assumptions: The sow could return at any point along the path.

“I hiked out at a steady pace, but not hurried or running,” he describes. “I didn’t want to increase my heart rate and the bleeding. My left arm did hurt terribly after the attack was over and the adrenaline subsided. The torn tendons, muscles and nerves felt like my arm was being crushed in a vice. I don’t believe I was ever in shock during the hour hike out. I was thinking straight and stopped to assess the wounds and check my bleeding two or three times.”

At approximately 8 a.m., Orr spilled out of the Bear Creek woods—Lazarus of the outdoors. Although one other vehicle had pulled into the parking lot, Orr stood alone, but safe. “Within 15 minutes after the attack, I was sure the bear wasn’t going to track me down for a third attack, but with 3 miles of wilderness to go, the thought of encountering a different bear on the trail did cross my mind. I would have been nearly helpless at that point with all my wounds. At the parking lot, I felt 100% safe and knew my injuries were not life threatening.”

Concerned about the safety of other hunters, and considering the bear’s agitation, Orr pulled a notepad from his truck and attempted to pen a word of warning. No dice. “My arm was dripping blood all over the note, so I gave up on the idea.”

Dropping the note effort, he grabbed his smartphone and shot several selfie photos, including one of the most unique survival videos ever filmed (destined for viral status), and it was stark, direct testament to a man with gravel in his gut. He spoke calmly into the lens about the grizzly encounter, almost as if the near-death experience was standard fare. “Yeah, life sucks in bear country,” Orr plainly stated at the beginning of the clip.

Simply, the video must be seen to be believed. “I’ve always had a high pain tolerance and the drive to push myself to succeed or overcome most anything, both physically and mentally,” Orr says. “I took the photos and video with just a couple of good buddies in mind. I really didn’t know how Facebook worked, and never expected more than a dozen friends to even see it. I seriously didn’t know what a viral video was until about 24 hours after posting it.”

Video in the can, it was time to tend to his wounds. A 30-minute drive down a jeep trail and gravel road, followed by 15 minutes of highway to the hospital, still lay ahead. Bloodied and bruised, adrenaline gone and his wounds aching, Orr climbed into the Tundra, performed the ironic task of securing his seatbelt, and left the sow in her realm.

Mouthful of Rocks

In the hospital emergency room, two doctors, one on each side of Orr’s body, set to stitching his wounds in tandem. Eight hours later, he walked out of the hospital and went home. (However, his injuries required surgery the following day for the broken bone, severed nerves, shredded muscles, and severed tendons.)

Six weeks after the incident, Orr returned to the scene. “I went back to the attack site with a buddy and faced my fears, knowing my life was meant to be in woods. The will to survive is strong and it’s amazing what the human body can endure in a survival situation. The attack, as well as watching my father fight cancer for the last 10 years, also reminds me of the importance of enjoying those things in life that make us smile.”

Five months after the attacks, while in the woods at work for USFS following snowmelt, Orr spotted a sow grizzly and a single cub at distance. His composure was steady, but the October memories were close and the anxiety heavy on his shoulders. Today, he still hunts the Bear Creek area, but no longer ventures out in the dark, and prefers snow cover due to paw print warnings pressed into the powder.

Orr now carries a backup, compact .44 magnum Ruger on his hip, but has no illusions about the additional pistol, or the efficacy of any pistol in stopping a grizzly. “A shot can also be effective, but take in consideration that the odds of killing or stopping a charging bear in its tracks are slim. A glancing blow, a hit to an extremity, or even a clean miss is likely, especially in a stressful situation like 400 pounds of teeth and claws coming at you at 35 mph.”

“And don’t just assume a pissed-off, charging bear will feel any pain from your bullet and run away. I was being chewed on for 2 minutes and felt no pain after the first bite and adrenaline rush. And wild animals have a much higher pain tolerance.”

(Farm Journal)

Roughly once a year, the angry sow returns—in Orr’s dreams, but he wakes each time before she attacks. “The incident is a reminder that our lives are fragile and the most unlikely events can happen to anyone. Every single day, something reminds me of that day I was attacked and it will forever be remembered.”

Indeed. In a humble manner, Orr downplays his actions on the morning of Oct. 1, 2016, but the depth of his mettle is betrayed by the video footage. Mouthful of rocks. The camera shows a man matter-of-factly describing two escapes from the brink of death—no hype, theater, or bravado.

Again, how deep will a man dig in order to stay alive , and how much pain will he endure? Ask Todd Orr.

For more, see:

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Feral Swine Eradication: USDA invests $11.65 Million to Expand Program

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:04:27 GMT

An $11.65-million investment by the USDA will help agricultural producers and private landowners trap and control feral swine as part of the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program. This new investment will fund 14 projects to expand the pilot program in Alabama, Hawaii, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.

This program is a joint effort between USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). This second round of funding is for partners to carry out activities as part of the identified pilot projects in select states, USDA said in a release.

“These awards enable landowners to address the threat that feral swine pose to natural resources and agriculture,” NRCS Acting Chief Kevin Norton said. “The projects we have identified will be key to addressing the feral swine problem.”

NRCS will provide funding to partners who will provide financial assistance, education, outreach and trapping assistance to participating landowners in pilot project areas, USDA said. All partner work will be closely coordinated with the APHIS operations in these areas. Between the first and second round of funding, there will be a total of 34 active projects across 12 states for the life of the 2018 Farm Bill. Learn more here .

USDA said new pilot projects and areas were selected in coordination with NRCS state conservationists, APHIS state directors and state technical committees based on areas in greatest need of assistance due to high densities of wild pigs.

The three coordinated components of the projects include feral swine removal by APHIS, restoration efforts supported by NRCS and assistance to producers for feral swine control provided through partnership agreements with non-federal partners. Projects will be completed by the end of September 2023.

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Western States Unite to Keep Feral Pigs from Crossing U.S.-Canada Border

Can You Really Trap Feral Pigs with Your Cell Phone?

Feral Swine: USDA Monitors World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species

How Colorado Eliminated Feral Hogs

Feral Hog Stomachs Tell Story of Destruction

Montana Puts Plan in Place to Keep Canadian Feral Hogs Out

Texas Community Hires Consultant to Fight Feral Hog Problem

What’s Next for Animal Activism in 2021 and What Can We Do About It?

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 21:14:41 GMT

By Hannah Thompson-Weeman, Animal Agriculture Alliance

2020 has taken me so off guard that I am a little hesitant to even attempt to look into my crystal ball and make predictions for 2021. A year ago, I certainly would not have guessed that events and travel would come to a halt in March or that phrases like “mask up” or “social distancing” would be part of our daily conversations. As much as the past year has shown us that being flexible and adaptable is just as valuable as having thorough predictions and plans, I still believe there is merit to taking a moment to reflect on some of the trends we’ve seen this past year and consider how they may impact us moving forward.

The Animal Ag Alliance has remained focused on monitoring animal rights activism this year, and activist groups have not skipped a beat in their efforts to damage the reputation of animal agriculture. Some organizations believe the COVID-19 pandemic is the “tipping point” they need for their messages to go mainstream, and that concept combined with activists trying to take advantage of a new incoming administration means that 2021 could be an even more intense year for activism.

I think we should all be preparing for a few continued trends:

• Activist messaging involving public health and animal agriculture. Activist groups have long claimed that animal agriculture is a threat to public health and the COVID-19 pandemic has added fuel to that fire (despite there not really being any merit to attempting to tie the current outbreak to food production). Unfortunately, this narrative seems to be gaining steam with calls to “reform the food system” to prevent future pandemics. I think we are going to see more and more references to farms as “breeding grounds” for future disease outbreaks and should be focused on debunking that narrative.

• Renewed focus on sustainability. Conversations about the environmental impact of animal agriculture took a backseat for much of 2020, but in the past few months that discussion is heating back up. Restaurant chains like Panera and Chipotle have announced new labeling programs to communicate the environmental footprint of their menu options and we’re starting to hear more about the UN Food Systems Summit coming up in 2021 with an action track focused on “shifting to sustainable consumption patterns.” The animal agriculture community will need to make sure we’re continuing to communicate about our sustainability efforts as we settle into the “new normal.”

• Large-scale protests and demonstrations, including at private homes. Activist groups seem to be upping the ante in terms of protests this year, likely believing that they need to be more and more extreme to get attention. We’ve seen continued protests (despite restrictions on gatherings) everywhere from farms and plants to public health offices, with some involving trespassing and interfering with daily operations. Animal rights activist organizations have also held several protests at the private homes of animal agriculture company and organization leaders, which is a troubling new trend. These continued incidents illustrate that we cannot let farm security slip down our priority list in 2021.

Despite whatever challenges 2021 may bring, know that the Alliance team is here and has your back. Happy New Year!

Read more from Hannah Thompson-Weeman:

Things Animal Rights Activists Say: 2020 Edition

Activists Set Sights on 4-H and FFA Despite Fewer Fairs

Communication Strategy is Critical Part of Crisis Planning

COVID-19 Crisis: Rural Hospitals Have Nowhere to Send Critical Patients

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 21:26:59 GMT

The surge of COVID-19 cases across America is creating a challenge as hospitalizations are now at a record level. The crisis is hitting rural hospitals especially hard, as many aren’t equipped to handle critical patients.

Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association , says rural hospitals are designed for primary care and general surgery, not for pandemic surges.

“Standard protocol is once you need a ventilator and ICU treatment, you are transferred to a larger facility,” says Morgan. “We’re [in] really uncharted territory now, from a rural standpoint.”

As rural hospitals try to navigate the crisis, many are coming up with a plan to care for patients in their facility, as urban hospitals are also at capacity.

“Already, a lot of our members are putting in plans, knowing that they won’t be able to transfer patients to urban hospitals,” he says. “You have to understand it’s not even just about the pandemic anymore. We still have farm accidents, car accidents, motorcycle accidents. The need for trauma services continues. The need for ICUs continues. But now we have this pandemic, just making it [a] non-sustainable situation.”

One hospital seeing the situation worsen is Regional Health Services of Howard County, located in Cresco, Iowa. The one hospital is the only ambulance service, public health department and hospice care for the entire county. The facility includes 19 beds, and sends its sickest patients to larger hospitals, but now, that’s in jeopardy.

“The biggest concern in the last week is when we call and ask for them to help to take care of our patients who are maybe sicker than we’re used to taking care of, they don’t have beds for us and so that’s where the strain really comes on,” says Dr. John Kammerer, Family Medicine, Regional Health Services of Howard County.

Morgan says the rise in cases means hospitals are at a crisis point. Earlier this year, he says the hotspots in rural America were limited. He says today, the situation is reaching a crisis level across the entire country.

“The story has changed so much now from where it was back in April,” says Morgan. “Back in April, we were dealing with hotspot surges in Indiana, in the South in Florida, and we were able to redeploy staff and actually be able to ship in supplies as needed from regional areas. The problem we have right now is staffing.”

Morgan says when every region is seeing a surge of COVID-19 cases, redeploying staff is no longer an option.

“That’s where we’re getting the real problem,” says Morgan. “You can always add more beds, but you are limited by the amount of staff you can actually throw at this.”

Morgan says that while all areas are seeing more COVID cases, the upper Midwest and Midwest are getting hit the hardest, which includes Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.

“Those are the places where it has gotten so bad in many of these communities, that they’re not able to refer patients to adjacent urban communities,” says Morgan. “And when you do that, you really run the risk of having your mortality rates increase to really an unacceptable amount.”

Let’s Talk Turkey, Thanksgiving and Traditions

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 19:08:33 GMT

Thanksgiving may look different in 2020, but farmers are still the focus

As the frantic pace of harvest winds down, we can reflect on another season of abundant effort. The vital work of farmers and ranchers is not always easy — as we saw in 2020. Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to remember despite challenges, we all have many reasons to be grateful.

For many, Thanksgiving 2020 will stray from tradition. Nearly 70% of Americans plan to celebrate Thanksgiving differently this year, according to a recent consumer survey by research firm Numerator. Big gatherings will likely be broken into several smaller ones, which should still mean healthy demand the country’s turkey producers, says Beth Breeding, National Turkey Federation vice president of communications and marketing.

“There’s something very comforting about that Thanksgiving meal with the turkey at the center of the table,” she says. “There could even be an increase in turkey sales because of additional gatherings.”

The change in the size of gatherings could cause demand for smaller turkeys or cuts or parts such as whole breasts. Breeding says the popularity of kitchen tools such as Instant Pots and air fryers have already increased consumer demand and familiarity with these forms of turkey.

“We also expect to see a lot more first timers this year, who have never prepared the Thanksgiving meal before, have a go at preparing turkey,” Breeding says. “Everyone is cooking so much more at home.”

As you prepare for your Thanksgiving celebration, brush up on your knowledge about the traditional holiday dishes:

Turkeys: The U.S. is No. 1 in global turkey production.
Potatoes: The U.S. ranks fifth in global potato production. North Carolina is the leading sweet potato producing state, while Idaho grows the most white potatoes.
Cranberries: The U.S. is No. 1 in global cranberry production. Wisconsin leads the U.S. in production.
Pecans: The U.S. is No. 1 in global pecan production. New Mexico leads the U.S. in pecan production.
Pumpkins: The U.S. is fifth in global pumpkin production. Illinois leads the U.S. in pumpkin production.

Sources: USDA, National Turkey Federation

Join AgDay and U.S. Farm Report on Thanksgiving as they pay tribute to the amazing work and stories throughout America’s countryside in the annual “Harvest of Thanks” special.

As Farmers Face Growing Stress, How to Navigate Mental Health Concerns

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:57:04 GMT

Farmers and ranchers continue to weather the extremes of 2020. From drought, derecho and wildfires, to a sudden loss in demand for dairy, 2020 is proving to be an obstacle course for agriculture.

“Probably most sectors of agriculture like crops, corn and beans and cattle and hogs are all facing added stress,” said Tim Homan of Rabo AgriFinance during Farm Journal Field Days in Iowa.

The financial frustration is mounting and bleeding over into mental health concerns.

“Farmers, even in best times, have a very high rate of suicide,” said Deborah Reed, with the University of Kentucky , during the Farm Journal Field Days hosted a mental health and managing stress on the farm discussion. “We don’t know what this particular time is going to bring, but we do know there are a lot more calls being made to the hotlines right now. So, we need some intervention.”

Reed says it’s not just farmers and ranchers on the frontlines feeling the impacts of added stress. She says entire farm families are feeling and experiencing increased pressure and concerns right now.

“We are hearing from a lot more farmers reaching out for help in various ways, and not just from the farmers themselves, but from their family members,” she adds. “It’s also children. We can’t forget those children on the farm.”

Reed says her biggest advice for families enduring added stress and trying to wade through all the uncertainty—take care of yourself first.

“As stress builds up, you not only have those physical consequences, but you’re not able to make decisions or you make poor decisions that affect your bottom line on the farm,” says Reed. “You have a chronic anxiety which affects everyone around you, you may actually exhibit clinical depression. And if it keeps going down, you could begin to have feelings of hopelessness. Maybe you’ve even thought of harming yourself. These are very serious outcomes.”

Those serious outcomes are what the American Soybean Association (ASA) and the United Soybean Board (USB) are trying to help prevent through a new effort called #SoyHelp.

“Our #SoyHelp campaign for farm stress is an initiative that really came from this COVID pandemic where we saw a clear connection, and our farmers indicated that they were experiencing high levels of stress,” says Wendy Brannen, senior director of marketing and communications for ASA.

ASA developed the Soy Help Farm Stress Initiative from a COVID task force the organization put together. As farmers gave input on how the pandemic was impacting them on a personal and professional level, Brannen says it became clear ASA needed to take action.

“We really wanted to go ahead and get these resources out there because of COVID and the stress that people were clearly experiencing,” she adds.

Brannen says seeing the need, the group created an inclusive campaign to help farmers reach out for help.

“Certainly, we wanted things that were specific to farmers, but we also wanted state specific resources,” she says. “We have about 30 soybean producing states that are really active in growing soybeans, and we wanted resources for them. We wanted national resources for the suicide help lines and those sorts of tools, as well.

From social media campaigns to news stories, Brannen says the conversation is continuing with the hashtag #soyhelp. It’s an evolving conversation Reed hopes will continue down the road as it’s important to recognize the signs of stress and know when it’s time to seek help.

“If you’re looking at your family members or your friends, I think anything that just seems out of character for them over a period of time,” says Reed about recognizing the signs that someone may need help. “Everybody has an off day, but if you notice that this is becoming a regular thing, and they have panic attacks or express increased anger or let the farm run down, those are real signs of saying, ‘Hey, how are you doing? Are you okay? Because this is a tough time for all of us.’ Giving them an opening like that, to mention it, that’s just a good way to open a conversation.”

Reed says having those candid conversations with the goal of opening up about mental health, could also help remove the stigma around mental health in agriculture for good.

Listen to the full discussion about “Mental Health and Managing Stress on the Farm”, visit Farm Journal Field Days .

#FarmON Concert is Tonight: Watch Live at 7 Central

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:56:56 GMT

Lee Brice, Martina McBride, Rodney Atkins and Justin Moore along with a host of other country stars will take the virtual stage at 7 p.m. Central for the #FarmOn virtual concert to benefit the 4-H FOURWARD Fund.

Watch live in the player below:

The concert will raise donations for the 4-H FOURWARD Fund to ensure young people across all communities, with or without internet access, continue to have access to the necessary resources and meaningful learning opportunities to help them thrive. The event will feature images of 4-H members working on their project in a year when many livestock shows and 4-H fairs were cut back or cancelled due to the pandemic.

The #FarmON concert is the final event of Farm Journal Field Days, the New American Farm Show, a three day farm show that combined live, in-person and virtual events hosted on farms in Iowa and Ohio.

High Heat And Wild Weather Rule The Week

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:56:39 GMT

The latest forecast looks like the heat stress both humans and animals are enduring will continue through at least this week. That’s according to the USDA-ARS Heat Stress Forecast Maps and the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“You can see several areas in the South that are in the emergency category, so there’s a lot of work ahead for producers to keep livestock cool right now,” reported Clinton Griffiths, Ag-Day TV host on Friday morning.

Meteorologist Matt Yarosewick, at affiliate WNDU-TV in Indiana, says the weekly Drought Monitor indicates parched areas of the country, including the Dakotas, haven’t improved. He adds, “Other places have expanded the abnormally dry conditions throughout the Northeast up into the Great Lakes.”
Some areas are extremely dry, as indicated in this photo from central Nebraska farmer David Else, who says his farm has received only 15 hundredths of an inch of rain since May 23.

“He says his pastures are also brown, and the grass is just burning up in the near 100-degree temperatures and high winds,” Yarosewick notes.

There are extreme conditions in other parts of the country as well. Griffiths shared a photo of a tornado in western Minnesota that damaged three farms, “flattening one of them,” he notes. “Weather surveyors say the tornado was greater than an F3 and other possible tornado activity was reported in Colorado as well as other parts of Nebraska and Illinois,” Griffiths adds.

In central Illinois, near Heyworth, wind struck down rows and rows of Scott Trimble’s corn crop, which is used for popcorn.

“He says he got an inch of rain in 10 minutes along with 70-plus mile-per-hour winds,” Griffiths reports. “Scott says he didn’t spot any green snap, but it’s all leaning as you can see.” The one potential piece of good news is Trimble’s crop is still about 10 days away from tasseling.

For more information, check out the heat stress forecast maps at: https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/clay-center-ne/marc/docs/heat-stress/main/

The U.S. Drought Monitor can be reviewed at: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

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Let’s Talk Turkey, Thanksgiving and Traditions

Thanksgiving may look different in 2020, but farmers are still the focus

Join AgDay and U.S. Farm Report on Thanksgiving as they pay tribute to the amazing work and stories throughout America’s countryside in the annual “Harvest of Thanks” special.

As Farmers Face Growing Stress, How to Navigate Mental Health Concerns

#FarmON Concert is Tonight: Watch Live at 7 Central

High Heat And Wild Weather Rule The Week