PROFITABILITY
FarmWeek Page 10 Monday, April 8, 2013
Farmers, applicators must respect anhydrous ammonia all could have been prevented with a basic understanding and respect for the product. NH3 is a cost-effective and efficient means of providing nitrogen for a crop, but it must be applied with caution. NH3 can aggressively attack skin and eyes, potentially causing third-degree burns and blindness. It can cause significant respiratory problems when sufficient quantities are inhaled. The first safety rule when
Several times each year farmers and applicators are rushed to emergency rooms after being exposed to anhydrous ammonia (NH3). The problems vary from inhalation to skin Kevin Frye contact, but BY KEVIN FRYE
USDA
Farm Service Agency
As a result of reduced staffing levels in Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices, the Illinois FSA state office has reduced the operating hours to one day per week in the following locations: Alexander/Pulaski, Boone, Calhoun, Rock Island, Scott, Williamson, and Winnebago counties. The office in Wabash County will be open on Thursdays only. FarmWeek submitted the following question to the state FSA office concerning the reduced hours in some counties. Scherrie Giamanco, Illinois FSA executive director, provided the answer. FW: Will the dollars related to conservation funding (in a reduced-hour county) be reduced for conservation funding because that county will be absorbed into another county? What about the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and other programs? FSA: The reduction in operating hours is applicable only to FSA and does not affect any other agency that may be co-located in the USDA Service Center. Conservation funding for FSA programs will not be reduced, simply because the Illinois state FSA office reduced the hours of operation of an FSA county office. EQIP is an NRCS-funded program, and we also would assume that EQIP funding would not be reduced in this situation; however, that is an NRCS determination.
M A R K E T FA C T S Feeder pig prices reported to USDA* Weight 10-12 lbs. 40 lbs.
Range Per Head $25.80-$48.00 $59.98-$60.24
Weighted Ave. Price $38.48 $60.15
This Week Last Week 72,399 129,409 *Eastern Corn Belt prices picked up at seller’s farm
Receipts
Eastern Corn Belt direct hogs (plant delivered) Carcass Live
(Prices $ per hundredweight) This week Prev. week Change $76.09 $73.60 $2.49 $56.31 $54.46 $1.84
USDA five-state area slaughter cattle price (Thursday’s price) Steers Heifers
This week $128.50 $127.88
Prev. week $128.09 $128.09
Change $0.41 -$0.21
CME feeder cattle index — 600-800 Lbs. This is a composite price of feeder cattle transactions in 27 states. (Prices $ per hundredweight) Prev. week Change This week $140.27 $136.12 $4.15
Lamb prices Slaughter prices - Negotiated, Live, wooled and shorn 80-163 lbs. for 104.07-135 $/cwt. (wtd. ave. 115.78); wooled and shorn 171-207 lbs. for 112-120 $/cwt. (wtd. ave. 115.21)
Export inspections (Million bushels) Week ending Soybeans Wheat Corn 3/28/2013 16.3 25.7 19.1 3/21/2013 18.5 20.8 17.2 Last year 29.6 16.0 31.5 Season total 1210.0 792.5 431.5 Previous season total 1013.8 828.0 954.0 USDA projected total 1345 1025 825 Crop marketing year began June 1 for wheat and Sept. 1 for corn and soybeans.
using NH3 is to always wear goggles and cotton-lined rubber gloves. To minimize inhaling NH3 in the event of a release, remain upwind when working on equipment so the product will blow away from the breathing area. Goggles are more than just safety glasses as they provide a seal around the eyes to protect from the NH3 vapor. The best goggles are indirectly vented so they are less likely to fog. The cotton-lined rubber gloves need to be specifically approved for handling NH3 and “cuffed” at the ends so the NH3 in liquid form does not run down the arms. Always assume “the gun is loaded,” meaning assume hoses, coolers, and other equipment contain NH3. Many injuries have occurred from NH3 pressure rebuilding and unexpectedly releasing from
previously purged equipment. In the event of skin or eye exposure, water is the best remedy. Make sure a five-gallon container on the side of the nurse tank remains full of clean water to provide initial treatment. Even having a water bottle accessible could be of great help to get from one water source to another. Ideally, submerge the affected area immediately under water for at least 20 minutes. Medical facilities can at times misunderstand how to properly treat NH3 burns, and personnel there tend to immediately apply burn creams. If applied before the affected area is decontaminated, burn creams can actually seal in the NH3 and allow the skin to continue to “cook.” Appropriate burn creams
can be applied only once the affected area is proven to be decontaminated, typically through a pH test. If clothing has been frozen to the skin, the affected area should be diluted with water until the clothing thaws and can be safely removed. If removed while still frozen, the clothing may peel away skin. It is best to dispose of any affected clothing. Never put clothing back on as it will reexpose the NH3 to the skin. Most important, never take shortcuts with these and other safety procedures. Take it seriously at all times, and make sure others do as well. The consequences of exposure are devastating otherwise.
Kevin Frye is GROWMARK’s safety services manager. His email address is kfrye@growmark.com.
Return of $7 corn unlikely near-term
BY DANIEL GRANT FarmWeek
The recent break in the crop markets possibly signaled the beginning of the end of historically high prices near-term. The corn and soybean markets traded limitdown in the days following the release of a bearish USDA stocks report on March 28. And, while traders may have overreacted to larger-than-expected supplies of corn, beans, and wheat, it likely will be difficult for those markets to recover all the losses anytime soon. “The ending (corn) stocks number (5.39 billion bushels, about 370 million more bushels than traders expected) doesn’t justify $7 corn,” said Dale Durchholz, AgriVisor senior market analyst. “We’re going to have to live with this for some time (USDA’s next quarterly stocks estimate will be released June 28),” he continued. “It would take a yield as bad as last year to build another bullish supply and demand outlook.” The soybean ending stocks estimate, 999 million bushels, was about 50 million bushels larger than the average trade guess. Darrel Good, University of Illinois Extension economist, agreed the crop markets likely will remain under downward pressure near-term. “(The large crop stocks estimates) are a reminder we probably have enough inventory to get through the year,” Good said. “With ample stocks and weak export demand (for corn), there’s nothing to push (old-crop) prices higher.”
The soybean market also is vulnerable to downward pressure as larger-than-expected stocks could be amplified by a record South American soybean harvest. Elsewhere, Chinese soybean demand currently is not on pace to meet USDA’s estimate for the year. “(Competition from South America) is a huge drag on old-crop beans,” Durchholz said. Meanwhile, speculative interest in the crop markets, which helped drive prices higher prior to March 28, could fade and remove a layer of price support. “With the break (in crop prices) after the (March 28) report, a lot of these (speculative) positions quickly went into losing positions and triggered liquidation,” Durchholz said. The extent to which crop prices plunged the past 10 days possibly was an overreaction, though. “Now that we’ve liquidated long positions, it paves the way for a short-term recovery,” Durchholz said. Traders also may get anxious about the lack of planting progress, which could support small rallies in the weeks ahead. “If it looks like the bulk of planting will be pushed into May, the market likely will start to react to that,” Good said. That type of scenario likely would be bullish for corn and bearish for bean prices, as farmers could switch from corn to more beans if planting is delayed into May, Durchholz added.
Central Illinois farmers may apply for irrigation upgrades Farmers in Cass, Logan, Mason, Menard, and Tazewell counties may apply through May 17 for a federal agricultural water program, according to Ivan Dozier, state conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) is a federally funded program that can provide financial and technical assistance to help farmers conserve ground and surface water and improve water quality. NRCS administers the program, which is available for eligible
applicants in approved project areas. In Illinois, NRCS selected the Mason County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) to administer the AWEP project for irrigated crop growers in the five counties. Funding is available for farmers who need irrigation system upgrades. The Illinois AWEP project includes help with improvements for center-pivot systems, including installing new nozzles and end gun systems to improve uniform distribution and potentially replacing the motor to convert the sys-
tem to a lower pressure that would save energy. The project also encourages farmers to follow an irrigation water management plan. While NRCS accepts applications for financial assistance continuously, the Illinois application cutoff for AWEP is May 17. Applications submitted by deadline will be ranked and will compete for funding against other ranked applications within the AWEP project area. To apply, eligible farmers should contact their local NRCS field office in one of the five counties.