Benchmarks 2021 | Section C | Agriculture

SECTION C

Agriculture

Benchmarks Edition March 20, 2021

Page 2C

The Greeneville Sun Benchmarks Edition

GreenevilleSun.com

Saturday, March 20, 2021

SUN FILE PHOTO

Glenn Tweed is seen in April 2020 on his dairy farm in Limestone. Tweed has been in the dairy business for 36 years and said the initial impact of the coronavirus pandemic was the “worst situation I’ve seen ... as far as financial.”

Pandemic Challenges Dairy Farm Operations

BY KEN LITTLE STAFF WRITER The COVID-19 pandemic posed many challenges for the dairy industry and area agriculture in 2020, but for the most part, farmers persevered.

Dairy farmers are generally resilient and able to adapt to changing market conditions, said Dr. Liz Eckelkamp, assistant professor and dairy extension specialist at the University of Tennessee School of Agriculture.

“I would say dairy farmers do a wonderful job of making the most of a bad situation and successfully weathering the crazy storm that Dr. Liz Eckelkamp was 2020,” Eckelkamp said in March.

“All the changes that come along with shelter-in-place orders and social distancing have had major impacts on the agriculture industry and the dairy industry,” Eckelkamp wrote in spring 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic spread through Tennessee.

It was a wait-and-see situation in April 2020 when Glenn Tweed, who operates a 350-acre dairy farm in Limestone, discussed the outlook for milk producers.

Tweed, a dairy farmer for 36 years, is one of the directors of the 98-member Appalachian Dairy Farmers Cooperative, which includes farms in Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina.

“It’s the worst situation I’ve seen in 36 years as far as financial. I’ve been milking for 36 years, and I’ve never seen it this bad,” Tweed said.

Eckelkamp said federal programs that are part of the CARES Act legislation passed by Congress proved helpful to dairy farmers.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, is a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed into law in March 2020

by President Donald Trump in response to economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. CARES Act components beneficial to dairy farmers include the small business-oriented Paycheck Protection Program and the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, Eckelkamp said.

In April 2020, Tweed expressed concern that interruptions in the supply chain that channeled milk to consumers would result in producers having to dump milk.

That did not turn out to be necessary in Tennessee, Eckelkamp said.

“Getting (milk) to market was not a factor,” she said.

The price for milk dropped in the early months of the pandemic but recovered somewhat. The market is always volatile, Eckelkamp said.

“Milk prices (remain) depressed but the (PPP and CFAP) federal programs certainly helped with that,” she said.

SUN FILE PHOTO

Dairy farmer Glenn Tweed stands in the milkhouse of his farm on Lola Humphreys Road in Limestone in April 2020.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture closely monitors the effects of the pandemic on the agricultural system.

“The disruptive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. agricultural system have been broad and varied. And they follow several years of trying production and market conditions for U.S. farmers,” USDA Chief Economist Robert Johansson wrote in October 2020.

In 2020, “Farmers and consumers have been planning production and managing household budgets at a time when markets — food, commodity, labor, energy — are being jolted by global, national and regional shutdowns, slowdowns, and overall uncertainty,” Johansson wrote.

Those factors affected the supply and demand for food, leading to short-term, localized shortages in the U.S., particularly in livestock products like meat, “while farmers had to deal with, for example, excess milk supplies in other areas,” the economist wrote.

U.S. food prices went up in 2020 while prices received by U.S. producers have fallen. “But while rising wholesale and retail food prices and some temporarily empty shelves drew a lot of public attention and stoked fears over availability and affordability of our food, the severe impacts of the crisis on U.S. farmers have been much less visible,” Johans-

son wrote.

There are about 175 working dairy farms in Tennessee, with the majority of them located in East Tennessee, Eckelkamp said.

“We did lose some farms last year and this year,” she said. Eckelkamp estimated about 10 dairy farms ceased operations.

As of spring 2020, Tweed had about 600 head of cattle on his farm in Limestone and several nearby locations. He and other producers in Washington and Greene counties supply milk to Ingles Markets.

When the coronavirus pandemic began its sweep through Tennessee in the first months of 2020, Tweed said the public was buying up all the milk it could.

“The first week or two, they had to order 40 loads from Michigan to keep up. Now, they’ve got too much,” he said last April.

Tweed correctly anticipated the price paid for milk would drop in the uncertain economic environment spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tweed anticipated getting paid less for milk than when he started out dairy farming decades ago in Greene County. Tweed previously had a farm in the Ottway community.

“The milk market is very, very complicated,” he said. “The Class 3 price for milk is going to be a couple of dollars cheaper than what I sold milk for in 1984.”

“It’s nearly impossible to

predict what lies ahead. Nobody understands that quite like dairy farmers following a year like 2020 where each announcement of coronavirus aid would send dairy markets surging to a new high only to have them fall when each wave of aid ran out,” according to a December 2020 post on dairyherd.com.

Factors that will affect the U.S market in 2021 include COVID-19 supply and demand in food service and other industries, the U.S. government purchasing dairy products from producers as part of policies such as the USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, milk production and the export of dairy products to other countries such as China.

East Tennessee dairy farmers are monitoring developments.

The work of running dairy farms goes on uninterrupted.

“There’s no off-switch on a cow,” Eckelkamp said.

Dairy farmers, their employees, families, milk-haulers, and all others in the supply chain are as vulnerable to the virus as anyone else.

“Farmers get sick. Farm employees or their family members get sick. Milk truck drivers get sick. Processing plant workers get sick,” Eckelkamp said.

When COVID-19 strikes the production and supply system, the system from milking barn to final consumer use is affected.

“It’s all connected,” Eckelkamp

said.

Other area farmers told Tweed that the coronavirus pandemic impacted local beef producers and other agricultural sectors.

“They’re taking a beating. It’s not good. Corn and soybeans are also down,” he said.

Tweed said if the coronavirus crisis forces the closure of dairy farms, supply issues may arise.

Greene County once had a thriving dairy farm economy.

Tweed estimated in spring 2020 there are only 10 to 12 left in the county, and about five dairy farms in Washington County.

“In Greene County 30 years ago, I’ll bet there were 150 or more,” Tweed said. “If a car dealer closes, another one will take its place, but once a dairy closes, it rarely will open back up.”

Eckelkamp said in March that the outlook for 2021 remains uncertain.

“I think we’ve seen some progress. We’re fairly unsure of what 2021 is going to look like longterm,” she said.

Tweed said that for agriculture, the coronavirus pandemic has no comparison in living memory.

“I would say this is the worst thing to come along since the Depression and World War II,” he said. “Everybody around here doesn’t want to see anybody quit. They want them to stay in business.”

Benchmarks C Story Index

Benchmarks C Advertisers Index

Pandemic Challenges Dairy Farm Operations .....................................................................2 New Name Illustrates Changing Mission Of Research Center ............................................3 New Facility To Help Increase Meat Processing Capacity ..................................................5 Pandemic Delivered A Hit To State’s Agricultural Sectors..................................................7 Sustainable Agriculture Practices Good For Profits, Environment.................................... 8

Electrical Guide ....................................................................................................................6 Farm & Produce Guide .........................................................................................................7 Funeral Home Guide ............................................................................................................6 Greene County Kubota ........................................................................................................ 8 Greeneville Oil & Petroleum.................................................................................................3 Plumbing Guide ....................................................................................................................4 Restaurant Guide ..................................................................................................................4 Tax Guide ..............................................................................................................................5

GreenevilleSun.com

Saturday, March 20, 2021

The Greeneville Sun Benchmarks Edition

Page 3C

SUN PHOTO BY EUGENIA ESTES

What had been known as the University of Tennessee Tobacco Experiment Station for years has a new name to reflect its evolving mission and goals.

New Name Illustrates Changing Mission Of Research Center

BY EUGENIA ESTES STAFF WRITER What was known for decades as the University of Tennessee Tobacco Experiment Station has a new name that reflects its evolving mission and scope.

The facility on East Allens Bridge Road is now the University of Tennessee’s Northeast Tennessee Research and Education Center.

“Our vision is for a regional research center with plant and

animal science working side by side to address the needs of farmers,” said Justin McKinney, research center director.

When it was established, the research center’s main focus was tobacco because it was the predominant cash crop within the region at that time. With market changes, tobacco fields are not as common in Greene County or the region.

One of the missions of the center is to find a sustainable cash crop to replace tobacco for

farmers. To that end, McKinney says he foresees research continuing into row crops, livestock and animal health care as efforts continue to find those options for local and regional farmers.

“We need to find long-term sustainable crops that are well adapted to this region,” he said.

Another goal is to raise the center’s profile in serving farmers in the entire Northeast Tennessee region since it is the only research facility of its kind in the area.

“We have always been strong in Greene County, but we want farmers in Washington, Cocke and other neighboring counties know that we are here to serve them,” McKinney said. “We want to broaden the area we serve.”

Communicating with farmers to find out their concerns through measures such a needs assessment are a priority.

“We want to use the center to move toward a goal of help meet the needs of farmers,” he said.

The center also looks to keep its website and social media platform sites better updated with up-to-date and relevant information for farmers and the community.

RESEARCH FOCUS Research into soybean and corn crops as well as livestock are areas being explored as possible replacements for tobacco, SEE RESEARCH ON PAGE 4

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Saturday, March 20, 2021

provide the best environment for the curing process for hemp, McKinney CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 continued.

McKinney said.

The COVID-19 pandemic “Row crops and livestock did not affect the research look to have the most efforts at the center, McKpromise to be sustainable inney said, but it did prescash crops for the long ent challenges with some term that would be strong of its educational events. here,” he said.

The annual Beef Expo had This year, the center to be cancelled but it is is conducting research tentatively scheduled to projects with soybean, resume this October, he corn silage and corn grain, said.

McKinney added.

Hopefully, by that time, In recent years, there the center can open to has been a growing intergroups larger than 50, est in hemp as a cash crop, McKinney continued. With and the center is open to the pandemic, limitations conducting research into were placed on the numthe plant’s production, ber of people who could McKinney said. meet on site as one of the With hemp, there are measures to help reduce processing concerns to the spread of the virus. consider and regulations, The center has been able and it may not turn out to host some meetings to be a suitable option for for agricultural groups of some farmers, he said. less than 50. One of those For example, while hemp groups was a regional allidoes need to be cured like ance of dairy farmers that tobacco before processhad a larger turnout than ing, it would not be an expected, McKinney said, easy transition for farmwith individuals coming ers to use tobacco barns from Knox and Jefferson for hemp curing because counties as well as Norththose structures do not east Tennessee.

RESEARCH

Justin McKinney, director of the University of Tennessee’s Northeast Tennessee Research and Education Center, says the vision for the facility is “for a regional research center with plant and animal science working side by side to address the needs of farmers.”

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Page 5C

New Facility To Help Increase Meat Processing Capacity

BY EUGENIA ESTES STAFF WRITER A need for more meat processing facilities for farmers in Tennessee arose during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, state government encouraged the establishment of new meat processing facilities, and a father and son in northern Greene County have answered that call.

Stone Mountain Meats was awarded an Agriculture Enterprise Fund grant from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture in July. The grants were made to those

who demonstrate a strong potential for impact on local farm income, access to markets, increased capacity or agricultural innovation.

“Now more than ever, we need agribusinesses to remain strong,” Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher said when the grants were announced.

“This round of recipients includes the most meat processing projects in the program’s history. There is an interest for more meat processing capacity due to increased consumer demand across the state and nation. We’re proud to strategically support impactful

businesses that are critical to keeping the food, fiber, and fuel supply chain strong throughout Tennessee.”

After receiving the grant, a site plan for the new slaughterhouse was approved by the Greene County Regional Planning Commission, and construction has started on the site on the Horton Highway.

REGULATIONS TO MEET The custom meat processing facilities, such as Stone Mountain Meats, will process livestock for the exclusive use of the livestock

owners, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Like a retail plant, these facilities are subject to periodic, risk-based inspection, according to the state department. USDA-inspected projects process meat for retail sale and are required to have an inspector on site during this type of service.

State and federal regulations that a meat processing plant have to meet were among the questions asked in October by members of the Greene County Commission and residents nearby the new meat processing facility as a change to where slaughterhouse are allowed

was considered.

The commission approved revisions to the Greene County Zoning Resolution to allow small slaughterhouses within an A-1 agricultural zone and put into place restrictions that have to be met to permit such a facility, including setbacks and buffering from neighboring properties and a limit on the amount of animals that can be processed.

The revisions were considered after a request was made to rezone the Fillers property for Stone Mountain Meats on the Horton Highway near the Caney Creek Lane intersection

from A-1 general agricultural use to M-2 high impact use. Previously, slaughterhouses were only allowed in an M-2 zone, which allows the widest variety of land uses within the zoning regulations.

Jeffrey Fillers told the commission that he and his son began exploring the idea of establishing a slaughterhouse to help meet an increasing need of local farmers to find somewhere to process their animals.

The slaughterhouse is planned to process around 400 animals a year, Fillers SEE MEAT ON PAGE 6

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SUN PHOTO BY EUGENIA ESTES

Site work is continuing at Stone Mountain Meats, a new slaughterhouse in Greene County that will help meet a need that has arisen during the pandemic.

ically worked with a short backlog before the pandemic, according to Wendy CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 Sneed, business developsaid. Each of the state, ment consultant with the federal and county regulaTennessee Department of tions have been met that are Agriculture. required for establishing a “This worked well for slaughterhouse, he added. most facilities because it meant steady work in case a livestock owner couldn’t NEED FOR FACILITIES make their appointment In talking to local farmand the processor could ers, Fillers told the commis- reach out to someone else sion some indicated that on their list,” she said. they were having to wait up “When COVID-19 began to 24 months to get animals spreading, large packers processed. had to slow processing to “We have significant keep staff safe and discapacity problems with tanced. Some facilities shut packinghouses with some down entirely for brief having to cut production periods for cleaning. This due to employees coming meant not as much meat down with the coronavirus,” was being processed and he said. “Greene County is moved to grocery stores.” one of the leading locations The backlog has extendfor the production of beef, ed from six weeks to six so my son and I came up months for some facilities, with a proposal … for a cus- and most meat procestom slaughterhouse.” sors in Tennessee are now When the pandemic hap- booked into late 2022, pened it caused a backlog Sneed said. for the meat processing The grant funds are now facilities. Meat processing beginning to make an imfacilities in Tennessee typpact as facility expansions

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are being completed and new facilities coming online across the state, she said.

Eight new USDA-inspected facilities are in construction and are to be completed in the coming months, Sneed

continued, along with nine custom facilities where livestock owners can take animals for processing and the meat is not sold commercially.

Expanding meat process-

ing capabilities within the state has been a priority for the Department of Agriculture since 2017, and approximately $632,000 in grants have been awarded since 2018 for meat pro-

cessing projects. In 2020, approximately $12 million was awarded to meat processing projects through the Coronavirus Agriculture and Forestry Business Fund, she said.

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Pandemic Delivered A Hit To State’s Agricultural Sectors KNOXVILLE — In an economic report delivered to the governor in December, researchers at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture detailed the extent of COVID-19 impacts on Tennessee’s agricultural sectors; examined the struggle of thousands of Tennesseans to feed their families during the pandemic; and summarized the impact of governmental assistance programs in mitigating the damage.

The agricultural sectors encompass the supply chain from farm and forest to consumers and are a vital part of the state’s economy.

Accounting for multiplier effects, the agricultural sectors add $79.3 billion to Tennessee’s economy and account for more than 339,000 jobs.

Total U.S. agricultural and related exports fell 1% from fiscal years 2019 to 2020. The decrease can be attributed to depressed global demand for U.S. exports tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and continued trade tensions with China and the European Union.

According to the report, Tennessee’s agricultural sectors suffered relatively greater declines in exports than the nation as a whole. The state’s agricultural and SEE PANDEMIC ON PAGE 8

IMAGE BY T. JOHNSON, COURTESY UTIA

In a December economic report to the governor, researchers at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture detailed the extent of COVID-19 impacts on Tennessee’s agricultural sectors.

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Sustainable Agriculture Practices Good For Profits, Environment problems. Eliminating or reducing tillage involves inserting seeds he concept of sustainability directly into undisturbed soil, which varies by industry. Within the can reduce erosion and improve the agricultural industry, sustain- health of the soil. ability is a multifaceted concept that Integrated pest managehas become increasingly popular in ment: Integrated pest managerecent decades. ment techniques aim to minimize According to the National Inthe use of chemical pesticides that stitute of Food and Agriculture, can prove harmful to the environsustainable agriculture seeks to ment and local wildlife. According increase profitable farm income, to the University of California promote environmental stewardStatewide Integrated Pest Manship, enhance quality of life for agement Program, IPM strategies farm families and communities, and like habitat manipulation and the increase production for human food planting of disease-resistant plants and fiber needs. In an attempt to are designed to promote long-term reach those goals, farmers who em- prevention of pests and the damage brace sustainable agriculture may such pests can cause. look to various practices, such as: Agroforestry: The Association Cover crops: The Union of for Temperate Agroforestry defines Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit agroforestry as an intensive land organization that aims to employ management system that incorindependent science to address the porates trees and/or shrubs to planet’s most pressing problems, optimize the benefits they provide notes that cover crops are planted when deliberately combined with during the offseason when soils crops and/or livestock. The shade have traditionally been left bare. and shelter provided by trees and Cover crops can help prevent soil shrubs can protect plants, animals erosion and replenish the nutrients and water resources. in the soil. Cover crops also can Crop/livestock integration: limit weed growth, reducing the The UCS notes that there is growing need for herbicides that can prove evidence to suggest that the careful harmful to the environment. integration of crop and animal proReduce or eliminate tillage: duction can help farmers make their According to the UCS, traditional farms more efficient and profitable. plowing, or tillage, can cause a Sustainable agriculture is a comsignificant amount of soil loss, even plex concept that can benefit farmas it prepares fields for planting ers, their local communities and the and reduces the likelihood of weed environment in myriad ways.

BY METRO CREATIVE

T

“Key factors for producer profitability in 2020/21 include trade disruptions, adverse weather CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 events, access to financing, related exports were $1.9 billion interest rates, exchange rates, in 2020, down $143 million or regulations and policies and global 7% from 2019. In fact, Tennessee economic growth,” said crop marexperienced declines in all major keting specialist Aaron Smith, an categories in 2020. Exports of associate professor in the Departbulk agricultural commodities, ment of Agricultural and Resource which include cotton, tobacco and Economics. soybeans, were down $54 million, UTIA trade expert Andrew Muor 7%. Related product exports, hammad, a professor of agriculturwhich include forest products and al and resource economics, said, distilled spirts, were down $50 “Interestingly, exports to China million, or 8%. Consumer-oriented increased substantially in fiscal exports, which include meat and year 2020, increasing from $111 dairy products as well as processed million in 2019 to $243 million in food products, were down $27 2020 – an increase of 118%.” million, or 6%. Also, exports of He added that this is an indicaintermediate products such as soy- tion that the effects of the trade bean meal and oil and other feeds war may be subsiding. were down $12 million, or 6%.

“Given China’s importance to

PANDEMIC

What Is Sustainable Agriculture?

Many transitions have taken place in the agricultural industry over the last several decades. The widespread adoption of various technologies over the last 20-plus years has helped farmers streamline their operations, making their farms more efficient and less wasteful as a result.

In addition, many farmers have embraced sustainable farming, which is a relatively recent approach to agriculture. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, sustainable agriculture is a complex, multi-faceted concept. Sustainable agriculture intends to contribute to a robust economy by making farms profitable.

Farmers who embrace sustainable agriculture also aim to have a positive effect on the environment and their surrounding ecosystems. That’s accomplished by embracing strategies that focus on building and maintaining healthy soil, managing water wisely, minimizing pollution, and promoting biodiversity.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture notes that sustainable agriculture encompasses a wide range of production practices, including some associated with conventional farming and some linked to organic farming. As a result, sustainable farming should not be mistaken for organic farming, or vice versa. However, the Union of Concerned Scientists notes there’s a strong likelihood that certified organic produce at local grocery stores are byproducts of farms that embrace sustainable agriculture.

Tennessee’s agricultural exports, achieving the Phase One Trade Agreement commitment could have significant implications for Tennessee exports in 2021.”

In addition to these positive indicators, governmental assistance programs helped offset some of the losses. In Tennessee, the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program provided much-needed help with payments in excess of $132.6 million. The top five commodities receiving payments were cattle at $85.1 million; cotton at $15.6 million; corn at $14.6 million; milk at $7.94 million; and soybeans at $4.8 million.

Business disruptions among Tennessee’s food and beverage industries were evidenced by their participation in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

METRO CREATIVE

Farmers who embrace sustainable agriculture may look to various practices.

to help meet payroll and retain jobs, with approximately one in two food and beverage businesses participating in the program.

More than 150,000 food and beverage jobs were retained through the PPP. “While we experienced food and beverage supply chain disruptions early in the pandemic, the industry has shown great resiliency in responding to these unprecedented markets. This gives me optimism that the industry’s level of business activity may improve and grow as we move past winter and back into the spring and summer months,” said lead researcher Kimberly Jensen, also a professor of agricultural and resource economics.

A particularly alarming fact in the economic report is the num-

ber of households in Tennessee that struggled to obtain sufficient food during the pandemic.

During April and May and in mid-August through early October, about one in 10 households in Tennessee indicated they were food insufficient.

“Of increased concern is that of the food-insufficient households, about 31% were newly food insufficient,” said assistant professor Jackie Yenerall. “Furthermore, about half of these families were not at all confident they could afford food in the next four weeks.”

The complete economic report to the governor is prepared by the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at UT’s Haslam College of Business. The full report is available online at tiny.utk.edu/ ERG2021.

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