BCR_North Central Illinois AG Mag_071421

AG Mag North Central Illinois

A

PUBLICATION • SUMMER 2021

PLANTING THE SEEDS OF KNOWLEDGE Opportunities to learn about agriculture are all around for Bureau County children

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Ag Mag – 3

INDEX Planting the Seeds of Knowledge ���������������������������������������������������������� 6 Beyond Bacon �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 10 A Year in the Life of a Farmer ���������������������������������������������������������������� 13 Record Farm Exports ���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 16 Berry Bounty ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 19 Farmland in Demand ��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22 On the cover: Isaiah Detweiler helps grow produce and flowers at Hungry World Farms in rural Tiskilwa.

He said his favorite thing to grow is flowers.

Articles are the property of AgriNews. No portion of the North Central Illinois Ag Mag may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Ad content is not the responsibility of the Bureau County Republican. The information in this magazine is believed to be accurate; however, the Bureau County Republican cannot and does not guarantee its accuracy. The Bureau County Republican cannot and will not be held liable for the quality or performance of goods and services provided by advertisers listed in any portion of this magazine.

4 – Summer 2021

Ag Mag

Bureau County Republican 526 S. Bureau Valley Pkwy., Ste. F Princeton, IL 61356 815-875-4461 Publisher Dan Goetz Editor Jim Henry Advertising Director Jeanette Smith jmsmith@shawmedia.com

Writers Tom C. Doran Jeannine Otto Shannon Serpette Photographers Tom C. Doran Jeannine Otto Shannon Serpette Designer Liz Klein

Published by: est. 1851

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Ag Mag – 5

Mahala Detweiler (left) and Isaiah Detweiler (right) of rural Tiskilwa help their mom at the Princeton Farmers’ Market.

Planting the Seeds of Knowledge Opportunities to learn about agriculture are all around for Bureau County children Story and photos by Shannon Serpette

W

ith school out for the summer and parents looking for ways to educate and entertain them, it’s a great time to teach about agriculture. Finding methods to teach kids about agriculture isn’t difficult – Bureau County is full of opportunities.

For Mahala Detweiler and her brother Isaiah, learning about agriculture is a way of life. Five-year-old Mahala and Isaiah, who is 8, live in rural Tiskilwa at Hungry World Farm, where they are immersed in all aspects of living

6 – Summer 2021

a farm life.

“They’ve grown up in the garden,” their mother, Karla Detweiler, said.

When it comes time to sell some of the crops they’ve grown, they play a hand in that as well by helping their parents in their booth at the Princeton Farmers’ Market.

They help sell their produce, talk to customers, and practice their math skills by assisting with the cash box and transactions.

“I like to stay in here and hang out,” Isaiah said about

the booth, although he admits to wandering off sometimes to read the monument in the park.

Karla said she coached her children at home before they began helping out at the farmers’ market. They set up pretend farmers’ markets in their home to help the kids understand what would take place and the things they might do to help out. Those practice runs helped give them the skills they needed for helping at the market. Karla said having her children help out at the farmers’ market is beneficial to

them in a variety of ways.

“I think that they learn interpersonal skills, customer service, and math,” she said.

At home, Isaiah said he helps grow flowers, lettuce, and carrots.

“Carrots are one of my favorite veggies to grow,” he said.

Bureau County farmers Curt and Janet Dugosh said family farms are one of the best ways for kids to learn about agriculture in Bureau County.

That method of learning also is attainable for children who don’t have a family background in agriculture.

“I have hired a lot of high school kids over the years,” Curt said, adding that many of them had backgrounds in agriculture. “But a couple of them didn’t know about ag.”

Curt has been giving this on-the-job training to students for 20-some years and has formed close connections with some of the students that still last even years later. With the help of a local high school ag teacher, he finds students who are willing to work on

Isaiah Detweiler, 8, names all the vegetables for sale at the Hungry World Farm stand at the Princeton Farmers’ Market as his sister Mahala listens.

his farm. It gives them the chance to earn money while learning about agriculture as they work.

Even for students who don’t envision a life or career in agriculture, ag education can be

essential, according to Janet, because you never know where life will take you.

“I never thought I would live on a farm,” she said.

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Market

education is becoming more of a priority for schools and that kids have opportunities FROM PAGE 7 to learn about it locally.

“I think it’s important for Ag education can be an kids to see where their food eye-opener for children who comes from,” she said. don’t realize everything agFor parents looking for ag riculture encompasses. They education opportunities for may be well-suited for career their kids this summer, a stop paths that they didn’t know at the 166th Bureau County existed in ag, she said. It’s Fair, which will be from Aug. not just about growing crops or raising livestock. Students 25 to 29 in Princeton, is a wonderful way to teach chilcan become ag-related sciendren about this field. Learning tists, technicians, agriculture that this fair has been celeor mechanical engineers, brated for well over a century food engineers, and software and a half might be enough to engineers. Or, they could spark a child’s interest. While decide to enter the booming the rides are generally the star field of agribusiness as an agof the show for children, they riculture financial service repalso naturally tend to gravitate resentative, ag lawyer, crop toward animals, so you can adjuster, farm business mansneak in plenty of ag lessons ager, grain buyer, agricultural while they’re having fun. lobbyist, or one of the many For young children, activother careers in this field. ities like the Bureau County Janet’s daughter, Becca Farm Bureau’s Farmer for a Turpen of Peoria, has inherDay event, which will take ited her mother’s passion for place at the fair, offer a great agriculture. As the coordinachance for them to learn tor for the Princeton Farmers’ what farming life is like. VisMarket and the owner of Bro- its to other events like the ken Roots Farm, she hopes dairy show, a walk through that children can take away the exhibit halls, and a stop some valuable lessons while to see the rabbit, sheep, poulvisiting or working in a booth try, and goat shows could all at the farmers’ market. stimulate a child to want to Turpen said she didn’t learn more about agriculture. learn much about agriculture And that can lead to a lifeat the school she attended long interest or even a career while she was growing up in someday. If it doesn’t, they’ll Bureau County. still reap other benefits.

“There wasn’t a ton of focus Learning about agriculture on that when I was growing can teach children a lot of up,” she said. “There’s a lot valuable lessons, including more now than when I was patience and hard work. going through school.”

“It’s good to learn those life She’s glad to see that ag lessons,” Turpen said.

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Ag Mag – 9

Beyond Bacon New retail pork options

By Jeannine Otto

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

DES MOINES, Iowa — When consumers are ready to return to their favorite restaurant, the bacon — and sausage and ham — will be ready for them.

“There’s this pent-up demand to really go out to restaurants,” said Neil Hull, director of channel marketing at the National Pork Board.

While consumers were largely held back from their favorite fast-food dining spots due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hull and others at National Pork Board were working with national restaurant and retail chains to increase the profile of different pork products and add pork to the menus and meat cases of restaurants, convenience stores and retail grocery chains.

Hull said the new offerings and the reopening of restaurants and venues is an encouraging sign for domestic pork demand going forward.

“We are excited about what’s happening in the retail channel,” Hull said. “We are excited that food service is starting to gain momentum and coming back.”

IHOP The National Pork Board started working with IHOP, formerly known as International House of Pancakes, in 2019.

In May 2021, IHOP launched its “Bacon Obsession” menu, which Hull said is “bigger than bacon.” That menu also features bigger bacon.

“They have a new bacon that is five times thicker than traditional bacon,” Hull said.

The “Bacon Obsession” menu takes bacon beyond the breakfast table with items like the Steakhouse Premium Bacon Burger and a Maple Bacon Milkshake and Candied Bacon Pancakes.

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IHOP has introduced a new “Bacon Obsession” menu with a steakhouse premium bacon with a maple glaze and limited menu items like Steakhouse Premium Bacon Burger, Candied Bacon Pancakes and a Maple Bacon Milkshake. said that more than 50% of IHOP customers order bacon.

The additional bacon items beyond the breakfast menu also are a win for the Pork Checkoff, as the blue Pork Board logo is featured throughout the promotional materials for the “Bacon Obsession” menu and menu items, Hull said.

“We, for a long time, have owned the breakfast segment with bacon,” he said.

“But really the awesome

part with what IHOP is doing Fastrac and Certified Oil. Late in 2020, EG America is they are taking bacon beyond just breakfast and add- launched “The Big Pig,” a new ing it to the other day menus,” limited-time breakfast sandwich.

“The exciting part about Hull said. that sandwich is it has 9 ounces of pork on it, between EG AMERICA EG America operates over bacon, sausage and ham,” 1,700 convenience stores in Hull said.

The other exciting part is 31 states. The EG America brand family includes Kwik that the sandwich was so popShop, Loaf ‘n Jug, Cumber- ular that the company made it land Farms, Turkey Hill, Tom a full-time menu offering.

In addition, EG America Thumb, Quik Stop, Minit Mart,

added two new breakfast pizzas that include bacon and sausage to their menu lineup.

“What you are seeing with convenience stores is the ones that are being successful are moving more and more toward food service. They are not making as much money selling cigarettes and gas as they used to, so they are focused on food,” Hull said.

Convenience stores also saw their food business help out the bottom line during pandemic quarantines.

“That easy grab ‘n go, during the pandemic, was really a sweet spot for the convenience store segment because as people were looking for variety in their meal routines, it was really easy to pop into a convenience store,” Hull said.

SAM’S CLUB What do you do when you can’t offer the samples for which your stores are famous?

You use your smarts — smartphone technology, that is.

When the pandemic changed

how shopping clubs, like Sam’s Club, promoted new products and products on special, with their traditional and popular instore samples, the nationwide shopping club helped shoppers choose products another way.

Hull said a promotion in January 2021 with Kinder’s Seasonings showed the value of digital technology for pork consumers.

“They converted to a digital demo program where the shopper would go in, there was a display with a QR code, you would scan that display with your smartphone and it would come up with a real simple recipe, for example for boneless chops, then you could add those items to your cart,” Hull said.

While the process might sound complicated, Sam’s Club shoppers took to it with enthusiasm.

“Sixty-one percent of the consumers that were purchasing had not purchased boneless chops at Sam’s Club the prior four months. They saw a 42% growth in sales in both

volume and dollars compared to the prior four-week average. As people had cooking fatigue, we were trying to make pork more approachable, so they could take it home and prepare a really delicious meal,” Hull said.

QUIZNO’S The Smiling Pig should make U.S. pig farmers happy.

The new menu item at Quizno’s, set to roll out later this year, is a sandwich that will include smoked pork loin, ham and bacon.

“We are really excited about what that offering will bring to their stores nationwide,” Hull said.

TARGET Promoting pork at the retail level is about more than the product itself. It’s also about educating consumers on how to properly prepare different cuts of pork to have a delicious eating experience — and make a return trip to buy more.

To that end, new product offerings in Target stores aim to help consumers cook their pork properly.

“There will be four new fresh pork chop items launched at Target. The best news for us and for producers is they will be the first items at Target in the fresh pork case that have proper cook temperature messaging. On the back of the labels it clearly states ‘cook to 145 degrees Fahrenheit with a three minute rest,’ which is really where we spend a lot of time with our retail partners on that consumer education side,” Hull said.

Pork Board officials said that, to the best of their knowledge, the Target pork products are part of Tyson’s “Chairman’s Reserve” premium line, which are produced in Council Bluffs.

Jeannine Otto can be reached at 815-223-2558, ext. 211, or jotto@shawmedia.com.

Follow her on Twitter at: @ AgNews_Otto.

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AGRINEWS PHOTOS/TOM C. DORAN

Ron (right) and Jay Kindred adjust the population on the four-row planter in preparation for replanting corn where there was some ponding.

Replant needed Waiting for wet fields to dry out Follow the Kindred family throughout the entire year. Each month, look for updates about the family members and the decisions they make on their farm.

By Tom C. Doran AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

ATLANTA, Ill. — Ron and Jay Kindred were setting the population on their four-row planter to prepare for replanting some corn upon arrival late Wednesday morning, May 26.

“We’ll be replanting some corn when the ponds dry up after this next rain goes through. All of the corn is up enough that we can see where we need to plant-in,” Ron said.

Ron returned the previous day

Jay Kindred hosted a virtual tour of the farm via cell phone for fifth-graders at Prairieland Elementary School, Normal, Illinois.

from an overnight trip to Davenport, Iowa, with his colleagues on the Illinois Soybean Association board of directors where they had meetings with their Iowa Soybean Association counterparts.

“We had a strategic planning meeting between Illinois and Iowa just to see what’s on their radar screen, what’s on our radar screen and see if there’s any way we can work together to have an impact on policy or investments on the research side and ways we can collaborate,” he explained.

While Ron was giving a rundown of what’s been happening since we met last month, Jay was giving a virtual tour via cell phone of the farm for fifth-graders at Prairieland Elementary School, Normal, and answering the youngsters’ questions about agriculture.

Next on the Kindreds’ agenda See Kindred page 14 Ag Mag – 13

Kindred FROM PAGE 13

will be post-emerge herbicide applications and they were expecting some parts for the sprayer to arrive soon.

“We got the sprayer out last week knowing that we have some things we need to work on. We found a few more things to work on and we have parts ordered,” Ron said.

“Then we can get it back together, run some stuff through it to get it calculated and be

ready to go. We don’t do any pre-emerge on our own. We hire that all done, but we do our post-emerge applications,” Ron said.

“We typically try to spray the soybeans at about R1, maybe into R2, but generally around R1. For the corn, I kind of go by the size of the weeds. Corn grows so fast that I don’t mind spraying it a little earlier. It just depends on the year. I go by weed size and weed pressure.

“I don’t want the weeds to be around too long in it. If we have a lot of weed pressure early then we may spray it

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TIMELY PLANTING Planting season went very well for the Kindreds, who added 1,200 acres this year through a new partnership.

They planted all of their soybeans first and were done by about April 27. They then turned to corn planting and finished that on May 8 and wrapped up planting seed beans on May 14.

“The evening we finished corn on May 8 we got a pretty hard rain. We had planted in some timber soil that day and it was in great shape. The soil conditions overall this year were just almost perfect to plant into, but the corn in the timber

soil struggled a little bit coming out of the ground and we’re still keeping an eye on that corn,” Ron said.

“We’re going to do some stand counts and see what we’ve got. But they are small areas, they’re not big areas. I don’t anticipate tearing up any big fields or anything. I just think we’re maybe going to have to plant some spots to fill-in.

“It’s interesting to farm timber soil. It’s a challenge every year it seems like. We have two farms that have quite a bit of timber soil on them. We probably have 50 to 60 acres that would be what I would call timber soil.”

Overall, the Kindreds are pleased with how the planting season progressed.

“The soybeans that we planted early took a while to come up, but the stand is pretty good on them and I think we’re in pretty good shape. We may have some ponds to replant, but overall we have a lot of potential with them,” Ron said.

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“It obviously pays to start clean and stay clean. It doesn’t work out every year, though.

We had some cool weather this year and some of the chemicals didn’t work quite as good in some areas. We’ve had some areas that had to be re-sprayed to get some grass that didn’t get killed on the burndown.”

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Ag Mag – 15

Record Farm Exports 21% increase in USDA forecast

By Tom C. Doran

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

WASHINGTON — U.S. agricultural exports are projected to reach a record-breaking $164 billion in fiscal year 2021.

The most recent forecast from the U.S. Department of Agriculture noted the record high represents a $28 billion, or 21%, increase from the previous fiscal year 2020, and a $7 billion increase from the February forecast. The previous export record of $152.3 billion was set in fiscal year 2014.

The report was issued by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service and Economic Research Service. USDA noted corn, soybeans, along with livestock, poultry and dairy products led the increases.

Soybean export volumes are forecast at record levels due to surging demand from China.

USDA projects exports of $28.9 billion, up $1.5 billion from the February estimate.

Corn exports are anticipated to be $3.2 billion higher to $17.2 billion due to record volume and higher unit values, driven by strong demand and reduced competition.

Overall livestock, poultry and dairy exports are projected to increase to $34.2 billion, $1.6 billion higher than

the February projection, due to increases in the dairy, pork and beef forecasts.

Dairy exports are forecast at $7 billion, up $500 million due to higher volumes and unit values, particularly for skimmed milk powder and whey and whey products.

The forecast for pork exports is up $400 million, on higher unit values and recovering demand in several markets. Beef and veal, beef and pork variety meat, and poultry and product exports are projected up $200 million each.

Cotton exports are forecast up $200 million on higher volumes. The forecast for horticultural exports is reduced by $400 million to $34.1 billion due to lower tree nut unit values.

Exports for China were hiked by $3.5 billion from the February forecast to a record $35 billion due to record shipments of soybeans, corn, tree nuts, beef, wheat and poultry products.

China is forecast to remain the largest market for U.S. agricultural exports in fiscal year 2021, followed by Canada and Mexico.

U.S. agricultural imports in fiscal year 2021 are projected at $141.8 billion, up $4.3 billion from the February forecast. This increase is primarily driven by expected rising im-

ports of livestock, horticultural, and sugar and tropical products.

The forecasts in this report are based on information available at the time of USDA’s May 12 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates release. The adoption of the World Trade Organization’s internationally recognized definition of “agricultural products” will take effect in the August release.

Global Recovery Foreign Agricultural Service and Economic Research Service also looked at the global pandemic and economic recovery.

“Countries with high vaccination rates are beginning to curtail restrictions, while others struggle to contain ongoing crises. In the U.S., optimism over a full service-sector reopening is mixed with supply-chain bottlenecks currently subduing the consumption of goods and generating increased attention over potential higher inflation,” the report stated.

Consumer spending is returning quickly as more adults in the United States are fully vaccinated.

“The enthusiasm of the better-than-expected economic recovery has boosted equity prices while also reversing some of last year’s biggest

trends. Technology companies that benefited from expanded work-from-home hours experienced massive valuation gains in 2020, but have greatly underperformed compared to consumer non-cyclicals thus far in 2021,” the report continued.

The normalizing of conditions is expected to bring about a large shift of expenditures back toward the service sector globally. Overall, global real gross domestic product is expected to grow by about 5.5% in 2021.

Growth projections for U.S. real GDP was increased to 5.8% from the February estimate of 4%, after contracting by 3.5% in fiscal year 2020.

The Eurozone economic growth projection is lowered from 4.5 to 4.2%, as vaccination rollout slowly catches up to target goals.

Real GDP in North America is expected to grow by 5.4% in 2021 after a 4% decline in 2020. Real GDP for both Canada and Mexico is forecast to grow by 5% in 2021 after experiencing substantial declines in 2020, down 5.4% and 8.3%, respectively.

Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-780-7894 or tdoran@shawmedia.com.

Follow him on Twitter at: @ AgNews_Doran.

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SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SUMMER TWILIGHT SERIES

AGRINEWS PHOTOS/JEANNINE OTTO

Austin Flamm discusses the strawberry crop at Flamm Orchards during a recent Twilight Series meeting.

Berry Bounty Strawberries in sync during ‘different kind of spring’

By Jeannine Otto

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

COBDEN, Ill. — The University of Illinois Extension 2021 Southern Illinois Summer Twilight Series started off on a sweet note as guests interested in strawberry production and plasticulture gathered at Flamm Orchards.

The meeting in mid-May marked the return of the series, which is now in its seventh season, after a year’s hiatus due to COVID-19.

“It was a different kind of spring,” said Alan Flamm, who oversees the farm’s strawberry production.

Flamm Orchards started in 1888 on 117 acres near Cobden. Today, the farm has about 2,000 acres in multiple locations. Flamm Orchards grows peaches and apples, along with

Austin Flamm, who manages the farm with his cousin, Parker Flamm, with their fathers, Jeff and Mike, and their cousin, Alan, welcomed the guests to the farm. Austin and Parker are the sixth generation to operate the orchard.

Alan Flamm answered questions and discussed the management and production of the strawberries. He said they plant several different varieties, including Chandler, Camarosa, Rocco, Ruby June and Fronteras.

“Some years you will set more Flamm Orchards currently has 10 blooms on one or two varieties acres of strawberries, as well as than the others, so it’s kind of 350 acres of peaches, 250 acres nice to have more than one or of apples and around 200 acres of two varieties,” he said. zucchini, squash and cucumbers in The Flamms work with production.

McNitt Growers in Carbondale to source their strawberry plthe 10 acres of strawberry pro- ants. The plants include a mix duction, and some wholesale See Berry page 20 vegetable production.

Ag Mag – 19

Berry

FROM PAGE 19

of varieties developed in North Carolina, Florida and California.

“One thing that is different on Ruby June than the others, most of the stuff that comes out of California is designed to be shipped from California to the East Coast. Ruby June was bred with u-pick and the local fresh produce market in mind, so it was bred for size and flavor rather than firmness and shipability,” Bill McNitt said.

Alan Flamm said the combination of hot and cold spells in the early spring this year have made for a large crop of blooms and berries, but it also impacted the timing of the crop.

Usually, different varieties bloom and produce at different times. This year, most of the varieties bloomed and set fruit at the same time.

“If it had been a normal spring, I think the Roccos would have been ahead of the Ruby June,” he said.

“Almost every variety we had came in within three or

four days of each other. I’ve never seen it do that before.”

The Flamms use plasticulture to raise their berries, with the plants being planted into broad sheets of black plastic that cover the rows.

“We have been working with strawberries for 15 to 20 years. The first year we did it, we went down through there with a tomato stake, punching a hole through and sticking the plants in. Now, we have two workers who ride on the planter and it’s a little easier.

It’s a long way from punching a hole with the tomato stake,” Alan Flamm said.

Strawberries are planted in the fall.

MANAGEMENT METHODS Other management methods including rotating the strawberries from field to field and the use of cereal rye between the rows to suppress weeds. In the fall, the rows of berry plants are covered with row covers.

Flamm said disease pressure has been light so far but that could pick up if conditions turned hot and wet.

“Gray mold and rot is the worst if it gets hot and wet,” he said.

The farm has a retail store that sells a variety of fruits, vegetables, jams and jellies. In addition, the farm has a Fruits and Cream Stand, which sells homemade treats with fresh fruit including strawberry shortcake, cobblers, apple dumplings and pies.

After the field tour, guests were treated to strawberry shortcake.

Bronwyn Aly, U of I Extension educator for local food systems and small farms for Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Pope, Saline and White counties, said she was pleased with the attendance at the first Twilight series meeting in over a year.

“We had three of our four farms already committed for last year when we had to cancel those Twilight meetings.

We were able to pick back up and reconnect with some of those farms. Flamm Orchards was where we were going to go last year in May, so we just reconnected with them and they were more than happy to host us this year,” Aly said.

The next meeting in the series is scheduled for June 21, at 6 p.m. at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center, 354 State Highway 145 N, Simpson, Illinois. That meeting will highlight production and management practices for multiple high tunnel vegetable crops and biological insect control in high tunnels.

Aly said the meetings are designed to highlight the many different types of agricultural production in southern Illinois.

“We try to look at different production practices that we haven’t looked at. We want to really highlight diversified farming enterprises in southern Illinois. I don’t think that people really realize the diversity of crops that can be grown in our region, so we want to bring that to the forefront and we want to keep people mindful of our local food system in the region,” Aly said.

Jeannine Otto can be reached at 815-223-2558, ext. 211, or jotto@shawmedia.com.

Follow her on Twitter at: @ AgNews_Otto.

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Ag Mag – 21

Farmland in Demand

Illinois values up 4% in survey

By Tom C. Doran

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

CHICAGO — Farmland values in the first quarter of 2021 were 7% higher than a year ago, the largest jump since the 11% increase in 2012.

The findings were from a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and reported in The AgLetter. The district includes the northern two-thirds of Illinois and Indiana and all of Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan.

“Farmland values gained 3% in the first quarter of 2021 from the fourth quarter of 2020. Indiana (8%), Iowa (10%), and Wisconsin (8%) had steeper year-over-year increases in farmland values than did the district as a whole, but Illinois had a more modest increase (4%),” said David Oppedahl, Chicago Fed senior business economist.

INCREASE FOLLOWS DECLINES After being adjusted for inflation with the Personal 22 – Summer 2021

Consumption Expenditures Price Index, district farmland values in the first quarter of 2021 were up on a year-overyear basis for the fourth quarter in a row.

Prior to this positive trend, there had been real year-overyear declines in farmland values from the third quarter of 2014 through the first quarter of 2020.

“A large increase in district farmland values wasn’t surprising given that the survey results showed strong demand for agricultural ground, along with limited availability. For the three- to six-month period ending with March 2021 relative to the same period ending with March 2020, 76% of the survey respondents reported higher demand to purchase farmland and just 1% reported lower demand,” Oppedahl noted.

“Moreover, there was a lower amount of agricultural land for sale during the most recent winter and early spring relative to a year ago, as 15% of the responding bankers reported more farmland was up for sale in their areas and 35% reported less.

The number of farms and the amount of acreage sold were also down some in the winter and early spring compared with a year earlier.”

Survey participants indicated that a larger share of acres was purchased by farmers, implying that the share of acres purchased by investors contracted in the three- to six-month period ending with March 2021 relative to the corresponding period ending with March 2020.

CASH RENTS “Cash rental rates for Chicago Fed district agricultural acres climbed 4% from 2020 to 2021. For 2021, average annual cash rents for farmland were up 2% in Illinois, 4% in Indiana, 5% in Iowa, and 5% in Wisconsin,” Oppedahl said, noting not enough survey responses were received from bankers in Michigan to report a numerical change for that state.

“After being adjusted for inflation with the PCEPI, district cash rental rates rose 2% from 2020. This was the first increase after seven straight years of declining cash rents

(in both nominal and real terms), which constituted the longest such streak in the history of the survey. In real terms, both the index of farmland cash rental rates and the index of agricultural land values peaked in 2013.”

Even after rising in 2021, the index of real cash rents was 38% below its level in 2013; the index of real farmland values was just 6% off from its 2013 peak.

Given that the change in the index of inflation-adjusted farmland values has been better than the change in the index of inflation-adjusted agricultural cash rental rates each year since 2009, owning farmland has been more compelling than leasing farmland over this period.

“Higher farmland values and cash rents were the result of a dramatic turnaround in agricultural prospects from a year ago — generated in part by higher earnings for farms as key agricultural prices recovered (and even rose above year-earlier levels) after the initial impacts of the pandemic lessened,” Oppedahl said.

In March 2021, corn and soybean prices were 33% and 56% higher than a year ago, respectively, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hog prices were 38% above those in March 2020.

“In addition, the USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program pumped $24.1 billion into the farm economy over the past year, with 23.5% ($5.68 billion as of May 2, 2021) coming to the five states of the district. Combined, these factors (along with lower real interest rates) boosted farm incomes, helping drive up both farmland values and cash rents,” Oppedahl said.

CREDIT CONDITIONS Agricultural credit conditions for the Chicago Fed district also improved in the first quarter of 2021. As of April 1, the average nominal interest rates on operating loans (4.42%), feeder cattle loans (4.58%), and agricultural real estate loans (4.08%) were all lower than in any previous survey findings.

Furthermore, after being ad-

justed for inflation using the PCEPI, average agricultural interest rates fell to historical lows last seen at the end of the third quarter of 2011, with the average real interest rate for farm real estate loans even edging slightly below its previous low.

“The index of repayment rates for non-real-estate farm loans ascended to 146 — the highest reading since the first quarter of 2012; 48% of responding bankers observed higher rates of repayment for the Oppedahl first quarter of 2021 relative to the first quarter of 2020, and only 2% observed lower rates,” Oppedahl reported.

Demonstrating similar positive developments, just 4% of the survey respondents reported higher levels of loan renewals and extensions over the January through March

period of 2021 compared with the same period last year, while 34% reported lower levels of them.

Also, bankers reported that only 4%, on average, of their farm borrowers had more carryover debt — loans not paid off at the end of the growing season and subsequently carried over into the next one — in 2021 than in 2020.

The share of loans guaranteed by the USDA’s Farm Service Agency in the portfolios of the reporting banks was around 6% for the district as a whole — about the same level as a year ago.

One Indiana banker reported: “Government payments, grain price increases, and above-average yields have grain farmers in their most liquid position in the last ten years. Farmers are in a very strong position, which is negatively impacting loan volumes.”

26% anticipated them to be stable and none anticipated them to fall.

Survey respondents forecasted that the volume of farm real estate loans would increase in the district during the April through June period of 2021 relative to the same period of 2020, but they forecasted that the overall volume of non-real-estate farm loans would decrease.

The blend of non-real-estate agricultural loan types was projected to vary from a year ago: Volumes for farm machinery and grain storage construction loans were anticipated to increase, whereas volumes for operating and FSA-guaranteed loans, along with those for dairy and feeder cattle loans, were anticipated to decrease.

According to an Illinois respondent: “The farm economy ended very strong in 2020, and 2021 looks to be even better.”

LOOKING AHEAD Seventy-four percent of survey respondents anticipated farmland values to rise in the second quarter of 2021 and

Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-780-7894 or tdoran@shawmedia.com.

Follow him on Twitter at: @ AgNews_Doran.

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