North Central Illinois Ag Mag - Fall 2023

AG Mag North Central Illinois

A

PUBLICATION • FALL 2023

ETHANOL AT CROSSROADS Industry pivots to stay relevant Also:

• Looking back at the 1974 killing frost • ATV-related fatalities on rise • Veteran farm adviser, 97, reflects on his life, career

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CONTENTS

Ag Mag

Ethanol at crossroads �����������������������������������������������������������������������������4 Congress urged ‘to get farm bill done’ ����������������������������������������������������8 Veteran farm adviser, 97, reflects on his life, career ����������������������������� 10

Bureau County Republican P.O. Box 340 Princeton, IL 61356-0340 815-220-6948 General Manager/ Advertising Director Jeanette Smith jmsmith@shawmedia.com

Looking back at the 1974 killing frost ��������������������������������������������������� 14

Editor Jim Henry

Early soil conservation outreach efforts paid off �������������������������������� 16

Writers Tom C. Doran Alan Guebert Jeannine Otto Erica Quinlan

Conference for current, future farmland owners ��������������������������������� 17 New Holland electric tractor rolled out at Farm Progress ������������������ 18 Fake meat is mostly a fake out for now ����������������������������������������������� 21

Photographers Tom C. Doran Eric Ginnard

ATV-related fatalities on rise ���������������������������������������������������������������� 23

Designer Liz Klein

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.

Published by: est. 1851

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Ag Mag 3

Ethanol at crossroads Industry pivots to stay relevant

By Tom C. Doran

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

GIBSON CITY, Ill. — Ethanol has been the bread and butter of the corn industry since the Renewable Fuel Standard was created in 2005, but the winds of change are on the horizon.

Illinois Corn recently hosted a series of meetings and a webinar that addressed “the crossroads of carbon and corn.”

The theme focused on the importance of reducing the carbon footprint that would create new market opportunities for ethanol.

Federal policies are encouraging carbon reductions — not just in ethanol production, but also across multiple sectors of industries.

“The RFS was created in 2005 and then updated in 2007. This created a boom in the ethanol market. There were 66 ethanol plants in 2002 with a production capacity of 3.19 billion gallons annually,” said Lauren Lurkins, founder of Lurkins Strategies.

With the passage of an updated RFS in 2007, the United States had 136 ethanol plants and a production capacity of 7.888 billion.

There were 211 ethanol plants by 2012 with a production capacity of 14.838 billion gallons. The United States had 199 ethanol plants last year and a production capacity of 17.946 billion gallons.

In Illinois, there are 13 ethanol plants, producing 1.8 billion gallons from 657 million bushels of corn. Nearly one-third of the corn grown in Illinois is used for ethanol production.

“Not only do we have more ethanol plants, they have more production capacity and they’re also more efficient at what they’re doing. The industry has grown, not just in Illinois, but nationwide since 4 Fall 2023

AGRINEWS PHOTO/TOM C. DORAN

Lauren Lurkins, founder of Lurkins Strategies, spoke of the “crossroads of carbon and corn” at a recent Illinois Corn event in Gibson City, Illinois. Various legislative incentives are available for ethanol plants and farmers that reduce their carbon footprint which could open large markets including sustainable aviation fuel. the RFS,” Lurkins said.

“When the RFS started in 2005, corn prices were around $2 per bushel. When the updated RFS was put in place in 2007, corn was $4.20 per bushel. Corn was $6.70 per bushel last year.”

MARKET THREATS “We’ve seen several cumulative threats in the ethanol market today,” Lurkins noted.

“Obviously, the U.S. EPA has the regulatory control over the RFS, but they also have other areas that touch the farm gate, including the recent proposals on electric vehicles.”

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Multi-pollutant Rule states by 2032 the federal government will require 67% of all new light duty vehicles and trucks be electric.

“There’s another proposal from the Department of Transportation from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that would go hand in glove with the EPA requirements,” Lurkins said.

“This is all about the efficiency of the fleet that lessens the reliance of foreign oil, but this also from a DOT perspective requires a 58% improve-

ment in efficiency by 2032.

This also has very serious components of EV mandates tied into it to meet efficiency numbers by that same year of the EV proposal.

“Another proposal is the California electric vehicle mandate. Sixteen other states have adopted that policy. California is the biggest market for the auto industry in the U.S., and so it cannot be ignored when you have that state being joined by several others.

It does have a huge impact on what is available in the auto industry as far as consumer choice.”

The third threat to the ethanol market is states establishing low carbon fuel standards.

“California sort of set the stage with their low carbon fuel standard, but we’re seeing more of those happen particularly along the West Coast in Oregon, Washington. When those states are setting their low carbon fuel standard, they are not necessarily thinking about Midwestern agriculture and corn markets,” Lurkins said.

“All of these threats to ethanol are important and powerful as they stand alone, but when you see them all to-

gether, and they’re all coming at the industry really at the same time, they do have significant impact.

“Just with the EV mandate alone, we would see about a 1 million bushel demand destruction by 2033. Those EV mandates are targeted for 2032 and so this is something that is nine, 10 years away and if we let everything stand.”

Silver Lining Reducing carbon footprints, along with carbon capture and sequestration can create opportunities for the ethanol industry moving forward.

Federal and state carbon reduction tax incentives are now in place, several of which are focused on sustainable aviation fuel.

The federal Inflation Reduction Act incentives extended existing renewable energy tax credits and adopted several new ones.

Section 40B in the act provides a tax credit for the sale and use of sustainable aviation fuel that achieves a life cycle greenhouse gas emission reduction of at least 50% as compared to petroleum-based jet fuel.

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ETHANOL FROM PAGE 4

The 40B tax credit is available from the beginning of 2023 though the end of 2024.

It’s a base credit of $1.25 per gallon.

The tax incentive 45Z in the act will effectively replace 40B after it expires. It provides a very similar tax credit for the domestic production of clean transportation fuel, including SAF, and it will apply to fuels that are produced after 2024 and sold before the end of 2027.

Section 45Q in the Inflation Reduction Act is with regard to carbon dioxide sequestration. This was modified and expanded under the act. It first became law in 2008 and has been amended a couple times since then.

It gives tax incentives to those who own carbon capture equipment and can capture carbon dioxide from an industrial facility like an ethanol plant, and they sequester or use it for certain purposes.

“The state of Illinois also has a tax credit for SAF. That became effective June 1, 2023, and is in place until Jan. 1, 2033. There are some conditions in the Illinois tax credit with regard to needing domestic biomass,” Lurkins said.

“So, we’re talking about the corn and soybeans that are grown in Illinois. The only way to qualify for these incentives is through carbon reduction.”

In 2021, the Biden administration announced the goal of producing at least 3 billion gallons of SAF per year by 2030, and also issued the “SAF Grand Challenge” to meet 100% of aviation fuel demand by 2050, close to 35 billion gallons per year.

As a reference point, the RFS accounts for 14.5 billion gallons of ethanol demand per year.

“It’s quite a jump, but a very different future for what things like corn-based ethanol can look like in the future,” Lurkins said.

Carbon Reduction Ethanol must meet a 50% carbon reduction to qualify for the SAF tax credit incentives.

The carbon footprint of ethanol can be reduced below 50%

by combining carbon capture and sequestration technology.

The footprint would be reduced even greater using practices such as cover crops, the 4Rs of nutrient management and no-till, combined with carbon capture and sequestration.

“Going under 50%, it really unlocks new markets with the use of carbon capture and sequestration technology,” Lurkins said.

Potential new markets include: • Brazil’s low carbon fuel standard and tariffs are keeping U.S. ethanol out of Brazil.

With these changes, that entire market can be open.

• The international SAF markets and fuel markets, specifically in Japan.

• Higher blends of ethanol in fuel tanks with legislation such as the Next Generation Fuels Act. • Future low carbon fuel standard markets including Canada and U.S. states with those standards.

“California and 16 other states have their own low carbon fuel standard. If you have the other technology and corn ethanol playing a bigger role, those low carbon fuel standards can reflect that in other states,” Lurkins said.

“When we look at all of the effort, it’s moving very rapidly and the conversations are complex. The policy is complex.

“But when we look at everything today, we see that ethanol brought demand to corn farmers in the 2000s, and we’re still able to grow that industry and the footprint of that industry in Illinois. Although there are numerous threats that could potentially jeopardize the future of that industry.

“So, we truly have opportunities now to pivot the ethanol industry and to be incredibly relevant for years and decades and generations to come if we are able to look at and utilize carbon capture technology to reduce the carbon intensity score for the grain that we grow here in Illinois and across the country.”

Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-410-2256, or tdoran@shawmedia.com.

Follow him on Twitter at: @ AgNews_Doran.

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Ag Mag 7

Congress urged ‘to get farm bill done’

By Jeannine Otto

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

DECATUR, Ill. — Dave Kestel is well known on social media for his consistently positive attitude and his upbeat and patriotic photos that salute the American flag and the American farmer.

He had a message for members of Congress of both political parties, regarding the now-delayed farm bill.

“You have a job to do.

You have to get the farm bill done. Do it. Quit screwing around and just do your job,” said Kestel, who farms near Manhattan in northeastern Illinois.

Kestel said he, like others, is frustrated by the delays.

“The more they delay it, the more they are screwing off. Anybody else that’s got SHAW LOCAL NEWS NETWORK PHOTO/ERIC GINNARD a job, you do your job,” he Dave Kestel, a fourth-generation farmer in Will County in northeastern Illinois, says protecting crop insursaid.

Kestel was at the Farm ance is important in the upcoming farm bill.

8 Fall 2023

Progress Show in Decatur.

He was “hanging out” in the Corteva Agriscience and Pioneer tent, as well as exploring the new products and services displayed at the farm show.

“Being a Pioneer seed rep, I come and hang out in the Pioneer tent. I know a lot of people here. Like most everyone else here at the show, I’m looking at the new stuff that’s out,” he said.

Kestel strip-tills his corn so new designs in strip-till bars were of particular interest.

“I am looking at some of the strip-till bar designs. They are pretty incredible, the size of the coulters, the designs of the coulters, the designs of the closing wheels. There are a lot of smart people out there who are thinking this stuff up,” he said.

When it comes to the farm bill, Kestel said he hopes that those negotiating the new legislation keep crop insurance as is.

“Just keep the crop insurance there. Crop insurance is going to bring you to 80%, 85%. It’s never going to

make you whole,” he said.

“We need crop insurance because the amount of money that it costs per acre to put in a crop now, to lay all that out, and to not have some kind of insurance, that is a scary thought.”

On the other end and other side of the state, the president of the American Soybean Association said he has concerns on the timeline for the farm bill.

Daryl Cates, farms near Columbia in Monroe County, on the banks of the Mississippi River. He raises corn, soybeans and wheat.

During a panel discussion, hosted by Syngenta, that featured Republican U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, who is a new member of the House Agriculture Committee, Cates asked Miller about the likelihood of the farm bill being completed this year.

“Well, the farm bill is in jeopardy before the shutdown, because of time constraints. I don’t know, we’ll just have to see what’s ahead. I can’t predict the time frames,” Miller said.

Cates said his concern is that a shutdown and the aftermath of getting the government back up and running could push the farm bill into 2024.

That would bring a new set of challenges to getting a new farm bill negotiated, passed and signed.

“I’m concerned if we get bogged down in this budget and the government shuts down that we might not get the farm bill done at all this year. If we move into next year, you have a presidential election. Then, I’m really concerned about what could happen then,” he said.

Cates said his biggest concern is that if talks and negotiations on the new farm bill continue to be pushed back, the Agricultural Act of 1949 could be implemented. That act authorizes price support at 90% of parity for selected commodities.

“That would be a disaster.

If they extend the current farm bill, at least we know where we stand,” he said.

In December 2012, as Congress failed to pass a new farm bill, to replace

the 2008 farm bill, which expired on Sept. 30, 2012, the threat of reverting to the Agricultural Act of 1949 loomed.

The 2014 farm bill was signed into law on Feb. 7, 2014, after the 2012 farm bill was extended several times.

“There has been some talk that if it doesn’t get done by the second quarter of 2024, then we are looking into 2025 and that would not be good at all,” the ASA president said.

Cates said soybean association members want to protect crop insurance and increase funding for trade initiatives, including the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development.

“We also would like the reference price to be more in line with our cost of production, and we definitely want to protect crop insurance,” he said.

Jeannine Otto can be reached at 815-410-2258, or jotto@ shawmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Otto.

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Ag Mag 9

AGRINEWS PHOTO/TOM C. DORAN

Mike Sager, 97, of Eureka, Illinois, was born in a log home in southern Illinois and went on to a long career as Woodford County agricultural adviser. The photo, sitting on a table he built, is of Sager when he was 18 years old and entered the Army during World War II.

Veteran farm adviser, 97, reflects on his life, career

By Tom C. Doran

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

EUREKA, Ill. — The era of horse-drawn farm equipment seems far removed from computer software, satellite guidance, crop and livestock genetics, planter technology, cab comfort, science-based nutrient management and other aspects of today’s agriculture.

However, the industry’s advancements from basic agriculture production technology to modern advancements really occurred in a relatively short period of time, and Mike Sager has been there for all of it.

10 Fall 2023

Sager, 97, longtime Woodford County agriculture adviser, recently reflected on his life and career that connects horses to horsepower.

He was born Sept. 29, 1926, and raised in a log house built by his great-grandfather in Jefferson County, Illinois. Sager has the $15 check his father wrote to the doctor to pay for his birth.

“There were nine of us living in those two rooms. Of course, there was no central heating, no running water or anything like that,” Sager said.

He compares his childhood to the stories of Tom Sawyer, penned by Mark Twain.

“We rambled in the woods.

Went to the creek and did all kinds of things. It was during the Depression, and we didn’t have much. We did have plenty to eat because we had livestock, we had an orchard, and we raised chickens and had eggs to sell,” he noted.

“I went to an ordinary country school in Jefferson County, Climax School. We called it ‘Climax college of elementary knowledge.’ We would go off the school grounds at recess hunting for rabbits and once and a while we’d catch one.

Not very often, but once and a while. It was a pretty much

a perfect Tom Sawyer atmosphere.

“I was kind of ornery in school through about sixth grade when I had a teacher who steered me in the right way.”

The threat of tuberculosis weighed heavily on the family in those early years. Three of his mother’s sisters died from the disease at a young age, and his father’s brother also died from it.

Before his parents met, each of their families traveled by covered wagon to New Mexico because the climate was said to be more conducive to avoiding tuberculosis. They later returned to Illinois.

“Tuberculosis was very constant and it was on my mother’s mind all of the time,” he added.

Helping with the chores on the family farm was also part of his childhood.

“I’ve plowed behind horses.

I’ve harrowed behind horses.

I’ve run a little disk with horses,” Sager said.

He attended Mt. Vernon High School in the early 1940s which was no small task logistically as there was no bus ser-

vice and the Sagers live on a dirt (sometimes mud) road. It was the students’ responsibility to get to high school.

“Most of the people from the country would live in town with their relatives. Others drove cars, even though it was wartime. Every day I went to high school I had to get up before 5 a.m. because I rode with my brother-in-law who worked at the railroad shop and he had to be to work at 7 a.m.,” he said.

“That was pretty early, and do you think the school would open the doors so we could get in? No. To stay warm, we had to depend on the generosity and the kindness of storekeepers and people like that.

My brother-in-law liked to get to work early, so we were there at 6:30 a.m., and we had to wait with the generosity of the storekeepers until they opened the school.”

D-DAY He graduated on D-Day, June 6, 1944, at 17 years old.

He was eligible for the draft when he turned 18 on Sept.

29, and about 100 days later he was in the Army.

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“They moved pretty fast, and we were just kids. We were very naive, unsophisticated, country kids. Some of them couldn’t read or write.

Most of them could,” Sager said.

He applied for officer candidate school after some encouragement, but failed because he had acne. “They simply said on my exam, ‘acne vulgaris, unfit for tropical duty.’ So, my officer career ended pretty fast,” he noted.

“We were in a very significant transition and it was based on our age. The group that trained just ahead of us was taken out of their 17week training at 13 weeks and sent directly to the war, and here we came in the next group. The war in Europe ended when we were returning from our training and that was extremely significant. Our birthdays were very significant in relation to the war events.

“The war was not over in the Pacific and when it came time for everybody to ship out, they had me hang around.

They had me doing some carpenter work in the orderly room and they had me work

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CAREER He spent some time at home after the service and decided he needed to further his education. He wrote a letter to the University of Illinois inquiring about its curriculum.

Sager enrolled in Centralia

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in the hospital for a couple of weeks. It was just a place to store me for a while.”

When the war ended, he was assigned to general headquarters to take care of officers’ records.

“That was very interesting because I met officers of all types. The bulk of them were the ones who had fought in the war in both the European and Pacific theaters. We had a lot of heroes come through, and some of them were kind of sad,” Sager said.

“I won the first Commendation Award, the lowest ranked valor award you can get. It was created by Congress in December and I received mine in March. That was just for doing a good job.”

He was honorably discharged on Oct. 2, 1946.

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Ag Mag 11

ADVISER FROM PAGE 11

Junior College and completed the two-year program in 18 months. It was there that he met his future wife, Genevia.

They were married in 1951 and would have four children, Brian, Deborah, David and Elizabeth. Genevia passed away on Dec. 21, 2017.

He went on to enrolled a U of I after completing junior college, and would then take a job as Woodford County assistant farm adviser.

“Mr. Brock, the farm adviser, wanted to know if I would take the job for $3,400 a year. I took the job and started working Feb. 1, 1951.

I got my first paycheck and bought her wedding rings and I haven’t missed a paycheck since,” Sager said.

He was the Woodford County assistant farm adviser for three years. His predecessor wanted to retire in a few years but before Sager was to take his place, he was moved to Clay County to serve as

farm adviser.

“He told me I had to go to southern Illinois and get more experience under my belt.

That’s the way the system worked at the time. I went to Clay County and, of course, Clay County taught me a lot more than I taught them.

They’re wonderful people and I enjoyed my time there,” Sager said.

He then returned to Woodford County as the farm adviser in 1957.

PROMOTING SOYBEANS Sager served stateside during the closing months of World War II. Later during his agriculture career, he had numerous opportunities to serve overseas in another capacity — promoting a new use for soybeans.

Sager was a part of multiple humanitarian trips to other countries to help people grow soybeans for direct human consumption, traveling to Peru five times, three times to Ecuador, twice to the Dominican Republic, and twice to Costa Rica. The first trip was in 1975 and the initiative con-

tinued for 10 years.

The trips were sponsored by various government and nongovernmental organizations, including the U of I, U.S. Agency for International Development, Rotary, among others.

“Soybeans is really a topnotch protein source. All of the trips were to teach about using soybeans as a protein source for people’s consumption, getting the poorest people to raise soybeans for their own consumption,” he said.

He was selected for the trips due, in part, to his ability to speak Spanish after taking a course in high school and learning more of the language on his own later in life.

During his decades as county agricultural adviser, Sager also helped organize the Woodford County Pork Producers Association, the Woodford County Beef Improvement Association, and the Illinois Valley Lamb and Wool Producers Association.

“It was just a matter of getting people of a single interest together and letting them organize. This was mostly done

through Extension but the Farm Bureau was also part of the act,” he said.

TECHNOLOGY Having literally seen it all in terms of agriculture advancements during the 20th century, Sager was asked what technological change he saw that had the biggest impact on the industry.

“Genetics with both livestock and crops. For instance, when I first started working here in Woodford County, Tamworth pigs had a loin about the size of a silver dollar,” he said.

“The genetics is a big one because it is so significant and I think we’re just on the cusp of some more genetic changes that are going to be very significant. We’re going to see what we would consider by today’s standards huge yields.”

He recalled a conversation he had with his father when he was about 12 years old that little did he know at the time would be a glimpse into the future of nutrient management.

“My dad and I were out shocking lespedeza hay. Les-

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pedeza hay was just a crop that would grow on southern Illinois’ poor soil. Those soils are 15,000 years older than these soils are in central Illinois. So, they’ve been pretty well washed out,” Sager noted.

“Back then, you mowed this forage, you raked it and shocked it, you stacked it; there was a lot of hand work.

We were sitting there taking a break and we were near a sack bottom where a hay stack had not been utilized and rotted, and so it had an accumulation of nutrients. That lespedeza there was higher than the rest of the field and my dad said to me, ‘Mike, some day we’ll know how to make the entire field produce like this.’

“Nowadays on that same land that was very poor, we have some land in southern Illinois and this year the wheat made 94 bushels an acre. Last year we had about the same, 94 bushels, and the double-crop soybeans were 30 bushels an acre. That’s amazing. That’s poor ground.”

RETIREMENT Sager retired after 40 years as a farm adviser but wasn’t going to stay idle.

“When I retired, I needed something to do. I got a call from the Crop Improvement Association and they wanted me to inspect certified seed fields. So, I did that for 19 years. Collectively, being in the agriculture loop and the doing something worthwhile I think I have about 57 years of practicing my profession,” he said.

He also continues his longtime passion of working with wood.

Cabinets, chests, tables, rocking horses, toy trucks and trailers, hand-carved link chains, you name it, and Sager has probably made. He gives away most of his work.

“People seem to like them,” Sager added.

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Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-410-2256, or tdoran@shawmedia.com.

Follow him on Twitter at: @ AgNews_Doran.

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Ag Mag 13

Looking back at the 1974 killing frost

By Tom C. Doran AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

EUREKA, Ill. – A record-setting event that farmers experiencing it wanted to soon forget occurred in central Illinois nearly five decades ago.

It was late September 1974, and Mike Sager, then-Woodford County’s senior agricultural adviser, was to meet with a television station reporter in a soybean field east of Eureka.

“It was a beautiful day. The soybeans were only 18 to 24 inches high. I reached over to pull up a soybean plant and its skin came off. I thought, oh, man, we’ve got a problem,” said Sager, who served for 40 years as farm adviser, 37 years in Woodford County.

A killing frost had struck central Illinois fields on Sept. 23, 1974, covering areas that included Woodford County.

At the time, it was the earliest frost ever in central Illinois until the record was broken on

14 Fall 2023

Sept. 20, 1991, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record was set Sept.

26, 1926, and that same date two years later.

The frost marked the end of a crop that had struggled throughout the growing season.

“We like to have a beautiful growing season like they’ve recently been for us. It is not always the case. I would describe 1974 as a year of the triple whammy,” Sager said.

“The triple whammy was first of all it was a cold, wet, late spring, They didn’t get the crops in until way up into June. Then the weather decided to continue to be nasty. It did not rain hardly at all for all summer long. It was very dry, and then on Sept. 23 the killing frost occurred.

“It happened and you can’t reverse a killing freeze. They’re dead. They proceeded to mature.

The plants were not normal.

They were small, about half to two-thirds regular size and they were a dark green. They didn’t get to their nice yellowish tone.”

Woodford County soybeans average only 25.5 bushels per acre in 1974, 11.5 below 1973 and 13 bushels lower than 1972.

With the weather’s cooperation, the county rebounded to 40.5 bushels per acre in 1975, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We talk about weather and changing climate and things of that nature. This just shows you the weather is going to do what it wants to do, when it wants to do it and how it wants to do it. We’re not going to change it very much,” Sager noted.

‘I am not feared about the climate. I think it’s unfortunate that we’ve instilled a degree of fear amongst the young people about the dangers of climate change.

“Climate is always changing.

That’s its only constant. It will do what it wants to do.”

Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-410-2256, or tdoran@ shawmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at: @AgNews_Doran.

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Early soil conservation outreach efforts paid off

By Tom C. Doran

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

EUREKA, Ill. — Mike Sager vividly recalls driving through the countryside in the spring and seeing ditches filled with good black soil that was once in adjacent fields.

Sager, 97, who served as Woodford County farm adviser for 33 years, beginning in 1957, set out to promote alternatives to save the precious soil, making it one of his missions throughout his career.

He wanted farmers to get away from the common practice of moldboard plowing in the fall.

It was a hard sell, but his efforts eventually paid off.

“The soil, everything was turned upside down and we would get big rains and it washed this good soil out into the ditches on the roadsides, and I thought there’s got to be a better way. We’ve got to stop this,” he explained.

“We used the old established demonstration method. I worked with USDA’s Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service) and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. We worked with certain farmers and we had plots with the different kinds of tillage — chisel, plow, disk, and no-till.”

“I remember one time I was talking about no-till to a real good farmer from the El Paso

area and he looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘Mike, you’re crazy,’” he noted.

“But there’s the old statement that ‘a man will doubt what he hears, he may doubt what he sees, but he cannot doubt what he does himself.’ So, that’s the demonstration method.

“We started demonstrating and we made particular effort to point out the weaknesses of all of these practices as well as their strengths, but the goal was to save this precious soil. We just kept plugging away.

“There were no no-till planters at the time. I think Allis-Chalmers had one, but some farmers were getting interested in it and they would make their own planter.”

Those early efforts to educate farmers about the importance of soil conservation eventually paid off.

“It has just grown. When I was still working I said that by the turn of the century it’s going to be pretty much an accepted practice and

that’s what happened,” he said.

“It was just a common, basic Extension practice to demonstrate, point out the strengths, point out the shortcomings and weaknesses, be absolutely truthful to everybody, and that’s what we did.”

It was tough. It wasn’t always easy.

“We had very little to work with. We didn’t have proper herbicides. We didn’t have proper equipment. It was really pretty much a pioneer effort.

“When you’re on the right track and you know it’s the right thing to do, you don’t give up. You just keep plugging away.”

“People began to catch on and it’s a universal practice now. It’s all over the world.

“I really think that our soils in southern Illinois are improving quite a bit in organic matter.”

Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-410-2256, or tdoran@ shawmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at: @AgNews_Doran.

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Conference for current, future farmland owners

By Tom C. Doran

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — A smorgasbord of information presented by a top-notch lineup of speakers will be featured at the upcoming Farmland Owners Conference Nov. 20.

The University of Illinois Extension in conjunction with Illinois Central College is hosting the conference from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at ICC in East Peoria.

The conference will provide an opportunity for landowners and family members to gain a better understanding of how to best manage their farmland.

A lot of farmland is farmed by one person, maybe managed by another person, and owned by a third person. It is important for those landowners to build solid relationships with the tenant, have an understanding of today’s agriculture practices, and be prepared to pass on their land to the next generation.

“The conference really is kind of a smorgasbord of what you really need to know. A lot of Illinois landowners have bits and pieces of it, but they don’t have the whole thing. This is a comprehensive approach. It’s going to be very fast-moving. Most of the speakers will speak between 20 and 30 minutes,” said Kevin Brooks, Extension farm business management and

marketing educator serving in the Fulton-Mason-Peoria-Tazewell Unit “The conference is designed to help people understand it. It is going to be meaty but at the same time it’s going to be presented in a manner to which you can understand, and those speakers that I’ve chosen are really gifted.”

A secondary audience who would benefit from this conference is those who will be potentially inheriting land in the future.

“If you are a landowner and you have an heir, a family member, you probably should be getting them trained in how to do this.

This is a valuable asset,” Brooks noted “I’ve had farmers say they should probably to take this. The average farmer in Illinois is 62 years of age. A lot of those farmers are still holding on and they run the farm, and then they have child or a grandchild that’s going to be taking over more management but they really don’t get into the day-to-day on everything.

“This will be a good opportunity to kind of get a breadth of information of what they really should need to know or where to look to find that information.

Information overload — accurate and inaccurate — is now commonplace. The landowners conference will peel away the information down to the nuts and bolts.

insurance.

• Co-conference coordinator Pete Fandel, ICC agriculture professor, will discuss soil fertility.

• Matt Montgomery, former Illinois Extension educator and Pioneer agronomist, will discuss new technology and information management.

SPEAKER LINEUP • Don Meyer, who is curSpeakers on the agenda rently using his expertise include: in farm real estate, will be • Scott Halpin, state direc- talking about land values tor of Illinois Farm Service and auctions.

Agency, who will discuss • Other topics include FSA programs and docufarm managers, general ments for landowners.

• Kris Kline, financial spe- insurance, and soil conservation. cialists manager, Country Cost is $65 and includdes Financial, will cover estate lunch. Register at go.illinois. planning. edu/farmlandownersconfer• Laura Harmon, Illinois ence.

Farm Bureau senior counsel, will talk about solar, Tom C. Doran can be wind and pipeline conreached at 815-410-2256, tracts. or tdoran@shawmedia.com.

• Doug Yoder, Country Follow him on Twitter at: @ Financial crop agency manager, will address crop AgNews_Doran.

“One of the things that’s really confronting farm managers and farmers alike is information management.

There’s just so much. This kind of a crash course of putting everything together on the management side, and we’re pretty excited about it,” Brooks added.

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Ag Mag 17

New Holland electric tractor rolled out at Farm Progress

By Tom C. Doran

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

DECATUR, Ill. — New Holland added another alternative energy-powered tractor to its lineup.

The T4 Electric Power utility tractor was rolled out at this year’s Farm Progress Show, joining New Holland’s T7 Methane Power and T6.180 Methane Power tractors.

Production of the first all-electric utility tractor with autonomous features begins this month with late March as the delivery goal.

Touted as an ideal solution for lower horsepower field operations, the T4 is suitable for multiple applications, such as mixed farm, hay and forage, dairy, livestock, municipality, greenhouse and vegetable and orchard specialty crops.

Equipped with a lithium-ion battery pack, the T4 delivers gradual power and continuous torque achieved at the lowest speeds, ensuring a completely new driving experience and seamless operation during loader work cycle and daily farm routines.

“The T4 Electric Power is being presented here for the first time in the U.S., and the T6 Methane Power tractor with its dual class transmission, a new transmission that we launched.

The T4 and Lambro the T6 really show how were are investing in sustainability, sustainability in the environment, but sustainability for our farm, as well,” said Carlo Lambro, New Holland brand president.

18 Fall 2023

AGRINEWS PHOTO/TOM C. DORAN

New Holland featured its new T4 Electric Power utility tractor at the Farm Progress Show.

“This tractor is a significant step forward for growers, producers and municipalities. The T4 Electric Power addresses a number of challenges they are facing every day on their operations,” said Lena Bioni, New Holland Agriculture North America product marketing manager.

“What New Holland is bringing to our farmers is a convergence of technology — electric propulsion, autonomous features, better performance — in the body of a utility tractor that’s setting the stage for a more efficient, sustainable and resilient future our customers are striving for.”

The T4 Electric Power is rated for 74 hp (55 kW) and 65 hp (48 kW) PTO power and can achieve a top speed of 25 mph.

This is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack with a 110-kWh maximum energy storage capacity in a 400V nominal high-voltage circuit.

This model features fourwheel drive, a 12x12 transmission and clutch-less electronic power shuttle reverser.

It also includes a rear PTO, drawbar, three-point hitch, rear remotes and mid-mount valves — all comparable to the T4’s diesel-powered counterparts.

It’s compatible with New

Holland’s 725LU mechanical self-leveling front loader with an 84-inch bucket.

New Holland estimates the tractor will have a fourhour runtime while completing tasks over the average workday, with an upward of eight hours while working on low energy demand applications.

Equipped with 110V and 220V outlets, the T4 can also serve as a power source for electric power tools when needed.

The tractor can be recharged by multiple energy sources in both alternating current and direct current.

With DC charging, it can be fully charged in just one

hour with fast charging sys- included: • The IntelliView 12 tems.

Guidance Kit — This transformative aftermarket kit AUTONOMOUS FEATURES The T4 makes use of installation is designed N e w H o l l a n d ’ s P r e c i- to enhance or install funsion Solutions and Tel- damental precision and ematics package. The tractor connectivity features. This uses cameras and sensors in kit is tailored for New Holits roof to enable features land customers seeking to like a “follow me” mode, elevate their existing mawhich allows farmers to sync chines’ performance with machines to work together. auto guidance, implement The invisible bucket control and other precision feature and 360-degree capabilities.

• CR series combine harawareness provides a full vester upgrades — 2024 CR view around the cab, even series combine models are through the attached loader. receiving a number of upThese come together to dates, including upgrades to support other connected New Holland signature stylfunctions like over-the-air ing, improvements to the updates, live view and map technological capabilities marker. All of this is con- of IntelliSense and Inteltrolled by a touch-screen liCruise sensors and addidisplay in the cab. tions to the cab with new seat options and a second ALSO NEW display offering. All CR seOther new portfolio addi- ries combine harvesters will tions that were on display come equipped with stone

trap door sensors, new tow hitches and standardized dynamic feed roll systems.

• T9 with PLM Intelligence tractor enhancements — New models for 2024 will feature updates that touch all facets of the T9 tractor, from horsepower and operator ergonomics to technological advances like dual IntelliView displays. All new T9 tractors will boast a FPT Cursor 13L engine to increase rated and peak power with single-stage and two-stage turbos.

• Addition of Smart Loader on the T6.180 Methane Power tractor — The Smart Loader will allow operators to have proper load weighing, full control of the position monitor with gauges showing implement height and angle reference, options between 30 implements in the display and auto reminders of when it’s time to conduct mainte-

nance on the loader.

“You’ve heard a lot about sustainability. I’d like to say we were probably sustainable before it was cool.

You’ve heard it from a lot of brands in the past couple of years in particular. But as we’ve launched concepts we now have proof in production on those items,” said Mark Lowery, New Holland Agriculture North America director of network development.

“You heard us also use the word evolution and I think that’s important even as we start to dive into our products that are here on the lot because you see a lot of production evolution represented here at Farm Progress this year.”

Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-410-2256, or tdoran@shawmedia.com.

Follow him on Twitter at: @ AgNews_Doran.

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20 Fall 2023

Fake meat is mostly a fake out for now Beyond Meat Inc., founded in 2009, has had almost 15 years to build a product lineup that is — as its name claims — beyond meat and, by Farm & Food some business metrics, it has.

File After all, the company, Alan Guebert whose market capitalization was pegged at $1.3 billion when it went public in 2018, recently reported April-to-June 2023 sales of $102 million.

To a confirmed carnivore, that sounds like a lot of nonmeat meat. To the always ravenous Wall Street, however, the number is undercooked: Compared to a year ago, net revenue is off 31% and U.S. sales are down 40%.

Even worse, according to a comprehensive look at alternative meat companies published Aug. 9 in Plant Based News, “Beyond also backpedaled on its previous goal of achieving positive cash flow … saying this is now ‘unlikely’ to happen in 2023.”

That bad news sliced another 20% off Beyond Meat’s stock price the next day and again raised the broader question of whether plant-based meat is just another food fad in the ever changing, ever challenging, ever greener global food market.

Beyond’s biggest competitor, Impossible Foods Inc., doesn’t seem to have a clear answer, either. Like many of his veggie meat executives, Impossible’s

boss, Pat Brown, predicted in 2020 that “his company would ‘take a double-digit portion of the beef market’ by 2024 before sending it into a ‘death spiral,’” noted Bloomberg last January.

After that boast, Brown lobbed an even bigger brick at the sausage-and-bacon crowd: “Next, he would target ‘the pork industry and the chicken industry and say, “You’re next!” and they’ll go bankrupt even faster.’”

Beef didn’t enter a death spiral and Brown was, in fact, next; he stepped down as the company’s “chief visionary officer” over a year ago. Since then, Impossible has gained a toehold in the veggie chicken nuggets niche.

Still, in early 2023, investors saw their shares in the private company “trading at around $12,” or “about half the price during its last fundraising round,” again reports Bloomberg.

Fake meat isn’t the only “new” food struggling to land into the American grocery cart. According to a Sept. 22 report, “Just Eat Inc., a closely held maker of cultivated chicken and plant-based eggs, has dismissed roughly 40 employees, less than a month after raising $16 million.”

Perhaps the most remarkable part of that brief report is the apparent disconnect it highlights: Despite continued evidence that the majority of Americans have a very limited appetite for nonmeat meat and nonegg eggs, investors continue to throw venture capital at both half-cooked ideas.

That faith and those dollars are misplaced. “Supermarket sales

of refrigerated plant-based meat plummeted 14% by volume for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 4” while “orders of plant-based burgers at restaurants and other food-service outlets for the 12 months ended in November were down 9% from three years earlier,” said Bloomberg earlier this year.

Fake meat’s fizzle, believe some of its execs, is due largely to real meat’s campaign that attacked the fakers’ manufacturing “process (as) somehow unhealthy or that our products are full of chemicals … (and that) is not true.”

That could be part of it, but the more likely explanation is simpler: The vast majority of American eaters just don’t want fake meat regardless of benefits like a healthier diet and a healthier planet. So far, anyway.

There are other reasons, but the key one remains: New idea or old, if food dollars don’t vote for it, there’s little that any company — be it wealthy and global like Coca-Cola, or new and niche like Impossible Foods — can do to turn it into a middleof-the-plate dinner winner.

As such, real red meat, real poultry, real eggs or even real mayonnaise — another target of food transformers — are not going away, let alone bankrupt, anytime in the foreseeable future.

But neither is the Veggie Gang. Their time may yet come.

Until then, want to share their bacon?

Source material and contact information are posted at www.farmandfoodfile.com.

Ag Mag 21

FRESH PRODUCE TO ENJOY THIS FALL As hot, humid days give way to cool fall temperatures, it is prime time to enjoy a new bounty of fresh vegetables.

Homeowners may be ready to pick the vegetables they have been growing the past several months. While many home vegetable gardeners focus on early spring plantings that yield the tomatoes, cucumbers and squashes of summer, they also should consider summertime sowing that will yield tasty offerings throughout fall. Some of these cooler-weather stock can be harvested just before frost sets in. Individuals ready to bite in to produce plucked at the peak of fall have many different options to look forward to. Here are some of common fall produce items that will be available at farm stands near you well into November.

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Wearing a helmet is a must when it comes to ATV safety.

USDA PHOTO

ATV-related fatalities on rise

By Erica Quinlan

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

BLACKSBURG, Va. — ATV-related injuries and fatalities are increasing, according to experts at Virginia Tech.

An average of 500 persons die and another 100,000 are seriously injured each year while operating ATVs. Within occupations that use ATVs, the agricultural industry claims 60% of ATV-related fatalities.

TOP TIPS 1. Control your speed. Speed is a major contributor in incidents.

Speed affects your reaction time and handling abilities.

2. Wear your helmet. Wearing your DOT- or Snell-certified helmet can be a lifesaver. Other helmets that are not certified may not provide the same protection.

3. Know your terrain. Know where you go. Terrain can change quickly and you may not be able to react. If you drive over new terrain, go slow until you know. Be aware of other hazards such as old wire fencing, broken

fence posts, rocks, tree roots and stumps, and holes created by wildlife.

4. Avoid steep slopes. Know what your ATV is capable of doing by reviewing the operator’s manual. Until you are familiar with the handling of your ATV, use caution. Understand the center of gravity for the ATV. Virginia Tech also shared an ATV safety checklist during National Farm Safety and Health Week.

FARM ATV SAFETY CHECKLIST Do an ATV safety inspection daily, prior to use. Use the preride checklist provided by the ATV manufacturer, if possible.

Otherwise check, at a minimum: • Tire condition and inflation.

• Throttle, clutch and brake operation.

• Battery, electrical system and lights.

• Fuel, oil, coolant and brake fluids.

• Air filter, exhaust system.

• Chassis, steering and suspension.

• Transmission, including twowheel-drive and four-wheel-drive

shifting, if equipped.

• All accessories or modifications are manufacturer-approved.

• Loads are within the ATV’s limit and properly secured.

• Slow-moving vehicle emblem, if operating on roadways.

OPERATOR CHECKS • Are you wearing proper personal protective equipment? Helmet (DOT- or Snell-approved), with eye protection; long pants and long-sleeve shirt; over-theankle boots; gloves; and eye protection, if helmet is not of the full-face type.

• Are you familiar with the ATV you will be using?

• Are you familiar with the terrain and potential obstacles?

• Do you have a check-in procedure and a means of calling for help?

Learn more at https://tinyurl. com/4xwdtp9z.

Erica Quinlan can be reached at 815-410-2070, or equinlan@ shawmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Quinlan.

Ag Mag 23

24 Fall 2023