BECK’S PFR INSIGHT MEETINGS
2020 STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS January 10, 2020
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‘Green’ agenda
Cover crop savings
Sustainability impacts people, animals, planet
$5/acre insurance premium discount
By Martha Blum
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
GLADSTONE, Mo. — Sustainability for the food system is difficult to define. “Sustainability is more than being green in today’s world,” said Charlie Arnot, CEO for the Center for Food Integrity. “It includes health and wellness, animal welfa re, worker treatment, food waste, packaging, impact on local communities and many more issues that impact peoArnot ple, animals and the planet.” CFI is a non-profit organization that is focused on helping today’s food system earn consumer trust. “We’ve identified more than 250 different issues or topics that food system organizations are addressing under the broad umbrella of sustainability or corporate social responsibility,” Arnot said. “There’s a growing appreciation for the role consumer-facing brands are playing in trying to drive the sustainability agenda,” he said. “There are interests in sustainability and different groups are trying to harness that interest to capture an opportunity or promote a specific agenda and at times they do so by focusing on a single ingredient, process or practice without accounting for impacts or tradeoffs.” This can be a challenge, Arnot said, because you can’t impact one variable without having an impact on the overall system. “The challenge is finding that balance between economics, environment and social interest while being able to work in the sustainable domain,” he said. Arnot discussed different aspects of a sustainable food supply with Marty Matlock, executive director of the University of Arkansas Resiliency Center, and asked him the following questions. See GREEN, Page A4
SEE SECTION B
INSIDE
Crop insurance offered to hemp growers A3 4-H members spread holiday cheer B5 Illinois ag has solutions for the future D6 AgriTrucker D1
Farms For Sale C1
Antiques C7
From the Barns A8
Auction Calendar B1
Lifestyle C5
Business D4
Livestock D2
Calendar B7 Classifieds C3
Markets D7 Opinion D6
Vol. 42 No. 46
CONTACT AGRINEWS: 800-426-9438
By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
AGRINEWS PHOTOS/TOM C. DORAN
The wet and dry storage bins, continuous flow dryer, dump pit and overhead load-out are the culmination of a long-term plan Bill Sherman III had for his Tonica, Illinois, farm. The GSI system has provided flexibility and harvest efficiency to his corn and soybean farm operation.
On-farm grain storage, drying expands options By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
TONICA, Ill. — Bill Sherman III made the decision several years ago to invest in onfarm storage and now enjoys the flexibility and harvest efficiency the system provides. The fourth-generation corn and soybean grower and his father put up their first grain storage bin on his father’s nearby homestead in the early 1990s and another on his own homestead in 2001. Since that time, the Shermans continued to work with GSI and add on to the storage system. The main farm location now consists of nine dry and wet bins, continuous f low dryer, dump pit, overhead load-out, conveyors and total storage capacity of 350,000 bushels. He also has another 250,000 bushels at other farms, including his dad’s home place. “Some of them on the other farms we’ll put dry corn in from here, and we also put soybeans in some of them. I also raise seed soybeans and I store some of those. It just depends on the situation,” Sherman said. LONG-TERM PLAN He recommends expanding over time rather than an all-atonce investment. “I did not want to add bins all at once. I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money at one time, so we added as we could afford. You could spend a lot of money and lose land that you rent or something like that, so we did a little bit at a time and added as time went by. We have also added more land to our operation over time,” he added. The big step was made in 2013 when a GSI continuous flow dryer, additional grain storage and grain legs were installed on Sherman’s home site. One year later, Sherman had an overhead load-out bin installed. Another bin was added in 2019.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The deadline to sign up for the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Cover Crop Premium Discount Program is Jan. 15. The program is offered for acres of cover crops installed outside of state and federal program incentives such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program and state cost-share. Interested participants may sign up for acres planted to cover crops in the fall of 2019 and will be planted to an insurable crop in 2020. Eligible applicants will receive a $5 per acre insurance premium discount on the following year’s crop insurance invoice for every acre of cover crop enrolled and verified in the program. Applications are due to IDOA by Jan. 15 and must be completed in full for eligibility. Application assistance is available through the local Soil and Water Conservation District office or the IDOA Bureau of Land and Water Resources at 217-7826297. The discount program was designed to promote additional acres of cover crops that are not covered by other state or federal incentives. IDOA will use a combination of tools to verify acres applied for through this pilot program are planted in cover crops. The program is only applicable for those with coverage through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency crop insurance program. See SAVINGS, Page A4
EPA floats new rules for atrazine By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
Bill Sherman III points out the GSI Vision dryer control system features near the continuous flow dryer on his farm near Tonica, Illinois. Sherman installed the GSI continuous flow dryer in 2013 as part of his long-term plan to improve his on-farm storage facilities. “I got tired of drying corn in drying bins. It’s pretty slow plus the capacity is very timeconsuming and it’s a lot of work,” Sherman said. “This is our central drying location and we haul out of that bin and fill other bins with dry corn, therefore you don’t have to be checking and it’s easy to watch this one here and run it, especially at night here where I live. It’s worked out very well.” CONTINUOUS FLOW DRYER Sherman’s interconnected system through GSI is centered on a continuous flow dryer. A wet holding bin is connected with the continuous flow dryer and when the dryer “calls” the corn from the wet holding bin is moved into the dryer. The dryer holds 1,875 bushels of corn and rated to remove five points of moisture from that amount of corn in one hour. As the corn dries down, the dryer automatically unloads the corn and moves it to another designated storage bin. The drying system that features a GSI Vision dryer control system allows operators to modify plenum and grain temperatures on-screen. The
Vision system features a low voltage safety circuit and a safety disconnect on every dryer. Each safety is monitored individually and its status displayed on-screen. T he system also tracks the dryer’s history and all shutdowns are logged with time and date information. GSI’s optional Watchdog sof tware program allows remote monitoring of dryer functions such as moisture, temperature and dryer status from a web-accessible device. The load-out has a 5,500 bushel capacity and can load 1,000 bushels onto a truck in a couple of minutes. “Our bins are plumbed into the dry leg which can shoot the grain into the overhead for load-out when we haul out to market it. It’s very handy. It’s probably some of the best money I spent because with us having the bins at other farms you can run the dryer and put the corn directly from the dryer to the load-out and have a guy filling the bins on the other farms as the dryer is drying. You don’t have to handle it again,” Sherman said.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed interim registration decision on atrazine that includes mandatory spray drift control measures and other label updates. The proposal is part of the agency’s re-registration review of atrazine, as well as propazine and simazine. For atrazine, the Proposed Interim Decisions includes the following measures to mitigate aggregate human risk: n Reduce the permissible application rates for use of granular and liquid formulations on residential turf from 2.2 pounds active ingredient per acre to 2 pounds per acre. n Require additional personal protective equipment and engineering controls for certain uses. n Restrict aerial applications to liquid formulations only. n Restrict impregnation of dry bulk fertilizer for use in agricultural settings to 340 tons per worker per day. n Require a minimum water volume of 87 gallons in handgun spray application via backpack spray to spot treatments only and require personal protective equipment. n Prohibit mechanically pressurized handgun application to sweet corn, macadamia nuts and guava.
See STORAGE, Page A4
See ATRAZINE, Page A4