SVM_Todays Farm_091019

Today’s Farm TUESDAY, SEPT. 10, 2019 n A

PUBLICATION n A SUPPLEMENT TO SAUK VALLEY MEDIA

FILM GRAIN Filmmakers behind a movie inspired by a tragedy in Mount Carroll started out with a goal of entertaining people; but now they’re on a mission to enlighten them — and maybe even save some lives PAGE 2

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People are invited to see the “barn of the future” in Deer Grove PAGE 4 Illinois farmers face risks — and rewards — with first hemp harvest PAGE 5

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FARM SAFETY

Film grain Filmmakers behind a movie inspired by a tragedy in Mount Carroll started out with a goal of entertaining people; but now they’re on a mission to enlighten them – and maybe even save lives

TRAVIS MORSE FarmWeekNow

The people behind a movie inspired by the deaths of two Carroll County teens hope their film will prevent others from suffering the same fate.

“Silo,” a feature film recently released by a New Yorkbased film and television production company, Blood Orange Pictures, addresses the threat of grain entrapment faced by the agricultural community.

A plot synopsis at the film’s website said the film “follows a harrowing day in an American farm town.

Disaster strikes when teenager Cody Rose is entrapped in a 50-foottall grain bin. When the corn turns to quicksand, family, neighbors and first responders must put aside their differences to rescue Cody from drowning in the crop that has sustained their community for generations.”

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More information

For more information on how to host a “Silo” screening in your community, go to SiloTheFilm.com.

For information about GHSC and IFSI, go to grainsafety.org and fsi.illinois.edu.

For more information on grain handling safety, go to grainsafety.org/ but survived the ordeal. The rescue took nearly 270 first responders 14 hours.

Inspiration for the film continued to grow as Goldberg realized the level of passion rural communities had for ag safety. “Silo” was shot on an 11th-generation family farm in Kentucky, and many people involved in agriculture, fire and rescue, and farm safety worked with the producers to ensure accuracy and relevance.

Goldberg said he wants to bring “Silo” screenings to every farm community he can, and encouraged interested individuals to work with

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• September 10, 2019

The movie, according to its website, “began as a simple film idea, one that we hoped would entertain moviegoers nationwide. However, the more we dug into the subject of grain entrapment, the more we realized how passionate the communities of agriculture and fire rescue are about farm safety.”

Trailer screenings of the film were played every half hour in the “Silo” tent during the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Aug. 27-29. The Grain Handling Safety Coalition is partnering with filmmakers to help raise awareness about farm safety.

“GHSC and ‘Silo’ have a shared purpose – to assist farmers in these challenging times. The GHSC’s unique approach to farm safety helps save lives, and we hope our film can support their efforts in doing so,” said Sam Goldberg the film’s producer.

Grain bin entrapment wasn’t the only farm hazard discussed at the show. Other topics addressed at the “Silo” tent, including fire rescue. A panel consisting of “Silo” star Jeremy Holm, producer Sam Goldberg, and Dave Newcomb, Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) Ag Rescue Program manager, discussed producing “Silo” and the role of fire rescue on the farm.

“Silo” was inspired by the Mount Carroll grain bin accident in 2010 that claimed the lives of Alejandro “Alex” Pacas, 19, and Wyatt R. Whitebread, 14, both of Mount Carroll, after they were trapped in a grain bin. William “Will” Piper, 20, of Mount Carroll, also was trapped

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local groups such as county Farm Bureaus, FFA chapters, banks or seed providers, to help make that goal possible.

“We want to get sponsors and partners to come on board, to bring the movie to your town, and we are hoping to do it in barns, at firehouses, at local universities, movie theaters, drive-ins – wherever we can screen the movie, we will do it,”Goldberg said. “We want people to watch it as a communal experience and work with our curriculum afterwards that’s all about farm safety.”

More than 55% of total grain storage capacity in the U.S. is on farms. So, how can those who work in and around grain bins work safer?

“There is a lot of safety training out there, and the first step is we are trying to change the culture in farming,” said Newcomb. “When you go out to check the quality of the grain, take someone with you.”

Newcomb said the institute trains fire departments, including volunteer, city and paid firefighters, on grain bin rescue. On average, most grain bin accidents take more than 50 responders and can last several hours. The age ranges most effected by grain bin incidents include teenagers and people over the age of 62. Newcomb said that through partnerships with Grain Handling Safety Coalition, training materials have been developed for county Farm Bureaus, high school FFA chapters, and other groups to help get life-saving conversations started.

Holm told young people at the Farm Progress Show that they have the power to make a bigger difference than they think – even bigger than any adults, and it could be the difference between life and death.

FARM TRENDS

Taking a new angle on cattle barns Public invited to see the ‘barn of the future’ in Deer Grove

Monoslope barns’ design has the high side of the barn facing south or southeast to allow the sun to reach almost all the way through the barn in the winter. In the summer, most of the barn is under shade and the slope to the roof creates constant airflow through the building to reduce heat stress.

STAFF REPORT news@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5501

DEER GROVE – Want to see what a “barn of the future” looks like today?

You can if you stop by a Deer Grove farm this week for an open house that’ll tout the benefits monoslope cattle barns.

The Illinois Livestock Development Group and Illinois Beef Association will host an open house from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Jake and Dean Perino’s farm, 30708 Osage Road, where they’ll show off their new deep-pack monoslope cattle barn.

A brief program will be held at 5:30 p.m., followed by a tour of the 62-foot by 300-foot monoslope beef barn and 40-foot by 70-foot commodity shed, giving people a chance to learn more about latest products and technologies for cattle comfort and environmental stewardship. Neighbors, community members, fellow beef producers, and anyone with an interest in learning more about modern beef production is invited to attend. Free ribeye sandwiches and hamburgers will be served by the Whiteside County Cattlemen’s Association.

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Monoslope beef barns have a roof truss that’s higher on the front side of the barn (usually facing south for winter sun exposure), and it slopes down toward the back (usually facing north for shade in the summer).

“Monoslopes are the barn of the future,” Francis L. Fluharty, a research professor in The Ohio State University’s Department of Animal Sciences, said in an article in Ohio’s Country Journal. “The design has the high side of the barn facing south or southeast, which allows the sun to reach almost all the way through the barn in the winter, having a warming effect on the cattle and keeping the bedding pack drier.”

In the summer, most of the barn is under shade and the slope to the roof creates constant airflow

through the building to reduce heat stress. The design also keeps gas from being trapped in the barn, like it can on hot humid days in conventional barns. The increased air flow keeps ammonia levels low, which is important for the well-being of the livestock.”

The open design of monoslope barns is also beneficial in keeping cows dry and better suited to handle the wind.

Directions to the farm • From Deer Grove: Take state Route 40 south for 2 miles; turn east on Osage Road and go 2 miles; farm will be on the north side of the road.

• From the intersection of state Routes 92 and 40: Take route 40 north for 2 miles; turn east on Osage Road and go 2 miles; farm will be on the north side of the road.

Contact Jake Perino at 815-3038510 for more information.

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• September 10, 2019

Thousands of young hemp plants dance in the breeze as fans blow through a loft on Trent Lawrence’s organic produce farm. And once a day, they dance to Bob Marley.

“The plants have got to have a little tunes,” Lawrence said, bending down to an industrial Bluetooth speaker and turning up the volume.

Lawrence is babying the hemp plants, he’ll be the first to admit.

But he has to.

The farmer in Tazewell County, southeast of Peoria, is one of about 475 Illinoisans who have received licenses to farm hemp since the state started accepting applications last month. Hemp, a cousin of the marijuana plant, is perhaps best known for its use in foods and fibers. But certain varieties of hemp produce cannabidiol, or CBD, the wildly popular cannabis compound that is being infused into everything from animal treats to teas and cosmetics.

CBD, which does not get users high, has been touted as a cure for stress, inflammation, insomnia, and any number of other ailments.

With demand for CBD growing faster than the plants themselves,

Lawrence and other Illinois farmers are making big bets on hemp.

If everything goes according to plan, Lawrence estimates he could make $100,000 per acre of CBD hemp. And it’s not just the potential profits. For corn and soybean farmers, hemp is also a means of diversifying away from the state’s two primary crops, the latter of Tribune News Service which has been socked with tariffs. Illinois farmers aren’t quite ready yet to bet the farm on hemp, but they But the risks loom large. Farmers are banking on it being a cash crop they can depend on to boost their haven’t grown hemp in Illinois in bottom line. generations, and those doing it now are learning as they go.

“This is farming like we’ve never done before,” said Les Dart, who plans to plant 75 acres of grain hemp on his 3,700-acre farm in Oblong, a central Illinois community less than 20 miles from the Indiana state line. “We’ve been growing corn and soybeans like all of our neighbors around here for the past 70 years. … (We’ve had) nothing that is this kind of radically new. It’s definitely going to be risky for us.”

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Although many Illinois farmers had planned to try out hemp on the side, some have found conditions to be too wet to plant their usual crops, meaning they are relying on hemp much more than they wanted to in its first year.

Illinois started accepting applications for hemp growers and processors in May, less than a year after then-Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a bill legalizing industrial hemp cultivation in the state. In December, President Donald Trump followed suit nationally, signing a bill championed by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. In addition to the about 475 licenses issued to farm hemp, as of June, the state had awarded 100 processing licenses.

When applying for a license to farm the crop, Illinois farmers are asked to specify whether they’re interested in growing hemp that will be used for fiber in textiles, a variety that generates grains for food, or a CBD-specific strain of hemp. Their selection isn’t binding; in fact, farmers have the option of checking all three boxes. But it’s clear which form of hemp farming is the most popular.

The farmers licensed to grow the crop are nearly five times more interested in growing it for CBD than they are in growing it for food or fiber purposes.

Farming hemp for CBD purposes is usually the most lucrative option. Once CBD-specific strains of hemp are harvested, the plants’ flowers are dried and sold to processors, who

extract the CBD and infuse it into products.

The dried flower, which resembles a marijuana bud, can also be smoked like its illicit cousin. In other states, those dried flowers have brought in between $25 and $200 per pound, according to a 2018 report from Hemp Industry Daily.

When they got started this year, farmers bought hemp seed from growers in states such as Colorado, Oregon and North Carolina, and they didn’t know how the plants would fare in Illinois’ soil and climate.

The deer could eat them, the pests could eat them. Plus, growing CBD-specific varieties of hemp is downright tricky. CBD hemp reacts to stress by producing THC, the psychoactive cannabis compound that gets users high. If the plants “run hot,” as farmers say, and contain more than CBD’s legal limit of 0.3% THC, they must be destroyed.

Despite hemp’s finicky needs, farmers like Lawrence are depending on this year’s crop.

“Just to pull out of the red this year, we’re very dependent on it,” Lawrence said. At one point this spring, half of his 26-acre farm was underwater. “We lost all our spring and summer crops.”

Not everyone is farming hemp for CBD. Rebecca Dwyer, a 23-year-old student in agricultural business, is planting hemp that will be raised for fiber on 5 acres of her family’s roughly 1,500-acre row crop farm in Woodford County, northeast of Peoria. She knows the hemp operation likely won’t make money this year, or even in the next 5.

“I’m looking in the long term, where I think

the market is going to go, where I think the value is in our farm,” she said. “It’s looking at it from that perspective that makes me see the value in hemp potentially in the future.”

Soybean exports from Illinois – the nation’s No. 1 producer of the legume – dropped by half last year after China essentially stopped buying in response to Trump’s trade tariffs.

A federal aid package helped keep farmers afloat, but now there’s uncertainty surrounding possible tariffs on Mexico, the top importer of U.S. corn. Dwyer and other farmers are looking to hemp to keep history from repeating itself.

The type of hemp Dwyer is farming can be used to make rope, clothing, shoes, bioplastics and more. Maybe one day she’ll sell to Levi’s or Patagonia, brands with hemp fiber clothing lines. But the market is still developing.

Although Illinois mills turned hemp into rope during World War II, no one in the state currently processes hemp for fiber. But plans are in the works.

Many of those planning to process hemp are still sorting out which variety of the crop to take, what equipment to buy and where to set up shop. For all farmers are pegging on the hot CBD market, few have buyers lined up for their products.

“We’ve never sold it here,” said Chad Wallace, who is planting a little more than 3 acres of CBD hemp on his produce farm about 30 minutes west of Springfield. “Everything’s uncertain and everybody is going to be kind of in the same boat.”

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Rachel Berry (left) talks about the condition of a hemp plant with farmer Eddie Diaz. Diaz, who owns land in rural Princeton, is among the first crop of hemp growers in Illinois, since it was legalized last year. He and a business partner, who wishes to remain anonymous, started Illinois Valley Hemp LLC.

Wallace is hedging his bets this first year as he learns to grow the crop. The roughly 7,000 CBD plants he wants to get in the ground will be in addition to all his other vegetables. Farming hemp for CBD is much different than farming hemp for fiber or grain.

From planting to harvesting, hemp that is raised for CBD must be tended to manually, while hemp raised for grain and fiber can be farmed with the same equipment that is used with other crops.

The plants have added hours of work for the 50-year-old farmer, and on most nights, he’s lucky to be in bed before 2:30 a.m. But it could be worth it – there’s more money in hemp being raised for CBD than in vegetables.

“The vegetable life is a very hard life. Not that hemp is easier, but if I could replace a portion of what I’m doing, that would be great to free me up to spend more time with family,” he said.

It’s hard to predict what CBD will be selling for come harvest time this fall, said Erica Stark, executive director of the National Hemp Association. Demand is increasing, but so are the number of farmers producing it around the country.

Prices for hemp flower vary

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based on CBD content, Stark said.

Most farmers can expect to get $45,000 to $60,000 per acre.

“I don’t think there is anything that can compare with the potential profit for a CBD crop,” Stark said. “But it’s just important that farmers are aware there is a significant amount of risk.”

Growing CBD is comparable to growing heirloom tomatoes, said Rachel Berry, CEO of the Illinois Hemp Growers Association. Other farmers have compared it to growing Christmas trees or some other crop, but to Berry, who farms heirloom vegetables, it’s tomatoes.

There’s weed control to contend with, plus insects and deer. The soil needs to be properly drained, and right now, the biggest concern is the weather. One aspect that doesn’t worry Berry is who she’ll find to buy the 4 acres of CBD hemp she is planting on her homestead in Princeton.

“It’s not like the need for CBD is going to go away,” she said.

In fact, it’s only expected to increase. Chicago-based Brightfield Group estimates the CBD industry could reach $22 billion by 2022, up from $627 million last year. CBD farmers will likely have no trouble finding buyers when the time comes, said managing director Bethany Gomez.

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One company that’s already looking for CBD to process is Revolution Enterprises, a multistate marijuana company with a cultivation facility just several miles down the flat country road from Lawrence’s farm near Delavan.

The cannabis company wants in on the all sides of the hemp market. Earlier this month, it acquired a CBD pet product company. It’s also licensed to grow about 10 acres of hemp in Delavan, and plans to spend roughly $10 million on hemp processing equipment.

Operating in the cannabis industry reduces some of the risks of getting into hemp, said Kevin Pilarski, chief commercial officer and head of Revolution’s hemp

operations. Hemp plants are grown and compounds extracted using similar processes. If the hemp markets went bust, the processing equipment – purchased with capital raised through the company’s cannabis operations – could be used with marijuana.

Outside of Revolution’s marijuana cultivation facility, two dozen or so hemp plants stand strong against the breeze blowing in off the unplanted fields that surround it.

If the plants survive, they’ll be used as mothers, with clones clipped off their branches and propagated.

This first year is a test run for Revolution’s hemp business, Pilarski said, as it is for all farmers trying their hand at the crop.

“If everything goes right, in 3 or 4 weeks they’ll be yay high,” Pilarski said, holding his hand at waist height over a plant. “We’ll see which of them is the hardiest.”

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