U.S. Department of Agriculture

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF

AGRICULTURE

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AMERICA’S FARMING LANDSCAPE INSIDE FOREIGN AFFAIRS Export boom benefits U.S.

FAMILY FARM Six generations have tilled the same land

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GREAT CROPS Pork, produce, poultry & MORE

AGRICULTURAL CAREERS Colleges and jobs attract new interest

TASTY TREATS Healthy school lunches appeal to children

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF

AGRICULTURE SPECIAL EDITION

CONTENTS

FEATURES

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DEFINING ‘LOCAL’ The distance between farm and table can vary BOOMING EXPORTS American agriculture makes a mark overseas WHERE CROPS GO A closer look at the destinations of U.S. farm exports MODIFYING THE MENU GMO potatoes and apples to hit the U.S. market BIG DATA Who owns the information gathered by farmers?

STILL DRY California enters a fourth year of drought

MULTI-GEN FARMING

THE DAMMANN FAMILY HAS TENDED THE SAME LAND FOR SIX GENERATIONS CHRISTOPHER GANNON/THE DES MOINES REGISTER

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STABLE GROUND Ag chief Vilsack is among Obama’s last original Cabinet members ON THE HILL Five political issues that concern farmers

THE REST OF THE STORY

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RENEWABLE FUELS Ethanol still strong despite cheaper oil

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WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? Schools convince children to eat healthier meals

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ON THE COVER

FINDING A NICHE Farmers opt for unusual crops as food tastes expand FACTS ON FIELD CROPS Full-page infographics on soy, wheat, corn and produce BOUNCING BACK U.S. livestock farms recover from disease and disaster FACTS ON LIVESTOCK Full-page infographics on beef, pork, poultry and dairy

America’s rich farmland provides food for the world. Photo by Thinkstock.

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HIGHER EDUCATION Colleges find new interest in agriculture degrees OFF THE FARM Ag jobs that don’t require working the land FUTURES SHOCK How the commodities market fuels the farm economy CROP INSURANCE Climate change may affect policies and rates

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President-elect Barack Obama looks on as his nominee for agriculture secretary, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, speaks at a 2008 press conference. Today, Vilsack is one of three original Cabinet members still on the job.

FIRMLY A PLANTED

By Christopher Doering

Vilsack, Obama have a long-standing bond in Washington

JOVIAL TOM VILSACK emerged from a room in a Chicago office building in December 2008, having just been offered “the opportunity of a lifetime” by Barack Obama, then the president-elect, to be Obama’s agriculture secretary.

But the former Iowa governor, told to keep the news a secret, said he left the meeting feeling “a bit too cheery” and realized he’d better tone down his sunny demeanor.

Vilsack, a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan, recalled telling key Obama advisers waiting outside the room: “My football team is in first place. Life is good.”

Obama overheard the comment, and he and

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Vilsack walked away, discussing their mutual adoration for the Steelers (the president’s second-favorite team behind the Chicago Bears) and how the team’s founding family was a big donor to the president’s campaign.

The conversation has come to exemplify the special relationship the country’s top agricultural chief has with the commander in chief. Their bond, based on a little bit of sports and a dose of politics enhanced by mutual respect — has contributed to Vilsack being one of three original Cabinet members still in the Obama administration. The other longtimers are Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder.

And for now, Vilsack and the president CO N T I N U E D

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JOHN GAPS III/THE DES MOINES REGISTER

MANUEL BALCE CENETA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack kept in touch with Iowa during a 2010 visit with President Obama, top, where they spoke to organic farmer Morgan Hoenig. That same year, he apologized to former USDA official Shirley Sherrod, above, after making what he called a “hasty decision” to fire her during a controversy over race.

show no sign of parting ways.

Their bond has grown to include sports trash-talking at Cabinet meetings and “wonky” in-the-weeds political discussions about everything from the farm bill and U.S. Department of Agriculture home loans to bee pollination. They often discuss their families. And Vilsack has appeared at White House Super Bowl parties and gathered to watch movies with the president and other staffers.

Those who work closely with Vilsack, 64, describe him as well-respected, accessible and in tune with the issues relevant to rural America. The White House views him as a straight-shooter who understands the Department of Agriculture’s influence on issues such as immigration and health care that affect the well-being of rural residents.

Denis McDonough, Obama’s chief of staff, said the president is deeply satisfied with Vilsack and has “great admiration” for him.

“He’s (throwing) his effort across a wide range of issues, and you’re seeing really good progress in rural America,” McDonough said. “And I know that is something that the president takes great pride in.”

At a Cabinet meeting late last year, Vilsack plopped a massive white binder with the title “Rural Investment by State” onto a table.

It was crammed with detailed investments made by the USDA during his tenure, including more

the tailwinds of a strong farm than 433,000 disaster aid checks economy, strong global demand doled out to livestock farmers and for U.S. products, low interest tens of thousands of loans to help rates that fueled land and people buy single-family homes. equipment purchases and, until Obama asked Vilsack to make recently, high commodity prices a presentation to other members that contributed to record farm of the Cabinet on the report, and income for many producers. touted it as a good example of a He has escaped many of the way for a department to promote high-profile recalls and animal its investments. disease outbreaks that thrust his “That’s the highest compliment predecessors into the spotlight. a president can pay, is when One high-profile flub came early you’re in the Cabinet room and in his tenure, providing a quick the president calls on you to make test of the president’s confidence a presentation of your operation, in his top agricultural adviser. or some aspect of your operation, In July 2010, Vilsack fired as an example of something he Shirley Sherrod, a USDA believes is good governance,” employee, over allegedly racist Vilsack said. comments. When it turned out Republican and Democratic those claims weren’t true, Vilsack lawmakers in Congress who have took the blame, apologized and worked with Vilsack praise the offered Sherrod a new job, which job he has done at USDA, calling she ultimately turned down. him knowledgeable, responsive Obama criticized him for rushing and easy to work with. to judgment.

Former Senate Agriculture “That’s a situation where the Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, president easily could have said, D-Iowa, who retired in January ‘You manned up, but it’s early in after 30 years in the Senate, said the administration; I can’t have Vilsack’s breadth of knowledge these kinds of things happen.’ But on issues affecting agriculture and he didn’t,” Vilsack said. rural America is an important For now, the country’s 30th resource for White House staff secretary of who may not agriculture be as wellsaid he enjoys versed on the “That’s the highest his job and is subject. lucky to have it.

“It’s my sort compliment a While Vilsack of judgment has been that a lot of president can mum about them don’t pay, is when ... his future, he know very acknowledged much about the president he’s been agriculture,” calls on you ... contacted by Harkin said. people gauging “I think they as an example his interest in realize that of something he a job in the Vilsack knows private sector. what he’s believes is good “As you get talking about. governance.” older, you obvi(They) may not ously realize understand it, — Tom Vilsack you only got so but Vilsack sure many ticks in knows it.” the clock. The Sen. Mike question is, how can you use your Johanns, R-Neb., who served time that’s best for yourself, for as agriculture secretary under your country, for your family?”

President George W. Bush, said Vilsack asked.

Vilsack “has done a really good “You never know — there may job,” specifically highlighting his be something that comes up that’s work on drought assistance and just so overwhelming that I go, livestock disaster aid.

‘Geez, that would be great. I’ve “I don’t have any criticism, done what I need to do here,’ that but I will say this, I think he’s kind of thing. But I love my job, handicapped because this and as long as the president is administration in other areas satisfied, I’ll be around.” relative to agriculture has been so anti-agriculture,” Johanns said.

Doering writes about farm “I think because of that, it’s hurt policy and politics for the Gannett Tom’s effectiveness out there.”

Washington Bureau.

Vilsack has been helped by

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FARM BILLS New Congress puts immigration, trade among key issues on agriculture agenda

By Christopher Doering

T

HE ENACTMENT OF A five-year, $500 billion farm bill in February 2014 was the culmination of nearly three years of debate in Congress. But while the farm bill, long viewed as the pinnacle of agriculture policy, is finally complete, lawmakers in Washington may address a number of topics this year that could be just as important to the millions of farmers and ranchers across the United States.

“The farm bill is just like agriculture’s Olympics,” said Dale Moore, executive director of public policy with the American Farm Bureau Federation, the country’s largest farm group. “It comes around every five years, and everybody focuses on it, but what gets lost in the process … are (other) issues that affect farmers daily in different ways.”

Here are five farm-related issues that could come up in Washington this year:

IMMIGRATION

CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

Cuban farmers, who work and sell on a small scale at places like this wholesale market in Havana, above, may compete soon with American imports now that the U.S. is trying to normalize relations with the island nation.

President Obama used his executive power last November to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation, but that provided minimal relief to agriculture and has been challenged in court for other reasons.

Meaningful change needs to come from Congress, not the White House, said agricultural groups. During the last Congress, an attempt to craft a new immi-

gration reform bill passed the Senate, but the Republican-led House failed to act. At the moment, the immigration plan is tied up in court, and Congress has shown little inclination to work on it.

“There are things the administration could do to make things better,” said Craig Regelbrugge of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, who acknowledged it’s a challenging environment for reform. “While it may bring relief to some individuals, they don’t get to the heart of the ag labor crisis. In our world, all eyes are on Congress to legislate.”

The agricultural community depends heavily on immigrant workers, employing as many as 1.75 million individuals working in the country illegally. Farm groups said a failure to reform the labor policy will drive more production outside the country, putting at risk the nation’s abundant and safe food supply.

ETHANOL MANDATE

Lawmakers and oil trade groups led by the American Petroleum Institute are opposed to the Renewable Fuel Standard, a mandate that requires a certain amount of ethanol be blended in the gasoline supply. These groups are already pushing ahead to change or repeal the law that’s popular with farmers and rural Americans.

But change appears difficult, with many newly elected Republicans backing the existing measure.

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“They still have to get the legislation (against the standard) passed and signed into law by the president, and I just don’t see that happening,” said Tom Buis, chief executive of Growth Energy, an ethanol trade group. “It’s going to be an uphill climb.”

TRADE

Republicans and the White House have pledged to work more closely together, and one area that could be affected by better relations is trade.

While much attention in recent months has focused on Cuba, where Obama has proposed to normalize trade relations, a bigger boon to agriculture could come through the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).

“The potential for agricultural exports is considerable,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. TPA “will help ensure that America’s farmers, ranchers and food processors receive the greatest benefit from these negotiations.”

The so-called “fast-track authority,” which expired in 2007, would allow Obama to negotiate trade deals and then submit them to Congress for a vote. Obama asked lawmakers to

renew the TPA in mid-2013, when the U.S. was progressing on deals with Europe and Asia that would revise trade rules covering 70 percent of the world’s gross domestic product.

Corn, soybean, meat and other agricultural producers would be among the beneficiaries of the deals.

WATERS OF THE U.S.

Despite assurances from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), agricultural groups contend the Waters of the U.S. rule will expand the scope of “navigable waters” protected by the Clean Water Act to include not only rivers and lakes but ditches, stream beds and self-made ponds that only carry water when it rains — bodies of water known as “ephemeral.”

Farmers say the expansion will cause them to incur higher costs for environmental assessments and the need to apply for permits to allow them to till soil, apply fertilizer or engage in some conservation practices.

A bill to ban the EPA rule found support from nearly three dozen Senate Republicans last year. Supporters hope similar legislation will pass the GOP-led Congress this year.Sen. John Thune,

R-S.D., said there remains strong, agribusiness companies support a bill bipartisan opposition. “Any federal from Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., to regulation that could make farmers and ban mandatory GMO food labeling by ranchers legally liable for states and leave labeling fines and penalties for up to food companies. conducting normal farmGreg Jaffe, biotechnoling practices would be ogy project director for “What gets an overstep of authority the Center for Science lost in the and an infringement on in the Public Interest, their rights,” Thune said. said a key place to watch (farm bill) the debate is Vermont, FOOD LABELING where opponents process …

In the U.S., up to 80 have sued to block the are (other) percent of packaged nation’s first labeling foods contain genetilaw. issues that cally modified (GMO) “Something could affect farmers ingredients, according be passed into law on to the Grocery Manuthis issue in the 114th daily.” facturers Association.

Congress, and part of As more states require that will be sparked by — Dale Moore, labels on foods with what happens in the American Farm GMO ingredients, federal case in Vermont,” Bureau Federation Congress is being Jaffe said. “Both sides pressured to establish a see benefits to a federal uniform, nationwide law solution, but obviously regulating the technology. they have different views on what that Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep. final solution could be.”

Peter DeFazio. D-Ore., re-introduced legislation in February that would Doering writes about farm policy and impose a nationwide label for GMO politics for the Gannett Washington foods. However, many food and Bureau.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., with members of farm- and food-related unions near the White House in November 2014, talks about Thanksgiving foods produced and processed by immigrant workers.

PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

An Associated Press-GfK poll in December 2014 found that most Americans would like to see labels marking genetically modified foods, whether they’re going to buy the food or not.

Farmers are nervous about the new Waters of the U.S. rule, which they claim will make them liable for keeping “ephemeral” streams, such as this one in Alaska’s Noatak National Preserve, free of farm runoff.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

BRENNAN LINSLEY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Corn streams into the Green Plains ethanol plant in Shenandoah, Iowa, to make a product still in demand even as oil prices drop.

POWERING UP

going to make this a very public campaign.”

Most gasoline already contains 10 percent ethanol. The oil industry has warned that increasing the amount to 15 percent or higher — a move backed by ethanol supporters — may damage car, motorcycle and The ethanol debate will take center stage boat engines. The oil industry argues, too, that consumers have not shown a demand in Washington this year for these ethanol blends.

API, a trade group representing more than 600 oil and natural gas companies, also

By Christopher Doering longer works in today’s ever-changing raises alarm about the “blend wall,” the energy landscape, especially since people point at which the amount of renewable THE ETHANOL AND OIL industries drive less and cars are fuels required exceeds have dug in for what could be a more fuel-efficient. the amount blenders pivotal year for the renewable fuel Meanwhile, ethanol can reasonably mix Changing the mandate in Washington. The victor advocates are aware in. Hit this wall, API mandate would is poised to add jobs and reap that if they lose this argues, and there is no millions in profits at the expense of a bitter battle, they may never way the industry can affect the farmers, rival. The debate centers on a 10-year-old get another chance. blend enough ethanol to mandate known as the Renewable Fuel Changing the mandate meet the ever-growing producers and rural Standard. It requires increasingly greater would affect the targets set by Congress Americans who have amounts of alternative fuels, much of farmers, producers and in the Renewable Fuel it made from corn, to be blended each rural Americans who Standard. invested billions of year into transportation fuel. In 2007, the have invested billions Right now, the dollars in ethanol. mandate increased the volume of renewable of dollars into ethanol, Environmental Protecfuel required to be blended from 9 billion and it would also stunt tion Agency (EPA) has gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons by 2022. the growth of nextthe flexibility to adjust Opponents of the mandate, led by generation fuels made from plant materials. the annual blending level under certain the American Petroleum Institute (API), “There’s no way we’ll take any of this for conditions. In 2014, the agency pushed back have stepped up pressure on the GOP-led granted. And we’re pushing back,” said Tom the timeline for finalizing levels multiple Congress to re-work or repeal the mandate.

Buis, chief executive officer with Growth CO N T I N U E D They contend it’s fatally flawed and no Energy, an ethanol trade group. “We’re

T

NATI HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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About 100 trucks a day deliver corn to the Green Plains ethanol plant in Iowa, above. Ryan Brock, far right, who works at the plant, displays a sample bottle full of ethanol, which accounts for about 10 percent of U.S. automotive fuel.

PHOTOS BY NATI HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

times before announcing in November that it would not set the fuel standards due to widespread opposition from Midwest leaders and farm groups. The EPA is expected to announce the blending rate later this spring, while at the same time proposing new standards for 2015 and 2016.

Congress “had a very aggressive, farreaching goal” when it said the country should be producing a certain amount of its fuel from ethanol, said Chad Hart, an associate professor of economics at Iowa State University. The plunge of oil prices from more than $100 a barrel as recently as July 2014 has left the two sides even more focused on defending their market share: Both gasoline and ethanol have seen their prices erode.

“This debate was building even before energy prices really started to drop, but that put a whole new layer on top of this,” said Hart.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told The Des Moines Register in January that despite its strength, the renewable fuel industry still faces significant challenges.

“There’s no question Big Oil is interested in limiting choices,” the former Iowa governor said. “Especially as low as they are, they will increase their efforts.”

Bob Greco, director of downstream and industry operations for API, said getting the Renewable Fuel Standard repealed will be one of the association’s top priorities in 2015. The trade group plans to lobby new members of Congress on both sides of the

aisle and is optimistic about gaining support higher grocery bills and wear and tear to the to scrap the program. family car. “Growing support from lawmak“We have a Congress now that’s willing ers in the House and Senate, as well as a to take votes and willing to consider pieces diverse coalition of over 50 organizations, of legislation that in the past they might not signals that there is momentum in Congress have, particularly on the Senate side,” he to achieve real reforms of the (Renewable said.

Fuel Standard).”

The nascent 114th Congress, sworn Ethanol supporters are confident that in Jan. 6, has wasted while pressure is little time trying to alter mounting to change or the ethanol mandate, end the Renewable Fuel though it’s uncertain Standard, the proposed The plunge of oil whether it will be benefits — decreasing from more than able to muster enough U.S. dependence on support to make any foreign oil, creating $100 a barrel as meaningful changes. jobs, helping the recently as July 2014 A group of Repubenvironment — will lican and Democratic be enough to quell has left the two sides lawmakers in the House momentum to make a has proposed legislation change. even more focused that would do away “When you look at on defending their with the corn composomething, it takes nent of the Renewable a lot of power, a lot market share.

Fuel Standard and cap of cohesion ... if it’s the amount of ethanol in Congress’ hands,” that can be blended said Colin Johnson, into conventional gasoline at 10 percent. a fourth-generation farmer in southern The same bill failed to pass two years ago.

Iowa, the country’s largest ethanol proIn the Senate, Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Dianne ducer. “I’m hopeful for the sake of Iowa and Feinstein, D-Calif., proposed in February rural agriculture that (the Renewable Fuel to eliminate the annual corn targets in the Standard) stays where it is, and I’m pretty mandate. confident that it will.”

“Few issues in Congress have such broad Christopher Doering writes about farm policy support for true reform,” said Rep. Bob and politics for the Gannett Washington Goodlatte, R-Va., who said the “unworkable Bureau. mandate” is felt by every American through

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GOOD OR GROSS?

DAN MACMEDAN; HALANA TURNER AND HUNTER WHITNEY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Students Katelyn Hamford, left, Amanda Ajobiewe and Diamond Alvarado load up at the salad bar at Beatty Elementary School in Riverside, Calif.

The school charges $2.75 for lunch, which is so popular that it inspired a catering division for outside customers.

New federal guidelines require schools to serve healthy meals

By Matt Alderton

C

UBES OF AMBIGUOUS MEAT swimming in gelatinous, oatmeal-colored gravy. A piece of green meatloaf. A sandwich the size of a smartphone. A lump of mashed potatoes so solid it can be tossed in the air like a baseball. A paltry two-piece portion of chicken nuggets.

These are just a few of the images students have broadcast on social media this school year using the snarky hashtag #ThanksMichelleObama. Their response to new healthy-eating guidelines for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program is a rallying cry laced with humor.

But it’s no laughing matter to parents like Tina Jackson of Indianapolis, whose 15-year-old daughter comes home from

school hungry every day. sorry tray of gray hamburger “She uses the word meat, another tweets a ‘gross’ a lot,” said Jackson, bountiful bowl of authentic recounting her daughter’s Asian stir-fry. As one daily lunch report. “It student complains of Spanish concerns me because rice that looks more like she’s going the whole “Spanish moss,” the parent day at school without of another applauds her eating anything. Of course child’s fresh and colorful I want my daughter to eat lunch: fresh strawberries, Students last year tweeted mixed melon, Caesar salad healthier. That’s a good out enough unappetizing thing. But she’s not getting and chicken Parmesan atop photos of school lunches the nutrition in the middle a bed of penne pasta. that #ThanksMichelle of the day that she needs.

“Is there gross food out Obama trended on Twitter.

It’s only healthy if the kids there in schools? I can’t are eating it.” deny that there is,” said Some aren’t, but many are. registered dietitian Dayle Hayes of Billings, Back on Twitter, for instance, exclamaMont., a school nutrition consultant tions of genuine gratitude temper and founder of School Meals That Rock complaints of moldy fruit and mystery CO N T I N U E D meat. Even as one student tweets a

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Angelica Rodriguez, left, and Lilliana Castro, students at Beatty Elementary School in Riverside, Calif., enjoy a nutritious lunch that includes items from the school’s salad bar.

DAN MACMEDAN

(schoolmealsthatrock.org), a website showcasing best-in-class school meals.

“But by and large, I think there is tremendous good in school meals today.”

Because nutrition guidelines and federal reimbursement are equal nationwide, the difference between “good” and “gross” isn’t always calories or cash, according to Hayes. Often, it’s who’s in charge.

“If reimbursement and requirements are the same, what creates the difference?” she asked. “It’s a very complex answer.

Probably the most fundamental piece, however, is the district’s vision for school meals. Some school districts have a very powerful, progressive, forward-thinking vision of what it looks like to serve healthy school meals. Others do not.”

HEALTHY FOOD, FAST

The National School Lunch Program was created in 1946, when President Truman signed the National School Lunch Act providing free or low-cost lunches to qualified students through subsidies to schools. Its original purpose was to counter malnutrition: Many American men had been rejected for military service during World War II due to diet-related health problems, so lawmakers established the National School Lunch Program as a “measure of national security” to safeguard the health of American children.

Nearly 70 years later, what began as a solution to malnourishment is now

a solution for the districts, however, the opposite problem: change has been too childhood obesity, much, too fast.

“They look at which has more than “The Healthy, (the new USDA doubled in children Hunger-Free Kids Act and quadrupled in is the best thing that’s guidelines) and adolescents in the ever happened to they tell me, past 30 years, accord(the National School ing to the U.S. Centers Lunch Program),” ‘Rodney, it can’t be for Disease Control said Rodney Taylor, done.’ Don’t tell me and Prevention. director of nutrition “When Michelle services for Riverside it can’t be done; Obama chose childUnified School District hood obesity as her in Riverside, Calif. “If I we’re doing it.” platform, Congress had one criticism for — Rodney Taylor, nutrition passed the Healthy, the USDA, however, it’s services director Hunger-Free Kids that they might have Act … which raised asked for too much too nutrition standards quickly.” for school meals for the first time in 15 In states and school districts unprepared years,” Hayes explained. Changes — which for the new guidelines, Taylor said, rapid took effect during the 2012-13 school change has left students paying more year — include increasing whole grains, money for less food of inferior quality. “In fruits, vegetables and low- and no-fat those places, there has been a rebellion,” dairy; reducing calories, fat and sodium; Taylor continued. “Even from food service and improving food quality with more directors.” farm-to-school connections. “Most of the SAVORY SOLUTIONS changes I completely support,” said Hayes.

Amid “rebellion” against the Healthy, To help school districts transition Hunger-Free Kids Act, the USDA has successfully from preparing processed reported a 4.2 percent decline in National foods to cooking from scratch, the USDA School Lunch Program participation, down has awarded more than $25 million in from 31.6 million students in 2012 to 30.3 grants to provide school food service million students in 2014. professionals with equipment, training Still, progress is evident. For example, and technical assistance. For some school

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BY THE NUMBERS

4.9 BILLION

School lunches served annually as part of the National School Lunch Program.

30.3 MILLION Students who participate in the National School Lunch Program.

DAN MACMEDAN

Many schools are making their lunches more tasty and visually appealing, serving items such as Hawaiian chicken wraps.

Dora Aleman, a worker at Beatty Elementary School, adds to the school’s salad bar.

USDA

research published last year by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) found that 70 percent of elementary and middle school students and 63 percent of high school students generally like the healthier school lunches that rolled out in fall 2012.

At approximately half of elementary schools (56 percent), middle schools (44 percent) and high schools (53 percent), students initially complained about the new meals but eventually accepted them as they became more accustomed to them, research found.

“Our studies show that kids are OK with these changes, and that there have not been widespread challenges with kids not buying or eating the meals,” said Lindsey Turner, lead author of the study.

And a study released in early March by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut found that school children are throwing out less food and choosing to eat more vegetables and fruit.

In the most successful school districts, acceptance is a product of ingenuity. Take Taylor, for example, whose school lunch program went from having a $3.1 million debt and a 47 percent participation rate in 2002, when he was hired, to having a $6 million surplus and a 70 percent participation rate in 2014.

“Instead of treating our school lunch program like an entitlement program — if the government wants us to do more,

or do better, they need to give us more money — we treat it like a business,” said Taylor, who is well known in school food service circles for pioneering the concept of “farmers market salad bars.” Now at elementary schools across Taylor’s district, salad bars stocked with fresh produce purchased directly from local farms give students more and varied daily choices.

Grants from organizations such as Whole Foods Market’s Whole Kids Foundation support the cost-neutral program, according to Taylor. Food costs are minimized by a reduction in waste and more money from more school-lunch participation.

“Salad bars work because they appeal to the senses — sight, smell and taste,” explained Taylor, whose next move was hiring a professional chef to create nutritious, restaurant-quality meals.

The food is so good that it’s spawned a catering division that does everything from business lunches to weddings.

Through catering and various other initiatives, Riverside’s program is projected to make $2 million this school year. “My colleagues across the country are leaving school food service in droves because they don’t want to do the work,” Taylor continued. “They look at (the new USDA guidelines) and they tell me, ‘Rodney, it can’t be done.’ Don’t tell me it can’t be done; we’re doing it.”

Taylor isn’t alone. In Illinois’ Burr Ridge Community Consolidated School District

180, nutrition director Beverly Kowalcze has founded an interactive community garden, which helps improve kids’ perception of veggies. In Minnesota, Bertrand Weber, Minneapolis Public Schools director of Culinary and Nutrition Services, procures recipes from local restaurants, modifies them according to USDA guidelines and sells the meals from a grant-funded food truck. And in Texas’ Amarillo Independent School District, which outsources its school lunch to Chartwells School Dining Services, students discover healthy food by watching a chef prepare the meal in a restaurant-style kitchen.

Although food trucks, chefs and kitchens cost money, the gap between the best and worst school lunches isn’t always financial. In fact, the same programs that he currently champions in Riverside, where 62.6 percent of students receive free or reduced-price school lunch, Taylor previously instituted in California’s Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, where just 29.4 percent of students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price school lunch.

“To be perfectly honest, it’s not about money,” Hayes reiterated. “If you look at districts that are doing a really good job, what they have in common is creativity — in terms of preparing food, financing food and marketing food to kids. More than anything, that’s what’s going to make a big, major difference in our schools.”

$16.2 BILLION Annual cost of the National School Lunch Program.

224 BILLION

Total school lunches served by the USDA since the inception of the National School Lunch Program.

Source: USDA

BY THE NUMBERS: THINKSTOCK; USDA

The concept of a hot lunch for school children has been around for decades; in 1941, children in Taos, N.M., eat a lunch that cost about a penny a day.

20

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AMARANTH

KAMUT

CHIA TEFF

MILLET

NICHE WORK

Farmers turn to unusual crops as foodie demand grows

By Adam Stone

SPELT

GRAIN PHOTOS

BY JERALD COUNCIL

A

BOUT 15 YEARS AGO, Jean Hediger’s family farm started growing millet as a springtime alternative to wheat. Today, the 3,400-acre Golden Prairie in northeast Colorado partners with more than a dozen other growers to put 10,000 acres of the specialty grain under the plow.

Thank you, celiac disease.

Intolerance to gluten, the largely wheat-based protein, has spawned a growing industry of gluten-free alternative foods, supporting a wave of surrogate crops. That’s good news for many niche farmers like Hediger.

“It’s not just a few acres on occasion.

We seed more millet acres than wheat acres today, and I never would have imagined that I could say that,” she said.

As consumer tastes change, farmers adapt, especially small farmers who cannot always compete against the

percent, according to the mega-enterprises, with SALES CLIMB Whole Grains Council. their tens of thousands Grain prices The trends run deep: of acres of corn, soy 363% soared in the Even venerable cerealand wheat. Nowadays, 52 weeks maker General Mills has many farmers thrive ending July 13, launched a new version on ancient grains such 2014, said the of its classic breakfast as the cereal amaranth, Whole Grain cereal, called Cheerios + heirloom tomatoes, Council.

Ancient Grains. little-known fruits like At the same time, pawpaw and wheat 123% traditional crops appear alternatives like millet to be taking a hit as and teff.

58% consumer tastes evolve.

But cultivating these SPELT AMARANTH TEFF The price of wheat specialty crops and slipped from $7.24 to edibles comes with about $6 a bushel from its own unique set of 2011-12 to 2014-15, according to the challenges. The market demand may U.S. Department of Agriculture. be there, but the farming is demandGluten’s fall from favor is not the ing, too. only driver, said Candace Wilson, GROWING INTEREST strategic account director at agriFarmers have good reason to veer culture giant Monsanto. Flavor also away from traditional crops. factors in, as consumers grow weary of In the 52 weeks ending July 13, the gigantic and perfectly formed, but 2014, spelt sales skyrocketed 363 bland, tomatoes that have long been a percent. Gluten-free amaranth rose CO N T I N U E D 123 percent and teff sales climbed 58

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

22

BUDDING MARKET

CANNABIS FARMING BLOSSOMS

MARY WILLIE/THE DES MOINES REGISTER

Bob and Kathy Pertzborn pick aronia berries near Ankeny, Iowa. The astringent fruits, rich in antioxidants, are growing in popularity.

SPELTT

supermarket staple.

“As I spend time talking with retail accounts, ‘flavor’ is the word that just continues to come up in our world,” she said. “There used to be a focus on bigger and prettier. Now, retailers want to reintroduce flavor to our categories. They want diversity, they want color, they want anything that will draw the consumer back in.”

That’s useful intelligence to growers. “It’s very important for the farmer to be in tune with the retail need. Ultimately it is the consumer who will drive what is on the shelf,” Wilson said.

Take, for instance, the newly popular aronia berry. Five years ago, the native of eastern North America was virtually unknown. Today, at least 60 growers cultivate it across the nation, particularly in the upper Midwest.

Beyond the obvious allure of consumer demand, farmers may have solid horticultural reasons for putting trendy crops like quinoa in the ground. Running a single crop year after year — a practice known as monoculture — may deplete the soil, leaving a long-term deficit for the next generation.

There’s also the eggs-in-one-basket

phenomenon. A farmer betting on a single crop runs the risk of losing all to unexpected disease, weeds or pests.

“It helps a lot to have diversity on your operation. It lowers your risk overall,” said Charles Rohla, manager of the Center for Specialty Ag at The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Oklahoma.

SOME CHALLENGES

With the rising interest in ancient grains and heirloom produce, one might suppose more mainstream grains would be on the wane. The numbers suggest otherwise. Even wheat, deliverer of dreaded gluten, has gone from 52.6 million acres planted in 2010 to 56.8 million acres planted in 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

That number likely reflects the fact that specialty crops remain a marginal phenomenon, grown on small-acreage boutique farms. In part, that’s because it is logistically problematic for a really massive farm to swap out one crop for another. More to the point, though: Niche crops often present a range of horticultural challenges.

As president and founder of The Teff Company in southwestern Idaho, Wayne Carlson has been supplying his curious grain to the expatriate Ethiopian and Eritrean communities in this country for three decades. Lately, he’s seen a big bump in demand among those seeking gluten-free CO N T I N U E D

The times they have a-changed.

Once a counterculture icon, cannabis is virtually mainstream, and that has agricultural implications.

Take Hezekiah Allen: He chairs Emerald Growers Association, a member-based trade organization of some 300 California cannabis farmers.

Yeah, a pot growers’ trade association.

Maybe we didn’t see it coming — but who could be surprised? Medical marijuana is legal in 23 states. Four states have legalized recreational dope and more are likely to follow suit.

The farmers don’t use words like “pot” and “dope.” Their chief ambition these days is to legitimize a potentially lucrative crop.

“We want it recognized as a crop, not as manufacturing or anything else, and we want it regulated as agriculture,” Allen said. Regulation would ensure quality, drive business to legitimate growers and marginalize the still-prevalent illegal growers, argue supporters.

Cannabis growers face the same challenges as other farms: rain, wind, mold, pests. They insist they work hard to deliver a quality product. “It’s easy to grow a commercial-grade bulk product.

It’s like the wine industry: Anyone can grow box wine, but not everyone can grow Napa Valley pinot,” Allen said.

For those who do it well, the rewards can be significant.

“For the farmer, it is a fantastic crop,” said Doug Porter, East Coast coordinator and lecturer for the Cannabis Career Institute, a school for business ownership, marketing and employment within this growth industry. “At this point in time, the only agricultural product with a higher (future return) is truffles. This is the highest yield for the least amount of time and care and investment.”

But it’s also illegal — sort of. Federal law still bans marijuana, but the Obama administration has said it will step back and make enforcement a state matter.

States remain hazy on the issue.

What to do as a farmer looking to jump on this hash cow? “You bite your lip, you find a good accountant and a good attorney, and you just power through it,” Porter said.

— Adam Stone

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QUINOA

MILLET

TEFF

alternatives.

Carlson is meeting the demand, in part, by contracting with growers in Oregon, Idaho and Nevada in order to fill orders. The challenge with niche crops, he said, “is that it is much more technical.

The corn and soybean guys over in those huge areas in the Midwest, that is simple and straightforward. There is a huge body of knowledge.”

Not so with the more esoteric crops, said Gary R. Bachman, a professor in the Coastal Research & Extension Center at Mississippi State University. “If a grower finds a need for a particular crop and he’s never grown it before, he may not be able to find the basic information on planting times, nutritional needs, harvest intervals. There is a whole list of things the farmer needs to learn to produce this crop effectively, and it is not out there for some of these crops,” he said.

And many of the niche crops cannot be grown as easily with herbicides, said John Kempf, CEO of crop nutrition consulting company Advancing Eco Agriculture.

“These chemicals can stunt (crops) or even kill them. So there is a greater requirement for weed control, which means they can be much more difficult to grow in the field.”

Beyond the agricultural issues, specialty produce comes with new business challenges for farmers looking to gain an edge in a competitive marketplace.

Many alternative and organically grown goods are too perishable to travel, so a farmer has to ask: “‘Am I near the point of purchase? Is there a distributor nearby, or a processing facility? Do I have a big enough market in the immediate area?’ It’s always about understanding your market,” said Winthrop B. Phippen, a professor of breeding/genetics of alternative crops in the School of Agriculture at Western Illinois University.

Without an established market, a farmer with a niche product will have to be business savvy. “This is, by nature, something fairly small, and that makes it high-risk,” said Phippen. “Not only do you have to grow the crop. Now you have to market the plant, you have to find

GOLDEN PRAIRIE

Farmer Bryce Hediger sits in a field of millet on his family’s Golden Prairie farm in Colorado.

The Hedigers have been growing millet as an alternative to wheat for about 15 years. all the people you are going to sell to.”

None of this is easy. Consumers may clamor for something off the beaten path, but the stuff may be difficult to grow and complicated to market. Indeed, farmers take a risk every time they set aside an acre of the known for an acre of the unknown.

On the other hand, many smaller-scale farmers are finding that the uncommon product gives them the competitive edge that they need to keep on going.

“Farmers are incredibly entrepreneurial,” said Mark Manfredo, professor and director of the Morrison School of Agribusiness within the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. “They are very good at observing consumer trends, and they’re always looking for ways to diversify their income stream. They are going to try something new, and if it works — great!”

“We seed more millet acres than wheat acres today, and I never would have imagined that I could say that.”

— Jean Hediger, farmer

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FIELD CROPS Broc Davidson, 14, of Elkhart, Iowa, takes part in a state tradition — “walking” soybean fields to pull weeds by hand. Iowa is one of the largest soybeanproducing states in the U.S.

2014 STATS Annual yield

3.97 BILLION BUSHELS

Annual production

$40.3 BILLION Acreage

83.1

MILLION ACRES PLANTED Exports

$24.2 BILLION

RODNEY WHITE/THE DES MOINES REGISTER

SOY

DID YOU KNOW? uThe 2014 soybean crop yield of nearly 4 billion bushels set a record, as did the average number of bushels per acre harvested (47.8). Iowa was the top producer at 9.82 million acres harvested, followed by Illinois with 9.78 million. uThe majority of U.S. soybeans are turned into soybean meal to feed livestock and poultry. Iowa is the largest user, with 3.9 million tons — nearly 13 percent of the total meal produced — used as feed in 2012. uMany farmers rotate corn and soybeans as a way to reduce soil erosion and control weeds and insects; the soybeans also fix nitrogen in the soil, which benefits the corn crop.

THINKSTOCK

PLANTING SEASON

April 15-July 20 JAN.

FEB.

MAR.

APR.

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUG.

SEP.

OCT.

NOV.

DEC.

TERRITORY

Plains states, South and Midwest; mostly in Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota.

HARVEST

Aug. 18-Dec. 30 JAN.

FEB.

MAR.

APR.

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUG.

SEP.

OCT.

NOV.

DEC. SOURCES: USDA, UNITED SOYBEAN BOARD

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FIELD CROPS

WHEAT PLANTING SEASON

Durum: March 31 to June 15 (Sept. 25 to Feb. 1 in Arizona and California) Spring: March 1 to June 3 Winter: Aug. 20 to Feb. 1

HARVEST

Durum: May 15 to Oct. 5 Spring: July 15 to Sept. 29 Winter: May 1 to Sept. 14

JAN.

FEB.

MAR.

APR.

JAN.

FEB.

MAR.

APR.

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUG.

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUG.

SEP.

OCT.

NOV.

DEC.

SEP.

OCT.

NOV.

DEC.

TERRITORY

Nationwide, mostly in the Great Plains from Texas to Montana.

DID YOU KNOW? uWheat production in 2014 fell by 5 percent from 2013, mostly due to weather-related issues but also because fewer acres were planted in some regions. u81 percent of the U.S. domestic wheat crop (the part not kept as stock or exported) goes toward food. Another 13 percent is used as animal feed, and the rest is planted as seed. uIn a study of 118,000 people, the Harvard School of Public Health found that eating whole grains can cut mortality, especially from cardiovascular disease, by up to 15 percent.

2014 STATS Acreage

Annual yield

43.7

BUSHELS PER ACRE (56.8 million acres)

Annual production

$11.9 BILLION

(Durum, $462.3 million; spring, $3.4 billion; winter, $8.1 billion)

KAREN BLEIER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

46.4

MILLION ACRES HARVESTED

(Durum, 1.3 million acres; spring, 12.7 million acres; winter, 32.3 million acres) Exports*

$7.7 BILLION

*Fiscal year

SOURCES: USDA, HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

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FIELD CROPS Increased production hurt corn prices for farmers in 2014, dropping the price to $3.65 per bushel from 2013’s $4.46.

USDA

CORN PLANTING SEASON

March 1-July 15

HARVEST

2014 STATS

July 15-Dec. 22

JAN.

FEB.

MAR.

APR.

JAN.

FEB.

MAR.

APR.

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUG.

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUG.

SEP.

OCT.

NOV.

DEC.

SEP.

OCT.

NOV.

DEC.

Annual yield

171

BUSHELS PER ACRE

TERRITORY

The continental U.S. except New England and Nevada, predominantly Iowa and Illinois

Annual production

$52.4

BILLION (GRAIN) Acreage

DID YOU KNOW? uAbout 490 million of the 14.2 billion bushels of corn produced in 2014, or 3.4 percent, were used to make high-fructose corn syrup, a common sweetener used in place of sugar in many processed foods and drinks. uOnly 90.6 million acres of corn are expected to be planted in 2015 compared to the 99.7 million planted in 1926, but far more corn is produced per acre today because of better technology and production practices: 171 bushels compared to 25.7 in 1926. uMost corn is used for animal feed or biofuel — only about 10 percent, 1.4 billion bushels, went toward human food or other non-feed/fuel uses in 2014.

LANCE CHEUNG/USDA

SOURCE: USDA

83.1

MILLION ACRES HARVESTED FOR GRAIN Exports*

$11.1 BILLION

*Fiscal year

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FIELD CROPS THE STATS Annual yield, 2013 Fruit and tree nuts:

33.2

BILLION POUNDS Vegetables:

41.6

BILLION POUNDS Annual sales, 2014 Fruit & tree nuts:

$29.7 BILLION

Fresh market vegetables:

$13.1 BILLION

Acreage, 2013 Fruit & tree nuts: LANCE CHEUNG/USDA

PRODUCE GROWING SEASON

Year-round, varies by crop

HARVEST

Year-round, varies by crop

Fresh market vegetables:

1.6

MILLION ACRES

TERRITORY

Nationwide, with most grown in California, Florida, Washington and North Dakota

Exports, 2014 Fruits

BOB NICHOLS/USDA

PER CAPITA USE, 2013

In pounds/farm weight, U.S. (vegetables are preliminary data)

TOP 5 VEGETABLES: Potatoes

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Sweet corn

116.7 87.2 23.8 22.0

Onions

18.7

TOP 5 FRUIT: Grapes

58.1

Oranges

Apples

55.9 45.4

4.2

MILLION ACRES

Bananas

28.1

Melons

25.9

NEXT 5 VEGETABLES: 17.3 Peppers 10.6 Cucumber Carrots 10.0 9.2 Broccoli 8.0 Cabbage NEXT 5 FRUIT: Pineapple Strawberries Lemons Peaches Grapefruit

13.9 9.5 8.0 6.4 5.8

SOURCES: USDA, AGRICULTURAL MARKETING RESOURCE CENTER

DID YOU KNOW? uGrapes are the most heavily consumed fruit in the U.S., mostly in the form of wine, which accounted for 39.1 pounds per capita in 2013, two-thirds of the total. uThe amount of land devoted to dry edible beans jumped by an estimated 23.4 percent in 2014, with the largest gains coming in baby lima, cranberry, black and navy beans. The U.S. Hispanic population, which tends to eat more beans than other demographics, is growing, and many people are adding beans to their diet for health reasons. uFruits were the second-largest U.S. food import by volume in 2013, with 12.4 million tons compared to 13 million tons of cereal and bakery-related products.

Vegetables were third, at 8.97 million tons.

$6.7 BILLION

Vegetables

$7.0 BILLION Tree nuts

$8.6 BILLION

All statistics most recent available

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LIVESTOCK

CATTLE CALL

Livestock producers try to bounce back after rough years

By Laura Laing

T

O GET THE REAL story behind today’s livestock statistics, you’ve got to go back to 2006, when the grain market began to go haywire, thanks to basic supply-and-demand economics.

A 2005 energy bill placed mandates on the production of renewable fuel, which upped the number of corn crops devoted to ethanol. At the same time, China increased its purchase of U.S. soybeans. Add to this the short reserve of land due to drought and, suddenly, the supply of grain for feed couldn’t keep up with CO N T I N U E D

Farmer Don Eakman checks on one of five sets of twin calves — a high, and rare, number —born on his Montana ranch in February. Beef farmers are managing to increase their stock, although mostly in less unusual ways.

LARRY BECKNER/GREAT FALLS (MONT.) TRIBUNE

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36

LIVESTOCK

BACKYARD BIRD OWNERS KEY IN AVIAN FLU BATTLE

USDA

A deadly disease that killed as many as 7 million piglets and pigs in 2013 and 2014 is on the wane, pleasing farmers. demand. brighter for 2015.

As a result, feed prices skyrocketed and didn’t slow for several FEED VS. OIL “The real issue for all of us (in the years. In 2006, corn prices were animal industry) is the moderation around $2 per bushel, but by 2012, of feed costs,” said Chris Galen, they had increased to nearly $7 per senior vice president of combushel. munications for the National Milk Because feed represents 50 Producers Federation (NMPF). “It’s percent to 65 percent of the cost the biggest story of the year.” of producing animals, livestock Last year, the U.S. experienced farmers buckled under high costs. the largest feed “This really grain crop in hisput the animal tory. According to industry into Back-to-back the USDA, yields a period of of corn, sorghum, losses,” said severe droughts barley and oats Purdue Univerin the Midwest in August and sity agriculture September 2014 economist and Southern totaled 295 Christopher Plains also hurt the million metric Hurt. “We saw tons. To compare, pretty major livestock industry. the total was 277 declines.” million metric In 2007, total tons in 2013, an meat production increase of 64 million metric tons in the U.S. was 223 pounds per over 2012. capita, and by 2014, that amount A higher yield means lower had dropped to 203. feed prices, which in turn reduces At the same time, severe production costs for livestock droughts in the Midwest and farmers.

Southwest devastated beef herds.

In years past, for instance, pork Farmers short on cash had to sell producers spent between $80 and some of their animals to feed $93 per total carcass weight (cwt) the remaining stock. Adding to on production costs. Steve Meyer, the woes, last year a virus killed staff economist for the Pork Board millions of piglets, scaring pork and president of Paragon Economproducers. ics, expects those costs to fall to But with all of these challenges, $70 per cwt in 2015. there is light at the end of the The drop in feed costs benefits tunnel. Feed prices are leveling off, dairy, beef, poultry and egg producand livestock farmers are responders as well. ing more quickly to environmental “That was really a tailwind that and health threats. The skies look

gave a boost to (milk) producers,” said Galen. “When you have lower feed costs, you tend to produce more milk.”

That’s because dairies can shift the savings from feed to other costs, such as increasing herd size and enhancing feed with additives designed to increase milk production. Hurt noted that all animal industry products will expand in response to lower feed prices.

Also helping is the drop in oil prices. “There’s been a kind of return to normalcy in grain and oil prices,” Meyer said. “And when production costs are lower, farmers can produce more and earn more.”

DROUGHT EFFECTS

Back-to-back severe droughts in the Midwest and Southern Plains also hurt the livestock industry.

According to records kept by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, rainfall deficits in the Southern Plains states — including New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas — between May and August 2012 topped records set during the Dust Bowl in 1934 and 1936.

“The (beef) cattle herd was decimated by drought, but it really got bad in 2011 and 2012,” Meyer noted. “We’ve had the smallest cow crop since the ’50s.”

In fact, the Southern Plains lost 21 percent of its beef cattle due to drought conditions. Hurt notes that 1.4 million were lost in Texas alone, representing 26 percent of the CO N T I N U E D

Since December 2014, federal and state health officials have been responding to an avian flu outbreak along the Pacific Flyway, the westernmost of four major U.S. routes used by migratory birds.

Highly pathogenic bird flu has been confirmed in seven backyard poultry flocks and three captive wild birds in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, as well as a commercial turkey farm in California.

Twenty-five wild birds also have been diagnosed with the strain: 12 in Oregon, eight in Washington, three in California and one each in Idaho and Utah.

The outbreak, which includes three different strains of avian flu, doesn’t pose a risk to humans — eggs and poultry are safe to eat, and people can’t catch avian flu easily — but it’s a huge threat to the country’s poultry industry.

Tens of thousands of chickens and turkeys have died or been destroyed in British Columbia, which also has been hit with the outbreak. Already, 29 countries plus the DANIELLE PETERSON/SALEM STATESMAN JOURNAL European Union have Backyard chicken flocks are more difficult to monitor for signs of avian restricted poultry flu than those on commercial farms. imports from affected counties or states. Four more countries have banned poultry imports from the entire U.S., including China, which last year imported $272 million in chicken, turkey and duck products.

Officials have been quick to respond with surveillance, voluntary testing and outreach. But they discovered a new challenge since the last outbreak a decade ago: The number of urban chickens and other backyard birds has exploded in recent years, especially in cities such as Portland, Ore. The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA), for example, knows how many commercial poultry operations exist around the state, but that’s not the case with urban chickens.

“Backyard bird owners are often hesitant to come forward to ODA because they are not sure who to contact, they are not sure if their concerns matter and they may feel they aren’t being represented as much as commercial operations,” ODA avian health coordinator Madeline Benoit said.

ODA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have reached out to farmers, backyard chicken owners, hunters and 4-H clubs by attending poultry events around the state to provide information and conduct biosecurity demonstrations.

The most important message they’re giving backyard bird owners is to reduce or eliminate contact between their birds and wild birds, thought to be spreading the virus.

— Tracy Loew

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LIVESTOCK It can take three years to re-stock a herd of cattle, due to long gestation periods and time needed for calves to mature.

What we saw was a kind of explosion of prices in the whole animal complex.”

“Because of the inelastic demand for pork, total revenue went up, even on those farms that lost pigs” to PEDV, Meyer said. “It’s going to be profitable again this year.”

Farmers have learned a great deal from outbreaks of diseases such as PEDV and avian flu, which surfaced in the Pacific Northwest in 2014 in backyard flocks and wild birds.

“PEDV served as a wakeup call for us, and we’ll be better prepared,” Meyer said.

“We’ve really been blind to diseases from other parts of the world. We’re making a concerted effort to identify these diseases before they get here.”

SUPPLY AND DEMAND

BRYON HOULGRAVE/THE DES MOINES REGISTER

“Producers of animal products are respondstate’s herd. ing (to lower grain prices) more quickly than The drought still threatens large swaths we thought.” of Oklahoma, Texas, California and Nevada, Farmers in Western states still seem wary but the easing of feed prices points to of expansion. California is still struggling a recovering animal industry in these with severe drought conditions, and farmers regions. Unfortunately, the beef industry in other states are can’t bounce back as taking smaller steps quickly as pork and toward expansion. poultry, which has Because of this, Hurt a shorter gestation As consumers add doesn’t expect beef period. supplies to be back to “The gestation of more animal proteins peak levels until 2020 an (poultry) egg is to their diets, the pork or 2022. three weeks,” Hurt Heat waves are said. “They can grow and poultry industries another concern, that baby chick have seen a surge. especially for milk to Kentucky Fried producers. Galen Chicken in around six noted that these do weeks. Gestation (of not generally become a cattle) is nine months national phenomenon or an ongoing issue. and growth is about two years after that.”

“Some of the most productive dairies in In order to expand beef production in the the country are in Arizona,” he said. And long run, farmers need to reduce production California, even in drought, remains the No. in the short term. That’s because young 1 dairy state. females or heifers must be held back from “We’ve learned how to modulate the the meat supply for breeding. The latest worst effects of climate change,” Galen said USDA report shows this happening; 4 of the dairy industry. “For the most part percent of heifers are being held back from even in these long-term instances, we’re still the supply. seeing increases in milk production.”

“This kind of surprised us,” Hurt said.

ANIMAL AILMENTS

“Last year’s hog market was a bizarre one,” Meyer said. “The reason was this new disease.”

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) spread throughout pork herds in 2013 and 2014, killing as many as 7 million piglets and pigs, according to Meyer’s economic report to the National Pork Board. Producing acute and severe diarrhea, the virus is particularly dangerous to vulnerable piglets.

“That was a major market force last year,” Meyer said. “That virus is more active when it’s cold. We were afraid it would be more active this winter, but that has not turned out to be the case.”

Thanks to preventative measures, including vaccines and safer transportation methods, the disease has waned significantly this year. In the winter of 2013-14, PEDV hit 85 pig farms in the U.S. This year, only 12 have been affected.

Despite the virus, pork prices increased last year, making it a record year.

“There was a time period in February, March, April 2014, when we realized that meat not only was in tight supply, but consumers and buyers started to ask, ‘What if you can’t even buy bacon?’” Hurt said. “I think this really was a kind of fear situation.

As consumers add more animal protein to their diets, the pork and poultry industries have seen a surge in demand, “the best I’ve seen in my career,” Meyer said. “Animal fats aren’t the demons that we made them out to be. Consumers have said, ‘Oh really? I’m going to eat more meat.’”

In addition, supply of most livestock is expected to increase in 2015. According to the USDA, the total livestock production (not including eggs) was 92.2 billion pounds in 2014. Next year, the agency anticipates production to increase to 94 billion pounds.

But not all industries will increase. Beef cattle production — hampered by drought and other economic factors — is expected to drop from 24.3 billion pounds in 2014 to 23.8 billion pounds. This follows a five-year trend, a long-term decline in cattle herds and extremely high retail prices.

“Beef is really going to struggle,” Hurt said. Retail beef prices went up by 13 percent in 2014, and they are expected to increase again in 2015. Still, a recovering economy will help.

“When consumers have higher incomes, they tend to eat higher-priced meat products,” Hurt said. They also might spend their savings from lower gas prices on better cuts of meat.

At the same time, beef always suffers from the substitution effect. With shorter gestation periods, pork and poultry supplies will rebound faster, dropping their normally lower retail prices even more. But even in 2014, price-per-pound of pork went up only 10 percent, and chicken broiler retail prices stayed about the same.

“Customers look at the price of beef and then look down the case and say, ‘What else is available?’” Hurt said.

With a break in drought conditions, lower feed costs and an overall improving economy, animal producers are beginning to feel relief. Still, any industry that depends on weather and fickle customer behavior finds itself hedging its bets.

“We’re coming off a very unusual year,” Hurt said.

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LIVESTOCK

2014 STATS Inventory

89.8 MILLION

Annual production

24.3

BILLION POUNDS Average live weight

1,363 POUNDS

Average dressed weight

825 POUNDS Number of producers

SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

BEEF

RICHER TASTES

The price of beef products continued to increase through 2014, due to the continuing impact of the drought on cattle herds. The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects price hikes of 5 percent to 6 percent in 2015.

8

TERRITORY

January 2015

$7.53

7

Price per pound

Nationwide, with most in Texas, Nebraska, Kansas and California.

January 2014

$5.84

6 5 4

$4.67

$6.34

$4.83

$3.89

3 2 1

Ground beef

Beef roasts

Beef steaks

DID YOU KNOW? uThe number of cattle increased an unexpected 1 percent during 2014 as farmers slowly gained back losses caused by drought; experts had thought that declining numbers would continue. uBeef prices jumped nearly 50 cents per pound in the second half of 2014, ending the year at an average $6 per pound. uFor the first time in more than 15 years, European beef will be sold in the United States. The U.S. banned beef from the continent in the late 1990s after an outbreak of mad cow disease.

729

THOUSAND Annual cash receipts

$81.5 BILLION Exports

$6.3 BILLION

SOURCES: USDA, THE CATTLE RANGE

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LIVESTOCK 2014 STATS Inventory

66.1 MILLION ANIMALS

Annual production

22.8 BILLION POUNDS

Average live weight

285 POUNDS

Average dressed weight

214 POUNDS Number of producers

63,246 USDA

PORK TERRITORY

Nationwide, predominantly in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina and Indiana.

DID YOU KNOW?

PORK ON YOUR FORK

uThe U.S. has been one of the top five pork exporters in the world since the beginning of this century, with Japan, Mexico and Hong Kong its top customers.

The average pig creates 156.7 pounds of retail products sold — meat, trimmings and more.

Pounds Cured ham 29.6 Boneless loin 16.6 Picnic ham 16.1 Bacon 16.0 Loin trimmings 13.5 Jowls, feet, etc.

13.1 Blade roast 10.9 Spare ribs 7.9 Sirloin roast 6.4 Blade steaks 6.1 6.0 Ham trimmings 14.5 Everything else

uIowa was the largest U.S. pork producer in 2014, with 20.9 million head, followed by North Carolina with 8.6 million and Minnesota with 7.85 million. uPork production in 2015 is expected to surpass beef for the first time in more than 50 years, according to the USDA. uBut an increase in broiler chicken production may push pork prices down by up to 26 percent in 2015.

Annual cash receipts*

$23.4 BILLION Exports

$6.7 BILLION

*2013, most recent available SOURCES: USDA; BLOOMBERG; NATIONAL PORK BOARD

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USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

What makes a curious reader?

You do.

Read to your child today and inspire a lifelong love of reading.

w w w. r e a d . g o v

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LIVESTOCK

CHICKEN & EGGS

TERRITORY

Eggs: Nationwide, predominantly Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and California.

EGG-SPENSIVE

California egg prices are considerably higher than the rest of the country’s — by as much as $1 per dozen in some areas — partially because of a new law requiring chickens to be kept in cages of a certain size.

Broilers: Mostly in a swath from Delaware to Texas, with some farms in the upper Midwest.

DID YOU KNOW? uA January USDA report indicates that the increase in chicken production last year happened because the birds were bigger, not because farmers were increasing the sizes of their flocks. uThe average American eats the equivalent of 261 eggs per year.

2014 STATS Number of farms

Exports

64,570

$5.8

BROILERS Inventory*

EGGS Inventory

BILLION

8.5

361

BROILERS

EGG-LAYERS

Production

Production

BILLION

MILLION

38.5

99.8

Annual sales*

Annual sales

BILLION POUNDS

$30.7 BILLION

MILLION

$5.5 BILLION

*2013 , most recent available

LANCE CHEUNG/USDA

SOURCES: USDA, AMERICAN EGG BOARD, NATIONAL CHICKEN COUNCIL, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

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46

LIVESTOCK

2014 STATS Inventory

9.3

MILLION MILK COWS Annual production

206

BILLION POUNDS Number of farms

51,000 $49.1 Annual milk sales

BILLION Exports*

$7.2 BILLION

*Fiscal year KIMM ANDERSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAIRY

SAY CHEESE

Milk is by far the most-consumed dairy product, but thanks to our love for pizza and burritos, cheese may be rising the fastest in popularity. In 2012 (the most recent figures available), Americans ate 33.5 pounds of cheese per person.

0 lb.

2

4

8

10

Mozzarella

11.5 pounds per person

Cheddar

9.4

Other cheeses

12

7.7

Cream/ Neufchatel

MICHAEL CONROY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

6

2.6

Provolone

1.1

Swiss

1.1

NOTE: “Other” cheeses are defined as Colby, Monterey Jack, Romano, Parmesan, blue, Gorgonzola, ricotta, brick, muenster and others.

TERRITORY

Nationwide, with most in California, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania and Idaho.

DID YOU KNOW? uThe average dairy cow produces 7 gallons of milk per day, up to 2,500 gallons each year. uAmericans consume most of their dairy at home, 1.32 cups per day compared to .45 cups away from home. uTwo-percent milk is most popular, followed by whole milk, 1-percent and skim.

SOURCES: USDA, DAIRY FARMING TODAY

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50

Chris Cosentino, a winner of Top Chef Masters, prepares a dish at a farm-to-table event during the 2015 South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami Beach. Locally grown food has increased in popularity among the dining cognoscenti.

DEFINE

‘LOCAL’ It’s the question of the moment — and the answer isn’t simple

By Erik Schechter

I

DYLAN RIVES/GETTY IMAGES

N AN EPISODE OF the sketch comedy series Portlandia, actors Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein play a socially conscious couple sitting down for a meal at a restaurant. When the waitress comes to their table, Brownstein’s character asks about the chicken.

“The chicken is a heritage-breed, woodlandraised chicken that has been fed a diet of sheep’s milk, soy and hazelnuts,” the waitress answers.

“And this is local?” Armisen’s character interjects.

“Yes, absolutely.”

The waitress is emphatic in her response, but he is not quite convinced. “I’m going to ask you just one more time. It’s local?” he asks.

“It is,” the waitress responds.

The questions, though, keep coming. Now, the couple is asking who certifies the food organic, whether the hazelnuts fed to the chicken are also local and how big is the area where the chickens roam.

Excusing herself, the server leaves and returns to the table with the chicken’s ID papers. His name was Collin, and they raised him humanely.

“When you say ‘they,’ who are these people raising Collin?” Brownstein’s character asks.

The show is obviously a spoof. But it does scratch at real issues involving local food. First off, what exactly is local food? Is it a farm 30-plus

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miles away (as in the chicken episode), or can it mean anything within 200 miles, inside state boundaries, etc.? And why do we care about local food, anyway? Is it for Collin’s well-being, or his environmental impact?

Unlike “organic” or “cage-free,” there is no formal national definition for “local” food, said Bob Young, chief economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation. So the term means different things to different people — especially when, as in the case of supermarkets, there is a financial incentive to call something local. “We had a representative from Walmart at our annual meeting … and he said that it needs to be within the state that it’s sold,” Young said.

By contrast, Christopher Schlottmann, clinical associate professor of environmental studies at New York University, contends that local food should be tied to one agricultural region. “It doesn’t have to be in the same state, but if it’s within 100 to 200 miles, that would fall under the definition of local food,” he said.

Even then, there’s some wiggle room on distance. For example, the local farmers who sell their produce at markets in New York City can come from as far away as 360 miles and across several state lines.

WHY DO WE CARE?

When the modern movement of buying locally began more than 15 years ago, the driver behind it was quality food, said Peggy Barlett, an anthropologist who studies sustainability and agricultural systems at Emory University in Atlanta. It was about getting fresher and crisper produce than could be found in the supermarkets.

Later, local food became about petroleum use, climate change and how far food travels from farm to dinner plate.

But further research into “food miles” cast doubt on the concept. Only a small percentage of agriculture’s carbon footprint is associated with transportation. Also, it might make more environmental sense to transport a lot of food in one 18-wheeler than in several smaller vehicles.

Sonali McDermid, assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University, said that nowadays local food is less about distance “and more about

Shopper Sandra Paden checks out peaches at a farmers market in Providence, R.I. The popularity of such markets is inspiring some people to start up small-scale local farms.

STEVEN SENNE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

There are always going to be trade-offs when being socially conscious about food.

Sometimes local wins; other times it is the environment or even what benefits the nearby rural community. the relationships that are being developed between the consumers and the people who are setting up the market ... and the farmers themselves.”

It is these face-to-face interactions that allow consumers to ask farmers about things like humane practices (“Was Collin the chicken happy?”) and sustainability.

Sustainability, like local food, is amorphous. It concerns itself with biodiversity, pesticides, inorganic fertilizers, water runoff

and sometimes labor policy. And consultant groups like The Sustainability Consortium and Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform have come up with a checklist of practices for companies.

Ultimately, though, sustainability is something that will have to be measured over time, McDermid said.

CHOOSING LOCAL FOOD

Agriculture experts agree that local food is growing in popularity in the United States. It’s a phenomenon Young attributes to “food snobs,” like the two characters portrayed in Portlandia. And, certainly, the movement did start as a middle-class romance with a relatively expensive type of farming that had been replaced by the modern industrial-scale system.

But more people embrace the movement now, and from a variety of demographics.

As soon as farmers markets in New York started taking Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards — the form of payment formerly known as food stamps — in 2005, sales started to climb. In 2011, farmers at GrowNYC’s Greenmarket made more than $638,000 from EBT sales.

The urban poor have also embraced local food in Atlanta. “You see people who are interested in fresh, local food grown

by farmers they can talk to among every stratum,” Barlett said.

That said, a strict “locavore” diet is hard to keep. There aren’t as many small-scale farmers in the regions of the country devoted to large-scale corn or wheat crops, for example, and eating only local means doing without off-season crops or sticking to preserves. For example, asparagus will not grow in February in North Dakota, Young said; it’s usually harvested mid-May. ”When I grew up, we ate canned asparagus,” he recalled. “I hate canned asparagus.”

More than difficult, local food is not always even the green option, Schlottmann said. For example, “grass-fed beef that is locally raised often has more methane output than industrially raised grain-fed cattle,” he said. Grass makes cows gassier than grain does.

There are always going to be trade-offs when being socially conscious about food, Barlett said. Sometimes local wins; other times it is the environment or even what benefits the nearby rural community.

(Barlett’s own school community at Emory decided to import its coffee, but it will be Fair Trade.)

But at least there is a discussion. “I see the local food movement as an effort to move to greater transparency,” she said.

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52

EXPORTS

FEEDING

THE WORLD

When it comes to global agriculture, the U.S. is the cream of the crop

I

By Erik Schechter

T’S BEEN A ROBUST couple of years for U.S. farmers selling their crops and animal products abroad. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS), there has been a strong global demand for agricultural products in general, and the United States, in particular, with its growing trade surplus, has been reaping the reward.

The top export markets for the U.S. are China, Canada, Mexico, Japan and the European Union, said Veronica Nigh, an economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation. Depending on the statistics one uses, the top exports are soybean, corn, wheat, beef and pork.

CO N T I N U E D

THINKSTOCK

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EXPORTS President Obama meets with other leaders from the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Beijing in November 2014.

A trade agreement with the 11 nations involved in the pact will give U.S. farmers increased export access to Pacific Rim countries.

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Laura Foell, a chair on the United Soybean Board and a soybean farmer from Schaller, Iowa, estimates that last year the United States exported about $30 billion in whole soybeans, meal (for animals, mostly poultry) and vegetable oil. China takes the bulk of U.S. soybeans, about 1.01 billion bushels, which are crushed into animal meal in China’s own plants. By contrast, Indonesia, also a large trading partner, imports its 75 million bushels of soybeans only as food, noted Bryce Cooke, an ERS economist.

In terms of dollar value, soybeans are clearly U.S. agriculture’s top export, but corn beats it in metric tonnage, said Manuel Sanchez, manager of global trade at the U.S. Grains Council. American farmers will produce 14.2 billion metric tons of corn this year, with 44.5 million metric tons projected as going for export. U.S. soybean production for 2014/15 is projected at 4.1 billion bushels.

The two top international consumers for U.S. kernels are Japan, which buys 15 million metric tons, and Mexico, which imports 10.9 million metric tons, Sanchez said. However, these two countries consume corn very differently than the United States; in this country, more than one-third of all corn goes to produce ethanol, while in Japan and Mexico it’s almost all going to food and animal feed.

“Other countries are producing ethanol from sugar cane,” he explained.

Finally, though not among the top five exports, poultry is subject to national vaga-

ries, Nigh said. “In the U.S., we historically tended to like white meats and not much the dark meats. Other countries certainly like dark meats more than the U.S.” Then there are preferences for parts of the bird not as popular here. “We export a lot of chicken feet to China,” Nigh said. “It’s a delicacy there.”

TRADE AGREEMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

While U.S. farm exporters have been doing well, global trade is increasingly characterized by preferential trade relationships; however, the United States has not been aggressively building ties with other countries. Of the 260 or so preferential trade agreements worldwide, the United States is party to only 20, said the ERS. By comparison, the European Union (EU) has 45 preferential trade agreements with other countries and regions and is in the process of negotiating agreements with 87 more nations. This massive lead poses a challenge to U.S. agriculture because American exporters may find themselves restricted by high tariffs that no longer exist for other regions.

TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP

One trade agreement the United States is currently pursuing is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). When concluded, the TPP will give local farmers, among other U.S. exporters, increased access to 11 Asia-Pacific countries — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New

Those hoping for a quick signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are pushing Congress to grant President Obama trade promotion authority, which is the ability to fast-track negotiations.

Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

These countries haven’t been too concerned about U.S. genetically modified (GM) crops — the TPP will not enforce GMO labeling — so that hasn’t hampered trade, but “there are still of lot of tariff barriers, especially with Japan,” said David Salmonsen, senior director for congressional relations at the American Farm Bureau Federation. It is these tariffs — in Japan, it’s a 38 percent markup on American beef, 328 percent for sugar and a mind-boggling 778 percent for rice — that U.S. agriculture would like to see come down.

Salmonsen said negotiations on the TPP are “moving along fairly well” and expects that the agreement, which stalled several times last year, could be signed by the end of the year. For U.S. farmers, that means an estimated $77 billion per year in agricultural sales and a total of $223 billion a year to TPP member countries.

Those hoping for a quick signing of the TPP are pushing Congress to grant President Obama trade promotion authority, which is the ability to fast-track negotiations by not

allowing Congress to amend the deal and, instead, only vote yea or nay on the agreement as a whole. Presidents have had this fast-track power since 1974, but this newest effort comes with opposition from liberal Democrats and even some Republicans, who are fearful that TPP will hurt American workers, and the National Farmers Union.

Nigh said the Farm Bureau is “certainly out there beating the pavement on trade promotion authority.” Having the trade deal go before Congress and be subject to assorted amendments is impractical, she added: “If you start pulling at the threads with 535 elected officials, they can come undone pretty quickly.”

TRANSATLANTIC TRADE AND INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP

On a much slower track to adoption than the TPP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is being negotiated between the U.S. and the EU. Salmonsen said American farmers hope that TTIP will address a number of outstanding issues between the United States and Europe. At the top of the list

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USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

EXPORTS Chefs show off a U.S. T-bone steak at the annual Foodex food exhibition in Chiba, Japan.

Japan currently has a tariff on American beef that creates a 38 percent markup in price; federal agriculture officials are negotiating for a change in that policy.

certain types of regional food (think “sparkling wine” instead of “champagne”) — is giving American negotiators a headache. Many countries are trying to assert a monopoly over cheese names that are already used generically in the U.S., such as Brie, Muenster (a semi-soft cheese completely different from French-made Munster cheese and no relation to the German city of Muenster) and feta, the latter which, though associated with Greece, is not even a place name.

“The one that is causing the most fuss is the use of the term ‘Parmesan,’” Salmonsen said, with the Italians arguing that only cheese from Parma, Italy, can be called such.

YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

OREGON DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Deep water ports are the last stop for Asia-bound grains before they are shipped from U.S. farms to overseas buyers. Soybeans are loaded onto a barge, above, at an Oregon port.

are sanitary and safety concerns.

As it stands now, he said, there are U.S. agricultural practices that the Europeans oppose on the grounds of “reasonable precaution,” instead of scientific evidence that shows harm to human beings. Salmonsen cites poultry processing as an example.

“They don’t accept our poultry products in the European Union because our processing industry uses … in their final wash, to kill all bacteria, small amounts of chlorine,” he said. Such washes have been banned in Europe since the 1990s over cancer fears.

Then there is the EU’s stand on growth hormones and GM crops. Despite a World Trade Organization ruling in favor of the United States in 1997, the European Union has refused to import beef from cows raised on artificial growth hormones. The EU also has a slow regulatory process for approving GM products, “and this just for feed use, not for cultivation of those commodities,” Nigh said.

The United Soybean Board’s Foell noted that 94 percent of American soybeans are GM, so European policies are a big concern for soybean exporters. Currently, once a company fills out an application for a new GM soybean variety, it can take the EU up to 10 years to approve it. In the meantime, if an unapproved variant gets accidentally mixed in with a soybean shipment, that whole soybean shipment is sent back.

Finally, though not as dramatic as the debate over GM food and growth hormones, European insistence on the Protected Designation of Origin — geographical indications for

EXPANDED MARKET FOR CUBA

While things have been chugging along with the EU, in December Obama initiated a gradual re-establishment of political ties with Cuba, and exporter groups expect to see an economic payoff to this new era of diplomacy.

According to Nigh, American farmers mostly export poultry, soybeans and corn to Cuba.

Last year, they sold less than $300 million worth of cash-on-delivery agricultural products, down from $710 million in 2008, but increasing ties will produce a 25 percent to 50 percent bump in U.S. exports.

Still, the impoverished island nation, with a population of 11.27 million, is hardly on par with the EU. “I think we all look at Cuba as a long-term market. In the grand scheme of international trade, it’s a pretty small market,” Nigh said, adding that U.S. farmers will be mainly servicing the well-heeled American tourists visiting Cuba.

LOOK AT THE FUTURE

Fixing a gaze on the seemingly smooth road ahead, the already strong U.S. dollar is, the ERS said, expected to “appreciate another 2 percent” this year, making U.S. exports more expensive (all things being equal). But there is concern about how a bumper year in grain production will affect future prices, Nigh said.

U.S. exporters are also waiting to see how foreign markets react to the case of avian flu found in a turkey flock in California in January. Also of concern is the lingering impact of the just-ended nine-month slowdown at West Coast ports due to labor issues.

“A lot of our members have seen really excruciatingly large losses on the fresh meat side of ag trade,” Nigh said.

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

56

EXPORTS

TOP 15 EXPORT DESTINATIONS

2

TOP 10 EXPORTING STATES

EU $11.9 BILLION

CANADA

9

5

$21.3 BILLION

1

4

CHINA

11 TURKEY $2.1 BILLION

3

14 EGYPT $1.7 BILLION

VENEZUELA $1.5 BILLION 15

MEXICO

$18.1 BILLION

$25.9 BILLION 6 7

8

VIETNAM 12 $2.1 BILLION

10

INDONESIA 9 $2.8 BILLION

13 BRAZIL $1.9 BILLION

3

JAPAN $12.1 BILLION

2

5

SOUTH KOREA $5.1 BILLION TAIWAN $3.1 BILLION

HONG KONG $3.9 BILLION PHILIPPINES $2.5 BILLION

4

8

10

7

1

6

CALIFORNIA $19.5 BILLION

2. IOWA, $10.2 BILLION 3. MINNESOTA, $7.98 BILLION 4. ILLINOIS, $7.9 BILLION 5. NEBRASKA, $6.6 BILLION

6. TEXAS, $5.7 BILLION 7. KANSAS, $5.0 BILLION 8. INDIANA, $4.8 BILLION 9. WASHINGTON, $4.5 BILLION 10. OHIO, $4.4 BILLION

TOP 5 PORK EXPORTING STATES

WHERE THE FOOD GOES

U.S. food exports account for 6 percent of all American goods sent overseas — $150.4 billion of the total $2.3 trillion in exports in 2014 alone.

$24.6

TOP 5 CORN EXPORTING STATES

$9.3

BILLION SOYBEANS

BILLION CORN

$8.2

BILLION WHEAT, UNMILLED

TOP 10 EXPORT COMMODITIES

BILLION ALMONDS

$4.6

$4.8

BILLION BILLION SOYBEAN MEAL BEEF & VEAL

$4.8

BILLION PORK

NORTH CAROLINA | $738.9 MILLION

MINNESOTA | $737 MILLION

JAPAN | $2.67 BILLION

ILLINOIS | $410.3 MILLION

$6.2

MINNESOTA | $828.7 MILLION

$6.2

ILLINOIS | $802.8 MILLION

MEXICO | $2.26 BILLION

INDIANA | $306.9 MILLION

BILLION COTTON, EX LINTERS

BILLION OTHER FEEDS & FODDER

$3.4

IOWA | $1.1 BILLION

TOP 5 CORN DESTINATIONS

IOWA | $1.96 BILLION

SOUTH KOREA | $1.05 BILLION JAPAN 1.2 BILLION LBS.

NEBRASKA | $765.7 MILLION

COLOMBIA | $892 MILLION

$4.9

BILLION MISC. HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS

INDIANA | $409.6 MILLION

SOURCES: USDA, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU. ALL INFORMATION MOST RECENT AVAILABLE. INFOGRAPHICS: ERIN AULOV

TOP 5 PORK DESTINATIONS

CANADA 540.6 MILLION LBS. SOUTH KOREA 385.6 MILLION LBS. CHINA 330.5 MILLION LBS.

EGYPT | $595 MILLION

MEXICO | 1.4 BILLION POUNDS

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USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

EXPORTS

TOP 5 SHELL EGG DESTINATIONS

TOP 5 DAIRY EXPORTING STATES

TOP 5 POULTRY EXPORTING STATES

CANADA 90.6 MILLION DOZEN

MEXICO | $1.6 BILLION

CALIFORNIA $1.27 BILLION GEORGIA | $756.8 MILLION

TOP 5 DAIRY DESTINATIONS

WISCONSIN $923.7 MILLION

NORTH CAROLINA | $698.9 MILLION

CHINA $697 MILLION CANADA $592 MILLION

IDAHO $428.8 MILLION

NEW YORK $474.6 MILLION

ALABAMA $571.1 MILLION

NEBRASKA

MISSISSIPPI $423.1 MILLION

$1.5

BILLION

NORTH DAKOTA

$1.3 BILLION $961.2 MILLION

WASHINGTON

$705.8 MILLION

OKLAHOMA

$510.9 MILLION

PHILIPPINES $423 MILLION SOUTH KOREA $417 MILLION

TOP 5 BEEF/VEAL EXPORTING STATES

MEXICO 65.5 MILLION DOZEN

KANSAS

MONTANA

PENNSYLVANIA $378 MILLION

ARKANSAS | $645.9 MILLION

TOP 5 WHEAT EXPORTING STATES

$946.6 MILLION

MEXICO $856 MILLION

TOP 5 WHEAT DESTINATIONS

PHILIPPINES $698 MILLION

KANSAS $695 MILLION

TEXAS $905.6 MILLION

JAPAN | $925 MILLION IOWA $355.2 MILLION

HONG KONG 47.6 MILLION DOZEN

TOP 5 BROILER CHICKEN DESTINATIONS

COLORADO $333.1 MILLION

ANGOLA 510.8 MILLION LBS. CANADA 358.7 MILLION LBS. RUSSIA 317.3 MILLION LBS.

TOP 5 BEEF/VEAL DESTINATIONS

TOP 5 SOYBEAN EXPORTING STATES

HONG KONG 415.9 MILLION LBS.

ILLINOIS | $3.1 BILLION

CANADA 364.4 MILLION LBS.

IOWA | $2.7 BILLION

SOUTH KOREA 301.3 MILLION LBS.

MEXICO | 1.5 BILLION POUNDS

JAMAICA 3.1 MILLION DOZEN

NIGERIA $693 MILLION

MEXICO 435.1 MILLION LBS.

CUBA 316.5 MILLION LBS.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 6.6 MILLION DOZEN

BRAZIL $753 MILLION

JAPAN | 662.5 MILLION POUNDS

MINNESOTA | $1.76 BILLION INDIANA | $1.75 BILLION NEBRASKA | $1.6 BILLION

TOP 5 FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES TOP 5 FRESH FRUIT EXPORTING STATES

CALIFORNIA $3.5 BILLION

WASHINGTON $565.4 MILLION

FLORIDA $324.8 MILLION

OREGON $115.2 MILLION

MICHIGAN $92.6 MILLION

TOP 5 FRESH FRUIT DESTINATIONS

CANADA $1.78 BILLION

MEXICO $583 MILLION

SOUTH KOREA $348 MILLION

HONG KONG $345 MILLION

JAPAN $327 MILLION

TOP 5 FRESH VEG. EXPORTING STATES

CALIFORNIA $865.9 MILLION

FLORIDA $211.6 MILLION

WASHINGTON $153.5 MILLION

ARIZONA $133.6 MILLION

IDAHO $130.1 MILLION

TOP 5 FRESH VEG. DESTINATIONS

CANADA $1.8 BILLION

MEXICO $143 MILLION

JAPAN $126 MILLION

TAIWAN $65 MILLION

UNITED KINGDOM $49 MILLION

TOP 5 SOYBEAN DESTINATIONS

MEXICO $1.8 BILLION INDONESIA $1.04 BILLION JAPAN $995 MILLION

CHINA | $14.8 BILLION

TAIWAN $729 MILLION

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AT RISK

Even a solid, century-old farm faces challenge and uncertainty

By Sharyn Jackson and Christopher Gannon

O

N THE LAWN OF a ranch house abutting rolling acres of emerald Iowa pasture, a red-haired girl, 7, leads a calf in circles with the help of her family.

It’s early July, and Jillian Dammann is getting ready to show her bottle calf, Olaf, at the nearby Page County Fair. Her parents, Justin and Jennifer, are teaching her how to lead him, and her little brother, Jayden, is helping.

Named after a character in Disney’s Frozen, this calf from the Dammanns’ livestock breeding operation lost its source of sustenance when its mother died. So Jillian helps rear it, feeding Olaf milk from a bottle that’s bigger than the pink cowboy boots she wears, here in the southwest Iowa county where 4-H clubs were among the first in the country.

Jillian is one of two possible heirs to a business that’s been in her family for five previous generations; the other, her little

brother Jayden, 4. Her training with Olaf is more than an extracurricular activity; it’s an investment in the legacy of this family and the future of this farm, this county and this country.

For the Dammann family to continue its legacy, it will need to navigate the subtle but sweeping forces of change that are transforming America and its place in the world. Two massive demographic shifts head the list: Americans are rapidly graying, and the nation is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse.

“Either one of these by itself would be the defining demographic drama of its era,” said Paul Taylor, a Pew Research Center senior fellow and author of The Next America: Boomers, Millennials and the Looming Generational Showdown. “The fact that they’re happening together could be a recipe for stresses in social cohesion.”

CO N T I N U E D

Justin Dammann walks across a newly-constructed terrace on his Iowa farm. The fifth-generation farmer works to preserve the family land for his own children.

CHRISTOPHER GANNON/THE DES MOINES REGISTER

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DAMMANN FAMILY TREE

WILLIAM BARTELS, 1871-1956

uGerman immigrant who founded the farm in 1901 with wife Dora.

EMMA BARTELS, 1901-1995

CHRISTOPHER GANNON/THE DES MOINES REGISTER

The Dammann family — from left, Jennifer, Jillian, Justin and Jayden — help Jillian and Olaf the calf practice for the county fair.

For the Dammann family to continue its legacy, it will need to navigate the subtle but sweeping forces of change that are transforming America.

These profound changes are perhaps best seen through the eyes of the people who for centuries have fed the U.S. and the world. In rural America, the aging population and ever-bigger farms enabled by technological advances are already depopulating the countryside. Jillian Dammann, for example, attends a private school because her parents don’t know whether the local public school will still be around by the time she graduates.

“It is almost inevitable that there are going to be less farm families farming in the state of Iowa, which in turn means less schools, less churches, less communities. And it just kind of snowballs,” said Justin Dammann. “I think as we go forward, the big question mark is: How is it going to look?”

But if ever a family was equipped to face uncertainty, it would be the Dammanns.

Their six-generation farm has survived waves of tumult since its founding by a German immigrant ancestor.

The operation survived the Great Depression of the 1930s, a destructive tornado in 1964, the farm crisis of the

1980s, consolidations that squeezed the family out of the swine and poultry industries, drought in recent years and the latest challenge, corn prices in July 2014 less than half of what they were a year ago.

The passing years also brought times of promise, fostered in part by this family’s commitment to preserving the land for subsequent generations, as well as its ability to adapt to a changing industry.

The farm has grown from a 160-acre plot once owned by the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad to 7,100 acres of owned and rented cropland and pasture sprawled over six counties in southwest Iowa and three counties in northwest Missouri.

At the farm’s core is “the shop,” the hub of activity and the spot where the original 1888 farmhouse still stands.

The shop is surrounded by farm life — on one side, a field of corn; on the opposite, a pasture for calves; at one end, the machine sheds, where tractors are constantly driven in and out; and on the other, the old house, where an oak tree, planted in the 1970s by the founder’s son-in-law, George Dammann, towers over all.

Today, the Dammanns raise soybeans, corn for ethanol and food-grade corn, which is processed and sent around the country for tortillas. They also breed and raise beef cattle.

Four generations are rooted here, including Arnold Dammann, 79, whose grandfather William Bartels founded the farm and whose pioneer father imparted to him the frugality of Depression-era

life; Arnold’s son, Danny, who entered the business just as the 1980s farm crisis took hold, shaking his confidence that he could continue doing what he loved; Arnold’s grandson and Danny’s son, Justin, 34, who as manager of the farm is at the core of today’s operation; and, representing the fourth generation, Justin’s son, Jayden.

With his bins of toy tractors and drawers of iconic green John Deere T-shirts, Jayden is viewed as the best prospect to take over one day.

Danny Dammann said the family was lucky to have his sons, Justin and Jordan (the farm’s master mechanic), join the operation. “I remember when I was getting Justin started,” he said. “There’s a lot of kids his age that did not stick on the farm.”

Jillian isn’t sure she wants to farm, but by proximity alone, she’s learning the basics. The culture in which her family is raising her, on a homestead rich with history, teaches her how to care for animals and how to nurture the Earth and its creatures.

Jillian struggles as she tries to lead Olaf, who pulls her away from her intended destination. But Justin won’t let her give up. “Tough times,” he said, “make people stronger.”

TECHNOLOGY BRINGS CHANGES

At 57, Danny Dammann is becoming more conscious of his health. These days, the lifelong farmer sticks mostly to operating the sprayer, avoiding more strenuous jobs.

But farming has also become easier as

uWilliam’s daughter; took over the farm with her husband George Dammann after her brother Albert died.

ARNOLD DAMMANN, 79

uEmma and George’s son.

DANNY DAMMANN, 57 JUSTIN DAMMANN, 34

uDanny is Arnold’s oldest son and is recently divorced from wife Barbara, who owns part of the farm. Justin Dammann is Danny’s oldest son; he runs the farm with his wife, Jennifer.

JILLIAN DAMMANN, 7 JAYDEN DAMMANN, 4

uJustin and Jennifer’s children.

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE DAMMANN FAMILY; CHRISTOPHER GANNON/THE DES MOINES REGISTER

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USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION Justin Dammann delivers feed from a truck dispenser to his cattle. The family also raises soybeans and corn on their rural Iowa farm.

demand for non-GM food is founded in science or politics, or is just a fad.

“Food is very similar to fashion,” he said.

“It goes in cycles. What was in yesterday is out, but we’ve got to keep up with all that, because we’re raising what people want to buy and eat.”

WEATHER STILL MATTERS

CHRISTOPHER GANNON/THE DES MOINES REGISTER

he’s gotten older, including singles and making it more gay couples.

“We physically work likely he can stay Nationally, in the profession average family size less. It’s the challenge longer than his steadily shrank from of all of us in our forebears did. A GPS the end of the baby guides the sprayer boom in the 1960s culture to stay physithrough the field, to 3.14 people in the cally active. It used to making his work go 2010 census. faster. Pressurized When Arnold be nature; we worked combine cabs keep Dammann was manually all day. Now, corn dirt out of growing up, his the air that drivers neighbors had 21 we have technology breathe, so they’re children. He jokes less prone to that was enough working for us.” respiratory illnesses to scare his family — Justin Dammann like emphysema, into keeping him from which Arnold an only child. (In suffers. reality, his mother, Though technolEmma, had health ogy facilitates longer careers, it also brings complications.) a new health challenge for farmers. Justin Arnold and his wife, Mary (one of eight has to watch his weight for the first time in kids), had four children. Their son Danny his life. had three. His son Justin has two. And “We physically work less,” he said. “It’s Justin and Jennifer say that’s enough. the challenge of all of us in our culture to “With everything so mechanized now,” stay physically active. It used to be nature; Justin said, half jokingly, “we don’t need we worked manually all day. Now, we have the labor.” technology working for us.”

FOOD IS NO FAD But it’s more than the addition of Twenty-six tons of tooth-like white corn high-tech gadgetry that breaks apart the kernels rush out of an open doorway on classic image of the American farmer. Farm the bottom of a metal bin that’s planted on families are visibly changing along with a slice of rolling farmland on the Dammann the rest of American families, which now family’s farm. It will be weighed and tested, comprise more nontraditional households,

cleaned and milled, packaged and shipped to restaurants and wholesalers across the United States and internationally. Cooks or assembly lines will hydrate the nowpowdered kernels with water and bake them to become tortilla chips and wraps enjoyed by millions.

But last year, Minsa Corporation, the Mexican-based processing company where the Dammanns sent their corn, decided to accept only non-genetically modified corn from the southwest Iowa growers it works with, said Scott Roberts, the company’s national procurement manager.

Minsa, with mills in Muleshoe, Texas, and Red Oak, Iowa, aims to reach more European markets and the growing U.S. market for food not derived from genetically modified organisms.

“The demand seems to be there,” Roberts said. “The non-GMO, I think, is going to meet the sort of market out there that can’t afford organic, but yet they still want to be able to see it on a label or know that it’s non-GMO.” The company’s directive for the fall 2014 crop led the Dammanns to plant 2,400 of their 4,200 tillable acres in non-GM food-grade corn. Growing non-GM corn after years of planting genetically modified strains is a challenge, especially the finicky white corn, the Dammanns said. The yield can be slightly lower, and they have to use a different cocktail of herbicide than usual.

Justin Dammann doesn’t care whether

Late July is a critical time in the growing season, when the lush, tasseled corn on the Dammann family farm fills with sweet, juicy kernels.

The tall, dark-green stands of 2014 were a stark contrast to those of two years ago, when drought gripped the hilly region and state. Inch by inch, the heat drained the Dammanns’ crops. In a few fields, cornstalks were so weak, they tumbled.

For Justin Dammann, this isn’t climate change — it’s just the weather, bringing cycles that farmers across Iowa and the world have worked in, around and with for generations. It’s like “the grain markets or the stock market. It’s unpredictable. And it’s out of our hands,” he said.

But he and other farmers do acknowledge that weather trends are becoming more extreme, and they’re trying to mitigate the impact. He estimates that his family has invested $1 million over four decades in terraces, buffer strips and other conservation practices in an attempt to reduce soil erosion.

“I don’t want to paint a picture that Mother Nature is out of control and we’re not doing anything about it,” said Dammann. “We invest and we reinvest in the best tools possible,” incorporating GPS precision applicators and historical data to place the least amount of fertilizer and chemicals for maximum effect.

“The soil is our livelihood, and we’re passionate about it,” he said. “So we take it personally when some special-interest group points a finger and says we’re not doing it right.

“We do try to do it right. It’s our moral obligation and our livelihood. ... We hope these farms are in our family forever.”

This story is adapted from The Des Moines Register’s critically acclaimed series, Harvest of Change, published in September 2014. See it in full at: desmoinesregister.com/pages/ interactives/harvest-of-change

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HOT POTATOES

Controversy over a new genetically modified spud reflects the state of the GMO debate

J.R. SIMPLOT COMPANY

The Innate potato, left, created by the J.R. Simplot Company, is genetically engineered to resist the bruising and browning seen in regular potatoes.

By Adam Hadhazy

A

LTHOUGH MANY AMERICANS GOBBLE up foods made from genetically modified organisms (GMO) foods every day, the argument over their safety continues to put fire in people’s

bellies.

One of the latest flashpoints is the Innate potato. Created by the J.R. Simplot Company, a privately held firm based in Boise, Idaho, the tuber received regulatory approval in November 2014 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture after demonstrating that it posed no risk to the health of other plants.

“The potato in this case did not create any unusual challenges or any great uncertainty on our part,” said Mike Firko, deputy administrator for biotechnology regulatory services at the USDA, which oversees requests for deregulation of GMO crops. “We’re very comfortable with what we’re doing and the conclusions that we reach.”

The Innate potato is now expected to hit the market this spring, following approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Yet broad public skepticism about GMO safety has already compelled McDonald’s and Frito-Lay — the world’s largest fast-food chain and potato-chip maker, respectively — to state that they will not purchase the new Innate spud varieties.

The moves by both companies dovetail with public opinion, according to numerous polls. A January report from the Pew Research Center found that only 37 percent of adults in the United States believe GMO foods are safe to eat. This same poll, however, showed that fully 88 percent of scientists belonging to the respected American Association for the Advancement of Science consider GMO foods to be generally safe.

That 51-point gap between the perception of the general public and those of scientists turned out to be the starkest in any of the science and policy issues the Pew report addressed, including polarizing issues such as climate change.

Rampant public skepticism of GMO foods belies the ease at which they gain governmental approval and get adopted by farmers to be consumed — perhaps unwittingly — by those same skeptics. About 75 percent to 80 percent of processed foods in grocery stores nationally contain at least one GMO component, often corn syrup or other corn-derived ingredients, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

The USDA has approved 114 genetically modified organisms since 1986, with 14 added to the list last year. The first U.S.-approved GMO product for use in food was the enzyme chymosin, derived from microbes for making cheese, back in 1990.

The most recent approval came in February, when the USDA gave approval for the U.S. sale of genetically engineered non-browning apples.

The apples will be marketed as Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden by British Columbia-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits, and should appear on the market in 2017.

With the rise of herbicide-tolerant and insectresistant crops, the percentage of soybeans, corn and cotton with GMO properties planted in the U.S. has risen to more than 80 percent of acreage.

For some, the acreage exceeds 90 percent, said the USDA’s Economic Research Service.

Although resistance to GMO crops remains CO N T I N U E D

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Although new GMO foods such as the browning-resistant Arctic Apple, center left, are designed to appeal to consumers, many worldwide are still suspicious of the technology, including South Africans protesting biotech giant Monsanto in September 2014, left.

OKANAGAN SPECIALTY FRUITS

high in parts of the world, particularly in Europe, much of the world has embraced biotechnology.

“Over 400 billion acres, about 25 percent of the world’s farmland, is using GM technology, so adoption has been prolific,” said Robert Farley, chief technology officer at Monsanto, a major agricultural biotechnology company.

“People who have looked at it have said it’s the most rapidly adopted technology in the history of agriculture.”

To date, most genetically engineered crops have been aimed at producers, who can use them to boost yields and slash pesticide use, for instance. The Innate potato, however, is among the first of many in the pipeline geared more toward consumers.

The potato has two genetically engineered traits: One is a 70 percent reduction in a carcinogenic substance called acrylamide, which forms in potatoes when they’re cooked at high temperatures. The second trait leaves the potato less susceptible to “bruising,” which occurs when dark spots develop in the flesh from rough handling or compression during storage. The same phenomenon also makes potatoes turn brown after being cut open.

Bruised potatoes usually get chucked instead of chewed. If russet potato producers in the U.S. switch to the Innate Russet variety, J.R. Simplot estimates that 400 million pounds of waste would be spared annually in the retail and food service industries alone.

“Bruising is the No. 1 consumer

RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

complaint for fresh potatoes,” said Hanatural defenses against pests and for ven Baker, the general manager of J.R. proper metabolism of the vital nutrient Simplot. “And in a lot of cases, there’s nitrogen. Tinkering with these genes nothing wrong with the potato.” could alter the potato in unexpected and The Innate potato achieves its potentially harmful ways, to both the bioengineered feats thanks to “gene plant and those who eat it. silencing.” Genetic fragments from other The concern has been echoed by a potato types have been spliced into the panel of independent experts convened Innate potato’s in January 2014 by cells, shutting down the Environmental the production of Protection Agency Broad public certain enzymes (EPA), which also that affect browning has regulatory skepticism about and the developoversight of GMO ment of acrylamide. foods. The group GM safety has The geneexpressed unceralready compelled silencing technique tainty about the is known as RNA possible effects of McDonald’s and interference. PreviRNA interference in Frito-Lay to state ous bioengineered bystander, noncrops have relied targeted species. that they will not on it, but some But many in the purchase the new scientists feel the agriculture industry technique is not defend RNA Innate spud varieties. understood enough silencing and other to be deemed bioengineering risk-free by the tools, saying that no USDA. “The biggest concern we have credible evidence of harm has surfaced. is that USDA is really kind of rushing “Since the 1990s, it’s important to note forward,” said Doug Gurian-Sherman, that in all the crops and all the food director of sustainable agriculture and produced from those crops in the last senior scientist at the Center for Food 20 years, there’s not been a single food Safety, a Washington-based advocacy or feed safety issue associated with the group. “As is often the case, we learn technology,” said Farley. “They’ve had a how to manipulate something before we pristine track record in terms of safety.” fully understand it.”

Monsanto first tried to introduce a Some genes silenced in the Innate GMO potato in 1995, but its NewLeaf potato, Gurian-Sherman explained, are spud, crafted to fight the Colorado potato thought to play key roles in the plant’s beetle, did not take root. In contrast,

because of traits targeted to appeal to consumers, J.R. Simplot feels that the Innate potato will catch on.

The Idaho company is historically a major supplier of taters to McDonald’s, so J.R. Simplot would certainly like to have one of its prime buyers get on board. Though as Baker pointed out, of the three potato sectors — fresh, fry and chip — the initial market for Innate is the fresh, consumer-oriented one. “That’s the intended market where the most benefits are going to be,” he said.

Acceptance of the Innate potato and other GMO foods may face further obstacles. In the 2014 midterm elections, two statewide ballot initiatives mandating the labeling of genetically modified foods almost passed.

The pro-labeling side, which was vastly outspent by Monsanto, J.R. Simplot and others, argued that consumers have a right to know whether foods contain GMO ingredients. The anti-labeling side countered that labeling might needlessly scare consumers away from a technology that increases yields and keeps food costs down. Similar ballot initiatives and battles loom.

Still, despite gnawing public doubt, the industry is confident that, with much of the scientific community supporting GMO technology, the rest of society will come around.

“I’m optimistic about the future,” said Farley. “Eventually the science will win out.”

Contributing: Melanie Eversley

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Questions of ownership arise as farmers rely more on high-tech tools COURTESY OF ROBERT BLAIR/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Adam Stone

D

ATA HAS CHANGED THE way Dominic Palumbo farms.

For 25 years, he has raised heirloom vegetables, along with eggs, fruit and heritage-breed animals at Moon in the Pond Farm in Sheffield, Mass. Like many farmers, he has been guided mostly by anecdote and experience.

But now the explosion of data-driven intelligence reaches every corner of his fields.

When tomato blight hit New England a few years back, sensors and software helped Palumbo make better decisions about how to handle it. “I was shocked that I was able to follow (the blight) day by day, seeing just how close this would come to me,” he said. “It gave me enough warning to decide what course of action I would take.”

The rise of “big data” in agriculture has been nothing less than revolutionary. Farmers today have access to finely detailed information, making the

picture of their livelihood more clear every day. But these changes come with a price. Conservative by nature, farmers want to know what happens to the data they collect. Who owns the information, who gets to use it and who ultimately gets the competitive edge?

FARMERS BENEFIT

On the upside, observers agree that data-driven farming saves money and boosts profits.

Through precision agriculture,

farmers save an average of 15 percent in expenses while boosting crop yields by 13 percent, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The PrecisionAg Institute reported that soybean farmers reap a 15 percent savings on seed, fertilizer and chemicals using data analysis. And the U.S. State Department said these techniques can increase yield by 16 percent and cut water use in half.

So how does precision agriculture CO N T I N U E D

Drone makers see agriculture as one of their most potentially lucrative markets.

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PHOTOS BY BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The Little Bohemia Creek farm in Warwick, Md., is one of many to use precision agriculture techniques, including a sensor that judges crop health using visible and invisible light, above.

It’s a movement that replaces gut feelings and instinct with high-tech tools.

“Farmers are hungry for better ways to run their farms.”

— Jesse Vollmar, CEO, FarmLogs

work? In general, sensors mounted on farm machinery gather reams of information and add the data to a pool, which is analyzed to produce an incredibly detailed picture showing a range of variables.

Data doesn’t just tell a farmer when to water, but how much water to apply to just one corner of a field.

The info can help determine how much humidity that corner of the field will get, how disease and insects will affect those few acres and how close seeds should be planted in even the smallest plot.

“It really helps what you are doing, not just a field but even certain areas of a field,” said Ryan Meister, director of technology at agricultural services provider Servi-Tech. “Here’s this little area where the yield wasn’t as good,

and here’s why that is happening. So they can fine-tune their management to specific areas, rather than treating a field as one big management zone.”

WHO IS BIG DATA?

Many companies are exploring ways to turn data into valuable tools for agriculture.

Founded in 2006, The Climate Corporation became part of ag giant Monsanto in 2013. The company’s cadre of ex-Silicon Valley software engineers and data scientists produce Climate Pro, which uses satellite imagery and other key indicators to track nitrogen levels, crop health and more. The product uses historical data supplied by government entities, as well about 40 farmer co-ops and other organizations. It costs $3 an acre to license the tool, and there’s a free version with fewer bells and whistles.

“We’re looking to empower every farmer in America to use data,” said CEO David Friedberg. “In the past, I could go into a weather site and try to guess whether the rain (would) hit my field. Now I can use software and see exactly how much rain has CO N T I N U E D

Dale Blessing steers his combine harvester while harvesting barley on June 17, 2014, in Milford, Del. More farmers are using sensors, GPS and other high-tech tools to make their jobs more efficient.

MISSION:

KEEP DATA IN THE RIGHT HANDS Led by the American Farm Bureau Federation, a coalition of major farm organizations and agriculture technology providers has crafted a framework they say protects farmers and their data.

These are a few of the policies seen as critical in the successful adoption of big data in agriculture.

How far the industry will go in fulfilling this agenda remains to be seen.

The Privacy and Security Principles for Farm Data include:

uOwnership: Farmers own information generated by their operations, but they should find a formula for sharing that data with other stakeholders, while laying out clear agreements with their technology providers. uCollection, Access and Control: Technology providers need the farmer’s explicit consent to access and use farm data. uNotice: Farmers must be told how their data will be disclosed and used.

They should be told who, if

anyone, will have access to their data. uTransparency and Consistency: Providers need to fully disclose why they are collecting data and being transparent in their policies and practices about its use. uChoice: Farmers should know whether they can opt out, and what happens if they do. uPortability: Farmers get to take their data with them if they shift to another system.

— Adam Stone

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A sensor atop this tractor-drawn liquid fertilizer applicator helps the machine spread chemicals where they are needed the most.

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

accumulated in that specific “It is all about the field.” choice. The farmer Another company, FarmLogs of Ann Arbor, Mich., launched should have the a free product three years ago choice of what to that now works with a whopping 20 percent of U.S. row crop do with that data.” farms, representing more than $12 billion in crops. “Farmers — Matt Erickson, are hungry for better ways to economist for the run their farms,” said CEO Jesse American Farm Bureau Vollmar.

Federation FarmLogs uses Bluetooth technology to transmit data from tractor sensors to a tablet app. Farmers can analyze the information right in the field, rather than great promise, but they also see great risk going back to the office and firing up the in this new “cloud” they have to keep an desktop computer. eye on. Who owns the data? Where does Venerable data player IBM is in the it go? Who else gets to use it? In farmers’ game, too, with Deep Thunder, a nod to eyes, much remains unclear. its chess-playing software, Deep Blue. The STICKY SUBJECT program dips deep into weather patterns, In fact, more than 82 percent of both historical and present-day, to give farmers are unsure how companies farmers all-important input on rain, selling data-mining tools plan to use their temperature and other variables. data, according to the Farm Bureau. In IBM admits that weather remains the same survey, 77.5 percent of farmers difficult to predict, but a data-driven said they feared that regulators and other prediction is better than no prediction government officials might gain access to at all. “We are not pretending we are their private information without their perfect. That is simply not possible. But knowledge or permission. we do think we can reduce the error in Suppose, for instance, regulators from the forecast, and we can quantify that the Environmental Protection Agency uncertainty, and that then becomes look closely at data from a farm and actionable information,” said Lloyd notice high levels of fertilizer or other Treinish, IBM distinguished engineer and possible infractions. Would the agency be chief scientist for Deep Thunder. able to take action?

Farmers look at these tools and see

University of Maryland agricultural student Ariel Bourne, below left, examines new technologies at the USDA’s 2015 Agricultural Outlook Forum on smart agriculture.

“It is all about choice.

The farmer should have the choice of what to do with that data,” said Matt Erickson, an economist for the Farm Bureau.

A couple of potential solutions have arisen to address the data-privacy conundrum.

The Open Ag Data Alliance (OADA) advocates cloud transparency, a level of interoperability that would make it possible for farmers to move their data easily to new vendors.

Launched by Purdue University and a range of partners, this organization would put control of the data solidly in farmers’ hands.

“Right now, whatever terms of service we are offered, that is what we get.

Whatever privacy they want to give me, that is my only option,” said OADA project lead Aaron Ault, a corn and soybean farmer. Once farmers are able to change LANCE CHEUNG/USDA vendors, “then the market And beyond fears of government forces take over. If the farmers care about regulation, nearly 76 percent of survey privacy, they will have the choice to sign respondents said they are concerned that with vendors who have the terms of information could be used for commodity service they want.” market speculation without their consent.

At the end of the day, farmers and “It’s a real sticky subject right now. vendors will have to find a way to make There is a lot of skepticism among big data work. So says U.S. Department growers,” said Servi-Tech’s Meister. “Most of Agriculture Under Secretary Catherine farmers are not 100 percent sure of how Woteki, who oversees the agency’s sciit works. There is a lot of fine print in ence, education and economics programs. these licensing agreements, disclaimers It comes down to necessity, she said: that are 50 pages long.”

“The population is going to increase to In principle, most in the industry agree: over 9 billion by midcentury. The amount The farmer should own the information of farmable land is finite. Water and other generated on his or her farm. If that data natural resources also are finite. We are is going to be aggregated into a bigger facing much more variable weather patpool for analysis purposes, the farmer terns as a result of climate change. So our should be told about it. If it’s going to be ability to produce enough food to feed used to help the equipment vendor or be the growing population is an enormous made available to commodities traders or challenge. The way to do that sustainable competing farms, the farmer should be intensification is through the application told of that, too. of science.”

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G L N L O E L P A RY S D

to ms e u r n i a f t n a co iforni t h ug e Cal o r d ag of m s r a d Yea MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Mary Helen Berg

C

ALIFORNIANS FELT GIDDY WHEN real rain fell in December, skipping through puddles like a scene from Singing in the Rain. When gentle mist became genuine downpour, excitement grew as they realized there might be a chance that a historic drought — now entering its fourth year — would finally break.

But hope faded as weeks of dry skies followed, crushing any chance of reaching the 150 percent of normal precipitation that experts said was needed to end the drought. Farmers who in 2014 idled 410,000 acres and cut staff to save their operations now face another dry, dusty scramble to find water.

The future looks bleak: Scientists recently predicted California may suffer “megadroughts” lasting

decades later this century.

“I’m surprised we made it through last year. I’m surprised we’re still standing,” said Sarah Clark Woolf, a board member for the Westlands Water District whose family plans to fallow half of its 1,200 acres in the hard-hit San Joaquin Valley for the second year in a row. “We all keep thinking there’s no way we’re going to get through it, but most people know farmers tend to be extremely resourceful and figure out ways to make it work.”

POLICIES TO HELP

Last year’s drought “is responsible for the greatest absolute reduction in water availability for California agriculture ever seen,” according to a University CO N T I N U E D

Marina owner Mitzi Richards walks along her boat dock on the dried-up bed of California’s Huntington Lake, now at only about 30 percent capacity.

The state’s ongoing severe drought is causing dramatic water shortages, and some communities have actually run out of water.

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Farmer Steve Ladrigan, left, had planned to plant citrus trees on this plot of land until he found that there was no water available. He’s one of many farmers on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley with no groundwater at all.

PHOTOS BY DAN MACMEDAN

of California, Davis, economic report. But recent policy and funding changes soon should offer significant relief to parched farmland, said Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Among them: uA $7.5 billion water bond to fund improvements in the state water management system and long-range infrastructure projects in water storage, recycling and sustainability. uA streamlined water transfer process to make trades quicker and easier, and a new white paper to guide buyers and sellers through the process. u$10 million in state grants for individuals to finance water-saving projects such as soil moisture sensors and drip and micro sprinkler systems. uFederal drought relief funds of $20 million for the Central Valley. uDiscussions that could relax the guidelines regulating water diverted to protect the endangered Delta smelt — a small, silvery fish native “I don’t to the San Francisco know if estuary, particularly the Sacramento-San Joaquin the bank is Delta — potentially makgoing to loan ing more supplies available to agriculture. me money And for the first time for crop on in California history, the state has a plan to manage a property its precious groundwater, that doesn’t a valuable resource that supplies up to 60 percent have any of demand during drought, said Jeanine Jones, deputy water on it.” drought and interstate — Steve Ladrigan , resources manager for farmer the state’s Department of Water Resources (DWR).

The new law requires that local management entities form within five years to oversee and control groundwater use, an effort complicated by the fact that groundwater basins may overlap several municipal or water district boundaries.

“This has many moving parts, and different local jurisdictions can approach the problem differently based on the circumstances in their area,” Jones said. “I think a lot of people are still trying to understand what it means for them in the big picture.”

Unfortunately, new policies and projects will do little to help farmers this year, said Aubrey Bettencourt, a third-generation farmer in Hanford, Calif., and executive director of the California Water Alliance, a coalition representing 3,000 farmers and urban water users.

“It takes a minimum of 30 years to build anything in this state, and that’s without any major legal battles,” Bettencourt said. Last year, Bettencourt Family Farm fallowed 500 of 700 acres of nut trees and laid off two workers to stay solvent. This year, they’re holding tight, juggling expenses to protect remaining jobs.

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“The water bond is awesome — in 35 years — but we’re talking about (needing help) tomorrow,” she said.

COUNTING ON GROUNDWATER

Water supplies are critically low, with storage in the state’s largest reservoir, Lake Shasta, at 57 percent capacity in late February. Others have plunged as low as 6 percent. Last year, farmers in the Central Valley survived the hottest year in state history partly by digging hundreds of new wells.

With help from new policies perhaps years away and little rain in sight, California agriculture will count on groundwater again this summer.

Access to groundwater is the “key to agricultural prosperity” during drought, according to the UC Davis analysis. But no one knows how long it will last.

Without precipitation to replenish groundwater, levels in the San Joaquin Valley have dropped to all time lows, according to a recent DWR report. Snow melt from the Sierra Nevada mountains, which re-charges groundwater and usually accounts for one-third of California’s water, was near a historic low at only 19 percent of normal for early March.

Relying too much on groundwater causes land subsidence, or sinking. The entire southern half of the Central Valley is highly likely to experience subsidence at some point, according to the DWR report. DWR has contracted with NASA to review satellite images to help locate subsidence hot spots.

The results should be available this summer.

Steve Ladrigan, 57, is one of many farmers on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley with no groundwater at all. He spent his savings last year on water for his small navel orange orchard in Terra Bella and tried to stretch his supply by irrigating less and watering at night. This year, he’ll need a loan to buy water that he expects will cost 10 times what he paid two years ago — up to $1,500 per acre-foot.

“I don’t know if the bank is going to loan me

pasture conditions.

Drought maps illustrate California’s dry regions in deep red and orange, making the state look like MEETING THE NEED it’s on fire. Nearly the entire state — 99.8 percent — The California State Water Project and federal was in drought in early March, affecting 37 million Central Valley Project irrigate more than 3.5 million people, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. acres of farmland. They must delicately balance By the time Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of agricultural needs with competing uses through a emergency last year, requesting that Californians complex and aging system of dams, reservoirs and cut water use by 20 percent, some towns already canals that store and distribute water. looked like Dust Bowl images, with people bathing Farmers often say they must out of buckets when their taps ran battle fish for water, asserting that dry. Other towns have been luckier: too much is diverted to protect the brown lawns, unflushed toilets and region’s endangered species, such as dirty cars are still by choice.

Scientists the Delta smelt and Chinook salmon.

In March, the State Water Resourcrecently Water also is sometimes pumped out es Control Board announced a steep to prevent seawater from polluting decline in water conservation during predicted freshwater supplies. State officials the month of January, considered the say new technology and temporarily driest January since meteorological California eased environmental restrictions may records have been kept. Conservation may suffer help. But for an unprecedented second was less than half of what Brown year in a row, federal water supplies to wanted; additionally, per capita “megafarmers in the Central Valley have been water use inched up in January as droughts” slashed to zero. The state has promised compared to December 2014. a 20 percent allocation this year, Woolf predicts that a fourth year lasting contingent on availability. of drought will be the death knell for decades. some farms. “You can only fallow so THE COST much of your ground and still make As the drought continues, it could your land payments,” she said. cost agriculture $1 billion and 8,500 There is “no question” that jobs this year, in addition to losses of $2.2 billion impacts will be felt worse than last year, said Daniel in revenue and more than 17,000 jobs last year, Sumner, director of the University of California according to the the UC Davis report. As groundAgricultural Issues Center. But he hopes a combinawater levels drop, pumping costs will also increase, tion of resilience and experience will help California creating a potential $454 million in costs for 2015. farmers survive.

In general, those costs haven’t been passed on “If we have another terrible year, there’ll be less to consumers. Fruit prices rose by 6.6 percent water, but in a sense people will be even more agile in December, but vegetables fell by 5 percent. about getting that water to the place where it’s However, beef prices could rise 5 percent to 6 needed most,” he said. “Because sadly, they’ll have percent due to rising feed costs, and poor water and had a year of practice with this disaster.”

money for crop on a property that doesn’t have any water on it,” Ladrigan said.

A truck raises large dust cloud as it drives on a parched farm field in Los Banos, Calif., in September 2014.

MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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Student enrollment in agriculture-related degrees is booming across the United States. Some programs focus on farming, others on the science.

Iowa State University alumna Sara Doerman, below, worked on a research project involving painted turtles.

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY; NATIONAL FFA ORGANIZATION

A GROWTH INDUSTRY

Ag colleges focus on science, business and global education

By Katherine Reynolds Lewis

V

ISIT THE CAMPUS OF an agricultural college, and you’ll witness a very different scene than you would have 10 or 20 years ago.

Agriculture studies are no longer limited to growing crops and raising livestock. Lecture halls aren’t filled with white male students.

A diverse group of undergraduates now studies business, science and global sustainability and ponders topics central to the challenge of feeding, clothing, housing and producing natural resources for the world’s growing population. And coming off some of the highest crop prices in history, graduates are almost guaranteed employment.

That secure career path is reflected in booming interest. Student enrollment was up 33 percent in 2012 compared to 2004, according to the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).

At Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the growth is even more dramatic: an 83 percent increase in undergraduate enrollment since 2005.

“We have increased the number of women enrolled in our college, and that’s been a fascinating trend to watch,” said

“The field is very slowly diversifying. It David Acker, associate dean for academic needs to do so at a much more rapid pace. and global programs at Iowa State’s College Given the demographic trends for the of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “The nation, agriculture lags far, far behind,” she other (trend) is drawing a larger number of said. students from urban areas, suburban areas, The U.S. Department of Agriculture sees small towns. ... The students that are coming the growing number of to us now want to make a students with no farm difference in the world.” experience as both In general, animal sci“The field is very a challenge and opence remains the largest slowly diversifying. portunity. These students field of study, driven by can fill labor shortfalls students who dream of It needs to do so at in business and science becoming a veterinarian specialties such as plant or want to raise livestock. a much more rapid science, food safety and That’s followed by agripace.” environmental engineercultural business; general — Wendy Fink, ing. agriculture ranks a distant Association of Public and “While these demothird, according to Wendy Land-grant Universities graphic changes diminish Fink, associate director the pool of students who for food agriculture and begin their education natural resources at APLU. with an interest and familiarity with agriClasses are more diverse than ever before. culture, they also provide an opportunity The percentage of Caucasian students to expand the involvement of the food and enrolled in agriculture studies has fallen agricultural sciences to all society, which is from 74 percent in 2004 to 67 percent in the goal for our new Education and Literacy 2012. The number of international, black Initiative,” said Sivapathasun Sureshwaran, and multiracial students has increased by 1 division director of the division of compercent for each group; there are 2 percent more Hispanics and 0.6 percent more CO N T I N U E D Asians.

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Students in Iowa State University’s Horticulture Enterprise Management, below, with professor Ajay Nair, in red, help manage and operate produce production for local markets. Sophomore Nicole Engelkin, right, traveled to Italy to enrich her studies in dairy science.

munity and education at USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Growing areas of study at Purdue University include food science, which boasts 100 percent employment and high starting salaries; agricultural and biological engineering; and wildlife and fisheries, said Marcos Fernandez, associate dean of Purdue’s College of Agriculture. Employers’ need for qualified workers outpaces enrollment in plant science, horticulture, agricultural education and forestry technology.

“Wood products technology, where you bring in renewable resources and use them in new ways, that’s an area where there’s tons of jobs. But the students, for whatever reason, are not there, not only at Purdue but all around the country. If they love the science and business but also have the creative juices to design and care about being sustainable, this is a perfect major for them,” Fernandez said. “They make good money when they graduate.”

At the high school level, an increasing number of students recognize the broad

ment, improving our health, feeding our world, enriching our youth and growing our economy,” said Dugas. “This can be seen in our college’s top five majors for admitted freshmen in 2014: animal science, biochemistry, nutrition, forensic investigative sciences and agribusiness.”

Matt Kerns, 21, a junior at Iowa State University from Clearfield, Iowa, has been surprised by the number of travel and realworld opportunities for undergraduates. He and peers participate in industry conferences around the country and study abroad.

Kerns spent time in South Korea and Rome and also did an internship in Brazil.

“There are so many opportunities to see the aspects of production in other places.

When you can look at it with a worldview, it drives more passion,” said Kerns, who grew up on a family hog farm. “With the population growth and the food demands going forward, a lot of people want to have a role in international agriculture and help PHOTOS BY IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY develop and increase our efficiencies.”

Kerns is majoring in animal science while range of career paths possible in agriculture. simultaneously earning an MBA. He plans to “We talk about 300 different careers, finish his studies in January 2016 and work from the farm gate to the dinner plate,” said for a livestock company before returning to Dwight Armstrong, CEO of the National his family’s business. Many of his classmates FFA Organization. “We see a big increase are earning multiple degrees, as they see in young people seeing that you can be a business and science as a key to success in scientist, a chemist, agriculture. an engineer.”

Drew D. Mogler, 21, The College of a junior from Lester, Growing areas of study Agriculture and Life Iowa, enriched his at Purdue University Sciences at Texas agriculture business A&M University has studies with travel include food science, seen a 22 percent and real-world conincrease in enrollment nections. He’ll go back which boasts 100 perin the last six years, to the family farm cent employment and with 56 percent after working in the females and many industry. “Between high starting salaries. first-generation now and then, I’m college students, really interested in said William A. Dugas, acting dean and vice spending time with producers, helping them chancellor for the college. add value to their farms,” he said. “I want to “Students in the College of Agriculture go through the interview process with some and Life Sciences, both undergraduate and potential companies, and I told my dad, ‘If graduate, are looking for opportunities you guys want to interview me too, I’ll put to tackle many of our society’s complex you in the mix.’ Wherever my heart goes at challenges, such as protecting our environthe end of the day, that’s where I’ll be.”

TOP AG MAJORS T

THINKSTOCK

ACADEMIC AREA/MAJORS ACA

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

uAnimal sciences uAgricultural economics, agricultural business and management uAgriculture, general uPlant sciences uAgricultural mechanization and engineering uAgricultural public services uFood science and technology uAgricultural production operations uApplied horticulture/horticultural business services uSoil sciences uAgricultural and food products processing uEquestrian/equine studies and animal services uInternational agriculture

24,099 12,998 7,860 6,024 4,979 5,723 3,083 1,195 2,110 552 428 616 154 69,821

25,144 13,720 8,055 5,966 5,091 5,973 3,428 1,287 2,055 636 461 539 132 72,487

26,352 14,034 8,525 5,948 5,544 6,205 3,954 1,403 2,315 749 477 591 166 76,263

26,753 14,087 9,097 6,336 5,861 6,415 4,162 1,645 2,077 814 481 575 186 78,489

28,433 14,114 9,849 6,753 6,251 6,401 4,573 1,966 1,816 873 491 206 219 81,945

29,516 15,726 9,680 7,427 6,368 5,764 4,264 2,704 1,625 958 670 261 236 85,199

Source: Association of Public and Land-grant Universities

TOTAL

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Beth Wheatley’s job as grain coordinator for Missouri-based agricultural cooperative MFA Inc. puts her faceto-face with farmers, including Bob Wilburn, right, and his son Jay.

OFF THE LAND

TIM PARKER

A living in agriculture can be made away from the farm

By Diana Lambdin Meyer

W

HEN BETH WHEATLEY walked across the stage at the University of Missouri’s graduation ceremony in December 2014, she had something waiting for her on the other side, something all college graduates (and their parents) hope to achieve.

Wheatley had a job. Not just any job — her dream job, with a salary and benefits that many college graduates wait years to achieve. She is one of thousands of young college graduates finding success and

satisfaction in one of the strongest career fields out there: agriculture.

“Agriculture runs neck and neck with engineering as far as the highest demand for college graduates,” said Mike Gaul, director of career services at the Iowa State Universty College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

In fact, nearly 98 percent of Iowa State ag graduates get job placements, according to Gaul.

“Agriculture as a career is sexy again,” he said.

Here is a sampling of some jobs in this exciting industry that don’t require on-thefarm work.

BETH WHEATLEY

GRAIN COORDINATOR A grain coordinator, or originator, represents a company that purchases crops from independent farmers, convincing growers to sell their grain through the larger company. Wheatley’s job is with MFA Inc., a 100-year-old cooperative with 45,000 clients in five states.

Wheatley, who originally planned to major in biology and chemistry for a future in medicine, did two internships with MFA, testing grain for weight, moisture and CO N T I N U E D

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SHAWN SPENCE

Salesman Landon Frye always wanted a job on the business side of farming.

He’s managed loan portfolios for Farm Credit Illinois and now works for software company Granular, connecting farmers with new technology.

disease. “It was like being a agriculture and signed up scientist, but not having to for a nine-month interna“Agriculture work in a lab,” she said. tional business class that Now age 22 and based changed his life. The class as a career in Laddonia, Mo., she focused on the food supply oversees the acquisition of chain and ended with a is sexy again.” about 4.5 million bushels of two-week, whirlwind — Mike Gaul, Iowa grain from farmers in three tour of China’s agriculture State University northern Missouri counties. regions.

She is also responsible for A sponsor of the class grain quality as it leaves was OSI Group, an Aurora, MFA elevators to head to processing Ill.-based global company that owns all companies such as Archer Daniels Midland. aspects of its food product. This same com“Much of what I do is talk with farmers pany eventually offered Witchek a job. He about options for storage, delivery dates and returned to China for 18 months to oversee cash prices,” she said. About half of her time the construction and initial operation of a is in the office and the remainder on the poultry processing plant there. road, visiting farmers at their workplaces.

“Technically, someone with a nonThat’s one reason MFA provided her with a agriculture degree could have done this job, Chevy Silverado pickup truck. but understanding all steps of the supply “It appeals to the math and analytic chain is very beneficial,” he said. side of me,” she said, explaining that it’s a Witchek’s work as a supply chain dream job because she gets “to talk with operations manager has focused on farmers about their needs and concerns shipping. An ongoing challenge is figuring and, ultimately, I help them make the most out how to get fresh produce to parts of for their crops.” the country covered by ice and snow three months of the year. He recently took a job GEORGE WITCHEK as a production supervisor in the operations SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS MANAGER department at Streamwood, Ill.-based Fresh George Witchek grew up within the Express, which provides packaged, readyflight path of Chicago’s O’Hare International to-eat salads to supermarkets.

Airport and originally went to college at “Agriculture is so much more than the University of Illinois for a career in the farming, and if you can’t get the food to the hospitality industry. Then, a funny thing consumer, it doesn’t help the farmer at all.” happened. Witchek visited his girlfriend’s LANDON FRYE family farm.

TECHNOLOGY SALES “It taught me to appreciate the challenges Landon Frye grew up on a 2,500-acre of growing food and the initial stages of the grain farm near Easton, Ill., but knew he food supply chain,” he said. wanted to work on the business side of Witchek, now 25, changed his major to

agriculture rather than the family farm.

With a degree in agriculture and consumer economics from the University of Illinois, he took a job with Farm Credit Illinois, one of several financial institutions that, with support from the federal government, provides loans for agriculture enterprises.

For two years, he happily managed about 100 portfolios.

Then he was approached by a start-up software company out of San Francisco called Granular. Using smartphone technology, Granular (granular.ag) helps growers prioritize their work based on weather conditions and growing stages, while highlighting practices that improve yield.

“What many consumers don’t understand is that farming is highly dependent on technology, and that technology changes as rapidly as it does in their workplace,” Frye said. “My job is to help growers understand this new technology and to trust it to improve their bottom line.”

Trust is the key word. Being a young salesperson for a relatively new company has its challenges, although Frye, 25, who works from his home in ChampagneUrbana, Ill., admits that plenty of farmers are eager to be on the cutting edge. He attends at least 10 agriculture conferences a year, in addition to making a half-dozen or so home visits each week.

“A good day for me is when I see our product click with a farmer and (the farmer realizes) they are the path to greater efficiency and profitability,” Frye said.

DREW BECKMAN

SALES AGRONOMIST Drew Beckman, a sales agronomist, is not necessarily comfortable with the “sales” part of his job title. Although he does handle sales for a small crop dusting service, he sees himself as more of an adviser, the person farmers call when they have a problem. He’s even taking classes to become a Certified Crop Adviser.

“When you walk into that field, you have to be prepared for so many possibilities.” he said.

Beckman, 22, of Bloomington, Ill., helps farmers identify the various insects or diseases attacking their crops. He makes recommendations on everything from seed selection to fertilizers to cover crops that minimize soil erosion while enhancing soil conditions.

“These are big financial decisions that could cost the farmer $50,000 or more, so I need him to trust me. That means I need to know what I’m talking about,” said Beckman.

During growing season, Beckman is in the office by sunrise, working with pilots and chemists, maps and sometimes even drones to ensure the best solution for his clients’ fields. During much of the off-season he attends trade shows, classes and meetings and carefully reads new research to better understand the ever-changing world of agriculture.

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Futures markets help farmers ride out agriculture’s unpredictable price fluctuations. Traders at the Chicago Board of Trade, right, are a key part of that market, offering bids on contracts for crops.

PLACE YOUR BET SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

Futures keep farmers afloat before the cash rolls in

By Katherine Reynolds Lewis

FRED ZWICKY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

T

IM GREGERSON, A FARMER in Herman, Neb., likes the recent run-up in corn prices so much that he’s already sold some of his as-yet-unplanted 2016 crop. But since local grain elevators will only agree to purchase six or eight months ahead of delivery, Gregerson turned to the futures market, selling December 2016 corn futures as a way to lock in today’s prices for later.

“The futures market is a large part of how we market all four of our commodities — corn, cattle, pigs and soybeans,” said Gregerson, who with his father farms 3,800 acres of corn and raises 2,500 head of hogs in east-central Nebraska. “A lot of people have been told over the years that being in the commodities market is a huge risk in itself, but if you manage the commodities right, it actually helps you manage risk on your farm.”

Farmers pay for fertilizer, seed, herbicide, machinery and labor before they receive a dime from a cash sale of crop or livestock. The futures market can provide them with an advance on crops yet unharvested or, at a minimum, lock in a future price.

“We have to write 16 to 18 different

checks before we ever get one check for A futures contract, simply put, is an our crop,” Gregerson said. “We’re heavy agreement to buy or sell a set amount front-loaded on expenses, back-loaded on of a commodity at a given point in the income. Almost every year, we’re able to future. The exchange requires both buyer make a net gain in our farming operation and seller to deposit money, known as by using the futures market.” “margin,” as a guarantee that they will Gregerson isn’t alone. The futures follow through on the contract. If prices markets — the universe of exchanges rise or fall dramatically, the exchange will including those in Kansas City, Chicago and require additional (and actual) money to New York — are one cover the change in way many producers the contract’s value, smooth out their which is known as a “Know what price you income fluctuations margin call. and manage the It’s much like will sell your product risk of commodity the stock market, at and do not waver price swings. Their where your worth marketing strategies can rise or fall from that.” include contracts with the market, — Lochiel Edwards, farmer with names such although you see no as “futures,” “put actual money until options,” “call you cash in. options” and “hedge-to-arrive.”

Here’s an example of how this all “Nationwide, farmers have really works: become sophisticated in their use of these Say a farmer sells a corn futures marketing tools,” said Lochiel Edwards, contract for $3 per bushel, and prices who farms 8,000 acres of wheat near rise by the time his crop is harvested. At Big Sandy, Mont., and keeps an eye on that point, he can buy futures for $4 per the markets in case they hit his targeted bushel, closing out the obligation, and price for wheat. “The trick is to set a price sell the crop for $4 a bushel. He’s lost $1 that will be achieved often enough that a bushel in the futures market but gained you will have your cash flow to run your it in the cash market, giving him the net business.” price he wanted, $3 per bushel. On the

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other hand, if prices fell by harvest time, he could buy the futures contract for $2, making a profit of $1 per bushel. That would compensate him for the lower $2 per bushel price for his cash crop, again netting out at $3.

When Gregerson sells one December 2016 corn futures contract on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he’s agreeing to sell 5,000 bushels of #2 yellow corn on the first business day prior to Dec. 15, 2016.

For every futures contract he sells — he can divide up his virtual crop and sell a contract on each segment — another person or organization buys one through the exchange, agreeing to buy corn under the same terms.

Gregerson only sells one-third of his expected crop this far in advance, since the vagaries of the growing season can change how much he produces, and prices will surely fluctuate between now and harvest.

But he monitors the futures markets and will sometimes change the proportion of soybeans and corn he plants if the future prices for one crop start becoming much higher, relative to historical levels, than the prices for the other.

“We like to keep a rotation close to 50 percent corn and 50 percent beans due to health and disease,” he said. “We might go up or down 10 percent, to 40/60 at most.”

In addition to selling futures, he sometimes also buys a “put,” which is a contract that gives the buyer the right to sell a commodity at a pre-specified price on or before a certain date. Similarly, a “call” gives the buyer the right to buy the commodity at a set price in the future. Unlike futures contracts, with a put or call, you merely pay a one-time premium for the contract and don’t have to worry about paying additional money through margin calls. Nor are you obliged to follow through if prices don’t go the way you hope — the put or call merely becomes worthless.

Commodity consultant David Hightower encourages producers to engage more actively in put and call options. “When you have options in which you can limit your risk and not really limit the amount of cash price gains you can make, I think they should be stepping up the percentage that they protect,” said Hightower, founding principal of The Hightower Report, based in Chicago. “They have to more firmly embrace the tools.”

But producers also need to understand the risks.

Edwards, the Montana farmer, didn’t have a problem with the futures markets until 2008, the year that wheat prices hit an all-time high. He’d already sold futures contracts to lock in a price of $5.30 a bushel for a good part of the crop he would harvest that spring, so when prices climbed to $9 and $10 a bushel, the futures exchange required him to come up with $450,000 in a margin call.

“It was a lot of money, and that was uncomfortable,” recalled Edwards.

Eventually, he was able to sell his crop for $8.50 a bushel, leaving him enough money to close out the futures position and make the profit he needed. But the experience left his partners rattled, and they haven’t sold futures since. Instead they use hedge-to-arrive (HTA) contracts, which are agreements with grain merchants to sell commodities at a certain point in the future.

The difference between an HTA contract and some futures contracts is that the agreement requires the farmer to deliver actual crops; some buyers of futures contracts are interested only in making money off those market changes. The merchants eliminate their own risk by selling futures against the HTA contracts, and charge a premium to the producers.

For Edwards, it’s worth the price for two reasons. First, he doesn’t have to worry about a margin call. Second, it helps him stick to his marketing plan, even if prices fall or rise dramatically and the lure of easy profits tempts him to deviate from the plan.

“You’re not technically the owner of those futures contracts, and you don’t have the ability to play them daily if you think you’re smart or you get bored,” he said. “It injects a measure of discipline into the system.”

Indeed, Hightower said the most successful farmers in the futures markets are those who take the emotion out of their marketing decisions, decide upon a strategy at the end of a crop year and stick to it no matter what happens. He compared those who wait to see how prices evolve and then try to jump into the market to automobile owners who buy car insurance after a crash, “My goal is to make the sales in the upper third of the trading range. You don’t try to hit the top,” Edwards agreed. “The thing I’ve found that really makes for a successful marketing plan is to know what price you will sell your product at and do not waver from that. … It’s more important to have a marketing plan than it is to have the best marketing plan.”

TRADING PITS SET TO CLOSE

SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

THE FUTURES MARKET

1

HOW IT WORKS

Farmer sells futures contracts.

2 Investors buy futures contracts from farmer. b. Some investors sell them to others and make money off the change in price.

a. Some investors hang onto the contracts.

3 Everyone, farmers included, sets aside money to cover large changes in price (a margin call).

4 a. If prices rise: Farmer buys another futures contract at a higher price to make sure he gets the price he wants.

THINKSTOCK

b. If prices fall: Farmer buys another futures contract for a lower price to make sure he gets the price he wants.

5 Farmer harvests his crop, sells crop according to contract, gets his price and makes a profit.

Commodities traders call it an end of an era.

CME Group, parent company of the Chicago Board of Trade and other exchanges, announced in February it will shut down most trading in its 21 pits in Chicago and New York in July.

Those pits are where people establish prices by flashing hand signals and shouting at each other on the trading floor. But the shoulder-to-shoulder tussle will end with a

whimper. Futures traders and clerks in CME pits have dwindled to about 475, and many of them now work via computer.

Faster, cheaper computers have taken over the process of establishing prices on everything from ExxonMobil shares to hogs and cattle. Floor trading has shrunk to a fraction of its volume from two decades ago. In total, 2.8 billion futures were traded on CME exchanges last year, but nearly all

electronically. Only 31 million futures changed hands on trading floors.

Jim Bower, a 40-year trading veteran, calls the computerized environment “austere” and misses the verbal cues that helped him sense where prices were headed. “I could tell whether the market was bullish or bearish just by the tone in the pits,” he said. “It’s not as much fun as it used to be.”

— The Associated Press

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PROTECTIVE MEASURES Harsh weather puts farmers, crop insurance program at risk

By Laura Laing

“W

E’RE ALWAYS OPTIMISTIC, us farmers.”

Robert Lynch, who raises corn and soybeans, might be understating things a bit. In 2012, his 1,600-acre farm in Humboldt County, Iowa, suffered through a drought severe enough to affect his crop totals.

The next year, the ground was so wet in some places that he couldn’t plant all of his acreage. And last year, tremendous storms hit after his plants were in the ground.

“We started losing yield,” Lynch said of 2014. “At the same CO N T I N U E D

Drought-damaged corn in Bruceville, Ind., awaits evaluation from insurance adjusters in 2012.

Crop insurance helps farmers recover financially from such weather-related disasters.

SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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Farmers must protect their land using methods such as no-till farming, left, in order to receive crop insurance premium subsidies.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

Crop insurance has been available to farmers since 1972, when President Nixon signed the Farm Crop Insurance Bill into law.

time, the price of corn went down.”

Thankfully, Lynch had crop insurance.

Each time, he was able to make a claim and receive a payment.

“Basically, crop insurance has helped us break even and stay in business one more year,” Lynch said. He’s optimistic that the area will be spared a big weather event this year.

“What you’re seeing is a lot of concern about the changes in weather patterns,” said Andrew McElwaine, president and CEO of American Farmland Trust, an organization that acts to protect farmland through conservation efforts. Severe droughts, rains and winds put farmers at risk for losing their livelihood — sometimes year after year.

An October 2014 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report addressed the effects of climate change on crop insurance and confirmed what industry insiders expected: Crop insurance is critical protection against unexpected loss. At the same time, if severe weather patterns continue, the cost of crop insurance may become unsustainable.

The GAO’s review of 20 scientific and independent studies revealed some important data. Climate disruptions have increased, and it is projected that by the mid-2000s, sustained changes in temperature and precipitation will affect crops. In the meantime, farmers are dealing with intermittent weather events, and the total value of insured crops has risen. From 2007 to 2013, the total value of property covered by crop insurance rose from $75 billion to $125 billion. That’s an increase of 67 percent. By comparison, the total value of property covered by the National

more robust crop insurance program.

“The expectation was that this would save money,” McElwaine said.

But how, if weather is becoming more severe and farmers are depending on crop insurance more often? McElwaine said it’s through the program’s ties to conservation efforts. Farmers who seek eligibility for premium support under the federal crop insurance program must file a Highly Erodible Land Conservation and Wetland Conservation Certification (AD-1026) with their local Farm Service Agency. In short, they must demonstrate that they are taking efforts to reduce erosion and protect wetlands.

“The new farm bill is a watershed moment in conservation,” McElwaine said.

“My hope is that by linking conservation BOB NICHOLS/USDA compliance with crop insurance, there will be more of an incentive” to farm with Flood Insurance Program rose by a mere 9 conservation in mind. percent.

Peterson is all for it. “I’m not a big Mark Peterson, a corn and soybean believer in government intervention in farmer from Stanton, Iowa, isn’t new to crop private enterprise, such as farming,” he said. insurance. “I’ve been in the crop insurance But “if farmers are going to eat out of the program since about ’93, when my lender government trough, the government should said, ‘You have to have it,’” he said. have the right — within reason — to ask for Like Lynch, Peterson has had a variety of certain compliance.” claims over the years, due to drought, hail For farmers like Peterson and Lynch, the and preventive planting. connection between crop (When the ground is too insurance and conservawet to plant by a certain tion goes way beyond From 2007 to date, farmers can make politics. a claim that they were “We’ve got to think 2013, the total prevented from planting.) about what we’re doing value of property Peterson and Lynch in this world,” Lynch said. have something else in “I just think we need to covered by crop common: They practice conserve our land and conservation farming. leave it as it is.” insurance rose Approaches like no-till Peterson, a conservafrom $75 billion and strip-till farming, tive Republican, calls crop rotation and terrace himself a shrimp-hugger. to $125 billion. farming help maintain “We don’t want to send soil nutrients and reduce our nutrients to the Gulf soil erosion. of Mexico,” he explained, These efforts might well be part of the noting that run-off from farms like “resilient agricultural practices” that the Peterson’s has a damaging effect on shrimp GAO wants the feds to recommend to farmpopulations in the Gulf. “And it’s guaranteed ers. But even before the GAO report was that the Gulf of Mexico doesn’t want them.” published, Congress took action, changing Still, the GAO’s recommendations have the role of crop insurance in the farm bill, not been completely mitigated, McElwaine which became law in February 2014. said. “It’s a step forward.”

“Up until 2014, direct payments were Besides, according to both Peterson and made to farmers, regardless of need,” Lynch, conservation is part of good farming.

McElwaine explained. For 82 years, these “We’re seeing these almost annual highly criticized subsidies were paid to 100-year rain events, and yes, they are out farmers, no matter what. of our control,” Peterson said. “Is it fair? No. The new farm bill eliminates these Do we have control over it? No. Do we need subsidies, moving to a risk-management to take this in stride and figure out what to model. The funds are now appropriated in a do? Yes.”

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