Sorghum deserves designation as federally approved renewable fuel

Federal designation of sorghum-based ethanol as a renewable fuel is good for the nation and for Kansas, its top sorghum-growing state.

The election has passed and maybe surprisingly, not much has changed in Washington, D.C. 

We returned a strong Republican House, a Democrat Senate, and Barack Obama to the White House.

In November, I had a chance to imagine myself in the shoes of my forefathers as I witnessed the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history.

We bought a farm. A small farm. With years of work ahead before we will even begin to see its true productive potential. Nonetheless, we bought a farm. And we have moved one step closer to making the dreams we’ve only talked about become reality.

Life experiences teach plenty to those willing to learn. From the time I was a small boy, I remember my dad, uncles and grandfather talking and debating the issues of the day whenever we visited one another.

Back in 2001, we estimated that Brazil could bring 200 to 300 million acres of land into agricultural production—an area equal to the US acreage involved in major crop production. Two years later the, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, (FAS) estimated that over time the potential added production acreage could be closer 420 million acres.

While almost every industry today does a less than perfect job of living by the motto, “the customer is the most important part of business,” Kansas farmers and ranchers are one segment that adheres to this philosophy.

With each new generation, more of this country's population becomes further and further removed from the farm. It's easy to understand why many people in this country have no concept where their food comes from. Many have forgotten, or may have never known, that individual producers supply staples for the U.S. diet. Some people believe there will never be a food shortage in our country, as long as the doors remain open on their neighborhood supermarket.

The high prices being fetched this year for corn and soybeans this year may turn out to be a mixed blessing for crop farmers.

Here in the Midwest, we know farmers can get creative to deal with fluctuating prices. But this summer local farmers are turning their feed trough into an ice cream sundae. In Elkhart County, Indiana, one farmer has started to feed his dairy cows ice cream sprinkles, cookies, marshmallows, and gummy bears to give his cows the energy they need to produce milk. And in Reno County, Kansas, another farmer is feeding his cows thousands of pounds of chocolate scraps from a local chocolate factory.

Now that sounds like three discussions, not one.  But I just read a book recently, “Breakout Nations”, where the author stated that the speculation in commodities recently could be traced to the low interest policies of the Federal Reserve System.  As you remember these began with Greenspan during the George W. term.  Now that the recession has set in we will live with these low interest rates until there is no will to accept these poor savings terms.

When I began farming we had a government policy enforced by the Federal Reserve Bank(Paul Volker) who was  attempting to end the inflation which began with deficit spending during the Vietnam conflict and perhaps the initiation of “The Great Society” spending of the late 1960’s both of which were created or accelerated by Linden Johnson.  I paid 13.5 percent interest on a land loan in 1981, now I pay 6.5 percent.  Does this lower interest rate  encourage speculation in land?  Yes, I agree it does.

 Severe wind erosion of a recently planted no-till milo field.

Like they say, there's good points and bad points about everything. And no till is no different.

While farmers and ranchers continue to fill our plates with food, their plates are filled with an ever-increasing number of issues. Such issues include escalating production costs, tightening use of water, continuing drought in some western Kansas counties, an ongoing search for new markets for agricultural crops and increasing oversight and regulation to mention a few.

Years ago I heard a banker say that if he had to choose between managing an agricultural loan portfolio made up of 20 mid-sized farms covering 10,000 acres or 5 large farms managing the same area, he would choose the former.  He admitted that only dealing with the five could greatly simplify his workload and consolidate many of his complex lines of oversight. But, if one of the twenty mid-sized farms experienced a hardship other linked businesses and institutions like grain elevators, seed and input dealers, even schools and churches could weather the storm. On the other hand, if just one out of five large farms experienced a failure, the shock could threaten the whole system.