Month: September 2016

2016 Agricultural Lender Seminars

By: Wm. Bruce Clevenger, Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Defiance County

Ohio State University Extension has scheduled three seminars in Ohio for Agricultural Lenders. The dates are Monday, October 24th at the Putnam County Educational Service Center in Ottawa, Ohio; Wednesday, October 26 at the OSU Extension Champaign County Community Center Auditorium in Urbana, Ohio; and Friday, October 28th at the OARDC Fisher Auditorium in Wooster, Ohio. These seminars are excellent professional development opportunities for Lenders, Farm Service Agency personnel, county Extension Educators and others to learn about OSU Extension research, outreach programs and current agricultural topics of interest across the state.

Featured Speakers at all three 2016 Ag Lender Seminar locations will be:

Matt Roberts, Ph.D., Ohio State University, AEDE, Associate Professor – The Rise & Fall & Rise & Fall of U.S. Grain Prices;

Peggy Hall, J.D., Ohio State University Extension, Field Specialist – Agricultural & Resource Law Update

Barry Ward, OSU Extension, Assistant Professor, Leader Production Business Management – Land Values, Rents, Crop Inputs & Margins in 2017.

 

Additional topics by location include:

Ottawa, OH

Chris Hurt, Ph.D., Purdue University, Professor – Livestock Market Economics

David Drake, Chief of Ohio FSA Farm Loan Programs

Dean Stoller, WG Dairy Supply: Dairy Tech and its Financial Impact

 

Urbana, OH

Dianne Shoemaker, OSU Extension Field Specialist – Farm Profitability and Benchmarking

Dale Richer, OSU Extension Swine Program Specialist – Hog Production Update

Amanda Douridas, OSU Extension Educator – Manure Management Technology and Research

 

Wooster, OH

Matt Kleinhenz, Ph.D., OSU Extension Specialist, Commercial Vegetable Production Update

Dianne Shoemaker, OSU Extension Field Specialist – Dairy Production Economics

Rory Lewandowski, OSU Extension Educator – Manure Management Update

Shelley Odenkirk, Wayne County FSA Office – Farm Service Agency Update

The registration cost to attend one of the Ag Lender Seminars is $65.00 and the registration deadline is one week prior to the seminar you are attending. Payments can be made by check by mail or by credit card (by phone only to 419-782-4771). Registration forms are available online at: https://u.osu.edu/aglenderseminars/

Registration questions can be directed to OSU Extension Defiance County 419-782-4771 or email clevenger.10@osu.edu

 

The cloud and the changing face of agriculture

Amazon Web Services Agriculture Analysis in the Cloud Day at The Ohio State University

Enterprises, non-profits, and startups around the world are using the cloud to accelerate innovations that are changing the face of agriculture.

In support of The Ohio State University’s Discovery Themes initiative, and in tandem with the 2016 Farm Science Review, Amazon Web Services and experts from around the country will demonstrate how massive public data sets of satellite photos and other earth-observation data can be used in precision agriculture. Coupled with advanced sensor technology and the Internet of Things, these data sets can be used specifically to increase crop yield, conserve natural resources, create a safer and more resilient food-supply chain and fight hunger.  To see more details click on aws-at-osu-background

Current Hay Conditions in Ohio

By: Maurice L. Eastridge, Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University

The weather conditions have been variable in Ohio this summer. Some areas have been extremely dry and other areas have been very wet during the past two to three months. Thus, hay yield and quality are quite variable across Ohio. For those areas that have been very dry, yields have been adversely affected, even though the quality of the hay harvested may be rather good. For the areas that have been wet, it has been very difficult to get the second and three cutting harvested. Thus, even though yields may be respectable, quality has been adversely affected. Therefore, many livestock farmers in Ohio need additional hay for the winter. In some cases, they need to purchase hay of higher quality than they have on hand. Now is the time to make such purchases as the last cuttings of the year are occurring and before prices creep up post harvest as supply diminishes with ample demand.  Read the full article by clicking on current-hay-conditions-in-ohio

2016 Corn Silage Crop in Ohio

By: Maurice Eastridge and Bill Weiss, Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University

The weather conditions have been variable in Ohio this summer. Some areas have been extremely dry and other areas have been very wet during the past two to three months. Thus, corn silage yields will likely be quite variable across Ohio this year. For those areas that have been very dry, yields will be adversely affected, but generally the concentrations of protein and energy will be better than average. Therefore, many dairy farmers in Ohio may need to purchase additional corn for silage or identify other ingredients to replace corn silage in the diet. Now is the time to make such decisions while some corn may still be standing in the field, other forages are readily available, and commodities will be less expensive near harvest time.  To read the full article click on 2016-corn-silage-crop-in-ohio

Economic Depreciation Change: Evidence from Periods of Net Farm Income Change

by: Barry Ward, Leader Production Business Management

Ohio State University Extension

Deterioration in profit margins for major Midwestern field crops over the last three years has created a changing environment with respect to farm machinery and equipment investment. The strong returns for Midwestern field crops from 2006 to 2013 together with favorable tax incentives (bonus depreciation and Section 179 expensing) led to strong demand for new and used farm machinery and equipment over this period. The subsequent period (2013 to present) of lower crop prices and profit margins has led to relatively weaker demand for farm machinery and equipment over this period. This weaker demand has led to softer markets for used equipment and trade-ins. These lower prices for farm machinery and equipment trade-ins has created a higher rate of implied economic depreciation for this machinery and equipment compared to the previous high profit period.

An analysis of farm machinery and equipment sales data from the online used farm equipment sales platform, Machinery Pete, allows us to examine the change in resale prices of used farm equipment over the period of profit margin change from 2000 through 2015.

Findings:

  • The average depreciation for 8 tractor models over the 2002-2015 period averaged $24.26 per tractor hour.
  • The average depreciation for 8 tractor models over the 2002-2006 period averaged $31.68 per tractor hour.
  • The average depreciation for 8 tractor models over the 2007-2013 period averaged $19.46 per tractor hour.
  • The average depreciation for 8 tractor models over the 2014-2015 period averaged $22.50 per tractor hour.
  • Evidence of fluctuations in economic depreciation between periods of high and low profitability seems to be supported by the data.

Conclusions:

  • Calculating depreciation per machine hour for power equipment may be more accurate than traditional methods of calculating depreciation.
  • Fluctuations in general farm profitability and machinery and equipment demand should be considered when utilizing hourly depreciation measures.
  • Follow equipment resale markets to discern changes in economic depreciation.
  • Change in resale price per unit and price per-hour-of-use of select makes/models over this time series implies a change in economic depreciation between periods of high profit margins and periods of low to negative profit margins.
  • The tractors examined in this study were found to have a lower resale value per unit and per-hour-of-use and therefore higher implied economic depreciation in the period of lower profit margins from 2014 through 2015 compared to the period of higher profit margins from 2007 through 2013.