SDSU Extension publishes the South Dakota Pest & Crop Newsletter each week to provide growers, producers, crop consultants, and others involved in crop production with timely news pertinent to management of pests, diseases, and weeds in South Dakota.
The Crop Condition Index (CCI), is calculated to track the condition of a specific crop from week to week during the growing season. It is based on the crop condition ratings reported each week in USDA’s Crop Progress Report. South Dakota’s office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) surveys Extension Educators and others each week to determine crop progress and crop condition during the growing season. Information from this weekly survey is released each Monday afternoon.
As producers are planting crops this spring, many also are often asked to help neighbors with tillage, spring planting of small grain, corn or soybeans and other operations.
The early onset of spring this year set off a round of tornadoes in the Upper Midwest, causing significant damage and injuries in Illinois, Michigan, and the surrounding areas. More recently, a weekend of severe weather brought tornadoes that went through Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and other neighboring states.
Cash prices are separated by region and a simple cash average price is then calculated for each specific region. The basis is calculated by subtracting the closing futures price of the nearby futures contract from the average cash price of grain in each of the six regions.
On Thursday, May 10, USDA released its May World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), which contained updated estimates for the 2011/12 marketing year and USDA’s first forecasts for the 2012/13 marketing year.
Last Monday, April 30, the CME Group issued a statement that it had no formal response to rumors that were circulating that it was looking to expand the daily trading hours for its CBOT grain futures contracts. The next day, May 1, CME Group issued a press release indicating that it was expanding trading hours on grain futures contracts beginning on May 14.
Last week was another week of intense volatility in the grain and livestock markets. While early freeze concerns in South America prompted a strong rally in the soybean market, the live cattle and feeder cattle market was rocked by USDA’s April 24 announcement of the nation’s fourth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Many South Dakota farms and ranches are facing the tough management challenge of transitioning the business to the next generation. Part of this management challenge is finding sufficient funding. A natural conflict arises between the need for short term liquidity and long term capital to provide for growth. There is the need for cash to meet current business needs, provide personal security in retirement, return to ownership, provide for the needs of a growing family, and finance a business transition. It is no wonder that many businesses find managing the transition as one of the toughest management challenges they face.
Modern farming is a challenging business, but also one of opportunities. There are many decisions and tough choices to make. Input costs are projected to be higher in 2012, profit margins could be smaller and the last crop report pressured commodity prices lower. Where will farm incomes go from here? It is tough to predict accurately.
“If you don’t know where you are going, you are certain to end up somewhere else.” this quote from Yogi Berra is a great reason for family ranch and farm businesses to develop their own vision and strategy. Why is strategic planning important? If a business or family has little idea where it is headed, it tends to wander with priorities changing constantly and employees and family members confused about their direction, purpose, and jobs.
In the farm and ranch business today managers and employees can be overloaded with information making it hard to focus on the true essential items that will lead to success. This is where identifying key success factors (KSFs) can help.