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In 2011, Texas had a drought and hay prices jumped up. In 2015, California had another drought and hay prices fell. In his presentation at the Western Alfalfa and Forage Symposium, Seth Hoyt, author of The Hoyt Report, explained this conundrum and gave attendees some insight on what 2016 prices might look like.
For convenience or necessity, we sometimes want to work in or make applications in our alfalfa fields during the late fall, winter and early spring. Alfalfa is most dormant then, and it is a good time to apply fertilizer, compost or manure. Sometimes we need to use herbicides that are supposed to be applied while alfalfa is dormant.
National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) reports farm policy opponents “love to tell tall tales of crop insurance providers banking huge returns. In a quest to eliminate farmers’ primary risk management tool, they repeatedly attempt to mislead lawmakers into believing that crop insurance profits are guaranteed and will remain rosy for perpetuity.
Center for Food Safety, on behalf of several beekeepers, farmers and sustainable agriculture and conservation groups, filed a lawsuit on Jan. 6 (PDF, 147KB) challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) inadequate regulation of the neonicotinoid insecticide seed coatings used on dozens of crops.
Growing alfalfa isn’t as easy as it looks, says Glenn Obermann of Monet, Missouri. “I don’t want anybody to go out and think they can just plant it and be successful.” He ought to know – he’s won the Missouri state hay competition three out of the last five years, and was runner-up the rest of the time.
It’s prediction time, when ag analysts and economists will try to predict what will happen this year. So it’s a good time to remind you that they have no idea what will happen. None.
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