As no-till acres in South Dakota have risen from just 30,000 in 1990 to 5 million in 2010, producer interest in lesser tillage farming continues to grow. Which is exactly why the South Dakota Corn Growers Association dedicated an entire day of GrowingOn Part 2 to no-till and strip-till with planting and field preparation expert Kevin Kimberley, who spent Wednesday with over 200 producers in Sioux Falls sharing his 30 plus years of experience on the subject.

Practicing lesser tillage means that farmers are also using less energy, cutting down on fuel usage and emissions. In fact, in the last 20 years farmers have cut energy use by 37% and emissions by 30% per bushel produced.

By not disturbing the soil, farmers are cutting down on erosion and building up their soil’s organic matter. During the past 20 years farmers have decreased their soil loss per bushel of corn by 69%.

To improve their overall operation, farmers are not only aiming to increase their productivity and efficiency, but are also decreasing their environmental footprint as they understand the importance of leaving the land better than they found it.

By now I’m sure you and four million other people have seen Chipotle’s, Back to the Start video featuring the famous vocals of country singer, Willie Nelson.  The advertisement is well done but the message completely misses the mark of reality in regards to food policy.

Eating fresh, local food is great, but it’s simply not possible to meet the demands of our current population totaling over seven billion, let alone our future population that is growing at around 200,000 people a day worldwide.

Let’s be realistic, farmers and ranchers are trying to maximize their productivity to meet the world’s demands, but that does not mean the food they produce is any less healthy nor are their practices any less environmentally friendly. Centuries of technology, research and science have gone into creating an agricultural industry that cultivates the safest, most abundant, nutritious and least expensive food in the entire world. And not only does that food supply feed our nation, but many others as well. Those increases in productivity have allowed America to set export records with corn, soybeans, beef, pork and other commodities feeding more people than ever before.

Going “back to the start,” as the marketing promotion says only puts a global food supply at risk, which inevitably leads to additional starvation, malnutrition and human suffering.

More importantly than ever, our farmers need to prepare for the future, which will demand that our farmers produce as much food in the next 40 years as we have produced in the last 10,000 years combined.

As we attempt to keep up with the world of social media, South Dakota Corn has joined Pinterest, an online pinboard which has recently blasted onto the scene. The site is an excellent way to share photos, ideas, inspirations or whatever you like. In our short time on the site, we have found some amazing Farm Photos.

So now that we are pinning, give us a follow at http://pinterest.com/sdcorn/

Does the infamous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction each February 2^nd have any correlation to the progress of South Dakota farmers’ corn planting each year? While there is nothing scientific about the prediction, could there be more to the shadow or lack thereof?

Take a look at South Dakota’s corn planting progress as we enter the third week of May during each of the last five years.

*Planting stats provided by South Dakota’s USDA- NASS field office

 Each time that Phil has predicted an early spring, corn planting progress in South Dakota has been past the 70% mark in the third week of May. If this trend holds true, it looks like corn seeding will be later again as it was in 2008-2010.

So is there something to the shadow? Or is this folklore a simple coincidence?  

“Era muy caliente, y muy seco.” For those who don’t speak Español, that translates to “It was very hot, and very dry.”

That description comes from South Dakotan, Kevin Schnaser who recently served as a translator for a group of agriculture students from South Dakota State University who traveled to Argentina on a two week study abroad trip in early January of this year.

Those words are exactly breaking news, but due the role that Argentina plays in to the global markets, they are sort of a big deal. Argentina has been the #2 leader in global corn exports, and #3 in soybeans. So when a major grain exporter struggles, the world  takes notice.

So just how bad is it? Well according to Schnaser who has served as a translator on student trips to Argentina for the past four years, “This has been the hottest summer weather Argentina has experienced in 50 years, it was easily over 100 degrees every day.”

He went on to say, “The corn was pollinating at the time we visited and the silk coming out of small green ears were in no shape to be pollinating.”

The group toured many different components of the countries agriculture and were able to speak with an agronomist at a farm in the Province of La Pama. He told the group that the area had projected corn yields of between 100-150 bushels per acres. But due to the impact of the drought, that number had been cut in half to between 50-75 bushels per acre, even if they were to receive some rain.

That projection comes from a more central part of the country where it is much drier than the coast.  Analysts currently are predicting that at least one-third of Argentina’s corn crop has been lost due to the drought which amounts to around 10 million metric tons or 10% of global exports.

Some areas are much worse. The same agronomist who visited with the group said that in the province of Cordoba, the corn fields were brown and being grazed by cattle.

So what does this mean for exports? In Argentina, the populist government controls the markets and can shut down exports of grain which keeps the price down domestically insulating the country from rising food costs, but not so much for the rest of the world, especially Europe which is a major importer of the countries commodities.

A marketing analyst from Lartirigoyen told the group that a certain fixed amount that will be needed within the country and beyond the government will allow to export, with the shortage in production that is already going to occur in soybeans, you can expect an increase in your crop prices in North America.

To sum up the message from Argentina; even with some rain, there will still be a significant crop loss.

*Photos courtesty of Dr. Julie Walker, Associate Professor, SDSU Dept of Animal Science