As demand strains supply, will it be corn or conservation?
It’s hard to tell if this would be the equivalent of coaching somebody to heave a basketball into the hoop from the other end of the court, or if it’s more like getting out of Michael Jordan’s way as he floats in for a slam dunk.
Nobody in Nebraska seems to know the odds of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer easing the strains on livestock feeding budgets by opening up land in the Conservation Reserve Program for corn production.
What is sure is that the price of corn is above $7 a bushel, livestock producers are suffering more each day, and covetous eyes are being cast on the corn-producing abilities of 35 million acres set aside largely because of erosion concerns.
But Schafer has yet to make an exception that would allow holders of 10-year CRP contracts, including Wilber farmer Ken Tyser, to put their land back into production without paying penalties that go with early withdrawal.
Tyser, 67, wishes it were otherwise. He wishes the secretary would exercise the discretion the law allows him on the CRP program, including 1.2 million acres in Nebraska.
When Tyser signed up several years ago, he looked fondly on the possibilities of regular CRP income. But that was before the price of corn approached caviar proportions in livestock diets and cash rent on crop acres in Saline County reached levels twice as high as what he was getting in annual CRP payments.
Cash rent on unirrigated parcels is in the range of $130 an acre. Tyser gets $65 an acre on one of his CRP parcels, $72 on the other.
“I did like it until now,” he said, “when grain prices went up — skyrocketing — and all the cash rent went up. If the payments went up on the CRP with it, it would have been fine. But they don’t.”
This is more than a personal, pocketbook dilemma.
Over the two-decade history of the conservation program, the national inventory of what is supposed to be fragile ground has grown to include an area 100 times the size of the crop acres in Lancaster County.
In some places of limited cropping potential, including Pawnee County in Southeast Nebraska, the program has proven so popular it hit the enrollment ceiling of 25 percent of crop land long ago.
In that same time period, wildlife enthusiasts have come to appreciate what areas typically sown to grass and other cover crops mean for nesting, refuge from predators, hunting and other non-agricultural purposes.
More recently, events have taken a darker turn. As export shipments and ethanol plants proliferate, corn prices have soared, stimulating both coffee-shop debates and major policy disagreements about conservation versus a bigger corn pile.
Ed Christensen, an auctioneer and real-estate presence in Pawnee County, can see why.
“Boy,” said Christensen, “we’ve got a lot of poor-quality ground in the CRP.”
That makes CRP one of the best things that ever happened on his home turf.
On the other hand, he said, “If people could pull out of the CRP now — if they could — they could turn around and rent it and probably get more income out of it.”
The Nebraska Cattlemen and the Washington-based Environmental Working Group are among the institutional voices being heard at a time when many expect corn prices to go even higher.
Michael Kelsey of the Cattlemen acknowledged that some CRP acres need to stay where they are because they are especially prone to wind or water damage.
But not all.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that there’s a tremendous amount of acres that were put in the CRP as well out of convenience or maybe as (grain) supply control,” Kelsey said.
The Cattlemen and members of the Nebraska Corn Board are among those have met with Agriculture Secretary Schafer to talk about the impact of high corn prices on the livestock sector.
“We want and need more acres in production,” Kelsey said.
Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, who represents a state with lots of hogs and lots of flooded corn acres, has also tried to persuade Schafer to give farmers what many describe as an early out.
“The frustrating part to us,” said Kelsey, “is we floated this concept way back in the winter, long before planting season began.”
The feelings of the Environmental Working Group and Michelle Perez, a senior analyst there for agriculture and natural resources, run very much in the opposite direction.
Perez brought ethanol mandates, their place in national energy policy and their influence on corn usage into her side of the argument almost immediately.
“This was all on the backs of perfect weather,” she said. “Now we see the consequences of that foolish, short-sighted and dangerous policy.”
If adjustments are in order, she doesn’t want to see them in the realm of unexpired CRP contracts.
Early outs are “shorthand for reneging” on the obligations landowners took on in exchange for tax dollars, Perez said. The law says if they bow out early they have to repay everything that was paid to them.
Even though 100 Lancaster counties might seem to be a lot of territory, Perez said bringing a substantial portion of CRP acres back into production would have “a very negligible impact” on the corn supply.
Bearing that in mind, she sees the chance of Schafer being persuaded to exercise his discretion as dim.
You might say it’s in the category of sinking a shot from the opposite end of the basketball court.
But Wilber farmer Tyser thinks the chances are a lot better that the scoreboard is about to light up for those on his side.
“With high-priced corn,” he said, “I think, yeah, it’s likely to happen.”
Reach Art Hovey at 473-7223 or at ahovey@journalstar.com.
Nobody in Nebraska seems to know the odds of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer easing the strains on livestock feeding budgets by opening up land in the Conservation Reserve Program for corn production.
What is sure is that the price of corn is above $7 a bushel, livestock producers are suffering more each day, and covetous eyes are being cast on the corn-producing abilities of 35 million acres set aside largely because of erosion concerns.
But Schafer has yet to make an exception that would allow holders of 10-year CRP contracts, including Wilber farmer Ken Tyser, to put their land back into production without paying penalties that go with early withdrawal.
Tyser, 67, wishes it were otherwise. He wishes the secretary would exercise the discretion the law allows him on the CRP program, including 1.2 million acres in Nebraska.
When Tyser signed up several years ago, he looked fondly on the possibilities of regular CRP income. But that was before the price of corn approached caviar proportions in livestock diets and cash rent on crop acres in Saline County reached levels twice as high as what he was getting in annual CRP payments.
Cash rent on unirrigated parcels is in the range of $130 an acre. Tyser gets $65 an acre on one of his CRP parcels, $72 on the other.
“I did like it until now,” he said, “when grain prices went up — skyrocketing — and all the cash rent went up. If the payments went up on the CRP with it, it would have been fine. But they don’t.”
This is more than a personal, pocketbook dilemma.
Over the two-decade history of the conservation program, the national inventory of what is supposed to be fragile ground has grown to include an area 100 times the size of the crop acres in Lancaster County.
In some places of limited cropping potential, including Pawnee County in Southeast Nebraska, the program has proven so popular it hit the enrollment ceiling of 25 percent of crop land long ago.
In that same time period, wildlife enthusiasts have come to appreciate what areas typically sown to grass and other cover crops mean for nesting, refuge from predators, hunting and other non-agricultural purposes.
More recently, events have taken a darker turn. As export shipments and ethanol plants proliferate, corn prices have soared, stimulating both coffee-shop debates and major policy disagreements about conservation versus a bigger corn pile.
Ed Christensen, an auctioneer and real-estate presence in Pawnee County, can see why.
“Boy,” said Christensen, “we’ve got a lot of poor-quality ground in the CRP.”
That makes CRP one of the best things that ever happened on his home turf.
On the other hand, he said, “If people could pull out of the CRP now — if they could — they could turn around and rent it and probably get more income out of it.”
The Nebraska Cattlemen and the Washington-based Environmental Working Group are among the institutional voices being heard at a time when many expect corn prices to go even higher.
Michael Kelsey of the Cattlemen acknowledged that some CRP acres need to stay where they are because they are especially prone to wind or water damage.
But not all.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that there’s a tremendous amount of acres that were put in the CRP as well out of convenience or maybe as (grain) supply control,” Kelsey said.
The Cattlemen and members of the Nebraska Corn Board are among those have met with Agriculture Secretary Schafer to talk about the impact of high corn prices on the livestock sector.
“We want and need more acres in production,” Kelsey said.
Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, who represents a state with lots of hogs and lots of flooded corn acres, has also tried to persuade Schafer to give farmers what many describe as an early out.
“The frustrating part to us,” said Kelsey, “is we floated this concept way back in the winter, long before planting season began.”
The feelings of the Environmental Working Group and Michelle Perez, a senior analyst there for agriculture and natural resources, run very much in the opposite direction.
Perez brought ethanol mandates, their place in national energy policy and their influence on corn usage into her side of the argument almost immediately.
“This was all on the backs of perfect weather,” she said. “Now we see the consequences of that foolish, short-sighted and dangerous policy.”
If adjustments are in order, she doesn’t want to see them in the realm of unexpired CRP contracts.
Early outs are “shorthand for reneging” on the obligations landowners took on in exchange for tax dollars, Perez said. The law says if they bow out early they have to repay everything that was paid to them.
Even though 100 Lancaster counties might seem to be a lot of territory, Perez said bringing a substantial portion of CRP acres back into production would have “a very negligible impact” on the corn supply.
Bearing that in mind, she sees the chance of Schafer being persuaded to exercise his discretion as dim.
You might say it’s in the category of sinking a shot from the opposite end of the basketball court.
But Wilber farmer Tyser thinks the chances are a lot better that the scoreboard is about to light up for those on his side.
“With high-priced corn,” he said, “I think, yeah, it’s likely to happen.”
Reach Art Hovey at 473-7223 or at ahovey@journalstar.com.
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