July 8, 2016 • Vol. 19, No. 14 A

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Dr. Heather Powell assisted M*A*S*H students with a suturing exercise June 22 at North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison. Powell told the students that attending the local M*A*S*H camp 13 years ago changed her life, leading her to a career as a doctor of family medicine instead of a Spanish teacher. Dozens of today’s medical professionals across the state got their first exposure to health care-related occupa-tions in one of hundreds of M*A*S*H camps sponsored by county Farm Bureaus since the program began in 1988.

In Farm BureauO&L Conference

“Healthy Agriculture, Strong America” is the theme for Arkansas Farm Bureau’s 68th annual Officers and Leaders Conference scheduled for July 18 and 19 at the Holiday Inn and Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale. Registration will be-gin at 10 a.m. July 18 in the hotel, followed by a noon luncheon in the convention center that kicks off the first general session. Luncheon tickets are required and must be ordered by the counties by than July 12.

Highlights of the conference will include a midyear update from Arkansas Farm Bureau President Randy Veach and a presentation from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz. Leaders will be able to attend a variety of workshops Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. The conference finale will be the special appearance of Miss America Betty Cantrell, who grew up on a 700-acre farm in Warner Robbins, Georgia. Her platform for the year has been “Healthy Children, Strong America.”

ArFB names scholarship recipientsThe Arkansas Farm Bureau Scholarship

Foundation Committee has named the 12 recipients of the $3,000 Farm Bureau Foundation scholarship for the 2016-2017 school year. Recipients are Arkansas residents, members of a Farm Bureau family and enrolled as juniors or seniors in pursuit of an agriculture-related degree at a state-accredited university.

“Arkansas Farm Bureau has always been an advocate for higher education,” said

ArFB President Randy Veach. “The future of Arkansas agriculture is dependent on the young adults who are pursuing agricul-tural careers. Supporting them remains a priority for this organization.”

The scholarship recipients are: • Colleen Burris of Farmington (Wash-ington County), an agriculture education major at Southern Arkansas University. • Lauren Cheevers of Fayetteville (Washington County), an agriculture educa-tion, communications and technology major

Former Pulaski Co. FB agency manager Bobby Cheat-

wood (left) presented $1,200 scholarships to Drew Harrod (second from left) and Ryan

Spurlock (second from right) recently. The scholarship in

Cheatwood’s name recognizes deserving young people. Cary

Maddox (right) is with Mau-melle Country Club, which

hosted a golf tournament to help fund the scholarships.

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at the University of Arkansas. • Tristen

Clanton of Hermitage (Bradley County), an agriculture communication and animal science major at UA. • Zachary DeVore of Des Arc (Prairie County). He is an agriculture business major at UA. • Kaycee Grissum of Mountain Home (Baxter County), an agriculture business major at Arkansas State University. • Allison Gurley of Magnolia (Columbia County), an agriculture business major at ASU. • Austin Hamm of Elkins (Washington County), an agriculture, food and life science major at UA. • Katelin Hyman of Fouke (Miller County), an agriculture business major at UA. • Nicholas Meeks of Hamburg (Ashley County), an agriculture business major at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. • Caleigh Sue Moyer of Lincoln (Wash-ington County), an agriculture business major at SAU. • Colton Teekell of Prairie Grove (Wash-ington County), an agriculture systems and technology management major at UA. • Lindsey Triplett of Conway (Faulkner County), an agriculture business and public relations major at Arkansas Tech University.

Arkansas Farm Bureau and county Farm Bureau organizations have awarded more than $1 million to assist more than 2,000 youths with their college expenses.

In addition to the foundation schol-arship, the organization annually awards the Romeo E. Short scholarship to students

enrolled in the Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas and the Marvin Vines Memorial scholarship to a broadcast journalism student at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. Many county Farm Bureaus also award scholarships to young people in local communities.

PR team wins awardAwards for the top communications

specialists were presented June 15 during the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 2016 Strategic Policy, Advocacy, Resources and Communications conference in Salt

Lake City, Utah. The national award for the Best Video

Feature Story went to Steve Eddington, ArFB’s Vice President of Public Relations; Robert Potter, Assistant Director of Public Relations, Video/Electronic Media; and Ken Moore, Assistant Director of Public Relations, News Services. Their winning entry was a Patriot Project video featuring Damon Helton, a decorated veteran of the U.S. armed forces transitioning to life as a Saline County livestock farmer, and Helton’s mentor in the program, Hot Spring Co. FB President Jeremy Allen. Congratulations!

In ArkansasSoybean College coming up

Arkansas producers will have the opportunity to learn about the latest research and developments in soybean agriculture at the 2016 Soybean College, scheduled for Aug. 18 at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Newport Research Station.

Crop consultants and industry person-nel also are encouraged to attend the college, which will display and discuss current research into many of the pro-duction challenges facing today’s growers. Participants will hear presentations from Division of Agriculture and industry per-sonnel, and have the opportunity to take part in hands-on demonstrations.

The college is scheduled to begin at 8

ArFB President Randy Veach ad-dressed the large group of farmers and ranchers who attended Farm Bureau’s summer commodity meetings for beef cattle, poultry and swine held June 14 at Lake Point Conference Center near Russellville. Other speakers included state veter-inarian Dr. Brandon Doss and Mike Hoy, USDA’s feral swine program coordinator in Arkansas.

“I never know what I’ll find here,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said after finding Arkansas 4-H Governor’s Award finalists and others with the pro-gram posing on the steps of the Gov-ernor’s Mansion recently. Hutchinson hosted the finalists, judges and rep-resentatives of the 4-H program and the Cooperative Extension Service at the mansion on June 28.

Karen Hopper (center), former state representative for District 100, was recognized June 20 by Baxter Co. FB President Elliott Golmon (right) and his wife Roberta in a ceremony on the ASU Mountain Home campus. The Golmons presented Hopper an engraved clock on behalf of the organization for her service to area Farm Bureau members and citizens.

Twenty-six members of Mississippi Farm Bureau visited the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Stuttgart June 28 while on a three-day tour of Arkansas. The group traveled by bus to a variety of agricultural destinations, including Dabbs Discovery Farm, Keo Fish Farm, Heifer International, Delta Plastics, Bemis Tree Farm and Saline County Farm Bureau.

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a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m. Registration is $75 per person and can be completed online at http://bit.ly/2016ArkSoyCollege.

Participants must register online, and no walk-up registrations will be accept-ed the day of the Soybean College. Total participants will be capped at 200 to keep breakout groups small.

Participants will receive a complemen-tary sweep net, hand lens and other items. Registration fees will not be refunded due to inclement weather. Lunch will be provided.

To learn more, contact Jeremy Ross at jross@uaex.edu or 501-944-0621.

Watkins recognizedSusan Watkins, professor of poultry

science and poultry extension specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, was named the 2016 Industry Leader of the Year by The Poultry Federation. The award was presented by federation president Marvin Childers and members of the group’s board of directors during the 57th Annual Poultry Festival in Rogers June 17-18. The award has been presented by The Poultry Federa-tion since 1955 to recognize the outstanding achievements of poultry and egg business executives and their contributions to the industry.

Watkins joined the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in 1996 and is a prominent expert in water quality. She provides critical technical support to Arkansas’ poultry industry in litter management, nutrition, energy efficient lighting and sanitation.

Watkins also is revered as a teacher and mentor by poultry science students at the University of Arkansas and serves as the poultry science department’s internship coordinator. She is also director of the Division of Agriculture’s Applied Broiler Research Farm and coordinator of the unit’s field days.

Nominate a forestry leaderThe Arkansas Urban Forestry Council

is accepting nominations in its annual awards program to recognize the actions of exceptional individuals, businesses and organizations for contributions to com-munity forestry in Arkansas.

“Any person or organization may be nominated that has played a significant role in building stronger communities by practicing and promoting the conser-vation and planting of trees,” said Chris Stuhlinger of Monticello, president of the Arkansas Urban Forestry Council.

Award categories include Outstanding Volunteer and/or Volunteer Program, Outstanding Community, Outstand-ing Business, Outstanding Professional, Outstanding Developer and Outstanding Organization.

To submit a nomination, visit http://bit.ly/28BSNti to download the nom-ination form. Nominations must include the nominee’s name, title and organization,

contact information, and contribution to urban and community forestry in Arkansas. Nominations are due Feb. 1, 2017, by email to info@arkansastrees.org or by mail to P.O. Box 4100, Hot Springs, AR 71914

ElsewhereFAA clears ag drones for takeoff

The Federal Aviation Administration released its final Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Rule June 21. American Farm Bureau Federation submitted comments to the FAA during its proposed rulemaking last year, and while the final rule did not include all of AFBF’s recommendations, it does provide a path forward to integrate UASs, or drones, for use in American agriculture.

“Farmers and ranchers can begin using a new tool in the toolbox, which allows their farming businesses to be more efficient, economical and environmentally friendly,” said AFBF director of congressional relations R.J. Karney.

AFBF representatives say they look forward to working with the FAA to fine tune this rule, so farmers and ranchers can maximize drone technology to its fullest potential. The rule will become effective in late August this year.

Thirty-two medical facilities throughout the state are hosting M*A*S*H programs for high-school juniors and seniors this summer, including a new host facility in Poca-hontas. These 13 students from Randolph, Lawrence and Clay counties attended the M*A*S*H camp at Black River Technical College June 20-July 1. County Farm Bureaus helped sponsor the camp.

Arkansans may notice much less grain sorghum growing in fields around the state this summer. According to the University of Arkan-sas Cooperative Extension Service, low prices, slower export demand and other factors caused sorghum acreage in the state to experience a massive drop from 450,000 acres in 2015 to just 40,000 acres this year.

EditorKeith Suttonkeith.sutton@arfb.com

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In the MarketAs of July 6, 2016:

USDA acreage and stocks reports give markets direction

Soybeans – The June 30 acreage re-port forecast more soybean acres but was near the average trade estimate. As for stocks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast 870 million bush-els of soybeans in storage compared to a trade estimate of 829 million bushels, with a range from 775–862 million bushels. After an initial bump in prices following the report as the market reacted to continued strong demand and no surprises on the acre-age forecast, soybeans have experi-enced a sharp sell-off. With improving weather forecasts, the soybean market needs to see fresh export demand to help support prices and prevent further losses.

Corn – Both the USDA acreage and quarterly stocks reports were above trade expectations. The trade expected 92.896 million acres of corn but were given 94.148 million acres, an increase of 547,000 acres from the March Planting intentions of 93.601 million acres. Additionally, the market expect-ed June 1 stocks to total 4.528 billion bushels, with a range from 4.437-4.650 billion bushels. Instead the USDA estimated 4.722 billion bushels in storage on June 1. This bearish combination has pushed new-crop corn to new contract lows. The market continues to wait for the lower prices to spur additional demand, particular-ly export demand, as both Argentina and Brazil experience crop issues.

Cotton – The June 30 report forecasts U.S. cotton at 10.023 million acres. This compares to the March 1 Plant-ing Intentions total of 9.562 million and last year’s total of 8.85 million

acres. While the increase in acres may lead to further increases in U.S. stocks, for now the December cotton contract has held support near 64 cents.

Rice – The USDA forecasts 3.212 mil-lion acres of rice were planted nation-wide, which compares to 2.61 million acres last year and 2.95 million acres in 2014. In Arkansas, the National Agricultural Statistics Service fore-casts producers planted 1.581 million acres—1.43 million acres of long grain and 150,000 acres of medium grain. This compares to 1.306 million acres last year—1.060 million acres of long grain and 245,000 acres of medium grain. As for stocks, while rough rice stocks continue to come in under year-ago-levels, milled rice stocks remain stronger than year-ago. Rice prices have seen a sharp decline since the release of the acreage and stocks reports. The market remains concerned about the size of the crop as conditions remain favorable for rice production.

Strong Chinese cotton demandChina sold 28,000 MT of the cotton offered from its state reserves at an auction on July 5, which was the total amount offered. The fiber sold at an average price of 14,015 yuan ($2,099) per MT. So far this year, 1.12 MMT of cotton has been sold from the nation’s stockpiles.

Warm, wet forecastThe National Weather Service forecast for July 10-14 calls for a continuation of warm, wet weather across the Corn Belt. Above-normal precipitation expected across the Midwest should blunt the impact of above-normal temperatures, with the exception of the Dakotas and northwest Nebraska where normal temps are anticipated. Heat is expected across the Southern and Central Plains, as well. Eastern Kansas is expected to see above-nor-mal rainfall, while the Gulf region should be dry. Other areas of the

Plains are expected to see normal precipitation.

Cattle futuresCattle futures staged an impressive turnaround July 4, as traders took note that futures’ discount to last week’s $122 to $123 cash cattle trade is overdone. August live cattle are still down $8 from the low end of last week’s trade. Showlist estimates are up a modest 9,000 head this week, and the boxed beef market delivered a mixed performance to start the week. While Choice and Select cuts firmed 10 cents and $1.06, respectively, movement was lackluster at 118 loads, especially coming off the July Fourth holiday weekend.

Corn and soybeans in BrazilFarmers in Brazil will likely increase summer corn acres by 3 percent in the coming season to 5.6 million hectares, according to traders and agronomists surveyed by Reuters. This would be the first expansion in corn acreage in nearly a decade. Those surveyed expect corn acres planted early in 2017 for the winter season to increase 711,000 hectares (7.5 percent) to 11.05 million hectares. Soybean production is also likely to climb next season, according to those surveyed, with ex-perts estimating that the area planted to soybeans in Brazil will climb 3.5 percent to 34.3 million hectares.

Dicamba product useAs a reminder, no dicamba products are approved for over-the-top weed control on Xtend soybeans or cotton. There are reports of drift issues due to Clarity (dicamba) being used and drifting onto neighbors and injuring their crops.

CONTACT• Matt King 501-228-1297,

matt.king@arfb.com.