growers convenes for the annual second corn college. just how bad is the drought in texas. new pictures tell the story. and john talks about lessons learn from having a son come back to the farm. >> announcer: "u.s. farm report" brought to you by chevy, an american revolution. u-s farm report...i'm a >> good morning and welcome to "u.s. farm report." i'm al pell in for john phipps. in this first half hour of the program we're going to focus on crop conditions. now while many fields in the heart of the corn belt continue to play catch up following trade planting other areas are right on or ahead of schedule. the big question. where will yields end up once harvest time is here. we'll get expert analysis in a moment from our team of insiders but first, first-hand reports from in the field. as mentioned the second annual corn college was held this week outside of

bloomington, illinois. hundreds of consumers showed up for agrimommic training in the classroom and in the field. now the sessions covered everything from the basics of soil to knowing a good stand when you see it. the event also gave us an opportunity to ask growers how their crops are faring so far this year. >> this year we got off 0 a 6 to a great start as opposed to last career. planting corn on the 20th of april. we're just about pollinated right now, we're looking strong, 225, 250-bushel corn, could mean a much better year. >> many people say they have been wet but down in the corridor from st. louis to indiannapolis we have been soaking wet. plant, replant, and try to plant a third time, but it's turned out okay. >> yeah. >> crops look marginal but it could be all right, if we have

a good summer with the weather from here on out. >> comprehensive coverage of corn college is available online at agweb.com. texas farmers are facing a unique set of challenges due to ongoing drought. according to the texas agrilife extension drought related losses now total more than 3 1/2 billion dollars. to see just how bad things are in the lone star state check out this picture sent in by david ochre - vegetable of new aces county. about half the county is suffering from drought conditions for the second straight year. grower from holdingford, more crop comments now, a grower from holding ford minnesota says his corn and soybeans look pretty good but they are probably two weeks behind. he says it's got to be one of the coldest julys on record. now to ohio, the northwest corner of the state, he is

looking for a thanksgiving frost, an indication of how far behind his crop is. and we received this photo from nebraska. we think the picture speaks pretty well for it, that's quite a crop. he told us this dry land corp planted on april 22nd he finished planting on may 4th. when we come back we head back to corn college to talk agone me and markets with our panel of experts. the discussion begins in just two minutes, please stay with us. >> brought to you by the genuity brandt.

u.s. farm report at the 2009 farm journal corn college is brought to you by agritaken. when nitrogen goes missing so do yields. maximize your nitrogen efficiency with agritaken. here we are at the farm

journal corn college not far from eh worth, illinois. mark gold is our guest today, top third ag. marketing, and ken hayward who is the manager and runs this whole concept here, and of course bob utterback from utterback marketing. and we're going to get started right now and i have a good question for ken because, ken, can you, in a very, very short time, because i know you can talk about it for two hours, but give me the concept of what is going on here and the year that you have had to get started this year? because it's been, every year is different, but this has been a hard one, right? >> well, i think everybody was pretty happy to put last year in the box and close it up. >> right. >> i think we didn't want to go through it again. unfortunately, right in this area, we're goin' through it again as far as we have had a very wet spring, a slow start, and things up til about three weeks ago actually looked pretty tough. they have really improved

around here in the last three weeks but we're behind, we need to catch up, so a situation where we need the year to play out like it did last year to come out with a crop that we had. but we're kind of under the gun right now. >> one of the gentleman asked from the audience, how many holes are out in the fields. now you don't have like big acreage here but you would be able to know? >> yeah. i mean the farmers coming in have commented on they expected to see worse crops than what they did when they got here and if they'd have been here three weeks ago they'd have seen that. they have a lot of yellow spots that are green now and you can't see 'em, from the air they are still there but from the ground it looks better. but we're, from a drowned-out or water damaged scenario, we're probably worse than we were last year. >> that going to affect your yields this year? >> i'm sure it will. >> okay. now with that i'm going to go to bob utterback and ask him about the bad weather in the eastern market and the yields

because we have quite a few people here at corn college from iowa and they say they have got really nice crops. so how about this crop. >> i'm from central down around lafayette, indiana. last week of may, end of june you wonder if you are ever going to have a corn crop. today it looks beautiful. you don't see those spots out in the field. this is a classic july-august dry weather problem. the crop dries up, looks good from the field. out in the middle of the field there's holes. i think that's the bull issueness that will come in this fall to winter is that the crop won't be there. but that's not today. today the reality is the crop condition ratings have improved. we're going counter cyclical, the crop is improving and the trade has said "eh, with that figure and the reality of the acres said by usda we have got too much carry over." i guess the university of illinois said a crop yield of 162 on corn and 44 on beans. now you can yell all you want

about those numbers but if those numbers are reality and confirmed and the demand is sluggish we have got a carryover problem, it's a serious carry over problem. 2008 was the party, this is the hang over. >> mark gold with that illinois figure and those kind of numbers that are out there i guess there is two questions. are the acres really there? but we have to go with what the government says but with those numbers and bushels are we in big trouble. >> we have been in big trouble. we made contract lows on december corn, yearly lows on december corn this week so the market is certainly rerecognizing big acres and big yields. i would agree that the corn acres aren't quite out there, we can shave a million, million and a half, two million on that, but in the big picture when we're focusing on these production numbers we're not going to know that for quite some time. in the meantime we have got some pressure in the market, they have done a great job of

liquidating the corn, they have long-term contracts but i believe they have got to come out before we can see a good rally. that will happen sometime between now and the end of july. we'll see a really good august rally and you guys better think about using that august rally toward labor day to get something sold because when we find out what's out there it could be a big problem for this market. >> i heard you say between the words that we're going to have a lull the end of august, beginning september. >> i believe that should be the beginning of september, august 1st, we'll see that rally in august, we'll get some heat and scare the market once more. >> want to put a number range on that low? >> december corn 310, the beans 860. november beans. >> have no basic complaints. $3 september lows have been the hold. we were within -- we were there. i was bearish but the problem is we're bound. but the problem is, after the

september bounce, farmers are not going to dump it because the numbers won't be enough to justify it, they are going to put it in the bin and going to drag this thing out all the way to next year. so with a 1.8 to 2 billion- bushel corn crop you don't see a substantial bounce into next year until we see oil take off, the economy explode, or ethanol explode. all those variables seem sluggish in a world economy that is struggling not to go lower. >> we're going to tell you as a panel what we need to do to face that when we come back with more "u.s. farm report" in just a moment. [ applause ]

"u.s. farm report" at the 2009 farm journal corn college is brought to you by agritaken. when nitrogen goes missing so do yields. maximize your nitrogen efficiency with agritaken. we'll continue from the corn college near eh worth, illinois. we have as our guest today mark gold, ken ferry, and bob utterback. and we were talking about actually got in a situation in our first segment where we talked about possible low price $3 and perhaps a little bit better before it starts improving. now if that's the bottom when will it start improving mark, you were going to say something just as bob finished.

>> last friday of july-first monday of august will be our typical low area and i think we can see a good bounce maybe 30 or 40 days into that. i'm expecting that heat will show up in this market. it's been too good not to get it offset with some kind of heat in august. we'll probably take the beans up to a decent level to get some mming done. the one thing that could really push these things higher if you want some kind of bull scenario obviously is the early frost. we have full moons i think around the 6th of september, in that range. we get a full moon and get the frost then we can have a little bit of excitement in these markets. but, without the frost, if we get this heat rally in august that's the rally you need to be taking a look at selling. >> ken, what do you think? have you projected when you're gointo have to start harvesting in order to be able to do what you do here? >> not really. we're first worried about getting pollinated. that has to come first.

>> but then you don't worry about harvest, till then. >> but we are fortunate in as far as we have run into about a two-week cold snap here, which isn't too good for the people that are pollinated and going, but we're going to get pollinated in july and august when typically you have a lot of trouble because of the heat. >> cooler weather during pollinating with a little moisture better than too hot. >> right. you always worry about your late-planted corn especially here, can we get it pollinated without fighting weeks of 100- degree weather, of course here at the corn college that's what i ordered, so it's about perfect, so our crop is kind of jumping i guess you would say in potential because we're going to get it pollinated without the trouble we typically would have this time of the year. >> bob, i'm going to ask you what producers should do now. i'd like to say if you haven't made any decisions, last year's

corn still in the bin, going to move it out. but what should we be doing at this point in time. >> the guys that sold the corn market in the futures contract or the hda futures contract. on this pre-august low i think i agree with the previous comment. this spread between december and july is at 32 cents. i would be strongly looking to rolling your deep hedges into july to capture the carry prior to the august low. on the august low so you can protect yourself. the december frost does though rather than the october low. so i'm going to roll my hedges forward on the october and august roll. second thing, one of the clients asked if your long put, we're down hire at $3, what do you do? i think you got to capture the carry. i would rather cash contract to carry, i would take my puts off and start thinking about next year, be done, rather than roll my deeper puts to july. if you're not short i think the september frost is your catch-

up point. it's going to be a hard sell but i would say 375, basically july 2010, is about as strong as i want to get and that's a 20% rally from where we're at right now and that's about all i want to give the market unrest i see something in the general economy or some man program is established, i think supply is going to wash this market. >> well you know guys, if you're just looking at the marketing now, in 2008, you had an incredible opportunity to market 2009 crops at phenomenal prices. if you didn't take a look at it now you have got to look at marketing as a multi-year problem and not just what are you gonna do now if you haven't done it. if you haven't done any marketing now i'd certainly try to wait, i'd keep my some kind of cheap 10-cent put if there is a take as the trophy in case you lose the dime, get the august or september rally and

then get heavily heavily sold on that rally or at least billy zhitnik matt puts that will protect that buck or buck and a half on the downside. but it's hard to play catch up now. the advice bob and i can give you now is in the same great advice we would have given you a year ago when you had prices much much higher. what you've got to do is start looking way ahead. grand dad told you and dad told you "don't sell it until you get it in the bin," for 150 years that was some great advice. but now with some of the great marketing tools which allows you to sell this crop a lot earlier you've got to look for those opportunities a lot earlier than you're used to. >> thank you very much gentlemen for being here, we'll be back with more "u.s. farm report" in just a moment.

welcome back. we'll start your morning off with a look at the u.s. drought monitor and haven't seen changes over the past week. we continue to have great concern for the southern part of texas where we continue to see exceptional drought, so very dry for folks in minnesota and wisconsin but we may see some relief for you as we head into the next week and still extremely dry out this the west as well. speaking of some potential relief let's take a look at the maps over the next few days. first of all the jet stream. we have seen some final warm temperatures, a really cool july for a lot of folks, especially in the north central and central united states. we saw some cooler temperatures but as we head through the coming week we're going to see another dip in the jet stream bringing cooler air to the north central part of the country and that trough will start digging through parts of the lakes as well. all right. as we head through your monday forecast we're going to have a couple fronts, one that is going to be affecting much of the eastern board. the secondary front is going to

be making a second movement on through the next few days. so we could see some relief in parts of minnesota and wisconsin. they really could use some of that rain there but a lot of the plains getting a little bit of rain as well. heading into wednesday we lose the first month, the second one is starting to affect parts of the central and eastern corn belt and each to the drier areas of texas could use a lot of rain dowthere as well. as we head-on over to friday we're going to see this front continue further to the east and what its going to be doing is bringing a change for some rain and thunderstorms all along the eastern sport and even down to the gulf and then ending up in the four corners region. we notice a lot of the nation's heart land, looking for a pretty depheasant friday there with high pressure settling in and some cooler temperatures once again. >> we're going to take a look at some more weather coming up later in the show.

week - but that doesn't mean he doesn't have >> john may be on vacation this week but that doesn't mean he doesn't have something to say. we head to his farm in east central illinois to learn about one of the many things he has discovered since his son moved back home. s, we want to hear from you. >> ever since aaron came back to the farm after an absence of 15 years in 2008 i have been paying a lot more attention to the ag. press and how much they have been writing about succession training and transitions from one generation to another. there are some excellent suggestions but i've picked up one thing, i think, that has helped us here, or at least me here, more than i ever expected. i stopped teasing aaron or making fun of him quite as much. to be sure, i tried to do it in good nature but pretty soon that becomes the only conversation you have and to the point that it's difficult to have a serious conversation about really serious matters.

learn to listen respectfully to younger farmers. even when they are wrong, which from my point of view, is most of the time. nonetheless, they deserve the chance, for their opinions to be held in some esteem and for their point of view to be considered. so while you're planning on your success, while you're taking a look at how to make a transition to another generation, one thing you might try is simply hurricane ike up for a second and listening quietly and respectfully without giving them a hard time. >> and, as always, we want to hear from you. send comments to info@usfarmreport.com. or leave us a voice mail by calling (800)792-4329. now, coming up in our next half hour, a piece of farm machinery that is truly one of a kind. stay with us, the second half of u.s. "u.s. farm report" is coming right up.

farm report...too much rain in one this week on "u.s. farm report," too much rain in one field, not enough in another. can a change in grazing practices shift the tide for dairy producers struggling to remain profitable. and the agribusiness helps a

woman overcome a life-changing mosquito bite. >> the "u.s. farm report" brought to you by chevy, an american revolution. report...i'm al pe >> good morning and welcome to "u.s. farm report." i'm al pell in for john phipps. we have lots to cover over the next 30 minutes including an interesting alternative for dairy producers searching for any good news in a year when milk prices have plummeted. more on that later in the show. first it was back to school for hundreds of farmers as farm journal held its second annual corn college outside bloomington, illinois. it is all about helping growers expand their agrimommic knowledge and expand the bottom line. led by ken fairy, corn college is an intensive two-day course featuring instruction in the classroom and in the field. you can read all about it in agweb.com. in other news this week a

debate over a controversial climate change. higher energy costs resulting from the proposed legislation would be more than offset by payments growers would receive for efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. when you say to a farmer, if you utilize no till or if you utilize this fertilizer regime, you can qualify for off sets and we will pay you to do the right thing, that will offset the costs, and i think it's a net gain for farm families. etary mike >> from his perspective nebraska senator and former ag. secretary mike johan says the study is flawed. he has already asked for a state by state analysis of cap and trade. 2009 is looking for a strong year for yields. corn yields are tracking to hit just shy of 162 bushels an acre an for soybeans nearly 48 bushels an acre. due to variable weather

conditions the usda says it will redo june acreage projections for corn in seven states. new numbers for illinois, indiana, kentucky, missouri, north dakota ohio and pennsylvania will be released in the august 12th update. new soybean numbers will also be released. as is always the case crop conditions vary greatly from one state to the next. now earlier this month the "pro farmer" leading edge seminar in des moines we asked them to sum up how the growing season has progressed on their farm. >> we were lucky enough to get about 5 1/2" of rain since planting plus the inch on july 4th. yeah, july 4th, and the crops have the potential of being the best ever. but, we do need rain, 1 to 4" here in the next month or so, to get this full potential. started out record pace of planting, finished as quick as we ever have, crops were very good, seven weeks of about an inch, inch and a half of rain,

at that seventh week we were looking for a rain and it came in 2" and 2" and 2" and so now we have had too much and it's hurt the soybeans much worse than the corn but we have definitely some issues in corn and soybeans in that missouri river bottom. >> we really are looking pretty good in the independence area and just to the south, a spectacular crop. unfortunately, last week on thursday, we had a storm come through and it just, we had a, about a 2 1/2" rain with 65 miles per hour winds that came out of the north. two hours later we had hail and another 65 miles per hour wind from the south and it just a nigh hi lated a lot of the corn in our area. >> welcome back to "u.s. farm report." we're going to see some cooler temperatures continuing in much

of the nation's midsection and into the east with a dip in the jet stream once again. we had a little bit of a warmup back to closer to normal and now we're seeing the cooler temperatures again for much of the week. as far as rainfall we could see some drought relief to parts of the western lakes region, minnesota and wisconsin, you were under some pretty decent drought, could see some showers and thunderstorms for you, that's going to stretch all the way out to the plains, much of if westnd into the east and southeast as well. as we head into wednesday we could see some nice relief for parts of texas, also another very, very dry area, so some showers and thunderstorms are possible there and on up through much of the central and eastern corn belt as another frontal system makes its way on through but notice the chilly air making its way into the southern section. very chilly and drying out here in the north central united states while the eastern school board down in the to the southeast and the four corners region all had chances for showers and thunderstorms.

take a look a little bit into the future as we head into next week. unfortunately the cool temperatures are going to be tipping. the great lakes and even parts of the northeast are going to be a little on the warm side, southern florida, parts of texas and on through much of the western united states. now as far as precipitation is concerned a little on the wet side for much of the southeast but on the dry side for much of the west and that does include parts of northern plains and into the upper midwest. a little further into the future let's look at the 90-day temperatures and look at that, we're still looking at the below-normal temperatures for the great lakes on into the northern plains. we're looking at temperatures on the warm side for much of texas and into the four corners region. and 90-day precipitation, a little bit on the wet side right here in the nation's heartland, and we're looking at some below normal temperatures in the northwest. so al we need some of that rain in the really dry areas, and in fact corn just really needing that rain right now and some of

the farmers that could be using it will be seeing it this week. >> thank you cindy. how a mosquito bite can change your life in an instant. "spirit of the heartland" up next. >> brought to you by the genuity brand, technology from monsanto helping farmers do what they do best even better.

summer is here

and many of us are spending lots of t summer is here and many of us are spending lots of time out doors so, no doubt, you've heard the annual warnings about west nile virus. the disease is spread to humans after a mosquito bite after the pest bit an infected bird. but how often do you dismiss the idea you might get sick. leanne heinz of mississippi is probably like you but now she spends much of her life in a wheel chair. the disease has limited her ability but certainly not her spirit. >> at a girl. good girl. >> reporter: as the owner of levee one riding camp her life has revolved around horses. she teaches youngsters not to be afraid of these beautiful but massive animals. that's why leanne find it hard to be one tiny mosquito could have such a huge impact on her life. >> i knew things were really

bad when my husband walked in and said "did you have the pole i don't vaccine," and we were kids and had it on the sugar cubes. >> it wasn't pole i don't but she was barely breathing by friday and was finally paralyzed. now, two years later, leanne still undergoes grueling physical therapy. she has regained some use of her right leg, she can now just move the toes in her left leg. she gives credit to her farm background for her recovery. >> that's the nice think about having a farm background. farmers usually are able to come up with ways of getting done what they need to do and i think that helped me more than anything. >> reporter: ever the optimist, hines was determined to return to her farm life. she made exact with the agribuilt contest. it serves as a link between rehabilitation and agriculture.

it helps farmers and ranchers get back on the job by retrofitting equipment to make it accessible. >> 27 states have an rank risk built program. >> we come up with solutions that are not available to the vocational rehab type stuff on the shelves. sometimes construct items as needed and wind up hopefully with the best fit for the client that's in agriculture. >> because you know out on the form, you know, if you don't have a certain tool or you don't have exactly the right kind of thing usually you can figure out a way to get it done and the agribuilt people are working on that too. they are working on ways to help me do what i want to do. >> besides learning new ways to operate on the farm and finding a new level of patience in the process, hines says she has also learned about the power of support from family and friends. >> they have all been supportive, you know, i'm back to doing a lot of things i was before. a lot of people have been praying for me and that shows they had hope i was going to

get better too. >> reporter: now that she knows it is possible to live a full hive despite her circumstances hines can provide words of encouragement to those who struggle with disabilities. >> just get out there, volunteer, there are plenty of things that you can do. and if they are not things you can do getting out of your house, there are plenty of things. gosh, i've made cookies for the football team, cooked my spaghetti, cooked for the youth group a couple of times. there are just, you know, a lot of things you can do. don't give up. >> reporter: during the journey to recovery hines has become thankful for each day showing that a positive attitude, determination, and even her farming background have been instrumental in her survival. >> this is wes mills reporting for "u.s. farm report." >> if you'd like to learn more about this program head online to agribuilt project.org. when we come back an alternative grazing effort picks up support among missouri dairy men. we'll be right back.

u-s farm report...in the face of slumping welcome back to "u.s. farm report." in the face of slumping prices it appears milk production may be trending downward. the usda reports production in june was down .2% from a year ago. it also dropped the same amount during the first six months of this year. according to our reporting partners today cow numbers are also starting to decline with the nation-wide heard now totaling just over 9 million head. now with the economic troubles facing the dairy industry these days you probably wonder why anybody would get into the business right now. in missouri a growing number of farmers say it makes economic sense because of the grazing practices they have adopted. kent fad ishas details in this report provided by the university of missouri. >> reporter: 24-year-old eric

hoffman of trenton, missouri, is rolling the dice. any business venture is a risk but dairy farming? >> well i think some people would be a little bit shocked. >> reporter: over all missouri dairy industry declined from 1 million cows in the 1940s to currently about 100,000 cows. it's a university of missouri researchers are watching. they are growing in number and making a profit. it's called pasture-based dairy. >> it's gone mainstream and gone from less than 5,000 cows in the state using the system to more than 20,000 cows using the system. >> reporter: he says one out of five dairy cows in the dairy belong to grazing dairy. pasture-based dare reiss don't have the expensive start up costs of conventional dare reiss giving young farmers like hoffman a chance to return to the farm after college. >> if i've put together a business plan for conventional dairy i wouldn't be standing

here milking cows because i wouldn't have been able to get the lenders to go along with it. >> reporter: missouri has the right climate for lush pastures. >> we have seen a lot of new dare reiss coming in to missouri in pasture systems because this is the sweet spot. >> cows are healthier and it is environmentally friendly. cows distribute their waste in the fields not in a confined feedlot. >> it all makes sense. cows and grass and people all together. >> reporter: it makes financial sense as well. in five years missouri has seen more than $100 million worth of new grazing dairy operations. hoffman says his operation is on track. his goal is to triple the size of his heard in the next five years. while encouraging young farmers to get in the game. >> i think that's something young people should really realize, that it is possible, and you can still make money and take a few days off. >> reporter: from the university of missouri, i'm kent faddis reporting.

missouri has been promoting rotational grazing for 20 years. for moron it head online to missouri didn't edu. up next, "tractor tales" and our "country church salute."

tales this week we head to one of the largest county fairs in >> for "tractor tales" this week we head to one of the largest county fairs in the country, elkhart county, indiana. that's where we ran into an elementary school teacher who is also the proud owner of a 1944 farm all b. >> i grew up on a form here in northern indiana and my dad has been a long-time collector of the farm all's and we farm with

ih tractors so i have been going to tractor shows all my life. i was driving down the road with my dad one day and we drove by the local dealership that we deal with, it was sitting out front, wasn't painted but running fine. my dad had a farm all b but this one is different than the average farm all b. all of them were made with a narrow front and somebody took a wide front end off of a farm all a and then, as you can see down here, they actually widened it so that the back wheels wheels and the front wheels will follow the same track. the person that did that raked eh with it. dad already had a b and so he wasn't sure how interested he was. i've always had a great time going to antique tractor shows and i decided i'd buy it and i helped dad repaint it and he just hauls it with list so it's just fun. visitors come and they haven't driven a tractor in a long time, they let them drive them

around. anybody that restores antique tractors will tell you most of the stuff comes before that, it goes into the standing and all of that clean up beforehand so we put a lot of time and effort into that. >> by the way, becky says her first graders know their colors very well, red and white specifically. now we're going to test your farm equipment knowledge. do you have any idea what this machine is if used for? the photo was taken in the low country of south dakota and the machine is the only one of its kind in the united states. all week long on ag web, users have posted all kinds of guesses ranging from a pe picker to a tobacco harvester and according to farm journal machinery editor margie fisher what you are looking at is a tea harvester used at the only tea plantation in the united states. we have two churches for our "country church salute." the first church in with a con data, south dakota. celebrating 125 years of service to the community with a

special service this weekend, the church was founded in 1884, in fact, families of some of the original members still attend the church. our second salute goes out to the gear law cristian church in gear law, illinois. it's a big year for the congregation as it celebrates its 150th anniversary including the dedication of a new fellowship hall earlier this month. organized in the summer of 1859 the church has 56 pastors in its long history. our congratulations to everyone at the guy law cristian church. >> as always, we would like to learn about your home church as well. salutes can be sent to the address on the screen. now please stay with us. the mailbag up next.

. closed captioning is brought to you by optimum brand innovations from pioneer hybrid. science with service delivering success. week - getting a break from what john is on vacation this week getting a break from what has been an incredibly wet year on his farm and, that said, he understands all that rain isn't bad news for every farmer in his area. time to hear from you as we

check the old farm report mailbag. this email from mike jacobs is a welcome contrast to the weather bows many of us are experiencing. i thought you might appreciate a positive response from a farmer about the wet weather this year. >> i have been raising christmas trees in the ar ghana illinois area. we just finished 5 weeks of trimming trees and i'm not sure i've ever seen so much new growth as this year. we owecationnally experience exceptional new growth but this season exceeds exceptional. normally we hope for 18 to 24" of new growth and i have seen a lot of 30 to 40" this summer. mike, thank you for reminding us it is an ill wind, indeed, that blows nobody good. actually, we have had a similar but smaller experience on our farm. while our corn and soybean crops are suffering under persistent rain aaron's new lawn is thriving with the soggy weather. another friend of mine who mo's yards professionally is smiling

as well. we are often prisoners of our local environment when it comes to our emotions. i find even a small amount of travel or news like this helps me break the cycle of having my mood decided by the local forecast. please let us know what you think. by the way, we really want to know. feel free to contact us directly. send e-mails to info@usfarmreport.com or you can call (800)792-4329 and leave us a voice mail. now, for the entire team here at "u.s. farm report," thanks for joining us this week, i'm al pell, we hope to see you again next weekend.