events. a few more storms like that one could cause problems. >> good morning, everyone. it's been a strange growing season this year and now growers are witnessing the impact of delayed planting firsthand. the latest crop condition report from the usda shows many fields remain behind schedule. for corn, 70% of the crop is rated good to excellent. states are reporting significant delays, including, illinois, ohio and pennsylvania. for soy beans, 69% of the crop is rated good to excellent, up 3 points from the week before. 85% of the crop is setting project, not too far behind the average pace. iowa senator chuck is asking the usda to call 8 areas as

disaster area. those counties stretch from sioux city. the state has been hit by three different hail storms this summer. jeff toured some of the fields during the crop tour. >> and here is another thing that not happens in a hail storm. you get this bruising. that's how severe this hail storm was. that's where hail stones hit on this ear. just pounded it. just pounded it. and that's -- that's severe bruising. this is -- this was -- it was a nice corn crop up here. it wasn't a great corn crop because we were getting a little dry, but doggone, now they're just trying to get what they can. >> despite the hail damage, the scouts say iowa will still have a big corn crop, assuming they have a normal finish to the

season. for wheat growers, the story is different. harvest season for the winter wheat crop is virtually complete. as of last weekend, the ago department reported that 89% of the crop had been harvested. some fields in idaho, washington, oregon and montana still need to be harvested. now we would like to take a moment to invite you to a couple of events we're hosting this week at the farm progress show. first up is a taping of our marketing round table this week at the exhibit area. the discussion gets going at 12:30 on that first day of the show. the next day, i'll talk policy and production. that program begins at 2:00 at the verse tile tractor exhibit area. the first 100 visitors for our wednesday program will receive a free cap from verse tile. that's it for the headlines. back to john for crop watch.

♪[music] >> crop watch begins in louisiana. corn harvest is about 80% complete. yields on ears are hitting 240- bushels to the acre. dry land is 40-bushels to the acre. in illinois, a farmer who checked his corn planted on may 30th saw a lot of small kernels. he doubts he will make it before first frost. one farmer sprayed on a good looking soy crop. he was counting nearly 1,000 per plant. in the northeast region of arkansas, a farmer writes august-degree units are usually around 22 per day. right now he's lucky to get 11. when we come back, al talks markets. the discussion begins in just two minutes. please stay with us. -0-0-0-0-0-

i spent much of this week speaking to

>> farm report guests th week. gentlemen, the top producer crop tour, whatever they got done, they said that crops are late maturing this year. that's not unusual, particularly in the eastern corn belt. because it's late being put out too. but has that -- that information been priced into the prices because they're at 320, 40, 50. >> i think it certainly has had a factor in supporting the market and farmers aren't selling anything. the bean crop is really late. human nature of market is people believe whatever it is they want to believe. if you want to be bullish corn, you're going to believe it's a late frost. what came out of that tour is we would have record yields. if you want to be bearish, you

believe the record yields. start a good debate. >> i'm going to ask you about soy beans. corn is not as good in the eastern belt as the western belt. >> i think one thing that you will find in corn this year is that folks will tell you that genetically we should be looking at a 7-bushel per acre increase every year for the next 10 to 20 years. >> wow. >> for the last couple of years, we haven't seen that on a national level. but other than the fact they're getting planted late this year, i think as you look at the corn belt as a whole, we have one of the best crops ever. what we believe is going to happen, you're not going to see a 7-bushel acre increase this year. we could catch up two or three years at one time. this sounds crazy, but you

could end the year with over 170 without a whole lot of trouble. we're being conservative at 162 and a half. i believe it could be a lot bigger than that. and yet, that's not going to impact the market until we get past the free scare problem. some day we will come in and corn will be down 15-cents and the ball game will be over. >> the freeze will change that. i'm just joking about that. if it happens, it happens. ron, tell me the bean situation. because beans are not as far along as corn right now. >> we are literally running out of beans in many areas of the country. that is reflected in the extraordinary moves day in and day out. any type of delay will make the problem more acute in different areas from the standpoint of a user. if you have old crop beans or if you're harvesting earlier. there's no question that there's a diverse opinion on beans. august rain, we got plenty of august rain for the beans.

historically that's good for bean yield. the thing that we picked up is more concern about disease in the beans. so we have to wait to see what the combine tells us. if i had a bias today, i would say that good august rains translate into yield prospect. >> we have had a fair amount of rain. it's always unusual weather here. so beans and corn looks like we will have pretty good yields. >> i think so. >> i agree. i think we're going to have record yields in both. and we're just marketing some time here to get past the real weather scare. >> demand on beans, we know the demand is going to be good. it's existing right now and it will take a while to get past that, even with bountiful yields. >> i agree with that. the market is is not showing any to the farmer. >> demand on corn at this point

in time -- >> actually, i think it's been fairly good g. too. some of the ethanol plants are coming back online. the livestock industry has not cut back. one of the things that we need to keep in mind, in the long time picture of agriculture, you have to have balance. right now -- and i have said that before. we don't have balance here. we've got a dairy industry, a pork industry and beef industry that are losing way too much money. yeah we have an ethanol market and yes we have an export market but the big consumers are the four legged and two legged creature. i don't think anybody is anticipating an increase in price. if we're not moving those down, eventually we're bring doug the price of corn substantially or we won't have the critters to feed to. >> i see you nodding your head. and i'm not going to and anything right now. but when we come back, i want you to address what our

producers of the grain and for that matter the producers of livestock need to do to maximize the profit potential out there when we return with more u.s. farm report. it's all an adventure, no matter what you do... so, the joy is getting there. well on the days that we help someone move from the shelter to permanent housing... those are the best days. i reached inside the window and it started right up. it made us feel like if that truck could keep going, then we could all keep going. chevy . the most dependable, longest lasting full-sized pickups on the road. this is my truck. chevy silverado. america's best truck.

>> round table this week. we were talking about -- remember when we left, i told you we were going to come back and i would tell you to tell a livestock producer or a grain producer what he needs to do in order to make money. i'm going to ask you first, brian. >> i will start with the grain producer. i think we look at this time of year, students are going back to school. i think producers want to be students of the market. by that i mean do what the market tells us. start with soy beans. offering a tremendous price for production off the combine.

never seen. $10 soy beans offered off the combine before. the second part of that equation is there a is demand in the market encouraging them tosell at this time. the corn market i would say is just the opposite. there is good carry all the way out to next summer. 31, 32-cents out to the july contract. producer if they harvest a big crop want to lock in that carry because the carry can just go away between now and next summer if you don't lock it in the future markets. >> bottom line, lock some n. some of the prices. if you think they are going to go up, put it on paper as opposed to a bin. >> do what the market tells you to do. >> okay. richard, what do you think a producer can do to make some money. >> i agree with what brian is saying. i don't want to store $10 soy beans. if you want to own soy beans, own them on paper. >> okay.

>> i don't think it makes any economic sense. in the corn, i think we need to understand and while i agree with what brian said, you know, the difference between speculating in the bin and storing corn are two different things. >> that's true. >> he's talking about hedging it out in the july futures or something in that area to lock in the scary i think that's a logical thing to do. because there is carry in the corn market. and so it's not -- the market is not screaming at you to sell it right now in the cash market. but i think we need to recognize that corn is in the bare market. i don't think we're close to a bottom. i think most of you don't like me to say that. but when you've got a market as i said before we went on break where the livestock industry is losing money, we're losing demand there, we have more ethanol plants coming online which means more dges coming on

market. it's hard for me to build a bullet situation in corn. when he have a genetic environment when yield increases are increasing dramatically. i think we have a very good chance of collecting ldps in this year's corn crop. >> you're saying that soy beans are looking good. corp. is a different situation. let's get on the other side of the fence now and i don't care whether you're a dairy producer or sheep producer or chicken or cattle, what do we need to do from that standpoint in order to minimize loss because i don't think there's much money being made out in the livestock industry. >> it's a tough situation right now because everybody is playing poker. as we discussed off the camera, waiting for the guy down the road to shut down or liquidate part of its herd and nobody is willing to give because they have a capital investment in facilities. i think it will take leadership

in the grower organizations, be it the pork producers or dairy industry to come up with a plan and say that everybody needs to voluntarily cut back. >> the group got together and they had a liquidation plan and that sort of thing. anything that a producer can do? >> yeah, at this point, al, i agree with rick that you're looking at a situation where you have to move from this point forward rather than turn back the clock and say i wish i could have done this or that. you're looking at things like efficiencies. what can i do to maximize opportunities for export markets, for example. whatever it may be. but it's a challenging situation right now at this point. >> there's one other point i would like to make. i have seen it in the last two weeks where a lot of bankers are coming in and starting to make some decisions for pork producers. one of those decisions say that you should be hedge hogs. wh they recognize is they should have been hedge hogged.

at the bottom of the market, i have seen producers be forced into putting on positions and nine out of ten times they lose money on them. this thing has come down so much that i wouldn't be shorting hog futures in here. i think that is a situation where you lock out -- lock out the potential of any -- making back any of the profits that you have lost. and, you know, you've waited this long and keep waiting, the best way to double your money is fold it in half and put it back in your pocket. i would not want to be short hog futures. that market has already left the barn. it's too late. >> a challenge awaits us in agriculture every year. this year even more perhaps and some of the other years that we have seen in past. thank you for being here today. and we will return with more u.s. farm report in just a moment. so pioneer brings more potential to the table for more performance in the field. every bag of pioneer brand se

contains only diverse pioneer genetics. most combined with advanced protection traits. all are rigorously tested to make a difference field by field. better choices lead to better yields. better choices start with pioneer hi-breds. >> welcome back to u.s. farm report. dry areas continue.

even though they have had some rain across parts of wisconsin, the great lakes over the past couple of weeks, long-term drought takes a while to stop changing in this situation. also dry in south and southeast text ex. there are other dry spots across the corn belt. but the next main area is in parts of nevada and california. here is the jetstream by monday. we have danny concerns on up the eastern sea board. by monday, this whisks into the northern atlantic. nontropical at that point so we don't have to worry about it. the trough brings in cool air for a while in the northeast. that will relax a little bit but you will notice the trough wants to hang in there across the mid sections of the country and into the great lakes as we head through the rest of the week and into the following weekend. that's labor day weekend obviously. here is the forecast. chilly conditions in the great

lakes. below normal temperatures all the way down into the tennessee valley. front across the southeast and scattered showers and thunderstorms. next frontal system not making a lot of progress. it will stall out by monday there in the northwest. scattered showers and thunderstorms along this front as it tries to come back eastward along the eastern edge of the rocky mountain ranges. you see scattered thunderstorms all the way down into south florida. high pressure dominating the ohio valley most of this coming week. as we head into friday, you will see high pressure dominating the great lakes. ohio valley, middle parts of the country, weak little cool front might touch off a couple of showers. hopefully this will bring decent rains. it's been tough to get this time of the year. the next front makes progress, a little more rain in the pacific northwest. in the next half hour, we will check the longer range forecast.

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farmers in nebraska. it was fun, because almost >> we spent much of this week talking to farmers in nebraska. it was fun because producers are looking at great, even great crop tential. they are less excited about price prospects however. at the last meeting i was visiting with local corn growers. they are for saking soy beans like last year's cell phones. i suddenly realized i must be shrinking. at 5'11", i felt like a shrimp to those guys. the average height was 3 inches above me. many had dutch last names. now the dutch recently captured the world's tallest nation title from the u.s. they now average about two inches above americans, even after adjusting for asian and latino immigrants. the u.s. is still competitive

in the widest nation category. still the reasons for the eclipsing are not clear. some point out that the amount of milk and cheese that the dutch consume. that would make a excellent dairy promotion idea. i had a glimpse of what those 5'0" must have thought a thousand years ago when the northern invaders came over the hill. holy bleep. as always, we want to hear from you. send comments to info at u.s. farm report.com or leave us a voice mail by calling (800)792- 4329. coming up in the next half hour, a shaving record falls in texas. stay with us as the second half of u.s. farm report comes up.

>> today on u.s. farm report. public officials of all kinds accelerate h1n1 outbreak preparations. there is hope on the horizon for livestock industries but can producers hang on that long. and how many sheep can sheep shear shear in a sheep shearing showdown. >> u.s. farm report brought to you by chevy, an american revolution. ♪[music] >> good morning and welcome to u.s. farm report. i'm john fips. the nation's health officials continue to ramp up preparation for an outbreak of h1n1 virus this fall. unlike normal flu strains, h1n1

has stayed active all summer, which is a sign. because children seem to be more affected than older folks which is almost a reversal of normal flu patterns, schools are especially active. officials have will to devote time and resources to adhere guidelines brought down by health officials. according to my grandson's principal, one thing is sure, it's already impacted our education results. time for the news now. >> thanks, john. and good morning, everyone. how many americans could contract the h1n1 flu this fall and winter? it depends on who you ask. earlier this week the president's council advisors predicted more than 100 million americans could come down with the flu strain or nearly 40% of the u.s. population. later in the week, the centers for disease control and

prevention question that prediction saying that recent data doesn't back it up. regardless, h1n1 takes a heavy toll on the nation's pork industry. >> again, the h1n1 virus, the unfortunate naming of that as swine flu did cause some countries to restrict their buying from the united states. we have to get those countries assured that pork is nutritious, wholesome and there is no connection between consuming pork from the united states and the h1n1 flu. >> in other news this week, experts at the research institute say as consumer confidence climbs, ago should benefit from increased demand. according to the updated figures, prices for barrels are projected to climb to about $58 a hundred weight in 2011, up from the less $43 this year.

now, for dairy, the all milk price average is projected to climb from an average of 1250 per hundred pounds this year to 1600 in 2011. now, with the passing of senator ted kennedy this week, leadership in the senate will undergo significant change and it's sure to impact agriculture. washington editor roger bernard outlines the possibilities. >> well, here is how the agriculture tie-in could unfold. the labor and pensions or health committee is obviously now vacant. next in line in seniority and seniority drives a lot in the u.s. senate is chris today from connecticut. he's chairman of the senate banking committee, a panel that has a lot of work ahead of it so he may not want to step away from that at this juncture. senate agriculture chairman tom. he has been a long time advocate of eating healthy.

this could be a fit for mr. harkin. but it would set up a question of who would take over that panel. and the names as far as seniority are like this. pat laey of vermont. and fox bocus. chairman of the finance committee. it would seem unlikely that any those three might want to give up their post to take over the ago panel position. that would take us next in line to senator lincoln of arkansas who won a lot of praise during the 2008 farm bill. that could have a major impact on the committee as it would put two southerners up top the panel because the ranking republican is saxby champ bliss from georgia. whether or not there will be an agriculture impact will depend squarely on what senator today does. >> that's it for news. now time for the forecast from

meteorologist mike hoffman. >> we have seen this pattern a lot this summer. that is a trough in the great lakes and the east bringing chilly area all the way down into parts of dixie here. you're not as hot as you have been earlier in the sum fresh kansas to texas. that's good news for you folks. but there's still a ridge there and so it's still pretty warm all the way across the western plains and into the west. hot conditions for many of the interior western sections. just areas of scattered showers and thunderstorms in parts of the west. far south texas and far southeast. otherwise high pressure dominating most parts of the country. we see little moisture this week for the entire area. as the moisture tries to return in the western plain states, we will start to see activity there in central and central florida.

now obviously if a tropical system develops, some of these forecasts could change a little bit along the gulf coast. at this point we don't see that. still a trough reestablishing itself in the northeast by friday as we head into the labor day weekend. it will be cool again in the northeast. maybe a couple of scattered showers and more substantial thunderstorms from southern to west texas into the western plains. that could be good news for some areas. temperatures the following week, september 6th through the 12th, below normal for the great lakes into the northeast. now, obviously i'm hoping my forecasts are wrong for this part of the country because i know a lot of you got a late start on planting things and you need a late frost. we're still thinking below normal there. precipitation next week below normal for the great lakes. from the southeast into the north plains above normal and below normal also for the drought areas of texas.

temperatures below normal across the great lakes. and texas to the west coast probably above normal. john. >> thanks, mike. still to come, we head to texas where two sheep shearers attempt to set a new world record. how did they do? not up next in the spirit of the heart land.

intense summer heat of the texas panhandle, two >> dealing with intense summer heat of the texas pan handle, two professional sheep shearers attempted to set an endurance record for shearing. they began their effort at 7:00 p.m., 27 hours later, the two had sheared more than 1,000 sheep. incredible. erica takes us to texas for the story. >> we're going to start shearing at 7:00 and hopefully stay at it for 24 hours out hearing. so break times count against us. at the end of 24 hours, if we have taken five hours of breaks which i hope is not the case, we have to put the five hours back on there. >> reporter: yep, you heard him

right, 24 hours of solid sheep shearing. this at an endurance record was the brain child of a sheep shearer from minnesota. >> since i have enough sunk in me to do something and to set something, get something started in this country. >> reporter: the world record is held a which shearer in new zealand. sheep in the united states are kept in different conditions so it wasn't likely it could be beat by an american. >> why couldn't an american have a record, something to start from. i thought of this endurance thing. >> reporter: it was 105 degrees today. why would sheep shearers from the northern part of the united states come to texas in july? this is one of the few place in the united states that had enough sheep to accommodate a contest of this size. it takes a certain amount of

mental and physical preparation. >> you have to figure out at the beginning what kind of pace we will have so we can last, you know, whatever we do. >> i look at it like three days of shearing. i do it all the time. my equipment works. why do something different to that. physically, well, what are you going to do for that? i know it's going to be hot. probably -- you know, to answer your question, mental. i have never once doubted not doing it. never once. and i just keep driving that in there. >> the shearers kept a steady pace for the entire 24 hours. but they have been shearing sheep for years and have a good pattern. >> but in reality, none of this works unless legs are not in the right position, sheep are not in the right position and equipment is not sharp.

but what you want to do is stretch out the skin by lifting their legs up through one hip. every stroke that you take at that point is setting up the last two thirds of this sheep. you try to shear them in roughly 46 strokes roughly. we do count them. when you get good and tired, you start counting your strokes. and then you realize that you're wasting time. >> reporter: in the end, doug sheered 607 sheep, roughly 25 per hour. and 480 sheep, about 20 per hour. and although they may not do another marathon sheep shearing, they will probably keep their shearing careers for a long time to come. >> wow. the begin he is book of world records has been contacted about the endurance effort. at the rate they were going, gavin was hearing a sheep every 2 minutes 52 seconds.

doug was finishing in 2 minutes 23 seconds. up intersection a newest showcases the ago industry.

welcome back to u-s farm report. there's a new show launching in january that's positioned to become a regular fixture on the farm show circuit. the "ag connect expo" will run january 12th through the 15th in orlando. organizers call it "the next generation" of ag >> in orlando. organizers call it the next generation of ago expos. >> time is so valuable these days. we wanted to offer a product of what they wanted to see. something that they said, they wanted the opportunity to sit down and connect with people that had like interests. so a lot of our educational programs are turned into a networking opportunity. you could be sitting next to somebody from the next county

or somebody from brazil or russia to talk about the best practices that those operators are employing in their businesses today. >> to learn more about the expo head online to agoconnect.com. john deere has rolled out their tractors and a new numbering system. the 8r series offers the most fuel efficient tractor ever produced. >> on the wheel models, we have a completely redesigned cab. the command view cab that customers will enjoy as being their new mobile office. and the track tractors have been completely redesigned from the ground up with an air cushion suspension system for more comfort in the field. >> now, as far as the new numbering system, this is how it works, the 8 is the model nobodies i can nateed for the series. the next three digits represent the rated engine horsepower. the 5th position is a letter

that indicates the capability and price level. and in the case of a tractor with tracks, it will include a t. a new pasture based dairy featuring auto milk is getting rave reviews. along with the milking system, it offers an energy efficient design. they have water mattress bedding and manure scrapers and uses a sidewall curtain that goes up or down to regulate temperatures. >> because we have the robot, we have some ability for automation that doesn't come right now in traditional farms in particular we can look at roomation patterns of cows. those are important in looking at how they utilize feed and resources. there's all sorts of side benefits to almost every farm. >> it allows the cow to decide when she will be milked. the cow has the choice of what time of day, how often she will be milked as opposed to the cob

venges al system -- conventional system. >> we hope it will become more technologically advanced so people will have a easier time and devote their time to doing other things. >> leadership came from a grant from the kellogg foundation. when u.s. farm report returns, it's time for tractor tails and our salute. stay with us.

running old machines can be difficult at times. that said, calling on your >> running old machines can be difficult at times. that said, calling on your neighbor for assistance is not a unique practice in farm

country. >> get the gas turned on. i'm going to get a friend to pull me with a japanese built tractor. this is very close to a rock tore that my granddad had that i sat in his lap and drove when i was 5 years old and i'm 68 now. and i have still got the property that we were plowing at that time. and this was always a tractor that i thought i wanted some day. so when i found this one in montana, we went after it. i think the day i bought it, it was covered in snow and about 50 below. i need to do some work on the carburetor to get it to operate like it should. but -- and change some sheet metal on it. when i'm through, it will have all of the options.

i'm still looking for a hillside drop bar. i do have the power takeoff for it. and this was the -- so i understand the first tractor to come out with the power takeoff. one interesting thing on this, it's got three tanks. the little tank is for gasoline starting. the largest tank is for fuel, which it would use care seen or gasoline,. and the middle size tank was for water. >> do you like this tractor. >> i will when i get through with it. >> in 1927, it cost $1,250 to purchase it new. the presbyterian church near north carolina, one of the oldest in the state gets the first country church salute. they celebrated 250 years in 2006. the location was believed to be

the winter site of corn wallace and a site of great interest for history fans. the present building is the fourth church home for the congregation. the second church is the zion reform church in illinois. their centennial will be marked this september seat. the congregation has descended with mostly dutch immigrants and has been served by 23 ministers. join them for their anniversary services. as always we would like to learn about your home churches as well. please stay with us. the mail bag is next.

>> time now for a weekly look inside the farm report mail bag. is it that you would make more money growing corn than you would growing soy beans but farmers are still planting a lot of soy beans. farmers in nebraska will get only 180-bushels per corn. i must be missing something in the calculation like the cost of production. could you please talk about cost versus price and the economics of farming for us

city folks. don, cost for production is a poorly communicated concept even for producers. i crib edge when people say that the cost of production is x dollars per bushel. until harvest is over and yields are known, the best that any producer can prove is how many dollars per acre he has spent. this means instead of a break- even price we can figure the break-even income per acre. when we know the yields we can divide to get a price. my preference is to compare in the field costs which are variable costs of production. fertilizer seed, chemicals and fuel. this gives me a number how much gross profit i have and to buy more power tools. there is a flaw of averages so to speak which obscures the specifics. we have producers with low costs and very high yields and some with much different numbers. i'll try to shed more light on

this next week. please let us know what you think. feel free to contact us directly. send e-mails or call (800)792- 4329 and leave us a voice mail. for al and mike, thank you for watching u.s. farm report. be sure to join us next week. we'll be working to do even better. up historic hail damage in iowa and the winter wheat crop is almost in the bin good morning and welcome to u-s farm