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>> today on us farm report, the perinial question of trade with cuba resurfaces again, meanwhile efforts to expand free trade with latin america struggle while opportunities beckon. and frontier tour participants glimpse the future of the panama canal. us farm report brought to you by chevy and their award win winning cars, trucks and cross overs. >> hello, and welcome to the u s farm report.

i'm john phipps. from dairy farmers, the our domestic markets will not be sufficient to soak up the gains in our farms. surpluses here could torpedo or prices. top producer editor greg vincent will be reporting from the frontier tour to latin america which will show us the challenges and opportunities in this market. offering a peak at what freer trade might mean from american producers. here's alpel. >> thanks, john, and hello, everyone. there's a renewed push by lobbyists to expand trade with cuba. more than 12 dozen ag organizations are approving a bill. if passed, the legislation would allow ag sales to cuba to

be handled just as they are to other export markets. limited trade to cuba has been in place since 2000. collin peterson is the sponsor of the bill and says it will be introduced soon. the us greens counsel is expand expanding its reach. the failure to ratify pending trade agreements in latin america can result in significant losses for american agriculture. the us current faces a tariff disadvantage in the region. it's located in the panama canal which is undergoing a major expansion. two new commreks are being added. the project will deepen navigation channels. once again, ships twice the size of the canal can currently carry will be handled and able to pass through. the cost of the project is more

than $5 million and expected to be completed by 2047. 14, tell you will be required to move the vessels. in terms of costs in grain will actually be much lower to get that grain into your market. >> certainly, we know that we're exporting over half the soy beans we raise, many of half go into china, so the canal ends up being very important, everything going through the gulf of mexico goes through that canal to china. i feel very good after seeing the canal and the way it's run and the leadership of the people running the canal that we can feel very good about this market in the future. >> a group of farmers and journalists got a first hand look this past week. they're part of the frontier study tour at top producer magazine and the united soy bean board.

now they've moved to brazil. that's it for headlines. back to john for crop watch. >> crop watch this week begins in southern texas. that's where you have to go to find planters in the field much however, following a cold and wet winter, a grower in oasis county says he's having to plant and fertilize at the same time. he's hearing reports of stuck sprayers, cultivators and planters. in washington, dry land, early seeded wheat is off to a good start. moisture has been average this winter and there's been little winter kill from a december freeze. overall, the crop is about two weeks ahead of average. when "us farm reports" returns it's time to head to the markets. please stay with us.

a friend and i >> our guest today, we had a report that came out, and bill i know that your company has put your estimate out early, but what was the report, what's coming out? what are we expecting? >> we've got the end of the month acreage and stock report. we did a large survey for what producers could expect to plant

and they came out with corn, 91.5, up about 3.6 million acres. >> okay. >> and an increase about 1.6 million up to about 7.91. the interesting thing about the survey, the usda found out earlier that the wheat acres would drop about 5.66. >> so that's what the farmers are telling us they're going to do at this point in time, weather-corporating. >> mike, the question i want to ask you, with that much more corn planted, it looks like we're going to have more corn. what is this going to do to our feed prices for cattle? >> well, live stock guys, this is the live stock guys' delight. you look for bigger corn numbers. you want more acreages out there. it's simple supply and demand. you plant more corn, you have

more supply, less need for high higher prices and hopefully margins will move to more comfortable areas because now they have more equity to make up for the last two years. >> are you talking about dairy cattle, beef cattle or all cattle. >> it pervades the whole land landscape. it wa poultry, hogs, cattlemen and dairy men. all of them felt the pinch of higher priced corn as they moved into lower priced beef, lower priced pork and milk. all of them felt the pinch, so they're going to be very happy about this and very happy about what comes this spring if those acreage numbers, indeed, are right on track. >> nobody said anything about prices next. that's why i'm going back to bill to think what he thinks of prices. you're anticipating those prices will go down. i said the feed prices will be lower. bill, what's going to happen to prices.

>> we're looking at a neutral market, a carry that's about 16.71 million a bushel. the five year is 16.73. it's just a normal crop and a normal carry over, i should say. it's going to be a big crop with a big demand. the ethanol is going to be big bigger. obviously, we're going to increase our feed demand, but overall, that should be in the market. >> what should a producer do in terms of market. i'll ask you about this in cattle in a minute. what should a producer do in terms of taking advantage of this market. >> and advantage it is, we're in a seasonal time frame. everybody thinks we're going to have trouble getting a plant like last year so it's a spring rally. >> trouble like we had planting last year, last year was a very big trouble. that trouble didn't amount to anything. >> we had a lot of acres that went into the mud and they always say your crops are a

dud. didn't happen this last year. we've got an unprecedented amount of field work just to get them in the field this year as well as harvesting in. if we get the acres in, if those planters are rolling on time between may 1 and may 18, that's your normal planting window, this market could be topped for the year, depending on a lot of fund and speculative issues fund fundamentally, if that crop gets in the ground on time, it's going to grow. >> the recommendation is what. >> take advantage of this spring rally right here, make sure yuv a strategy in place. we're locking in guys about $670 per acre for a minimum revenue this year and upside open to about 850. that's nice revenue. >> are they going to anticipate these prices going down to take advantage or wait until they go down for feed prices?

>> if i am buying feed right now, i know that i need to, i'm going to be more apprehensive about locking things in, call option strategy and something that gives me soft coverage to the top side would be very advisable to this point but that's going to depend on your area, who and where you're buying your feed from. obviously, there's different opportunities out there in different parts of the country where, you know, maybe taking a look at locking some things in makes sense, but back that up with put strategy to go with that. >> when we come back to our next interview, the thing i want to start with you is about the fact that we have a lot of feed out there, some think they have disease in it or opportunity and that sort of thing, and some of it is out of condition and whether you think that's feed usage opportunity when we return to "us farm report" in just a moment.

>> round table guest this week, bill and al, mike, i was going to come to you right after the break what i want to know is whether vomatoxin and whether some of the out of condition corn or feed will give feed buyers an advantage. >> obviously, if you have corn that has gone out of condition, has quality concerns, as a use r that have concern, you're going to have concerns of your own, but the thing about it is, as corn producers evaluate their corn as the weather has been warming up and people are start starting to get concerned about some of the wet corn that went into the bin, some of the corn that may have quality issues, they're going to be monitoring those bins and moving that corn out, so there might be an advantage in the fact that if i am a live stock

producer and the corn producers are starting to get concerned about their grain in storage and start moving that stuff a little bit earlier than normal, ahead of road postings, ahead of the normal temperatures which are already start tog move into the midwest, you can see pressure base, and you can see that in different parts of the country, basis are start tog widen out already this spring and not really show a lot of strength going forward into the planting season. >> i guess what i'm hearing here is you really need to take advantage, and i mentioned voma toxin and i asked whether that would make a difference. you mentioned ethanol awhile ago. >> you enherit the voma toxin in the dvts. although it has little effect it carries into the dvg and so you need to look out for it. >> you need to do your home work. >> exactly.

>> let's go back, we talked about pricing based on these numbers and that sort of thing and you said it's basically normal at this point in time but if we have a good year, it could change. >> that's right, and on top of that, probably most significant, is that the world stocks are just massive. we're up to 190 million metric tons of wheat, and 150 million tons, that's a 17% increase in corn. so when you combine the starch grains that are out there, it's just the world is amuck in them, so it's really no reason for an end user anywhere in the world to be chasing the starch market. >> so what you've told me is it's going to be harder for itous sell internationally. >> that's right. and we're not just talking about soy beans. >> no, just talking about starch, and the thing is, if you look at this thing, the end use users, what was prices last time we had stocks like this, and you'll find 2.80.

but we're up here at $4, so whose done it, it's the speculators. they've pre-inflated our market to capture what they think will be inflation from all the government spending around the world. we're going to have to have continued bullish news to support that theory because if we don't have that kind of inflation. say it comes in at 2.5%, they've already overinvested into the commodities. they have to look at it and say, i have a good price, i'm profitable. if it goes down, i'm protected, and that's probably, you know, from an end user stand point, he's looking at the lower price down the road so from the farm farmer. >> you're shaking your head yes. >> here's the thing is every time we've had $4 corn, every single time, spot markets in the future have gone to 3.10 and low lower by fall every single time, so what are the

odds we'll carry $4 this year. if you follow history it's 0. so we've been talking about guys doing something this spring. we're serious with this. get it done now. the statistics are telling us there's a dollar going to disappear by fall and we can't sit heridely and let it happen. if you're not going to address prices, this is the time to act. these are the moments that separate the men from the boys in marketing. >> yeah, but i could almost get out in the field but i won't have time because i'm working the ground. >> if you keep your head to the ground with your hand to the plow you may not have the money to buy a new one. >> the one thing that's on the table that we just don't know how to react to and that is the fact we've got income and population growth around the world, and that's one of the premises that these funds are

pouring into. they said they're going to put $60 billion in commodities this year. that's a lot. you've got to watch what these funds are doing. >> watch the funds gentlemen. we'll be back with more "us farm report" in just a moment.

>> manna is the right crop protection partner because our proven products and value prices give you better choices. that's why manna makes sense. >> welcome back to us farm report. obviously, the drought situation is not a concern east of the continental divide. you can see pockets in

pennsylvania valley and west of the great lakes. it's really the wet ground that's a concern for most of you. we have river flooding from the melting snow but at least the cold air has come back in and that should slow that process down a little bit as we head through the next several days. we don't see a really wet system but we do see for the southeast. we'll talk about that coming up. there's the jet stream heading into this week. storm systems still in the eastern parts of the country. the cold air has come in, another little shot of cold air. i'm looking for at least a week to 10 days in the northern central plains, tennessee valley northward for some fairly cold air, and we probably start to see the ridge build farther east after that and that will warm things up. you can see on monday we have org cold front. going to be some areas of light snow all the way from the north

northeast through the great lakes. chilly conditions as the cold air blasts through the gulf of mexico. milder air off to the west in the central parts of the rockies. by wednesday, another frigid air mass coming southward. looks like snow behind the front, rain farther east, could be a fairly wet system. we're not sure at this point exactly on the track of that, but everything moves east. doesn't last long anywhere, but this sends chilly air southward a day or two. snow along the appalachian range as we head through the end of the week and also scattered snow showers through the great lakes. higher elevation snows in the northwest along with rain in the coast. we'll be back in the next half hour with the longer range out outlook.

>> friends and i were talking after choir practice this week about the weather. this week has been the longest stretch of sunny weather since november. and like those millions of asian beatles crawling over our windows and doors, the biggest activity is watching for the early birds, not robins of course but those eager beaver neighbors who have traditional ly led the parade to the fields. we all know who to keep an eye on in our community and more importantly most of us have established a standard delay factor as well. for example, when dale goes to the field that's my five-day warning. when martin starts working it means i have about two days at most. so we prowl the back roads crawling by those fields we know dry out first. in addition, since many of us sort of outsource our readiness testing to our fertilizing deal

dealer, we'll drop stuff on the tanks like mice on the piper just to see what happens. it'sa muddy job, but somebody has to do it, my cap is off to all you firsters out there. you provide a valuable service to our industry and much-needed entertainment as well. god speed and good luck. please let us know what you think. send e-mails at info @ us farm report.com or call and leave a voice mail. producing better beef in rode hode island. stay with us, the second half is coming right up.

>> today on "us farm report," the department of justice gets an earful about concentration fears in agriculture, california dairy producers ag to respond to animal welfare concerns, and we visit a niche market deep operation in the wide open past pastures of rhode island. "us farm report" brought to you by chevy and their award winning cars, trucks and cross overs. >> hello and welcome to us farm report. i'm john fips, as al will share with us, the us department of justice has wandered into farm country on an investigation that could lead to changes in our current agricultural system.

america's farmers, like all other businesses are most comfortable when dealing with similar sized partners across the table. as both our vendors and customers grow to sizes needed to compete on a global scale, we seem to be buying from or sell selling to large corporations who bargaining clout overshadows our own. is it a good reason? stay tuned. let's get to the head lines now. >> thanks, john, and hello, everyone, the department of justice has kicked off a series of town hall meetings focused on competition and agriculture. held in iowa this month the first focused on seed technology, market technology and buyer power. christine barny says there's nothing wrong with being big in agriculture as long as companies act in a way to keep competition open.

the discussion was meaningful. >> as one producer said to me, he isso glad he came because he sees it's not just a dog and pony show, that both the department of the justice and the usda are commitd to finally looking at some of these antitrust issues that have long been held in agriculture and i think if nothing else, it really has begun the dialogue that's been missing decades on competition and agriculture. >> the next hearing will happen next month in alabama followed by a june meet nothing wisconsin, an august hearing in colorado, and a final hearing in washington this december. one of the nation's largest ethanol producers is looking to reduce its reliance on h 2 o. poet energy hopes to decrease the amount of water it needs to produce ethanol by 22% over the next five years. the company engineers say a process that recycles cooling it rather than discharging it

could save about a bl billion gallons of water annually. >> in an effort to promote the benefits of a vegetar yan diet jennifer gran hold, michigan governor, proclaimed saturday as michigan meat outday. but they renamed the proclamation to michigan agriculture day. the michigan farm bureau called the original proclamation an insensitive slap on the face of live stock and dairy farmers. we'll post a link to the proclamation on our home page u usfarmreport.com. >> california dairy men are going to great lengths to show consumers they take care of the herds. a state-wide initiative called farm, farmers assuring responsible management, has been launched. the goal has been to promote and verify responsible animal care on more than 1700 dairy operations across the state.

that's it for headlines, mike hoffman joins us now with the national forecast. >>. >> us farm report weather is brought to you by manna. >> march so far has been mild east of the continental divide for the most part but woo see a change. we've begun obviously. the cold air is spreading through much of the country except for the far southwest and the southern plain states, you're still on the mild side. we're going to start the week dry through the plain states. we need dry area. we have river flooding to the north and just plain old wet fields in many parts of the rest of the corn belt not laevlt rain expected so that

kind of slows things down. the snow would take awhile to melt there. let's watch the jet stream there. see that northern jet coming back into the northern tier states by wednesday. that will continue the frigid area. we're not sure on the tragic of the storm coming through, even thunderstorms in parts of texas. into friday we go. that will keep it cold through this area with scattered snow showers back into parts of kentucky and tennessee, especially with the higher elevation and more moisture coming into the pacific north northwest. next week then as we head into the first half of a week of april as you can see there, near normal for the northeast, the great lakes.

above normal northern plains in most of the west. next week's precipitation unfortunately above normal is what we're looking at, oklahoma texas through the ohio valley southeast ward below normal for the southwest. as we're going to be trying to plant here, below normal in the southern plains into the south southeast above normal for the northern states and precipitation, it's not good either, above normal for much of the plains and the southeast. only below normal air i have is in the southwest. john. >> thanks, mike. when "us farm report" returns a family farm in rhode island turns a corner by selling local. spirit of the heart land is next.

rhode island may not be renowned for its beef production, but >> rhode island may not be

renowned for its bee production but there's something altering that reputation. this family has developed a program helping keep the family farm in the family. the american angus association sent us their story. >> when i was growing up, it was as far as you could see, and little by little, it grew up, people started selling off and couldn't keep the small farms and would sell a lot here and there. >> i felt as though we needed a different angle because we weren't making a profit here, and we needed to. we needed to support the farm. one day was on the local paper looking through the farm bureau magazine and came across an article, 250 chefs looking for different farmers in the state to provide different types of food, and one e-mail sent got me three e-mails back.

>> all of a sudden we can't keep up with the demand. we get calls from people want ing us to supply them and it's probably going to have a great er impact on rhode island because we're nothing but small farms here. there are no large farms left mere. here and locally grown means people coming back to the small farms. >> knowing where the food is coming from and knowing the people supplying you with the product is very important, building relationships and they become friends is very important. that's what our restaurant really pushes and strives for. >> we didn't have a market and created a market. we sell our beef on the property, and the farm makes money to pay for itself now. >> it seems every time i come here to black burn i see people coming here to take a look at their product, and that means the population is curious about it. it means there's an increased demand, and i also think it means at least to us that we can off set the cost of operation with the sale of our

product which i hadn't seen that in the past. >> the reason the aingus cattle comes down to more consistenty, the end product than any other breed and the consistency would is what the customer wants. >> the angus breed has meant a lot to me in my family. it's kept our family together and i think it's been a great venture for us. >> you're going to see some farms survive that ordinarily would not have. i think they would have been growing raised ranch housing on these farms and now i think they'll probably be able to make it. >> it's a lot of pride. it really is a lot of pride. when somebody says they taste your beef or went to a restaurant and had black bird farm beef, there's somewhat of a pride that comes out there. it really makes you feel good that you raised that and it went on and people are, you know, enjoying it. >> we don't just do this for the money.

it is about keeping us together and preserving a farm that's been around hundreds of years, and i want everybody to know that >> black bird farm has many customers through its freezer beef program. we'll post a link on the home page for more information. when we come back, it's time for bax terblack.

>> baxter black on "us farm report" is brought to you by the beef check off. if you have questions about how your beef check off is invested, who makes the decisions and what's the return, you'll find all the answers and so much more on my beef checkoff.com. >> rounding up way ward steers is no easy task, and baxter

black has the story to prove it. he joins us from his arizona ranch. >> who's had a way of keeping the bubble level? which ain't as easy as it sounds in the creeks and hollers around ada. old man johnson was tight with the dollar bill but flexible, and it came to running cattle, he turned them out on his place and gathered them up, but the numbers didn't always jibe. he owned a small bunch of stairs that had evaded sale day for at least three octobers. he'd made several attempts to bring them in himself going so far as to enlist the aid of a cowboy or two, five boy scouts on three wheelers, hunters and six from the university of tulsa and a water witcher from finch town but alas the wild cattle remained free.

as a last resort he asked mr. johnson what he'd take to gather the critters. 10 bucks a head. he sadled up, loosed the dogs from the coral and only took the dogs 10 minutes to find the strays. they could hear the dogs baying and crying past the 50 holler. they started the heard down the corral and marched then like teenagers in line at a garth brooks concert. he looked out and said, i need to get dogs like that. he rode up and dismounted. how much will that be asked him sliding his bill fold out of his bib and slipping the rubber band off. eight heads, said hoot, that'll be $80. whoah, said their johnson, i can't pay that much. you only took 15 minutes.

he looked at hoot, hoot looked back at him a second, and then spun on his heels, stepped to the coral gate and swung her open with a wave of his hand and shooshed the steerz outside. it took 10 days for old man johnson to call him again. i'd be glad to, of course, the price has gone up. this is baxter black from out there. >> next week, baxter tells us about a dentature stealing dog. until that moment check out his work online at baxterblack.com. when we come back it's time for our country church salute.

we're off to the golden state this week to check out an old ste gi >> we're off to the golden state. this semifamous engine is owned by a museum in vista, california. this is a steam traction engine, 60 horse, 1912, was bought and donated to the museum by a member here years ago and the museum takes care of it now, maintains it, keeps it in running condition. it's all licensed by the state of california. it gets inspected every year, plus the museum has its own safety program like a free trip

every time they're going to fire it up, the guys come out and go through it and check it over to make sure it's safe to run. this engine was used for pulling construction machinery with poll graders or rippers, it was all also on the belt running a crusher. anywhere you needed stationary belt power, it would work at it, and burning wood or coal or whatever it was around for fuel. they would thrash with it sometimes during our shows and drive it around and demonstrate how the steam tractor works. and talk to people is what to do with it right now. it was also out on one movie years ago, used in the movie "tremors 4." it killed the monster clear down at the end of the movie, kind of. and studios would come down and they want different parts of machinery.

several years ago, we were going to run the engine, and one of the guys came out to do the pre-trip and as he was familiar familiar filming it up, he noticed the spot had rusted through, and so he immediately shut -- stopped what he was doing saying we can't run the engine, it had a problem, and took it to long beach, california, certified shop to have a patch put in the crown sheet. it's a big toy, large, expensive toy. it's a lot of fun, very interesting, you get a lot of people stop and ask questions about it, you get to talk to people, meet a lot of people you wouldn't normally meet. >> the museum's annual show will be held in june. for more information, head online to agsem.com. our first country church salute recognizes the united methodist church of cool spring, north carolina.

they mark their centennial anniversary last year. in 1911, it was completed and replaced with an original structure in 1970. additional followed in 1975 and 1976. members built a play ground for children of the community. our second church celebrated their 175th anniversary last year. the farmingdale presbyterian church in illinois was begun by is the settlers in new york in 1874. the current church was completed in 1980. the member of a 108 actively works in ministry and missions to young people. as always, we'd like to learn about your home church as well. salutes can be sent to the address on the screen. please stay with us, the mail bag is next. wlap

weekly look inside the farm report mailbag. e an >> time now for weekly look inside the mail bag. we have an energy related comment from bradley west fall in rudolf, wisconsin. it seems if production can be increased with the new type of few cells then methane of any

source can be produced cheaper than any other source. the original installation cost can be less than any other type except water power. bradley, thank you for your comment. many of you saw that segment on fuel cells on 60 minutes. i have been blogging about fuel cells for some time hoping they would become feasible for farms, but serious economical restrictions remain. the generations run best at constant load, not the peak and is lulls of a typical farm. the units shown also produce significant amounts of waste heat. this is fine in the winter but not use in the summer. right now, the only farms' fuel cells that make sense are the server farms and banks of the computers, internet, still technology is evolving and such ideas may yet become reality for rural america. as always, we'd like to hear

from you, send comments to us farm report.com or leave us a voice mail. for al and mike, i'm john fips saying thank you for watching u s farm report. join us next week. we'll be working to do even better.

oh, my daughter called from work. they cut her hours -- again. oh, wow! does she make less than $48,000? oh, yeah! you should tell her about the earned income tax credit. the what? yeah, you can get up to $5,600 extra back from the irs. well, that'll pay some rent! [ women chuckling ] then she won't have to move in with you. see if you qualify at irs.gov/eitc.