farm report, i'm john phipps when we talk in a minute about land hell leand welcome to u.s. farm report. i'm john phipps. when we talk about land values, note how you react to the numbers we see across the corn belt. farmers are certainly not idle spectators. my initial reaction to land sales was, they must be crazy. farmers hope they never sell the ground, which means the purchase price becomes less important after a few years. that reassurance is rising faster in value than the actual dirt.

here's al pell. >> thank you, john. the north american international livestock expo finished its 2010 run today. it's the largest pure bred live stock show in the world. an malls fill the fall for the event. the expo started in 1974 with five breeds of cattle. today it has 20 breeds and covers ten different species of animals. despite a tough economy, things were up in several key areas. >> our enentries this year are very strong. we have the largest number of swine exhibit tores we've ever had. the junior cattle industries are the second largest we've had. it's interesting to see despite what we've seen in the economy, this economy is strong and people are coming here.

>> the exhibition has participants from all over the u.s. it's a great place to market herd genetics. the grain inspection is looking to change or adjust marketing agreements and production contracts in the meat industry. the national chicken council said it would cost -- over five years. those losses would come from reduced deficiency and the public comment period for the proposed rules closes on monday. last week the ncba announced results of its economic study which estimated 23,000 lost jobs if gypsum changes occur. farm value in the midwest and

plain states continue to rise. the federal reserve bank in chicago released its survey of bankers. it jumped 10% from a year ago. this covers the i states. last week the fed and kansas city released its results covering most of the plains. the district saw increases up to 4% higher. that covers colorado to missouri and from montana to new mexico. that's it for headlines. now back to john for crop watch . in lancaster county, pennsylvania, a grower says he's finished harvesting. he says winter wheat planted early in early october is

emerging nicely. now to the southeast. according to to the field office in south carolina, soybean harvest is under way. in mississippi, some fall work is continuing but most producers are focusing on marketing right now and making plans for the 2011 season. when u.s. farm report returns, al is back to talk markets. the discussion begins in just two minutes. please stay with us.

round table guests guests. jim, give us an update on the the close of the markets on friday. >> during the middle of the session, the epa came out with a decision they're postponing on -- this has been an ongoing issue since last spring. it's difficult to know whether it's a testing issue or more of a political issue, but it just capped the end of a really volatile week in the grain markets. we saw the markets sharply lower a number of days. one day corn traded up over 30 cents. just to turn around, a lot of that came from the fact that during harvest, instead of having typical harvest pressure, users would be buying corn and beans, the investment community was interested in owning commodities.

it didn't matter what it was, if it was agriculture commodities, metals, energy products. they absorbed that harvesting pressure, and we moved up during harvest while producers were selling corn and beans out of the field absorbing that hedging pressure. then they had some issues with their dollar positions that started going against them because of issues issues with the irish banking system, the dollar strength against the yourro. that put a great deal of pressure on the markets. corn in a week broke 97 cents.

they're also getting to more even positions before the end of the year. we're seeing the investment money that had been in commodities moving. it's allowing the end users to acquire product that they hasn't been able to get during harvest. >> due to outside influences during this period of time. everything was down on friday. >> i think, one of the biggest stories, you know, touching on something jim was talking about out of china was they are very, very, very concerned about inflation in china right now. this is the most pressure that i think i've ever seen maybe in any market where they've taken that much food inflation and pumped it up to the degree that they have. this week, believe it or not, corn was down 20 today, but china corn hit 950. so the commodity exchange, earlier in the week, the up

prices has got china trying to figure out a way to make these prices going down. people in china are spending half of their income on food. it's a huge hit to take. their president talked about it. they raised the federal reserve rate by .5. they're trying drastically to knock food braces praise -- prices down. >> some of the guys in your business say china is doing that because if they can get us to lower our corn prices, they're going come in and buy more corn. is that what's happening or are they trying to take care of what's happening in their country? >> well, this is the first year that the demand is higher than what they can produce.

>> in china? >> in china. i think it would be close to 10 million met trick tons. they went down to argentina this week to get a deal done. i heard they did get it done. >> we knew we were dealing with argentina. >> their government says a lot of specklators have pushd this price up, but it's 9.50 at harvest. if you're an end usener china, you try to get a year's worth of corn bought now. >> there's a great deal of volatility. we have to expect that going forward. >> do you think it's going to be more rather than less. >> i think it's going to be extreme for the rest of the year. >> we'll return with u.s. farm report in just a moment. ñ(

there are some other markets out there. cotton, you've mentioned cotton and wheat, you've mentioned what the market is doing there. you've talked about low and high end cotton. >> we saw certain markets jump to the front and do some powerful moves. certainly we've seen cotton do the same kind of thing where we've had all time record moves in cotton. it all spurs from last summer. china had an extreme drought in

their cotton producing area, and essentially they've run out of cotton. they had problems with their sugar and same kind of thing. our cotton acres in the u.s. have been going slowly down and now the world gets caught in a tricky situation, similar to what wheat did with minneapolis in '08 when it went to 20 bucks. it's going to be a lot of volatility in the cotton market. it looks like it would be done, but you never know. >> when we talk about volatility, we used to talk about four or five cents, maybe, in a week. now we're talking about limits one way or the other. right, jim? >> yeah, and i think that comes from the electronic markets. the other is we have to realize that there's approximately $245 billions invested in commodity funds. now, they trade many different things off of exchange projects, but there's a lot of

money flowing in these markets. it's going to create additional volatility. producers may be upset that we've had this kind of volatility and are the may need to be regulation. in my experience, this kind of fun buying benefits producers because in my experience, i've never seen the market much more than 6% below what the fundamental value was. now they're 25% above what i considered the fundamentallal value was. so it's a situation that the producers have to have a marketing program in place to be able to take advantage of those kind of extreme moves. we've seen this. this really points to the fact that next spring we're going to have a real battle for acres in this country. we're seeing record highs in cotton and rice. sugar is at 30-year highs. we're going to have a major acres battle not only taking

place in this country but around the world and a great deal now is going to be focused on south america that i should weather. we have the strongest lanina effect in several years. this could affect south american weather. so far there's been no major weather issues in south america, but it's going to be critical this winter in south american weather. usually it's just for soybeans that we watch that, but it's going to affect corn and wheat also. >> when when he talk about this, you have the outside money there, you don't know where it's going to go, gold, silver, metals. you have to have a good mind and a system and a place to take it, but the other side of it is we used to be able to go to local elevators and say,

hey, i want to sell, but now the elevators are in trouble too now. they have those calls that the producers may have to make. what is a guy to do to take advantage of these prices? >> well, you will hear it from a lot of analysts on the show. there's going to be options. once we get further into the calendar, we should be able to use those potentials. last year we didn't have a lot of opportunities in corn to market. we had rally in the winter and we had a rally in the smithery came up all the way until now. i think you're going to see volatility and peaks. >> i'm going to ask you. jim, there's about 30 seconds. >> we're going to have a lot of volatility, and producers need to have game plan or a marketing plan in place so we know when those opportunities are there, we can take advantage of them, not i'm going to think about it for a

few days. a week ago, if you thought about making some soybean sales and three days later, it's a buck and a half lower. you have to have a plan in place, like a good football coach does going into a football game. you know what you're going to do hey head of time and stick to that plan and find a broker that can help you devise a plan to take advantage of the opportunities. >> okay. thank you very gentlemen. we'll be back with more u.s. farm report in just a moment.

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[ swings squeaking ] [ squeaking ] [ creaking ] [ rock music playing ] from exploring europe to conquering x-camp... girl scouts today offers so many incredible opportunities, the only problem you'll have is deciding what to do. so... ♪ yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ whoo! we continue to be dry through the great lakes. new orleans itself isn't too bad. also pretty dry eastern colorado, western nebraska, kansas, some dry pockets showing up out west as well.

southern oregon and parts of california and nevada as well as south texas. i have a feel big thanksgiving weekend this will be changing in this area while a couple of storms move through. you can see on the jet stream this is extremely cold air right up over canada. you can see pieces of that over the state this is past week. this is a direct shot coming off the north pole into northwestern parts of the country. as we head into wednesday, it's into the plains and then it's into the eastern great lakes and then florida by this weekend. very cold air. it looks like another piece of energy on our computer model. it's looking like right now this could be a three or four week time frame from thanksgiving on. let's check things out day by day. on monday, you can see a dividing line. from the cold air to the north,

this will slowly press south eastward and there will be little storms moving along it. you can see one out west causing a fair amount of snow in the rockies. that second one comes into the ohio valley. could be some decent shows, northern and central great lakes. it rains to the south of. that very frigid air to the southwest. that starts to come eastward with a storm moving up the east coast. this could be major snowstorm for parts of the east. the long range forecast coming up in our next half hour. with your mortgage,

worried about foreclosure. mmm. messy stuff. we're a mortgage rescue company. we can help you keep your house. all we ask for in return is that you submit to our plans for galactic domination.

[laughing] [laughing hesitantly] [laughing evilly] we're not so different, you and i. sign. this is not what we-- have you met my henchman radou? nice to meet you. radou. we're just gonna-- we'll see you later... announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, make sure you're talking to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at... many farms this week were rooting for the irish, not the

notre dame football team necessarily, but the irish, irish, especially their bankers. in a spectacular world events, the irish bank had -- confidence in the euro. this unnerved investors. they were counting on growth rates to lift the economy. there's a new actor. the troublesome lanina event looks like a major villain that could remain stronger and larger than usual. all this was just one week. i haven't seen a plot so confusing since the days of comes into the house at noon

and turning on the last few minutes of the young and restless before the afternoon news. confusing relationships were simultaneously mystifying and captivating. maybe we don't have a marketing problem. we have a soap opera addiction. let us know what you think. send e-mails to usfarmreport.com or call and leave us a vice voice mail. stay with us. is 2nd half of u.s. farm report is coming up. report

new food safety legislation finally heads to a vote in the senate another large egg producer faces increased scrutiny over food safety and animal cruelty we revisit one reason why there used to be so many farmers hello and welcome to u-s farm report, i'm

john phipps. action on several regulatory fr hello and welcome to u.s. farm report. i'm john phipps. action on several regulatory fronts are starting to shape is agriculture in the u.s.. if eggs to agriculture will be subject to new rules. it's not like we didn't see this coming. remember the egg recall, the dead zone, and several e-coli scares? becoming good at following rules could be as significant competitive advantage. let's get all the headlines with al pell. >> thank you, john. the senate has voted to move forward on a far reaching food safety bill. now the measure would give food and drug administration the

ability to prevent food borne illness. the bill could give the fda more authority to recall tainted products. inspect food processers and require them to follow safer standards. even with passage of the bill, it will be hard to -- the house bill sometime after thanksgiving. meanwhile, the animal rights group has released undercover video showing what it calls a food safety threat at an egg safety plant in texas. the operation is owned by the largest shell egg producer in the u.s. just like other videos released by the activists group, they say it shows animal abuse and food safety problems by using cages. they're pushing the food industry to develop cage free housing systems. now, according to to the site, 19% of its business is derived

from specially shelled -- the company says each employee involved in the handling of hens is required to sign a code of conduct regarding ethical treatment of hens. environmental protection agency established new phosphate levels for the state of florida. this will impact farmers. the fertilizer institute says there's criteria in place to protect waterways. it marks the first time epa has marked -- time for the forecast from meteorologist mike hoffman. >> bigtime changes coming later this week for much of the country. i know you folks in the northern tier states have seen shots of arctic air, but some of us are going to see more of it. the trough will start off in

the best. pretty heavy snows across the portions of the rockies. great news for skiers. some showers along this first front as it continues to move through the ohio valley, great lakes and into the tennessee valley. by wednesday, everything starts to shift into the southeast. the trough shifts to the middle of the country, bringing frigid air. that will be spreading eastward with some decent snows. northern and central portions of the great lakes. by friday it may settle in for a while. snow is possible from the great lakes to the central appalachians to the tennessee valley. it all depends on this storm system. the east coast sees rain out of this system with rain and thunderstorms into the southeast. next week this takes us into

the first week of december, i believe normal for everybody from missouri to states to the west. above normal for texas. above normal from the mid- atlantic. below normal through most of the west except for the far northwest. and for the 30-day outlook. i think it's going to be below normal for most of the country except you will be growing back and forth in the plain states. precipitation over the next 30 days, below normal in the south. great lakes and the northwest, probably above normal. john? >> ohio farmer doug rupp took a

different path to farming. while many guys his age is thinking about retirement, he's ramping up. he started 15 years ago. as you may know, doug and wife nancy are participating in the ultimate farm quest. they were selected to get a crop, business and marketing device from a team of experts. as a young man, doug worked in a steel mill. he built up capital so he could follow his dream to farm. he still uses life lessons when it comes to managing his operation. >> if you look at businesses that succeed, it's people that are always looking to do better. there's always better ways of doing everything you do. you can historically look back and you kind of laugh ten years later at what you did and you thought it was the best thing to do. i think you can be content with what you do, but always stretching and looking for that improvement. to me, that's what is fun for

farming. i wouldn't be happy if not. when i'm 80 years old walking around with a cane, if i'm around, i'm going to be looking for better ways to do everything. >> you can learn more at www.ultimatefarmquest.com. harvest is always a busy time of

with your mortgage, worried about foreclosure. mmm. messy stuff. we're a mortgage rescue company. we can help you keep your house. all we ask for in return is that you submit to our plans for galactic domination. [laughing] [laughing hesitantly] [laughing evilly]

we're not so different, you and i. sign. this is not what we-- have you met my henchman radou? nice to meet you. radou. we're just gonna-- we'll see you later... announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, make sure you're talking to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at... harvest is always a busy

time of year in farm country, but no matter the workload, many find time to enjoy the season. in south dakota, the hand corn picking contest is one example. we go to the off beat but very serious competition. >> one ear at a time is how it's done in this old manual approach approach. >> you will either be picking for ten, twenty, or thirty minutes. a gleaner and a judge will follow you. the gleaner's job is to pick up everything you've left. of the time area, you're asked to come to the area and that's taken against you and then it's

determined by the weight. that determine what is placing you will have. >> one thing about hand corn picking compared to other sports, it doesn't require much special equipment. >> i'm putting on my husking hook. this is what i wear on my hand to initially loosen the husks on the ear of corn which i am going to snap off and toss into the wagon. >> few have as much experience. >> i was a farm kid. my dad took my dad and brother out in the field when we were five, six, seven years old. that's when we learned to husk corn. that's the only way it was done in those days. it was something you had to learn do. corn husking season was the extra special work season. we got up at 4:30, 5:00 in the

morning. milked cows by hand and did a few other chores. we learned to harness our big horses. so by that time we would have the horses hooked up and we would be in the field by 7:00 and we would husk corn all day long and then do chores in the evening. it was a big day. i can't leave young farm kids could do what they did. corn husking contests were popular back then. my brother and i, we both were interested in getting into those contests. but my dad had other ideas. he says when you guys get growed up, when you're 18 or so, you can probably get in the contests. he says until then you work at home. >> but he did finally get into a contest a lot of them, in fact. he's won the national title 7 times, including the 50 and up

competition in 2009. the dice hand harvesting are gone, but for at least one fall afternoon in south dakota, the sights and sounds linger on. >> well, shucks to learn about similar contests in other parts of the country, go to www.cornhusking.com. we hope you join us next week for harvest of thanks. this year it includes stops in kansas, nebraska, indiana, and north dakota. tune in next week for harvest of thanks. up next, baxter black has the story of the gypsy cow. he joins us in just two minutes. with than

others...a fact witnessed time and again by baxter black. he joins us now from his arizona ranch. some animals are hard to part with than others. baxter black joins us from his arizona ranch. >> in my years as a cow veterinarian, i've probably checked thousands and thousands of cows. it's my job to see if they're healthy and bred and can bring a good calf back in the fall. it's also my job to help the cow man to decide whether it's time to get rid of the old darling or not. it's a tough decision for them. they develop an attachment. sometimes for the oddest of reasons. >> i was just about to cow the cow when the boss sees me swinging the gate. hold it there, doc, for a minute. i've not quite decided her fate. there's something about this gypsy cow. she's a world class traveling

machine. she must have more frequent flyer miles than the crew on apollo 13. she's got a few scars from fences she's plowed town do get through, plus a head light scar on her shoulder. she's had her close calls, that i'm sure of. she's escaped certain death. one night she came home in a loader with a gomer and schnaps on her breath. i swear this new year's i saw her in the rose bowl parade on tv. she's worst than the tom cat out roaming, and not picky is what i've surmised. i never know what kind of calf she'll have. each time i'm always surprised.

one year she had a hole steen pup. this year i'm worried this spring because the man next door has started raising emus. you can never tell. i put on a sleeve and proceeded. this is strange i said when i could speak. i would advise you to get a nest ready. i feel feathers, two horns, and a beak. this is baxter black from out there. >> okay. in two weeks, baxter sings the big one that got away blues. check out his work online at www.baxterblack.com. when we come back, our country church salute. we're off to the

lone-star state to take a look at a rare international tractor. bob stone shares in tractor tales we're off to the lonestar state. >> this is a 350 high utility diesel. it's very rare. they only made somewhere between five and ten of these tractors, international did. it was very rare, the diesel portion of it. they made more of the high utility gases. the diesel was the rare one. this one has a lot of options on it. it has the wheel weights, both front and rear, and the frame weights and it's got a 2-point hitch and i bought this one in

iowa. tobacco, which is growed underneath a shade, and you have to be above the tobacco leaves and it gives you a lot of clearance underneath, yet it's still short being a utility. we have a two-point carryall. they came right from international harvest tore. you can carry feed or whatever you want to around with the farm with them. it's kind of a neat item to have. >> this is probably my next of favorite tractor. it's right up there at the top, yeah. >> we start this week's country church salute with an unusual submission. the short creek united methodist church celebrated their 225th 225th anniversary this year with a wooden model of the church with the history

printed on the back. the original church was erected in 1807. the brick church was built in -- the active congregation maintain this is link to their heritage. our second church is the calvary lutheran church in iowa. it's their 75th anniversary. they bought and renovated an old presbyterian church in -- they are led by pastor james travis. thanks to julie bartow for sending us the information. we want to learn about your home church as well. stay with us. the mailbag is next. weekly look

inside the farm report mailbag.... kevin draves in midland, michigan r time now for a weekly look inside the farm report mailbag. -- a weaker dollar will cause more harm than good. everyone gets a pay cut. the money you earn stays the same. corn will be $20 in ten years or less. it will not, however, buy a gallon of gas. your views are echoed by many others. the problem with all the monday morning economic commentary is while the logical cause and

effect scenarios can be suggested, they are dependent on variables that cause a wide range of results. you suggest a lower valued dollar will raise issues for -- but not capital, seed, labor, machinery and so forth. consider the fact that even as the dollar has fallen in the last year, consumer inflation has been virtually nonexistent. oddly, another complication is tied to the use of loaded words like strong and weak that imply valued judgments. the biggest is the chinese effort to link their currency value to ours. regardless, currency values are being determined by many more players in many more markets than ever. as always, we want to hear are the you. send comments to info at

www.usfarmreport.com. for al and mike, i'm john phipps, saying thank you for watching u.s. farm report. we'll be working to do even better.

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