. today on united states farm report. from record warmth to a powerful cold snap. 2012-s continues to generate weather headlines. reaction to the grain stocks report fuels the fire under soybean prices,. and the epa keeps an old stand by in the farmer toolbox. united states farm report is brought to you by the enlist weed control system and by the chevy silv era do hd. hello and welcome to united states farm report ; i have had questions about our problems getting our planter going. as i share three weeks ago a -- it was proving to be

trouble. several shared huron stories. the road news is we got started because of great trouble shooting. the bad news is we did get started. tine has photographs later that looks familiar. i knew the odds of a frost and knowing the machinery is working is a comfort. still weather whiplash is messing farmer heads in much of the corn belt. let's get started. >> thank you. hello. after shattering weather records last month with warm temperature, farmers in much the eastern half of the country got a reminder it's still early april. one of the most at risk crops was grapes. temperatures went in to the upper 20s. at midweek and from iowa to ohio vineyards are reporting damage from the cold. like fruit trees grapevines were weeks ahead of progress. and early planted corn was damaged as well. this photograph was taken in

champagne county illinois where it started three weeks ago. it shows corn at -- that was burned by temperatures in the upper 20s. despite the peril of a spring frost many are planting corn almost a month earlier than the usual planting dates. in the report this week u.s.d.a. said 7% of the nation's corn is now planted. the five-year average is just 2%. in illinois alone 17% is planted. it's normally just 1% at this point. u.s.d.a. said there is no change in domestic corn stocks. in its report u.s.d.a. kept corn ending stocks steedy at 801 million-bushels. most expected a sizable decline. ending stocks were cut 25 million-bushels to 250-bushels and the wheat carry over is 32 million less than last month. meanwhile the south american drought is cutting into some of brazil and

argentina. 66million-tons a decrease of two and a half million from march. the soy was at 45 million, down one and a half million. the epa ruled in favor of farmers to use a pop lap herbicide. they had been asked to ban it saying can hurt the make up of wildlife. it has been around since the 40s. it's used on millions of acres of farmland that controls broad leaf wheat and it's used in lawn care treatment. those are the headlines. now back to john. >> crop watch is brought to you by sfp, putting revolution are you technology to work in the field and helping producers get more from their fertilizer dollar and their crops. earlier tine showed us damaged corn from the cold. just for laughs we had some evidence of crop damaged caused by hail.

dave from oklahoma state sent us this photograph from woodward county oklahoma showing how large hail can shred the winter wet. the u.s.d.a. said three quarters of the wheat was called good to excellent. in lancaster county pennsylvania a farmer said its been dry since january. he said no corn has been planted. he adds that alfalfa and anothers are also suffering. the drought monitor puts all of eastern pennsylvania in dry category. and for agriculture web a farmer in nebraska said it's very dry there. he said the lawns already turning brown. and there is no planting yet because it's to dry. he thinks -- he is thinking about switching 10% of his corn to soybeans. ? when we come back that will probably come up. we sit down to talk markets. that discussion starts in just two minutes. please stay with us. . >> get harder worker leaves

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. our round table guests today. tom -- is a speculator. we were just talk i go about that. though you deal with the markets are you dealing a different point of view or is it the same? >> we cross paths a lot. i always appreciate the farmers input. as my trading style has changed the farmers has become important ting in farming and agriculture, helpings me speculate. sometimes the farmer makes like we talked about this morning makes poor stations in marketing their crop. >> correct. if i see corn at 580 and then it goes to 540 and now the farmer decides to sale i may think there is a short term

bottom because they waited to long. understanding that helps me speculate better. >> are you -- your goal is to get your own money. >> yes. >> and you -- >> and i only loose my own money. >> when you only deal with farmers you try to protect. so what is a kind of thing -- he told us a bit the kind of things he thinks in order to speculate. >> i appreciate the speculators because they provide us with liquidity. with mispin on the board of trade many years ago when i was on the floor i have learned to pay attention to the speculators because they will move the markets. they -- a lot of them are looking at the technicals which play a big part in the markets, you can't base your decisions -- purely on fundamentals. it's very important to watch --

be well rounded. >> i think that's ki of one of the things i like to talk about. seems like what's happening outside of our planting and supply demand is actually affecting our markets a good bit at this point in time. is that correct? >> absolutely. the upside market, i trade a lot off them because i'm trading on a global, 22, 23 trade cycle. a lot wake up in the morning and seat market was down or up. is it try or hot and that's not always what's moving them. today is a good example. last night when gdp came out and disappointed some the markets starting to take a negative tone and never looked back. a lot of them are down today. markets i like to watch as far as good outside are copper and the stock market. i like watching the german tax. they are stable and are supposed to be bailing everybody out so -- it was high as 7200 and today it's 6500.

it's lost that in the last few weeks. have you to watch that. if you like it or not there is a constant risk on risk off strayed, obviously if it was that easy watching one thing and speculating something else. today the grain markets took off one to 2% across the board and that was up after being up all night. grain market dear sir start up all night and then sell off quickly based on the outside. >> so, now do you watch what he is talking about in order to be able to figure out the kind of positions you need to take for the producer? >> yes. you need to. when europe right now you need to watch that, all the concern about the economy thereof some of the portugal, irireland. spain -- the yields were high and that reflected badly on the markets the next day. today, you know with china, gdp

-- coming and moving the markets i think we are geared a little more to the fundamentals today, the brake can be -- to seeing rain that we saw coming across the very dry areas in an anticipation of the coverage being good. corn took it on the chin. >> most are getting used to look at what happens in south america and other place around the world but we are in a world grain market? >> absolutely. have you to pay attention to south america, china is another good example. they are a big corn area, it's very cold and dry right now. russia the drought affecting the wheat crop in france and germany and poland. you just can't look in your own backyard. >> when we come back, one of the things i want to do is look in our one backyard and predict what the prices will be this summer, what we need to watch for. when we return in just a moment.

. tom into yan grain company, i said we would look at what the prices would be. i will just start out with you greg. we will see 15-dollar beans this summer. >> i don't think we will any time. >> you don't. >> i think we are getting near a top in the bean market. leaning oner one way, open interest at record levels, we have had production concerns, which are real in south america, demand has been great. >> i just talked to another analyst and he said we will probably touch 15-dollar beans, 5-dollar corns and -- our -- who is going to buy, who isn't and who will produce and who

won't. i just --. >> who will buy at these levels? i think we will see it blow off a little and come june or july. i think -- we are near top. >> how about corn? >> the corn will go lower. it'll be volatile. >> on this --. >> i guess if -- idiots like me keep selling them at $14 we can go to 15. when i sell beans it hurts so what i have done is -- i have been buying bean puts. i would rather loose 12-cents on a 50 lot or 12 on a hundred lot than -- when you are going up you can go up unlimited. just like the stock market, trading apples, apple to stock, i thought it was expensive at 500. a week and a half later it was 600. now it's 630. markets markets whether they are grain or stock and bubbles

are bubbles and -- i would like to see beans go down but it looks funny when you see it down 18. you want to sell the strong thing but it's the wrong trade. like every other market when it does it will and lue wish you had on something but right now it's -- i'm losing money selling soybeans. >> how far down the road do you watch the markets to make decisions like this? i know a farmer has to look a year ahead. are you looking how farah head? >> right now its very active. we just rolled out a may contract this last week. a lot of spreading. when i looked at board -- for the last trade i made, i saw beans were down two. then. today the corn spreads are even but lately you have seen a lost trading among the corn spreads, very active spreading. if you talking about last year's crop that may be at a larger premium, when you talk to the farmer they are excited.

start talking to them act what the basis is in december 12 corn and then the conversation gets quiet. currently it's such a positive basis and elevators and people calling asking for five thousand bushel, ten thousand, call them next year and normally from the farmer -- they are trading about 207- cents under the board. 20 on their 510 cost of ç production. figure in the 480's. >> basis of -- up means shorter on corn, when they are down means we are long on corn. we are talking about the difference between the chicago board of trade prices, how farah head to you work? >> i was very disappointed with the january crop report. i wanted to be an aggressive seller of the 12 and 13 -- i think we will have a good crop this it year. we aren't done going up yet with corn. it's not over. my point is. we had a couple of bad years to

bring us to tight stocks, the new crop corn and old crop corn is almost two different commodities. >> the trading separately. >> the an anticipation of 96 million acres but, you know i will work a year or two out if i can. if i feel that the market is at risk of a big decline which i do. i want to get aggressive and rally up to around 580 and 590 and start pricing corn. >> the concept is from you, i hear you -- if the price is right maybe you make a sale at 580 or 90 and that may be the worst but then you can move it up. >> i'm not saying sell up to your insurance guarantee but you do want to start pricing it out there. if we have a weather scare we have good rains, we will see how much the coverage was there. is a chance pretty good chance we will see a weather scare at

some point. > we will all watch the weather. we will be back with more

. >> the man of the hour, mike hoffman. tell us about -- more rain or possibilities? >> we have a nice system right now and multiple across the -- the pacific çand into the west so that hopefully will help some of the dry areas. this is getting serious. >> parts getting dryer dryer and looks like that is now into a moderate to severe drought in some of that area and there are little pockets in illinois into the tennessee valley that are show up as just a moderate drought now also. sometimes it takes a while to get all of this map set. hopefully this rain will help out a little bit with that as we head through the next couple days and in to the early part of the week. still very dry in southern

georgia into much of florida, the eastern portions of new mexico and this whole western area is -- dryer over the past few weeks as well. let's check it out then. on the jet stream you can see a slow moving trough continues on the monday to head in to the western maybe plains, that's the same that's been bringing rain to the middle of the country over the past day or two. that will continue to kind of move east but it does tend to weaken as we head toward the middle of the week and we go to a zonal flow which isn't good for a lot of additional moisture through the rest of next week but a trough toward next weekend. any time have you a zonal flow you have weak systems. that could put down areas of rain. let's check it out as we head into monument monday. this has several pieces but nice over the middle of the country. areas of showers and thunderstorms in the warm

sector, better chance near and north of the stationary, warm front from the southern portions of the northeast across the great lakes and in to the northern plains, even a touch of snow in the northwest fringe. next system out west with some a weaker system but moving quickly from west to east that. will cause some showers and thunderstorms for parts of the plain states as we head through the middle of the week. little bit of rain and now back through the northwest. that first same testify moves in to the northeast. showers and thunderstorms along the cold front. by friday that second system coming across the great lakes, another chance for rain. snow in the northern fringe again. spotty storms and yet another system again a fast mover, kind of moving east, chance of showers the northern rockies, back in to the pacific northwest. back in the next half hour with a longer range forecast. >> this segment of united states farm report is brought to you by top gun precision

agriculture and it's high accuracy steering machine control systems.

. an old friend and neighbor pass away this week. his passes prompted reflecting on what the slow loss of this generation members. my father's cohort was the last to remember what purely muscled agriculture was about. he welcomed machine, nobody cried when the horses left the farm, he often said. one legacy is still with us. when human and animal effort was the only way to get anything done, the largest single determining of the success was how hard and long you worked. that value is still a controlling ethic in the industry. it is their -- unsettling for

many to see capitol and technology overwhelm hard work as the key to success. it's still mattering of course but labor is not even close to our largest input for membership of agriculture. worse still the nature of hard work is always changing. is it hard if you are not sweating? sure feels like it to me. while dad didn't do much desk work i struggle to get outside and aaron pretty much carries his desk with him. i wonder if the growth of large farm social security a relic of this work ethic, maybe a reason we keep expanding is because we don't feel like we are working hard enough. maybe our definition of hard work will eventually expand to more than muscle effort. i hope so. but it takes a long time to out grow your father's values. let us know what you think. send e-mails to mailbag at united states farm report.com. or call and leave us a voicemail. coming up in the next half

hour, the return of sandhill frames draws a crowd in colorado. stay with us, the second half is coming right up. there's been a whole lot of talk lately about internet speeds...

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. >> march weather blow away temperature records even as the nation gets dryer just about everywhere. ? and iowa grocery chain decides to let consumers decide on lean finely textured beef. and birds following the warm weatherw. visit one of the most notable species. >> united states farm report brought to you by the enlist weed control system and by the chevy silv era do. . >> hello and welcome to united states farm report. everybody talks about the weather and then talks about it some more it seems. the desire for normal weather is a constant theme wherever farmers gather. there is a problem -- of a growing worry that normal itself may be changing. while memory is poor evidence our recognition of the past few years seems cluttered extreme

examples of temperature and precipitation. i think its beginning to affect how producers prepare as well as our expectations. keeps getting wider. in the spread sheets and in the minds. let's get started the headlines. >> thank you. the fda took action to limit made indication use and extends ronde the farm. they want to reduce drug resistant bacteria. they said they should only be used for therapy purposes such as treating diseases and only under the supervision of a vet. they said it'll work with animal health companies to encourage them to stop selling them to live stock who use them for nutritional purposes. there is a new weather entry in to the record ago books, the lower 48 had it's

warmest moran record. the average was 51 crease, nearly 9 degrees above the average. they said there were 15,000 records broken nationwide as record daytime or nighttime highs. monthly temperatures averaged at least 15 degrees above normal at several midwestern locations. >> that leaves most of the united states open to expansion of warmth and that's when he have seen well into march and continuing into april and no sign of an end to that in eight. it does look like a generally warm spring, nearly coast to coast, that will continue to push crops ahead of their normal pace. >> meanwhile as we saw across the midwest cold snaps were rough on fruit crops and orchards. many of the apple and peach crops are three to four week as mêrrñsome blame warm temperatures but it looks like that's on it's way out. according to the climate prediction center it has been fading since february and is expected to disappear by the

summer. now the cpc predicts once la nina there is a chance el nino could return. it normally brings more rain that means we could be in for a wet fall that could disrupt harvest. mike hoffman now with the national forecast. >> . >> and a nice wet system finally moving through the corn belt this weekend. will still be ongoing into monday. been a slow moving trough in to the western plains so it'll taper off with a little bit of snow. good rains across iowa, minnesota places that desperately need it right now across the great lakes in to parts of the northeast. of course that gulf moisture will be in the form of showers and thunderstorms south of the system from the central mississippi valley of southern missouri valley to the gulf of mention do. another system starting to show itself in the pacific northwest with rain and mountain snow.

that first trough moves to the eastern parts of the country in it wednesday that. will move off shore. still good rain on wednesday as we head through the northeast. scattered showers and thunderstorms along the cold front into florida. the southeast can use the rain as well as severe drought in parts of that area. we will start to see moisture with a zonal flow with the jet stream. little ripples from west it east through thursday and into friday. each of those will bring a chance for rain and possible thunderstorm as well, and on friday you can see that will happen in the northeast, great lakes, down in to the missouri valley, central mississippi valley and then out west we will see the next system with rain in mountain snows as well. far as temperatures for next week this would take us almost to the end of april, above normal for the southeast. west texas, western plains, below normal for maine, near normal for much of the corn belt as far as temperatures are

expected to be and below normal for the park northwest. precipitation next week above normal in the area that could uset. much of the corn belt, central and northern mississippi valley, great lakes in to the ohio valley and above normal in the pacific northwest. for corners very dry but below normal expected . the 90 day outlook the southern half expected to be above normal the way it looks to me as we head through the middle of july, near normal, farther north across much of the upper midwest. great lakes, ohio valley and the -- precipitation expected to be above normal fort eastern great lakes, midatlantic and the northeast with near normal for much of the corn belt. far southern portions of texas and louisiana and from nebraska, kansas, on into the western states, probably below normal. john even near normal would probably be good for this area.

>> normally these are the high rainfall months, so -- really want to get them open. >> thank you mike. spirit of the heart land. we've talked a lot about the early

. we have talked a lot about the early arrival of spring for many parts of the country. coming that warm weather with birds. the birds that make their way to spend the spring and summer in the north.

in colorado our good friend caught up with a group of sandhill cran es as they make their way north. >> it's kind of neat. >> it's interesting. >> i was just amazing. amazing. don't you think? >> we are at wildlife refuge a 15,000 acres refuge and we see -- the sandhill cranes as they go from southern new mexico and head north. . >> pick me up at three in the morning to photograph the them in flight and the behavior. we are crazy. >> the birds are approximately four feet tall. they weigh between 12 and 14 pounds average. >> their eyes, face. >> they have a six foot wing

span. they are a big bird. >> all day long they were fly around us in groups. hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. it felt like we were in a magical place. we were just surrounded by them all the way around. >> they come to feed on barley, come to rest and go to the court ship. >> looks like they are flapping their wings and they leap way up high. >> they are trying to impress somebody and establish a mate. >> looks --. >> as far as -- i think they mate for life. >> they make a lot of noise. what is --. . >> when i hear for the first time i always thought -- i always stop and listen. come and see them every year says that -- if they can make it in this world probably we will too. year by year. some things will continue to

happen. there is lasting value of what's been taking place here. >> thank you ann. those are big birds. they normally travel two to three hundred miles a day. next week we see how the extension service is helping farmer was disabilities. that's next weekend on spirit of the heart land. up next why one grocery chain is letting people decide if they want pink slime on their dinner table. more on united states farm report.

while most national grocery chains have taken a position against lean finely textured beef - or lftb - one midwest grocer recently decided to give consumers a choice. hy-vee supermarkets is . >> one tried to give consumersa choice.

it's a iowa based chain with 235 stores in eight states. tine spoke with the grocery chain about its decision. >> here in the united states i think we have the most abundant, safest, food source from there is onto planet and people don't realize how good they have it. >> he is an iowa cattle producer who took over the operation at a early age after his father passed away. to him farming is everything which is why the craze over lftb has him worried. >> it's unfortunate one thing could be blown so out of proportion and just affect so many people. there is a lot of people without jobs now. >> when he heard the reverse of the decision not to carry beef with it he approved. >> we will carry a line with

it as well as -- most of our beef will not contain it. we will identity both products and let the people decide. >> i think it's great for them to be able to offer that. the choice. i think it that once the consumer sees the price difference, in that and rails if they just -- it's still ground beef and they will still pick the product. >> the decision is based on customer feedback. he was priced not only by the amount of e-mails and phone calls but the passion consumers expressed. >> we did spend a lot of time talking to customers and saying this is a product we carried for almost 20 years, it's safe, it's inspected, there has not been any health concern or any outbreak or recall connected with it product. >> and remember the photograph? they said it's not even beef. it's a photograph of milk cali separated chicken.

>> it was pink and it looked kind of slimy and so, i think -- the news media like -- looking for pictures that look like pink slime, that looks like it without bothering it verify. >> the decision by many to get rid of it'll come with a higher price tag. wrist rehearing suppliers there will be a price difference. it'll be more expensive. the. >> cattle producers already feeling the hit. >> we are obviously going see lower prices for cattle. less demand, they have already gone down, eight dollars in a week. >> at the end of the day they realize this could be just the beginning. >> in this era of social media and -- the internet and the way communication can spread to

fast and misinformation can spread to fast i think we have to do a better job with having information out there so people can make informed choices. >> they said this show there is is a need for being transparent. she said the era of the food industry thinking people will trust and believe them because is over. now the next -- they are tackling labeling of the product. they announced its looking at labeling produck that contain it. >> we are recreating the wheel -- the poultry -- it's labeled. i think what with will do is generate a lot of useful data about the break points and we will have numbers we can look at when people really think and when they will spend money on. thank you. up next tractor i was having trouble getting out of bed in the morning because my back hurt so bad. the sleep number bed conforms to you. i wake up in the morning with no back pain. do you toss and turn? wake up with back pain?

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. al is back with this week's tractor tales. >> we are off to northern washington state for a classic john deere 50. getting it looking good and running properly was no easy task for leon but with hard work and a few changes he made this tractor something to remember. . >> i go to john deere 50 here. i restored it about five, six years ago. it had a tricycle end on it when i first bought it. when i got it ready to paint i -- man from watkim had bought a corn picker and had a tractor, it had a white front end. we traded straight across and that was a good deal for both of us. i put that on it because i always liked them and at end i had a trailer with a ramp. you have to have another center ramp for it so i was real happy

so i put the that front end on and had to get the engine board out, had the heads redone, had to get the transmission gone through and now it's -- had the 90,000 out to get the rust out of hwthe bore. any way it's a great tractor now. we do have a plowing day in the spring out in the farming country and anyone wants to go out you can. i have just got, about eight acres and i pulled harrow with it and done small work but with the koi pasture you don't need to do any plowing. it's just -- logs around once in a while and stuff like that. it's the handy thing around the place in case i need it. i like it now. you know i was raised in idaho with the -- my dad had adjourn deer d, we farmed 300 some

acres dry farm. so i spent a lot of years on that d, trying to get all the work done every spring, just to get the planted and everything. i put a lot of years and -- in the fields when i was a kid. >> don't forget you can find tractor tales online or on facebook. the segments can also be down loaded. today's country church salute goes to a church in the tiny town of union west virginia. it was started before the united states constitution was signed. pioneers in that area of southern west virginia started a church in 1784. they built a long church which is dedicated in 1786. last year supporters of the church celebrated it's 225th anniversary. regular services are no longer it's now considered a national shrine by the methodist church.

it's also on the national register of historic places. a special thank you to dwayne who is with the united methodist church commission on archives for the photographs. we want to learn about your home church as well. salutes can be september to the address on the screen. mail back is next.

time now for our weekly look . time for a weekly look inside the farm report mailbag. the controversy was the subject of a very thoughtful e-mail,

well worth reading on the website from cindy in minneapolis. consumers not going to hack set riaances this product is safe when the people putting in the food don't disclose its presence and fight to continue to not disclose it. as we discussed in our earlier news story i think she highlights one key element. the days less than full closure are over. we are perhaps even more sensitive on the subject of food. separated meat is safe and adds efficient to the slaughtering process but the lack of being transparent triggers a backlash once it's brought to the attention. just as the bonded apple corporation found with the china worker fact. how it's maid seems to be of more interest than before. what clearly doesn't work is telling people how they should

feel. nor is economics an automatic trump card. every level is now open for investigation from the farm to the grocery aisle or restaurant platef. you didn't-- if you can't do business with everybody watching you aren't automatically doomed but you have added a huge risk to your business plan. as always, we want to hear from you. send comments to mailbag at united states farm report.com. or leave us a voice mail. for all of us, thank you for watching united states farm report. be sure to join us again next week. we will work to do even better.