Move Over, Bedbugs: Stink Bugs Have Landed

NY Times

When they retreated from the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate troops passed by the area that is now Richard Masser’s orchards. If only the latest enemy — the brown marmorated stink bug — would follow suit.

Damage to fruit and vegetable crops from stink bugs in Middle Atlantic states has reached critical levels, according to a government report. That is in addition to the headaches the bugs are giving homeowners who cannot keep them out of their living rooms — especially the people who unwittingly step on them. When stink bugs are crushed or become irritated, they emit a pungent odor that is sometimes described as skunklike.

Suddenly, the bedbug has competition for pest of the year.

Farmers in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states are battling a pest whose appetite has left dry boreholes in everything from apples and grapes to tomatoes and soybeans. Stink bugs have made their mark on 20 percent of the apple crop at Mr. Masser’s Scenic View Orchards here. Other farmers report far worse damage.

“They’re taking money out of your pocket, just like a thief,” said Mr. Masser, flicking stink bugs off his shirt and baseball cap as he overlooked his 325 acres, a few miles south of the Pennsylvania border. “We need to stop them.”

No one seems to know how. Government and university researchers say they need more time to study the bug, which has been in the United States since about 1998. Native to Asia, it was first found in Allentown, Pa., and has no natural enemies here.

Some people noticed an increase in the stink bug population last year, but all agreed that this year’s swarm was out of control. Researchers say the bugs reproduced at a faster rate this year, but they are unsure why.

“These are the hot spots right now, but they’re spreading everywhere,” Mr. Masser said. “They even found them out in Oregon.”

Populations of the brown marmorated stink bug — different from the green stink bugs that are kept in check by natural predators here — have been found in 15 states, and specimens in 14 other states, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

The bug travels well, especially as it seeks warm homes before the onset of cold weather.

“It’s an incredible hitchhiker,” said Tracy Leskey, an entomologist with the Agriculture Department’s Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, W.Va. “The adults are moving and looking for places to spend the winter.”

The research station is among three laboratories looking for a solution. Government and university researchers also formed a working group this summer. But Kevin Hackett, national program leader for invasive insects for the Agriculture Department’s research arm, said no immediate solution was in sight.

“We need to do considerable more research to solve the problem,” he said. “We don’t even have a way to monitor the pests. I’m confident that we have excellent researchers. I’m not confident we’re going to find a solution immediately.”

The department is spending $800,000 this fiscal year on stink bug research, double last year’s budget, Mr. Hackett said. But he estimated that seven more full-time researchers were needed, at a cost of about $3.5 million a year for salaries and research expenses.

In Asia, a parasitic wasp helps control stink bug populations by attacking their eggs. Unleashing those wasps here, however, is at least several years away because they would first need to be quarantined and studied.

There has been limited success using black pyramid traps in orchards, Ms. Leskey said. The traps contain scents that trigger sexual arousal. The nymphs, or young bugs, respond seasonlong, Ms. Leskey wrote in a recent report, but adults respond only late in the season, in late August.

Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett, Republican of Maryland, convened a meeting last week of officials from the Agriculture Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. He is pushing to have the stink bug reclassified, which would allow farmers to use stronger pesticides, and is advocating that the Agriculture Department reallocate $3 million of its budget for research.

A problem that can arise when more pesticides are used, experts and farmers say, is that many years’ worth of effective “integrated pest management” can be ruined in the process. Farmers kill some pests but allow others to live because they prey on yet other pests. Wasps, for example, eat worms that otherwise would kill crops.

“It is a way to use nature’s own defenses against pests in orchards,” said Steve Jacobs, an urban entomologist at Pennsylvania State University. “That’s been finely tuned and works well. This brown marmorated stink bug blows all that out the window. You kill them today, new ones come tomorrow. So this is a serious problem.”

Meanwhile, homeowners in the region are coping with this latest nuisance.

Vicky Angell of Thurmont, Md., said she first noticed the stink bugs last year, but “not in flocks” like this summer. She kills about six a day and suspects that they get inside her home when she leaves the door open to let the dog out.

Ms. Angell said she flushes them down the toilet after catching them in a napkin. Other people use their vacuum. And many have turned to exterminators.

Stink bugs, whose backs resemble knights’ shields, do not bite humans and pose no known health hazards — even the fruit they have gotten to is edible, once the hardened parts are cut out. They leave small craters on the surface of an apple or pear, and the inside can get brown and corklike. Females can grow to nearly the size of a quarter. “Marmorated” refers to their marbled or streaked appearance.

Still, sometimes they are just too close for comfort. Ms. Angell said she got a surprise when she put on her pants Friday morning, having washed them and left them to dry in her laundry room.

She felt something in the right rear pocket.

“I thought I left a piece of paper in them when I washed them,” she said.

But it was not paper.

“Pulled it out. He was alive. Stink bug. Flushed him down the toilet,” she said. “I thought, I’m glad I didn’t sit on that.”

Kelli Wilson of Burkittsville, Md., said her home had been overrun by the bugs, especially in the past week. In the afternoon sun, the north-facing exterior of the house “is black with stink bugs,” she said. “It looks like the wall is crawling.”

Mrs. Wilson’s husband, Raymond, skipped services on Sunday at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Burkittsville to remove stink bugs from the house. Mrs. Wilson discovered a little hitchhiker as she and her children arrived at the church. “I just pulled into the parking lot and there’s one on my purse,” she said. “They travel with me now.”

Mr. Jacobs, the urban entomologist, said the response to stink bugs so far is not an overreaction. “I’m standing here in my living room watching some of them crawl up my walls,” he said. “The best thing to do is make your house as tight as possible. Use masking tape to seal around sliding glass doors, air-conditioners.”

Mr. Masser, the Sabillasville farmer, said that he had not yet raised his prices to offset losses, but added that it was a possibility next year if a solution to the stink bug invasion was not found.

“Stink bugs are going to destroy a lot of food — it’s just starting,” he said. “When Joe Blow starts hollering because he can’t find the food he wants, they’ll respond then.”

Rush Enterprises sells Deere dealerships for $26M

BusinessWeek

Truck dealership operator Rush Enterprises Inc. said Friday that it has completed the sale of its John Deere construction equipment dealerships to Doggett Heavy Machinery Services LLC for $26.2 million.

Rush, the New Braunfels-based truck and commercial vehicle dealerships owner, announced the sale in June, saying its construction-equipment division was growing at a slower pace than desired. The sales prices listed in the June announcement was about $37 million.

W.M. “Rusty” Rush, president and CEO of Rush, said the closing provides resources that Rush can invest in its current businesses while and also use to evaluate new acquisitions. Those acquisitions could include construction equipment dealerships in areas of the country outside of those it served before the sale, he said.

The company has truck dealerships in 14 states.

Exelon Plans Debt Sale to Buy Deere Wind-Power Unit

Bloomberg

 

 

Exelon Corp., the largest U.S. producer of nuclear power, plans to sell $900 million of 10- and 31-year debt to fund its purchase of a Deere & Co. wind-power unit.

The bonds may be issued as soon as today through Exelon Generation Co. according to a person familiar with the transaction. John Deere Renewables LLC will cost $860 million with an additional $40 million if Deere starts constructing three projects in Michigan, Exelon said today in a regulatory filing that didn’t specify the debt offering’s size or timing.

Exelon’s acquisition marks the Chicago-based company’s first foray into owning and operating wind projects, it said in an Aug. 31 statement. The 735 megawatts of wind capacity, enough to power as many as 220,000 homes in eight U.S. states, will add to 2012 profit and advances Exelon’s 2008 promise to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, according to the statement.

“We took this deal to the rating agencies well in advance of doing it,” Bill Von Hoene, Exelon’s executive vice president for finance and legal, said at a conference on Sept. 15. “They concluded, as did we, that it was credit neutral.”

The notes may be rated A3 by Moody’s Investors Service and BBB by Standard & Poor’s, said the person, who declined to be identified because terms aren’t set.

The acquisition will make Exelon the 13th-biggest wind generator in the U.S., Von Hoene said in the call.

Ace Buys Rain and Hail for $1.1 Billion to Add Crop Insurance Coverage

Bloomberg

Ace Ltd., the Zurich-based insurer with operations in more than 50 countries, agreed to pay $1.1 billion in cash to buy a majority stake in Rain & Hail Insurance Service Inc. and expand coverage of crops in the U.S.

The price values the insurer at about 1.59 times its projected yearend book value of $840 million, Ace said in a presentation today on its website. Ace said the deal will add about 22 cents to earnings per share next year. Ace already holds about 20 percent of the common stock in the Johnston, Iowa-based insurer, which is majority-owned by employees.

Ace, led by Chief Executive Officer Evan Greenberg, is adding to the business of protecting U.S. farmers against losses after the government this year reduced subsidies for the policies. The company said in July that the changes could work in favor of the largest insurers in the business against regional competitors.

“It’s a good example of Evan Greenberg’s strategy of growing through all phases of the property-and-casualty pricing cycle,” said Daniel Theriault, an analyst at New York-based Portales Partners LLC who advises investors to buy Ace shares. “They are already a big player in the agricultural crop business so it’s a relatively low risk acquisition. It’s a pretty good feat in this current environment.”

Ace, which shuns shareholder buybacks, is expanding after remaining profitable through the credit crisis by sidestepping subprime mortgage-related securities. Greenberg said late yesterday that Ace would buy Jerneh Insurance Bhd. for about $210 million to expand in Malaysia.

‘Pretty Robust’

“Pipelines of opportunity are pretty robust right now” for acquisitions, Greenberg said in a conference call in July.

Ace advanced 68 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $57.36 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The company has climbed about 14 percent this year, beating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which is little changed.

Ace competes with market leader Wells Fargo & Co., Australia’s QBE Insurance Group Ltd. and American Financial Group Inc. selling protection to farmers. Rain & Hail, with a market share of about 21 percent, ranks second to a Wells Fargo business, according to data released by Ace in the presentation.

Rain & Hail posted net income last year of $199 million, according to Ace. The company has about 400 full-time employees and sells coverage through a network of more than 11,000 agents.

“This is a business we know well,” Greenberg said in the statement. “We project a return on capital in excess of our 15 percent hurdle rate.”

John Deere, Common Ground Alliance and US DOT join for Safe Digging

Quad Cities Online

Representatives from John Deere Construction & Forestry, the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) rang the ceremonial closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, August 20, to promote awareness of underground utilities through the use of the national 811 call-before-you-dig phone number. Though awareness and use of 811 has significantly decreased the number of underground utility strikes in the U.S., the fact that there are still fatalities and damages from hitting gas and utility lines underscores the need for a continued safety campaign.

"It's not enough that the number of strikes has decreased in each of the last five years, because even one strike is too many," said Bob Kipp, president of the CGA.

In 2004, it was estimated that there were 450,000 instances of damage from striking underground lines. However, as a result of the work of CGA and its many supporters, that number has decreased by over 60 percent to 170,000 damages in 2009.

"Through our support of CGA and 811, we strengthen our commitment to our customers. Our customers are our first focus and this initiative saves lives," said Michael Mack, worldwide president, John Deere Construction & Forestry.

"Beyond personal safety concerns, the potential property damage, inconvenient service outages and the hefty fines to equipment operators resulting from digging accidents makes the 811 service incredibly valuable."

To further encourage safe digging, John Deere is also sharing portions of safety videos on YouTube beginning next month. The first video, featuring excavators, will be posted at http://www.YouTube.com/JohnDeere.

The FCC-designated 811 number was launched in 2007 by the CGA to eliminate the confusion of multiple call-before-you-dig numbers that were being used across the country. As a result, homeowners, farmers and contractors can call one easy-to-remember number to have crews mark a requested site for underground lines prior to any excavation.

Deere helped spread the word when the 811 number was first established in 2007 and has also been a driving force behind National 811 Day (each August 11) and the "Safe Digging Month" awareness campaign that occurs each spring. In addition to including information about 811 on its website, the company has featured the 811 logo prominently in its advertising and as part of its booth display during some of the construction industry's most prominent trade shows.

The DOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration Administrator, Cynthia Quarterman, was also on hand at the bell-ringing event to lend support.

About John Deere

John Deere is a world leader in providing advanced products and services for agriculture, forestry, construction, lawn and turf care, landscaping and irrigation. John Deere also provides financial services worldwide and manufactures and markets engines used in heavy equipment.

Since it was founded in 1837, the company has extended its heritage of integrity, quality, commitment and innovation around the globe. John Deere Construction equipment & Forestry produces more than 120 machine models and distributes its construction, forestry and worksite products through a network of more than 1,300 dealer locations worldwide. For more information, visit www.JohnDeere.com.

About CGA

The Common Ground Alliance is a national association created to prevent damage to underground utility infrastructure and ensure public safety and environmental protection. It has designated each April as "National Safe Digging Month."

Opposing Views on Cattle Rules Rounded up at CSU Meeting

Denver Post

 

FORT COLLINS — Save us. No, spare us your meddling.

Agricultural leaders heard two polar-opposite yet equally fiery pleas Friday at Colorado State University, where more than 2,000 ranchers, farmers and rural Americans rallied to urge either government action or inaction.

The meeting, hosted by Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, was the fourth of five workshops around the country in the past six months addressing agricultural issues.

About half the audience supported sweeping change in how the government regulates the ailing cattle industry. They voiced adamant support for new rules that would harness the four major companies that dominate the industry.

The other half bemoaned the possibility of more regulation they fear will clog the industry with lawsuits and curtail cattlemen's ability to harvest top dollar for their herds.

At the center of the arguments are new rules floated by the Obama administration that would make the powerful meatpacking companies — Tyson Foods, JBS, National Beef and Cargill — provide evidence supporting the prices paid for contracted cattle and give small ranchers more opportunities to contest that pricing.

Contracted sales with the big meatpackers have grown from 20 percent of all cattle sales a decade ago to almost half in 2010. While some ranchers say those sales have benefited them, letting them get top dollar for their high-quality beef, others say it unfairly harms ranchers without the clout to negotiate those prices.

"Say there was a terrorist organization that wanted to do irreparable harm to our industry," said Paul Engler, the 81-year-old founder of a 500,000-head feedlot in Amarillo, Texas. "All they would have to do is follow through with the plan that this rule is calling for."

A chorus of boos met Engler's critique, mirroring the jeers that met Kenny Fox's support for the rule change.

"We need this protection. We need to keep our people on the land," said Fox, president of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association.

While the two ideologies clashed, there was agreement on many issues, including the trouble facing the nation's cattle industry. The number of American cattle farms has dropped from 1.6 million in 1980 to 950,000 today. In 1980, cattlemen earned 62 cents for each dollar spent on their beef. Today, they get 42 cents.

And most troubling, the declines make ranching unattractive to young people.

Luring youth back to the family farm was a much-discussed topic Friday, with panelists and politicians agreeing that returning profitability to ranching would help.

But when discussion turned toward how to restore profitability to America's small ranchers, the discord grew.

"To get an open, robust market, you've got to get rid of concentration," said Taylor Haynes, a Cheyenne rancher and doctor who raises organic beef.

The new regulations could quash a meatpacker's willingness to pay premium prices for certain cattle, potentially installing flat-rate prices to avoid lawsuits from ranchers who didn't get the premium amount and question the pricing.

"I resent the implication that I need to justify a premium paid for my superior product," said Montana rancher Don Herzog.

Instead of fighting over American consumers, cattlemen should be courting international beef eaters, said Jerry Bohm, general manager of Kansas feedyard operator Pratt Feeders.

That's already happening, said ag chief Vilsack, noting the country's agricultural exports reached $105 billion in fiscal 2010, more than double the exports of 2000.

Celebrate the good news and recognize that everyone in the cattle industry is dedicated to offering the greatest product, said Robbie LeValley, a Hotchkiss rancher and president of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, cajoling her peers to work toward solutions.

"We should not be circling the wagons and shooting inward," she said.

Deere set for Crop Prices Boost

Financial Times

Farmers will benefit into next year from the rise in commodity prices prompted by severe drought in eastern Europe, John Deere, the world’s biggest tractor-maker, said on Wednesday.

“There’s no question that the recent run in commodity prices, driven by the events in ... eastern Europe, has supported the prospect for crop-farmer income,” said Marie Ziegler, Deere’s head of investor relations. “Overall, for the farm sector it would appear to be very positive as you look into 2011.”

The manufacturer raised its crop price estimates for next year: to $3.90 a bushel for corn from its previous forecast of $3.60; $5.25 for a bushel of wheat from $4.75; and $9.25 for a bushel of soyabeans from its prior prediction of $8.75.

Ms Ziegler noted, however, that rising crop prices had increased feed costs for livestock farmers, who she said accounted for about half the European farm economy. Coupled with the uncertain economic recovery, that could act as a drag on growth in the agricultural sector next year.

She made her comments as Deere reported quarterly profits well ahead of Wall Street’s expectations, citing strengthening demand for big farm machinery in the Americas.

The company said its net profit was $617m, or $1.44 per share, in its fiscal third quarter to the end of July, up from $420m, or 99 cents per share, in the same period last year, beating analysts’ average forecasts of $1.22 per share. Net equipment sales were $6.2bn in the quarter, up from $5.3bn last year.

Deere struck a bullish note on the farm economy in the Americas, saying it expected growth of 5-10 per cent in North America for its full fiscal year and 25-30 per cent in Brazil and Argentina. The company expects equipment sales to rise 32 per cent in the current quarter compared with the same period last year.

Demand for farm equipment is partly driven by a rush by farmers to avoid what they expect to be higher prices for new tractors from next year, when the US government will raise carbon emission standards on such vehicles.

However, a main source of US agricultural equipment demand is expected to be increased farm receipts as a result of soaring prices for wheat and other crops, resulting from supply shortages around the world. Wheat has spiked because of severe drought in Russia, which Deere said would hit its sales in eastern Europe.

Overall, the company said farm equipment sales in Europe could fall in the current quarter by as much as one-fifth from last year because of weakness in livestock and dairy farming.

Trouble Mounts for Iowa Firm as Egg Recall Expands

USA Today

 

The Iowa livestock industry giant that's being blamed for a multistate salmonella outbreak linked to its eggs has a long history of environmental, immigration and labor violations.

An egg recall first announced last week was expanded Wednesday to 380 million eggs — the equivalent of nearly 32 million dozen-egg cartons. Hundreds of people have been sickened in a salmonella outbreak linked to eggs in three states and possibly more.

Wright County Egg in Galt, part of the DeCoster family agribusiness operations, had shipped the eggs over a three-month period to wholesalers, distribution centers and food service companies in California, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. The companies distribute eggs nationwide.

Wright County Egg is being sued for allegedly causing the salmonella poisoning of a Wisconsin woman, and a dozen more lawsuits linked to the outbreak are in the works, said Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specializes in food poisonings.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that it had seen a fourfold increase in the usual number of cases of salmonella enteritidis, a strain associated with eggs. The CDC said it received reports of about 200 enteritidis cases every week during late June and early July. More than 260 illnesses in California have been linked to the outbreak. Minnesota has tied at least seven salmonella illnesses to the eggs.

No deaths have been reported, said Christopher Braden, a CDC epidemiologist.

The DeCoster operations have had several violations:

• The founder, Austin Jackson DeCoster, pleaded guilty to federal immigration charges in 2003 and paid a record $2.1 million in penalties.

• In 2002, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission imposed a $1.5 million penalty for mistreatment of female workers, including charges of rape, sexual harassment and other abuse.

• In 2001, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that DeCoster, a repeat violator of state environmental laws, could finance, but not build, hog confinement operations for his son, Peter DeCoster, who is now closely involved with the Wright County egg operations.

• Earlier this year, the elder DeCoster paid a fine to settle state animal cruelty charges against his egg operations in Maine.

Federal authorities have been on the DeCoster farms since last week investigating its henhouses and testing eggs to determine the source of the contamination, said Howard Magwire, an attorney for the United Egg Producers, a trade group that includes the DeCoster operations in its membership.

"The company itself is testing many thousands of eggs from the farms to see if they can find anything," he said.

He said the company had "erred on the side of safety" by making the recall as large as it is.

A woman who answered the phone at a number in Galt listed for both Wright County Egg and DeCoster Farms of Iowa referred a reporter to the government media representatives. They did not return phone calls.

A phone message for Peter DeCoster also was not returned.

The lawsuit filed in a state court in Kenosha County, Wis., alleges that Tanja Dzinovic was sickened in June after eating a cobb salad that included hard-boiled eggs. Tests showed she had been infected with salmonella enteritidis, according to the lawsuit. She was released from the hospital but continues to suffer from gastrointestinal symptoms, the lawsuit said.

State and local officials also are investigating salmonella cases that could be linked to the DeCoster eggs in Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Eggs were a major source of salmonella illnesses in the 1990s, but outbreaks had declined significantly over the past decade as farms took a number of biosecurity measures and other steps to prevent contamination. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration imposed mandatory safety regulations, including egg testing requirements, that many farms had already been following, according to industry experts.

"This outbreak really comes as a surprise, and it really seems to be going against the overall trend," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group.

Kevin Vinchattle, executive director of the Iowa Egg Council, a producer trade group, said other egg farms were watching the latest case. The DeCoster operation is not a member of the group.

"Whatever is happening with this particular investigation, we're concerned about understanding what has happened so things like this don't happen in the future," he said.

Eggs can become contaminated via rodents or unsanitary conditions in henhouses. The Food and Drug Administration last month imposed new regulations on egg farms to prevent salmonella contamination. The rules include regular testing.

The recalled eggs were packaged under a variety of names, including Lucerne and Albertsons, brands of supermarket giants Safeway and Albertsons, respectively.

Dutch Farms of Chicago said Wednesday that Wright County Eggs "used unauthorized egg cartons to package and sell eggs under the Dutch Farms name without Dutch Farms' knowledge." The eggs were distributed to Walgreens stores in Iowa and six other states.

Hy-Vee Inc. said on its website that it did not sell the eggs.

Federal Ethanol subsidies will affect Industry, West Michigan Corn Growers

MLive

 

As an electronic sign by the road flashed messages last week about “America’s Clean Fuel” and “America’s Peace Fuel,” trucks lined the driveway into the Carbon Green BioEnergy ethanol plant on M-66 near the Barry-Eaton-Ionia county borders.

There were haulers from Vermontville and Clarksville, Portland and Woodland, Stanton and Sunfield, all delivering the source of the patriotic fuel touted for environmental and national security benefits: corn.

And the $60 million plant where a work force of 40 churns out 50 million gallons of ethanol annually is good for business in this rural area halfway between Grand Rapids and Lansing.

“We’re businessmen,” said Brian Haskin, whose Haskin Farms in Ionia County sends the plant  400,000 bushels per year from a distribution hub two miles down the road.
A scoop works in a corn product storage barn at the Carbon Green facility.

“We (farmers) are going to plant what makes us money. If they make it profitable, we’ll find a way to produce it.

“(Corn-based ethanol) is a boost to the local economy.”

No wonder Haskin hopes Congress extends the federal ethanol subsidies set to expire at the end of the year. The plant’s demand not only pushes up the price of corn, it creates a close-to-home market that reduces freight costs. Most of the plant’s 50,000 bushels of daily corn supply come from within 80 miles.

But the impact of the subsidies — a 45-cents-per-gallon tax credit for “blenders” who add ethanol to gasoline and a 54-cents-per-gallon import tariff — extends much further, to motorists and taxpayers.

The well-being of the world is at stake — at least, that’s the message the sign in front of the plant attempts to convey.

“No wars have been fought over ethanol,” the sign read.

Except, of course, the political battle under way.

“If this credit doesn’t go through, there’s a significant chance we’re going to lose some ethanol plants,” said Loren Koeman, a Grand Rapids agriculture consultant who farms about 3,000 acres near Holland and is secretary of the Lansing-based Michigan Corn Growers Association board.

“As it becomes more and more efficient, we need to keep supporting the industry. It’s not like we’re not spending money on the oil industry. We fight wars to protect oil. It’s naive to think there’s no government cost associated with oil.”

And those benefits come at a cost: $1.78 per gallon of gas replaced by a gallon of corn-based ethanol, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, called the subsidies “a gift to the ethanol-producing industry” that need not be re-given.

“Obviously, it’s good for people to have jobs,” he said.

“It’s good for farmers to make money,” Ehlers said. “But is that an economically sound way to do it? It doesn’t generally pay off to give people make-work jobs.”

Besides, Ehlers added: “Should we really be using food to generate fuel in light of the food crisis in many parts of the world?”

A multiyear extension of the subsidies is key to short-term stability and long-term viability of the industry, Koeman said. The 4-year-old Woodbury plant in Eaton County is already on its fourth owner and closed for eight months before reopening in June 2009. This fall, the facility plans to add more than 1 million bushels of corn storage to its pair of 135-foot silos. Each holds 200,000 bushels.

Through the credit, the country’s investment in ethanol will continue to add cleaner-burning fuel into the energy supply and foster less dependence on foreign oil while retaining a productive agriculture base that enhances local economies, Koeman said.

Debate over food supply costs

There is another side to just about every aspect of the corn ethanol debate.

Sam Hines, executive vice president of the Michigan Pork Producers Association in Holt, said ethanol subsidies jack up the cost of feed for hogs, which, in turn, increases prices at the grocery store.

“It’s no secret that pork production, in particular, in recent years has taken a real hit primarily as a result of a diversion of a lot of corn into ethanol,” Hines said. “Now, we’re starting to see that reflected in higher prices in the store. We’re not necessarily averse to bio-fuels, but we need to be careful with how we play around with that. The ethanol industry has matured to where it should be able to stand on its own.”

Walking into a large storehouse with mounds of dried distillers grain, or DDG, Woodbury plant manager Edward Thomas downplayed the food-supply criticism of corn-based ethanol.

The plant generates more than 400 tons of DDG daily as a byproduct of the corn’s 60-hour journey from kernel to “corn beer,” including a lengthy bath in a 730,000-gallon fermenting tank. The “co-product” is sold for animal feed within a 200-mile radius, Thomas said.

“The misnomer is we take (the corn) and it’s gone,” he said. “It’s not.”

As for ethanol standing on its own, Carbon Green supports an idea to phase out subsidies in exchange for investments in infrastructure that would make the fuel more available to consumers.

Walker-based Meijer, for example, has E-85 pumps that contain fuel with 85 percent ethanol at more than 70 of its gas stations, including in Cedar Springs, Knapp’s Corner in Grand Rapids, Holland and Wyoming. Wyoming-based J&H Oil Co. has E-85 pumps at five of its 35 stations.

But with fuel sales down overall, there is little market incentive for gas stations to spend money installing more E-85 pumps, said Mark Griffin, president of the Michigan Petroleum Association/Michigan Association of Convenience Stores.

And, even with publicly funded incentives for pumps or flex-fuel vehicles capable of burning E-85, “where’s the customer going to come from?” he asked.

“The customer is not buying that type of product right now,” Griffin said. “The economies just aren’t there.

“We seem to be in a rush to always turn petroleum into the villain, and we forget that petroleum is here, it’s easy to process and it’s easy to use and it will be for a very long time.”

And there’s the crux: Even though “no beaches have been closed due to ethanol spills,” as the sign at the Carbon Green plant stated last week, will consumers en masse ever respond to that sales pitch?

Changing plans
Congress let biodiesel subsidies expire at the end of 2009 and, as it stands, that soy-based fuel cannot stand on its own.

Nowadays, Michigan Biodiesel does just about everything at its $8.8 million, 4-year-old plant in Bangor except produce the fuel for which it is named.

The plant, down to seven employees, is using its equipment to turn things such as cooking oil and mayonnaise into livestock feed.

It has not produced biodiesel in 18 months.

“The marketplace, I do not believe, has stepped up to make the tax credit so it is not necessary,” CEO John Oakley said. “I’m concerned for the ethanol people. That’s the reason you have subsidies, to take up that slack in the marketplace if you truly are concerned about the environment, air quality and all those good things.”

As a fuel distributor, Crystal Flash Energy, which invested in the biodiesel plant, will transport and sell whatever types of fuel are cost-effective for its customers, said Tom Fehsenfeld, company president.

But there is intangible value in renewable fuels such as ethanol, he said.

Hence, a tax incentive is needed to overcome what Fehsenfeld calls the “hidden subsidies” of conventional fuels — the environmental, health and security costs of burning foreign oil.

“If we charged all of these hidden costs against conventional fuels in the form of taxes, we would probably not need subsidies on alternative fuels,” he said. “We all have to be concerned about the type of world we are passing on to our children and grandchildren.

“It has become clear that some types of fuels are better for the environment and
for national security than others.”

And, surely, some types of fuel are better for Haskin Farms and other corn growers who unload their heaping stores of grain at the Carbon Green plant.

Whether it pays to put ethanol in your tank remains less clear.

“I wish (ethanol) could be self-sustaining but, at this point, it obviously isn’t,” Haskin said. “I’m sure if they do not extend the (subsidy) program, it’s going to be devastating for a lot of farms.”


The arguments

Federal ethanol subsidies are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, and Congress is debating an extension. Here are some of the issues:

    * Ethanol can be made from domestic farm products such as corn and may have environmental and national security benefits.

“It’s a very positive thing for the whole country, not just farmers. It’s a win-win situation.”
— Brian Haskin, Ionia County farmer

    * An existing tax credit spurs demand by giving incentive to blend ethanol into gasoline, while an import tariff shields domestic producers from lower-cost sugarcane ethanol in Brazil. Removing the subsidies could hamper the viability of U.S. ethanol.

“The failure of Congress to maintain ethanol and biodiesel subsidies at consistent levels is severely undercutting those (alternative energy) goals.”
— Tom Fehsenfeld, Crystal Flash Energy president

    * Maintaining the subsidies inflates the price of corn and the cost of meat production, for example.

“If you have to pay 10 percent more for your steak, I guess we feel that trade-off is worth all the benefits.”
— Loren Koeman,Agriculture consultant and Holland-area farmer

    * Dried distillers grain, a byproduct of the ethanol-making process, is billed by the industry as suitable livestock feed.

“We have found that, if you use above a certain level (of DDG), it has an impact both in productivity of the hogs and on meat quality.”
— Sam Hines, Executive vice president of the Michigan Pork Producers Association

    * Eliminating the subsidies could cause an 8 percent drop in corn prices.

“We’re just afraid the bottom would fall out from under us. We’d see a lot of American jobs lost.”
— Jamie Cook, Michigan Corn Growers Association’s ethanol and new use coordinator

    * One proposal from a pro-ethanol network would phase out subsidies in favor of government investment in infrastructure to make the fuel more available to consumers.

“Let’s get it so that all cars can burn a higher blend of ethanol so we can get more of this into the stream.”
— Koeman

    * Can the subsidies spark enough demand for ethanol to stand on its own? And is it worth the cost to U.S. taxpayers of $1.78 per gallon of fuel that is replaced by ethanol?

“No one quite knows what to do with it. It’s hard to know when they’re competitive. It’s pretty hard to say when you won’t need the subsidy anymore.”
— U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids

Antique Tractors, Farm Machinery takes Admirers Back

NJ.com

 

PILESGROVE TWP. — The collecting of antique machinery is a hobby for many locals in this area, but behind the glimmering paint of a freshly restored John Deere tractor is a sense of nostalgia that brings residents of Salem County back to a simpler time.

Not unlike other years at the Salem County Fair, the machinery display was a big hit with the crowds of thousands that visited the fairgrounds last week. Both young and old took in the different styles, sizes and makes of equipment on display.

John Deere ag equipment had a big showing as two collectors brought some very rare pieces from their collection to this year’s fair.

Other makes of tractors at the fair included Minneapolis Moline, Ford, Oliver, Silver King, and McCormick.

“It’s just really a hobby for me,” said Don Marshall of Vineland about his collection of John Deere tractors. “I brought only half of what I actually own.”

Two of Marshall’s tractors from his extensive collection were a 1936 John Deere D and a 1949 John Deere A. Both were restored to their original condition with the familiar grass green and banana yellow paint shining in the sun.

Freeholder Julie Acton holds a special place in her heart for antique tractors. The displays at the fair brought back memories from when her children were young.

“We would come here and they would sit up on these tractors all day,” said Acton. “They loved it.”

Another tractor collector exhibiting at the fair was Deerfield resident Neil Lang who had two very unique displays. His 1937 and 1938 John Deere LS’s were put side by side with one in its original state and the other was fully restored. Often, the challenge can be finding a good John Deere parts store.

Lang also had on display the first tractor he ever brought which was a 1951 John Deere M. He bought it used in 1961 for $450.

“I still use that one today,” Lang said.

The 1956 John Deere 420 S on display was one Lang bought locally from Kathleen Camp in Elmer.

“This exact tractor was used at Palatine Park,” said Lang.

If there was a prize for bringing the most equipment it would have gone to Bridgeton resident Peter Shestakoff.

Among the numerous pieces brought by Shestakoff one of the big show stoppers was a 1913 International eight horsepower engine. The belt style engine was hooked up to a New Holland Rock Crusher.

He also had on display an old-time laundry machine run by crank and a number of old engines, one which was used on an oyster boat to pull in nets.

Logan Maurer, 3, of Deepwater took an interest especially in the antique corn plate mill and the bur mill grinder. Mauer used the crank on the plate mill to strip the corn and then the bur mill to grind it into cornmeal.

“Kids like these pieces of equipment because they are hands-on,” said Shestakoff. “But if they had to do this all day it would be another story.”

Shestakoff said he enjoys bringing his equipment to the fair because of its traditional agricultural roots. He also said the reason behind the large fair display is the joy he gets when children take an interest in the antique equipment.

“It’s not easy getting all this stuff down here. It takes me about two days to haul everything,” said Shestakoff. “But people love to see how things work and that’s why I bring as much as I do so people can come and visit.”