The Benefits of Ethanol Go Beyond Price

When you pull up to a fuel pump, you may notice that ethanol blends are friendlier to your wallet, but the benefits of ethanol go beyond your pocketbook. American Ethanol makes an important contribution to our environment, public health, economy and agricultural industry.

Public Health & Environment

Ethanol is a non-toxic, cleaner-burning octane booster that combusts fuel more completely in the engine. Higher blends of ethanol dilute the level of toxic additives in our fuel, which helps reduce pollution. This is good for our health and the environment!

Oil companies use a combination of toxic carcinogens known as BTX (benzene, toluene, xylene). These carcinogens don’t completely combust in the engine. As a result, fine and ultrafine particulates leave the tailpipe and enter the air we breathe. These particles are linked to serious health problems including asthma, lung and brain cancer, and heart disease.

As technology becomes more efficient, farmers produce more crops with less resources. This reduces our carbon footprint and our impact on the environment.

Today more energy is being produced from ethanol than is used to produce it, by factors of 2 to 1 nationally and by 4 to 1 in the Midwest, according to the 2015 Energy Balance for the Corn-Ethanol Industry done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Chief Economist.

Economy & Agriculture

A recent study by University of Nebraska-Lincoln economists reveals Nebraska’s value of production for ethanol and dried distillers grain (DDGs) is approximately $5 billion annually.

Nebraskans grow and process their corn into ethanol within the state, which keeps more money in the local economy. Nebraska ethanol production results in a net positive of both ethanol and its co-products, which brings new money into the state economy.

The ethanol industry creates a substantial annual impact on the Nebraska labor market by supporting approximately 4,500 jobs with average annual earnings (wages, salaries and benefits) of $72,000. The average earnings include direct jobs in the ethanol industry as well as jobs throughout the state, which are primarily created in rural Nebraska.

Additionally, the increased use of ethanol helps reduce the need for agricultural subsidies — and America’s energy dollars will go to domestic producers rather than members of foreign oil cartels.

Make the CleanAir® Choice

When you fill up, consider the many benefits of ethanol:

• Renewable fuel made here in Nebraska

• Reduces toxic exhaust emissions, which reduces air pollution and its effect on human health

• Provides consumers a wider choice of high-quality fuels

• Lowers the cost of filling up at the pump

• Burns cleaner and cooler, helping extend engine life

Learn more about the benefits of American Ethanol at: americanethanolne.org 

This post was submitted by the Nebraska Ethanol Board. The Nebraska Corn Board and Nebraska Ethanol Board continue to work together to establish procedures and processes necessary to the manufacturing and marketing of ethanol fuel. 

Preparing for corn planting around the world

This time of year, farmers are preparing and planning for planting their upcoming corn crop. They are carefully considering the weather, the soil moisture, the prices and the markets. Farmers around the world are doing the same thing.

Here is a video tour of preparing and planting around the world - obviously from different times of the year as the southern and northern hemispheres have different growing seasons. Notice the difference in landscape, machinery and technology!

Corn planting in Cambodia (Southeast Asia, click here for map):

 

Preparing for corn planting in Croatia (Eastern Europe, click here for map):

No-till planting in heavy residue in Brazil (South America, click here for map): 

Corn planting in the U.S.:

U.S. cattle on feed down, but red meat exports looking positive

While the Cattle of Feed report that came out earlier this month showed a decline in cattle on feed for Nebraska and the U.S., there was a positive report on global meat exports from USMEF.

Cattle on Feed Report

Nebraska feedlots, with capacities of 1,000 or more head, contained 2.46 million cattle on feed on February 1, according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. This inventory was down 2 percent from last year. Placements during January totaled 490,000 head, down 3 percent from 2015. Fed cattle marketings for the month of January totaled 435,000 head, down 3 percent from last year. Other disappearance during January totaled 15,000 head, unchanged from last year.

Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 10.7 million head on February 1, 2016. The inventory was slightly below February 1, 2015.

Placements in feedlots during January totaled 1.78 million head, 1 percent below 2015. Net placements were 1.72 million head. During January, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 340,000 head, 600-699 pounds were 365,000 head, 700-799 pounds were 494,000 head, and 800 pounds and greater were 580,000 head.

Positive Signs for U.S. Red Meat Emerging Markets 

FAS Regional Counselor Quintin Gray (left) and USDA Undersecretary
Alexis Taylor (right) assist chef Robin Gomes at the Taste of the U.S.A.
culinary demonstration at Gulfood 2016. Photo credit: USMEF

The U.S.Meat Export Federation recently participated in Gulfood 2016 which included a week of face-to-face meetings with potential customers from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. The region’s largest food show, which attracted about 90,000 people from 170 countries this year, was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Dan Halstrom, USMEF senior vice president for global marketing, said the atmosphere at Gulfood was upbeat despite economic challenges in the region created by declining oil prices. He described the show as very productive from the U.S. meat industry’s standpoint.

“The interest level from many countries was exciting,” said Halstrom. “Whether we are talking about the UAE, Jordan, Ghana, or South Africa, it was obvious that with the emerging nature of some of these market economies there is excellent potential for imported beef products.”

South Africa in particular was a hot topic of discussion at Gulfood, Halstrom noted. The market recently reopened to U.S. beef for the first time since 2003, and USMEF is planning in-market visits and a buyers’ event in that part of the world later this year. Just this past Friday, it was announced that South Africa has also reopened to U.S. pork.

Toxic Gases - The Hidden Danger

Confined spaces on farms pose a serious suffocation or asphyxiation risk to farmers, employees and family members. Grain bins are just one example of the many potentially dangerous confined spaces on farms. These confined spaces produce toxic, oxygen-deficient atmospheres that can quickly overcome anyone who enters--causing almost-instant death or serious bodily injury.

Grain engulfment is the leading suffocation hazard, but suffocation or asphyxiation also occurs when workers are overcome by toxic gases caused by spoiled or deteriorating grain, machinery in use or near grain bins or other problems. If the grain being held in storage is out-of-condition, the potential for carbon monoxide poisoning is high due to decomposition of the grain. If the grain has visible mold growth or there is a musty smell in the bin, one should not enter the bin.

In the absence of visible grain decay, hazardous carbon monoxide build-up is still possible when out-of-condition grain is hidden underneath good grain. That's why it's important not to rely on "warmer-than-expected temperatures" or "higher levels of moisture" as primary indicators. The best and recommended indicator of the atmospheric condition inside a grain bin is to utilize a personal oxygen monitor that accurately tests air quality and warns you of unsafe oxygen levels.

The best approach for preventing tragic accidents is simple: keep out of confined spaces, unless absolutely necessary. This means performing all work from outside of the confined space, whenever possible. It's essential that the seriousness of these hazards are clearly communicated to all workers and family members. The following include grain bin best practices: maintain proper grain management, use a pole from the outside of the grain bin to break up crusted grain, follow safe bin-entry procedures, and restrict bin-entry to proper trained entrants.

Technology Helps Prevent Grain Bin Accidents

The impact that technology has had on agriculture is no secret.  Nebraska farmers are now producing more food on fewer acres with fewer inputs than ever before!  But what impact has technology made on farm safety?  As one of the most dangerous occupations in America, there are many new and not-so-new technologies out there that help keep our farmers and grain handlers safe when working in and around grain bins. Nationwide recently had a great blog post discussing some of these technologies!  Below are a few that we wanted to highlight…

Remote Grain Augers

A sweep auger is just one of many different grain bin hazards. A person coming into contact with an energized or running sweep auger faces a serious and often times fatal accident. During an accident, the time it takes to shut down a conventional sweep auger can feel like an eternity.

Improved technology now allows for a sweep auger’s power source to be attached to a remote system that is synced to a transmitter attached to a belt and a receiver box located on the auger. If communication between the receiver and transmitter is broken for any reason, the system shuts down the auger immediately.

Communication can be interrupted in several ways — depending on the emergency. For example, a button on the transmitter can be manually pushed if the operator senses danger. The auger will also stop if the transmitter falls off the operator or if the transmitter’s battery fails.

Breaking up Grain Clusters

Even with proper grain management, pockets of out-of-condition or frozen grain can still develop and plug outlets during unloading. When a grain bin is not properly equipped, workers may be forced to enter the bin to break up the crusted material using long pipes or other means. This exposes workers to the risk of grain entrapment or engulfment and other grain bin hazards.

Numerous products are currently on the market that utilize innovative technologies to break up blockages quickly and efficiently, while keeping workers safe.

Some of these products fit over the grate at the bottom of a grain bin and have propeller-like blades that break up clumps of grain, preventing the auger from jamming and keeping the grain flowing. These products can be operated safely from outside the grain bin

Grain Rescue Tubes

If the circumstance does arise that a person gets engulfed in grain, a grain rescue tube is a proven, popular rescue tool with emergency personnel to help extract victims. Trying to simply pull someone out of waist-deep grain is almost impossible and could cause serious bodily injury or death to the victim.

There are numerous grain rescue tubes on the market—most of which come in lightweight, interlocking sections or panels that can be easily carried into a bin and assembled around a victim. Once in place, the tube serves as a barrier by reducing the crushing pressure on the victim and preventing more grain from pushing up against the victim. Emergency personnel then use a portable grain rescue auger, buckets, scoops or other means to remove the grain from inside the tube until the victim can be safely freed.

Spreading the awareness about grain bin safety and organizing grain rescue tube trainings for emergency personnel—helping them understand how to properly use a grain rescue tube—has been a big initiative of Nebraska Corn’s over the last few years.  Click here & here to see photo from various trainings the Nebraska Corn Growers have hosted last year.

Read more about these innovative technologies from Nationwide's blog here.

Children and Grain Handling Don’t Mix

National statistics show that farming is one of the most dangerous occupations in America - this is especially true when farmers are working in and around grain. Grain handling is an extremely hazardous job - even for the most experienced and trained adults.  That’s why we encourage all farmers to keep children (under the age of 18) away from grain-handling work sites.

Children working on the family farm is unavoidable. Many family operations depend on the older children in the family to help out on the farm. However, proper safety procedures need to be followed to insure the safety of those children—particularly when it comes to grain safety. Last year alone, the busy harvest season brought 8 or more grain-related tragic fatalities and close-calls across the US involving children. The statistics of children and grain handling accidents are heartbreaking.  Nearly 1 in 5 entrapments involve youth 11-20 years old. Eighty percent of those entrapments end in death, and this does not include children younger than 11. 

Grain bin accidents can happen in a blink of an eye.  Flowing grain acts like quicksand—and it takes less than five seconds to become helplessly trapped. A child, or any adult for that matter, could find themselves in trouble very quickly and a adult alone cannot simply pull them out of the grain. One cubic foot of grain weighs 50 pounds. Therefore, a 165-pound person buried neck-deep would require 625 pounds of force to pull out. 

Grain entrapment accidents are preventable when the proper safety procedures are followed. The Grain Handling Safety Coalition (GHSC) is a great resource for families that have children working on the farm.  They have many recommendations for youth working with or around grain. GHSC encourages all young people to stand T.A.L.L. (Talk. Ask. Learn. Live) to help keep themselves and others safe while working on the farm. Their goal is to empower young workers by helping them understand jobs or task and by encouraging them to ask questions if they do not understand the task. 

These recommendations and more can be found here.  

Grain Bin Accidents are Preventable

Nebraska Corn is reminding farmers to “Take a Second for Safety” during Grain Bin Safety Week

On-farm grain storage is on the rise—and consequently—so are fatal accidents associated with grain handling and storage. That’s why the Nebraska Corn Board and Nebraska Corn Growers Association are placing special emphasis on grain handling safety during Grain Bin Safety Week, February 21-27, 2016. In observance of the week, Nebraska Corn’s goal is to help prevent grain related accidents by increasing awareness of grain bin safety on farms and commercial grain-handling facilities.

“National statistics show that farming is one of the most dangerous occupations in America,” said David Merrell, farmer from St. Edward, Nebraska and chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board. “With on-farm safety a continual effort at Nebraska Corn, we believe it is always important to remind farmers, grain elevators and other grain handlers to slow down and take a second for safety when working with stored grain. We want both grain handlers and emergency responders to understand how to avoid grain bin accidents—and how to help someone who does end up in trouble in a grain bin.”

Record high yields, combined with an upward trend in on-farm grain storage capacity has experts projecting an increase in grain engulfment accidents. In 2015 alone, there were more than 22 reported grain bin entrapments, resulting in 11 fatalities. Grain engulfment accidents can happen in a blink of an eye, with just one misstep or a moment of distraction, a grain handler could find himself in a grain entrapment emergency. For instance, using a 10-inch auger, it takes a mere 25 seconds for a 6-foot person to be completely buried in grain.

“Grain Bin Safety Week provides a forum for the agricultural community to help prevent these tragic accidents from occurring,” said Morgan Wrich, program director for the Nebraska Corn Growers Association. “With the hectic spring season around the corner, many Nebraska farmers are busy handling their on-farm grain storage—making this annual observance a timely opportunity to remind them and other grain handlers of the hazards of working around grain.”

With the proper safety procedures, grain bin accidents are preventable. That’s why it is important to take the extra second and follow all the safety rules when it comes to working with grain stored in bins. Here are a few grain bin safety tips to keep in mind when you are working with stored grain:

• Use inspection holes or grain level markers to understand what's happening inside the bin. Use a pole from outside the bin to break up grain bridges.
• You should enter a grain bin only if absolutely necessary. If you must get into the bin, use a body harness secured to the outside of the bin. Have at least two people watching over you as you enter and work inside the bin.
• Use hand signals to communicate—and make sure everyone you're working with knows what those signals are.

These safety tips and more will be emphasized throughout Grain Bin Safety Week on the Nebraska Corn Kernels blog!

It takes soil, moisture and sunlight...

"What does it take for a corn plant to grow?"

We ask this many times to student groups who are on "ag day" field trips or school farm tours. 

Often, their responses are: sunlight, dirt (we politely correct them to soil), water, fertilizer..and yes, I've even gotten the response: God. 

Simply, the corn plant just needs sunlight - or solar radiation and the temperature of the environment the plant is in, soil and moisture. Especially important are temperature and moisture. More technically, there could be many answers from farmers on what all they do to make their corn grow. 

Soil

Healthy soil is the basis for a healthy corn crop. Through research and technology, researchers have found out how to use fertilizers to create the perfect soil composition for growing crops to raise healthy food. Corn must have adequate amounts of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) for profitable production.

Profitable and environmentally sensitive corn production requires that N and P be managed in an efficient manner. (That's why farmers never just "dump" fertilizer on their crops). Also, farmers use farming production methods like "no-till", which keeps more nutrients in the soil and decreases erosion, and crop rotation which allows for legumes, like soybeans, to return N back into the soil naturally.

Moisture

In Nebraska, we are blessed with irrigation and usually consistent rainfall, which helps us cover the moisture part. Even then, new technologies with irrigation are making it even more efficient to keep the corn plant hydrated. Even then, we must rely on Mother Nature - or what the student said, God - to water our crops. 
The current weather situation is looking rather unique with how current El Nino weather factors could turn into a La Nina weather event, which could dry up the Midwest, according to the U.S. Grains Council's recent Global Update. This would not affect the planting season, but could affect the growing season into the next year with soil moisture levels lower going into the 2017 crop planting. 

Sunlight

Along with water and nutrients, solar radiation (sunlight) is an essential input for plant growth. Plant leaves absorb sunlight and use it as an energy source in the process of photosynthesis. A crop's ability to collect sunlight is proportional to its leaf surface area per unit of land area occupied, or its "leaf area index (LAI)." At "full canopy" development, a crop's LAI and ability to collect available sunlight are maximized.

From full canopy through the reproductive period, any shortage of sunlight is potentially limiting to corn yield. When stresses such as low light limit photosynthesis during ear fill, corn plants remobilize stalk carbohydrates to the ear. This may result in stalk quality issues and lodging at harvest. The most sensitive periods of crop growth (e.g., flowering and early grain fill) are often the most susceptible to stresses such as insufficient light, water or nutrients.

If you're a farmer, we'd love feedback from your farm on:
"What does it take for a corn plant to grow?"

Nebraskan's Participate in NCGA DuPont New Leaders Program

The 2016 class of the NCGA DuPont New Leaders Program, now entering its third year of helping farming couples and individuals become better communicators, leaders and advocates for agriculture, kicked this week in Des Moines, Iowa.

“We’re pleased to see this important program continue for a third year with DuPont’s generous support,” said Chip Bowling, NCGA president and a corn grower from Maryland. “NCGA has always believed that farmers themselves are the best leaders and spokespersons for agriculture, and this program is designed in particular for those just getting started in visible roles in the ag industry.”

Deb Gangwish of Shelton

“It was a privilege to meet this year’s distinguished class of DuPont New Leaders.  There are many challenges and opportunities facing American agriculture, so I am pleased that we are investing in the next generation of leaders,” said Jeff Nawn, DuPont Pioneer Global Grain Trade Lead.  “We look forward to watching them continue to develop their leadership skills and become stronger advocates for our industry.”

This year, 27 participants representing 16 states are involved in the program. Participants from Nebraska include:  Joel McAfee of Wakefield and Deb Gangwish of Shelton.

On left: Joel McAfee of Wakefield 

The New Leaders Program is implemented in three phases, with two plenary sessions: in Iowa this week and Washington in mid-July. At these sessions, participants will gain knowledge of communications and leadership skills and many of the top issues confronting American corn growers. They also will have the opportunity to see leaders in action in our nation’s capital and visit with their lawmakers. Between these two sessions, participants will be involved in national- and state-level programs supporting American agriculture.

More pictures from the first session of the DuPont New Leaders Program are available here.

Social Soil: Videos

*Welcome to Social Soil - a series of social media posts for farmers. Whether you're a seasoned social media veteran or just trying to start, we want to help farmers with their "ag+advocacy" skills ("AGvocacy") so together we can promote Nebraska corn and agriculture.*

They say a picture is worth a thousand words - so what is a video worth? A lot. Especially when it can be shared on the Internet for millions of people to see.

Some agvocates, like The Peterson Farm Bros., are finding ways using popular culture and a medium the younger generation is familiar with to reach an audience that otherwise may not give where their food comes from a second thought.

Others are simply sharing video they take on their farm or ranch which portrays what they do everyday. By doing this, then sharing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., they are reaching a much bigger audience.

YouTube

The most popular video channel is YouTube. YouTube has even ranked as the second largest Internet search engine behind Google. Don't know how to do something, want to find out what something is supposed to look like, want a recipe, want a laugh....go search on YouTube.

It's simple to publish to YouTube, too. From your phone after you take your video, you can setup a simple account to link to, then "share" your video to YouTube and publish it privately or publicly for the world to see. Or use your computer to upload a video you took from a video camera.

Make sure to check out the great YouTube videos from the Nebraska Corn Board's YouTube Channel.

Also, our interns have created a YouTube channel with funny, educational and entertaining videos called The Cob Squad.

Vimeo

Another popular place to publish videos is through Vimeo. It's a similar platform as YouTube with a slick design and easy to make videos shareable. Many people will publish on Vimeo and share on other platforms from there because of its quality.

Don't have to be an expert videographer

The most important thing to remember is that you don't have to be an expert or trained videographer to publish movies. It's as simple as, 1)shooting a video on your phone; and 2)sharing it online. Simple, raw video is great in agriculture at telling the story of how food is raised. 

Videos within Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.....

So the best way at achieving that simple, raw (aka, easy) video is by taking a video on your phone and sharing it to your favorite, or multiple, social media platform(s). Many like sharing to Instagram because the videos must be 15 seconds or less. The constant replay on Instagram makes these videos fun to watch as well.

Check out @kodak_cowgirl's Valentine's post with her new calf - great, simple video!

Sharing to Facebook or Twitter is simple as well. If you already have an established following on another social media, simply add video when you can to help your followers better understand what it is that you do.