Michigan Ag Blog

A month after the Sunshine State's big freeze the damage to the winter fruit crop is adding up

The Michigan Farm Bureau is seeking students for its 46th annual Young People's Citizenship Seminar (YPCS).

YPCS is a five-day seminar which teaches young people about the democratic political process and how to become informed, active citizens. The event will be held June 28 to July 1 at Northwood University in Midland.

This year's seminar is unique in that occurs in what will be a historic election year for Michigan, said Matt Kapp, YPCS co-organizer and MFB land use and elections specialist. On top of a whopping 72 percent turnover of legislators in the 2010 general election, for the first time in Michigan's history the state will have all new leadership including a new governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, speaker of the House and Senate majority leader. 

"With YPCS we want to build on this political fervor and help teenagers understand the power of their vote and the freedoms that Americans enjoy in a democratic society," said Kapp.

To accomplish this, attendees participate in mock political elections and other fun, interactive activities designed to hone leadership skills and teach government principles and economics. Students also enjoy recreational and social activities as well as motivational presentations by guest speakers.

YPCS is open to all 2010-2011 high school juniors and seniors. Applications are currently being accepted through April 23.

Although the majority of YPCS participants hail from Farm Bureau families, Farm Bureau membership is not a requirement.

"County Farm Bureaus select participants from local applications received, but YPCS is open to all students regardless of their Farm Bureau involvement," said Kapp.

Cost this year is reduced to $230 per student. Generally, county Farm Bureaus or a local business sponsor the seminar fee; however, a small commitment fee may be required.

More information on YPCS, including a downloadable brochure and promotional video, is available online atwww.michfb.com/ypcs. Information can also be obtained from high school principals, guidance counselors and county Farm Bureau offices, as well as by calling MFB at (800) 292-2680, ext. 2027.

Candidates vying to be Michigan's next governor will lay out their agricultural agendas on March 19 for this campaign season's first gubernatorial candidate forum dedicated to agriculture, Michigan's second largest-and growing-industry.

Farmers and other agribusiness professionals who belong to Michigan's commodity and agricultural organizations are encouraged to attend the free event, which will be held at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Lansing beginning at 8:30 a.m. Pre-registration by March 12 is required by contacting Penni Sweeney at (517) 668-2676 orpsweeney@micorn.org.

At the forum, each candidate will have the opportunity to present his or her platform, followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.

While individual agricultural organizations have conducted similar activities in the past, this gubernatorial candidate forum represents the first time several agricultural groups have partnered for an event of this kind. The monumental forum is being organized by the Michigan Corn Growers Association and co-sponsored by 18 agricultural organizations, including the Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB).

The forum aims to accomplish two goals: one, make farmers knowledgeable about the gubernatorial candidates so they can make educated voting decisions at the polls this fall; and two, help the candidates better understand agriculture's significance to Michigan.

"It's our hope the candidates get as much out of the forum as the farmers in the audience," said Kapp. "The next chief executive officer of Michigan needs to have an appreciation for what farmers do and how their work impacts the lives of every person in our state on a daily basis," said Matt Kapp, MFB land use and elections specialist.

The forum will be an especially helpful tool for members of county Farm Bureau candidate evaluation committees who will soon recommend candidates for MFB's prestigious "Friend of Agriculture" political endorsement, said Kapp.

"This forum provides a unique opportunity to go more in-depth with the candidates on issues important to the state's farmers, including government streamlining which is a priority of the Michigan Farm Bureau," said Kapp. "Michigan is broken. We need to know how each candidate plans to reform state government, reduce state spending and help foster continued growth of Michigan's $71.3 billion agriculture industry."

AgriPac, MFB's political action committee, will hold an additional candidate forum after the August primary. This second forum is tentatively scheduled to take place Sept. 1 in Lansing and involve candidates also running for Secretary of State and Attorney General.

The other agricultural groups co-sponsoring the forum are the Cherry Marketing Institute; Julian Vail, LLC; Michigan Agri-Business Association; Michigan Allied Poultry Industries, Inc.; Michigan Apple Growers; Michigan Cattlemen's Association; Michigan Equine Partnership; Michigan Floriculture Growers Council; Michigan Great Lakes International Draft Horse Show; Michigan Harness Horseman's Association; Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association; Michigan Pork Producers Association; Michigan Soybean Association; Michigan Standardbred Breeders Association; Michigan Sugar Company; Michigan Vegetable Council and the Potato Growers of Michigan. 

Give it a couple of weeks and you’ll be searching spots in the woodlots for early risers like Dutchman’s breeches whose white blooms are an early sign things are waking up.  Of course first winter snows will have had to melt so forest floor wildflowers are visible.

1. This should be about the last active weather for a few days as we return to late-February and early-March temperatures.

The equinox is three weeks away.  Sunrise is around 7:20 and sunset at 6:30.  And we normally experience highs in the mid to upper thirties.

The Climate Prediction Center says Southwest Michigan is on track to receive close to normal precipitation and temperatures for the next several weeks.  The Upper Midwest may get warmer than normal readings in March and you can bet they’ll be alert for spring floods while hoping to avoid planting delays like last year.

The Ag Statistics Service is out with last year's crop values and prices received...

Snowfall amounts across the region may vary greatly today.  Close to Lake Michigan six inches – and in some spots up to ten – may fall from the latest system.  Away from the lake several inches are likely to be the total accumulation by the time Thursday rolls around.

All of the area can expect off and on flurries or snow showers through the weekend.  Somewhat cooler conditions should prevail Thursday into Friday as highs climb only into the upper twenties.  High readings will then begin to warm for the weekend into early next week.

Michigan State’s network of weather monitoring stations had morning lows in the lower twenties.  A few spots, like Muskegon, were receiving a steady, accumulating snow.  Other locations further inland had only a dusting overnight.

The low pressure system crossing South Michigan today is aimed at New England where it’s due to wreak havoc by the end of the week.  In that part of the country another storm which moved up from the south is bringing heavy coastal rains and inland snows today.

Historical records indicate heavy snow fell on this date in 1936 in the Northeast but it was brown.  That’s brown as in the color of the dirt in Nebraska and Kansas.  That was just one small way the 1930’s Dust Bowl impacted the rest of the continent.

There’s cold air headed our way off the Canadian prairies in about a day but readings in our part of the world aren’t headed for the basement by any means.  There will be a frontal passage from the north Tuesday night into Wednesday but the National Weather Service is still calling for highs in the upper twenties to around thirty for the rest of the week.

While there’s no doubt it is winter even Monday’s snowstorm seems tame compared to the kind of weather Southwest Michigan was experiencing this week in 1990.  Twenty years ago a blizzard hit the area with hurricane force winds and five foot snow drifts in some locations.  The Michigan AAA records show a near-record five thousand traffic accidents reported in one day.  There’s no doubt about it – late winter can be a lot rougher that we’re seeing it this year.

You can expect accumulating snow to the tune of three or four inches west of US 131 into Wednesday with an inch or less further east.

A chance of snow remains in the outlook through the balance of the week and into the weekend but additional accumulations are expected to be small.

The estimated number of farms in Michigan in 2009 was 54,800, down slightly from 55,000 in 2008, reports the Michigan Field office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service. 
Michigan land in farms was estimated to be 10 million acres in 2009, unchanged from the previous year.
The average size farm in Michigan in 2009 was 182 acres, also unchanged from 2008.
The number of farms in the United States in 2009 was estimated at 2.2 million, virtually unchanged from 2008.
Total land in farms, at 919.8 million acres, decreased 110,000 acres from 2008. Nationally, the average farm size was 418 acres in 2009, unchanged from the previous year.
For survey purposes, a farm is defined as any establishment from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold during the year. The $1,000 threshold can be met by any combination of sales and government payments.
Land in farms includes: crop and livestock acreage, wasteland, woodland, pasture, land in summer fallow, idle cropland, land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, and other set-aside or commodity acreage programs.

As part of the national "Good Egg Project," eight Michigan egg farmers are donating 576,000 eggs and shipping them to Haiti to help feed victims of the January earthquake.
The farmers gathered at Herbruck's Poultry Ranch in Saranac on Feb. 18 to prepare the eggs for their journey. At Herbruck's, the eggs were cracked and the liquid, totaling about 48,000 pounds, was chilled to around 35 degrees. A semi-trailer is transporting the eggs to Iowa, where the liquid eggs will be dried and flown to Haiti.
"Michigan family egg farmers like to say we feed the world—now we're helping feed those who need a helping hand the most," said Cal Schipper, president of the Michigan Allied Poultry Industries Inc. The farms banding together in the effort are:
• Old Pike Farm, DeWeerdt Poultry Farm, Schipper Poultry Farm and Zoet Poultry, all located near Holland
• Konos Inc. near Martin
• Farm Crest Foods near Pigeon
• Herbruck's Poultry Ranch near Saranac
• Sunrise Acres Egg Farm near Hudsonville
Transportation of the egg powder to Haiti is being organized by Feed the Children. The Michigan egg farmers and the drier in Iowa are donating all costs, estimated at $100,000, as part of the Good Egg Project, America's egg farmers' effort to fight hunger. 
In total, America's egg farmers will be donating more than 275,000 dozen shell eggs (more than 3 million eggs valued at more than $275,000) to Feed the Children's Haitian relief efforts.

As the snow winds down today we have a chance for still another round coming up in about a day.  The low which gave some folks up to eight or nine inches is headed for Cleveland this evening with its next target being interior New England.  An upper level system will give us a round of accumulating snow Tuesday night into Wednesday.  Then colder air moves in to keep our highs a couple of degrees cooler than we’ve seen for the past few weeks.  We’re still not looking at really arctic conditions in this last week of February.

A decade ago late February actually got balmy across the region.  Many high temperature records fell in 2000 along with warm morning low readings.  That’s the kind of too much of a good thing too soon that fruit growers worry about as plants react by breaking winter dormancy only to later get nipped by the cold.

As that long list of Monday school closings will attest, we’re not getting ahead of ourselves weather-wise this year.

The bottom line – late-February cold will hang around through the week and we’ll have several periods of snow and snow showers but nothing which should put a halt to activities after today.

Rick Shields speaks about ag income being up in 2010.