Illini Farm Report

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Lawn & Garden Care | Bag Worms
Phil Nixon, Extension Entomologist - University of IllinoisDepending on exactly where you live in Illinois it may be time to treat for bag worms on your trees and shrubs. Todd Gleason has more from University of Illinois Extension. Bag worms are caterpillars that commonly live in groups…
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2:29 radio self contained Bag worms are caterpillars that commonly live in groups. These groups are not colonies, the worms just live near each other. Honestly, bag worms live in little silk tents. They haul these tents, bags, around with them. The tents are camouflaged with pieces of leaves says University of Illinois Extension Entomologist Phil Nixon.Nixon :31 …but also will get on deciduous trees.Quote Summary - Being detached pieces of foliage these will dry up and turn brown. Bag worms are problem primarily on needled evergreen trees; junipers including eastern red cedar, arborvitae, and eastern white pine. Bag worms are found almost exclu…

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EPA’s RFS Puts Biodiesel in the Drivers Seat
Scott Irwin, Ag Economist - University of IllinoisThe nation could be running on a lot more biodiesel in future. Todd Gleason reports the latest U.S. EPA proposal would firmly set a path to create a second biofuels industry in the United States. The United States Environmental Protection Agency…
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2:15 tv cgThe United States Environmental Protection Agency, by the authority of congress, sets mandates - within some congressional parameters - for the amount of renewable energy the nation should consume. Part of this energy plan has allowed U.S. farmers to build and deploy corn based ethanol as a gasoline additive. Phase two, as set out by congress and proposed by EPA in May, may do the same thing for biodiesel made from oilseeds says University of Illinois ag economist Scott Irwin.Irwin :18 …driver’s seat rather than corn based ethanol.Quote Summary - If one takes the EPA policy as given …

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Assessing Corn Demand for Domestic Ethanol Blending
Darrel Good, Ag Economist - University of Illinois

This week University of Illinois Ag Economist Darrel Good has explored just how corn demand could be affected by U.S. EPA’s proposed Renewable Fuel Standards. Todd Gleason has more…

Since the fall of 2005 the number of bushels…
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Since the fall of 2005 the number of bushels of corn used by the ethanol industry has jumped sharply. Back then it was about two billion bushels. It topped out at around five billion bushels with the 2011 corn harvest and this year is on track to hit five-point-two-billion. This demand driven almost exclusively by ethanol… and not by the co products. University of Illinois Ag Economist Darrel Good says going forward there are few different directions the industry might take depending on a series of factors.

Those factors include the EPA’s annual Renewable Fuels Standards (RFS) and the methods for implementing …

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Crop Insurance Loss Performance in 2014
Gary Schnitkey, Ag Economist - University of Illinois

Last year federal crop insurance performed really well. Todd Gleason reports this means it covered losses in the way it was designed to do the job.

Over time crop insurance is meant to even...
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Over time crop insurance is meant to even out the ups and downs in annual income experienced by commodity farmers. It does this by paying out one dollar for every dollar of premium a farmer pays in to the system to purchase the insurance. The farmer can expect there will be many years when a payment is not made, but when the income from crops drop, a crop insurance payment will help alleviate the gap. Here’s another explanation from University of Illinois Extension Ag Economist Gary Schnitkey.

Schnitkey :33 …then the loss ratio is greater than one.
Quote Summary - The crop insurance program was designed to have a loss ration of …

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Pork Industry Continues to Adjust from PED
Chris Hurt, Ag Economist - Purdue University ExtensionThe price of hogs is on the rebound. Todd Gleason reports it appears to be the economic remnants of a widespread disease outbreak in 2014.The pork industry continues to adjust from the supply shock…
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3:16 radio self contained The pork industry continues to adjust from the supply shock created by the PED virus last year. Live hog prices peaked in the summer of 2014 as Porcine Epidemic Virus losses mounted and then fell into the late winter of this season. Looking back it seems prices overshot on the high side due to PED, thinks Purdue University Ag Economist Chris Hurt, and then undershot early this year as market supplies were restored. He says the third phase of this cycle now seems to be the recent recovery in prices - up from the $45 low made in March.Hurt :23 …by ten percent or more into the spring.Quote Summary - Now, they have recovered to the low $60s. The low …