Posted by dhusar on November 2, 2009
A forecast for a week’s worth of sunny skies has area farmers hoping to cover plenty of ground to harvest corn and soybeans.
They’ve got plenty of ground to make up in 2009.
The state’s soybean harvest has never been this slow. Thirty-three percent of the crop was harvested in the last week of October, the lowest figure on record for this date.
As for corn, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Illinois Field Office, it was back in 1967 when a smaller percentage of the corn crop had been harvested by late October.
While historically low, this year’s figure of 14 percent harvested is higher than the 11 percent recorded the fourth week of October in 1967.
Harvest delays, along with the time change, have officials promoting a “rural driving alert” to remind motorists in rural areas to pay attention to farm equipment.
Darkness falls around 5:30 p.m. just as record numbers of tractors, combines, trucks and wagons are using rural roads and county and state highways, according to Illinois Farm Bureau.
“In a normal year, Illinois farmers expect to be more than 80 percent done with corn and soybean harvest by Nov. 1,” IFB President Philip Nelson said. “This year’s soggy harvest has slowed progress. A lot of farm work is going to be done in the dark this year.”
Many county farm bureaus in Illinois have distributed roadside signs for motorists and caution signs and lighting kits for farm equipment. Much of this communication has been in place for several years, but it takes on added urgency in 2009, Nelson said.
A COUNTRY Financial annual survey showed roadway collisions involving farm equipment accounted for 24 percent of Illinois farm deaths from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. Roadway collisions ranked as the second leading cause of farm deaths behind tractor rollovers and ahead of grain bin accidents.
Posted by dhusar on October 19, 2009
In the movie “Forrest Gump,” Forrest shares a way to learn about a person — by looking at their shoes.
You can tell a lot from a person’s shoes, Gump said. Where they’ve been, and where they’re going.
An overheard conversation got Eric Dolbeare thinking about what his shoes say about him and other Americans in Iraq as part of provincial reconstruction teams helping to rebuild the country.
Someone making her first trip into the war-torn country sported crisp, clean military-style desert boots. Someone else wore the same style of boot, moderately worn but still in pretty decent shape — a sign of about seven months of wear.
“Then I looked at my own boots. The suede was worn off revealing smooth leather from toe to heel,” he said in his latest dispatch to The Quincy Herald-Whig. “Only the nylon cordova retained its original olive-brown color although it was stained from sweat. The remainder was permanently discolored to a light khaki, the same color as the dirt and sand of Fallujah.”
Dolbeare, a Pleasant Hill farmer, has spent a year working in Iraq and agreed to serve another six months working to help farmers improve infrastructure and adopt modern agriculture practices in the Fertile Crescent, the flat and fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
By the end of the additional six months, it will be time to come home. Besides, “my boots will just about be worn out,” he said.
Posted by dhusar on October 15, 2009
Illinois has fallen short again in a national ranking, this time with implications for the dinner table.
New data released this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates Illinois now ranks 25th in the nation for its investment in food and agricultural research — its lowest ranking in 13 years — and last among the 10 Midwestern states.
According to a news release from the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research, seven Midwestern states have increased their expenditures since 2003 in food and agricultural research — Missouri by 66 percent, Indiana by 51 percent, Nebraska by 26 percent, Minnesota by 21 percent, Kansas by 18 percent, Wisconsin by 12 percent and Michigan by 2 percent. Illinois’ food and agricultural research expenditures have decreased 18 percent.
That’s cause for concern, said Jerry Hicks, chairman of C-FAR, which saw its state funding drop by 36 percent from 2003 to 2008.
“Food and agricultural research funding data is highly relevant as it directly relates to a state’s capacity to address short- and long-term industry challenges and opportunities. Illinois is unfortunately losing this capacity,” he said. “This is a great concern that deserves the greatest consideration by our public and private sectors.”
Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation in August designed to bring an estimated $30 billion a year to the state’s economy through a local food, farm and jobs system. But the state has not provided funding for the legislation developed after two years of work by the Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force to determine the potential for growing and producing food for consumption in the state and neighboring states.
Even though Illinois has one of the nation’s largest agricultural economies, only about 5 percent of the state’s estimated $48 billion in annual spending on food goes toward products grown in the state. The task force hopes to increase the amount of money spent on Illinois-grown food.
The state’s research funding commitment may “explain some of why only 2-5 percent of the food we eat is raised in Illinois,” said Carrie Edgar, University of Illinois Extension Adams/Brown Unit Leader who was chairman of the task force’s education committee. “There is certainly room for improvement. I’m hoping this new legislation and the Illinois Local Food, Farms and Jobs Council can help improve that.”
The focus of the state’s research also needs to shift.
“We’ve been pretty focused on corn and soybeans for a lot of years. Maybe now we can begin to diversify the research that’s going on in the same farmers have diversified what they’re growing,” Edgar said.
The annual USDA rankings are based on food and agricultural research expenditures from state-appropriated funds at agricultural experiment stations. Illinois is ranked based on state-appropriated funds for C-FAR and other general revenue funds.
The USDA data shows 40 states increased investments in food and agricultural research in 2008 despite the nation’s significant economic challenges.
Posted by dhusar on September 4, 2009
Soil and water conservation district offices in Brown, Hancock and Pike counties continue to operate despite a state funding crunch that closed the Adams County office.
“They have considered cutting back on the hours. I don’t know if they’re going to as long as we continue to get funding, but it’s a possibility,” said Betty Buckert, administrative coordinator in Hancock County.
Brown County is down to one employee, administrative coordinator Charla Meyers, and put off the decision on hiring a resource conservationist because of uncertain funding.
“We’re always concerned on how the program is going to be funded. It seems like it’s been a constant struggle for the last two or three years,” said Abbie Sperry, resource conservationist with the Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District. “With Adams County being a neighboring county and knowing their employees are no longer there, it hits pretty close to home.”
Soil and water conservation districts statewide have lost 60 employees since the beginning of 2007, replacing some but leaving most posts unfilled or filled only on a part-time basis, said Annyce Winters, administrative coordinator in Greene County who tracks the statewide numbers.
Adams County “hit a wall” as funding dried up, and “a lot of districts are close to that. I’m hoping 2010 money gets there before that happens,” said Winters, who saw her own hours cut from 40 to 32 per week.
The cuts take a toll on soil conservation work, cooperative efforts with other agencies and additional funding.
For example, Winters said the state’s capital budget includes $45 million for the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program which carries a one-to-four match from the federal government. “If we don’t have the districts that administer that program, we lose $180 million from the federal government,” Winters said.
“There are programs and things we do that a lot of people maybe don’t notice,” she said. “If our funding continues to be cut every year and employees continue to have to fight for the funding, they’ll move on. It’s serious to lose veteran employees the way we have the past couple of years.”
Sperry said soil and water conservation districts “work cheap” with budget needs of $7 million to $8 million and a return on the investment estimated at $400-plus million.
Adams, Brown and Hancock counties still are waiting for their final payment from fiscal 2009, which ended June 30; Pike County received its final payment.
“We’re still able to go ahead and keep working,” said Brad Smith, resource conservationist in Pike County. “We figured at the beginning of our fiscal year, which was July 1, that we could go a full year with the way it’s been in the past, then in 2010 we’ll have to make a decision.”
State funding cuts, and questions about future funding, hamper district efforts.
“We can’t plan ahead. With our tree sales, we order this year for next summer’s sale. If we don’t have people here, we can’t plan the program,” Buckert said.
“Everybody you talk to involved in the state has a funding issue. There needs to be some kind of resolution,” Sperry said. “The amount of time we’re spending fighting this is less time we’re able to do our jobs.”
Posted by dhusar on August 28, 2009
The Nauvoo Study Program is a first step toward what organizers hope will become Nauvoo University, a four-year accredited institution of higher learning.
Wanting to start a new university is one thing, but earning state authorization can be a time-involved, step-by-step process.
The Illinois Board of Higher Education outlines requirements for operating and degree-granting authority online at ibhe.state.il.us.
Requirements include:
• Any new institution or out-of-state institution coming in to Illinois for the first time must obtain operating authority from the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
• Any institution established after 1961 is required to obtain authorization to grant degrees for each new degree program it plans to offer.
• All new institutions must obtain operating authority prior to receiving degree-granting authority. Operating authority may be granted on the basis of a well developed plan presented in an application. Before degree-granting authority is approved, however, the institution must show that its plan has been substantially implemented.
• The board grants authorization to operate and authorization to grant degrees on the condition that the institution maintains the standards and conditions that were presented in its application and that served as the basis for granting the authorization. Periodically, the staff will review materials provided by each institution, including the institution’s most recent catalog, annual reports on enrollments and degrees granted, reports on faculty salaries, student financial aid and default rates.
• Unless an institution was authorized to operate in Illinois or was in operation before 1961, it cannot award any earned degree until one year after it has received the authorization and approval to grant degrees from the board.
Nauvoo University is doing just what it needs to by seeking authority from the board to offer associate degrees in general education, history and music.
“Typically that process can take anywhere from three to six months. It can take longer if the proposal is particularly complex or involves a great many degree programs or if we run into some kind of snags in getting questions answered through the review process,” said Donald Sevener, the board’s deputy director for external relations.
IBHE sees few brand-new start-up universities per year.
“Typically they are the proprietary institutions, the for-profit schools. DeVry is perhaps the biggest example,” Sevener said.
“A lot of institutions operate primarily online but have a physical presence in the state and therefore must get our approval,” he said. “These are for profits which are often targeted toward a particular niche, field or study or group of students.”
Posted by dhusar on August 17, 2009
Recent warm temperatures reinforced one thing sorely missing in much of June and July: It really is summertime.
I’m officially ready to take in all the fun of the summer months — swimming in the pool, playing in the backyard, planning a family picnic, chasing lightning bugs.
Too bad there’s only a few weeks left of “official” summer and just one day, after today, of “unofficial” summer.
The Knights of Columbus Barbecue, the last official party of the summer, has come and gone. School starts on Wednesday in Quincy. Wavering Aquatic Center already closed for the season, and hours have been shortened at Indian Mounds Park. Summer reading logs have been turned in and tallied at the Quincy Public Library.
It seems like it should still be June, but the calendar says it’s Aug. 17.
Did I miss summer this year?
Maybe the weather contributed to the season’s swift passage. The average temperature for July was 70.4 degrees, 5.3 degrees below normal. According to the Illinois State Water Survey, it was the coldest July on record statewide.
Expect some warmer temperatures this week and next, just in time for the first days of the new school year.
There’s still plenty of summer-like fun available.
The Illinois State Fair, for example, runs through Sunday in Springfield, and the Missouri State Fair also goes through Sunday in Sedalia. Both offer plenty of rides, food, entertainment and a look at the agriculture, the backbone industry of both states.
Quincy Park District activities continue including Indian Mounds Pool on a limited schedule, the batting cage, miniature golf course. Park playgrounds are open year-round, offering hours of enjoyment for the young and young at heart.
And there’s still time to plan that family picnic. Even if we might have to picnic inside because of the cold temperatures.
Posted by dhusar on July 23, 2009
These days it’s rare for me to sit down and make the effort to watch a television show.
An exception came Wednesday night with the airing of the “Time Team America” episode focused on New Philadelphia.
The show produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting highlighted three days of work by the Time Team archaeologists done in summer 2008 and ongoing work at New Philadelphia, the first community platted by an African-American, Free Frank McWorter, in 1836.
The show traced the history of the racially-integrated community and its founder, who was born a slave in South Carolina in 1777. While still a slave, he earned enough money to buy his wife Lucy’s freedom in 1817 and his own in 1819. He came to Pike County and, thanks to his business ventures, bought the freedom of at least 16 family members.
The team learned about period music with spirituals sung by Gladys Coggswell and Mett Morris and period food. They viewed artifacts found on the site, found more of their own and met some of Free Frank’s descendants.
Seeing a project I’ve written about extensively get some national attention was a treat — and seeing what happens now could be even better.
Perhaps “Time Team America” will provide another boost to the project spearheaded by local residents who formed the New Philadelphia Association and hope eventually to have the site become a national park.
Maybe someone who saw the show has another piece of the story to share with those working to uncover the past.
Maybe a viewer wants to invest in a project that sheds light on issues dating to the 1830s and still relevant today.
Maybe the show meets its goal to build awareness and appreciation of archaeology and the importance of preserving history.
Stay tuned.
Posted by dhusar on July 20, 2009
Dairy farmers nationwide have more to worry about than just price.
Organic dairy farmers and their supporters from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa held a “demonstration” last week at the La Crosse County Fair to convince Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to take immediate and aggressive enforcement action against a handful of “factory farms” allegedly saturating the market with illegal organic milk.
Vilsack apparently got the message, promising to focus on rules “that will level the playing field so that small and medium size producers have a fair shot,” according to a news release from the Cornucopia Institute.
The Wisconsin-based nonprofit farm policy research group, available online at cornucopia.org, is dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. Its Organic Integrity Project acts as a corporate and governmental watchdog assuring that no compromises to the credibility of organic farming methods and the food it produces are made in the pursuit of profit.
In the dairy sector, there are now estimated to be 20 large industrial dairies, each milking 1,500-7,000 cows, producing as much as 40 percent of the nation’s organic milk supply. A glut of factory farm milk has flooded the market, squeezing the incomes of family farmers as dairy processors cut payments and demand production cutbacks.
Despite the negative fallout, the institute’s research shows 90 percent of all namebrand organic products are produced with high integrity by family farmers.
“These factory farms are a bad aberration,” rally organizer Mark Kastel said. “We encourage organic consumers to do a little bit of homework and make sure the brands they buy are supporting the families that are working so hard to produce legitimate organic milk.”
Posted by dhusar on July 8, 2009
British actor Darren Hill knew something was different about the Nauvoo Pageant from the first rehearsal.
Instead of beginning with a vocal or physical warm-up, “we started our first rehearsal, as we start all our rehearsals, with a prayer,” said Hill, who makes his living as an actor in his native England and is in Nauvoo for the first time performing in the pageant. “We work together as an ensemble. We work together as one, united in one thing — our love for Jesus Christ and what He’s done for us.”
That sense of mission, that strong purpose of living faith in word and deed sets the Nauvoo Pageant apart from other local events offered by churches or communities.
Nowhere else does a core cast of 20 actors with speaking parts supported by more than 850 volunteers — many who return year after year — take the stage to tell the story of their faith, and in many cases, their ancestors who helped settle Nauvoo. It’s a professional, beautiful production filled with song, dance and costumes with sweeping skirts and colorful bonnets. It’s also something more, something pageant officials bill as part of the “Nauvoo experience” fueled, and filled, with faith.
Cast members say they feel “called” to the pageant, to take time away from their daily lives, and sometimes their family, to share their talents.
“The Lord prompts me. I know that being obedient to Him is the only happy way. When we are disobedient, we reap the consequences,” said cast member Mary Jane Wadley. “It is special being here.”
Five separate family casts volunteer for two-week stints with the pageant, traveling from across the United States to Nauvoo.
The family casts “have very little theatrical experience if any, very little music experience if any. They come not because of the pageant and the show but because they are convicted in their beliefs. They want to leave a trail of their courage as early people in the area did, a living testament of what they do believe,” pageant artistic director Ray Robinson said.
Many families save for years to come to the pageant, battle flat tires and long journeys to reach the Mississippi River. Others had no intention to get involved in the pageant until something, or perhaps a higher power, intervened.
They perform in the pageant and participate in the Country Fair Pre-show which introduces people to 1840s pioneer activities including games, dance and quilting.
Investing the time helps others and other communities.
“We don’t create communities by presenting plays. We create communities by getting together, and we believe we create stronger communities by getting together to build something greater than ourselves and to serve God,” Robinson said.
Hill, one of three British actors in the core cast, wanted to serve his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but he found few opportunities to do so as a professional actor in Britain.
A letter written to a church leader followed by e-mails, phone calls and an audition over the Internet using Skype brought him to Nauvoo and the pageant that he knew next to nothing about just five months ago.
“We’ve all been praying for everybody involved in this pageant, not only the people you see on stage, but the people who are coming to share that experience in Nauvoo,” Hill said. “Our prayer is that you will share that experience with us. Not only do you share that by what you see through your eyes and what you hear through your ears, but what you feel in your heart.”
Posted by dhusar on July 3, 2009
Peter Piper may have picked a peck of pickled peppers.
But the pecks and bushels that pop up in tongue-twisters and old sayings aren’t part of day-to-day speech for most people — until you’re at a farmers market and start to wonder if a bushel is a bushel.
University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator David Robson says a bushel of produce must meet the legal standard of volume of dry measurement containing four pecks, 32 quarts or 2,150.42 cubic inches. In other words, Robson said, a bushel is an amount based on volume and not weight. It’s what the box or basket will hold and not how much it weighs, and that can be a big difference.
The bushel container is a carryover from days of yesteryear when the bushel was a convenient volume of packing and use, Robson said in a news release. It’s less common today because of the demand for smaller containers and improved quality control, but many farm markets still sell by the bushel in baskets, boxes and hampers.
Commonly accepted weights in pounds per bushel for fruits and vegetables in Illinois are 42-48 pounds for apples, 44-50 for grapes, 48-52 for peaches, 48-50 for pears, 28-30 for green beans, 48-50 for cucumbers, 18-20 for greens and 50-60 for tomatoes.
Other common produce containers for volume sales are pecks, quarts and pints.
Most pecks of fruit should weigh 10-12 pounds, but pecks of vegetables differ due to texture and weight of the crop. Quarts of small fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and blueberries weigh 1.4-1.5 pounds.
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