Three Good Days

We are probably having the last three good outdoor work days left in 2012 here in southwest Ohio.  I have so much to get done.  We both slept like a rock last night.  I left our bedroom window open yesterday so we went to bed to crisp, cool air and slept so good under those blankets.

Right or wrong I am goin to drill the rye I bought on my last acres.  Just maybe I will have everything sown the way I want it be when these days are gone.  I may not see that rye until next spring but I know it will be there.  That farm looks ragged anyhow with weeds grown around the edges and there is nothing like the look of a farm to me that is all drilled down with tons of residue.

I keep trying to melt that residue back into the earth it came from.  I am trying to increase biological activity on the good side.  Jack is coming out to take out the last tree in the middle of one field which will be a big job.  I hope he can dig on one side and we can push it over and cut it up.  I will mark some tile holes to dig up while he is there so we can see what the tile and subsoil looks like on that farm.  If you read my blog you know how I love doing that.

I've taken a tremendous amount of crop off that farm in three years.  It has to produce a good crop to make the payments.  Still, it has a lot of interest as I have several people interested in buying that farm.  We need something a little closer to home so I don't know how that is going to work out.  I have been looking at 1031 exchanges and other properties we could invest in.  I will have to turn that over to the Lord and look to His guidance.

He sure has taken good care of us both and all our kids and grandkids.  We give Him great thanks.  Now we have to be open to do His part, not ours.  I have a talk scheduled tonight with my fellowship group and that will surely come up.

The neighbor boys helped me get the first load of cut up logs off that farm last night.  We have several more to haul out of there.  This morning though, the Chevy will be tied up hauling rye seed.  I have a busy weekend scheduled for that truck this weekend.

All the friends we meet aren't talking about the election.  They quickly grumble and we change the subject.  The leaders we wanted for this country didn't quite get elected after billions of dollars wasted trying to elect them.  I heard something like 3 billion was spent on these campaigns?  I don't know if that is true or not but we know it was a ton of money that should have been put to better use.

Only the media got rich off this deal.  Maybe we need a law to limit campaign funding even more than what we have.

Say a little prayer for us and we will for you.  Have a great day,

Ed

Markets

Markets are reacting to the election.  We saw the Dow go right down a record 313 points for the year.  The grains have reacted favorably but haven't started their move up yet, which I think they will do.

"There is talk on the newswires and on the trading floor that the US ARmy Corp of Engineers could close the Missouri River into the Mississippi on December 10th, in order to help northern areas. The floor is looking at the impact as a spread rather than flat price issue if fallout is felt."  That can't be favorable for corn and soybeans as so much of it takes that path.

One of my former students was in line at Croton Egg Farm this morning and we got to chatting on Facebook.  My question was how high do eggs need to sell for to make a profit at $7.50 corn?  If anyone has an opinion on that, post it here!

Our local dairman friend is milking gungho so prices for raw milk must be better than $7.50 corn.  He feeds a lot of sileage, though.  He had the best double crop corn after wheat this year I believe I have ever seen.

My last field of wheat hasn't come up yet and I can't figure out why except the cold nights.  It's been in the ground since October 23 and I thought sure it would be up by now.  I did see a few sprigs today but not the nice even stand we have behind the house.

Darren Hefty was talking about how to control Creeping Charlie(ground ivy or Creeping Jenny) around the house and farmstead on Ag Ph. D. this week.  It is difficult to identify from round leaved Mallow.  LuAnn looked up at the TV from her Xyboard and exlaimed that's the weed that is taking over our yard!  I said yep, that is what I spread that high priced bag of TriMec weed and feed for!  It didn't do a thing to the Creeping Charlie so I am going to have to spray a high rate of 2,4-D with a sniff of dicamba in it to knock it back.  It looks like it's been here since 1880 when the house was built!

The big news here is Deirdre Jane Peters.  That is as hard to spell as Caoilin so we are having a good itme with that, all in fun.  I tried to explain it to Uncle Roy on the telephone last night was was having trouble explaining the name on the phone!  Just try to write if if you think that's bad!

She is beautiful and her big sister Caoilin is estatic with her new baby sister.  Poor little Finn though doesn't look too impressed with the deal!  Deirdre is very feminine with dark hair and the tiniest head and body of the 4 but she is a healthy 7 lbs and 6 ounces.  I always said kids were your best crop and it's been a great crop year, 2 grand daughters in 3 months!  Hard to top the 3 three year olds though!

Thank you Lord for all our Blessings,

Amen.

Ed

This Isn't Your Grandpa's USA

When I realized which direction the election was going last night, I caught a line from a farmer on NewAgTalk.  He said, "this isn't your grandpa's USA."  That summed it all up for me right there.  Sorry grandpa, we tried.  Greed has made the white men leaders of this country look less than honorable so average Joe is sticking with welfare.  We are a welfare state.

One portion of our new society has made our country illegitimate, another portion won't learn the language so we have to press one for English and another portion does not believe in traditional marriage.  The young people are confused so we just have to keep leading by example.  Somehow, I have to find a way to function in this new society.  I don't believe in it, I don't agree with it but I have to learn to live within it.

Both my major candidates got defeated so I have the same president and the same senator.  Both are too liberal for me and don't believe in what I do.  All my blogs did was clearly state my position and now I am the minority and must learn to live with that.

I have always considered myself a minority, though.  I am male, white, and an agriculturist so my destiny was determined at birth.  I must live within that.  The rest of the world needs my skills and talents so I must keep refining them and honing them so I can help feed them.  That is my part in this world.

So, I hope you see a lot more agriculture from this blog in the coming days and a lot less politics.  I put myself out there to speak out my beliefs but I am a minority.

No one told me it was flat tire day, either.  I went to the shop and noticed the left rear on the sprayer is flat.  I went to old red the Dakota and noticed the right rear is low.  But I did find good news, or it found me!

Becky let us know that grandchild number 11 may be born today!

So as we seek that silver lining in these gray clouds this morning, see you later!

Ed

Election Day!

Thank God it is finally here, election day!  I do thank God for America and for our freedom that was earned and is preserved by our military.  I can never say thanks enough but I can vote for the principles this country was founded on.  Whenever I see a soldier or a story about one, I know I have to be informed and I know I have to vote.

Neighbor Darrell called last night howling and laughing.  He asked if I got tired of Rosenberger?  I knew right then he watched me cut down his sign.  He said I saw you give it a good kick, too and just howled out loud.  You should really hear the man laugh.  I knew then he saw me trip over the dang thing, nearly fell on top of it but in reality I tripped over it.  I never told him the whole story.

I said yes I got tired of him and voted for Peter Pence.  I really had him howling by this time.  Then I said just look at him, then look at Peter Pence, a handsome family man.  I really had him them because we talk about how looks are deceiving.  He knows how I voted and he knows what I believe in.  I think all of you do, too.

What are farmers doing on election day?  Working, of course!  There is quite a bit of corn to shell around here yet and a few bean fields to harvest.  I just saw a big sprayer go by the office window.  It's a great time to kill weeds for next year and there have been many posts on the subject on Crop Talk this fall.

I leave you with my opening market comments I receive most mornings:

"GOOD MORNING,
Happy election day. After tomorrow, no more annoying phone calls.  Yard signs will be put away by the loser, maybe the winner. Who knows.

At any rate, the Dow performed admirably yesterday choosing to settleon the plus side of the market after a down-day of trade. If uncertainties back the major trend at hand, looks like the Dow may have more upside.

Ags are following a higher path this morning after putting in an anemic performance in the last weeks as traders even up. Among the knowns for Ags - continuing low export trade for corn, and fairly robust trade for beans. The higher soybean estimate for production and yield on

November 9th remain problematic for the bull trader. How high will the USDA go? And if the market for soybeans breaks heavily, will it be purchased because demand is so good? The demand for beans does remain robust, so think the answer to that questionwill be yes. But we can lower trading ranges a touch on a much more bearish surprise than the bean market expects. Once again, the USDA report seems to be all about soybeans. And so the markets have been busily defining our trading ranges, and not bothering to deviate from them too much.

As the market fell to the lower end of the ranges, good pricing was noted.  Crop progress was released yesterday with corn harvest 95% complete and beans at 93% complete. Brazil's planting progress (according to their own estimate by Celeres) is 37% complete for beans, behind last year at 48% due to dryness. Argentina did dry out a bit this week, but rains are going to return, a problem that needs to be watched closely as they are running well over 100% of normal.

After being pressured towards the bottom of the trading ranges (except for wheat) the markets in the morning e-trade are higher across the board:
beans: 10-12 higher
meal: 2.80-2.90 higher
oil: 32 higher
corn: 4 higher
wheat: 8 higher

Theme of the day - light turnover as traders watch for election results and square positions into the Friday report.

Election day tendencies of the Dow: when a tight race occurs, the Dow has historically faltered in the next weeks. When a landslide occurs, the Dow tends to rally. Guess overwhelming consensus makes the market
a happy place."

Ed

Seeking And Finding

Here is a really good reading LuAnn and I read this morning.

"We can only get to know people to the degree they allow us to do so.  We cannot get close to people who choose not to reveal themselves.  In most of our human relationships we that love can open up the door to the heart of the one we seek to know."

Isn't that the truth!  This is why "love thy neighbor as thyself "is so important.  My readers are my extended family, my extended neighbors and friends.  You folks make it quite easy to get to know or work with because you have opened your heart to me enough.

I received a lot of good comments, conversations and exchange from you last week.  I received a lot of compliments, too.  I like that.  I want to commend my readers for making me think, expanding my horizons and trying to apply in your life and with others what I share here.

This is good and right use of the Internet.  As I have shared many times, I have met my closest friends and my life partner thanks to this open exchange.  I know there is a lot of evil on the Internet but surely all this good I know about outweighs the negative side to this type of communication.

I wish we could know these candidates a little better.  I think I have heard enough to pick the right choices for me.  So many are looking forward to tomorrow being over and its not even here yet!  I am concerned though that there are so many absentee ballots floating around Ohio that we won't know who wins some critical contests until November 17.

I am looking at buying some wheat calls this week but I think I missed the bottom.  It's been flat for a month since.  Corn has good potential to rise though so I held onto some of our crop.  Jack found a guy in Wilmington to fabricate two new doors for our old StorMor bins because they are no longer made.  I would have to cut the hole out larger to put a more standard door in.

I found a new website by Furniture Row called Farm American.  The support for FFA and agriculture keeps coming out of the woodwork!

I will be SO glad to see tomorrow come!  31 missed calls and a bunch of "vote for..." on the answering machine today!  I tentatively post this YouTube commercial for my friend in France.  This goes with this recent blog.

See you tomorrow,

Ed

Expiring Tax Provisions Affect Me

As 2012 continues to wind to a close, we have been working on taxes.  My friend Doug sent this good piece by Dan Childs at the Noble Foundation to ponder.

"Agricultural producers make decisions each day using assumptions that are based on uncertainties – things like weather, prices and government regulations. The summer of 2012 was filled with such dilemmas. Our nation is suffering from the worst drought since the 1950s with grain and oilseed markets spiraling upward and livestock markets adjusting downward. Our government has not produced a farm bill and the 2007 Farm Bill expired on Sept. 30, 2012. In addition to this, important tax legislation is scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2012. This article will discuss a few of the expiring tax provisions that are most important to producers.


The amount specified in IRS Code Section 179 (referred to as the election to expense) is scheduled to be reduced substantially. This election allows an agricultural producer to choose to deduct an amount of the purchase price of a business asset rather than recover the purchase price over a period of years through annual depreciation. It is a very good tax management feature. In 2010 and 2011, the maximum amount of the election was set at $500,000 with a phase out beginning when total purchases exceeded $2 million. In 2012, the maximum election amount is $139,000 with a phase out beginning when total purchases exceed $560,000. In 2013, the maximum election is scheduled to be reduced to $25,000 with a phase out beginning when total purchases exceed $200,000. The amount of the deduction elected is limited to the net business income. However, the IRS allows W-2 wages to count as business income.

IRS Code Section 168 is another provision that deals with depreciation, specifically with additional 50 percent/100 percent (bonus) first-year depreciation. In 2008 through 2010, a taxpayer was required to deduct an additional 50 percent of the cost of certain qualified assets, after the Section 179 deduction if elected, for assets placed in service during the year unless they specifically elected out of it. Congress changed the law in 2010 and added 100 percent bonus depreciation for assets purchased after Sept. 8, 2010, and placed in service before Jan. 1, 2012. The same law also provided for assets placed in service in 2012 to only use 50 percent bonus depreciation. However, no bonus depreciation is available for 2013.

The gain on certain capital assets that are sold after a minimum holding period is taxed at a lower rate compared to typical income tax rates. Most qualified capital assets have a minimum holding period of 12 months. Cattle have a minimum holding period of 24 months. Individuals filing jointly in 2012 who are in the 10 percent and 15 percent brackets (taxable incomes less than $70,700) will not owe any tax on the gain of qualified capital assets sold during the year. If taxable income is above $70,700, the income tax rate is 25 percent or higher depending on the level, up to a maximum of 35 percent. For these taxpayers, the capital gain tax rate is 15 percent. However, for 2013, the capital gain tax rate is scheduled to go from 0 to 10 percent for taxpayers in the 10 and 15 percent income tax brackets and from 15 to 20 percent for taxpayers in income tax brackets of 25 percent and above.

One other tax item related to estate taxes is planned to expire at the end of 2012. This is the $5.12 million exemption, the maximum tax rate of 35 percent on estates and the portability of any unused exemption to the surviving spouse. The exemption amount is scheduled to be reduced to $1 million, the maximum tax rate increased to 55 percent and the portability of the unused exemption will not be available.

Congress has the ability to extend a portion or all of these tax regulations plus many others. However, all we know for certain is the law as it currently stands and its implications for taxes for the remainder of 2012. What Congress will do related to tax regulations in future years is uncertain."

If you are dealing with these I would appreciate your email and comments below.

Thanks,

Ed

Visions

Today I share my vision of my last corn rows this year through the combine windshield and my visions last night.  As a child I had a lot of visions as I slept.  I got so good at seeing the future that it became scary and I pretty much shut them off.  After I wrote a paper on telepathy or parapsychology in high school it got out of control.  I saw my dad get his hand caught in the corn elevator a few months before it happened and it was enough to scare me to quit trying to look into the future.

I have a good report after last night.  Everything is going to be alright!  Everything I worried about is going to turn out fine.  I don't worry much anymore and when I did it was pretty useless.  It was more harmful than helpful.

I saw LuAnn's license plate SOILH2O then had a good laugh about that.  I saw DRSOIL and had a good discussion on thatl  There aren't many DRSOIL's in this world.  I saw DR HUBER on one plate and got some confirmation on what I have read about his work.

There is good and evil in this world and you have to pick sides.  You can't be in the middle, you are going to have to choose one.  It is quite easy for me to pick one side, but doing it, that's a whole different battle!

There are rules for both sides though and the good side isn't all that hard to follow.  The other side seems to be chaos to me so I get real confused on that side.

We heard the two main rules we learned at church again last night.  There is one God, one Creator, and love Him with all your heart, soul and strength.  I find that easier and easier after I quit struggling to do it or not do it.

The other rule is love thy neighbor as thyself.  I must admit that was quite a challenge at Rhude Road but here on Martinsville Road, it is much easier!  I have the best neighbors in the whole wide world!  It's easier to love them than some of the stupid things I do, I tell you.

This time change throws me for a loop.  I need discipline and I need a regular schedule.  Get up with the sun, eat a little, eat more at noon and watch what I eat at 5 or so.  Go to bed when I am ready to sleep after dark and if I had a good and busy day, that isn't hard to do.

If you have any resentments eating at you or what to do about this or that, write it down.  This is why this blog is so therapeutic for me.  My resentments usually stem from fear, result in anger if they languish and do more harm than goo.

So there is my report!  I hope you like it because it really is good news after months of debating about life and our future, here and with my family and friends.

Have a great Sabbath, it is a beautiful sunny day in southwest Ohio!

Ed