Texas Sorghum Insider

December 19, 2012

Merry Christmas!

2012 Census of Ag Coming to Your Mailbox – USDA will be mailing the 2012 Census of Agriculture forms to over 3 million U.S. agricultural producers the last week of December. In Texas, about 375,000 Census forms are being mailed out. It is important that you fill the forms out and return them as companies and cooperatives use the facts and figures to determine future locations of facilities for ag products, community planners use the information to target needed services to rural residents, and legislators use the Census statistics when shaping farm policies and programs. Other uses for the Census include allocating block grant dollars to states, allocating funds for beginning farmer, conservation and other programs, helps to identify research priorities and allocate funds accordingly, and used in rural economic development like broadband Internet expansion.

Sorghum Silage Insurance Expanded – The Federal Crop Insurance board of directors recently approved the expansion of the existing sorghum silage pilot program. The expansion will enable 59 additional counties in the Texas and Oklhoma Panhanldes and the Eastern portion of New Mexico to insure irrigated forage sorghum acres for the 2013 crop year. The National Sorghum Producers (NSP) worked closely with the Risk Management Agency (RMA) to provide information and data from individual growers and sorghum silage trials from previous years to achieve this expansion. The expansion will help growers to insure a more water-efficient crop alternative where there are many dairy and cattle feeding operations, and the demand for all silage is high. To view a map of the additional counties, please visit NSP’s website here.

HPWD Reminds Growers of Meter Recordings – The High Plains Water District (HPWD) reminds owner/operators of water wells or well systems that the recording period for their meter readings is from Dec. 15 to Jan 15. HPWD’s rule amendments require flow meter readings or readings from alternative measuring methods each year. The information is needed to report annual groundwater use from the Ogallala Aquifer to the district by March 1 of the following year. On-line reporting of meter readings or alternative measuring methods is available by clicking “Log Meter Entries Here” button on the right side of the HPWD website. Additional information and video tutorials on how to complete the water reporting process may also be found on their website.

NSP Announces 2012 Contest Winners – NSP’s Annual Yield and Management Contest has released their results for 2012. The National winner’s from Texas included:  Reznik & Sons, Inc. of Moore county winning first in the Double Crop Irrigated division with a yield of 147.72 bu/acre and a score of 147.72 using Triumph 424; Stuhrenberg Farms of Jackson county winning third in the Conventional-Till Non-Irrigated division with a yield of 134 bu/acre and a score of 63.9 using Pioneer83P99; and D & A Pshigoda Farms, Inc. of Ochiltree county winning third in the Conventional-Till Irrigated division with a yield of 208.49 bu/acre and a score of 208.49 using DEKALB DKS54-00. A full list of all the national, state and county winners can be found at NSP’s website soon.