Texas Sorghum Insider

July 25, 2013

Japanese Team Tours Texas

Japanese Trade Team in Texas – This week, Texas Grain Sorghum Producers, the Sorghum Checkoff and the U.S. Grains Council hosted a team of nutritionists and merchandisers from Japan. The team began Monday north of Austin where they toured Mr. James Karmas farm (top right), then traveled to the DFW area and visited Frank Bailey Grain (top left). Tuesday the group visited TGSP Board Member, Charles Ray Huddleston’s, operation in Celina then attended a nutritional seminar on beef and dairy. Wednesday the group headed to the High Plains area where they stopped by Attebury Grain’s main office (bottom left), headed up to Etter to tour Gavilon Grain and Dimmitt Flaking (bottom right) and then toured a beef feedlot at Qualify Beef Producers in Wildorado to learn about feeding sorghum silage and flaked sorghum. Finally, the group was invited into the home of TGSP Board Member, Troy Skarke, in Claude to have a steak dinner and visit with farmers and friends (center). The group is in Kansas the rest of this week to continue to learn about U.S. sorghum production, nutritional values and quality.

SICNA Registration Open – The annual Sorghum Improvement Conference of North America (SICNA) will be held in Lubbock, Texas, Aug. 28-30, 2013. SICNA focuses on promoting communication in the areas of research and development relating to improvement of sorghum as a crop. Those interested in attending the SICNA meeting may find registration information and a preliminary agenda at sicna.net.

Ogallala Aquifer Initiative Used to Help Farmers in Drought – Four years ago, in response to declining water levels of the Ogallala Aquifer, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Texas launched the Ogallala Aquifer Initiative (OAI) program in an effort to assist producers in addressing water quantity and quality concerns. The OAI has helped landowners improve irrigation systems and enhance the economic viability of cropland located above the aquifer. It also offers opportunities to convert to non-irrigated production. Currently, over 151,000 acres are enrolled for more than $23 million. The OAI is administered through EQIP. For more information, contact your local USDA Service Center office or visit www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov.

CRP General Sign-Up Results – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the USDA is accepting 1.7 million acres under the 45th Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up. The department received nearly 28,000 offers on more than 1.9 million acres of land. Since 2009, USDA enrolled nearly 12 million acres in new CRP contracts, and there are currently more than 26.9 million acres enrolled on 700,000 contracts. As of June 2013, Texas had 21,152 contracts, for a total of 15,440 farmers on about 3.3 million acres of land. The annual rental for Texas is $121,309,000 and shows a $37.19 payment/acre. For a state-by-state breakdown of coverage and for more information, click here.