Episode 40 - Base Acre Allocations and New World Screw Worm Is Here

Thanks to Southern States Hardin Co-op for sponsoring this week's show! Go visit them at their Hodgenville and Elizabethtown locations. 

Thanks also to our studio sponsor Biotech Innovations.  Learn more about them at www.biotechinnovationsag.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to Dirt to Dollars, where we cover everything from the dirt on your land to the dollars in your hand.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

We're talking all things agriculture in Central Kentucky, from the field to the farm office.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Join your hosts, Daniel Carpenter, Matt Adams, and Mark Thomas as we dig into current ag news, practices, and more. And now, coming to you from the Biotech Innovation Studios, here's Dirt to Dollars. Now let's get innovative. Welcome back to another week of Dirt to Dollars. We are fully staffed and ready for action this week. Yak Yak. Good to have you back, Daniel.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

I'm back. Great to have you back. Yep. So this show will probably not be popular.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Last week is if you haven't gone and listened, if you missed last week, go back and download it. Let's do it again. It was a really good episode. It's our number two most downloaded episode currently. Sorry, Greg Thomas, you got knocked out of the top five this week.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Oh, he's gonna be he's gonna be sad about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Yeah, he's gonna he's he's not gonna be happy.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

So that was like one of his only claims to fame here lately.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

It was. We're not sure. Um it's probably because we had Chuck Weldon on. Um, it probably doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Daniel wasn't here last week. That's probably not why it was so popular.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

I mean, it's a it's a kind of a big coincidence, though. That's true. That's true. We could make a case. Yeah. So you know what's not a coincidence?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Our sponsor this week.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Southern States Harden Co-op.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

I don't have the bell. Oh man, you're outside. Oh god. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

You gotta quit moving offices around recording venues, studios, studios.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

If our downloads are down this week, then that's why your bell. You weren't prepared.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

That's what it is. People are gonna quit listening.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Yeah, but thanks to our sponsors this week, Southern States. And uh, if anybody else out there is listening that's interested in sponsoring the show, we're always looking for for new episode sponsors. So let us know.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Any uh breaking news this week, Matt? There uh has been some breaking news. I think really right before we started to record this. Uh been a lot of of uh talk about New World Screwworm this week. Uh I had heard actually at lunchtime on the radio today that USDA was downplaying that there was a supposedly a case within like 10 miles of the Mexico-Texas border. And USDA said that was not confirmed and uh was was trying to quiet that rumor. And then just before we jumped on here to record, uh here on June the third in the evening, uh I think there was a uh screw a possible screw worm case that was confirmed in South Texas.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

The Texas Animal Health Commission uh released a press release uh earlier this evening saying that it uh it had been confirmed by a lab in Ames, Iowa. Um they're monitoring the situation. And uh I think they're gonna target release uh some sterile NWS flies uh are being expedited to eliminate any reproducing populations in the area associated with the detection. So so they found it, they've uh confirmed it, and they're working on their way to get it taken care of.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

So but you know, kind of the scariest part of that, what was it, 30 miles north of the Mexico border? It was that wasn't a single fly flew 30 miles across the border. Definitely not like calf. Uh it's probably been here for a while. And we just found it. Because that's pretty that's that's further further inland. Well not inland. What what would you call that?

SPEAKER_00 4:14

In country.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Yeah, I guess.

unknown 4:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Further across further into the country than I would have thought they would have found it. I would have thought it would have popped up right on the border first. I don't know. What was it? A three three-week-old baby calf?

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Three-week old baby calf.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

And the navel, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 4:32

It was.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

And that would be tough.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Because you think about when calves are born, that navel's exposed. And if we've you've got those things, then they're gonna attack.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

And so they're releasing some insects to control this, right? Is that what was part of that? Sterile fry flies.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Flies What's a sterile fry?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

I don't know. The sterile flies will help um in the life cycle.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

I get what yeah, what's the whole point of that? Do they just do they mate with the actual flies and nothing happens?

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Or because I guess some of those that's like that's what they do, they mate and die. So I guess maybe if they're sterile, then they stuck reproduce. Yeah. That's my guess. That's another one. My other guess is that if this gets a lot of news and that the government's releasing insects, it's gonna take off for a whole other kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

I don't know if you all have seen this, but I know we since we talked about ticks a couple episodes ago in Alpha Gal.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

I'm seeing it everywhere. And talking about, you know, the Bill Gates releasing ticks and boxes of ticks being found places. Yeah. Seems like I'm just seeing that everywhere now. So I don't know if it's the algorithms catching up to us or or what, but uh I just have a feeling this government releasing insects type thing is just something that might catch on and catch people's attention.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Yeah, I don't know. It'll uh I don't know what the ramifications will be there market-wise. It seems like every time we've had a scare close to the border, it's tanked to the market, and it really doesn't make sense because if we get these things and there's it's not that's not increasing cattle numbers. And that's what's driving this market right now. So hopefully if it crashes, it's just short term and then really long term, it should be a little bullish. Uh let's just hope they don't make it this far north because I think those are some bad critters to deal with.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Yeah, hopefully it'll it'll stay down there and their flies, their uh sterile flies will work and get under control and keep it up.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

But it's and it's something that I I think we've talked about this before. It's not one of those things that we've never had before in the United States. I mean, we've had 'em. And I think they were pretty prevalent in Texas even in as recently as 50 or 60 years ago. But uh I was listening to a podcast in the Combine this fall from an old cowboy that worked all over Texas and or well worked all over the West and the South Southwest uh all his life, and he talked about in the 60s and 70s uh working as a cowboy in South Texas and riding treating screw worm. And that's all they did. There was like five of them, that's all they did all day.

unknown 7:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

And treated screw worm, but uh I think it and just like Ivamech will kill 'em and protect them from 'em, right? Kills everything else and protects you from everything else, though. Yeah, we'll see where that goes and hopefully update you next week on what happened from that. But uh, you mentioned the tick deal, and we didn't even have this on our show notes this week, but since you brought it up, have you seen it? Looks like uh was it Health and Human Services or whatever whatever that Robert Kennedy's head of, director of. I've actually seen some stuff this week that they have put out that they're uh trying to ramp up some efforts, and I think over the next two years putting a big push on finding cures and prevention and stuff for Alpha Gal and some of these other tick diseases. So kind of nice to see that being uh being brought to light and work on the case.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

But yeah, yeah, that that's you know, there's a it's a specific area of the country that's dealing with this the most, and it's right where we are. So it's affecting a lot of people around here.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

It is. I don't know if this is true or not, but I saw on his press release where he said uh is it Martha's Vineyard? Something vineyard in the northeast. Yep, it's in it's like the east of Boston.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Yeah. That 50% of the population up there was infected with alpha gal. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

I saw that somewhere. Um I did see that.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

I have not fact checked that, but I know it did come from the Robert Kennedy press release.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

If it's on the internet, it has to be true, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Yeah, I guess. Uh but that yeah, that was kind of mind-blowing numbers, which I would assume that area is not a real heavily popular it's not a real big area, is it? Isn't that like where all the rich people's vacation homes are or something?

SPEAKER_03 10:02

Yes, I think so.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

So yeah, I wouldn't think it would be you know, if you're talking about something that had a population of 500 people, then 250 people they're having it's not as big of a deal.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

But I think so, I think you're kinda right. I think it was like tick diseases in general. Because I think it covered I think it was Lyme disease and then some other things. Oh, okay. But I don't think it was just the Alpha Gal.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

But I I think there's some stuff out there that says that there's a lot of it.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Yeah. That 50% of that population is infected with that's what that number was. So it was all tech diseases.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

I don't know. It there so when you look at the map and you look at Lyme disease, which I didn't really think about this, but it's all it's all in the northeast and kind of comes down to Kentucky and then back up to uh right around the Great Lakes. But um I'm not seeing anything about Alpha Gal being that. But Lyme disease is rampant up there.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

That's I mean, I remember hearing about Lyme disease when I was a kid. That's been around forever. The Alpha Gal deal is just what the last 10 years that we started hearing about it.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yeah, and it was very rare uh ten years ago, and probably not all, but some of the people that got it ten years ago, their symptoms have probably subsided either completely or um gotten better since then. Some have, some haven't. And it seems like that affects everybody differently as to what bothers them when they have that. Some people the any red meat, others um if they eat more dairy. You know, a steak might not bother them, but uh ice cream will.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Or uh we still have a we still have a lot to learn about that. Oh, I think so too. Yeah. So what there was in on that island there were 32 people infected in 2021, and in 2024 there were 500. So it really blew up.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Yeah. So don't go there.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

If you do spray some promethrin on your pain.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Huh. That is one of my biggest fears in life. Every time that I find a tick on me is, oh no, this is the one. We'll get the alpha gal.

SPEAKER_03 12:32

Yeah, that would be.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

But I mean, even that, it's just if anybody in your family gets it. I mean, like your whole house will have to, you know, that would change the diet of everybody in your house, really.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

It will, and and I've heard of people having it so bad that if they go somewhere and eat, or or if they go somewhere, they almost won't eat unless they know what pan that food came out of. Yeah, that's what we talked about a few weeks.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Yeah, that's what we talked about a few weeks ago with that uh was it uh Colton Steakhouse that has that trailer that's Alpha Gal certified or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Yep. It's gonna be great for those businesses, you know, if you if you got that.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

These numbers are going up this quick, it's just kind of scary to think where they may be in another couple years.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Yeah, that's the thing, is if it's more prevalent, and I don't know that is that stuff so they're ingesting the protein from wildlife, right? And then passing it.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Well, yeah, from wildlife and from cats.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Because it's not every lone star tick that has it. Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Correct. It's just those bioengineered ones. I mean, it's just yeah, it's just those that just kidding.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Oh just the one that have a little, what would it be, a little Microsoft sign or something on it? Isn't that what Bill Gates? The little windows on their back. If you put the little spot on the tick under a microscope, it's a little windows.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

What's the sound whenever you open windows? Is that what it is that what it sounds like when the Alpha Gal tick bites you? Doot doot or whatever it is, you know what I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_00 14:20

I don't think ticks make noise, Mark. No. The only time a tick makes noise is when you burn it in the sink and it pops. Maybe if you listen really close, you can hear that window sound, you know. Was that really the am I the only one that's ever done that?

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Burned a tick?

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

I haven't burned them in a long time, but I usually take I carry a leatherman with me all the time, so I get them. I just squeeze them to squeeze them to death with that leatherman. So I'll take them.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

You seem like a leatherman guy.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Yeah, and they'll just pop them.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

So I'm a I'm a Gerber guy.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

I just carry a pocket knife and then I'm bumming whoever's closest to me that has a leatherman when I need a pair of pliers.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

I don't have the great big one. Like I don't have a pouch that I carry around on my belt. You know, I'm not that guy. It's it's not much bigger than a pocket knife, but you know, we uh not want to.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

I like that gurber and you can just whip it out there.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Whip it out.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Like to whip it out.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yep. You don't have to unfold it or nothing, just whip it, whip it out.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

I typically I just tear them in half with my bare hands.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Oh, that works too.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

It does. If you if they're it torn in half, they're not coming back.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

They're not coming back. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Just kind of pinch them between your fingernails and give them a twist. Burn them.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

You are kind of a pyromaniac, Daniel.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

So Mark, have you noticed more traffic issues this spring? Which you're moving around.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

You guys told me we were not allowed to talk about roundabouts on this podcast, so don't direct that question towards me.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Maybe not necessarily all the way to the roundabouts. I'm talking more just general public traffic on the road as far as meet and farm equipment and people just doing dumb stuff.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yes, I have. Um I can't tell you how many people we've met this spring that either in the escort vehicle or actually in the piece of equipment moving that I don't know that they ever saw us.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

I they sure act like they don't anyway.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

And I'm I mean that they've looking at a phone, looking at radio or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

I don't drive a tractor on the road, guys, but I drive a truck on the road a lot and or a pickup truck. And uh I don't know how many people that I pass on the road that knew that they passed me, you know. Like I don't they're just people aren't paying attention.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

They're not.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

So my biggest thing hasn't really been people that I meet on the road. It's been people pass. And if you're listening out there right now and you're you've never been around farm equipment, when you encounter something on the road out here in the countryside and it's wider than one of the lanes, do not try and pass it. Like, I don't know why anybody would think that's a good idea. It puts you in danger, it puts the guy and the equipment in danger, it puts the people coming the other direction in danger because you dang sure can't see around us. And most of us, most everybody that's driving something that big is courteous enough when we've got an opportunity to pull off the side of the road and let that line of cars by, we're gonna pull off the side of the road and let the line of cars by, and it's not gonna be that long. But yeah, just I don't know, within one day into last week, if anybody locals familiar with coming through downtown Upton, I had turned on 224 uh right by the firehouse, had just crossed the railroad tracks in front of Riders Grocery Store, and a car pulls out from like three cars back in a line and passes me in the middle of Upton on 224. Double yellow line all the way through. Curves. There's actually a building that's gonna be. So what 12 feet wide? Every bit of it. And uh he just barely got cut back over in front of me before an oncoming car came the other direction. And it's like, what did you gain, dude? And I know, and it no offense, but it's uh to anybody from that area, but it's always around here. It's uh it's Jefferson County tags.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Matt, you got an audience out there on your back. They're coming after you. Don't edit that out, Daniel. Our conversation won't make sense then. No, I uh you're exactly right, and and I've seen a lot of posts on social media. I saw one the other day of a of a guy, smaller size tractor, but he had two places. Uh uh, my guess was his house and then a little farm down the road, and it was a 19-second drive from driveway to driveway. He had an escort vehicle in front of him and behind him, and they still were passing him on a double yellow line as he was trying to get turned into his driveway. And and I don't remember where this guy was, but he said it is constant around here that that nobody has any respect for the tractors on the road, for the farm equipment on the road. Um and again, in these social media posts, you get a lot of people who don't know agriculture, don't understand agriculture, and and want to complain about the farmer being on the road.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah, Matt, like if that guy that tried to pass you, if he were to have got hit, you know who he would have blamed? You. He blamed you.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

100%. So that's yeah, when you were reading, I saw the same post you did, Mark, when you read through the comments, and that's not the first time I've seen this. It's full it's wild to me. It's full of people with talking about why don't you just keep or are you legal to be on the road? And yes, farm equipment is legal to be on the road in all 50 states in the United States of America. And then the suggestions about why don't you just move it when there's not any traffic or move it early in the morning or move it middle of the day or whatever. Why don't you just go to work at four o'clock in the morning or when you're not really supposed to be there until eight or like it that just boggles my mind. Like people expect you to plan your day, plan your job around where there's gonna be traffic on the road and when there's not. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

And and we've always, you know, being as close to to Etown as we are, we've always tried to plan our moves. You know, if it's if we're near a school um and and it's about time for it to let out, we'll just wait. We'll move trucks or or whatever and move wider farm equipment later. Um you know, the and that runs from 245 to you know three thirty, and then you've got a a short window there before before the main rush traffic. Uh so we're we're very diligent, and and most farmers are in trying to we want to share the road. We we don't want to be on that road. Any more than you want us on that road. But it's part of our job that we have to do. We have to get between farms. We want to get there as as fast and as safe as we possibly can. So when when we've got a spot where it's safe for you to pass, we will pull over. We will let you ground.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Yeah, I just it's uh we kind of try and plan our moves a little bit too. I mean down here, 5 30 to 6 30 kind of traffic picks up with people by the time if they're working in eTown or somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

And Thursday through Sunday night.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Yeah, we don't even try and plan around the lake traffic anymore. We just we just file.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

But you haven't had to worry about that much this year because the lake's been so far down. It's picked up in the last two. I'd say it has. It's it's gone up. The the lake is level has risen.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

So uh yeah, we could really tell it here within the last week or ten days. But uh yeah, it's just be patient. It's not that big of an issue.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

And it's time it's it's timely, it's a timely topic because I can tell you I drove around a lot of Kentucky and Indiana today, and there's a lot of hay down. A lot of hay getting bailed this week, a lot of replant going on. Starting to get cut of still, yeah, wheat getting started. So there's just a lot of a lot of things, a lot of farming, a lot of hobbyists, a lot of a lot of things going on. So please just be careful on the roads and pay attention.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Yep. Uh Mark, I think you have uh some information on the voluntary base update. Or is it voluntary? I thought it was just everybody did it, but you could opt out.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

I guess it's so that's exactly what it is. It's a um most of the time when you think of something coming from the FSA office, you think, oh, I gotta go sign up. So I called in the other day uh on the first, I guess, uh, because signups had opened up for the the new baseacre um allocation and talked to Stephanie and I said, uh, you know, do we come in and sign up?

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Have you gotten anything in the mail? I think I did.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

I've got actually I know some landowners that have gotten some postcards.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

That's I've got a couple of phone calls from landlords that are getting that have gotten postcards, but I don't think I've personally got anything yet.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

Um the um so and I thought, well, you know, the next two months of of your life are gonna be hectic. And she said, well, actually, no. She said it's actually gonna be one of the easier programs that they've done through the office because it is it automatically happens to every farm, no matter what, but you can opt out of it. Um her and I talked through it, and and neither one of us can come up with a reason of why you would want to opt out of it, but every landowner has that opportunity to do. So basically, they have allowed 30 million new base acres to be allocated through all of the different crops. And I can't remember how many they are around here for us. It would be corn, soybeans, wheat would be our our biggest ones. Um, so they're gonna take they're gonna look at your production, your your actual planting history from 2019 to 2023, and see what you planted on those farms, how many acres of it, and then they're gonna take the make acres of base that are on that farm, subtract that from that number, and that's how much more you can have. So, for example, I've got a farm that actually a lot of plants it it is. So I I've got a farm that that plants out about fifty eight acres or something, fifty-six to fifty-eight acres uh in those years, because we've done a few things different. But so we took those acres, averaged them out, and then um subtracted the five, six acres of base that I had. So on that farm, I could gain forty, almost forty-eight, forty-six acres of base. Um now, it doesn't mean you're gonna get that much because after the signups are done in August, so they run through the 31st of August, and so on the first of September, they will decide, okay, we've had uh thirty-five million acres brought in, so they will reduce that number by the percentage over that thirty million. So if twenty-eight million acres come back to be reallocated or allocated, I shouldn't say re then you get fully what will be on your paper when you when you send in. But if if more acres than that come back, more than the thirty million, it will prorate those down. Um so even on farms, I said, well, what about farms that have base? Can we lose it? So one of the big concerns with with trying to get this passed through the legislature over the last what, Matt, 10 years, 15 years probably.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

It's been talked about. Richard Preston's been working on it probably that long. Yeah, trying to lobby for it.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Um, I mean, I was in Washington uh 10 years ago for the first time with Kentucky Cattlemen's leadership, and that was one of the things, you know, even though we were there on Cattlemans, that was something that that I brought up, you know, even then. It's like we need to get this done. So um everybody's concerned about will I lose base? And if you have base, it will not take away base that you have. Um but if you have a farm that's uh got a lot of base, let's just say you've got a 60 acre farm with 58 acres of base, uh you could stand to gain if over those three years you or five years, sorry, you had planted sixty acres or more, you could stand to gain that difference, uh, you know, an acre or two. Um the farms that that I've looked at that we've got a lot of base currently, we're not gonna add a lot, but this is great for uh us young farmers who don't have a lot of base, and we've got a chance now to to get a safety net there with the with the Arc PLC program. So now after September 1st comes in, then we will go in and we will have to sign up for 2026 ARC PL 2026 and 2027 ARC PLC. For 2025, we don't have to make that um selection because that that will pay out late this year, I think we'll be right. Is it pays out a year later? So we'll get that payment sometime in in October, probably, and it will pay the higher of the two. If ARC pays more, it'll pay that out. If PLC pays more, it'll pay that out.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

So your new updated base acres will be used for 2026 or PLC.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

That is correct. I don't think it will cover the 2025. I don't think you'll have those base acres in 2025. So it's something else I noticed that's uh, you know, they picked five years that are Which is an odd number. Which is an odd number.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

So So each farm is going to get weighted.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

It's gonna get weighted one way or the other. And and most of mine, even on a 50-50 rotation, I'm ending up with about 60% of my acres in a corn base. Or 60% in a bean base, depending on what it was in 2019. Yeah. So if you're corn if you're corn on farms in odd years, then you're gonna be weighted heavier on corn. If you're beans on farms in odd years, you're gonna be weighted heavier on soybeans. Which is good if you're in your situation, Matt, where uh you're a wheat uh grower, that'll put weight heavier on wheat, too. Because on the wheat, the farms that you grew wheat on in the odd years, you're gonna potentially have to stand a higher base. But I wonder three years. If you consistently grow wheat on the same farms.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

So will that add wheat base and soybean base in the year that you're growing wheat?

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Yes, it will.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

So you're kind of double dipping acres there.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

Yes, but that's the way it's all been, as long as it's an approved double crop practice. Now, if you plant that wheat and cut it for hay, or uh we can use 2020, maybe for an example. Uh a lot of acres that year got burned down and planted corn, that's not an approved double crop process. So you would only get corn base that year, you wouldn't get to to double up. So but if you harvested that wheat, barley, rye, whatever, um you would get base plus the the following crop. So again, if you if you want to if you want to you know ask them about that, they're happy to be there and answer questions. But if if you're good with updating, you don't have to do anything.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

I was really hoping was really hoping that they would have it where it took away some base because I know that's one of the arguments why a lot of the corn belt guys, it seems like they were against this was I've heard of a lot of instances in the Midwest where there's actually farms that have a higher base than what they plant. Um and I'm not real sure why that is. I'd heard some of it had to do with farmsteads and stuff like that, and I guess probably some of it's probably precision agriculture. We just it was getting reported at a higher acreage than it actually was, and then now that we have GPS mapping things that we know, hey, that field we always called it 40 acres, but it plants 37.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Well, that and and I had a few farms over the years that it that have been like that, and and what I noticed on those farms was um difference in management and conservation, actually. So, you know, prior, you know, most of these bases were set in the in the 80s. So conventional tillage, ditches didn't matter, work them in, plant them over. Um so you planted more acres. Now we're using filter strips, we're using grass waterways. Um you know, I've seen instances instances where some trees got planted, um, you know, in some of those acres. So so you did end up with with a little more base. No, not significant, but you know, maybe it was a a planted 30 acres and you had 35 or 6 acres of base um you know of a single crop.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

Yeah. Yeah, it'll be interesting, and it'll be interesting too to see. Which I guess though, the next few years Arc PLC's already how that pays out is already determined, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:54

That's correct. It is.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

Because that's been my skepticism in the whole thing is are we gonna add these base acres and go after the same pot of money and we're just watering it down and nobody's really getting any larger payments. It would help people like you and I, Mark, and a lot of farmers in our area in Kentucky that have a lot of ground that's been brought into production in the last 10 years that typically would have a very low percentage of the ground even qualify for anything aren't PLC that may be up that. But in the grand scheme of things, is it just going to water that payment down and uh just spread the dollars out over the same amount of dollars over more acres?

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Well, and a lot of that will come down to the the passing of the farm bill um or the passing of of any type of aid package that would be based on base acres if if their number is uh eight billion dollars and and that's what it's always been, then yeah, we're just gonna water down that money and and get less per base acre. But if they say, oh, okay, well, you know, that 8 billion is now gonna be uh 8.5 billion or 9 billion or whatever, um they might actually be putting more money in it where you'd still get the same amount and have more base acres to to cover. So it'll be that will be something to watch. But uh you know, we talked uh I guess it's been two weeks since we talked about it, the drought monitor. You know, we slipped into that D3 drought really quick and and talked about LFP. So uh last week late, I went in the office and it was full. It's as full as I'd ever seen it. Uh it probably was probably was. Uh they were in there signing up for signing up for for LFP. So um Stephanie did want to want to mention that if you're coming in to sign up for LFP, and it has been a while since you've been in their office, um, some of these are are taking a while to figure out. Uh they have to map the pasture, they have to take uh trees out of the pasture, they have to know your your amount of amount of cattle, uh their ages, how long they've been on the farm, all kinds of things. So this stuff is taking a while. Or sheep.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

They they need to know amount of sheep too. What about goats?

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Any livestock.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

So what about ostriches?

SPEAKER_01 36:30

I did not either but I'm sure there would be a payment. Did you get your ostriches if you got some hiding back there on the Howl Valley Ranch somewhere? The Howl Valley Funny Farm. So um but if you're gonna do that, uh it it might be in your best interest to make an appointment.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

I think they sent a text out this week that said if you're coming in for that to make an appointment.

SPEAKER_00 36:55

And then um unfortunately, I went the next day and I didn't make an appointment. How long did you have to wait? I was it was early in the remote vehicles in the parking lot, so I was like, well, I'll swing in and and see how it goes. And if they turn me away, they we they can.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

But he is. They probably they probably everybody just stepped back and said, Come on up here, Mr. Carpenter. Let's get you taken care of.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

They rolled out a red carpet and it's a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 37:21

Let's get him out of here before he starts telling bad jokes while he's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

Oh and I think uh I'll double check the date, but I'm pretty sure it's June 30th. They're having a lunch in there at the office. Uh, and they're getting hamburgers from the Rue County Cattlemans and the Harden County Cattlemans both. So they're gonna cook them in-house, but they're getting getting the burgers from each of those associations to spread the love. So stop by there and have your hamburger.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

Like a pickinic.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Like a pickinick. I think that might be what they call it, actually. So file your crop report, eat a hamburger, maybe some cookies, a bottle of water.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

Daniel, do we have time to get you fired up on glyphosate again this week?

SPEAKER_00 38:14

I don't know. We're we're about we're getting to the to the last uh to the end of the day. We can we can Yeah, give me another week. I'm still I'm still recovering.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

Yeah, we'll make sure you're in you're in full full form before we bring that topic up because it's been in the in the popular press a little more. So all right. Well got anything else before we need to wrap it up here this for this week?

SPEAKER_01 38:39

I think we about covered it all, didn't we?

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Yeah, give a shout out again to our sponsors for this week, Southern States, Part and Coal. Yeah, they've been they've been still rolling, yeah, rolling handy. Probably about ready for another rain event. I'd say so.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

They they hit it hard this week and uh looks like they got another few days of of good weather, and we're getting to the point they're probably starting to wrap some stuff up too, so we'll we'll get into that summertime lol here soon. So thanks to you all.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

Shout out to whoever the social media manager is. Did y'all see the Vector video?

SPEAKER_01 39:24

I did not.

SPEAKER_02 39:25

Which I'm assuming that was the one and only Jonathan French, but it's this reel on Facebook of a Vector driving through standing horn, pop dressing corn, and the camera is right on the center row and he drives over it, and the urea prills will rain down on the top of it. Pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

I didn't see that. Check it out. Check it out. Y'all are done. I guess we'll call it a week. See you next week. See you next time.