PROSPECTIVE PLANTINGS – MARCH 1, 2019
UTAH HIGHLIGHTS
As of March 1, Utah growers intend to plant 60,000 acres of corn for all purposes in 2019, down 10,000 acres, or 14 percent from last year's plantings, according to the March 1 Agricultural Survey conducted by the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. Growers intend to plant 19,000 acres of barley in 2019, down 2,000 acres from last year's actual plantings. Winter wheat seeded last fall for harvest in 2019 is estimated at 130,000 acres, up 10,000 acres from the 2018 crop. Hay producers in the State intend to harvest 620,000 acres this year. This is down 30,000 acres from the acreage cut for hay in 2018.
UNITED STATES HIGHLIGHTS
Corn planted area for all purposes in 2019 is estimated at 92.8 million acres, up 4 percent or 3.66 million acres from last year. Compared with last year, planted acreage is expected to be up or unchanged in 34 of the 48 estimating States.
Producers intend to seed 2.55 million acres of barley for the 2019 crop year, up slightly from the previous year.
All wheat planted area for 2019 is estimated at 45.8 million acres, down 4 percent from 2018. This represents the lowest all wheat planted area on record since records began in 1919. The 2019 winter wheat planted area, at 31.5 million acres, is down 3 percent from last year but up 1 percent from the previous estimate. Of this total, about 22.4 million acres are Hard Red Winter, 5.55 million acres are Soft Red Winter, and 3.55 million acres are White Winter. Area planted to other spring wheat for 2019 is estimated at 12.8 million acres, down 3 percent from 2018. Of this total, about 12.4 million acres are Hard Red Spring wheat. Durum planted area for 2019 is estimated at 1.42 million acres, down 31 percent from the previous year.
Producers intend to harvest 53.1 million acres of all hay in 2019, up less than 1 percent from 2018. If realized, this will represent the third lowest total hay harvested area since 1908, behind 2017 and 2018.
For a full copy of the Prospective Plantings report please visit www.nass.usda.gov
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NEW RESOURCE
Last week, ExcelinEd and the Palmetto Promise Institute released Fairness & Opportunity: Bringing Student-Centered Education Funding to South Carolina Students. This new report analyzes the fiscal aspects of education in South Carolina and explains why student-centered funding matters for students, parents and teachers.
Read the Report
With so much of the funding dependent on factors other than student enrollment and characteristics, districts and schools have greater difficulty using funds in the way they feel best serves their students. South Carolina’s funding model places the focus on inputs, rather than student outcomes.
Read the report to learn more!
Watch the Presentation
Student-Centered Funding: Getting Education Finance Right
Last week, ExcelinEd's Education Funding Policy Director Matthew Joseph spoke to South Carolina policymakers at Palmetto Promise Institute's Education 101 Policy Series.
Get the Scoop
By Lawson Mansell, Palmetto Promise
When students go to school, they carry what’s necessary in their backpacks. But in South Carolina, too much of one important item doesn’t travel with students headed to a new school: education funding dollars.
A new report from the Palmetto Promise Institute and partner ExcelinEd, titled “Fairness & opportunity: Bringing student-centered education funding to South Carolina students,” finds that key factors such as the number of students in a school and the individual needs of those students are too often absent from the education funding formula. When students head to a new school, too few of the state dollars intended for their education go with them...
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Sens. Lee, Booker Introduce Commodity Checkoff Reform Bill
WASHINGTON – Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act of 2019 (OFF Act) Thursday, a measure intended to bring much needed transparency and accountability to the federal government’s commodity checkoff programs.
Checkoff programs are mandatory participation programs under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These programs are funded through compulsory fees on producers of eggs, beef, pork and a multitude of other agricultural products. The programs and associated boards have received criticism in the past for a lack of transparency, apparent conflicts of interest, misuse of their funding and anticompetitive behavior.
“Checkoff programs force farmers to pay into a system that sometimes actively works against their interests," said U.S. Senator Mike Lee. "On top of that, the boards for these programs have come under fire for a lack of transparency and for misuse of their funds. The Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act is common-sense reform that would help farmers see exactly where the fees they pay are going and ensure that their hard-earned money is not being used against them.”
"Federal checkoff programs need to start working again for the family farmers and ranchers who are required to pay into them,” said U.S. Senator Cory Booker. “This bipartisan legislation will bring much needed reforms by prohibiting conflicts of interest and anti-competitive practices, and requiring more transparency in these programs.”
This bill is a direct response to the egg board scandal and past checkoff program misconduct, and the changes proposed by this legislation are designed to improve checkoff board behavior and avoid similar conduct in the future.
To improve the practices of checkoff programs, the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act of 2019 would:
You can read the full text of the bill here
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Overnight: 10"
Last 24hr: 10"
Last 48hr: 10"
Storm Total: 10"
BASE Total: 138"
YTD Total: 572"
SPRING POW! Come shred today & this weekend — there's nothing like it! Grab a Spring Pass for the best deals on Spring skiing.
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Roads are slick and 2-wheel drive cars are not permitted in the canyon. Please plan ahead to carpool in an approved 4X4 or all wheel drive vehicle (read 4x4 and chain requirements here).
Taking the ski bus reduces traffic and keeps you (and others) safe. Be smart out there!
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Sens. Lee And Paul Introduce The Voluntary Check-Off Program Participation Act
WASHINGTON – Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the Voluntary Check-Off Program Participation Act Thursday, a bill that give would give farmers and ranchers the freedom not to participate in Department of Agriculture check-off programs.
“If farmers and ranchers want to get together and pool their resources to better promote their products, then that is the free market at its best,” Lee said. “But as soon as the power of the federal government is used to force people into a program they do not want to participate in, then that is crony capitalism at its worst.”
Check-off programs are funded through compulsory fees on producers of milk, eggs, beef, and a multitude of other agricultural products. The programs and associated boards regularly receive criticism for their lack of transparency, apparent conflicts of interest, misuse of their power, anticompetitive behavior, and other related issues.
The Voluntary Check-Off Program Participation Act would allow farmers and ranchers to participate in check-off programs if they desire to while ending the tax on those producers who would prefer not to participate in these programs.
You can read the full text of the bill here.
