The Rural Mainstreet economy moved above the 50.0 threshold for five straight months, according to the July survey of bank CEOs in a 10-state area. However, the index has been trending lower since June 2013 when the reading stood at 60.5.

The Small Business Association named GT Manufacturing its 2014 Exporter of the Year for the state of Kansas. SBA officials presented the award to GT President Dennis Pedersen and Operations Manager Gary Willmann on June 26.

McKay Industries Inc. purchased the assets of M.D. Products Inc., according to a news release from the McKay-Empire-Wiese group of companies (MEW). The new company will be called MD Products and Solutions (MDPS).

The report, from the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, found that Social Security’s retirement and disability programs, combined, have dedicated resources sufficient to cover benefits until 2033. However, the projected depletion date for the separate Social Security’s Disability Insurance Trust Fund is in late 2016.

This month we thank the following companies for their membership in the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association and their continued support. We look forward to having these companies, and yours, as members for many more years.

Agriculture commissioners from eight states got a close look at the unique problems facing ag producers on the Texas-Mexico border during a special tour hosted recently by the Texas Department of Agriculture

Texas Agriculture Secretary Todd Staples told visiting commissioners he wanted them to discuss the border and the need to reform our failed worker program. “We need to totally revamp that system,” he added.

Germany-based Ekotechnika, one of the biggest John Deere dealers, blamed a weak ruble for doubling its first-half losses, also citing “more difficult financing conditions” for growers stemming from the fallout from the Ukraine crisis, reported Agrimoney.com.

As of mid-May, Russian farmers were able to borrow only 75 billion rubles ($2 billion) for spring sowing and spring field works, which is 11% less than last year, according to a USDA report. It also said that banks are worried by farmers’ high indebtedness and the growth of delinquent loans.

While you might not fault producers of reality TV for failing to read the utility task vehicle (UTV) operators manual, you may wonder how they missed the decals.

In the finale of TLC’s two-part special Kate Plus 8: The Sextuplets Turn 10, Kate Gosselin gave her six youngest children a John Deere Gator 4×2 during their carnival-themed birthday bash. The 10-year-olds and the 13-year-old twins are shown driving and riding around in the two-seat UTV, using the cargo box for extra passengers.

Art’s Way Manufacturing Co., Inc. announced that Art’s Way Scientific, Inc. was awarded a sole source contract for a “High Output Swine Behavioral Unit” for the University of Illinois Department of Agricultural Nutritional Sciences Division. The testing unit will support work to study the nutritional effects of infant formula in brain development.

This month we thank the following companies for their membership in the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association and their continued support. We look forward to having these companies, and yours, as members for many more years.

Ag-Power announced it will add 40 new jobs at its headquarters in McKinney, TX, bringing the total company employee count to more than 420.

Brandt Agricultural Products Ltd. announced that P&K Midwest opened three new locations as Brandt Authorized Dealers

Recent storms delivered pounding rains that hampered fieldwork and sparked local flooding across portions of the Plains, Midwest and South, although overall growing conditions remained mostly favorable for summer crops.

When any association has enjoyed the growth that we have over the last few years, it’s important for the staff and leadership to remember that, while the majority of our members have been with us for decades, just under 20% of our members joined in the last 24 months.

With that in mind, here’s a quick review of the goals and objectives of each of our annual meetings.

The latest USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service report on the breakdown of the U.S. food dollar indicated that the farmer received an average of 15.8 cents, according to the Farm Press Blog.

More than 80 cents went to processing, marketing, wholesaling, distribution and retailing.

The day when a tractor works a field without a human driver may not be as far off as you think, according to a USA Today article. It reports that Kinze Manufacturing Inc. has been testing new, autonomous row-crop technology that allows a driverless tractor to pull a grain cart. While the Kinze Autonomy Project is still in development, its technology is a hint of what is in store for future tractors. Also ahead, expect precision farming to become a requirement, rather than an option.

Rural fire departments across the nation will be devastated by an agreement between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which stops making available excess DoD vehicles that are critical to the fire departments’ ability to fight wildland fires, according to OklahomaFarmReport.com.

A year ago, North Carolina became the first state in the nation to exit the federal government’s extended-benefits program for the unemployed. Facing the prospect of hikes in payroll taxes to pay back Washington, the governor and state legislature instead reduced the amount and duration of unemployment-insurance benefits, which had been higher in North Carolina than in most states. As a result the state lost its eligibility to participate in the extended-benefits program on July 1, 2013.

Can’t wait to get your hands on the next issue of Ag Innovator? We understand. That’s one reason we now post it online. The Summer issue will hit the mail in mid-July. You have a choice—you can wait for the print edition to arrive in your mailbox, or you can view the digital edition at FarmEquip.org/AGI beginning on July 15.

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s single-employer program is improving, but the funding crisis for multi-employer pension plans (typically, union plans) is not, according to the federal agency’s fiscal 2013 projection report released on June 30.

…court documents read like an espionage novel with Chinese men found crawling on their knees in Midwest cornfields, secretly stealing corn ears, and federal agents obtaining court orders to tap the cell phone and bug the rental car of the CEO of Kings Nower Seed.

University of Missouri Agricultural Economics Professor Ron Plain said PEDv is reducing hog numbers, and producers can do little to stop its spread, but, “The pigs per litter continues to be very low and that’s pulling down the number of market hogs, and gives us a very bright outlook for hog prices.”

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit against an American company for discriminating against a group of Hispanic and Asian employees because they did not speak English fluently.

At issue is whether and to what extent may a court enforce the EEOC’s mandatory duty to conciliate discrimination claims before filing suit.

The Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the EEOC’s gender discrimination lawsuit against Mach, an Illinois-based coal mining company. Law.com reports that Mach’s lawyers urged the justices to take the case, arguing that the EEOC didn’t live up to its unique statutory duty to “conciliate in good faith”—i.e., to try to resolve a dispute fairly before filing suit.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen pushed back strongly against the idea that the central bank should consider raising interest rates to avoid fueling future financial crises.

CNH Industrial N.V. announced in late June that it will close its construction equipment assembly plant in Calhoun, GA, in the third quarter of 2015.

The closure is necessary as the company adjusts its construction operations based on current volume and market demand, said . . .

A Midwest member company seeks a sales manager to guide the sales and marketing department for its tillage equipment manufacturing unit. Duties will include meeting sales goals, sales planning, negotiation, coaching, managing processes, developing budgets, and staffing.

According to the latest Rabobank report, Beef Quarterly Q2 2014, the global beef market will regain its positive momentum in the third quarter, once the current, temporarily high supply has worked through the system. This will likely support further strengthening of prices, as supply of competing animal proteins tighten.

BushHog Inc. of Selma, AL, recently introduced a number of “Made in Selma” products. These include three new flex wing models,

The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service last week released data on the number of crop acres planted in the U.S. in 2014. The report included the following data:

The Des Moines Register reported that Quad County Corn Processors beat out DuPont and Poet to produce the state’s first-ever gallon of commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol.

The northwest Iowa company produced a limited amount last week but plans to quickly scale up so that it produces about 2 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year.

During the White House Summit on Working Families earlier this week, President Obama said the U.S. should join the rest of the industrialized world in offering paid leave for mothers of newborns, the Associated Press reported.

“Other countries know how to do this,” Obama said. “If France can figure this out, we can figure it out.” France provides some of the most far-reaching worker rights in the developed world, including a standard 35-hour work week and 16 weeks of fully paid maternity leave. France also has an unemployment rate that has hovered above 10% for more than two years.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) is revising a standard on manure spreaders, ASAE S324.1, Volumetric Capacity of Box Type Manure Spreaders – Dual Rating Method, and seeks comment on the proposed draft. The proposed revision will apply to vertical beater-type machines and add a box-width relation to heaped capacity for improved accuracy.

While porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has had a significant impact on the U.S. market, the effects may be even more dramatic in Mexico, where the World Animal Health Organization reports Mexican officials have found the virus in 17 of the 19 states where testing has been conducted, according to National Hog Farmer.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Export-Import Bank has suspended or removed four officials in recent months amid investigations into allegations of gifts and kickbacks, as well as attempts to steer federal contracts to favored companies.

Noteboom Implement extended its distribution of Brandt Agricultural Products to three new locations in Iowa, according to a Brandt Agricultural Products Ltd. news release.

Farmers should think carefully when deciding whether to invest in farm machinery, a Purdue Extension agricultural economist wrote in a recent Purdue Agricultural Economics Report article. “Crop Machinery Benchmark”

The U.S. soybean crop was rated 73% in good or excellent shape as of June 15, the best for the date since at least 1987, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Farmers told the government in March that they intended to plant a record 81.5 million acres of soybeans.

The federal government is stepping up its scrutiny of how U.S. companies are valued for employee-stock-ownership plans (ESOPs), reported The Wall Street Journal.

The Labor Department is the plaintiff in 15 lawsuits related to employee-stock-ownership plans, with “virtually all” the cases alleging shoddy estimates of what a company’s shares are worth.

Under pressure from farm groups and rural property owners, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) altered plans to cut off public comment on its proposed definition for waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act, reported Southwest Farm Press.

EPA officials announced in early June that it will allow farmers, ranchers, rural property owners and other stakeholders additional time to comment on its proposed water rules. The deadline for comment, originally July 21, has been extended until Oct. 20, 2014.

Western Growers applauded the ascension of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, to House Majority Leader and see it as a positive step for California agriculture, wrote Todd Fichette in his Farm Press Blog.

McCarthy’s district includes much of the city of Bakersfield and some vegetable and permanent crop ground at the extreme south end of the San Joaquin Valley, where it collides with the mountain range that separates the valley from the Los Angeles basin.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed America’s Small Business Tax Relief Act (H.R. 4457) to permanently increase Section 179 expensing levels.

H.R. 4457 would permanently increase the maximum amount and phase-out threshold to the levels in effect from 2010 through 2013 ($500,000 and $2 million respectively). Under current law, beginning in 2014, a taxpayer may immediately expense up to $25,000 of Sec. 179 property annually, with a dollar-for-dollar phase-out of the maximum deductible amount for purchases exceeding $200,000.

“Agriculture is a small part of the United States economy, but last year it was the best part,” wrote Floyd Norris in a June 20 New York Times article.

The agriculture sector’s output grew 16.4% after inflation last year, the fastest rise for the sector since at least 1998 and far faster than any other part of the economy. The nation’s gross domestic product grew just 1.8%, while the second-fastest growing sector, the information industry, rose 3.2%.

“New York hog farmers are pleased the legislature realized there are far more critical issues to consider than attacking small family farms in rural New York,” said Ed Keller, president of the New York Pork Producers.

The legislation was pushed by well-funded animal-rights lobbying groups, which have dramatically increased their legislative efforts in the last few years, organizing in as many as six states at a time. While extreme animal-rights proponents have expended and wasted significant resources in many states, 41 states have refused to pass similar legislation into law. The victory in New York marks two years since a state legislature has passed similar legislation against family farmers.

Congress and The White House are looking for almost any option to replenish the depleted federal Highway Trust Fund without raising taxes on fuel prior to the November election. One proposal is to use the proceeds from a windfall of taxes on repatriated corporate profits. House Speaker John Boehner has suggested cutting Saturday mail delivery and putting the savings into the trust fund. Even if either of the proposals were workable, neither is likely to have the support needed to pass. Two senators are even willing to step on the third rail and have proposed a 12-cent-per-gallon federal tax increase over the next two years, indexed to inflation afterward.

The Missouri Cattlemen’s Association (MCA) and 11 other agricultural organizations penned a letter to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon in June, urging him to sign H.B. 1326 and S.B. 506 into law… The two omnibus bills, referred to as farm bills, passed the Missouri General Assembly with what agricultural organizations call “tremendous bipartisan support.”

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez announced a proposed rule extending the protections of the Family and Medical Leave Act to all eligible employees in legal same-sex marriages, regardless of where they live. A statement said the rule will help ensure that all families have the flexibility to deal with serious medical and family situations without fearing the threat of job loss.

Chipotle CEO Steve Ells claims his company is having trouble finding enough “responsibly raised” (without antibiotics and hormones) beef in the United States. According to Breitbart.com, Chipotle now imports beef from Australia. There, said Ells, “cattle spend their entire lives grazing on pastures or rangelands, eating only grass or forages.”



In a letter to Ells last week, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples wrote that the company’s decision to import beef was “premature” and inconsistent with the environmental stance Ells and Chipotle have taken. He wrote that, unlike Australian beef, Texas products would not “leave a substantial carbon footprint before ending up in a Chipotle burrito.” Staples added he was dismayed by Ells’ implication that Australian meat is more “responsibly raised” than meat produced by Texas ranchers.

A Chipotle spokesman responded by saying that drought conditions have resulted in herds not being available in sufficient quantities to meet the company’s needs. S

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Voters are more negative than ever about the state of the U.S. health care system, and once again a majority believes the new national health care law will make it worse.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 31% of likely U.S. voters rate the current health care system as good or excellent. Thirty-five percent (35%) describe the system as poor, up from 31% in May and the highest negative in regular tracking since November 2012.

U.S. biofuel plants produced an average of 972,000 barrels of ethanol a day during the second week of June, the highest figure in the four years that records have been kept. Some increase had been expected, given the weak corn markets and strength in gasoline prices. The 6% increase over previous weeks’ output was buoyed by the latest round of Middle East unrest that has underpinned energy market overall. However, the extent of the increase took many investors by surprise.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had decreased in April, improved moderately in May. The Index now stands at 83.0, up from 81.7 in April. The Present Situation Index increased to 80.4 from 78.5, while the Expectations Index edged up to 84.8 from 83.9 in April.