Farmers Fight Rise In Hay Thefts

As if it’s not bad enough that Missouri farmers are trying to survive the worst drought in decades, now many of them are facing a new problem that’s costing them big bucks.

Missouri Farm Bureau president Blake Hurst says thieves are actually targeting those big bundles of hay that are left out in fields prior to being harvested, hauling them off and selling the valuable commodity.

“Of course, no one brands their hay so if you hook onto it with your tractor or your pickup and make it out the gate, then it’s impossible to prove where the hay came from,” Hurst said.

With winter approaching and grass dying out, the price for fresh hay to feed livestock is on the rise, and Hurst says that makes unguarded bales a tempting target. Read more >>

Cash-strapped farmers feed candy to cows

Cattle farmers struggling with record corn prices are feeding their cows candy instead. That's right, candy. Cows are being fed chocolate bars, gummy worms, ice cream sprinkles, marshmallows, bits of hard candy and even powdered hot chocolate mix, according to cattle farmers, bovine nutritionists and commodities dealers.

"It has been a practice going on for decades and is a very good way to for producers to reduce feed cost, and to provide less expensive food for consumers," said Ki Fanning, a livestock nutritionist with Great Plains Livestock Consulting, Inc. in Eagle, Neb.

Feeding candy to cows has become a more popular practice in tandem with the rising price of corn, which has doubled since 2009, fueled by government-subsidized demand for ethanol and this year's drought. Thrifty and resourceful farmers are tapping into the obscure market for cast-off food ingredients. Cut-rate byproducts of dubious value for human consumption seem to make fine fodder for cows. While corn goes for about $315 a ton, ice-cream sprinkles can be had for as little as $160 a ton. Read more >>

Jim Rogers: The Agriculture Industry Is Doomed

Legendary investor Jim Rogers has long been a fan of agricultural assets and companies along with a number of other hard assets. His hard-nose investing theory has payed off quite handsomely, as his name has become renown around the world and investors hang on his every word. Unfortunately, his words as of late paint a relatively gloomy picture for the overall agriculture industry, as he feels that it will soon fall on hard times [for more agriculture news and analysis subscribe to our free newsletter].

The first thing that Rogers points out, and has been pointing out for quite some time, is that the world is short-handed when it comes to farmers. “The average age of farmers in America is 58 years old. In Japan, the average age is 66. In Australia, it’s 58. Hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers commit suicide every year. It’s a disastrous business. In the U.K., the highest rate of suicide is in agriculture. It’s been a horrible business for 30 years. Prices have to go up – have go to up a lot – or we’re not going to have any food at any price” Rogers stated earlier in 2012. Read more >>

Kevlar Tires Now Required to Harvest ‘Spear-Like’ GMO Crops

The news surrounding GMO crops continues to get further and further outlandish as the crops are increasingly mutated and sprayed with a medley of harsh pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides. The latest news comes from an unlikely source — an automotive publication known as Autoblog.

The website reports that farmers who have opted to plant Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds have run into one daunting problem (outside of decreased yields and an extremely higher risk of disease): little ‘spear-like’ stalks from the harvested GMOs are absolutely wreaking havoc on the heavy duty tractor tires.

Described by one farmer as a ‘field of little spears’, farmers are now turning to kevlar tires. In case you’re not aware, kevlar is the same material used in bulletproof vests to protect from gun bullets.

The stalks are so sharp and weapon-like that they can wreck an entire set of wheels, which is a daunting reality when considered that one tractor can have as many as eight heavy duty tires. Furthermore, a single tractor tire can easily cost thousands of dollars.

Thanks to the GMO crops, the average lifespan of a tractor tire has dwindled from five or six years down to just one or two — if the farmer is lucky. Add that to the exponentially increased amount of pesticide use required to maintain modified crops thanks to heavily mutated ‘super’ rootworms and other insects, and it’s easy to see how GMO farming is nothing but a monetary pitfall for farmers. Read more >>