OMAHA (DTN) -- From the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on two major ag cases to high input costs falling, U.S. corn exports slipping to second place behind Brazil for the first time, interest rates climbing to a 22-year high, and Congressional drama delaying the passage of a new farm bill, 2023 was undeniably another eventful year for agriculture.
During the past two weeks, DTN has revisited these and other big stories in our annual Top 10 Ag Stories of Year series.
But those stories were just the tip of the iceberg. Beyond the major events that dominated the headlines were numerous other stories that, though they may not have attracted as much attention, had a significant impact on the farming and ranching community and rural America.
In recognition of the importance of these stories to agriculture, we're presenting some of them here as part of our annual "Best of the Rest" list, in no particular order:
New Corn and Soybean Yield World Records Set
U.S. farmers continued to push the limits of corn and soybean yield potential in 2023, setting new world records for both crops.
The first to claim a new world title this year was Georgia soybean grower Alex Harrell. On Aug. 23, with the harvest of a 2.5-acre plot of irrigated soybeans averaging 206.7997 bushels per acre (bpa), Harrell achieved a new world record for soybean production, besting the efforts of fellow Georgian Randy Dowdy, of Valdosta, who held the record the past seven years. Harrell's average yield is the first to exceed 200 bpa. The previous record was 190.23 bpa, set by Dowdy in 2019. Dowdy had previously harvested soybeans yielding 171 bpa in 2016, which topped the 160.6 bpa record set by Kip Cullers of Purdy, Missouri, in 2010.
"It was surreal, but it was pretty cool," Harrell told DTN during a phone interview following the announcement of his record yield.
Then, on Dec. 13, the National Corn Growers Association announced that David Hula -- who holds more NCGA Yield Contest titles than Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have combined Masters Tournaments wins -- had set another new record for the national contest. This year, the Charles City, Virginia, farmer came to the top of the corn yield leader board with 623.8439 bpa in the irrigated strip-till category. It was enough to best the previous record of 615.1953 bpa, which was also set by Hula in 2019. It secured his 12th national high yield win in the contest and his fifth world corn yield record. He is the only farmer to exceed the 600 bpa mark in the contest and has done it three times (2019, 2021, 2023).
Texas Dairy Fire That Killed 18,000 Cows Ruled Accidental, Not Terrorism
An estimated 18,000 dairy cows were in a holding area for milking at Southfork Dairy Farm, in Dimmitt, Texas, on the evening of April 10, when a massive explosion and fire killed most of them and severely injured one worker in the building.
The incident initially raised concerns about terrorist attacks on America's food supply. But following an investigation, the incident was officially labeled an "accident" by the Texas State Fire Marshal's office.
According to a news release from the Fire Marshal, investigators were on the scene of the Castro County dairy fire for two days, April 10 and 11. They conducted "an origin and cause investigation to determine where the fire first originated and a cause for the fire."
It is believed the fire started at the northern end of the South Fork Dairy Farm operation, pen No. 3, and was the result of equipment failure. The Fire Marshal's report said that two other pieces of equipment, identical to the one that caught fire at South Fork, had burned previously. One such incident was at this same dairy, and the other at another unnamed dairy in the state. More investigations by engineers specializing in equipment failures were planned.
The estimated value of the 18,000 dairy cows was put at $35 million to $40 million. The Animal Welfare Institute, which started tracking barn fires in 2013, reported it to be the deadliest barn fire to date.
Ag Community Says Goodbye to Two Industry Legends
The agriculture community lost two industry legends in 2023: no-till pioneer David Brandt and TEPAP founder Danny Klinefelter.
Brandt died May 21 of complications from an auto accident at the age of 76. Long before the days of "climate-smart agriculture," Brandt was a no-till pioneer who reached stardom among his fellow farmers for his cropping practices and folksy way of explaining his 50-plus years of farming just outside of Carroll, Ohio. Brandt spent his career farming with a strategy of building organic matter in his soil and paying as little for chemical inputs and tillage equipment as possible. In the age of social media, he even became a meme with his photo and the quote, "It ain't much, but it's honest work." Earlier this year, Brandt was honored by the group No-till on the Plains with its first "Legacy Award," which also was named after him.
Klinefelter, professor emeritus of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service ag economist, and father of The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP), died July 24 after a brief illness. He was 76. He was a well-known instructor, speaker and author, with a reach that extended far beyond the campus of College Station, Texas, where he lived and taught. Klinefelter was also a long-time contributor to DTN, crafting the "By The Numbers" column from 2006 until 2017. In agriculture circles, Klinefelter was most known for his efforts to elevate the business mindset of farmers. Klinefelter taught what he called "continuous management improvement," an assertion that running a modern commercial farm was not a finite job, but required constant learning, evaluating, and changing to grow into the future.
Tennessee Farm Family Wins Battle Over Right to Operate Store on Their Land
A long-running legal battle between the Bernards, a multigenerational Tennessee farm family, and the little city of Orlinda, Tennessee, came to an end in February.
After more than a year of litigation, three Court of Appeals judges held that the county of Robertson, Tennessee, did not illegally spot-zone to allow for the Bernards' farm store. This affirmed an earlier holding by the lower Chancery Court.
DTN first reported on the family's costly struggles in 2022. Fourth-generation farmers in the area, the Bernards have long been proponents of diversification. They built a farm store on their property to sell products from their farm direct to consumers, as well as products from other area producers and artisans. The farm store was not built within the city of Orlinda, but it is close. The city brought a lawsuit against both the county of Robertson and the Bernards over the store and the rezoning that allowed for it.
Nebraska Sandhills 'Dumbbell' Ranch Sells to Locals
In late October, two locals purchased Nebraska's 15,500-acre Dumbbell Ranch for $16.5 million, according to state records and local media. The ranch covers portions of both Cherry and Grant counties and dates to the 1800s.
One buyer is well known in the state of Nebraska -- former Democratic state Sen. Al Davis. Based at Hyannis, he is reported as buying the larger share of the ranch, which separated pieces of his own family's ranch.
The other buyers are Chris and Jeanne Gentry. The couple has a ranch that borders the Dumbbell Ranch.
The original ranch was divided in the past into three sections. Records filed on the sale show that Gentry paid about $6.4 million for some 4,800 acres. Davis paid about $10.2 million for about 11,000 acres.
Hall and Hall listed the property at $16.7 million. It was described as a 900-cow, year-round operation, with live water, 27 windmills, eight solar wells and an average of more than 1,800 tons of hay production annually.
SEC Alleges Texas Beef Company Agridime Is Ponzi Scheme
In mid-December, the Securities and Exchange Commission froze the assets of Texas-based cattle marketing company Agridime LLC, alleging the company fraudulently sold securities in "cattle contracts" as a $191 million Ponzi scheme that would "soon implode."
The company, based out of Fort Worth, Texas, is now under a court-ordered receivership under the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas with Agridime's assets frozen after the SEC obtained a temporary restraining order against Agridime and its owners.
Agridime has raised $191 million since 2021 from more than 2,100 investors in at least 15 states, the SEC stated. The SEC stated Agridime, however, had less than $1.5 million in cash as of Sept. 30, and insufficient operating revenues. The SEC stated, "It appears that Agridime's Ponzi scheme will soon implode unless it continues to raise money from new investor-victims."
Agridime sells investment contracts related to the buying and selling of cattle, dubbed as "cattle contracts." The SEC complaint stated Agridime promised investors guaranteed annual returns ranging from 15% to 20% -- going as high as 32% -- and marketed cattle contracts on Agridime's website as a way for investors to passively profit from owning cattle "without having to do all of the work."
Agridime is owned by Jed Wood, 62, of Fort Worth, Texas, and Josh Link, 30, of Gilbert, Arizona. Both are named as defendants in the case. Wood and Link founded Agridime in 2017.
A U.S. District Judge extended the SEC's temporary restraining order until Jan. 9, 2024, and delayed a hearing on the SEC's request for a preliminary injunction until a hearing now set for Jan. 5, 2024.
National Focus on Foreign Ownership in Ag Land
Foreign ownership of agriculture land took center stage in 2023 when a controversial corn mill project by Chinese company Fufeng outside of Grand Forks, North Dakota, helped elevate the concerns into the national security debate. The Fufeng project was shelved in late January 2023 after the U.S. Air Force raised national security concerns about the proximity of the project to the Grand Forks Air Force Base. Fufeng was planning to develop 370 acres of land for the project.
A national debate of sorts ensued when members of Congress and other national leaders began focusing on the issue. The House of Representatives passed an energy bill in March 2023, which included a roll-call vote demonstrating bipartisan support for banning Chinese ownership of U.S. farm ground.
Carbon Pipeline Fights
As companies across the Corn Belt continued work on carbon pipeline projects that would move carbon from ethanol plants to sequestration sites, local opposition to the projects took center stage in 2023.
As a result of public outcry and other issues, one company, Navigator CO2, cancelled a proposed $3.5 billion 1,350-mile pipeline project planned for South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois. In a media statement in October, the company said it cancelled the project because of the "unpredictable nature of the regulator and government processes involved, particularly in South Dakota and Iowa."
Navigator had lost a construction permit application in South Dakota in early September and had asked the Iowa Utilities Board to suspend work on its permit application in that state as well. The Illinois Commerce Commission also had been preparing to hold hearings on Navigator's permit application, which was crucial because Navigator had intended to sink its carbon dioxide into an Illinois bedrock formation.
EPA Finalizes First Multi-Year RFS
For the first time in the history of the Renewable Fuel Standard, the EPA finalized a multi-year RFS volume rule that runs through 2025. The rule was significant because the biofuels industry for years has suffered fits and starts caused by late-approved volume rules that created uncertainty in the market. The rule finalized in June 2023, for the first time, provides certainty to the industry for several years. The final RFS was met with disappointment by the advanced biofuels industry including biodiesel and renewable diesel producers, who said the volumes set did not meet production potential through 2025.
US-Mexico Border Reopened for Rail
After five days of two international crossings for railroads between Texas and Mexico, and increasing calls to reopen the border by members of Congress, farm and commodity groups that said the closure was hurting Midwest farmers, U.S. Customs and Border Protection finally announced it was reopening the border Dec. 22.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials had closed the rail crossings at the Texas cities over El Paso and Eagle Pass following a spike in migrant crossings that overwhelmed the Border Patrol.
Mexico is the top destination for several U.S. agricultural products, including corn, wheat, soybean meal, pork and barley. The U.S., meanwhile, relies on Mexico for fresh fruits and vegetables. Union Pacific had reported more than 10,000 rail cars were being held up on both sides of the border and were backing up supply chains for more than 60 trains daily.
Biden SAF Action Pivotal for Biofuels
U.S. farmers and ethanol producers will be a key cog in the growth of the sustainable aviation fuel industry for the foreseeable future after the U.S. Department of Treasury announced late in the year that it will use a modified version of a popular greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions model to determine how it allocates tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Using the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Technologies, or GREET, model will allow the Treasury to accurately determine ethanol's carbon footprint.
Because the model uses the latest real-world data on corn ethanol, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced using corn ethanol as a feedstock would qualify for the tax credits.
This meant numerous fuels will qualify for the credit, including valid biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuels, cellulosic biofuel or cellulosic diesel.
The announcement was an early Christmas present for the agriculture and biofuels groups that had lobbied for the use of the GREET model.
Brian Jennings, CEO of the American Coalition for Ethanol, said the Biden administration's decision could be a pivotal moment for the ethanol industry. "Treasury's decision will enable corn ethanol to emerge as a significant SAF feedstock in the years to come and fulfill President Biden's pledge that farmers would be providing 95% of SAF in the next 20 years," he said.
Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said it was difficult to overstate the significance of the decision.
"This is a pivotal moment for the future of sustainable aviation fuels," he said.
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