Livingston County Farm Bureau

A new crop insurance combo menu should serve up streamlined risk management options with fewer details and decisions for producers to digest. USDAs Risk Management Agency (RMA) has introduced newCommon Crop Insurance Policies, popularly known as combo coverages this month for wheat producers, rolling existing yield and revenue policies into three basic new products. Combined coverages will be available to Illinois corn, soybean, grain sorghum, and barley growers next spring. Under policy restructuring, crop revenue coverage (CRC) and revenue assurance (RA) with a fall harvest price option have been melded into a new revenue protection policy. A second revenue protection policy with a harvest price exclusion absorbs existing RA coverage without the fall harvest price option and income protection (IP). At the same time, actual production history coverage, also known as multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI), and basic catastrophic crop insurance have been converted into a single yield protection product. County-based group risk plan (GRP) and group risk income protection policies (GRIP) policies also will remain available. Country Financial crop marketing consultant John Fahl sees new offerings making risk management a lot simpler. IP sales have been low in Illinois, but beyond consolidating policies, the new program uses the same crop base price for both yield and revenue protections (the APH guarantee price previously was released prior to revenue base price) and expands unit coverage options under yield policies. "You're always somewhat skeptical when you hear big changes are coming, but I think they did make this simpler," Fahl told FarmWeek. "It's simpler for everybody to understand, especially producers. There are fewer options; it does limit choices. But I think (RMA) did a good thing here."

A new state law will regulate not only large cemeteries, but also small rural ones overseen by volunteers - if the cemetery has money of any amount in a car fund, according to the Illinois Cemetery and Funeral Home Association (ICFHA). Gov. Pat Quinn signed the Cemetery Oversight Act was signed into law in January. The law sets up new licensing and insurance requirements and fees; however, the implementation rules, including those that would establish licensing procedures and fee amounts, have not been adopted yet. The law stipulates which cemeteries are exempted entirely or partially from the regulations. But any cemetery with a care fund must comply with all the rules and that situation is catching many rural cemeteries, Vickie Hand of ICFHA told FarmWeek last week. If they (cemeteries) hold a care fund of any size, theyre regulated, and thats scary, Hand said. There are a lot of (cemetery) people who think theyre exempted ... Weve pushed to explain all cemeteries are not the same. A chart outlining the laws provisions and full and partial exemptions is posted on FarmWeekNow.com and has been sent to county Farm Bureau offices. The new provisions include licensing of cemetery authorities and managers, establishment of an oversight database, mandatory reports, and required maintenance and records. Anyone who has a supervisory role at a regulated cemetery or significantly interacts with consumers will have to be licensed by the state, according to ICFHA.

The Allendale Inc. 2010, 21st Annual Crop Survey suggests a projected US corn crop of 13.147 billion bushels and a soybean crop of 3.370 billion bushels. This estimate was based on producer calculated yields in 25 states. It was conducted from August 9 until August 27, 2010. The survey estimated U.S. corn production at 13.147 billion bushels with an average yield of 162.3 bushels.  Soybeans were estimated at 3.37 billion bushels with an average yield of 43.2 bushels per acre. Earlier this week, the Linn Group estimated the average U.S. corn yield at 160.7 bpa and soybeans at 43.6 bpa.  Last month, USDA estimate the national corn yield at 165 bpa and soybeans at 44 bpa. USDA will update its production estimates on Friday, Sept. 10 at 7:30 am CDT. 

Bob Hauser, who has served as interim dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES), will become the permanent dean, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees this month. The U of I announced Hauser’s permanent appointment last week. Hauser, an agricultural economist, had served as interim dean since July 2009 when Robert Easter stepped in to serve as the U of I’s interim provost and then later as its interim chancellor. Hauser had served as head of ACES’ agricultural economics department before he assumed the interim dean post. In a letter announcing Hauser’s appointment, Richard Wheeler, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs, noted Hauser’s permanent appointment was supported by ACES department heads, associate deans, and faculty. “I, too, have been impressed by, and grateful for, his forceful advocacy for the college of ACES and his dedicated service to the campus,” Wheeler wrote. Hauser joined the U of I faculty in 1982. He earned a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate from Iowa State University.

East-Central Illinois came up a big winner this week with $12 million in USDA broadband funding that will build high-speed infrastructure in the area. Federal and state officials announced the combination of federal grants and loans, state funds, and private investment during a press conference in Danville. Gov. Pat Quinn called the nearly $24 million public-private project “an information super highway.” “We don’t have a (digital) divide with some people having very good Internet (services) . . . and some left way behind,” Quinn said. Cellular Properties, based in Danville, received from USDA a $6 million grant and a $6 million loan to bring third generation (3G) of wireless network technology to Clay, Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Jasper, Lawrence, Richland and Vermilion counties. In addition to the USDA Rural Development funds, the project funding includes a $1 million from the Illinois Jobs Now public works program, which is administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and about $11 million from Cellular Properties. “These broadband projects will give rural communities access to the tools they need to create jobs, stimulate local economies, and build a foundation for future prosperity," said Colleen Callahan, USDA Rural Development state director. Seven Illinois projects have received awards in the last two months, Callahan noted. Illinois broadband projects that recently received USDA funding include: