Why Nebraska is one of the windiest  states in the union was evident on Monday with Grand Island, Hastings and Aurora other points in south central Nebraska reported wind gusts of more than 50 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Hastings.

Peak gusts for area communities on Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Hastings, were: Grand Island, 54 mph, 6:41 a.m.; Aurora, 54 mph, 3:10 a.m.; Hastings, 52 mph, 2:04 a.m.; Ord, 51 mph, 9:27 a.m.; and Kearney, 48 mph, 7:35 a.m.

According to the NWS, “These winds were howling on the backside of a strong surface low pressure system centered in the Upper Great Lakes region.”

Monday was the peak day of strong winds that lasted over a four day period. Average wind speed Monday in Grand Island was 27.4 mph. On Sunday, 20.6 mph; Saturday, 13.1 mph; and Friday, 16.4 mph.

With no storms in the forecast through next week, conditions will be mostly sunny with daytime temperatures in the 20s. Starting Thursday night, nighttime lows will be near zero and daytime highs in the lower 20s.

A resolution promoted by the Nebraska Cattlemen at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Convention this week in Texas seeks to secure an advantage for U.S. beef producers over competitors from other countries selling beef to South Korea.

According to the Nebraska Cattlemen, Nebraska is the leading beef export state in the nation and South Korea is the third largest market, with potential to become the number one market.

“International beef trade is very important to long-term profitability for Nebraska producers and the U.S. beef industry,” said Nebraska Cattlemen President Bill Rishel, a North Platte rancher. “International trade positively impacts farm and ranching families and rural communities across the U.S. It creates and sustains jobs.”

Rishel said the U.S. – South Korean Free Trade Agreement is one of the most important bilateral trade agreements in the history of the U.S. beef industry because it will reduce South Korea’s 40 percent tariff on all beef imports to zero percent in equal increments over 15 years.

He said competitors such as Australia are rapidly working with South Korea to finalize their own bilateral free trade agreements.

If they are initiated, Rishel said, before the U.S. – South Korea FTA, U.S. beef producers would be locked into a disadvantage for 15 years in this important market.

“Conversely, if we ratify before another country, U.S. beef producers will have a competitive advantage for 15 years,” Rishel said.

He said the resolution the Nebraska Cattlemen will propose that the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association adopt strongly insists “Congress immediately ratify the South Korean Free Trade Agreement.”

 “This is about a huge opportunity for Nebraska and U.S. beef producers, but it involves a small window. Both the U.S. and Korea officials negotiated the agreement, and it is vitally important that Congress approve it,” Rishel said.

U.S. beef exports to South Korea peaked at $815 million in 2003. In 2009, through November, sales were $186 million. Sales have been lagging because of the December 2003 discovery of the one case of BSE in the U.S.

“Korean beef retailers say they want Nebraska and U.S. beef,” Rishel said. “Approving the agreement can mean $200 million in Nebraska annually. We believe Congress should approve the agreement because it will impact farm and cattle families and communities throughout Nebraska and the U.S., now and for many years to come.”

The recent corn price dip of 50 cents to 60 cents per bu. is on the minds of grain growers at National Farmers’ annual farm business meeting held Jan. 18-21 in Coralville, Iowa.

National Farmers GrainMarketing Plus Grain Analyst Pete Lorenz said producers can capitalize on marketing strategies to minimize the impact. He said producers with corn that needs to be sold because of quality issues need to  look at market planning.

“There are ways they could pick up gains in the market that may occur later, such as options,” Lorenz said. “Price concerns may straighten out in the spring, because of attempts to encourage planting more corn acres.”

Lorenz said many producers do want to market corn right away for those quality reasons. He said talk in the trade is putting that number at 2 billion bu. to 3 billion bu. with concerns of deteriorating conditions.

“It was put in wet,” Lorenz said. “So it doesn’t store well.” And test weights may have an influence on final figures, though the depth of that impact is uncertain.

Further, he said USDA said it will issue another report on the 2009 crop in March.

“When they say they may come out with another report, they’re saying they don’t yet know what the crop is,” he said. ”The numbers aren’t final.”

NASS [National Agriculture Statistics Service] included unharvested acres, and production expected in the 13.15 billion bushel estimate. The increase of about 200 million bushels from the November report could cost U.S. farmers about $6.5 billion, said Lorenz.

Additionally, he said the problem extends to areas where corn is standing in the fields, snowy fields in some cases.

Producers in pockets of the western Corn Belt, in Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, as well as Minnesota and Iowa, with corn still standing in the field, are looking at the impacts of the report’s estimates.

“It’s not a lot individually, but it adds up to a lot cumulatively,” Lorenz said.

Numbers in a recent USDA weekly crop report indicate about 5 percent of the crop remains in the field, and is at risk for field loss.

On Jan. 12, the USDA reported that corn production in Nebraska in 2009 was 1.58 billion bushels, up 13 percent from a year before and a record high. Yield was estimated at 178 bushels per acre, which is 15 bushels higher than last year, but the largest on record.

At the Aurora Coop in Aurora, cash corn prices on Jan. 22 was $3.30. On the day prior to the USDA crop report on Jan. 11, cash corn prices at the Aurora Coop was $3.86 per bushel.

A Spanish cellulosic ethanol producer,  Abengoa Bioenergy,  who owns the ethanol plants in York and Ravenna, has teamed up with Mid-Kansas Electric Co. LLC to develop a cellulosic ethanol and power plant in Stevens County, Kan., to produce 15 MMgy of ethanol and 75 megawatts (MW) of power per year.

According to the company, Abengoa Bioenergy Hybrid of Kansas will use locally available biomass resources such as corn stover, wheat straw and switchgrass as feedstocks, procuring them from farmers/producers in seven counties within a 50-mile radius of the plant.

The plant, according to the company, will require about 2,500 tons of biomass per day, or the equivalent of about 130 truckloads.

The company described how the process works as once the biomass materials are harvested into package form, they will be transported via flat bed trailer to the nearest satellite depot. An estimated 80 percent of the biomass packages will go from the field to a satellite depot for storage and then to ABHK; the rest will be transported directly from the field to the facility, according to the companies.

An extensive investigation of biomass availability has been performed and determined that there will be sufficient quantity of feedstock to meet demand. The facility would require only about 10 percent of the biomass residues available within 50 miles of ABHK.

If the new plant ushers into an era of second generation ethanol plants,  it would be good for the environment and diversify the kind of biomass needed to produce ethanol.

Scientists at Michigan State University said that diverse biofuel plantings such as native prairie attract more beneficial insects than do single crops such as corn.

The scientists said biofuel policies should take such added value into account,  based on their studies of beneficial insects in biofuel crops. Lady beetles, bees and other beneficial insects provide numerous ecosystem services, including controlling pests and pollinating crops.

MSU scientists estimated that such insects in soybeans provide about $240 million worth of biological pest control per year in the U.S.

“We found that the diversity of the plants has a direct effect on the number and diversity of beneficial insects,” said Doug Landis, MSU professor of entomology and co-author of the study, to be published in a special issue of the journal BioEnergy Research. “As policymakers consider which biofuel crops to support with incentives, we want to make sure they know about all the benefits provided by a range of crops. Some of these benefits, such as greenhouse gas benefits, pest suppression and pollination, are not currently being counted.”

The MSU scientists compared beneficial insect populations in three types of biofuel crops: corn, switchgrass and mixed native prairie (native grasses and wildflowers).

The research points out that there are advantages and disadvantages to each type of crop. Corn does provide more biomass per acre, but switchgrass and prairie attract greater numbers of beneficial insects, more diverse types of beneficial insects, or both in some cases. \

“While there were similar numbers of bee species in each crop, the abundance of bees was three to four times higher in switchgrass and native prairie than in corn,” said Rufus Isaacs, MSU entomology professor and study co-author. “There has been concern in the United States about declining numbers of pollinators. As policies are developed to increase production of cellulosic biofuels, it’s important to know how the type of biofuel crop affects the environment and biodiversity, as well as how much fuel it can produce.”

Landis and Isaacs cautioned that if switchgrass is managed as a single biofuel crop, some of the plant diversity they observed in their study fields could be lost, making the crop less suitable for beneficial insects.

Landis said  this is the first step in a series of studies aimed at characterizing biofuel landscapes of the future, landscapes that are economically and environmentally sustainable.

“This research suggests that monocultures probably won’t offer the long-term benefits that more diverse landscapes will,” he said. ”The next step in our work will be to put a value on the services beneficial insects provide. We’ll be measuring how much predation and pollination is taking place.”