Agronomy Day 2001 will be held on August 23 at the Crop Sciences Research and Educational Center from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The Center is located just southeast of the Assembly Hall on the University of Illinois Campus.

You'll see educational exhibits and be able to talk with Extension Specialists. Near the tent will be some of the newest farm equipment on the market, as well as, the "I and I Antique Tractor and Gas Engine Club." Lunch can be purchased for $5.00, snack and drinks will be available.

Four different walking tours will be available from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The tours will cover a wide range of issues including corn and soybean diseases, wireless-controlled sprayers, "Agricultural Infotronic Systems", weed detection from 2000 feet, nitrogen run off and many more. Agronomy ponsors suggest that you come early if you wish to take all four tours.

For more information you can call the (217) 333-4424 or look on the web at www.cropsci.uiuc.edu/agronomyday.

Extension will hold a Western Corn Rootworm Field Day on the Bob Bunselmeyer farm on July 17, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The farm is located one mile north of Forsyth and 2 miles west of Highway 51 on Shellabarger Rd. A door prize drawing for corn rootworm beetle traps will be held at the field day.

Over the past six years, the monitoring program has shown the new strain of western corn rootworm is now present in 40 counties in Illinois. The current threshold used to predict larval injury in first year corn is 5 to 10 beetles per day. The amount of root injury, may vary based on the hybrid and the conditions of the growing season, however, it is economically significant.

Dennis Bowman, Extension Crop Systems Educator, will demonstrate how to set-up traps for the determination of an infestation. Dennis will discuss the identification of the beetles as well as other corn pests.

The FSA (Farm Service Agency) office is now accepting CCC-709 forms to allow participation in the LDP program for cash grain sales for fall delivery. In order to receive the LDP payment for fall delivery grain or cash sales directly out of the field, a 709 form must be filed before the title of the grain changes ownership when it is delivered to the elevator.

The process only takes a few minutes, but forgetting to fill out the form can be a costly oversight. The office hours for the FSA is 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more details or information, call the FSA office at (217) 877-5670.

Mark your calendar for Macon County Seed Plot Day on August 21. It is located on the Jim Snow farm on Riley Rd. south of Elwin. This year's plot consists of 49 corn hybrids, 12 non-GMO soybean varieties and 30 Roundup Ready soybean varieties.

The tour of the Non-GMO and Round-up Soybean plot begins at 10:00 a.m. The corn plot tour starts at 1:00. Lunch will begin at 12:00 followed by comments from Darrel Good and Dennis Bowman. Dr. Good will provide a market out look and Dennis will discuss hybrid selection and seed varieties.

Seed representatives from seed companies will be on hand at the plots to answer questions and discuss seed issues. The seed companies will provide prizes for a drawing during lunch. To enter the drawing you have to obtain a tour card. During the tour, the seed representatives will initial the cards, and the completed cards will be put in the drawing.

For more information call the U of I Extension office in Macon County at (217) 877-6042.

The state headquarters for AgrAbility Unlimited has moved to Macon County. The new office is located in the Easter Seals building, 2715 N. 27 th in Decatur. AgrAbility Unlimited is a statewide community program sponsored by Easter Seals and University of Illinois and funded with a USDA grant.

The AgrAbility program is designed to help farm operators, farm employees, seasonal workers and family members with health problems and work-related injuries. Permanent disabilities come from many sources, such as farm accidents, arthritis, diabetes, stroke, vision loss, hearing loss, respiratory ailments or chemical exposure. Through the services provided by AgrAbility Unlimited individuals with disabilities and their families can seek ways to overcome the disability.

If you would like to be involved in the AgrAbility program or know of some one that could benefit from the service they offer, call Mike Brokaw, Program Manager, at (217) 429-1052 or (800) 500-7325.

The months of July and August are important months in a marketing plan. Many times there are opportunities to sell grain during summer rallies. Now is a good time to review your current marketing plan or to MAKE ONE. If the plan is not in writing, you don't really have a plan.

Things to keep in mind as we reach mid-summer are; how much storage do I have available, what does it really cost to store grain, do I have all the correct paperwork to receive an LDP, and when will I need money.

Remember when you store grain, part of the cost of storage is the shrinkage due to moisture loss. You will lose one percent of the bushels if the grain is stored in the elevator due to moisture adjustment Without proper monitoring of on farm grain storage the shrinkage may be two to three percent. Also, keep in mind the loss of interest income represented by the stored grain.

If, for example, on 10,000 bushels of corn, one percent shrinkage is 100 bushels at a price of $2.00 equals $200. (10,000 x .01 x $2.00 = $200) And you store the 10,000 bushels for three months and if price is $2.00 the interest cost at simple five percent annual interest is $250. {10,000 x $2.00 x (5%/12) = $250}

ISO 9000 is an internationally recognized program to track the manufacturing of a product from its original components through assembly and shipment to the final customer. It might be tires, water valves, computers, or-..GRAIN! The ISO 9000 process involves certification of the producer by an international agency, and the certification carries the potential for value-added transactions. Extension in Macon County has held two seminars on the topic for farmers and local elevator personnel.

This project is drawing interest from the University of Illinois and the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Dr. Burt Swanson, a leader in the value-added movement in Illinois, is also focusing on the ISO 9000 program. Swanson will be working with Macon County Extension through the education and implementation phases of the project.

Also, as we go forward, it is possible that funds may be available through the Illinois Department of Agriculture to defray a portion of the training and certification costs involved in becoming an ISO 9000 certified producer or grain handler.

If you would like to find out more on participation in the ISO 9000 certification process for your farm, please contact Paul Mariman at the Macon County Extension office at (217) 877-6042.

Darrel Good, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

For the next several weeks, the corn and soybean markets will be reacting mostly to production prospects in the U.S. and China. However, the rate of consumption of the 2000 U.S. crops will continue to be of some interest, particularly the rate of exports. There is more than one source of export estimates, but the Census Bureau figures are the estimates carried in the USDA's annual balance sheet of supply and use. During the marketing year, there is often some differences in the export estimates from four the various sources for a variety of reasons.

Based on the USDA's weekly U.S. Export Sales report, corn exports through June 14 this year totaled 1.385 billion bushels, down from 1.507 by the same date last year. The USDA weekly export inspection figures were very close to those totals for both years. Last year, the estimates from the Census Bureau and the USDA were very similar. For the current year, Census Bureau export estimates are available through April, 2000. The total exports through April were about 30 million bushels larger than reflected in the weekly USDA reports and only 45 million less than cumulative exports of a year ago. If that pattern continues, exports for the year appear more likely to reach the current USDA projection of 1.85 billion bushels than implied by the weekly export inspection figures. The key will likely be the rate of shipments to Japan and South Korea. The recent increase in the pace of sales to both of those countries is encouraging.

For soybeans, the USDA's U.S. Export Sales report and the export inspections report show shipments as of June 14 near 906 million bushels, about 50 million more than on the same date last year. Through April, however, the Census Bureau estimates of cumulative soybean exports were running about 12 million bushels behind the USDA estimates. This is not an uncommon pattern. Last year, for example, the Census Bureau estimate of soybean exports for the entire marketing year was 17 million bushels less than the estimate based on USDA inspection figures.

With 10 weeks left in the current marketing year, weekly shipments of soybeans will need to average about 9 million bushels per week to reach the current projection of 995 million for the year, assuming the difference between USDA and Census Bureau estimates continue through August. The magnitude of purchases by China will be most important in judging if 995 million bushels will be reached.

As outlined in last week's issue, the rate of domestic use of corn through May will be revealed in the June Grain Stocks report. Prospects for feed and residual use of corn and for feed use of soybean meal during the last quarter of the year got a little boost from last week's USDA Cattle on Feed report. That report showed a continued rapid placement of cattle into the feedlots. Placements in May were three percent larger than in May 2000. As a result, the June 1 feed lot inventory was two percent larger than on June 1, 2000. Domestic use of corn for ethanol will apparently proceed fairly rapidly, as a number of states are moving to subsidize investment in production facilities.

Most observers are optimistic about the rate of consumption of U.S. corn and soybean crops over the next year, in spite of significant competition from South America. Stocks are not accumulating significantly in light of such large production levels over the past five years. Still, prices remain at extremely low levels, with corn futures trading to new contract lows. The market believes that recent weather conditions may have improved overall crop condition ratings. The National Weather Service forecasts of weather patterns through the summer are also generally favorable for corn and soybean crop development. Prospects for a sixth consecutive year of large crops of corn and soybeans in the U.S. are still in place, even though some uncertainty about the magnitude of planted acreage will persist for a while.

The sub-loan rate prices for corn and soybeans offers little incentive for producer pricing of the new crop. However, there may be some opportunity for livestock producers to hedge feed requirements over an extended period of time. In particular, the inversion in the soybean meal market make differed prices relatively attractive. The opposite is true for corn, with a continued large carry in the market.