Industry News: September 2024

Inaugural Cottonseed Oil Advisory Council Named

Cotton Incorporated announces the members of the inaugural Cottonseed Oil Advisory Council. This talented group of industry professionals will help members of the food industry understand the unique benefits of using cottonseed oil.

The Cottonseed Oil Advisory Council will bring forth learnings and awareness of other oil-related research, culinary attributes and foodservice-focused discussions around cottonseed oil.

The 2023-2024 Cottonseed Oil Advisory Council includes:

■ Burt Benrud, Vice President of Café Du Monde.

■ Jamie Cooper, Ph.D., professor and department head of Kinesiology at the University of Georgia and director of UGA Obesity Research Initiative.

■ John Chisum, vice president of marketing for PYCO.

■ Connie Diekman, registered dietitian and food and nutrition consultant.

■ Finn Walter, chef and owner of The Nicollet in Lubbock, Texas.

“Creating an inaugural advisory board brings a compass for our journey, guiding us with a variety of perspectives and experiences to help grow and promote the cottonseed oil market,” said Lynn Kilroy, director of corporate communications at Cotton Incorporated.

This is the third advisory council Cotton Incorporated developed including an advisory council for both the beef and dairy sides of the whole cottonseed business.

Cotton is known for its natural fiber in textile production, but the uses of the cotton crop extend well beyond fiber. Cottonseed oil is just one of the additional products that come from harvesting a cotton crop.

Low Mississippi River Levels May Affect Harvest Time Basis

If forecasts hold, the Mississippi River level at Memphis, Tennessee, will again fall below zero as harvest season takes hold, raising the specter of the last two seasons’ higher freight rates, piled up grain and weaker basis.

Now is the time for farmers to look closely at ways to protect themselves by managing basis risk, said Scott Stiles, Extension economics program associate for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

The Mississippi River is a vital artery for grain transportation. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Federal Grain Inspection Services, 57% of U.S. soybean exports and 47% of corn exports have been shipped out of New Orleans in the current marketing year.

The Mississippi River is also important for the movement of fertilizer. Industry sources estimate about 33% of urea and diammonium phosphate moves up the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico.

“This is the third year in a row the river has gotten shallow at harvest time,” Stiles said, adding that “forecasts for river depth are subject to change, and the gauge at Memphis is still well above the record lows seen last fall; however, the outlook points to steady decline through much of August.

“I’m not wanting to yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater, but I do want to get this on people’s radar,” Stiles said. “Given the combination of a rapidly falling river, the onset of harvest and increasing barge freight, basis has already started to soften.

“The weaker basis is normal at harvest time but will be exaggerated if the river becomes difficult to navigate,” he said. “The risk associated with a collapse in basis can be severe, as we saw in 2023. By the end of September last year, the soybean basis at West Memphis fell to $1.20 under futures. With corn and soybean prices currently at the lowest levels since 2020, a repeat of historic weakness in basis would be devastating to growers.”

Stiles said there are two ways farmers can offset some of the effects.

“Basis risk can be managed by utilizing basis contracts that lock in the basis and protect against further declines,” he said. “Most elevators offer these.”

Stiles said another option is for growers to store grain until after the peak harvest window.

“Having enough grain storage might mean getting some more bin space rented from a neighbor or getting a grain bagging machine,” he said.

The wait was worth it last year.

“For example, basis improved dramatically by mid-October last year,” Stiles said. “We may see a repeat of that this year with harvest starting a little earlier. A lot depends on the ability of barge traffic to navigate normally this fall. Adding further pressure, the U.S. could potentially see record corn and soybean production this year according to USDA’s projections.”

The lower Mississippi River is fed by two big sources, the upper Mississippi River and the Ohio River, which converge at Cairo, Illinois. Kai Roth, senior hydrologist at NOAA’s Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center in Slidell, Louisiana, said the key to the river’s current levels is the Ohio River because the Ohio River can carry a larger volume of water than the Upper Mississippi River can.

“Right now, the Ohio is very low. It’s very dry and there’s not a whole lot of flow coming out of the Ohio,” Stiles said. “The only saving grace right now is actually those floods we had on the upper Mississippi earlier in the year. It’s causing the lower Mississippi River to be a little bit higher than it could be.

“We’re not near the levels like we saw at this time in ‘22 and ’23 — yet,” Roth said, adding that through October, weather in the Mississippi and Ohio basins tend to be dry.

“This time of year, we do not get the spring fronts coming through that produce a lot of rain on the basins,” he said. “I’m looking further out, and I’m really not seeing much in the way of relief — at least in the near term.”

The river levels at Cairo are the bellwether for the lower basin, Roth said. The rises and falls at Cairo translate to the lower part of the river.

“Cairo is our main modeling point. So, when Cairo drops a little bit more than we expected, everything downstream follows suit,” he said.

Find the gauges online:

■ Cairo, Illinois.

■ Memphis, Tennessee.

■ Tunica/Moon Landing, Mississippi.

■ Helena, Arkansas.

MSU Developing Autonomous Soil Health-Sensing System

Mississippi State University researchers are advancing agricultural applications for a sustainable future with a new $750,000 grant to develop cutting-edge, soil health-sensing technology and ultimately improve farm efficiency.

With the ultimate objective of developing an unmanned ground vehicle capable of independently assessing soil health, a team of scientists is using spectroscopic technology that measures the interaction of different wavelengths, or colors, with chemical compounds found in soil.

Leading the team is Nuwan Wijewardane, along with colleagues Vitor Martins and Xin Zhang, all assistant professors in the MSU Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and scientists in the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, or MAFES. The trio will delve into the intricacies of soil by examining its carbon compounds, textures and other properties.

“We want to generate new knowledge and build a system that can go around a field and measure soil health at a minimum cost. Funding from MAFES supported our preliminary research, which led to securing competitive external funding,” Wijewardane said.

The four-year project, funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, could revolutionize soil health research, leading to the development of smart machines that could significantly impact agricultural practices.

“Our LiDAR, or light detection and ranging, and camera-based, visual-guided navigation will enable the vehicle to check its surroundings when it’s in an unstructured environment,” Zhang said. “We will also integrate different sensors and RTK — or real-time kinematics—GPS, providing coordinates to serve as waypoints for the autonomous vehicle.”

Spectroscopic sensing could ease the workload and cost to farmers and offer vastly improved efficiency. Currently, manually sampled soil is sent to an offsite lab where chemical methods are used to measure soil properties, a time-consuming and expensive process. The spectroscopic sensing will measure soil health onsite and in one machine, saving time and money.

This team’s work is coordinated with the MSU Agricultural Autonomy Institute, the nation’s first institute designed to develop and further technology and equipment focused on agricultural autonomy.

“There are great benefits to this technology,” Wijewardane said. “It’s cheaper than other processes of studying long-term soil health. Testing is essentially free once the autonomous vehicle is manufactured because we aren’t shipping the soil off to be tested. The quick process takes place onsite for farmers, soil surveyors or anyone to use.”

Valley Irrigation Honored With Vanguard Award

Valley Irrigation, a global leader in advancing agricultural productivity through precision irrigation technologies, along with Goldcrest Farms Trust Advisors (GFTA), has won the prestigious Vanguard Award for their revitalization of farmland in Arkansas. Valley Irrigation implemented innovative irrigation strategies transforming a staggering 25,000 acres of land near Texarkana, Arkansas.

Valley Irrigation’s award-winning work transformed Goldcrest Farms into one of the premier farming operations in the U.S., serving as a model for efficient farming at scale. With a project scope equivalent to approximately twice the size of Manhattan, the goal of Valley and GFTA was to introduce sustainability while increasing yields for farmers who would lease the land in the future. With a nearby river and a good amount of annual rainfall, Valley Irrigation provided Goldcrest Farms with a heavily tech-infused infrastructure ecosystem to tap into the existing natural resources and garner optimal results.

“Revitalizing 25,000 acres of underused farmland was an opportunity to use the power and potential of our technology for positive transformation,” said Tyler Fields, senior director of global water delivery. “This project demonstrated how sustainable, efficient irrigation can revitalize even the most challenging land into productive farmland.

“Receiving the Vanguard Award is a testament to our industry leadership and the high level of innovation we brought to this project. We are grateful to the Irrigation Association for this prestigious honor.” said Tyler Fields, Senior Director of Global Water Delivery.

Efforts included constructing 33 miles of irrigation ditches, reservoirs and bayous to improve drainage. By doing so, the diesel power units typically required for a farm of this size were decreased by 36%, resulting in lower fuel and electricity costs per acre.

Additionally, the growers of Goldcrest Farms benefit significantly from the innovative remote technology of Valley 365, which empowers them to have
complete control over their water management. This advanced platform ensures the most efficient water use, significantly reducing waste and promoting sustainable farming practices.

Valley Irrigation and GFTA will be officially recognized with the Vanguard Award during the November 2024 Irrigation Show and Education Week in Long Beach, California.