Page 10 - Logan County Farm Outlook - Spring 2013

2013 LOGAN COUNTY FARM OUTLOOK MAGAZINE. LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com March 21, 2013
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will also be hurt by the 2012 drought
because they won’t be able to sell and
apply as much product for the 2013
production year.
Local hub towns like Lincoln, Mount
Pulaski, and Delavan were also hurt
by the drought of 2012. When rains
failed to come in late June and early
July, people stopped buying things in
town and slowed down payment on the
products and services they had already
purchased on account out of fear. The
local economies of the towns supplying
nonagricultural products and services
were greatly affected because the
optimism for a normal corn yield was
lost, and businesses put on the brakes
as they saw their cash flow slow to a
trickle.
But not everybody got hurt. Current
federalbankingandfinancingregulations
prevented the farm financing industry
from taking risks without adequate
coverage and collateral, so ag financiers
seemingly were not injured by the 2012
drought.
The insurance agents and agencies
selling federal crop protection insurance
made their commissions on the policies
they sold but were not injured by claims
because they were paid out of the deep
pockets of the federal government rather
than local coffers. Insurance agencies
selling crop insurance should in fact
see a rise in 2013 crop insurance sales
because the remaining holdouts have
now become believers because of their
2012 losses.
And it is said that local producers who
with foresight and planning purchased
federal crop protection also made out
all right, all the way from having their
inputs covered to having some of their
normal profits protected as well.
Bauer said the producers coming
to the elevator in February for coffee
and doughnuts in the morning were
expressing optimism about the 2013
production year because they have
seen precipitation here in Logan County
at the right times and the right amounts,
and that water was once again starting
to flow from farm tiles. The National
Weather Service and the Old Farmer’s
Almanac both predict that we will have
normal precipitation in this area in
2013, along with warmer than normal
temperatures.
And Bauer himself expresses
optimism in the 2013 production year
and hopes that the drought of 2012 was
the kind of event that only happens once
in the career of an elevator manager.
[Jim Youngquist]