Small Town News

Rural Route #8

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The view from

Hope.

Hope is what we're experiencing right now as experts and regular people call for stabilization of nearly everything as we dig out from under snow, ice and football.

Despite an expected record South American soybean harvest just underway, the farm outlook is pretty even-keeled. The experts are saying don't look for the record prices of 2008 and even those of 2009, but they're not despairing, either, in part because they don't think crude oil is going to approach $145 a barrel as it did when corn was $10-$ 12 a bushel. The outlook is that barring some major flare-up (no pun intended) in the oil production regions, oil should be pretty stable. Some think $80 a barrel is $10 too high.

They're thinking interest rates will remain low. The seers and prophets are also saying that the general economy is stabilizing, and that the rate of job loss will slow down and the demand for certain goods will show signs of life. Automobiles are mentioned in that breath. Coming too, it is said, are affordable electric cars. That's great, but will the electricity to recharge their batteries be affordable? Sorry, I was moving toward sarcasm about electricity production, wondering how the leaders of the world can move away from coal without replacing coal's megawatts. Tell me again, nuclear is out, wind is inadequate and what's the new work horse? Natural gas? And have you read your electric bill lately? There's a charge on it for everything but harboring woodpeckers on utility poles. It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.

One thing about the great storm that clobbered much of Kansas and other states is that it provided folks with a diary full of stories to tell the grandchildren. Plus, its calling cards have yet to melt much, except where the sun made the top of packed snow slick and icy.

Nature keeps trying to say she's No. 1. Oh, and the economic experts think the recession will linger well into 2010, despite the somewhat lessening of the ill effects of 2009.

After the low temperatures of the autumn and the ample moisture, there should be plenty of water in the ground to begin the next crops for 2010. That is, if the stuff melts before June. There are piles of snow along some roads that are higher than the cab tops.

It's difficult to believe, but corn planting season should be kicking off in about 12 or 13 weeks. Field work last fall was difficult to finish, particularly when one recalls that harvest ran well into December. Therefore, to borrow a phrase from football games, farmers might have to go into a "hurry-up offense" this spring.

This isn't a prediction, but history can repeat itself. The last great snowstorm was 1979-80, and after it all melted, that was all the wetness there was for six months. Torrid early summer temperatures melted down the corn crop, killing pollen wholesale. It was one for the ages. Genetics are much better, and probably the equipment is, too. And, no two years are exactly alike. On the other hand, we're about due for a bad hot dry spell, just as people for years have said we were due for an old fashioned winter full of snow and zero chill. Well, they finally hit their forecasts.

The winter has been cold already across much of the nation, compared to recent years, and home heating demand, and maybe speculative index funds, has instilled some upward movement into natural gas prices. There also is a growing demand for natural gas to fuel vehicles. If the higher prices for natural gas hold, look for higher nitrogen fertilizer prices this spring and look for higher propane costs to heat rural homes, shops and grain dryers.



Copyright 2010 The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise, Alma, Kansas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise Alma, Kansas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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