The Farm Post eNews

Friday eNews from the Pike and Scott County Farm Bureaus
 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

Transport Bill Key to Strong Ag
Strong infrastructure, such as highways and bridges, is hugely important in keeping U.S. agriculture competitive and consumer costs down, Farm Bureau and 27 other agricultural organizations wrote to House members in a letter urging them to pass multi-year legislation that provides adequate funding for surface transportation infrastructure programs. "While all modes of transportation are important to agriculture, trucks move almost all agricultural commodities from the field to the warehouse and also transport 64 percent of grains and oilseeds from warehouse to end user," the groups wrote.

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Keep Kids Harvest Safe
Keeping children safe while they live, play and work on farms can be challenging. It's even more difficult during harvest season - a peak time for agricultural injuries. Long hours, a flurry of activity, less-than-ideal weather conditions and work with large machines make corn, milo and soybean harvest a dangerous time. People and equipment are pushed to the limit. Every machine - combine, truck, tractor, grain cart or auger - offers its own unique hazards. Operator knowledge and attitude remain the key to a smooth, well-oiled fall harvest. A safe operator knows his or her skills, limitations and condition, both physical and emotional.
USDA Ups Avg by 1 Bu
Here are the numbers for the Sept. crop production report. USDA raised Illinois' corn and soybean average yield by one bushel. Ilinois' corn production now forecast at 2.015 billion bushels; soybeans at 544.3 million bushels. Illinois's corn yield now at 173 bushels per acre; soybeans at 54.

Enter by 10/30                   
How would you like to be cruising the country in a brand new Ford F-150? Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) members are eligible to win a 2-year lease during the Built Tough F-150 Haul in a Winner Sweepstakes! The all-new 2015 F-150 works harder and smarter than ever before, with its military grade, aluminum-alloy body, best in class towing, and payload. The future of tough is here, and it starts and ends with the 2015 F-150. There's nothing to buy, but so much to win! IFB members are also eligible to receive $500 Bonus Cash toward the purchase or lease of any eligible vehicle from the comfortable and capable lineup of Ford cars and trucks. If you're not already an Illinois Farm Bureau member, contact your county Farm Bureau to sign up and enter the Built Tough F-150 Sweepstakes! Enter the sweepstakes before October 30, 2015 to be eligible to win.
  
               
TODAY IN HISTORY
SEPTEMBER 18, 1977
  
On September 18, 1977, Voyager 1 took the first photo of the Earth and Moon as a single image from space. Later in its trip to the outer planets, it looked back through Saturn's rings and snapped an image of Earth in what is now called the 'Pale Blue Dot'. 
 
 In the 1970s, NASA's leadership conceived their most daring planetary science expedition, Voyager. It took advantage of a rare astronomical event. Once every 176 years, the giant planets on the outer reaches of the solar system all gather on one side of the sun, and such a configuration was due to occur in the late 1970s. This geometric lineup made possible in a single flight close-up observation of all the planets in the outer solar system (with the exception of Pluto), the "Grand Tour."
 
The last imaging sequence was Voyager 1's portrait of most of the solar system, showing Earth and six other planets as sparks in a dark sky lit by a single bright star, the Sun. In the first decade of the twenty-first century Voyager 1 continued to provide important scientific data about the heliopause, the outer limits of the Sun's magnetic field and outward flow of the solar wind. Voyage 1 is now the farthest man-made object from Earth.
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