The Road Warrior of Agriculture

This past week I have crisscrossed the United States twice. The extra security, while good, does slow a person down. It is estimated that there are 17 million US business travelers yearly. One hour extra per trip adds up to 17 million lost hours of productivity!

In the Air
Yes, I know it is taking more time to actually get on the plane. But I support anything that the Feds want to do about security. I wanted to bring back some gifts that I was recently given. But I had to ask my customer to mail them instead. Thanks for the gifts, guys. It is now a fact of life that postage has to be included in the giving.

Rumor Mill
Land in western Minnesota sold last Friday at bids above $1,400 per acre, exceeding the $900 to $1,000 per acre norm for land prices. Can corn and beans and government payments justify these values, or are these higher prices a result of investment flight from Wall Street and the hope of capital appreciation?

Soymilk Mustache
I attended a dairy conference out west and industry experts indicated that soymilk demand is one of the fastest growing milk products. This is despite being a small percentage of the total market consumption. Talk about your niche marketing.

Interesting Perspective
A producer panel that I attended last week indicated that the agribusiness infrastructure is growing and consolidating in areas where they perceive that there will be sustainable agricultural producers in a growth mode. What kind of area do you live in?

Detour in the Credit Highway
Lenders become concerned when they observe more than five different sources of credit on the balance sheet. This is referred to as split lines of credit. It can be troublesome in circumstances of a workout. And very unsettling if you don’t know about it ahead of time!

A Full Service Office
I never know what awaits me for chores when I get back home from flying. This week, one of the pulsators and a cap from a milking machine were broken. I don’t know how my two boys did that (notice I blamed them both). I would like to be a fly on the wall and know the real story. You can relate, I am sure. So here we are, in the office, Barbzilla and me trying to take these things apart, looking for the broken parts. Barbzilla has everything in this office, even a screwdriver set. She says they are for the computer, not my manure covered accessories from the barn. But I talked her into helping me. Now we are ordering the parts.

Sports Perspective
The D-backs’ two great flame-throwers effectively shut down the Yanks in the first tow games. Looks like it may be over already. The Yankees have a tough row to hoe.

It was great to see Jordan back on the court! His defense is what impresses me.

What will the BCS football selection process do if ALL the top teams lose at least one game?

Next week I will be reporting from Wisconsin. Bundle up. The cold is coming!

My e-mail address is:sullylab@vt.edu

Editors' note: Dave Kohl, Soybean Digest Trends Editor, is an ag economist at Virginia Tech. He recently completed a sabbatical working with the Royal Bank of Canada. He is now back at Virginia Tech with his academic appointment, which is teaching, extension, and applied research.

To see Dave Kohl's previous road warrior adventures type Dave Kohl in the Search blank at the top of the page.

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