PLANTS THAT MINE METAL! China Buys Soybeans & Colorado Gator | Daily Farm Brief

Good morning, Farm Nation, and hello, Truck City. This is FarmTale's Unplugged Daily Farm Brief for Friday, October 16th. Brought to you by World TradeX, empowering farmers. I'm Rick Portanova. We start with new soybean orders from China, a harvest still running behind, and new funding to connect farmers with food banks. We'll check grain and livestock prices, then visit two farms that found unusual ways to build a business. Plus, plants that collect metal and a quiet hunter working the night shift. If you enjoy this show, would you give us a follow, a like, or a share? That would be fantastic. So grab your coffee, fire up whatever you're driving, and let's find out what was happening while you were busy actually working. China has booked another round of American soybeans. On Thursday, USDA reported sales of 330,000 metric tons to China. That follows Wednesday's announcement of 470,000 tons. Together, that's 800,000 metric tons booked for delivery during the current marketing year. Thursday's report also included more than 280,000 tons sold to destinations that have not been named. Those are sales commitments, the beans still have to be shipped. Meanwhile, American growers are bringing in the crop. USDA's latest weekly report put soybean harvest at 46% through Sunday. That's a big jump from 25% the week before, although it still trails the five-year average. Corn harvest reached 33% compared with the usual 39. So there's progress in the fields and fresh business on the export side. We'll see what that means for prices in Market Watch. Next story: Farms and Food Banks. There's new money aimed at getting products into food banks. The John Deere Foundation announced an $18.5 million commitment this week. $17 million goes to Feeding America over three years. The work includes expanding an Iowa program that connects food banks with local producers. Another million and a half goes to the Farm Link Project, which finds surplus crops and arranges transportation. FarmLink expects that grant to help recover more than 6 million pounds of fresh produce over three years. For growers, there are two opportunities here: building a relationship with a food bank that buys local food and finding a destination for surplus crop. And for food banks, the transportation matters. Available produce doesn't help a family until somebody can get it off the farm and into their community. Now, a farm where the harvest might end up in your shower. On California's central coast, Deanne Kuhn turned growing loofahs into a business. A college botany project introduced her to the plants. She kept growing them as a hobby, then started her business in 1999. Her place in Napomo is called the loofah farm. Loofas are gourds related to cucumbers. When they're young and tender, they can be eaten as a vegetable. Let them mature, and something very different develops inside. A network of tough plant fibers. The gourds turn brown as they mature. Peel away the skin, remove the seeds, wash them, and let them dry. There's your sponge. The farm grows heirloom varieties and says it avoids harsh chemical and heat treatments. It also welcomes visitors who want to come see the process. That's what makes this little crop so interesting. The vine grows the shape and the fibers. The farmer's job is to grow it well, harvest it, and reveal what's inside. Here's Market Watch using Thursday afternoon's futures quoted just after 1 o'clock central. December corn was $4.78 a bushel, down nearly $3. November soybeans were $12.65, down 12.25 cents. December Chicago wheat was $6.71.25 down two cents. So those new soybean sales hadn't lifted prices by that point. Harvest supplies were still coming in, and market reports pointed to pressure from a stronger dollar, which can make American grain more expensive overseas. Livestock moved the other way. December live cattle were up about $2.08 at $227.20 per hundred weight. December lean hogs were also higher. Those are future prices your local cash bid will reflect local demand and delivery terms. The picture Thursday afternoon: weaker grains, stronger livestock, and export buying that hadn't yet turned soybeans around. A Colorado family needed a way to deal with fish scraps. Their answer was to buy a hundred baby alligators. Irwin and Lynn Young started a fish farm in southern Colorado. Naturally warm water from underground made it possible to raise tilapia. That water comes out at 87 degrees. It provided warmth in a place where winter can be bitterly cold. But raising fish also meant dealing with dead fish and processing scraps. In 1987, the youngs brought in alligators to eat those leftovers. The reptiles grew. People heard about them and wanted to come see them. The farm opened to the public in 1990. Then another need appeared. People who could no longer care for their pet reptiles began bringing them to the farm. The operation became Colorado Gators, now a rescue and education center. An answer to a fish farm problem had become a whole new part of the family business and a home for animals their owners could no longer keep. For today's high-tech moment, imagine harvesting a field for the metal inside its plants. Some plants pull nickel from the soil and store it in their leaves and their stems. Nickel goes into stainless steel and some rechargeable batteries. University of Florida researchers are studying a native wildflower called milkwort jewelflower. Their goal is to develop bigger plants that collect more nickel. University of Florida researchers are studying a native wildflower called milkwort Jewelflower. Their goal is to develop bigger plants that collect more nickel. Here's how that process would work. Grow the crop on suitable nickel-rich ground. Harvest it, dry it, and process the plant material to recover the metal. One method burns the dried plants and leaves behind metal-rich ash for further processing. The plants don't create nickel, they gather what's already in the soil. That could make certain ground useful even where ordinary crops would struggle. The Florida work is still research. Bigger harvest, recovery costs, and the amount of nickel available will determine whether it pays. But the possibility is remarkable. A crop grown for the metal it contains. Let's open the old farmer's almanac and step outside for a minute. An owl can pass over a field so quietly that you notice the movement before you hear anything. The barn owl is especially good at it. Its soft feathers help muffle the sound of flight. That gives a mouse very little warning. And that white heart-shaped face does a lot more than just make the bird easy to recognize. It helps gather sound and direct it towards the ears. And those ears sit at slightly different heights. That helps the owl pinpoint where the sound is coming from. It can locate prey by hearing it move, even in complete darkness. But if you're expecting a gentle hoot, you may be surprised. Barn Owl's familiar call is a rough, rasping scream. Quite a sound from such a quiet flyer. For farmers, these birds can be very useful neighbors. They eat mice and rats. If you want to look for one, watch an open field around dusk. Stay quiet, give it room. Where there's suitable hunting habitat but few nesting places, a properly designed barn owl box may help. As October evenings get longer, take a moment to notice what moves along the field's edge. A pale shape passing over the grass may be a barn owl searching for its next meal. Today, new soybean orders from China, harvest progress and funding to connect farms with food banks. We checked grain and livestock prices, visited a loofah grower and Colorado's alligators, and we looked at plants that collect metal. Then we stepped outside with a barn owl. And if you'd like more information about the topics we cover, there's a matching blog for every episode we release. You'll find it on our website, farmtailsunplugged.com. To farm nation, have a safe and productive day. To Truck City, keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down. The future of food starts with the people who grow it and depends on the people who move it. And there you have it. That's your FarmTales Unplugged daily farm brief for Friday, October 16th. Brought to you by World Trade X, empowering farmers. I'm Rick Portanova, and we'll see you Monday morning.