Sometimes an ag news item comes across my notification feed and lingers in the back of my head. This is not intended to be an ag news brief summary. It’s the “other” ag news – the ridiculous, the wow-that’s-cool, the impossible, the you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me news.

Lynn Jaynes

Emeritus Editor

Lynn Jaynes retired as an editor in 2023.

Item 1: Silage wrap recycled

From: Irish Farmers Journal

The equivalent of 18 million bales worth of silage wrap was recycled in 2022. Bale wrap and silage covers were pelletized, then used in a range of products from bin bags, garden furniture and pipes. Further, empty fertilizer bags were recycled into fenceposts.

Just my opinion

I drive by a pile of bale twine and silage wrap about once a week. It’s actually several piles and takes up about as much land space as four grain bins. I have for years followed some recycling efforts to manage this stuff, but nothing has really taken off. What’s the problem, I wonder? Getting the plastic to the recycler? Cleaning it well enough to reuse? I suppose there are many problems, but surely someone can figure this out. Any takers?

Item 2: 

“The Niggs lost their home to a fire on their family farm in Sisseton, South Dakota, on March 19, 2020. According to [Amanda] Nigg, her mental health plummeted and she turned to fitness as an escape. Having just lost her home, she had to get creative out on the farm. She used equipment such as tires, cinder blocks, bags of seed or anything she could use to work up a sweat.”

Just my opinion

This story hits home for me as I write from a gray, dreary spring (supposed to be spring but feels like winter) day where the landscape is a mottled gray-brown and could use a little cheering up. It’s definitely a glass-is-half-full story that so many of us find inspiring. Nigg didn’t buy fitness equipment or a gym membership. She works out in her shop with tires, feed bags and buckets of oats. With 40,000 Instagram followers now, her story just keeps spreading. It makes me want to get up off the couch, put my laptop away and get active.

Item 3: Beyond Meat losses continue

From a Beyond Meat press release: 

Fourth-quarter 2022 financial highlights

• Net revenues were $79.9 million, a decrease of 20.6% year-over-year.
• Gross profit was a loss of $2.9 million, or gross margin of -3.7% of net revenues.
• Net loss was $66.9 million, or $1.05 per common share. Net loss as a percentage of net revenues was -83.6%.
• Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization) was a loss of $56.5 million, or -70.7% of net revenues.

Full year 2022 financial highlights

• Net revenues were $418.9 million, a decrease of 9.8% year-over-year.
• Gross profit was a loss of $23.7 million, or gross margin of -5.7% of net revenues.
• Net loss was $366.1 million, or $5.75 per common share. Net loss as a percentage of net revenues was -87.4%.
• Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $278 million, or -66.4% of net revenues.

Beyond Meat President and CEO Ethan Brown said, “Our fourth-quarter results clearly demonstrate delivery against our strategy and plan, including solid sequential progress on margin recovery and operating expense reduction, and continued inventory drawdown. We are proud of our team's continued pace of innovation including Beyond Steak, which continues to win awards for its taste and outstanding health profile, as well as the just-launched McPlant Nuggets in Germany, the second plant-based protein co-developed with Beyond Meat as part of the McPlant platform. As we navigate current conditions, we remain intently focused on positioning Beyond Meat to capture the vast opportunity to be a major protein provider in the 1.4 trillion dollar meat industry and play a leadership role in transitioning global consumers to delicious plant-based meats in support of critically important health, climate, environmental and animal welfare objectives."

Just my opinion

Sign that guy up for a political appointment. I’ve got a new washing machine that doesn’t spin as well as he does. “Clearly demonstrate …” Really? Did he just say “clearly”? Clear to who? But “clearly” he doesn’t feel this is the time to face reality. No – instead, he’s going to run at this failure with renewed insanity by adding McPlant Nuggets, Beyond Steak and Beyond Meat Jerky.  

But this is the part that really kills me: 

The company's operating environment continues to be affected by near-term uncertainty related to macroeconomic issues, including inflation and rising interest rates, demand in the plant-based meat category, increasing concerns about the likelihood of a recession, increased competition, supply chain disruptions, challenges related to labor availability and, to a lesser extent, COVID-19 and its potential impact on consumer behavior and demand levels, among other things, all of which could have unforeseen impacts on the company’s actual realized results.  

In other words, “Gee, this is tougher than we thought and there seem to be lots of production hurdles.” Since they appear to have just come from the back lot (and naively assume no one else in the food production business has these issues), let me be the first to say, “Welcome to the big leagues, boys.”

Item 4: Kubota’s vegetable-oil-fueled tractor

“Kubota announced last year that all Kubota diesel engines in Europe were approved to use paraffin-based fuels that comply with European standard EN15940. This permits the use of gas-to-liquid (GTL) and hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuels complying with the standard, enabling a reduction in CO₂ emissions of up to 90% with no engine modifications needed. To expand on this, Kubota is happy to announce that the use of HVO is also approved for use in Kubota diesel engines in the United States.”

Just my opinion

Do engineers have any idea how rural farming is? We’re not talking about bedroom communities where every “farm” has 2 acres. Production farmers would spend more in fossil fuel traveling from their remote areas to collect the vegetable oil, from where – restaurants? Because there are so many large restaurants in rural America? I get that everyone is scrambling to reduce carbon emissions, and it’s wildly popular at the moment to promise pie-in-the-sky solutions – but, come on, let’s get real.