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Since 1970, April 22 has been celebrated as Earth Day, and is now
observed by 500 million people and governments in 175 countries. It's
one day that millions of people pause in the midst of their busy
routines to step outside and enjoy the spring sunshine while pondering
their personal contributions to the earth.
Coincidentally, Nebraska native Julius Sterling Morton was born on April
22. You might recognize him as the founder of Arbor Day, a national
tree-planting holiday initiated in 1872. In the U.S., you can celebrate
this holiday by planting a tree next Friday.
For ag folks, celebrating the earth and the environment is something we
do every day. We get our hands dirty caring for the soil, livestock and
wildlife and are thankful we've been entrusted with such a grand task.
We can learn from those honored folks in the cattle business who have
been Environmental Stewardship Award Program nominees (check out what
past winners have done at www.beef-mag.com; type "ESAP" into the site
search).
Yet, there is still much to learn. No-till farming has reduced soil
erosion, conservation programs continue to create habitats for wildlife,
and effective manure management helps keep waterways clean and safe.
The take-home question is: how is your operation making Earth a better
place? Your answer is what we need to communicate to the
non-agricultural industry to debunk misconceptions about our business.
We all have a great story to tell -- whether it's putting up duck
houses, planting trees to reduce wind erosion, or implementing
strategies to reduce and utilize manure waste -- it's our story, and it
needs to be heard.
-- Alaina Burt
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There's a lot at stake for the cattle industry in the upcoming farm
bill. The cattle industry has always taken pride in not being subsidized
and not accepting undue government meddling in our business. It's also
always been a strong advocate for individual choice and allowing the
marketplace to work. Some argue the industry has paid a price for such
independence, while others argue it's a cheap price and well worth it.
Click here to read more of this story by Troy
Marshall
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The Senate Agriculture Committee and the House Agriculture Livestock
Subcommittee held hearings this week to review competition issues
affecting the livestock and meat industries. There was a wide variation
of opinions expressed by the various farm organizations, producer groups
and industry about the study that concluded that restrictions on the use
of contractual agreements would have a negative economic effect on
packers, producers and consumers.
Click here to read more of this story by
P. Scott Shearer,
Washington, D.C., correspondent
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Washington is muscling Tokyo to provide a concrete deadline for
softening its 20-months-of-age requirement for U.S. imported beef, the
Kyodo News reports. Citing unnamed sources, the article says the
U.S. is hinting it may carry the dispute to the World Trade
Organization.
The news comes just ahead of a planned trip to Washington by Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later this month. During the meeting, Tokyo
expects President Bush to prod Abe to settle the issue.
Last month, USDA Secretary Mike Johanns said Japan should act swiftly to
relax its import restrictions with next month's anticipated announcement
by the World Organization for Animal Health granting controlled-risk BSE
status to the U.S. The Kyodo News says invigorated U.S. pressure
on the Japanese is coming on the heels of South Korea's announcement it
will allow the importation of U.S. bone-in beef as part of recently
concluded free-trade agreement negotiations, though nothing is set in
stone.
-- Joe Roybal
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A bill introduced in the California Legislature would require the
clear labeling of meat and milk from cloned animals, reports meatprocess.com.
State Sen. Carole Migden's SB 63 had its first legislative hearing in
the Senate Health Committee this week.
Midgen, who was joined in her proposal by the Center for Food Safety and
Consumers Union, argues that if FDA ultimately allows meat and milk from
cloned cows into the food chain, such products should be labeled.
"People have the right to know if food is organic, if it contains
pesticides or growth-promoting hormones, or if it's from cloned or
natural-bred animals. Consumers certainly don't want to wrestle with
moral issues like cloning while they're doing the family grocery
shopping," she says.
-- Joe Roybal
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USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration
(GIPSA) today published in the Federal Register changes to the
rules of practice governing proceedings under the Packers and Stockyards
Act (PSA). The changes, effective immediately, will allow GIPSA and
alleged PSA violators to settle cases in a more timely and less costly
manner. It also provides GIPSA with another enforcement tool to obtain
compliance in lieu of letters and warnings.
Click here to read more of this story by
USDA's
GIPSA
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North Dakota's wild and farmed deer and elk populations remain free
of chronic wasting disease (CWD), testing by the state's Game and Fish
Department shows, the Bismarck Tribune reports.
Last fall, North Dakota hunters submitted samples for testing from 2,993
wild deer, 37 elk and four moose collected during the 2006 hunting
season. All samples tested negative. Since 2002, nearly 8,500 North
Dakota deer and 147 elk have tested negative for CWD.
Wildlife veterinarian Erika Butler says the state will continue its
aggressive surveillance program, testing suspect animals throughout the
year and continuing the agency's hunter-harvest surveillance in the
fall. CWD affects the nervous system of members of the deer family and
is always fatal. No evidence exists that CWD can be transmitted
naturally to humans or livestock.
-- Joe Roybal
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Early plantings make good yields, according to Robert Wisner,
grain-marketing economist at Iowa State, and the cold, rainy weather so
far this spring isn't helping with the livestock industry's need for a
bin-buster this fall.
USDA's planting progress report Monday will give a good indication of
where we are, but Wisner thinks we'll be considerably behind past years.
For example, he points out that on April 23 last year, Iowa farmers had
planted 26% of their corn acres. Planting progress this year is
considerably behind that pace.
USDA's planting intentions report indicated 90 million acres will be
planted to corn this year. Wisner thinks actual acres will be a little
less than that due to the weather, but we'll still plant plenty of corn
this year. Corn acres, based on the planting intentions, will be up
almost 16%, an increase of 12.3 million acres, assuming 90 million acres
planted. Those acres will come from soybeans, down 8.4 million acres;
cotton and rice, down 3.2 million acres; and spring wheat and flax, down
1.2 million acres.
-- Burt Rutherford
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The U.S. economy is doing well, according to Jason Henderson,
executive of the Omaha branch of the Kansas City Federal Reserve. But
inflation may be lying in wait.
The U.S. has seen solid Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth since 2004,
he says, and the economy grew at a solid pace in 2006. For 2007, the Fed
predicts real GDP growth will be 2.5-3% and 2.75-3% in 2008.
Unemployment will remain at a healthy 4.5-4.75% for '07 and '08. Both
those indicators give strong signals that the economy is on track.
However, several risks are looming which may play a role in economic
performance, he says. Those include declining housing starts, high
energy prices, whether business investment remains strong, and
inflation. With low unemployment comes higher wages, and Henderson
points out that if economic production slows, we may see inflationary
pressures increase.
Time will tell whether the inflationary risk factors come to the fore.
However, the Fed's economic outlook for '07 and '08 is generally
positive. So far in 2007, GDP is slightly below the long-term trend line
of 3% growth, he says. "But that's OK, because we're concerned with
inflation." However, he says most market economists expect we'll be back
to the 3% historical trend by the end of the year.
-- Burt Rutherford
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For those who live with imported red fire ants, help can't come
quickly enough. But, according to USDA's Agricultural Research Service
(ARS), help may be on the way.
ARS researchers in Gainesville, FL, are working with an ant-infecting
virus that occurs in about 20% of imported red fire ant fields, where it
appears to cause the slow death of infected colonies. While the research
is in its early stages, it's the first confirmed virus to be recovered
from red imported fire ants.
In the laboratory, the virus has proven both self-sustaining and
transmissible. Once introduced, it can eliminate a colony within 2-3
months, leading the researchers to think is has potential for becoming a
viable biopesticide for controlling the ants.
-- Burt Rutherford
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The North Carolina Senate voted Wednesday to permanently ban new hog
operations utilizing waste-collection lagoons and spray application of
the effluent onto fields. Passed by a unanimous vote, the bill
permanently extends the moratorium in place since 1997.
The bill would ban the construction of waste lagoons on hog farms as of
Sept. 1 and offer farmers up to $500,000 in aid if they voluntarily
install more environmentally friendly (and some say prohibitively
expensive) disposal systems, reports the Charlotte News &
Observer. Existing facilities can continue in use.
The North Carolina Pork Council (NCPC) chose not to fight the measure,
the article says. "Just looking at the economic and political climate,
we are willing to accept these standards for new and expanding farms and
move forward," said Deborah Johnson, NCPC CEO.
North Carolina is the nation's second-largest hog producer -- with 9.5
million swine on more than 2,300 farms, mostly in the eastern part of
the state.
-- Joe Roybal
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Retail gasoline prices increased for the 11th straight week,
climbing 7.4¢ to $2.876/gal. for the week of April 16. Meanwhile,
retail diesel prices were also up, rising 3.7¢ to $2.877/gal.,
reports the Energy Information Administration.
Gasoline prices are 9.3¢ higher than at this time last year, and
all regions reported higher prices. East Coast prices were up 8.4¢
to $2.839/gal., while the Midwest price rose 6.3¢ to $2.807, and
the Gulf Coast saw the largest regional increase at 8.8¢ to $2.763.
Rocky Mountain prices jumped 8.2¢ to $2.801, while the West Coast
was up 5.7¢ cents to $3.195, and the average price for regular
grade in California was up 5.3¢ to $3.305/gal. -- 40.9¢/gal.
more than last year's price.
Meanwhile, retail diesel prices are 11.2¢/gal. higher than at this
time last year, with all regions reporting an increase. The East Coast
price jumped the most -- 4.9¢ to $2.862/gal., while the Midwest
price was up 2.9¢ to $2.864, and the Gulf Coast up 3.9¢ to
$2.849. Rocky Mountain diesel was up 3¢ to $2.981/gal., while the
West Coast increased 3.5¢ to $2.956. Diesel in California price
rose 3.7¢ to $3.015, 8.2¢ more than at this time last year.
-- Energy Information Administration release
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Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) introduced legislation (H.R.1586) that
would permanently repeal the estate tax. Ending the estate tax or "death
tax" has been a priority of many agricultural organizations especially
the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association. With the current budget deficit, the likelihood of passage
is remote.
-- P. Scott Shearer, Washington, D.C.,
correspondent
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Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D-SD) introduced legislation (H.R. 1649) to
prevent the closure of Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices for 12 months.
Herseth says, "It's common sense that we would wait until we have more
information about the specific demands the 2007 Farm Bill will place on
our already busy FSA offices before jumping to any conclusions."
-- P. Scott Shearer, Washington, D.C.,
correspondent
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While they may not be scrambling quite as fast as an alley cat at a
dog show, National Cattlemen's Beef Association lobbyists in Washington,
D.C. don't lack for things to do to keep them busy, says Jay Truitt,
head of the Washington legislative efforts for the cattle industry.
Truitt says a series of priorities are hitting all at once and that's
keeping things interesting and busy.
"Korea and Japan are on the cusp," he says, "and we have to what we have
to do to get them open." Even if that means opposing the
recently-negotiated free trade agreement if Korea continues to refuse to
open its beef market to commercially viable trade. "We need another
Mexico to keep us shored up," he says, pointing out that our neighbors
to the south are now buying around $1.4 billion in U.S. beef a
year.
Other challenges include farm bill reauthorization, disaster assistance,
tax cut extensions, renewable fuels, environmental issues and the
ongoing assault that animal rights activists are waging on
cattlemen.
"The horse slaughter bill is just the first step. If they're successful
in getting that passed, antibiotics will be the next thing on their
agenda and they will work to take away your ability to use any
antibiotics in animal production," he says.
Truitt adds that anti-beef groups like the Humane Society of the United
States and PETA are becoming significant players in the political game.
"We have to create passion on our side," he says, to counter their
emotional arguments. "Right now, they are out-generating us on phone
calls to elected officials 20,000 to 1 on the horse slaughter
bill."
-- Burt Rutherford
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MAKE YOUR CLICK COUNT!
Interested in what direction the industry's taking? Wonder what other
producers are doing? Want to register your opinion and make your voice
heard? Vote in the Producer Poll each week and be part of the big
picture.
Click here to
answer this week's question: What time of the year do you typically
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After answering, find out more about this subject from a Novartis
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Stay tuned next week for the poll results and a new question. Sponsored
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The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) called on Congress to
reject legislation (H.R. 962 and S. 549) that would remove important
antibiotics and classes of antibiotics from the market. AFBF said, "In
order to raise healthy animals, we need tools to keep animals healthy --
including medicines that have been approved as safe and effective by the
Food and Drug Administration. To restrict access to these important
tools will jeopardize animal health and compromise our ability to
contribute to the public health through food safety." The legislation
seeks to:
- Phase out the non-therapeutic use in livestock of medically
important antibiotics, unless their manufacturers can show that they
pose no danger to the public health;
- Require this same tough standard of new applications for approval of
animal antibiotics;
- Provide for federal payments to farmers to defray their costs in
switching to antibiotic-free husbandry practices, with a preference
given to family farms;
- Authorize grants for research and demonstration programs on means to
reduce the use of antibiotics in the raising of livestock;
- Require manufacturers to report the amounts of antibiotics they
supply for animal use, the animals to which those drugs are given, and
the uses for which those drugs are supplied.
The measure does not seek to restrict use of antibiotics to treat sick
animals or to treat pets and other animals not used for food.
This issue will be debated this year in Congress.
-- P. Scott Shearer, Washington, D.C.,
correspondent
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The POWER of one BRAND can change your future in the beef
business.
Certified Angus Beef ®, the oldest, most successful branded
beef program in the industry returned more than $50 million in grid
premiums in 2003. The demand for CAB® brand products translates into
fed cattle premiums of $2-$5/cwt. Source-verified, high-percentage Angus
replacement females often top auctions by selling for $50-$100 per head
above cash market. Sale barn surveys conducted at nine auction markets
indicated premiums are paid, not for black-hided cattle, but for
high-percentage-Angus cattle.
One brand, one breed--the power of one can change your future in the
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Certified Angus Beef® and CAB® are registered trademarks of
Certified Angus Beef, LLC
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Preregistration ends May 15 for the 40th anniversary celebration of
the Beef Improvement Federation. Set for June 6-9 in the Hilton Fort
Collins, in Fort Collins, CO, the annual meeting will focus on the
future of genetic evaluation and improvement with a variety of
presenters from around the country.
Visit www.beefimprovement.org to check out the program
or register. Click on the "conventions" tag. Or contact Willie
Altenburg, 970/568-7792, willie@rmi.net or Mark Enns at
970/491-2722, Mark.Enns@Colostate.edu.
-- BIF news release
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Colorado State University and USDA's Risk Management Agency are
offering a risk- and financial-management seminar specifically tailored
for women in agriculture. The seminar is June 21 in Steamboat Springs,
CO.
The one-day conference uses hands-on instruction -- including computer
simulation and spreadsheets -- to help participants determine their
operation's financial health, measure and set their own risk management
goals, and identify the individual risks that may affect their
operation. The day's last session is an open forum on the unique risks
participants face as female agricultural producers and to provide
feedback and advice on how to manage those issues.
For more on the free seminar, visit www.agwomenandrisk.com.
-- CSU release
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