“Improvement of India’s Agriculture Focus of Agreements”
President Obama and India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have agreed that the two nations will work together to accelerate development and deployment of clean energy technologies and strengthen cooperation on adaptation to climate change, climate, science, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from forests and land use.
The agreements mark the beginning of the Indo-U.S. Clean Energy Research and Deployment Initiative which will include a Joint Research Center operating in both the United States and India to foster innovation and joint efforts to accelerate deployment of clean energy technologies. The Initiative will facilitate joint research, scientific exchanges, and sharing of proven innovation and deployment policies.
The two nations also launched a new Agriculture Dialogue and agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Cooperation and Food Security that will set a pathway to robust cooperation between the governments in crop forecasting, management and market information. Also, they will work on expanded access to knowledge to improve productivity, safety, and nutritional quality of food crops; to strengthen market institutions and foster growth of agribusiness investment and improve food security and access to adequate quantities and quality of food, particularly for women and young children.
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“Feed a Neighbor Campaign Begins”
The President’s United We Serve: Feed A Neighbor initiative was kicked off Tuesday, after USDA reported that the current level of hunger in America is at the highest it’s has been since 1995. This new initiative is designed to raise awareness of hunger issues and equips Americans with the resources to mobilize against the hunger crisis. The Corporation for National and Community Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the White House joined together to launch the program.
Nicola Goren, Acting CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, says – the need can seem overwhelming, but it’s not insurmountable. Goren points out – this initiative provides individuals with the tools to identify needs in their community and ways they can ensure that their neighbors have enough to eat. The two major components of the initiative include an anti-hunger volunteer toolkit developed by USDA that provides information about how individuals can directly and immediately affect hunger and access to service opportunities in their local community.
Special Assistant to the President, Joshua DuBois, emphasizes that – in the coming days and weeks, the White House will continue to shine a spotlight on this critical issue, and the Feed A Neighbor initiative is the next crucial step.
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“2010 Energy Drilling Lease Sales Announced”
The Department of the Interior has scheduled 38 oil and natural gas lease sales for U.S. public lands in 2010. This includes a first sale in nearly two years in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says – during the past year we have held 32 onshore lease sales, offering more than 2.7 million acres in the West and generating more than 126-million dollars in revenue for American taxpayers.
The 2010 quarterly oil and natural gas lease sales will offer thousands of parcels in a dozen states, most in the West. The BLM’s Alaska State Office oil and gas lease sale will offer available tracts in the Northeast and a portion of the Northwest areas of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. That sale is scheduled for August 11 in Anchorage.
Secretary Salazar says, – oil, gas and coal will continue to play an important role in our energy mix, as we develop and expand the use of wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable sources. BLM will hold four more lease sales this year, for a total of 36.
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“Bio-Oil and Biochar May be Future of Corn Stover”
Researchers around the world are trying to economically convert cellulosic biomass such as corn stover into “cellulosic ethanol.” But Agricultural Research Service scientists have found that it might be more cost-effective, energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable to use corn stover for generating an energy-rich oil called bio-oil and for making biochar to enrich soils and sequester carbon.
The research, under-written by the National Corn Growers Association, suggests it could be more cost-effective to produce bio-oil through a distributed network of small pyrolyzers and then transport the crude bio-oil to central refining plants to make “green gasoline,” rather than transporting bulky stover to a large centralized cellulosic ethanol plant. Researchers found that the bio-oil captured 70 percent of the total energy input, and the energy density of the bio-oil was five to 16 times the energy density of the feedstock.
Also, the research indicates that about 18 percent of the feedstock was converted into bio-char, which contains most of the mineral nutrients in the corn residues. Using biochar as a soil amendment would return those nutrients to the soil, reduce leaching of other nutrients, help build soil organic matter and sequester carbon. These benefits would help mitigate the adverse environmental effects of harvesting stover for fuel production.
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“Energy Department Supports Smart Grid Technologies”
In Columbus, Ohio yesterday, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that the Department of Energy is awarding 620-million dollars for projects around the country to demonstrate advanced Smart Grid technologies and integrated systems that will help build a smarter, more efficient, more resilient electrical grid. According to Chu, these 32 demonstration projects will include large-scale energy storage, smart meters, distribution and transmission system monitoring devices, and a range of other smart technologies. These demonstrations will act as models for deploying integrated Smart Grid systems on a broader scale.
This funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be leveraged with one- billion dollars in funds from the private sector to support more than 1.6-billion in total Smart Grid projects nationally.
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“Group Presses for Heal Care Reform”
National Farmers Union, ranchers and rural residents, have joined farm leaders from Arkansas, Maine and Nebraska to call on Congress to pass health care reform. An emphasis is being placed on the urgent need to protect family farms. NFU President Roger Johnson says – farmers often have to purchase insurance for themselves and their families in the individual market where premiums are higher. Also, farmers tend to be older and are more likely to suffer from chronic health conditions, and private insurers consider them to be in a high risk profession.
Insurance premiums on average have risen more than 75 percent from 2000 to 2007 in Arkansas, Louisiana, Maine and Nebraska. The increases are even greater in the individual and small group market available to most farmers. Also, there is a lack of competition in the health insurance market. And that’s threatening many farmers’ and ranchers’ livelihoods as they face medical bankruptcies or are forced to seek other work to gain insurance.
John Hansen, President of the Nebraska Farmers Union, says the questions on the table are: How do we bring competition and cost control to health care in Nebraska? If the public option is not the best way to solve the lack of competition problem, then what is the alternative? Hansen says, – no reform is not an answer we can afford. Individual, small-group and geographic rating reforms will make coverage better and policies cheaper for farmers, their families and their employees.
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“Ag Committee to Discuss Financial Reform”
The Senate Ag Committee will once again meet to hear testimony on the subject of – OTC Derivatives Reform and Addressing Systemic Risk. This hearing, next Wednesday, December 2nd, will examine the Administration’s proposed legislation on financial regulatory reform with Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner testifying on behalf of the Administration. The Committee will examine the proposal from various perspectives, and will also address suggested alternatives.
Other panelists include: Terrence Duffy, Executive Chairman of CME Group; Johnathan Short, Senior Vice President of the Intercontinental Exchange; Larry Thompson, Managing Director and General Counsel, The Depository Trust & Clearing Organization; Blythe Masters, Managing Director and Head of Global Commodities Group, JPMorgan Chase & Company; and Jiro Okochi, CEO, Reval.com, Incorporated.
Ag Committee chair Blanche Lincoln will gavel the hearing to order at 9:30 a.m. in the Hart Senate Office Building.
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“Letter Asks NAIS be Shut Down”
In a letter to USDA and Congress, a group of 100 agricultural organizations is urging that the National Animal Identification System be dissolved completely. They say that NAIS is fundamentally flawed: 1) no food safety benefits; 2) no analysis or quantification of the alleged benefits; 3) unfair burdens placed on family farms and sustainable livestock operations; and, 4) high costs. The groups want to work with USDA – to enhance our nation’s animal disease preparedness in a manner that builds upon our past successes and respects the interests of U.S. livestock producers and consumers.
The letter to Congress asks members of the House and Senate to – support the limited use of NAIS funding to shut down the program, and to refocus the agency on measures that truly improve animal health and respect the interests of both livestock owners and consumers. The group also asked USDA to recognize the fundamental flaws in NAIS and the public opposition to the program, and – advance, in any way, this program.
According to the letter, – NAIS will not address animal disease or food safety problems. Instead, NAIS imposes high costs and paperwork burdens on family farmers and creates incentives for corporate-controlled confined animal feeding operations and vertically integrated systems. The letter emphasizes, – this ill-conceived and badly implemented program should be halted.
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“Snap Participation Varies”
USDA has issued the latest figures available on how successful each State is in reaching families eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. According to Reaching Those in Need: State Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation Rates, 66 percent of eligible persons received SNAP benefits in 2007. State SNAP participation rates varied from a low of 47 percent to a high of 100 percent.
Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, Kevin Concannon, says – these figures underscore the importance of continuing USDA’s efforts to ensure that potential clients are aware of the benefits of SNAP and can access those benefits easily.
Concannon emphasized the importance of ensuring that eligible low-income families understand that SNAP offers an option to supplement their food budgets, and that the program operates in every State to serve them effectively. Nationally, SNAP served 36.5 million in August, 2009, up from 29.4 million the previous year.
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“Two New Members Appointed to NFMPPB”
Christopher Ross of Beverly, Massachusetts and Michael Bell of San Antonio, Texas will attend their first meeting as members of the Nation Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board this January. The two were appointed to the 20 member board by Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The board was established by the Fluid Milk Promotion Act of 1990 to develop and administer a coordinated program of advertising and promotion to increase the demand for fluid milk products.
The National Fluid Milk Program is financed by a mandatory 20-cent per hundredweight assessment on all fluid milk processed and marketed commercially in consumer-type packages in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia.
