“Dr. Temple Grandin Live This Afternoon”
Dr. Temple Grandin, featured in a HBO original movie, will speak this afternoon at the Abilene Civic Center. She is one of the world’s leading authorities on low-stress cattle handling. Hear her presentation this afternoon at 2:45pm on All Ag News.
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“Brazil to Impose Cotton Sanctions”
Brazil has moved to retaliate against the United States over U.S. cotton subsidies. But that South American Country says the U.S. can settle the trade dispute through negotiations. The U.S. has 30 days to do so or Brazilian wheat tariffs will be increased to 30 percent. The World Trade Organization gave Brazil the formal go-ahead last year to impose sanctions on U.S. imports after the body ruled the U.S. government spent too much subsidizing cotton farmers and on an export credit guarantee program.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said – USTR has worked to reach a solution to the issues in this dispute without Brazil resorting to countermeasures and we continue to prefer a negotiated solution. Today (Tuesday), U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke leaves for Brazil and it is likely he will discuss the situation upon his arrival.
The National Cotton Council says Brazil’s proposed tariff will – impose unwarranted harm on Brazilian and American interests in times of economic hardship for all. U.S. cotton’s share of the retaliation is relatively small and fixed at 147-million dollars. The retaliation damages associated with the export credit guarantee program, which are determined annually using a formula developed by an arbitration Panel, were recently claimed by Brazil at more than 600-million. Costs of U.S. cotton price-related programs are down more than 80 percent from the previous five-year average.
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“Ag Committee Leaders Lend Voice to Cotton Situation”
Senate Ag Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln and Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss expressed disappointment after Brazil announced it is moving forward on retaliation for injuries due to the U.S. cotton program. The retaliation list totals 102 products including both agricultural and industrial goods. Brazil is expected to follow up this action with an additional announcement of “cross retaliation” action against U.S. intellectual property later this month.
In a joint statement, Lincoln and Chambliss said – it is unfortunate Brazil is moving forward with retaliation without first engaging in meaningful discussions towards resolving the dispute. The U.S. government continues to express its willingness to have a substantive dialogue but we cannot negotiate with a partner that is unwilling to voice what it wants.
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“USDA Declares Primary Natural Disaster Area”
Virtually all of Georgia and parts of five neighboring states are involved in the latest USDA declaration of a primary natural disaster area. 98 counties in Georgia have been declared to be in the primary natural disaster area. 58 additional counties in Georgia, 8 in Alabama, 8 in Florida, 2 in North Carolina, 9 in South Carolina and 3 in Tennessee also qualify for federal relief because they are contiguous counties to the primary disaster area.
This declaration is based on excessive rainfall that occurred from September 2009 and continuing. During that period there have been losses to field crops such as corn, cotton, millet, peanuts, sorghum, soybeans, pasture and forage, as well as fruit, vegetable, and nut crops, such as beans, collard and turnip greens, cowpeas, pecans, peppers, pumpkins, squash, strawberries, tomatoes, and nursery crops.
All qualified farm operators in the designated areas are now eligible for low interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met. Affected farmers have eight months to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.
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“Gestation Flex Pens Working”
Moving sows into group pens is having mixed results. That’s according to Janeen Salak-Johnson, associate professor in animal sciences at the University of Illinois. While group sow housing works, research at the university shows this practice does not answer welfare concerns or improve sow performance. Instead, Salak-Johnson has found that slight modifications to sow gestation stalls may provide solutions to one of the most controversial issues facing the swine industry.
The research showed that using flexible stalls positively influenced behavior, performance and productivity of sows in gestation. Salak-Johnson says – making minor changes in existing systems may truly improve the well-being of the sow. The flex stall allows the producer to increase the width but not the length of the stall. It can be adjusted midway through the gestation period to offset the sow’s growth during pregnancy.
When the flex stall width was adjusted to achieve more space between the sow and the stall when lying down, researchers observed fewer oral-nasal-facial movements and sham-chewing. Sows also sat down more in the flex stall and drank less often. Also, Sows in the flex stall farrowed more piglets and weaned more piglets than sows in conventional gestation stalls.
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“NPPC Board Elects New Officers”
During the National Pork Forum, held in Kansas City last week, the National Pork Producers Council elected new officers. Taking over as president of the organization is Sam Carney, a producer from Adair, Iowa. Doug Wolf, owner of Wolf L & G Farms in Lancaster, Wisconsin was elevated to president-elect; and R.C. Hunt, a producer from Wilson, North Carolina was elected to the vice president’s position.
NPPC CEO Neil Dierks said – we have excellent leadership in Sam, Doug and R.C. and quality, dedicated industry representatives in the new board.
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“HSUS Backed Bill Introduced in House”
A bill introduced in the U.S. House has received the endorsement of the Humane Society of the United States. Introduced by Representatives Diane Watson and Elton Gallegly of California, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act sets rules around confinement of animals used to produce food purchased by the federal government.
In a news release, HSUS said the bill – simply requires that any food purchased for federal programs comes from animals raised with enough room to stand up, lie down, turn around and stretch their limbs.
The federal government spends more than 1-billion dollars buying animal products for a variety of programs and agencies, including the National School Lunch Program, the Armed Services and the Bureau of Prisons.
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“Jury Awards Neighbors for Odors”
Premium Standard Farms questions its future investment in the state of Missouri after a jury awarded 15 people 11-million dollars over hog odors at a farm north of Kansas City. Neighbors of the farm said pig odors nauseated them and forced them to stay indoors with the windows shut. Officials for Premium Standard Farms, which owns the Gentry County operation, say they will appeal.
In its statement, Premium Standard Farms said – in light of this decision and in view of the continuing hostile environment toward live hog production, we have serious concerns whether we will ever make any future investments in the state of Missouri. This was the second time the 15 plaintiffs have sued Premium Standard over odors.
Premium Standard has spent 39-million dollars to fix the odors. During the trial, some defense witnesses who live in the area testified that they didn’t notice the odors on most days, and that they were never overpowering.
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“ASA Sets Policy at Convention”
133 producers formulated policy for the American Soybean Association during Commodity Classic last week. The goal is to pursue future initiatives that improve U.S. soybean farmer profitability. The big issues discussed were: Crop insurance; Bio-energy and bio-based products; technology; Climate Change; and Environmental regulation.
The new ASA policy calls for crop quantity and quality discounts to be fully covered by crop insurance. Also, ASA opposes reduction of the agriculture baseline funding for the 2012 Farm Bill. The policy also calls for the reinstatement of the Group Risk Plan and Gross Revenue Insurance Plan.
In the area energy, ASA policy strongly encourages the retroactive reinstatement of the federal biodiesel tax credit and encourages Congress to make the tax credit permanent. ASA also supports implementation of the bio-energy program as authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill.
In the area of technology, ASA supports enabling trait providers and seed companies to access and use the data package of a patented biotech trait through agreements and established procedures for the purpose of preparing to register and commercialize generic versions of the trait after patent expiration.
Also, ASA strongly opposes Cap and Trade legislation and recommends that the Clean Water Act be amended to exempt producers from litigation/liability and not require a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit when producers can certify that the pesticides have been used in a manner that complies with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.
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“Sorghum Checkoff Ends First Year”
The United Sorghum Checkoff Program has released its 2009 annual report – a summary of the checkoff’s first year and the impact checkoff dollars have had on the sorghum industry. During the year the checkoff developed bylaws, policies and a strategic plan to guide the board in its decisions to improve grower’s bottom lines. It also, funded 27 research projects. Some include research in cold and drought tolerance, over-the-top grass and weed control, nitrogen use and best management practices.
According to Sorghum Checkoff president Bill Greving, – market development is a major priority for the Sorghum Checkoff and, in conjunction with the U.S. Grains Council, the checkoff has sponsored several foreign buyer missions. One directly resulted in a 25-thousand ton purchase of U.S. sorghum by the Moroccan poultry industry. The checkoff has also worked with ethanol plants to increase their inclusion of sorghum in ethanol.
The Sorghum Checkoff will soon offer production handbooks as a pocket guide to growing better sorghum. Growers can expect to see these available for different regions of U.S in the spring of 2010.
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“USDA Releasing Rural Development Money”
Secretary Tom Vilsack says utilities in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee have been selected to receive funds that will create jobs and new business opportunities in rural America.
For example, Tideland Electric Membership Corporation in Washington County, North Carolina, has been selected to receive a 740-thousand dollar loan and 300-thousand dollar grant to help construct a manufacturing facility in an industrial park. The new business will provide medical manufacturing jobs.
And in Miner County, South Dakota, the Heartland Consumers Power District has been selected to receive a 740-thousand dollar loan and a 300-thousand dollar grant to provide funding for the construction of a facility to provide training opportunities for workers in the renewable energy industry.
