“NPPC: Lifting of China’s H1N1-Related Ban on Pork Great for Producers”
The National Pork Producers Council says an agreement reached Thursday to reopen the Chinese market to U.S. pork imports should help struggling pork producers. China closed its market to U.S. pork late last April in the wake of the H1N1 outbreak. Trade will resume immediately upon both sides finalizing export documentation.
NPPC President Sam Carney says that’s great news for the nation’s pork producers – noting China is one of the biggest markets for the industry. The U.S. pork industry shipped nearly 400-thousand metric tons of pork worth nearly 690-million dollars to China/Hong Kong in 2008 – making it the number three destination for U.S. pork. Last year – those exports were down by 38-percent – falling to just under 427-million.
Carney says NPPC will now focus on remaining impediments to exporting U.S. pork to China.
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“JBS SA Makes Another Buy”
Brazil’s JBS SA is getting larger by agreeing to buy Australia-based Rockdale Beef. The company is based in New South Wales and is owned by Mitsubishi Corporation and Itoham Foods Incorporated of Japan. Rockdale has slaughtering capacity of 200-thousand cattle a year and exports to 12 countries.
In the past year, JBS has purchased poultry producer Pilgrim’s Pride of Pittsburg, Texas, Brazilian beef business Bertin SA and Australian lamb producer Tatiara Meat Company.
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“Organizations Made Final Effort For Health Care Reform”
Going into the weekend, the National Rural Health Association, National Farmers Union and Center for Rural Affairs – called on members of the House and Senate to pass health care reform that works for rural America. Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union said – family farmers, ranchers and rural small business owners have faced some of the sternest challenges under the current health care system. And the economic future of our rural communities hinges on addressing those challenges.
In their letter, the three national rural organizations pointed out that health care access for rural people will be strengthened through the establishment of health insurance exchanges for the self-employed and small businesses. And premium assistance will be provided through tax credits for small businesses and for low and moderate income individuals purchasing insurance through the exchange.
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“National AG Day Essay Winner Announced”
The Agriculture Council of America has announced the 2010 National Ag Day Essay Contest winner. She is Christine Vanek, a 12th grader at Greenhills School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Vanek was honored during a program last week in Washington, celebrating National Ag Day.
The winning original essay consisted of 450 words about the importance of agriculture in the United States. Using this year’s theme, “American Agriculture – Abundant, Affordable, Amazing,” students were encouraged to focus their essays on the importance of agriculture and how the industry continues to overcome new challenges.
The following excerpt is from Christina Vanek’s winning essay: “At seventeen, I have come to admire the work my grandfather and all American farmers do. It is thanks to the abundance of American agriculture – from the corn, soybean, and wheat fields of the Great Plains to the expansive fruit orchards in the South – that I, along with the rest of the country, have access to a wide variety of affordable, safe, nutritious foods.”
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“National Ag Day Celebrated”
The Pacific Legal Foundation was one of many organizations to celebrate National Ag Day on Saturday. The day is set aside to recognize the nation’s rich agricultural heritage and help educate all Americans about the importance that a vibrant farm and ranch sector plays for our economy as well as the health and welfare of our society.
PLF President Rob Rivett says – we owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women of American agriculture — those who get up and face tremendous adversity everyday with a singular goal: to provide high-quality, affordable homegrown food and farm products for American consumers.
Rivett added, our lives are better for the fact that farmers, ranchers and foresters work closely with the environment, adding the right mix of innovation, creativity and resourcefulness to produce an abundance of high-quality, affordable, made-in-America food, fiber and forest products.
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“SUN Act Introduced”
Last week, U.S. Senator Mark Udall of Colorado introduced a bill in Congress to extend residential solar energy tax credits to community-based solar farm collectives. Current tax law allows homeowners to receive a 30 percent tax credit for installing solar panels on their property. The Solar Uniting Neighborhoods Act would extend the credit to community-owned solar farms, where neighbors designate sunny, treeless areas for installation of community solar panels. The tax credit would run until 2016.
Udall estimates that – by grouping solar panels, you can reduce the cost by 30 percent compared to installing a panel or a set of panels on every roof in the neighborhood. In addition, by eliminating the requirement that the solar panel be on one individual’s property, it frees Americans to work together on community projects where each individual can claim a tax credit on part of a shared project.
Udall said this is one of a number of clean energy jobs initiatives he plans to roll out in the coming months.
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“Governors Take Stand on Wind Energy”
The Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition, a bipartisan group of 29 governors from across the country, has asked Congress and the President to adopt a national renewable energy standard – a minimum requirement for the use of renewable electricity. Their lead recommendation focuses on streamlined permitting for both onshore and offshore wind power projects and an upgraded interstate electric transmission system.
Also, the Coalition asks that the nation’s utilities be required to provide a minimum 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal and biopower, by 2012. Over half of the states in the nation already have enacted some form of renewable electricity standard. Iowa Governor Chet Culver, who chairs the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition, says he backs a national renewable energy standard of 25 percent by 2025, which he says could create more than 300-thousand green jobs.
In its recommendations, the coalition emphasizes the goal of providing at least 20 percent of the nation’s electric needs from wind power by 2030. A recent assessment of wind’s prospects and impacts released by the U.S. Department of Energy concluded that the United States could meet this goal.
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“Air Quality Issues Focus of Grants”
USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has released more than five-million dollars in grants to address air quality issues, including reducing agricultural atmospheric emissions and developing new mitigation practices. The grants are funded through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Air Quality program and supports research, education and extension projects to enhance the effectiveness and productivity of U.S air quality research.
USDA Chief Scientist and MIFA director Roger Beachy, says – this research will build effective mitigation strategies and help farmers and foresters learn and adopt best management practices that reduce agricultural emissions.
Projects funded include one that will develop a novel method for greenhouse gas measurement from farms, three projects that develop tools and models to better predict emissions and dispersion of particulate matter from animal production facilities and gain a better understanding of factors governing emissions that will help identify points of mitigation.
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“Nematodes May Threaten Biofuels Production”
When it comes to potential crops for biofuel production – which nematodes are present and at what levels? That was a question researchers at the Energy Biosciences Institute at the University of Illinois wanted to answer. What they found – in the first reported nematode survey of Miscanthus and switchgrass plants used for biofuels – was a widespread occurrence of plant-parasitic nematodes.
The survey included samples from 37 Miscanthus and 48 switchgrass plots in Illinois, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, South Dakota and Tennessee. All of the sample sites had at least two nematode species that have been reported to reduce biomass in most monocotyledon hosts. And according to the lead researcher – the nematode population densities encountered may present a potential risk to biofuels production.
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“Hawaii Site of Collaborative Energy Opportunity Discussion”
USDA and the Department of Navy are co-hosting an all day forum in Hawaii on April 6, 2010, to share information about a recently announced collaborative energy opportunity. This energy initiative in Hawaii is a direct result of a Memorandum of Understanding that Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack signed earlier this year.
Hawaii has been selected as the location for the initial collaboration because Hawaii’s energy costs are among the highest in the nation and imported oil supplies 90 percent of the State’s energy. In a release the department said, – a viable agricultural sector in Hawaii can enhance Hawaii’s energy security, and energy projects like those anticipated by the Navy’s needs can help rural economies.
The program will take place on the Marine Corps Base-Hawaii in the Kaneohe Bay Officers Club. Individuals interested in attending are required to register early as seating is limited and arrangements must be made to access the military base. Companies and organizations are limited to sending three representatives.
