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Things Have Changed Down on the Farm!! YOU WILL BE AMAZED AT THIS DAIRY VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!
CALIFORNIA CITRUS & AVOCADO CROP INSURANCE INFO
HOW THE USDA RECOVERY ACT MIGHT IMPACT YOU!!
Veterinary Scholarship info from the USDA
CONSERVATION PROGRAM INFO HERE
American Farm Bureau Federation's "Your Agriculture"
AG CENSUS REPORT
THE FOUNDATION FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH A VOICE FOR ANIMAL RESEARCH
VETERINARIANS TOOLKIT FOR NATIONAL ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM
THE PORK STORY
INVASIVE PLANTS AND PESTS
COTTON CAMPUS
CALIFORNIA FARM BUREAU http://www.cfbf.com
ARIZONA FARM BUREAU http://www.azfb.org
TEXAS FARM BUREAU http://www.txfb.org
BSE INFO CENTER
Your Editor and Broadcaster is George G. Gatley Voting Member of The National; Association of Farm Broadcasting |
SUDAN HARVEST FOR LIVESTOCK FEED Here a New Holland Bale Wagon, H9880 stacks bales automatically The custom harvester, is Rick Dinsmore, Yuma, AZ
“Potential for Ethanol Looks Good if Things Play Out Right”
The potential future growth of the corn-starch ethanol industry is at least 45-percent from current production levels. That’s according to Energy Economist Robert Wisner. But can the industry snap back from the wave of idled plants, losses and bankruptcies? He says three questions raise doubts - and the answers could determine the future for today’s corn-based ethanol plants and tomorrow’s cellulosic ethanol. Those questions are: will the EPA raise the maximum blend rate to E-15; will Underwriters Laboratory approve the use of retail pumps with a 15-percent blend; and will California and EPA re-think their indirect land use calculations?
Wisner notes the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act mandates the blend of 15-billion gallons of ethanol with gas in 2015. That goes even higher to 35-billion gallons by 2022. But he says ethanol demand is limited by the E-10 limit for most cars and the small number of flex-fuel vehicles that use blends up to E-85. Wisner believes there may not be demand for more than the 10.36-billion gallons of fuel ethanol being produced this year if these limits stay in place. This could cause the hard times for the ethanol industry to continue.
“Secretary Vilsack Announces Disaster Funding for Rural Development Programs”
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Thursday that USDA is accepting applications for funds to help rural communities affected by natural disasters. USDA Rural Development plans to distribute 150-million dollars to communities declared disaster areas in 2008 - and 38-million for housing assistance in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Vilsack says this assistance will help individuals, businesses and communities in areas that were declared a major disaster in 2008. He says USDA will work to ensure these funds help rural citizens rebuild their communities and their lives from the devastating effects of natural disasters.
An Editorial from the American Farm Bureau Federation The Garden of Invention is a new biography of one of the true heroes of American agriculture who should not be forgotten. American Farm Bureau's Stewart Truelsen reports...
Right Click to Download MP3 File
“Rural Tour Heads to New Hampshire”
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack will hold a rural community forum in Concord, New Hampshire as part of the Rural Tour today (Monday July 6th). Vilsack will talk with local residents about USDA’s work to revitalize and rebuild rural America - and also ask them how USDA can help in supporting other programs to help the community participate successfully in the 21st century economy.
Other Rural Tour events are scheduled in Alaska, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. USDA encourages everyone to follow the Tour’s progress on www dot ruraltour dot gov (www.RuralTour.gov) or at www dot twitter dot com slash ruraltour (www.twitter.com/RuralTour).
“ASA Has Concerns About Bioenergy Program”
The American Soybean Association has submitted comments to the House Ag Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management regarding farm bill implementation - voicing concerns about the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels. According to ASA President Johnny Dodson - that program affects the viability of soybean farmers and the biodiesel industry. Plans to implement the program for Fiscal Year 2009 have been published. ASA is pleased USDA has moved forward - and is pleased with the overall nature of the program. There are concerns - however - with provisions of the Notice of Contract Proposal - including the manner in which USDA would determine Base Production of new biorefineries for 2009 and the differential payments for base and incremental production in future years.
Dodson says ASA supports making equal payments on actual production - but says the criteria should apply to actual production of new and old plants alike. He says differentiating between older and newer plants could undercut the competitiveness of older facilities. Another concern is a misstatement that Congress appropriated mandatory funding to the tune of 30-million dollars for FY ’09. ASA says the farm bill provides mandatory funding of 55-million.
ASA is asking the Committee to conduct active oversight of the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels to ensure it’s administered in a manner that’s equitable for all producers and is consistent with the intent of Congress. They say that includes using the full mandatory funding amounts provided in the 2008 Farm Bill.
“New Enforcement Approach for Immigration Focuses on Employers”
The Obama administration is going to crackdown on companies employing illegal immigrants. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has started an audit of over 650 companies to verify if employees were eligible to work. It’s not clear how severe penalties might be if an employer is discovered to have hired illegal workers - but violations could lead to fines - as well as civil and criminal charges. The announcement comes as President Obama attempts to gain support for a new policy that put millions of illegal immigrants on the path to become U.S. citizens.
Enforcement activity during the Bush administration was known by high-profile raids where hundreds of illegal immigrants were rounded up. A series of raids at JBS Swift and Company meatpacking plants in December 2006 resulted in 12-hundred workers being detained. The policy led to large numbers of deportations. This new enforcement approach isn’t set up to bring immediate deportations.
“Sorghum Checkoff a Year Old”
July 1st marked one year since the United Sorghum Checkoff Program started collections. The idea was to help producers improve their bottom lines by delivering cutting edge research, meaningful promotion and targeted information to the nation’s sorghum producers. The USCP has already funded three rounds of research projects that range from basic production handbooks to next-generation genomics. It has also hosted multiple buyers’ missions that have forged working relationships between sorghum handlers and international buyers.
“Slight
Drop in Retail Food Prices for Final Quarter of ‘08”
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from FMC
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“Consumers and Cattle Producers Suffering”
Consumers are paying near record beef prices and cattle ranchers are receiving below cost-of-production prices for their cattle - a loss of nearly 300-dollars per head in 22 of the last 23 months. That’s according to R-CALF USA. The group says USDA data show ranchers received the smallest share of the consumer’s beef dollar in seven years during the first quarter of 2009. Ranchers received just more than a thousand dollars for raising a Choice beef steer from birth to about 18-months of age - while consumers who purchased the Choice beef paid a little over two-thousand dollars for the meat.
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard says the middlemen have captured unjust profits away from the rancher and exploited the consumer - with the producer receiving only 43-percent of the consumer’s beef dollar. He says consumers wouldn’t pay long-term record beef prices while cattle producers suffer long-term in a competitive marketplace - but since this is happening - it shows that U.S. producers and consumers have lost their competitive marketplace. R-CALF is calling on USDA and the Department of Justice to protect U.S. farmers and ranchers from the anticompetitive practices disrupting the competitive market.
DTN HEADLINE NEWS
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Support U.S. Agriculture!!!!!! The window/bumper decal above is free. Just send us an email of where to send one or more. *************************** RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURE REPORTS
Fire Ant Out Competes Other Species—Even in its Native HabitatEven in its native Argentina, the fire ant wins in head-to-head competition with other ant species more than three-quarters of the time, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. ARS scientists at the South American Biological Control Laboratory (SABCL) in Hurlingham, Argentina, have been studying how different ant species fare against the fire ant as part of an effort to learn more about the behavior of this pest—an invasive species in its non-native United States. Fire ants often attack in swarms--not only causing painful stings to humans, but can even kill small animals. Little has been known, however, about the fire ant's competitive nature or how it interacts with other ants. SABCL biologist Luis Calcaterra, working closely with lab director Juan Briano, has been studying interactions between the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, and other aboveground foraging ants in two habitats in northeastern Argentina—using a combination of pitfall traps and baits to study day-to-day activity in ant communities. The pitfall trap is a 50 milliliter plastic tube buried in the ground and half-filled with soapy water. The bait is one gram of canned tuna placed on a plastic card measuring five centimeters in diameter. The trap and bait gave the scientists a way to determine ant populations at the sites, and showed the dominance of each species. Some 28 ant species coexisted with S. invicta in an open area of forest growing along a watercourse, whereas only 10 species coexisted with S. invicta in the dry forest grassland. The researchers found that the fire ants had the highest numbers in the open forest area along the watercourse. Prior to these studies, it was thought that the fire ant—now established throughout the Americas—was not dominant in its native land. But the studies showed that the fire ants were the most ecologically dominant, winning 78 percent of the interactions with other ants, mostly against its most frequent competitor, the South American big-headed ant, Pheidole obscurithorax, an ant of northern Argentina and Paraguay also introduced in the United States. And in battles with the invasive Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, the fire ants were even more dominant, winning out 80 percent of the time. This study was published in Oecologia, a journal that deals with plant and animal ecology. ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
New BaitLures Varroa Mite to its DoomVarroa mites could literally be walking into a trap—thanks to a new attractant developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Gainesville, Fla. The 1/16-inch long parasite, Varroa destructor, is a top pest of honey bees nationwide, hindering the beneficial insects' ability to pollinate almonds, blueberries, apples, zucchini and many other flowering crops. At the ARS Chemistry Research Unit in Gainesville, research leader Peter Teal and colleagues are testing a bait-and-kill approach using sticky boards and natural chemical attractants called semiochemicals. In nature, Varroa mites rely on these semiochemicals to locate—and then feed on—the bloodlike hemolymph of both adult honey bees and their brood. Severe infestations can decimate an affected hive within several months—and rob the beekeeper of profits from honey or pollinating services. But in this case, the mites encounter a more heady bouquet of honey bee odors that lure the parasites away from their intended hosts and onto the sticky boards, where they starve. In preliminary tests, 35 to 50 percent of mites dropped off the bees when exposed to the attractants. Free-roving mites found the semiochemicals even more attractive, according to Teal. Moreover, the extra dose of semiochemicals wafting through hives didn't appear to significantly interfere with the honey bees' normal behavior or activity, added Teal who, along with postdoctoral associate Adrian Duehl and University of Florida collaborator Mark Carroll, reported the results this past January at the 2009 North American Beekeeping Conference in Reno, Nev. The team hopes ARS' patenting of the Varroa mite attractants will encourage an industrial partner to develop the technology further. ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Connecting the Dotsfor Alkaloids, Toxicosis SymptomsNew research from Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their university colleagues is shedding light on the relationship between chemical compounds and fescue toxicosis—a disease that affects grazing animals and costs the U.S. cattle industry an estimated $600 million annually. Fescue toxicosis is a major problem for producers whose herds graze on tall fescue. A major forage grass in many states, tall fescue can cause toxicosis in cattle and other ruminants if it's infected with endophytic fungus. The disease causes lameness and reduced production efficiency, and can even be fatal if infected animals are subjected to stressful situations, such as extreme heat or long-distance transport. Scientists believe many symptoms of toxicosis are caused by chemical compounds known as ergot alkaloids, but much is still unknown about how they cause clinical signs to develop. Led by ARS animal scientist James Klotz, scientists at the ARS Forage Animal Production Research Unit in Lexington, Ky., and the University of Kentucky are investigating the physiological responses of ruminants to tall fescue alkaloids. One sign of toxicosis is a narrowing of blood vessels. Using a model that predicts changes in blood flow in the limbs of cattle, Klotz and his colleagues examined the influence of specific alkaloids—both individually and in combination. Of the three alkaloids tested, ergovaline was the most effective at making the veins contract. The others, N-acetylloline and lysergic acid, had little effect on vein contraction. The results also showed that combining two alkaloids did not increase the toxicity of either—at least in terms of vein contraction. Further research is underway to determine how these alkaloids influence other tissues, organs and physiological systems. In one study, the scientists showed that ergovaline, but not lysergic acid, can bioaccumulate in vitro, suggesting that ergovaline may be more likely to induce toxicosis. Research like this is essential for understanding exactly how endophyte-infected tall fescue influences grazing animals. Eventually, this information could help scientists determine which compounds are most toxic and how to protect cattle from them. These studies were published in the Journal of Animal Science. ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
New Designs for Making Old Dams SaferA group of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) hydraulic engineers are helping to rehabilitate aging small dams across the country. Efforts are underway to upgrade existing auxiliary spillways or build new spillways for these dams, especially in Oklahoma. These upgraded or new spillways meet current dam safety standards and will increase the useful lives of the dams. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has helped build more than 11,000 earthen dams over the years as part of its Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Operations Program. These dams serve many purposes, but the primary purpose is flood control. Since the program began in 1944, ARS Hydraulic Engineering Research Unit (HERU) engineers in Stillwater, Okla., have partnered with NRCS in the development of design standards for the dams. When ARS hydraulic engineer Sherry L. Hunt and her colleagues were asked recently by NRCS to help evaluate and design retrofitted Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) stepped spillways for dams in Georgia and North Dakota, they found the same technology also can help increase flow capacity on many of these dams across the country. So they developed generalized criteria for designs that could be used anywhere in the country. Compacting concrete with a roller is a fast way to make a tough surface. With the many changes that have occurred over the years—including deterioration, changes in upstream and downstream land use and population, and changes in dam safety laws—the research by the HERU engineers with this technology is once again helping NRCS, which has the lead for design and construction of these earthen dams. The ARS engineers conduct model studies both indoors at small scales and also outdoors at large scales. This summer Hunt will begin using a large-scale flume outdoors that is the actual size of the RCC spillways being designed for these dams. ARS engineers will use the data from the water flow on their experimental spillways to develop design and construction guidelines. ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency in USDA.
New Test Corners Elusive Biofuels EnzymeIn a wood near you, powerful microbes quicken the decay of fallen tree branches. These adroit decomposers perform that essential role by producing specialized enzymes. In the United States and abroad, biofuels researchers prize these enzymes because they may speed and simplify the process of making bioethanol, and coproducts, from the cellulose in the cell walls of energy crops such as switchgrass. One of the most sought-after of those specialty enzymes may now be easier for today's researchers to find. That's thanks to an assay created by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemist Charles C. Lee and colleagues at the agency's Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif. High-speed and high-tech, but surprisingly affordable, the sophisticated assay equips scientists with a faster, less expensive way to discover genes that enable microbes to make an enzyme known as an alpha-glucuronidase. In nature, this enzyme cleaves glucuronic acid from hemicellulose and, in so doing, helps disassemble plant cell walls. Hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin are bound in a tight, complicated matrix that impedes other enzymes' ready access to the cellulosic sugars that are ideal for fermenting into bioethanol. Right now, there are very few genes in the publicly available GenBank database that code for alpha-glucuronidases. The new assay, however, may change that by making it possible for scientists to quickly screen the genes in masses of anonymous microbes taken from the forest floor, compost heaps, or other outdoor places where decomposers live and work. In brief, the test involves moving the DNA from the outdoor microbes into laboratory bacteria that, in petri dishes, will form telltale dark spots if they have alpha-glucuronidase genes and enzymes actively working inside. Scientists can then isolate and copy the genes from those bacteria, and perhaps re-tool the genes to make them even stronger and faster-acting, for tomorrow's biorefineries. Lee developed the assay with Albany colleague Kurt Wagschal, patterning it upon an assay Wagschal built earlier for finding another in-demand biofuels enzyme. Lee also worked with Dominic W.S. Wong, George Robertson, William Orts, and Rena Kibblewhite. All are with the Bioproduct Chemistry and Engineering Research Unit at Albany. ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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