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Today's Top Stories |
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"House Ag Discusses Benefits of Expanding
Trade with Cuba"
The House Ag Committee met Thursday to review U.S. agricultural sales to
Cuba. Committee Chairman Collin Peterson introduced legislation to
facilitate expanded U.S. ag trade with Cuba last month. The bipartisan
bill is co-sponsored by nearly 40 other members of Congress - including
Jerry Moran of Kansas, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Jo Ann Emerson of
Missouri. Peterson said Thursday that the
restrictions on agricultural trade with Cuba have failed to achieve
their stated goal - and instead have hand-delivered an export market in
our own backyard to the Brazilians, the Europeans and our other
competitors around the world.
Several ag and commodity groups were represented at the
hearing. The Presidents of the American Farm Bureau Federation and
National Farmers Union both testified. As did producers representing the
U.S. Rice Producers Association, National Association of Wheat Growers,
National Milk Producers Federation, National Corn Growers Association
and American Soybean Association.
“FB President Testifies on
Cuban Trade Issues”
In testimony before the House Agriculture Committee, the President of
the American Farm Bureau Federation called on Congressional members to
support the Travel Reform and Export Enhancement Act, or H.R. 4645. Bob
Stallman said this act would lift some key U.S.- imposed restrictions on
trade with Cuba. The bill would reverse the restrictions on payment of
cash in advance, eliminate the third country bank requirement and lift
the ban on travel.
Because of the great market potential,
Farm Bureau believes passage of the legislation would make agriculture a
strong player in the Cuban market and increase U.S. agricultural
exports. Stallman said - we have seen the promise the market holds.
Unfortunately, because of restrictions on U.S exports to Cuba, U.S.
farmers have not been able to benefit from the full potential of the
market.
Since being allowed to trade with Cuba in 2000, on average the United
States has exported roughly 320-million dollars in agricultural products
per year, reaching a high of almost 700-million in 2008. Stallman
pointed out - the United States is not viewed by Cuba as a reliable
supplier. Our competitors do not have the same obstacles in trading with
Cuba we face. Stallman said, - eliminating these restrictions will
decrease the advantages the United States has given our competitors and
restore the advantage to U.S. farmers.
“More Testimony on Cuban
Trade-Travel”
Also, testifying before the House Committee on Agriculture concerning
Cuban trade and travel issues were representatives of the National
Farmers Union and American Soybean Association. Leaders from both
organizations voiced support for the Travel Restriction Reform and
Export Enhancement Act.
NFU President Roger Johnson testified,
saying – even though U.S. firms offer reliable trading partners, quality
products and competitive prices, current U.S. policy hampers their
ability to supply the Cuban market. He said - I can speak from firsthand
experience on the importance of ending the Cuban embargo and
establishing trade relations with Cuba in an effort to better the U.S.
agriculture market.
ASA Board member Scott Fritz, a soybean producer
from Winamac, Indiana, said - we
can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch our competitors continue to
supply a market where we have a natural advantage. Fritz added - if the
travel ban is eliminated, the number of U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba
annually would increase to between 500-thousand and 1 million. This
growth in travel would bring in more hard currency, enabling the Cuban
state-trading agency to buy more U.S. agricultural products.
“Farm
Bureau Reports on Views of Young Farmers and Ranchers”
A survey conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation indicates that
profitability, increasing government regulations and the impact of
activist groups are the top concerns of America’s leading young farmers
and ranchers. Still, despite economic challenges, 80 percent of those
responding to AFBF’s 18th annual survey of young farmers and
ranchers say they are more optimistic than they were five years ago,
while 82 percent say they are better off than they were five years ago.
The informal survey shows that 79 percent
of young farmers and ranchers have a high or very high level of
apprehension about government climate change regulations. 85 percent
were concerned or very concerned about activist groups. Only 7 percent
expressed little or no concern. 83 percent said they believe farm income
should come totally from the marketplace, while only 17 percent said
farm income should be supplemented by government farm program payments.
The Farm Bureau survey of young farmers and ranchers also shows that
nearly 99 percent said they have access to and use the Internet, with 72
percent saying they have access to a high-speed Internet connection.
Only 20 percent rely on dial-up connections. Nearly three-quarters of
those surveyed have a Facebook page.
In addition, the Internet is an important tool for the group to access
both general and farm news, with 84 percent saying they use the Web for
that function. Seventy-two percent said they turn to the Internet to
collect buying information for their operations. 96 percent say they
consider themselves life-long farmers or ranchers.
“USDA Tightening Guidance
on Pork Contracts”
Guidance currently in place for loans to contract poultry operations
meant to protect them from questionable business practices will now be
expanded to include contract pork operations. In making the
announcement, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack explained - USDA currently
provides guidance to county offices on the analysis and evaluation of
applications for direct and guaranteed loans for contract poultry
operations, and how those loans are serviced. The purpose is to avoid
making loans that may exacerbate integrator business practices that have
left some producers suddenly without contracts and unable to pay back
their FSA loans.
Recent increases in energy and feed costs
coupled with reductions in demand have affected profit margins and
returns in the industry. In response to these conditions, some companies
who contract with producers to supply poultry and pork have closed
processing plants, reduced placements, and declined renew contracts.
This has left some producers holding sizeable loans on their facilities.
In addition
to the contracting guidance expansion to pork production, USDA's Farm
Service Agency will issue an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to
solicit input from the pork and poultry community regarding the
prevalence of type of contracting situation. FSA will be soliciting
proposals for the best way for USDA to address these contract situations
in the long term.
“U.N. Climate Report To Be
Reviewed”
The controversial report issued by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, will be reviewed by one of the world’s most
credible scientific groups, the InterAcademy Council, made up of 15
nations’ national academies of science. Robert Kijkgraff, a Dutch
mathematical physicist co-chairs the group. He says - we enter this
process with no preconceived conclusions.
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asserted - there were a very small number
of errors - in the 3-thousand pages of the beleaguered report. But those
errors, which include projections of retreats in Himalayan glaciers,
have put public confidence in the panel's work at risk, and have been
seized on by climate skeptics opposed to the U.N.-led efforts to
conclude a legal international agreement on global warming this year.
Among the questions being asked are whether the climate panel should use
non-peer reviewed literature, how governments review IPCC material, and
even how the IPCC communicates with the public. Dijkgraaf says his
Netherlands-based group - will definitely not go over all the data, -
but will instead focus on how the panel does its job. The group will
pick a panel of experts and wrap up its independent review by the end of
August.
“POET Tightens Water Use”
POET plans to decrease water use in the production of ethanol by
22 percent over the next five years in the first goal of its
sustainability imitative, ingreenuity. It intends to cut the
company’s water used per gallon of ethanol from an average of 3
gallons to 2.33, an annual water savings of one billion gallons.
In a presentation to employees, POET CEO Jeff Broin said the
company is committed to producing ethanol as sustainably as
possible and minimizing its impact on natural resources.
The reductions will come
primarily through installing a proprietary process developed by
POET engineers that recycles cooling water rather than
discharging it. The Total Water Recovery process has recently
been installed in three POET Biorefining locations – in Bingham
Lake, Minnesota, Caro, Michigan and Hudson South Dakota.
According to Broin, - those facilities now average 2 to 2.5
gallons of water per gallon of ethanol.
To kick off the initiative, Broin announced the POET Foundation
has committed more than 420-thousand dollars to the non-profit
Global Health Ministries over the same five-year period as
POET’s water reduction goal. A portion of the funds will help
repair, construct and maintain 90 wells in Nigeria that that
will give more than 300-thousand people access to pure water.
“Idaho Considering
Livestock Care Standards Board”
The Idaho Senate has approved a bill that would set up a
Livestock Care Standards Board. The board would be similar to
the one voted in last November in Ohio. Like Ohio, Idaho hopes
to get ahead of any efforts by the Humane Society of the United
States to influence animal welfare laws in the state.
The legislation has yet to pass
the Idaho House. If it goes into law it would create a
13-member committee that would include representatives from the
Idaho State Department of Agriculture, statewide organizations
for dairy, livestock and cattle professionals and legislators
and would make recommendations on animal care.
“Animal Care
Legislation Moving in Missouri"
In
Missouri, a bill is moving through the Missouri General Assembly
that would protect livestock care practices in that state. The
Missourians for Animal Care Coalition supports the bill,
because, as they say, it would - protect the right to raise
animals in Missouri. The Coalition says there are animal rights
extremist groups like the Humane Society of the United States
trying to get a ballot initiative that would put severe
limitations on the ability of anyone to own and raise animals.
The
intent of the bill, according to Missouri Farm Bureau’s
legislative director Leslie Holloway, is - to try to ensure that
additional restrictions on raising animals, whether it be
livestock or dogs or whatever the case may be, are under the
jurisdiction of the General Assembly rather than interests that
might come in from out of state such as the Humane Society of
the United States.
If passed, the animal care constitutional amendment would join a
HSUS-backed bill on this fall’s state-wide ballot that would
crack down on dog breeders in the state.
| Today's Top Stories |
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Focus on "Plantability" in 2010 Wheel tracks, ruts, planter pinch rows and more will be waiting once the ground thaws out and dries. Canada Confirms 17th BSE Case Canadian officials say another case of mad cow disease was confirmed Feb. 25 in an Alberta cow. Legacy Tool: Fair vs. Equal Exercise Learn how to determine when fair or equal is appropriate. Modest Fuel-Price Increases This Year A half-percentage point upward revision in economic growth for 2010 means increased fuel demand. A Good Laugh Jokes from Jay and Jimmy... |
CALIFORNIA
FINAL GRAPE CRUSH REPORT
SACRAMENTO – California’s 2009 crush totaled 4,095,297 tons, up
11 percent from the 2008 crush of 3,673,858 tons. This is only
the second time that California’s crush has exceeded 4 million
tons.
Red wine varieties accounted for the largest share of all grapes
crushed, at 2,078,121 tons, up 24 percent from 2008. The 2009
white wine variety crush totaled 1,624,910 tons, up 21 percent
from 2008. Tons crushed of raisin type varieties totaled
307,360, down 38 percent from 2008, and tons crushed of table
type varieties totaled 84,906, down 49 percent from 2008.
The entire Grape Crush Report is available online at
www.nass.usda.gov/ca
2009-10
CALIFORNIA VALENCIA OBJECTIVE MEASUREMENT REPORT
VALENCIA ORANGE PRODUCTION
FORECAST UP
The initial 2009-10 Valencia orange forecast is 34 million
cartons, 21 percent above last season’s estimated total of 28
million cartons. This forecast is based on the results of the
2009-10 Valencia Orange Objective Measurement (O.M.) Survey,
which was conducted from January 15 to February 24, 2010.
Estimated fruit set per tree, fruit diameter, trees per acre,
bearing acreage, and oranges per box were used in the
statistical models estimating production. For more information,
visit our website or contact our office:
| http://www.agcareers.com/newsletters/agcareers_weekly.htm | ||
| AG JOBS |
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Feb. 25 Confirmation of BSE-Positive Cow Kept Secret
Yet again, R-CALF USA learned through the rumor mill yesterday that Canada had detected the country’s 18th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a 72-month-old Angus cow. Although Canadian officials were purported to have notified the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) last week, a phone call this morning to OIE revealed that Canada had not yet notified OIE of this latest discovery. However, R-CALF USA Communications Coordinator Shae Dodson was told via telephone by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that Canada, indeed, had discovered yet another case of BSE. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) later verified CFIA’s report.
“The CFIA said the BSE-positive case was confirmed Feb. 25, 2010, which means the CFIA and all other governments who knew about this latest BSE case kept it a secret from the public for almost two weeks, said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard. “If we had not discovered this information, the public may never have known.”
At six years of age, this particular animal would have been born in 2003 or 2004, making her the 18th Canadian-born BSE case and the 11th BSE-positive animal eligible to be exported to the United States. In November 2007, USDA implemented the OTM (over-30-months) Rule that allows the U.S. to import into the U.S. these high-risk Canadian cattle over 30 months of age, as long as such cattle were born after March 1, 1999.
Already this year, well over 40,000 older Canadian cows and bulls have been imported into the United States for domestic slaughter.
LIVESTOCK NEWS
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DTN AG NEWSWIRE
FRIDAY, MARCH 12th, 2010
The National Ski Joring Finals begin today in Red Lodge, Montana. You ask: "ski what?" Ski joring -- j-o-r-i-n-g. What happens is that a horse and rider tow a skier behind on a rope, something like water skiing. The idea started several hundred years ago in Scandinavia, with people who had to cover large distances in heavy snow. Now, competitors steer through slalom gates and off jumps that keep them airborne for up to 60 feet. It all adds up to winter fun in a sport that now holds events in five states. Across the U.S., more than 12 million people enjoy alpine and cross country skiing or the increasingly popular sport of snowboarding.
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THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING U.S. AGRICULTURE.
WANT ONE OR MORE???? CONTACT: ggatley@sprynet.com
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RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURE
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