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Republicans boycott FTA mock markup

June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Senate Finance Committee did not take any action on those pending Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) on Thursday. The committee was expected to do a mock-markup but eleven Republicans on the committee boycotted the effort in opposition to the Trade Adjustment Assistance provision in the deals.

TAA funds training for workers who lose their jobs as a result of trade agreements, the White House wants renewal to move with the FTAs the Republicans want it separate.

Earlier this week it was thought a compromise had been worked out and the TAA would move with the South Korean agreement but Republicans charge the President with trying to “jam it through.”

The Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Panama and Columbia were first signed by the Bush Administration.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s trade agreement with the European Union takes effect Friday, July 1.

Filed Under: News, USDA/Government Tagged With: ,

Campbell’s Soup makes some changes

June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Campbell’s Soup is doing some restructuring. The New Jersey-based company is going to cut 770 jobs worldwide including 190 at its U.S. retail merchandising unit which is being outsourced to Acosta Sales and Marketing.

In addition, Campbell’s will close its manufacturing facility at Marshall, Michigan and will move ready-to-serve soups from the Paris, Texas plant to facilities already making those soups in Napoleon, Ohio and Maxton, North Carolina. The Paris plant will continue to produce other soups, sauces and beverages.

The company also says it is going to close its office in Moscow and pull out of Russia. Chief Operating Officer Denise Morrison says since launching the Russian effort in September, 2007, business has fallen short of expectations and they see stronger prospects in other emerging markets…most notably China.

The total plan is expected to generate annual pre-tax savings of $60 million beginning in 2012 and increase to $70 million by FY 2014.

Read more here:

Filed Under: Human Interest, News Tagged With: , ,

More biotech corn and soybeans planted

June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Biotech crops continue to gain ground in American fields. The June Planted Acreage report from the National Ag Statistics Service shows 16 percent of the nation’s corn crop is genetically modified for insect resistance, 23 percent for herbicide resistance and 49 percent has stacked traits. Add them up and you get 88 percent of the corn crop is biotech this year compared to 86 percent in 2010. 94 percent of the U.S. soybean crop is biotech, a one-percent increase over last year.

The use of biotech cotton declined 3 percent from 2010 to 90 percent of acreage this year; the decline came in the use of herbicide-resistant varieties.

Filed Under: Crops, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Animals require extra care in this heat

June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Hot, humid weather in the forecast has prompted the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture to issue an animal care reminder. Veterinarian Dr. Yvonne Bellay says it is up to people to make sure their animals have fresh water, shade and ventilation. Heat stroke is a threat to animals just as it is with humans. If you need to transport livestock, do it in the early morning or at night when the temperature is below 80 degrees (F). Use wet bedding when transferring hogs. Never leave a pet in a parked car, even with the windows open a few inches, the temperature inside the vehicle can hit 120 degrees in just a few minutes.

Filed Under: Livestock, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Cranberry producers vote to continue order

June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Cranberry producers have voted to continue their federal marketing order program. USDA says of the 512 eligible producers casting ballots, 390 growers representing 76.1 percent of the nation’s cranberry production voted to continue the program.

The marketing order requires a referendum be conducted every four years and USDA will not consider terminating the order as long as it is favored by more than 50 percent of growers representing more than 50 percent of cranberry production by volume.

Eligible producers voting were from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington.

Filed Under: News, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , , ,

PSF barn scraper installation progressing

June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Premium Standard Farms recently won a court case stemming from an odor/nuisance lawsuit but lost another and is appealing. The Smithfield Foods’ hog subsidiary has been mandated to reduce odors and PSF president Bill Homann tells Brownfield they continue to install state-of-the art barn scraper technology to do that at their 366 barns in north Missouri.

“As of a Tuesday morning meeting, we talked about having completed installation on over 260 barns now and we’re very aggressively working toward our internal timeline of having that completed by this calendar year.”

Homann says there IS improvement inside the barns and beyond, “Which is a benefit for our pigs that we’re raising but also for the employees that are raising them and I know if we’re experiencing positive environmental improvements at the barn site, our neighbors have to be enjoying some improvement with their property boundaries as well.”

Homann says he’s heard from a few neighbors that the odor has decreased. And, he says PSF has completed testing on dust reduction technology that will be implemented this fall to further reduce odors and is upgrading lagoon covers to further reduce odors.

Homann says there are several pending nuisance lawsuits that have not gone to court yet but he believes the recently passed anti-nuisance lawsuit bill in Missouri will limit those cases brought forth by out-of-state attorneys.

Filed Under: Livestock, News Tagged With: , , ,

Prevented planting changes for five states

June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The USDA is giving growers in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, the so-called “prairie pothole states,” a break when it comes to prevented planting insurance. Risk Management Agency Administrator Bill Murphy says beginning with the 2012 crop year, “a crop must be grown on the acreage at least one of the previous four years if a farmer wants to qualify.” Murphy says some acreage has been unsuitable to plant since the 2008 crop year because of flooding and excessive moisture conditions.

Certain qualifications must be met. The prevented planting guarantee for crops ranges from 60 to 70 percent of the production guarantee for acreage that is planted on time, by the final planting date.

USDA Risk Management Agency

Filed Under: Crops, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Herbicides performing pretty well

June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As he walks corn and soybean fields, University of Illinois Extension weed specialist Aaron Hager is finding that herbicides have performed pretty well. That said, Hager recommends paying attention as you scout your fields following a post emergence herbicide application.

“Especially if you find that maybe you have one particular weed specie where you’ve got some plants that survived the application,” said Hager. “Now any plant that survives the application doesn’t necessarily mean it’s resistant, but be very aware of some of the telltale signs of an early stage of a resistance problem setting in.”

Unfortunately Hager says they are finding some issues with resistant weeds and what they’re seeing is just how these resistant biotypes have expanded their range.

Audio: Aaron Hager, Extension Weed Specialist, Univ. of IL (4:55 MP3)

Filed Under: Crops, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Price strength may have fueled rise in acreage

June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Following USDA’s larger than expected corn acreage estimate one analyst tells Brownfield at least part of the reason for the increase was price strength earlier this year.

According to Don Roose, President of U.S. Commodities, “It backs up, I think, to February and March. If you look at the prices that we were at those time frames, we were at a record high…and we were sending a signal to the producer to plant fencerow to fencerow and that’s exactly what he did. We’re working more acres I think than when we started and certainly we’ve lost some acres, due to flooding, both in the planted and harvested [acres] but I think the real theme of this one is we started with much higher acres also.”

Roose adds, “Historically, going into this report, the acreage tends to come up, and it did. The stocks numbers usually, we underestimate them and we did. Seasonally, we usually top out early spring and we drop 90% of the time into the fall and we’re doing it.”

Filed Under: Markets, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Ag ed. director looks forward to farming

June 30, 2011 By 1 Comment

Terry Heiman can hardly wait to enter the next stage in his career. Heiman, the director of agricultural education for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, retires from that position Thursday.  However Heiman has no plans of taking it easy. “I’m looking forward to working in agriculture,” he said, during an interview with Brownfield, prior to his retirement.

Looking back on his decades of service to Missouri’s education system, Heiman said the focus of agricultural education has changed since he began there in 1978.

“At that time, when we started, we were primarily a production agriculture curriculum,” said Heiman, referring to his start at the Department when he first hired on as a supervisor, “and that has changed to include conservation and natural resources, horticulture, greenhouse management, a lot more agri-business education, into the areas of biotechnology and more science in agriculture.”

It’s important that people understand that agriculture as a career choice has grown, said Heiman, which is reflected in the number of young people enrolled in an agriculture curriculum and in its accompanying agricultural youth organization.

“Back when I started, why, we had approximately 15,000 FFA members,” he recalled. “Today there are over 26,000 FFA members [in Missouri].”

Since 1984, Heiman’s job has included advising those FFA members. But beginning Friday, Heiman will give undivided attention to the profession for which he has prepared young people for the past 33 years.

“I have a livestock farm,” said Heiman. “I raise beef cattle and I have farms with row crops and I intend to be engaged in production agriculture.”

AUDIO: Terry Heiman (6 min. MP3)

Filed Under: Human Interest, News Tagged With: ,
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