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Illinois legislature approves new nutrient council

May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The President of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association (IFCA) says they are pleased the state legislature has passed a bill and amendment to create a Nutrient Research and Education Council.

“That’s protected outside of state government for us to dedicate those funds for new nutrient efficiency and water quality programs — and really try to focus a lot on on-farm research where we can manage nutrients better to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous losses through tile drainage and runoff,” says Jean Payne, president of the IFCA.

She tells Brownfield the ag industry wanted to step up to the plate – so - a specified tonnage amount of fertilizer sold in Illinois will go to the protected fund established with the support of ag and environmental groups.

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

Have consumers gotten the LFTB message?

May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Are consumers getting the message that lean finely textured beef (LFTB) is beef and not so-called pink slime?

Carol Lorenzen is a professor and meat extension specialist with the University of Missouri.

“I’m not sure the consumer is getting that message,” Lorenzen tells Brownfield, “We have seen the plants that have been making this reducing their workforce and even closing.”

Lorenzen says it would be a different way of processing for regular beef plants to pick up the slack.

“It does have some specialized equipment. There are some other processes that are similar to this. Right now, I think that the future of Lean Finely Textured Beef is in question,” Lorenzen says, “Hopefully, because of the education that has been put forth by a lot of people and the media that maybe consumers will accept (it) in the future.”

Lorenzen says there are some processors who use different ways of killing bacteria in the product other than the “puff” of food grade ammonia used during the LFTB process.

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

Drought getting “rapidly serious” in Missouri

May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The dry conditions in Missouri are a worry for crops and Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says it’s a concern of farmers throughout the state.

“It’s amazing how quickly it can change from having plenty of moisture or maybe having too much to being dry. It’s very widespread in the state of Missouri. Southern Missouri is tremendously dry.”

The state has seen very little rain in the past few weeks and has had higher than normal temperatures for much of that time. Hurst says he just talked with former Missouri Farm Bureau President Charlie Kruse – who farms in Dexter, in southeast Missouri.

“He said the cotton growers down in the Bootheel are trying to water enough to get their cotton up and a lot of them have quit planting. This drought is rapidly becoming very serious.”

Hurst says the dryness is becoming a problem in northwest Missouri where he farms.

“Most everybody is getting near the end of bean planting but I talked to a couple of farmers that had pulled the planters out of the field waiting for rain. And, of course, everybody is concerned about getting the late planted – the last planted beans out, so, it is a worry.”

Missouri’s state climatologist says the state is on track to have the warmest spring on record.

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

Kansas rancher is Monsanto ’12 Farm Mom

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Monsanto’s “America’s Farm Mom of the Year” is farmer/rancher/blogger in Kansas, Debbie Lyons-Blythe.

“My aunt nominated me and I didn’t realize also that my kids wrote an essay and nominated me so it’s a real honor that they would want to do that. But,” she tells Brownfield Ag News, “There are so many farm moms out there that do what I do, it’s just amazing to me that I would have been spot-lighted for this honor.”

Debbie Lyons-Blythe is a mother of five who runs Blythe Angus near White City, Kansas. While her husband maintains a job off the farm, Debbie runs the day to day operations of their business – they raise 250 registered Angus cows and sell registered bulls, and, have a commercial heifer development program.

She says their children – ages 16 to 21 – have all have had a role in the farming operations.

“You know,” says Lyons-Blythe, “If they want to come back to the farm they’ve got to have some skills on the farm. And, so, we felt like it was really important that they be a part of not only the labor but the decision-making as well so we’ve tried to include them at every step.”

Lyons-Blythe – a Kansas State journalism major – is a blogger and tries to educate consumers along the way: Her online blog is Life on a Kansas Cattle Ranch.

She serves on the board of directors for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Kansas Livestock Association and is an active member of the American Angus Association. Lyons-Blythe has received a 10-thousand dollar cash prize from Monsanto as one of five regional winners and the overall winner.

AUDIO: Debbie Lyons-Blythe (9:00 mp3)

Life on a Kansas Cattle Ranch

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

4-H Healthy Living initiative helps kids and families

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

More private and public partnerships are cropping up to teach kids about healthy living. Molina health care – with a presence in 18 states – is teaming up with 4-H, the youth organization in every state – to provide money for their “healthy living initiative” teaching kids where their foods come from, healthy eating, physical fitness and more.

HEALTHY LIVING PROGRAM – Molina boosts 4-H Healthy Living initiative (1:30 mp3)

Filed Under: Feature Programs, Healthy Living Tagged With: , ,

Colombia FTA “finally” in place says AFBF

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

With the Colombia Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. now in effect, the potential for new U.S. ag sales is skyrocketing, says the American Farm Bureau Federation.

“We projected this will mean over $350 to $370-Million a year of new sales in the not too distant future of ag products now that we’re competitive,” says American Farm Bureau Trade Specialist Dave Salmonsen.  He adds – it took a long time in coming. The negotiations began with Colombia eight years ago and the deal was essentially completed six years ago. In that time span, Argentina – and, just last year Canada – reached tariff agreements with the South American country.

“You know, the U.S. paved the way and showed that this could be done and what potential benefits would be, but, our process bogged down and moved so slowly that other countries took advantage of it.”

Total US exports under the Colombia FTA will grow by more than one-Billion dollars, according to government estimates.

More than half of U.S. ag products going to Columbia are now tariff-free and in the next few years tariffs will be phased out completely.

~AFBF contributed to this report~

Filed Under: Crops, Events/Organizations, News, USDA/Government, World Ag News/Trade Tagged With: , , , ,

Missouri passes ag video bill

May 21, 2012 By 1 Comment

The Missouri legislature has passed a bill that would make it a crime for employees of ag operations to hold on to videos they take of animal abuse. The Missouri Farmers Care Coalition – applauds the measure that passed last Friday, the final day of the 2012 Missouri Legislative Session.

“Say you’re an undercover investigator for an animal rights group. You shouldn’t be sitting on that for months or weeks at a time, editing it for maximum impact and fund-raising ability. You need to turn that evidence over to the authorities immediately so that problem can be dealt with through the proper channels,” says MFCC operator Dan Kleinsorge. The measure is part of a larger Missouri agriculture bill and would require such videos be turned over to authorities within 24 hours. An intentional violation would be a Class-A misdemeanor.

Kleinsorge says it’s a different approach from so-called “ag-gag” legislation that passed in Iowa and Utah that discourages people from lying on job applications to gain on-farm access, “That (ag-gag legislation) wouldn’t necessarily prevent people from sneaking into the farm or videotaping it from the outside from a public road or public access.”

Kleinsorge says the Missouri video bill would also be more likely to stand up in court. Missouri’s omnibus ag bill also – among other provisions – guarantees the right to exhibit livestock and defines animals as not having human rights.

AUDIO: Dan Kleinsorge (7:00 mp3)

Filed Under: Events/Organizations, Livestock, News, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Easy beef summer recipes

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Some easy to cook beef cuts this summer:  Two of the more than two-dozen lean cuts of beef are Flank and the Flat Iron. University of Missouri Chef instructor Jeff Guinn showed students of Show Me Beef University how to work with flank steak and flat iron steak. Both are good for grilling and stir-frying – but the flank is better for kabobs on the grill.

HEALTHY LIVING PROGRAM – Easy to cook lean beef cuts this summer (1:30)

Beef, it’s what’s for dinner recipes

Filed Under: Feature Programs, Healthy Living Tagged With: , ,

Former SD lawmaker/farmer dies

May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Former US Senator, Congressman and lieutenant governor of South Dakota Jim Abdnor of South Dakota died this week at the age of 89. Abdnor was a farmer and rancher who is credited with getting oats included in the farm program.

Abdnor’s funeral is Saturday morning in Pierre. Senator John Thune considered Abdnor a friend and mentor and reportedly will deliver the eulogy.

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

Five new Pork Board members named

May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The five new appointees of the National Pork Board have been named. Ag Secretary Vilsack chose five of the eight pork producers nominated by the National Pork Producers Delegate Body in March.

Carl Link of Fort Recovery, Ohio is one of two new board members. Brad Greenway of Mitchell, South Dakota is one of three reappointed members.

Everett Forkner of Richards, Missouri is the president of the Pork Board. Conley Nelson of Algona, Iowa is vice president. Current members of the board include Derrick Sleezer of Cherokee, Iowa and Julie Maschhoff of Carlyle, Illinois.

The Pork Board oversees the distribution and spending of National Pork Checkoff dollars – all US pork producers invest 40 cents per $100 value of hogs sold. Importers of US pork products contribute a similar amount. A portion of the funds – used for research, education and promotion – go back to the states.

Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina and Minnesota are the top five pork producing states in the nation. There were just over 69-thousand pork producers in the U.S. in 2010, according to USDA, with about 64 million head of pigs at the start of 2011.

Filed Under: Events/Organizations, Human Interest, Livestock, News Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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