Ag News for America
What beef brings to the table is the focus of Beef Month…which is the month of May. Jill Johnson with the Illinois Beef Association talks about an important health study of the 29 cuts of lean beef available to consumers.
HEALTHY LIVING PROGRAM – What beef brings to the table (1:30 mp3)
The Missouri legislature has approved the much-debated Right to Farm proposed constitutional amendment that will now go to voters next year. The Senate passed the measure Tuesday, after language* was added back in to protect the rights of local governments to govern farms and ranches as already granted them in the state constitution.
Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says, on the whole, the measure sends an important message to animal rights activists in Missouri…
“We care about animals and we want to treat them humanely but don’t believe they have the same rights as you or I and I think it is an important step forward in that respect.”
Hurst tells Brownfield his group is pleased overall with the passage of the measure. He points out that counties have always had the right to zone, so in that sense, he says the added language is okay…
“We’re not, absolutely not putting county health ordinances IN the constitution and I don’t think that the language can be interpreted to mean that.”
But, there was another compromise that had to be made, Hurst tells Brownfield Ag News, “More importantly, we think, the original language had language to forbid the regulating of farms and ranches by initiative petition. That has been taken out, although we still feel that it does put some limits on what you can do by initiative petition.”
Hurst expects all in Missouri agriculture to get behind the ballot measure and expects voters to pass it next fall.
*[“To protect this vital sector of Missouri’s economy the right of farmers and ranchers to engage in farming and ranching practices shall be forever guaranteed in this state subject to duly authorized powers of any conferred by Article Six of the constitution of Missouri.”]
The 45th sign-up period for the Conservation Reserve Program begins next week. It is designed for farmers and landowners with environmentally sensitive lands.
Craig Trimm, with the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), says the first step is to go in to your local FSA office and develop a conservation plan that could include the planting of trees. “Look at things that maybe they are interested in putting on their acreage. They’ll actually submit an offer, make a bid, per se, or rental rate that they’re willing to take for their land that they’re wanting to put into the Conservation Reserve Program,” says Trimm.
Each offer will be evaluated, the rental rate value per acre will e assessed and each offer will then be given a score. Trimm says, “We’ll have a cut-off score that we actually look at and the ones that actually meet that score, or above that score, are the ones that we would accept.”
The Ag Secretary makes the final decisions on which landowners are accepted into the CRP program. Signup begins Monday, March 20th and ends June 14th.
Of all the occupations in the U.S., a survey finds that other than physicians, farmers take the fewest sick days off. But, some say that’s not necessarily a good thing.
DairyHerd Network says the Gallup/Healthways joint study listed farmers, foresters and fishers, number two on the list. On average, those workers missed just three days of work a year.
While farmers’ constant attention has to be on their crops and livestock, many of them work while they are sick. Kansas State University animal scientist Chris Reinhardt urges farmers, however, to take care of their bodies as well as they do their equipment – giving them fuel and rest so they don’t wear out.
The people taking the most sick days, according to the survey, are service and office workers, nurses and business owners.
Corn planting progressed somewhat last week in Illinois up 10 points from the week before at 17 percent complete statewide. That still falls way short of last year’s early planting season when 94 percent of the crop was in the ground at this time. The five-year average is 64 percent.
Gary Schmalshof farms in western Illinois, about 60 miles south of Peoria.
He tells Brownfield they have about 30% of their 22-hundred acres of corn planted and hope to get up to 50 percent by the end of this week, weather permitting. They had 11 inches of rain in April and six inches, so far, in May.
“The problem is, we’re planting it a little faster than the ground is drying. You know, you’ve got different fields that dry before others and we planted them 10 days ago. So, we’re back down to about everything is about the same wet.”
They initially had two successful planting days, April 30th and May 1st.
Schmalshof says they would normally have soybeans in the ground by now. A big change from 2012.
“Well, this time last year, we were on Easy Street. We had corn and beans both in by this time last year.”
Winter wheat conditions and alfalfa statewide are mostly good to excellent. 78 percent of oats are planted in Illinois.
Some farmers in parts of northern Illinois have all their corn planted.
Corn planting in South Dakota took a big jump last week, advancing 30 percentage points as of Sunday, with 37 percent complete…close to the average of 46 percent. It’s still behind last year when 76 percent of the crop was planted.
Spring wheat seeding also advanced 30 percentage points with 76 percent planted.
Soybean planting is six percent complete…10% is normal this time of year. Last year, one-fourth of the soybean crop was in the ground.
The condition of winter wheat remains mostly poor to very poor – 61% of the crop.
Corn planting moved forward in Missouri last week with 28 percent complete as of Sunday. Still, that’s more than a month behind last year and 22 days behind normal. Fourteen percent of the crop has emerged. Soybean planting is one-percent complete. All other crops are behind as well, becaue of the cool wet weather: cotton, rice, and, sorghum.
Thirty-seven percent of winter wheat progressed to 37 percent complete. More than half of the crop is in good condition. While it was drier last week, frost was reported in several areas.
A study commissioned by the American Sugar Alliance shows the candy industry and makers of other sugar-containing products (SCP)s are thriving under the nation’s current sugar policy.
Alliance policy analyst Jack Roney says it’s important to maintain current sugar policy as lawmakers begin marking up 2013 farm bill versions this week. Claims by candy industry lobbyists that sugar policy and sugar prices have caused them economic hardship, Roney says, are debunked by this study.
Roney tells reporters, “It’s kind of ironic in many ways to have the sugar-using companies criticizing sugar policy, criticizing sugar farmers when they are enjoying one of the most profitable periods that they’ve ever had, regardless of where sugar prices are, and likely to be even more profitable.”
Study author Alex Triantis says the cost of sugar is only 4-percent of the cost of producing confectionary products. U.S. sugar prices are flat. Any change to US policy, he says, will result in more U.S. sugar industry jobs lost.
Dr. Triantis says, “If U.S. sugar policy were to be altered in any significant way, a large number of jobs supported by the sugar industry would be lost and there’s no evidence that job loss would be counter-balanced by consumers benefitting from lower SCP (sugar-containing product) prices.”
Roney says lobbyists are seeking policy changes that would, for example, require the USDA to keep the U.S. market oversupplied with foreign sugar, “effectively capping sugar prices at a low level forever.”
Roney says there are related amendments circulating that could threaten to harm U.S. sugar beet producers and the industry and they aim to fight them.
The Vermont House of Representative has passed a bill requiring the labeling of all genetically engineered foods sold in that state – although it’s not expected to move very quickly.
Food Navigator USA says the Vermont state Senate will take up the bill next but says they likely won’t deal with it until next January.
If approved, the measure would either go into effect in two years, or in 18 months if at least two other states adopt similar legislation.
Food Navigator reports that Vermont’s assistant attorney general has warned that biotech companies would likely sue the state over such legislation – on First Amendment grounds – and that federal questions are also likely to be raised.
May is osteoporosis prevention month and Ellen Wheeler, nutrition educator with the St. Louis Dairy Council says three servings a day can help prevent the bone weakening condition. She says our calcium needs increase as we age…we need it for our bones to grow and stay strong. In addition, vitamin D needs to go hand in hand with calcium for the best results.
HEALTHY LIVING PROGRAM – Dairy helps prevent osteoporosis (1:30 mp3)
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