NASS survey

Between now and March, field offices of the National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) will be contacting 35,000 farmers nationwide to gather information for the annual Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS).

The survey will ask producers to provide data on their operating expenditures, production costs and household characteristics. The economic data will be released in August.

AAI to host 2010 trade show and conference

The Agribusiness Association of Iowa holds its 2010 Showcase and Conference this Tuesday and Wednesday in Des Moines. Mark Reisinger is the CEO of the association, “The first day is seminar-based educational opportunities for CCAs and individuals involved in the grain and seed industries. And, the second day is a traditional trade show of sorts, although we’re developing a number of entertainment-type opportunities at the trade show. It should be a good time for everybody that shows up.”

Among the speakers is Larry Elsworth, Ag Counselor to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. The AAI showcase and conference is February 9th and 10th at the Varied Industries Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

AUDIO: Mark Reisinger, CEO of the AAI

Agribusiness Association of Iowa

Groups oppose ‘animal protection liaison’ idea

A number of livestock and other groups have sent a letter to President Obama urging him not to appoint an “animal protection liaison” in the White House.

The concept has been proposed by the Humane Society of the United States. 

Among those signing the letter—the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, National Pork Producers Council and United Egg Producers.

The vice president for government affairs with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Colin Woodall says HSUS already has a lot of access in both the Obama administration and in Congress.

“That’s what concerns us, because they truly are out to end animal agriculture,” Woodall says. “You know, they don’t talk about that publicly as much as they used to—but it’s still their ultimate goal.”

Woodall says HSUS has scaled back on legislative initiatives in Congress while it focuses on state-by-state ballot initiatives—which he thinks is part of their overall strategy.

“They know if they can get out there and win things like Proposition 2 did in California—and what they’re trying to do in Ohio right now,” Woodall explains, “if they can get to a point where they have a critical mass of states that have passed ballot initiatives, then they’ll be able to take that back to Washington and tell Congress ‘hey look, you no longer have any excuse not to move forward with our agenda because the states have already told you how they feel’.”

Woodall visited with Brownfield at the recent cattlemen’s conference in San Antonio.

South Dakota officials to review animal care laws

A group of South Dakota farm and livestock representatives, along with South Dakota’s state veterinarian, will review state laws regarding livestock and work animals this year.

Officials say the laws were last reviewed in 1991.  They point out that, since then, most farm and livestock organizations have adopted guidelines for the care and welfare of animals—and public perceptions about animal welfare have changed. 

Among topics to be considered will be confinement housing and practices such as castration, tail docking, beak trimming and dehorning.  Revisions will be submitted to the state legislature next year.

Groups involved in the project include the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, Pork Producers Council, Association of Cooperatives, and state Farm Bureau.

NCBA meets with sponsor of antibiotics bill

NCBA officials have met with New York congresswoman Louise Slaughter, sponsor of the House bill to ban the use of antibiotics in livestock.

They were joined by Kansas State University’s Michael Apley, a veterinary clinical pharmacologist.  Apley emphasized that animal antibiotics have passed a stringent FDA-approval process, which has demonstrated they are safe and effective.  And he said cattlemen and veterinarians must adhere to strict, science-based guidelines in using antibiotics.

Also participating in the meeting was Iowa congressman Leonard Boswell.  Boswell, who also has concerns with the legislation, was part of a recent congressional trip to Denmark to examine the impacts that their antibiotics ban had on the country’s swine population.  Boswell says Danish pork producers saw increased mortality and illness in their herds,  in addition to higher production costs, soon after the ban was put in place.  And he says many small Danish farmers who raised pigs went out of business after the ban.

Apley says he was encouraged by Slaughter’s willingness to discuss the issue.  He says she extended an offer to have NCBA involved in the discussions moving forward.

Illinois Pork Producers Select 2010 State Ambassador

The Illinois Pork Association selected Michelle Borgic as their 2010 state pork ambassador. The state ambassador serves for one year as the official youth representative for the Illinois Pork Producers Association.

Brownfield’s Cyndi Young talked to Michelle about what she expects to see happen during her year of service.

“Right now I really think we need to get youth involved, which is basically the purpose of the state ambassador. I really hope to get more county ambassadors involved,” said Michelle. “Hopefully, I will be able to go out to schools or have the county ambassadors go to the schools and talk to the youth and get them more interested so by the time they get to be in high school they can become county ambassadors and eventually state ambassadors.”

Michelle’s two older brothers also served as state ambassadors and her father retired from the state president’s position of the Illinois Pork Producers earlier this week. Her entire immediate family works on their family farm in Nokomis, Ill.

Illinois Pork Producers

AUDIO: Michelle Borgic (2 minutes, MP3)

Despite weather MFU holds annual meeting

Several state lawmakers and the Democratic candidate for Senate Robin Carnahan spoke at the Missouri Farmer’s Union annual meeting last Saturday. Poor weather condition forced MFU leaders to move the two day conference to a one day annual meeting in Columbia, Missouri.  Topics included current legislation about seed monopolies, job creation, grain indemnities, and dog kennels.

Members of the Missouri Farmer’s Union also approved of two policies at their meeting.

The Missouri Farmers Union would oppose the move of the Plum Island Animal Disease Research laboratory to the Midwest saying that it would pose environmental and health concerns to one of the nation’s most important livestock regions. The lab is currently in New York and researches diseases such as BSE and the West Nile virus.

Not only were these issues tackled, but also a new slate of officers was elected for the upcoming year

State Officers for 2010

President- Richard Oswald of Langdon

Vice President- Steve Wright of Madison

Treasurer- Marilyn Simpson of Clarence

Secretary- Jan Beach of Leonard

New Members to the Board of Directors

Jim Foster of Montgomery City

Harold Beach of Leonard

Dick Wilson of Rogersville

Missouri Farmer’s Union members hope to schedule another conference in November to reach out to those who could not attend the meeting due to weather and location.

Newly elected president Richard Oswald also spoke about what Missouri Farmer’s Union members can look forward to in the next year.

“We want to see more markets for Missouri produce. We want to see more opportunities for Farmer’s market producers,” said Oswald. “We want to see this bill that moves more produce directly into schools, the Farm to Cafeteria Bill that I have worked on and helped with when I could. We want to see that and try to fight for more local markets.”

Oswald is a corn and soybean farmer from Langdon in the Northwest corner of Missouri.

Missouri Farmer’s Union

AUDIO: Richard Oswald, Missouri Farmers Union President (1 min., MP3)

SDCGA: ‘EPA only got it half right’

Reacting to the EPA’s RFS2 final rule, the South Dakota Corn Growers Association says the agency “only got it half right.” 

The group is pleased with EPA’s acknowledgement of corn ethanol’s advantage over conventional gasoline when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.  At the same time, the corn growers are disappointed with EPA’s continued reliance on international indirect land use calculations, which they call “hocus pocus”.  They’re called on EPA to reject what they call “the flawed and unproven theory” of international indirect land use change.

Iowa Soybean welcomes RFS2 rule

The Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) is welcoming the EPA’s final rule on the expanded Renewable Fuels Standard—RFS2. 

ISA president Delbert Christensen of Audubon says it’s good news for Iowa as one of the leading biodiesel and soybean producing states, in that it opens the door to more biodiesel production and usage in the U.S.  He says many of the soybean industry’s concerns were addressed in the final rule. 

Over the past few months, ISA officials have met with representatives of EPA, both in Iowa and Washington, D.C., to explain modern soybean production and the importance of biodiesel to the soybean industry.  ISA director Ray Gaesser  of Corning, who is also vice president of the American Soybean Association, thinks those meetings were instrumental in convincing EPA to make revisions to the rule.

RFS2 gives more credit to distillers grains

One of the positive aspects of the EPA’s RFS2 announcement this week was the increased credit given to distillers grains.  That according to the Nebraska Corn Board. 

EPA noted that new research available since the initial RFS2 proposal indicates that distillers grains is more efficient as an animal feed than what it had originally assumed.  That means less corn is needed for animal feed—which, in turn, means that domestic corn demand and exports are not impacted as much by increased biofuel production as previously thought. 

But despite that positive news, the Corn Board still has concerns with the RFS2 rule, especially what it calls “the shaky science” of international indirect land use change.  The board points out that with the land use change theory included, EPA estimated that corn-based ethanol reduces greenhouse gases 21 percent over gasoline. Without that penalty, corn ethanol would achieve a 52 percent reduction rating. 

The Corn Board also renewed its call for approval of E15 and putting more flex fuel vehicles on the road.

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