You are here: Home / Archives for Top Stories

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: , , ,

Vilsack: Moving crop reports ‘complicated’

May 22, 2012 By 1 Comment

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the USDA is studying its procedures for releasing crop reports in response to new expanded trading hours implemented by the CME Group.

But Vilsack says changing report release times is not as simple as it sounds.

“A decision as to timing and information being accessible can potentially make the difference of millions of dollars, one way or the other, to those who are trading,” Vilsack says, “and now we have essentially two competing entities that have different hours that don’t necessarily align.”

Those competing entities are the CME Group and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which recently expanded its trading in grain futures. 

The Kansas City Board of Trade and MGEX, formerly the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, have followed suit and expanded their trading hours as well.

The challenge, Vilsack says, is to continue providing the information in a transparent and equitable way, “to do it in a very timely way, but not to distort the market or provide an undue advantage to someone or some entity as a result.”

USDA’s monthly crop reports are released at 7:30 a.m. Central time, when grain trading has traditionally been halted.

Vilsack made his comments during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.

AUDIO: Tom Vilsack (1:48 MP3)

 

Filed Under: Crops, Events/Organizations, Markets, News, Top Stories, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , ,

Report: Stabenow discussing deal with southern senators

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The farm bill approved by the Senate Ag Committee is headed for the Senate floor early next month.

According to committee chair Debbie Stabenow, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated he will bring up the bill the first week of June.

In preparation, Politico is reporting that Stabenow is reaching out to southern lawmakers in an effort to bridge the gap that split her committee last month and put her at odds with allies in the House. According to Politico, backroom talks are focused on putting a modest counter cyclical program together as a safety net for rice and peanuts.

In his weekly conference call with reporters, Senate Ag Committee member Chuck Grassley of Iowa had this reaction.

“I wouldn’t want to say that some changes couldn’t be made.  But if you’re talking about going back to target prices for cotton—or maybe more so for peanuts and rice—I think that’s a non-starter,” Grassley says. “If there’s some sort of slight changes—refinements that can be made to what we have—I wouldn’t rule that out.”

Pundits say a potential deal with southerners in the Senate must be considered as a bridge to a future House-Senate conference on the farm bill.

Lawmakers in the House are much more sympathetic to the southern concerns.

AUDIO: Excerpts from Grassley’s 5/22/12 conference call with reporters (5:33 MP)

 

Filed Under: Crops, Events/Organizations, News, Top Stories, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , , ,

House ready to write its farm bill

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The House Agriculture Committee wrapped up hearings on the 2012 Farm Bill last week and now begins the arduous task of writing the new farm bill.

House Ag Committee leaders have made it clear they want to include a target-price program in the bill, which puts them at odds with their Senate counterparts and some commodity organizations. 

Steve Wellman of Syracuse, Nebraska, president of the American Soybean Association (ASA), tells Brownfield that ASA would be open to a target price program, as long as it doesn’t distort farmers’ planting decisions.

“We’re open to a target price program as long as it’s decoupled from planted acres,” Wellman says. 

“The number one priority for ASA in Title I programs is for planting flexibility—letting producers make their own decisions on planting based on the marketplace and not on a government program,” Wellman adds.

Wellman, who testified at one of the final subcommittee hearings in Washington last week, says ASA supports the Senate Ag Committee’s new Agriculture Risk Coverage—or ARC—program. 

AUDIO: Steve Wellman (6:00 MP3)

 

Filed Under: Crops, Events/Organizations, News, Top Stories, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , , , ,

April cattle placements down 15% on year

May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

USDA’s monthly cattle on feed update showed a much larger than expected drop in placements during April.

U.S. placements on to feed last month came out at 1.52 million head or 85% of a year ago, towards the low end of estimates and less than the average guess of 88.4%. That decline’s linked to the lower supply of feeders and is expected to lead to a tighter supply of market ready numbers and even higher beef prices later this year.

With packers slowing down meat production, marketings were pegged at 1.82 million head, up slightly on the year, 8,000 head, when most analysts were anticipating a decrease.

The total amount of cattle on feed in the U.S. as of May 1 was reported at 11.1 million head, down 1% from a year ago and below the range of pre-report expectations.

Other disappearances were up 30% from last year at 78,000 head.

Filed Under: Livestock, News, Top Stories, USDA/Government Tagged With: , ,

New U.S. electronic trade hours start Sunday

May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

According to a statement from the CME Group, expanded trading hours at the Chicago Board of Trade will go into effect May 20.

The CBOT’s parent company received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday, allowing the new 21-hour session start Sunday.

The new hours for electronic futures and options trade in corn, soybean, wheat, soybean product, rough rice, oat, and ethanol contracts are 5 PM to 2 PM Central Sunday through Friday. Settlement times for open outcry and dairy contracts remain the same.

The Minneapolis Grain Exchange and Kansas City Board of Trade will also be going to a 21-hour electronic trading day starting Sunday, May 20. Wheat futures and options contract traded at the exchanges will run from 5 PM to 2 PM Central Sunday to Friday, with open outcry hours and contract settlement times unchanged.

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

CME Group adjusts plan for expanded hours

May 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The CME Group says the Chicago Board of Trade will now offer grain and oilseed futures and options trading 21 hours a day, pending certification by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

According to a statement by the CME Group, customer feedback led to an adjustment from the earlier plan for a 22-hour trading day, saying trade between 5 PM to 2 PM Central from Sunday through Friday best meets customer’s risk management needs. The CBOT parent company says the new plan came through collaboration with the National Grain and Feed Association and the North American Export Grain Association.

The Kansas City Board of Trade is also set to offer a 21-hour trading day as both exchanges compete with the recent introduction of expanded grain futures trade by the Intercontinental Exchange. The KCBT plan would go into effect May 31, pending CFTC approval. The CME Group has not given a start day for its’ expanded trading day.

The National Corn Growers Association is requesting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission require a 30-day public comment period before major grain exchanges expand their trading hours. In a letter to CFTC Chair Gary Gensler released late Wednesday, NCGA President Gary Niemeyer says a 22-day hour trading day for the CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange would place the nation’s corn growers at a marketing disadvantage, especially when many are busy planting.

Niemeyer added futures trade during the release of major USDA reports distorts prices and dramatically increases risk, and a 22-hour trading day would make it impossible for growers and small elevators to actively track markets.

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

2011 crop indemnity payments approching $11 billion

May 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Losses paid out by crop insurance companies to farmers for 2011 crops have now exceeded $10.7 billion and are edging ever closer to the $11 billion mark, according to data from the Risk Management Agency (RMA). This surpasses the previous record of $8.76 billion set in 2008 by almost 25 percent.

 

National Crop Insurance Services reports corn, cotton, wheat, soybeans grain sorghum, pastureland and rangeland, and tobacco suffered the most damage by value.

The average loss ratio across the country is at 0.90, which means that for every dollar purchased in coverage, 90 cents was paid out in indemnities although those numbers are much higher in some key states.

Top among them is Vermont, which felt the brunt of Hurricane Irene’s wrath last summer and is currently at a loss ratio of 2.59. Texas and Oklahoma are not far behind, having fallen victims to an historic and prolonged drought, registering a 2.35, and 2.15 respectively.

As Congress considers the next farm bill, National Crop Insurance Services president, Tom Zacharias notes that while damages from last year approach the $11 billion mark; “there has not been a single call from farmers and ranchers for a federal disaster bill”. He calls that testimony to the efficacy and importance of crop insurance.

Read more from NCIS here:

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

U.S.-Colombia FTA takes effect

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The U.S.-Columbia Free Trade Agreement took effect on Tuesday. U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack welcomed the implementation stating under the deal; “U.S. agricultural exporters receive duty-free access on more than half of the products we currently export to Colombia, and virtually all remaining tariffs will be eliminated within 15 years. Estimates show that the tariff reductions in the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement will expand total U.S. exports by more than $1.1 billion.”

The U.S. exported $1.1 billion of agricultural products to Colombia last year, that is expected to increase by $370 million this year under the FTA.

Colombia will immediately eliminate duties on wheat, barley, soybeans, soybean meal and flour, high-quality beef, bacon, almost all fruit and vegetable products, wheat, peanuts, whey, cotton, and the vast majority of processed products. The Colombia TPA also provides duty free tariff rate quotas (TRQ) on standard beef, chicken leg quarters, dairy products, corn, sorghum, animal feeds, rice, and soybean oil.

Filed Under: News, Top Stories, World Ag News/Trade Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Potential for big corn crop, BUT!

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Listen to enough people and you may start believing 2012 will produce a big corn crop.

Okay, maybe there are a lot of indicators pointing to a POTENTIAL big corn crop this fall, but Sonny Beck, President of Beck’s Hybrids at Atlanta, Indiana says we can’t forget one KEY factor for that big crop to become reality.

“I don’t get too excited about a good crop or poor crop early on, it is what happens in July when you’re talking about corn,” said Beck. “Corn needs that two weeks that it’s tasseling if you’re going to have a good crop.”

Beck says over the years he’s seen some pretty poor corn getting perfect weather during pollination and end up being a good crop, on the other hand, he’s also seen some really good corn hurt when the weather turned dry during the reproductive stage.

Audio: Sonny Beck, President, Beck’s Hybrids (3:55 mp3)

Filed Under: Crops, News, Top Stories Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts