U of I associate professor in animal sciences Janeen Salak-Johnson will explore a new and increasingly important side of those sciences, including such topics as animal well-being, animal-environment interactions, domestication of animals and contributions to human welfare, biotechnology, food safety, and societal and economic impacts of animal production.

I know there are other schools offering similar courses. . .and I think that is a pretty good idea.

AUDIO

AUDIO: Eric Holder and Christine Varney (3 min MP3)

AUDIO: Scott Brown (3 min. MP3)

Meanwhile, dry weather will return to the Plains, while precipitation will spread farther inland across the West. Precipitation currently over the Northwest will reach the Intermountain West on Saturday and the central and southern Rockies on Sunday.

Looking ahead, the 6- to 10-day outlook calls for cooler-than-normal weather from the southern Rockies into the Southeast, while near- to above-normal temperatures will prevail across the remainder of the U.S. Meanwhile, near- to below-normal precipitation across the majority of the nation will contrast with wetter-than-normal conditions on the northern Plains.

Across the Corn Belt, lowland flooding continues—mainly across western portions of the region—due to runoff from melting snow and recent widespread rainfall.

In the South, torrential rainfall continues across parts of Florida’s peninsula, where some locations have received more than 5 inches in the last 24 hours. A separate area of rain across the interior Southeast—including Tennessee—is halting spring fieldwork but easing concerns about short-term dryness.

In the West, rain and snow showers are confined to the northern Rockies and the Pacific Northwest. Despite cool weather, fieldwork continues in the Desert Southwest and has resumed in California.

El Nino, the periodic warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific waters, occurs on average every two to five years and typically lasts about 12 months.

NOAA expects this El Nino to continue developing during the next several months, with further strengthening possible. The event is expected to last through winter 2009-10.

El Nino Updates

To the north and east, drought in Washington and along the Idaho/Montana border is expected to persist and expand to cover much of eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and adjacent Montana. Meanwhile, limited relief is expected for drought areas along and near the Idaho/Wyoming border.

Limited relief is also forecast for the drought affecting part of the western Great Lakes region, primarily later in the period, but more robust relief appears on tap for the lingering drought areas in southern Texas.

Across western Ohio and adjacent parts of Indiana and southeastern Michigan, sub-normal precipitation totals have been observed for the past several weeks, and with this pattern expected to continue through the forecast period, drought development is anticipated in these areas.

U.S. Drought Monitor
Seasonal Drought Outlook (Map)

Current Severe Weather Watches
Weather Alerts

The workshop, led by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, featured panel discussions on a variety of topics, including competitive dynamics in the seed industry, trends in contracting, transparency and buyer power, and concluded with public testimony. 

“Today’s workshop provided the Department with an important opportunity to hear from a variety of perspectives and individuals about competition in the agriculture sector,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.  “We appreciate the importance of this industry to our economy and are committed to enforcing the antitrust laws effectively to ensure fair and open competition that protects both consumers and farmers.”

“In my travels across the country, I hear a consistent theme: producers are worried whether there is a future for them or their children in agriculture, and a viable market is an important factor in what that future looks like,” said Vilsack. “These issues are difficult and complex, which is why this workshop today is so important and long overdue.”

Friday’s meeting was the first in a series of workshops that will be held over the next several months. 

Holder, Varney serve notice to large agribusiness companies

The nation’s largest agribusiness firms received a stern warning from the Obama administration during Friday’s ag competition workshop in Ankeny, Iowa:  There’s a new sheriff in town and anti-competitive practices won’t be tolerated.

Attorney general Eric Holder set the tone for the session. “We know that a growing number of American farmers find it increasingly difficult to survive by doing what they have been doing for decades,” Holder said, “and we’ve learned that some them believe that the competitive environment may be, at least in part, to blame.”

Both Holder and Christine Varney, the assistant attorney general for antitrust, said that while big isn’t necessarily bad, it can be bad if the power that comes with being big is misused.  “With big comes an awful lot of responsibility,” said Varney.  “When you have a tremendous amount of market share, you have the responsibility to behave in ways that keep the competitive playing field open.  You cannot engage in acts that are designed to protect or extend your monopoly.”

Varney said her office will vigorously enforce antitrust law.  When pressed on what actions might be forthcoming, and when, Varney responded that it’s already happening.  She pointed to last year’s blockage of JBS SA’s attempt to purchase National Beef and a recent Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block milk processor Dean Foods’ acquisition of a competitor.   Her message was that future acquisitions and mergers will be getting much more scrutiny than they have in the past.

The following audio clips feature some of the opening comments made at the workshop.

AUDIO: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (2 min MP3)

AUDIO: Attorney General Eric Holder (3 min MP3)

AUDIO: Christine Varney, head of DOJ Antitrust Division (3 min MP3)

AUDIO: Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley (3 min MP3)

Farmers have their say

The workshop agenda included a panel of six farmers conveying their thoughts on competition issues in agriculture.  Eric Nelson, a grain and cattle farmer from Moville, Iowa argued that the government needs to do a better job of enforcing the anti-competition and antitrust laws already in place.   Pam Johnson, a farmer from Floyd, Iowa, talked about the innovations that have made American agriculture the envy of the world.

AUDIO: Eric Nelson (7 min MP3)

AUDIO: Pam Johnson (6 min MP3)

Competitive Dynamics of the Seed Industry

Much of the focus of Friday’s workshop was the competitive dynamics of the seed industry–specifically Monsanto’s dominance in seed traits and whether the company is using that dominance unfairly.  At the heart of the discussion is the battle between rivals Monsanto and Dupont, which owns Pioneer Hi-Bred. 

One of the more interesting exchanges took place between Diana Moss with the American Antitrust Institute and Jim Tobin of Monsanto, both part of a panel discussing seed price, choice and innovation.   Dermot Hayes, Iowa State University professor of economics and finance, also weighed in.

AUDIO: Diana Moss (2 min MP3)

AUDIO: Jim Tobin (2 min MP3)

AUDIO: Dermot Hayes (2 min MP3)

Corn was lower on technical and fund selling, in addition to the lower beans and crude oil. Corn’s fundamentals remain negative with a large supply, some uptick in ethanol use and fairly slack export demand. South Korea bought 116,000 tons of 2009/10 corn which was considered routine. Losses were limited by continued concerns over early planting delays ahead of March 31’s USDA prospective plantings report. Additionally, most contracts have managed to hold above last month’s lows. Ethanol futures were lower. Malaysia bought 60,000 tons of South American corn at $225 per ton.

The wheat complex was higher on short covering, technical buying and the lower dollar. When the dollar goes down, it lowers the price of U.S. goods on the export market. However, U.S. wheat is more expensive than wheat from competing exporters and the available world supply is large. In any event, fundamentals may be negative, but traders continue to hold a very large net short position, potentially setting the stage for more sideways movement. Minneapolis had additional support from concerns over hard red spring planting delays. European wheat was mixed, mostly firm, in consolidation trade; May Paris was up .4% and May London was .8% higher.