Week of July 2-6 Archive
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July 6
NEXT STEPS FOR DOHA PONDERED---Crawford Falconer, agriculture chair of the faltering Doha round of World Trade Organization talks, on Thursday announced a plan to move forward with the negotiations. Falconer will release a draft negotiating text in mid-July. Negotiators are expected to meet with him July 23-27 to discuss their initial reactions to the text.
According to news reports, negotiation group meetings will be suspended through August, in order to give officials time to consider the draft text. Member nation representatives will likely reconvene in Geneva starting Sept. 3.
Unless meaningful progress is made by the end of 2007, a deal to free up world trade could be delayed by several years, U.S. officials said Thursday. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab is in Australia this week meeting with trade ministers from the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group, which is expected to issue an announcement of support for advancement of the Doha round today.
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NEW STUDY EXAMINES IMPACT OF BIOFUELS ON AGRICULTURE---According to a new study released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), biofuels will have a major impact on the global agriculture sector between 2007 and 2016. Prices for farm commodities are likely to remain at high levels for the next decade or so as demand for grains, oilseeds and sugars continue to increase.
At a press event following release of the study, an OECD official predicted farm prices, mainly grains, will rise by 20 percent to 50 percent over the next decade.
“Bioenergies have become a key factor in the functioning of agriculture markets,” said the OECD’s Loek Boonekamp. “In the medium term we believe that they could lead to prices on international markets rising quite considerably, at higher levels than what we had predicted in former outlooks and above the average of the last 10 years.”
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SALE OF DISEASED MEAT ON THE RISE IN CHINA---Skyrocketing pork prices have prompted unscrupulous meat-sellers in China to inject pigs with water to increase slaughter weight and pass off diseased products as safe. China’s Ministry of Commerce is investigating the situation and has initiated an emergency crackdown on the sale of improperly altered meat in addition to vowing to improve quality control.
In Beijing, the retail price of pork is the highest in 10 years. Government-controlled media outlets in China previously attributed the dramatic rise in retail pork prices to production bottlenecks and an outbreak of blue ear disease that resulted in a mass culling of hogs.
July 5
CONSUMERS’ CONCERNS ABOUT AVIAN INFLUENZA DIMINISHING---Concerns about avian influenza among U.S. consumers have diminished over the last 12 months, according to Ipsos Public Affairs. Nearly 27 percent of consumers currently have more than a moderate level of concern about avian influenza in the U.S. in general, down 8 percent from last year. The survey indicated that 15 percent of respondents had more than a moderate level of concern about avian influenza as a risk to themselves or their families.
Respondents also reported that knowledge of avian influenza was not affecting their poultry consumption.
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NUTRITION EDUCATION PROGRAMS STILL NEED WORK---Despite efforts to curb child obesity through nutritional education, most programs are not working. A scientific study reviewed by The Associated Press found that only four out of 57 such programs exhibited much success. The federal government has allocated $1 billion this year for nutritional education.
Regardless of these efforts, neither pediatricians nor teachers say they have seen much success. U.S. obesity rates have quintupled among 6- to 11-year-olds and tripled among teens and children ages 2 through 5 since the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
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NEW YORK TIMES: DON’T CRY OVER rBST MILK---A recent New York Times op-ed column by Henry Miller of the Hoover Institution comes out squarely in favor of dairy producers using recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) to increase milk production, as a way to ease retail prices. “Bad-faith efforts by biotechnology opponents to portray rBST as untested or harmful, and discourage its use, keep society from taking full advantage of a safe and useful product. The opponents’ limited success is keeping the price of milk unnecessarily high.”
The op-ed also notes, “Cynical activists have unfairly stigmatized a scientifically proven product that has consistently delivered economic and environmental benefits to dairy farmers and consumers.”
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July 2
BUSINESSES TRYING TO REVIVE IMMIGRATION BILL---A USA Today article reports that the business community has begun to revive components of the failed Senate immigration bill. Allowing more highly skilled workers into the country and expanding farm worker programs are top priorities for organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Farm Bureau Federation.
“We're going to have to go back and see how many things from the bill we can pull out and get fixes," said Angelo Amador, director of immigration policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, adding that businesses face increasing immigration raids and new legislation at the state and local levels.
The article goes on to say, “The American Farm Bureau Federation will continue pushing for a farm worker program, probably more expansive than the one in the failed bill. That program provided a path to legalization for about 1 million current agricultural workers and made it easier to use a guest worker program.”
“It's an issue we've been working on for a long time … we're not going to stop,” said AFBF Director of Public Policy Paul Schlegel.
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---MOST CORN PLANTED IN 63 YEARS---The Agriculture Department reported that farmers planted more corn this year than at any time since 1944. Farmers planted 92.9 million acres, 19 percent more then last year, as the demand for ethanol has driven up the need for corn.
As a result, fewer acres of soybeans were planted in the Midwest and less cotton in the South. USDA reported cotton is down 28 percent from last year, and farmers planted 64.1 million acres of soybeans this year, down from 75.5 million last year. The drop in soybean and cotton acreage will increase prices for both commodities, according to USDA.
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THE FACE OF FARMING CHANGING WITH AGE---As farmers continue to age, the landscape of rural America and farmers may change. In a report issued by the Agriculture Department, the current farmer’s average age is 55 years old. Many continue to farm well into their late 60s, as more young people leave the farm looking for higher wages.
As the population ages and more farmers retire, millions of acres of land will be sold, merged into larger farms. Some farm supply stores and equipment dealers worry this loss of farmers will negatively affect local businesses as large farm owners will buy in bulk from larger companies. Others worry that this change will affect rural communities.
Many predict a change in the way farming operates. New incentives are being implemented and reviewed to get young people back on the farms. “Farmers will still be doing farming, but on a much larger scale,” said Chris Henney, director of policy development for the Ohio Farm Bureau. “We'll see it operated much more like a business.”
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