May 29 - June 8, 2007
Archive
7 6 5 4 June 1 30 29
June 7
FTC TO BLOCK WHOLE FOODS ACQUISITION OF WILD OATS---The Federal Trade Commission this week said it will file a lawsuit to block an acquisition of natural-foods store Wild Oats by the Whole Foods Market grocery chain.
According to an Associated Press report, the FTC “will argue that the marketplace is defined by natural and organic food stores and not the broader supermarket industry.
The FTC has said if the acquisition goes forth, Whole Foods will likely raise prices while reducing the quality of its products.
Whole Foods made an offer in February to acquire Wild Oats for $565 million. The deal must be approved by Wild Oats’ shareholders if less than 90 percent of the company’s outstanding stock is acquired by Whole Foods in the tender offer. Wild Oats Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Greg Mays is optimistic the deal will move forward, saying, “While we disagree with the FTC's position and believe it is without legal and factual merit, we are confident that, once presented with the facts, the court will agree that this merger is pro-competitive.”
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---HOUSE AG SUBCOMMITTEE MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS---The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Specialty Crops, Rural Development and Foreign Agriculture on Wednesday approved several proposals for the farm bill sections under its jurisdiction. The subcommittee approved by voice vote discussion drafts outlining the rural development title as well as the peanut and sugar programs. The subcommittee also adopted three amendments by voice vote.
On rural development, the discussion draft approved by the subcommittee reauthorizes Agriculture Department programs that facilitate the financing of essential infrastructure, including public water and waste disposal systems. It also establishes grant and loan programs for rural health care facilities and entrepreneur and microenterprise assistance. The draft changes program eligibility requirements to improve access to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, and it also would establish a National Center for Rural Telecommunications Assessment.
Copies of the discussion draft, a section-by-section analysis of the provisions and amendments approved by the subcommittee are available online at the committee's farm bill Web site.
June 6
FARM BUREAU BACKS FFA FUNDING---In a letter Tuesday, American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman asked the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees to increase the Carl D. Perkins Act program funding to $1.7 billion. Federal funding for Future Farmers of America and agricultural career and technical education comes from annual appropriations for Carl D. Perkins Act programs.
“FFA provides leadership opportunities and tests,” said Stallman. “We ask for this increase so that this important program can meet the critical education needs of the 21st century economy.”
The administration’s budget reduces the funding for such programs by $687 million.
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FFA JOINS USDA IN SUPPORT OF NATIONAL ANIMAL ID---The voluntary National Animal Identification System has gained further support from the Agriculture Department and the National Future Farmers of America Organization. The two organizations joined together in an official signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., in the advancement of implementing the NAIS.
The FFA will promote NAIS through educational programs for current and alumni members. The educational programs will include information promoting premises registration, which is the first phase of the NAIS. Such registration enables nationwide communication between livestock owners and health officials in the case of a disease event. There are currently 394,000 premises registered nationwide.
Farm Bureau supports the establishment and implementation of a voluntary national animal identification system capable of providing support for animal disease control and eradication.
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FARM GROUPS SEND SHARP WARNING ON DOHA---A number of farm groups representing corn, soybeans, sugar and other commodities recently sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab warning against cuts to agriculture subsidies during World Trade Organization Doha negotiations. The letter was in reaction to WTO Chairman Crawford Falconer’s efforts to push negotiators toward reaching a deal.
“Reductions in, and limitations on, U.S. domestic support can only be justified if they yield an important net gain for American farmers and ranchers,” the groups wrote. “The negotiations have been characterized by escalating demands for significant new U.S. concessions on domestic support while our trading partners in both developed and developing countries have clung tenaciously to positions.”
Farm Bureau maintains that cuts in domestic support must be coupled with concessions on market access by U.S. trading partners.
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June 5
BEEF MISTAKENLY APPROVED BY USDA INSPECTORS---According to the Agriculture Department, USDA inspectors mistakenly approved 66 tons of bone-in beef sold by San Diego-based distributor Am-Mex, which then ended up in South Korea where it was rejected. The beef shipped to South Korea was approved for export to most countries, and for use in the U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said the agency continues to clear up the matter and will be providing information requested by South Korean officials.
Doing so will allow USDA to “get beef moving and continue our discussions about moving to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) standard,” according to news reports.
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---HOUSE AG SUBCOMMITTEE MARKS UP ORGANIC LEGISLATION---On Monday a House Agriculture subcommittee included $25 million for organic farming and marketing research in its markup of a proposed farm bill title covering the issue. The $25 million is an eight fold increase from current spending.
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---BEEF RECALLED DUE TO E. COLI IN 10 STATES---Albertsons and Save-A-Lot supermarkets across 10 states are recalling ground beef products due to possible E. coli contamination. Most of the beef products were sold under the Moran’s label with sell-by dates of April 20 to May 7. Supervalu, the parent company of the two supermarkets, recalled beef from stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
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TODAY IS NATIONAL HUNGER AWARENESS DAY---As one in every 10 Americans face hunger, Farm Bureau and other organizations, such as America’s Second Harvest and ConAgra Foods, are working hard to eradicate hunger. Farm Bureau families continue to fulfill their pledge to stop hunger by donating food items and farm-raised produce through the Harvest for All project headed by the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee.
In honor of Hunger Awareness Day, ConAgra Foods, in partnership with America’s Second Harvest, is doing its part to help feed the hungry by the simple click of a mouse. For each click ConAgra Foods will donate $1, the equivalent to four bags of groceries, to America’s hungry.
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IN MEMORY: SEN. CRAIG THOMAS---
U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) passed away Monday after a battle with leukemia. Thomas, raised on a ranch and earning a degree in agriculture, served as executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau and worked for the American Farm Bureau Federation as a national resource director in the 1970s, prior to being elected to Congress in 1989. He was a past Friend of Farm Bureau award winner.
As a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, Thomas worked on instrumental issues including social security, tax reform and trade. He also co-chaired the Senate Rural Health Care Caucus where he helped “reform and strengthen the rural health care infrastructure by encouraging greater equity with urban counterparts, better affordability of services, and by attracting qualified health care professionals,” according to his Senate Web site.
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June 4
S. KOREAN QUARANTINE OF U.S. BEEF CONTINUES---Since the recent mislabeling of two U.S. beef shipments to South Korea, the South Korean government has suspended quarantine inspections for U.S. beef, in effect cutting off U.S. beef exports. The two shipments, containing 66.4 tons of beef, are being shipped back to the U.S. as they did not meet the export verification standards set by Seoul and Washington last year. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the beef was not properly processed for the South Korean market.
“Of the 34 shipments totaling 227 tons that arrived in the country since mid-April, 12 have been released on the market, but the remaining 20 shipments amounting to 157 tons will be held in quarantine until the cause of the confusion is resolved,” said Kim Chang-seob, chief veterinary officer at the ministry.
Cargill Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. processed the two shipments and are specifically barred from exporting beef to South Korea for the time being. South Korean officials have said they will not accept any additional U.S. beef shipments until the matter is resolved.
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HOUSE AG COMMITTEE CONTINUES FARM BILL MARKUP---Subcommittee members of the House Ag Committee are scheduled to continue marking up sections of the farm bill under their jurisdiction this week. The rural development title is scheduled for markup on Wednesday and the sections of the bill related to horticulture and organic crops will be marked up Thursday.
AFBF will review preliminary discussion drafts of the legislation as they are made available by the committee.
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MEAT RECALL DUE TO E. COLI CONCERN---Due to E. coli concerns, a Southern California food corporation has called for a “Class 1” recall of 75,000 pounds of ground beef. Although the source of the outbreak has not yet been identified, the California Department of Heath Services and the Colorado Department of Health began investigating possibilities of meat contamination after several illnesses occurred.
The ground beef was produced on April 20 and supplied to stores in California, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Utah, officials said. The labels of affected meat contain the establishment number “EST. 1241” printed on the package. Some strains of E. coli can be harmless, while others are deadly. Symptoms usually appear within two to four days after exposure and include stomach cramps, diarrhea and fever.
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June 1
JAPAN APPOINTS NEW AGRICULTURE MINISTER---Norihiko Akagi has been appointed by Japan’s prime minister as the nation’s new agriculture minister. Akagi served in the ag ministry in the 1980s before his election to parliament. He is also a former senior vice minister of the defense ministry. According to news reports, Akagi has pledged to work on reforming the country’s ag policies. One of his first areas of focus will be the Doha round of World Trade Organization trade negotiations.
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---IOWA HUSH PROGRAM FEEDS THE HUNGRY---A creative initiative in Iowa has united the Food Bank of Iowa, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, deer hunters and meat lockers. The program, known as HUSH, works to reduce the deer population while providing high-quality red meat to the state’s needy.
Deer hunters who participate in the program can continue to hunt after the regular deer season and donate the meat. Nearly 80 lockers have signed up for the program to skin, bone and grind deer meat into two-pound packages that will be given to needy Iowa families. Nearly 6,000 deer were donated by hunters to HUSH last year, generating more than 1 million meals for Iowa’s less fortunate citizens.
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GAS PRICES WOULD CLIMB HIGHER WITHOUT ETHANOL---According to industry experts, if every gallon of ethanol was removed from the current U.S. gasoline supply, per gallon gas costs would rise by about 45 cents, making the national average for fuel nearly $4 dollars per gallon.
Ethanol is blended in 46 percent of the nation’s gasoline. This reduces U.S. dependence on foreign oil and lowers costs by providing a renewable source of energy. By the end of 2007, it is estimated that nearly 140 U.S. plants will produce approximately 7 billion gallons of ethanol.
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DICAMBA-RESISTANT CROPS IN THE PIPELINE---Scientists at the University of Nebraska have developed broadleaf varieties of crops such as soybeans, cotton, canola and tobacco that are resistant to dicamba herbicides. According to the researchers, dicamba herbicides are environmentally benign and relatively inexpensive, but they kill broadleaf crops as well as broadleaf weeds and grasses. The new dicamba-resistant crops can withstand applications of the herbicide, commonly sold under the trade names Banvil and Clarity.
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May 30
BEEF RIBS FOUND IN U.S. SHIPMENT TO SOUTH KOREA---South Korean inspectors have discovered two boxes of beef ribs in a shipment of American beef that arrived late last week. Under the current U.S.-South Korean agreement, bone-in beef products are not allowed.
The two boxes of ribs were part of a 15-ton shipment and did not contain specified risk materials, according to officials with South Korea’s Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service. VRQS has put a hold on the entire shipment, which could be sent back to the U.S.
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---USDA APPEALING BSE TESTING RULING---The Agriculture Department plans to appeal a federal court ruling that private companies should be allowed to test cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Creekstone Farms Premium Beef sought the ruling, arguing for the right to do its own testing for BSE. USDA continues to resist allowing private companies to test for BSE, claiming it could harm the beef industry due to publicity regarding false positive test results.
According to U.S. District Judge James Robertson, USDA does not have the authority to restrict companies such as Creekstone from doing its own BSE testing.
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---FOOD RECALL SYSTEM IN THE WORKS FOR CHINA---Chinese government officials have announced they are developing a food recall system. China’s State Food and Drug Administration is in the process of drafting regulations for release by the end of the year. A law passed in China five years ago called for implementation of a food recall system.
In related news, Zheng Xiaou, the former head of the SFDA, has been sentenced to death by the Chinese government for accepting bribes of cash and gifts worth $850,000 from pharmaceutical companies over the past eight years.
Plans for the food recall system and the death sentence for Xiaou likely reflect the intention of Beijing officials to send a stern internal message regarding their displeasure over the recent series of contamination scandals, according to news reports.
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---BURGER WARS: CHAIN SAYS ADS MISLEAD ON ANGUS BEEF---Television commercials from Jack In The Box Inc. are the subject of a lawsuit filed by CKE Restaurants Inc., parent company of the Carl’s Jr. and Hardees fast food chains. The ads, according to CKE’s suit, mislead customers into thinking that Angus beef used in the company’s hamburgers comes from the cow’s anus.
For its part, Jack In The Box claims its ads are merely differentiating its new sirloin burgers from burgers made from Angus beef, which is used in the premium burgers from the CKE chains, McDonald’s and Burger King. The ads promoting Jack In The Box’s new line of sirloin burgers take aim at Angus beef. CKE, McDonald’s and Burger King tout Angus beef as integral to the fanciest burgers on the chains’ menus.
The suit argues that the Jack In The Box commercials imply falsely that burgers made from Angus beef come, according to the lawsuit, “from the rear-end and/or anus of beef cattle by creating phonetic and aural confusion between the words ‘Angus’ and ‘anus.’” According to published reports, in one of the ads, Jack, the mascot for Jack In The Box, points to a chart showing that chain’s sirloin burgers come from around the cow’s rib-section, but when asked to point to the “Angus area” of the cow, Jack draws a circle in the air and responds, “I’d rather not.”
The CKE suit asks the court to stop Jack In The Box from running the ads, force Jack In The Box to run ads correcting the misinformation, and it seeks unspecified damages.
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---‘MANURE BILL’ RANKS AS TOP VICTORY FOR OKLAHOMA FB---Passage of a state “manure bill” ranks as the top victory for Oklahoma Farm Bureau during the legislative session that ended last week.
“We needed to make sure animal manure would not be classified as hazardous waste,” said Steve Kouplen, Oklahoma Farm Bureau president. “It seems obvious to us that manure is a beneficial soil nutrient, but until this bill [SB 709] was passed, we had little protection from environmental lawsuits.” Another benefit of the bill, according to Kouplen, is that the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry will be responsible for regulating the use of animal manure as a soil nutrient.
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May 29
PRESIDENT SIGNS BILL WITH AG DISASTER AID---President Bush on Friday signed a bill that included $3 billion in disaster aid for agriculture, as well as a one-month extension of the Milk Income Loss Contract program. Both measures were part of the larger $120 billion war funding bill.
By including an extension of MILC, it means funding of the program will be included in the new farm program baseline used by the Congressional Budget Office.
The $3 billion in agricultural disaster assistance is to help producers who lost 35 percent or more of their livestock or crops in USDA-designated disaster counties for 2005, 2006 or 2007. Producers can receive assistance for only one of those years. USDA officials expect that it will take several months before payment applications will be taken.
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---SOUTH KOREA MAY LOOSEN U.S. BEEF RULES---South Korea Finance Minister Kwon O-Kyu said Monday that his nation should be ready by September to allow imports of beef with bones from the United States. Only boneless U.S. beef from cattle younger than 30 months is currently allowed by South Korea.
O-Kyu said South Korea respects the upgraded rating of U.S. beef issued recently by the World Organization for Animal Health. Earlier this month that group upgraded the U.S. to “controlled risk” status in regard to bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The South Koreans now say they will be willing to hold talks with Washington to discuss the current limits regarding bones and the age of the cattle the nation will accept from the United States. However, South Korean officials also were quick to say that the upgraded status for the United States does not mean their nation will fully open its market to U.S. beef immediately.
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---CHEVRON, TEXAS A&M FORM BIOFUELS ALLIANCE---The Chevron Corporation and the Texas A&M Agriculture and Engineering BioEnergy Alliance announced today that they have entered into a strategic research agreement to accelerate the production and conversion of crops for manufacturing ethanol and other biofuels from cellulose.
Chevron will support research initiatives over a four-year period through the Texas A&M BioEnergy Alliance. The research initiatives will focus on several technology advancements to produce biofuels including: identifying, assessing, cultivating and optimizing production of second-generation energy feedstocks for cellulose and bio-oils with a focus on non-food crops; characterizing and optimizing the design of dedicated bioenergy crops through advances in genomic sciences and plant breeding; developing integrated logistics systems associated with the harvest, transport, storage and conversion of bioenergy crops; and developing advanced biofuels processing technologies.
"Bringing biofuels to large-scale commercial production is an enormous challenge that requires the combined efforts of industry, universities and research institutions, and governments,” said Don Paul, vice president and chief technology officer, Chevron Corporation. “It is through partnerships like this that biofuels will be a viable part of meeting the energy challenges of tomorrow."
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NEW FB OFFICE TO RISE FROM TORNADO’S WAKE---A groundbreaking ceremony for one of the first rebuilding projects after the tornado that devastated Greensburg, Kan., is taking place today. The rebuilding of a new Farm Bureau office is a partnership effort between Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, the Kiowa County Farm Bureau and Kansas Farm Bureau.
“Farm Bureau has always been a vital part of the Greensburg and Kiowa County community and we hope to lead the way in rebuilding the town,” said Steve Baccus, Kansas Farm Bureau president.
What was left of the previous structure after the tornado struck has been cleared away and construction of the new building is expected to begin soon. The new Farm Bureau building in Kiowa County will include extra space, which the Kiowa County Farm Bureau intends to make available to community organizations as the recovery effort in Greensburg continues.
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