Week of Sept. 17-21 Archive
18 20 21
September 21
GAO: FARM PAYMENTS A FACTOR IN LOSS OF GRASSLANDS---Some farm program payments have contributed to the conversion of grassland to cropland, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office. While there is a decline in grassland nationwide, the study focused on the conversion of native grassland to cropland in some counties in South Dakota. Certain farm program payments made to producers in South Dakota counties with relatively high rates of conversion were significantly higher than payments in other counties.
In addition, GAO researchers found the Sodbuster conservation provision has had little effect on conversions, possibly because much of the native grassland lost in recent years is not highly erodible and therefore not subject to Sodbuster.
The GAO study made two recommendations: (1) that USDA track conversions to provide policymakers with more comprehensive and current information, and (2) that USDA study the extent to which farm program payments and conservation programs may be working at cross purposes and then report findings to Congress.
According to USDA’s National Resources Inventory, the nation’s privately owned grassland decreased by almost 25 million acres between 1982 and 2003.
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SEED BANK INSURANCE AGAINST GLOBAL CHANGES---The Colorado State University seed bank stores billions of seeds inside the 12-inch thick, tornado-proof walls of the triple-locked vault. No wonder it is sometimes referred to as the Fort Knox of seeds.
The nearly 50-year-old seed bank is in demand when wheat scabs, plum poxes, potato blights and citrus cankers threaten crops. The seeds also provide backup when wars, typhoons and droughts wreak havoc around the world.
“We have always tried to stay three steps ahead, but with global warming, we’re concerned three steps may not be enough,” said Christine Walters, a plant physiologist and self-described seed nerd at the Agriculture Department’s National Center for Genetic Resource Preservation.
The diversity of seeds at the Fort Collins facility trumps the other 11 major seed banks in the world as well as the 1,460 lesser seed depositories spread among 150 countries. Parent seeds of all the modern hybridized crops are here, and 40,000 new types of seeds are added every year.
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FRIDAY’S FARM FACT---
Today, 98 percent of all U.S. farms are owned by individuals, family partnerships or family corporations. They produce 86 percent of U.S. farm products sold. Just 2 percent of America’s farms and ranches are owned by non-family corporations, which account for only 14 percent of U.S. farm product sales.
Order your copy of the updated Farm Facts book at http://farmfacts.org or http://www.ageducate.org. State and county Farm Bureaus may be invoiced for orders.
September 20
JOHANNS’ REPLACEMENT RUMORS SWIRL---President Bush this morning announced that Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will resign. Johanns, a former Nebraska governor, is said to be on the verge of returning to the Cornhusker State to wage a campaign to replace retiring GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel.
Bush said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner, a former corn lobbyist from Indiana, would serve as the acting agriculture secretary. According to media reports, Conner is the leading candidate for the nomination to replace Johanns.
Other names that have been mentioned as possible successors to Johanns include Bruce Knight, chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, and former U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest of Texas.
USDA is the fourth-largest Cabinet department.
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---BAUCUS STILL NAILING DOWN FUNDS FOR CROP DISASTER PLAN---Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Wednesday said he continues working to nail down the finances he needs to make his concept for permanent disaster relief viable. Baucus said he intends to settle the matter by early October, which also is when the Senate Agriculture Committee may consider the farm bill.
Baucus said he would like to create a trust fund for disaster relief by using tariff receipts that now go into the U.S. Treasury.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (Iowa), the senior Republican on Senate Finance, are key supporters of the Baucus plan.
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---USDA UNVEILS WEB PORTAL FOR SMALL FOOD PROCESSORS---The Agriculture Department has unveiled a new Internet resource to help smaller companies answer food safety questions and aid all food processors to make science-based food production decisions.
The Predictive Microbiology Information Portal focuses on food processors with 500 or fewer employees, but the information it contains may benefit companies of all sizes. The information pertains to research, regulations and other resources.
- USDA Web portal
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---FFA MEMBERSHIP TOPS 500,000---For the first time in 29 years, student membership in the National FFA Organization broke the half-million-member mark. There now are 500,823 members in 7,358 FFA chapters across the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The last time FFA membership topped 500,000 was in 1978.
FFA chapters are in 15 of the 20 largest U.S. cities. Thirty-eight percent of FFA members are young women, who held 47 percent of state leadership positions.
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---QUOTE OF THE DAY---
“Here’s what you would have been reading just three years ago: ‘What are we going to do with all this corn? We have a surplus of corn as far as the eye can see and another big crop coming. What are we going to do with all these soybeans? Is there a market out there for these soybeans?’ And it's unbelievable how literally in less than 36 months that world has changed. It’s changed pretty significantly. A friend of mine talked to me recently and said, ‘I’ve got a good strategy for you.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Take credit for all these high prices and quit.’”
---Outgoing Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, in a light-hearted moment, Wednesday during a National Pork Producers Council meeting. President Bush announced this morning that Johanns would resign his post.
September 18
FARMLAND PRICES REMAIN HIGH IN IOWA---Iowa farmland prices rose 7.1 percent in the six-month period that ended Sept. 1, down from a year ago when prices of Iowa farmland increased at a record rate of 20.7 percent. More farmland coming onto the market may explain the slowdown, according to a survey by the Iowa Farm and Land Chapter No. 2 Realtors Land Institute.
A closer look shows prices of the state’s most productive farmland—land that produces more than 160 bushels of corn per acre—rose 8 percent for the last six months and 22.6 percent for the year. Prices for the best farmland in Central Iowa topped $5,000 per acre for the first time since the survey began in 1978.
Survey respondents cited high corn and bean prices, increased demand for ethanol and biodiesel plants, a limited amount of land for sale, good crop yields, a positive attitude about future farm profits, low interest rates and tax law exchanges as reasons for the growth. But future farm policies and increased costs of fuel and fertilizer are reasons for uncertainty about the future.
- · The Des Moines Register article
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HIGH WHEAT PRICES TAKE THE CAKE---Wheat futures are trading at historic heights, and food manufacturers big and small are feeling the pinch. Sara Lee raised the prices of its bread and bagels by 5 percent last week, and the cost of what it bakes for the private labels of retailers by 6 percent to 7 percent. Interstate Bakeries of Kansas City, the maker of Roman Meal bread and Hostess snack cakes, said higher wheat prices are behind recent price hikes, and a Los Angeles baker who counts film studios, restaurants and hotels among his clients said he is paying more for the ton of flour he buys each week.
Droughts and other adverse weather conditions are behind tighter wheat supplies and higher prices, but the increasing number of U.S. farmers switching to greater corn production is also at play. The situation has U.S. analysts paying close attention.
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DOLE RECALLS BAGGED LETTUCE---Dole recalled all packages of its “Hearts Delight” bagged salad mix sold in the U.S. and Canada after a sample taken from a store in Canada tested positive for E. coli. There have been no reports of illness. The recalled bags have a “best if used by” date of Sept. 19 and a production code of A24924A or A24924B. The romaine, green leaf and butter lettuce greens were grown in California, Colorado and Ohio and processed at a Dole plant in Springfield, Ohio.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY--
“The disagreements on agricultural issues between the EU and U.S., while important, are distracting and confuse what is most important to economic development today. I know it is politically difficult in the U.S., but all of us need to see beyond the limits of agricultural protection and grasp the gains where the huge bulk of our trade takes place, in manufacturing and services.”
-- Peter Mandelson, European Union trade commissioner, in comments Monday, sounding as though he was growing weary of World Trade Organization talks focused on agricultural trade.
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