Week of Sept. 24-28 Archive
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September 26
AFBF URGES PRESIDENT TO SIGN WRDA---The American Farm Bureau Federation today sent a letter to President Bush communicating its support for H.R. 1495, the Water Resources Development Act. After being approved by wide, bipartisan margins by both the Senate and House, the bill is making its way to the president’s desk and AFBF urged Bush to sign the “critically important legislation.”
“The WRDA bill includes absolutely essential agricultural provisions to modernize seven locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers,” Farm Bureau stated. “Those structures were built decades ago and were not designed to accommodate today’s longer barge tows. These water infrastructure improvements are needed for U.S. agriculture to compete in a global market with countries such as Argentina and Brazil that have aggressively modernized their own infrastructure. American agriculture needs this bill if we are going to continue to compete in the global marketplace.”
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---RENEWABLE ENERGY TAX INCENTIVES NEEDED---The American Farm Bureau Federation today submitted a statement to a House subcommittee expressing support for extending and creating tax credits that promote the development of renewable energy.
According to the statement submitted to the House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology, “The successful development of our nation’s ethanol industry stands as a testament to the effectiveness of tax incentives for renewable energy. Tax incentives also have proved valuable in stimulating the production of biodiesel made from oil-seed crops and animal fats and in the development of electricity produced from biomass and by wind turbines.
“The success of renewable energy technologies has caused some to question the impact of producing fuel from crops that can also serve as food for people and feed for animals. These concerns can and should be addressed by providing new and expanded incentives to encourage the development of a more diverse feedstock base for cellulosic ethanol.”
Farm Bureau urges Congress to move forward with efforts to pass an energy bill that includes a robust tax title in the bill’s conference report.
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---STALLMAN WILL TESTIFY ABOUT IMMIGRATION REFORM---American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman is scheduled to testify about the current labor situation before the House Agriculture Committee on Oct. 4. Stallman will provide remarks about anticipated labor shortages and their effects on agriculture, as well as what policies are needed to ensure that agriculture has the labor it needs to succeed.
As AFBF prepares President Stallman’s testimony, it would be extremely valuable to incorporate examples of farmers who have lost income or crops due to labor shortages or enforcement actions. All state Farm Bureaus are requested to supply information they have that speaks to the crisis in farm labor. Useful information may consist of farms that are short of workers, income that has been lost, difficulties in securing labor at the time of need or specific problems with the H2A program. Please e-mail all such instances to Austin Perez (202-406-3669, austinp@fb.org) or Paul Schlegel (202-406-3667, pauls@fb.org) by the close of business this Friday, Sept. 28.
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---MONSANTO WILL RESEARCH NITROGEN EFFICIENCY---Monsanto and the Israeli biotech firm Evogene Ltd. announced a collaboration to improve nitrogen use efficiency in corn, soybeans, canola and cotton. Under the agreement, Monsanto gains exclusive rights to a number of genes discovered by Evogene that help plants maintain yield with lower applications of nitrogen. Monsanto will work to evaluate the use of those genes in its research and development pipeline.
Nitrogen fertilizer represents one of the largest input costs in agriculture; it accounts for approximately one-fifth of a corn grower’s operating costs. U.S. farmers spend more than $3 billion annually applying nitrogen fertilizer to corn fields, with plants typically absorbing less than half of the nitrogen fertilizer applied.
September 25
FED CATTLE SUPPLIES TIGHT AND GETTING TIGHTER---Supplies of feeder calves and fed cattle are tight and may get tighter this winter and into the spring of 2008, according to analysis by Jim Sartwelle, AFBF livestock economist.
Cattle and calves on feed in the country’s largest feedyards -- those with the capacity to feed 1,000 or more head -- totaled 10.3 million head as of Sept. 1. That’s down 6 percent from a year ago, based on the Agriculture Department’s latest report that looked at the nation’s fed cattle inventory as of Sept. 1.
“Looking inside the numbers, it’s clear inventories are down in nearly all the major cattle feeding states from a year ago,” Sartwelle said.
Idaho is down 13 percent from the same time in 2006, Colorado is down 11 percent, Kansas is down 10 percent, and Texas and Nebraska are down 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
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SENATE FINANCE APPROVED AFBF-SUPPORTED BILL---Legislation that would make it easier for farmers and ranchers to help conserve endangered species and safeguard their habitats was approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 21.
Farm Bureau supported passage of The Habitat and Land Conservation Act of 2007, which is a compilation of several bills Farm Bureau backed earlier. In particular, Farm Bureau worked with a coalition of partners, including Defenders of Wildlife, the National Wildlife Federation and Environmental Defense, to lobby for passage of several tax provisions contained in this bill.
The legislation would: (1) provide tax credits for voluntary efforts that aid the recovery and restoration of endangered species, (2) make permanent the enhanced tax deduction that a landowner may take when donating a conservation easement, (3) allow tax deductions for expenditures taken to comply with The Endangered Species Act and (4) exclude certain payments made under fish and wildlife programs from the income tax.
It now is up to the full Senate to consider this legislation; in the House, H.R. 1422, which contains similar language, is pending before the Ways and Means Committee.
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---HARKIN’S FOOD AID DRAFT DRAWING ATTENTION---Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin’s (D-Iowa) plan to make international food aid distribution more effective would boost funding for long-term assistance and experiment with buying crops from foreign farmers.
Harkin’s plan would set aside $600 million a year to longer-term food aid programs designed to bolster agriculture and health in fragile countries, rather than just responding after crises have hit. That is $150 million a year more than what the House bill provided.
Harkin’s plan also gives $100 million over four years to a controversial pilot program to purchase U.S. food aid from farmers overseas, deviating from long-standing procurement rules that require U.S. crops.
If members of Congress want these foreign purchases, “they should look to the (U.S. Agency for International Development) budget, not the agriculture budget,” said Chris Garza, AFBF director of congressional relations.
AFBF policy favors foreign aid in the form of agricultural products and U.S. value-added agricultural products rather than cash, whenever feasible.
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---POTATO HARVEST SEASON BRINGS NEW REGULATIONS---As potato farmers nationwide dig up and truck in this year’s crop, they’re being held for the first time to guidelines aimed at preventing a food safety scare similar to the deadly E. coli outbreak in spinach last year. For the most part, the new regulations are coming from companies like potato giant J.R. Simplot Co. of Boise, rather than the federal government. And farmers are concerned that some of the new rules, which may have been crafted by people far removed from production agriculture, are difficult or impossible to apply in the field.
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September 24
HOUSE HEARINGS ON BORDER SECURITY, IMMIGRATION SET---The House Agriculture Committee will hold two hearings on border security and farm labor issues in early October.
On Oct. 3, a subcommittee will consider the joint performance of the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection agency on protecting the U.S. from foreign pests and diseases. A hearing on Oct. 4 by the full committee will cover the labor needs of American agriculture.
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FEDERAL COURT UPHOLDS ILLINOIS HORSE SLAUGHTER BAN---A federal appeals court on Friday upheld an Illinois law that bans the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The decision is expected to result in the shuttering of Cavel International, the last U.S. slaughterhouse in operation.
Cavel is based in DeKalb and slaughters around 1,000 horses a week. The plant was allowed to continue to operate as its challenge to a new state law banning horse slaughter moved through the court system.
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---NY TIMES: MORE EASTERN AGRICULTURE A VIABLE OPTION---A return to using the land and water of the East is an option to “replace the declining agricultural production in the arid West and expand the production of biofuels,” according to a A New York Times op-ed by Richard McNider and John Christy, professors of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
McNider and Christy suggest irrigating crops in the wetter climate of the eastern United States “will not produce the water quantity or salt poisoning problems found in the West.” Returning agricultural production to the East using irrigation would be efficient and environmentally sound, according to the authors, because even in dry years only about a foot of water per acre is sufficient to grow crops, compared to three to four feet in the West. In order to fully realize the region’s potential, the authors suggest the federal government should provide money to help farmers construct storage ponds to capture winter water.
“The East cannot and should not simply replace Western agriculture,” according to McNider and Christy. “But the East should be prepared to pick up the slack as Western farmers lose water to urban pressures and environmental concerns.” They suggest farmers in the West are likely to gravitate away from rice and cotton to high-value crops including winter lettuce, almonds and avocados.
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SHEEP DISEASE TRIGGERS MONTANA QUARANTINE---A potentially fatal sheep disease spread by gnats has triggered a quarantine in eastern Montana. Bluetongue has been confirmed in eight flocks in six counties and is suspected of killing or sickening hundreds of sheep.
As a result of the quarantine, producers are unable to move their animals at a time of year when lambs are shipped out, often to Colorado feedlots, and they are scrambling to find or buy hay or other feed.
An official with the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said this is the farthest north bluetongue has been detected. Rodney Kott, a Montana State University sheep specialist, said he has not seen a bluetongue outbreak in his 30 years at MSU.
The quarantine is in effect until Oct. 10. A killing frost, which would eliminate the gnats, is expected by then.
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---MONDAY’S MISCONCEPTION ABOUT AGRICULTURE---
It’s a misconception that farmers have higher than average rates of cancer because they apply chemical pesticides. This is not true. Farmers do not have higher rates of cancer than the general population. They do have higher rates of skin cancer, but this is due to sun exposure and not pesticides.
Order your copy of “Addressing Misconceptions About Agriculture” at www.ageducate.org.
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