Agriculture News
As Wave Of Closures Continue, Iconic Charlotte Dairy Farm Auctions Cattle And Machinery
Vermont Public Radio | Posted on March 29, 2018Dairy farms around Vermont are struggling amid low milk prices that are in some cases well below the cost of production. The result is that an increasing number of farms are starting to go out of business. Last week, the iconic Nordic Farms in Charlotte auctioned off its cows and machinery. The Agency of Agriculture says 12 farms have called it quits just since January and that leaves the state with 750 dairy farms down from 813 last March.
Minnesota is considering doubling its number of rural mental health counselors. To two.
Minnesota Post | Posted on March 29, 2018Ted Matthews drove past acres of fields, racing to meet with a farmer who called threatening to kill himself. That’s when he got a call from another farmer in a different part of the state who was also threatening suicide. Since he couldn’t be in two places at once, he frantically got on his phone to try to find someone else who could help the second farmer.Matthews might have the toughest job in the state of Minnesota. As the lone rural mental health counselor for the entire state employed by the Department of Agriculture, he gets 15 calls on a slow day and as many as 40 calls on a busy day. “People constantly talk to me about suicide,” he said. He has worked alone for more than two decades, but there is now a proposal being considered by legislators this year to increase the number of people fielding calls from farmers and others in crisis by 100 percent — in other words, there would be a total of two full-time rural health counselors, including Matthews. It’s greatly needed, said Matthews and others who testified before the Minnesota House Agriculture Finance Committee.
The impact on Iowa of China's proposed tariff on pork
Iowa State Daily | Posted on March 29, 2018China announced tariffs on $3 billion of U.S. products on Friday in response to President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on $60 billion of Chinese produced goods. There are 128 items on China’s proposed tariffs list including wine, steel and fruit. But most importantly for Iowa, pork is also on the list.Iowa is the number one pork producing state in the country. If these tariffs come into place, not only would agricultural trade decrease as a whole, but pork prices could also fall.China is the second largest market for United State’s agricultural exports. On an average year, around $20 billion of agricultural trade is done with China.“China is our second biggest pork market, so it’s a big deal,” said Dermot J. Hayes, Charles F. Curtiss distinguished professor in agriculture and life science and pioneer chair in agribusiness.Another issue the potential tariffs raise is that some of the pork China purchases, like the intestines, the head and the tails, are not as desired as much in the United States as they are there.
‘Get A Second or Third Job’ Is Not Sound Farm Policy
Farm Policy Facts | Posted on March 29, 2018“Most U.S. farm households can’t solely rely on farm income, turning what was once a way of life into a part-time job,” the article explained, noting that 82% of U.S. farm household income is expected to come from off-farm work this year.That’s because current commodity prices are depressed and haven’t kept up with inflation over the long haul. Compounding the problem are climbing input costs, the Journal wrote. Chris Morrow was one of the farmers featured in the story. This 32-year-old Missourian “rises four mornings a week at 4:30 a.m. and drives an hour to his outside job at Herzog Railroad Services Inc., in Falls City, Neb. He works a 10-hour shift inspecting inbound railcars in need of repairs.”After work, and on the weekends, Morrow tends 350 acres of corn and beans and manages a small cattle herd. According to the article, Morrow cannot focus solely on his life’s calling because his farm netted just $14,000 last year. Put another way, farmers are already working two or three other jobs to help support their family farms so they don’t need a Farm Bill or crop insurance to help them manage the unique, high-stake risks of agriculture.What a load of manure. “Get a second or third job” is not sound farm policy. Of course, most farm critics don’t need to get another job to survive. Their deep-pocketed financers with anti-farm agendas take care of that.But maybe they need to spend a few hours a week working on a farm. Then they’d see the financial pain rural America is facing right now and the real need for smart farm policies.
Canadian dairies are booming
Bloomberg | Posted on March 28, 2018David Wiens thought the 2,500-gallon (9,470-liter) stainless steel milk tank he purchased 20 years ago would provide more than enough storage for his dairy farm in Manitoba. These days he’s producing so much he’s had to order a new tank that can hold almost three times as much. “We have to have everyday pickup now because we don’t have the capacity,” Wiens said from Skyline Dairy, a 240-head operation near the small town of Grunthal that he and his brother Charles have owned since 1989.As the U.S. takes aim at Canada’s dairy sector as it attempts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, the nation’s farmers and processors are forging ahead with some of their biggest expansions and investments in more than a decade.That’s partly to do with rising demand for butter, which consumers increasingly view as a healthy part of their diet. Canada’s dairy sector receives tariff and quota protections from its government, and also benefits from a new policy, the so-called Class 7 pricing formula, which helps it deal with the leftover skim milk from butter-making.The change has spurred some big investments. Gay Lea Foods Co-operatives and Vitalus Nutrition opened a new C$100 million processing joint venture in Winnipeg, Manitoba, last fall. This month, Nestle Canada said it will spend C$51.5 million to increase production at its ice cream factory in London, Ontario. China’s Feihe International is planning to spend C$225 million to build the nation’s first wet infant-formula facility in Kingston, Ontario, which is slated to be completed by 2020. More announcements are expected in 2018, according to industry lender Farm Credit Canada.
Over 20,000 infected cattle to be slaughtered across NZ in our biggest ever agricultural cull
edairynews | Posted on March 28, 2018It’s the biggest cull of its type in New Zealand’s history and officials say it’s the only way to fully eradicate the disease from the 28 properties.It’s hoped the cull will completely eradicate Mycoplasma bovis.
Local lawmakers call for processed meat ban at NYC schools
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on March 28, 2018Several New York City officials are launching efforts to eliminate processed meats from the menus at the Big Apple’s public schools, which have an estimated 1.1 million students. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams introduced a resolution asking the New York City Council to ban processed meats like hot dogs, ham, bacon and sausage in an effort to improve student health through diet. Resolution 238 recommends a more plant-based diet in light of studies that suggest processed meat could affect the rates of cancer, respiratory illness and diabetes later in life.
Dairy Farmers Forced to Fight As Prices Struggle
Milk Business | Posted on March 28, 2018For Johnson County, Ind. farmer Joe Kelsay, it’s not just another day on the farm. He’s continuing to pump milk while a cloud of uncertainty hangs over his farm. As a fifth-generation dairy farmer, his job just became even more difficult. He was notified in February from Dean Foods that he has 90 days to find a new home for his milk. Kelsay is one of 27 producers in Indiana and more than 80 reported across the country who received the same notice from Dean Foods. “We're caught at a time when there's just too much milk,” Mike North, president of Commodity Risk Management Group, explained to U.S. Farm Report. “There’s more than what the market can bear at this moment.” “This isn't just a Walmart issue, this isn't just a Deans issue, this is an industry wide experience where processors are overwhelmed by milk supply,” said North.Kelsay says that’s not stopping him from continuing to fight the challenges, searching for a new buyer; however, the reality is some producers may not find a new home.“In some situations, some dairy producers are going to have to sell not only their herd, but considering selling machinery, equipment, selling real estate as well, just to be able to cover their debts,” said Lange.
Minnesota crop land prices were down in 2017, but may be starting to stabilize
Minnesota Star Tribune | Posted on March 28, 2018Prices for farmland declined across Minnesota in 2017, another sign of a weak farm economy that's been plagued by low crop prices and reduced incomes for the past four years.
To Stay on the Land, American Farmers Add Extra Jobs
Wall Street Journal | Posted on March 28, 2018Craig Myhre, a farmer in western Wisconsin, is trying to make a living off 600 acres of crops and a small herd of beef cattle. He also hires himself out to harvest other farmers’ fields, earning money to make payments on his combine. It’s still tough to make ends meet, despite putting in 12- to 16-hour days. In 2015, he added yet another job, as a mail carrier.