Agriculture News
Spring is running 20 days early
The Washington Post | Posted on March 1, 2018A longer growing season sounds great, especially given the dire warnings of food shortages resulting from climate change. Hang on, though, because a longer growing season is not always a good thing. The longer growing season is inherently related to food shortages. Really. We can see it happening even now. “Plant productivity has not increased” alongside the number of growing season days, according to the National Climate Assessment. There are a number of reasons for this. Freeze damage caused by late-season frosts. This is straightforward. Just ask any citrus grower in the Southeast — a late frost or freeze can wipe out an entire crop, depending on the timing. Once plants have reached a certain phase of development, which happens earlier when winter is warm and spring is early, they are extremely fragile and susceptible to freezing temperatures. If, say, half of the plant’s blossoms are killed off by a freeze, it essentially cuts the plant’s productivity by half. Limits to growth because of lack of sunlight in early fall. Longer summer temperatures will keep the environment hospitable for crops, but they need sunlight first and foremost. As the sun angle decreases in the fall, plants lose the light necessary for photosynthesis.Plants need winter to thrive.
A corporate takeover of legal weed looms in California
High Country News | Posted on March 1, 2018Many small farmers in California worry about this new world of legal pot. They’ve been the backbone of the industry through the drug-war years of heavy enforcement and heavy penalties, and they know all too well what it’s like to live as outlaws. They now fear that big agriculture will take over the industry that some of them pioneered and worked in for generations. Under Proposition 64, also called the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, after Jan. 1, 2023, there will be no state cap in California on the size or production amount of marijuana farms. David Bienenstock, former editor of High Times Magazine, fears that this lack of a size limit invites consolidation by corporations with deep pockets. What he’d much rather see are “as many small, sustainable, eco-friendly farms as possible.” Right now, there are an estimated 50,000 cannabis farms in the state of California. These farms are run by everything from multi-generation families who have worked the same land for decades, to recently formed groups of tech-industry dropouts. It’s no secret that people have flocked to the California hills over the last decade to join what is being called the new California “green rush.” As more states legalize the weed industry and corporate consolidation changes the market, only knowledgeable consumers will be able to keep small, boutique farms alive. That means the once-illegal folks on heritage farms have the chance to change the future of cannabis — if they can step out of the black-market they grew up in.
As milk prices decline, worries about dairy farmer suicides rise
| Posted on March 1, 2018As the nation's dairy farmers struggle through their fourth year of depressed milk prices, concerns are rising that many are becoming depressed themselves. The outlook for the next year is so bleak, it's heightening worries — especially in the Northeast — about farmer suicides. Agri-Mark Inc., a dairy cooperative with about 1,000 members, saw three farmers take their own lives in the past three years. The most recent was last month. It's a very small sample, but very sharp and disturbing increase. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, farmers, as a group, have a higher suicide rate than any other occupation, even twice as high as vets.Experts say farmers face a kind of "perfect storm" of financial pressure and a sense of powerlessness in an industry where prices are set by the government, combined with social isolation, and a self-reliant spirit that may make them loathe to seek help.Farmers are taught to "cowboy up, tough it out, be a man," says Robert Fetsch, who's studied farmers and ranchers at Colorado State University. "Many are scripted to be afraid to reach out for help, and afraid to say 'I'm hurting.'"Gendebien says farmers also bear the weight of their family legacy.
Checkoff lawsuit prompts Utah to propose reorganizing beef council
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on March 1, 2018Utah officials are working to reorganize the Utah Beef Council as the state faces a lawsuit from a rancher arguing that the council’s collection of a checkoff fee is unconstitutional because it supports political speech and lacks transparency.
Wisconsin Sets Another Record for Milk Production in 2017
edairynews | Posted on March 1, 2018America’s Dairyland stayed true to its name in 2017 as the state set another record for total milk production.
CME reverses course on addressing cattle market volatility
Agri-Pulse | Posted on March 1, 2018Four months after the CME Group “declared victory over cattle market volatility” the futures exchange offered yet another surprise for the cattle industry. On Feb. 1, the CME issued an advisory notice to the marketplace that stated three delivery points would not renew their participation on the Live Cattle Futures Contract: North Platte, NE; Columbus, NE, and Pratt, KS. We understand that participating in the delivery mechanism on the contract places an onus on the stockyard and we respect any individual stockyard’s decision to participate in the contract, but a reduction in delivery capacity on the Live Cattle futures contract is unacceptable. The discontinuation of those delivery locations directly follows a year where the United States Cattlemen’s Association worked diligently with CME and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to address cattle marketplace volatility by adding delivery locations to the contract. The withdrawal of North Platte, Columbus and Pratt from the contract amounts to an estimated 10 percent immediate reduction in the weekly deliverable supply capacity, according to the CFTC’s rules and regulations. The annual approval process was a key feature of the 2017 contract changes that was meant to ensure financial soundness and physical infrastructure of participating yards was sufficient to ensure the health and safety of the cattle, the yard crew, and the USDA graders. It was also the direct result of CME’s neglect of the physical delivery infrastructure which manifested in the removal of the yard at Norfolk, NE nearly four months after it went out of business. The annual renewal process was not meant for CME to passively watch the delivery capacity dwindle on the contract.
USDA-ERS Report: Farmland Values, 2000-2016
Illinois Farm Policy News | Posted on March 1, 2018Economic theory suggests that farmland values will change in response to changes in the underlying factors that support them, namely, returns to farmland. One measure of returns to farmland is net cash farm income per acre, or the net return that an acre of farmland generates. Values for both cropland and pastureland, two major uses for farmland, increased substantially in 2004-14, nearly doubling in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms.But national trends in U.S. cropland and pastureland values can disguise regional variation in land values, which can result from differences in soil quality, annual rainfall, and proximity of urban areas, among other factors.
Impact of genetically engineered maize on agronomic, environmental and toxicological traits: a meta-analysis of 21 years of field data
Nature | Posted on March 1, 2018This meta-analysis aimed at increasing knowledge on agronomic, environmental and toxicological traits of GE maize by analyzing the peer-reviewed literature (from 1996 to 2016) on yield, grain quality, non-target organisms, target organisms and soil biomass decomposition. Results provided strong evidence that GE maize performed better than its near isogenic line: grain yield was 5.6 to 24.5% higher with lower concentrations of mycotoxins (−28.8%), fumonisin (−30.6%) and thricotecens (−36.5%). Biogeochemical cycle parameters such as lignin content in stalks and leaves did not vary, whereas biomass decomposition was higher in GE maize. The results support the cultivation of GE maize, mainly due to enhanced grain quality and reduction of human exposure to mycotoxins. Furthermore, the reduction of the parasitoid of the target and the lack of consistent effects on other NTOs are confirmed.
The Environmentalist Case In Favor Of GMO Food
Forbes | Posted on March 1, 2018Consumers are deeply suspicious of GMO foods--products made from genetically modified agricultural crops. I was concerned about the environmental impact and the integrity of the food production. But then I decided to teach a class on "Food Law" at the University of Chicago, and in preparation I read the literature—not the pamphlets, but rather the underlying science. I was astonished to discover that my prior suspicions were deeply misguided. I have since witnessed the same "aha" moment among numerous audiences, realizing that their GMO environmental fears are refuted by the evidence. Now, a new report published in Nature's "Scientific Reports" has the potential to help put a categorical end to these worries. The report compiles the entire body of science that previously examined the impact of genetically modified corn—over 6,000(!) published articles—and distills the essential findings of that massive research. The conclusion of the report is clear cut. It is a dramatic account of how big the benefit and small the risk is from GMO crops.
Judge orders California agricultural officials to cease pesticide use
The Los Angeles Times | Posted on March 1, 2018A judge has ordered California agricultural officials to stop spraying pesticides on public and private property to control insects that threaten the state's $45-billion agriculture industry.The injunction by a Sacramento County Superior Court judge, issued late last week, could throw a substantial hurdle in front of efforts by the state Department of Food and Agriculture to control dozens of crop-damaging pests such as the Asian citrus psyllid, which carries bacteria that have decimated the citrus industry in Brazil and Florida.Farmers and other property owners will still be able to use chemical insecticides, and the state can continue to use non-chemical means of pest control. But it will have to suspend spraying pesticides on vegetation in parks, school properties and even homeowners' backyards. The agency also will have to improve its public information process, including offering more opportunities for comment. The environmental groups that sued the California Department of Food and Agriculture documented a long-standing pattern of spraying under emergency provisions that exempted the agency from full disclosure of health risks.