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Agriculture News

HPAI woes expand in France, Asia

Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on February 23, 2017

The ongoing spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continues to take its toll in France and two Asian nations as new incarnations of the virus continue to pop up. In France, the agriculture ministry said all 600,000 ducks in a prime region for the production of foie gras will be culled


Has Deere Been Able To Plow Through Rough Patch In Farming?

Seeking Alpha | Posted on February 23, 2017

John Deere & Co. (DE) appears to have relied on “disciplined cost management” to plow through what has been considered the roughest period in the farming since the Depression.  Friday, some analysts say they hope to see that the deep double-digit dips in revenues and profits, choked by low commodity prices and weak farm incomes, have slowed down.


Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Monsanto for 2016 Dicamba Damage

DTN | Posted on February 23, 2017

Monsanto has been served with a second lawsuit over the off-label dicamba drift damage that occurred in 10 states in 2016.  The new case, a class action suit filed in U.S. District Court in Missouri, has two farmers from that state as lead plaintiffs. The lawsuit was filed by Randles and Splittgerber, LLP, a Missouri-based legal firm that also sued Monsanto over dicamba drift in November 2016 on behalf of Bader Farms, a Missouri fruit and row-crop operation. Bev Randles, the attorney of record, said she expects hundreds of farmers to eventually join the class action lawsuit, which is open to any farmers who experienced damage from illegal dicamba drift in 2016 in the following 10 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.


She’s traveling the country telling farmers’ stories

Fresno Bee | Posted on February 23, 2017

Natalina Sents, a recent Iowa State graduate in ag business, has been crisscrossing the country as part of a yearlong project sharing farmers’ stories on a blog, whyifarm.com. The project, funded by Beck’s Hybrids seed.   “I have talked to some very strong men, whose families have not seen them cry for a very long time, if ever,” she said. “They get emotional when you ask them what it means to have their children work next to them on the same soil.”  Sents is hoping the public watches the videos and reads the blogs to gain a better understanding of farmers.  “Farmers are motivated by something bigger than themselves, whether it’s carrying on the family legacy, their connection to the environment, or wanting to make a contribution to the world,” Sents said. “No one has ever told me they want to farm because it will make them rich and famous.”

 

 

 


Trump’s push on immigration and NAFTA cast shadow over the Kansas City area economy

The Kansas City Star | Posted on February 23, 2017

Expanded immigration enforcement and potential trade renegotiation are casting a shadow over Kansas City area residents and businesses. Both topics surfaced Wednesday during an agricultural trade forum at Union Station. Talk focused mostly on trade and President Donald Trump’s calls to renegotiate the North America Free Trade Agreement that covers the United States, Canada and Mexico. “For all those who are thinking about renegotiating NAFTA, our request is do no harm first and foremost,” said Neil Herrington, executive director of the Americas for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who spoke at the forum.  The 23-year-old trade agreement has sparked imports and exports. It also has led to “continental integration” in agribusiness, said Kevin Smith, assistant vice president of international sales for Seaboard Foods based in Merriam. Western Canada, for example, produces a lot of pork and much of it supplies markets in the western United States. Canada’s large population centers in the east, however, buy U.S. pork rather than move Canada’s pork across the continent, he said. “It’s logistically cheaper and economically more feasible,” Smith said. “It benefits both countries.” The two men and other speakers emphasized that trade is critically important to the economies of Missouri and Kansas and that agriculture plays a substantial role in their trade on the continent. For example, nearly 70 percent of Missouri’s agricultural exports go to Canada or Mexico. For Kansas, the total is 36 percent.

 

 


Health insurance woes add to the risky business of farming

NPR | Posted on February 22, 2017

There are many challenges to farming for a living: It's often grueling work that relies on unpredictable factors such as weather and global market prices. But one aspect that's often ignored is the cost of health care.  A University of Vermont researcher found that nationally, most farmers cited health care costs as a top concern. Shoshanah Inwood is a rural sociologist at UVM. She has been studying the aging and shrinking farm population, and what components are needed to build a prosperous farm economy. Inwood says she hadn't thought about health care in particular as a factor until she conducted an unrelated survey in 2007 of farmers working the land in areas facing population growth and development pressures. The survey asked, "What are the issues affecting the future of your farm?"  "And we assumed when we got that survey back, we would get things like the cost of land, the cost of inputs, neighbors. The number one issue facing farmers was the cost of health insurance. They identified that as the biggest threat to their farm," she said.  Inwood says this held true for small and large farms: Two-thirds of commercial farmers cited the cost of health insurance as the biggest threat. Typically, strategies to build a robust farming industry have focused on access to land, capital and changes to market infrastructure. "But then you ask people, 'Well, how many people know a farmer that has an injury? Or a farm family that has a chronic health issue? Or a mental health issue?' And everybody's hand goes up," Inwood said. "And that's the one issue we really never talk about, are some of those social needs that farm families have."  While it may be underrepresented in farm planning discussions, on the farm, families are talking about it. Take Taylor Hutchinson and Jake Mendell. The two fell in love with farming — and each other — on a small educational farm in California. When the two decided to take the plunge and start their own farm, they decided to head back east to Jake's hometown area. Over the past three years they've transformed three acres of his family's land in Starksboro, Vt., into a small farm business, selling vegetables, eggs and some meat through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).  Access to free land puts them well ahead of many starting farmers, financially. But one thing they didn't initially factor into their business budget was health insurance.  "We both came of age at the beginning of the Affordable Care Act. It's not something that we've really had to think about, paying in full for a health insurance plan," says Mendell.  By "coming of age," he means he aged off his parents' health insurance at 26. Mendell was able to stay on his parents' plan beyond college under a provision in the Affordable Care Act. Then he switched onto a heavily subsidized plan through Vermont Health Connect. His partner, Taylor Hutchinson, is covered by Medicaid because her income falls just below the threshold. "It's a very fine line for me personally, that I'm skating under right now," Hutchinson said.With government assistance, right now health insurance is not among their highest expenses. But that all could change. If their income grows, Hutchinson would no longer eligible for Medicaid. Or if health care policy changes, their subsidies could go away.


Slump in Farmland Values Continues

Kansas CIty Fed | Posted on February 22, 2017

Farmland values continued to wane in the fourth quarter, according to the Tenth District Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions. On average, nonirrigated and irrigated farmland values dropped 6 percent, and ranchland values fell 7 percent from the same period last year (Chart 1). These downgrades were the largest since the Great Recession of 2007-09 but were relatively small compared to declines in the 1980s. The largest changes in District states occurred in Kansas and Nebraska (Table 1). The value of nonirrigated farmland fell 13 percent in Kansas, and irrigated farmland in Nebraska was 8 percent lower. Decreases in ranchland values in Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri were the largest since 2002.


A Bee Mogul Confronts the Crisis in His Field

The New York Times | Posted on February 22, 2017

Mr. Adee (pronounced Ay-Dee) is America’s largest beekeeper, and this is his busy season. Some 92,000 hives had to be deployed before those buds burst into blossom so that his bees could get to the crucial work of pollination.  But it is notable that he has a business at all. For the last decade, a mysterious plague has killed billions of bees every year. Pollination services, as the bees’ work is known in the industry, has risen this year to between $180 to $200 a hive from an average of $154 a hive in 2006, Mr. Curtis said. James Frazier, a bee expert at Pennsylvania State University, agreed. The bee shortage has to do with the overall health of bees, and not one or two specific things. Bees are exposed to a variety of pesticides, all of which can affect their immune systems, he said. That in turn makes them less resistant to diseases and parasites carried by the varroa mite and enables the spread of viruses.  “It’s more complicated than trying to cure cancer,” Dr. Frazier said, “because bees are outside, where you have all these uncontrollable things working on them. Bees from one keeper are mixing with those from other populations as their numbers fall. That may aid in the spread of diseases and parasites, said Ann Bartuska, the acting under secretary for research, education and economics at the Agriculture Department. “There is no smoking gun,” Dr. Bartuska said. “We still are trying to tease out what combination of factors really leads to beehive health declines.”


HSUS agrees with Animal Agriculture Alliance’s advice

Watt Ag Net | Posted on February 22, 2017

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Animal Agriculture Alliance (Alliance) aren’t often on the same side of the paddock. (Shocking, right?) So I was especially struck while reading the Alliance’s list of its top five ways to fight back against animal rights activists. Here’s why:  Animal Agriculture Alliance’s tips for combatting animal advocates: 1) Do the right thing now, 2) Do your homework on employees, 3) Ensure all farm employees are trained on animal welfare, 4) Communicate proactively and 5) Remove the mystery.  The HSUS’ tips for improving animal welfare: 1) Do the right thing now, 2) Do your homework on employees, 3) Ensure all farm employees are trained on animal welfare, 4) Communicate proactively and 5) Remove the mystery.


Governor Mark Dayton Signs Bipartisan $35 Million Rural Finance Authority Bill

Voice of Alexandria | Posted on February 22, 2017

Delivering needed assistance to Minnesota’s 74,000 farmers, Governor Mark Dayton signed the bipartisan $35 million Rural Finance Authority legislation (H.F. 14) into law. The new funding will allow the Authority to continue offering eligible Minnesota farmers affordable financing and terms and conditions not offered by other traditional lenders. Without the investment, many Minnesota farmers would face a credit crunch caused by several years of low commodity prices and rising expenses. Rural Finance Authority loans are particularly important early in the year when Minnesota farmers review their finances and restructure debt ahead of the growing season.


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