Agriculture News

Purdue Entomologist Receives USDA Grant To Study Neonicotinoid Use In Vegetables

Purdue University entomologist Ian Kaplan and his team have received a $3.6 million grant from USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture to fund their research into the environmental, ecological, and socioeconomic effects of neonicotinoid pesticide use.  The five-year grant is part of the USDA-NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative, a program providing funds for research in plant breeding and genetics, pests and disease, production efficiency and profitability, technology, and food safety hazards.

USDA Data Show Organics Average 67% of Yield of Non-organics

Widely diverse information exists on the size of the yield penalty associated with organic crop production. Some authors/spokespersons – often connected with organic production/marketing – claim organic yields are typically 80-100% of non-organic. (I prefer the term “non-organic” over “conventional,” because so much of modern agriculture is anything but conventional.) Other sources say 50-70% is more common.  One might ask, “Why does this matter?” Just let farmers grow what they believe they can grow profitably, sorting out yield and price-premium relationships for their individual farms, crops and market environments. And if profit expectation is too low relative to risk and management needs, then organic buyers can raise the price to stimulate production – or import organic produce from afar – just as occurs with any other farm commodity. But the question is often voiced in more fundamental terms. Many in organic production/marketing/advocacy portray organic as morally superior and more sustainable, not withstanding some small reductions in yield. Others argue the reverse: that organic agriculture is bad ethically because of markedly lower yields and the attendant major increase in land needed to produce food.

 “Commercial Crop Yields Reveal Strengths and Weaknesses for Organic Agriculture in the United States.” The strength of the paper is that, unlike any before, it is based on many thousands of actual on-farm records. In briefest terms, the authors compared yield data provided for the year 2014 through aspecial USDA survey of more than 10,000 organic growers, with similar yield data collected for all US crop farmers through the 2014 USDA-NASS December Agricultural Survey. They found that organic crops normally yield less than non organic but with a huge range in yield ratios across crops and across states. Notable exceptions are hay and haylage crops where organic crops yield as much or more – and up to 60% higher for haylage. On average, Kniss et al concluded that organic crops average 80% of non-organic.

R Calf seeks to end beef checkoff

Attorneys for R-CALF, USA last week asked the court to award the group summary judgment and immediately end the beef checkoff program. The motion was in response to the government’s August motion to dismiss or stay the lawsuit that R-CALF USA filed against the national beef checkoff program in May.  “There is no reason to continue unconstitutionally taxing America’s independent ranchers when the government already admits it should have never happened in the first place,” said David Muraskin, Food Project attorney with Public Justice, who represents R-CALF.  Dudley Butler, also representing R-CALF and a former USDA administrator, said, {The beef checdkoff) has subsidized meatpackers and special interest groups who want cattle ranchers to become serfs on their own land like poultry growers. All the while USDA has looked the other way.”

Meat Institute schedules animal care conference

The North American Meat Institute’s (NAMI) Animal Care and Handling Conference will take place at downtown Kansas City’s Westin Crown Center, Oct. 13-14. The educational conference will appeal to all those involved with the production and management of livestock and meat products.