Agriculture News

Drought looming

Indiana could be headed for another drought this summer, according to the Indiana State Climate Office. Some northern Indiana counties already are abnormally dry. It depends on the strength of a developing La Niña weather pattern. Stronger La Niña conditions in summer typically result in hotter and/or drier Midwest summers, such as what happened during the historic drought in the summer of 2012. Changes in large-scale weather patterns such as the demise of El Niño and strong possibility of La Niña conditions in coming months are leading to local scale impacts of reduced rainfall and hotter landscapes

Down to the bone

Monsanto, the patented seed and pesticide agriculture behemoth, was under scrutiny due to their failed offer to buy Syngenta, the Swiss agricultural chemicals and seed company.  Now Monsanto itself is the target of a buyout. German drug corporation Bayer has offered Monsanto stock holders a $122 per share. Big business history reads a little like the spiritual hymn “Them Dry Bones.” From the toe bone all the way up to the head bone, everything is connected. Take Monsanto for instance.

The chemical company Monsanto was founded in 1901. One of its first products was calorie-free sweetener made from coal tar — saccharin. Through its steady acquisitions of other companies, Monsanto has also manufactured chemicals like PCBs, DDT, Agent Orange, and salicylic acid–the primary ingredient in Bayer aspirin. They ran the Dayton Project doing research for the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb. Monsanto also patented a boiler pipe cleaning compound called glyphosate to be used as a nonselective herbicide named Roundup, netting billions in profits over the patent’s 20-year lifespan. By the time that patent ran out, Monsanto was well on its way to patented genes that made crops like corn, soybeans, cotton, and canola impervious to Roundup. See how “Them Bones” are connected?

For as long as agriculture has relied on chemical pesticides and fertilizers, we’ve been equally dependent on chemical companies to supply those needs. But competition among a number of chemical companies traditionally has been reduced or eliminated over the years as one consolidated company hooks up with another.

Credit crunch for farm renters compounds stress on U.S. growers

American farmers who expanded production using rented land during the commodity boom a few years ago are now struggling to repay loans.  A crop glut has eroded prices and sent profit to a 14-year low, but rents have barely budged and debt levels are the highest in more than three decades, government data show. Bankers are cutting back on loans that aren’t secured by land, so more farmers are tapping into a U.S. Department of Agriculture program designed to be the lender of last resort.

New Economic Impact Study Shows U.S. Meat and Poultry Industry Represents $1.02 Trillion in Total Economic Output

The U.S. meat and poultry industry accounts for $1.02 trillion in total economic output or 5.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according a new economic impact analysis conducted by John Dunham & Associates for the North American Meat Institute (NAMI).  The meat and poultry industry is responsible for 5.4 million jobs and $257 billion in wages, the report found. An estimated 527,019 people have jobs in production and packing, importing operations, sales, packaging and direct distribution of meat and poultry products. Wholesaling directly employs an estimated 232,418 individuals in all 50 states, and 1.11 million employees’ retail jobs depend on the sale of meat and poultry products to the public. All totaled, the meat and poultry industry (packers, processors, wholesalers and retailers) directly employs 1.9 million people, paying $71.63 billion in wages and benefits.

In addition, approximately two million full-time equivalent jobs are created in firms that supply goods and services to the meat and poultry industry. This includes people working in industries as broad as real estate services, trucking and container manufacturing. An additional 1.57 million people have jobs throughout the economy that depend on the re-spending of wages by meat and poultry, as well as supplier industry employees. These are real people with real jobs ranging from restaurant workers to automobile mechanics, to bakers and refrigerator manufacturers.